The Pot Garden Revisited

The Pot Garden Year in Review--Containers that I'd plant again....




Angelica gigas (above).  Not the edible variety, but even so, this was a great biennial plant for a container during summer. Yes, a flower in my favorite color--aubergine. Not quite burgundy, not quite purple.

 

Salvia guaranitica (right) -- the best annual for attracting hummingbirds in the midwest. Perhaps my favorite annual. 

Caladium in the raised planter in the foreground. Red-leaved fountain grass (Pennisetum) to the left. And a hibiscus trained as a standard in the center back. The hibiscus is another wonderful plant for hummingbirds (and Japanse beetles--grrr).  It's underplanted with petunias, calibrachoa and vines.

What are YOUR favorite annuals for container gardening?

Vintage Magazine Covers -- House & Garden

A valuable source of period garden design ideas are gardening magazines, books, catalogs and photographs--especially the old ones. Although I'm particularly fond of (and collect) 19th Century publications because they provide a peak into what was going on in the lives of gardeners and farmers back then, it's the covers of early 20th Century home and garden magazines that I find really intriguing right now.

Love the illustrations on these WWI-era House&Garden magazine covers. It's all about the art.  No slamming captions or headlines or anything.  Everything that needs to be said is portrayed in the illustration, i.e., a picture is worth a thousand words.





 Or in this case, sighs.

Also love the Art Deco effects of later issues.  Notice how the typefaces have changed in an effort to stay "up-to-date" for readers.  No matter how many times they changed the typeface, House&Garden magazine covers in the 'teens a century ago are the ones that I find most comforting and interesting.

Back to Basics: Design a Great Container

Whether you garden on a sprawling suburban lot or on a small urban balcony or patio, in full sun or in shade, you can design and plant a pot with stunning results. That’s the great thing about gardening—as long as you know a few basics, you can flex your artistic side even if you can’t draw a straight line.
First the basics. You’ll need a pot with drainage holes to shed excess water, otherwise the roots will rot and the plants will die. Buy a good, all-purpose potting mix—one with fertilizer granules mixed in to save time. Choose a container that complements the style of your home. For example, a classic iron urn looks great with a Victorian home, while a tall, contemporary glazed pot can enhance sleek architectural lines.

Create impact with color. Pick a pot in a color that enhances your garden, patio furniture or backdrop. Many garden centers carry new lightweight resin pots in a range of Crayola-like colors—red, blue, chartreuse, grey, or purple, for example—and in many sizes. Pots smaller than 14 inches across will require frequent watering, so the bigger pot you choose, the better. Last, determine where the pot will go and how much light that space receives during the summer, and select plants based on their light requirements (shade, part shade, sun).

Next comes the fun part—choosing the plants. I use the terms ‘monopot’ and ‘combopot’, says Ray Rogers in his new book, “The Encyclopedia of Container Plants: More than 500 Outstanding Choices for Gardeners.” (Timber Press, 344 pages, $34.95). A monopot contains one type of plant while a combopot includes two or more different plants. Garden designer Patti Kirkpatrick of Joliet plants several containers of monopots and combopots for her deck. A container filled with one type of coleus or an ornamental grass, such as Pennisetum ‘Prince’ (purple fountain grass), can give you a very dramatic and contemporary look, she says.

One easy formula for a mixed container planting is to use a thriller, filler and spiller, as shown here. The striking shade-loving caladiums are the thrillers, the tallest plants in the pot, which add visual interest with their coarse, colorful leaves. The fillers are the New Guinea impatiens with their rose-colored flowers and light yellow streaks down the center of the leaves. And the spiller is a variegated Plectranthus, ‘Troy’s Gold.’

What works well here: the plants offer leaves with contrasting shapes and textures—broad and pointy, oval, and long and slender. There’s a limited color palette—green, rose, white and golden-yellow. (Adding a few orange or pale blue flowers would surely take away from this put-together ensemble.) The container’s color and shape are neutral. And, perhaps most important, all of the plants prefer the same type of culture—light shade, good drainage and occasional watering with a liquid-soluble fertilizer.

Use the same formula to create a full-sun planter with some red fountain grass, dragonwing begonias and sweet potato vines—a thriller, spiller and filler. Or, for a contemporary look, plant a monopot using only begonias or petunias or calibrachoa. The possibilities are endless. On your next visit to the garden center, pick up a pot, some plants and start designing in your cart. Becoming a garden artist was never easier.

Season of Thanks

 “What a wonderful life I’ve had! I only wish I’d realized it sooner.” – Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (January 28, 1873 –August 3,1954)

There are many things to be thankful for but sometimes you can’t see the forest for the tree ferns. I’m revisiting an interview I did with landscape and horticulture experts last Thanksgiving holiday.
 

The trowels and shovels have been cleaned and stowed and the summer garden is now just a memory for most of us. In this quiet time of autumn, we asked gardeners, plant breeders, horticulturists and designers to reflect on what they are thankful for when it comes to gardens, among other things.

“Plant-wise, I am thankful for Black Scallop Ajuga and golden Lysimachia nummularia ‘Aurea’ [groundcovers] as they are a ‘living mulch’ and the Black Scallop is truly black,” says garden designer Patti Kirkpatrick of Joliet who, as a long-time volunteer, helps design and plant the hummingbird garden and indoor displays at Joliet’s Birdhaven Greenhouse and Conservatory. “I am thankful for the great volunteers who help with plant sales there, too. But most of all I am thankful to be working with Mother Nature as an artist’s medium. It is ever-changing, always challenging, most rewarding. Just to enhance her work, be it for a short time, is such an opportunity. And the appreciation of others who enjoy it is beyond words.” Birdhaven Greenhouse is located at 225 N. Gougar Road in Joliet and is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. every day, closed on holidays. Check out www.jolietpark.org or (815) 741-7278.

Landscape architect Scott Mehaffey is thankful that he picked up a garden magazine while in college. “I had been designing and building sets, setting lights and running sound boards when I realized that I wanted to make real places that would last longer than a few weeks,” says Mehaffey. “I picked up the debut issue of Garden Design magazine and I was hooked. I do think my tech theatre background still influences me--I pay a lot of attention to scale and perspective, architectural style and site furnishings--and to lighting of course.” One word of wisdom from Mehaffey’s designing side--get the garden on paper before planting. He says the adage “’it's easier to move a plant with a pencil than a shovel’ rings as true as ‘measure twice, cut once.’ A good gardener must also be a good planner.” Check out Garden Design magazine at http://www.gardendesign.com/.

“I am thankful for the large size container of red pepper flakes that they sell at Costco,” says Lora Lee Gelles, whose garden received first prize in this year’s Orland Park garden contest. “When we are at the height of ‘bunny’ season, I sprinkle it all over the tender emerging perennials and the newbie annuals that I have planted. ‘Ahhh chooo.’” For more pest-deterrent ideas, visit the University of Illinois Extension’s Web site at http://web.extension.illinois.edu/state/hort9.html.

Jim Ault is thankful that he discovered the many fascinating aspects of the genus Lilium. “My wife and I stumbled on the lily show at the Botanic Garden and we were blown away,” says Ault, plant breeder and director of ornamental plant research at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe. He has since joined the North American Lily Society and the Wisconsin-Illinois Lily Society and has read everything about lilies from garden magazines to scientific journals. The couple’s backyard in Libertyville, Ill., has become a breeding ground featuring hundreds of lilies in different sizes, shapes and colors as well as fragrance. “The whole plant breeding thing gets under your skin and I can’t walk away from it at the end of the day.” Learn more about lilies at the North American Lily Society’s Web site, http://www.lilies.org./

“I am very thankful for having had the chance to work at The Morton Arboretum because of all the work the scientists, employees and volunteers do to ensure the conservation of our natural world, “says horticulturist and designer Sue Miller of Geneva. She credits the Arboretum’s former landscape architect, Tony Tyznik, as a source of inspiration for her gardening style. “While we were working in the Fragrance Garden and the Hedge Garden, he would often be with us pruning trees, placing plants, telling stories and making comments about plants such as, ‘look at how the dew drops cling to the leaves of the Alchemilla mollis. Isn’t that beautiful?’ Or, ‘Look how the leaves shine on that Viburnum prunifolium?’ He taught me to notice little things like that when I design a garden. In so many ways, it’s those little things that make a huge difference.” The Morton Arboretum is at 4100 Illinois Route 53 in Lisle. Visit www.mortonarb.org or call 630-968-0074 for your own bit of inspiration.

Tim Wood is thankful that he spent summers working in his dad’s nursery in Michigan, which specialized in growing unusual plants. “I would take care of it after school, weekends and during the summer. In many ways I hated it--hard work, dirty and long hours,” says Wood who now works for Spring Meadow Nursery in Grand Haven, Mich. “But what I loved was learning and growing new and unusual plants. He gave me an appreciation and love for all types of plants,” When he’s not breeding or developing plants, such as the new Hydrangea ‘Incrediball,’ Wood searches out new, promising selections. Follow him on his plant hunting blog at http://plant-quest.blogspot.com/.

Garden book author Stephanie Cohen of Collegeville, Pennsylvania, is thankful she found vegetables boring as a kid. Her parents gave her a small section of their WW II Victory Garden in New York City where she grew petunias, marigolds and geraniums. “This was the start of my long-term romance with ornamentals,” Cohen says. Since then, she’s written three books, provided hundreds of articles and lectures, and has spent 21 years teaching horticulture.” I never found the cure for this obsession and probably never will.” Check out her latest book, “The Nonstop Garden: A Step-by-Step Guide to Smart Plant Choices for Four-Season Designs,” by Cohen and Jennifer Benner. (Timber Press, 248 pages, $19.95.)

Happy Thanksgiving holiday to you and yours...

Winter Classes at The Clearing

The winter solstice is several weeks away and there's still plenty of time to procrastinate over holiday shopping, family get-togethers and other events. But once the holidays are over and we're faced with those bleak mid-winter days, a workshop or two up at The Clearing Folk School in Door County, Wisconsin, sounds pretty good. This unique school, the genius of landscape architect Jens Jensen, offers more than 100 day classes in January and February.

In the summer, you can sign up for a week-long class—there are dozens of offerings from quilting and yoga to writing and painting, weaving, photography and woodwork—and stay at The Clearing (or find housing nearby). These photos were taken when I attended a writing workshop one summer. Lovely as it is in summer, winter in Door County is enchanting and magical. A great place to reflect and renew in the coming New Year.

It was a pleasure to see these three pine trees, planted by Jensen, decades earlier--a look back in time and a connection to a fascinating man.

 

 

 

So plan ahead for an interesting winter get-away. January will be here before you know it.

A book for the holidays: Armitage’s Garden Perennials

If you’ve grown ‘Margarita,’ the chartreuse-leaved sweet potato vine, or the Sunlover coleus series, or the red-leaved fountain grasses, ‘Prince’ or ‘Princess,’ you can thank Allan Armitage, plant guru and professor at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, for introducing them to the garden trade. Armitage is the author of several gardening books, including the newly revised, “Armitage’s Garden Perennials,” (Timber Press, 348 pages, $49.95). This detailed reference book, sprinkled with a little plant history, suggestions for plant combinations, and his quirky humor, covers more than 1250 of the best perennials, including garden mainstays and new introductions, along with zone hardiness and cultural recommendations.

“I can’t write about this stuff without growing it,” says Armitage, who has evaluated perennials in Montreal, Canada, East Lansing, Michigan, and in Athens, Georgia, where he oversees the university’s research gardens, evaluating new plants from flower breeders around the world.
He took a break from plant research, travel and lectures to talk by phone recently about his latest book.
Did you drop any plants since the first edition was published in 2000?

As I was writing the book, a dozen new cultivars of echinacea [coneflower] and epimedium were hitting the trial garden. The new cultivars tend to push out the older ones, but I didn’t want to throw out all the old plants that were still good. Let’s face it, in a five-year period there may be 1000 new plants of which 100 stick. For example, I still recommend some of the older coreopsis, like ‘Zagreb,’ which is spectacular. And ‘Goldsturm’ Rudbeckia, which is planted at just about every corner gas station—it’s one of those plants with staying power that I couldn’t drop. The rudbeckias in general are great, and there are a lot of newer ones that are very nice, like ‘Herbstonne,’ and the taller ‘Henry Eilers,’ a Rudbeckia subtomentosa, which has very narrow petals and is an attractive plant.

So, which perennials are your top picks?
How can I do that? Well, my favorites are different today than they were six months ago or last year. I’m looking at new perennials every day and it’s impossible to try every single one. Breeders are doing a lot of interesting work with native plants, which we call “nativars,” [a combination of native and cultivar]. Beyond perennials...what I love right now are Japanese maples, hypericum (St. John’s Wort), hibiscus, vines—I’m a vine guy.
What’s a workhorse perennial for full sun?
False indigo [Baptisia] is definitely on my list. It’s a native plant that, once established, is a consistent performer that will persist for 20 years or more. There are at least a half-dozen colors and new hybrids and more are coming. It’s really a classic perennial that grows 3 to 4 feet tall and wide and has few insect or disease problems. However, it’s a plant that has very little joy in the retail setting because it looks like a stick in a container, so few people know what it has to offer. I’m also enamored with hardy hibiscus this year. There are so many fine [hibiscus] out there and breeders are working on some so they’re more compact at 3 to 4 feet tall. ‘Cranberry Crush’ is a good example at 3 feet tall and wide with bright rosy-red flowers. It’s reliable year after year and the only downside is that Japanese beetles occasionally bother it.
What’s your favorite plant for shade?
Well, that could change tomorrow, but today it’s epimedium. There are so many [epimedium] to choose from. They have handsome flowers in spring, they’re drought-tolerant and they make a great groundcover. Pulmonarias are a big deal for the shade garden, too. They’ve been around a long time and they’ve got really handsome foliage. Hellebores, too, are definitely one of the ones I love for shade. They have always been good plants, but the flowers were hard to see. ‘Ivory Prince’ was the first with upward facing flowers and there’s ‘Pink Frost,’ both very good. They just may be hard to find. And, Northern maidenhair fern—you can’t do much better than that in the ferns.

What made you include things like cannas and dahlias, which aren’t really perennial?

Yes, they have to be dug up and stored and replanted in the spring if you garden north of zones 6 or 7, but they’re outstanding plants, many with new colors and eye-catching, bold foliage that make a great contribution to perennial garden design.

You recently moved into a smaller house with a much smaller space for a garden. How are you whittling down your collection?

I had a spectacular garden at the old house and was growing a lot of tiarellas, lungwort and other shade plants, but this new garden is tiny and has more sun. The ‘before’ was pretty awful but it’s been fun--I stuff things in. I have absolutely no design in my yard, but I know enough about plants to know what they need and where to place them. The new place is already overrun. That’s what gardening is about. Don’t take it too seriously—it should be a pleasure, not a pain.

Check it out at http://www.timberpress.com/

Thinking outside the pot--Squash and Sweet Potatoes for the Holidays

Simple. Straightforward. And, the “oh, I can do this” kind of recipe that tastes good and doesn’t need multiple hands to produce something that looks like a ‘Picasso on a Plate.” That’s Penny Newkirk’s philosophy when it comes to cooking, whether it’s for family and friends or for students at Country Garden Cuisine (www.countrygardencuisine.com), her cooking school, located in an 1847 Greek Revival-style house in St. Charles, Ill.

Holiday meals can be tasty, effortless and palate-pleasing instead of the usual run-of-the-mill—watery sweet potato casserole, wedges of head lettuce or mashed squash.

“Good food is grown locally and prepared with love,” Newkirk says.” It’s a simple concept and that’s the direction I’ve chosen to take.” For Newkirk, that means getting back to basics with uncomplicated recipes that let the savory flavors of autumn stand out. Much of the produce she uses comes from her own herb and vegetable gardens but local farmers markets and farm stands are good sources as well.

Butternut squash and sweet potatoes represent some of the season’s most savory flavors in Newkirk’s kitchen. Both vegetables are a staple when her family sits down to celebrate Thanksgiving.

But, you won’t find Newkirk using a bag of mini marshmallows to gooey up the typical sugar-filled, sweet potato dish. Instead, she suggests using sweet potatoes in other ways, such as a hearty soup that can be served as a first course. “The sweet potato soup is a recipe I’ve used for 25 years,” she says. “It’s a great way of using them even if you’re not a sweet potato fan and it’s fast to whip up and tastes yummy.”

Cooked butternut squash stands in for croutons in her spinach salad. “Our family loves butternut squash,” Newkirk says. “I use it in soups, casseroles, even lasagna. Using that bit of squash in a salad brings it to life.” Butternut squash also appears in her hearty potato-and-butternut gratin, a colorful, satisfying and creamy dish. “Even new cooks will find these recipes easy to do and good to eat,” Newkirk says. “And, it’s all about spending time with your guests rather than in the kitchen.”

Sweet Potato Soup

3-4 sweet potatoes, baked

3 cups chicken stock or broth*

1 cup heavy cream (or use ½ cup fat free half and half, ½ cup heavy cream)

½ to 1 cup grated Swiss cheese

Salt to taste

Freshly grated nutmeg

*Stock and broth are often used interchangeably in recipes, although they are slightly different. Broth is a more concentrated form of stock. Newkirk uses whichever one she has on hand for this recipe.

Puree the sweet potatoes in a food processor and pour into a saucepan. Add the chicken broth and cream and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in the grated Swiss cheese, taste and adjust with salt as needed. Pour into serving bowls and garnish with grated nutmeg.

Penny Newkirk’s Tip: I like to cut out Swiss cheese shapes using a miniature cookie cutter shaped like a turkey or maple leaf and float on top of the soup in the individual serving bowls. Serve it hot for a great “first course soup” or a light dinner option.

Butternut Squash Salad

1 2-1/2 pound butternut squash (cut into quarters)

1/3 cup vegetable or olive oil

1/3 cup apple cider

1/4 cup cider vinegar plus 1 tablespoon

2 Tbs. sugar (1 for dressing and 1 for onion/leek dressing)

1/4 tsp. salt

Pepper to taste

1 - 2 pounds of spinach leaves

For dressing:

3 green onions (white and green portions chopped)

1 leek (white portion) rinsed and sliced thin

Fresh spinach greens (For large leaf spinach remove thick stems and tear the leaves into bite-size pieces. For baby leaf spinach, use entire leaf and stem.)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place the squash with the cut sides down on a foil-lined baking sheet. Roast the squash until barely fork tender (about 20 minutes); don’t overcook. Cool squash on a rack. Next, prepare the dressing. Sauté the onions and leek in olive oil over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon of sugar to help brown them, stirring to prevent burning. When the onions and leek are golden, remove from heat, splash a little balsamic vinegar (about 1 tablespoon to add a contrast in flavor) and cool. Peel and cube the cooled squash and dress with 2/3 of the dressing. When ready to serve add remaining dressing to spinach greens, add squash and onion mixture, and top with apple slices or sweetened dried cranberries, such as Craisins®, for additional color and fall flavor.(The onion leek mixture is for extra flavor it can be tossed into the greens or used as a topping with the apple and squash for color.)

Penny Newkirk’s Tip: The idea is to not overcook the squash and make it mushy, but to produce a vegetable crouton with less carbs and more fall flavor. Non-cooks may find it easier to peel and cube the squash into 1/2 inch squares, then toss in olive oil and spread on a baking sheet to be roasted in a 400 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Roast them until barely tender.

Potato and Butternut Gratin

2 pounds peeled butternut squash

3 pounds peeled potatoes (red, white, baking or Yukon gold potatoes)

1 tsp each fresh thyme, sage and marjoram finely chopped

Salt and pepper

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups heavy cream

4 ounces sharp Swiss cheese

Cut squash and potatoes 1/8 inch-thick. Lightly butter or use cooking spray to coat a 2-quart glass or Pyrex casserole dish. Layer the slices of squash and potatoes, alternating the colors. Sprinkle minced garlic with herbs, salt and pepper over each layer. Press down with the back of a spatula and add cream. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes. Remove foil, top with cheese and bake uncovered another 25 to 30 minutes. Add more cream if necessary to keep it creamy as the ingredients will absorb liquids.

Penny Newkirk at her Country Garden Cuisine Cooking School in St. Charles, IL

Penny Newkirk’s Tips: I use a mandolin to slice the peeled potatoes and squash so they’re all the same thickness and they cook evenly. You can cut down on the fat by splitting the amount of cream called for in the recipe so it’s half fat-free cream and half regular cream. That way it’s not fully loaded. Use a glass or ceramic casserole baking dish rather than a dark metal pan so you can see the colors of the vegetables.

Red Hots

Summer Break

Vacation season is upon us but for diehard gardeners, it’s often difficult to tear away from the garden. At the extreme, there’s the pal who has a one-acre suburban garden filled with sweeping perennials beds, vegetables and herbs, ornamental trees, exotic tropicals, countless containers, a sweeping lawn and a pond. Except for the grass, she took care of everything. Her husband one summer suggested they take a two-week vacation to Australia, but she declined. “Oh, I could never leave my garden that long,” she told me.

You, however, can take a break from your plants with a little careful planning. “Most things survive for a week,” says Stephanie Cohen, co-author of “The Nonstop Garden: A Step-by-Step Guide to Smart Plant Choices and Four-Season Designs,” (Timber Press, 248 pages, $19.95). “It’s on extended stays that you need a friend or neighbor to help you out.”

Cohen moves all her container plants to one spot so that anyone who waters while she’s away won’t miss a pot. “Otherwise, they have to have a keen eye and not all teenage children have this gift.”

This is where a quick demo to the uninitiated comes in handy, especially if you’re relying on your neighbor’s son or daughter to care for your posies. Case in point: another gardening acquaintance was furious when she returned from vacation only to find that her tomato plants were wilted beyond recovery. She had hired a high-school kid to water the vegetable garden. And, he did. He turned on the hose for a few minutes, sprayed all the leaves and that was it.

“You have to show them what you want done,” says Lauren Springer Ogden, author of “The Undaunted Garden: Planting for Weather-Resilient Beauty,” (Fulcrum, 293 pages, $34.95). “It’s about standing there and holding the hose but many people just don’t know how to water.”

Detailed written explanations along with how much to water and for how long can help keep you r plants healthy and keep your sanity intact on your return. Place a one-gallon bucket next to the faucet, too. For newly planted trees or shrubs, instruct your substitute gardener to soak each plant with the entire bucket once a week. Other than watering, you can hold off on having your stand-in gardener fertilize or remove spent flowers.

Ogden doesn’t grow “a lot of fussy things” in her Fort Collins, Colorado garden, where agave, native grasses and other drought-tolerant plants thrive. For those of us who grow water-chugging petunias, basil, cucumbers and other plants, Ogden insists that good prep work is necessary before we head for the beach or campground.

“Make sure the garden’s not stressed and full of weeds,” Ogden says. “Get it ready as if you were getting it ready for a party.” In other words, clean it up and give it a good soak so that by the time you return, you won’t have nearly the number of weeds or weed seeds blowing around.

Because she splits her time between Colorado and Texas, Ogden’s containers are planted with water-thrifty succulents and cacti, which spend the winter indoors. It’s the herds of mule deer that are the problem for Ogden, who is more concerned about their browsing than the lack of rain while she’s out of town. “The deer are a huge issue. I use [deer repellant] spray and put up black netting.” When she’s home, she usually shoos them away.

A sprinkler system and soaker hoses help Cohen’s garden get by when she’s out of town. “I extend the amount of times per week and the length of time it’s on when I’m gone.” When it comes to hot, dry weather, well-established plants, particularly trees and shrubs, are less of a concern to Cohen than perennials and annuals. For those things, she relies on soaker hoses and other watering devices.

“Gardener's Supply Co. [www.gardener.com] has these great nozzles that attach to large plastic containers, like milk cartons, that let them slowly drip the water into the ground,” Cohen says. “They are cheaper than ‘alligator’ bags that contractor's use for new installations.” Before you pack your bags, stop in your local garden center to check out digital timers for the watering system along with self-watering window boxes and containers and drip systems that can be placed on a timer. Or, save some clean empty milk cartons, place a few tiny holes tine bottom, place them next to a plant and fill them with water, which will help keep the soil moist.

Mow the lawn before you leave and consider hiring someone to cut it while you’re away. Invite friends and family over in your absence to harvest tomatoes, peppers, squash, herbs and other edibles so nothing goes to waste. Regular harvesting encourages vegetables to keep producing so there will be plenty still there on your return. Now go pack those bags.

Call of the garden center brings wild, bleary-eyed gardeners

Buy.  Buy.  BUY!!!!

It's 5:16 a.m and spring migration is in full swing. A male robin, hopped up on hormones, sits on a branch near the bedroom window whinnying like a loose stallion. In the woods across the road, thousands of other birds--mostly males--slowly join in the non-stop series of twittering, cackling, pleading, wailing, cascading calls.

A fox sparrow repeatedly croons what sounds like, "All I have is what's here dear, will-you-will-you take-it?" And there's a house wren trilling from the top of his newly discovered birdhouse--and his lungs--also too close to the house. Wrens have been clocked warbling the same melody more than 600 times. Each morning. Over and over.

The sun is nowhere to be seen when the performers begin their warm up.

Ornithologists have a word for this early cacophony: dawn song. There's another word for it: not printable. (Just kidding, all you ornithologists armed with your big honkin' binoculars, spotting scopes, bird calls, sunscreen, notepads, digital cameras, pencils and 3-pound field guides.)

I like the bird alarm clock. It's early and I can chug back some coffee and peruse seed catalogs before heading out to the garden center to get my post-winter fix. It's a sickness. I have enough plants. I even wrote in my garden journal: Don't Buy Any More Plants. Less is More. Mass things. Get rid of one-sies. Simplify.

And, to scare myself into a plant austerity program, I recently penned a three-page list of garden chores that must be done this spring: Move the dawn redwoods. Move the katsura. Give away the pagoda dogwood and the deer-chewed paperbark maple.

These trees are small--5 feet or so--and easy to move if you get them dug and transplanted before they leaf out. They were impulse buys from springs past. Schlepping the plants to the car, I decided that they'd grow in my yard whether they liked it or not. When I saw them all bloomy and green, I wanted them. It was spring and I was overtaken with Plant Lust.

I'm turning over a new leaf this year--impulse plant purchases must stop. Besides, there are 328 packets of seeds that I snapped up for only a dime each last fall. They were arranged alphabetically in the garden center's sale aisle. I couldn’t believe my luck, everything from Ageratum and Aconitum to Cinderella pumpkins and coral-colored cactus-flowered Zinnias.

It was November and the cashier was a bored, gum-popping high school kid who asked if it wasn't too late to plant zinnias so close to Thanksgiving. Oh, no, I said, waving several packets of hollyhocks, cosmos and ornamental chard under her nose. These are next year's garden--they'll be great.

I practically skipped out of the store with my Beautiful New Garden, all for a measly $32.80 plus tax.The seeds are stored in several boxes next to my desk. I suppose I could plant some of them but I'm too busy looking for Really Big Plants. Big bloomers like cherry-red ‘Knockout' roses and that new ‘Endless Summer' blue hydrangea.There's something about spring that sends a gardener's hormones into a raging imbalance that says Buy Plants, Buy Lots of Plants.

Perhaps it's the lengthening days. Or the smell of the earth after a rain.Most likely it's the sight of fresh new trees and shrubs waiting for a home. They represent my Ideal Garden, filled with hope and possibilities.

Creeping Charlie is staging a spectacular takeover of my beds and borders. It's recently hooked up with another insurgent--crab grass. They are closing ranks to form an impenetrable ground cover. But who cares? Those little irritations disappear with a trip to the local garden center where forsythia and roses are blooming alongside pots of magnolias, honeysuckle, serviceberry and pansies.

By early March, I'd already stopped at one nursery and bought a few tree-peonies-in-a-box, six elephant ear bulbs, some bare root purple asparagus, sets of red and white onions, white tuberous begonias and seeds of heirloom lettuce. Tree peonies are great. Their softball-size flowers look like crumpled crepe paper. Every gardener needs one. Or three.

And at this year's Chicago Flower and Garden Show at Navy Pier I just had to buy some tiny chartreuse-needled conifers from Rich's Foxwillow Pines--evergreens--Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Mops' to be exact. And a few new coral bells, a golden-tipped hemlock and a hosta.

There are plenty of fancy places where you can buy plants you don't need. I check out all the garden centers from Northwind in Wisconsin to Possibility Place Nursery down in Monee to Planter's Palette in Winfield and all points in between. I'll brake for plants a Kmart, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Menard's, Lowe's and Jewel.

I found a lovely bald cypress on my sister's driveway last week. She bought it (on impulse--it's in our genes) and I convinced her it would perform much better in the wet spot in my yard. So home it came. I'm trading the paperbark maple for it if I can get it out of the ground.

In a few weeks, migrating whippoorwills will stop in nearby trees, their haunting calls heard long after dark, long past the 9 o'clock news. As I unload the car, neighbors sometimes hear the sad, plaintive call of My Mate as he chirps: "What? Another plant? What? Another plant?"

It's usually followed by the more insistent melody: "I'm not moving any more trees. No more trees. What, another tree?"

The spring equinox has passed and gardeners must yield to the siren call for more plants. After all, gardening is a Hobby. An Art Form. An Obsession.

I'm going to make a real effort at restraint the rest of the year.

There's a new product called Sucker Stopper. It's used on crab apple suckers to prevent them from sprouting once they're cut. It's too bad they don't make a Sucker Stopper for Gardeners. I'd keep a bottle in the car and spray it on myself each time I got close to the garden center.

When Fido meets Flora

Can Fido find happiness among the fuchsia?  Will Fluffy stay out of the plant pots long enough for that flush of flowers you’ve been waiting for? Yes, with a little planning, dogs can coexist peacefully with your garden.

Kay Mangan is living proof that tending both a garden and dogs teaches one patience and tolerance.  On a quiet corner lot in Olympia Fields, she has been growing climbing roses, ornamental trees, conifers, hostas and scores of other perennials for more than 25 years. She’s an avid plant collector and a dog-lover who has always had one or two Great Danes by her side over the years. 

“None of my 12 dogs were ever diggers,” Mangan says “Danes are much more inclined to be a quiet dog, but they run like a racehorse along the fence after each and every squirrel, or they gallop around the perimeter of the grass for exercise, all the while with a soccer-size ball in their mouth.” Her garden is none the worse for the wear because it also gets a break when the dogs get walked around the neighborhood for a workout.

Given their own designated area and some training, dogs can comfortably share space with backyard flora and fauna, says Wauconda gardener Nancy Skeffington, co-founder of Prevent the Bite, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating children about dog safety. “Having the dog behave in the garden is part of a bigger training program--like training them not to jump over the fence,” she says.

Temporary fencing around planting beds can designate “off limits” areas during the training period. “Dogs are surprisingly visual and sensitive to barriers,” Skeffington says. “It’s helpful to have a visual aid to show them what’s off limits, like a chicken wire fence--a physical barrier that’s hopefully temporary.” 

Nancy Kuhajda, extension program coordinator for the University of Illinois Extension, knows what it’s like to try and protect posies from rambunctious Shelties in her Joliet garden. “The configuration of the multitude of fences in my backyard made Stateville Prison look like a resort,” she says, joking.

Hot, diggity dog

Whether you have a Great Dane, a golden retriever, Jack Russell terrier or other canine, those four paws on soil, plants or turf can cause problems. Digging and pacing in one place can compact the soil or tear up the grass. Turn your dog's favorite route into a decorative path and line it with raised beds or ornamental fencing.  A gap between fence and garden beds, lined with gravel, pavers or mulch, provides dogs a place to run without tearing up the beds. Don’t use coca mulch, however.  Chocolate products can be toxic to dogs.

If you have the space--in an out-of-sight side yard or behind the garage or vegetable garden--dedicate a small spot, even a sandbox, where the dog is allowed to dig. “You can initially bury bones, a toy or treats to entice them there.  You might even scoop or show them,” Skeffington says. “If your dog is a digger, he or she may kind of copy you when they see you digging in the garden.  It’s a natural instinct for them.”

Scents and Sensibility

Some plants are calling cards for male dogs looking to mark their territory. “People are often unaware of the perfume exuded by certain plants,” Kuhajda says. “They can smell like incredibly strong cat urine, especially newly pruned boxwoods.” Some salvias and Russian sage exude similar scents. “You’re better off to choose an area to ‘go to the dogs’ and mulch it or gravel it for easy ‘pick up’ duty,” she says.

To minimize damage on shrubs and lawn, Kuhajda suggests watering the spots thoroughly to dilute the urine.  And although it may be tempting to use dog and cat repellants, she cautions that some contain toxic ingredients.  Read the labels carefully.

When Mangan is gardening, both of her dogs seem quite content to lie in the grass and watch. “The warm months are always a joy in the garden and the dogs make more work, but not having a dog would be hard,” she says.  “I believe they give us more than they get.”

Happy Gardeners, Happy Pooches

Here are a few more tips on protecting your garden and your pup.

Compost piles are tempting places to dig or find a scrap to eat. Move them out of reach or enclose them.

Stop or correct the dog when you catch him in the act of digging or romping through plants. Use positive training methods and teach your dog good behavior. Dogs may dig to warm or cool themselves, to bury or uncover things or to pursue small critters. Digging is an instinctual part of life for some dogs, like Jack Russell terriers and beagles.

Play with your dog and provide safe, engaging toys outdoors. Don’t leave dogs unattended outdoors for long periods. Provide them with water and shade.

Thorny, prickly plants such as barberry, roses, yucca and holly may discourage a dog, but sharp thorns and points can cause injury. For info on toxic plants, visit http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/poison-control/plants/

For information on dog care and behavior, visit the American Animal Hospital Association’s web site, www.healthypet.com

Paint your garden with plants...new classes at the Chicago Botanic Garden!

Saturday, April 30 classes at the Chicago Botanic Garden

Painting Your Garden with Plants: Designing the Sunny Border 10 a.m. - noon

The well-designed border wears a combination of perennials, annuals, and shrubs that provide three seasons of color and winter interest. This class will discuss how to artfully combine plants with an emphasis on the use of color, texture, and form. Whether you are a new gardener or you have an established border that could use updating, this class is for you.

Painting Your Garden with Plants: Designing the Shade Garden 1 – 3 p.m.

A garden shaded by trees or buildings is often a challenge for the gardener who is faced with low-light levels, tree roots, and soil that is often dry. This class provides solutions and ideas for artful plantings that can help you create effective combinations that consider color, texture, and form. Ideal for those who want to enhance an existing shade garden or plan a new one.

$29 for CBG members/$37 for non members for each session or register for both session at $52/$65 for a 10 percent discount. For more information, check here.

Eating Locally—From your own Garden

That incredibly warm weather that dropped into northeastern Illinois has gardeners itching to get going.  Even though the soil is still pretty cool--a soil thermometer can give you the exact reading--there are plenty of vegetables that you can sow in the garden right now for harvest in the coming weeks.

Staggering your plantings every few weeks will give you a non-stop crop of leaf lettuce, spinach, radishes, spring onions, beets and more. If you’d like to learn the basics of growing vegetables and herbs, attend a free program--"Growing Edibles: What you need to Know to Harvest Your Own Food” by Chicagoland Gardening writer, Nina Koziol. The program will be held at Sid’s Greenhouse locations:

Friday, April 15 at 6 p.m.

Bolingbrook Store

550 S Naper-Plainfield Rd

Bolingbrook, IL 60490

630-904-1007

Saturday, April 16 at 11 a.m.

Sid’s Greenhouse

10926 Southwest Hwy

Palos Hills, IL 60465

708-974-4500

Freeze, Frost, Frozen...

This is the time of year when the weather forecasters turn up the talk about night temps that can dip down into frost territory. Either way, it’s a crucial time for gardeners who are itching to plant outdoors. Plenty of the big-box stores already have annuals for sale and that’s a dangerous thing for anxious gardeners. There’s a good chance that these plants will succumb to a frost or a freeze before May 15.

There’s a subtle difference between a frost and a freeze. You can have a freeze without frost and vice versa. Here’s why: A freeze occurs when the air temperature drops below 32  F. Sometimes we get frost (a deposit of ice crystals) when it’s above freezing and we can have a freeze without frost. It all has to do with the amount of water in the air. There are two different ways to measure humidity, the amount of water vapor in the air. The one that weathermen (and women) use is “relative humidity.”

Warm air holds more water than cool air. The relative humidity changes throughout the day as the temperature rises and falls. If the temperature drops low enough, the amount of water in the air is more than it can hold at that temperature. The air is saturated and water vapor in the air condenses as water on cars, lawns, sidewalks--and voila--dew.

The dew point measures the absolute amount of water in the air. It is the temperature at which the air is saturated and the relative humidity is 100%. For a given volume of air, with a set amount of water vapor in it, the relative humidity varies with the temperature but the dew point is always the same.

What does that have to do with frosts and freezes? It all has to do with the dew point. If the dew point is much above freezing, a frost is unlikely. The higher the dew point is above freezing the less likely we’ll have freezing temps. If the dew point is below freezing then a frost becomes more likely.

If a dry air mass moves into the region at this time of year in the Chicago area, a freeze is likely. Dry air has a low dew point and a low relative humidity. The dry air warms quickly during the day but also cools quickly at night. When there are clear calm conditions, the ground cools rapidly at night, losing heat to the open sky. As the ground cools, the air next to it also cools. On windy nights, the cool air mixes with warmer air above and the warm air helps heat the ground. On calm nights, the ground continues to cool and can be colder than the air.

Water condenses on the ground and other surfaces as dew. If the dew point is near freezing, the water vapor condenses as ice, freezing as frost. So the air can be above freezing and the surface of your car is colder than freezing causing a frost even thought the air temperature is above freezing. That is how we get a frost without a freeze. If the dew point is much below freezing then we can get freezing temperatures cold enough to freeze plants without any frost. When frozen plants thaw, they are blackened and die. This is sometimes called a black frost, a freeze without a frost.

Slow Food City's Edge - Spring Garden Events!

Would you like to learn more about Organic Gardening in small spaces? How about apple grafting techniques? Or learn how to prepare and preserve what you grow at home? Slow Food City’s Edge is a local chapter of Slow Food, an international organization with members worldwide who celebrate local and seasonal food traditions, support sustainable agriculture, and embrace the pleasures of eating good food.


Slow Food City’s Edge is a local chapter that is sponsoring two new events in March and April.  If you have the time, check them out.  There's plenty to learn and it's a fun group. 

“Apple Grafting Workshop” will take place at Cantigny in Wheaton on March 20 at 1:00 PM. Presented by Oriana Krajewski, expert orchardist, member of the Midwest Fruit Explorers and a market fruit grower who specializes in Asian Pears. Oriana will explain how to graft the wood of Pixie Crunch (scion wood) while it's dormant onto the root stock of a dwarf tree or a small tree. The graft will have time to knit together before the growing season starts. Cost: $45.00 Price includes admission to the workshop and the Pixie Crunch tree. Attendees will have access to additional trees for grafting at a nominal fee.

(Thanks to Cameron Cross via his father-in-law Cliff Whall for this cool photo.  Cameron grew these beauties, which are so artfully arranged on the family's kitchen counter in the south of France.  Tomatoes galore!)

“Let's Grow at Home” is presented by Vicki Nowicki landscape designer at Liberty Gardens in Downers Grove on Sunday, April 30 from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Vicki will give a hands-on blueprint for organic vegetable gardening in her own garden in Downers Grove where she and her husband Ron have gardened in for 30 years. Cost is $15. Find more on these programs here.

-- Nina A. Koziol http://www.thisgardencooks.com/

Thoughts on Bugs, Birds and the Benefits of Native Plants

I often wondered why the hordes of Japanese beetles that mobbed the ornamental grasses, roses, basil and other plants in our garden often went unnoticed by the chickadees, wrens and other birds that are regular visitors.  When those beetles launched themselves from the ground one warm day in June--in an event that was somewhat like the old TV thriller, The Twilight Zone, I was certain that the birds would feast on them just like they do on cicadas.  Wrong.

Doug Tallamy explains why that's not going to happen any time soon in his book, Bringing Nature Home.  Japanese beetles didn't evolve with chickadees or wrens.  But the beetles did evolve with the weeping Asiatic cherry that I planted in the front border.  Each year, the leaves looked like Swiss cheese come July, absolutely decimated by these voracious little monsters.  And so the cherry came out and was replaced with a native witch hazel.

Tallamy's book is a call for planting more natives in suburban gardens.  Plants that support native insect populations, which in turn support the birds and other creatures that rely on them as part of the food chain.  His book is a great read for any gardener.  You need not plant your entire yard with natives.  But my goal this year is to have at least one third of our acre dedicated to paw paw trees, sweet gum, Joe Pye weed and others that will bring in butterflies, moths, bees and other beneficial insects.  Check out his book...it's a good read for spring.  

Thoughts about Spring

“Spring is the inspiration, fall the expiration. Both seasons have their equinoxes, both their filmy, hazy air, their ruddy forest tints, their cold rains, their drenching fogs, their mystic moons; both have the same solar light and warmth, the same rays of the sun; yet, after all, how different the feelings they inspire! One is morning, the other the evening; one is youth, the other is age.” -- American Naturalist John Burroughs, 1876

The Garden of Good and Evil Plants

A peak through old garden photos and journals made me realize that The Thugs were back. I'm talking about those extra-vigorous plants that, given an inch, will take a mile. Bishop's weed (Aegopodium, aka goutweed), for example, which I first admired outside a little art gallery in Door County some 20 years ago, has spread in several beds. I liked the way its variegated leaves lit up the ground in a shady spot around the gallery's doorway. So I planted some in front of the yews. And then discovered that by mid-summer, the leaves had become tattered and dried out. I had to cut them all down.


Bishop's weed (left) and Artemisia 'Limelight' (right).

Then there's Artemisia 'Limelight', a perennial that has the most delightful colors—chartreuse and green—in the spring. I planted it in a border of lime-green and merlot-colored foliage and discovered that it's quick to suffocate nearby plants.

Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea', the lime-colored groundcover, has skipped out of the bed where I planted it under 'Tiger Eyes' sumac and is running willy nilly through the lawn.

There's pipevine (Artistolochia), which I pictured cloaking an arbor and attracting pipevine swallowtails to lay their eggs on it. It has crept away from the arbor and has managed to clamber 18 feet up a purple weeping beech.

And golden hops vine planted on a purple arbor—also sending up shoots several feet away as the trumpet vine (Campsis radicans) is doing elsewhere.

All high maintenance plants to say the least. Pulling, cutting, cursing and, yes, chemicals, have become part of this gardener's artillery. The moral of this story is to investigate before buying (or accepting freebie plants from friends).

What thugs are growing in your garden and how have you controlled them?

—Nina Koziol

The Shape of Good Things to Come

One group of plants brings in more hummingbirds, bees and other pollinators than practically anything else in our garden. It’s the genus Salvia—a group of perennials and annuals that produce flowers in red, blue, purple, violet, white and bi-colors. Their tubular flowers are well-suited to a hummingbird’s long straw-like tongue. Bees, even smaller ones, that can’t fit inside the flowers, take the easy way out by chewing a hole at the base to access nectar.

Besides the common culinary sage (also a Salvia), there are many different species. One that is particularly lovely is the new Salvia coccinea ‘‘Summer Jewel Red.’ This species is also called hummingbird sage, scarlet sage and Texas sage.

The folks at All-America Selections chose Summer Jewel Red as one of their 2011 winners. It was rated superior and above average because it flowers early (50 days from sowing seeds) and it’s covered in blooms through autumn. It works in containers and in the ground in a sunny spot with well-drained soil. Flowers are about ½ inch long on plants that reach 20” tall and 16” wide. I think this one is going to place the older standby, Lady in Red, which, for me, had a somewhat lax habit. Thanks to those hard working breeders at Takii & Co., Ltd. I’m looking forward to buying seeds at my local garden center.

I plan to pair it with blue-flowered ageratum and white sweet alyssum. Or perhaps turn it into a hot-colored container with some Gaillardia and Cosmos ‘Bright Lights.’ Or maybe I’ll put some in the 80-foot-long perennial border with prairie dropseed (Sporobolus), liatris, Coreopsis 'Zagreb', white daisies and celosia. A plant that provides this much bloom power through our northeastern Illinois summer is worth starting from seed.

A Backward Glance in Winter

Over the past 30-odd years, I slowly amassed a large collection of gardening books, seed and plant catalogues, some dating from the 1880s, photographs of American gardens from the Civil War onward, old seed packets and other ephemera. While there are blogs, tweets, Web sites, and still an amazing assortment of horticultural magazines—yes, print is alive, and for some publications, like Organic Gardening and Fine Gardening, doing quite well--I find myself turning to the gardening magazines and journals published more than a century ago for inspiration.

While stuck in the Information Age, where bytes rule, there is something about peering into the past and examining what plants, structures and other elements made up the American landscape during the Industrial Age, perhaps a parallel to our current cultural condition. It’s a challenge to put yourself in that place—considering the events and technology that were available—and trying to give your mind’s eye a 19th Century viewpoint.

This photograph, ca. 1862-1863, is from the U.S. Library of Congress, from the series, “Photographs of the War of the Rebellion.”1 It’s a view “from above of an overgrown large garden, crossed with paths, small buildings, arches and flower beds. Officers and African Americans stand in the pathways.”

Of course, not everyone during this period had magnificent gardens—either home gardens or public gardens. However, many home gardens—whether urban or rural--of the time were quite unique. One of my favorite photographs was taken in Bureau County, Illinois in 1868 and shows a gingerbread Gothic-style farmhouse with an ornamental fence and a few ornamental trees, a barn with an extended decorative pergola and vines growing on it. It was an incredible early garden on what was still untamed and almost endless prairie that stretched for miles behind the farmstead.

That doesn’t mean that everyone could afford an ornamental garden such as that, or that they even had the inclination to create one given all the other worries of survival on the Midwestern prairie.

Just like today. Not everyone down your street has a spectacular garden, I would wager. Gardeners are a unique bunch. And the stories, photos and other details of gardens and gardeners long gone make a fascinating read during these cold winter months.

¹From "U. S. Navy. Edisto Island. Morris and Folly Islands. Fort Warren, Mass. Andersonville Prison, Miscellaneous." photographic album, p 61 (Edisto Island).  Accession source: Library of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, Commandar of the State of New York

Walk this Way: Two Good Design Pointers

If you own a house, there’s a good chance you have a side yard.  And you pay taxes on that side yard because it’s part of your property. Even so, many homeowners figure the side yards are an afterthought.  In a crowded city, the side yard is likely to be quite narrow and shady.  In the bungalow where I grew up, the sides of the house were cloaked with hostas and a slim ribbon of cement walk that lead from the street pass the side entryway and to the alley.  

Stand across from any house with side yards and notice how they frame the building.  They are part of the curb appeal.  What’s planted there?  How do the owners access their back yard?  What are the focal points--what draws your eye first?  And second?  

In our ex-urban one-acre setting -- we’re not quite in suburbia and not quite in farm country -- our side yards are quite large and filled with shrub borders and flanked by lawn and steps, planting beds around the foundation and arbors on each side of the house. 

I like arbors because they provide a sensation of leading one through a doorway and into the next garden room.  All the better if the style and  material of the arbor honors the architecture of the house.  This incredible arbor-and-fence combination enhances the turn-of-the-century frame house. What a bore this side yard would be with no flowers, no arbor, no path, just lawn.  There’s be nothing to stop your gaze.

But here your eyes are drawn to the arbor and then the sweep of plantings, curving around and hugging the lawn to the front walk.  It’s a stunning scene even in winter when the plants are dormant. 

There’s something else here that works particularly well but you may not notice immediately.  It’s the color palette.  And a very English one at that with pinks, chartreuse (lady’s mantle flowers), blue salvia, catmint, silver-leaved lamb’s ears, variegated dogwood and white daisies.  It’s a limited pastel palette--no hot-lips' reds, oranges, or other warm tones.  Oftentimes when a perennial border or even a container combination is not quite right, it’s the color palette.  Stick with a triad of colors or a monotone combination of one color and you can’t go wrong.  

For more on effective color combinations, see Painting Your Garden with Plants classes, coming this spring to the Chicago Botanic Garden.   

What are your favorite colors in the garden?