This Visitor Deserves a Gardening Blog of Her Own

Front porch. Image copyrighted by Sheila Robertson, Scents and Centsabilty.comA recent visitor to my blog has taken a very long journey through all of my posts. Sheila, who signs as Orchard Annie, leaves comments that reflect a reader with a passion for gardening who truly deserves a blog of her own.

The play yard. Image copyrighted by Sheila Robertson, Scents and Centsabilty.comI was so impressed with the breadth of one of the comments she posted that I contacted her to ask permission to use them as a freestanding guest blog. Her advice, written in a unique, folksy style, was a reaction to Part 3 of a three-part post that first appeared here in 2009. In that series, I advise readers how to create beautiful landscapes using perennials and flowering shrubs. I titled it How to Paint a Masterpiece in the Garden.

A spring flowerbed. Image copyrighted by Sheila Robertson, Scents and Centsabilty.com In Part three, I dealt with the monetary aspect of perennial gardening. Click to link to that article: http://allanbecker-gardenguru.squarespace.com/journal/2009/12/10/how-to-paint-a-masterpiece-in-the-garden-part-three.html  

Image copyrighted by Sheila Robertson, Scents and Centsabilty.comBelow are suggestions that Sheila added to my post about designing a perennial garden on a budget. Although I have done some minor editing for flow, most of the text is in its original form so that readers can get to know her, as I have, through the personality of her writing style. All of the images above that illustrate this post belong to her.

Expansion on your budget ideas.
1) Intersperse low, wide growing evergreens. The tiniest pots can be had for $5 at big box stores. They take being overrun or severe pruning so that in the case you have to move or get too busy or ill to take care of a flowerbed there is a gorgeous plan B waiting to be revealed.

You must look upon your garden as a hobby, not a property value return. I cringe to recall my sister-in-law sodding a beautiful yard because she wanted to spend time camping  with the kids on weekends and not to be stuck taking care of the yard. A high maintenance yard can actually lower the selling price of a home.

2) Multi colored collection of fall planted bulbs (crocus, Spanish blue bell, etc.) can be found at very reasonable bulk prices. Plant them wider than recommended and be patient, in 4 years you will be able to transplant them into those lovely solid colored drifts displayed on magazine covers.

3) If you see a garden you adore, make a habit of taking your walks on that route. Surely an avid gardener working in their yard loves a compliment and eventually will share their knowledge and their plants. I often supply grocery sacks for complete strangers. Take along some plastic sacks in your pocket (for the pooch right?) and a Sharpie to write on the sack the name and height of the plants you receive. If you forget the particulars, you can type in an image search on Bing for some good examples of what to combine them with, along with care instructions.

4) Alan Titchmarsh had a "Love Your Garden" episode (I love YouTube!) on a man's room after room of exceedingly formal clipped and topiaried gardens where monochromatics were stunning. You cannot convince me that formal gardens are budget though, how anyone keeps a whole yard of box or yew uniformly healthy is not possible to imagine.

5) Plant permanently. Some combos are low maintenance forever heaven. I bought bulk mixed, 4 months of bloom, daffodils from Brecks - (order a catalog, a coupon comes with it, and if you start an online order then decide the price is too steep and delete it before the payment is sent they'll sometimes email a coupon) -  and interspersed them with budget daylilies chosen for their bloom time, color and heights.

Gilbert H Wild and Son have hearty bare rootstock day lilies and though the new varieties are pricey, older ones can be had for $2.75. When daffodils fade, the day lilies completely cover the withering foliage (no clean up!) - both daffodils and day lilies are long lived perennials that tolerate total neglect. - (Don't put nitrogen on day lilies or you'll get all foliage and no flowers.) – Eventually, this combo will choke out any and every weed, even grass. As with all perennials after bloom, I chop the entire day lily plants down to the ground: they soon send up foliage as fresh as springtime. In this bed, I will be able to take the bagging lawn mower over the entire island.

6) Plant a hedge if you cannot afford a fence. An appraiser told me a board or like fence will retain it's value in resale, chain-link fences will recoup half of their cost, and a filled in hedge will add as much value as a board fence to your property's value.

Research what grows best in your area. I planted a big box emerald green arborvitae and then discovered a Wisconsin native, that I found later, that was much more vigorous and care free. I bought the smallest size shrubs and carefully plotted out placing them to compliment what my neighbors had in place so they would look less awkward while puny. The wind and sun scald they suffered [and which stunted them] stopped when I started applying Cloud Cover (a polymer that slows evaporation) before the temperatures dropped below 40F. The manufacturer of that product also recommends applications throughout the growing season to decrease watering.

7) Look beyond your own perimeter before planning. It may be tempting to nix an unattractive shrub but probably a previous homeowner put it there in order to hide an unpleasant view. Likewise, there could be an attractive view waiting to be borrowed from next door or the horizon if you carve out a frame for it.

8) Research the varieties of plants present in your yard. Many shrubs respond thankfully to renewal pruning, and many crowded expensive perennials look like a bed of weeds for want of transplanting.

9) Learn how to prune and don't be afraid of it! You will increase the beauty and lifetime of shrubs and trees twenty fold as well as keep the size in check, but it must be done before the point of no return.

Likewise, don't feel heartless about discarding the remnants of flowers you've divided. Overcrowded borders do not perform to their full potential: you will get frustrated and feel you must start from scratch with a whole new planting scheme.

If it makes you feel better put divided plant discards in a cardboard box at the end of your drive marked "free, variety, color and height."  If they don't disappear, which would surprise me, take them to the municipal yard waste site and set them slightly apart from the pile. If no one takes them, the pay loader there won't object to adding the cardboard box to the compost heap. A friend with a lawn care business collects all the plant divisions he can get, piles them into his work yard and waters them until he gets a request for a garden.

10) Pruning lessons: I got over my fear working at my father-in-law's apple orchard "Don't worry, you can't kill them," he said. Volunteer at a municipal garden, where you will be greatly appreciated and where you find out which tools suit you best before you buy any. YouTube has several wonderful tutorials from all parts of the country on every variety of plant.

11) Scour the classified ads in Spring. Garden clubs hold plant sales as fundraisers, and the prices are so right! Arrive early if you can: members pot up slips from their own gardens, sometimes it's the "I shouldn't have splurged" rarest, priciest plants that they share.

12) Consider long-lived edible plants. I have ruby stemmed rhubarb at the end of a ferny asparagus hedge. The rhubarb stays lovely as long as I reach in to bust off the flowers stalks as they appear, and if the leaves get tired or crowded looking, they make swift single layer mulch that dries to earth color in a few days. The asparagus backs an Asian gravel garden with stone "islands", a Buddha temple, and bamboo fountain, redbud, Siberian iris, and dwarf conifers. Both the asparagus and rhubarb blend nicely with that theme....and the best part is that both plants are the first flavors of Spring!

Thank you, Sheila/Orchard Annie, for your input. To introduce her to my readers, I requested that she email some photos of her garden and a short biography. I was not prepared for what I received. She sent me enough mouth-watering images of her horticultural work to create many interesting garden blogs and her biography revealed a romantic narrative about the role of men in her gardening life. I will share that lovely story in a future post.

Readers who recognize Sheila's talent from the photos she supplied, and from her original and intimate style of communicating, are invited to leave a comment below to encourage her to create her own blog.

Visitors who missed out on my three- part series can link to Part 1 and 2 here:

How to Paint a Masterpiece in Your Garden Part 1 http://allanbecker-gardenguru.squarespace.com/journal/2009/11/27/how-to-paint-a-masterpiece-in-the-garden-part-one.html

How to Paint a Masterpiece in Your Garden Part 2 http://allanbecker-gardenguru.squarespace.com/journal/2009/12/4/how-to-paint-a-masterpiece-in-the-garden-part-two.html

Plants That Perform All Season, a book review

Powerhouse Plants, 510 Top Performers for Multi-Season Beauty, Graham Rice, Timber Press,

Graham Rice is an international renowned and respected plantsman with gardening experience on both sides of the Atlantic. He is also an award-winning writer with more than twenty gardening books to his credit.

This latest work reaches out to readers who garden on small plots of land where plants must do double duty because there is room for so few of them. To create beautiful and interesting gardens under these confining conditions, Mr. Rice recommends that we consider using versatile powerhouse plants.

Such plants enhance the design of small gardens because they multi task throughout the growing season. Included in this category are perennials, shrubs, trees, ornamental grasses, vines and ground cover, all of which put on visual performances that last longer than their respective plant tags indicate. They do that by transforming themselves from a flowering summer perennial, for example, into a display of intensely colored fall foliage.

The inherent potential of these versatile players allows the gardener to create different and evolving plant combinations for various times of the year, all the while using a minimum number of plants.

Readers will be delighted that the author’s suggestions are confined to ones that are easy to grow, hardy, and glorious performers. Nothing makes a gardener happier than to discover that a beautiful plant is also a workhorse and that it requires little attention.

In that respect, nature has been very cooperative. Mr. Rice has managed to identify no less than five hundred and ten of these powerhouse plants – each with characteristics that evolve or linger in the garden, and whose beauty and visual interest is sustained long after they have lost one of their salient features.

Such a plant will display at least two of the following attributes: - spring shoots pushing through the soil, fresh unfurling foliage, spring flowers, summer flowers, summer foliage, attractive fruit and berries, evergreen foliage, vibrant colors in the fall, bark, interesting and colorful stems in winter, and winter or spring foliage rosettes.

Of course the above list doesn’t even begin to address other characteristics that a plant make contribute to the garden. These would include form, shape, texture, movement, fragrance, birds, and butterflies. All are qualities that enhance the value of most of the recommended plants in this book.

Gardeners who struggle to maximize the visual appeal of their small gardens will be relieved that there is now a handbook to help make that an easier task. Creative homeowners with larger gardens will also benefit because versatile, all-season, powerhouse plants enrich the appearance of all gardens, regardless of their size.

How to Solve Growing Problems in the Garden Before They Begin

Why Plant That When You Can Grow This? 255 Extraordinary Alternatives to Everyday Problem Plants, Andrew Keys, Timber Press.

In our quest to recreate luscious landscapes we have visited, or studied in a book or magazine, we sometimes find our personal gardens filled with plants that make us unhappy due to their disappointing appearance or performance.

Our growing zone may be too hot or cold, the soil on our land too wet or arid, and the sun might be to searing or absent altogether.

Even when the conditions are perfect, surprises still occur. Too much rain or too humid a summer will result in mildew. Pests that we did not expect to attack our plants often arrive out of nowhere.

Some perennials will propagate themselves aggressively, others require more nutrients or irrigation than we can provide. Sometimes we become overwhelmed when we realize that a plant requires more maintenance than we are perpared to undertake.

Our frustration with plants that disappoint is exacerbated by our growing need for predictability and reliability. Many of us have a compromised life style that does not allow the luxury of time to fuss and fiddle over plants.

The solution:- Read this book!

In it, the author suggests we adjust our expectations. Instead of recreating someone else’s landscape, he recommends that we interpret it by using more reliable, less invasive, and easier-to-care-for plants.

Mr. Keys, as his title precisely states, presents 255 user-friendly plants for our consideration. While readers in colder climates are expected to skip over those that are inappropriate for their growing conditions, there remain enough choices for all gardeners, regardless where they are located.

Readers will discover

•  replacement plants for twenty trees that might be problematic,
•  substitutions for twenty-five shrubs with specific growing problems,
•  alternatives for seven vines that may give the gardeners a headache,
•  options for twenty-two perennials that are challenging to grow or maintain,
•  better choices for the twelve grasses and ground covers a gardener should avoid.       

To facilitate the reader’s ability to deal with these horticultural issues, Mr. Keys has supplied the names of web sites for supplementary, elaborative information, as well as a list of recommended readings, mail order plant sources for American and Canadian gardeners, and an easy-to-consult conversion table for gardeners who are stymied by either metric or Imperial measurements of plants.

This publication is another in a series of useful garden manuals. Those of us who lead busy live are always happy to be alerted to potential horticultural problem. It is reassuring to know that we can solve them before they become full-blown headaches.

Six Steps to Creating Grassless Tree Lawns and Shade Gardens

A reader submitted the following inquiry:-

I am dying to transform my Williamsville NY tree lawn into something more than grass! I am thinking wildflowers but also need to keep in mind that I can’t have anything in the lawn that would obstruct vision when entering exiting the drive. I'd like to start this soon - any helpful ideas, suggestions!!!

Here is my reply:-

Step One. Decide upon a desired appearance of the completed tree lawn when grass has been removed and plants have been installed. If this proves to be a challenge, close your eyes and dig deep inside yourself to imagine the finished project. It’s easier than you might think. That idealized image will influence the choices you make as the project progresses.

Keep in mind that there is a difference between a tree lawn and woodland. The tree lawn may be a studied, deliberate composition while the woodland has a more spontaneous, naturally surprising feel about it.

The most inspiring advice for planting a beautiful spreading, woodland is found at the garden blog Carolyn’s Shade Gardens. This site is a beautifully illustrated treasure of suitable information.

In addition to the overall visual impression or mood that one wants the garden to convey, consider a garden’s personality. The choices are "wild and messy", "neat and trim" and "casual”.

Wild and messy refers to a combination of wildflowers, self-seeding woodland perennials, and other plants whose forms tend to be untidy.

Neat and trim implies a composition of tame and mound-like plants that respect a predetermined linear planting design. Such disciplined plants increase in size at a conservative rate.

A casual garden uses the same mound-like tame plants that are found in neat and trim but in an unstructured, informal collage-type arrangement. This style of planting may be achieved with a deliberately abstract placement of plants or by distributing them randomly and haphazardly throughout the garden.

Step Two. Select a procedure for effectively removing grass. That process will be influenced by one’s acceptance or disapproval of herbicides, [a very controversial topic, with valid arguments pro and con] and by local environmental by-laws that govern the use of such products.

When evaluating a grass removal procedure, one must consider the amount of time available for the task, the amount of physical energy one can muster, and one’s comfort with mechanical, chemical, and organic methods. In her book Beautiful No Mow Lawns, Evelyn J. Hadden identifies 5 different ways to remove grass from an existing lawn. It’s a must read.

Step Three. Inspect the density of the soil. Have the trees reached a maturity that makes the soil so dense with roots that it is difficult to dig there?

If the soil is root-bound, there are two options: One may use a roto-tiller to chop up the tree roots that grow close to the surface. While this method is effective, it can risk compromising the health of the trees. Some mature trees might be unaffected by surface roto-tilling, while others may be damaged. [It is wise to consult an arborist for advice on this subject]. Or, one can build raised beds about two feet high, above the root-bound soil, to create a happy growing place with minimal damage to the trees.

Soil amendments that are needed - and those that are always beneficial, like compost - should be considered at this point.

Step Four. Research the garden’s USDA hardiness Zone; that detail is important when selecting plants.

Step Five. Determine if the tree lawn creates part shade or full shade and if its soil is dry, moist, or normal. Dry means that neither natural rainfall nor irrigation hits the lawn. Moist implies a garden that is damp more than it is dry.

The information gathered will help determine what is or isn’t plantable around the trees. When researching suitable plants, or when perusing an online garden catalogue, look for adjectives in the product descriptions that match the garden’s growing conditions.

[It is at this point that one also starts paying attention to the mature height of suitable plants. My reader specifically requested plants that do not block her line of vision when entering or exiting the driveway.]

Step Six. Evaluate the role of aggressively spreading plants and ground cover perennials that sometimes grow for "miles". Is the area encompassing the tree lawn ample enough to accommodate such plants?

A garden is not a naturally occuring place. It is created by humans from a figment of imagination and, as such, it remains forever a work in progress. These six steps are only the beginning. There will always be something new to consider, to add, or to remove.

This Oriental Poppy is a Turkish Delight.

This image is the property of America's Wonderlands, Virtual Bouquet-Flower Pictures, and Screensavers. Copying the photo for commercial purposes is prohibited. Click on the image to link to the owners site for usage permission.

Some gardeners have no favorite colors. Any will do as long as the flower is pretty. Others, like me, are fussier, and they seek out plants that fit into their preconceived color schemes.

I used to consider red -  the color of apples, hydrants, and fire trucks -  difficult tones to include in my garden. For many years, I shunned magnificent red tulips and romantic red roses because I did not feel comfortable using them in my English-inspired flowerbeds where pastels reigned supreme. That is no longer the case. I am much more adventurous now.

Two years ago, towards the end of the planting season, when one red Oriental poppy, Papaver Orientale Turkenlouis, or Turkish Delight, remained unsold, I placed it in an empty spot in one of my flowerbeds. That was a bold decision. Never before had I planted red or scarlet flowers in my garden, nor did I remember what color plant would bloom next to it, the following season.

By planting haphazardly, with total disregard for composition, I created the unusual but rather attractive color scheme shown above and below. My personal sense of color balance would never permit me to intentionally combine pastel yellow [Siberian Iris Butter and Sugar] with red, yet here it is and it is remarkably refreshing. Like the chaos and unpredictability of nature, sometimes the unexpected and the unplanned can be as beautiful as the deliberately arranged.

Oriental poppies like Papaver O. Turkenlouis bloom in full sun, during May to June in Zones 3 to 6 and prefer a poor, dry soil. While its coarse, rugged grey-green foliage tends to grow like a miniature fountain closer to the ground, its flower stems reach 24 to 30 inches in height and support 4 to 6 inch-wide lustrous and fringed scarlet-red petals.

This feathery effect on any flower is a delight to enjoy in the garden, no matter on which plant it may be found. It is an added visual pleasure, where the eye skims the edge of the flower to experience soft texture.

When poppy blooms are spent, gardeners have two choices: either to allow bulbous black seed heads to form at the top of the stems so that plants can self-seed, or to remove the browning stems and heads with a hand prunner. In either case, after a poppy has flowered, its leaves will turn yellow as the plant reverts to dormancy. This will occur long before most summer perennials have begun to bloom.

For that reason, it’s a good idea to plant summer flowering perennials close to the poppies so that the foliage of these later-blooming plants can hide the yellowing of the poppy leaves and fill in the empty space created by the eventual and total disintegration of the slowly shriveling foliage. For some gardeners, this disappearing act necessitates recording the location of the hidden plants; it’s easy to forget they are underground when digging the flowerbed in mid-summer. By autumn, new foliage will have popped out if the ground, thus creating fresh markers for the gardener.

Oriental poppies do not like being transplanted. These perennials grows deep and when lifted, their foliage crowns risk being separated from most of their fleshy roots. Propagation is more successful with the shallow planting of root cuttings that is best done during the summer.

A cautionary word: - If budget permits, plant more than one of this Oriental poppy. In the spring, when it is in bloom, gardeners are so bowled over by the synergistic combination of sensual fringes and intense scarlet-red that they regret having planted only one and not several.

A grove of this dramatic perennial may also be created, over the course of several years, by allowing Oriental poppies to self-seed. Novice gardeners should bear in mind that mulching near and around this plant will prevent this from happening.