"Our Life in Gardens," a Book Reivew

I wanted to like this book, I really did. I have long admired the work and writings of the authors, Vermont gardeners Joe Eck and Wayne Winterrowd. I long to see their famous (bordering on legendary) garden at North Hill. Eck and Winterrowd are amazing gardeners and designers, providing great inspiration for those of us who garden in a cold climate.


This book is not so much a gardening book as a book about gardening. There are no photographs or diagrams. Instead, it is a series of short essays arranged alphabetically. I found it an enjoyable read, chocked full of useful information and wonderful descriptions.
But like a hangnail that keeps one up at night, not really painful but a constant irritant, the issue of invasive plants spoiled this book for me. The Nature Conservancy has listed Barberry (Berberis thunbergii) as an invading plant species in Vermont for its invasions of Vermont's forests and fields. Dame's Rocket (Hesperis) is on the Vermont invasive plant watch list. Yet in "Our Life in Gardens" there is an essay extolling the virtues of Berberis thunbergii, and Dame's Rocket is touted in the section on biennials. Compounding the problem is that North Hill is surrounded by woodland and a National Forest.

I thought my concerns would be allayed by the chapter entitled "Rampant Plants." Sadly, they were not. The authors avoided the concept of invasiveness ("invasive" plants are those which disrupt habitats and food sources for native plants and animals) (see The New England Wildflower Society). Instead, they admit to the inoffensive spread of a few Primula Japonicas and a couple of other plants not on the invasive species or watch lists. (I do like their mention of a Ring of Hell for those who knowingly plant invasives. I imagine that ring would be a garden filled with nothing but Marigolds, Buckthorn, and Kudzu.) I'm sure this won't bother many readers, but for hypersensitive, fanatical obsessives such as myself, it grates.

Aside from this shortcoming, this is a book worth reading. The most useful part of the book is the essay about hardiness, with specific advice for creating microclimates and encouragement to treat zone information as merely advisory. I'm particularly enamored of the essay about trowels. Who knew trowels could be so interesting?

A Florida-friendly Garden or, What I Did On My Winter Vacation

What a pleasure it was to go without socks, much less my standard two pairs, for a few days, and wander around the quiet streets in South Florida. While strolling around the neighborhood near my parents' beachfront condo, I came across a sight that stopped me in my tracks, a stunning garden created out of a small corner lot. A sign in the garden proclaimed it a "Florida-friendly Yard." There were lots of plants that appeal to pollinators.


There were also lots of plants that appeal to gardeners. I was surprised to see many plants that I recognized from Austin, Texas, including Agaves and Salvias.

Not surprisingly, the gardener was out working in her garden. Like gardeners everywhere, she informed me that her garden didn't look its best; there had been record cold the previous week that damaged many things.
I couldn't detect any damage anywhere, and it all looked wonderful to me.


I just loved what the gardener did with that little strip of land between the driveways.Even though I can't grow most of these plants, the structure of this little garden area has much to offer. By substituting plants with similar shapes and textures, Northern gardeners could achieve a similar effect.


While walking, I was reminded of VP's interest in traffic circles (roundabouts).Roundabouts are about as rare in South Florida as they are in the Chicago area.

I think this one took a hit in the cold.At least these flowers still looked good.

And now, a little gratuitous floral exuberance.
These shots of color are just what I needed, now that I've returned to the frozen tundra, I mean Northern Illinois.

Make It Stop! Make It Stop!

This is a tree:notice how the base of the tree flares out at ground level. This is a telephone pole:notice how it does not flare, but goes straight down into the ground.

Although it is not obvious on first glance,
this is not a telephone pole.
This also is not a telephone pole.Why do people think trees should look like telephone poles?

Another mystery to me is why people started making mulch volcanoes. I had thought it was just a problem here in Chicagoland, but then, when I was in South Florida I saw this:yes, it's a Palm tree volcano.

While no man is an island, this poor tree clearly is.Am I just being picky, or does anyone actually think this looks good? Aesthetics aside, mulch volcanoes and turning trees into telephone poles by planting them too deeply or raising the grade damage trees. These practices lead to surface girdling roots. This is a mild example of what a surface girdling root looks like.When it surrounds a tree trunk, a surface girdling root can strangle a tree, causing its death.

But volcanoes and telephone poling aren't the only forms of tree abuse. This is a whole new level of wrong:landscape fabric and rocks. This poor tree is drowning and suffocating (and probably strangling as well).

And then there is the other extreme, the tree surrounded by lawn.Unlike this poor Palm tree, most trees are denizens of the forest. (I know, that seems a bit obvious, but too many people miss the point.) It is not good for trees to be grown in a lawn with the grass right up to the trunk. The most obvious problem is that the tree becomes an obstacle which must be mowed around, and too often, the mower takes a hunk out of the tree trunk, or the weedwhacker takes a whack, injuring the tree.It definitely isn't a pretty sight. Trees also do better when they don't have to compete with grass.
This is a happy tree. It is not suffocating under a mound of mulch or buried too deeply. It coexists with the groundcover surrounding it and looks natural and healthy. What is so hard to get about this? Is it asking too much to stop the abuse of trees? Don't even get me started on tree topping.

A Dangerous Time for the Garden

There used to be Prairie Smoke (Geum triflorum) buds and stalks here.

It's hard to be stoic, not to stand there wringing my hands and gritting my teeth at my impotence in the face of the threat. The squirrels are on the rampage. Huge herds of them are marauding in the garden, sharp teeth and claws at the ready. Like a swarm of famished locusts, they descend on any and every bud and bloom in the garden and gnaw it off.

Sorry, I got a bit carried away there, but the garden is at a dangerous point. The snow has melted and new life is sprouting everywhere. The squirrels are getting hungry, having depleted their winter stores of peanuts. Ordinarily, I'd just head out in the garden armed with critter repellent. That won't work right now, as it must be applied when the repellent isn't a block of ice in the bottle and when it's not going to rain or snow for the next four hours. It's chilly and dripping out there now. There's nothing I can do to stop the hungry beasts. I have only so much chickenwire, and it really isn't practical to wrap an entire Witch Hazel.This flower used to be attached to Hammamelis x 'Sunburst.'

I suppose I could stay home all day, glued to the window while armed with a broom, ready to chase them away the moment they descend from the trees, but that's bordering on the pathological. Things get eaten. Plants get damaged. It happens. Life goes on. The plants will recover, and so will I. It's all part of being a gardener.

The Truth About Praire Smoke a/k/a Geum triflorum

My February Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day post has caused some confusion due to the aberrant behaviour of one of my Geum triflorum sub. triflorum plants (Prairie Smoke a/k/a Old Man's Whiskers). This native forb is a member of the Rose family, and is found in dry prairies from Northern Canada south into Northern Illinois, Colorado, South Dakota and Minnesota and east through Michigan and into New York. It is a threatened species in the latter two States. In the garden, it is usually not bothered by pests* and is low maintenance, generally succumbing only to winter rot. It is hardy to Zone 3 and can be grown to Zone 7 in well drained soil in full sun to partial shade. The basal, divided, foliage is evergreen and turns red in autumn. Prairie Smoke forms buds very early, often under the snow. It spreads by rhizomes and seeds, but I haven't had it self-sow in the garden.

In my Zone 5 garden, Prairie Smoke usually blooms in early April, making it one of the earliest of the native wildflowers. I have never had one bloom in February before, although in that horrible drought year of 2005, it had buds as early as February 12th. It is often difficult to determine whether it actually is in bloom or just in bud, as the flowers are pendent closed bells.It blooms for about two months, and then the seedheads provide interest for another couple of months. It also occasionally sends up another bloom stalk or two during the summer.
I apologize for any confusion. With so many wonderful Bloom Day posts, it is easy to skim through the text and linger over the photos. Geum triflorum is a wonderful spring blooming plant that should be more widely grown.

(edit. 2/17/09, on inspecting the garden after returning from Florida, I have discovered that something has eaten all the buds (save one cluster)! I blame the squirrels!)

It's February Bloom Day

and I actually have something to show from the garden. Last weekend's thaw melted all of the snow, encouraging not one, but two kinds of plants into bloom. Geum triflorum (prairie smoke)doesn't usually bloom quite this early. There are only two flowers that have opened, but lots of buds are standing by. Prairie smoke isn't grown for its blooms, which are insignificant, but for its showy seedheads that look like wisps of smoke, hence the common name.
The real show here is the snowdrops, Galanthus elwesii.This species of Galanthus blooms earlier than the more common G. nivalis. In mild years, they have started blooming as early as December, but they always manage to bloom in February at the latest. While I consider snowdrops to be winter flowers, their appearance is always a portent of spring. It won't be long now.

For all the Bloom Day posts, visit the gardener who puts the "hoe" in hostess, Carol of May Dreams Gardens.

When the Snow Finally Melted

this is what I found:

The photos were taken over the course of three days. After a cold start to the week, the temperature soared to 56F on Saturday, February 7, 2009, and the high has been above freezing everyday since then. It was as if the garden was just waiting for the snow to melt, poised to spring into growth. It is so wonderful to see the plants again. It feels as if we have finally turned a corner. There will be more cold days, there will probably be more snow, but winter's iron grip has finally been broken.

The Dinner Party

I just had to accept Veg Plotting's challenge of hosting a dinner party on my blog. The guidelines are to invite 3 to5 guests, each with an interest in gardening or nature. The guests can be from the past, present or future, a celebrity or a gardening buddy. Here is my list.



Guest #1 is Ernest "Chinese" Wilson, the renowned British plant hunter and director of the Arnold Arboretum. He would be such an interesting guest with his stories of plant hunting, how he tracked down the elusive Dove Tree (Davidia involucrata) in the midst of the Boxer Rebellion in China, and how he acquired his "lily limp."


Guest #2 is Beatrix Farrand, the only female founding member of the American Society of Landscape Architects. She designed the famous gardens at Dumbarton Oaks (among many others), and was influenced by Fredrick Law Olmstead, Gertrude Jekyll and William Robinson, with whom she corresponded. She introduced the concept of garden rooms, and was an early proponent of native plants. She was also the niece of the author Edith Wharton, for whom she designed a garden.





Guest #3 is Katharine S. White, writer and editor of the New Yorker magazine. She was married to author E.B. White. I imagine she must have been a witty and engaging conversationalist. She was also a very opinionated gardener, as revealed in her weekly column, "Onward and Upward in the Garden" and in her letters to fellow gardener, Elizabeth Lawrence.



Guest #4 is Dr. Michael Dirr, former professor of horticulture at the University of Georgia, because he's "The Man" in the world of woody plants and is responsible for many plant introductions. He literally wrote the book on hardy trees and shrubs. If he is anything like his books, he will also be a very entertaining guest, and he sounds like he's a genuinely nice guy.






Guest #5 is my mom.

my mom and her mom at Vizcaya, in Florida, circa 1979

Not only is she an avid gardener, she's also a perfect guest, a great conversationalist, and the perfect hostess. She also loves parties and get togethers of all sorts, and she's lots of fun. In addition, I know she'll bring something absolutely fantastic for dessert. (Did I mention she's a great cook, too?)

To see who is on everyone else's guest list, click here.

Why Should Gardeners Read Garden Blogs?

I'm hoping you will help me answer this question, as I will be speaking on this topic at the Chicago Flower and Garden Show on March 7. (Linda from Garden Girl, Gina from My Skinny Garden, and Mr. Brown Thumb will be speaking about other aspects of blogging.) Hard as it may be to believe, my non-blogging gardening friends don't read garden blogs. Robin, of Bumblebee, in her Garden Examiner blog post about influential garden bloggers, quoted from some commenters about why they read certain blogs. I have several very good reasons why gardeners should be reading garden blogs, both local and national, but I want to have as many reasons as possible, with examples to back them up. I'd love to hear your thoughts. I write a post about it after the garden show.

A Borzoi Runs Through It

That's what I considered naming my garden back when I had my dear dog Natasha Fatale. A little Beagle/Terrier mix used to run through it too,but she never caused the damage wreaked by 85 pounds of determined hunter.

When I lived in Bartlett, IL, the backyard must have been very boring. There were no squirrels, so Natasha started digging. She dug a large, deep hole in the center of the lawn. She also used to lie in the Hostas on the north side of the house in the heat of the summer. Both dogs were much more entertained when we moved to what is now called Squirrelhaven because of the abundant wildlife.

Not only did the dogs get to watch Canadian Geese, ducks, egrets and herons at the pond, they were on guard against woodchucks, skunks (I really don't want to talk about it), opossums, and rabbits. Natasha even startled a deer once on the other side of the fence. So everything was great with the dogs in the garden, except for one thing: both dogs were challenged and tormented by the squirrels. Over the years, Natasha had caught a rabbit, a baby bird, woodchuck, and even an iguana. Despite valiant efforts, she never caught a squirrel. It was not from lack of trying. With single-minded intensity, she barreled through the garden after the squirrels, leaving trampled plants in her wake.

I had planted an Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia 'Snow Queen') as the main feature of the front bed of the garden.Natasha didn't seem to notice it was there. After the third time the branches got broken by the white flash, I finally realized the futility of trying to get it to grow there. I transplanted it next to the house, where it remains, the victim now only of errant Frisbees and baseballs.


I tried fencing off the main garden from the lawn, but what was a little plastic fencing to a large and determined predatory machine? She'd leap right over the fence as if it wasn't there when pursuing a squirrel. Besides, the fence didn't look good, and it kept Natasha from being near me when I gardened, which she liked to do after the mutt died.I took down the plastic fence and instead started fencing in individual, at risk, plants with metal fencing.Not a perfect solution, but it was one I could live with.


The other problem with the dogs in the garden was that they used to eat the mushroom compost. It must have smelled good to them, because they'd come in with black crud in their teeth. (I stopped using it when I finally had enough homemade compost to use to improve the soil in the backyard before the beds were expanded.) I'd also catch the mutt chewing on the woodchip mulch. I'd tell her "No eating," and she'd stop. My dogs were smart enough to confine their munching to that and the occasional bit of grass, as I grew Digitalis and Aconitum. They were never interested in eating plants or vegetables, so I didn't worry about them being unsupervised in the garden. Had they been raw vegetable eaters, I would never have planted poisonous things.


This post is part of Gardening Gone Wild's Garden Bloggers' Design Workshop series. To read other posts on gardening with pets, click here.

(I must apologize for the quality of the photos in the post. Most were taken over 10 years ago with a film camera, and scanned onto my computer.)