Think pink: ‘Pink Fantasy’ clematis gets me wanting color everywhere in the garden
01 Jun 2012 Leave a Comment
in garden design, Perennials Tags: clematis, garden poppy, pink fantasy, poppies, spirea denistar
‘Pink Fantasy’ Clematis is at its pinkest just after opening.
More and more, I find myself picking pink for the garden. Nothing soothes my soul and picks up my spirits like a pink flower. That said, ‘Pink Fantasy’ clematis is a jubilee of pinkness, and a clematis worth a try in your garden.
It’s blooming early this year, as are all clematis, and most garden flowers for that matter. Typically, it blooms in June and then, later in the summer on new sprouts. The late summer blooms will be smaller. It is pruning type 3 (clematis are typed this way), meaning you cut it back to the ground in the spring, which I did this year to wonderful effect. It can grow to 10 feet. Mine is topping off at about 8. It is hardy to zone 4b. It’s always worth noting that clematis love cool roots and as much sun as possible. It works wonderfully to plant other favorites at it’s base.
Pink poppies are little jewels in the landscape.
Speaking of pink, the pink poppy opened this morning. Poppies are my #1 favorite flower, beautiful before, during, and after blooming. I have found that you can get by with quite a bit of shade with a poppy, but they have long tap roots that make them curmudgeon-ish about being moved once planted.
Once they have bloomed, the foliage of a poppy gets a little scraggly. Place your poppies within other plants, so they can take over visually once the poppy is past its glory.
Speaking of pink, I am loving the new Spirea ‘Denistar’. New growth emerges with maroon, pink-ish foliage and little pink flowers fill the shrub throughout the summer. With a nice shape and compact form (3×3 feet) it is a pretty, tidy presence in the garden. A shrub that mimics a perennial. And currently $10 at the Cub Food hoophouse. As a perk, it has bronze fall foliage.
Spirea ‘Denistar’ is a great “in the pink” plant for the garden.
Canadian Wild Ginger is a great plant for dry shade
17 May 2012 2 Comments
in Groundcovers, Perennials Tags: canadian wild ginger, groundcovers, plants for dry shade
I introduced a tiny patch, a few small plants, of Canadian Wild Ginger to the Garden Drama test garden about 10 years ago, under an Annabelle Hydrangea. I had picked up a tiny pot of it at a plant club sale for 50 cents or so. Well, I am tickled to report that it has seeded itself throughout my yard and not only is it a handsome groundcover, it serves as a living mulch, helping to retain moisture and deter weeds.
Canadian Wild Ginger is a wonderful groundcover for dry shade. It really softens the edges of hardscaping nicely.
It’s heart-shaped, palm-sized leaves are a rich green and it does produce a lovely, rather exotic little flower in May that you have to lift up its leaves to see. The mat of foliage is from four to six inches high and will spread as far as the eye can see if you let it. It burns out in the summer sun, so keep it in at least partial shade.
The maroon flowers of the Canadian Wild Ginger are lovely, but hidden. You need to lift their leaves to see them.
One of the great uses of this groundcover is growing it in dry, shady places. It can add a lot of life and vibrancy to a dry, dull spot in the garden. You will need to supplement watering the first year you plant or transplant, but after that it will take care of itself. Start looking for the volunteers to show up in the garden, often under creeping plants or on the floor of densely planted, taller plants, such as a stand of coneflowers.
An extra added treat: when you move it, the roots give off their strong, ginger aroma, that gets on your hands and lifts your spirits.
My vote for clematis of the year: ‘Guernsey Cream’!
04 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Perennials, vines Tags: clematis 'guernsey cream'
Clematis ‘Guernsey Cream’
So, it’s quite early in the season, but I am already declaring the clematis ‘Guernsey Cream’ as the clematis, the flowering vine, and perhaps the perennial of the year for zone 4. Look at it and this is May 4th! Now, of course, given the year, this would probably be blooming closer to the end of May, beginning of June typically, but wow, is it a pick-me-up climbing its trellis-like structure on the Garden Drama garage, near the back pond.
Clematis ‘Guernsey Cream’. The newly opened flowers have a hint of green to them, picked up in this Adirondack chair.
As with all clematis, cool roots and a sunny exposure are needed. They also seem to go-to-town with lots of good organic matter worked into their planting hole, and even side-dressed with compost every spring.
‘Guernsey Cream’ is in the clematis pruning group 2, meaning that it is a large-flowered, repeat bloomer and if you prune back the vines after blooming, you will likely get a second wave of blooms later in the summer. That said, they also bloom on new wood and I will attest that I have blooms on new wood. Overall, clematis have individual pruning schedules to follow, so research your variety.
But most of all, enjoy. White is magic in the garden and you can never go wrong incorporating a lot of it into your garden.
Plant applause for: Bergenia
24 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in Perennials Tags: bergenia, cordifolia, groundcover, spring-blooming
A cluster of bergenia.
One of my favorite spring-blooming groundcovers is in its glory this week. Bergenia have large lobed, waxy leaves, like giant green tongues, that can sometimes have jagged edges, but in a soft, friendly way. Rather cabbage like in feel, rub the leaves and you will understand how it earned its common name of Pig Squeak. The flowers are stunning at tulip time, in bursts and clusters atop six to eight foot stalks. Their foliage remains an interesting textural accent in the summer border.
Bergenia: a deeper shade of wine.
Small-statured at 12-18 inches by 12-18 inches or so, they are ideal at the front of the perennial border and also fit well into a rock garden. Hardy to zone 3, they turn a lovely rusty-bronze in the fall, and with many varieties available, they offer up a plethora of shades of purple to pink to wine, and even white. Check out what’s available to suit your taste. Very low-maintenance, with no real pests or diseases threatening them, they love full sun and even full shade. My goodness, they are agreeable!
Bergenia cordifolia close-up.
Tomatoes in East Grand Forks
13 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in Vegetable gardening Tags: east grand forks, gardening saturday, heirloom tomatoes, tomato, tomatoes
I have the opportunity to speak at the mega gardening in the North event, Gardening Saturday, tomorrow, April 14 in East Grand Forks. Paul James, the gardener guy, is the featured speaker. Paul is an A-list garden celebrity and I have loved him and his garden greatness from the first time I caught his show on HGTV. More info if you are in the neighborhood.
Tomatoes and other fun and easy edibles is my 2:45 session and my prep for the talk has me more jazzed than ever to get growing. I’m a bit of a veggie nerd. I love the folklore and urban myths around the food we grow, and as a member of the nightshade family, the tomato has a long and somewhat freaky history. Did you know that out bodies naturally crave tomatoes and potatoes when we eat, fatty and dense animal proteins? To balance things out. Think: steak and potatoes. Juicy burgers with a slab of beefsteak tomatoes.
Let me show you some of my favorite varieties. I grow heirloom and hybrids. I believe there is a place for both in our kitchen gardens. Mouseover for the variety.
More funky garden junk: Silverware windchimes
05 Apr 2012 1 Comment
in crafts, Garden Art, Garden Crafts, garden ornaments Tags: DIY windchimes, make your own windchimes, old silverware windchimes
It’s been warming to the soul to discover I have fellow garden junk lovers out there. I knew you were out there, but it’s good to connect.
Let me share an old favorite DIY project. These old silverware windchimes were flying around the arts and craft fairs about 10 or so years ago and even though they are not really on trend any longer, I still love them. They have a unique kitschy look and a very cool sound.
These kitschy, vintage silverware windchimes are fun and easy to make.
Search thrift stores, yard sales and flea markets for vintage pieces of silverware. Generally speaking, this is the approach to making your own.
- Begin with a wire whisk, the type with a wire handle and loop at the end. This will be the foundation of your wind chimes. The loop at the end of the handle is what you will use to hang your chimes. Snip the loops of the whisk with a needle-nosed pliers, twist a loop at the center and end of each length of newly created wire. You will hang the pieces of silverware from the loops.
- The number of silverware pieces you will use depends upon the number of lengths of wire you have after cutting the loops. Use a mixture of forks, knives, tablespoons, and teaspoons. Wearing safety glasses and using a standard hammer, pound the pieces of silverware flat. This will be easier than you think. Drill holes into the ends of the handles of the silverware, using a 1/16 inch bit. At this point, it is helpful to somehow hang the whisk up while working.
- Using thin wire, 30 gauge or so, tie a 24 inch piece of wire to each piece of silverware, much like you would using a piece of string. Consider, tying metal beads into the length of string, for decoration. Attach each wire to the loops you created at the end of each length of wire on the whisk, varying the lengths for visual interest.
- The flattened tablespoons will do an effective job of catching the breeze and propelling the chimes into motion.
- Hang and enjoy the sight and sound of your kitschy and homespun piece of art.
And here’s a second one I created:
Birdhouse blues
These windchimes are made by screwing eye hooks into the bottom of a store-bought birdhouse and attaching varying lengths of copper piping. Many coats of polyurethane seal the house and protect it from the elements.
- Varying lengths of copper tubing hang from the bottom of a store-bought birdhouse to make this set of chimes that is friendly to the ears and the birds. Small metal eye-hooks are screwed into the bottom to hold the tubes. Holes are drilled into the ends of the tubes and they are then wired to the eye-hooks.
- A wood ball is suspended by wire down the center of the pipes from a hook. A metal spatula, flattened and textured with a hammer, hangs at the end of the center wire to catch the wind and set the ball swinging and the pipes into motion.
- Leftover bits of paint from household projects were used on the birdhouse and the wooden ball. However you finish your birdhouse, end with multiple coats of polyurethane to protect your new creation from the rain.
Funky Garden Junk
04 Apr 2012 3 Comments
in Garden Art, garden ornaments Tags: garden art, junk garden sculpture, sculpture
All the plants popping up have me wanting to get out and accessorize the garden. But, accessorizing comes a little later, in my gardening opinion, though now is a great time to see the bones of the garden space, and thus, a great time to look for places for garden sculpture … garden anchors.
An old, rusted auger and yellow climbing rose.
I’m a big fan of funky, junky pieces in the garden space. They create a sense of the unexpected, and their often dilapidated states, lend themselves to a natural setting. Also, they can usually be found for a song, with some cleverness.
Cultivator blades add to morning glories.
Almost any patina finish will do, and with that said, I think that is the secret to making junk garden sculpture work in the landscape. Go for a single color in tone or finish. All rust is great, as well as other mottled metal finishes. You can also make almost any strange piece work by painting it all black.
A cistern pump from the farm turns functional once again in a container water garden.
A few other pointers to make funky junk work in the garden:
- Surrounding plants must be in their prime. If junk sculpture is perched amongst waning foliage, it all just looks like a garden graveyard.
- Make the pieces secure. Set junk pieces in Quickcrete or secure with rebar or other supporting structures to make them look permanent.
A milk can gives home to Lobelia 'Royal Blue' with clematis 'Niobe' nearby.
- Give it a backdrop. Any piece that is placed against a fence, wall, or hedge will look in place. It helps the eye make sense of the vista. Surround a piece in the middle of a bed with a field (or pool) of the same flowers.
The graphic circle on the back fence is the bottom support ring from a rotted oak whiskey barrel. Verbena bonariensis, in the foreground, is a prolific reseeder and a stunner in the late summer garden.
People often ask me where to get fun pieces for the garden. First I tell them, make friends with a farmer. Old farmsites are filled with cool cast-offs. Check out thrift stores, antique shops, garage sales, auctions, as well as dumpsters, and alleys for other’s trash. But don’t overlook what you may already have in your garage or basement. Anything with an interesting shape or form can find a home in the garden … and be dramatic.
This panel from a long departed picket fence serves to contain the compost pile, while adding charm and whimsy to the garden.
