Trendspotting: Edible Front Yards

by GardenLover | Jul 11, 2012 | Trendspotting

Swiss chard is a great edible ornamental for the front yard.

By Teresa Woodard

Turf wars are nothing new for Tamar Rudavsky and her husband, Richard Brody. For 25 years at their former Worthington home, these Boston transplants battled over grassy lawn space for their kids versus a lush vegetable garden.

Rudavsky, a philosophy professor at Ohio State University, gradually gained ground on the debate as their children grew up. Her gracious husband, a protein biochemist, gave up more of the lawn. But in 2006, when the couple became empty nesters and as they were purchasing a smaller home in Clintonville, Rudavsky negotiated a front yard vegetable garden because the backyard was too shady.

“Within two weeks of moving in, I dug up the front lawn and planted my first fall crops,” she recalls.

Rudavsky may have been a front yard gardening pioneer six years ago, but today she finds herself in the midst of a revolution. Her sentiments are strong. “I think lawns are ridiculous,” she says. “You have to tend to them, water them and fertilize them, so I’m not convinced that this is how people should use this space.”  To read more, see the complete story at Columbus Monthly.

Trendspotting: Inside Out

by GardenLover | Jul 6, 2012 | Trendspotting

By Teresa Woodard

Inspired by interior design ideas at a recent homes tour, I realized several could work just as well outdoors:

Black furnishings and accents add drama outdoors.

Lattice print fabrics for poufs, cushions and pillows fit perfectly in a garden setting.

Industrial castoffs and architectural salvage become even more charmingly aged outdoors. Here, industrial containers for flowers, a milestone as a fountain and ceiling tiles as wall art.

Decorators are inspired by many shades of gray.  Give a deck, patio furniture or shutters a fresh look with gray paint.

Indoors or out, metallic finishes can be paired beautifully with organic elements.

Trendspotting: Blooming Rivers

by GardenLover | Jul 2, 2012 | Trendspotting

By Teresa Woodard

Imagine a river of blooming geraniums winding through your garden.  At the keynote presentation at last week’s American Public Gardens Association conference, nurseryman Adrian Bloom shared his signature “river” designs.  He’s created these rivers at his personal garden, “Foggy Bottom”, in Bressingham, England, as well as several garden installations he’s led in England and the United States.

Conference attendees got a chance to view one of his “river” installations at Ohio State University’s Chadwick Arboretum and Learning Gardens.  In just one day in September of 2005, Bloom led a team of 100 volunteers who transformed a 4,500-square-foot space into a dramatic garden showcasing 1,800 donated plants which were selected for their year-round color and interest.  Here, his “river” features plantings of Geranium ‘Rozanne’ and Imperata cylindrica ‘Red Baron’ (Japanese blood grass) that flow through the garden and cross one another in the middle. Key plants are repeated along the rivers to lead visitors’ eyes diagonally through the garden from corner to corner.

Here are some of his tips for adding these dramatic river elements to a garden design:

• Select robust plants with year-round interest.  Possibilities include Brunnera ‘Jack Frost’ , Echinacea ‘Kim’s Knee High’, Geranium ‘Rozanne’, Heuchera ‘Chocolate Ruffles’ and Imperata cylindrica ‘Red Baron’.
• Create the river in a meandering line rather than a straight, canal-like one.
• Add banks along the river with contrasting plants that are taller than the river ones.
• Extend the seasonal interest by intermixing plants with winter and early season features.  Try a bank of colored-stem dogwood or rivers of bulbs.
• Experiment with different possibilities.  Consider a river among grasses, around trees, through woodlands, down slopes, beneath bridges and more.

Trendspotting: Tropicals

by GardenLover | May 30, 2012 | Trendspotting

Banana trees in a Midwestern courtyard

By Teresa Woodard

The Jimmy Buffet syndrome is prompting more and more gardeners to grow tropicals in zone-defying Northern climates.  That’s what John Reiner of Oakland Nursery in Columbus, Ohio, sees as the cause for the exponential growth in tropical plant sales in northern states.

“When people see tropicals, they think of fun, happy vacation images, plus they love the blast of color they bring to the landscape,” says Reiner.

While many enjoy tropicals outside during the warmest months, other soft-hearted – and thrifty — gardeners try to sustain them indoors until it’s time to return outside for another growing season. Try one gardener’s tips for growing and overwintering tropicals in the Midwest:

• Place the tropical plants in five- to 10-gallon containers with drainage holes and plant them in the landscape after the threat of frost. To encourage lots of blooms, feed the plants with a high phosphorus fertilizer such as a 10-50-10. Follow the labels for the plants’ growing needs, and note many require lots of water.
• After enjoying the tropicals all summer, cut them back, especially larger ones like banana trees, water them thoroughly, then let them drain before moving them indoors. The ideal indoor conditions are 60-65 degrees with indirect light such as a garage, a four seasons room or a southeastern- or southwestern-facing windowed room.
• Thoroughly water the plants monthly and allow them to fully drain each time. Remember, overwatering can rot roots. Watch for spider mites and white mealy bugs, and treat with an insecticide if necessary.
  

  Coleus plants and mandevilla vines

• Try angel’s trumpets (Brugmansia) for their growing ease, spectacular blooms and intoxicating perfume. One grower tells me they’re simple to multiply — just cut off a branch, dip the end in a rooting hormone and place it in soil. Also check out banana trees (Musa), plumeria (with blooms used in Hawaiian leis), coleus, hibiscus, mandevilla vines. Tropical tender bulbs like elephant ears (Alocasia, Colocasia and Xanthosoma), caladiums, canna lilies and dahlias can be grown in containers through the season then overwintered in the garage.
• Avoid overwintering more temperamental tropicals like palms, mandevillas and hibiscus. They are so affordable and readily available that it’s easier to replace each year like annuals.
• Plant cold-hardy lookalikes. Hardy hibiscus with dinner-plate-size blooms look much like their tropical counterparts yet thrive in central Midwest’s climate.

Xanthosoma ‘Lime Ginger’

Trendspotting: Edible Landscapes

by GardenLover | May 19, 2012 | Trendspotting

By Teresa Woodard

In today’s landscapes, beauty is no longer enough.  Gardeners are transforming their landscapes from simply tasteful to really tasty. According to Ros Creasy, author of The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping, people of Renaissance times started the idea of separating utilitarian plants (food) from non-utilitarian flowers. Upper-class people saw growing only flowers near their home as a way to show off their wealth and power. They were so wealthy they could use their land to grow plants simply for pleasure and hide the edibles somewhere else.

While gardeners followed this model for years, many now appreciate the pollination and pest resistance benefits of growing the two side by side.  Besides, today’s gardeners are looking for ways to elevate the use of their resources, like the idea of growing their own food and are having fun experimenting with new fruit and vegetable varieties.

If you’re looking for ways to use more vegetables and fruits in your backyard, try some of these ideas:

• Plant ever-bearing strawberries in hanging baskets, well out of the reach of hungry bunnies.
• Mix attractive vegetables like ‘Bright Lights’ Swiss chard, ‘Gretel’ eggplant, ‘Redbor’ kale and ornamental peppers with your perennials.
• Add edibles to your containers.  Garden centers are selling “salad bowl” containers filled with a variety of leaf lettuces.  I tried ‘Baby Bibb’ with pansies in the spring.  Another landscaper is filling his clients’ containers with dwarf blueberry bushes, known for their colorful fall foliage.  He says with containers, it’s easier to adjust the soil acidity (4.0-5.0 for blueberries).
• Grow edible flowers like nasturtiums, violas and pansies to spruce up your salads.
• Don’t relegate edibles to the backyard.  Tuck ornamental ones like rhubarb in the front beds, replace a groundcover with creeping thyme or swap out a purely ornamental tree for a fruit tree.  Just imagine harvesting apples from an espaliered apple tree grafted with three varieties.