Go Green? Rainbow is Better!

Easy Meadow Mix Early
(Image copyright Tammy Clayton 2003)

I always thought that a meadow planted with waves of different blooming perennials would be lovely. That is how Mother Nature clothes the Earth … in sweeps and drifts that grow and spread in the directions the wind and rain sends them. Never in a matched size row, more of a free-formed waft with the older tallest members toward the center and the height diminishes with the youngest beings at the ends. Just like the ocean, where waves rise and fall, a meadow will have high points and low points and change constantly over the days of summer.

One fall, I decided to feed the birds by not deadheading, as I normally would have. The result of this was the discovery of three common garden plants that would lend themselves perfectly to this kind of planting. This created a living bouquet that changed color and shape with the turning of the summer weeks. Left unchecked, the entire area became the most vibrant tangle of bloom power.

The combination of tall Daisies, Purple Coneflower, and Black-eyed Susan will bring a pleasant view from early summer into fall. The daisies start blooming first in late May to early June, depending on your growing zone. Crisp white then intertwines with purple as the Coneflowers begin blooming a few weeks later. When the daisies finish the early flowering period, sunny Black-eyed Susan begins mingling their bold faces with the purple of the Coneflowers. When does the show stop? Black-eyed Susan (also known as Brown Betty) will throw color into early fall. All of these will happily dwell in full sun and low to moderate moisture situations. Many times, the Daisies will put forth a light second bloom in early fall when the weather cools off. This gift will dust the golden Black-eyed Susan display with a smattering of cooling white.

Easy Meadow Mix Late
(Image copyright Tammy Clayton 2004)

All three of these long blooming, hardworking timeless perennials will work well in a rather dry situation once established. These lovely garden staple plants will freely self-sow freely, allowing the planting to thicken and naturalize your wave patterns by blurring the edges over time. These three long blooming meadow dwellers are perennial plants. But why stop here? There are more choices to be had at the candy store!

The addition of spring color would be most welcome to this simple planting scheme. I would use annual wildflower Red Poppies for this early session of flowering, the most beautiful of all wildflowers. This particular poppy variety is sometimes called “Shirley Poppy” or “Flanders Poppy” which is why the American Legion hands them out by the millions near Memorial Day. The appearance of the Red Poppy will be one you will look forward to as each winter ends. These will fade completely from view once the rest of the plants start their seasonal display. Poppies prefer dry feet and bright sunny exposure to perform at their best.

There are many other wildflower plants, both annual and perennial, that will put forth their loveliest face in a meadow planting where little maintenance and low to average water is required. As to how many times a year you need to mow your meadow? Is one time a year an acceptable amount of times to have to perform this chore? In the late fall, after the first frost, you will want to mow to disperse the seeds for next years meadow make-over as well as clean up the brushy appearance that will remain when nature goes to sleep.

What will be there over the cold season? Sweet memories of summer, a treasure that the future holds and will repeat. If everything were constantly in plain sight, what would you have to anticipate? The magic of flowers would dim swiftly if they were always there and never changing. Like beloved old friends, one looks forward to their yearly visit with much excitement. Some of them stay a day or two, others my actually drop by for a couple of weeks once a year. Some will visit a couple of times a year with a spell of absence between. No matter how fleeting their visit, it is something we relish and look forward to repeating for years on end.

A Convenient Truth

As a freelance content writer, I do get to cover some really interesting subjects. I do catalog descriptions for two mail-order nurseries. One of them had me write a newsletter on Paulownia elongata recently.

Now, I have to say that I have been aware of this tree for a very long time. I remember junk snail mail received some 20 years ago or more offering this tree at ridiculous low prices. I never thought it to be worth any thought or attention because the ads never showed a photo of a real tree. It was always some poorly rendered color drawing showing the thing covered with bright blue flowers. Totally unrealistic from the word go.

Several years ago, one of my favorite local customers was convinced he needed one of these Royal Princess trees. Since Rich and I had a mutually familiar rapport when he visited, I told him it was a bunch of bunk. Rich always called or popped in to ask my opinion on the latest miracle offer. Secretly I learned that he was not allowed to spend anymore money on these expensive hoaxes without first consulting my advice. So Rich never got his miraculous bright blue flowering tree. Its probably best, as it would not have survived some of those bitter Michigan winters out there in open farmland.

I was correct in my assumption that the artistic blue flowers were a lie. Yet I have discovered that not only are the flowers huge and beautiful in lavender for spring ... the tree is actually in possession of huge earth friendly benefits. It is hardy in zones 5-11 and a tree that should be planted in every community. The following facts and true and undeniably heavy on supporting the green movement.

It takes decades for hardwood shade trees to grow to a size that they give valuable relief from the sun's heat. Royal Princess trees attain such a size in less than 10 years. This by itself is a benefit worth it's weight in gold. Did you know that new homes without the benefit of mature trees to block out the sun and offer wind protection in the winter actually cost about 25% more for energy? Normal energy bills in older homes with large trees around it typically have that much of a reduction in power bills.

Paulownia elongata image published under GNU Free Documentation License

The huge leaves on the Royal Princess tree have proven to actually clean toxic pollutants and produce pure oxygen 10 time faster than any other tree. Like why is this lovely specimen not populating urban communities? It gets even better, the roots have been proven to filter all toxins from the soil they reside in. The tree grows very rapidly and offers impressive erosion control which dramatically cuts down on loss of invaluable topsoil.

The Paulownia tree produces knot free lumber in a span of 3 to 4 years. It is a light colored hardwood that is very in demand for furniture in Japan and is stronger than Basswood. Get this - it is the most sustainable tree on the planet for lumber and paper pulp. Once the tree is harvested, instead of a dead stump remaining, it actually rapidly reproduces a new trunk from the same roots. Can you grasp the meaning of this?

Paper and lumber industries have stripped millions of acres of mature forests from the face of our planet, leaving huge vacancies in the natural system that kept Earth temperatures cooler and our air more rapidly filtered. Developers of cities and suburbia leveled forested areas of vast dimensions. Urban metropolises are even more damaging from mass expansions of concrete and asphalt, buildings and concentrations of humans and vehicles making the heat index soar. Yet if these vast stripped areas around the globe were replanted with Royal Princess trees, they would repair the damage and provide a rapidly renewable source of materials we consume at such rapid rates.

The Paulownia elongata though valuable for it regal beauty, scented blooms and its attraction of flocks of birds and butterflies is the boon of so many benefits that are not yet widely known. It is easy to grow,drought tolerant as well as highly adaptable to soil types and climate differences. The leaves provide super nutrient rich compost too. All in all, the Royal Princess tree is a very convenient truth that should be put to use as a very green living element for sustainable living and an aid to the earth's environment.

A Small Voice

Just one small voice, can you hear her? So much anguish and even heartbreak colors the tone. A mother robbed of her children and her home. Men with no hearts or feelings have plundered, oh so joyous in the spoils of their deeds. It mattered not that they had murdered so many of her beloved. The entire kingdom as it was known, is either in flames or completely obliterated. Never again will she be able to feed or give comfort or bring joy to her beloved family.

In vain, she repeatedly warned them, yet they paid her voice no notice. She raised them to understand they must never allow any harm befall a one of their treasures. Given them the instinct to protect each other and yet in the end her entire life's work was for nothing. It has all been laid to waste, her creatures and beasts of burden lie lifeless and the ugliness of greed wafts heavily like an unbearable stench. The anguish cannot ever be erased, the outcome is what shall always remain. No hope, no plan for the future, she has nothing now but a void that will stretch on for the rest of her days.

Are you saddened by her tears? Do you sympathize with her, feel the need to comfort her over your loss? Yes, your loss - for you are one of those that she has lost. You and the brotherhood of men, every bird she set to flight in the sky, each beautiful mammal lovingly placed upon the soil, all the fishes that swam through her waters and the magnificent beauty of flora that once carpeted the planet and created air for all of her children to thrive. Mother Nature does exist, she who brings life to everything on Earth with a finely woven tapestry of skill and innovation mere man could never mimic. Yet man is so egotistical that he attempts to make a better world than hers. Man was created by nature and cannot ever be nature. To continue to attempt to do so is to dig all or our graves.

You who have all become so specialized in industry that, that place so far removed from the soil. Lowly earth, your true source of sustenance and yet you cannot comprehend nor care to hear the messages. She is not amazed - it is not what you know any longer. The mechanisms and livelihoods of everything in the natural world is something you have schooled yourself to not be able to fathom. If you did understand Earth and Nature would not be in the state of abuse that they are. Natural resources belong to every living thing on earth, not to one group of humans, nor to one man. Without them being there as resources, nature will sicken and die. Without nature, there will be no life on earth. It's a circle, not an oblong. There is no Fix-A-Flat. Just one crack in the circle and that's it dude, all life is toast.

It isn't like there is another one somewhere. You can't mold one out of resin. Of all the things that could ever be broken, this will be the greatest faux pas of all time - anywhere in the solar system. The most deplorable point about all of this? It is not yours to destroy. Not yours, ours, his or theirs.

Perhaps you will understand with your last remaining breath. Perhaps not even then. After all, it would be highly inconvenient, completely non-cost effective and definitely frowned upon by those whose climb to the top you so emphatically seek to mimic. Mere man hath no power whatsoever when faced by an all consuming wrath of Nature.

More horrifying than anything the world has seen before, and yet it is a most inconvenient truth.

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.

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