April 28, 2008

take a walk with me

Filed Under annuals & perennials, bird sh-t, etcetera, photo galleries, trees & shrubs

COME AND JUST TAKE A WALK with me. No big plant lesson, nothing to prune or weed or sow. Just pay a visit as I do early each morning and evening to the parts of the garden that are calling out to me in living color.

THERE USED TO BE an orchard here generations before my residency, and what I like best about the remnants is this oldest and most beat-up of all the trees, a favorite of the pileated woodpeckers who have hollowed it. Today drifts of Helleborus, Hylomecon, Trillum and other early risers take advantage of the springtime light, before the apple’s leaves fill in, to get up and growing.

OUT BACK BY THE CAT’S CABIN (yes, the cat who adopted me September 11, 2001 when I arrived in a hurry from New York City, has his own house), a giant low bowl of black violas called ‘Black Delight,’ from the Sorbet Series, is filling in, spurred on by recent unseasonable heat.

THE SOUND OF WATER is a key to making a garden, for me and for the birds, who drink and bathe 12 months a year in my little pools to our mutual delight.

THE BIG POTS THAT SPENT the winter in the barn, their young, not-quite-hardy Japanese maples still tucked inside them, are waiting for the action to start. After all, the season is still in dress rehearsal, isn’t it?

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Comments

12 Responses to “take a walk with me”

Andrew Ritchie on April 28th, 2008 6:03 pm

One of the things I was most impressed by when visiting your place was the beautiful underplanting you’ve done. Trees look so wonderful with footwear.

It shows your commitment, too, since underplanting can be a challenge - one that many gardeners, I think, don’t embrace often enough.

Those black violas are going on my balcony this year!
Alexa on April 28th, 2008 9:19 pm

I love the sentiment you express, “Just take a walk with me.” Too often we forget to enjoy our gardens without judgment or fuss. Terrific post. Thank you.
margaret on April 28th, 2008 9:24 pm

Thanks, Alexa, and welcome to A Way to Garden. You are so right–it’s easy to just keep going and not even notice what’s around us.
Margaret
Paige on April 29th, 2008 10:20 am

Hi Margaret,

Just lovely. Seconding what Andrew said–can you talk a bit about underplanting? I’d love to have that kind atmosphere (of course, once our trees grow beyond their nearly-whip current stage!) Also–will you talk about your water gardens? We have a pond which we need to plant around (though first we have to do some grading work–one side has a high bank which is eroding down and dumping into the pond…) but also a spring that might feed a lovely water garden one day….now it just fills two cisterns where our frogs seem to have overwintered…

Thanks as always for the loveliness…
margaret on April 29th, 2008 10:29 am

Hello, Paige,
It’s me, Margaret. (Our little inside joke.)
Yes. You and Andrew are onto something–people forget to use the space under trees and shrubs except to install miles of homogeneous groundcover, so I will tackle that topic.
I will get a post up fast about the water gardens as well.
Uh-oh, I am one busy girl, huh? Good thing it’s too muddy to be out digging right now.
M.
Philip on April 30th, 2008 5:24 pm

I loved this walk in the garden.
I so admire the effect under the trees. The hellebores look wonderful and there is a carpet effect which creates a feeling of spaciousness. I also love water in the garden. In the lower garden it is just a birdbath, but i love it. I fill it up every morning with fresh water and the birds are waiting! so much fun.
Trish Schroer on May 5th, 2008 7:15 am

Hi,
So glad I found your blog! have loved reading your book, listening to you speak once a long time ago and reading your articles!
My neighbors have often asked me why I walk around the yard so much - great to have found like minds!
Is there a difference in bloom time between the Japanese wood poppy (Hylomecon),& our native wood poppy (Stylophorm diphylum)?
Thanks,
Trish
margaret on May 5th, 2008 7:28 am

Welcome, Trish. For me the two plants bloom almost at the same time, but the Hylomecon will stop after several weeks and the Stylophorum will go on and off all season, as long as you don’t bake it in a really dry, hot spot.
So glad you found us, and jumped right in. And thanks for your nice words.
M.
Invisible Bees » Blog Archive » Last Spring on May 5th, 2008 2:01 pm

[...] and garden additions, waiting for the last frost so I can plant more seeds, I find myself dreaming quite a bit of springtime in the East. Here’s a quick look at last late Spring here in the West, a completely different and still [...]
margaret on May 5th, 2008 3:47 pm

Thanks, Invisible Bees, and welcome. Now I will have to go take a visit to the West…digitally, at least.
Photo Buffet on June 23rd, 2008 1:31 am

What a relaxing stroll! I felt right at home in your beautiful garden. So much to see!
margaret on June 23rd, 2008 6:35 am

Glad you joined us, Photo Buffet, for the walk back in time. Nice to see you again.

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Who's Gardening Here?

from martha to just margaret
I was so blessed to visit and document many of the nation’s finest homemade gardens for 15 years for ‘Martha Stewart Living,’ first as its garden editor and then as editorial director for the company. The list of places we were proud to publish included my own upstate New York home a few years back. Take a tour of how it looked then. Want to know more about me? Or read what Anne Raver said in June in The New York Times, calling A Way to Garden “the best (garden blog) I’d ever seen.”
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Why Do You Garden?

One of the most popular questions at A Way to Garden: Why do you garden? A bunch of us answered in a stream of comments, but there's great newer stuff on the Forums. Just in case you'd like to tell us why, too (or have a good read about what makes the rest of us tick).
August Garden Chores

All based on my Zone 5B Berkshire/Hudson Valley location; adjust accordingly.

I SOMETIMES THINK THAT AUGUST, not April, is the cruelest month (though T.S. Eliot thought otherwise). Hazy, hot and humid…and plum tuckered out. But give up we must not. Every weed pulled now is a hundred you don’t have to deal with later (well, who knows the precise math of mama weed to baby weed, but you get the idea: prevention!). Don’t let them go to seed.

WATERING IS another major focus; don’t waste water on lawns, which will bounce back from brown in time when cooler, moister days return.

MAKE A PASS through each bed each week, since weeds are not just unsightly but steal moisture, nutrients and light from desired plants. Top up mulch in all garden beds if washed or worn away to help in the plight.

TREES & SHRUBS

STOP FEEDING woody plants. Promoting more soft growth in high summer isn’t good; time for them to start moving toward the hardening-off phase of their cycle. No more eats till earliest spring.

TREES ARE especially vulnerable to drought, particularly the oldest and the youngest (those planted in the last few years). Water deeply, as with a Tree-Gator. Ugly…but better than not watering the kids!

ALWAYS BE on the lookout for dead, damaged, diseased wood in trees and shrubs and prune them out as discovered. Ditto with suckers and water sprouts.

VEGETABLE, FRUIT & HERBS

AS AREAS COME EMPTY from harvest, build vegetable-garden soil by sowing cover crops: medium red clover now, or perhaps winter rye if you don’t do some areas till mid-fall. These “green manures” will be turned under to improve soil tilth and fertility.

SOW ANOTHER CROP OF PEAS right now for fall harvest (and perhaps freezing for offseason use!). Shelled peas from the freezer really make risotto in January taste like summer.

STRAWBERRY BEDS may appreciate rejuvenation now, if you didn’t get it done last month.

KEEP ASPARAGUS well weeded. Let asparagus ferns grow till frost to feed the underlying crowns.

DID YOU HARVEST GARLIC? Save the best heads for replanting this fall, the ones with the biggest cloves (or order more for fall delivery).

ANOTHER SOWING of chard, radishes, arugula, spinach, turnips, beets and lettuce means succulent fall crops. With salad greens, sow small amounts now and again in 10 days. Direct-sow one more row of bush beans if you don’t have pole beans to rely on for harvest now through fall, but do it fast.

DID YOU START MORE BASIL from seed? Young, fresh plants sown immediately will be better than woody old ones for combining with those fall tomatoes. Is there enough fresh dill coming for late pickles? For peak flavor, basil, sage, marjoram and oreganos, mint, tarragon are best harvested just before bloom. Harvest lavender, rosemary and chamomile as they flower, blossoms and all.

FLOWER GARDEN

DAYLILIES can be dug and divided as they complete their bloom cycle, right into fall, if needed.

PEONIES are best divided and transplanted in late August through September, if they need it. Remember with these fussy guys that “eyes” must not be buried more than an inch or two beneath the soil surface. Want more peonies? Now’s the time to order from places like Klehm’s (see Sources list).

MANY POPULAR ANNUALS can be overwintered as young plants if you take and root cuttings now rather than try to nurse along leggy older specimens. Geraniums, coleus, wax begonias, even impatiens (to name just a few common ones), if grown in good light indoors and kept pinched and bushy, will yield another generation of cuttings for next spring’s transplants. Probably best to expend this effort and space on things you really treasure—an unusual form of something, not the garden variety.

MANY PERENNIALS and biennials can still be started from seed if you hurry, then set out in the fall into nursery beds.

DEADHEAD FADED PERENNIALS and summer bulbs unless they have showy seedheads, or you want to collect seed later (non-hybrids only).

ORDER BULBS to get varieties you want (see Sources). Remember our “early, middle, late” mantra when doing so.

PREPARE NEW beds for fall planting by smothering grass or weeds with layers of recycled corrugated cardboard or thick layers of newspaper, then put mulch on top.

RE-EDGE BEDS to make a clean line and define them, and keep edges clean with regular fine-tuning with grass shears. A clean edge makes a big difference.

GENERAL

IF YOU ARE IN JAPANESE BEETLE territory, handpick (as with other obvious pests like tomato hornworms) in early morning and drown in a can of water to reduce infestation. Plan to try to reduce grub population with nematodes.

GARDENS NEED an inch of water a week from you or the heavens. Check your rain gauge to make sure they get it, and remember: soak deeply in the root zone, don’t spritz things with a sprayer now and again like you’re washing the car. That’s a garden no-no. Pots need extra attention, especially smallish ones in sun, and they also need regular feeding. Be alert!

HOUSEPLANTS

IF HOUSEPLANTS NEED repotting, do it now, while’s they’re still outside (less messy than in the house!). Don’t step up more than an inch (on small pots) or a couple (on large ones). Most plants don’t like to swim in their containers.

LAWNS

MID-AUGUST TO MID-SEPTEMBER is prime lawn-renovation and planting time in the North.

DON’T BAG OR RAKE clippings; let them lie on the lawn to return Nitrogen to the soil.

COMPOST HEAP

DON’T LET the heap dry out completely, or it will not “cook.” Turning it to aerate will also hasten decomposition, but things will rot eventually even if not turned.
Brief but Juicy

ultimate garden no-no’s
WHEN SOMEONE ASKED in a comment about my point of view on using landscape fabric, the fuse was quickly lit: NO! I said. NO! I’ve rounded up some no-no’s we’ve posted collectively so far, but I bet by now there are a few more things to bitch about. Grab a lawn chair and a cold drink, and we can fester together. Sure beats weeding (which ought to be a garden no-no).

lose anything lately?
THE SAYING GOES THAT a thing of beauty is a joy forever. I guess “forever” in this case is in the mind’s eye. My darling, oldest bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora) went down for the count in July, or at least half of it did, and I had already seen the death knell for a couple of my 10 crabapples. Jeez.

true love, really
LOOK, I HAVE A THING for frogs. Call it my little fetish. An issue. Whatever. My general obsession notwithstanding, I’ve finally met THE ONE FOR ME.

hail the stewartia
I LIKE PLANTS THAT EARN THEIR KEEP. By that I mean they do more than a week or two of showing off; they look good in more than a single moment, or season. The small-ish to medium trees in the genus Stewartia are a good bet if that’s the kind of multi-season interest you are looking for. Sound good?

more, more, more clematis
WHEN I SEE ‘POLISH SPIRIT’ CLAMBERING up and through the golden Chamaecyparis in late spring-into-summer, I realize I have a serious Clematis shortage around here. Not in the Chamaecyparis, specifically, but in lots of other places where things look a little dull. I’ve got a penchant for growing vines up and over otherwise-dull shrubbery, you see.

can-do pruning
REPEAT AFTER ME: I can prune. I can prune. If you follow this simple method for starters, your woody plants will thank you.

the ‘other’ peonies
JUNE WAS PEONY TIME, the big raucous kind of peony time, but just before that another kind of peony you might want to consider adopting did its subtler, wonderful thing.

which lilac to plant?
SO MANY LILACS, so little space. Browse a glossary of some of my favorites before you shop—maybe you’ll like them, too.

non-blooming peonies?
Did your peonies not cooperate—was there not a good crop of flower buds, and you don’t know why? This came up on the Forums, and here’s the dish.

twist-off ticks
I AM COMING IN everyday with at least a tick or two on me; not embedded, thankfully, so far, but it's only a matter of time. But I am prepared. Are you?

anything but forsythia
I guess I have a thing against forsythia…even though I have several specimens of it along the fringes of my property. But there are better choices for spring color among shrubs.

surprise (avian) visitors
If you make a garden for birds, or even plant a crabapple or two (or ten), you never know who’ll show up.

magnolias to love
THEY’RE MEMORIES NOW but I couldn't garden without magnolias. Want to know more about the queen of the spring-blooming trees?

order in the garden
I AM LABELING my plants, I am. As memory fades, out comes the label machine, just in the nick. Saved by the Dymo. You can be, too.
Buried Treasure

I NOTICE THAT BLOGGING results in some rich but buried treasure: great stuff in a comment thread you may not see; interesting topics on the forums that perhaps you haven't visited.

Subjects ranging from feeding and pruning Hydrangeas and pruning clematis, to entertaining (read: ranting) lists and lists of garden no-no’s (not just mine!).

Pick a click, and enjoy. Better yet, CHIME IN yourself. Up in the nav bar…that's right, GO FOR IT: our Q&A FORUMS.