Planters Punchlines
Men’s Garden Club of Wethersfield
November/December 2012
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HOLIDAY PARTY TIME! (In lieu of Nov/Dec Meetings)
The annual club Holiday Party will be held on
Monday December 3,
5:30 – 9:00 p.m.
@ the Solomon Welles House, in Wethersfield.
Catered Food, Drink, Fellowship, and
Entertainment by the Wethersfield High School Choraleers.
Spouses/guests are cordially invited.
$15.00 per person
($30.00 per couple).
RSVP to President Tony Sanders at 860.529.3257
by Sunday November 18.
WESTON ROSE GARDEN “WINTER OVER”
Saturday November 17 @ 8:00 a.m.
Branches will be trimmed, and piled next to the driveway (town will pick up), and compost placed around the bushes. BYO pruners & work gloves please.
Compostable Matter
By Jim Meehan
Young Robert Brassica’s family – seven siblings and two parents – was so poor they could barely afford to heat their home or feed themselves. Their dire situation became even worse in the drought-ridden year of 1694 when the sun baked and the locusts ate what few crops were able to struggle their way to life through the hard, cracking soil.
How poor were they? A lump of combustible black rock consisting mainly of carbonized plant in their Christmas stocking was the most prized gift of all. And Robert’s father Jacob – charged with the responsibility of getting eight pieces of anthracite or bituminous (one for each of his offspring) – had neither the funds nor the facility to come up with even one.
He had instead put all of his time and resources into developing a hybrid vegetable – a cross between a turnip and a cabbage – which he hoped would revolutionize the local farming industry and bring him fame and fortune. But what he got instead was – according to his fellow plantsmen: “The ugliest vegetable I’ve ever seen” or “What happens when broccoli and cabbage get married”, or (from one of his more futuristic friends) “A cross between an octopus and a space capsule.”
He was even too embarrassed to show his produce to his family. Now Christmas Eve was at hand and he had naught to stuff stockings with but dozens of these pale green ugly roots with pathetic green leaves. But he had no choice.
And the next morning he faced the onslaught of verbal abuse from the younger Brassicas, and especially the outspoken Robert, for which he had spent the entire night tossing and turning – and preparing his answer.
“W.T.F?”, said Robert as he stared uncomprehendingly at his apparently useless and possibly hostile present.
Jacob looked at him with a smile and said, as confidently as he possibly could, “It’s a piece of Kohl Robby!”
How do I create a low maintenance winter garden in colder zones?
http://faq.gardenweb.com
(Only read this essay if gardening is your passion and you want to continue gardening to the "bitter end.")
When I began serious gardening at the age of 23, I was as strong as a peasant woman. On week-ends I could garden for 10 to 12 hours with nary a sore muscle or aching joint. Before and after work on week days I would even put in an hour or two of hard work with no sore bones. But once I hit the age of 50, things began to creak, moan and pain me. At the age of 52 I got a bad case of vertigo which lasted two weeks. I was bedridden with this for one week, flat on my back.
This is when it dawned on me, "Since I am not that super woman of age 23 how would I take care of my extensive garden if some physical problem really limits me in working in my garden?" I was especially thinking of this physical problem called "aging." I am now, way over 50, (older than Martha Stewart) and feel like 101,sometimes. I do not want to be one of those older gardeners who whine and lament: "I cannot work in my garden any more. It is too much for me. I can't bend, dig, weed, trim or plant like I did years ago. I do not have the stamina and energy. I get too sore working in the garden. My garden looks a mess. I must remove most of the plants and go back to just grass. Annuals are too much work. Perennials need too much cutting back and separating. Are my gardening days over? And finally, should I sell my property and move."
Truthfully, all of the above statements are a reality for most older gardeners. Our bones do hurt us. Our bodies do slow down. We can not do what we did 30 years ago. So what are we to do? If gardening makes you happy and you do not wish to give it up, Plan for your older gardening days. How do you plan for your older gardening days? You do this by planning and planting a garden that looks beautiful in the Winter. These two can go hand in hand. This article is mainly written for gardeners in the Northeast U.S., zones 5-6-7-8.
Planting a garden to look beautiful in three seasons and also in the winter means you must plant flowering shrubs, conifers, evergreen trees and deciduous trees that look especially good in the winter. It might be their bark, shape or color. Your winter garden should invite you to want to be in it even though the weather is cold or snowy. You must have enough interest and structure in your garden that it beckons to you to want to sit, walk around, and even putter in it even though the garden is dormant. This is very possible and the way I planned my garden. Let me tell you about my philosophy of winter gardening which is also my philosophy of gardening now that I am much older than 23.
Structure Evergreen structure is the most important aspect of a winter garden. Look at your own garden. When your annuals and perennials die down, do you have "nothing?" I inwardly cry when I view a totally annual or perennial garden. It is so short lived for the amount of work involved. Why couldn't they have also planted evergreen shrubs in this garden for structure in the winter? The number of wonderful miniature and small conifers is legion. They look wonderful for four seasons of the year and get better with age. Get a good garden book and look up conifer shrubs to get ideas or talk with a horticulturist and pick his/her brain for his favorite choices. Plant many of them in every bed. In the winter, this is what you will be enjoying.
Annual Flower Beds - Forget them. They demand too much work for 'me ol' bones'. Not only must you replant annuals each year but that bed becomes a nothing in the winter. Number one on my out list are annual beds. Do I plant annuals anymore? Truthfully? Yes, I do plant a few but not like I did years ago. I especially do not use them as borders because they disappear in winter and I do not use them much as fillers, for the same reason. If I do need an annual plant, I usually resort to the larger flowering New Guinea impatiens or similar plants. Easy in - easy out.
Perennial Flower Beds- I love it when gardeners say, " I only plant perennial flowers " 'cause they are no work". To develop a beautiful perennial flower bed can be labor intensive. My greatest frustration in gardening was my perennial beds which are no more. Do I plant perennials? Yes, but not a whole bed. Most of my perennials are planted with conifers and shrubs and they are the type that you do not cut flat in the winter , but rather are left for the snow to do its magic. Which perennials give you the most for your time invested? Lilies, daylilies, all spring bulbs daisys, rudbeckia, goats beard, peonies, tree peonies, vitex, hostas, hydrangeas, etc. You know what works best for you.
Cut down on hard jobs such dividing or removing overgrown plants- round up young, willing and able budding gardeners and encourage them to help themselves to your hostas or ostrich ferns or whatever plant is taking over your beds. I have even put a small sign in the front of my house - FREE -HOSTAS, FERNS,+FLOWERS. One morning a little boy came to my door with a big wagon and said "my mommy wants hostas, thank you." He returned home with a polite note from me stating that is was a "dig your own deal". She did return with him and they filled the wagon.
Weeding- You can minimize weeding by planting thickly and using the filler plant ,i.e. hostas. Buy the newer varieties of this wonderful plant. Get rid of the old common variegated ones. They are feasts for slugs.
Mulching- I do not mulch as much as I did years ago. Even though mulching cuts down on weeding, it is a lot of back breaking work. Decide for yourself how much you can do. If I am having a special party at my home I might bring in a dozen bags of mulch and place it in the beds I want to pretty up. If I am having a really big event, I hire some one to mulch my beds. Saves your ol' bones.
Edging - Around each bed I plant Korean boxwood (all my English boxwood died). There may be as many as 30 to 40 surrounding each bed. Do you know how beautiful boxwood make each bed in the winter when most gardens are bare? Boxwoods add structure and look great with snow on them. Actually my boxwood hedges look great in all the seasons as they neatly frame my overflowing flowering shrubs, conifers, and flowers.
Where boxwood hedges are too heavy or another effect is needed, I use Liriope as a hedge. Variegated and Green Liriope are my latest love. They are as tough as nails, slugs shun them, they grow fuller each year, their texture is fine and desirable, and they are evergreen most of the time. They even look good in the winter until a prolong freeze hits them. Liriope only need cutting down with a serrated knife in March or April. I have even gotten rid of my common hostas which I used to use as borders. In a good wet year as was the year 2000, the slugs feasted on the hostas and by the end of August everyone's hostas looked like Queen Ann's lace.
Around most beds I edge with bricks laid flat and even with the ground so the lawn mower wheel can easily mow over them. This brick framing makes it easier for me because I do not have to dig to edge my bed each Spring. In the winter I sweep the bricks and that neatens them and In the early summer I simply remove any stray overflowing grass. I have noticed that if the edging of your beds look tidy, your beds look cared for.
Verticle interest- Arbors of vines add height, vertical interest, and are fun to walk under. Do not remove the dry vines in the winter. The snow lands on them and they become a structure so different from what they looked like in the summer. An alluring snow tunnel. One of my long nine foot arbors is planted with two weeping evergreen atlas cedars. The weeping effect in winter is like icicles. Also in each bed plant a strong verticle structural plant. Something pyramidal. Usually in my beds it is a Hinoki, tall cypress, tall juniper, strong chubby yew, or Alberta spruce.
Air conditioning - I never wanted central air-conditioning because I was told that you will never want to work outside anymore. I found out this is not true. I garden more since my " Air " was installed. How so? I know that if I work outside in 90+ degrees and am really sweltering, I only have to drag myself inside, have an ice tea, sit down for awhile to cool off, and I am fit to go outside for another hour or more. There were very few hot summer days that I did not garden at all. On those days it was because the humidity was 90+, the gnats were bad, the mosquitoes were in full force, or it was pouring rain.
Flowering Shrubs- Use flowering shrubs such as evergreen and deciduous azaleas, enkianthus, crape myrtle, viburnums, rhodes, andromadas, vitex, and many butterfly bushes. Don't only plant azaleas in your front garden but fill your back garden with tons of them. It is a spectacular effect in the Spring and even in the Winter with snow on them. So what if they don't flower in the Summer or Fall. Neither do daylilies bloom in the Spring or winter.
Small trees - On the ends of some beds I have been planting a small deciduous tree that will give me dappled shade as I walk through the paths. I do not like to walk through a garden that is in full sun. These trees though, will not give me heavy shade. If they do begin to give me heavy shade, I raise their hems, thin out selective branches, or remove wide arms. I am a little concerned about my limber pine because each spring, even though I cut the new growth in half, the tree is getting too tall to do this without a tall ladder. I think I planted too large a tree in a garden bed.
Trees - Almost all the trees in my garden are flowering ones. What more can you ask for? Remember, these trees not only give you flowers and dapple shade in the summer and spring but also add interest in the fall and winter with snow upon their branches. Good choices are: weeping cherry, kwanzan cherry, styrax, franklinia, southern magnolias, soulangiana magnolia, crape myrtles, dogwoods, acer palmatum, acer grisium and all unusual maples, stewartia, sweet bay magnolia, fringe tree, golden raintree, sourwood, vitex trees, holly trees, and my favorite non-flowering trees; china fir, limber pine, umbrella pine, dragon's eye pine, and stately soaring dawn redwood.
Clean-up -I now do not clean out my beds and lawn in the Fall or Spring. I hire Someone to do that. You can not do everything. A crew of five men came this November, right before Thanksgiving. It was wonderful to see these strong able guys rake and neaten all my beds and paths. They reminded me of my ol' husband when he was 30-40 years old and strong as they are now. They were finished in one day and it only cost me $400.00.How pleasant it was this winter to walk in my garden each day and see neaten beds instead of looking at all the work I would have cleaning up in the Spring. My husband loved it too. The date today is November 10th, 2001, in Eastern Pennsylvania and many of my large deciduous trees have already dropped their colorful leaves and all my flowers are gone. Even my sugar maples are bare. But, I still do have 14 acer palmatum dissectums in full leaf. - brilliant red, yellow and orange, three shagbark maples ( acer grisium), are brilliant red. My 10 oakleaf hydrangeas, 'Snow Queen' are glorious mottled shades with all the leaves still on and all the large flowers still on. My enkiantus are brilliant red and all my azaleas have leaves that look great. Some are maroon and yellow in color. The foliage of the mentioned trees and plants seem to me to keep their bright and colorful leaves the longest. There is nothing in this Fall garden that I must coddle or give much attention to. Everything returns.
I garden on 2 acres of land that used to be only grass with large trees around the perimeter. Over the past 30 years of gardening on this property, I have put in at least thirty beds of all shapes and sizes. I did not make these beds all at once. Each year I added one or two. Was my garden planned on paper and systematically implemented? No. Like Topsy," it just growed". In each bed I plant one acer palmatum, a group of pink or lavender azaleas, a vitex, a butterfly bush for height, a hinoki or unusual conifer shrub or two, and always a tall impressive pyramidal evergreen conifer for dramatic interest.
With my Fall garden all cleaned and gussied up, all winter long I can leisurely putter around, snip here and there and enjoy myself. And you must have large garden benches placed around your garden. I have five sturdy ones placed in far reaches of the garden. This is especially important in the winter when one may not really want to be outside and be uncomfortable.
Bundled up in winter coat, hat, gloves and with a hot cup of coffee in one hand and snippers in the other hand, the benches at the far ends of the garden are a nice destination where I can sit and enjoy my Winter Garden. This is different from what one often reads, "winter is the time to sit by your fireplace with garden catalogues in hand and "dream green". Each day that it is possible, I stroll and snip around the beds and sit on each of the benches and take in the view. My three cats also follow me and sit with me on the benches. Lulu Cat, usually snuggles in my furry coat lapels. This September I got a Maltese puppy, Cocoa-Mulch, who is now part of my entourage. Having a puppy this winter ensured that I would be outside five or six times a day. What is more fun than being in your garden with your cats and dogs? And husband? A husband to whom you can point out all the garden warts and things you want him to help you with come early spring.
Nothing do I love more than lying across my bed looking out of my upstairs window at the full green winter garden below. Even without a snow covering there are large spaces of lush green pachysandra carpeting the ground. My two red brick terraces and a brown stoned courtyard also make for pretty carpeting.
Nothing do I love more than sitting or walking in the early morning garden during or after a snow fall - Coat over bathrobe, rubber boots on, fortified with that hot mug of coffee and my "beasts".......Aah...... Do not garden for only three seasons of beauty. Also make an interesting WINTER GARDEN.
Harry’s invented a new spray to kill the aphids on his rose bushes.
His formula kills the roses and the aphids starve to death.
How to Grow Paperwhites and Amaryllis
By Matt Kerske, eHow.com
Presenter Hello again, everybody. This is Matt with Gardens of Babylon, here today to talk to you a little bit about paperwhites and amaryllis. Now, it's November in Nashville, and right about this time, we start getting a lot of requests here down at the store for these types of holiday plants, second only I'd say to poinsettias, which come in here shortly. But, paperwhites and amaryllis have been very popular around the holiday season for quite some time. And today, we're going to just talk a little bit about how to select the bulb, and how to kind of grow them just to make sure you have a nice full, healthy plant. And, they're blooms are just amazing when they're all finished up. So, to begin with, as far as amaryllis and paperwhites, your typical paperwhite bulb will be about two inches in diameter.
When you're at the store selecting them, you just want to make sure that all of them are nice and firm, kind of like picking out a good piece of fruit. You just don't want to make sure anything's mushy. That just means part of it's dead, or all of it's dead. But, just a nice firm structure to it. Amaryllis bulbs will come in different sizes. The bigger the bulb, the more bloom stalks it will have, and the bigger the plant. But, amaryllis and paperwhites, just key things you want to remember is, just good firm density size, and it'll just get you off to a really good start.
Now, as far as potting up, in the world of paperwhites, like houseplants, they like good drainage. You don't want to put your paperwhite, or your amaryllis in any kind of too heavy a soil. You just want to make sure your soil has good drainage. You can start out kind of two different ways really, I've seen it done, and is done well. You can use a potting soil mixture, a houseplant potting soil mixture, maybe with a little bit of sand mixed up in it, maybe about 25 percent sand to about 75 percent potting soil, just to make sure there's good drainage. Or, you can also put it in a closed pot with stones.
Stones, obviously, are wonderful for drainage. But, the thing with stones is, you just want to make sure that you do not have a hole in the bottom of your pot, because that water will just run out, and there's no moisture retention with stones. With soil, you can have a hole in the bottom of your pot, the soil will retain the moisture, and the plant will be, you know, just given the right amount of moisture. But, with rocks, you just want to make sure you don't have any holes in the bottom of that pot. And also, with stones, you want to make sure when you water, you're not letting a whole bunch of water sit in that pot, or else you can kind of rot out that bulb. But, you can just watch your moisture with the rocks. But, it's a really classy way of potting up, it's really unusual. All different types of stones are fine, river pebbles, to glass beads, whatever the case may be, is also fine.
Once you make a decision on your potting mix, just go ahead and fill up almost to about a half inch from the top of your pot, and get your bulbs planted on into the soil. It's suggested to leave maybe about a half an inch of the top of that bulb, either a paperwhite or amaryllis. Maybe with an amaryllis, you might be able to leave more about an inch from that crown. You don't want to sink that whole entire bulb deep down into that soil, because you can run into problems like crown rot or root rot when it's planted too deep. But, just to be on the safe side, you can go ahead and let the crowns exist above the soil just like that, that's totally fine. Most of your healthy paperwhites that you buy should already kind of be semi-sprouted. That means they're off, and ready to get started once immediately you put them in the soil. But, get them planted, water them in really well. And then, you'll really want to try to find kind of a bright area for growing these. If you put them in too much of a shady area, they're really just going to grow really tall. They're going to stretch out for that sunlight, they're going to get kind of leggy. And, a lot of times, they just kind of fall over, and the bloom on them really isn't all that great. So, you really want to make sure the more light that you're giving them during the growing phases, the smaller, the more compact, the dark rich green they're going to be, and the flower's going to stand nice up and erect on that plant. So, that's really the main thing you want to be considering.
And also, treat it like a houseplant. When you have soil, you kind of want to make sure that soil dries just a little bit in between waterings. You don't always want to be watering heavily once every day or two, or else you're going to go ahead and surely rot out that bulb. But, just go ahead and feel that soil. When it's semi-moist, or a little bit dry, to the touch, go ahead and just water it in really well. A lot of people might, kind of the improper way of watering, is to feel it, if it needs water, maybe add about a half a cup, or just ind of spritz it with water. It's not enough. With watering, once it's dry, it's really best to go ahead and saturate that whole pot, let a little bit of water drain out the bottom, and then you're set. And then, you don't have to worry about it for a week, two weeks, all depending on your conditions. But, you want to just make sure you have a nice, mildly moist, potting soil to get your plants off. Once again, this is Matt, with Gardens of Babylon. For more information on growing these, or other houseplants, check out www.GardensofBabylon.com. Have a great day.
Did you hear about the successful bonsai tree grower?
He got so good he ended up looking for a house with a smaller garden.
Horti-Culture Corner
"If you are not killing plants, you are not really stretching yourself as a gardener."
- J. C. Raulston
Is all this snow good for your garden?
by Sandi Duncan www.farmersalmanac.com/blog
Ever hear the weather lore: “Year of snow, crops will grow”?
Think about it this way:
Sub zero temperatures mean that snowfall is much lighter because there isn’t much water vapor in the air When temperatures are closer to 32 degrees Fahrenheit snowfall can be heavy and wet.
Years ago many farmers decided that if there was a snowy winter, temperatures wouldn’t be that cold, so the planting season could start earlier in the year.
They also thought there would be more water from the snow melt to help seeds sprout and seedlings grow.
Thus, the proverb Year of Snow Crops.
Maybe thinking about this weather lore will help give you the patience to get through this long, snowy winter, and help you get a jump start on your garden.
Snow Cover Is Good For Your Home Garden
by Todd Heft on bigblogofgardening.com
Snow also insulates the soil and protects it from a deep freeze, which could damage the root systems of trees and shrubs. Without the snow, soil would be allowed to freeze and when warming temperatures arrived, soil or frost heave would occur, which can snap root systems and dry out plants. dogwood tree after snow storm
Downside of early snowfall is snow collecting in tree tops, the weight from which snaps tree limbs
Of course, snow has its downside to garden plants as well. After a snow, you should always clear the white stuff from bushes and trees that might be damaged from the weight. I experienced this one year after a particularly hard winter when snow falling off of my roof smashed the branches of a bush apart, leaving a gaping hole in the middle of the bush. Fortunately, I roped the bush up in the spring and it grew to hide the hole. Winter Drought
Did you know that your plants can experience a drought in the winter? Inspect the bushes and other plants under the eaves of your house. If snow doesn’t fall there, take some snow and fill it in around the base of the bush or plant to insulate the crown and root and to provide moisture as the snow melts. That’s called snow mulching. Don’t go overboard and pack too much around it, because you want to make sure that the melting snow easily drains away when the thaw comes.
Please note that you should avoid using snow from the edge of your driveway, street, or sidewalks for snow mulching, as it may be contaminated with chemicals intended for melting ice, which are very high in salt content and can quickly kill almost any plant.
