Romantic Statues for Valentine’s Day

Pomona in the Azaleas

I adore garden statuary, particularly when it looks lost and forelorn.  There is something wonderfully “secret garden” about coming upon a statue in amongst brush- I find it very romantic.  As the season for Valentines Day is upon us, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite garden sculptures- as you can see, I have a weakness for classical statutes.

Last spring, we took a long weekend trip to one of my favorite places, Charleston, South Carolina.  One of its older families has opened their property, Magnolia Plantation, to the public.  They have an excellent variety of statuary throughout the gardens… many of which are sited exactly the way I like them- as if a Roman villa once stood there, and has been reclaimed by nature.

hidden statues

This statue was located in a patch of naturalized daffodils and other assorted southern flora that my northern eye did not recognize.  I had to go on a side path and peer through bushes to even find this little gem.

A woman gathering flowers- Pomona again?

Another female figure was off to the side of a little pathway, in amongst the spanish moss. 

Of course, there was a mini labyrinth as well, with the requisite statuary in the center, but this is a little predictable for my taste.

Labyrinth at Magnolia Plantation

If you, like me, do not have acres at your command, or classical figures would look insanely out of place in your garden, we can still get this hidden effect with some old things placed in the garden.  Not shoes or old kettles.  That looks a little strange. 

Years ago, my father brought a vase back from China with an interesting magenta glaze.  Unfortunately it had become noticably chipped in transport, so it had been relegated to my basement for awhile.  For ease of cleaning, I had opened my basement window and chucked everything out that needed to be thrown away (this was very liberating, and I highly recommend it).  This vase landed in my garden on its side amongst some tall “David” phlox (also given to me by my father) and looked so great that I haven’t moved it.  It looks lovely and hidden and was an accidental way to add a little romance and faux-history to my garden.

For other Charleston Gardens, look here.

The Best Garden in The World

What would it take to have the best garden in the world?  A good eye for design, certainly.  A love of plants.  Money.  Most importantly, I think, one would need time.  Buckets of it.  Oceans of time.

A little proverbial rain has fallen in my life recently, but as an odd result, I will have a lot more time for gardening.  The question is: how to use the “extra” time I now have?

Generally, during a regular summer week (that is, not a planting week) I spend about 7 hours in the garden.  Any less and the weeds get the best of me.  If I could spend 10 hours or 14 hours every week in the garden, what should I do with it?

My first thought is that instead of doing my usual two or three beds a year, I can do four.  By “doing” the beds- mainly (as you saw in last week’s post) I mean uncrowding them.  Digging out crowded plants and finding a new home for them.  I can also dig out and get rid of plants I’ve grown to dislike.  I always feel guilty doing this (Yankee thrift + Lutheran guilt), so I generally put it off until a plant is so bad/disgusting/wrong that it absolutely must be done.  With a little courage, and more time, this will get closer to the top of the list.

Weeding.  A mere hour of extra weeding per week would be a huge benefit to me.  Often, by mid-July the garden has so many weeds that I can’t keep up.  I would love to be one of those people who got up in the morning a bit earlier and spent an hour outside weeding or doing whatever in the garden.

Trellises and Staking.  I almost never stake anything- with good reason.  If a plant is floppy, then I probably don’t want it.  I also like the look of floppy plants- and if they get too floppy, then they become flowers for the house and that is fine with me too.  It certainly wouldn’t hurt to stake the peonies in front or the enormous Chrysanthemum, which should really get moved elsewhere. 

I’ve converted to a white plastic mesh instead of trellises- and while lovely, I haven’t quite brought myself to remove the old trellises.  If I actually get around to that, the garden would look much tidier.

I already spend a good deal of time in the garden staring at individual plants, which is an important way for me to think about its habits, although my husband says it gives the plants performance anxiety.  I think I don’t need to do more of that- or flower cutting, which I do a lot of– I  bring bouquets into my office every week.

What I absolutely need to do is sit and enjoy the garden more.  I’m not good at sitting still (right now I am shaking my legs at my desk), but an evening’s rest in the garden would be a great idea- my favorite picture of my garden was taken on the one evening I just relaxed outside last year.

The Front Garden, 2009

I may not ever have the best garden in the world (certainly not, with only 1/7 of an acre), but I will have a much better garden if I dedicate just a bit more time to it.  That is the key to good gardening, isn’t it?

My Front Garden Through the Years

The Front Garden, 2009

Front gardens are like mantlepieces- intimidatingly important.  Everyone sees them and everyone has a different attitude about what should be there.  I grew up with a few unruly junipers and a well-clipped arborvitae flanking our modest front entryway.  Many folks have this- and it is perfectly nice (if properly maintained)- and a bit cleverer if you have a lovely clematis or morning glory weaving through the evergreens as I did when we lived in an apartment with the same midcentury style.

Often, friends tell me that they couldn’t bear to live in a brand new house with no character.  I understand that sentiment and as a homeowner of a brand new house, I’ve tried to give it the necessary character.  To that end, my gardens are what try to make up for the lack of mature trees.

I prefer (as you can see above) flamboyantly english cottage style, with hydrangeas and delphiniums galore.  My front bed has always been a challenge.  We moved into a brand new house in December, 2004.  The builders had scraped the clay out of the yard and filled it into two front beds that we had designed to keep us from having to install railings on the stairs, which our builder objected to for some unknown reason.  Since this bed was ready to go- and it is my first house, I put all of my favorite plants into the bed and hoped for the best.  It continues to evolve as I learn what actually wants to grow out front- and which don’t.

The garden- the first year

The first year successes were the morning glories that grew so rampantly they had to be restrained.  I spent most of the year accumulating plants for the garden and shoving them into every available garden space.  Needless to say, they were hopelessly overcrowded.

Garden Detail, 2006

In 2006, the garden really began to take shape.  Plants bloomed, and I discovered the importance of proper siting.  And I discovered insects for the first time (I mean insects in earnest).  A week after this photo was taken, the columbines were chewed right to the ground by leaf miners and some nasty black insect under the soil.

Attempting Height, 2006

Frustrated by its lack of stature in year two, I scattered annuals amongst the overcrowded perennials in hopes of seeing the garden a bit taller.  This was a mess.  The poppies stretched toward the sunshine (obviously) the bachelor’s buttons looked ragged and the cosmos never grew to their full height.  I did learn about the importance of containers, and planted the best calla lilies I have ever grown in those two containers on either side of the door.  It looked like a tropical paradise.

The front porch

In 2007, I finally started to see results with the slower-growing perennials, including peonies, and I finally achieved a perfectly lovely Spring Garden with 200 tulips and 100 daffodils (and other various small bulbs) on either side.

Azreal enjoying the tulips

In 2008, I finally purchased a digital camera, so I became much more interested in documenting the garden as it changed through the seasons.

Spring 2008, with the new boxwood hedge

Garden Detail, June 2008

In 2009, I focused on spacing the plants so that they had enough room to grow- and editing, which is the key to good gardening.  (Not that I would know, since I still jam everything in too darn closely)

Respacing- June 2009

The mess- post respacing

The great thing about looking at photographs of the garden through time is that I can see how far I’ve come with the garden.  The downside: I can see how far there is to go.  That aster needs to come out.  All of those Dianthus on the sides should go too.  I need more colored foliage in front, and I used to have the perfect huechera there, but it was eaten by beetles.  And the roses.  Why did I plant roses up there?

Brilliantly, there is always next year.  And now I have many more gardens to start filling up.  I can’t wait.

January Thaw: spring countdown

Well, that’s it.  I’ve ordered everything I am going to order for the year.  Probably.  This lovely January thaw has made me a bit stir crazy.  I pruned the dogwood this morning wearing my church clothes- that’s how anxious I was to get outside.

This afternoon I organized my catalogs and planned what I will buy, and it really is a little of everything.

As I am now starting to think about where I am actually going to put plants- and designing the gardens a bit beyond the basic “I like that, I should buy it.”  Not much, but a little.

Just placed my order at Bluestone:

I bought the lime green Euphorbia that I’ve wanted for years (and mistakenly ordered “blackbird” instead a few years back).  The new “Incrediball” hydrangea- I’m a sucker for Annabelle as I’ve mentioned, and this promises to be an arborescens hydrangea on steriods.  I also bought the lime green hydrangea “limelight”.  Clearly I’m having a lime green fling, because I also bought Lamium Lemon Frost for the front groundcover.   I hope the lemon frost Lamium is as spready as its variegated cousins so I don’t have to buy more than one.

I’ve also bought more plants as I convert certain beds to a consistent purpose (the front beds will be more shady, the primrose bed will be larger and have more primroses.)

I have also bought a sweet violet.  I love violets.  I especially love that you can’t get them from most catalogs.  I love that my friends regard them as weeds.  I look at violets scooped from their yards as like having my friends in my garden.  Like friends, if you look closely- some are so unique.  I have a blue-grey one (violet, that is), a white with blue reverse (or maybe its the opposite way- it’s been awhile, I don’t quite remember), a bright, large royal purple.  Last year I tried to grow yellow and korean violets from seed and was unsuccessful (so far.  But who knows).  I am particularly excited about the sweet violets because I don’t think they actually grow this far north, but the catalog seemed to indicate that it did.  I’ll give it a go and see what happens.

I (being-counter trendy) am going to try a grass.  For the third time.  I know that grass has had its moment as a statement plant, but I still think there is still room for it somewhere- I just like its noise in the wind.  And we have plenty of wind.  I have no clue where I’m going to put it.  I’d love to grow it in a huge container on my patio.

I just received an email from Thompson and Morgan that my seeds are on the way.  Spring is coming!

I can’t wait.  The more it melts, the more excited I am about the possibilities!

A Hoary Frost

I actually enjoyed getting up and walking the dog this morning- it was a stunning hoary frost.  Every tree, bush and dormant perennial was covered with a half inch of frost.  It was beautiful, and a good reason to leave some of your garden standing in the fall- something for the frost to cling to.

The Linden Tree

The Clematis

The neighbor's crabapple.

Don’t forget- even the winter garden can be beautiful.

Bouquets from the Garden

I love arranging flowers, particularly those from my garden.  In this mid-winter lull, I thought I would collect pictures of my favorite bouquets through the years and let you see and comment on them.

I love springtime arrangements.

Red and Yellow Tulips with Yellow and Red Dogwood branches

Besides tulips, I also love roses (who doesn’t?)

Megan's tabletop decorations by Daffodil Parker in Madison

and hydrangeas

End of season Hydrangeas and Peony leaves

hydrangeas

More Bouquets:

4th of July Bouquet

Obviously, not the world’s greatest pictures, but I will try and take pictures of my arrangements and post them to help cheer up the dreary winter scene.

First order of the season

Last night, I placed an order for two Dicentra Spectabilis ”Gold Heart” and one of the new “Invincibelle Spirit” Hydrangea Arborescens.  I’m very excited.  I’ve ordered these from White Flower Farm, although I know that “Gold Heart” is widely available, and WFF is expensive, the “Gold Heart” I ordered from them a few years ago was spectacular upon planting, so I believe it is worth the money.

As for the Hydrangea- well I’m a sucker for hydrangeas, especially cousins of Annabelle.  And a pink sport of Annabelle?  What’s not to love?  My only question (and dear husband, if you are reading this, don’t be cross) is where to put it.  I really should take out those dogwoods and put it there, but I just love the yellow and red sticks in the winter.

Fortunately, with temperatures about to plunge to 20 below zero (farenheit), I have plenty of time to contemplate where I’ll put it.

Quiet Gardening

As the snowflakes drift down, I think about my favorite thing about winter– the silence.

Silent gardening is highly underrated.  With leaf blowers, sod cutters, rototillers, lawnmowers, hedge trimmers, edgers and weed whackers, we spend a lot of time, money and gasoline on some very loud pursuits.

Although not a total luddite (and if I had the hedges at Longleat, I would certainly use a power hedge trimmer), I prefer silence in the garden.  With the exception of a gas-powered lawn mower, I edge my beds with a half-moon edger, trim hedges with shears, whack weeds with scissors and my own two hands.

I know that many of these tools are designed to make gardening faster and easier, but when I think of something like a rototiller on a small property like mine, I just don’t see the point.  When you purchase a rototiller, you have to buy gas, get the rototiller cleaned up, check the sparkplugs, check the wheel bolts, put on your safety equipment, and when you finally come out to begin rototilling, I’m half done with my garden bed.

My neighbor likes his garden beds,  driveway and sidewalk all neatly edged and goes outside once a month with an electric edger and gouges the heck out of them.  It is loud and lasts for hours.  My beds are neatly edged and no neighbor has ever heard me edge them (except for occasional swearing).

The other thing about quiet gardening, it’s great exercise.  If ever anyone thinks gardening is for ladies in big hats and white gloves, I encourage them to go out and turn a bed of heavy clay.  It’s tough.  But it’s good for you.

So quiet gardening is good exercise, attractive and neighborly, and not tremendously more time-consuming than loud gardening. 

Why doesn’t everyone try some quiet gardening?

New Year’s Houseplant Touch-Up

Monstera Deliciosa

I have just completed one of the most important tasks I do for my houseplants, a mid-winter touch-up.

Starting in the basement with the slumbering agapanthus, scented geraniums and pelargoniums, I watered, pruned, fertilized with seaweed (Maxicrop), and checked for bugs. An azalea that I have had for over five years looked a little droopy, so I brought it upstairs for a little spa shower therapy (I used the spray nozzle from my kitchen sink to wash it down and rewet the soil). Hopefully that saves the pretty pale purple azalea that my mother gave to me for Valentines Day in 2004.

On the warmer floors, I went room to room, checking and turning all the plants. Folks like Martha Stewart recommend that you turn your plants a quarter turn every week or so, I just can’t do that with a life and work and dog and friends and family to spend time with. So, halfway through the winter, they get flipped around. I also move them to different windows– basement pelargoniums come upstairs to add leaves and (hopefully) flowers to get a jumpstart on the season.

Spent paperwhites go downstairs to let their leaves die in peace. Most people throw paperwhites away, but I am convinced that with patience they will rebloom. Maybe this is just midwestern cheapness (of which, I am guilty as charged), but they are just daffodils aren’t they? Shouldn’t they ultimately rebloom? I’ve been suffering through my first winter of blind paperwhites (when they come up with no flowers, just leaves), maybe I’ll give it a few more years.

Amaryllis are starting to poke their heads out of the bulbs, for which we will be greatful– hopefully they will bloom in time for Valentines day. One trick to deal with Amaryllis Rust that seems so prevalent on store-bought bulbs: leave them alone, then cut off the flowers and use them in a vase. Surprisingly, flowers last longer this way. Then you can spray the bulb with fungicide without ruining the blooms. For years I had planted my amaryllis in the garden, but this seems to encourage rust, so I have kept them in their pots and have lost many fewer bulbs to rust (and worms!).

I also pruned my asparagus fern (OUCH!), which I have grown for almost a decade after seeing an impressive asparagus fern in a lovely b&b on my honeymoon in Bayfield, WI. Every fall, some of the foliage yellows, so I water and prune, and it comes back better than ever.

Of all the houseplants I have, spider plants are second only to orchids with their great numbers– these need to be checked for dead leaves, which build up on plants that have irregular watering.

Orchids, as you have seen in other posts, are one of my favorites– and they had the special treatment of individual spa baths, insect checks and leaf rubdowns. They are doing wonderfully, although I suspect they prefer the eastern facing window rather than the southern window: although we don’t get much sun this time of year, when we do, it is a touch hot for them.

I had a sad loss so far this year, my long suffering lemon tree dropped its last leaf the minute I returned from Christmas vacation. It produced three small lemons this year- which I put in my marmalade, and of course, saved the seeds: there is always next year!

Planning the Rock Garden

I have decided to plant a rock garden to organize two of my plant collections, and make a more attractive space out of a former catch-all afterthought garden.

First, calling it a rock garden is probably a misnomer, because I refuse to use any kind of gravel mulch, because it’s so darn permanent, but since it is on a rock retaining wall, we will use the term for convenience.

My brilliant idea came to me while I was sitting at an economics conference, and my mind wandered, as it often does, to a problem area of my garden. This area is so bad, I don’t really have a picture of it, which is remarkable given the number of pictures I take of my garden.

best photo of my future rock garden

At the top of these rocks is a small, 10×10 foot bed on a fairly steep slope. This area has been a problem for me, not in terms of plants’ willingness to grow- they seem very obliging, but almost entirely in terms of my complete lack of ideas of what to put there.

This area is one of those “difficult to mow” areas on our tiny property, owing mostly to the crabapple featured in Time to Prune Your Trees. As I like to leave the branches low enough to allow both our neighbors and ourselves some privacy, it took me awhile to realize what I should do there. When we first moved in, I started growing some succulents in the rock crevices- and they have done well and been very entertaining.

My plan is take out the weirdly placed hostas, daylilies, russian sage, black hollyhocks and anemones and plant most of my Dianthus collection (which is quite considerable) here, along with most of my succulent collection- and make a multiseason, low growing, flowering carpet for this area that is baked by early morning sun and cools off only in the late afternoon. I’m going to move some sedums from around the property to add height along the back of this steeply sloping area, and to help hide the electrical meter.

The other advantage of this plan is that neither Dianthus nor Sedums are bothered by Japanese beetles, so I am one step closer to my dream of man-made-chemical-free summer gardening.

The only downside I can see (after I dig all the plants out of the bed) will be grass. Dianthus is a grass catcher, as are low growing sedums and sempervivums. The first year will require considerable efforts to keep grass out of the bed, particularly on the steep slope, while plants get established. I have found that grass is only too happy to help with erosion control in this bed, so I will have to be extra vigilant.

The other problem may be the eviction of our groundhog, whom I suspect lives in the rock wall. I trust that between our cat, dog and neighbor, we will take care of that.

In the months ahead, I will try to give you updates about the rock garden’s progress, the plants I will buy, and the real and imagined traumas of getting the bed ready.