Plant Scoop ... The Inside Story

The only black leaf Phlox paniculata in the world.

Distinct - Upper Crust - Black Tie

Highly polished rake of garden society.


Presenting Lord Clayton Phlox PPAF ... Available 2009 USA.

Read more about this new perennial.

Your garden will never be the same.

G. G.

Major Overhaul

Have you ever gotten so fed up with the way your personal atmosphere looks that you just couldn't bear it a second longer? One of those moments, that as you glance around at your windows and walls and rebellion screams at your inner mind. At moments such as this, you take stock of it all and announce to yourself,

"This wallpaper and floor plan is on my last nerve. It is high time to make a change."

That is the precipice, the moment of truth settling over your awareness . Down it comes, sheet after sheet, that time worn and repetitious pattern thrown to the floor in a rush for renewal. Nothing a fresh coat of paint can't replace. Just like the right makeup on a bad hair day. A weekend and a paintbrush can mask over a whole lot of ugly.

Image: Creative Commons Share Alike 2.0

If I hadn't gone off visiting so many new spaces of late, I may never have seen the flaws in my personal place. I guess it just goes to show you what a little wonder lust and a few hours of spare time can do to a person. Without a fresh view or excitement as inspiration, would any of us have a clue we a due for a change? At times, it might be wiser to just stay home where everything is expectable and familiar. That traveling bug could just place you in traveling the road of no return.

There I was about done repainting the walls and decided I just did not like the color.

Hey come on now, what is wrong with that? There are more colors in the rainbow. Besides, being female, I retain the honor of being allowed to change my mind. Just pick out a different, and decidedly more exciting hue. After all it is only another gallon of paint or two. No big deal.

Except ... that didn't really float my boat either.

The second tint color was most apt to be at it's best display on the paint chip. Hey now, its like baseball - you are not stuck out until you miss the ball three times. I do have to admit that by the time you have repainted the same old walls three times. In three completely different colors, mind you. Without unleashing the smallest inkling of some excitement ... more creative thoughts could come to mind.

Perhaps more drastic measures are called for here. Why not? Things just need a bit more updating than a coat of paint. Bigger is always better ... right? Just get rid of the half wall and open the space up. That would really change everything. In fact, the entire structure would take on a different feeling.

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Ewww. What do you call this construction method?

You know this is the fun thing about remodeling. It's always such an adventure. Like whose brilliant invention do you suppose masterful composition was? That's okay, we'll just fix that mess right up. I have just the trick to fix this exact type of construction flaw. I will admit that the coat of paint has become more of a huge project. Fine by me, life will just get more interesting from here on out.

After all, life is short. You only get one time around, so you might as well live a little! Why use a kit when your imagination can really stir up a scene? Major overhauls require some equipment, so I fired mine up and started moving things around. Before long the entire space began to take on the resemblance of a war zone.

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Well, starting from scratch is always good. You are guaranteed something fresh and exciting. So thats what I did. Started recreating my blog space from the foundation up. But hey, if you are going to build a new place for your self, why not move to a better neighborhood. You are already in transit. If you're moving, then go up - not down.

It doesn't seem to matter what you focus is anymore. The same rule of thumb applies to everything these days. Whats the word on the block or the street? Location, location, location. Fresh surroundings and new horizons will put a whole new spin on any case of the doldrums. Trading Spaces? It works on TV!

It is just the packaging thats different. Like a new wardrobe, the person wearing it really hasn't changed. Still the same plant obsessed mind with that somewhat different point of view. The only part that had changed is outward appearance. Oh yes, and the street address.

No reason you can't still drop in for a visit. After all you need to keep on top of what is new and exciting ... or even plumb crazy. It all depends on what day you pop in. Stop by for coffee before lunch or maybe you prefer to drop in for happy hour. Its all good.

The final touches may not yet be complete. Isn't that half of the fun of a new plating space? You get to watch it come into its own. Even better the gate at ...

Lost In The Flowers - is always open to friends.

Guilty Gardener is not going to disappear any time soon. Feel free to pass between the two locations, the transition will be very organic. Yet for the time being, all new posts will be published on Lost In The Flowers.

Can You Say Compaction?

To my regular readers:
Please pardon my intermittent and odd day posting recently. I have had to put in ridiculous overtime hours of late. Talk about draining a person of the creativity or inspiration to write just one more piece. Bear with me, perhaps the sun will shine again soon. And onto today's topic ...

Autumn Amethyst Encore Azalea
Image copyright - Tammy Clayton 2007

I found some time to catch up with a few of my Blotanical pals today. Thank you Dustin for bringing an important misconception to mind that I have not yet expounded upon.

Compaction should be a four-letter word. Let me paraphrase that ... "rock" is a four-letter word and has much the same meaning. Impervious would also make a good word to fit in with this vein of thought and yet has more than four letters. If you are truly a gardener, then you know that compaction is evil and not good for plants one gardens to be able to enjoy and succeed in growing.

Any gardener worth their weight in soiled activity would never and I repeat NEVER lay down weed barrier over their treasured soil. Landscape fabric - weed barrier, whatever you choose to call it is evil and a sign of laziness. If you don't want weeds that is understandable. No one likes weeds. No one really enjoys the task of weeding when there are so much more wonderful things to be done.

Now I have known people who really do enjoy weeding, but they are few and far between. A scientist who once was a maintenance customer of mine refused to let us weed the beds. I never understood this as we did every other task necessary to keeping their affluent suburban landscape perfect and immaculate on a weekly basis. Why? Because he found it that in this simple laborious task he could easily work out the solution to any daunting problem he dealt with at work. Interesting concept. Weeds are stress reducing aids in sorting out one's thought processes.

Soil that is not allowed to be worked (i.e. scratched, hoed, etc) or accept replenishing humus as it naturally is available becomes tired and worn out. The presence of new twigs as they fall need a way to enter the soil and assist it in creating air passages so beneficial to keeping soil alive. The tunnels created for air also allow water from the rain or your hose to travel where it is useful and absorbed.

Weed fabric denies the soil from any of these beneficial additives. This leads to heavily compacted soil. Have you ever seen a plant thriving on the surface of a rock? Never on the surface, only in a crack between two impervious sections. And you wonder what is wrong with your green thumb? Plenty!

There once was a woman who hired me to design and build a most beautiful and costly perennial garden. We arrived to plant all these wonderful leafy beings and found that under her (tsk. tsk!) 4 inches of "rocking red" mulch lay not one - but TWO layers of landscape fabric. Her husband was hell bent on never having a weed in his yard.

Now I tried to explain to these fine folks that we needed to remove all the mulch and the weed barrier to till up the compacted clay beneath or their plants were not going to do very well. This process was emphatically denied and the garden was planted without being able to any more than cut an X large enough to drill a hole to accommodate the poor thing's root ball at a minimum. We were profusely thanked for the instant beauty and earned a handsome tip on top of the invoice amount.

Two weeks later the Mr. phoned to complain that we had not properly planted half of the plants. He had already fixed our shoddy work and requested I pay him for his time in all fairness. Now, I have never left a job without doing a walk through to make sure it is all done and done right. I informed him of this and refused to pay anything because I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that this could not be farther from true.

The following June, I received a nasty letter from the Mrs. that she expected full compensation for everything in her garden that was missing because it did not live through the winter. Well really. It was mild winter with plenty of snow cover and everything that was planted in her yard was fine and dandy in mine. I fumed in silence for a few days trying to wrap my mind around this mystery.

At first I was convinced the plants were stolen or she decided they had spent too much money. That is until the road grader did the monthly passover on my gravel road. Of course, it rained cats and dogs within hours. The following day I was on my way to town, bumping through the same cursed holes the grader has frosted over. The light bulb of awareness glowed at about 500 watts in my head.

This woman's problem was due to her own ignorance and no fault of mine. So I called them and got the Mr. on the phone to set an appointment for a looksee. He told me it wasn't necessary really and was aghast to learn his wife had sent me this letter. And so we all met up in front of the disaster several hours later.

"Finally decided to come clean and restore your reputation?" Mrs. greeted me.

"Actually, I came here to educate you so that you do not have to go through this kind of disaster in the future." was my reply. And her hair stood on end...

Well the Mrs. stormed into the house and slammed the door so hard the windows rattled. Sheesh, but its hard to teach a pig to fly. However, unbeknownst to me, my competitor had been brought to survey the damage weeks before this day. Mr. was already wise to his error and thoroughly embarrassed by his wife's actions and behavior.

"I really am sorry that you had to come out here today. I tried to get her to see reason, but she insisted you owe her money. I will not let her give you a dime..." and he went on to tell me the rest of the story. The other landscaper had come out and told them already what I knew had happened. The freeze and thaw that happens repeatedly over a Michigan winter had heaved the roots out of the soil and caused the demise and even total dislodging of everything that was missing. Any corpse not present had blown away in the wind.

Compaction is a four letter word! This is why all proper planting instructions say to dig the hole deeper and wider by several inches than the size of the root ball. It is also the number one reason why planting in the fall doesn't work for a lot of people. The frost heaves that plug out exposing the roots to the bitter cold and literally causes death by hypothermia. With a blanket of loose soil to keep those roots insulated, the heaving ground does not harm the roots.

Loose soil and no weed fabric is the proper way to succeed at growing any plant. Scratch the soil around your precious beauties at least once a month to keep the soil loose. Boycott landscape fabric! There is nothing one can truly count on life beyond taxes, weeds and death. We'll talk about stone mulch another day ... someone needs to do the dishes around here.

Split Personalities

For reasons unknown to me, the strangest things have happened in my garden and far flung container culture of ornamental plants. Trust me, my collection of plants residing in plastic pots far outdoes anything most of you can claim to be harboring, even if somewhat shamefully. Mine covered an acre of ground, the patios, the deck, the front porch and the front of the barn. I disguised the entire affair as a nursery, but in reality nothing ever arrived to add to stock that didn't totally appeal to me. This nursery sold my taste in plants. Totally personal branding at large.

One year I got into clematis really heavy and Julka was once of the more intriguing cultivars added to the catalog. Mind you any of these plants that graced the catalog was destined to take up residence in my private collection. It is the obsession that fed the madness completely devouring what was once a lovely sloping manicured lawn. Who needs all that grass? It was much lovelier hidden by thousands of plants in black plastic condos.

What became of the coveted and won Julka Clematis? It developed a personality disorder in season two. There is no photo touching done in the image above. The thing actually produced dark red and brilliant blue-purple flowers at one time - simutaneously - on the same stem. A truly psychotic bloomer which seemed to now be so confused that it had no idea who it was.

This vine was affectionately dubbed Sybil since it was quite obviously was no longer Julka. The behavior far exceeded the often troublesome problem of exciting new plants reverting to one of the parents used in breeding. Here was a Clematis that had became so mixed up as to stage an argument with itself that continued all summer long. It never tired of differing in in its own opinion.

Were it not for the damnable rabbits who chewed it off at the ground over the winter, murdering poor confused Sybil in cold blood - you might be able to purchase your own split personality vine today. Have I mentioned how much I abhor rabbits? Does anyone know WHY they only target the things you treasure most? Couldn't they just be happy with the other things you wish would silently slip away instead?

I think rabbits should only come in chocolate, wrapped in whimsical foil to complete an Easter basket properly. The only way to control them is to do away with their population ... or build a fortress around your garden that nothing larger than a Japanese beetle can break into. It is far more cost effective to get rid of Thumper and his kin.

Rabbit stew anyone? Dinner will be ready soon. In loving memory of Sybil whose constant and unending argument shall never be forgotten. May she rest in a peace totally unknown to her in life.

G.G.

Green Industries - Why Aren't They Greener?

"Gardeners will send 320 million pounds of plastic pots to the landfill this year."

quote from Bonnie Plants, June 27, 2008

Fifteen years ago I happened to mention to a local grower (soon to become a competitor) that I was not going to grow in pots. No! (shock registered) I was going to do a better quality of plant production and grow in the ground(gasp!). Talk about shock factor, the man was aghast at my stupidity.

"You'll never sell a thing," he stated haughtily. "Its all about container growing, thats the way things are done in the modern nursery industry."

Yes, I grew in pots when I was in the nursery business. I tried some ground growing in the old horse paddock. Why do horses NOT digest the seeds of the weeds? Maybe someday I will be able to ask the force behind the invention of the horse as to why their digestive systems were not created correctly ... why is the nitrogen availability not up to par for using as a fertilizer without 50 years of composting? Needless to say, we couldn't weed fast enough or long enough to keep that mess under control.

Point taken, Patrick the hoighty toighty one. I grew in pots. Many nurseries - trees, shrubs and perennial growers, take an unsold plant that has outgrown it's current pot size and repot it 2 sizes up to grow on for a bigger ticket item. This is to be expected in reality. The problem is that they throw away the original, smaller sized pot turning it into trash headed for the landfill if they can. The reasoning behind this is to ward of the spread of disease in the nursery or greenhouse. Landscape companies are just as guilty, if not more so. Many contractors don't want all that dead plastic cluttering up their company yard and the pots are deposited in the nearest hidden dumpster. How do I know this? A bunch of birds told me.

The plastics that nursery containers are made of are not recyclable. I didn't invent this system, I even tried to emphatically buck their neat little easy-to-carry-home-cleanly marketing plot, and lost thanks to horse's digestive systems. While I was aware of the damages from the salt in horse urine to annual bedding plants (a.k.a begonias, marigolds and impatiens, etc.) I was not expecting all them dang weeds in my phlox production area! Had I been wise to the weed corruption, I would have potted the darn things! Loosing 300 out of 500 plants is mighty expensive.

In retrospect, I lost most of the plants to the dad-gummit weed population. No one wants to pay the added cost of hand weeding that is a necessary evil of in-ground growing. Which is why field grown perennials are a dinosaur manufacturing method, not to mention the fact that trying to recoup the cost of labor to harvest in a Walmart world is just not going to happen.

The landscape and nursery trades are known as the "green industries" though that does not necessarily mean that the participating contracting companies and specialty farmers are embracing green living. Market growers are not going to use all that plastic if they are going to embrace a green culture in the green industries. (How's that for sarcasm?) Coming from that arena personally, I can vouch for a number I knew personally downgrading me as a "dam tree-hugger". Hmm, shady thing for a man who makes his living off of trees to say to moi who promotes perennials don't you think? I would look more like a flower-hugger if you were to give me an embracing label. Seriously though, shouldn't a business owner literally embrace the reason there is food on his table? Myself, I didn't even grow trees and I was embracing the dang things!

To promote a more green living kind of gardening, I suggest that you all boycott any grower who is not supporting that which he earns a living off of. If they cannot grow in peat or fiber pots, then why would you want to promote non-green agriculture, let alone gardening? Gardens are the most green kind of landscaping on the planet, so why are we producing all this poisonous landfill accumulation in the pursuit of being green? Perhaps it is time for recyclable nursery containers. It makes much more sense just to use the fiber pots. You don't even have to remove the plant, the container will completely return to dirt in less than a calendar year.

A grower who recycles nursery containers does have his own issues as well. They have a tendency to multiply like butter tubs to the fifth power. My own barn was so packed with the recycled pots they were almost spilling out the doors. Granted, plants that go unsold on the first potting do require larger pants if they are going to be sold in the next go round a few weeks later. Unfortunately, storing multiple pant sizes for thousands of plants is a bit space consuming. But you see this is the problem - in a nutshell.

If the green industry cannot promote green living then should all the players be allowed to state they are in the green industry? Doesn't make a lot of sense does it? Gardeners need to make a statement to the growers in this country. Homeowners really should fall in behind gardeners in demanding that the green industries promote green living. IF you are going to be green, then please for Pete's sake ... BE GREEN! If not get out of the way before the green people run you all over.

'Nuff said for today. Enjoy the sunshine ;O) G.G.

Tale of the Lilies

Image credit: Used under permission of GNU license

My dear friend Kelly, the marketing executive, built a fabulous house around the corner from me. As life has a way of doing to us all, half way through the construction phase, she lost her 6 figure a year job due to aggressive takeover when the original owner died. Instead of being able to plant the wonderful gardens that were part of her vision, she was reduced to scrounging sale tables and getting very crafty at how she obtained plants for her yard. Being artistic, she loves beautiful plants even though she has no idea what half of them are. For this technical stuff, she has moi as her personal gardening consultant.


Since we live in the middle of nowhere, there are countless sources for obtaining free plants if you get a hankering for something that grows wild along the fields and ditches. One day she was driving toward town and came to a screeching stop when a the quarter mile stretch of flamboyant tiger lilies blooming like mad along on the roadside came into view. She spun her Jag around and made a beeline for a sheet and her shovel. An hour later her trunk was packed to the gills with free plants and she was off to put something into the some bare areas in her vast vacant beds. The lilies thrived beyond their wildest dreams after she fertilized them and poured water on them daily. Kelly was ecstatic about the success of her ditch digging adventure.


A very talented hairstylist, she put herself through design school by doing hair. Kelly has a salon in her basement that women from miles around discovered and frequent no longer venturing to those higher priced shops in town. This is how she survived her job loss. One wintry day she was chatting with Lisa, while perming her hair, about her interest in gardening. Lisa invited her to join the garden club in town and Kelly jumped at the chance to meet more local women who liked pretty plants. Not only did the salon's business double, but Kelly got to see everyone else's gardens and landscaping.

When the wild daylilies were in full bloom again, Lisa came in for a highlighting touch up. When they walked out to the car together Lisa was admiring a hosta flourishing beside the deck steps. Kelly proudly pointed out her passel of orange lilies across the walk.


"Why those are JUST ditch lilies!" Lisa haughtily exclaimed. Though she didn't say anything in reply and changed the subject, Kelly was fuming inside. Trust me, I heard all about it after dinner. The politics of this particular small town garden club became fodder for our entertainment for years to come. Though I had several times been a featured speaker, I did not have time to join and attend meetings. Time went by and the ditch lily incident was forgotten - once the initial telephone line buzzing slacked off. Kelly weathered the several snide comments overheard at monthly gatherings before winter set in.


The following summer, Lisa arrived for a cut and style while the lowly, undesirable "ditch lilies" were in full bloom. When her designer clogs hit the bottom stair at the entrance of the salon area. She found Kelly around the stair wall cleaning the sink from her just departed client's dye residue. At that precise moment history was made...


"You daylilies are just gorgeous! Were they expensive? That color would be the jazziest accent to my Bloodgood Maple! Where did you get them?" Lisa always talks like that, never letting a person get a word in until she is done with solo act. It is amazing what some good fertilizer and consistent watering can do to a plant that is used to fending for itself! .... And thats the rest of the rest of the story.

Blue Suede Blooms

Well … it’s one for the shade, two for the show, three to get ready - now blow wind, blow …
But don’t you step on my big blue blooms! Winter can do anything – but lay offa my true blue blooms. (Could Elvis have written it better?) If ever there was a group of plants that can rock your garden, it has to be Hydrangeas. The clouds of huge brilliant blooms are just wonderful.

A few years ago northern gardeners thought they found heaven when The Original Endless Summer™ Hydrangea came onto the market. Finally, a plant that guaranteed enjoyment of those gorgeous blue blooms no matter how what the weather did over the cold seasons. Gone were the days of having to erect a cage to hold insulation just to revel in the glory that only a Mophead Hydrangea can bestow upon a garden.

Endless Summer definitely has a whole lotta blue-min’ goin’ on. No disappointment here, the color just continues popping out until frost. Warmer climate gardeners are just as in love with the plant where the season is even longer. All Hydrangeas have fabulous flowers that change constantly from the time they open until they dry on the shrub. At some points in the color show, there are a few that do not look real due to the fantastic hues and gradient tones that appear on the petals. Reblooming Hydrangeas are not really new; it is a trait that a mere few in this vast family of shrubs have that has not been widely known past the small circles of Hydrangea collectors and breeders for decades.

Ball-shaped (Mopheads) is the most commonly known division of the Hydrangea species. These are the big leaf Hydrangeas or French Hydrangeas; to state it properly they are Hydrangea macrophylla (macro means ‘large’ – phylla means ‘leaves’). The few plants that repeatedly bloom on new growth (or “new wood”) were not produced on a large scale until recently. This new sensation started when one nursery employee’s interest in what he saw as an unusual occurrence with a neighbor’s shrub … it kept putting out new blooms until frost. In Minnesota, this is nothing short of miraculous! The cuttings obtained from this uncommon plant were placed into the test gardens of Bailey Nurseries and remained there under observation for years. It wasn’t until Dr. Dirr (a knowledgeable plantsman of great renown) happened to witness it that the Endless Summer brand was born. Thankfully, this tremendous garden flower power is no longer just lolling about in a test garden. Once he began chatting enthusiastically with fellow plantsmen, he discovered that some people knew about other obscure forms of Hydrangeas that also bloomed on new and old wood.

This historical journey is long past due! So, how many of them are there and what colors do they come in? Well, pinks and blues, white and even a red one. Another line of reblooming hydrangeas includes beautiful newcomers developed by a Japanese breeder (and rock guitarist) named Ryoji Irie of Japan. His double flowering Together and Double Pink selections are extremely yummy. These are marketed under the brand Forever and Ever® along with two bred by Darwin Plants. A new dwarf blue, Mini Penny from the Gardener’s Confidence Collection, marketed under the Royal Majestics™ series. Dr. Michael Dirr is the breeder of Blushing Bride and Mini Penny.

New named varieties of Hydrangeas that rebloom on new growth are listed below. The link will take you to a full information page.

Endless Summer® 'The Original' Hydrangea

Endless Summer® 'Blushing Bride' Hydrangea

Forever and Ever® Together Hydrangea

Forever and Ever® Double Pink Hydrangea

Forever and Ever 'Blue Heaven'™ Hydrangea

Forever and Ever® Original Hydrangea

Forever and Ever® 'Peppermint' Hydrangea

Forever and Ever® 'Red' Hydrangea

Mini Penny™ Hydrangea

Old varieties of reblooming mophead Hydrangea are harder to find but worth looking for. Try searching at specialty Hydrangea nurseries for the below named varieties. The links will lead you to photos and growing information.

David Ramsey Hydrangea, page 2

Penny Mac Hydrangea, page 2

Oak Hill Hydrangea, page 2

Decatur Blue Hydrangea, page 2

All Summer Beauty Hydrangea, page 2

Dooley Hydrangea, page 2

For those of you that are drawn to Lacecap Hydrangeas (Hydrangea serrata) there are two older varieties of this family that also rebloom. These are sometimes referred to as Mountain Hydrangeas. The first set of flowers open in early summer, followed with a new flush In September. Click on the links for photos and growing information.

Blue Deckle Hydrangea

Coerulea Lace Hydrangea, page 2

Watching Flowers Grow

Look what I stumbled across in my travels. None of us have time to actually sit and watch a bud actually open. It happens so slowly we can't just site there and watch for 24 or 48 hours. But here you can watch the miracle of fat colorful buds breaking forth into full bloom in a matter of a minute or two. Its amazing that some of them do it slowly like a dance and others just pop open.

GROWING FLOWERS

G.G.

Best Garden Gnome Yet

A real live gnome living in a city garden? You are about to see him tell his story in person. I just know you are going to love this! Live from Garden Girl TV.........



Visit Garden Girl TV for more of her entertaining and high informative videos about sustainable living in the big city. She is not only engaging but pretty darn smart. Way to go Patti ;O)

Dusky Haze

Colors in the garden are so surreal when the sun rides low on the western horizon. Dusk is the most magical time to wander amidst the flowers. Each blossom seems to glow as if it were lit from within. The hues witnessed in the soft changing light are far more beautiful than the same flowers looked just an hour earlier.

Over the years, I have wasted countless rolls of film attempting to record the moments. Most likely one needs a special lense to accomplish this feat. It seems so bright to the human eye, yet the camera is incapable of the same sight. Makes one sad that the camera has missed it and the mystical evening garden cannot be shared unless you are lucky enough to be physically in the scene.

Occasionally, there was one frame that rendered a murky, yet captivating frozen moment like the one above. It is more like a painting than a photograph with nary a flower to be found. I highly doubt this is what my naked saw when the scene was shot. Photos are wonderful, but they lack the depth of reality in so many ways.

Having been transplanted from the north to the south, I am amazed to find that there are only seconds of dusk 1000 miles lower. Where does it go too? The sun hits the far horizon at the same time of day, yet it is dark within minutes. Pitch black here and in the same moment so far to the north people are still mowing their grass and enjoying the cooler time of day to waltz about the yard. Dark descends differently the farther you travel away from the North Pole.

A Gardening Hobby?

Obviously, the person(s) who arrived at this notion were not gardeners! I wonder if they also felt that parenthood was a past time too. Is being an accomplished cellist also considered a hobby? A hobby would be building tiny ship models inside a bottle or creating airplane out of beer cans. A hobby is something that is inanimate, a past time you could put away and pay no attention to for weeks or months on end.

Gardening is done in the soil. It is the daily care and life support of living things that are literally stuck in the mud. Gardening is sweating and getting dirty. It is feeding hundreds, even thousands of thirsty or hungry souls whatever and whenever they require it. Gardening is like being the conductor of the most beautiful orchestra anywhere.

Gardening is a lifestyle. A passion that creates an entirely unique world where ever the bug takes root. You cannot be a part-time gardener; if you try that you will quickly be without a garden. Anyone with any understanding of what is entailed in gardening would never be so silly as to call it a hobby. A hobby does not require one to learn so many things of widely varying subjects in order to succeed. A hobby comes with simple to follow instructions, not vague signals one must interpret without so much as a word in print or spoken.

True gardening is rewarding on a level that I just cannot see being compared to the thrill of say creating a picture from little stitches in fabric. Once done it is framed, hung on the wall or laid across the bed and never changes at all and so becomes static - a predictable never wavering thing that becomes unnoticeable. One could never say anything remotely like this about a garden. It is not the same for more than two days in a row! Gardens constantly change and never seem to lack something new and captivating. I mean when was the last time you felt the magic of a cross-stitch kit overwhelm you completely?

You really shouldn't dine on a hobby, unless it is baking sumptuous cookies. Plastic and glue are said to not be good for your health. Yet a garden can sustain your heart, mind, soul and erase hunger pangs all from one small piece of earth. There is more good packed into a garden than any other place of equal size found anywhere else. Gardens are a place to find healing, peace, love and charity growing so comfortably beside obsession. None of this is found in an airplane fashioned from empty beer cans!

Get down and dirty gardeners are guilty of allowing their passion to spill over into containers. Potted extensions of the soiled world will litter the cleaner outdoor spaces connected to and adjacent from their house. They would not settle for one or two vessels crammed with 20 different plants all fighting over food, foot space and air to breathe. Though this would be the only time they would consider growing a new adoptee in something other that real gritty dirt. Bonafide gardeners start their seeds and cuttings on the deck, front porch and patio ... anywhere they can keep a close eye on and protect from the elements those small and helpless things they are patiently raising to a point they can survive out there in the jungle of planting beds.

How can we define a hobby gardener? After giving this a bit of thought I have the answer to this misconception at labeling. A hobby gardener grows only in containers. Container gardening compared to digging in the dirt and pulling weeds on your day off while fending off Mother Nature's latest twist in your plot ... is NOT gardening. Container gardening is far too controlled and contrived to be truly called gardening.

While I realize that a huge number of people would not be able to enjoy the beauty and miracle of growing live plants without this container method, it really is nothing like gardening and should not be lumped into the same division as naturally dirt grown beauty or food. Two sets of rules govern each of these divisions until you come to pests and diseases, that unfortunately remains the same. One can not enjoy dinner inside a container, yet one can turn a garden into their own little outdoor world.

In conclusion, there is no such thing as a hobby in gardening, unless you have thrown in the trowel over the latest lesson in defeat. Gardening is more like being in charge of a wild little orphanage, though you personally have fallen in love with each being in residence and carted it home to watch it become so much more. Someone really needs to print a lot of retractions before more of the world at large is so grossly misinformed too far into the future. Though instinct tells me they get away with this labeling it a hobby because trying to make a living from growing plants has become almost impossible in today's retail environment. Though if you honestly consider the realities, a garden never was, nor never could be just a hobby.

G.G.

You know, it's great to see you here! So glad you came by.
Sure would be nice if you could help a poor girl buy one more plant.

Yard Bling

Yard bling is the new term for curb appeal. Why pimp out the house if the framing view is dull and lifeless? For those of you who cannot draw, they have that digital imaging software that you can change the look of your house and then add plants easy as one-two-three. Since I enjoy drawing, I prefer to put my vision on old fashioned paper in full color.

This folk art style rendering of a mid-winter weekend's yearning for spring flowers was only the start. On the bling factor it scored rather high. The gardens were far more lush and extensive than the original vision or the paper it was drawn on. It held all the bling I could find.

The only thing standing between you and a gorgeous garden in your very own yard is imagination. Once you get that vision cooking, start researching ornamental plants online and keeping a file of pages so you can go back easily to review. Make double sure that you only gather perennials and woody plants that will do well in your yard's growing conditions. Then work a bit more on enlarging your plantings each year.

Remember that a garden is a treasure that you will build on for the rest of your life. Never think that a fabulous garden is built in one day, that will never happen. Just keep collecting new bling for your garden. One day it will be so beautiful that you too will become the envy of your neighborhood.

G.G.

Poppies, Irise and Ice Plant

Here's another section of that roadside botanical wonder from yesterday's post. This photo was shot the same day as the first, the breeze has let up in this one. Just look at those marvelous purple Poppies (Papaver)! I didn't realize they came in this color until I saw these up close. That poppy color is really set off with the vast clump of cobalt blue Iris in the background.

Japanese Iris (I. ensata) are just awesome in full bloom. A rugged garden rhizome that has been a gardener's favorite for a very long time. Most Iris need full sun to perform well, Iris ensata will flower quite nicely in a pretty shady situation. Notice the other poppies in the background - a lovely bubblegum pink on such nice tall stems. One day I shall have to meet this woman and find out exactly what poppy variety she has planted in here.

In the foreground is the powerful blooming Ice Plant (Delosperma cooperi) which is an evergreen mat forming plant in zone 7 and south. North of there it is a drought tolerant
beauty that can establish itself to an impressive four foot wide mass. Blooming in blued pink that leans toward lavender from one end of the season to the other. This under used plant really should be taken notice by home gardeners more often.

G.G.

Hot Caladium Coolers

The calming green foliage textures and tones found in a shady garden is refreshing and emits a cooler feeling on a hot summer day. Putting vivid color in a shaded planting is made more outstanding when you add some clumps Fancy Leaf Caladium.

You can choose from huge leaves available in a rainbow of reds, pinks and white patterns with a little green thrown in to set off their tantalizing tropical personalities. They work great in a container too for some impressive mood setting on cool, breezy covered porch. Do make sure to give them a big enough pot to keep their roots cool as late summer temperatures climb. They also will need adequate moisture to stave afternoon wilt. It would be best to try at least an 18" pot with good moisture holding media such as MiracleGro Moisture Control potting mix.

For shorter clumps of sizzling color amidst the hostas and ferns, check out the Dwarf Caladium varieties. These would make better small container and mixed container garden dwellers. The full impact of gorgeous Caladium is best enjoyed when it has room to grow full and lush. They do bloom in white, the shape of which always reminds me of a snake charmer's cobra. The flowers are interesting but the leaves steal the stage.

Coneflower Craze

Beware of the Invasion of Alien Echinacea! Whatever happened to the quiet comfort of cheerful and expected white and mauve wafting about in the mid-summer breeze? Is there an end to this flurry of fresh new faces? Most likely not until they run out of crosses to try out.

I for one never expected so many new and exciting things happening to calm, sedate meadow flowers. Yet there they are parading about in colors that echo the Summer Sky. Can we live without getting at least one of each to gaze upon? I venture that it will be hard for all those who just do not like Coneflowers. Really that is okay, there will be a few more available if you want two of that cultivar in your garden.

Purple, White, Red, Pink, Orange, Magenta, Yellow and combinations of these should be planted in waves along with Daisy and Black Eyed Susan where your lawn used to be. Gas is far too expensive to be mowing a boring expanse of grass! Take it out and plant a meadow that will change every few weeks. It is more earth friendly and will also save some cost on your water bill.