Plant for the "trill" of it this Memorial Day

Every gardener delights in the Memorial Day weekend because it's the kickoff to summer, and who doesn't revel in an extra day off to play in the garden? For me, the weekend is always tempered by the solemn nature of the holiday. We are reminded that freedom isn't free, and we owe it to those who laid down their lives for our liberty to honor them. Unfurl your flags, folks! Nothing says "thank you" like the proud display of our stars and stripes.

Anyone familiar with my posts knows that I planted a red, white, and blue garden near my side door a few years back. Each year I switch it up a bit, incorporating new plants into the patriotic theme. When I step out onto my driveway it's the first garden I see, and it always makes me smile.  At one point I decided to try my hand at a growing a Trillium grandiflorum, AKA great white trillium. I chose this plant for two reasons. First, it's a native of the woodlands of northeastern North America, and it's important to preserve the nature of established species indigenous to our area. Second, it's a magnificent plant of jurassic proportions which I have placed in the center of the flowerbed--a place of honor. Fitting for this space, right?

Trilliums are not easy to grow. They can be tricky to transplant, and they take years to flower. The one in my front yard, below, is on year three now, and I've yet to see it bloom. I'm not discouraged. Gardeners are nothing if not patient. I appreciate the plant for what it is, and wait serenely for whatever is to come. The plant will take anywhere between 3 to 10 years to flower.

Don't feel you have the time to wait? Study the oversized leaves, growing in a whorl around the gargantuan stem. It's worth it to have this beauty in the garden for its proportion and foliage alone. It doesn't scream "look at me" with a riot of color or overpowering spread. It stands tall and stately, proclaiming its status by simply being. In short, it's a sight to see.

I have it paired with plants that don't try to compete for attention, but complement the monumental marvel. Pulmonaria (lungwort) and ferns behind it, ajuga, and the annual begonia in front, and variegated bergenia (which gets a blue flower) and carex (sedge) to its side. All these plants prefer the shelter of the rhododendron, which shields them from the harsh rays of afternoon sun.

In the second shot below, I tried to capture the growing habit of this cool colossus. Note the new, striped leaf just unfurling at one stem. When this plant eventually blooms--offering three massive bracts of creamy white, the size of a dinner plate--it will be to much fanfare! I plan to dedicate an entire post to it, so stay tuned....

Creating a monochromatic garden

When first learning how to plan a flowerbed, I think the desire is often to wow the senses with color. People want a plethora of rich hues all around the yard, forgetting other factors that make for really interesting plant compositions: texture, foliage, height and growth habit.

We've all seen magnificent landscapes with multiple colors, which makes us long for similar plantings in our own outdoor spaces. What most of us don't initially pick up on is the fact that in order for color to be perceived properly, all those other factors have to be in place.

Back in school, a professor once made each student plan an entire garden space using only two colors--and they had to be hues that we thought would work poorly together.  I went with pink and orange, which, surprisingly, looked fabulous. One woman chose yellow and black, and, I gotta tell you, they paired brilliantly. My orange tiger lilies and pink stargazer lilies gave way to orange butterfly weed and soft pink roses in the front yard. This has become one of my favorite color combinations. The student who opted for the yellow/black combo edged her property with black mondo grass and filled in flower beds with yellow daisies, lilies, leopard's bane, coreopsis (tickseed) and buttercups. Week after week, her landscape was a study in successful color coordination.

As the years go by, I find myself preferring monochromatic flowerbeds. Take the one pictured above: Blossoms are all, basically, one color--with a range in tone: from soft-as-a-blush pink tulips and dogwood buds to magenta and deep crimson (in background) azalea. What keeps the composition from being boring are the other elements. Varying tones of green in foliage plants (from light green pachysandra and lysimachia to mid-range hosta, gray-green artemisia, to left, and the deep green of boxwood and privet hedge in far background). The variety in texture and growth habit also adds interest. The mounding habit of the hosta echoes the same bouquet shape of the dogwood, providing a unity of form. When shot through with little surprise, like the bright pachysandra, rounded boxwood and azalea forms, and spiky artemisia, the effect is natural and unstudied.

Height plays a role in the presentation as well. Groundcovers and smaller plants line the perimeter of the area, while medium-sized bushes fill in the middle of the flowerbed, and the dogwood tree in the center provides the vertical space needed to assume a basic pyramid shape. Two planters (with mini cypress) beyond the bed--although purposely not matching--offer balance, and the privet hedge running along the entire length of the area in back defines the space.

The elements in this landscape complement each other rather than competing for attention. The idea is to make the eye move easily from one component to the next, enjoying the end result without even realizing what it is, exactly, that makes you feel good in the space.

Skeeter beater

I live in a neighborhood of hardworking, friendly people. I can't say that it's like the one I grew up in. Back then, people from all walks of life beat a path to the annual Memorial Day Picnic thrown by my next-door neighbors. While I feel nostalgic for those days, and the easy comradery of both the adults and kids back then, I understand we live in a different era. People are caught up in busy jobs, and spend the bulk of their socializing on local fields watching their kids play sports.

I don't throw an annual picnic, but I make an attempt to get to know the folks who live around me. I wave at everyone when I'm walking my dogs, and have, subsequently, gotten to know most of the people who live on my street. I met the police officer down the road who is training a German shepherd for the canine unit, I admired the tree peonies of the across-the-street neighbor, welcomed my new neighbors who just moved in next-door, and thanked the fellow behind me who offered to run my tree branches through his mulcher.

It makes me proud to say we look out for each other in this neighborhood. With that happy thought in my mind, I realized the best way I could be a good neighbor was to share some knowledge I've acquired from years spent in my garden. During this time of year, pest control is vital, so I've made the effort to educate folks in order to reduce the mosquito population in my area. This information will help everyone, no matter where you live:

Standing water is a safety risk. From a stagnant pond to a tiny puddle, water that isn't flowing is bound to be breeding mosquito larvae. As we all know from paying attention to numerous news stories, mosquitos carry deadly viruses, like West Nile, and the new-to-our area Zika--a particularly scary strain for pregnant women (due to the link with birth defects) and the immune-compromised. My neighborhood is in transition, with many new families moving in. There are a number of newborns and pregnant ladies in the area, so this is a particular concern of mine. Fortunately, it's a quick and simple fix to get rid of the pests without harming people, pets or wildlife.

First of all, keep all fountains and ponds flowing. Make sure those pumps are cycling water through the day. I turn mine off at night, but start it right back up when daylight hits. Moving water is hard for pests to settle in. Other eco-friendly tips: dump a few minnows in your pond. Minnows are natural predators to the larvae that becomes hazardous insects. If your pond is less than three feet deep, minnows need to be scooped out and kept in a basement during the winter so they don't freeze. If that seems like too much work, encourage frogs to populate your pond. As we all know, adult frogs eat insects, but did you know that tadpoles eat larvae?

If you can't coax the horny ones to your yard, you can opt for mosquito dunks: small, compressed discs containing the naturally occurring bacteria bacillus thuringiensis israelensis  (AKA bti), which naturally inhibits mosquito populations by poisoning them. I know it sounds toxic, and it is--to mosquitos. Yet this treatment, in use since the 1920's, is actually eco-friendly. Here's how it works:

Bti, a naturally occurring bacteria, is harvested from soil and packed into the briquettes which float on water surfaces, and are eaten by mosquito larvae (which ever-so-conveniently hatch from eggs also deposited on top of the water). The toxic crystals that the larvae ingest explode only the cells of mosquito and black fly stomachs, forcing them to stop eating and starve to death. It's as simple as that.

What isn't so easy is ensuring that the dunks (or smaller pellets for tinier spaces) are in all your landscape's nooks and crannies. You really have to scout out areas that allow water to gather: gutters, old pails, flowerpots, wagons and wheelbarrows--even poorly draining areas and dips in your lawn. Larvae can survive in just a teaspoon of water!

Time is also a factor. These dangerous insects are breeding and hatching now, so there truly is no time to lose. Since no other species are harmed by the dunks--including wildlife like birds and tadpoles, pets and people--there's no reason not to protect your friends, family and neighbors right now. I've spread these potentially lifesaving discs around my yard--just in time to consider reinstating that time-honored tradition of my childhood: the neighborhood Memorial Day Picnic. 

What to plant now

We're heading into the second week of May, prime planting season! If you're like me, you step out into the warmish weather, noting the balmy breeze nudging the buds on nearby tree branches, and feel a heady sensation of renewal and endless landscape possibilities. Others may look around sparse spaces with a rising sense of panic, wondering what to plant in the yards of barren soil spread before them. Whether you view the Spring season with anticipation or dread, it's comforting to know there are literally hundreds of plants ready, willing and able to adapt to your outdoor spaces.

Where to start? By asking the experts, of course. It's always about this time of year that I put a call in to my favorite local wholesaler to ask him what's growing really well this year. This week's telephone conversation yielded the following: pulmonaria (AKA lungwort) is strutting its stuff in the shady spaces of his garden. Its deep green leaves, speckled with white polka dots, makes a perfect foil to the deep purple and magenta flowers. The hosta have popped as well, and reside next to the oakleaf hydrangea, happily taking cover under sprouting tree leaves.

Of course tulips, daffodils and crocus are winding down, as are the snowball white blooms on the viburnum, but lilacs are on the upswing just now, along with some varieties of magnolia and dogwood. Lavender is popping up, and The redbud tree isn't far behind.

For sunny spots, catmint, yarrow, hibiscus and hydrangea (paniculata--the white flowers, not the macrophylla, the blue- or pink-blossomed variety that prefers shade) are all sending out leafy shoots, like arms laden in heavy green sleeves reaching toward the sun. It will be a while before their blooms pop, but you can plant them now. Also making a great show of things are, daylily leaves, daisy greenery,  the hopeful red shoots of peony, bachelor button (an early bloomer, just a few weeks away), and garden anchors like artemesia, heuchera (coral bells), carex (sedge), allium (ornamental onion), alchemilla mollis (lady's mantle) and grasses and ferns of all varieties. Get them all going now since there's very little chance of a cold snap snuffing their effort to grow and flourish.

For garden shaping, line the perimeter of flowerbeds with evergreens now. Boxwood, yew, and arborvitae (to name just a few) provide the canvas for the splash of festive bloomers all around them. If you don't know where to plant them, check out magazines (I like Veranda) and the web for design ideas. Drive around your neighborhood and look at other people's landscapes. Don't let your pride keep you from going with a garden design that looks similar to a neighbor's: if certain plantings look great in other beds around the region, chances are they'll look fabulous in your spaces too. Remember, imitation is the highest form of flattery. And the planting process will spark your own imagination and creativity, helping you plant a garden that is all your own.