Category Archives: Design

Garden hopes and dreams

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Spring crocus will be blooming soon.

We’re all feeling it—the need for spring.

One morning this week, shortly after dawn while taking the compost out, I heard a robin singing a spring song. It was sharp and clear in the cold air with nothing else stirring. Later I bundled up and poked around the garden, looking for more spring. I was not disappointed. The hellebores are starting to pull their green flower buds from the frozen earth and a scattering of snowdrop tips have appeared. I pushed a couple heaved heuchera back in the ground, gathered up some plant tags that were blowing around and headed back to the warm house and a cup of tea.

Gardeners always look forward to spring. Sure, I’m glad to hang up my tools in November and take a break, but by mid-January I’m cracking the seed catalogs and dreaming about what to grow. And this spring, more than almost any other, will be most welcome.

Our gardens provided so much in 2020, not the least of which a place to forget about the pandemic as well as political and civil unrest. Our gardens gave us ways to learn, share, observe and succeed. We found beauty, wonder and a connection to the natural world that was more critical than ever. Our gardens provided sanity and peace.

While I enjoy winter and a break from gardening, I have missed the garden. I welcome the lengthening days, the birds staking out their territory and the winter flowers starting to bloom. More than anything else, I welcome the hope of this spring: hope that the spectre of the virus will wane sometime this year, hope that political and civil unrest subsides and hope that we as a country can bridge our many divides and work together to make things better.

I wish you good health and a great gardening year!

What’s new in gardening?

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Last week I attended the 50th Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show at the Baltimore Convention Center, the absolute best place to get a full-on view of what’s new in the green industry. The 30,000-foot exhibit space is jammed with plant breeders and growers; tool, equipment and apparel purveyors; resellers of outdoor furniture, pots, and statuary in every shape, size, and color; companies who formulate and sell soil amendments, mulches, and fertilizers; and much more. Here are a few of the cool things I saw:

‘HGC Jacob’ hellebore—IMG_3497If you’re looking to add some winter blooms to the garden, hellebores fit the bill, and this one blooms early: November and all through winter. I like the way its bright white flowers are held upright above the foliage so you can really see them in the garden. Dark leathery leaves remain attractive all through summer too. But this hellebore wasn’t the only new kid on the block. There were more new perennnials (and some terrific older ones) than you could shake a stick at.

Succulents and air plants—The succulent and air plant craze continues, and that’s ok by me. New shapes, sizes, and colors continue to hit the market. After all, there’s always room for one more on the windowsill, right?IMG_3499

Downy mildew-resistant impaimg_3541.jpgtiens—Shade gardeners have been subbing coleus, begonias, and caladiums ever since downy mildew flattened impatiens about eight years ago. While those substitutes are perfectly fine plants, we’ve missed our impatiens. Plant breeders came to the rescue and are now offering us a slew of mildew-resistant varieties, including this deep-red number called ‘Beacon.’

Blight-resistant boIMG_3535xwood—Speaking of devastating diseases, boxwood blight has been a doozy. It’s especially tough because boxwood has been a reliable and long-lived structural element in gardens for centuries. Once again, plant breeders have stepped up and introduced blight-resistant varieties like NewGen Independence® and NewGen Freedom,® which are set to hit the market this year.

 

Insect-resistant hemlock—Our majestic stands of hemlock trees have been brought to the brink by a nasty introduced pest, the wooly adelgid. Up to this point, chemical intervention has been the only effective way to save hemlocks in the landscape and in the wild. Thankfully, the scientists at the U.S. National Arboretum are getting ready to introduce an adelgid-resistant hemlock called ‘Traveler.’ A cross with Chinese hemlock, this variety has a slightly more weeping habit than our native hemlock, but to the average gardener, it looks pretty darn similar. You may not see this variety in the nurseries for a couple more years, so until then keep checking and treating your hemlocks.

IMG_3536Witchhazels and a tree-form winterberry holly—The best thing about MANTS is talking to the people you meet or reconnect with. Tim Brotzman is a wizard when it comes to tree propagation and I enjoyed visiting his booth and talking to him and his wife Sonia. Some of his 125 varieties of witchhazels were on display in full bloom, as was an interesting tree form of winterberry holly (usually this is a thicket of a shrub). Tim’s nursery in Lake County, OH is wholesale only, but you will find many of his creations at your local garden center.

IMG_3560The bougainvillea whisperer—After failing spectacularly with bougainvillea last summer, I was gobsmacked by the colorful display at the Topiary Creations booth. Claude was kind enough to give me a detailed rundown on how to care for them and, most importantly, how to get them to re-bloom. My good friend Mrs. Know-It-All captured his tutorial on video, and you can find it (and other videos from the show) at this link (be sure to scroll down): https://www.facebook.com/Mrs-Know-It-All-135749349792882/.

Vole King—No, this isn’t the ruler of those rotten little rodents that eat your bulbs, turf, and hosta roots. This is an innovative company that makes products to foil those pesky critters. Featured at their booth were stainless steel mesh ‘bags’ of various sizes in which you can plant perennials, shrubs, and even trees to put the ‘closed’ sign on your subterranean all-you-can-eat buffet. If you are plagued by these voracious vegetarians, head on over to voleking.com and pick up a few bags or even a roll of the mesh for your garden.

MANTS 50_Horizontal50th Anniversary panel discussion—I can’t close without highlighting the fact that this was the 50th anniversary of MANTS! We garden writers were treated to a special panel discussion by veterans of the show who shared how it has changed in those 50 years, what hasn’t, and their outlook for the future of the green industry.

  • How the show has changed (aside from getting bigger): More women in the industry; more colorful perennials and flowering trees and shrubs; the introduction of branding and marketing of plants; evidence of climate change (one panelist likened Baltimore to “frozen tundra” during MANTS, but now the days are usually above freezing).
  • What hasn’t changed: The common denominators remain the advancement of plants, gardening, horticulture, and people.
  • Panelists’ outlook for the future: The green industry has a critical role to play in climate change by offering trees, shrubs, and other plants that can be used for carbon sequestration. Labor will continue to be a challenge as long as restrictions on H-1B workers remain and young people do not see the benefits of a career in the industry. There are many new opportunities such as cannabis and hemp production, bioremediation, and new plant development to combat introduced pests and diseases.

 

In like a lion

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My garden stirs in late winter. I bundle up and venture out to witness the first faint pulses of change, looking for proof that spring is on the horizon. I quickly find the goods.

IMG_2022The air smells different now, no longer tinged with snow but with an earthiness brought forth from the tentative thaw. Hellebore flowers, from under their winter-battered leathery leaves, are dragging their fresh ruffled chartreuse blooms from the cold soil like tousle-headed teenagers trying to wake. Birds dart in and out of the viburnum hedge, noisily staking out their nesting territory. I round the corner and gasp, delighted as spring smacks me full force. Why am I surprised? It happens every year.

In all this hesitant spring business—the freezing and the thawing, the occasional teasingly bright warm day or half day—there it is: the black pussy willow, trumpeting spring and not pussy-footing around about it in the least. I stand marveling at its silhouette against the gray sky, a huge ugly hulking pile of sticks that are now dotted with inky tufts along their lengths. How long has it been in full bloom? It never says. But it might wonder why it took me so long to notice.

I admire these intrepid winter bloomers—the hellebore, the witchhazel, the pussy willow. What they lack in floral glitz they make up for in grit. Their sap stirs long before our sights are on spring and their curious flowers flex from within icy buds. These early risers seem impatient to get the business of flowering and pollination out of the way and, in the process, offer up life-saving nectar and pollen to woozy bees and other insects emerging on those first warm days.

I bought the black pussy willow (Salix melanostachys) as a mere twig in a four-inch pot decades ago from a long-defunct nursery. I remember seizing on it as a great prize, something unique. I planted the tiny stick in what seemed a huge area at the back corner of the garage where it would have room to grow and receive runoff from the downspout, since willows love water. I fretted when my husband ran over it with the lawn mower, twice. It must have enjoyed the abuse because it never looked back from that point, growing wider by the year. Its twiggy bulk now stretches above the roof gutters, trashing them with its slender leaves. My husband complains when he mows under it and the branches knock his hat off. Who’s getting the last laugh now?

For much of the year the black pussy willow is an unremarkable plant, save for its size. But as winter drags on and spring seems distant, I am always astonished when the glistening black catkins emerge amidst the unsettled throes of late winter. I clip a few of the red-tipped stems to bring inside so I can closely watch the black fuzzy flowers open further. Some are capped with shiny maroon bud scales that eventually litter the table, along with yellow pollen that dusts the tips of the shaggy flowers. Soon I will sweep up the mess and drop the spent twigs into the compost pile as the daffodils finally dare to bloom.

Consider the winter garden

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Most people don’t think about their gardens in winter. Who wants to be out in the cold more than they have to? But if you’re looking to changesnow-on-rudbeckia-black-eyed-susan-spent-flowers your landscape next summer, winter is a great time to consider your options without the distraction of foliage or flowers. Grab some paper and a pencil and come with me on a little landscape soul-searching.

First, look out your windows from indoors. What do you see? Does it please you? Now go outside and tromp around. With fresh eyes, envision what people see when they walk or drive past your house, when they walk to your front door, and drive up your driveway. What do you see when you collect the mail, take out the trash, take your kids to the bus, or walk the dog? Really look. Do you like what you see, or is it lacking? Why? Jot down all your thoughts.

Next, assess how you use or want to use your outdoor spaces. Do you have children who need play space? How about a dog? Do you want to entertain outdoors? Do you enjoy grilling outdoors? Do you want to grow edibles? Do you intend to play lawn games like badminton, bocce, or croquet? Or is having a relaxing oasis more your speed? Add these thoughts to your other notes.

It’s critical to note the physical attributes of the property too. How much sun do various parts of the property receive? Are there areas where water ponds after a rain? Are there other drainage problems? Where are all the structures on the property—house, garage, shed, children’s play house or tree house, pool, driveway, vegetable beds, septic system, gas and water lines, overhead wires, etc.? Making simple sketches helps record these important points, or you can use a copy of the survey you received when you bought your home and draw on that.

Now take your survey copy and lay tracing paper over it. Using different colored pens or markers, draw lines that represent where you drive and park your car on the property, the pattern of where your pets move around, the path you take to pick up your mail, place your trash for pickup, where your kids play, how they walk to the bus stop, how visitors travel to your front door, and other pathways that might occur on your property. This exercise can reveal faults, eyesores, and difficult access paths in a landscape.

Note the style of your house and think about garden styles you like (cottage, formal, modern, etc.). This is the time to dream and have fun. Websites like Pinterest are great for helping you find the garden styles, colors, and detail you like. Magazines and books are great resources too, as well as real gardens you may have visited. Keep track of things you like to help guide a style for your new garden space, either scrapbook style or electronically.

Taken together, your notes and sketches synthesize the facts about your landscape as well as your thoughts, desires, and needshalesia-carolina-silverbell-buds-in-snow-closeup-winter-10 for it. You can use these materials to come up with a list of changes to make: pathways to remove or change; eyesores to screen; spaces for play or lounging to create; or more pleasing views to establish.

With all your thoughts and ideas recorded, come next spring, you’ll have a starting point for creating a landscape that pleases you and suits your needs.