Garden Blogger's Design Workshop - Arbors & Pergolas

While I've posted previously about how much I love my arbor, as part of Garden Bloggers' Design Workshop, I have a question: what foundation should my arbor have? After putting the arbor together, I dug holes for the legs, put in some stones, and then placed the arbor. This appeared to be a sufficient foundation until there was a major thaw and then roaring winds, which toppled the arbor. I reset the arbor and braced the legs with large rocks:Yesterday there was a major thaw again followed by blizzard-type winds, but, thankfully, the arbor did not get blown over. I conclude that the rocks are doing the job, but I need them elsewhere in the garden and, more importantly, they don't look as if they belong there. We did not set the arbor legs in concrete because I've never worked with it before, and because I'd rather not have concrete in the garden. Any suggestions for sturdier footing for the arbor?

Wildflowers in Winter - Week 2

I wasn't confident that I'd be able to come up with something for this week's topic, a Winter image of a wildflower, but the snow all melted and this morning I was able to get this shot of Spikenard, Aralia racemosa. (I still can't get the "Wildflowers in Winter" logo to appear in my posts.) For other Wildflowers in Winter posts, click here.

(Edited January 30, 2008. The plant is the long tan stalks which are all the remains of blooming stalks and berries. While this plant can grow to six feet tall under optimal, moist conditions, my dry, well-drained soil keeps it confined to about three feet. Sorry about the lack of an explantion.)

The Green Hornet

Carol, at May Dreams Gardens, has coined the term "GADS," Garden Attention Distraction Syndrome, in which the sufferer flits from activity to activity in the garden like a bumblebee. Carol then amplified this theme, describing how to be like an "ant," staying on task to get the job done.
While we all have our "bumblebee" moments in the garden, I find that I am neither an "ant" nor a "bumblebee." Most of the time I am a hornet. I tend to focus on a particular task at hand with a single mindedness that ignores time, aches and pains, heat and cold. Like the hornet repeatedly stinging its prey to death, I relentlessly attack the task until I've "killed" it off.

I'm not recommending this sort of behaviour, as it has gotten me into trouble. First, I engage in the activity to nearly the point of exhaustion, leaving no energy for the cleanup. An example is pruning a large hedge. I attack the hedge without stopping until the trimming is finished, at which point I'm left with sore hands, an aching back, and a large pile of trimmings that need to be tidied up. What ends up happening is the cleanup gets left for another hornet session of its own.
Second, I lose all track of time, to the detriment of my personal relationships. My mom has told me that my children complain that I'm "outside all the time" in clement weather. My husband has described himself as a "gardening widower." I have nearly been late in picking up the kids because of my hornet tendencies.

I can't remember where I read the advice that gardeners should spend no more than 15 minutes on an activity before switching to something completely different to avoid strain on hands and muscles. While I can't quite follow that advice, I have found a way to help myself avoid falling into hornet mode. While gardening, I've taken to wearing a watch that chimes every hour. The chime reminds me of the passage of time, the need to take a break, the need to get the kids lunch, and the need to do some cleanup as the project goes along. Here's hoping I can heed this warning bell in the garden this year.

Mayapple - Wildflowers in Winter

I just learned about a Wintertime meme about wildflowers from Wildflower Morning. This is a series of memes featuring wildflowers, the first category of which is "Favorite Wildflower Photo." I am interpreting this to mean my favorite photo of a wildflower, not a photo of my favorite wildflower. So, without further ado, the humble Mayapple or, in Latin, Podophyllum peltatum.

This native grew in large stands near my childhood home, on the banks of the Fox River in McHenry, Illinois. Because we did not know its name, my siblings and I called it the "umbrella plant," for its umbrella-like leaves. It is also abundant in shady areas in parks and forest preserves throughout Chicagoland. This photo, however, I took in my own little Woodland Garden last Spring. As is evident from the photo, the flowers of this species of Mayapple are hidden underneath the leaves, so that most people are not even aware of this charming and surprisingly large flower. It also rewards those who look under the leaves with its pleasant fragrance. Each plant has only one blossom, which will mature into an edible fruit. All other parts of this plant are poisonous, however. I haven't been brave enough to sample a fruit. I just leave them for the squirrels and birds. This plant goes dormant in August, leaving only next year's sprouts to mark its place.

And Now for Something Completely Different...

I've been inspired to jazz things up a bit here with new colors and a new background. This style better complements the whole Beatrix Potter theme, especially the little picture of the rabbit getting hit with a marrow in the "About Me" section. Thank yous go out to Jodi and Kylee, who got me started on this process and encouraged my efforts. Ultimately, I ended up at Blogger Buster, where I found precise instructions to make the changes I wanted with a minimum of effort. As I didn't have to change the template, I didn't have to redo any photos or widgets. They say a change is as good as a vacation. Almost - I'm still heading to Florida in a couple of weeks.

Sweet Dreams are Made of This

(Photo from Asiatica Nursery)
Mid-Winter is a time for impractical garden dreams, when I think about getting plants that I don't need at a price I can't afford. Case in point - that fabulous, rich double pink Rue Anemone/Anemonella (Thalictrum thalictroides), 'Shoaf's Double Pink' a/k/a 'Oscar Shoaf.' I don't need another Anemonella, I already have a pink one and a blush double. But I still dream of this plant.

Two more dream-producing plants are also hybrids of a familiar native and are featured by that tempting nursery Plant Delights. From last year's drool-fest is Arisaema triphyllum 'Black Jack.' Added to that is the new entry Arisaema triphyllum 'Starburst,' a variegated Jack-in-the-Pulpit.(Both images are from the Plant Delights catalogue.) As is the case with the Anemonella, I already have the straight species of these plants. I don't need either one, but I can't help dreaming about how great either would look in the Woodland Garden.

I dream of Ladyslipper Orchids, the Cypripedium species and their hybrids. (Photo from Flickr)
Not only are they extraordinarily expensive, they are also difficult to grow. I doubt my soil will ever be able to support such plants, but in my Winter Pipe Dream garden, they bloom extravagantly.

The whole category of Intersectional Peonies is a pipe dream for me. Intersectional Peonies are hybrids of crossing herbaceous peonies with tree peonies, resulting in plants of herbaceous habit with tree peony flowers. The most common hybrid is 'Bartzella,' which routinely sells for over a hundred dollars a plant. The one that I want, 'Cora Louise,' is even more expensive. (Photo from A&D Peonies)
The thing about plant pipe dreams is that eventually, they can become reality. If you wait long enough, the price of many of these plants will come down to an affordable level. I just placed my order for double Bloodroot (Sanguinaria candadensis 'Multiplex'), which had been a Pipe Dream plant for many years.

So, what are your Pipe Dream plants?

A Riddle

For Christmas, I was given a gift card to that high-end, super-expensive garden store. I decided to use it during their after-Christmas clearance. As it is near the movie theater, I had my children with me to check out the offerings before we "went to the Show." It was difficult to decide what to get, as the things I was drawn to were way beyond the amount of the gift card. I decided on this. As I headed to the checkout desk, my daughter asked, "What is it." "It's a Riddle," I said. She frowned. "But I can't guess! Just tell me what it is!" she demanded. "It's a Riddle," I laughed. "Its name is a Riddle. I mean it's called a Riddle." "Ooooh, I get it now," she said. (True story)

I have been wanting a riddle for a long time. I even thought about making one with screen door mesh. This one is galvanized steel, made in England. It appears to be very sturdy so that it will (hopefully) last a long time. It'll be a couple of months before I get to try it, after the compost pile thaws again.
Can anyone who has used a riddle tell me if it was worth buying? Or is this just an expensive wall ornament?

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day January 2008

There is a plant in bloom here at Squirrelhaven! So what if it's only one flower. It's a Lamium maculatum in a raised bed against the east side of the house. This protected microclimate has allowed this one plant to bloom.

Not yet in bloom, but hopefully so very soon, is the Giant Snowdrop, Galanthus elwesii. I have about four groups of these. The Galanthus closest to the house is, surprisingly, always the last to bloom. The buds in the photo are under the dead stems of Aster divaricatus/Eurybia divaricata out in the middle of the Woodland Garden.
I don't expect Helleborus niger to bloom anytime soon, but it is also in bud.Bloom Day, sponsored by Carol at May Dreams Gardens, has come at a very opportune time, between record breaking warmth and a forecasted return to single digit temperatures. Snow has fallen since I shot these photos; now the garden is once again blanketed in the white stuff.

A Correction

I try to be accurate with the names of plants, and, thanks to Don, I now know that the name of Anemonella thalictroides has been changed to Thalictrum thalictroides. I think I ran across that name change last summer, but I forgot about it. Normally, I'd just edit the post with the incorrect plant name, but Kim's warning about feeds and publication made me realize that editing posts is akin to republishing them, so I'll try to limit my edits. I think I need to keep track of name changes in a computer file, so I can pull them up whenever they are needed, rather than my helter-skelter writing in spiral notebooks like Ignatius Reilly in John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces.

Color in the Midwestern Winter Garden is Not an Oxymoron

I've been inspired by Pam at Digging and Dee at Red Dirt Ramblings both of whom have recently posted about finding color in their Winter gardens. So I took the opportunity of a complete lack of snow to see if I could find any color in this Midwestern garden. Obviously, I was successful, otherwise this would be a very short post.
Apropos of my cynical nature, the first thing my camera and eye lighted on was this unwelcome sight

Garlic Mustard! (I had already noticed it the other day, but I was busy with a project and didn't have time to eradicate it.) I hadn't seen it during the summer and autumn because it was hidden by Forsythia branches and leaves. I can happily report that this is one weed that no longer inhabits my garden.
Nearby is the semi-evergreen foliage of Hepatica americana (pictured at the top of the post), which I understand has been renamed as part of Hepatica nobilis. This is a smaller plant than H. acutiloba, which is in another part of the garden. H. americana's leaves have better winter color, more green and red than the dark burgundy of H. acutiloba.
Scattered throughout the garden are variegated and yellow-foliaged Aquilegia vulgaris seen here with Astible 'Visions' and some creepy Hosta foliage.

Okay, so I'm slightly obsessed with these Columbines. It's not like it's a problem; I can quit collecting and growing them any time I want. Really. But why would I want to, when they have such great foliage that stands out in the winter garden, in addition to such charming, short-spurred flowers. In the background of the photo is visible Lamium maculatum. It still looks good and adds a fresh green to the garden.
The Hellebores are putting out new leaves and even some buds. But these Helleborus x orientalis won't bloom until March, regardless of the weather.
The winter foliage of Tiarella 'Iron Butterfly' has so many colors.It ranges from green, through yellow, orange and into red. That's the ubiquitous Lamium maculatum on the right. I think it might need to be reined in this Spring.
Also providing a range of colors is Heucherella 'Sunspot.' It just amazes me how great Heucherellas, Tiarellas and Heucheras look all Winter and change colors so dramatically.

Stylophorum Diphyllum, the Celadine Poppy, has already sent up new leaves.If it snows before the weather becomes bitterly cold, these leaves will be fine. If not, they will turn an amazing shade of black. No problem anyway, as the plant will just send up more leaves later.

Finally, one very confused Polemium reptans 'Stairway to Heaven.'I can only hope this plant will not be die when the cold returns.

Thawed

I'm melting....melting!
This is what our snowman looked like on Saturday after it started melting. Here's what was left this morning after record-breaking high temperatures in the 60sF, with more of the same today.
Last night, the low temperature was above freezing. Don't be fooled into thinking that we in Chicago are in for a mild winter. According to my invaluable garden journal, after a high in the 60sF one January day, I have this entry for February 3, 1996: "High -5, Low -22 record breaking cold. I refuse to leave the house."
All that melting revealed a couple of problems. The first was a mass of matted, wet leaves on the front garden. I was so focused on getting them off the evergreen Phlox pilosa that I forgot to photograph the area first. Yes, I've learned that evergreen and semi-evergreen perennials tend to survive winter better if they are not smothered by sodden leaf mess.
The second problem is one not so easily remedied. Ordinarily, grasses provide interest all winter long. This Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), however, has been flattened by heavy wet snows. The question becomes, should I forgo the winter interest of grasses out front, or should I remove the Little Bluestem and replace it with a more robust, taller grass? I like the way it looks with the Asters there. Would I be as happy with another grass during the growing season?

How Can You Live There?

Temperature -1F
Windchill -13F
January in Chicago can be a really downer. Twice the other day I found myself giving reasons for why my family and I live in the Chicago area, aside from simple inertia. (I must point out that my great-grandparents emigrated to Chicago because some of their family and friends had already come west to Chicago after first emigrating to the New York area.) So, without further ado, 10 reasons why the Chicago area is a good place to live.

1. No hurricanes


2. No major earthquake fault lines nearby


3. No tsunamis


4. No wildfires


5. No active volcanos


6. There is no number 6


7. No summers with temperatures regularly over 110F


8. No hurricanes


9. No excessively long winters or extremely short days


10. No mudslides or avalanches

There, now I feel better. I managed to get the tree peony covered with shredded leaves before it got so cold.I took this photo through a window because I'm not going out in this weather if I don't have to. Oh, and the forecast calls for temperatures in the 50s by Saturday.