A Valuable Subtle Floral Display

A plant like our native witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) is great for the "lifestyle" garden. Admittedly it is easy to be skeptical of the glories of its floral display. On November 13th, as I was walking through the public garden where I work (Kingwood Center) I noticed a slight yellow tinge to a large shrub at the edge of the woods. Closer inspection revealed the witch-hazel in full bloom. The value is in its nuance. Visceral connections to your garden in November may be a challenge, but having flowers, even modest ones, provide a wonderful discovery opportunity, and another reason to be out there in your garden.

Paw Paw

This last weekend I noticed my paw paw fruit were finally ripe (after a few light and one heavy frost. Determined to make good use of all my garden's bounty I did a search for recipes and settled on paw paw preserves. My fiance and daughter got a good laugh at my efforts, especially when the preserves proved to be watery (bad recipe) and not very tasty (a problem with paw paws?) I would describe the reaction to tasting my paw paw preserves as,"...not too bad, but a taste is enough." Unfortunately I can't try something else with my paw paws until next year.

Accommodating Pipevine Swallowtails

To what lengths should a gardener go to accommodate wildlife, like butterflies for example? I felt badly a few years ago, because I squashed most of the pipevine swallowtail caterpillars on my Asian species of Dutchman's pipe (Aristolochia manshuriensis). My vine was small, and I didn't want it ruined, but I did spare a few caterpillars. I didn't see any for the next couple of years, so when they finally returned this year I let them have their way with my vines. You can see the result in the picture above. (Click on the picture to see it full sized.)Most of the damage was done late in the season, so the health of the vines will not be adversely effected. If my vines were more prominently displayed I may have been more concerned about the appearance, but so what. In my lifestyle garden theme I accommodate minor inconveniences like the feeding of pipevine swallowtail caterpillars. All things considered it is the preferable approach.

Pruning (and eating) Concord Grapes

I am enjoying a huge grape harvest this year. I think I finally understand the pruning technique, to which I attribute my bountiful fruiting. Unfortunately it took a few years to sink in. Our local extension agent, Maurus Brown, specialized in grapes before he moved on and wasn't replaced. While he was in the area I had the pleasure of two of his lectures on grapes. After each lecture I would try to apply his pruning suggestions to my vastly overgrown concord grape vine. This spring I finally felt like I knew what I was doing. There is no substitute for learning proper techniques. Oh yes, it is great fun to shoot the breeze while standing at the grape arbor squeezing grapes into your mouth and spitting out the seeds. I liken it to friends sitting around picking nuts from their shells or sitting on the porch eating watermelon.

Tied Hedge

Now here is something you don't see every day, a tied hedge. A recent visit to the Cleveland Botanical Garden revealed the above pictured cockspur hawthorn (Crataegus crus-galli). At first glance it seemed to be a normal hedge, but a closer look revealed the technique of, rather than cutting off the branches, tying them into the body of the hedge. The staff member I spoke with said it is a bit daunting with the large sharp thorns of this hawthorn. I thought it not only created an interesting affect, but I suppose it is a continuation of a technique used historically on agricultural hedges to bolster their ability to fence in livestock.

Other Container Plants

Crocosmia 'Star of the East'
Boophane disticha
Ennealophus euryandrus

Creating a container display full of colorful seasonal plants is very popular, but most of my containers each have a single plant that I keep year after year and only a few are particularly showy. I guess its the collector in me, but I don't think I can know a plant very well until I grow it. My containers allow me the chance to challenge my horticultural skills by growing a variety of tender plants year after year without a greenhouse while allowing me to come to know some weird or unusual plants I wouldn't get to experience otherwise.

At the extreme end of the spectrum of what I will put up with to satisfy my curiosity is Ennealophus euryandrus. This obscure member of the iris family is a wretched specimen as seen above. The flowers are sparse and are typically gone by the time of day I get home from work, but I keep it around, somewhat reluctantly, because growing it feels broadening to me. The slightly obscure Boophane disticha, on the other hand, is very exciting because of its distinctive leaf arrangement and its long life cycle. Its habit of slowly developing a larger and larger bulb each year and taking who knows how long to flower (seven years and counting with no flower)makes it seem venerable and worthy of a sort of reverence. Finally my Crocosmia 'Star of the East' gives me the more conventional satisfaction of a fabulous flower show as well as a glimpse into the fascinating history of Crocosmia breeding in Norfolk, UK.

The Garden as a Dialogue

I recently read a great quote that ties in perfectly to this blog's theme of gardening fitting into a lifestyle. It was from the back page columnist in the June 2008 edition of Gardens Illustrated. He said "And the gardener is essential to what a garden is. It is a dialogue between a gardener and the natural world. It is not the natural world. It is not the gardener. It is the thing between them and a living thing in itself."
The image above is typical of what some may say is a muddle but to me is part of my dialogue with the plant world. The mix ebbs and flows as I direct it but also as I sometimes follow its lead. The Sidalcia just behind the Japanese Iris is one of those plants that defies the gardener's directives and finds its own comfort zone.

Lifestyle Garden in Garden Restricted Neighborhood

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This home has an attractive courtyard enclosed on three sides. The fourth side was open to the street, and the neighborhood has very restrictive rules on what is allowed in the way of landscaping. Working closely with the sensibilities of the neighborhood I added a few tall, narrow, and upright white cedars, rearranged and added some tall grasses, and added a few highlights like spring daffodils and summer Liatris (see the Liatris in bloom in one of the images above). The neighborhood approved the modest little landscape addition and the courtyard became a much more attractive place for making a garden part of the owner's lifestyle.