The Garden Buzz

Gifts for Gardeners: The Good, The Bad and The Downright Silly

Gardeners don't want for much. Other than a little healthy plant lust, they're a pretty contented lot. 

While there are all sorts of gadgets and gizmos aimed at the dirt-digging demographic, I'll bet that 90% of them are useless or unnecessary. Heck, when I was a budget-crunched college student my gardening tool of choice was an old butter knife. I kid you not.

Recently one of my favorite gardening tools is an old stiff broom. Judging from the teal color of the handle, it's from the 80's, the straw shortened and slanted from use. You'd be surprised what I can do with it. And when it disappeared for awhile, I anguished and mourned the loss. Turns out my husband stored it so deep in the shed I couldn't find it. I did a little happy dance when it was found.

If you think that brooms and butter knives might underwhelm the gardeners in your life, here in Part One, I'll list what I think are useful and thoughtful gifts that gardeners would really appreciate this holiday season.

PART ONE: The Good

1. Soil Scoop: Trowels are very personal, what works for one might not work for another. But the Soil Scoop is more universal; my preferred tool for planting containers. Useful for digging, weed-scraping and potting up plants, but what really wins me over is the curved shape that follows the contours of the container as you fill in with potting soil. It manages what could be a big mess and conserves precious potting soil.
2. Gloves: You can never have enough gloves, and there are so many good ones on the market now. Rubber coated ones keep our fingers from getting wet and cold. Heavy leather ones protect our hands from thorns and sharp debris. Colorful gloves in stretchy fabrics make more delicate work easy while keeping us stylish.
3. Hand Creams: For when we forget to wear aforementioned gloves. Assorted balms and unguents for our dirt-creased and chapped hands, the thicker and more luxurious the better. 
4. Load of Crap: Forget those diamond commercials. Compost, manure and other soil amendments delivered by the truckload are what really sets our hearts to racing. 
5. Containers: A gal (or guy) can never have too many pots, although my husband will beg to differ. But now there are so many innovative containers for growing edible and ornamentals in all sorts of challenging situations. Collapsible containers that save space when not being used. Vertical growing containers when space is also scarce. I could go on and on.
6. Books: For winter time dreaming. And for practical advice during the growing season. There are lots of great books on growing edibles right now, like Grocery Gardening by Jean Ann Van Krevelen or Edible Landscaping by Rosalind Creasy, and so many more. Regional gardening books by Lone Pine Publishing that cater to local gardening conditions across the country are valuable tools for getting it just right, right where you are. Cookbooks like P. Allen Smith's Seasonal Recipes From the Garden to help cook what we grow.
7. Memberships: Botanical gardens, arboretums, and plant societies all offer memberships with various levels of benefits. Educational as well as inspirational, they can be renewed every year, thus making your shopping a no-brainer.
8. Seeds: They're tiny but mighty. Awe and wonder in the smallest of packages. And cheap.

There you have it. Eight great gifts for gardeners. Stay tuned for Parts Two and Three where I'll discuss worthless gifts, bad ideas and the silly and outlandish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wild turkeys at morning light                                                                            The Garden Buzz

As the wild turkeys by our home form familial flocks, called congregations, to insure winter survival, it's once again time for Thanksgiving. The garden goes to sleep, so that we can gather our thoughts and more importantly, our families close. Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers at The Garden Buzz.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: November 15

No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,

No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds – November!”

 

I return to photograph these birches time and time again. They are at the edge of a development that stalled when the economy tanked.

I could photograph them every day and never make the same image. The light, the leaves, the undergrowth is always changing. In fall, they're not flashy like crimson maples, but more subtle with goldenrod and grasses at their feet. In winter they are a beautiful study in black and white, all the more striking in the absence of color. 

This builder has included lots of environmentally friendly aspects in his plan. And I know that due to their position they won't be cut down. Once again, building has resumed and it's a matter of time before the lot in front of them displays those telltale orange-tipped stakes that mark the site of a new home.

When that happens, the birches will belong to new people, only visible to them. I hope they love them as much as I do.

 

Botanical Word of the Day: Etiolation

This past week when people have come over, they aren't far in the door before they ask, "What is that?". 

The simple answer is "a succulent". Echeveria gibbiflora to get all Latin-y. To explain it a little further, it's a succulent blooming. But it's more than that. It's a plant process called "etiolation". 

Etiolation is a process in flowering plants grown in partial or complete absence of light. It is characterized by long, weak stems; smaller, sparser leaves due to ...blah, blah, blah. 

 It's not really a good thing. But it's something we'll all be seeing as daylight wanes in the coming months. 

Most folks call it getting leggy. Which is different from getting jiggy.

I learned this new fancy word while researching an upcoming article about growing succulents in cold climates. When I used this lingo on a friend to describe what was going on with my coffee table specimen, he replied, "You mean it's not happy". 

Here is the Echeveria in sunnier, happier times, out with its companions on the patio. Don't use just love all those ruffles? But all good things must end and then it's either the dumpster or the dining room. 

Echeveria gibbiflora, right         The Garden Buzz

Of course that's when it decided to bloom.

The swirling shape was created while I moved it first to the garage to escape freezing and then under the solarium windows at the kitchen table where it threatened to double dip in my husband's salsa. Then it was on to the coffee table where it has impeded my husband's view of the TV. Meanwhile the stems continue to curve seeking out any sunlight available.

This time of year, even low light indoor plants or plants brought indoors need the brightest windows available, and attention should be given to temperature. Some plants like succulents will tolerate chilly temps while others will catch cold. Tropicals will wither too close to windows.

Eventually I will trim off the spent flower stalks and try to once again center and anchor the plant. 

The growth habit reminds me of an ocean wave or a curl of smoke. And while I don't mean to make light (oh, bad pun) of the Echeveria's predicament, right now I think it's beautiful in a twisted sort of way. 

 

Fall Floral Arrangement: Better Late Than Never Bouquet

Last year's quick blog on my "autumn equinox bouquet" consistently ranked as one of the popular posts of 2010. ( Click on the link to read the back story). This year I wasn't home for most of September and spent most of October catching up with my shadow. So here in November, the month of no, as in no more garden, I managed to eke out a "Better Late Than Never Bouquet".

These remaining days of cool autumn sun afforded me a pleasant trip around the garden gathering bits of foliage, pods, seed heads and such, enough to cobble together a decent ode to fall.

More somber in color than my traditional end of the season arrangements, I kinda like the deep purple tones and feathery shapes. it didn't photograph as well as last year's, but believe me is just as beautiful.

 Fall Floral Arrangement                                                      The Garden Buzz

For some of you it may be too late to assemble a similar bouquet, but for many of you, the makings are just now taking on that mellow mood of autumn.

This year's ingredients:

• Siberian Kale leaves
• Chokeberry branches
• Sedum "Autumn Joy" flowers
• Hydrangea "Annabelle" dried blossoms
• Rudbeckia "Goldsturm" seed heads
• Baptisia seed pods
• Elderberry stems minus the berries (cool purple spidery shapes)
• Daphne foliage
• Pine sprigs
• Oregano stems
• Feather Reed Grass "Karl Foerster" grass

I was tempted to include fennel seed clusters, the licorice-scent was wafting through the air as I clipped branches, but I try to avoid seed pods that will shatter and make a mess. Instead Greek oregano gave this a distinct spicy scent. What a nice sight every time I come in the back door.

Imagine what you can find in your own garden!

 

Tidy Up or Let It Be: Where Do You Fall on Fall Garden Cleanup?

No matter where you fall on the issue of fall garden cleanup, you have to appreciate a recent tweet by Benjamin Vogt. He's a poet, gardener and author of Sleep, Creep, Leap, which recounts his adventures in prairie gardening.

"Just prepped my garden for winter by glancing out the office window and sighing. Seriously, why do people do fall clean-up? Nature doesn't."

I guess I fall somewhere close to this 140-characters or less, garden-maintenance manifesto. I don't do much. But I do a little.

I would venture that fall clean up routines are dependent upon gardening styles, weather and peer pressure. The more naturalistic setting can get away with less. While manicured and groomed gardens, like women of the same sort, demand more intense seasonal intervention.

Of course, those of us up north know that good snow cover hides a multitude of sins.

Raking leaves in the crisp autumn air is as much psychological marker as seasonal chore. In neighborhoods where pride of place is present, it's just what you do. I've been known to simply rearrange the leaves to cover the beds for what's known as "lazy (wo)man's mulch". However leaves can get matted and deprive soil of moisture and they create unhealthy conditions when left on lawns.

It's probably most important to remove leaves and other dead material from plants and trees suffering from any fungal issues. Disposing of that debris will help to stop the cycle of reinfection from year to year. Keep it out of your compost too.

Leaving some debris provides beneficial insects and other animals overwintering sites. However it gives all insects, some undesirable, a place too. There is never an easy answer.

Pulling up spent annuals even presents a dilemna. While some people welcome re-seeding plants, others will regret the thousands of descendants that pop up the following year. I compromise and deadhead the ones that are the most notorious propagators like fennel, nicotiana, jewels of Opar, and even then there will still be quite a few survivors. 

I choose to leave perennials up over the winter unless they are already flopping before the first snow. I hate the cutting back in spring but find it a fair trade for feeding birds and critters. In addition to lovely seed heads like these...

Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium purpureum) provides statuesque beauty and food for the birds.

Culver's Root (Veronicastrum virginicum) seed heads cut an interesting silhouette in the garden.

Yesterday at the post office I came upon the prefect illustration of the fall cleanup quandary.

Witness the carnage!

Across the street the parks crew were cutting down the Annabelle hydrangeas that flank the entry to a local park. I spoke with the head guy and he told me he would like to leave them up but just doesn't have the staff hours to deal with them come spring. 

I leave all my Annabelles standing over winter. The chore of trimming them back is still waiting for me when the snow melts, but worth it for this sight.

 

Dried panicles of Hydrangea arborescens "Annabelle", note the lovely leaf pattern too.

And that's probably where the fall cleanup question splits; do we do it in fall so we can settle down into winter guilt free or do we leave it till spring when we are ready to get out and tackle anything, just to be outside.