The Garden Buzz

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: February 15

Once again while I'm down south for winter, I am "borrowing" blooms for GBBD. Hope you don't mind. 

One of my favorite past times is poking around old cemeteries. It's more about history and heart than the macabre. My daughter found this secluded cemetery when we made a quick return trip to Charleston for some J. Crew and another round of shrimp and grits at the Hominy Grill.

Down a shady, narrow path, tucked among the shops on King Street, you enter a cemetery much different than many in the low country. Often the graveyards here are a contrast of bare dirt and billowing azaleas; draped in gray Spanish moss with hot pink flowers popping against aging stone.

The Unitarian Cemetery at Archdale Street is lush with flowers and vegetation, the greenery knitted together almost as if to hold the leaning stones and crumbling tombs together against the slow passage of time. What a hidden gem.

Cemeteries are known to be the repository not only of souls but that of tough and sometimes long-forgotten plants. I would love nothing more than to spend a year researching all the species thriving in this intimate space. With only a few hours, I settled for a stroll among the late-winter and early-spring flowers.

Spring snowflakes, (Leucojum vernum) , the "poor cousin" to Snowdrops (Galanthus)

As I find so many southern plants I can't grow up north, I made a mental note to plant some of these delightful little bulbs next fall. Hardy to Zone 3! The little white petals on these bell-shaped blooms are tipped with a spot of green, resembling little fairy hats.

These old-timey narcissus literally glow in the soft golden light of late afternoon.

I did do a little research later, coming to the conclusion this variety of daffodil is a southern heirloom called Grand Primo, harking from the 1800's.

 

 A soft pink, single-flowered camellia by this inviting bench

A recently planted, young Edgeworthia chrysantha, commonly known as paper bush, this may be the cultivar called 'Snow Cream'.

The unique blooms are cherished for their lovely fragrance.

Azaleas are just beginning to bloom

Not flowers, but still noteworthy, ferns of all sorts.

Toppled stems blanket these graves

The church and cemetery have survived a fire, an earthquake and hurricanes. The damage is still seen here and there. Large trees fell on many of the graves crushing stone and ironwork.

Even with all of that turbulent history, it seems a peaceful resting place. The kind of place where a gardener might want to turn in her trowel.

Inspiration for Spring 2012: My Latest Window Box Photos from Charleston!

Who doesn't love a window box? Considering the popularity of last year's post on Charleston window boxes, not many. Charleston is an easy 2-hour trip from Savannah, a hop, skip and a jump to a whole 'nother horticultural paradise. You might remember my first visit there last year and the garden tour photo fiasco.

After that I decided all the window boxes on the street were fair game, and occasionally I poked my camera through the conveniently-spaced bars of a wrought iron gate. This year I followed a similar plan and saved myself those $45 tickets! Sorry Charlie, I mean Charleston, no photography, no tour.

Charleston is known as the Holy City due to the large number churches, and seeing all the majestic spires rising above the historic district, I can see why. But I think it should just be known as the Pretty City. Even the people are pretty. So many of the women walking on King Street have that pulled-together look of Parisian ladies. And the men, well, nobody rocks a bow tie like Charleston men.

Anyway, here it is February and Charleston's spring window boxes are already in fine form.

It may be too early for many of you to start planting window boxes, but it's not to soon to be inspired by these beautiful plantings.

Enjoy....

Love this fresh green/white combination, notice the sedums.          The Garden Buzz

 

Cyclamen, torenia, kale and alyssum; the yellow bloom on the kale sets off the gold lettering so beautifully 

 Ivy, lobelia, violas and some spiky thing in cheerful orange and blue shades

A storefront box with foxtail fern, dragon-wing begonia, is it an animal theme? 

The street was perfumed with this alyssum arrangement, I suspect it's the prolific, new 'Snow Princess' from Proven Winners. 

Viola, rosemary, holly fern and snapdragons along Church Street 

Begonia and ivy just taking off in this box attached to magnificent mansion 

Edible landscape: Window box filled with herbs in another storefront planting      

 These red shutters and scrolled ironwork set off this new planting

 And these green shutters complement the white petunias and and orange violas

 Simple pansies look like little smiling faces.

If you can't get enough of Charleston window boxes, I suggest Southern Living garden writer, Steve Bender's (AKA The Grumpy Gardener) blog post showing more window boxes at their summer peak. I especially like his window box "recipe"..

Props to a Great Shrub, Daphne "Carol Mackie", Literally and Figuratively

What an awkward but accurate title for this post. 

You see, it's been almost a year since the "oatmeal snow". That's how I heard it described when I came back into town after a short trip last November. And then I looked out the bathroom window and wondered why I could see that white house across the pond better than ever before.

This early snow had been wet and heavy, with a consistency like concrete. It crushed the beautiful lilac tree that graced the space out my bathroom window, whose arching limbs formed an umbrella of lavender blooms every spring. With its limbs cracked and splayed from the center, there was no coming back.

But what about the daphnes? Five shrubs, partly the shrub backbone of the courtyard garden, their light gray limbs bent and broken. I imagined digging them out and waiting for something new to fill in the holes in this very visible garden.

Daphne "Carol Mackie" didn't start out as one of my favorites, actually finding her way to my garden by way of a local garden designer. But then I came upon scenes like this..

And this...

How could you not love foliage like that? Blue-green with a gold band that became more cream into the season. Just enough variegation to define itself from the green uni-blob of summer. But enough variegation to light up a shady spot. Oh, and the flowers, not insignificant, not inconsequential, but more lke a bonus, pale pink to white fragrant clusters in early to late spring. 

Closeup daphne blossoms

As the winter went on and became the fourth snowiest one on record, the snow continued to pile up. And without anywhere else for it to go, the damaged daphnes disappeared under the growing heaps. 

When I first moved here I was intrigued by trees that were bowed to the ground. How I wondered could a tree just lean over and form a semi circle with itself. While some snap with the weight of snow and ice, others bend until they meet the earth again making arboreal arcs in the forest. 

When the snow finally melted mid-April, I could see the daphnes were nowhere as near as charming as these curving trees. In fact they dragged down the entire garden design with their crippled posture and lack of leaves. I made plans to replace them. Often labeled as hardy to zone 5, maybe they weren't meant to be in Minnesota.

I'd like to say it was a "wait and see" approach that saved them, but it was more like a "didn't get around to it" reprieve. 

Then two things happened. As the time came near to have the lilac tree removed, a few faint blossoms appeared on the daphnes, the pink flowers the same shade as apple blossoms I thought. Tired of being impaled by the lilac branches across the path, I got out the pruners and started trimming. I lopped off one that formed a perfect "Y". And then I thought, why not. Why not make crutches like the ones they use in apple orchards for ancient trees?

Y-Shaped "Crutches"

I loved the idea of recycling one plant to help another, but in this case, one tree to help five shrubs. It seemed fitting. Even though at the time I didn't think it would work completely.

Nonetheless I fashioned a number of these crutches, little ones and big ones, short one and tall ones, and positioned them under all the daphnes at various points, forcing the branches upwards but not too far. 

Lo and behold as the summer progressed, it became evident my little plant support operation was a success, and one of the more gratifying gardening experiences I've had lately.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: May 15, 2011

 

Thanks as always to Carol of May Dreams Gardens for hosting Garden Bloggers Bloom Day! After all this is the month she dreams about.

While I'm aware that today, the day before Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, is World Naked Gardening Day, I think I'll spare the neighbors and give it a pass. It's been cold, windy, rainy, miserable and damp up north. Most Minnesotans are too busy with the Fishing Opener today to give much thought to gardening, much less in the nude.

So I donned my light down coat and wrapped a wooly scarf twice around my neck before heading out to photograph the latest buds and blooms in my garden. Even with that my fingers were numb halfway through. Just when you think I've run out of ways to complain about the weather up here, I manage to find another. 

I can't get used to the compressed gardening season, daffodils blooming alongside tulips, well, it just seems wrong.

 

Just like Margaret Roach of A Way to Garden, I've lost the tags and can't remember the names of these beautiful varieties of narcissus. Although I do recognize the one here as probably "Poetica" from the pheasant-eye style daffodils. They possess a haunting clove-like scent. Any other help with ID? Is one possibly "February Gold"?

 

 

 

 

Then on to the more subtle signs of spring with lots of understated native plants.

 

Solomon's Seal (Polygonatum commutatum) The Garden Buzz

Large-Flowered Bellwort (Uvularia grandiflora) The Garden Buzz

Lovely shrub...Fothergilla major "Mt. Airy"    The Garden Buzz

Ground hugging blooms of Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense) The Garden Buzz

Serviceberry Tree (Almelanchier alnifolia) The Garden Buzz

Red Barrenwort (Epimedium x rubrum)  The Garden Buzz

River Birch catkin closeup (Betula nigra) The Garden Buzz

Ending up with a few fruit blossoms...

Buds of Blueberry "NorthSky"          The Garden Buzz

Cherry "North Star"    The Garden Buzz

"Red Lake" Currant blossoms     The Garden Buzz

Fragaria vesca, Alpine Strawberry      The Garden Buzz

 

And here I didn't think much was happening in the garden!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are We Gardening Yet?

After the lllonnnggest winter and a lackluster spring, I think I might actually plant something this week. Maybe. I'm glad I started all those seedlings; nothing too exotic, you might even say basic, besides the cerinthe, lots of annuals and a few veg just so I had something to tend.

I used to start multiple flats under the lights of this mighty plant stand my husband and father-in-law built. I had to leave it in Kansas when we moved. Actually my MG friend Kae, AKA Josie Montana and the Parsley Princess, took it away. I'm hoping she's still enjoying it. My husband set up another smaller version this year in the garage.

Even more so I miss my greenhouse where I overwintered herbs and citrus and took little mini-therapy breaks from what I thought back then was a long winter. Ha. Little did I know.

I thought you'd appreciate my hardening off method for the little seedlings, well, not so much the method but the location. It's very important to acclimate seedlings gradually to the outdoor weather, starting at first with little bouts in the shade and then cloudy open sites until they are ready to face the harsh world. 

Mini-Cooper plant stand                                          The Garden Buzz

The deer have been more active this year, leaving poop piles, that I read are a sign of feeding areas. Before they have been following established trails and just passing through. This is troubling, since I have my hands full with the rabbits. So I've been out with my Liquid Fence and Shake Away granules doing a double-tier approach.

"Who me?" I think he's eyeing my heuchera.                 The Garden Buzz

 Anyway, I hoped the above-bunny location would work, but then I thought maybe I was just putting out a deer buffet! 

The gardening season is off to a slow start, but the writing season has been busy. Sometimes I hear my own voice so much in my head while writing I kind of get sick of myself.

In case you're not sick of me yet, here's few other places where you can read more Rhonda...

At Herb Companion magazine, Three Reasons to Love Dandelions, for herb lovers

At Your Voices, Highly-Evolved Vultures Circle Wayzata, for wildlife fans

At the Star Tribune, Five Foolproof Veggies to Grow and Garden Math: Divide and Multiply, for gardening how-to

Also this summer look for articles in Northern Gardener magazine, Herb Companion and more columns in the Star Tribune.

Recipe for Spring: Rhubarb Strawberry Crumble

I love the Brits for many things; gardening, literature and spot-on wit, not to mention their penchant for sensible shoes. And when it comes to descriptive terms for fruit based-desserts, no one comes close.

Crumble, grunt, fool, trifle, dowdy, mess or pudding that really isn't; they're all delicious in a humble, unpretentious way. Half the fun is just saying their name. 

I think I promised this recipe last year and didn't deliver. Did anyone notice? No matter, I'm making good on it now. This is a top-ten dessert at our house, not an easy feat around die-hard pie lovers.

The strawberries tone down the tartness of the rhubarb just a bit, just in case you have any less than rhubarb enthusiasts in your home.

What's great about this is how they grow together in the garden. All around the rhubarb, I'm using strawberries as edible groundcover, and soon the two will be ready for harvest. This is edible landscaping at it's best. I love it when the garden tells me what to make instead of me wandering clueless around the kitchen seeking inspiration.

Those of you further south might have already been looking for ways to enjoy these two harbingers of spring. Lucky you.

 

Like my other recipes, more suggestion than instruction, but very forgiving... 

Rhubarb Strawberry Crumble

Approx. 2-3 lbs Rhubarb, cut into inch chunks

Approx 16 oz. Strawberries, stemmed and cut in half

1/2 Cup packed brown sugar

1 Teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 Cup minced crystallized ginger (optional but nice)

Combine the rhubarb, brown sugar and ginger(s) in a saucepan and cook covered over gentle heat about 10 minutes, and then add the strawberries and cook another 5 minutes.

Transfer the cooked mixture to some sort of ovenproof pie/cobbler/casserole dish and sprinkle with crumble topping and bake for 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees until golden brown and bubbly.

---Basic Crumble Topping

1 Cup unbleached flour

3 oz. butter

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

***

I add a handful of oats and/or chopped nuts like pecans or walnuts

Cut in the butter and flour and then when it's well, crumbly, add the brown sugar and the extras if so desired. 

This is good warm or cold, with vanilla ice cream, or whipped cream or even a little English style custard.

Happy May Day!

Here's hoping your May Day is more May-ish than mine. A dreary day with a cold wind is whipping up whitecaps across the bay in the distance and just a few minutes ago, some snowflakes dared fall on me as I walked into the grocery store. While lilacs, redbuds and roses may be be blooming elsewhere I'm having to content myself with a host of daffodils for now.

Not all quite seasonal; yet I'm doing steaks, asparagus and an herby pasta to lure my son to dinner from college this afternoon. He doesn't know it, but I'm making his favorite lemon pie. And since his sister isn't here to rescue the meringue part he doesn't like, I think I'll top it with strawberries. Sometimes you have to manufacture the sunshine in your life.

Here's a May basket for you...

 

 

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: April 15

The Mentalist is going on in the background while I write this post for tomorrow's GBBD. You might have started watching him for his good looks, only to have the plot grow old, but check out the gardens! The show's location scouts have quite the knack for seeking out gorgeous estate settings...

For Garden Bloggers Bloom Day here in Minnesota, I'm afraid  you'll have to use your imagination. You see, tomorrow's forecast calls for snow.

I do have crocuses; butter yellow and bright lavender.

On a more dismal note, my backyard that backs up to the wetland, has become an extension of the wetland due to snow melt flooding everywhere. My Karl Foerster feather reed grass has been submerged for several weeks and its survival is iffy.

However the "new" marsh is filled with frogs singing their spring tunes, flocks of snowy egrets fishing for their supper, while wood ducks dabble among the few remaining reeds.

Meanwhile I've got a few seeds started for future blooms...

Thanks always to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting Garden Bloggers Bloom Day!

They Had Me at "Tulip Flats"

It's been a long winter.

Really long.

The remnants of a glacier formed by snow-plows is still slowly melting in front of my house.

Even so I resisted going to the nursery as long as I could. Yesterday I headed over to Dundee's to pick up some seed starting mix and such, yes, spring is so late I'm just starting seeds, and then headed in the direction of home.

Somehow along the way, the siren song of the big box store lured me into the parking lot of the local "rhymes with rose". The garden center looked empty, but heck I was already parked. I thought I would just see what was out, in the interest of research, or just walk around their potted palms for therapy.

And then I saw them. Pre-planted spring-flowering bulbs. I usually pooh-pooh those pathetic little pots of mixed daffodil/tulip/hyacinth "spring gardens". They are strictly the territory of amateurs right? A little token for those who can't be bothered to plan for such displays of beauty in the fall, yeah?

But these were full-on flats of tulips barely peeking from the soil of big square egg-cartony containers. Now this is something I can work with. 

For the record, I did plant bulbs last fall; some tulips I can't remember the color of, along with transplanting scilla to grow under the winterberry bushes. I added to my crocus collection too. Surely I can have 32, (16 to a flat) purple tulips to put in my Japanese Maple pots?

Still, it feels like cheating.

Too bad, I bought a couple large pots stuffed with sprouting yellow/orange daffs and a lone flat of buttercrunch lettuce that was sitting on a rack over by the light bulbs looking forlorn.

Tomorrow I'm going over to Tonkadale Nursery to pick up pansies to complete the picture, and then I'm going to gather all these finds together, at which point, I'm gonna plant me some instant garden gratification.

Have I mentioned it's been a long winter?

 

 

 

Porch Scenes from Savannah

It's sand gnat season, and most everyone in Savannah, tourist and local alike, is trying to sneak a discreet scratch on the those tiny but demanding bites. You see the quick and furtive moves no matter where you are around the city. Well, there had to be something wrong about this place. 

If you sit for long, they'll fly up your nose or worse, since noting the places they've gotten me. So we keep moving, from square to square, and street to street, touring all these stunning homes and gardens soaked in so much history. We'd love to stop and sit a spell on some of these fabulous porches. But we'll settle for pictures.

Enjoy...