OMG! I’ve been talking with Jennifer so much lately that I forgot that my interview about native perennials was with Melissa, who is so very knowledgeable about rare native plants and has grown many in her garden. She gave a talk to the State Botanical Garden’s Board of Advisors about native perennials that would do well in home gardens. After the talk in November, we finally got together in December so she could answer some of my questions about these perennials. Hearing our conversation again and going over the notes, I am inspired to add several of these recommendations to my garden (I already have a few). I am also inspired to write all three magazine columns due this month on native perennials. I had postponed writing on this subject because these plants would work best in spring issues, just in time for spring planting and the State Botanical Garden April 10th Spring Plant Sale, which will emphasize native plants.
What I am not inspired to do is the usual Internet research, supplemented with my books. Maybe it is because my native wildflower library is written mainly by people I have met and is so charming and thorough. I went to the shelves and pulled down a half dozen great books, mainly from The University of Georgia Press (www.ugapress.org): Hugh and Carol Nourse’s Favorite Wildflower Walks of Georgia, Allan Armitage’s Native Plants for North American Gardens, the Duncans’ Wildflowers of the Eastern United States, Linda Chafin’s Field Guide to the Rare Plants of Georgia, and the Millers’ Forest Plants of the Southeast and Their Wildlife Uses. Then there is my trusty 1992 well-worn paperback: Wildflowers of Arkansas by Carl Hunter, which was a reliable reference when my garden library was small and my computer very, very slow.
The prospect of stacking books, pens, a pad of paper and a cup of tea beside the sinker cypress rocker to research articles actually is inspiring. What a lovely way to spend a few hours this weekend.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
It's the Weekend - Call in the Muse!
This weekend's writing is about native perennials. That should be pretty easy, since I interviewed Jennifer Ceska for my info and her enthusiasm for native plants is beyond infectious. Listening to Jennifer is more energizing than 3 cups of coffee. She and Dr. Jim Affolter are speaking at the Johnstone Lecture at The State Botanical Garden of Georgia in Athens Wednesday, March 3 at 7:00 (free!), which will be a great presentation.
I have her interview recorded. I truly think that this one subject has enough inspiration to base three columns on, since there are so many great native perennials that can add to the home landscape.
I'm also working about 6 hours at the Athens Home and Garden Show - stretched over 3 days. Yuck - have to wear makeup every day this week. But the show is a good one, There are lots of fun things to see (look at the intense blue blooms on the rosemary at Thomas Orchard's booth!), I'm running into a lot of friends and my job is to chat with folks, which I enjoy. The State Botanical Garden has 3 crafts for kids to do and take home - all involving the Monarch butterfly. And I want to hear Shelly's talk on Georgia Gold Medal Plants Saturday afternoon.
Hopefully the writing and the Athens Home & Garden Show will inspire the creative muse, because I could really use her inspiration in my garden this weekend. I'm trying to install chicken wire fencing on metal posts. I love serpentine walls, but find the look very depressing in chicken wire! How in the world do you get it stretched tight? I am having a time getting this right and will dedicate Sunday to trying again. Thank goodness I did have the sense to buy the smaller rolls of 5' wire and not try to save money with the huge roll. The chickens must be contained NOW - the garden is starting to leaf out and if you think deer are rough on a garden, you ought to see what chickens can do. There's also one 4x4 wood post to install. My post hole digger has gone down 16", but that isn't enough. The good news is that 8' post will be a great place for a vine and finial!
I have her interview recorded. I truly think that this one subject has enough inspiration to base three columns on, since there are so many great native perennials that can add to the home landscape.
I'm also working about 6 hours at the Athens Home and Garden Show - stretched over 3 days. Yuck - have to wear makeup every day this week. But the show is a good one, There are lots of fun things to see (look at the intense blue blooms on the rosemary at Thomas Orchard's booth!), I'm running into a lot of friends and my job is to chat with folks, which I enjoy. The State Botanical Garden has 3 crafts for kids to do and take home - all involving the Monarch butterfly. And I want to hear Shelly's talk on Georgia Gold Medal Plants Saturday afternoon.
Hopefully the writing and the Athens Home & Garden Show will inspire the creative muse, because I could really use her inspiration in my garden this weekend. I'm trying to install chicken wire fencing on metal posts. I love serpentine walls, but find the look very depressing in chicken wire! How in the world do you get it stretched tight? I am having a time getting this right and will dedicate Sunday to trying again. Thank goodness I did have the sense to buy the smaller rolls of 5' wire and not try to save money with the huge roll. The chickens must be contained NOW - the garden is starting to leaf out and if you think deer are rough on a garden, you ought to see what chickens can do. There's also one 4x4 wood post to install. My post hole digger has gone down 16", but that isn't enough. The good news is that 8' post will be a great place for a vine and finial!
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Discover the Microclimates in Your Garden
While in college, one of my design classes spent a few days in Boxley Valley along the Buffalo National River in Arkansas to analyze this historic site for a project. Emerging from our tents in the cool morning, desperate for a hot cup of coffee, our instructor pointed out the other tent in the campground. That tent was covered with frost while ours, sited under evergreen trees, were not. The evergreen canopy kept our tents a few degrees warmer and protected from frost.
While studying landscape architecture I heard many lectures on microclimates: south slopes are warmer than north slopes, cold air settles into valleys, morning sun is less harsh than afternoon sun. But seeing and feeling the difference in microclimates within that small campground was a vivid and memorable lesson-a few feet in one site can make a difference.
The moment you realize that your property is made up of many little microclimates you instantly become a better gardener. There is a reason why the azalea planted where it receives irrigation and afternoon shade is thriving in your neighbor's yard, while yours, under the same cluster of pines but receiving afternoon sun and little water, is stressed. A few feet in a garden can make a life or death difference to a plant, which is why gardeners move plants that do not seem to be happy.
Our property is a high point for our neighborhood, so I hesitate before bringing moisture-loving plants into my garden. Moisture loving trees are simply not an option for this site. I refuse to garden without hydrangeas and hostas, which love water and are favorites of the browsing deer. So these are clustered together under an old pecan tree that I revere. When I ration water during a drought, this area is the last to be denied our precious well water.
A few feet from the pampered hydrangeas is a red maple, which seems to claim all available sunlight and moisture from the raised bed around its trunk. Several plants have perished in that extreme environment; the proven survivors for such dark, dry, deciduous shade are spring bulbs, epimediums and columbine.
OK, so let's take a quick walk around your home and look at typical microclimates. The east side receives the morning sun and afternoon shade. The south side gets sun for most of the day. The west side stays shaded in the morning, then gets brutal afternoon sun. The north side stays pretty shaded, but can get afternoon sun in the hottest part of the year. Sounds simple, but few of us live in a rectangle in the middle of a field. The many angles and height of the house, trees, fences, pavement, moisture, soil composition, wind, and more affect your plants. A windy site may dry out foliage. A sheltered area may allow you to grow a plant rated for one zone south (at least for a few winters). Near my home hydrangeas are placed near the downspouts on the east side-sites that offer both afternoon shade and moisture. Rosemary thrives in the brutal area under the south eaves that gets plenty of sun and limited rain.
A plant that can take full sun in Michigan may not be able to handle full sun here in the Southeast. For us ‘part shade’ means morning sun and afternoon shade, while any location that receives three to four hours of afternoon sun, even if it is in the shade until 2:00 in the afternoon, counts as a ‘full sun’ site when selecting plants.
The best way to know your garden is to spend time in it throughout the year, learning where the water flows, where the sun shines at different times of the day and year, and which plants seem happy. To further complicate things, a garden is constantly changing, with trees growing and dying, changing sun angles and more. A few years ago drought tolerant plants were all anyone wanted to talk about here. But weather is always changing. Plants that are suited to a site are the healthiest and the healthiest plants will be best able to survive any weather extreme.
Yes, you can learn about gardening from a book, but the best way to know your garden is to garden in it. You will kill some plants (every gardener does) and move others, you will make mistakes, but you will also find out what works well for you and build on successes. Being aware of the microclimates within your garden will help you be a more successful gardener.
(adapted from an article first published in Lee Magazine, May 2008)
While studying landscape architecture I heard many lectures on microclimates: south slopes are warmer than north slopes, cold air settles into valleys, morning sun is less harsh than afternoon sun. But seeing and feeling the difference in microclimates within that small campground was a vivid and memorable lesson-a few feet in one site can make a difference.
The moment you realize that your property is made up of many little microclimates you instantly become a better gardener. There is a reason why the azalea planted where it receives irrigation and afternoon shade is thriving in your neighbor's yard, while yours, under the same cluster of pines but receiving afternoon sun and little water, is stressed. A few feet in a garden can make a life or death difference to a plant, which is why gardeners move plants that do not seem to be happy.
Our property is a high point for our neighborhood, so I hesitate before bringing moisture-loving plants into my garden. Moisture loving trees are simply not an option for this site. I refuse to garden without hydrangeas and hostas, which love water and are favorites of the browsing deer. So these are clustered together under an old pecan tree that I revere. When I ration water during a drought, this area is the last to be denied our precious well water.
A few feet from the pampered hydrangeas is a red maple, which seems to claim all available sunlight and moisture from the raised bed around its trunk. Several plants have perished in that extreme environment; the proven survivors for such dark, dry, deciduous shade are spring bulbs, epimediums and columbine.
OK, so let's take a quick walk around your home and look at typical microclimates. The east side receives the morning sun and afternoon shade. The south side gets sun for most of the day. The west side stays shaded in the morning, then gets brutal afternoon sun. The north side stays pretty shaded, but can get afternoon sun in the hottest part of the year. Sounds simple, but few of us live in a rectangle in the middle of a field. The many angles and height of the house, trees, fences, pavement, moisture, soil composition, wind, and more affect your plants. A windy site may dry out foliage. A sheltered area may allow you to grow a plant rated for one zone south (at least for a few winters). Near my home hydrangeas are placed near the downspouts on the east side-sites that offer both afternoon shade and moisture. Rosemary thrives in the brutal area under the south eaves that gets plenty of sun and limited rain.
A plant that can take full sun in Michigan may not be able to handle full sun here in the Southeast. For us ‘part shade’ means morning sun and afternoon shade, while any location that receives three to four hours of afternoon sun, even if it is in the shade until 2:00 in the afternoon, counts as a ‘full sun’ site when selecting plants.
The best way to know your garden is to spend time in it throughout the year, learning where the water flows, where the sun shines at different times of the day and year, and which plants seem happy. To further complicate things, a garden is constantly changing, with trees growing and dying, changing sun angles and more. A few years ago drought tolerant plants were all anyone wanted to talk about here. But weather is always changing. Plants that are suited to a site are the healthiest and the healthiest plants will be best able to survive any weather extreme.
Yes, you can learn about gardening from a book, but the best way to know your garden is to garden in it. You will kill some plants (every gardener does) and move others, you will make mistakes, but you will also find out what works well for you and build on successes. Being aware of the microclimates within your garden will help you be a more successful gardener.
(adapted from an article first published in Lee Magazine, May 2008)
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