Oakleaf Green Makes an Appearance (Literally) On the Shelves Your Local Bookstore Again

Posted January 7, 2010 by Andrew

You heard right: Oakleaf Green and I are back for seconds in the February 2010 issue of Fine Gardening magazine, available at better bookstores and magazine sellers everywhere!

This issue’s article is a review of my terrific little electric chipper, the McCulloch MCS2001. This isn’t your grandfather’s chipper! It’s light duty, and does a terrific job with small brush. It’s already contributed good things to my town’s local ecosystem, as I used it to chip up an entire grove of burning bush at a site this summer, and that is no exaggeration. What’s better is that it’s electric, so no gas is required.

I should also mention that not only will you see me in this issue, you’ll actually SEE me. As in there’s a full color photo of me running the chipper.

Support the good folks at Fine Gardening! Want to replace your grove of burning bush with a garden? Contact me!

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Oakleaf Green Hits Newsstands Nationwide in Fine Gardening

Posted July 31, 2009 by Andrew

That’s right, folks, Oakleaf Green and I make our national print debut in the October issue of Fine Gardening magazine, which actually hits newsstands right about now. My former journalism professors, English teachers, and my mother will be so proud! Check your local listings, e.g. Barnes & Noble, Borders, or similar.

Tremendous thanks to Associate Editor Michelle Gervais for giving me the opportunity to contribute! My article is a regional report on fall perennials for the Northeast. My perennial picks were all U.S. natives, and three out of the four are drought tolerant as well. (White baneberry is somewhat so once established.)

Fall is perhaps my favorite plant season, and we’re talking about WAY more than leaves here, people. I hope you’ll consider adding some of these fall perennials to your garden — and contacting me to help — AND I hope you’ll support the fine work of the folks at Fine Gardening.

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Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day: June 2009

Posted June 16, 2009 by Andrew

It’s Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day again! Let’s talk about what’s blooming in my garden. The answer to that would be: lots. June is when the garden really comes into its own, especially if there’s been rain, and in the past two weeks there’s been PLENTY. Click photos to enlarge.

Verbascum ‘Southern Charm’ is a floppy mullein I love. Purchased two years ago at Goose Cove Gardens in Gloucester, Mass., it always flops over, but I don’t have time to stake it, so this year I finally moved it where it could flop into the butterfly bushes. It seems happy, and there are several mullein babies in the spot I moved it from, which is great because I could use more — this was purchased when I was a “one here, one there” gardener.

I’ve discussed my driveway roses on Twitter and Facebook — gifts from friends who were tired of maintaining them. I plunked them in the ground by the driveway, where they’re somewhat inconspicuous, and they bloom their heads off even if their leaves get bedraggled or bug eaten. If you like roses for cutting, plant them in an out-of-the-way spot, and don’t worry about keeping them perfect! I sprayed mine with some organic Spinosad when I was spraying for winter moth earlier in the season, and I threw down some extra compost around them. Last year they got Wormjava, which is supposed to fertilize and repel bugs too. Some bugs, some holes, but mostly so far, so good.

I’ve expounded at length in this space about Phlomis russeliana, the Jerusalem sage. I’ll let it speak for itself.

Last but certainly not least, here’s my beloved beauty bush, Kolkwitzia amabilis, by far my favorite thing that came with the house. I’m so glad it did, because otherwise I’d likely have never known how great it is. This is an old-fashioned shrub I’ve read about and often see in foundation plantings, and I’ve heard it’s sold at nurseries, but I’ve never seen it for sale. I don’t think it’s so much in demand anymore. I can’t imagine why. Sure, it’s a bit unassuming when not in bloom, but when it IS blooming, watch out. A fantastic plant.

As usual, if you enjoy my garden photos, check out Oakleaf Green’s Facebook page and become a fan. These and many more are posted there.

What’s blooming in your garden?

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In Search of the Drought-Tolerant Hanging Basket

Posted June 15, 2009 by Andrew

EDITOR’S NOTE: This post was featured on About.com’s Guide to Container Gardening — thanks so much, Kerry! If you’re not familiar with Kerry, she’s terrific. Be sure to click that link and check her out.

I’d like to add containers to my repertoire, but I find annuals a necessary part of container gardening, and as a sustainable gardener annuals have never been my thing. Even so, they’re a lot of fun, and I reasoned if purchased from an organic grower, grown sustainably through the season and composted in the end, what’s the harm in a few here and there? Our old house and others who inhabit it beg for hanging baskets every year, so I decided to start there.

Step one was done: I’d found materials and an organic grower. Three wire hanging basket frames came from the local flea market for a grand total of $1. (Logistically AND financially sustainable, eh?) At a fabric store, I bought inexpensive burlap to line the baskets that will eventually break down. I decided to buy plants from Goose Cove Gardens of Gloucester, Mass., the only organic nursery I know of.

Then came the more difficult part: what to plant, and what to pot up my plants in that would feed them through the season and ensure I won’t have to water every day — one of my personal pet peeves. I chose an organic mulch/compost mix, often sold as “dark performance mulch,” reasoning that between the soil the plants were potted in and the compost, there’d be enough medium for their roots, and the mulch would retain moisture.

Even so, drought tolerant plants were in order. I needed plants sun and shade, and I asked friends on Twitter for ideas. We generated a shopping list I took with me to Goose Cove, and here’s what I ended up with:

Sun baskets:

• Dorotheanthus ‘Mezoo Trailing Red’
• Portulaca in a peachy pink
• Osteospermums, lavender and purple
• Ornamental pepper, Capsicum annuum ‘Black Pearl,’ whose drought-tolerant status I’m least sure of
• And special for the front door basket, Hyacinth bean, Lablab purpureus.

Shade basket:

• Thunbergia alata ‘Suzie’ in yellow
• Begonia ‘Illumination Salmon Pink’
• Begonia ‘Nonstop® Apple Blossom’ in white
• Nicotiana alata ‘Perfume Mix,’ again, skeptical of this one and drought tolerance, but I needed something tall, so we’re giving it a shot.

My question: how long can the pots go without water from me? It’s been about a month now, and so far so good. I watered the day I potted them up, but I’ve let Mother Nature take it from there. Thus far there’s been enough rain to sustain them — July and August will be the true test. If things begin to wilt, I’ll water from my rain barrels, but I’m hopeful everyday watering, at least, is a thing of the past.

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Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day: May 2009

Posted May 15, 2009 by Andrew

Gosh, but April and May have been busy months. My last post was for April’s Carol’s Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day, and here I am at it again one month later. April and May are busy months in the garden too. Things start growing, things start blooming, and with them we gardeners’ to-do lists grow and bloom as well. Here’s what’s going on in my garden right now, and in the past month:

Centaurea montana, or mountain bluet, bloomed this week. These were purchased last year during a midsummer perennial sale, and boy did they look sad when I planted them. Not anymore! You wouldn’t know these plants were ever sad. I’ve read they can be temperamental, but I gravitate toward blue and silver plants (these are both, with their silvery leaves), so I’m hoping they continue to thrive.

I’d be remiss not to mention Malus sargentii, the crabapple, blooming all over the place around here this month. We have a grand total of seven at last count, all of which came with the place: three venerable old trees and four youngsters. This is one of the oldest, situated by your back porch. Crabapples aren’t so attractive in leaf, especially with winter moth larvae intent on making Swiss cheese out of them, but for their twisted old trunks and two weeks of pure bliss in flower, I wouldn’t trade them.

Cercis canadensis, or Eastern redbud, bloomed this month. I have two, and this photo is from last week, but one is still very much in bloom. Redbuds are an outstanding native understory tree, meaning they take shade and compete well under large trees, and whaddya know? They have a great flower and leaf to boot. I got these on closeout at the end of the season last year. Like the mountain bluets, they looked a bit sad, but you wouldn’t know it now by how much they bloomed.

Finally, we have Kerria japonica ‘Pleniflora,’ my old double-flowered Japanese kerria. A large old clump of this airy shrub came with the house, and I’ve been busy transplanting bits of it around the backyard. It blooms most this time of year, then sporadically throughout the growing season. Makes for a great closeup too.

If you enjoy my garden photos, check out Oakleaf Green’s Facebook page and become a fan. These and many more are posted there.

So what’s blooming in your garden?

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Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day: April 2009

Posted April 15, 2009 by Andrew

I’ve decided to participate in Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day, an event started by Carol of May Dreams Gardens, where garden bloggers from across the blogosphere post photos of what’s blooming (or budding, or just plain interesting) in their gardens on the 15th of every month.

Here are some of my favorites from my garden right now:

• Leuzea carthamoides, or maral root, looking quite fetching with its toothed leaves poking through the ground. Maral root is the only perennial I’ve grown yet in my current garden from seed. A native of Siberia, it has interesting pink thistle-like flowers in summer. This, I hope, will be the first year it blooms.
• Viburnum carlesii, or koreanspice viburnum, not in bloom, but in bud — I just couldn’t resist posting this picture. This is one of my favorite plants for fragrance, and I have it planted under a kitchen window. Easy, easy, easy to grow! As expert and author Michael Dirr says, every garden should have a viburnum, and koreanspice is a fantastic choice. It’s also less prone to attack by the viburnum leaf beetle, a non-native invasive pest attacking viburnums in our region. I’ll follow up with a photo of it when the flowers are actually open.
• Finally, a daffodil, nearly open, a bit out of focus.

Enjoy!

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Knowing When To Make A Change

Posted April 13, 2009 by Andrew

The pieris had stood in that spot for probably half a century. Like most of the foundation planting I found when we moved into our home, it was hugely overgrown. Some I renovated and some I left, but the pieris… I wasn’t sure.

I’ve never been a fan of Pieris floribunda, sometimes known as Japanese andromeda, a popular evergreen here in the Northeast. Yes, there are cultivars with exciting flowers and foliage, but this was the straight species or thereabouts. I didn’t like the particular shade of red its new growth took on in the spring, nor the electric chartreuse it changed to as the season wore on. I didn’t like the messy seed clusters that hung on indefinitely — indefinitely — after flowering. I didn’t much like it at all.

Still, I thought it deserved a shot. Pieris are slow-growing, so I knew this was a venerable plant. I pruned it into tree form, exposing a multi-trunked base with nicely colored bark. I liked that. I picked out all the dead seeds. I stood back and stared. I thought it over. I thought it over some more.

After a year of thinking it over, I didn’t like the plant any more than I had from the start. It was time for the pieris to go. A red ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Summer Wine’) had caught my attention, and I thought it would be the perfect successor.

On a bright fall afternoon, I took the pieris down. As a nature lover, it hurt me. Who was I to dispose of an organism that had thrived in this spot since before I was born? As a designer and a gardener, I knew it had to be done. Rarely do we have the opportunity to choose the plants that come with our homes, and when plants that have been chosen for us puncture an otherwise harmonious design scheme, it’s decision time.

But that’s not the end! Yes, good garden plants can often be moved, but if not, they can always be reused. The stump of the old pieris pictured is going to be the base of my new birdbath. I’m recycling its branches into rustic fencing, and all the rest of it went to the town compost. Taking out the pieris may have been a long-contemplated design decision, but facilitating its rebirth in many forms was a no-brainer, and something I consider a responsibility — as a designer, a gardener, and a human being.

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Groundsel Tree

Posted April 2, 2009 by Andrew

Botanical Latin stuck in my head of the day:
Baccharis halimifolia, or groundsel tree.

Native Groundsel has intrigued me for a while. The only shrubby member of the aster family, it grows in forgotten places from Massachusetts to Florida, west to Texas. Its billowy seedheads by the roadside always catch my attention in the fall. It would seem groundsel could be of ornamental value with the slightest training, and goes great with any showy fall perennial or shrub. I just purchased one for my front flowerbed, so I’ll let you know!

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American Beachgrass

Posted March 30, 2009 by Andrew

Botanical Latin stuck in my head of the day:
Ammophila breviligulata, or American beachgrass.

What a simple, excellent grass this is for those with beachfront property. It’s native. It’s used in dune stabilization. It’s at once evocative of those long, sun-soaked childhood days at the beach. Its subtle, constant movement, along with that of wind and wave, is part of why the beach is so soothing; that, of course, is why man has been drawn to the shore since time immemorial. The beach just wouldn’t be the beach without beachgrass.

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Meet Jerusalem Sage

Posted March 19, 2009 by Andrew

Jerusalem sage (Phlomis russeliana) is a herbaceous perennial of the mint family native to Syria. For most of the year, it’s a rather unassuming chartreuse, evergreen rosette of leaves, but in late spring and summer it sends up stems of whorled flowers of an inimitable soft yellow I love.

All parts of Jerusalem sage are covered in fine white hairs, further softening its visual effect in the garden, and a sure sign it’s drought tolerant. Plants with this peach fuzz often are — it reflects sunlight and reduces water evaporation from leaves. As a rule of thumb, many plants from Jerusalem sage’s native Mediterranean are also drought tolerant.

I’d longed for Jerusalem sage since I first saw it in a White Flower Farm catalog in the 90′s, and was thrilled to have a good place to grow it in 2007. I succumbed to my inner plant nut and ordered just two plants, all I could afford, though they’re much better planted en masse. My sagelets arrived, I planted them, held my breath, and then…. Nothing. For the rest of the season, they lived, curled a bit in the heat, uncurled when happy, but otherwise did nothing.

I read reports Jerusalem sage could be temperamental and unblooming. I fretted over whether mine would bloom. Finally, I forgot about them and moved on to more free and easy bloomers, like that floozie buddleia.

The following spring, I noticed the rosettes had indeed stayed green under the snow, a bit brown around the edges, but the bar was set low. I had zero expectations of the plant. Well, you can imagine my surprise when one rosette sent up four stems of flowers. Four! I was beside myself.

And some interesting flowers they are. Whorls of hooded bracts make their way around the stems, looking for all the world like yellow canopies of tiny merry-go-rounds. I left the stalks on to dry through the growing season, and just this month cut them down in anticipation of new flowers.

My understanding is that Jerusalem sage needs well-draining soil and won’t tolerate wet feet. It enjoys full sun, but I have read report of it growing in part shade under trees in dry situations, and that’s it’s also salt tolerant. While not for those in need of instant gratification, I’ll attest that Jerusalem sage is a unique plant and absolutely worth the wait. I’m hoping for twice the flowers this year.

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