Tulipano

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2010-03-25T17:10:00.001-05:00

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AFTER HOLIDAY THOUGHTS

2010-01-05T10:39:00.004-06:00

On this freezing afternoon just three days into the new year, I'm settling in to the fact that the holidays are over. I have safety tucked my holiday decorations into the basement where they await next year's festivities and I'm left with the post holiday blahs.

I'm sure a lot of you can identify with the feeling I'm having...it's like your heart and mind have been filled with the spirit of the season as well as all the hustle and bustle that goes with it and then it's January 1st and someone seemingly flipped the switch to off. People aren't even wishing you "happies" or "healthies" at every turn, which means life has gone back to normal.

Pondering this, I peer out the window into our sleeping garden covered with a cozy blanket of snow. There I see our raised vegetable beds. My husband is already fervently planning his crops and eventual harvest, Burpee catalog in hand. My baby Magnolia has buds that are preludes to a gorgeous spring. And my favorite part right now...a winter green arrangement my husband made for me. It was made from leftover clippings and berries, but I think it is so beautiful. A little taste of the season still hanging out on our deck.

So I'll gaze out the window at my little bit of the holidays to remind me of the spirit I so dearly covet and wait for my next favorite event ...the first crocus that peeks through a late March snow.

WINTER

2009-11-30T10:02:00.001-06:00

My mother and I were out putting up Christmas lights the other day so that the day after Thanksgiving I would be ready to flip the switch and begin one of my favorite times of year.

It’s my favorite time of year for a lot of reasons. People are kinder and it become the season of “we” and not “me.” I love that. I also live for the snow and the cold. When it is cold, we slow down a little and stay indoors with our families a little more. When it snows and everything is covered it creates such an overwhelming sense of peace making it a perfect time for contemplation. We need that.

For some reason winter is a season people dread; but I find it magical. It fills me with hope that the world is truly a better place and that we as people have more potential than we realize.

All of this inspired by hanging twinkly little lights throughout my landscape.

I have an immense yew hedge that runs the length of our front foundation. It is the main candidate for Christmas Cheer, however I also have a five foot Dr. Merrill Magnolia next to our deck that gets a little douse as well.

That little tree is a pet of mine. You see one day, probably fifteen years down the road, it will reach twenty feet tall. It will have outgrown lights at that point. That occurs to me every time I look at it, especially as I’m draping strands of lights trying very carefully to disturb its fuzzy little flower buds. But for now, it is my little tree. Sparkling in the night, curled up for the winter, but already showing signs of hope for a floriferous spring!

2009-08-27T10:13:00.001-05:00

I love the rain, always have. So today, while everyone else is complaining about getting their shoes wet or using the weather as an excuse for a bad mood, I sit uplifted by unexpected August showers. It is so peaceful and calming; attributes which I cherish.

I enjoy a rainy day the most when I’m peering out a window into my garden. The landscape takes on such a different personality when doused with a hearty amount of water droplets. Plants are struggling to maintain their height under the weight of newly acquired water. Small rivers are emerging assisting the excess in its search for the path of least resistance. And everything takes on a glossy grey hue.

That ambiance coupled with the hypnotic melody of rain falling on leaves is like being transported to a simpler place. Something I think we all could use these days.

I have a couple plants that thrive after these rainy moments: Ligularia ‘The Rocket’ and Hydrangea ‘Annabelle.’ Both become depressingly wilted if they do not get enough water. And by enough water I mean water on an almost daily basis. It doesn’t make me covet these plants any less. They are two of my favorites.

Ligularia and Hydrangea are wonderful for wet shady spots in your yard. But let me distinguish between wet shady areas with good drainage and areas that are very wet, very shady, and hold water. They are very different when choosing plants.

For those of you that have very wet very shady areas, you know what I mean! It can be impossible to find anything that will grow there! That’s because most plants don’t like “wet feet,” which is a term we use to describe plants that like to sit in water. These plants are very small in number. There are more plants that like lots of water but then like that water to drain away leaving dry roots and allowing the plant “breathe” and absorb oxygen.

Very wet shade is something I don’t have, but am very familiar with, having grown up in Riverwoods and caring for customer’s landscapes on the North Shore. So I know how frustrating and challenging it can be. People always ask me, exasperated, why won’t anything grow here?! The reason is simple…imagine if someone emerged you in a tank of water. How long could you live without oxygen? Plants are the same way.

There are things we recommend for these areas:

· Relieve compacted soils by amending and cultivating them
· Improve air circulation by routine pruning (trees and shrubs)
· Be realistic and choose plants that can tolerate the conditions and then be patient. Your selections might not work the first time.
· If your conditions are such that nothing will grow (a good indicator is a healthy population of moss), accept it and mulch it!! It is a much better alternative to mud and in a woodland area can be quite pretty.

We’ve become a culture of I want what I want when I want it…unfortunately living things, plants being

among them, don’t adhere to our wishes all the time. To be honest, their unpredictability is part of why I find them so alluring.

Photo: Ligularia 'The Rocket'

DELPHINIUMS

2009-07-22T15:08:00.001-05:00

The summer is getting away from me again, but the enjoyment of my garden is not overshadowed by all the tedious responsibilities life sometimes dictates.

This week I am obsessed with my delphiniums. Delphiniums have always stimulated a response to an emotional memory. You know when you’re walking down the street and suddenly you’re overcome by a scent that you just can’t place, but once you remember it’s like you’re transported to somewhere in a memory? That’s what this is like.

My grandma and nono’s house in Highwood has this magical patio in the back. It isn’t grand by any means, but it’s special. When I’m there I’m transported to a time when we would sit as a family on the bluestone patio under the grape arbor. The adults might be sipping wine while we kids would be collecting the bocce balls from the last game of the day. It is such a small space that there wasn’t a lot of room for flowers, so they packed them in. Nono did everything himself, the patio, the arbor, even collecting seeds and sowing them for flowers. The best part of the summer was when the huge patch of blue delphiniums hovered over you as you sat in the grass below. Wow.

I’ve given how a flower can trigger such a powerful memory a lot of thought. The only thing I can think of is that delphiniums have such stature, simplicity and elegance, a tough combination. But a combination that epitomizes my grandparents and how they lived their lives perfectly, even how my grandmother, now 98 continues to do so.

Now for those of you that love to garden, you know that unless you are extremely fortunate, that these garden beauties are not the easiest plants to grow. It isn’t that they won’t grow really; it’s that for every three you plant two won’t make it over the winter. At least that is my experience.

For the past three years I have been trying to establish a patch of delphiniums in one of my beds. Every year the same one plant survives and I replace the other two. Well after three years my one plant has really taken off and is finally giving me some substantial blooms. Enough to even grace our counter with cuttings!

They aren’t the same variety of Delphiniums from my childhood, but they are close. Close enough that my little girl hopefully will have a similar memory of sitting in the grass, staring up at these elegant beauties.

PHOTO: Delphinuim ‘Misty Mauves’

WHAT I LOVE RIGHT NOW

2009-06-12T10:40:00.002-05:00

I find a quiet moment every day to stroll through the garden and contemplate every little change. It occurred to me last night that this might be a tad strange. Really, not much happens in the course of a day. But when something does happen, when your garden literally changes because certain plants are done blooming and others are slowly taking the stage, those moments are really exciting.

Planning for those moments isn’t easy, it takes a lot of time, consideration, constant tweaking and some good old fashioned luck! I have tried to achieve a garden achieves those transitions in an interesting way. For example, I for one don’t like color everywhere all the time. I find it very unsettling. I prefer a subtle shifting of interest throughout a season. And I believe that interest shouldn’t always be defined as something that blooms, which often in my garden it doesn’t. You could have a moment where nothing is blooming and let your foliage combinations create the drama.

Right now I’m experiencing a subtle shift. My late blooming tulips have finally been pulled and replaced with annual color and the rest of my spring bloomers (Daffodils, Anemone, Jacobs Ladder, and Brunnera) are done, adding their foliage alone to the overall composition.
What has taken their place are some of my favorite plants period. Here is a list of what I love right now and why I love them!

GERANIUM ‘Karmina’: I don’t think there is a prettier long blooming perennial for shady gardens. It has such a wonderful massing quality, so I use it frequently for a groundcover. When it blooms it is a carpet of delicate pink flowers hovering over beautiful foliage. What kills me even more is its fall interest…its leaves a gorgeous palette of oranges and reds.

PEONY ‘Bunker Hill,’ ‘Best Man’ and Bowl of Beauty’: I adore peonies and if I had more room I would have masses of them everywhere. What I find most appealing aren’t necessarily their blooms, which can be somewhat fleeting. It is the foliage it provides your garden for the rest of the season. Few perennials offer such a mass of glossy dark green leaves. A note about staking: I have never had to stake my peonies once they have established themselves (3-4 years). If you plant them in a mass and / or have other plants around them to add support, they will prop themselves up.

ALLIUM ‘Giganteum’: One of my favorite show stoppers! I planted about 7 of these huge bulbs three years ago, and they seem to be multiplying. They are somewhat of a folly when they pop up, which is why I like them. After they are done blooming, leave them…the shape is just as interesting when it isn’t in color! Once they begin to deteriorate (the stalks will turn yellow) cut them back all the way to the ground as you would any bulb.

ALCHEMILLA mollis: This is another plant that is just about to bloom, but I plant it for its AMAZING leaves. It has a hosta like habit, likes shady and sunny spots, and deer usually will not eat it! Most photographs I have seen show it when it is most interesting, after watering. Because of the texture of its leaves, water sits on it in large droplets, creating something quite picturesque. It is a must for almost every garden!

HEUCHERA ‘Green Spice’: Heuchera is another plant that likes shady conditions that deer usually won’t eat. There are some spectacular varieties out there, but there is something about ‘Green Spice’ that I just cannot get enough of. Its mounding habit is comprised of silvery leaves, edged in dark green with burgundy veining…need I say more? Right now it is about to bloom and its pink bell shaped flowers stand atop 3’ stems. The show is amazing, but when it is over you are left with leaves that are calmly beautiful…adding to your garden by complimenting what is around it.

PHOTOS (from top): Alchemilla mollis; Bunker Hill Peony and Allium

VEGETABLE GARDEN

2009-06-02T14:39:00.003-05:00

My husband has a new pet project…his vegetable garden. I describe it as his because he has spent the past eight months reading books about methods (Smith; The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible), researching potential harmful pests, and planning what to plant. It has been a chore just to watch!

Although I grew up around vegetable gardeners, and I mean serious ones, I’ve never really had the space or the time to get organized and produce something meaningful. I stuck to growing the basics, what I loved to eat. Green bush beans, plum tomatoes, zucchini, and lots and lots of herbs would pleasantly coexist with perennials in my sunniest bed and I was really content with my modest yields.

Everything changed last year when my husband got involved. He wanted to do more, more, more! So we tried to add other crops to our bed. We transplanted a few perennials to make room and off we went. The results were disastrous.

First, we did not have a plan for what we wanted to plant. Other than what I usually plant being a given, we simply went to the garden center and picked out what looked interesting. The lesson learned was that some vegetables are just not a good fit for the small house garden. Brussels sprouts, peas, corn all take an extraordinary amount of room to produce enough yields for a single meal. The brussel sprouts did not produce one sprout and the peas gave us about ten pods, but the plants I pulled out at the end of the season were as big as a small Volkswagens!

Where we had some crops that were all show, we had others that produced so much I was toting two bags to work each week full of bounty we could never eat!

My father’s side of the family had a garden that took up half of their entire property; I am not kidding. It really isn’t all that rare in his hometown of Highwood; that’s just what you did to feed your family. They planted a ton of tomatoes so that we could spend countless hours in my grandmother’s basement canning homemade tomato sauce that the entire family would then use all winter. At its peak, under the care of one of its best head gardeners, my Uncle George, we had 135 plants. That’s a lot of tomatoes.

With this in mind, my husband and I decided we would plant 6 plants. I mean if they planted in the hundreds, we could easily handle 6! Well, if you have ever planted tomatoes and been successful you know that we planted enough for a large family of people who love tomatoes, not for two people. We did the same with zucchini and cucumbers.

Then there were the specialty crops that produced well, but aren’t really something you’d store for long term. For example, I planted a row of radishes. Probably around thirty or so matured, all at the same time. By week two I’d had enough radishes for a lifetime. I wasn’t about to freeze the radishes, so off to friends they went!

We learned a lot of valuable lessons last year and I’m certain will learn more this year, especially by listening more intently to our family’s sage advise and relying on my husband’s countless pages of research.

My husband’s list of most important things he has implemented in our garden:
Contemplate raised beds
Creating raised beds with mulch paths in between has transformed our little garden. Vegetable’s root systems are delicate and by giving them their own space, they won’t get trampled on, and you avoid damage and long term compaction.

Use natural solutions for pest management
There are lots of organic products out there…some of which might not actually be organic, so research them with diligence. Then you have to determine their value through trail and error. We are using two products this year…Neptune’s Harvest is a fish emulsion (www.neptunesharvest.com) and Use BT Worm killer, a natural bacteria. Use BT for the first two weeks after planting for cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower to keep worms from destroying your tender plants.

You can also try employ a method of pairing certain plants together to discourage infestations. Try pairing basil with tomatoes you may throw off the scent of predators. Marigolds can be used in the same manor.

Rotate your crops
Insects are lazy and they won’t want to go far to eat so if you keep the crops moving you may keep more bugs away. Sometimes diseases also stay in soils for several years, by moving crops it helps prevent that. Always be aware that swapping crops in the same family, like sweet onions and leeks, isn’t a true crop rotation.

Time your planting appropriately and get more from your garden
Some seeds, like lettuce and spinach, can be planted in the cool season, like early April. Once harvested, you can plant another crop for fall harvesting.

Research research research!
Know what is better to plant from seed and what to buy from your local garden center. Herbs have a difficult time germinating, so definitely purchase them as plants. When you buy plants, buy them in 4.5 inch containers and make certain that the roots are not coming out of the bottom of containers. This means the plant is already stressed before you get it in your garden and it may not perform as well. Below is a representative list…
SEED
Cucumber, Zucchini, Lettuce, Spinach, Beans, Radishes, Carrots, Melons, Squash
PLANTS
All herbs, broccoli, leeks, onions from sets, peppers, tomatoes

Moisture
Vegetables like a constant even supply moisture throughout the season so you don’t get misshapen vegetables.

NEXT WEEK: MY FAVORITE PLANTS, RIGHT NOW

MAY FLOWERS...and lots of them

2009-05-13T14:51:00.002-05:00

I am a self confessed bulb fanatic. There is nothing that makes me feel happier and well with the world than hundreds of daffodils and tulips lighting up the yard, accented by ornamental trees and shrubs. This year the show is breathtaking, or so that is what my neighbors tell me, so it MUST be true.

Tulips are my mother’s favorite flower, but I have an affection for the natural look of mass daffodil plantings. They remind me of my childhood. Growing up in a gardening family in Riverwoods, you had to make peace with the fact that deer will eat anything if they are hungry enough, especially tulips. So my mother populated our yard with them. When I recently asked her how many she thought she originally planted; I was surprised by the reply. She told me that she started with very few compared to the thousands we had when we moved. Every few years, after giving them time to multiply naturally, she would divide them. She found that if she didn’t they would peter out and begin to die back. What a tip!

I certainly have my share of varieties to divide: Marieke (a huge yellow favorite), miniature Tete-a-Tetes, Fortissimos huge yellow bells with orange throats, and a new one called Pink and Lemon. The house has had full vases for weeks!

Tulips are something I will not deny myself, however I’m not as passionate as my mother. Now that she is no longer a Riverwoods resident, she plants them with reckless abandon! I prefer my tulips in more formal settings…someplace where they would look uncontrived. Because tulips tend to loose their steam over the years I replace mine annually. This year I tried a blend of purple, lavender and a French purple with white margins from a wonderful company we use. Unfortunately they no longer carry it so I’ll take lots of photos to remember them!

What has been a pleasant surprise is the Tulip ‘Apricot Beauty’ I planted in my front entrance beds three years ago. After their first show, we made the decision to fill in the beds with pachysandra, but neglected to dig up the tulips. The next year we were amazed when a few dozen of our original 200 popped their gorgeous heads up. They have done so consistently since then.

Right next to the tulips are Dicentra spectabilis (Bleeding Heart). The two arch towards each nestled under a blooming Malus ‘Snowdrift’ (Snowdrift Crabapple). I didn’t plan it that way, but it has turned out to be one of my favorite moments of the entire season.

How my yard explodes with blooms really epitomizes spring, or so I like to think. It is evidence of what nature is capable of with a little patience, like my mother waiting for just the correct time to divide her daffodils, solid planning and some luck, like my surprise tulips. I’m constantly humbled by it.

Photo: Narcissus ‘Marieke’

NEXT WEEK: THE VEGETABLE GARDEN

2009-05-05T17:24:00.002-05:00

Tulipano

May 5, 2009

APRIL SHOWERS
I’m so grateful for the sunshine! With all of the rain I was beginning to think I would never experience the way a bright sunny day makes you feel. Your step is a little quicker, you smile with ease and my favorite, and you pause as you arch your face up to the sun and enjoy the warmth on your face.

Now that the rain has stopped I can get outside and see what, if any, damage it has caused my garden. You see, our property sits at the lowest point on our subdivision. Therefore all of the rainwater drains through our property; creating a river seemingly as wide as the Nile during downpours and prolonged precipitation. Although we have created swales to ease pooling, I’m afraid that Mother Nature tends to win out more often than I would like.

Trying to combat what the environment wants to do is an uphill battle I’m no longer willing to fight; it’s frustrating and expensive. I’ll share a lesson I’m reminded of this week as I check on my prized ‘Brunnera ‘Jack Frost.’ I remember carefully planning its current location so that it would be delicately nestled into Vinca ‘Dart’s Blue’ groundcover along with Narcissus ‘Marieke.’ My father always tells me that what really works in landscapes is when the end result looks as though it has always been there, and with this plan I was shooting for original installation…beginning of time.

I remember waiting for the spring show my combination would give; cheerful yellow and pale blue flowers hovering over a blanket of blue blooming groundcover. Well for those of you that are familiar with Brunnera, which I wasn’t before I planted it, it hates sitting in water. So needless to say, there was no spring show. All of my Brunnera had died! Of course, I’m stubborn and think that with enough will, it will survive. I’ve replaced the doomed Brunnera several times over. Each time I think, “It’s sure to take off this time!” Today, three very puny plants remain and every time I check on them I’m reminded that in life, you can’t always have what you want. Especially when you are dealing with living things!

The area where “the river runs through it” needs some additional work this year as I continue to figure out what plants will not only fit the design aesthetic but the environment. I’ve had success with Astilbe ‘Bridal Veil,’ Heuchera ‘Palace Purple,’ and a couple varieties of Hosta (the bed is near the street so bunnies tend not to congregate and nibble them up).

Because of our water problem we’ve been forced to try things I normally would shy away from. The Vinca was struggling in overly wet spots and instead of pulling it all up and installing something else, which seemed wasteful; we tried to fill in with a plant that was already thriving near there…Sedum kamtschaticum, the toughest perennial I’ve ever worked with. It’s true this plant has an amazing show when it blooms yellow, but I love it for its unique fall color…pink, rust, light green. It is to die for.

Last year we filled in some bare spots with Sedum and it took off; so we’ll be filling in more washed out areas this year. It’s strange because what we have now has varied quite a bit from my original “perfect” plan. I’m usually a fan of less is more, but the two groundcovers mingled up with a few different varieties together create something really eclectic and beautiful. Something, that strangely enough looks as though it has always been there.

Image: My puny Brunnera 'Jack Frost', Narcissus 'Marieke' and Vinca 'Darts Blue'

Next Week: MAY FLOWERS and lots of them

Introduction

2009-04-27T10:01:00.012-05:00

I never thought in a million years that I would be writing a blog. Really, who cares what I have to say? But recently I found inspiration. There was an article in magazine describing a cool new e-newsletter called Goop (www.goop.com). It was described as covering travel, cooking and lifestyle tips. After visiting the very chic website I subscribed and was pleasantly surprised! In the first newsletter the author recommended their favorite Paris haunts and although I wasn’t planning a trip anytime soon, the contents conjured wonderful memories from past trips and got saved for hopeful future trips.

I never really paid attention to who wrote it. I just enjoyed the content on subjects I was interested in, cooking, travel, and even being a mom. However, after a few weeks into it the content of the newsletter lead me to believe the author and I ran in slightly different circles. Slightly. It had recipes from a dinner at Mario Batali’s house where the author, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Emeril Lagasse were guests.

Celebrity endorsements have never really done it for me, but I was and still am enchanted by this lovely newsletter that shows up in my inbox weekly. Now I don’t profess to having access to Sofia Coppola and Steven Spielberg’s list of favorite films (again, see www.goop.com), but I was inspired to follow through with something that I’ve always wanted to accomplish. For years I have toyed with the idea of keeping a garden journal. My grandmother, the wife of a farmer in Indiana, used to track and record all of her husband’s crop’s information meticulously. As a kid I remember sitting down with it, thinking how neat it was to read about how the soy beans did in 1942! It was impressive and I always wanted to emulate it. I would take photographs and record my plants progress, both the successes, failures and maybe someday someone would want to read it. However, balancing working in the garden with my other passions, ILT and cooking, it just never got done!

As of late, I have another passion, a new daughter. She has inspired me to pursue recording things in my life that are important to me. You never know, maybe one day she’ll share my passions!

Next week: APRIL SHOWERS

Photo: One of the first signs of spring, a blooming Magnolia
(Magnolia x loebneri ‘Dr. Merrill’)