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Mothering

I never had kids-much to my regret.  For many years I had the idea that when I turned 50, I would adopt.  I thought I would be ready.  In fact, I would never had been able to handle the emotional storm.  I was too old for what hard work parenting must be.  Every day I see Mom’s (and a good number of Dad’s) explaining, teaching, cautioning, mentioning, and exploring my shop with their kids. Sunday we had lots of families-there was an equal amount of of instruction going on. I greatly admire this. The transmission of knowledge and attitude from one generation to the next seems so important.  The 5 year old who was telling me in earnest about what would be in his garden was a good moment for me.     

I have kids in the shop every day.  Some are curious and quiet and ask startling questions.  Some screech, wave their arms, throw gravel, and themselves into mud puddles, or cisterns filled with water. I am happy to say that even the most unfocused child eventually finds something to focus on at my place. The hoopla that preceeds the focus-more than exciting.  I have no problem with the loud noises and tears-I rather like that people feel comfortable bringing their children to my place.  Any child’s exposure to the living world seems like a very good idea.

Any child’s exposure to the world is a result of concerned parenting.  Any experience truly felt and reinforced-stays.  My Mom-she taught me how to grow things from seed.  She taught me to love roses, gingko trees, and photography.  She sheltered me-she saw that I ate properly, and had help with my homework.  She was devoted to mothering me.  A scientist by trade, I think the reality of having children shocked her.  I was not the most well-mannered usual child.   But she took me under her wing.  She taught me.  She prepared and encouraged me.  She was but one half step behind me, all the years that she lived.  I so miss her-that Mom of mine.

Mothering does not only apply to women.  Every day, that instinct to give life to, teach, and successfully endow an idea with life applies to many people.  People, both men and women, with ideas-they mother that idea until it is ready to stand on its own, for the betterment of all.  There is all kinds of mothering that goes on.  Gardeners mother their gardens;  their hope to grow this or their dream to grow that is the basis for keen interest and lively conversation.   

Every Mother’s Day-I miss my Mom.  She has been gone 9 years. But I had a good Mother’s Day, nonetheless.  A new to the shop Mom and a daughter bought my favorite pair of planted spring pots.  Another dear friend Mom brought her daughter. There were Dads with kids asking for advice about tools. And the kids themselves-well mannered, inquisitive, and very lively. Those of you who still have your Mom-I am sure you treasure her.  Those of you that mom a place, a garden, a property or a flock of hellebore seedlings-to all of you  Moms-my best regards.

Posted on: May 9, 2011 3 Comments
Filed Under: Strictly Opinion

At A Glance: A Swell Spring Day

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Posted on: May 8, 2011 Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Uncategorized

What Goes In The Ground

I have two diverse groups of flowering plants that get my attention.  There are perennial flowering plants, and seasonal plants.  The perennial plants stay with me year after year-given the best of all possible worlds.  In reality, perennial plants have short bloom times, need lots of work dividing and deadheading, they get diseases, they fade away-but we still call them perennials.  A perennial only promises one thing-they may be so kind as to overwinter in some form or another.  Perennial are  by no means maintenance free, much less absolutely and undeniably perennial.  In my opinion, perennial is a noun I would never use to describe garden plants.  That which I least expect to thrive, thrives.  Things die, routinely, every day, unexpectedly.  The minute I congratulate myself on the perfect plant for a specific spot-all hell breaks loose. I have been proven wrong so many times-it is not funny.

 In my opinion, only a very few perennials are really rugged enough to thrive over a period of years. At the top of my list-peonies.  Properly sited and planted, they could easily live a century or better. Next up- asparagus; I regularly see vacant land with rows of asparagus intact.  I can imagine the house and farm, given the truly perennial expression of the asparagus. What comes next?  I suppose I could put hemerocallis on this list-though they require division every 7 years or so.  Hellebores live from year to year without much attention; I have never divided, deadheaded, or treated them for illness.  Wild flowers thrive on a lack of attention-provided that they are perfectly sited.  All of the perennial plants that come after this-save the groundcovers-pachysandra, vinca, and baltic ivy-fairly persistent, and fairly demanding.

Other perennials are quite up front about what they demand. Bear in mind, any plant that clearly exhibits a need for tending-times that tending by 3.  Roses top the list-a well grown collection in my zone is a feat.  Bearded iris-so beautiful and so labor intensive.  Delphiniums-multiply the bearded iris factor by 3.  I have little need to go on about those perennial plants whose need for attention is perennial-I am sure you have met them.  A good bit of the trouble has to do with less than optimal soil and water, less than ideal watering, and less than perfect attention.  Were I to retire, the first thing I would do is plant perennial gardens, and live in them all summer long. 

The seasonal plants-they make no bones about their ephemeral nature.  They open the season reluctantly-they like warm soil.   When the season closes, they perish.  They grow fast, try their best to set seed, shine for months on end-and vanish with the first hard frost.  There are those gardeners that dig and store their dahlias and cannas.  There are those that move their marginal plants into their garage for the winter, and park their cars outside. Anyone who takes gardening seriously has their obsessed habits-this extends to trying to keep plants alive from year to year that hate the cold. 

I am an advocate of planting seasonal flowers, as I think they return to me in kind. They willingly bloom for months.  This means their bloom time is not 10 days or two weeks-it is months.  That I have to plant them every year-I willingly make that concession.  Every day of my short summer season-I like a party going on.  That I have to replant every year-fine.  This means I have the chance to ditch my failures, and design anew.  I like the design part of gardening every bit as much as the physical work of it.

No tropical flower makes my heart pound like the flowers of plants native and perennial plants hardy in my zone.  I am greatly enamoured of flowers that have that modest and strikingly natural beauty that I might characterize as residents of my home garden.  My natural environment has a beauty that no tropical plant could ever surpass.  What might be better than a green flowered hellebore?  But there are very few flowers I would turn away.  A top 10 list leaves too many interesting possibilities out.  Given my very small yard, it is a relief that some plants do not persist. 

This said, annual and tropical plants in the ground for the summer season-I love them.  The color-I would not do without it.  Annual plants in the ground-be prepared for lots of expense, and even more work.  But most plants have a very strong will to live, and flower, provided they have the right encouragement to do so. 

Most plants require a soil that drains readily.  Tropical plants enjoy a soil engorged with all the best that great compost can deliver.  They like that great draining and astonishingly fertile soil to be warm.   Land in my zone tends to be very heavy clay soil with poor drainage.  The soil warms slowly in the spring.  My advice-plant in early June.  Anywhere you intend to plant seasonal plants in ground-work the soil.  Provide for air.  Poufy, well draining soil-your seasonal plants will  thrive in this. Plant for spring, so you don’t plant for summer too early. If you water with automatic irrigation, choose your plant species carefully.  Impatiens handles overhead and over generous watering fairly well.  Zinnias have no use for it-once established, I water them well at the ground level, and let them go dry before I water again.


Above all, experiment.  How improbable is it that zonal geraniums would thrive along side New Guinea impatiens, in full sun, with overhead irrigation?  You will never know what works unless you you try.  Planting 4″ pots of annuals may give you a headstart, but lots of annuals are easy to grow from seed.  If the expense of planting flowers that only live one season is not an investment you wish to make, there is the option of learning how to grow.  

In ground spaces too small for a perennial collection  are perfect for a mixed annual garden.  All summer long there will be a reason to visit and enjoy.

Posted on: May 8, 2011 1 Comment
Filed Under: Garden Design Tagged With: , ,

Planting Great Containers


Every great pot starts with some rocking good science.  A container needs to be sized to comfortably hold the plants you want to grow when they are full grown. Rhubarb planted in a 10 inch pot-not a good look.  Nor is it a workable idea. Every container needs lots of drainage material; I usually plant large containers with 2/3 drainage material and 1/3 soil.  Very small containers I might fill to the top with soil, with a small piece of landscape fabric over the drain hole.  The ability to maintain even moisture is essential to the health of the plants.  Good soil holds water.  My soil mix is a custom blend of compost, topsoil and sand-I do not grow plants in soilless mixes.  Growers mix is designed for professional growers who require a weed, pest, and disease-free medium.  It takes a skilled hand to properly water and feed any plant grown in peat based plant mixes-every grower has their own formula. For a gardener, the best part about them is how easy the bags are to pick up and carry.  Ease of soil transport is not a factor in planting great containers.  I like to grow plants in soil.  real soil.  I like all the organisms, the micronutrients-I like living soil, not sterile plant mix.
The next issue-where will they go?  Pots flanking a formal front porch may ask for the same plants that you use on your terrace-but how you use those plants is about inspired design.  Great containers have everything to do with good design.  This traditionally styled two tiered wirework plant stand is a completely unexpected choice for a contemporary concrete deck/terrace featuring a stainless steel braided wire railing.  That juxtaposition of the round and delicate wirework with this minimal fencing is a visual surprise.  As for the planting, imagine this planter without its topknot of faux tulips and grass.  You get this-dull.  The additional height breaks the horizontal line of the fence-this makes for great rhythm.  The planting at the same height as the rail-static. The idea that stops short, comes up short. That tulip and grass hat-very sassy.  This single planter holds its own, in front of that somber forest of hundreds of tree trunks.  The big-faced pansies are in the larger bottom tier, and the diminuitive violas in the top; the size of flowers themselves should be proportional to the size of the container.  The restricted plant palette has a contemporary feeling; the mix of colors has a more personal feeling without getting too frou-frou.  I like this planter, how and where it is placed, and how it is planted, relative to this forest dominated landscape.    

Sometimes the shape of a planter will suggest how the plants should be used.  Pale yellow pansies in the center back, and bright yellow pansies on the edges highlight the color and form of the violas in the front.  Light colors do a great job of bringing dark colors placed in front of them to life.  The yellow twig dogwood placed in a row, rather than a bunch , celebrates the shape of the container.  The ivy at the corners-a yellow variegated variety that repeats the yellow of the flowers.  Plants that would thrive in this lighting situation go on to work together well.  This look-a thoughtful and put together look.

Pots in commercial settings need to read well from the street.  I would not want anyone passing my shop to not get a good look.   This can mean generous height, and compelling color.  Subtle works much better up close to the eye.  In this case, a bunch of yellow twig dogwood has been augmented with faux yellow flower stems made from bleached and dyed palm leaves.  Forsythia is common in my spring landscape; passing by in a car, this centerpiece is entirely believable.  More striking than real forsythia, this centerpiece will provide great scale and visual punch throughout the spring.  A pot of tulips in the center can be switched out for fresh when the flowers fade; annual phlox intensia and violas will grow and do well on into early summer.  The red violet, lavender and pale yellow tulip mix is from John Sheepers-they call it the Princely mix.  The color combination is really lovely.  Small pots for a tabletop ask for one thing, well grown.  Small pots have to be placed close to eye level to be appreciated, so  I plant small pots with plants that are easy to grow to perfection.  This pot of violas seems happy-no yellow leaves, no dead flower heads.  It looks good, up close.

In terms of container design, it does not matter whether you are planting a vintage bulb crate from the Netherlands, or a fine pair of antique urns-the container is as much a part of the planting as the plants themselves.  These tulips were planted low, so the lower foliage would not obscure the beautiful surface and vintage lettering on the crate.  The boxes on the roof of my shop-they were constructed of sheet metal, and reinforced on the inside with pressure treated limber.  They are a vehicle for the plants that make my summer roof garden.  These rectangular boxes hold soil, and support plant life.  They are not in any way beautiful.  They are serviceable.  Every space demands a little something different.  At my office front door-I want beautiful containers, well designed, and thoughtfully planted.  On the roof, I want to make but one point.  Anyone who looks at what is growing  on the roof-I want them to see that garden.  A beautiful garden.   

Planting in the ground- a second cousin twice removed from planting in containers.  Big spaces on the ground plane ask for a different approach than containers.  Soil and seasonal flowers, above ground, in containers, could not be more different than seasonal flowers planted into the ground.  More tomorrow-I promise.

Posted on: May 5, 2011 9 Comments
Filed Under: The Natural World, Garden Design Tagged With: , , , ,