The Garden Buzz

One (Wo)Man's Mulch is Another (Wo)Mans's Treasure

Mulch is on my mind right now. Knowing that there is only so much that one middle-aged, menopausal woman can do, I enlisted help in mulching the entire property for the garden tour. This hard-working crew from a well-regarded local garden/design firm was "all over our yard like spider monkeys", according to my daughter.

Approximately five hours later the rain started, a biblical type of precipitation that proceeded to wash out entire sections of mulch and send it down the walks and lawn like little brown rivers tinged with big green dollar signs. Believe me, it was like one of those Arizona-style arroyo carvers and a tropical monsoon all in one. Oh well, stuff happens. There's another one predicted for tonight.

But back to the mulch. It's also been a hot topic on the Master Gardener online discussion board, cypress mulch to be exact. But first, what is mulch good for?

• Keeps soil temps even and moderated
• Suppresses weed growth
• Prevents soil compaction
• Improves water absorption by preventing soil crusting
• Prevents mechanical damage around trees and shrubs
• Looks attractive and gives landscape a consistent appearance
• Improves soil structure as it decomposes

Back in the day, mulch was made with whatever was at hand; indigenous materials that were cheap and abundant. Then somewhere down the line, people decided to exchange mulches in trade to aid commerce. Before you know it there's a whole endangered cypress swamp sitting in bags in the parking lot at Home Depot or what have you.

Back in the day when you picked up a gardening book to find gardening information, it might tell you to use salt hay as a mulch. And you wondered what the heck? Lots of gardening books were written on the east coast for a national audience yet didn't go beyond a regional scope. Maybe it's time for our mulches to back to the regional approach.

What's the best mulch to use?

• Leaves; ground leaves are good, whole leaves (or "lazy (wo)man's mulch") can tend to mat, but I still throw them into the borders during fall. They feed the soil as they break down. Leaf mold is better as a soil amendment because it can crust.
• Dried grass clippings are readily available, fresh ones may burn plants.
• Pine straw is attractive and water permeable.
• Pine bark comes from a sustainable source, looks good, but larger pieces may float
• Hay has thousands of weed seeds, best to avoid.
• Straw is good for vegetable gardens but there can be some weed seeds. It breaks down fast.
• Groundcovers make for great living mulches and are underused when they can make for a permanent low maintenance mulch once established.

Coarse shredded pine bark     The Garden Buzz

Mini-nugget pine bark    The Garden Buzz

Pine straw looks attractive, is permeable     The Garden Buzz

 University of Missouri Extension recommends pine straw for  mulch as a renewable resource
 
 

There are other materials like rice hulls and cocoa bean hulls being used lately. Cocoa hulls can be toxic to dogs and expensive to use. But if you like your garden smelling like a Hershey bar...

Oyster shell mulch at The Coombs House Inn     The Garden Buzz

Oyster shells are a common sight in coastal states. Rock mulches are used in many places but are notorious for weed problems and become embedded in soil. They sometimes heat up the soil. Landscape fabric underneath can cure this, but is hard to work with if you are constantly putting in new plants.

During spring break, we traveled through inland Florida and out to the "Forgotten Coast" to Apalachicola. We drove through hundreds of miles of swamps, that were alive with animals and blooming with flowers. then we came upon a plant manufacturing cypress mulch and I felt a little queasy. I won't be using cypress mulch anymore. It's tough when people's livelihoods are at stake I know. Jobs come and go, but there are no new cypress swamps being created.

2010 Hennepin County Master Gardener Learning Garden Tour!!!

If you're in the neighborhood (Plymouth/Wayzata) on July 10 don't miss the third annual MG LearningGarden Tour. It's from 9-4,tickets are available at the gardens for $20, online at http://www.hcmg.umn.edu/Master-Gardener-Learning-Garden-Tour.html for $15 in advance.

Funds raised go to benefit Master Gardener programs in the community.

Lots of different gardens; kitchen gardens, native plant gardens, waterfront gardens and more. Exciting demonstrations at all locations along with MGs on hand to answer all your gardening questions.

Watch the video preview for just a taste of what's offered on this year's tour.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQtWLQaE5Bo

A Sneaky Snapdragon and Other Serendipitous Plants

I didn't even notice the snapdragon until it was almost ready to bloom. There behind the winterberry bush a scattered seed had germinated and flourished un-tended and un-intended. Suddenly stalks of delicate pink pockets of flowers arose from behind the informal hedge, as if to say "Ha-ha, look at me, you're not totally in charge of this garden."

 
 Snapdragons appearing out of nowhere   The Garden Buzz    

It's ok. I love the accidental plants. I admire their ambition and seek to imitate their subtle successes. Like the snapdragon that is half a season in front of the same flowers on the opposite side of the walk that had all the advantages of being greenhouse-grown and carefully planted yet remain pitifully lacking in stature.

Thalictrum, "Meadow Rue" growing between pavers    The Garden Buzz

When a plant appears on its own, I forgive the fact it hasn't followed the loosely designed plan of my garden. I reward such self-starters by leaving them be. I figure if they got that far on their own, who am I to say they don't belong or don't fit in.

Self-bonsai spirea growing in stones    The Garden Buzz

In my old kitchen garden, I planted a number of coral zinnias, a color so yummy I couldn't imagine any way they could be improved upon. Then one day the rampant runners of a morning glory seemed to show up overnight. Before I could weed the vine, it bloomed.

The purple blossoms of Grandpa Ott's, an heirloom with super-survival instincts just happened to have a pink-orange throat that set off the coral zinnias in a stunning color combination, twining through the picket fence to make the most charming vignette.  I have to marvel at the synergy of such random pairings when plants happen to color-coordinate of their own accord.

I hate to read to much into it when a fluke flower arrives unannounced. But I probably should tell you about the most fortuitous example. A few years ago a sunflower sowed itself at the rim of the sunken patio of the courtyard. It looked a little awkward there at the absolute edge of the slate stones.

The sunflower was stunted due to the lack of water where it lodged it roots. But conveniently it bloomed at waist-height, just right for photographing from the comfort of the patio chairs. The bees loved this sunflower and swarmed all over the pollen-rich center, so busy that they didn't mind my macro lens recording their every move.

The striking pictures that resulted from the serendipitous sunflower inspired the name and the logo of The Garden Buzz. I had been trying out different names for my baby blog. I wanted to convey that the information and stories would be current. And I wanted to pay homage to the most-welcome pollinators that populate my garden.

The rest is history.

Sweaty gardener alert! Don't worry I haven't dropped off the earth...but more like into it! I'm in the homestretch before the big garden tour. Taking a water break, and trying not to look at the pool, there's more to plant and deadhead and water and fertilize and pot...but it's calling to me....
Coming soon, a big giveaway courtesy of the folks at Garden Safe; a huge supply of garden-friendly insect solutions, tools and a Lowe's gift card. Stay tuned for details and more bloggety-blog from The Garden Buzz.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: June 15

 
 
 Foxglove, "Camelot Cream" The Garden Buzz 

I'm ok with rainy days and Mondays. They don't get me down, well, usually. Mondays hold the promise of a new week and rainy days are good for getting things done guilt-free inside. But it's been raining, like forever. Buckets and buckets. Cats and dogs, and actually a few frogs.

So it's a wet and sloppy Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.

Salvia, "May Night", and Roses, "William Baffin" and one sneaky snapdragon     The Garden Buzz

Spring came delightfully early to Minnesota so much has already bloomed this month and now hangs all droopy and dripping. Will there be anything left blooming for the Garden Tour next month? Yee gads, I hope so.

I think it's too late to shear back all the flowers and fertilize the heck out of them in hopes for another round. Ahh, timing, they aren't kidding when they say it's everything.

Allium aflatunense, "Purple Sensation" The Garden Buzz

Yarrow, "Moonshine"    The Garden Buzz

Rosa rugosa, Pavement Rose "Foxy"     The Garden Buzz

Coreopsis and Catmint  The Garden Buzz
 

Happy Garden Bloggers Bloom Day!

Thanks to May Dreams Gardens for hosting this great event.
 

Mmmm...What Smells So Good?

Fragrance is so subjective. What smells good to one person might gag another. Human perfumes often leave me nauseous, with flashbacks of riding to Grandma's house to be babysat during a parental date night, with the scent of my mother's Shalimar wafting to the backseat. A whole new level of carsick.

And then there are natural floral fragrances that make me swoon with their incredible sweetness.

Working in the humidity of the garden this week has been a hot and sweaty affair; nothing of the sort pictured on romance novels, but instead battling the cottonwood as she decorates every single plant with her fuzzy wads of sticky fluff.

The upside has been extra time outside to smell the oh-so-wonderful Japanese Lilac Tree. For me the frothy white blossoms smell just like the sweet peas I didn't get around to planting. The fragrance is sweeter and lighter than regular lilacs.The air fills with this fragrance, and it isn't too much, just right and heavenly when a cool breeze brings it close.

 
Japanese Lilac Tree The Garden Buzz

What a great little tree, the one in my backyard seems to thrive on neglect while looking graceful with its umbrella-like limbs.

 
Syringa reticulata (Japanese Lilac Tree) in the backyard   The Garden Buzz    

I often blog from from my outdoor office, the front porch, where a patch of  "Foxy" Pavement Roses (Rosa rugosa) blooms profusely all summer. Useless for bouquets, the blooms of varying shades of pink shatter in just a few days dropping their petals on the walk. They make up for it with the lovely scent that pervades the entire patio. Later in the season I pick the russet-color hips for making pretty golden-pink tea with a citrusy tang.

Rosa rugosa "Foxy" from the Pavement Rose Series     The Garden Buzz

Who would expect such hardy and tough roses to look so delicate and smell so delicious?

"Foxy" Pavement Rose   The Garden Buzz

And for dessert, a little chocolate. Chocolate cosmos that is. Cosmos atrosanguineus really does smell like chocolate; milk chocolate to me. The black-red single blooms are held on high stems, giving a wispy appearance that blends well with other perennials in the butterfly garden. An annual up north, the tubers can be lifted and overwintered to enjoy for more than one season. Because we never get enough chocolate.

 Cosmos atrosanguineus     The Garden Buzz

What smells great in your garden? Is there one plant that you grow mainly for its fragrance? And is there a plant in your garden that reeks?

Garden Tip of the Week: That's Gonna Go on your Permament Record!

There are probably as many ways of keeping garden records as there are hosta varieties. Personally I use a variation of my inside organizational approach, better known as the pile method. I throw all my plant tags into a Tupperware container, then rifle through it when I forget the name of that one particular plant.

 With this process I keep the majority of things tidy while carving out tiny islands of space where papers and ideas are allowed to ferment and compost in order to spark creativity. Some of my best blog posts happen at the breakfast bar where my laptop and I share a cramped surface with a leaning tower of brochures, clippings and post-it notes in my otherwise spotless kitchen.

Whatever works.

First of all, there are some gardeners who garden by touch and feel, whose very instinctive style would be inhibited by the whole procedure.

At the other end of the spectrum, I once interviewed a fellow Master Gardener who pulled out a detailed spread sheet of every action taken in his garden since day one. Need I add that he was an engineer? Now all you engineers don't send me angry emails, I'm married to one, so I know what I speak of.

For the rest of us, some sort of plant journal helps to document successes and failures, bloom times, plant locations, fertilizer schedules and such.  Plant journals can come in many forms; beautifully bound little notebooks, potting-soil dusted scraps of paper, drawings and diagrams, even landscape architect renderings.

Enter technology and you have online journals and landscape planning software. As of late several innovative websites have bloomed offering a template for managing the "paperwork" of the garden, some with a social networking component.

The Mulch provides plant care alerts, recommendations, and a place to record your plants along with reviews and themed lists. Some readers might have seen my blogs posted there as well along with my "gotta have it plant lists". The Mulch is free to members and somewhat more oriented to West coast gardeners, but is broadening its scope, like with me, a Minnesota gardener.

Locally, Barb Hegman has come up with PlantJotter, a centralized and personalized online journal where you can record and then recall your gardening efforts from season to season. The website was developed with research from a survey of 2000 Master Gardeners and their journaling habits. I like that you can upload photos on it as well. You can try it out with a free trial subscription to see if it's right for you.

As I photograph my garden more extensively to illustrate this blog, I find that photos provide a visual progression of plant growth and bloom time with dates embedded automatically. This improves upon but doesn't replace the time-tested tub o' tags.

Late spring in the garden    The Garden Buzz
 
 

Mid-summer in the garden, a visual record of the changes   The Garden Buzz
 

Bartzella Peony: Funny Name, Beautiful Flower, Great Plant

Its bodacious yellow blooms called to me from across the greenhouse at the garden center. The promise of a new peony, an intersectional, a hybrid of herbaceous and tree type peonies; pulled me in with its siren song of possibilities, like moth to a flame.

Intersectional Peony "Bartzella" ready for his closeup     The Garden Buzz
 

It was not cheap, but it was close to Mother's Day. So Happy Mother's Day to me! That was a little over a year ago, and now Bartzella is blooming his beautiful flowers in a big way.

So many things appeal to me about this plant, but it sure wasn't its name. Bartzella...is it supposed to be a takeoff on "bridezilla"? Would the plant be pretty yet temperamental?

Bartzella....a reference to Bart Simpson? Would this flower underachieve and disappoint while inviting trouble? Or perhaps a tribute to actor Roger Bart of Broadway fame, a worthy performer?

No, it turns out, Bartzella is just a nod to the funny-named friend of noted peony breeder Roger Anderson.

Intersectional peonies, sometimes called Itoh after the Japanese breeder to first successfully cross the two types of peony, combine the best traits of both plants.

Strong stems that are almost woody by the end of the season assure that the inevitable flopping of the mop-top flowers doesn't occur. The huge, showy flowers have a long successive bloom time that can sometimes last up to five weeks. The dark green foliage remains attractive throughout the season and then fades in winter, avoiding the branch winter kill of tree peonies.

 
Bartzella plays well with others The Garden Buzz

Like herbaceous peonies these plants can tolerate and even appreciate a little afternoon shade. They thrive with evenly watered, well-drained soil that is on the less acid side. They will eventually grow to about 3 feet in height and width.

With high hopes I gave Bartzella some prime real estate by the front door and he has yet to disappoint. Situated in a stone planter bed and watered with drip irrigation he has bloomed heavily after only one season. The lemony yellow flowers are gorgeous for bouquets and blend well in the landscape with other perennials like roses, clematis, campanula, and hostas. The fragrance is more spicy than sweet.

As intersectional peonies become more plentiful the price will come down. But I haven't regretted my investment in this rare beauty.

Prolific blooms of Bartzella Peony    The Garden Buzz
 

There are many studies about how a name affects a person's fate in life. Supposedly Jennifers and Jacobs have an easier time of it. While some think an unusual or strange name builds character, when that child gets beat up on the playground. Somehow Bartzella has overcome his less than memorable moniker to make it big in the world of peonies.