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Our Hellebore Festival

The Helleborus Festivalis starts at Detroit Garden Works at 9am tomorrow-sharp. What has taken months to put together is just about ready for the curtain to rise. Rob has done his usual incredible job, sourcing interesting hellebore cultivars of size and in bloom for our gardening clientele. The resident greenhouse frog approves of our case of baby tears. All of us feel, given his appearance, that our festival will be a good one. We had David and Mary Moore in today, owners of Stone Cottage Gardens in Gladwin Michigan. We had a young man in the area on a business trip choosing hellebores for his gardener girlfriend. He made this older gardener happy. Young gardeners, older gardeners-I welcome all of them. As for avid collectors of hellebores, we will ship when the weather moderates, to Rochester Minnesota, Cleveland, Ohio, and Flint Michigan. I like this.

We have lots of companion plants to the hellebores. Honeysuckle boxwood. Euonymus and myrtle topiaries. Silver pilea. baby tears. Hyacinths throwing bloom stalks. Every plant Rob chose is a celebration of the spring. A celebration of green. This first day of spring, we are ready for the chance to garden again. And ready for those other gardeners that grace our doors. Conversation about the garden over a boatload of well grown hellebores-a pleasure for everyone.

My garden at home still has lots of snow. But I can see the signs of spring. I hear the birds in the morning. The evergreens in my garden are emerald green, not that black shade of winter green. I put away my winter coat-I was so tired of it. We had sun today. The ice is melting. The hellebores in my garden are still under 3 feet of snow. Not my first choice of a garden situation. In the greenhouse at Detroit Garden Works, there is a different situation. Spring on our schedule. Though we know we have little influence over the state of the garden, we can create a spring of our own.

It was pure serendipity, deciding to do a March festival especially in honor of the hellebore. Both Rob and I are big fans of this particular perennial. The flowers of cultivars of Helleborus Orientalis – the Lenten Rose – are showstopping. The plants are vigorous, meaning they show up every spring without any handholding. The petals cure and hold on for 6 weeks or better. They seed generously. The foliage is almost evergreen. What’s not to love? An event given over to the spring flowering hellebores made us plant lots of spring flowering containers. This box of cyclamen, grape hyacinths and white bellis is a sure sign of what is to come. Spring-what could possibly be better?

We had no idea the winter would go on so long. As in, we still have winter here. Our spring hellebore celebration has a special meaning we never anticipated. Though nature has been amazingly uncooperative in making a change of seasons, our idea is to bring a celebration of spring of our own to bear. Gardeners make the garden. We hear their voices. If you are in our area, pay us a visit. We promise you will not be disappointed. Hellebores make great container plants that can tolerate being house bound until the garden is ready to be worked.

Our small greenhouse is stuffed with decent numbers of 28 cultivars of helleborus orientalis. Rob added pots of double primroses to the mix. These prikmroses are hardy to 30 below zero. Given our past winter, that root hardiness rating may be appealing. We have pots of primula obconica. There is more-auricula primroses just coming in to bloom.. Honeysuckle boxwood on standard. Bellis in bloom. Hyacinths and daffodils in pots. A celebration of spring in spite of a winter that will not let go.

How spring starved we all are makes all of Rob’s choices that much more to treasure. I have dirt and moss stains on my hands-how great is that? I have been planting spring pots. What a relief-what a treasure.

If you garden in our area, I would suggest that our helleborus festivalis might be just the jumpstart of spring that will bring a smile to your gardening heart.

double primrose

forced forsythia and cherry branches

potted hyacinths

myrtle topiaries and white hyacinths

a hellebore in a pot with curly pussy willow

A spring container planting with hellebores. We are ready. We would guess you are too.

Posted on: March 20, 2014 30 Comments

Filed Under: Spring, flowers, container planting, Plants, Detroit Garden Works, Picture This Tagged With: the spring gardening season, spring flowering hellebores, helleborus orientalis

Spring For Some Color

Our spring so far has been cold. As in damp April 42 degree cold. I spent the day outside with my crew today-I am chilled all the way through. Of course I expected a stellar spring, given the extreme length and depth of our winter. Silly, that. Our spring is hung over in the worst possible way from an arctic style winter. Landscapes from house to house are troubled. Only yesterday did I see a forsythia in bloom. Thin bloom, by the way. Today I have a magnolia stellata at home blooming-a month late. The flowers are small, but there are lots of them. This is the good part of the bad and the ugly.

The residual effect of a winter such as we have had may mean that the spring and early summer may be cold. Gardeners in Michigan are well aware of this. The Great Lakes still are 40% ice covered. Air moving over our very cold lakes means we may have to live with chilly conditions for a while. Maybe quite a while. My reaction? Plant like crazy for spring.

Had I known that this winter would prove to be so relentless and lengthy, I might have planted more spring flowering bulbs. More hellebores. A group of hamamelis. Hindsight is twenty-twenty, yes. Never has some spring color meant so much to these winter weary eyes. We have been planting spring pots non stop since the first week of April, and for good reason. Nature has not seen fit to let go, and move on. I am not inclined to hang back, and do without. Anyone who loves the garden is ready to see something grow and bloom.

I can think of no better year to plant some containers for spring. My guess would be that the reliably warm weather is many weeks away, and that the early part of the summer may stay cool. I have no science whatsoever to back this up, but I see that the transition from one season to another always takes a month or better. A transition from a brutally cold winter to summer indicates a transition that may be protracted. I hate to predict, as predicting the weather is a skill vastly beyond my abilities, but I will say I feel my area may feature residual cool weather.

Lots of plants tolerate, and thrive in cool weather. On the thriving side, cool weather vegetables such as peas, as sweet peas,, pansies, violas, parsley, chard and alyssum. On the tolerant side, osteospermum, rosemary, sagina, lavender, dill, angelina and dusty miller. I would bet there are lots of plants I have missed. One only needs enough cold spring tolerant plants to assemble a palette. And plant.

I will do whatever it takes to add a big splash of color to a spring planting. This lavender preserved eucalyptus and yellow-green preserved lepto adds a big splash of color to a landscape which is by and large still dormant. Thank heavens for the pansies. That live and vibrant color is strong medicine for anyone who is garden starved.

I did plant the window boxes at the shop for spring. This one features sweet peas Rob bought on a plant buying trip out east this past week. The trailing violas and phlox intensia will grow. The centerpiece of this window box is an arrangement made from preserved eucalyptus, hakea, lepto, and curly pussy willow. This centerpiece of preserved and fresh materials will make a generous statement about spring until these plants take hold.

Spring containers in my zone are plant challenged. Cold weather means the cold tolerant plants may take a while to take hold, and represent. The alyssum and creeping jenny will soften the edges of these urns. By early May, these plants will be thriving. They may still be thriving, come the first of July. In the meantime, the centerpieces for these urns will provide both color and scale. Containers do a great job of providing a little drama ahead of a garden just waking up.

Pansies,, alyssum and creeping jenny are sure harbingers of spring. But they have a modest profile, like many cold tolerant spring plants. No need to ask them to make a splash. Making a splash of a punch of spring color is entirely in your hands.

Any material you have at your disposal can dress a spring container planting. Cut forsythia branches, or pussy willow in a spring container-beautiful. You cut branches might root in the pot. Green leaves breaking from branches may be all you need to move on from the winter.

Every gardener celebrates the spring differently. Every spring is different. My landscape is on a schedule all its own. Biut when I am ready for spring, I do not dog my landscape to come to. What good would that do? The plants in my landscape will make their program known over the next four weeks. In that meantime, I plant spring pots. Should your garden still be really sleepy, a container planted up for spring could make for some sunshine. Try it.

Posted on: April 26, 2014 11 Comments

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Who’s Choosing Whom?

Shopping for anything is one part fun, two parts research, and 5 parts anxiety. The anxiety is the toughest part. Is this avocado ripe enough to serve tonight? Will these tennis shoes be comfortable? Will this washing machine handle all of my needs? Is this tennis racquet appropriate for my level of play? Will I like this sweater next year? Is this the right choice? You get the drift. If you have a mind to plant containers for the summer season, the first order of business is choosing the containers.

Containers first and foremost need to be of proper proportion to their placement. Little pots belong on a garden dining table. Mid sized containers are fine on a terrace. Container that flank a front door need to have a size appropriate to the front porch. Proper proportion is to my mind the single most important design element. Galvanized buckets on the stoop of a cottage or an apartment balcony are appropriately sized for the occasion.

Giant galvanized containers next to the side door may overwhelm that secondary entrance. That same container in the center of an herb garden is a properly sized anchor for the garden.

Once the issue of scale is determined, there is the issue of style. A cottage style house does well with informally designed pots. A very formal house asks for formal containers. An Arts and Crafts style house has its own language and vernacular. Containers that fit answer the architecture. A home is the largest sculptural element on a property. The pots need to follow suit. Breaking the rules can be effective. A large pot in a small space can be very effective. A traditional home complimented by contemporary pots can present an unexpected visual pleasure.

Containers are available in all sizes. Tall and short. Tall urns can sit on the ground. Short urns can be elevated off the ground with pedestals. Narrow containers can dress up a tight space. Wide containers can hold down a big space. The tall and the short of it depends on what you want at eye level. Tall containers, or urns on pedestals, can be seen from the sidewalk. Low and wide planters can warm up a pool deck. Small planters can dress up a garden table. Medium height planters can put the flowers at eye level on a dining terrace. A big tall planter, planted big and tall, becomes a screen warding off bad views. A fabulous antique stone urn planted with a dome of moss focuses attention where it should be – on the urn.

Antique stone troughs come with lots of history attached. Planted with succulents, they are great for those moments when a gardeners looks downward. They can be filled with water and water plants. Any container properly sited will look good, even when it is empty.

No container does face to face better than an urn on a pedestal. Face to face is good at the front door. Or in the center of a beautiful garden. Or as a focal point in a landscape. This English concrete urn in the classical Italian style has a considerable presence, and could organize a fairly large space. This urn features detail such that the planting would need to acknowledge rather than cover it.

Fiberglass planters are light weight. They are perfect for water gardens. Spherical planters are especially effective in contemporary and geometrically organized landscapes. They are great next to a lounge chair, or a bench. A well planted bowl will keep you company.

The material of a planter says much about style, period, and architecture. Formally designed and fabricated wood orangery boxes recall an age centuries old. French formal, for sure. Four wood orangery boxes could organize a formal landscape with ease. One casually fabricated or vintage wood box stuffed with herbs at the center of a cottage style vegetable garden is all about home. Great meals. Fresh food. When the wood starts to deteriorate, no cause for alarm.

Belgian stoneware containers are subtly textured. They are solid, simply modern in shape, and frost proof. Any contemporary home and garden would be happy for them. That said, the simplicity of their shapes make them easy to fit into any scheme. Galvanized metal buckets and tubs are an alternative idea. Once you have sorted out the proportions, the style, and the size, and the aura, you may have the idea to go way wide. Or way unexpected. Have at this. I find that no matter what containers I would choose for my landscape, the container usually chooses me. The containers that would work well for you will choose you, if you listen. This can make a decision much easier to come by. What container would your home, terrace or garden choose?

Every home and garden has an identity all its own. What gets contributed by the gardener in charge makes that presentation all the more beautiful for being personal.

Who’s choosing whom? Good container choices depend on a lively interaction.

Posted on: May 19, 2014 9 Comments

Filed Under: Detroit Garden Works, container planting, Garden Ornament, Good Design Tagged With: urns, garden containers, garden pots, container planting

Shades Of Green

The success of this window box has little to do with the flowers. The color of the foliage is the story. The blue green foliage makes the carmine purple petunias pop. Though I have a big love for flowers, flowers come with green leaves standard issue.. As in pale green, medium green, dark green, yellow green, blue green, black green-you get the idea. Consider the leaf color when designing containers. A container garden is a landscape in miniature. When the spaces are small, every move you make matters. Every choice makes waves.

This container has nothing to say about flowers either. It has a lot to say about texture. It has even more to say about a particular shade of green. A great container is deliberate in exploring the relationships between all of the colors involved.

A succulent is not my most favorite plant. But this kind of green is available in few other plants. Not every plant in a container has to be a favorite. But every plant should be chosen for what it contributes to the mix.Grey foliaged plants can inform any color scheme. I am a big fan of the Cirrus dusty miller. The felted gray leaves look great with pink, yellow, purple , or white flowers. Gray green foliage in a container planting can cool off a hot color scheme. Interested in a cool and serene scheme? Choose cool green foliage over yellow green foliage.

I have never been so much a fan of gray in the landscape. By itself, gray recalls rainy days, and not much else. But gray foliage in combination with other flower colors shines. Gray green foliage and white flowers-classic. Gray green foliage and pale yellow-worth a look. Gray green foliage and red violet petunias-a happening. Gray, white and cool green-a tri-color container color combination is rhythmic.

Medium green is a workhorse of a foliage color.

Vinca vine is a most ordinary and widely available trailing container plant. Give it another look. This particular shade of green variegated with so pale cream yellow edges may endow your container planting with just the right shade of green.

dieffenbachia with white polka dot plant and lime licorice

Have a love for lime green? This shade of green is electric. Should you have the idea to make a big splash, lime green foliage will make your hot pink and orange flowers glow. An orange lantana standard will be lit from underneath, given an under planting of creeping jenny or lime licorice. or this crazy corkscrew rush.

The new growth of almost every plant in the spring is one shade of lime green or another. If you have a mind to celebrate the opening of the garden all summer long, lime green plants are happy to oblige.