Esther – Page 6 – gaias-gift.com

Canna at Applefield Farm

I have every intention of writing a more complete blog article about Applefield Farm in Stow, MA, one of my favorite, maybe THE favorite, of my 117 commute. However, within the last weeks, I’ve had a couple of different conversations about their use of Canna in container arrangements. A picture being worth many of the words in those conversations, I snapped a few shots on my way home from work. Call this a “lick and a promise” as far as telling you about the farm market goes.

If you don’t know Canna, they are the tall plants with the banana-shaped leaves. The flowers come in an incredible array of colors as do the leaves. As you can see in these pictures, they make a very nice height component in a container and the effects last all season if you choose a variety for its leaves. One of my favorites is “Bengal Tiger” (not shown here) but it’s day-glow orange flowers and chartreuse striped leaves don’t go with everything. One of the nice things about this farm market is that you can buy the plants and combine them yourself, or they will create a beautiful container for you.[oqeygallery id=15]

S. Williams Garden in Central MA

Late last week I saw an invite for a Sunday garden club visit to a private garden in Central MA. I had been planning to get in two full days of work on my own garden but the words, “formal vegetable garden” attracted my attention. In addition, I considered how much my garden reflects my efforts to integrate what I’ve liked in other gardens with my own competencies and style. So I visited this incredible place.

Although the plantings were equal to many gardens that I’ve visited in France and other parts of the country, it has very much of a New England feel. You still can see the farm in the garden, and the extensive use of granite and stone walls reminds us of the character of the natural place. I was told that the pink granite used for the raised beds in the formal garden was from a nearby quarry and matched the granite used for the foundation of the house.

I was particularly impressed by the attention to detail. Although the gardens, both formal and informal, extended over many acres, every plant was exactly where it was supposed to be. Near the house, no crevice between stones was left bare, just the collection and use of small ground covers and plantings was impressive. Critter sculptures added their humor, everywhere.

Rhododendrons extended for what would easily equal multiple city blocks, but were mostly over, and roses were tucked sweetly into mixed plantings or trained against the stone walls. The roses were also mostly over, I would like to see them in June. Impressive displays of daylillies, in masses the way that I like them; hydrageas; and hosta vied with rare specimens and dramatic designs for attention.

With so many lovely plantings, ironically, my favorite feature was the chicken coop! The roof was actually a shallow pan, waterproofed, and holding a pretty collection of succulents.

My Roses this Spring

Gallery updated July 16, 2011 with three new shots from the rose ghetto. I think the third shot, a hybrid tea, pink blend, is “Love and Peace” but I can’t find the purchase info!

All of the roses have done their spring thing and some of them are over for the year or resting up for a late summer show. Here is a gallery of my best shots. As I looked through my photos, I realized that it’s heavy on the climbers and once bloomers, I’ll have to get more shots of the Hybrids in the rose ghetto. These pictures do show why I love the once bloomers so much. When they are in blossom they put on an impressive show. The ones I’ve selected also smell heavenly, sorry I can’t share that with you. The last shots are of Seven Sisters with Clematis Jackmanii. They are still looking good.[oqeygallery id=14]

Happy bumblebee

[wpvideo HMOk2PVX]

I don’t seem to have a problem with pollinators like some people are reporting. Although it’s also true that many of those I see are wasps or bumblebees, not honeybees. I’d been tying up tomatoes before this photo was shot was working along side one of a bumblebee like this. Their laid back nature is comforting to one who’s been stung many times by honeybees and wasps. He’s working in rose “City of York”, one of the best smelling, ever. I didn’t have to add music as he was making his own!

Why I love dahlias

This is Art Deco, from the Gallery series. It’s a small plant that I grew in my deck boxes last year and again this year. It’s very happy at my house, compared to other dahlias that I’ve tried, and just starting what I hope will be a long blossoming season. The color is hard to describe and changes in different lights. But it goes well with just about anything. I like it with blues and yellows.

He’s fat enough already

I’d seen this mother/child drama before I went to work on Friday but baby was just passively hanging on the support for the suet feeder. While I was at work he’s learned how to get his own suet but mama is still doing most of the work. This morning a family of nuthatches was getting the same lesson. [wpvideo HHTfbZXj]

Philter’s free music

Michigan State University Rose Garden

This garden got top points for sheer impact with roses on my midwest trip. It has the advantage of being small and well designed. The rose beds are raised so that even the shorter roses are near eye level. It was probably peak bloomtime when I visited with both once and repeat bloomers in show. The first picture is not taken in the rose garden. It’s just the healthiest purple elderberry that I’ve seen, growing in the small place between restaraunt and parking area at a nearby Sushi restaraunt. The last shot expresses how I feel about this garden. [oqeygallery id=12]

Dracunculus

Updated with the correct spelling (thank you Glen from gardens), I find some more results, including pictures of the fruit and other information.

I visited the Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, Near Grand Rapids last week with my granchildren. Not too many flower shots but I saw this curiosity and chased down a staff person who was kind enough to find another staff person, and another and finally walkie talkies were used. The name I believe I was told is Dranuncula, but I can’t find much about it on the web. I was told that it’s one of the family of meat eaters that attracts its prey by smelling like carrion. It was not smelling bad yet, that I could tell. Click on the small images for a bigger one.

Dahlia problems

I have problems with two of my transplanted dahlias. One is wilting for no apparent reason and another has very curly leaves. I’ve read a lot of web sites and they are so scary; easy to think that all of mine have one symptom or another. Wilting, and I’m supposed to look for rot at the root of the stem, there is none. And curling leaves mean aphids they say. I see no other evidence of aphids and being a rose person, I do know aphids.

I SO want to be a dahlia person. Any suggestions?

I am also updating my June photo gallery post to include a budding “Art Deco” dahlia, among other shots.

Late spring in the garden

Updated 6/11/11 on another rainy day. The Amaranth Cinco de Mayo (4th shot in gallery) is certainly the winner in the Amaranth trials so far, an incredible complexity of color. Love Lies Bleeding just looks a little weird to date. The last new shot (6th in the gallery) is of the rose ghetto; even on a rainy day it warms my heart.

June 9: I woke up to a mass of thunderstorms and knew that I couldn’t do my early morning garden chores so I put together a quick gallery of some of my June photos. OK, a couple of late May pictures snuck in, too. The iris and columbines, to name them. However, since I still have an iris blooming (not this one) and columbines, I figure it’s OK.

In the middle of the gallery is half of my food garden. If you look closely, you can see the sprouts of cucumbers that will grow up the central, round trellis and the sprouts of summer squash in front of the tomatoes. They will spill out into the path, which I hope to level soon. The rhubarb and a small nursery for shade plants are in the back.

[oqeygallery id=11]

Decorative Amaranths again

I just wanted to share a couple of photos of my decorative amaranths. One question I have is whether I should be pinching out the middle to encourage side shoots. especially in Love Lies Bleeding. No one on the gardens list could tell me so I did it on one out of four, the other three have a blossom starting in the middle as in the picture below.

Beginner’s luck or persistence?

I’ve read on some reputable blogs that beans shouldn’t be started inside because they don’t like their roots to be disturbed. With respect, I have been doing it for years. I have problems with critters, and should also probably credit my cool soil with part of the problem. Beans wouldn’t germinate, or maybe disappear from the soil before they had a chance. And those that did come up would get chewed leaves or completely defoliated before they had a chance to get established. So, not knowing that it wouldn’t work, I planted Emerite beans in my 2″ soil cubes several years ago. I had such good success that this has become my regular habit. They don’t need heat or lights. I start them at the same time I would plant seed in the ground and keep them on my deck. It only takes a couple of weeks; one for them to germinate and another for them to develop true leaves.

When I was planting them this year, I was wondering if knowing that it wasn’t supposed to work would jinx this process. There were wads of roots at the bottom of the flat that I had to disturb to separate the plants. They looked a little wilty right after I planted and I thought Oh, oh. But when I came home from work they had already aclimated and look fine.

Now I just need to protect them from the deer that have found my garden (reason for the propped empty trays) and get them started up the mesh that I use for a trellis, before they find the nearby tomato cages. Yes, I often pick beans from tomato plants at the end of the season.

So I think the life lesson in this is that it’s all about what works for you. When you find a plant or technique that gives you success, trust it. No two gardens are the same and even in the same family, say beans, plants differ in what they like or will tolerate. I would have given up on beans with my early results. Especially when all you have to lose is an inexpensive package of seed, keep trying; dare to break the rules.

Dahlia bed

I did mention how I’m never really finished, right? The dahlias are in their new bed. It doesn’t work as well from a design standpoint as I would like; it needs to be bigger in order to echo the shape of the bed behind it. And built up higher, which would be better for the dahlias as it would drain faster than the surrounding heavy soil, too. Ultimately, I want it to look like it’s all the same bed. But I need some way to get into it and work it, so I decided a narrow strip that I mow was most efficient.

But it was near 90 degrees and felt much hotter in the full sun that dahlias love on the day that I finished it, I am not a dahlia and can’t handle that kind of heat. I just wanted to get them in the ground and find some shade. The good news is that dahlias are treated like annuals and I get another chance next year to make improvements.

Now the choice is whether to mulch or not. The bed behind will be mulched, I’m just letting the amaranths acclimate. Most of them also got planted this weekend.

This whole area is designed to bloom from back to front. The peonies are blossoming today and the rose buds are getting fat.[oqeygallery id=10]

Mainely Mulch trial

I grow my tomatoes in the same beds every year so when I was planting them before a week of wet weather, I knew I needed to find something to mulch with and find it quickly. Soil borne diseases are the problem when you can’t rotate. Mulching, to prevent the soil from splashing on the leaves, is a good way to minimize their impact.

Salt marsh hay is the preferred mulch here in New England but almost impossible to find. Mainely Mulch (you can google it) is what my Agway offered as an alternative so I bought a bale of it. I applied it just as the rain was coming in, which was probably a good thing. It’s chopped quite finely and on a dry and windy day, I think it might blow around a lot. Also, dust, for those of us with tendencies toward asthma might be an issue, too. The biggest problem, however, is that about three weeks later, it’s full of a particular kind of weed. Whatever it is does dig down in the soil and breaks off when you pull it. No way to get the root without seriously disturbing the mulch and that would defeat the purpose. While it would be difficult to say for sure where these weeds came from, since they are not growing in the areas of the bed that aren’t mulched, circumstantial evidence would say they were imported in it.

Lancaster Garden Club Plant Sale

I recently joined a local garden club, with apologies in advance as I don’t have much time to volunteer. However, I did find time to help with setup of the club’s first ever plant sale on Saturday. There were so many capable people there that I found time to take some pictures and videos while waiting for someone to tell me how I could help. I’ve put them together here.

[wpvideo idw9sEcp]The Choice plants included some really nice woodland flowers; I didn’t buy because I’m still working on cleanup of the garden adjacent to the woodlands. Hopefully it will inspire me to get the poison ivy cleaned out and to create some growing places for special plants like these. Assuming the volunteers will have energy enought to do it again; I could tell that it was a lot of work!

Always something to look at

I am not a tidy gardener and always experimenting so I almost never have a perfect picture. But there is always something to look at. I love the color combination of the chartruese hosta and the dicentra. The blue hosta helps. From left to right along the bottom, the hosta are: Elegans (very large leaf) Hadspens Blue, and the chartruese is one I call Danny Boy. A neighbor grew it from seed, so technically, it’s a no-name. It will grow darker through the season and the hosta that’s just above it, a gift from a friend near Toledo, Paul’s Glory, gets lighter and lighter. It also gets much bigger and fills in where the dicentra dies back.

Updated August 21, 2011. Notice how Paul’s Glory, upper right in both pictures, has switched colors with “Danny Boy” on the bottom. Haspen’s Blue just gets darker blue.

Tomatoes are in the ground

As of yesterday and these may be some of the best starts that I’ve grown. You can see they have little in common with the ones you buy in sixpacks. Some of the credit has to go to our weather. The storm that churned around in the ocean for a week or so didn’t come this far inland but it did create some substantial winds. Which made for some very sturdy stems on the tomatoes as they hardened off.

So it’s a couple of weeks earlier than I would normally plant them but they look ready and the nights are forecasted around the 50s for the next two weeks. Days not a lot warmer but warm enough. With all of the rain in the forecast I need to get them mulched. I do not have room to rotate tomatoes and most diseases that bother tomatoes are overwintered in the soil. Mulching will keep the rain from splashing the spoors back up onto the leaves.

As always, I have more plants than room and a couple of the tomatoes jumped into the new asparagus bed when I wasn’t paying attention. Naughty; naughty.

The tomato in the picture is Black Krim, a favorite of mine for both color and flavor. I hope that either the Pineapple or Virginia Sweets will act as a beautiful contrast on the plate.

Varieties I’ve planted

Old favorites:

SuperSweet 100
Sun Gold
Yellow Pear
Black Krim
Brandywine (Suddith’s Strain)
Pineapple

Challengers:

Black Cherry (I’ve grown Black Prince but it was a bit larger and slower to ripen than I like.)
Green Envy (Never grown a green that I thought was worth the effort. Trying again.)
Lemon Cherry
Balls Beefsteak and Chapman (I’m still looking for a reliable, high producing, red beefsteak)
Virginia Sweets (a red/yellow bicolor)

I love this pansy

Difference in Dahlia Tubers

I don’t know that it means anything in terms of performance but I’m wondering again this year about the differences in how dahlia tubers are prepared for sale. Swan Island Dahlias came to me the way that I expect, one tuber with a sprouting point on a small part of top stem. Brent and Becky’s came with clumps of tubers for every dahlia purchased.

From left to right:

My tubers (you can see the yellow from the sulfer that I used as a fungicide last winter)
Swan Island tubers, every tuber has the name stamped on it, and
Brent and Beckys, these were sprouting in the shipping mix to the point where I didn’t want to disturb the roots by cleaning the tubers. Other varieties from them did not have as much sprouting or hair roots but were still clumps of tubers.

: Dahlia tubers

(Click on the image for a larger picture.)

Endicott Pear Tree Visit

[wpvideo Q3v2KWcv]It was incredible to me that a hundred or more people would all show up on a cold, rainy week night in April to visit an old tree.

It wasn’t the location that bought them. Although the hill, that slops gently to the salt flats and two rivers to the south and east, was probably beautiful in its day. Now it’s dotted with complicated traffic patterns, box stores, chain hotels and light industry; part of the 128 commercial sprawl around Boston. The marshlands looked like blighted space with a drainage ditch to my Midwestern it’s-gotta-have-a-tree-to –be-pretty eyes.

And it wasn’t the food or speakers, which both turned out to be exceptional; because the program sponsors hadn’t sent us that much information in advance.

What were we doing here? Sister and I wondered as we made our way through 128 rush hour in a driving, cold rain, after our day jobs, and as we met a healthy crowd in the Atrium of Massachusetts General/Northshore Center for Outpatient Care, and as we sat through the speaker list of welcomers from the Sponsoring Institutions. I listened carefully as Dr. Anthony Patton told us about the history of the Endicotts and took notes as Dr. Karen Krag, a local Oncologist and amateur historian took us through her carefully researched thoughts about what the Endicott’s home and orchard would have looked like and grown. Note to self: check out samp; review how Indian Corn could be planted in April; only 30 plows in all of MA in 1636? Wow.

And then, as I listened to Dr Patton talk about the meanings that people have assigned to the tree through its history, and I thought about Dr. Krag’s joyous attention to the details of her research, it started to become clear to me why I was here.

It wasn’t really about the tree, although it’s a very nice old tree; but about what the tree symbolizes for us. It’s about longevity, the miracle that extends its life hundreds of years beyond expectancy; its ability to survive the harsh winters of New England and the meanness and neglect of man. It’s connection to a family; after all I was there with sister who grew up with the same fruit trees as me; and four generations of Endicotts showed up to share our celebration. The pear tree’s beauty owes a lot to its simplicity of purpose, extrapolated against the messy, transportation centric shopping district and waning marshlands. Dr. Krag talked about the pear tree that was historically planted near the back door for luck as well as convenience, what it would have meant to a family; now it just exists to bear fruit; year after year after year. Our brief attention was an example of how we sometimes look backward, to remember and preserve the best of ourselves.

These are values that don’t get a lot of air time in our society, but they live on like the pear tree behind the parking lot. In New England and in us.

For a more prosaic version of the evening, see the follwing link: “Just the Facts, mam…”