Planters
Punchlines
Men’s Garden Club of Wethersfield
February 2016
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Connecticut’s Historic Gardens"
@ Men’s Garden Club of Wethersfield
February Meeting
February Meeting
Monday February 27 @ 7:00 pm
in the Pitkin Community Center
in the Pitkin Community Center
Laurie Masciandaro of Connecticut’s Historic Gardens will
provide an introduction to fourteen historic gardens at distinctive historic
homes in Connecticut.
Compostable Matter
By Jim Meehan
For the past year or
so I was a member of the group that created the town’s new Heritage Trail – 22
markers scattered throughout Old Wethersfield that tell the story of the town
from its inception in 1634 to its current incarnation as a Hartford suburb. The
following is an edited version of one of my early drafts.
Seeding the Nation
When
Wethersfield founder John Oldham died in 1636, the town Judicial Court directed
that Oldham's "corne" be preserved.
That "corne" had sprung from seeds planted in Wethersfield. And although the fate of this pre-colonial
maize is lost to history, the story of Wethersfield’s role in seeding the
nation is not.
In the early 19th
century, after the demise of the town’s Red Onion business due to a Civil
War-era blight known as pinkroot, Wethersfield entrepreneurs established an
industry that supplied seeds
from other Wethersfield to farmers and gardeners across New England and
beyond. Serendipitously the emergence of
the seed business came at the same time as the development of the railroad
connected more of the country.
Ten companies dominated
Wethersfield’s seed industry – among them Thomas Griswold & Co., Butler
Strong & Co., Johnson, Robbins & Co, Meggat & Wolcott, Hart, Welles
& Co.). Two – Comstock, Ferre &
Co, and The Charles C. Hart Seed Company – are still major suppliers
today.
It all
began in 1811 when Joseph Belden advertised "New Garden Seeds of the
Growth of 1810". This was followed
nine years later by James Belden’s opening of
“Wethersfield Seed Gardens” at 249 Main St. – with gardens, seed houses,
and barns stretching along Church Street, all the way to Garden Street. Many of these outbuildings, plus several
houses, were destroyed by fire in 1834 prompting Wethersfield to purchase its
first fire engine.
Franklin
and William Comstock purchased the seed gardens in 1838. The Comstocks had
contact with a Shaker village located in nearby Enfield. And William adopted
their idea of packing seed in “papers”– commissioning attractive illustrations
for the covers and designing the scroll border that is still used on the
company’s herb packets today. In
addition William’s book, “Order of Spring Work”, became the gardener’s manual
for its era – telling the home plantsman when to plant, how to store seeds,
when to fertilize, and much more.
Large commercial seed gardens grew
behind Main Street and Broad Street houses in the town's inner village. And
Wethersfield fast became the cradle of American seed companies, remaining a
steady supplier to mid-western and western states for the next sixty years.
Comstock's
traveling seed merchants, traveling by rail, distributed commission boxes of
Wethersfield seeds in territories that stretched from the southern states, to
the Mississippi River. At each stop,
they picked up last year's boxes and collected payments. The old containers went back to Wethersfield,
and Comstock's sent out additional ones when needed.
In 2010
Jere and Emilee Gettle, owners of Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, purchased the
company with the intent of returning it to its heirloom roots, where it all began.
The Charles
C. Hart Seed Company founded his eponymously named seed company in 1892. Hart had been connected with the Johnson
& Robbins Company for fourteen years and began his own small consignment
seed package business in the kitchen of his home – suing the space as a packing
room, office, and warehouse.
In 1894,
Hart took on a partner, Frank J. Welles and formed the Hart, Welles &
Co. They soon purchased the Johnson,
Robbins & Co. buildings and, as business increased requiring more space,
moved into the building here on Main Street.
The wood
frame buildings of the Hart Seed Company were destroyed by a fire in 1943, and
replaced with a brick office-warehouse complex at the same location.
Today, the
company is owned and operated by members of the fifth generation of the Hart
family making it the oldest seed company in America still owned by the family
that founded it. The iconic Hart Seed
Display Rack, designed in the style of earlier Wethersfield seed commission
boxes, is still seen in stores today.
"Top 10" Favorite Heirloom Tomatoes for 2017
The"Top
10" heirloom tomatoes were selected from the top 10 most popular tomato
varieties in 2015 and 2016 from a TomatoFest customer base of more than 21,000
thousand home gardeners and tomato farmers.
Our survey
results demonstrated that consumers want the maximum of those "old
fashioned" robust flavors in choosing what tomato varieties to grow in
their home garden. The same with farmers growing for produce markets and
restaurants where taste is the priority. This is the essence of the continued
popularity of heirloom tomatoes in America.
The most
popular tomato varieties continue to be the tomato varieties that offer that
big burst of old-fashioned, complex, rich tomato flavors that provide a
generous amount of acids to balance the sugars resulting in a tang of tartness.
The "heirloom tomato classics," the old-time, favorite, red, pink and
"black" beefsteak tomatoes, still provide the foundation of loyalty
among tomato growers.
This is the
second year that we surveyed our customers for their "Top 10"
favorite tomatoes. The results remain the same, although placement within the
"Top 10" has shifted. (The list we provide here is not in order of
winning status)
Other
findings in the TomatoFest survey:
In 2016
there was, again, a big increase in first time tomato gardeners. There are more
people wanting to grow foods at home in rural AND urban areas. "The
upswing in folks becoming new tomato gardeners or choosing to become small
commercial farmers of heirloom tomatoes for retailing at farmers markets and
distributing to produce retailers has been noticeable the past 7 years,"
says Ibsen.
2016 saw a surge in the popularity of
the "black" or "blue" tomatoes, especially the Indigo series
of the blackest tomatoes. Even though these tomatoes do not carry the delicious
taste qualities most typical of the "blacks," they have aroused a
curiosity and their popularity seems to be based more upon the novelty of their
blacker color.
Many of the new tomato gardeners are
patio or container gardeners who either have no land to garden on, or who don't
wish the labor required of tilling the earth for their garden. In 2016 there
was, again, an increase in seed sales for determinate (shorter tomato plants)
and dwarf tomato varieties. Some of this increase in seed sales was from
used-to-be-land-gardeners who having retired or downsized there living to
condominiums or retirement communities, now only have patios available to
continue their gardening in containers. Health conscious milleniums who do not
own land for gardening appear to be taking up tomato gardening on roof-tops and
patios in containers.
In 2016, there was a continued rise in
popularity of cherry tomatoes in all colors. Ibsen says, "We saw more
customers ordering several kinds of cherry tomatoes along with their selection
of larger tomatoes. In past years, many of the same customers were ordering
only 1 or 2 varieties of cherry tomatoes but seem they to have been seduced into
selecting more diversified cherry varieties by the range of color and taste
experiences offered and suitability to containers. There is also a growing
popularity for the currant-sized tomatoes by chefs and home gardeners alike.
2016 saw a surge in folks ordering
'short season' tomato varieties from cooler regions not typically considered
tomato growing regions; cooler coastal regions, cooler northern climates (i.e.,
Maine, Michigan, even Alaska), and for higher altitude gardens. It appears that
more people have come to understand that with the diversity of tomato varieties
suitable to more adverse climates they too can enjoy the rewards of home grown
tomatoes.
"Top 10"
Favorite Heirloom Tomatoes
Black Cherry
(purple/black)
Brandywine,
Sudduth Strain (pink beefsteak)
Chocolate Stripes
(red/green striped)
Blondkopfchen
(yellow cherry)
Black Krim
(purple/black beefsteak)
Brandywine, OTV
(red beefsteak)
Amana Orange
(orange beefsteak)
Azoychka
(yellow/orange beefsteak)
Delicious (red
beefsteak)
Dixie Golden Giant
(yellow/orange beefsteak)
"Top 10"
Favorite Cherry Tomatoes
Ildi
Blondkopfchen
Black Cherry
Flamme
Super Snow White
Camp Joy
Isis Candy Cherry
Yellow Gooseberry
Amy's Suger Gem
Black Plum
2017 Trends in Garden Design
Garden and landscape designers across the country forecast noteworthy
ideas shaping the gardening world in 2017
By Pam Penick - gardendesign.com
Dubbed the
slowest of the performing arts, gardening can seem trend proof. After all, you
can’t hurry an oak’s progress from acorn to shade tree, and making a garden
isn’t like buying a new throw rug for your home but rather stitching a few
glimmering threads of your own into nature’s rich tapestry. And yet tastes do
change in gardening, as your once-obsessed African violet-growing parents or
grandparents could tell you. Those who work with the buying public are
especially attuned to what’s hot and what’s not. With that in mind, we asked
designers and retailers across the country to share the biggest trends they
anticipate for 2017. Here are 10 trends they say we’ll be seeing more of.
Natural
Materials: After years of minimalist dominance in hardscaping materials,
furniture, and decor, designers are noticing renewed interest in natural
materials and a less geometric style. Designer Julie Blakeslee at Big Red Sun
in Austin, Texas, says, “Rather than clean and modern, clients are asking for a
more old-fashioned, more DIY look in their gardens. We’ve been using railway
ties, free-form decks, smaller outdoor furniture, and swing seating. I think
clients are looking for something more authentic and real. The Dwell look has
been replicated so many times. People may be yearning for something more
organic in their gardens.”
Richard
Hartlage of Seattle-based Land Morphology also sees a heightened interest in
natural, tactile materials like wood and stone for the built elements of a
garden. “People are moving away from concrete unless it’s an ultra-modern,
minimalist garden,” he says.
Color Blocking: A trend in women’s
fashion, color blocking is the use of discrete blocks of colors, and it’s
making a splash in outdoor living spaces too. Noting the number of color
blocked patio walls that she’s seeing on Pinterest and around Los Angeles,
Potted co-owner Annette Gutierrez says, “It’s about framing or highlighting a
specific plant or area.” A flash of color on a wall, for instance, can frame a
row of potted plants or be the artful backdrop to an outdoor sofa. “It’s exhilarating
and oh so inexpensive to do!” she adds. And if you don’t have a wall to paint,
you can always use a solid-color outdoor rug or porch curtains to create the
effect.
Hyperlocalism: “Locally sourced” continues to be a buzzword
in many industries, and garden designers too are seeing interest not just in
native plants but endemic plants—those native to a very particular ecosystem.
Tait Moring, a landscape architect who often designs ranch properties in
central Texas, says, “We’re planting more local and endemic plants, not just
natives.” These aren’t always readily available in the nursery trade, so he
transplants existing plants where he can. Even building materials are sourced
hyperlocally. “We use existing rocks and make posts from on-site junipers when
possible.”
Such
hyperlocalism is part of a trend that Susan Cohan, a New Jersey designer, calls
a celebration of regionalism. Using native plants and locally sourced materials
has been popular for years, she acknowledges. “What’s new,” she says, “is the
impact that climate change is having on each region and how that drives design.
More rain, drought, increased snowfall, no snowfall, cataclysmic weather
events—these are all factors. Add local rules for impervious coverage, chemical
runoff, and storm-water retention, and you have the basis for intense regional,
even local, design qualities.” The designer's challenge, she says, has always
been to find the balance between natural elements and human wants and use. “The
answer to that challenge today is regionally focused design.”
Lawn Reimagined: Long a symbol of the
American dream, the expansive and neatly manicured lawn continues to take a
hit, due in part to drought, water shortages, and concerns about the
environmental impact of fertilizing, pest-control treatments, and other
traditional maintenance. Lawn-like alternatives, however, are hot. “We’re
installing a lot more grass mixes that don’t need to be mowed, like Habiturf [a
native turfgrass blend for the Southwest], and also taller, prairie-type mixes,”
says Moring. While he doesn’t anticipate the end of traditional lawns anytime
soon, his clients who do want a lawn are opting for smaller ones than in the
past. “These are lawns that will be used as opposed to being just for show,” he
says.
Despite
controversy over its environmental impact, faux grass continues to grow in
popularity, thanks to improvements in how natural it looks. “We are still
installing a lot of artificial turf,” says Blakeslee in Austin. Designer Sue
Goetz of Creative Gardener in Tacoma, Washington, is too, especially in small
spaces that clients don’t want the bother of mowing and for pet play areas. “I
have had more requests for artificial turf in the last year than ever,” Goetz
says of her Washington clients, adding, “I’d always thought it was just a
California thing.” She believes it has to do with how far the product has come
in the last few years. “It looks and feels real. It also speaks to a desire for
low maintenance.
Natural Dye Gardens: Backyard
homesteading has been going strong for a while, and edible gardens, chicken
coops, and beehives are ubiquitous even in urban neighborhoods. The latest
addition to the grow-it-yourself movement is natural dye gardens: plants used
to make dyes for coloring textiles, yarn, and clothing. “Last year, I put in my
first natural dye garden here in Berkeley,” says Leslie C. Bennett, owner of
Pine House Edible Gardens in Oakland, California. “It's really beautiful and
includes a lot of vegetables, fruit trees, and pollinator-attracting flowers,
but we've selected varieties and quantities so that the harvests can be used
for natural plant dyes as well.” Multiple recent books including Sasha Duerr’s
Natural Color, Kristine Vejar’s The Modern Natural Dyer, and Chris McLaughlin’s
A Garden to Dye For also attest to the growing interest in dye gardening.
Old and New Mash-Up: Choosing one style
and sticking doggedly to it, whether modern or traditional, is passé, designers
say. “Mixing old and new, a trend in interiors and architecture, is about to
arrive in gardens,” says Hartlage. “It used to not be OK to mix styles, but now
it’s acceptable. It’s not about modern or traditional anymore but how you
combine the two in a compelling way, either by putting modern elements in a
traditional garden or incorporating bold, traditional elements in a modern
garden.”
Active Play Spaces for All Ages:
Playing out in the yard isn’t just for kids anymore, and even for kids it’s
different. “I’ve had an uptick in requests for play and entertaining spaces,”
says Goetz. “Bocce courts, dog and pet spaces, dining areas, fireplaces,
hammocks. People don’t want places they have to weed. They want places where
they can relax and play.” Susan Morrison, author and designer at Creative
Exteriors Landscape Design in East Bay, California, agrees that game courts for
adults and families are popular. “Most of my clients don’t have room for a
regulation bocce court,” she says, “but I have done petanque courts and
recently got a request for a cornhole court. Yes, there is a regulation size
for cornhole!”
Dwarf Shrubs: American yards are
shrinking as houses grow larger on ever-smaller lots. Along with less space for
plants, designers are hearing ever more requests for gardens that require
little day-to-day maintenance. Dwarf shrubs to the rescue! “Baby boomers are
aging, but they still love their gardens,” says Goetz. “We are finding creative
ways to get rid of high maintenance, like using evergreen shrubs.”
Hartlage
agrees. “Shrubs are strong due to their low maintenance needs,” he says, “and
dwarf summer-blooming varieties are well suited to smaller gardens, like
hydrangea ‘Bobo’ and ‘Little Quick Fire’. If you only need a 2-foot plant, why
plant something that’ll grow to 4 feet and then spend the next 20 years
clipping it? It’s all about plants that are the appropriate scale for the
garden.”
Haute Houseplants: Just as bell bottoms
are reappearing on runways, a 1970s-style fascination with houseplants is back.
Los Angeles designer and author Justina Blakeney’s hugely popular Instagram The
Jungalow, for example, showcases rooms lush with potted greenery. “Bringing nature inside is definitely a trend
we are seeing,” says Gillian Mathews, owner of Seattle’s Ravenna Gardens. And
it’s not all retro either. “Whether it's a fiddle-leaf fig (the ‘it’ plant at
the moment), a hanging kokedama, a Xerographica air plant, or a terrarium,
we’re finding new and innovative ways to green up our homes and workplaces,”
Mathews says.
Sustainability Tech: “It’s amazing what
you can do from your smart phone these days,” says Morrison. Ongoing droughts
in California and throughout the West have galvanized an embrace of low-water
landscaping, and technology advancements in irrigation systems make it easier
than ever to control how much water is delivered to plants. “Smart controllers
that use weather data to automatically determine correct irrigation amounts
have been around for a while now,” Morrison says. “But the newest controllers
like Hunter’s Hydrawise can be programmed and monitored from your phone. You
can literally check on your irrigation system from your beach chair while you
vacation! Some even include flow sensors that send a text alert if they detect
a leak in the system and a portal so that your contractor can manage your
irrigation remotely if you run into scheduling problems.”
Horti-Culture Corner
"Keep your faith
in beautiful things;
in the sun when it is
hidden,
in the Spring when it
is gone."
- Roy R. Gibson
5 Time-Saving Gardening Tools
1 Hori-Hori Knife – If weeds are enemy soldiers of the evil
emperor, you are the samurai of the garden when you wield your hori-hori knife.
Traditionally used in Japan for digging bonsai trees, hori-hori
(digging-digging in Japanese) knives have a straight, sharp blade perfect for
many garden tasks, from weeding to cutting roots to planting. Lightweight and
ergonomic, with stainless- and carbon-steel options, hori-hori knives are the
ultimate do-all garden tool.
2 Ho-Mi – From South Korea comes another versatile garden
hand tool that will have you flinging soil like there's no tomorrow. The ho-mi
(little ground spear in Korean) has a sharp, curved, scythe-like blade with
three different interchangeable blade and handle options. The ho-mi is perfect
for many garden tasks, including digging, transplanting, loosening soil around
plants, and weeding.
3 Compost and Mulch Fork – Composting and mulching are
essential for a great garden. With 10 closely spaced tines, this fork is
perfectly suited for turning and flipping—an essential task for any successful
compost or mulch. Far from a single-purpose tool, the fork is also effective
for picking up larger stones, leaves, wood chips, and more.
4 Woodman's Pal – Getting set to clear a patch of your land
for a garden, or just have some overgrowth you need to get rid of? The
Woodman's Pal is the tool for you. Originally used by the U.S. Army, the
Woodman's Pal is like an ax and a machete fused together to form a long, sturdy
cutting blade with a hooked blade at the tip for rooting and clearing. Use it
to hack through everything from overgrown vegetation to roots and small trees.
5 Lee Valley Power Rake – Take a load off your back while
accomplishing a lot of garden work with this tool. At 24 inches wide, with 25
curved tines and a 5-foot handle, this rake can gather leaves, rake soil, and
spread mulch, while barely ever being lifted off the ground. When pushed, it
glides over leaves or grass, and when pulled, the upward shield curve of the
blade keeps whatever you're raking from being lost over the top.
My Stupidest Gardening Mistake - or- We Were Once All Newbies
Excerpts from a forum on gardenweb.com
I could not
LIVE without crocus! Just when winter grey is really getting to me...ta
dah...there they are all perky and colorful! Just two years ago I planted about
350 of them (I'm not kidding...I mean I NEED crocus!)in my small front lawn.
Well, my lawn was full of OPEN holes the next day since the squirrels ate
nearly every one of them. I asked everyone I knew WHAT kept squirrels away. I was
told kitty litter, dried blood, fox urine and mothballs. So...overdoing it
again...I bought ALL FOUR things and mixed up a BIIIIIG batch of this foul
smelling concoction. Then I replanted a few hundred MORE crocus
but...duhhhh...I didn't know I was supposed to put all this vile stuff ON TOP
of the ground to keep away the squirrels so I planted the crocus WITH heaps of
the mothballs, etc. right on TOP of them... I think about 12 crocus came up
this year in my lawn. PS Dried blood can
be used as a fertilizer...hadda be the mothballs.
I admired
Carpet Rose in my favorite nursery for 2 summers. Finally last summer I bought
one and put it in a flower bed in front of my house. What a mistake. It was too
sprawling, the thorns are killers and flowering was less than spectacular. I
plan to yank it this spring.
Was
cleaning up the seeds shed by my Dutch Elm tree off the sidewalk. Thinks I to
myself, "We don't throw away things that can decompose and turn to
dirt." So I throw hundreds and thousands of seed pods onto my rock garden.
Spent the entire remainder of the summer pulling little elm tree sproutings out
of the garden. Doh!
I have made
MANY mistakes but the biggest is.... I have sandy soil and when I bought this
lot (blank slate) I was thrilled to get a beautiful yard started. I immediately
laid out the beds, went to all the nurseries and started planting like an
obsessed woman. After two years of poor growth, gallons of fertilizer, and
humongous waterbills, I took a step back. I had to rip out all of my plantings,
took a good soil analysis, hauled in truck loads of compost , added greensand
and soil conditioner. I've replanted but made a wonderous discovery. Originally
I only found an occasional earthworm, during the replanting I found wonderful
colonies of big earthworms.
Planted
GIANT marigolds that I started from seeds. The bed included many other
wonderful flowers that I too had started from seed. They were quickly mauled by
the amazon marigold. Finally found the original seed packet and read that it could
get up to 4 feet tall! It looked so bad all summer right smack dab in front of
my house. YUCK. Moved to a new house this year and I'm just waiting to see what
my next mistakes will be. They're always good for a laugh!
Last year
another gardener told me if I wanted my plants to get really huge, go to the
feed store and get a big bag of nitrogen. So i did. Put it all over my garden.
On the leaves, everywhere. Killed about half of everything, particularly some
expensive perennials that I started the year before. Won't take advice from
this gardener again.
