by plantswomandesign | Jun 19, 2013 | gardening
Next in our series is the ‘organic’, native gardener. They love to garden however they don’t use any artificial fertilizers, pest killers, weed killers. They also don’t use manure, compost, water or a hand weeder. They understand that organic gardening is difficult, slow, and you don’t get the best results but they are committed to gardening that way (and enjoy letting everyone know how hard it is). They like to use natives whenever possible because that is what grows best in the Pacific Northwest but they don’t really notice the conditions that ferns, salal, and mahonia like best. Instead they follow the example of many city municipalities and plant them in the full sun or put a Western Red cedar 5 feet from their front door never thinking about the ones in the back yard that are 100 feet tall. It looks so cute when it is small (see Gardens Gone Wild for results of that).
Help!. I want to be organic but don’t know how.
1. Decide why and how organic you want to be. Dyed in the wool organic gardeners are often that way after they have control over their piece of earth. Sometimes it takes lots of digging out and renovation to create an organic garden space. If you have invasive weeds it may be so frustrating you will give up. Start in an area that has a good base to start from, or create a manageable smaller area to start with. As you get into it you will learn (that’s a good thing), and expand on it.
2. Be sure and use all the sources you can to get good plant growth. This includes water, manure, vegetable based fertilizers, compost, and mulching. If you have happy plants you will be happy. Follow clean gardening practices by cleaning tools and preventing contamination from non-organic things.
3. Think about organic pest control. No I don’t mean a pellet gun. Introducing ladybugs, nemotodes, and praying manthis into the garden help. Sticky traps for aphids, and beer traps for slugs will also do the trick. Deer fencing, and bird netting help keep larger plant predators away.
4. Ask, Ask, Ask. It is amazing what other people know and have overcome. People don’t know that a farmer controls thistle by cutting it off before it goes to flower and it will die. Solutions can be found in many books and on line but getting to know other gardeners has other far reaching benefits.
5. Natives should be put into native situations. Look at nature and see where the plant grows naturally. If you drive along a highway where the timber has just been cut out you will see lots of struggling plants Vine maples exposed for the first time to direct sun, crisp and prematurely red, ferns brown and curling are examples of wrong plant wrong place.
Now I realize there are gardeners that garden with natives but are not organic, and organic gardeners that don’t use exclusively natives. I know many that want to be as ‘green’ as possible and contribute to the world around them by careful gardening practices and these two things go hand in hand.
by plantswomandesign | Jun 17, 2013 | gardening
Welcome to our first installment of our “Fear of Gardening” series. Today we tackle the out of control garden. Imagine with me a moment… You’ve just purchased your dream home. When you looked at it the first, second and third times the garden was well maintained and beautiful. But after waiting for weeks to close the once well maintained garden is now a crazy huge mess that seems about to swallow up your new home with you in it.
So, what do you do???
Unfortunately many folks rush to get the biggest pruning implement they can find and start hacking away at the over growth. After all smaller is better… right? Experienced gardeners know that plants can’t read. The plant doesn’t know the tag says 6-8 feet and they really like the water or drain field they are planted next to and decide they want to be 18 feet tall. The inexperienced gardener may complain that it ‘got to big’ or it’s too close to the foundation/car/fence/roof/neighbor, etc…
Here are a few things I suggest for that new plant / garden owner:
1. Live with it for a while, explore your new place and the plants that live there. They were abandoned and need a little understanding.
2. Educate yourself and learn about the plants you’ve inherited. There are great resources on-line (Daves Garden, Monrovia and a plant finder) and at your local nursery. Many professionals are really plant nerds at heart and love to see what you have.
3. Think about moving the plants that are out of control or too close to the house. Usually waiting until your plant’s dormant season will improve your success rate.
4. There are great pruning books DK Pruning and Training is one of my favorites. It helps you understand how to prune almost anything. You can also pick up Cass Turnbulls book for a great education and a laugh at the same time. She is a local and knows a lot about good and BAD pruning.
5. Be wiling to part with the previous owner’s style/mistakes. My rule of thumb – If you don’t love it and it is just taking up space, get rid of it. It can be expensive and take a lot of love, time, effort and nurturing to move a plant. If it only cost $ 5.99 in the first place why not start over with something you love.
Take a look at these gardens that are lush but under control and come back tomorrow as we face some of the issues of going “au natural”.
by plantswomandesign | Jun 14, 2013 | gardening
I’ve been a garden designer for 15 years. I have met people in many different situations and many different locations. I am often called upon to help people with already installed gardens that are ‘out of control’, or gardens that refuse to grow at all (water helps) and sometimes gardens that are still in the black nursery pots (for 3 years) that have never been set free into the soil. My diagnosis…
It happens to the best of us, even professionals have things they ‘fear’ in the garden. I can’t really complain though, it does keep me in business after all. I am usually able to help these gardening hopefuls by explaining some of the basics of gardening, helping them get things under control and organized and finding locations for most of the plants that are still alive in those pots. One of my favorite things is when the client becomes a gardener. I don’t mean the one who does a career change but someone who pokes at the soil and looks for results, one who enjoys the smell of earth warming in the spring, who will stand holding a hose until it is dark and shouts ‘I see green’ when the first lettuce pushes through the soil. I believe in connecting with the earth. It is really important that everyone gets a chance to go outside and smell, see, and feel growing things. It doesn’t have to be perfect but it should speak to you. One of best stress relievers in the world is being able to get out into your own back yard, deck or porch and be embraced by the life living out there.
One of my joys is to help ‘make a gardener out of you’. Whether you have a small patch of earth or acres to play with there is gardening to be done and you can do it!
Over the next few weeks we will be conquering our fears of…
Gardens Gone Wild
Going “Au Natural”
Fear of Commitment
Growing Food
I will post a few pictures of gardens I’ve helped create to inspire ideas and offer encouragement as we head down this gardening path
Are you ready? Let’s go!
by plantswomandesign | Jun 7, 2013 | plants, Traveling Plantswoman
My last day in Boston it was raining. Well, being from the northwest why would that stop me. I borrowed an umbrella from the front desk because like most Pacific Northwest people I didn’t bring an umbrella. It only rains in the Northwest right? I went out to investigate window boxes. I remember from my only other trip to Boston the old quarter of town and the wonderful creative window boxes. I found some great ones.
Many of them had what we would consider house plants in them. Golden pothos ivy, boston fern of course, and kachenoe. Combined with some evergreens, huge lush hydrangeas, and tropicals like mandevilla they definitely were outside the box. (hee hee).
Combinations ranged from white,purple, blue, and orange white, bright green purple, and lots of green variegations. Mostly would be in shade because of the tall row house structures. Lots of shutters but they looked to be ornamental now not functional.
Some homes had matching or complementary containers by the front door.
I stopped to talk to the owner of this little flower shop. Rouvalis Flowers. They do a lot of the window boxes in the area. Most are on a four season rotation where they change the boxes out with each season. They also water and maintain them. Her family has owned the shop for a long time. I asked what they do with the left over plants after a change out. She said her friends got lots of cast offs because they don’t have a greenhouse to keep them in or the ability to resell them. Oh to be in that crowd.
I’m not sure I could live in these historical houses although they are lovely. The window boxes are quite literally all the garden they have. Check out my next post for some lovely courtyard gardens that are scattered here and there amongst the houses. There are also beautiful squares that the houses are built around. These serve as a shared garden space for the houses. I wonder if they get used and people get to enjoy the space and the company of their neighbors.
by plantswomandesign | Jun 1, 2013 | garden travel, gardening
Hello friends! I find myself in Boston this weekend. It’s hot! Unusual for this time of year but that won’t keep me from exploring what gardens this historic east coast city has to offer. Wandering thought the Arnold Arboretum definitely needed to be followed by refreshment in the oldest pub on the east coast.
Magnolias have almost finished blooming but their huge leaves feel lush and tropical. There are several specimens that are 50 feet or more.
This lirodendron tulipfera chinensis (tulip tree ) was also very tall. I’m sure if I could have looked at it from above I would have been in awe of the hundreds of blooms. I could see a few from the ground.
An unusual lilac, syringa Xswegiflexa, reminded me of my time in England. On my way to work at Harlow Carr Botanical Garden I would pass this tree outside the back gate. I would ask the other workers and staff there about it Nobody knew the name of it or cared. If it wasn’t inside the garden gates it didn’t really matter. It acted like it wanted to be inside the gate but didn’t get invited. I always thought it was worthy because I loved the way the blossoms are drooping and softly swaying in the breeze. Most lilacs have more upright blooms that are stiff and clumping. This one is graceful and lovely.
Clematis albicoma, a low growing clumping clematis has wonderful fuzzy flowers and leaves. It is in the shrub and vine section of the garden. The vines all have metal trellis that are free standing. You get a chance to see the vines up close and personal without looking above your head the whole time. (brilliant). The actinidia polygama (silver vine) below is a version of the kiwi vine I haven’t seen before. The actinidia kolomitka is the one I have seen more and it has pink on the tips. I love this one because of just the contrast in the silver and green.
The Arnold Arboretum is worth a visit. It is a beautiful oasis in the middle of the bustling (loud) city of Boston. It is the oldest public arboretum and one of the most prestigious places for the study of plants. Harvard university runs it and in this town Harvard seems to have its hand in everything.
by plantswomandesign | May 17, 2013 | plants
I like hot things…. All kinds of hot things. I’m heading to Arizona right now, leaving my garden behind. BUT before I left I was thinking of hot things, hot days and nights ahead. I took a stroll around my garden and found some hot plant combinations. It is easy to come up with hot plant combinations in the summer when lots of oranges, reds, yellows, and bright colors are out. It is a little harder in May. In May everything seems to be soft and pinky, cloud like in its harmony with nature. The earth wakes up with a sleepy little roll over and dazed look at the sky, then sometimes goes back to sleep. If you are adventuresome and ready to push for a little pizazz you can make it happen.
This combination is under the deck and in front of my hot tub. The Fatshedera lizi ‘Annemieke’ is there all year with variegated leaves. The climbing hydrangea(Miranda climbing hydrangea) is there also but just the great vining peeling stems. Showy fragrant white lacecap blooms will bloom in late spring to early summer. The clematis alpina ‘slolwijk’ is fairly dormant until early spring when it blooms brilliant blue on the tendrils with just a few leaves showing. In May the leaves are all out , the blooms on the hydrangea are starting and the clematis leaves are growing strongly. At the bottom there is a fuchsia magellanica aurea with sharp bright yellow green leaves that will have pendulous red and purple blossoms.
Why you may ask? Why all that variegation together…. Well some like it hot.
Aggressive vines sometimes call for freedom do be what they are. The hop vine (humulus aurea) loves to intertwine with anything it comes close to. It is indiscrimitive in its partner. Sometimes sneaking up on it and wrapping itself around it before it has a chance to know what happened. This Tri-color birch (fagus sylvatica "Roseo-Marginata' is gentle and unassuming. Planted to screen an unpleasant view It happily does its job without complaint. Then. suddenly. The hop vine is there. twining and wrapping itself around the soft stems and creating a totally different structure than the birch had planned. I will admit sometimes I pull it out of the top and make it behave so it doesn't overwhelm it to the point of losing its identity and looking like a heap of hop vine and nothing else. Sometime the hop vine reaches all the way to the Kiwi vine and then the battle royal starts. It would be a hard match to decide a winner on. I do love the hot bright green against the purple with a little pink and white edge on the birch. Why all that crazy color and aggressiveness? Well some like it hot.
Plants can stand on their own sometimes. They can create an atomosphere of hotness just in their being. Hosta Red October is one of them. It has amazing bright yellow green leaves on red stems. It is hot when it come out and just keeps on getting hotter. I don’t know who decided that this was the bomb but I think that person likes it hot too.
by plantswomandesign | Apr 22, 2013 | gardening, plants
Ok … So I’m not done. As I was finishing up the last blog I discovered more little treasures in my garden. I have to admit they call to me… Little tulips, little iris, small anemones. In just a few weeks they will be covered by the Gunnera (it covers a lot of plants), out of bloom and forgotten until next spring.
Iris henryii is a tiny iris only 8 inches high. The leaves look like fine grass and the sweet yellow and white flowers shine through a cloudy spring day. Next to it is Anemonella ‘green dragon’. Small bright green leaves and bright green flowers softly glowing. This little gem has soft green leaves that look like aquilegia leaves.
It is underneath a ‘Lion’s Head’ Japanese Maple that is coming into leaf at the same time.
I have several little anenomes growing in the garden. I’m not a big fan of the fall blooming japanese anemones because they spread everywhere. I do like the small ones growing under small trees. This little gem is a double fringed blossom with a blue eye.
It is anemone nemerosa ‘Blue Eyes’. It has a slightly bigger flower than many of the other anemone nemerosa.
Two tiny tulips are also blooming now. One of them the little red,white, and lilac one is just new this year. The bulbs (2) I planted last year are doing well and starting to multiply. Tulip clusiana ‘cynthia’ will soon multiply like the Tulip batalinii in the next picture. This was only 3 small bulbs 4 years ago. It is planted in a rocky soil next to the rock steps on the japanese garden pathway. Happy to bloom where it is planted.
I’m hoping to get mulch down in the garden this week. We have had a lot of rain (not surprising in Seattle area) . I’m constantly looking for the right mulch. I may be leaning towards washed cow manure this year.
I’m excited to take a journey down the primrose path next week. I think of how many pathways we have in our lives and choices we make to go or stay, to follow or to turn back. Sometimes our greatest challenge is really our greatest triumph waiting around the bend. Choosing the path is important but choosing to move is key. Standing, afraid or unable to decide, will make you miss the journey. Until next time
by plantswomandesign | Apr 12, 2013 | gardening, plants
Thanks for the responses on my last posts. Congratulations to Whitney who received the gift card, here are the answers (in no particular order)!
I love these little treasures in the garden. I used to avoid anything I had to get down close to the ground to see, BUT I have grown to appreciate the small things too. When you get close you can smell the earth warming in early spring. Sometimes you see the stirring of insects and see other plants starting to push through that will come to the foreground later in the year.
This little treasure , Hacquetica epipactis, is so sweet growing under a small Japanese Maple. It’s green flowers, leaves, and stems are the essence of spring.
This is a small tree, Camellia transarisanensis. A lovely evergreen Camellia with light branching and small white flowers with slight pink buds. It grows to 6-8 ft in time and is happy in sun to half shade.
This is Ranunculus ficara. The Ranunculus we love instead of the invasive buttercup (Ranunculus repens). It’s bright yellow flowers are amazing with the purple foliage underneath. Flowers close at night but open again when the sun comes out.
This one is a Polypodium ‘spotty dotty’. I once coveted this plant so bad that a gardener friend let me dig out a portion and bring it home. I have since found it at Dragonfly Farms Nursery but still have my bit happily growing in my garden.
And here is an extra for you… I love being out and about and meeting with new customers. This is a picture from a parking strip near a very old house in Seattle. These little white flowers have probably been growing in the crook of this old mossy tree for many years. Even though I don’t know exactly what it is I love that it is happy to just be and provide someone who looks closely a little bit of spring. I think about the gardener who planted it and wonder if they know it still brings joy.
Well friends, that about wraps it up today. What are you finding when you look closer to the ground this spring?
by plantswomandesign | Apr 5, 2013 | plants
As a beginning gardener I fell in love with Corydalis (pronounced “core-rid-a-lis”). I have a great friend who is a wonderful gardener who gave me my first Corydalis. It was a white one that to this day defies definition. She had been growing it in her garden since her children were little. They are now grown with kids of their own and the white Corydalis lives in my garden. The plant was so intriguing to me that I started looking for more of the same.
I found a yellow one that is quite a weed, Corydalis lutea.
Corydalis lutea
The new and the old, fads and not.
Here is a unusual one from Far Reaches Farms. Kelly, the owner, is a great gardener and always has the coolest plants. It is a completely different take from my other Corydalis and is ‘red’ (ish). It seems to be a strong grower and is happy under the considerable shade of Gunnera leaf.
Corydalis ‘John Baker’
Corydalis rosthornii
Here is a picture of a vibrant blue one from Sundquist Nurseries. It is called Corydalis rosthornii or Corydalis ‘blue heron’. It is the only one I’ve found so far to be fragrant.
It is happy in the shade of a Camellia ‘Black Opal’ and a crazy Rosa Sericea pterancantha (winged thorn rose). I like it for the edging of a path here, Mixed with black Mondo grass, black stemmed Pittosporum, purple leaved Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Tom Thumb’. it pulls vibrancy into the black section of my garden. Knautia macedonica and black iris are on the other side of the path. These are obviously later bloomers so the color in early spring from the Corydalis is quite welcome.
Another one with a much larger structure is the Corydalis ellipticarpa It is near a Daphne that blooms early. This Corydalis blooms a little later in my garden so it looking fab when the Daphne is over. It is related to Corydalis temuifolia ‘ Chocolate Stars’ but has yellow flowers.
Corydalis ellipticarpa
Speaking of ‘Chocolate Stars’ Here it is in another part of my garden.
Corydalis temuifolia ‘ Chocolate Stars’
These shade lovers are amazing in their differences as well as their ability to bring a fresh leaf and soft ferny foliage to the garden. They grow at different rates and bloom at different times. I will post more pictures later in the season when the ellipticarpa, chocolate stars, and white one are blooming. (I think the white one might be Corydalis solida ‘white knight’) Check out Far Reaches Farms for some great varieties and a fabulous website odysseybulbs.com for more.
How many Corydalis do you grow? What is your favorite source? What combinations have you come up with? How do you handle the summer dormancy?
Till next time. Keep getting dirty!
