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Of Wonders and Weeds
By PAULENE POPARAD
February is for ...... a winter walk-about.
Grab a pen and some paper, bundle up and on the next nice day survey the
bones of your garden. I did this recently and it was reassuring,
disappointing and even a little scary.
Scary because of so much raking and clean-up I’ll have to do, like
dethatching the grass and hand-picking hickory nuts off last fall’s newly
laid mulch. Disappointing because the problem areas that frustrated me for
the past few years --- like the west side of our three-season porch --- are
still there.
It was reassuring though to see that, even at a snail’s pace, I am taming
this beast of a yard. The last gardening of the season I do in November is
always such a challenge because I have to hold my breath until April or May
to see what was accomplished, if anything at all.
Be aware that just because something survived the winter doesn’t mean it
will survive the spring, or the whole season. In 2003 I had three little
chartreuse grass-like acorus or sweet flag plants I bought in North Carolina
that were lovely in April and dead in June.
This year we’ll get to see how last fall’s new perennial planting turned out
at the Burns Harbor town hall, which is undergoing a renovation. The
previous plantings there were a harsh lesson that less is more.
Years ago a landscape professional crammed so much plant material into such
a small space that two healthy, perfectly matched crabapple trees had to
come out last summer because they were overtaking the building. Three Rose
of Sharon shrubs, which can become quite large themselves, planted right
next to the wall behind the crabapples already had been pruned into
submission.
I’m keeping my eye on the plant material put in along County Road 1050N for
Abercrombie Woods subdivision. Apparently that landscaper didn’t subscribe
to the “less is more” planting philosophy either. Good-size conifers and
dwarf trees (at least I hope they’re dwarf) are planted very close together,
much of this under or near the canopy of tall, limbed-up trees.
It’s meant to be a privacy screen and that’s certainly what they’ll get. But
will the new trees grow into their correct shape and mature sizes, or will
they be stunted, weak and contorted? Time will tell.
After the walnut tree was cut down here a few months ago I noticed that a
nearby 5-foot Norway spruce, our niece’s kindergarten sapling planted 16
years ago, is leaning to the south toward the sun, which was shaded by the
walnut after noon each day.
We plan to move the spruce, but will it straighten out by itself over time,
need to be set in the planting hole askew to account for its angle, or be
planted crooked and coaxed back with a sturdy stake and tie-back?
I definitely need to consult a professional on this one.
Back to that garden walk-about. Just as in life, prioritizing our
responsibilities serves us well. It’s good to survey the yard now, jot down
the must-do spring tasks and then schedule them as to what should be done
first, next and so on. One of my earlier and biggest jobs will be moving two
huge clumps of hosta ‘Sum and Substance,’ the massive specimens having
overgrown their location.
I didn’t think any hosta could get that big, let alone one tended by me, but
they did. Now, where will I put them? I have a suspicion some will end up
with friends.
Purists who sketch out your gardens on graph paper first and plant in
multiples of three or five may be thinking, “Oh my God, there she goes
moving plants around again.” I recently found a kindred spirit in Chick at
Bridgewood Gardens nursery whose catalog description of why we grow hostas
and how to plan your hosta garden is a hoot.
A hosta garden may be the only place where it’s fine to replace reliable old
friends on the chance you might make new ones.
We had a new bird perched atop the feeder one day, but what a bird it was! I
briefly caught sight of an American Kestrel, a small falcon that an Indiana
Dunes State Park naturalist said is quite common here and often is seen
sitting on roadside utility wires. The bird’s striking orange coloring
splashed with black, a female, was lovely.
The Chicago Flower and Garden Show at Navy Pier is coming March 11-19. The
featured speaker on opening day is P. Allen Smith, the landscape designer of
Weather Channel and publishing fame who suspiciously always is attired in
tan trousers and a light blue button-down shirt. Think about it --- have you
ever seen this man in shorts or a sweatshirt like Paul James?
Bernie recently found Channel 242 on expanded digital Comcast cable; it’s a
24-hour PBS channel of nothing but how-to shows that repeat several times
during the day. Either Smith’s fine “Garden Home” series airs beginning at
8:30 a.m. or “The Victory Garden” hosted by Michael Weishan, who at least
wears jeans.
I recently had the pleasure of hearing Dan Heims, president of the
innovative wholesale Terra Nova Nurseries in Oregon. About 140 of us learned
what he considers to be valuable new perennials for the shade garden. He
made an interesting point that 100 percent shade is night so even areas that
get no direct sun receive reflected light and carefully chosen plants can
grow and thrive there.
Dan is a leading hybridizer of heuchera or coral bells, which he described
as the best container plant in the world because it doesn’t compete with its
neighbors. Heucheras range from yellow to near-black, many with silver
streaking or red flares. My containers usually look pretty sad by late July
and I may try using perennials instead of annuals this year.
Dan and Grahame Ware have penned the new “Heucheras and Heucherellas,” and
last year Dan edited and illustrated a compilation of strange-but-true
stories from gardeners and garden-center employees called “The Garden
Clerk’s Dictionary.” After reading the latter you won’t ever feel badly if
you mispronounce a Latin name again.
I was reading a newspaper in Thomas Library the other night and saw the
following quote from a downstate legislator about the controversial plan to
lease the Indiana Toll Road for 75 years in exchange for $3.8 billion now.
“Yes, there are questions,” he said. “But I don’t want to wait 75 years to
fix all these roads. I want to do it now.”
Well, I want to do all the projects I’ve dreamed of in my garden right now,
too, so the solution is obvious: why not lease it?
Of course I’d want a 100-page lease so if something goes wrong I can
honestly say, “You didn’t expect me to really read and fully understand all
that, did you?” And being the procrastinator I am it’s probably best to have
the bids come in shortly before I want to award them so I’m not bogged down
trying to compare them and determine what their long-range implications
might be for me and my marigolds.
Wait. What’s that section about my neighbors can’t improve their gardens so
my leased one will always be the prettiest? On second thought, just forget
it. It’s my garden and I don’t want someone else picking all my flowers when
I can only look at them.
Â
Posted 2/21/2006
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Winter garden walk can be a bit scary
Of Wonders and Weeds
By PAULENE POPARAD
February is for ...... a winter walk-about.
Grab a pen and some paper, bundle up and on the next nice day survey the
bones of your garden. I did this recently and it was reassuring,
disappointing and even a little scary.
Scary because of so much raking and clean-up I’ll have to do, like
dethatching the grass and hand-picking hickory nuts off last fall’s newly
laid mulch. Disappointing because the problem areas that frustrated me for
the past few years --- like the west side of our three-season porch --- are
still there.
It was reassuring though to see that, even at a snail’s pace, I am taming
this beast of a yard. The last gardening of the season I do in November is
always such a challenge because I have to hold my breath until April or May
to see what was accomplished, if anything at all.
Be aware that just because something survived the winter doesn’t mean it
will survive the spring, or the whole season. In 2003 I had three little
chartreuse grass-like acorus or sweet flag plants I bought in North Carolina
that were lovely in April and dead in June.
This year we’ll get to see how last fall’s new perennial planting turned out
at the Burns Harbor town hall, which is undergoing a renovation. The
previous plantings there were a harsh lesson that less is more.
Years ago a landscape professional crammed so much plant material into such
a small space that two healthy, perfectly matched crabapple trees had to
come out last summer because they were overtaking the building. Three Rose
of Sharon shrubs, which can become quite large themselves, planted right
next to the wall behind the crabapples already had been pruned into
submission.
I’m keeping my eye on the plant material put in along County Road 1050N for
Abercrombie Woods subdivision. Apparently that landscaper didn’t subscribe
to the “less is more” planting philosophy either. Good-size conifers and
dwarf trees (at least I hope they’re dwarf) are planted very close together,
much of this under or near the canopy of tall, limbed-up trees.
It’s meant to be a privacy screen and that’s certainly what they’ll get. But
will the new trees grow into their correct shape and mature sizes, or will
they be stunted, weak and contorted? Time will tell.
After the walnut tree was cut down here a few months ago I noticed that a
nearby 5-foot Norway spruce, our niece’s kindergarten sapling planted 16
years ago, is leaning to the south toward the sun, which was shaded by the
walnut after noon each day.
We plan to move the spruce, but will it straighten out by itself over time,
need to be set in the planting hole askew to account for its angle, or be
planted crooked and coaxed back with a sturdy stake and tie-back?
I definitely need to consult a professional on this one.
Back to that garden walk-about. Just as in life, prioritizing our
responsibilities serves us well. It’s good to survey the yard now, jot down
the must-do spring tasks and then schedule them as to what should be done
first, next and so on. One of my earlier and biggest jobs will be moving two
huge clumps of hosta ‘Sum and Substance,’ the massive specimens having
overgrown their location.
I didn’t think any hosta could get that big, let alone one tended by me, but
they did. Now, where will I put them? I have a suspicion some will end up
with friends.
Purists who sketch out your gardens on graph paper first and plant in
multiples of three or five may be thinking, “Oh my God, there she goes
moving plants around again.” I recently found a kindred spirit in Chick at
Bridgewood Gardens nursery whose catalog description of why we grow hostas
and how to plan your hosta garden is a hoot.
A hosta garden may be the only place where it’s fine to replace reliable old
friends on the chance you might make new ones.
We had a new bird perched atop the feeder one day, but what a bird it was! I
briefly caught sight of an American Kestrel, a small falcon that an Indiana
Dunes State Park naturalist said is quite common here and often is seen
sitting on roadside utility wires. The bird’s striking orange coloring
splashed with black, a female, was lovely.
The Chicago Flower and Garden Show at Navy Pier is coming March 11-19. The
featured speaker on opening day is P. Allen Smith, the landscape designer of
Weather Channel and publishing fame who suspiciously always is attired in
tan trousers and a light blue button-down shirt. Think about it --- have you
ever seen this man in shorts or a sweatshirt like Paul James?
Bernie recently found Channel 242 on expanded digital Comcast cable; it’s a
24-hour PBS channel of nothing but how-to shows that repeat several times
during the day. Either Smith’s fine “Garden Home” series airs beginning at
8:30 a.m. or “The Victory Garden” hosted by Michael Weishan, who at least
wears jeans.
I recently had the pleasure of hearing Dan Heims, president of the
innovative wholesale Terra Nova Nurseries in Oregon. About 140 of us learned
what he considers to be valuable new perennials for the shade garden. He
made an interesting point that 100 percent shade is night so even areas that
get no direct sun receive reflected light and carefully chosen plants can
grow and thrive there.
Dan is a leading hybridizer of heuchera or coral bells, which he described
as the best container plant in the world because it doesn’t compete with its
neighbors. Heucheras range from yellow to near-black, many with silver
streaking or red flares. My containers usually look pretty sad by late July
and I may try using perennials instead of annuals this year.
Dan and Grahame Ware have penned the new “Heucheras and Heucherellas,” and
last year Dan edited and illustrated a compilation of strange-but-true
stories from gardeners and garden-center employees called “The Garden
Clerk’s Dictionary.” After reading the latter you won’t ever feel badly if
you mispronounce a Latin name again.
I was reading a newspaper in Thomas Library the other night and saw the
following quote from a downstate legislator about the controversial plan to
lease the Indiana Toll Road for 75 years in exchange for $3.8 billion now.
“Yes, there are questions,” he said. “But I don’t want to wait 75 years to
fix all these roads. I want to do it now.”
Well, I want to do all the projects I’ve dreamed of in my garden right now,
too, so the solution is obvious: why not lease it?
Of course I’d want a 100-page lease so if something goes wrong I can
honestly say, “You didn’t expect me to really read and fully understand all
that, did you?” And being the procrastinator I am it’s probably best to have
the bids come in shortly before I want to award them so I’m not bogged down
trying to compare them and determine what their long-range implications
might be for me and my marigolds.
Wait. What’s that section about my neighbors can’t improve their gardens so
my leased one will always be the prettiest? On second thought, just forget
it. It’s my garden and I don’t want someone else picking all my flowers when
I can only look at them.
Â
Posted 2/21/2006
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