Connie Cottingham

A Perfect Day to Order Bulbs!

2011-09-05T16:20:00.000-07:00

I swear waiting for Hurricane Lee to arrive with much-needed rain for my garden is torture! So to distract myself from looking out the window every 30 seconds to see if it is raining yet I decided to place my orders for fall-planted bulbs. They will arrive to my garden when it is time to plant them, sometime in October. So instead of the typical ‘Fall Planted Bulbs’ discussion, today I’ll just chat about the bulbs I ordered and why and a few that I recommend that are already in my garden.

From Brent & Becky’s Bulbs: Brent Heath spoke at the Perennial Plant Association annual meeting in Atlanta this summer, so my order reflects the notes from his inspiring talk. Daffodil ‘Monal’ is an early bloomer that takes the heat, and ‘Katie Heath’ performs well in the South, even in Dallas, TX. I definitely could use early bloomers in my garden. Although I have hundreds of daffodils, my garden seems to start blooming a week later than many others, so this year 'February Gold' is also on my list. When placing orders for daffodils, which are very long lived and deer-resistant, choose early, mid and late bloomers to create a long season of cheerful flowers each spring. I’ve chosen a few Ipheions, which Brent suggests scattering in the lawn, and Aliums, ornamental onions that come in many shapes and colors. Both are inexpensive, which makes it easy to try them out. I rarely order tulips, but ‘Lilac Wonder‘ is starred in my notes and too pretty to not order.

From Old House Gardens: This mail-order nursery specializes in heirloom bulbs and this year most the bulbs I chose date to the turn of the 17th Century. The exception is English bluebells, which date back to 1200. I also ordered Spanish bluebells and both like dry summers and shade – that I’ve got! The sternbergia looks like a big yellow crocus that blooms in fall and the sowbread cyclamen (which may not do well south of Athens) has leaves as pretty as its blooms.

From Lushlife Nurseries: I found out about this South Carolina nursery at the Garden Writers annual meeting last week. One of the few treasures in the garden surrounding my 50 year old house is a hymenocallis, a relative of amaryllis with large leaves and white blooms. When I received a small crinum bulb (also related to the amaryllis, rain lilies, and hymenocallis) last week from Lushlife Nurseries I had to find out more. This blog post was a great intro. I couldn’t leave the Lushlife website (www.jenksfarmer.com) without ordering ‘Bradley’. You can buy a bulb for yourself or send a gift box to a friend for a few dollars more, which is less expensive than most gifts and will bloom for decades! Expect this order to come quickly; there is no need to hold these bulbs for later planting.

Favorites that I already have and heartily recommend you order:

From Old House Gardens: A Fall Planted Sampler. Just let them send you bulbs that will do well for your planting zone. It’s a great way to discover something new.

From Brent & Becky’s Bulbs: ‘Fragrant Rose’ daffodil, which is not only beautiful, but really does smell like a rose – a great conversation piece.

From your local garden center: Just about anything that inspires you, especially if the bulbs look fat and healthy and the photo inspires you. Indulge!

Ooh, I hear rumbling. Finally, the rains are coming!!!

Creating Glass Sculptures for the Garden

2011-08-01T03:49:00.000-07:00

More Glass Garden Sculptures

Having fun creating eclectic garden ornaments.

I had so much fun with Shirley learning how to create garden sculptures from flea market glassware (July 2011 issue of Georgia Gardening, pages 56-57), that I went shopping for more glass to create more sculptures and invited a friend over to join me. I had found some old Coke bottles in my father’s garage closet and then bought old-fashioned Coke glasses in the dollar store. Together they made a cute garden ornament that rests on a piece of rebar in the garden. Glasses and matching bowls from the garden store became mushrooms. A little glass swan became the finial on my friend’s tower sculpture. We debated over whether or not one wine glass was just too pretty to use, but cut glass catches the light so well in the garden. This is a fun project to do with friends - just remember not to move your sculpture for 24 hours after you have created it. Your friends will have to return to pick up their creations.

I have had one seal break and just cleaned and reglued it. Remember what Shirley told me: “These are not created as forever pieces. You are not creating these to put in your will, although a couple of friends have asked.”

A Half-Dozen Things You Can Do While Watering.

2011-07-30T14:12:00.000-07:00

Watering brings out the impatient brat in me. And impatient waterers can underwater their plants. Luckily, watering only takes one hand that is holding the hose. Even though I only water plants in the ground once or twice a week I must be doing something else at the same time. And I have found lots of things you can do:

1. Weed. Carry around a lightweight tote to toss weeds into and pull a few as you water. You’ve got to be careful of which weeds you go after though. The really small weeds and fastest growing weeds come out of the ground roots and all, but my garden is clay and you know what dry clay is - yeah, a brick! Some weeds just won’t come up with a one-handed tug. Do what you can.

2. A backrub - for the beagle. Your pet adores you and deserves more than food thrown into his dish as you are rushing out the door. My beagle so obviously loves outdoor time in the morning with me, so I do use some of that time to give him some attention.

A phone call to a long-winded friend. OK, we all have one: that friend or relative we really should call, but we know that means 45 minutes on the phone and we really don’t have that time today. Aunt Maxine who was always so sweet to you when you were a kid, truly deserves your attention. Perfect multi-tasking!

4. Wool-gathering. My husband used to enjoy burning brush, because as he tended the fire, he used the quiet time to organize thoughts and solve problems, what he called wool-gathering. Watering definitely does not tax the brain, so why not use it to think through a problem. I often organize an article or a blog post in my mind while watering.

5. Catch up on podcasts or read a book. Put on a pair of headphones and learn something as you water. Great gardening podcasts I download through ITunes include Brent & Becky’s Bulbs’ Tete-a-Tete and Felder Rushing’s The Gestalt Gardener. I also listen to motivational podcasts (especially as I start my day), NPR shows like The Splendid Table, the Wall Street Journal or TED Talks. The History of Rome is great and can turn anyone into a history buff. And then there are the books you don’t have time to read. Well, let someone else read a book to you while you are watering the hydrangeas.

6. Don’t water. Ooh, that got your attention. I share my well water with my plants and when things get really dry I have to start making choices. I have generous friends with abundant crops and many ornamental plants that outrank those tomato plants so this weekend I decided to stop watering the vegetable garden. Que sera, sera.

As I am finishing this up, there are distant thunder rumbles and weather.com is showing big orange dots headed this way. Oh please, oh please…

2011-07-25T04:23:00.000-07:00

“If you want to see a trial garden in Georgia, come in July and August - that’s when the plants are really tested.” I’ve heard Allan Armitage say that more than once, so during a lunch break at a writer’s conference I walked the couple blocks to see what the Trial Garden at UGA looked like. It was full, full sun at 1:00 and the thermometer said HOT! but a few plants surprised me. Actually, most of the plants looked good. Keep in mind, these plants are being trialed (some already on the market), but they had to pass a lot of tests to get to this point. Now the best of the best are growing side by side to see which really can take the heat and humidity. The calibrochoas were all impressive in baskets, as they are on my deck. The rudbeckias looked good, especially the annual ‘Prairie Sun’. Angelonia was thriving. The geraniums and gallardias looked healthy and full of buds, but looked like plants that needed constant deadheading to really look sharp. Heucheras were both good and not so good, depending on the variety. The pulmonarias were impressive, except for one that was in full sun at 1:30.

Surprises? Caladiums, which seemed to have fallen out of vogue, but, oh my, can they perform - both in my garden and at the trial garden, which were trialing the bulbs for www.classiccaladiums.com. I never want my shade garden to be without caladiums again after seeing how they have handled this summer; you can bet I am going to check out that website. Another surprise was papyrus, known as a water plant. Two specimens in containers looked great. At the Perennial Plant Symposium in Atlanta this week, Dottie Myers commented that a papyrus in a container was her dad’s favorite plant in his garden.

But what looked great that you can get now? Many of the perennials there are available and one fun workhorse is Rudbeckia ‘Henry Eilers’, which has tubular petals that create a fun, sculptural flower in your garden on a taller, perennial plant. ‘Georgia Peach’ heuchera looked good and who can resist that name and the peachy-caramel color? If you are in the Athens area, check out the garden on campus or any botanical garden or garden center. The true performers will stand out, so take notes on what you want to add to your garden for next summer’s display.

UGA Trial Gardens Plant Sale - June 25th

2011-06-10T04:37:00.000-07:00

The UGA Trial Gardens is hosting a Public Open House on Saturday, June 25, 2011 from 8 a.m.- 3 p.m. The garden will be featuring guided tours with Dr. Allan Armitage, a plant sale, heirloom tomato tasting, and a book sale/signing. A $5 donation is requested upon entry (make checks payable to "The Gardens"). For more information visit: www.ugatrialgardens.com or email contact@ugatrialgardens.com.

I’ve been to many open houses here and it is well worth a drive. If you are going, here is my list of essentials to pack:

Hat, water, and sunscreen. There are many wonderful things in this garden, but not a lot of shade.

Totes. Who can resist a plant sale? So, since you know you are getting plants, come prepared. Clear out your trunk and bring a wagon or a couple totes to carry the plants. I love the bright plastic, round totes with handles that you can smoosh together to carry in one hand.

Camera. Oh my, if you love taking pictures you will love this garden!

Paper and pencil or a smart phone to take notes.

Stamina. Yes this is a great open house, but Athens is full of wonderful restaurants, specialty nurseries and gardens. Do a little research and plan a whole day.

I have put plants in an ice chest (without the ice) to keep them out of the sun and a little insulated on the drive home. Beware of leaving plants in a sunny, closed car while you walk into an air conditioned restaurant. The temperature can soar in just a few minutes. Leave the windows open a bit and look for a shaded parking spot (or eat really, really fast).

Growing Lavender in the Southeast

2011-04-30T13:48:00.000-07:00

Spanish Lavender

During a cooking weekend at Callaway Gardens years ago, one of the most memorable tastes was a lavender sorbet. I never had tasted lavender in cooking before and was pleasantly surprised.

A quick search on the Internet reveals recipes for this herb in many sweet and savory dishes, including cookies, lemonade, jellies, meat marinades and more, plus the opportunity to purchase lavender flowers for cooking and crafts. Imagine placing small sprigs of lavender flowers in old fashioned ice cube trays, then including a few in a glass of lemonade. Or just tossing a few lavender flowers over fresh fruit. The key seems to be not to overdo, which would be easy with this fragrant herb.

There are almost 30 species of lavender and dozens of varieties just of English lavender (Lavendula angustifolia), the most popular lavender for cooking. This also seems to be the one that is about the least suited for growing in the Southeast. To keep lavender plants happy here you need full sun, good drainage and air circulation.

Lavender is grown as a crop in California and appreciates dry air and soil that is sandy, alkaline and well-drained. Georgia is not California, and I am quite OK with that fact. Those Californians don't have the rhododendrons and camellias we do. Don't expect to grow a lavender hedge in Georgia, but don't give up on growing this wonderful herb either.

The trick to growing lavender here is to find a variety that does well here, keep it pretty dry and provide excellent drainage and air circulation. A raised bed or container would work well for lavender; just combine it with plants that also can take it dry, like lantana, verbena, sedum and daylilies. In the ground, add gravel and maybe a little lime to provide the conditions it prefers. It will not fare well with our humid summers planted in a crowded, irrigated flower border. Last year I planted a lavender test garden which now has 6 plants in a raised bed.

Provence and Spanish lavender are two that seem to do well in this area. In the herb garden of The State Botanical Garden of Georgia, Athens, there are Spanish lavender plants that are as woody as the rosemary plants. Both are beautiful plants that provide fragrant blooms and foliage and edible flowers. Lavender also attracts bees and is thoroughly disgusting to deer.

If you are trying lavender for the first time, I suggest you buy plants from an area nursery. More than likely they have grown lavender for years and know which varieties do best here. Seeds are slow to start and you want to start with just one or two plants anyway.

Lavender has a strong heritage. Ancient Egyptians used lavender in the mummification process and Pilgrims brought it with them to the New World. Lavender has been used for centuries for bathing, laundry and medicine. I like the old treatment of a cordial made from wine steeped in lavender, cinnamon, nutmeg and sandalwood after an "indigestible meal." A friend put dried lavender sprigs in a present she wrapped for me. Open the preset and the fragrance greets you - how charming! I’m going to have to remember that for the hand knit shawls and scarves I am making.

We Could Lose Part of our Garden History.

2011-04-17T07:09:00.000-07:00

I first heard about the Farmers and Consumers Market Bulletin during a talk decades ago. My father and I took off in his pickup and traveled from NW Arkansas to visit my brother in Atlanta – of course we timed it so we would be in Atlanta during the Southeastern Flower Show. I don’t remember who the speaker was, just that I was so mesmerized by the charm of this publication that was talked about that I had to buy a copy of Elizabeth Lawrence’s Market Bulletins: Gardening for Love. Her book, her last of many garden manuscripts before her death in 1985, documents the friendships Lawrence made through correspondence initiated by ads in the Market Bulletin. She found out about them from Eudora Welty, who subscribed to market bulletins from several Southern states.

This little newspaper, started in 1917 and distributed by the Georgia Department of Agriculture, is composed of free ads from people throughout the state – ads for home-made items, farm equipment, livestock, fresh eggs, seeds and plants, and more, plus a few articles. As I read the ads I can almost picture the person who wrote it, the one who crocheted the dishcloth, raised the chicks, used the farm equipment no longer needed, or is looking for a position as a farm hand. There’s a country charm that comes through the words.

A couple years ago my husband could not resist that charm when he found an antique butter churn. “Look at the photos they emailed me. It’s just like the one my grandmother used to make butter”. As if that wasn’t enough, he added “I need to find someone with fresh Jersey milk”. Oh dear, we already had set up a chicken coop in the back yard, but churning our own butter? That Saturday we drove an hour, MapQuest printout in hand, to pick up our blue antique butter churn. We ended up chatting with the couple for a solid hour before we even saw the churn in their garage. They were lovely people. I can see why the Market Bulletin opened doors of friendship to Elizabeth Lawrence. It is filled with real people, much richer and more interesting than those in tabloid magazines.

This publication has been a free service, mailed to anyone who requested a copy and I have enjoyed it for years. Unfortunately, the state budget no longer can allow that and so the Bulletin now will be charging $10 for 26 issues mailed to your home. I’m sending in my check today. The subscription information below was copied directly from an article on the Georgia Master Gardeners blog. To read that article: http://georgiamgevents.blogspot.com/2011/04/save-piece-of-georgia-history.html

Subscriptions are available to Georgia residents at a cost of only $10 per year (26 issues); out-of-state-subscriptions are available for $20 per year. Out-of-state subscriptions must be within the United States or its territories.

To start or renew a subscription, send a check or money order payable to Market Bulletin, along with your name, complete mailing address and daytime phone number (in the event the Market Bulletin office needs to contact you concerning your subscription) to the following address: Market Bulletin, Georgia Department of Agriculture, 19 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive SW, Atlanta, GA 30334-4250. New subscribers may also pay online with a credit card at www.thegamarketbulletin.com. Please note there is a $1 convenience fee added for online subscriptions.

2 Great Gardening Weekends in Athens

2011-04-03T18:44:00.000-07:00

OK plant nuts, listen up! If you are looking for a road trip or are lucky enough to live nearby, clear your calendars for two special gardening weekends in Athens.

The first is Apriil 9th, when the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, UGA Trial Garden and the UGA Horticulture Club decided to have their plant sales from 8:00am to 2:00pm on the same day – a Plantapolooza! So if you want to find unusual plants, ask horticulturists and Master Gardeners their advice (bring a few photos of your garden – that helps communication), or just feel like celebrating spring by plant shopping, then come to Athens. The State Botanical Garden will emphasize native plants, food crops and Georgia Gold medal winners among their wide selection. Allan Armitage will be leading tours and signing books at the UGA Trial Garden. Find out more about these sales at www.ugatrialgardens.com. If you are a Friend of the State Botanical Garden, you can start shopping Friday night at the preview sale (a few of the best things sell out that night), plus members receive 10% off purchases at the State Botanical Garden sale and in the new gift shop. The Friends of the Garden “Members Only” Preview Sale will be held Friday, April 8, 5:00pm-7:00pm in the Visitor Center & Conservatory. If you aren’t a Friend of the Garden, you can buy a membership outside of the sale that night. That leaves Saturday open to not only shop the other two sales but… (insert drumroll here):

Several area nurseries are offering discounts to people who have been to these three plant sales. The more you shop, the more you save. For visiting one, two or all three of the Plantapalooza sites, you earn 5%, 10% or 15% (respectively) off your total purchase that day at the following participating local retailers. Participants will receive a card which will be stamped at the Botanical Garden, Trial Gardens and Horticulture Club sales.

Cofer’s Home & Garden Showplace

1145 Mitchell Bridge Road

Athens, GA 30606-6411

(706) 353-1519

Store Hours: 9:00am-6:00pm

www.cofers.com

Goodness Grows

332 Elberton Road

Lexington, GA 30648

(706) 743-5055

Store Hours: 9:00am-5:00pm

www.goodnessgrows.com

Thyme After Thyme

550 Athens Road

Winterville, GA 30683-1535

(706) 742-7149

Store Hours: 9:00am-5:00pm

www.thymeafterthyme.com

Thomas Orchards, Greenhouse and Giftshop

6091 Macon Highway

Bishop, GA 30621-1468

(706) 769-5011

Store Hours: 9:00am-6:00pm

www.thomasorchardsandnursery.com

Specialty Ornamentals

3650 Colham Ferry Rd,

Watkinsville, Georgia 30677

(706) 310-0143 ‎

www.specialtyornamentals.com

Eastside Ornamentals

120 Walter Sams Road

(Off Highway 78 East)

Winterville, GA 30683

(706) 543-5500

Store Hours: 9:00am-4:00pm

The following weekend will be a great weekend in Athens for gardeners too. Saturday, April 16th from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm will be The Piedmont Gardeners 18th Annual Garden Tour of Athens. See www.piedmontgardeners.org for photos of the 5 lovely gardens on tour this year. This is a very successful and popular annual garden tour. I’ve been to many of these tours and have always had a wonderful time. I’ve toured two of this year’s gardens and - oh my! – they are amazing – so worth the $20 ticket price ($15 in advance)! Bring a camera, plus paper and pen. Then once you have that list of plants you cannot live without, go back to the nurseries listed above, because Thomas Orchards in Watkinsville, Cofer’s in Athens and Thyme After Thyme in Winterville (maybe more) will have open houses in their nurseries, including specials and Master Gardeners to answer questions.

Athens is a great gardening town. If you feel like taking a breather, stroll the State Botanical Garden of Georgia (www.uga.edu/botgarden) to see Forged from Nature: An Exhibition of Garden Gates. You’ll view amazing sculpted gates by Andrew T. Crawford that are 6’-10’ tall among the many plants in bloom.

Take Pride in Last Year Before Planning Next Year

2011-01-02T15:07:00.000-08:00

I am big - and I mean big - on writing down goals and New Year's Resolutions. I even carry my 2 pages of goals in my purse. Did I mention I was a bit detailed too? Those 2 pages of text are only 7 goals.
Wnen I was having lunch with 2 girlfriends in Arkansas last week I said I had neglected my garden for the past 6 months. A friend - whose garden is full of fun, creativity and great plants - said she has literally stepped into her garden to work once in the past six months (it is not laziness - she has been a caregiver and worked on 3 houses during that time). Then she asked "You haven't done anything?"
"Well, I did reclaim the shed after the chickens moved out, then the contractor needed me to move the deck furniture and stuff under the shed while he worked, so that came to a standstill. And I did hire a great lady to help out a few days. We reclaimed 3 garden plots back to lawn and started a new bed under the pines with lots of plants I had and 4 new camellias. I planted several large planters. I did plant a strawberry bed and added compost to all the raised beds. And I pruned back butterfly bushes, spirea and forsythia so the house could get painted. But there's so much that didn't get done."
"Well, you didn't do nothing!"
So often we discount what we do and dismiss little things that add up. Last night I sat down and filled out an un-Resolution Worksheet from TonyaLeigh.com and it was eye-opening. It started by celebrating what went right in 2010, what your favorite moments were, who is a new friend, and what you were proud of enduring (like the snake living in my chicken coop). Before you plan 2011, look back with some pride at what went right in 2010 and build on that. What tree turned its most vivid fall color, what planting bed looked great, what new bird moved into your habitat, what special moments happened in your garden, what special plant moved in, what you have read and learned, what other gardens did you visit, what person did you hear speak.
Of course a lot didn't get done. It's a garden: an ever-changing, ever-growing, living thing. Relish in what went right, then pick up all those mail order catalogs that just arrived and plan to make 2011 even better.

Camellias under the Pines

2010-10-26T02:14:00.000-07:00

Today I am going to Cofer's to pick out 3-4 new camellias! The ex-chicken-run includes an area under the pines that is perfect for camellias! The area is also perfect for my hammock. Kelly helped me plant dozens of shrubs and perennials (including a Yuletide camellia) this weekend there too. So I pulled up an old article I had written to brush up on camellias and thought I'd share it with you. After reviewing the planting instructions I am certain of one thing - among those pine roots I am not inspired to dig a hole for anything bigger than a 1 gallon rootball!:

Camellias are elegant evergreens for the South

Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on March 9, 2007.

The American Camellia Society lists less than 20 recommended nurseries throughout the country; Cofer's Home & Garden Showplace in Athens is one of them. If you want to see your camellia in bloom before you buy it then this is a good weekend to select from dozens of varieties at Cofer's. Your only problem will be choosing.

There are 250 species of camellias, all evergreens native to the Orient. Let's focus on two familiar types of camellias, plus a species camellia well worth adding to the garden. The most common camellias are sasanquas and japonicas.

Sasanqua camellias (Camellia sasanqua) bloom at the end of the year, starting to bloom in late fall. The blooms tend to be smaller and more fragrant than the japonicas. The plant tends to be smaller too, maturing at 6 to 10 feet tall, and less cold hardy than the japonicas. One of the most common sasanquas is 'Yuletide'.

Japonicas (Camellia japonica) bloom at the beginning of the year, from almost Christmas until almost Easter. These are blooming now and are at their peak in February. That is when Massee Lane Gardens south of Fort Valley, Georgia and headquarters of the American Camellia Society, holds their annual Festival of Camellias. Maturing at 10 to 20 feet tall, japonicas can take more shade and should be kept out of afternoon sun.

"So which would you recommend?" I asked Stuart Cofer. "Both! That way you have blooms in two seasons. The japonicas do best sheltered from the wind. They prefer morning sun with shade from noon on and love pine shade. Winter sun can scorch the leaves of japonicas planted in deciduous shade. This doesn't hurt the plant, just looks bad and worries the homeowner. Sasanquas are tougher plants and can take more sun." There is a 13-year-old treeform sasanqua by Cofer's main entry - the west side. Of course, all the other conditions must be right. Full sun is easier to take in perfect soil conditions than in Georgia clay. Our warm summer nights are another challenge for camellias. Most resources would recommend afternoon shade for any camellias.

I have seen varieties of Camellia hiemalis and Cammellia oleifera (tea oil camellia) in plant sales and nurseries. Both bloom late in the year. Fifty percent of the vegetable cooking oil in Hunan, China is from tea oil camellias, producing an oil similar to olive oil. Tea oil camellia is hardy to zone 6 and a large plant, maturing at 10 to 20 feet like the japonicas. Cold hardy camellias such as this one are a hot item, with gardeners north of us wanting some of the beauty surrounding us.

Tea camellias have been used to make black tea in China since 500 B.C. In fact, the only commercial tea plantation in the United States is in South Carolina and harvests the tea from Camellia sinensis. The Charleston Tea Plantation First Flush Celebration will be held May 12. The 'first flush' is when the tiny new leaves push up above the previous years growth, the basis of a once a year special edition tea. Find out more about the festival at www.bigalowtea.com or sample a box of Bigalow's American Classic Tea, available in area grocery stores. Camellia sinensis is cold hardy into zone 6, does well in shade and matures at four to six feet high. The single, white 11/2-inch blooms with yellow stamens appear in fall. C. sinensis 'Rosea' has pretty pale pink blooms.

When you plant a camellia in the ground, follow the instructions found on the American Camellia Society Web site: www.camellias-acs. org. They recommend the top of the rootball be slightly higher than the soil line. Do not cover the top of the rootball with soil, but do cover the entire planted area with mulch. Camellia roots need good drainage and air. The ACS also recommends that the planting hole be at least two feet wider than the rootball and the backfill removed from the hole be placed back into the hole when planting. Many people in Georgia love their plants to death by adding lots of goodies into the holes when planting. If you want to amend the soil, amend the entire bed before planting and make sure that bed is elevated so it drains well (and away from any structure), even after it settles with time.

Time in Her Garden

2010-10-23T18:21:00.000-07:00

Today I planned to take a friend to lunch before going to the book launch of In the Garden with Billy, a book I had been looking forward to reading. Jean and I sat on her patio for a few minutes, talking in the warming sun when she mentioned she wished she had asked me to bring a tiller or tool to help break up a contractor’s clay planting bed so she could put a few plants in. Jean has to be an amazing gardener, because her garden is blooming despite the horrible sub-soil clay mess her poor plants have to live in. A couple years ago we planted blueberries, azaleas, a cotoneaster and Knockout roses, all doing well now. Today we made a mad dash to Pike’s to buy soil, mulch and plants, then Jean heated homemade stew and made grilled cheese sandwiches while I used a new pitchfork to break up brick-hard clay. Four bags of topsoil only amended half the bed, but we considered with our time and soil limitations half a bed done fairly well was pretty darn good for today. The other half would be dealt with in spring and just mulched for now. A mature Knockout rose divids the two sides. I planted 22 daffodils where I could dig deep-enough holes and moved some ‘Goodnight Moon’ bearded iris that had spread since the start was brought from my garden. I completed the planting with asters, mums and pansies, then 4 bags of mulch while Jean planted a container with annuals. I managed to scrub most of the dirt off my hands and nails before jumping in the car to get to the book launch.

Was sweating in the garden better than someone bringing me lunch in a restaurant? You betcha, because those flowers will bloom for several weeks, then several years for Jean. The daffodils will be a brilliant surprise come spring. I think that taking Grandma to an all-you-can-stomach buffet shows love, but not much imagination. If you have a friend or relative that you should visit, consider doing a little work instead of just going out to eat. Washing windows, filling birdfeeders, planting pansies, or framing photos can give someone many hours of joy.

Oh - and In the Garden with Billy - well worth reading! Good news, since I bought copies for 4 friends!

This Ol' Shed

2010-10-17T16:33:00.000-07:00

I had knitting friends over Thursday night. One of the best things about having folks over is that the house is cleaned in a frenzy right before. One of the best things about that is my clean house collided with help in the garden and perfect Fall weather on Saturday morning - so why not spend the day in the garden! Kelly transformed bare post-chicken-yard ground into a mulched area under the pines just perfect for a collection of camellias, my hammock, lots of spring bulbs, plus sun-loving perennials. At the same time I shoveled out the chicken shed and laid fresh mulch in its place. Thank goodness there wasn’t a mirror around, because for a while I was wearing my Aussie style Tula hat and a bandana around my nose and mouth to avoid the dust. OK, if that image isn’t bad enough, let me add that it wasn’t a classic western look, thanks to a tacky turquoise and pink abstract design on the bandana. I am glad I never actually saw how I looked - I was just happy to breathe with all the dust being stirred up.

So what was the chicken pen now has a table and chairs on fresh mulch, with an open air feel, between the shade garden and the north vineyard. Sounds lovely, especially if you have browsed a coffee table book on garden sheds. Let me tell you, when I say shed I mean shed. And the table is green plastic surrounded by white plastic chairs gathered up around the property. I'm havin' trouble attaching a photo tonight, but I'll get before, during and afters of this project. Still, it has a very calming, relaxed, country feel that fits me. Later I may go out and buy better furniture, but the shed will always be a shed. It’s fun that Kelly, who has been helping me reclaim the garden, is very OK with the style. She even lifted up the old set of wood deck steps that I could not get onto the loads to the dump last week and said “Two posts on this and you have a plant stand. Think of how pretty all of your ladies-in-waiting will look!” My ladies-in-waiting are all the one gallon plants waiting to find a home in my garden. We also decided the collection of 40+ year old fence rails could make a fun edging for the new bed.

The next step is to move the potting bench that my father made for me about 20 years ago into that area. It’s a perfect location and, luckily, the bench is on wheels. The three metal trash cans that held chicken feed will be stocked with potting soil and orchid bark beside the bench.

Today I pruned the variegated pittosporum on the front corners of the house. These were huge masses of foliage when we moved in 9 years ago, but were pruned into windswept clusters of trees. That looks great, but ongoing pruning is needed to keep that look. When I was getting advice on work needing to be done to the house, I was told to prune away any branches touching the house. Leaf and limb pickup is tomorrow and hopefully a new coat of paint on the house is coming soon, so pruning had to be done today. A mountain of pittosporum branches are now piled up beside the road.

I’m addicted to listening to my IPod while gardening and this time I started Knit with Courage, Live with Hope: a good book, but maybe not the best subject for me. It is written by a knitwear designer dealing with her husband’s fast-moving cancer and constant pain. A book being read to me is a good background not only to pruning, but to frantic knitting. Last night I cleaned out my knitting basket and discovered the cabled scarf I was knitting for my uncle. Uncle Steve is living in New Jersey, rather thin, and tells me he walks almost a mile a day. He is also 94 and it is starting to get cold. I must get this scarf done! So I sat on the deck for several more chapters and knitted. The scarf is now long enough to function, but I might as well finish up this second skein before casting off, washing it and getting it into the mail.

Life without chickens

2010-10-10T06:25:00.000-07:00

This weekend the 13 ladies were placed in the coop, then onto a trailer, and headed to their new home. Their coos and personalities and eggs will be missed. With shorter days ahead I was not able to get excited about caring for them in the dark before and after work. I must admit the five foot king snake that decided my ladies are fantastic roommates and was swinging from the shed rafters when I checked on the ladies at dusk one evening helped me decide, especially after a friend assured me that having chickens meant dealing with a couple snakes a year. Sir snake was escorted to the other end of the property once again. Hopefully he will stay in the woods this time, dining on rodents instead of chicken eggs.

Yesterday I loaded Dad's pickup twice, tied the tarp over each load with knots that actually held (proud of that!) and went to the dump. Now I have an open 9' x 12' or so shed behind my walk-in shed with a cross-breeze and amazing views: the shade garden under the huge pecan on one side, woods on another and a young muscadine vineyard on the third. Not to mention the old chicken yard with lots of loose soil and fertilizer under huge tree trunks. Dad's decades-old rusty cultivator will look great against the white wood wall. Oh, the possibilities are endless!

Today I will clean out the mulch under the shed and start to lay out the new beds, lay new mulch there, under the shed, and around the trees. I have begun to look at my nursery of container plants with a whole new perspective. There is a spot perfect for camellias and a place for my new trumpet vine, plus a large area for Lenten roses, heuchera and ferns. There is also a place where I must fight to kill an ancient stand of nandina, but the nandina was cut back two weeks ago and two huge, planted containers can rise above that battle.

For now an existing plastic table and chairs will move into the space, and I can hang chimes from a dear friend, and the comfy hammock. I'll look at redecorating and adding a lighted ceiling fan later. Off I go...

What is a native plant? Why plant them?

2010-08-29T06:19:00.000-07:00

almost as printed in the Athens Banner-Herald April 2010

“Native plants – gotta have ‘em.” seems to be a mantra among home gardeners, garden magazines and more. But what is a native plant and why would we want to plant them?

In the past few months I have had the opportunity to travel around the state on many trips, spending time in cars with staff members of the State Botanical Garden’s Research and Conservation and the Horticulture Departments, plus the Interim Director – captive audiences who could explain what a native plant is and does. My favorite short description is that a native plant was one growing in this area when the Europeans settled here. OK, so it is a plant that has been here for 300-400 years. Doesn’t seem like much time, but actually since that time many acres have been cleared for cities, cotton, pine forests and more. Since that time English ivy, privet, Chinese wisteria and other non-native invasive plants have made themselves at home, shading out and crowding out native plants.

OK, we have a rough timeline, so where is ‘here’? The native purists may say native means native to the county, others define the area as Georgia. Many native plant societies represent their state, which politically makes a lot of sense but covers many different geographic regions. The plants themselves could care less about our political boundaries. I tend to embrace the Southeast, partially because I have gardened in three areas in the Southeast and I am a member of Southeastern sections of a few plant organizations. Northern and Western North America is so different from us and so unfamiliar to me as a gardener that I stay Southeast when I think ‘native’. That doesn’t mean we can’t grow their plants – leatherleaf mahonia is from the opposite corner of the country, yet I have two of those plants thriving in my garden. Echinacea tennesseensis is native to a small area near Nashville, Tennessee, but will be at the Botanical Garden Plant Sale and will do well in our gardens. Home gardeners must keep in mind though that if a plant is native to a shady creek bank in this area, offering it a dry sunny spot will probably not make it happy. It is important to match the growing conditions, not just the geography.

As a rule, native plants, truly native plants, are species. If a plant is a cultivar, which stands for ‘cultivated variety’, someone bred the plant to encourage certain characteristics. This is why nurseries now offer an abundance of leaf colors in coral bells (Heuchera) and coneflowers (Echinacea) with double petals or fragrance or with bloom colors of purples, wines, yellows and white. So Heuchera villosa is a Southeastern native plant and one of the parents of Heuchera ‘Georgia Peach’, a cultivar. Cultivars of our native trees may offer larger flowers, variegated leaves or more vivid fall foliage colors. Purists may only want the plants found growing naturally; I embrace all the varieties and crosses of natives that offer what I see as the best of both worlds.

So why plant natives? The common answer is that because they are native to the area, these plants are hardier and more pest resistant, which basically is true. It’s hard to clump everything into one pile. Some natives are still fussy, especially when they are planted in the wrong spot. Remember what the dogwoods looked like at the height of our drought? Other natives can be bullies and grow more than we want.

But there are two reasons to plant natives that I really like. First, native plants are needed by our native wildlife. Bees, butterflies, and all the creatures native to our area need our native plants in their environment. Everything is interdependent. Planting natives helps to keep the cycle going.

Second, our native plants are ours. Texans can have their bluebonnets, Californians can have their poppies - we have plants that represent us. Our Southern magnolias, dogwoods, native azaleas, serviceberry, etc. are us, just like sweet tea, screened-in porches, and hospitality. We need to embrace these plants because they are a part of our heritage. Native plants are part of what makes this area special. We don’t want a landscape that looks like everywhere else – that would be as interesting as a highway lined with chain stores and fast food restaurants.

I'm back!

2010-08-29T06:11:00.000-07:00

To say it’s been an eventful year is an understatement. Some joys, lots of travel and changes. I’m afraid my garden and my blog are both suffering from neglect, but I woke up Saturday morning and calculated – in the next 10 days I have half of those as ‘weekend’ days and no major events. Now is the time to catch up, but not to beat myself up. So here it is. Sunday morning, and I am sitting on the deck. Cackling, happy hens are free ranging in the backyard and vineyard on a lawn that is about 80% reclaimed after John Deere and I chugged through knee-high grass. It is so relaxing to take a mowing break by pulling up the riding mower beside a muscadine vine and grazing on sun-warmed grapes.

One thing I did notice while mowing is how many types of wildlife thrive in grasses. I move so slow on the mower that snakes and bunnies and such can escape unharmed from the mower, but butterflies and all sorts of flying and jumping insects were enjoying the seedheads. The tall grass was alive with fauna, which made me feel a little guilty for cutting it, so I think I will leave the meadow intact and just cut a pathway through (it gets mowed about 3 times a year). I’m not sure if these are native grasses, but this area was never sodded or planted after most of this property was timbered a few years before we bought the land. We have worked to keep some areas meadow and some wooded. The backyard is a ‘country lawn’, a mix of grasses and clover that looks great the day after it is mowed.

So, my time in the garden, plus few meetings this week discussing native plants reminded me of a column that I’d like to add to this blog, one that gives reasons for native plants in the garden. One of the main reasons is that the native birds, butterflies, and mammals depend on natives for their diet and habitat.

The butterflies are waking up – gotta deadhead the butterfly bush beside me soon.

Good enough.

2010-05-31T14:31:00.000-07:00

I just don't like working in my front yard. Despite planting about 40 trees since I moved in, I feel on display for the cars driving down the busy road in front of our house. The back garden is private, the soil there is worlds better, and the shade and seating is much more restful than the baking west-facing front. When I garden I want to be in back, with the hydrangeas, vegetables, grapevines and chickens. I love escaping into that private world.
When we moved in, the front of our 100' long ranch brick house had a thicket of variegated pittosporum on each end with a 4' tall hedge of Japanese hollies between. There was about a foot gap to wiggle through to climb the steps to the porch and the shutters were shiny black. Ugh! Compared to where we started, the front looks lovely, but I have just ignored it for the past couple years and 'lovely' is not the word to describe it. 'Neglected' - that's the word. So I vowed to spruce it up over Memorial Day weekend and found myself with the hoe among the tomatoes instead. I finally got out front and decided it would take more than a weekend to get this area in shape. And then I got honest and let go of the guilt. I hate the front planting, of working around the hollies that are there. I hate the hard red clay that I can't till up because I am afraid of changing the drainage and hurting the holly roots. I hate the low-growing perennials which have survived, but are too diminitive to be seen by the cars traveling 50 mph down the road. I want it out. I want it all out - everything between the now treeformed pittosporum, saving only a small patch by the front door. I want real soil, in a fat, fluffy planting bed sloping away from the house.
So this year I settle for good enough. I weeded, dug up two Rose of Sharon, added some annuals and moved some perennials, mulched with pine straw, and moved planters onto the porch, in front of the hollies, and behind the dwarf crape myrtles. I've been stashing 10% of everything I earn freelancing this year and now that money has a purpose. Next winter I want someone to yank out dozens of hollies and bring in loads of soil. For now, I'll settle for good enough and head to the back garden.

From Landscape to Homestead

2010-05-26T04:35:00.000-07:00

Not sure how it happened, but our 5 acres transformed quickly from a backyard with a vegetable garden and some fruit plants to a homestead. A few days ago it was too rainy to work outside, so I roamed the garden to see what edibles were forming on our plants. What happened??? We no longer are working toward a ‘landscape’; instead we have created a homestead interspersed with some really cool ornamental plants. Not that I’m complaining – I really am liking this, but oh my! We have 13 chickens (6 dozen eggs/week), 14 grapevines, 6 blueberries and at least as many blackberries. Oh, and the gardens - 2 vegetable plots, plus raised beds and cucumber and melon patches. The hops vines produce well. And fig trees – 3 mature trees plus 2 more in containers. I heartily suggest one, maybe two, fig trees. Any more is just too much and five is … well, the chickens will be feasting on figs. Mother Nature planted some for us – muscadines, elderberries (great in wine) and poke salet (ever had a poke quiche? – yummy!).

The poor front garden is suffering as I hoe and gently coax tomato plants back into their cages. This three-day weekend I will commit to working on the neglected front, adding containers and flowers, pulling out plants that aren’t working and doing some serious pruning to the groves of variegated pittosporum. When pruned, they look like windswept trees.

So I will never have the magazine-layout landscape – but I should have plenty of eggs and veggies to share with friends.

Four Reasons Knitters Grow Lavender in their Garden:

2010-04-08T04:01:00.000-07:00

1- To repel pests from the yarn stash.
2- To make charming homemade sachets that add to a hand-knit gift and make it smell so wonderful when it is opened.
3- To add to lemonade served to friends when they come over to knit.
4- Because it is so lovely growing in the garden!

In the Southeast the key to growing lavender is really good drainage.

There will be 6 varieties of lavender sold at The State Botanical Garden of Georgia’s Spring Plant Sale this weekend (www.uga.edu/botgarden) in Athens. The entire plant catalog is now on the Garden’s website. If you would like to see a list of plants, please click on http://www.uga.edu/botgarden/documents/plantsales/sps10.pdf
Also, there will be a special sale in the Garden Gift Shop.

Plant Sale hours:
Saturday, April 10, 8:00am-2:00pm, Everyone welcome
Friends members get into a Friday pre-sale, plus receive discounts both Friday and Saturday.

Back to the Books

2010-02-28T10:13:00.000-08:00

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.

It's the Weekend - Call in the Muse!

2010-02-27T03:21:00.000-08:00

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!

Discover the Microclimates in Your Garden

2010-02-04T03:08:00.000-08:00

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)

Foster Orchids have Arrived

2010-01-31T08:05:00.000-08:00

Dad at age 90 - Christmas 2007

Two dozen orchid plants traveled back with me from Dad's greenhouse into my living room - or at least they will be there once the new mail-ordered light table arrives. Luckily, a couple boxes of orchid and gardening books also traveled with me. After Dad's funeral we were all pleased that my brother-in-law Lou, who lives across the street from Mom , said he would like to take over Dad's hobby greenhouse. "After taking care of the orchids whenever your folks traveled I understand why John liked spending time in that greenhouse." Right before I left I showed Lou all I knew about repotting orchids. We repotted three orchid plants. One with a beautiful orange bloom yielded two plants - one for each of us.

I volunteered at the State Botanical Garden once a week for about a year repotting orchids. When Dad came to Gerogia for a visit several years ago he spent an afternoon with me and the Greenhouse Curator, giving us tips and improving our repotting skills. A few years ago I consulted Dad about orchid basics to write one of my weekly newspaper columns. That column is below - time for me to review it! I need to brush up on my orchid growing skills - not only do I have these two dozen plants and other plants he gave me, but I may have almost the only Blc. 'John L. Fugedy' plant left. It's almost big enough to divide - hopefully in a few years others in the family will have one too.

I just joined the American Orchid Society. Bless them, they provide informative videos to members, as well as their monthly magazine and a monthly 'to do' checklist.

To Grow Orchids You Just Have to Know What They Like
Published in The Athens Banner-Herald January 2006

My father has had has a home-made greenhouse in the back yard, filled with orchids, for as long as I can remember. A corporate pilot, he could be gone for days at a time, so as soon as I showed any inclination for gardening I was trained to take care of those orchids. If you are at all hesitant to adopt an orchid and try growing one, let me try to explain what orchids want as I learned as a child and once I started my collection.

Orchids like light, but not direct summer sun.
All orchids need light, some more than others. Cattleyas take more light than Phalaenopsis. But none like direct sun in summer. Dad would put a shadecloth over the greenhouse for summer and take it down in winter. The orchids that went outside in summer were hanging from a tree or under a shade structure.

Orchids need air circulation.
If you look in a greenhouse, you will see the benches (tables the plants sit on) are usually made of wire mesh. This lets the water drain through, but it also lets air flow through. Air movement is key to growing orchids.

I did not understand this basic principle until recently. My orchids thrive outside in summer, hanging under the pecan tree. Last winter I moved them to a room in the back of the house where they received nice morning light. But this room was heated with a space heater and I only went in there once or twice a week, not being as diligent as I should with the humidity trays. The poor little guys were breathing dry, still air. The plants endured the winter indoors, then thrived again when they moved outside in summer. Now the orchids live with us in rooms with ceiling fans and air movement and are much happier then last winter.

Orchids need fertilizer.
Dad used a fertilizer that turned the water and his thumb blue. Not all gardeners have green thumbs; my Dad often has a blue thumb and he's a great gardener.

Orchids need water.
Dad's basic rules of watering: water the little pots more frequently than the big ones, in summer more frequently than in winter, and water every plant until water runs out the bottom of the pot.

I carry mine to the tub to give them a thorough watering and spraying: watering once, allowing a little time to drain, then watering again before returning the plant to its place. Lift the pot before and after you water your orchid and soon you will be able to tell if your plant needs water by the weight of it.

If you have city water, you may want the water to sit in an open container for a day to remove residual chlorine. This also brings the water to room temperature.

Orchids like humidity.
Georgia's hot, humid summers can literally take your breath away. But the hotter it gets, the more orchids like humidity. Water evaporating off the leaves and enough moisture in the plant both help the plant handle heat. Avoid the combinations of dry and hot and wet and cold - orchids do not like either.

One summer Dad could not trust the temperamental fan in the greenhouse. On a sunny, summer day air movement is essential in a greenhouse or it starts to bake like a closed car. So Dad devised a solution - an obnoxiously loud alarm triggered by temperature. Luckily, all of our neighbors were cows. He thought it was a stroke of genius (it was); I despised the thing. Whenever that alarm sounded, I was to drop everything, run out to the greenhouse to check the fan and, using a special hose attachment, spray a fine mist of water throughout the greenhouse. The evaporating water had a cooling effect. Even if the alarm did not sound, I was to mist once or twice during a sunny summer afternoon.

Indoors, a humidity tray or tabletop fountain helps add moisture.

Orchids don't like to be too hot or too cold.
Many orchids adapt well to indoor temperatures, although they usually like temperatures to drop at night. Turn down the thermostat a little at bedtime and your orchids and heating bill may both look better.

This advice is simple and general. The best way to learn about orchids is to take one home and learn by doing.

Phalaenopsis, the moth orchid, is one of the best orchids to try growing indoors. They have a spray of flowers rising above broad, low leaves and roots that like to wander outside the pot. Preferring temperatures between 65 and 85 degrees and lower light conditions, most homes offer the conditions they need. Phalaenopsis are also very easy to find. They are usually sold in bloom and the blooms can last for months on the plant. Plants can rebloom one to three times a year. If you have a spot where African violets are happy, Phalaenopsis should be happy there too.

Tom Larkin, grower, hybridizer, and orchid judge, recommends Ortho's Complete Guide to Orchids by Michael McKinley (Editor) for beginning orchid growers. Flora's Orchids, recently published by Timber Press, is a beautifully illustrated, informative reference. Both books are endorsed by the American Orchid Society.

Generations

2009-12-27T06:55:00.000-08:00

The first day in NW Arkansas was perfect – sunny and 60 degrees, so my 8 year old nephew John Michael and I planted bags of bulbs and a flat of violas in Mom’s garden. It was fun looking at the bulbs and analyzing where the leaves and roots will come out and looking at how the blooms change colors with age on the little blue and white violas. John Michael is a born scientist with a queasy stomach – I don’t think he could be a botanist if he has to go through Biology labs and dissections. Great potential in engineering…

Then Dad took me to his greenhouse filled with blooming orchids and we found a spot for the snapdragons I was afraid would not survive the coming temps in the teens. John Michael promised to plant them later. Dad showed me the new deer fence around 8 raised veggie beds behind the greenhouse. “I’ll probably plant berries in two of the beds because I don’t need more than 6 for vegetables.” Dad devours gardening magazines and seed catalogs coming in the mail. He also turns 93 in March. Oh Lord, give me some of those genes!

The violas have been under a layer of snow and the tulips, hyacinths and crocus are under snow, mulch and soil, but all have promising, colorful futures.

Do these Felcos make my hips look big?

Into the Field with the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance

2009-12-17T07:23:00.000-08:00

Last week I joined a group of folks from the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance, which is a diverse group of organizations throughout the state that have come together to meet plant conservation goals, to plant endangered Echinacea laevigata and other native wildflowers in North Georgia. This will help me complete 16 required hours of volunteer time so I can be in the second graduation class receiving a Certificate in Native Plants from the State Botanical Garden.

Complete blog post at the State Botanical Garden site: http://tinyurl.com/ykgn2rp.

Can I be a homesteader when I grow up?

2009-12-14T09:19:00.000-08:00

I offered pumpkin muffins to folks traveling in the car with me, telling them that the chickens happily attacked the rind after I cooked the pumpkin, so I need to plant pumpkins in my garden next year. Liese replied “Oh, you’re a homesteader”.
Oh I wish I could, because to me the biggest insult is being called lazy and if there is one thing a successful homesteader is not, it’s lazy. I consider that reply an amazing, yet untrue, complement. Then Liese and Heather both laughed at me when I pulled out my knitting as I denied the title.
Homesteading for me is like reading the classics – I’d like to be able to claim such a feat, but can’t imagine ever actually doing it. Last month I was listening to Ayn Rand on my I Pod while harvesting turnips – baby steps.

Add Interest to Your Winter Landscape

2009-12-08T04:14:00.000-08:00

I have met homeowners who would not consider anything but evergreens in their front yard. What a shame, because the winter landscape can be so beautiful and so dramatically different. A landscape should celebrate the seasons. Blooms, berries, sculptural forms, increased visibility and attractive foliage all add to the character of a changing landscape.

Evergreens can form a strong backbone for our plantings and should be used in a landscape, but not exclusively. Dwarf conifers and ornamental grasses can add height and form to a perennial border, balancing the profusion of color spring through fall. In winter, when the perennials are subordinate, the shape of the conifer, the sound and movement of the dry grasses and the dramatic forms of seedheads become the focus.

Two of my favorite plants to enhance the winter landscape are daffodils and Lenten roses. Both are easy to grow, long-lived, deer resistant, and bloom when we so desperately need flowers in our life.

Winter is when groundcovers, subordinate to showier blooming plants, often get noticed. Evergreen groundcovers contrast with bare trees, brown lawns, and fallen leaves. The bold foliage of cast iron plant and holly fern, the delicate texture of autumn fern, the expanse of liriope or mondo grass, the color of ajuga foliage - all more noticeable in winter.

Trees and shrubs provide winter interest in many forms: foliage, structure, blooms, and bark. The dogwood is a classic example of a combination of all four. The horizontal branching, flower buds, rugged bark, red berries and early spring blooms make this an all season (albeit fussy) plant. Leatherleaf mahonia has bold evergreen foliage, fall color, yellow spring blooms and blue summer berries. Many of the best winter plants offer much in other seasons as well.

Other trees and shrubs with interesting winter structure include the weeping yaupon holly, the wonderful variety of dwarf conifers and the pieris. Foliage interest is added with the bold mahonia and magnolia, or the colorful aucuba and loropetalum,

Trees and shrubs with a show of berries include several hollies, pyracantha, cotoneaster and burning bush. Interesting bark can be found on river birch and oakleaf hydrangea (exfoliating), crape myrtle (mottled, smooth), burning bush (winged), kerria, coral bark maple and red twig dogwood (colorful) and corkscrew willow and Harry Lauder’s walking stick (contorted). Branches of these plants are fun to bring into the house for winter arrangements.

Many trees and shrubs have winter and early spring blooms, including camellias, quince, sweet olive, deciduous magnolias (which also have fat, fuzzy buds), winter daphne, winter jasmine, witch hazel and forsythia.

Ornamental grasses are at their peak in winter, with graceful forms topped by plumes ranging from airy to massive. Enjoy these all winter, then cut them back when the daffodils bloom to encourage more compact, upright growth.

This only highlights a few of the plants that can enhance the winter landscape. There are wonderful annuals, perennials, herbs and vines that can add much to your garden in winter. More can be discovered at the library or local nursery. I recommend a stroll through a botanical garden on a warm winter day, jotting down ideas in a little notebook.

When designing your landscape for winter interest, pay particular attention to those areas visible from inside your home so that you can enjoy the show. Also pay attention to the front entry and your path from the car to the house so that interesting, fragrant and colorful plants welcome visitors and you to your home.

Recharged by the Rain

2009-10-17T13:50:00.000-07:00

“I need a rainy weekend, to stay out of my garden and get work done” I heard last weekend as several of us were leaving a charrette at the State Botanical Garden. How I could relate! The next day – a one-day weekend – I spent 7 hours in my garden weeding, planting and spreading mulch. I felt no guilt – my garden and I both sorely needed that time.
But this weekend started with a clammy, cold, persistent drizzle and I actually am getting things done inside – cooking the fresh pumpkin, weeding the email inbox, actually planning for Christmas presents and travel, and brainstorming ideas for articles. I then made a pot of chamomile tea, settled by the fire with background sounds of Vivaldi and a snoring beagle, and opened the box.
I found the treasure on the shelf of the UGA Science Library, among the thousands of books. Fragile, with many loose pages, the 1858 Hedges and Evergreens was in an archival box. I couldn’t believe they would let me check it out and take it home, just like any other book. I finally got the chance to nestle in and spend time with this 150-year-old book. What a treat.
Ah, the rains recharge much more than our aquifers.

Marie Antoinette's Garden at Versailles

2009-10-10T03:49:00.000-07:00

This week I revised a PowerPoint on the History of Landscape Design from 2006 to speak to a crowd of retired UGA faculty. I love combining history and anything - makes it much more interesting when you put something in context with everything else that was going on at the time and previous influences. During my re-reseach I reviewed a column I wrote for the Athens (GA) Banner-Herald right after the movie Marie Antoinette was released in 2006. This was a fun column to reseach and the movie had amazing details about Versailles.

Landscape history can be seen on the big screen
Friday, November 17, 2006
more Cottingham columns

My husband and I went to see "Marie Antoinette" last weekend. The movie had exquisite costumes and an engaging story but also was rich in period landscapes - or at least one landscape: Versailles.

I have not been to Versailles, but I have read some of the many books focused on the gardens of Versailles. I thought I'd share some of the trivia that makes watching this movie (and these beautiful gardens) more interesting.

In 1661, France's financial secretary held a lavish celebration at his chateau and gardens at Vaux-le-Vicomte. Among the guests enjoying feasts, a play, fireworks and music was 23-year-old King Louis XIV.

At this time, gardens were seen as pleasure grounds and places to entertain guests. One garden historian also said this was when "garden design in France discovered a style of its own." This formal French garden design consisted of strong geometry, elaborate parterres of pruned hedges, broad walkways, statues, elaborate fountains and woodlands.

The story goes that Louis was furious that an ostentatious finance minister upstaged him with a chateau and gardens better than anything he had. Records state that the minister was arrested within three weeks and stayed imprisoned for the rest of his life.

The king then had the designer of the gardens, Andre LeNotre, start work on transforming the grounds of his modest hunting lodge at Versailles into the elaborate gardens shown in "Marie Antoinette." This project took six years to design and the remaining five decades of LeNotre's life to fine-tune.

One of LeNotre's interests was hydraulics. It may seem the fountains are just turned on in the morning, but remember the electric pump had not been invented. First, waterwheels and pumps brought water uphill from the River Seine to aqueducts, then into tanks and reservoirs miles away. Water was released, run through pipes by gravity, then constricted into smaller pipes to create pressure. The shape of the spout determined the direction and effects of water displays. Thirty-two of Versailles' pools include hydraulic effects. When the King was coming down the road, fountain guards would whistle so servants could release the water and get the fountains running.

The French, who lived in relatively flat terrain, had to work hard to create great fountains. Nobody could have them run all day, every day. So the fountains also were designed as great sculptural elements that looked good even when the water wasn't running.

When the fountains did run, Louis XIV wanted drama. The Neptune fountain has 58 spouts. Much of the water ended up in a cross-shaped canal, one mile long and two-thirds of a mile wide. To the visitor it appeared endless, a symbol of the immense power of Louis XIV.
Louis XIV was so involved in the gardens that he wrote a guidebook on how they should be viewed. And viewed they were: From 3,000 to 10,000 people may have been in Versailles on any day. Although photos of Versailles usually show one huge chateau behind dramatic gardens, it actually was a city in itself, with quarters for guests, staff and horses, plus areas to raise food to feed everyone. Hunts would take place in the surrounding woods of the 15,000-acre estate.

After Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette are crowned in the film (after 59 years of Louis XV's reign), they walk outside, where wooden ships fire cannons in a mock battle. No, the French Royal Navy has not sailed in to help celebrate; these ships are in the canal for the sole purpose of creating amusing mock battles. A 1710 illustration in one of my books shows four sailing ships. Talk about a pricey water feature.

Another scene shows Louis XVI with an elephant. The Menagerie was started in one of the earliest stages of Versailles' redevelopment, perhaps as early as 1662. It was a working farm that provided butter and more, designed to also serve as a place to view country life and animals. At first it contained mainly farm animals, with some fish and exotic birds. A central plaza was lined with gates into several animal enclosures. When the Grand Canal was created a few years later, boat rides to the Menagerie became popular with guests. Exotic animals, such as an elephant and rhinoceros, were added in the early 18th century.

In the 1780s Louis XVI did build a "little" getaway for Marie Antoinette, a bucolic lakeside village in a Normandy style that previewed a future landscape style mimicking romantic country scenes.

It's hard to imagine the magnitude of these gardens and life under the reign of people who ruled nations in their early 20s. Yet we have a better supply of food, indoor plumbing, air conditioning, lots more books and much more comfortable clothing. I think I'd rather stay in this century.

Move and Divide Perennials in Fall

2009-10-03T04:27:00.000-07:00

I have a restless beagle. He used to be content sleeping in the bottom of a closet, but then he discovered that by putting his front paws on his blanket and walking backwards he can move his blanket to other locations. Now he scouts new locations several times a day. The Winnebeagle can move out of the closet, around the bed, down the hall, and loop around the living room before he chooses a location - usually an inconvenient threshold .

Unfortunately, a plant is pretty much stuck where it was planted until a gardener moves it. If you notice a plant is not doing well or getting crowded, now is a great time to dig it up to move or divide it. Experienced gardeners do not hesitate to move a plant that is not thriving, because they know plants respond to the right conditions. Sometimes a plant needs to move because it did not turn out to be the size you expected or it is clashing with or crowding its neighbor. And dividing plants? - well that gets you more impact and more plants for free. Who could turn that down? So stroll around your garden and notice the plants that need to be moved. In Georgia, the recent rains have softened the soil, making it even easier to dig this weekend.

Siting Plants in the Landscape

2009-09-24T17:59:00.000-07:00

One key to a beautiful, low maintenance garden is to locate plants in the area where they are most likely to thrive. A plant in favorable growing conditions will grow faster, have fewer pests and diseases and require less (or no) chemicals. There are many conditions to consider: sun, moisture, soil, wind, etc. No gardener can know all of these or find just the perfect spot, but the more one does know and works to meet the plant requirements, the healthier the plant will be and the less work is required once the plant is established.

Sometimes finding the right spot for a plant means moving it until it is happy. To try to avoid this, it is important to review the information on the plant tag and in reference books. It is wise to keep at least one gardening reference book on your shelf, preferably one with regional information. The summer sun is more intense as one moves south. A plant that thrives in full sun in Michigan may burn without afternoon shade in Oklahoma. Also, plants mature at different sizes in different locations where there are different soils, rainfall and growing seasons. In the deep South some crape myrtles become majestic trees and butterfly bushes are semi-evergreen, yet in their northern ranges these plants may die back to their roots in winter, serving as smaller summer-blooming shrubs in those landscapes. Since plant tags are produced for nationwide use, a regional book provides information relevant to your garden.

There are many factors to consider when choosing and siting a landscape plant. This article will look at two key factors: sun exposure and moisture.

Sun Exposure

Full sun is easy to understand, but when we hear terms like ‘part shade’, ‘light shade’, ‘filtered shade’ or ‘deciduous shade’ it all starts to get confusing. Part shade means just that – shaded part of the day. But which part makes all of the difference.

In the South if an area gets morning sun and afternoon shade, then ‘part shade’ plants will do well. If the area gets morning shade and the hot, intense afternoon sun, then plant only a plant that can handle full sun in that area. Further north a part shade plant can handle afternoon sun better.

Filtered shade is shade under trees. Although it may be bright at times, sunlight is filtered though the tree canopy.

Deciduous shade is shade provided by a tree that drops its leaves in winter. This is a special area of the garden, as early spring bulbs and wildflowers love the sunlight coming through the branches in March, but by May the leaves are protecting the hostas and ferns in the garden. A few evergreens that prefer shade may suffer foliage burn when the leaves drop and they are exposed to the winter sun. Also, there are trees that drop their leaves earlier than others. This is a situation where a gardener gets to know their plants and microclimate over time – observation and experience gives a gardener much that no book can offer.

As a landscape matures, more than likely shade patterns will change and some sun lovers may have to move away from maturing trees to stay healthy. Similarly, if a tree is cut down a landscape may change dramatically. Plants that were in full shade may adapt to morning sun, but probably will not handle afternoon sun.

Moisture

When considering moisture a gardener not only has to supply enough moisture for the plant but also adequate drainage, especially in clay soil, which retains water.

Some plants can handle “wet feet”, but in the clay soils prevalent in the Southeast most planting beds should be constructed to ensure adequate drainage. For the sake of your home, surface drainage should flow away from any structures. Clustering moisture-loving plants, such as hydrangeas, together allows the gardener to concentrate watering where it is most needed. If drought tolerant plants are planted away from the house or near the end of the hose the gardener doesn’t have to drag the hose out to the edges of the property as often.

Every plant does need supplemental watering and a little babying during the first year it is in the ground, while it is establishing its root system. After that, even drought tolerant plants may need help during the driest times – just not as often as some of the more thirsty plants in the garden. A layer of organic mulch can lessen water needs by discouraging competing weeds, helping to retain water in the soil, and lessening rainfall runoff.

One Last Note – Changing Sun Patterns
Observe sun patterns throughout the year in your garden. In late March and late September (Spring and Fall Equinox) the sun rises due east and sets due west. During the winter the sun rises and sets further south and is lower in the sky at midday. During the summer the sun rises and sets further north and is higher in the sky at midday. There are fewer hours of sunlight in the winter than in the summer, when the hottest part of the day is mid-afternoon. These seasonal changes are more pronounced the further one is from the equator (much more noticeable in Chicago than New Orleans). What looks like a shaded area in November may prove to be sunny on a July afternoon, when the sun angle has changed. A garden that looks sunny in winter may seem oppressively dark when the leaves come out on the trees in spring.

UGA Trial Gardens Open House

2009-09-17T02:30:00.000-07:00

Went to the UGA Trial Garden Open House yesterday. Terra Nova's Rudbeckia 'Henry Eilers' is doing well in my garden too. It's a fun flower form. The Coleus 'Mint Mocha' was a showoff.

Almost new gloves!

2009-09-08T04:12:00.000-07:00

I finally gave up on my 1970s Singer and bought a used sewing machine from a friend. Dresses that actually fit and Christmas presents from the macine will be nice, but the first stitches were to repair finger blowouts on my Foxgloves. I wear Foxgloves, thin cloth gloves that don't hamper your sense of touch or feel to hot in summer, every time I work in my garden and go through a few pair every year. They would last longer if I could fix the fingertips whenever I have a blowout. I wear out leather gloves almost as fast when I am moving lumber or mulch. I spoke with the owner of Foxgloves a year or two ago and she told me they would last longer if they were washed after every use, so I am doing that too. So now my chartreuse, red and periwinkle pairs of Foxgloves are in the garden basket kept inside the front door - ready for a second life. Ah, the sewing machine is a great invention!

Learning Lots this Next Week!

2009-07-08T04:19:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a day off work Friday to spend time at the Cherokee Garden Library (http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/), one of the top horticulture research libraries in the Southeast. I love listening to podcasts on my new IPod, but there is nothing like holding a 100 year old book. I look forward to meeting with Staci, the Library Director, to learn more about this rich resouce.

Saturday morning (July 11th) I am working at the UGA Trial Garden Open House on the UGA Campus in Athens, Georgia. There are many amazing plants to see there, plus a book sale, plant sale and tours led by Allan Armitage. Read an article about it here.

Next weekend (July 16-18) I will be in the Specialty Ornamentals booth at the Joy Garden Tour Gift Shop in Cashiers, NC. What a great chance to learn more about conifers, hydrangeas and more from the very knowledgeable Flo and Joe Chaffin (http://www.specialtyornamentalsretail.com/)!

It all sounds great, but I will be so glad to come home to my husband and pets!

Give Your Blooming Plants a Little Trim to Spruce Them Up

2009-07-07T00:34:00.000-07:00

It is amazing how tidying up can improve the looks of a planting bed: weeding, cleaning up, cutting back, staking, reshaping, edging and mulching. And a little pruning now can rejuvenate the perennials, or even encourage them to rebloom.

Deadheading, removing faded flowers, has many benefits for you and your flower garden.

First, deadheading can be done in small segments of time. Just grab a bucket and a pair of garden snips. You may want to cut flowers for an indoor bouquet while you are in the garden.

Second, it gets you close to the plants, so you notice other things, such as insects, yellowing leaves, new blooms, and interesting color combinations.

Third, deadheading redirects the plants energy into creating more blooms. You may have planted your flowers to provide beauty, fragrance or cut flowers, which they do. But honestly those pretty, bright, fragrant flowers are produced to attract pollinating insects so the plant can set seed and reproduce. Once the seed is produced, the plant's goal is achieved. The plant's energy is redirected from producing flowers to producing seed. If you cut off the spent flowers, the plant produces more flowers in its attempt to reproduce.

Fourth, deadheading blooms and seed pods is a way to control self-sowing plants. Some annuals, such as cleome, self sow to return next year. Many biennials, since they bloom on second year plants, must self sow to keep blooming. Prolific self-sowers, such as rudbeckia and tall verbena, can be controlled by keeping the blooms deadheaded or encouraged by leaving some to reseed.

Self-sowing plants can be fun. Random planting by Mother Nature surprises you with a slightly new design scheme each year, adding to a cottage garden look or creating surprising plant combinations. However, letting the pretty blooms on chives go to seed can result in little chive plants everywhere and you know what their cousins, the wild onions, are like to weed.

Finally, regular deadheading improves the looks of your garden display by removing old blooms and encouraging more flowers. Those plants that only bloom once a season (columbine, hostas, most daylilies and iris) will simply look better if the spent flowers are removed.

How you deadhead is an art in itself. Start by looking at that plant's structure. Where are the next blooms forming? In a daylily, pick off the spent flowers until the stalk no longer is carrying any buds, then cut the stalk back almost to ground level. Carnations and balloon flowers have new buds just below the old blooms, and need a careful approach. Flowers that appear on their own stem should be cut to the ground.

Perhaps it is not feasible to cut every little spent bloom. Many perennials benefit from shearing the plant back after the first flush of blooms. This is much faster and the plant may bloom heavily again in a few weeks. Instead of cutting every one of the hundred of blooms on my coreopsis, I just give it a rough haircut, cutting the plant back by half.

Many shrub roses, such as Rosa mutabilis (the butterfly rose), Caldwell's Pink, Nearly Wild, Simplicity, or Knock Out can be sheared back with hedge shears after each flush of blooms. This creates more compact, bushier plants and three or more bloom displays from a rose planting in a season.

Thinking of Dad

2009-06-21T02:48:00.000-07:00

Fathers Day and my 92-year-old father is 800 miles away, but close in my thoughts, especially when I am in the garden.

I learned about gardening from my father, who grew up in a brownstone in an immigrant neighborhood in New Jersey and, like me, finally owned a small piece of acreage in the South after he turned 40. His passion for gardening compelled him to try it all: fruit and veggies, a greenhouse full of orchids, a front yard arboretum, a rose garden, espaliered fruit trees, banks of daffodils, and a lawn quilt on the side of the house where he trialed every kind of sod he could find.

One thing I learned from Dad was organization. Actually by bad example, because Dad would know just the right tool for the job, then go off into the greenhouse, then the carport, then to the house to get the key to the well house, to the well house, back to the house for the key to the carport closets and through both carport closets to find this perfect tool. I’d get the job done well enough with a tool at hand while this search ensued and when he returned I would agree his way would have been better and yes, his is the perfect tool for the job.

But for a guy whose tools are totally disorganized, Dad is a meticulous organizer of dirt and weeds.

I use the method of weeding that he taught me. One bucket (actually a colorful trug – I do have to add my personality to the chore) is for weeds that go onto the compost pile. The other bucket is for weeds that go in the trash - weeds too noxious to add to the compost. Spent plant tags and other trash are also tossed into this second, much smaller trug.

If a new planting bed is being created, then additional buckets are needed. One is a small container of soil where earthworms are gently placed while the tiller, shovel and pitchfork plow through the bed. They are returned to the planting bed later, when their neighborhood is safe again. Another is for stones found in the bed. These do not return. Yet another may be needed for plants and bulbs that are to be saved and replanted after dividing.

Then there is the organization of the dirt itself, starting with the creation of our garden soil. After dinner in the 1960s, before recycling and living green was cool, food was carefully separated – leftovers for the fridge, meat and bones for the pets and almost everything else for the compost bin, which Dad carried to the cluster of huge 8’ square compost piles. In addition to weeds and kitchen scraps, he added soil and cow manure, both rich in microbes and good bacteria, to these compost bins. After some months the result was rich, dark soil.

But before the soil can be used there is yet more organization. Using a handmade sifter made from 2 by 4s and wire mesh (the one my daddy made for me leans against my compost pile), every shovelful of aged compost is sifted as it enters the wheelbarrow. What doesn’t fit through the mesh is separated again and goes back onto the pile or into a bag hanging on the compost frame that is later carried to the trash can.

This may sound extreme to someone who did not grow up organizing dirt and weeds, but it was expected from me. I am so grateful for that upbringing, because the end result of planting beds with richer soil and fewer weeds is well worth the work – work that is so second nature to me as a gardener that I don’t even think about it when I enter my garden. I just do it. Thanks, Dad.

Mowing again!

2009-05-10T04:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday every neighbor in sight was in their front yard mowing. We all smiled and waved at each other while mowing knee-high dandilions and fast-growing lawns, because for the past two years the drought in Georgia made mowing almost obsolete. Thanks to recent rains, the grass and everything else that survived the past two years is growing again. The charm of mowing will wear off quickly (undoubtly it will end today, since I am mowing a 1 acre front yard with a push mower while anxiously awaiting the riding mower to return from the shop). Still, so much green and the beginning of spring gives us gardeners in Georgia great hope. Perhaps now the dozens of trees I have planted in the front will grow into a woodland to replace most of the lawn that must be mowed.

A Dozen Reasons to Mulch

2009-05-10T04:31:00.000-07:00

Mulch, a protective layer of material placed on top of the soil, is one of the best ways to lower maintenance and improve the health of your landscape.

I highly recommend organic mulch, which is mulch made from once living material such as shredded bark or leaves. Organic mulch should be two to three inches thick and reapplied as it decomposes, usually once or twice a year. It is best to keep mulch a few inches away from the base of plants, since good air flow and a little drier environment is needed there to discourage fungus and pests.

Below are a dozen ways mulch benefits the garden during winter and summer, drought and deluges.

Benefits of Mulching

Deters weed growth: Mulch lowers the chance of weed seeds germinating. Weeds that do appear are much easier to pull in a mulched bed.
Retains moisture: Mulch retains soil moisture by decreasing evaporation, plus soils enriched by decomposing organic mulches are better able to retain water.
Stabilizes soil temperatures: A layer of mulch insulates the soil and roots from fluctuating and extreme air temperatures. Soils with temperatures moderated by a layer of mulch attract earthworms closer to the surface, improving soil structure.
Adds organic matter: Nutrients from decomposing organic mulches help build the soil and feed plants.
Controls erosion: A layer of mulch absorbs the impact of rain and watering, protecting the soil from erosion.
Improves appearance: Mulch can unify a landscape with harmonious texture and color.
Stops soil from splashing onto plants: This not only makes the plants more attractive, but reduces the transference of soil borne diseases.
Provides a place to walk: A mulch path will protect your feet from mud and dirt. Mulch between raised beds in my vegetable garden limits weeds and allows me to harvest in any weather.
Protects plants in winter: Roots will stay warmer in winter under a thick blanket of mulch. With a generous layer of mulch in winter, borderline cold hardy plants have a better chance of survival.
Prevents soil from forming a crust: Crusting of soil (creating a hard top layer) prevents exchange of nutrients.
Protects young trees from mower and line trimmers: A 3- to 5- foot radius around a tree trunk is recommended for at least the first three years after a tree is planted. This also eliminates weeds and grass around young trees, which compete for water and nutrients.
Recycles organic material: Your garden benefits greatly from leaves and branches that are shredded and used as mulch instead of bagged up and hauled away.