Of robins and roses...

I have misplaced my camera's USB cord.  As such, I do not have any pictures to share--BUT, take my word for it:  the past two weeks have been beautiful at my house!  The roses have been relatively early but have not skimped on beauty or fragrance.  The relatively moist (but not wet) and cool (i.e. seasonable!!!) weather as of late has been quite kind to the rose blooms.  Getting out of bed early, taking a stroll outside when most of the world is fast asleep, and subsequently being greeted by singing robins and the perfumes of rose, honeysuckle, and peony is a special experience.  Over the years, gardening has taught me of the intrinsic beauty of this spectacular planet.  While something such as a Caribbean isle or Italian vineyard are obviously stunning, the world is beautiful seemingly everywhere:  you just have to slow down and notice.  Ya know, the simple things.  Like robins and roses.  Far too many people seem too busy in their too 21st century lives to notice robins and roses.  A wise person once said to my mom that "I have an old soul."  Thankfully.

Over the past few weeks, my garden has witnessed and/or is currently seeing the blooms of columbine, weigela, spiderwort, rose, magnolia, iris, peony, azalea, and strawberry.  Last week (and this weekend and next weekend) we have been planting our usual crop of annuals:  impatiens, marigolds, vinca, geraniums, petunias, and begonias plus some interesting oddities for containers and window boxes such as wandflower, double impatiens, white euphorbia, licorice vine, sweet potato vine, trailing vinca, and a gamut of coleus plants.  Again, when I find this wire I will show you what I am talking about.

The real show however...well, it is just around the corner.  Typically, our yard "peaks" around the summer solstice (third week of June) which coincides with the blooms of some of my all-time favorite plants such as hydrangea, oriental lily, liatris, Leucanthemum daisy, loosestrife, daylily, and echinacea.  This year however, I am expecting peak to occur right around June 1st.  As long as we get good amounts of rain through the month of June, these beautiful plants will hopefully still be chugging along by the Fourth of July which has always been one of my top landscaping goals since it is my favorite holiday.  The 2012 hydrangea crop is going to be strong for most of my 30+ hydrangeas, but especially so for my new oakleaf  'Snow Queen', my 12 specimens of Hydrangea arborescens 'Annabelle' and my Hydrangea macrophylla 'Peppermint' mophead and 'Nachtigall' lacecap:  all of which are showing signs of an above-average year for flowering.  Thank you mild winter!

So until I find my USB wire, I encourage you to do the following things:

1) buy hydrangeas, as always
2) buy more hydrangeas
3) buy Hydrangeas:  Cape Cod and the Islands which is my new #1 favorite book
           --buy the book and find my review here:  http://www.amazon.com/Hydrangeas-Cape-Islands-Joan-Harrison/dp/0764340557/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336952482&sr=8-1
3) find the robins and roses in your life and take the time to heed their calls (and perfumes!)

It's been 11 months and I am READY...are you?

Gardening Books!

I am an avid reader of all sorts.  Generally speaking, my leisure time can usually be described by one of a few things:  gardening, swimming, sailing, running, driving my car on curving country roads, or reading--or maybe some combination thereof!  Minus the driving on winding roads.  That could prove dangerous while reading or swimming.  However, I have been known to take random trips around town to admire flowers, trees, etc. (especially in the spring and fall when nature is at it's most photogenic).  Anyway, I digress....

This post is about gardening-related books.  I have an ever-expanding library of books that is threatening to consume my bedroom, a portion of our living room, and one whole wall of our garage.  I am primarily a non-fiction, "real world" kind of guy and this is reflected in my endless bounty of books on the subjects of science and medicine, history, aviation, architecture, gardening, and travel (I especially enjoy "photographic essays" as souvenirs from vacations, visits, and also the places where I have lived or my family members have lived).  But when push comes to shove, few things are as enjoyable and uplifting on a dreary, cloudy day as reading a book about gardening!

What are some of your favorite gardening books?  My birthday is coming up in July and I usually put a few books on my wish list.  Hydrangeas:  Cape Cod and the Islands, which I have waited months for, is in the process of being shipped to my house as I pen this (the weekend cannot come fast enough).  I am fully expecting it to become one of my most cherished possessions.  Here are a few others I am hoping to acquire soon:

I love lavender.  What a great plant to grow and to use!  Lavender is somewhat of a new interest for me and I have become fascinated by its various uses around the house.  Like roses and tulips, lavender is one of the few plants capable of conjuring strong emotion in people who have never grown a single plant in their life.  Thankfully, I am not a member of that camp so I can say lavender conjures even stronger emotion for me since I actually grow it!!!  The fragrance of the plant is simply unequaled.  I stumbled across this book the other day in the library and decided that I must have it.  This book is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and others.  This is one of the pre-eminent lavender texts and should be easy to find.

Now this is quite the book.  In fact, this might be the most comprehensive and overwhelming gardening book I have ever held in my two hands (cough....struggled to hold in my hands--beware if you have weak arm muscles).  I have several varieties of roses, encompassing a few species, but I am not what one might call a "rosarian."  But I aspire to be. Therefore, Botanica's Encyclopedia of Roses makes my wish list.

This is an area of growing interest for me.  Growing plants for food is one of life's finest pleasures, in my opinion.  Few experiences match the satisfaction of biting into a juicy tomato, strawberry, or watermelon that you grew from Day One.  The idea of integrating "edibles" into the overall landscaping presentation is a decidedly foreign-one here in the United States.  The stereotypical edible garden is one that is removed, hidden, and, to use a strong adjective,"sterilized" in its very own corner of the yard.  But the problem is that it isn't a stereotype.  It's an archetype.  One that should really change!  As the cover of this book so lusciously illustrates, a fruit-vegetable-herb garden can not only be highly useful, but also downright alluring from an aesthetic point-of-view.   

Available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and others.  Gertrude Jekyll is possibly the most acclaimed English garden designer of the post-Victorian era known today as the "Arts-and-Crafts" movement where houses (and landscapes!) took a turn away from ornate formality towards more "organic" and low-key manifestations.  Isn't that cover tantalizing?  I swear, after hydrangeas, climbing roses are my other Achilles heel.

UC Garden Club @ Clifton Community Garden

I am the president of the University of Cincinnati Garden Club and I am truly thrilled to say now we have a place to call home and an asset that will be the pride of our club for years to come!  Just north of campus there is a small but exciting "neighborhood garden" called the Clifton Community Garden which is an affiliate of Cincinnati's esteemed Civic Garden Center.  After months of waiting and weeks of planning, the plants are finally in the ground!  Sunny, mid-80 degree weather and slightly moist, workable soil made it an enjoyable task for everyone involved.  Check out some of the pictures below--enjoy!

Pre-planting, post-weeding

Planting the edible bed

Planting the edible bed

Finished!  Tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, rosemary, cilantro, chives, and basil

Blue salvia, yellowleaf spirea, yellow French marigolds, and "The Original" red Knock Out rose

Ornamental bed along Dixmyth Avenue, Clifton, Cincinnati

View from behind

Close-up

The pepper section

The tomato corner

Window boxes

Most of my friends know of my great admiration of the Europeans and their great zeal for gardening.  I am the president of a college garden club and in our meetings I feel like I am always making references to one of two things:  a.) hydrangeas, or b.) Europeans!  Thankfully I have a good deal of English and Dutch blood so my green thumb is more like a green hand!

For several years I wanted to become a residential architect.  I believe that my keen eye (and appreciation!) for aesthetics is derived from years and years of cultivating flowers.  Well let me just say that those Europeans know how to make a house look good!  Their windows, doors, trimwork, and their gardens are generally a bit more "refined" than the average American residence.  Even the smallest, dinkiest Euro cottage is likely to be significantly more attractive (one might say "charming") than the smallest, dinkiest American shack.  I think I know one of their secrets....

Enter my appreciation for window boxes.  I love the things.  So do those Old Worlders across the pond.

Exquisite.

Not only are they nice to look at and can they "soften" the facade of a house, but they are a cool way to maximize one's effective gardening space (which is certainly the primary reason why they are generally more prevalent in urban gardens in Paris, Rome, Berlin, others).  A few American cities are particularly noteworthy for beautiful window boxes, especially Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood (probably my favorite urban district in this country) and essentially anywhere in Charleston and Savannah, two of our most gorgeous American cities.

While we do not have bona-fide window boxes (i.e. underneath, well, windows) we do have window boxes along the railing of our backyard deck.  For a space such as a deck, it is a great idea to use plants that attract butterflies or hummingbirds.  Dinner is always fun when there's some entertainment, right?

One of the things that fascinates me most about container gardening (e.g. pots, boxes) is the infinite number of beautiful "recipes" as they are called.  Equally fascinating is the equally infinite number of bad ones.  If you have window boxes, what do you like to grow in them?  I try new combinations each year so please share any ideas or suggestions that you may have!  In the meantime, please enjoy the pictures below--they provide a snippet of the endless opportunities for window box gardening!

from 10 Best.com
(Acorn Street in Beacon Hill, possibly the most beautiful street in the US)

from This Old House

from TravelPod
(those Europeans strike again!)

Nothing shy of perfection!  This might be my favorite window box picture ever.

Extra stunning because of its simplicity!

from Lakeshore Images
(Nantucket)

  

The Arrival of Spring!

Our never-ending November has abruptly come to a close and I am happy to say that, in every sense of the word, spring is here.  As a gardener, the arrival of spring brings with it a mix of emotions and responsibilities.  The surge of excitement associated with flowering trees and bulbs is accompanied by things like weeding, mulching, amending, cleaning, pruning, and assessing any winter damages to shrubs and perennials.  Gleefully, I can say that my garden apparently suffered only one fatality over the past winter:  a small, young Stachys byzantia (lamb's ear) which honestly didn't look so hot last fall.  She can be replaced easily...

Like I mentioned before, spring brings gardeners a mix of emotions.  Well, this spring is 10x more emotional than any one before.  Never in my life have I seen lilacs blooming in March--nor do I want to ever again in my life.  Never before have I seen daffodil blooms killed by heat.  Never before have I witnessed all species of flowering trees blooming simultaneously--let alone in the last week of March.  While stunningly beautiful beyond compare, this early spring has me concerned for the months ahead.  So many plants are breaking-bud weeks earlier than they should and thus assume a good deal of risk for damage from April or May frosts, which believe me, are just as possible as the 86 degree weather of last week.  I am keeping my frost-shy Hydrangea macrophylla shrubs covered up for at least another week or two (I generally uncover between April 1 and April 15).  Heck, just the other day I cut my daylilies back to the ground because they were already as tall as they should be in mid-May!  Talk about a mix of emotions there!

A show of spring-flowering trees in my neighborhood:  L to R, Callery pear (white), magnolia (magenta), Callery pear (white), weeping cherry (white, center, behind pear tree), magnolia (magenta), and Callery pear at far right

Don't get me wrong, I love spring and I love summer even more so I relished in the 80 degree March weather.  Relished with a capital R.  I also relished the opportunity to get loads of yard work completed that I was unable to finish last fall due to time-constraints (read:  laziness).  A wise gardener once told me that the telltale sign of a "true" garden is one which is constantly changing, day to day, season to season, year to year.  Much in that same spirit, I spent many hours moving plants around my yard.  Honestly, most of my perennials and even a couple of my shrubs have been relocated once:  some twice, and some even three or four times.  Spring is generally an exceptional time to move plants around because rainfall + temperature + all of that winter-stored energy gives plants plenty of energy to "heal" from any over-stimulated shovels or spades.

While I normally do not do a whole lot of planting in March, this year was an exception since garden centers decided to open a few weeks early.  Early spring is also bare-root rose season which is always fun!  I was able to find several great deals, and make several great additions to my gardens over the past two week including:

• $0.38 daffodil and tulip bulbs at the Miamisburg Walmart store (I bought five daffies and four tulips:  two red-and-whites and two yellows)
• $2.50 bare-root roses at the Miamisburg Big Lots store (I snatched 'Blue Girl', a strongly fragrant, lavender-purple hybrid tea rose)
• $20 for well-budded, 3'-tall Magnolia x 'Jane' bushes at the Miamisburg Lowe's store (I bought two since magnolias are sentimental favorites of mine.  Also, magnolia bush flowers seem to withstand wind and rain better than those on magnolia trees).
• $9 for Grade #1 Knock Out roses at the Springboro Walmart store.  I've been shopping for plants all of my life and just like how some people can see the perfect shirt or pair-of-shoes from a mile away, I  have a sixth-sense for plants at garden nurseries.  Without knowing what I was doing, I RAN over to a bunch of roses and SCORE!  A 'Sunny Knock Out' (yellow)!  Just throw it in the bag...
• $6 for a 12" tall, healthy, very fragrant boxwood at the Miamisburg Lowe's store.  The aroma of boxwood is, pardon the pun, a perennial favorite.
• $10 for oversized pots from the West Carrollton Meijer store on Springboro Pike (steal of the century considering these things usually cost three or four times that amount).  These will become home to some new hydrangea shrubs to be purchased in a month or two....
• My favorite find:  $5 "florist" hydrangeas at the Miami Township Aldi store near the Dayton Mall.  Yes, you just read Aldi.  Florist hydrangeas are perfectly fine hydrangeas that have been "forced" to flower at a young age to be sold for Easter, Mother's Day, etc.  They require some extra TLC after being "forced", but will mature to become beautiful, garden shrubs like any other hydrangea.  I was ecstatic to find two very desirable varieties:  Hydrangea macrophlla 'Leuchtfeuer' (a pinkish red mophead) and macrophylla 'Blaumeise' (one of the choicest blue lacecap hydrangeas out there).  

Hydrangea macrophylla 'Blaumeise' bringing a taste of summer to my college dorm

In closing, I hope some of you were able to get out and do some gardening-related activities recently, whether in your own yard or maybe at a community garden or park.  It's garden time, people.

Daffodil blooms

Weeping cherry 'Snow Fountain'

Tulips and cherry blossoms

My new red-and-white tulips

My new yellow tulips

New daffodils in the sidewalk garden, cultivar:  'Tete-a-Tete', an old classic.  Other members of this bed:  Miscanthus sinensis 'Variegatus', purple barberry, Echinacea purpurea 'Pink Double Delight' and 'Tiki Torch'

Weeping cherry 'Snow Fountain'

Our toy poodle, Coral, modeling one of the two new 'Jane' magnolia bushes.  This one is planted next to our driveway and looks a little crooked because it's on a hill.

Hydrangeas: Cape Cod and the Islands

I have been meaning to write this for a few weeks so I am glad I am finally doing it!  A few months ago I learned about what will most-definitely become my new favorite book, Hydrangeas:  Cape Cod and the Islands.  For a hydrangea lover, and a Cape and Islands lover, this book is, as I told my mother:  "THE book that I would write if I were to ever become a writer."  Thankfully I am not pursuing a writing career or I would be toast at the age of 20 years old.

The cover has me salivating.....

The book is set to be released to the public (in other words, published) on April 28, 2012.  Written and photographed by Joan Harrison, the President of the Cape Cod Hydrangea Society (we have been in communication with each other for awhile now about all sorts of hydrangea stuff), this book will feature over 300 pictures of hydrangeas in myriad settings throughout the Cape Cod-Nantucket-Martha's Vineyard region:  in private gardens, public gardens, tucked-away corners, roadsides, waterfronts, and even in some Cape and Island weddings.

For the uninitiated, hydrangeas are essentially the unofficial flower of these Massachusetts coastal retreats.  For the arm, the boomerang, and the grapes--the hydrangea is akin to how maple trees or dandelions are to the rest of America; ingrained and integral to the landscape, almost as much as the dunes and lighthouses themselves.  Come July, these storybook coastal locales are literally bursting at the seams with beautiful hydrangea flowers at every sidewalk, patio, traffic light, golf course, bank, ferry terminal, and anywhere else with a spare patch of dirt.

The jaw-dropping "Hydrangea Walk" cottage on Shore Road in Chatham, perched at the Cape's elbow.
Memories on Clover Lane

I am most excited about having some of my very own handiwork featured in this book, including a project or two I worked with on The Faraway Island this past summer.

Needless to say, I eagerly await the opportunity to have so many memories spanning several summers rekindled on the pages of this very exciting, very unique book.  I am particularly enthused to see a multitude of photographs featuring the new CCHS-sponsored hydrangea collection at Heritage Gardens in Sandwich on the Upper Cape and, of course, the one-and-only Hydrangea Farm Nursery on Nantucket.

For those of you interested, the book is available via pre-order from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, etc.

The famous Knock Out roses

If you have ever walked into a plant nursery or the greenhouse section of Home Depot or Lowe's, you probably know about the famous Knock Out rose.  Released in the 1990s by the Conard-Pyle Co. and bred by renowned rose hybridizer William Radler, the Knock Out series of roses is, by a long mile, the most-commercially successful line of flowering plants in the history of the United States horticulture industry.  Millions of Knock Out roses are sold, planted, and admired each year.

Yours truly is one of the millions of gardeners who has come to appreciate the merits of the Knock Out roses.  For one, Knock Out roses are exceptional in their abilities to flower from May until Thanksgiving, essentially without interruption.  For an instant, high-impact dose of color that will return each year, Knock Outs are a hard lot to beat.  Unlike most other roses, Knock Outs are prized for their "iron-clad" disease resistance, relative drought tolerance, cold hardiness, and manageable size of approximately 4' x 4' at maturity.  If they have one fault, it is that they generally are lightly fragrant.  They also do not make great cut flowers since the blooms are, for the most part, smaller and less showy than your typical tea roses such as 'Chicago Peace' or 'John F. Kennedy'.

'The Original' Knock Out rose

Since the debut of the classic, red 'Original' Knock Out rose, the series has grown to encompass six other cultivars which give gardeners choices in terms of color and also, in certain cases, single vs. double blooms.  All cultivars exhibit the great flower power, excellent disease resistance, vigor, and cold hardiness found in 'The Original' red:

The 'Pink' Knock Out rose; image from Conard-Pyle Co.

The 'Sunny' Knock Out rose; image from Conard-Pyle Co.

The 'Double' Knock Out rose; image from Conard-Pyle Co.

The 'Blushing' Knock Out rose; image from Conard-Pyle Co.

The 'Rainbow' Knock Out rose; image from Conard-Pyle Co.

A beautiful shot of the 'Pink Double' Knock Out rose; image from Conard-Pyle Co. 

So are Knock Out roses worth the hype?  From my experiences, yes absolutely they are.  Over time, they are becoming increasingly affordable too, thanks to the sheer volume of plants produced each year.  I currently grow 'The Original' and 'Pink' Knock Out cultivars.  This year, I am hoping to add, at minimum, 'Rainbow' since it is considered the most floriferous of the bunch, which is saying a lot since they all flower very well!  I also will likely be adding a few more 'Pink' KOs, and may try out a Double too.

If you are interested in fragrance, you will want to seek out 'Sunny' for its good-quality, citrus-like fragrance which nicely matches its color and "sunny" disposition.  'The Original' is probably second best for its rather mild yet spicy-sweet scent.  From my experiences, all of the cultivars have some degree of scent but 'Sunny' and 'The Original' are the only ones that seem readily apparent.  As is the case with essentially all roses, the fragrance is strongest right before the petals fully open, just as they are transitioning from their more-columnar shapes to their wide, unfurled mature state.  

So if you are looking for a low-maintenance, high-impact landscape plant that may live longer than you do, head to the nursery this spring and pick up any one of the seven Knock Out roses:  you won't be disappointed!