by GardenLover | Jul 13, 2014 | Special Topic
Purple loosestrife
By Teresa Woodard
So, your kind neighbor calls to offer some free plants. Do you accept willingly? Well, that depends. Many well-intentioned gardeners like to share their plants, but often their plants can be more of a nuisance than a blessing as they proliferate and crowd out the other plants in your garden. Pretty soon, all you have is a garden of neighbor’s lovely gift.
If a neighbor knocks at the door with an armload of any of these freebies, carefully consider the offer:
Aggressive Plants – Many of these plants can be planted in an area where they are contained or where an area needs filled. For example, I grow mint in a container and plant cleome in a bed where I can easily thin the abundance of new seedlings that return each year from this self-sower.
Bachelor button (Centaurea montana): I gained my first bachelor button at a plant swap. I love the cottage look this plant brings to the garden but get frustrated by having to pull an abundance of new plants that emerge in many unwanted spaces.
English ivy
English Ivy (Hedera helix): This gifted plant has taken over many of my perennials including my beloved Lady’s Mantle. Good alternatives to this vine are sweet woodruff, wild ginger and wood aster (Eurybia divaricata).
Mint (Mentha): Mint’s great to have on hand to add to tea and mojitos, but its roots send up unwanted shoots if not kept in a container.
Passion flower (Passiflora incarnata): My husband was drawn to the amazing blooms on this vine, but its aggressive nature has become a bane in our garden. Planted along our garden fences, the vine’s spreading roots send up new shoots throughout the garden, and these new vines rapidly take over if not pulled.
Spider Flower (Cleome): These big spider-shaped blooms are followed by seed pods loaded with lots of seeds. I plant them in a cutting garden but ruthlessly thin the new seedlings.
Creeping Jenny
Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia): I innocently planted this “spiller” in a container garden and found it jumped to a nearby bed where it quickly spread.
Invasive plants – Several plants are listed as “invasive” in that they threaten other native plants in natural areas. Environmentally responsible gardeners should keep these harmful plants from their landscape.
Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicariaand its cultivars and hybrids): This popular magenta-spiked garden flower grows three to seven feet tall and has a dense bushy growth of one to 50 stems. Purple loosestrife spreads aggressively by underground stems (rhizomes) and can produce as many as a million seeds per plant. Supposedly sterile strains of L. virgatum will outcross with this plant and produce seeds.
Lesser celladine (Ranunculus ficaria): This buttercup-like plant forms a green mat and chokes out other spring wildflowers. And it leaves behind small tubers when you pull it from the soil which explains its masses of plants.
Creeping Jenny — a great in a container but aggressive in a flower bed
by GardenLover | Jul 6, 2014 | Special Topic
By Michael Leach
For the privileged few, prepping for a backyard party simply means giving instructions to the gardener, chatting about menus with the cook and planning a sweeping entrance at party time worthy of a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movie.
The rest us simply assume all duties of the ever-toiling staff at Downton Abbey. While I can’t advise on canapés and cocktails, you can make it seem as if a gardener (or at least landscape service) keeps up appearances.
Before acting upon a single item on the following to-do list, however, make a rain plan. Midwest weather is notoriously changeable.
And never forget the most important thing — people are coming to have a good time, not judge a landscape contest. Granted the guest list may include a persnickety relative or in-law, whose sole purpose is to find fault. They will succeed no matter what. Don’t sweat details.
Now for those promised suggestions.
- Limit the party area and focus efforts there. No sense grooming each inch if only a 20-foot perimeter around patio or deck will be used.
- Rent or borrow a power edger a few days ahead to create an unmistakable boundary between lawn and beds. Even if weeds abound in borders and flower beds, a mown lawn and crisp edge suggest impeccable maintenance standards. (In an edging post, I enthuse about the virtues of edging.)
- Fluff up mulch to revive color. Apply fresh mulch only if you have a week or two to allow the odor to dissipate. Never have more than 2 inches on the ground.
- Remove yellow leaves unless the plant is supposed to have yellow/golden leaves, such as some hostas and heucheras. Eyes are immediately drawn to yellow and jaundice quickly comes to mind.
- Keep insect repellents handy. Whiners dodging and swatting bugs are as odious as buzzing gnats or mosquitoes.
- Use fresh flowers in simple centerpieces. A single rose blossom floating in a clear glass cup, better yet several in a bowl, suffice. Accompany the blooms with a few floating candles if you like. Florist flowers are OK, particularly if garden blooms are sparse.
- Add some festive, flowery containers at your entry area, party scene and other strategic points if budget allows.
- Say “thank you” to any kind remark about the landscape. Never point out flaws to beg a compliment. (If that fussbudget guest exclaims about the poison ivy amongst the daisies, praise those keen observation skills and change the subject.)
Create a party atmosphere by stringing white or colored Christmas lights under the patio umbrella, along the porch rafters, around the deck railing, upon shrub branches and other places time and plugs allow. Keep cords from becoming tripping hazards.
Be warned: You may like the lights so much, they become permanent fixtures. Nothing wrong with having romantic ambience on a week night and pretending you’re sipping a sophisticated something in a Fred and Ginger flick.
by GardenLover | Jun 22, 2014 | Special Topic
A mass of the purple coneflower
By Debra Knapke
So many choices confront the beginning gardener or the new homeowner, and so many plants seem to be must-haves: must-have trees, shrubs, edibles, perennials and annuals. If I were creating my first landscape and had to limit myself to 10 plants, here are the ones I would choose.
My criteria:
- is native to the Midwest or is a non-native that is adapted to our weather and soil
- plays well with others; in other words, not invasive
- offers multi-seasonal interest
Serviceberry (Amelanchier species and cultivars) – A native single or multi-trunked tree that offers four season interest and edible berries in June.
Red oak or white oak (Quercus rubra and Q. alba) – You are planting this tree for your children, but few trees surpass the majesty of an oak. The red oak grows faster than the white, but white oaks have better fall color; your choice.
Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius) – A native shrub for sunny to part shade locations. Look for the cultivars ‘Diabolo’ (4-8’ tall and wide) and ‘Little Devil’ (3’ tall and wide) which have maroon leaves and white to pink flowers in June. Its exfoliating bark feature is a winter season bonus.
Daffodils (Narcissus species and hybrids) – One of the plant signals that it is indeed spring. You can have daffodils in bloom from mid-March to mid-May if you choose your cultivars wisely.
Perennial sage (Saliva nemorosa) – An attractive perennial that supports our native pollinators. As long as you remove spent flower spikes and water it during dry times, it will bloom from May until frost. And, it is not usually eaten by deer.
Creeping thyme (Thymus praecox) – A groundcover for hot, dry location that can double as lawn where there is very light foot traffic.
Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) – One of our native daisies, from the prairie, that provides food to a variety of insects, butterflies, moths and birds. This summer bloomer is at home in sunny to part-sun gardens.
Butterflyweed/ milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa, A. incarnata, A. syriaca and others) – This is your chance to help a species in peril: all of the butterflyweeds/milkweeds are essential food sources for monarch butterfly caterpillars and the adults. Butterflyweed does best in a sunny, well-drained garden that is close to a bench so you can watch for this beautiful insect.
Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) – A native shrub for the shade that offers early flowers, edible fruit and gold leaves in the fall, and a lovely silhouette in the winter.
Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) – A tough tree that offers one of the best golden fall color shows. Make sure you plant a male clone unless you want the fruit, but be forewarned: the fruit is extremely fragrant when ripe, and not in a good way!
by GardenLover | Jun 16, 2014 | Gardens to Drive
By Michael Leach
What’s the best approach for handling dead roses and other winter-killed flora? Mourn. Research. Shop.
Don’t spend much time tsk-tsking about plant replacement costs. Do you seriously count the expense of fast-food or pizza on those can’t-stand-to-cook nights? Plants last years, fast food mere minutes. Why begrudge similar outlays to replace the missing teeth in your landscape’s smile?
In some back yards there may be serious “dental” expenses considering the horrid winter KO’d Knock Out roses and other tough plants. Those of us who grow plants happier in warmer climes must make a decision. Is it worth years of waiting for them to return to pre-ice age sizes after being frozen to the ground?
Herein lies one of the basics of success with a plant: how cold a winter can it survive? The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s hardiness zone map of the country uses colorful bands to show the lowest winter temperatures likely for every region.
A Zone 5 plant, for instance, should be able to weather -20 degrees, a Zone 6 plant can handle -10 degrees. Most of Ohio is Zone 6. No fool-proof guarantee but one important factor for success.
There are others to consider, so forget flower colors and cute names for a moment. Each plant needs certain environmental factors to thrive. These include sunlight, soil and moisture. Put a fern, which relishes a shady spot with moist, loamy soil, in a gravely, sunny place and you’ll find crispy fronds the first scorching July afternoon.
Here are more points to consider when evaluating a potential plant for your yard:
- How big will it grow. A plant that naturally spreads several feet is a poor choice for bordering a walk or driveway, unless you love pruning — frequently.
- Will it produce messy fruit that could mar the deck, sidewalk or driveway?
- How prone is it to breaking from too much snow or ice?
- Will it attract pesky bugs?
- How resistant is it to common diseases?
- What’s the best way to plant and care for it?
In this Internet-connected age, ignorance is no excuse for buying the wrong plant. One of my go-to spots is the Plant Finder at the Missouri Botanical Garden’s website.
When it comes to low-maintenance with lots of color, the new shrub roses, such as Knock Out, Easy Elegance and Drift Roses, are hard to beat. What’s not to like about flowers from spring into fall with little work? (Check out our comments at Columbus Monthly and Heartland-Gardening). Just plant them properly and make sure they get off to a good start this year.
Roses aren’t the only flowering plants for season-long color. Consider shrubs with burgundy, chartreuse and variegated leaves. No dead-heading needed. Many perennials offer the same bonus foliage features.
So enough whining about winter. Start making your landscape — and you — smile again.
by GardenLover | Jun 12, 2014 | Special Topic
By Teresa Woodard
Just when you’re ready to dive into a day filled with spring gardening chores, the black clouds roll in threatening to curtail your plans. But before you sing, “Rain, Rain, Go Away”, slip on your rain boots and reshuffle your chore list to take advantage of the softened earth and cooler weather.
Here are five “dos” and five “don’ts” for gardening in the rain (that is, a gentle soaker rain not a take-cover thunderstorm rain).
DO:
- Edge beds. The ground is much softer for cutting a clean edge with an edging tool.
- Pull weeds. Weeds, especially those with long tap roots, are much easier to pull after a good soaking.
- Fertilize plants. Sprinkle a dry fertilizer around trees, plants and lawns, and a nice, soft rain will help wash it into the soil and make it available to plants. Of course, avoid fertilizing in heavy rains that could wash it away. Also, try spreading a weed preventer before a good soaking rain.
- Turn the compost pile. Grab a pitch fork to turn over layers in a compost pile. The rain water and oxygen will aid in breaking down the compost.
- Go shopping. Head to you local garden center to stock up on plants and supplies to be ready for gardening projects when the weather breaks.
DON’T:
- Till soil. When the ground is wet, avoid working in the soil to prevent compacting it and squeezing out valuable spaces for air, water storage and root growth.
- Plant. Wait until the soil has dried out before planting annuals, vegetables, perennials, shrubs or trees. The plants’ roots will thank you for not squeezing them into wet, compacted soil.
- Trim large trees. Rainy weather can make tools and ladders slippery and potentially hazardous.
- Use heavy equipment. While it may be tempting to finish up a deck or patio project in the rain, rethink driving heavy equipment across a lawn or patio bed to avoid compacting the soil.
- Spray chemical treatments. Rain will dilute the potency of chemical treatments for pest and disease control, so save the task for a rain-free day
