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2012 Calendar: Three Seminars

January 26, 2012 by Eastern Shore Gardener

I’ve started pulling together the 2012 calendar and promise to get that up and running soon with all new events. In the meantime, I wanted to call attention to three upcoming seminars of interest to Eastern Shore gardeners.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2012

Perennialy Inspired: Perennial Plant Association/Horticultural Society of Maryland Seminar

Speakers include David Culp, Carol Long, Allen Bush.

When: Saturday, February 25, 2012; 8:45 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.

Where: Sheppard-Pratt Conference Center, 6501 N. Charles Street, Towson, Maryland
Cost: $89 for members ($99 after February 3); $99 for non-members ($109 after February 3). Lunch and snacks are included.

The Perennial Plant Association and the Horticultural Society of Maryland have a great speaker line-up for this all-day seminar. Speakers include David Culp of Sunny Border Nurseries; Carol Long from Winterthur; Allen Bush of Jelitto Perennial Seeds; Dan Benarcik of Chanticleer; and landscape architect Thomas Ranier, who is one of my favorite bloggers.  For full details on the program, see PPA/MSH Seminar.

 

SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 2012

Half-Day Seminar: Native Plants: Design and Maintenance

Tracy DeSabito-Aust, author of The Well-Tended Perennial Garden and The Well-Designed Mixed Border

When: Saturday March 31, 2012, 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; (Registration opens at 8:30 a.m.)

Where: Anne Arundel Community College, 101 College Parkway, Center for Applied Learning and Technology, CALT Building, Arnold, MD 21012.

Cost: $60.00. A light breakfast is included. Book signing after the seminar.

This half-day seminar on Maryland native plants, design, and maintenance is sponsored by Unity Gardens, an organization dedicated to “empower local groups to build leadership and partnership through the creation of neighborhood greening projects that enhance the quality of life throughout Anne Arundel County.” The seminar is approved as advanced training for Maryland Master Gardeners. For more information, see Native Plants.

 

 

SATURDAY, APRIL 21

Outdoor Living Extravaganza: A Retreat and Seminar with Proven Winners

When: Saturday, April 21, 2012; 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Where: Airlie Conference Center, 6809 Airlie Road, Warrenton, Virginia 20187

Cost: $80.00. Includes a catered luncheon and snacks.

This day-long seminar is organized by people who bring us Proven Winners brand plants and focuses on using color and getting the most out of the garden. Speakers include Proven Winners Program Manager Kerry Meyer; garden designer and speaker Kerry Mendez; Walter’s Gardens Marketing Manager Susan Martin; and gardening expert and TV host Joe Lamp’l. Participants will receive a gift bag and the chance to win a wide variety of prizes. To register, go to provenwinners or call 877-865-5818.

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January Color

January 20, 2012 by Eastern Shore Gardener

I don’t normally drag my camera out into the garden, but I was weeding a few days ago (click here if you missed my recent thoughts on the importance of this task in winter) and noticed a ground cover that was looking quite pretty. Since handsome ground covers in January are worth taking a second look at, I wanted to share some pictures. This is especially true since the plant I’m highlighting today is growing in partial shade and less-than-ideal soil conditions.

Hypericum-Brigadoon

The plant that caught my eye is ‘Brigadoon’ Aaron’s beard (Hypericum calycinum ‘Brigadoon’). I have to say I haven’t particularly noticed its yellow, five-petaled flowers, which appear in late spring, but the golden yellow new growth is certainly eye-catching this January. (Plants are semi-evergreen, so they are primarily valued for late summer to fall foliage value; it seems that the weather this year makes January an extension of fall!) Since my clump isn’t growing in full sun, it’s a mix of yellow foliage mixed with older bronzy green stems.

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A Talk and a Tip

December 28, 2011 by Eastern Shore Gardener

First the talk: I am going to be giving a talk at the Chestertown Garden Club January meeting, and it is open to the public. Here are the details

When: 11:00 a.m., Tuesday, January 3, 2012.

Where: Church hall of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 101 North Cross Street, Chestertown, MD 21620

Topic: Befriending the Bay: Creating Bay-Friendly Gardens and Landscapes.  Join local gardener and garden expert Barbara Ellis for a practical look at what gardeners can do to benefit the bay. Learn how principals like reducing lawn and runoff as well as attracting wildlife can help you create beautiful, unique gardens and landscapes that also help the Bay.

Hope to see some of you there! I’ll have books and a few tools available for purchase.

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Tried and True Perennials

December 20, 2011 by Eastern Shore Gardener

My friend, Nancy Ondra, has a great new book, Tried and True Perennials, and I wanted to make a quick pre-Christmas post about it. It may be a perfect gift for someone on your list.  (I got it for myself!)

image

Anyway, if I’m completely on board with any plant that Nancy recommends, and this book features 20 of the best performers from her garden. I grow a number of them already, although undoubtedly not as well as she does, and the rest just jumped to the top of my list of plants to add to the garden. I should mention that Nancy gardens near Quakertown, Pennsylvania, so her recommendations are all suitable for our region.

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Handy in All Seasons

December 3, 2011 by Eastern Shore Gardener

I spent an hour or so cleaning up the garden this afternoon. As I was pulling up the first of the winter weeds and cutting back chrysanthemums, I heaved all the debris onto an ordinary green tarp that I have used again and again this year. Since it has become one of my favorite tools this year, I thought I should write a few words about it.

Tarp

My tarp is nothing special.  The one I use is about 6 feet by 8 feet. It is big enough to collect a fair amount of garden debris, but not so large that it gets heavy or cumbersome to pull along the ground, which is the method I use for transporting whatever I’ve collected to the compost pile.

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Foliage for Fall

November 7, 2011 by Eastern Shore Gardener

While our recent wild weather whipped away lots of leaves and damaged a great many flowers, undaunted trees along our creek are really beginning to color up for fall. Despite the weather, in the garden I still have bubblegum pink blooms covering my fall-blooming Camellia sasanqua, mounds of marginally tattered chrysanthemum ‘Sheffield Pink’, and aster ‘Raydon’s Favorite’ (Symphyotrichum oblongifolius) in bloom. Plus, sprinkled throughout are flowering salvias,  roses, calamint (Calamintha nepeta nepeta), and a lone pale pink balloon flower (Platycodon grandiflorus). I swear next year I need to add some of the fall blooming bulbs to add to the show!

 

Tupelo-and-holly

Above: Tupelo and holly on the creek.

 

Outstanding fall foliage is high on my list when considering trees and shrubs to plant. Tupelos (Nyssa sylvatica) probably top my list here. The one I planted on the bank along the roadside this fall won’t rival the ones growing along the creek during my lifetime, but I’m still happy that it’s there. I’ll get my share of enjoyment from it, and with any luck it will be here for the next person to own this place. I’ve also managed to transplant a couple of oak seedlings that showed outstanding fall color—I think both are black oak hybrids (Quercus velutina). They seem to have established themselves as well. Oh, and then there’s my little, newly planted ‘Ruby Slippers’ oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia). Now there’s some great fall color!

 

Hydrangea-Ruby-Slippers-fal

Above: Oakleaf hydrangea ‘Ruby Slippers’ has maintained scarlet foliage since October.

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Flowers for a Cold Day

October 29, 2011 by Eastern Shore Gardener

While today’s cold wind and rain are whipping the flowers that remain out in the garden, I thought I’d share pictures of a favorite, and unusual, houseplant of mine that bloomed indoors this week: Sansevieria kirkia var. pulchella.

Sanseveria-kirkii-var.-pulc

Sorry, it doesn’t have a common name, but as a Sanseveria it is related to the plants commonly known as mother-in-law’s tongue and snake plant. (I have something of a collection of them, but won’t go into detail here, because someone may try to cart me away to the loony bin if I mention another plant collection.) Sansevieria kirkia var. pulchella is native to southeastern tropical Africa. It is as tough and undemanding a houseplant as you can find.

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Weed Wars, Honeysuckle Attack

October 9, 2011 by Eastern Shore Gardener

Earlier this week I nearly won first prize on America’s Funniest Videos. Thankfully, no video cameras recorded the event.

Recent plant purchases are driving yet another garden expansion here at Hackberry Point. This time I’m digging on the north edge of my front garden, where cultivated space meets rampant weeds. Although I knew the garden would eventually expand here, I think I’ve been waiting until the work itself would somehow be easier. Gardening doesn’t exactly work that way, though.

Honeysuckle1

Above: Honeysuckle on the edge of the garden, ready to meet its demise.

On its north edge, the front garden ends in a mass of weeds that cover a very steep drop-off. Clearing the site was a necessary first step in the expansion. In this case, the weeds are primarily non-native invasives: Common periwinkle (Vinca minor) and Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica). Driving the expansion and waiting patiently to anchor the new garden edge, is ‘Ruby Slippers’ oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia), one of several new plants I picked up at Rare Find Nursery recently.

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Posted in In the Garden | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments »

Greenhouse in Waiting

September 17, 2011 by Eastern Shore Gardener

Today, I would like to testify that my greenhouse/potting shed has been clean for 24 hours. I have recorded that stunning fact in two pictures, one from each end. Since this is the epicenter of my garden, home to everything from tools to all things green,  it only happens a couple of times a year. Alas the cleanliness can’t last.

Greenhouse-in-Waiting

In the off season, I use the greenhouse to overwinter tender perennials in pots and as cuttings. It’s also the winter home of houseplants that either don’t fit into the house anymore or need cooler conditions than our house offers. (Clivias are an example: To bloom well, they need a cool, dry dormancy. I can do dry indoors, but 40°F is another story.) Add to that starting seeds, nursing on divisions, holding plants for plant sales, and you have the general picture.

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9/11/2011

September 11, 2011 by Eastern Shore Gardener

On sad days of remembrance, and days when I feel hopeless or out of control, eventually I find myself in my garden. Today, I marked the anniversary of 9/11 by planting trees, something I did on this afternoon ten years ago.

Ten years ago, I watched the news coverage in horror and disbelief until I couldn’t stand it anymore, and then went out to the garden. The dogs came with me, and they played while I planted a yellowwood (Cladrastis kentukea). It wasn’t a special tree—just a native tree that had been patiently waiting to be planted. That tree became my own personal memorial to 9/11.

I fully realize that my single, solitary act of planting a tree couldn’t possibly change anything. It didn’t even bring comfort to anyone else, but it certainly did to me. That’s because working in a garden is comforting. Caring for plants offers a perfect opportunity for quiet contemplation. In 2001 and again today, I found myself thinking about the individuals who were killed, the families who had lost loved ones, and the way our lives have changed in the interim. As I dig holes, remove grass, work in the soil, and just sweat, I also simply stop thinking. That is comforting in and of itself.

Today, my two best garden-companion dogs, Bing and Casey, helped me create my own personal memorial of the tenth anniversary of 9/11. They lounged in the shade while I planted an oak tree, a tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica), and a fringe tree (Chionanthus virginicus). The first two were added to the throng of plants covering the hillside along the road. The fringe tree will anchor a new section of the garden that will keep me busy, and planting, and contemplating for the foreseeable future.

Chionanthus

Above: Barely visible, the newly planted fringe tree is situated on a peninsula of mulch that connects it to an existing bed and also marks the garden’s next expansion.

Posted in In the Garden | Tagged , , | 5 Comments »

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