Yes, I’m still out back mulching the garden over for winter. The count: 36 bales of straw. Will 36 cover our urban back 40? nuh-uh. I’ll let you know the final tally. I’m sure this is completely fascinating to you. *eye roll*
Archive for October, 2010
not the last straw
Friday, October 29th, 2010making hay
Wednesday, October 27th, 2010
Well, technically, not hay. Straw. I’ve been putting truckloads of the stuff on my garden beds in preparation for winter. Last year I used it to winterize my pots (at that point, all my plants were still pot-bound). It worked so well — and for so little money — I’m blanketing the entire garden with straw!
Straw is perfect to protect my new plants, keep weeds down and keep my 92 yards of new topsoil from meandering any further. It stops the water from rushing downhill. I need that.
Here’s a big seller: a bale costs just $5…
Once you trim the cords that bind it…
… it separates easily into sections like so. Each section is about 4″ to 5″ thick (that compresses over the winter)…
Then you can lay it out in rectangles or break it up, whichever you prefer. So now my beds look something like this…
Not exactly pretty but who cares? It’s organic! It’s for winter! The elements will darken it and break it down some before spring. If there are any errant weed seeds in the bales, the freezing temps kill them. And from what I’ve seen so far, straw is the ideal worm farm — the worms are mad for the stuff. Did I mention straw is considerably cheaper than the buckwheat hull mulch I get from Seven Arrows Farm? Love me some buckwheat hulls but I need to cut costs.
Laugh at me now but come next spring it will all be food for the soil and help keep the ground moist as temps rise again. My plants will be thrilled.
P.S. I may not be crazy. I’m not the only one pro-straw as mulch: read this or this or this article on Ruth Stout, the queen of straw bale vegetable gardening.
baby garden’s first fall
Tuesday, October 26th, 2010Whoa. My baby’s growing up! Leave home for a week or so and things really change around here. Here’s a look at the first signs of autumn brilliance in our own backyard.
Our spindly little dogwood, which would probably look better if previous owners had planted it in a less shady spot, glows a lovely, warm red now…
My trio of Callicarpa bodinieri ‘Profusion Beautyberry’ are loaded with Barney-colored berries…
Just across the path, my new golden spruce, picea orientalis ‘skylands,’ really shines behind the dark euphorbia ‘blackbird’…
Just look at those crazy euphorbia. They stay a dark eggplant shade with hits of blue and chartreuse from spring through fall. I hope they make it through the winter…
Further up the hill I have another euphorbia, this one is ‘Bonfire’. It complements the other fall shades around the yard quite nicely, I think. Especially since I set it in front of sumacs and penesetums…
Speaking of which, the Rhus typhina ‘Tiger Eyes sumacs’ and ornamental grass border looks like it’s on fire…
That’s ricinis communis (castor bean) in the front there next to miscanthus sinensis ‘silberfeder’ (Japanese Silver Grass). ‘Tiger Eyes’ sumac are the fiery bits in back. The sumac colors are amazing…
The castor bean’s leaves and alien-looking seedpods are a nice complement…
Further back, my new Rhus aromatica ‘Gro Low sumacs’ are not only securing the slope but bursting with color. Someday they’ll mature into a real eye-catcher every fall…
My Japanese Forest Grass is finally starting to fill in and has taken on some nice fall color. These should look much more impressive next year — they’re not even half the size they should reach. Hakonechloa macra ‘Beni Kaze’ is is turning burgundy at the tips…
Hakonechloa macra ‘All Gold’ is starting to go from chartreuse to brilliant gold, as the name promises…
And Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ is beginning to take on shades of purple and pink…
Last but hardly least, Panicum virgatum ‘Ruby Ribbons’ (Ruby Ribbons Switch Grass) has gone from seafoam blue and purple to a deep, deep red, which looks fab next to the sage-y green of the euphorbia myrsinites ‘donkey tail spurge’…
And to make fall all the more glorious, it’s 73 degrees out today! Wait… what the hell am I doing indoors?
fall at denver botanic
Monday, October 25th, 2010In Denver last week, our very first stop (after our favorite noshery) was Denver Botanic. This is high country, so you see a lot of drought-tolerant ornamental grasses, native plants and conifers here. I get great compositional ideas from DenBot.
As luck would have it, this time Henry Moore’s sculptures were on display. Take a look…
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
<3
derrrrr
Sunday, October 24th, 2010
Sorry for going black again. We headed to Colorado for a trip to see my family and like a complete dork I left my computer bag in the hallway by the front door. Kill me. Wanted to do updates via WordPress for iPhone but my passwords were at home. Argh. On the other hand, Godzilla and Mechagodzilla had a great time.
pati o’leery
Friday, October 8th, 2010Now that the cable railing is finito, we can move on to our next project: upper and lower patios. It does sound extravagant to have two, doesn’t it? But with a two-level house built into a hillside, we have two separate entries that need to step out onto something better than what we have now. Take a look…
UPPER PATIO Crushed stone in place since the Savages set it down in April awaits the concrete pads we have in mind. Once pads are poured, the patio will be level with the top of the retaining wall and we’ll have plenty of room for entertaining…
Wondering what the heck I mean by concrete pads? Remember this image that I showed you a few months back?
Waterfall House, Andrew Remy Arquitectos | archdaily.com
See how the concrete is cut into angles with grass in between? Yeah. Like that. Our first choice for patios is something akin to that only set into pea gravel. It would tie in nicely with the architecture of the house, which is very angular on the front face…
LOWER PATIO This shot is from April before landscaping improvements began, but it still basically consists of completely inhospitable sharp-edged gravel. Yucky…
We’re envisioning the patio coming out from beneath the deck and into the pathway. As you can see, privacy is an issue…
Thankfully, landscaping will continue to change that — more on that later. Suffice it to say that we come out this door a lot, as will our guests (assuming we ever have a house fit for guests), and we’re eager for it to change.
Months ago we created a patio plan so we could work the landscaping around it. Our buddy Shiva helped turn from scribble to jpg (click to biggify)…
You can see in the original plan that the lower patio extended the length of the deck. We decided to cut that to half, hoping it would save a little money. The long rectangle at the top of the upper patio is a very low, shallow reflecting pool with an 8″ concrete foundation. Minimal. Kind of like this…
contemporist.com
I’ve shared this and other examples previously. Really, really want that to happen.
Our last meeting with Tom Zilian of MadStone Concrete sounded promising. We met again with him and it still sounded promising, so David whipped up exact measurements…
Then we got the quote. And now we’re on the fence. Am sure the final product, after a laborious process of prepping the site, framing and pouring the pads, 10-day curing, sanding and sealing, would be exactly as we envisioned. Heck, probably better. The question is can we suck it up and just sink the money into patios when we have a whole house remod kicking off in the next few weeks? Argh.
plant geeks only: conifers
Monday, October 4th, 2010The next installment in my ongoing cataloging of plantage: Conifers! O how do I love thee, gymnosperm? I love thine evergreeniness. I love thee for anchoring my garden and for your amazing foresty scent. I love thee as living sculpture — particularly thee irregularly shaped cultivars.
So far I’ve planted seven carefully curated conifers around the yard. Each was chosen for various reasons, including a tendency not to grow to towering heights and block all my sun. Here goes…
Pinus thunbergii ‘Thunderhead’ (Dwarf Japanese Thunderhead Black Pine)…
pinus thunbergii ‘thunderhead’ | iseli-nursery.com
The Thunderhead is next to our yet-to-exist fish pond, positioned for prime viewing from our yet-to-exist window wall. I like to get a headstart. We love this tree. Bix has dubbed him Teddy, because he looks so huggable. In the spring its cones stick up like candles. Although it also looks like the tree is flipping you the bird…
thunderhead candles | learn2grow.com
Here’s our Teddy, picked up at Briggs Nursery in Attleboro, Mass. Such a cutie…
I just want to pinch his widdle cheeks every time I see him. More on the Thunderhead here.
Picea orientalis ‘Skylands’ (Yellow Oriental Spruce)…
picea orientalis ‘skylands’ | plantman56.blogspot.com
Color. I crave it, especially in winter. For the warm season, I wanted a jolt of brightness on the way up the path to lead the eye up to my blindingly chartreuse Tiger Eye sumacs (Rhus typhina ‘Bailtiger’, more on those another time). The Skylands Oriental spruce was a no-brainer…
Not a sunny day here in Providence, as you can see. But the Skylands I drove all the way to Estabrook’s in Yarmouth, Maine, to retrieve, shines like the sun — as do the sumacs at the top of the hill. Click to biggify and you can spot my new Silberlocke fir right in front of the stairs. More on the fir below. [On the left: Shasta viburnum (Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum ‘Shasta’), ‘Beni Kaze’ Japanese Forest Grass (Hakonechloa macra ‘Beni Kaze’) and a bamboo-like bramble called Rubus henryi bambusoides on the trellis.]
Skylands bonus: hot pink-reddish cones at the tips of the branches in the spring just add to the disco. Can’t wait to put my dancypants on when these appear…
picea orientalis ‘skylands’ | bizonnursery.com
For a biggified shot of Skyland’s brilliance, click the top image here.
Pinus parviflora ‘Tempelhof’ (Japanese ‘Tempelhof’ White Pine)…
pinus parviflora ‘templehof’ | helmers.de
From hereon out to be referred to as “The Hof.” Blue. I really wanted a burst of it behind my three Purple beautyberries (Callicarpa dichotoma), and now I have it…
Found Hof at Briggs. Just take a look at how cool his needles are…
I saw a nuthatch pecking away at his pinecones yesterday. That makes me happy.
Abies koreana ‘Horstmann’s Silberlocke’ (Korean Fir ‘Horstmann’s Silberlocke’)…
abies koreana ‘horstmann’s silberlocke’ | iseli-nursery.com
A bit of silvery blue, positioned further up the path past the blue Hof and the golden Skylands. The Silberlocke fir has unique needles that curl up to reveal silver undersides. Here’s a shot of ours…
In early summer, the cones are the craziest shade of blueish-purple you’ve ever seen. These don’t quite capture it…
abies koreana ‘horstmann’s silberlocke’ | estabrooksonline.com
In my growing conifer museum, I think Silberlocke will be one of my favorites. Found this one at Esposito’s Nursery in Cohasset, Mass.
Pinus sylvestris ‘Albyn Prostrata’ (Albyn Prostrate Scotch Pine)…
pinus sylvestris ‘albyn prostrata’ | schultesgreenhouse.com
I needed a low spreader to hold a small slope above what I’m calling “The Desert Room,” planted with some of my more drought-tolerant plants. This pine is perfect for that. Stays low but spreads out. I like it’s blue cast. Give it a few years and mine should take over this slope…
Picked this baby up at The Farmer’s Daughter in Wakefield, RI. Nice selection of conifers there, especially rock garden specimens. I should mention that this Scotch pine has really cute pine cones and makes the lower part of the garden smell fantastic…
Pinus densiflora ‘Oculus Draconis’ (Japanese ‘Dragon’s Eye’ Red Pine)…
pinus densiflora ‘oculus draconis’ | millernursery.com
Not a pine you see often. Or ever. Dragon’s Eye should look awesome against a snowy landscape — and in the years to come, its trunk gets twisted and gnarled. Just look at those needles!
the eye of the dragon | bluesterling.com
See the eye? It sees you. I just love those yellow bands…
pinus densiflora ‘oculus draconis’ | bizonnursery.com
Here’s our little Dragon’s Eye lighting up the far corner of the yard…
[Dragon’s Eye flanked by Castor Bean (Rincus communis) and ‘Royal Purple’ smokebush (Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’)]
At The Farmer’s Daughter, where I picked my Dragon’s Eye, they had a crazy tall one carved into a bonsai…
Impressive but we’ll be keepin’ it real with our tree. True to its breed, Japanese red pine is supposed to create an excellent windbreak as its tendency is to spread out horizontally like so…
typical pinus densiflora | oculus draconis feature on whiterosesgarden.com
… which is another reason I put it on the north side of our yard. Let’s hope it grows to fulfill its potential. As with all of us.
Before I finish up here, I’d like to say I couldn’t have done my research without the aid of Gardening With Conifers by Adrian Bloom. Excellent resource. Here’s a little something I bet you didn’t know that I picked up from Bloom’s book: the gingko biloba is a conifer. Yes, the gingko!
ginkgos at huntington japanese garden | huntington.org
I wish I had room for a big statement-making gingko but no. Luckily, dwarf cultivars have been introduced in recent years, one of which I picked up at The Farmer’s Daughter. Bound to a pot for the last few years, my Ginkgo ‘Jade Butterflies’ is starting to get root-bound. Now that it’s fall, it should be yellowing up soon…
The male trees don’t fruit, so no stinko in this ginkgo. The moment our new patio is poured and all likelihood of trampling has passed, I’m putting this guy in the ground.
On that note, I take my leave. Carry on.
plant geeks only: japanese maples
Friday, October 1st, 2010What is it about Asian gardens that draws me to them? The focus on foliage and texture? The exotic and irregular shapes? The simplicity — which requires the kind of restraint I just don’t have? I’ll never have a full-on traditional Japanese garden, but since I started planting I’ve tried to include some elements that I love. Starting with Japanese maples.
I lack the room for sizable trees, but I’ve managed to work in a handful that will max out at 10′ or less. Here are my choices so far…
Acer palmatum var. dissectum ‘Crimson Queen’ (Crimson Queen Threadleaf Japanese Maple)…
acer palmatum ‘crimson queen’ | shot at Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Drooled over this one at Brooklyn Botanic and then promptly hunted one down at Seven Arrows Farm in Attleboro, Mass.
Acer palmatum ‘Sister Ghost’ (Sister Ghost Japanese Maple)…
acer palmatum ‘sister ghost’ | essenceofthetree.co
Picked up online via Eastfork Nursery, who did a fantastic job of packaging. Gorgeous little tree.
Acer palmatum var. dissectum ‘Red Dragon’ (Red Dragon Threadleaf Japanese Maple)…
acer palmatum ‘red dragon’ | pacificcoastmaples.com
Picked up at Briggs Nursery in Attleboro, Mass. They carry a surprisingly good selection of Japanese maples in spring and summer.
Acer shirasawanum ‘Sensu’ (Sensu dwarf Full Moon Japanese Maple)…
acer shirasawanum ‘sensu’ | eastforknursery.com
Another tree I sourced from Eastfork. I wish I had room for a full-sized full moon but oh well. This will do nicely once it grows up.
Acer palmatum var. dissectum ‘Viridis’ (Viridis Threadleaf Japanese Maple)…
acer palmatum ‘viridis’ | plants.chaletnursery.com
A second maple from Briggs. I stalk there frequently.
Most of my trees are relatively dinky — buying smaller means buying more affordable. I’m a little nervous about how they’ll make it through their first cold, windy winter. I have a feeling some of them will need protection. Fingers crossed that everyone makes it through to spring.