JaynesGarden

Changes

2011-06-09T11:41:00.001-06:00

We have now been lovely new house-less for a year. I miss many things about a garden at my fingertips - most of all those moments when I wander out to deadhead something and find myself 2 hours later moved on to weeding and staking and cutting flowers for the house. I also miss working hard on a Saturday (or any day), so hard that I ache and burn, yet am completely content. I miss the neighbors who call out as they drive by, "Your yard looks beautiful!". They were mostly being nice, but I loved to hear it.

That said, I have enjoyed so much about our lovely condo and the joy it is to hear someone else outside plowing snow in the winter morning, and mowing the lawns this spring. And, because of the particular design of this condominium, I also get to putter in a few square feet of dirt, and from much of the house look out at the fruits of that puttering. We have spent much of our few free weekends of this nearly spring, designing and redesigning (one poor bleeding heart has moved 4 times!) our beds, getting an umbrella to moderate the west sun, and generally planning for friends and family to enjoy this little heavenly patch.

Thank you to the architects in the 60s who designed wide eaves for winter sun and summer shade, used brick for very low maintenance, and centered these homes around a patio! (I would paint the brick to update this look - taupe-y green brick with white trim and the grey roof tiles? And the door - really? ) but I am a lone voice in that plea.

After watching the sun for days to see where it hits and how it's moving in the sky, we planted herbs, shade lovers, a few annual sun babies, two sweet trees and anything we think might love this spot. I planted a couple flats of pansies last fall and they are in full glory - almost ready to go bye bye in fact. A few plants from my Kaysville garden have made their way here via my son Christopher, who took cuttings from my garden, and now I have taken from his. Heritage flowers, so to speak. This door goes into the hall/kitchen

Hostas from my old garden, stones from my parents' St. George house and Greg's parents' Denver home fit nicely with the pansies. Don't you love the little viola faces?

I can't quite get lavender to grow in the beds, but these two in pots planted last year are very happy. The flue tiles were from my herb garden up north. This door leads to the living room.

In fact, here is the living room!

Our new cherry tree which is small, but it blossomed gloriously. More hosta and giant impatiens - and Greg's love, a potted jasmine which smells divine. Umbrella!

And how is this for a view from the computer? From my desk - in my chair in our office, I open the french door and this is exactly my view! Well, I see more what with the peripheral vision and all. I feel very lucky to have found places to live in my life where I can see, plant and enjoy all this loveliness nature has to offer.

Trees and their Lives

2011-04-20T15:29:00.000-06:00

I have known many people who feel that a tree should be left to its own way, neither trimmed nor pruned, and certainly never taken out! I may have felt somewhat those passions myself when my interest in plants was a budding love. And still, when trees are cut simply to clear a spot for nothing, or to build some poor excuse for architecture, I am always saddened. You can assume there is a but. But, trees, like all plants have a lifespan. They have disease which makes them dangerous to surrounding plants and structures. And they have bad habits. They rarely drink too much, nor do they often smoke (except at the hand of careless human friends) - but they, like children will often develop a little habit here and there that doesn't seem like much - till one year the neighbor's prized roses have been crushed by an errant branch, or there is a pile of rotting fruit in their driveway.

Some time ago, I wrote about pruning shrubs, perennials and flowers. The trimming of trees follows similar rules, but with trees, the pruning will create a permanent shape. Perennials that are just whacked down in spring or fall, will grow as they want, but the shape of a tree and its ability to do its best work - flowering, bearing fruit, providing shade, being beautiful - is dependent on the work of the gardener. There is something so artistic and satisfying about pruning a young tree (because while old trees need pruning too, that's more a hacksaw\chainsaw event, than a pair of hand clippers and small saw like a younger one). Leaves, flowers and fruit need air and light, so when the middle of a tree has cross branches - branches that grow into the tree mass rather than outward-the tree looks tangled and messy when there are no leaves on it. A tree with an aesthetically pleasing shape when it's bare, will also be prettier and stronger when it's beautifully leafed out. (Is this like people? Because I look soooo much better with leaves, lots of leaves.)

This drawing shows some reasons trees are pruned. In snowy climates prune broken branches so the snow won't do it for you. If a branch looks dead - cut it off! If one or more are growing crossways, cut them right at the trunk, in the spring while you can see clearly - and keep stepping back to see if all the branches are growing out.
Some shooters growing straight up from a branch - off with their heads! A pretty big one growing from the trunk, but into the tree or toward the ground - off! It's so satisfying! So any branch that is unsafe, sick or just looks bad, should be your springtime enemy.

Trees certainly do not need to have some arbitrary shape to be beautiful. But healthy is nearly always prettier than unhealthy. And each tree species - especially newer cultivars - has it's own ideal shape. Like this flowering pear, which was bred to have a flame pattern.

Sometimes one that grows unusually can be beautiful anyway, especially if it has room to be seen and grow without interfering, or interference from, other trees or structures. Like this one!

The touchiest of all tree care topics is when a tree should come out - or never be planted in the first place. Many neighborhood feuds and community ire has been ignited over trees trimmed, taken out or not planted.
My version of this eternal dispute is that if a tree is fast growing (i.e.weak structure - which is virtually synonymous), plant at your own own risk and know that one day it may well have to be taken out, or radically trimmed. Poplars, willows, elms, Russian Olive and others that grow fast are notoriously weak wood and susceptible to disease and bugs. A weeping willow, near water and from a distance is a beautiful thing.

But in a normal yard with little ground water nearby, it will overpower homes, power lines and other plants, and drops branches all over the yard with the slightest breeze. Chinese Elm is very sickly and is almost always host to little worms that land in the hair of innocent children causing trouble for their mothers. And they are an official weed in most places. I love the dark bark and beautiful silvery green of Russian Olive along a riverbank. While I'm driving by. Fast. But they are a menace to water managers and people with allergies, and they too are weak and likely to break.

Many cultivars of willow are currently popular with yard builders and homeowners. The Star Willow is a fine example. It's hard to even find in research because it is willow grafted to a short, sturdy trunk, which grows in a very round shape, and in spring the branch tips are white so it's very pretty. Until year 2,when it is completely out of control and the original shape is gone unless you are a vigilant pruner. Or the coral bark willow, which loses its red bark if not completely cut down each year. Still it grows to 8 feet around and 20 feet high - so, great for the North 40 where it will define your acreage. Another new cultivar which grows fast and tall, has some of its parent weakness bred out - Swedish Aspen. It is a poplar/aspen hybrid and it still grows fast, but resists much of the disease of both parents. Not a pretty tree, but very good for privacy and hiding the neighbors' garage.

Sadly, many trees just have a lifespan, and they need to be replaced. Sycamores and Maples do not get what they need from our Intermountain West conditions. They may live for years, but if you bought your home at the end of the 40 or 50 or even 80 year life, it's hard to say, time to go old friend! Topping (boo) and cutting around power lines may work for a while, but at some point it's just distressing to see a mangled tree stick around for a scrap of shade. Sometimes a tree is just too old or too sick or too weak, and it has to go. There will undoubtedly be, in each such case, someone who wants to hang on to it anyway.

Great trees for ornamental and shade use in yards for another day. Here is one of my favorites, the Honey Locust. Tiny leaves that seem to just disappear, filtered shade, and a lovely shape.

Life Sans Garden

2011-01-20T15:41:00.004-07:00

Well that's a very sad little title, no? As I read my abruptly final post last spring about preparing for Emily's wedding dinner at our home and looking forward to the year's gardening, I am filled with a mix of sadness, relief, nostalgia and anticipation. And as always, I wonder why I waited so long to face something hard or sad and make it part of the growth and joy of my life!

Shortly after my violas and pansies were planted for the wedding festivities, we realized that for several reasons, we needed to sell our lovely home and yard and move to a smaller, easier, closer to the city and maybe a bit more economical place. I shudder each time I look at our file of plants and their receipts - but then I think, hey, we could have been doing drugs or buying antiques! Building the yard was our hobby and our travel and our exercise and our drug of choice. No regrets. And since the move, I have come to realize that it was oh-so-right a decision and that there are other ways to experience the natural beauty I love. At least for now. We have a lovely condominium with a great central patio and lots of light and room for container planting, and until we find just the right little house with a perfect little yard and big family rooms for the gang - I will write about other gardens and natural wonders that come into my life.

This adventure began with Emily's wedding. Her reception was in the garden and interior of a small studio in the Avenues. Because it was early in the spring, the studio owner let us do the spring clean up and some planting - all all those pots I had filled with pansies were carted right over to her patio! Emily and Tasha and I did the flowers, with logistical support from Kate, and they looked like this:

The pots were great, they added to the charming patio where Emily and Aaron greeted their guests. And we all cleaned up really nicely to celebrate with them. I worked so much in this yard and in the yard of my friend where we held the family dinner, that I felt completely spring fulfilled. The summer took on such a complicated life of its own (luckily for you, full of natural wonders yet to hear of!) that I am very grateful for this lovely day.

What Goes Around...

2010-03-11T14:35:00.007-07:00

Here is my spring view from the kitchen window! Johnny jump ups (violas) in my favorite purple pot. I have experienced many springs. The springs of my young life happened in the southwest where there is a barely discernible difference in the seasons, but the last 30 or so have been mountain west spring times and each one has been a delightful surprise. My first experience with seasonal change was winter semester in a small Idaho college town, and I was dismayed at the dead trees and lifeless landscape. When spring came and bulbs rose from the ground and trees sprouted leaves, I was just shocked!

I feel that way every year still. Greg teases that I say - "Oh, the magnolia came back!" or " Hey did you notice that the ornamental grasses are coming up?", as if it's a big surprise. I read a post by a friend the other day, gently lamenting a day spent cleaning and fixing a lovely dinner - and thinking that tomorrow would dawn with those same things to do and little collective family memory of today's accomplishment. I suspect that yard care (we call it gardening to justify our time spent outside) often feels the same to the lawn mowing population. But as long as the temprature peeks above 40, we are looking for projects and and happy to spend some of every day fussing over a patch of dirt.

This year, we have an early (May 14th) outside dinner party for my daughter's pre-wedding family dinner. Since spring can be a relative term for us, I decided to plant pansies in profusion, because they will oblige us with early growth and no nasty surprises in case of a late frost. That also means two annual planting seasons this year since pansies don't love the hot dry summers of the Wasatch Front. So I have a new experience to tackle - planting summer flowers in with the spring primroses and pansies to make an ever blooming annual presence. The same four seasons may come and go and come and go, one pretty much like another. But isn't it nice that we seem to get same thrill from these little guys every year, no matter how many springs pass us by?

Cutting Things Down to Size.

2010-03-01T15:36:00.012-07:00

Remember last year when I was late trimming my grasses? This year we have taken advantage of a warmer, drier February and nearly all are already trimmed - a month ahead of last year. Besides making room for the new growth, we found that holding or tying them up while cutting the stems - preferably with a trimmer of some kind - is much much cleaner. I felt like I was battling old sticks and dried heads all summer last year when we just whacked away at them.

It's definitely still winter, but a little fresh air and work outside has me thinking and planning already. My secret garden changed dramatically last year and while it may not need the same kind of design and planting attention this summer, there is plenty of filling in which will give it a more lush feeling. There are several typed of perennials that I have learned to love in these last seasons, and I would like to extol their virtues.

First, coreopsis. There are many varieties and although yellow is most
common, there are now bright and pale pink, white, and a few red varieties. I didn't love them at first, the flowers are small and the plant is bushy, but they blossom all spring, summer and fall, and when deadheaded they are profuse bloomers (deadheading is the key - otherwise they are just lumps of green). I often make my way through my 10 or plants snipping off dying blossoms - but I also sometimes just trim one way back and in a week or so, it is back in force. They are great for pots and as long as they have sun, they'll grow with little water and poor soil. If they get too floppy, I use a circular stake and they stand right up. Like these in the right corner of the photo.Another new favorite is plumbago. My neighbor, Wendi, recommended them and I have really loved what they add. They are a small border plant and I am gradually planting them all around the outside ring of the garden. They are at first green leaved with bright blue flowers, then the leaves gradually turn red until they are really a beautiful fall color. They spread slowly from year to year - but they're worth it!

And maybe my favorite accidental find in a big box nursery is crocosmia! They are part of the iris family, they spread and although they bloom later, the green foliage looks great in the background all year. And when the flowers are done, the seed heads still look good all fall. And hummingbirds love them!It's always good to try a new plant or take a recommendation. You can always give them away, move them or let them die gracefully if you don't like them, but many of the plants I have come to love, were little happy accidents!

A Leaves and Lavender Christmas

2010-01-10T20:42:00.009-07:00

So it seemed to me that if I were not working this past few months - which I wasn't - and if I wanted to do some lovely and meaningful things for Christmas this year - which I did, I would need to be creative. I thought about my limited creative abilities and since one of my best outlets is the garden, I looked there for some ideas. I have also occasionally refinished some old, or even not-so-old pieces of furniture and last fall the two combined in this little bathroom cabinet. I used leaves from some of our trees and some from neighbors' to give it some texture and personality.

Greg kept an eye on the changing leaves on the beautiful City County building grounds in Salt Lake City, and filled his backpack several days, so I began pressing them in October. Fortunately we have a nearly limitless supply of heavy books around here so I had stacks of them weighing down oak, maple, pear and other varieties of drying foliage. Wasn't sure what I would do with them, but each time I took a peek they were more beautiful, so I let ideas swirl in my head. And I knew that for Katie in her very first solo apartment, I wanted to refinish some piece of furniture, so I was also keeping an eye on the thrift stores for something with possibilities.

The lavender grown in my garden and, as I noticed on walks, in yards all over the neighborhood, I did have some ideas for. I had already made little sachets for a few years - I love the scent of lavender and I sometimes even put one in my pillow to sleep. But the good old www. opened a world of waxes and potions, which I finally narrowed down to candles and lotion. I avoided some first timer mistakes by absorbing vicarious experience shared by many candle makers and natural cosmetic sites - but I also experienced plenty of trial and error of my own! After learning more than one might care to, I can tell you about wicks and waxes, containers and molds, bases and additives, preservatives and scents. I made infused oils with my dried lavender and then set to concocting.After Greg had walked through many a DI wondering "what are we looking for?", we found a perfect little maple mid century modern coffee table (which I discovered from its stamp, was made by an Ethan Allen-owned wood furniture company, in Vermont circa about 1952). Stripping, sanding and hand rubbed staining later, it looked really great. I also added one maple leaf in honor of its wood and to give it a little signature. One of the collages for Eliz is also in this photo.The other pressed leaves I took inspiration (copied) from some pieces I saw at an art show and framed for some of the kids who have homes. I learned in my years of custom framing that any vegetation, pressed or otherwise preserved has a limited life when captured in a frame - but isn't that just how life is anyway?Elizabeth and I had shared a conversation which inspired a piece of collage art for her, and the grandboys each got quilts oh so lovingly stitched by someone everyone is calling grandma. I made one side satiny for rubbing on little cheeks, and one flannel for snuggling and quilted their names in the pattern. Garrett's is brown with cowboy flannel and Morgan's Blue with football flannel.All said and done, the children and friends were gracious interested in their gifts, and some reactions were absolutely etched into my heart forever. But it was I who will be changed in my view of what giving means. For hours and days as I researched and experimented, glued and sanded, and stitched and framed, I thought of all of them. I remembered my children from babies to their wonderful grown up selves. I thought of my friends and what they have meant in my life and what theirs have taught me. I imagined what this or that person might think when they caught a whiff of a lavender scented hand or wrapped in a snuggly blanket for comfort. I didn't care what new thing was in stores, because I was busy wanting to be home working on my projects. As always, I wished I were able to do more - pay some tuition or take everyone on a great trip. But this year I felt less of that. My garden, my eye for design, mostly my slow but willing hands, gave me the opportunity to really show the people I love, one tiny fraction of what I feel for them.
I may never be able to do anything like this again. Time, ideas, energy and the need to work may make it a one time opportunity. But for me it was a magical few months. As I watched my children in our two day sleep-over after Christmas quilting on a big bedspread for Tasha and Christopher, and talking of knitting or crocheting or photograph projects, movies, art and music and of plans with and for friends, grandparents, cousins and each other, I realized that what I know about love I learned from them.

Herbs - Growing, Drying, Using, Loving

2009-11-17T10:09:00.015-07:00

Loving herbs may sound a bit dramatic - but I still remember a card my mom gave to a friend about 35 years ago. My parents' good friends Phyllis and Herb lived nearby and for her birthday, Mom bought a card that said on the front, "Do you like Herbs?" and inside "He likes yours!". It made her laugh wickedly every time she opened it and I now think of it nearly every time I say the word herbs.

But really, herbs. I love to have them fresh for several dishes that I make often and I had grown them for many years - mostly parsley and basil, in a pot or flower bed near the kitchen. The new herb garden was built last spring with flue tiles and it was just wonderful all year. I also planted a few carrots and two kinds of lettuce between the pots. As the summer progressed it looked like this:I used the herbs all year, and also tried to harvest each plant as it grew thick, to dry for use through the winter. Some I have shared and some I hope to use in potions I am making for Christmas. Our lavender is not in the herb garden, but my 6 plants - plus some neighbor blossoms I snipped with permission - have all been busily producing lovely smelling buds and leaves to make other goodies for family and friends' Christmas gifts. I love the smell of lavender and find it very restful, so I'm excited to have so much to use in creative ways.

The jars I filled with stems from my pre-frost trimming took root before I used them, and now I have several in pots ready to share or plant in the spring! There is something really satisfying about using my own rosemary to make bread - even if it's just a tiny portion of what goes into the recipe. I may never have a garden with more than a few meals worth of salad or veggies, but I can grow, dry and use lots of fun herbs with small and cute spaces.

I like herbs - does Herb like yours?

Fall Blessings

2009-11-16T09:40:00.008-07:00

A nice long autumn means that I got most of my I'll-do-it-in-the-fall tasks done! It also means that we had tomatoes until a week ago, broccoli yesterday and I cut the last of all the herbs this weekend and stuck them in jars of water so that we'll have fresh sage, thyme, oregano and rosemary for a while longer. Greg had a dehydrator in the basement which I have stubbornly refused to use, opting for paper bags of drying herbs and lavender which have lined the counters and deck all summer. But we used it Saturday and I even dried a few of the last rose petals. As it turns out a dehydrator is so great! Who knew it would be so different? Well, Greg did actually. The rose petals are brighter, as is the color on all the herbs and the house smelled wonderful. Satisfying.Fall is a good time to do garden shuffling, and despite my procrastination, the lingering fall weather gave me time to make a change I am so happy about. I had planted three pennisetum plants next to each other parallel to the street for a clump effect. But they grew larger than I expected and with the addition of some very big gaura, this northern berm was looking very crowded.So I left one and moved the other two in a diagonal line on top of the berm, and I am so happy! It wasn't hard, the root ball was not too big and the result is pleasing every time I drive away from home.Our Yaku Jima grasses on the south berm have grown also and with their beautiful color and seed heads that catch the sun, they add such interest for fall and the first snowstorms.I have grown to love the ornamental grasses and their changing look through spring and summer, but just when most plants have been cut or died down, these lovely creatures make me happy every day!They even come inside for a while - where the kitty thinks they're a chew toy.
Ornamental grasses are often low water, there are grasses native to just about everywhere, and they are so much more versatile than I could have imagined. Since I love the flowing, unstructured look in my front yard anyway, these plants have added color, texture and verticality for the whole intermountain growing season. Guess I'm always trying to peddle a little grass!

Secret Garden

2009-08-24T08:23:00.008-06:00

I keep talking about my secret garden in little bits and pieces, so here is the story of what it is and how it came to be. Our house sits almost in the middle of our large lot. Because we wanted a side entry garage and we are on a corner, we had to face our house east, which meant several things. One, as Greg will claim, we have a half mile of park strip to plant, water and mow. We also have an extra big front yard because there is no driveway taking space, and an extra wide frontage to allow for the garage on the side. And the because of setback rules, our house sits kind of in the middle of the lot. At one point, our back fence is only about 30 feet from the structure, (although there is still plenty of backyard play space if anyone wants to play) so we have planted trees and built a big arbor with Wysteria to give us and our neighbors privacy.But this placement also meant that we have two large side yards. On the south side, by the driveway, we set the fence back several feet and planted trees and shrubs. We felt that our neighbors across the street would prefer a nicer view that a blank fence, and it also just looks prettier from the street as one drives by. And inside the south side fence is a great garden spot. It gets lots of sun and is not in direct view unless we want to show it off.

That left the north side. It is about 35 feet wide and even deeper, front to back. It is out of view from the backyard until one is almost at the small arbor, and is out of view of the street even though we installed a low fence, because the yard slopes up from front to back. After several visits to the USU teaching garden in Kaysville, I thought about copying their beautiful plan on a much smaller scale for my own garden. One day, about 15 months ago, Greg and I walked around the space, pulling tall weeds and talking about what might work. I drew a plan and within a week we had begun to shape berms around the outside and an island in the middle. The sprinkling system was begun and we were off.

I had found a couple of plants the fall before and had planted them kind of randomly, so they were incorporated into the design. Once we had carted many loads of topsoil and soil pep to make the shape of the basic garden, we did a lot of stewing over the path. The USU garden has a wonderful hard surface that is still quite natural looking - not quite dirt, not quite gravel. It wasn't something we could find, so we improvised with sand, and a very tiny gravel. We bought sand in bags and spread it around, and then we spent half the summer taking 4 or 5 big buckets to a rock quarry on every trip into town and buying small quantities of the gravel. Every time we went to the city, we bought a few buckets of rocks and spread them around. It's a pretty good solution and I do a little raking design about once a week.Then we began to plant. I had already planted all our ornamental grasses, and Greg had planted about 26 trees and many many shrubs and we had together planted perennials galore - so last summer and this past spring I could concentrate on perennials for the garden. By the last September our newley seeded back lawn was taking shape, and the view into the garden was looking pretty good too.Over the winter that miraculous event of roots establishing themselves and baby one gallon, or smaller, plants had grown to many times their size. It grew and filled in - there is still space to fill, but some of that can just be dividing and transplanting. By this year it has become just what I dreamed it would be. And how often does that happen?

When Greg asked me what I wanted in a back yard, I said that I wanted rooms for different purposes. There is planting and maturing yet to do, but our back yard now has a garden area where we are growing fruits and vegetables and herbs, a small lawn with a tree in middle just right for playing with dolls or reading in the shade, a deck and patio for eating and visiting, a larger lawn area for running, playing croquet or catch or lying in the sun. And then tucked away where you have to be interested to explore, is my not so secret garden. You won't cross over into a new world or escape time or meet new species. But kind of.

Fruits of Our Labor

2009-08-03T12:02:00.007-06:00

I do love the time when toiling in the garden begins to bear fruit! In this case we have real and visual fruits and both are lovely. On the visual side we have these:
First sunflowersFirst mixed bouquetFirst lavenderFirst gypsophila, but after being in the house for 4 weeks. I don't love baby's breath in floral design, but I do on its own!The later sunflowersThe eating variety of harvest:
First tomatofirst salsa fixings
First peaches - ever!First dinner (just the broccoli, tomatoes and lettuce - the chicken, I don't know where that came from. Magic maybe. The Dr. Pepper from heaven.)
First herbs all driedWe did not get our grow boxes built this year so we just use that space to bury gangsters. But we discovered that the south side of the house with its sun and warm stones is a great place for tomatoes and cucumbers and broccoli. And the squash is coming right along.It is such a satisfying time to see not only the beauty of the yard, but to feel it every day in house as well!

Families

2009-07-27T12:46:00.022-06:00

Not that kind of family! But neat trick for uploading a picture of my children in a gardening blog, isn't it? I have become so interested in how connected plants are to each other, and the families to which otherwise apparently unconnected plants belong.
The most recurring in our yard and garden are in the Malvaceae or Mallow family, and the Hibiscus genus. We have a few species of this plant and some cultivars within those species. This year they have been and are now, especially beautiful - stemming to a degree from the rainy spring. In fact, most of our perennials are really big and wonderful this year.

First up were the hollyhocks. When the yard was new, lo these two years, I very much wanted hollyhocks. They do well in heat and don't need fabulous soil. And oh boy do we have a lot of not fabulous soil. They reminded me and everyone else in the west of my grandmother's house. But all I could find in nurseries were the new varieties, all of which were doubles. I am not a fan of doubles in most flowers - to me that breeding just makes everything look like a carnation. So I searched in vain for heirloom versions or common hollyhock/alcea rosea. Last year a neighbor who has beautiful hollyhocks offered to share some starts, so as she was thinning hers just a year ago she brought over several small plants of two or three baby stalks. They grew nice and bunchy over the summer and were quite healthy, but no stalks or blossoms. This year they have been spectacular! Since they are bi-annuals they are likely to come back only one time, but they spread and are also easy to plant from seed. Her heirloom plants are white, light pink, deeper pink and red. Mine are just finishing up now, and within a week I will cut down the remaining stalks, but I've had a good 2 months of blossoms!
Then there are the real hibiscus, hibiscus rosea sinensis. From Greg's former garden we transplanted two bright pink hibiscus, and have added a white one with a deep red center and several dark red versions. They are a wonderful plant for covering the house and adding interest to the front corners. The flowers each last one day, but when they call them dinner plate size - they mean it! There is a cultivar called hibiscus laevis, which has really beautiful leaves with a delicate pointed structure and the same flowers as rosa. Our bright pink hibiscus and this not-yet-opened red one are of the laevis variety.The blossoms will curl up and drop off eventually, but I'm a chronic deadheader and Greg says I get more blossoms on this plant that he ever did. They bloom into the fall, taking over about when the hollyhocks are done.And finally - for us at least, the hibiscus genus has hundreds of species - is the rose of Sharon, hybiscus syriacus. In my secret garden I have a rose of Sharon shrub that is one my few blue flowers. It will get very large, which means that this fall I will move the helianthus Maximilian next to it to a new spot. The flowers are beautiful and it is easy to see the family connection of these plants. I also wanted a rose of Sharon tree, which turns out not to be a cultivar, but just a shrub pruned through its life to act like a tree. This one was all we could find for a while and it is big and healthy, but the flowers are doubles. We later found this smaller one with traditional blossoms which I prefer.
I always like to discover family resemblances in people. Sometimes it's an actual facial structure, sometimes a personality and often just a little something that lets one know that certain people are related. As my children followed one another through school they were often asked if they were related to a preceding sibling. See? I love that this family of plant starts in the spring and carries through fall with blossoms that I find extraordinarily beautiful. Each one may only last a day, but they produce them in proliferation and can be dramatically exciting every time. Like children.

The Stake Center

2009-07-13T13:32:00.006-06:00

There are many plants at which I turned up my nose because they have a tendency to droop or just fall over. Some that come to mind are phlox, coreopsis, dahlias, and even hibiscus, which I adore for late summer and fall color but which also fall like crazy as they get bigger. I avoided many of them, even threatening to take out the lovely smelling phlox because they were always lying on the ground (and they also tend to get a fungus easily so I was not friendly about them).

Then a couple of years ago I found some great plant stakes at a nursery ( they are at every home improvement store too) and since I love my hibiscus so much I thought I could use them for that. I did and they seemed to love standing tall instead of having to branch up toward the sun after lying on the ground when they had become heavy and tipped over. And it wasn't hard to do. So I kept buying the stakes when I was in the store and over three summers, I seem to have lost my fear. In fact, since we have largely passed the planning, heavy lifting and planting stage of creating a yard, I am finding that the fine tuning and even the everyday maintenance is quite satisfying - even creative.

Greg and I often take a walk through the yard in the evening, talking about the day and uprooting some of the hundreds of weeds that appear over night. I deadhead various blossoming perennials and he finds satisfaction in hand watering. And this year I have become quite the staker. I am enjoying hollyhocks long past the bad winds that knocked many of them over, because mine are staked! The phlox are not lying in the dirt and have gotten less moldy thanks to the loving arms that hold them up. And the big coreopsis look as if they they have nice strong stems - instead of the weak spindly things they really have. I don't need perfection in a garden at all - a little messy is just fine with me. But I have come to really appreciate the bonus of healthier, longer lasting plants thanks to a bit of routine attention. It feels like gardening rather than yard work!

Death in the Garden

2009-06-17T05:58:00.010-06:00

No one has actually died in my garden, but in the early weeks of spring I inflicted a near death experience on my beloved secret garden plants, and I continue to grieve. If I can save the life of but one perennial, perhaps my pain will have meaning. Okay, so that may be melodramatic, but I have truly been distraught over this episode in my gardening life. It all began so innocently...

Greg, my gardening mentor brought home some fertilizer -high nitrogen- to give all our beds a boost. We have such terrible clay soil and in spite of our amendments it is too recently planted to have built up its own healthier topsoil. Of course nitrogen needs to be applied into the ground when it's fairly cool, raked in, and then watered thoroughly. And, in the case of perennials, should be applied only before the plants really grow much (one of my favorite nursery helpers says in fact, just compost a perennial garden in the fall and it will do great without additives. He thinks we make addicts of our gardens and I'm coming around to that).

So, on a day that was already too hot, and which got hotter than expected, I took some of said fertilizer and carefully placed it around the base of many plants. Then I became impatient, and began to just sort of toss it by handfuls. Finally, I was dropping it in the middle of some that were already about 18 inches tall - with the idea that I would come back, water it off the leaves and rake it in. But I didn't. I knew that the sprinklers in my secret garden were set to come on that night, so I did not worry too much. But they didn't. In fact, through a series of mistakes and misunderstandings, they weren't watered for a few days, and thus the tragedy had begun.

I went out a few days later and the biggest of the secret garden plants were just awful looking. Whole stalks of bee balm and meadow sage were black and falling over, clumps of little bluestem grasses had turned brown and died, the Jacob's ladder and lupine were all dead as were others of the new perennials. I went sobbing to Greg that all was lost, my garden was dead and this year was gone - along with other dramatic prophecies. He was appropriately sympathetic, politely ignoring my accusations that it was all his fault for going to the store in the first place. He suggested maybe raking in the remaining fertilizer still lurking about and watering thoroughly, which I did. Well, we did because it wasn't just in my garden that the mayhem occured.

Within a few days it was worse. Really!?, I thought. But as it turns out it's actually true that a weak and damaged thing in nature often attracts other things that finish it off - thus preserving the quality of the species. So in came the bugs, - earwigs, white flies and other odd looking creatures took over from the burning fertilizer. More tears and predictions of garden failure for 2009. I am not much of a pesticide person, but I immediately went on a search for the least damaging - but effective - bug killer I could find. The earwigs were happily munching each stem's roots right at the ground and they weren't one bit afraid when I dug around to scare them off. I powdered, I sprayed, I picked and squashed, still without much hope for the summer.

Two things happened which made all the difference. One is time. Apparently time does indeed heal at least most wounds. Water and time helped to stop the damage and allow other plants to grow up and hide much of the remaining scars. And also, because I tried very hard to design the garden to bloom all summer, along came crocosmia and phlox and hollyhocks and red hot pokers and more. The perennial geraniums and verbena which looked so sad at the start, pretty much replaced themselves and are now hale and hardy.

The lesson is, well there are too many to count. But the best one is that while nature may be brutal (and I after all, started the war myself) it also really really wants to keep itself growing and producing. I was almost too sad to work in the garden, busying myself with the rest of the yard, and then one day I found that it had been magically restored. I went out and it looked like this where it had been droopy and hammered:

I took heart from the growth and kept working and more magic later, it has come to this. And I know that as the hibiscus and lobelia and rose of Sharon and others begin to bloom, it will just get better. Apparently gardening takes patience, faith and trying trying again, along with the hard work and experience. Lemonade anyone?

Details

2009-05-15T15:52:00.019-06:00

In a garden, or more generically, a yard, there are many ways for the landscape to take form. Years ago a family often moved in to a new home, planted a front and back yard full of some soft green grass and then gradually they may have added some beds and trees. It was likely that the dad of the household dug the sprinkling system trenches and that he either seeded the lawn himself, or was a bit extravagant and brought in sod. However, when I was very young in the suburban southwest, sod was was quite unheard of.

Time changes in all things and landscape design is no exception. Sod farms made it possible to have a lawn in a day, a plethora of landscape companies mean the there can be lawn, curbing, planted beds and several trees with a fully functioning sprinkler system in a couple of weeks. At the other end of the spectrum are homeowners like us who study and design, dig and haul and generally enjoy the process every bit as much as the result. Most fall somewhere the middle. My sister and her husband bought a new house and had a wonderful design done by a landscape architect and have then been chipping away at planting what he recommended each year. Across the street a new neighbor had his yard installed, and has been planting flowers and shrubs of his own choice to finish it off.

However the yard comes together, the real stamp of individuality comes in the details. Small features that we may install to make things work better for us, little plants in out of the way places that are treasures awaiting discovery,
or rocks and accessories which have meaning, make a yard unique and personal. Some of ours are:

Our red stones in the yard and path that came from my parents' wonderful St. George home. My Dad split them for his own path and let us have the excess. The path is great and I think of years enjoying the beauty of their desert home every time I use it.

The dry river bed that goes from one end of the front to the other. A big truck dropped about 13,000 pounds of rocks on our dirt and in a couple of weeks we placed them one at time in the bed. Each side has a way to cross, a little stone bridge on the south and in the north section, a stone in the middle to easily step across to the other side.

The little moss and thymes that grow between paths and hose bib rocks
here and there.

And for some reason, I really love the two gravel beds that Greg made for a couple of spots where the roof drips. They look quite nice, and they prevent the kind of holes that usually happen with dripping eaves in a storm.

Greg is tall and he built some benches years ago to make simple carpentry tasks easier by putting them at his arm level. I painted this one with our trim paint for our small front porch. Without being too bulky for the spot, it is still a touch of personality and occasionally, a place to sit.
Any unique and personal touch - furniture, art, specimen plants or unusual arrangements, add the detail to a landscape that make it remarkable. These touches also say that attention was paid to this spot and invite a visitor to do the same.

Geography

2009-05-05T12:47:00.003-06:00

A few years ago as I was researching some plants I wanted for our new yard, I found a suggestion to examine the geography and climate of a yard before designing the landscape. A few weeks ago, I was examining (bemoaning) the condition of my personal geography and it occurred to me that my yard and my body are both changing and shifting - some due to natural phenomenon and some because of my choices. At this point, I think the yard is getting the better result.

Having red hair and freckles, means that I have always been conscious of the sun and its effects. Like many girls in the OC, I spent years trying to look healthy and tan, in my case tan-ish was about what I could hope for. Even that mean a few significant burns before the light golden would appear. Forward to the present and each time I look in the mirror I see new evidence of years outside before my current addiction to spf 80. Not long ago, as I counted the laugh lines (ha, ha) by my left eye and then the right, I discovered that my left eye has many more of them, and is a bit less smooth as well. Hmmmm. I thought of my yard, how the side yard which faces south gets dry much faster than the rest and I realized that 40 years of driving means that for 40 years the left side of my face has been getting, well, many times more sunlight that the right!

As I walk through my yard I usually follow the the stone and gravel paths we have made. But I take certain shortcuts to spots I work or visit often and those paths become obvious after a while. Repetitive movement and heredity mean that the tendons in my thumbs bear paths that cause dropped dishes and occasional misery. The process of development and construction of our lot, caused a few scars around which we have landscaped, just as a nasty fall down some cement stairs many years ago left a permenant bruise on my shin and an ankle that tells me when rain is on the way. And let's not even think about the low spots in the yard that collect water and the correlating water collectors in my lowest point - puffy feet at the end of a long day.

All these amusing comparisons made me look at the landscape and myself with new eyes. I try to be kind to my gardens by growing shade plants under the trees and on the north side. We put our drought tolerant grasses in high berms in sunny places. Our sprinkling system is an engineering marvel with zones and watering times for as much water conservation as possible. After studying the theories of Frank Lloyd Wright and reading The Fountainhead several times, I determined to learn about any plot of land that became my stewardship before I tried to bend it to my will. Watching the skies and the seasons and considering water and soil make sense if I hope for beautiful results. An English garden is a lovely thing in a temperate, humid climate with rich soil. I live in a desert. So I may still love a lush look, but I can have it with grasses and perennials and trees that don't live sickly lives in my clay soil. No rhododendrons for me!

So am I this kind to my body? Do I consider what it has been through as I curse its inadequacies? Do I say, well these knees aren't great, but look where they've taken me, think of the miraculous repairs that have made them tolerable many years beyond their expectancy? Nope. Usually I curse the various parts as I dismiss the whole. But I don't believe that anyone is old until they stop learning and changing, and I can change this. This creaky body was a great cocoon for 6 really wonderful babies, and then walked and held and played with them all. And now I have one delightful grandson and another hours from arrival who can also benefit from the warmth of a grandma lap and voice. I can dress, and feed and care for my own landscape as carefully as I do my yard and I suspect that it will reward me with more years of use. Mostly, I think I should be kind and grateful for both.

In case I haven't belabored the metaphor enough, I will say that we planned our yard to be welcoming, comortable, and productive as well as beautiful. The front walk draws a visitor to the door, there are places to sit in the front, side and back, there are tiny details that can only be enjoyed close up and I can snip flowers herbs and vegetables a few steps from the kitchen. I think I want to be welcoming, comfortable, and productive too. And maybe attractive. So some sprucing up, more bike riding, more work and most of all a gentler attitude about my physical self is in order. Maybe a new pair of earrings.

Blossoms Blossoms

2009-05-03T07:49:00.026-06:00

I love a yard wherein something is blooming during the whole growing season. Since I switched allegiance from annuals to perennials, I have had to work a little harder to keep bloomers all summer and fall since they are so often spring babies. But this yard has a pretty good (and getting better) variety of plants, so I am atwitter about something lovely pretty much all the time.
Still, there is something about spring blossoms that is just so uniquely great. Each new show off seems to get more intense than the last - even the window wells you already saw have gotten more beautiful. Here we have various phlox, sweet woodruff, thyme, basket of gold - and others.

You remember the heath.
Forsythia starts the real show.
I planted several groupings of bulbs for size and color, before I understood the very different growing habits of each one, and so the first ones up,crocuses (croci?) are ok, but the lilies, daffodils, hyacinths, and tulips in each little group showed up one at a time. Not too impressive. I am going to replant the groupings with that in mind ( if my bulb map really works come fall), but these tulips are more what I was hoping for. More flowers will be added next year.

We don't have any flowering plums, usually the first tree that blossoms and not usually the very prettiest, but we have their nicer cousin, the cistena plum shrub. ( At least I think so, the flowering plum has potential, but is often planted in park strips or as a specimen, and then never gets pruned or shaped. Left to its own will, it can have a messy body - can't we all.)
Then more trees, flowering pear (mine is already done!), weeping cherry,fruits ( ours are peach, apple and pear, all grafted to produce 4 types of each variety and 2 of them espaliered), Canadian chokecherry, fruitless cherry red bud, which really should be called purple bud as the tree looks very striking purple from a few steps way, and crab apple.
Our young shrub's first year for lilac blossoms, this is Miss Kim

Bleeding heart, pink and white

Usually magnolia are lovely spring bloomers - big white blossoms on
otherwise bare branches, but mine did
not bloom this year. It did the last two years, and I'm thinking it could be a sun problem. They need a fair amount of sunshine to blossom, and with the east facing exposure, this one may not have gotten enough this year.

This bulb hasn't opened yet, but it grows like wildfire. It's an allium, an onion in its family tree, really great looking when its tall, straight stem forms a purple ball at the top. And it doubled, so this year I have 4!
Pretty soon, I will introduce you to my secret garden, but here's a peek at the west entrance. I have a lot to plant here yet, but last year's perennials are showing promise.

It seems that every day, spring hands me a new little surprise. God's way of saying "Perk up! Be grateful! Do something good!" So when you come to my
house, you'll find that way back last fall I knew you'd be here, so I planted these to say, "Welcome!".

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and etc.

2009-04-23T15:33:00.012-06:00

Having completed most of the routine spring tune up of the yard, I decided that it was time to let the projects begin. Our real task for this spring is building the garden beds, but we we do already have a great spot for tomatoes and a little corner where last year I had cutting flowers. I knew that I wanted more herbs than the few basil and mint that my single pot allowed, so once the tomatoes were in, I tackled the design and construction of an herb garden, in the former cutting garden. Here is the result!

Now for the very fascinating description of the process! Greg uses these flue tiles to make drainage beds for our hose bibs ( more on that later). We have 6 of them in our yard, because, well, you can't have too many hoses cluttering up the yard, can you? I like the look of them and the idea that they come in several sizes and can be buried to different depths. Since some herbs can get very aggressive in their growing habits, it seemed that maybe these could have good design potential as well as providing a way to keep the plants contained. I got 6 flue tiles, but then decided on more herbs, so I just used a couple of clay pots I had, and it turns out I like the addition of circles to the design. I may still add one more round, since I would like to add dill.

Clay pots often have the disadvantage of leeching water from the plants, but flue tiles are much more dense than regular pots, and they are also fired differently. But just in case, you can paint the inside with gardening tar. So I have parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, basil (three kinds), oregano, chive, mint and I'll add dill. I chose these because I use them a lot, but there are so many interesting varieties and flavors that one could have a much larger selection. I still need to add some nice dressing to the ground between the plants, and I did plant sunflower seeds against the wall. Cool, huh?

Also cool is the garden path that Greg built. This is on the business side of the yard so it is purely for function, but he always combines it with form and makes things beautiful even when they don't need to be! For example, we have several basement windows, and we really didn't want deep window wells, especially in the family room. So we made these around each set of 2 windows (well, nice men with big machines did) and I planted rock growing goodies, and we love the spring show.
I thought that ajuga might be nice growing in the gravel so I planted a six pack the first year. All the plants died but one and I can't bear to deny it life after such a struggle! It's a very pretty view from inside as well. All in all, I am so happy with what appears to be the successes of our last two year's work and the promise of this. One of our main design goals was to have a yard that would bloom the whole growing season and there is much yet to enjoy from the spring bloomers.

There are Bees in the Heath!

2009-03-26T07:32:00.016-06:00

Well, there were bees a week ago,- true to intermountain spring, there is now snow on the heath. But the heath is blooming, along with some crocus and even a few daffodils, so spring is lurching toward us and today's snowstorms can't stop it forever!

My fall pansies have survived the winter in their pots and look bright and cheery, and they have been joined by their cousins - the new pansies - which I cannot resist each spring when I see them come into the nurseries.
Now it's time for spring cleaning and I love it. ( Don't be silly, this has nothing to do with washing windows or vacuuming. It's time to go outside!) We have finished the spring pruning, cleaned up the last perennial leavings, had the lawn aerated and fertilized the whole estate. Or typical suburban lot.

The grasses up the walk were looking like this after the last few snow storms of the winter. I loved having them stick up out of the snow all winter, but for a couple of reasons I may trim some of them in the fall next year, or try doing it at the first snow melt in January or February. First, they lasted well through the fall and early winter storms, but from Christmas on, most of the grasses were broken and pretty sad for the rest of the winter.

Second, and more important, even when I cut these overdam and Karl Forster reeds early in March, there was already new green growth and cutting them at that point means I already have some brown tops on the leaves that will never look as healthy as a new, sharp shoot. See the little brown tips? As opposed to the Korean feather reed which I cut earlier and has all nice pointed leaves.

Compared to world peace, not such a big deal, but if I can learn something that will make a nice little difference for next year, I'm happy.

It's also time to remember the parable of the forsythia! Look at the rigidly trimmed shrubs you see all over - especially around commercial buildings - and if you see the ones with yellow blossoms just visible around the trimmed shape - it is an abused forsythia! You will also certainly find the sometimes wild and sometimes tamed but shapely shrubs that look like bright yellow fireworks in the garden and those are the forsythia who are loved and appreciated for what they are. If you want man made shapes, I say get a boxwood or privet or something begging to be made into an animal shape. Mine is just a baby and has newly blossomed, but she'll be a beauty one day!

So, 12 new inches of the best snow on earth notwithstanding, spring is here and I can't wait for this year's projects! Each new blossom and tender green leaf that sprouts gives me a thrill. Those bees are the harbingers of the planting and tending to come; let the buzzing begin!

Growing Posterity

2009-01-21T19:35:00.017-07:00

Not much is growing in the garden right now, it's that still, frozen time when I take it on faith that the living things will all come back. But I have been sorting and organizing all our plant tags from the last 2 summers and looking at pictures and I am growing excited for spring to appear! We keep all our plant tags - because Mr. Johnson is just like that - and I have them in a cute little box filed by year of planting and type of plant (trees, shrubs, perennials, grasses). Turns out, it's fun to see what we planted when, and how they have grown. And for many of them, what we paid!

However, this is not the point of my remarks for this entry. My mental meanderings of late have concerned how I got to this gardening state and whether my offspring will follow these particular footsteps. As I have said, I did not grow up in a gardening home. My parents always had a tidy yard, at least in front, but all our yards ( they've had 9 homes with yards since I began school) were relatively low maintenance and the designs were all complimentary to the house, but spare. But something made me love the idea of growing things from the time I was a young adult. I recently watched ( well re-re-re-re-re watched) a 70's movie called "On a Clear Day" with Barbra Streisand, a musical which I just loved. I remembered that I was in love with the rooftop garden she grew in the movie, as well as her oh so cute clothes. I was 18 when it came out and I wanted a garden just like hers, I even thought it would be great to live in an apartment with a roof and I would make it come to life. And then there was the "Return To Me" city garden!

I never quite achieved the movie version of a city garden, but I planted something outside wherever I lived. Even during church service in Northern France, I found rhubarb growing in an abandoned bed and began tending it and adding to the volunteer rhubarb. Real yards have followed, along with the mowing and planting and care, but by the time my children were old enough to have real responsibilities in the yard, we moved into a condo and were there for 12 years. The large patio there was green and pretty - but I might have been selfish with its management. Pretty much Mom's kingdom out there. So I have wondered if any of the 6 of my offspring would inherit - by nurture or nature- a desire to grow things.

The oldest two are city dwellers and thus far my guess is, not so into dirt under the nails. They are tremendously appreciative of a lovely landscape, just not fascinated with how it got there. The youngest, is of the "How long have we had that stream across the front yard" persuasion. But the middle three, though still twenty somethings, already delight in tending to small plots of land, and I can imagine them surpassing my abilities as they have their own places to develop.

Emily lives in an older townhouse in Salt Lake's Avenues district with a very deep park strip. She has wanted to do something with it for some time, and last summer she checked with the landlord ( who was delighted that his pretty young tenant wanted to tinker with the yard) and let me put my two cents in, then made her own waterwise landscape. She even blogged about it, so that's one in my camp! http://emilythecliff.blogspot.com/2008/07/robots-in-gar den.html

Christopher and Tasha have a condo with a small courtyard and Christopher made the most of it. Here is his mass of tomatoes and evidence of the harvest.

And he too, blogged about his experience and excitement. That's two children with the garden gene! http://cliffordkids.blogspot.com/2008/05/get-you-ripe-one.html

And child number three who is already on board is Logan. He and Kristen, in their little attic apartment in the city, planted a square foot vegetable garden along with flower baskets, that made their balcony a haven. (click to really see the farm)

It will be fun to watch all six children as they continue to discover their own levels of interest in what I now love so much. So far, it's just great to see them either appreciate what I do, or appreciate doing it themselves. And the next generation is so far totally on my team, Morgan was helping me weed the beds just last fall. Now that is an early indication of interest.

Grass - My Favorite Mood Elevator

2008-12-23T07:41:00.011-07:00

It is a wonderful by product of the unfortunate current water shortages that homeowners and landscapers are falling in love with ornamental grasses. Because I tend to like the flowing, unstructured look in plants and design anyway, it wasn't a challenge for me to become interested in the possibilities of using them. At first, we thought that they would be an attractive way to fill some spaces, since we were trying to keep a fairly low water profile. As it turned out, we have about 70 grasses of 27 varieties in our design, and we have barely scratched the surface of what's possible.
As we were moving into our house in August, we knew that we had little time to do any substantial yard work for that year. We planted two Korean reed grasses by the front pillars, a red maple and some Oregon grape by the house and called it good. But in my mind's eye there would be a curving walk from street to front door, lined with increasingly tall grasses. Like this!

Many things in life and gardening don't turn out just as we hoped, but these grasses did and they give me pleasure every day. I drive past them to our side entry garage many times each day and I love the way they look. I walk down the sidewalk to get mail or escort guests to their cars, and each time I think - how lovely!

The front walk grasses are quite common, Karl Forester, Overdam, Mexican feather reed, little bunny, and blue fescue, but with the help of Richard, my very own grass expert at our university botanical farm, I learned about many more possibilities. We had seen these great looking large grasses at the farm's idea house and knew we wanted some yaku jima. They sit on a berm on our large corner spot and I hope that as people turn that corner, they enjoy the changing look of these great plants as they first flow green like fountains, then turn bronze and develop spiky flowers, which then grow fuzzy and catch the afternoon light.

Richard introduced me (as the family grass chief) to small grasses which turn colors as lovely as other fall foliage, or nestle into our dry stream bed, grasses with a small bunchy leaf structure at the bottom and very tall flower heads. All of them have become a pleasure for me, just about every day, and as winter has covered most of our season's work, many of our grasses still stand tall and their golden stalks are a beautiful contrast to the snow.

My neighbor and garden friend says that her mom does not like ornamental grasses because they refuse to look tidy and to her they feel like weeds. I can certainly see how that could be, if one loves a mannerly yard. But my affection for these plants is growing deeper as I learn the qualities of each and as I enjoy them standing straight, or (best of all) blowing gracefully with any breeze, in all their variety of leaf structure and flowering. I even used the annual variety of fountain grass in my garage pots and blew them a kiss as I drove in. A great site to learn about grasses and their personalities is:
http://www.bluestem.ca/ornamental-grass.htm . Grass will get you high - but in a legal way!

This Year's Bounty

2008-12-05T09:50:00.008-07:00

I haven't really had a year of actual gardening results since our yard is new and the veggie garden still just a gleam in our eye. But I did receive a bounty of sorts during the season, lots of lovely tomatoes and some eye candy. One day for dinner I fixed this, which contained tomatoes and basil that I grew, and fresh mozzarella and corn from the Farmer's Market - which is almost like making it myself!

Early in the summer I harvested my first flowers - some unusual sunflowers - and I had them for weeks and weeks

Later I picked a few each of several blossoms throughout the yard.

By Fall I had grasses and a few seed heads and I was able to keep arrangements on the hall table for another month!

It was such fun to watch all the plants grow and see what they would become - but those with a prize in the growing season are definitely the fun ones.

Mr. Green Jeans

2008-11-10T10:50:00.007-07:00

I think that only Greg and I, among our family and close friends, can remember Mr. Green Jeans from the Captain Kangaroo show. The funny and gentle Captain was similar to Mr. Rogers in his approach to small children, and Mr. Green Jeans was his Mr. McFeely. But I have taken to calling Greg Mr Green Jeans, and while it was mostly gentle teasing at first, I actually think that it is a badge of honor.

I found this about the original: "Mr. Green Jeans (Hugh "Lumpy" Brannum, who passed away in 1987) was with the series from the beginning. He introduced animals, while portraying a good-natured and innovative farmer who loves to invent things.". I always liked the part of the show when MGJ had animals to introduce - like other suburban children I knew little about either farms or animals. And he often had some unusual invention to share, - he apparently loved to tinker. So, if you know Greg, you may see where I could draw the comparison. Greg is gentle, thoughtful and loves the earth, and designing and building things are his favorite pastimes. But the main reason I call him Mr. Green Jeans, is that Greg is what one used to call a conservationist.

Being green and ecofriendly, environmentally correct are all the newer words and mostly they just mean the same thing. But Greg has been interested in and committed to conserving the resources of the earth for decades and has lived his life that way with no fanfare and no expectation of recognition. Minus the political connotation (which really doesn't fit him anyway) Greg is very well described by all forms of the word conserve - conservative, conservationist, even conservator - one who preserves important artifacts for public benefit. His degrees in political science and public administration came from a desire to make a difference in the way we function as communities and states, he wanted to install solar panels for home heating in the 70s, and his seat on the express bus to work 20 miles from home had his imprint long before the the recent gas urgency. As a hiker and a photographer, he has loved the mountain west all his life.

But it is his gardening that both amazes and touches me, that is the reason I started really saying - "hey Mr. Green Jeans, it's time for lunch." In his last yard, Greg had two large mulching tubs where he made soil for his vegetable garden. He grew traditional garden fare, used it and even learned to can so that he could have his fruits and tomatoes all year. He built structures of various kinds - decks pergolas, trellises - and when it was time for a change, he used the wood for something new. He was always searching for ways to use water wisely, even though he paid a flat fee for secondary water, wasting it did not feel right to him. His yard had color, blooms and interest at every time of year. He loved to work with his hand in the earth and the workshop and always felt that he was making a place where his family could gather and invite friends. Of course his quiet nature kept him from shouting out to everyone - Hey, let's have a party! - so his time in the yard wasn't always a hit with the gang at home. But it was his work and offering of love, nonetheless.

So, after he was single for 13 years, caring for his children and yard and going to work and church - we found each other! A non gardening story about Peru and Macchu Picchu and a speedy romance brings us to a new house, 1/3 acre of clay and construction refuse - and plans!
As we talked about what we wanted in a yard, we realized how well our separate tastes and hopes fit together. We knew that we wanted to use low water, native plants as often as possible, we wanted to fill our parkstrip with ground covers and mulch, we wanted "rooms" in the yard - places with specific purpose and boundaries, we wanted year round interest and flowers blooming all the time in the growing season. At first I mostly tagged along saying "sure!" "I'd love that!" and "wow". After a bit I began to have my own ideas and suggestions and before long we had pages of graph paper, one for each room of the yard. The overwhelming purpose and goals were and still are, beauty and responsibility to the land. I became the family ambassador of ornamental grasses (we have 23 varieties), the plan drawer, the installer of anything 2 1/2 gallons or less, and the willing common labor. Greg, the architect, heavy labor, structure building and visionary. And always, in his vision was and still is constant attention to what's good for the soil, water, birds and bees, the view from neighboring homes and good for us.

There are lots of people vying for protection and attention of our natural world. Most groups and individuals have great intentions and healthy motives even it they disagree on implementation. But I have seen no one person in my life who more consistently lives the principle of good stewardship and respect for the earth than my very own Mr. Green Jeans.

A Few Prunes to Keep Things Going

2008-11-03T12:46:00.005-07:00

As a new gardener I am always asking questions of people in shops, neighbors, gardening bloggers, anyone who has reason to know more about any given habit or rule that I do. Which used to be just about any given habit or rule. Happily, I am now occasionally asked my opinion on various gardening subjects, and it is really fun. When I listen to my favorite Saturday morning calling garden show, I feel like I'm playing Jeopardy!, calling out answers before the host weighs in. One subject, however, remains a bit of a mystery, although I think I'm developing a personal style about it. Pruning, is my latest berm to conquer!

Why, when, what and how to prune are the subjects of many opinions and the information out there can be bewildering. I search for plant X /pruning on the internet and among the 1 million entries I can generally find half that many different thoughts. So I started my pruning theory with the why. That's how I usually approach a new idea or gardening practice. Why should I prune anything anyway? Pruning, in my oh-so-logical reasoning is what gives me a role in the life and and beauty of my plants. All the watering, weeding and even feeding in the world, doesn't really change the shape or growing pattern of a perennial or shrub, or even a tree. But a good pruning at the right time can give them new life, change an unsightly growth habit or keep the plant to a manageable size. By trimming away a plant whose season is over, I can make way for those whose fall flowering get a turn at being the star. Pruning makes me a part of the whole cycle of new life, flowering and dormancy in my yard and garden.

My children have heard over and over the metaphor of the forsythia - perhaps the first opinion I developed about pruning. Most often, the forsythia, a lovely spring bloomer worth having all year for the 2 beautiful weeks it is in bloom, is trimmed as if it were a hedge. It took me years of noticing them to be able to identify which mediocre hedge-like shrub was forsythia and which could be any number of any other varieties. Homeowners and contract landscapers often trim them to square or round shapes in the fall, both destroying the natural shape, and cutting off the summer's growth where blossoms sprout each spring. It finally occurred to me that forsythia were much like my teenagers. If they were pruned after blossoming to their natural shape, taking the old canes from the bottom as they grew unproductive or unhealthy, leaving those branches which had produced healthy blossoms, they look like earthbound fireworks. Their shape is vaselike and the canes arch beautifully. But forced into an unnatrual shape, or pruned in the fall, they lose their unstructured beauty and most of their blossoming potential. Sure they need some direction and pruning, as even my really good kids did, but one size does not fit all and much of the fun in teenagers is in watching them sprout and blossom in their very own ways.

In recent years I have found some answers - at least my answers - to the how, when and what of pruning. Some plants get slimy and ugly during the winter and early spring and by cutting them down in the fall I save myself handling and looking at them in such a state. Some are too exposed by fall trimming and need to keep their stems or branches until spring as protection from hard frosts. My favorites just look really great with snow piled on their dry stalks or peeking through the occasional winter thaw. For several snowstorms each year, I sweep the snow off my fountain and feather reed grasses because they look so beautiful standing straight above the snow. After a while they succumb to breakage and are covered until it's time to cut them down in the early spring. If my research turns up conflicting answers about pruning or trimming back a given plant, I figure that plant's climate in my yard, any history it may already have there, what the grower recommends and what I want from it. Then I cut and hope!

I like to use the smallest pruning tool that will work for any given branch, stalk or stem, because that gives me the most control over what I cut. We don't have any hedges in our rather loosly structured yard, so I really never use a long bladed trimmer for anything. Sometimes a long handled trimmer is good for taller or thicker branches, but as often as possible I use a small hand trimmer - we have several weights and shapes. A small tool forces me close to the base and branch of each plant and helps me to really see what is happening with its growth. And again, I follow my best experience and grower recommendations as I decide whether to cut to the ground - as with most perennials and grasses- prune select branches of shrubs or trees, or mostly leave the old growth for interest and let it return to the earth as it dies and dries.

Greg often describes plants as either "well mannered" or "unruly" in their growth patterns. I love it when he says either thing, because I feel that it gives the plant a personality and helps me to know it better. I have also learned that a well mannered plant still occasionally misbehaves and needs direction, and the unruly ones are often truly beautiful in their wildness. Sometimes all any of them need to be at their best, are a few prunes.

Tis the Seasons

2008-10-22T13:04:00.007-06:00

Most of my life was spent in the southwest. California, New Mexico, Texas- anywhere there might be a space industry facility, which as it turns out, means not much in the way of season change. There were usually two seasons in those places, very nice, and a little cooler. I migrated north to Idaho to school in 1972 and was horrified to see that everything had died! No leaves remained on the trees, the lawns that weren't covered with snow were brown and the sticks which might have been shrubs or flowers seemed to poke randomly here and there. I went up for winter semester and by the time spring began to manifest itself I was still not convinced that the small town would ever be anything pleasant to look at. Even the bulbs sprouting just seemed just kind of sad.

So I went back to Houston which was lush and green, and kind of dreaded the fall semester and a return to the barren north. To my joy and amazement it was green and beautiful and filled with annual beds and trees and beauty everywhere. Even the current digs of my parents in Houston - where there were varieties of green growing from every spot of dirt - was not colorful like the mountain west. Flowers grew in every gas station bed and I was amazed by the transformation. Then fall was even prettier. Hauled all over southeastern Idaho by a friend who had spent his life there, I saw the most beautiful natural landscapes I could have hoped for. Soon, it all began to die again ( now I know that plantlife is not really dying in winter - but that took 20 years to believe)and I was again sure that it would never be the same.

So now I have lived along these westernmost fronts of the Rocky Mountains for 28 years. I have planted yards, pots, condo beds and watched the whole cycle many times. Well, 28 to be exact. And I still can't quite get over it! I love the fall, I love the changing colors and the long shadows and crickets chirping in the afternoon. I love my ornamental grasses as their flower heads get more and more yellow, and the Plumbago and even the Hostas offer strong competition to the maples and ash for color.

But as the leaves suddenly rustle to ground and each tree's feet are buried in the pile of red or yellow, I begin my winter panic. What if this year it doesn't happen? What if this time the Red Bud tree really doesn't get those beautiful magenta buds in May, or the Karl Forester grasses don't grow from ground and reach the same 62 inches they are this year?

I run out for the first 2 or 3 snowstorms and sweep the snow off the grasses and the still standing shrubs. They look so pretty standing tall and yellow or green though mounds of snow. But after a while it doesn't sound so great to run out there in the cold and some of the stalks are breaking anyway, and I just stay in by a warm fire. But as surely as spring will come, I will be surprised when it does. I will be amazed that little buds appear on the deadest of trees and when the perennials I cut down this fall grow up straight and strong - even though they were looking a little rough by October. Bulbs are pretty, but they still don't amaze me in the way that trees and perennial plants do when something tells their roots that it's time to push out the spring growth, produce fresh green little baby leaves and spring blossoms to prove to me that they were absolutely not dead.

Now that I have my own little garden and I have filled it with 50 or 60 one gallon plants that I hope will be bigger and more beautiful after their winter hibernation, I feel even more worried about the annual loss of apparent life. The southwest girl was only about 24 years of my life - not even half. But every winter she still takes over and worries through the winter and is as delighted as she was the first time she realizes that it just goes round and round. Every year I am thrilled when each plant makes its triumphant resurrection. Nothing like a garden to give one perspective.

A Garden at Last

2008-10-11T12:21:00.002-06:00

The worst thing my parents could say on a sunny California Saturday, was "you need to pull weeds this morning". Nothing about the yard was interesting to me or my siblings, except lying on the grass looking for clovers or chatting with a friend. In the first apartment I ever had, I felt a sudden need to plant something in a pot outside. As apartments changed to rented houses when I was married, I found that the unkempt yards of the homes we lived in, long neglected by owners and tenants, were incredibly tempting. A little weeding and a few annuals from the local grocery store made such a difference and assured the neighbors that we weren't "those renters".

I finally had my first real house and although it was limited to marigolds, grass and three levels defined by railroad ties and a row of junipers, it felt glorious to me. I tended the marigolds and watched my toddlers play on the grass and dreamed of the day when I'd have trees, and something in the back yard. Many years and many houses and yards have passed.

I left California and it's wonderful beaches for the Wasatch Front and its seasons and majestic mountains and I have never regretted it. As my love for the yard and education about its possibilities grew, I had almost come to consider myself a gardening enthusiast - if not quite a gardener. Even my condo years gave me some large beds and countless pots to renew my spirits and provide a cool landscape out my glass doors. After a long day at the office I would often buy a six pack of petunias and plant them in the patio before changing clothes or even taking in my briefcase. But I still knew only a little about the family and nature of most plants, and annuals were my particular specialty.

Two years ago, my husband, Greg, and I built a house. Well, a nice contractor built a modified craftsman house that we had a lot of input into the building of. Greg and I had been married only a year and a half and we had forsworn building a house because we figured we were too old to put in a yard and wait for the trees to grow. But we did it anyway and it took forever, then suddenly, it seemed, we had a big pile of dirt to make into something. Greg is a gardener, a real one. I am a good learner and a hard worker. Now, we have a beautiful yard and I have a real garden of my own. Greg has taught me many things, the professional gardeners of our state water and university systems have taught us both and I have figured out a surprising number of the twists and turns of gardening myself.

I have searched the internet countless times to learn about a plant or a product that will help me garden in a careful and productive way. I have found many helpful blogs and other sites that range from angry tradition haters to narrow commercial perpetuations of tradition. One site of cute women bloggers describe themselves as militant gardeners who hate a garden that looks like it came from a magazine. It scared me - I felt that they might suspect my collection of Sunsets and gardening books and kick me off.
I love to design, move dirt, plant things and then tend them and enjoy them. I have learned so much from people willing to share. And I would like to write about how that happened and how very dear it has become to me. Welcome to my garden!