Sustainability

I cannot stand this word.  I recently looked it up to make sure I wasn’t missing a hidden meaning, but nope, just like I thought, it means to “keep going.”  In common parlance, I think folks use this word to mean something that can keep itself going with minimal stewardship from us.

My hatred stems partly from an ongoing dislike of trendy words and silly usages: monetize, “grow” the economy– etc.  That is not to say that I don’t love overused words (and double negatives)- eponymous- as in “my eponymous blog,” is my favorite word.  But sustainability really sticks in my craw.  I was once reading a design magazine where a designer said that he didn’t use stone countertops anymore because they weren’t sustainable.  Stone?  Not sustainable?  What are you standing on?  It is the very definition of something that is sustainable! 

Now don’t misunderstand this either- we need to consider the environment and ecosystem when we plant and weed and spray chemicals.  That is important- but has nothing to do with sustainability. 

More to the point for us gardeners, “sustainable” gardens don’t exist.  Gardens exists purely because we put plants in a location and take care of them.  We are inherently creating an unnatural ecosystem- and even in a restored prairie (as any prairie owner can tell you), a garden’s continuation will depend entirely on our own good graces and our skills at weeding, fertilizer, dividing, planting, digging, burning, composting.  Don’t get me started on a sustainable vegetable garden.  (Peas and carrots will grow in perpetuity on your property?  Now THAT’s impressive.)  Anyone who wants to know whether even the most basic gardens are sustainable should find the foreclosed house in their neighborhood and take a look at the garden- it’s the first thing to go.

Could a person sustain a garden in perpetuity?  No.  And who would want to?Tastes change, climate changes, pests and diseases come and go.  Gardening is as much about living today as it is about living in the future.  Gardens are ephemeral, artificial creations- and that is one of the things that makes them so impressive and beautiful.  Not any idiotic claims of sustainability.

Arbor Vitae cuttings

If you have a moment during this busy holiday season, you can take cuttings of your favorite arbor vitaes (and other evergreens like boxwood) for use in containers and elsewhere.  I just took a cutting of my loose bluish arbor vitae– stripped off the bottom scales, dipped it in water, then rooting powder and put it in a pot in my garage with a pop bottle on top to keep the cuttings from drying out.  I checked them last week and they are rooted already. 

I’ll leave them out there until the garage is below freezing and then bring them in a cool room for the winter– and next spring I’ll have some great arbor vitaes started for a containerized screen– for free!

Fragrant Houseplants

Jasmine

Winter in a northern climate needs flowering and fragrant houseplants.  There is nothing finer than coming into the office and smelling my Aunt Rosemary’s hand-me-down jasmine.  The smell is just amazing- like sunbaked, perfumed earth.  I keep a large pot of jasmine in my office where I can enjoy its fragrance all winter.  It does quite well inside- as long as it is watered regularly.  If it misses a drink it will become very unhappy.

Many flowering houseplants have a subtle fragrance– Amaryllis have a peppery, lemon scent, and last for much longer in a vase when cut off from their rather unattractive bulbs.  Cyclamens smell good too, particularly the small ones have a subtle peppery sent, like the amaryllis.  To keep my small-flowered cyclamens going strong in the fall, I put them out on the north-facing front porch and water them periodically all summer.  Once inside, they flower more profusely than they did for the florist.

For the best fragrance of all, potted lemons are a delight for us low-light states.  I have my lemon tree in a south-facing window, and all winter long we are treated to the sweet lemon fragrance of its demure  white flowers.  Lemons are one of the few citrus that can take our low-light conditions, but the key with lemons is constant vigilance for pests– scale is always a problem for me.

Potted herbs like bay and rosemary, which can only be grown indoors during our long cold winters, are a treat whenever they are cut.  These low maintenance herbs grow very well on a southern windowsill.

Another favorite, available at grocery stores across the country in mid-winter are primulas– the lemon colored ones have a bright, strong lemon scent, and look delightful on a windowsill with some royal purple african violets.  Other primulas might be available elsewhere, and certainly in other colors, but a side-by-side smell test will reveal that the good–old bright yellow primula vulgaris has the strongest scent.  That scent is not nearly as noticable outside, I noticed I had a blooming primula outside yesterday, and it hardly smelled at all.

Forced bulbs are often fragrant.  Many folks grow paperwhites for their strong fragrance, but I prefer Inbal- a lightly scented variety that smells less like the catbox.  A good variety of forced bulbs, especially freesias, will bloom all winter and emit their sweet honey fragrance.

There are so many scented flowers to choose from, try and give yourself a sweet treat and grow a few, they’ll provide a sweet smell all winter long.

Planting Bulbs

A host of... pink daffodils.

When we plant bulbs, it is unlike almost anything else we do in the garden, in that we cannot see our results and only will see them in the future.  We have no guarantees, just a hope that somehow they (and we) will survive the winter and then miraculously, when we need that boost the most, there they are, in their astonishing, life affirming glory.

In order to see them next spring, we have to worry first about the mundane.  I ordered my bulbs back in July and August and had them shipped to me this past week.  I try to order bulbs that are rodent resistant because we have a serious problem with mice/voles believing that I have laid a feast especially for them.  I make an exception for Colorblend’s exceptional assortment of parrot tulips, which are undeniably gorgeous.  Mostly,  I ordered daffodils, scilla siberica and alliums.

All of the bulbs arrived from Colorblends last week in two large crates, ready to be planted.  Once I receive them I sort them into buckets in the mix that I desire… usually 1/4 of each variety of daffodil and 1/4 alliums.  For smaller bulbs, as below, the bucket is a great way to keep track of the little things and how many you’ve used.

Bulbs, sorted.

Scilla siberica, above, are ready for planting along the front walkway.  In the bucket is a dibber for folks who have more patience and want to plant one at a time.  Basically, you insert it in the ground, and drop a single bulb in the hole.  This only works with smaller bulbs.  I plant the dibber bulbs about the depth of one finger– about three inches.

"Dibbing" a hole.

For larger bulbs that I plant one at a time, I dig a hole with a narrow transplanting spade, as I did with the Globemaster Alliums below.  I try to plant these the depth of a hand (which on me is about seven inches).

Planting big bulbs in an existing bed with a transplant spade.

Allium Globemaster bulb

For planting more than one bulb at a time, I dig a big hole and plant them all– generally dig as deep as the regular spade will go, so about 8-10 inches, and plant the bulbs in the hole.  I try to use odd numbers and then I space them out as evenly spaced as possible.

Alliums, evenly spaced in their hole.

My tulips are beloved by voles, so I sprinkle them with bloodmeal and crushed oyster shells.  In Wisconsin, crushed oyster shells are not available readily, so I buy them in bulk on ebay.  Then just cover them with the soil you removed from the hole, making sure to break up any clumps.

If you need to plant under mulch and use my newspaper technique, you can easily roll the newspaper back and plant underneath, otherwise, you’d be wise to use a dibber.

Using Newspaper to roll back the mulch.

With any luck, your bulbs will be up and beautiful and you will be enjoying them all season.

Overwintering Dahlias

We had our first frost this past weekend and the dahlias, annuals, hostas and hydrangeas have melted and turned brown.  Though I was unable to do the digging myself this year, my sister came over and dug out all of the beds, (I think she might be sister-of-the-year) so we are set for winter.

I have a really simple method for digging dahlias- simple being relative of course.  First, once your first frost has melted the leaves of your dahlias and turned them black, go out and cut them back to just above ground level.

Then grab your pitchfork and dig them out- inserting the pitchfork about a foot away from the stems and lever them out of the ground- you’ll know if you get too close, because you’ll spear a tuber.

I arrange all of my dahlias out of the ground by color (red and non-red) and then wash them with a sharp spray from the hose.  It is important to wash instead of just shaking the dirt off, because otherwise worms and insects will enjoy a winter feast on your dime, inside your house.

I let the tubers dry for about an hour on each side, then I put them in a garbage bag and set them in plastic tote bins in the basement, in the farthest corner from the furnace.  They should be stored between 40-50 degrees, and never below freezing or they will rot.  Too warm and they will sprout, which is not good either, because you won’t be able to hold them inside until it is safe to plant them.

Make sure you put your bulbs in a plastic bag because they need the moisture or they will dry out like sawdust.  In the old days, I would put them in individual bags to prevent any contamination (or bugs) from spreading, but I don’t have the same number of plastic bags that I used to, now that we’ve switched mainly to cloth bags for shopping.  I’m sure the garbage bags will do just fine.

I try to check on the tubers monthly to make sure that they haven’t sprouted and then I pot them up or plant them early the following May.

When my future sister in law saw all of our hard work this weekend, she said “wow, I give gardeners a lot of credit, this is hard work.”  Umm, exactly.  I have not converted my sister to Dahlias after this adventure, when discussing her plans for a new house she said, “and I definitely don’t want dahlias.”

Olbrich Botanical Gardens

Autumn At Olbrich

When the wind starts to pick up and the leaves start to turn, it is time for another trip to my favorite escape in Madison, Olbrich Botanical Gardens.

This managably-sized garden is free to the public and wheelchair accessible and conveniently less than 10 miles from my house (I know, because I’ve run there and back.)

To me, Chicago Botanic is where you go to see some truly awesome things, but Olbrich is much more realistic— its borders look like something you really could do at home (given unlimited time and money).  Also, given its urban setting, it uses space well, without a lot of research area that other, larger gardens use… basically it is a series of well-planned herbaceous borders of every stripe.

Some of my favorite gardens include–

Hot colored tropical border

Rose Garden Entrance- livened up for the autumn

View from the tower

And then there is its magnificent setting, on the shores of Lake Monona.

View toward the lake

And there is the unforgettable Thai Pavillion, which is somewhat anachronistic, but has excellent tropical displays- many of which are actually hardy plants that have a tropical flavor.

Thai Pavillion

Reflecting Pool at the Thai Pavillion

The Herb Garden

 After visiting the Thai pavillion, make time for a visit to my favorite of the garden areas- the productive/herb garden is especially nice and includes a rotating display of herbs and flowers.

Last but not least, make sure to stop by the formal border with its gorgeous reflecting pool and lake view.

Formal borders

If you are doing a midwestern garden tour, or are looking for a place to visit while you are in Madison (or even if you live here and haven’t been to visit in a decade) make some time to go visit the extraordinary gardens– it’s a perfect trip.

One final note, thank you www.blotanical.com for nominating this blog as one of the five Best Wisconsin Blogs, it really is an honor to be nominated.

Penelope Lives

Penelope

Although not especially photogenic, it really was a great idea to put a betta fish in the water feature… she was so successful that she lived all summer eating mosquitoes and drowned japanese beetles and has nearly doubled in size in the warm waters of the water lily barrel. 

Now she’s enjoying her slightly smaller (but warmer) fishbowl home.  I’ll be really impressed if I can keep her alive inside!

Rain, at last.

Outside my office window

 

My gardens will be so grateful.  By the way, I think Georgia is now praying for the rain to stop– so no need to pray for rain on their account.

Rain Dance

Three weeks since our last rainfall, I am hoping that we can offer prayers for rain as the Georgia governor once did, or do a rain dance or something. I recognize that three weeks without rain does not make this California, but my little plants, normally ready for a soft, wet climate, are a little parched.

So much for a strong finish this year!

Summer’s End for Houseplants

Most of my houseplants get a nice summer vacation in the garden beds or on the front porch from Memorial Day in May to Labor Day.  As Labor Day has come and gone, it is time to round them up and bring them in.

I don’t bring all of the houseplants in at the same time.   Some, like Azaleas and Japanese Maples, need a brief cold period- so they need to be rounded up and set aside to come inside in late September.  The rest will be rescued from hiding in window boxes and garden beds and put into containers.  The ones that go in the basement (like all of my geraniums) will stay outside as long as the weather holds.

Generally, when I bring plants in, I make sure they are well watered, in the appropriate containers and bug-free.  Ideally, back in early August I would have started checking these things, but as I haven’t…

I usually take a potted plant and knock it out of its pot to see how the roots are doing.  Then I can also see if sowbugs or ants have taken up residence in the root ball.  If no bugs, then I stick it in either the same or a different container as needed.  I make sure that each pot has good drainage and that the soil is right.  I use Fertilome potting soil, and that has worked well so far, although it is a bit pricey.

Generally, I don’t fertilize plants before I bring them in the house, except for the lemon tree.  I definitely don’t want to encourage winter growth.

I also prune them back to a manageable size and get rid of dead leaves, flowers and branches.  I spray each with insecticidal soap if I don’t see any insects, and if I do, I spray them every day for two weeks to interrupt the life cycle of pests.  Generally pruning is the best way to get rid of infestations.  Alas, the lemon tree always has its fair share of bugs, but that is a special circumstance and gets plenty of insecticidal soap for the meantime (as well as fertilizer).

Some plants are so ridiculously infested that they never return to the house… I usually lose one or two every year to unexplained causes.  This year I was lucky and have not lost any plants to infestation, although I did lose my Paph orchid to rot.  At least it will live on, here.

I also go through the garden to bring in some plants that are not quite hardy, or that I will attempt to force inside, including foxgloves and snapdragons- both of which did very well for me last year.  I usually wait on this until the first of October to see how much room I have for these bonus houseplants.

Don’t forget to site your houseplants in the right windows… most need as much light as they can get.

I’ll also take some cuttings of the dragon wing begonia for next year, as well as the hot pink coleus that worked so well in a container.  With any luck, I’ll be enjoying both all next year.  In fact, my generous Aunt gave me cuttings from five or six fun coleus that she had this summer, so next summer I should have a great display in shady containers back by the garage.

Although it was a lot of work, I enjoy bringing all of these plants inside so that I have the benefit of a little greenery during the long winter ahead.