New books = fresh ideas

Expand your gardening; use one of these books to try something new.

“Bulb Forcing for beginners and the seriously smitten” by Art Wolk, $24.95, AAB Book Publishing, www.gardenlunacy.com/.

Forcing bulbs is the method used to grow flowers in pots all year.  There are ways to successfully duplicate the conditions bulbs needs to grow and flower out of season.

This hardback book is written by an accomplished home gardener who has year-round flowers using products and conditions that can be duplicated in any home by anyone with the desire.

Want to have flowers all year? Start with the right planting material, some bulbs, corms, tuberous roots, rhizomes or tubers, a well-lighted growing space, and this book.

Wolk’s writing is humorous, easy to read and understand, the instructions are illustrated with Wolk’s award-winning photographs, and he gives  practical tips and advice for gardeners at all levels based on his own experience.

“Encyclopedia of Flowering Shrubs: More than 1700 outstanding garden plants” by Jim Gardiner, $49.95, published by Timber Press.

The director of horticulture for the Royal Horticultural Society gardens edited this 430-page hardback filled with 2,000 photos and descriptions of 1700 flowering shrubs.

Information for each variety includes: Size, flower color and season, fruit, stem color, autumn color, soil and light needs, pruning, cold tolerance and growing needs.

The information for each plant is brief, making it easy to decide which shrubs would work best for situations in a specific spot.

Shrubs are the framework of a garden and the addition of the right ones can make all the difference.

“Fairy Gardens: A guide to growing an enchanted miniature world”, by Betty Earl, $21.95, published by B. B. Mackey Books.

A fairy garden can be a miniature garden in a bowl or a magical spot in the landscape where small plants, houses, and mini-furnishings are installed to give the illusion of a home for tiny creatures.

This whimsical paperback explains that you can design a fairy garden as part of your landscape by collecting a doll-size abode and mini accessories and placing them into a scene. The house can be homemade or purchased, the features can include acorns, pebbles, or dollhouse furnishings.

Photos, planting ideas and fairy-scaping suggestions will help you with the project.

“Mini Encyclopedia of Garden Ponds: How to plan, construct and maintain a vibrant pond that will enhance your garden“, by Linda Adkins, $19.95, Firefly Books.

The first consideration in adding a pond to your garden is the type of pond you want: Wildlife, fish pond (over 222 gallons is mid-size), large (over 2,000 gallons), or a formal feature surrounded by hardscape such as rocks or a deck.

When the style and size decision is made, it is time to consider construction: Buy a form at the home improvement center, put liner into a shallow hole, build a concrete pond, or excavate a clay pond.

Pond features such as fountains, art, rocks, a quiet stream or a canopy add beauty. Filling the pond, maturing and testing the water, setting up pumps and filters all happen before plants and fish can be added.

Every topic from planning to planting and potential to problems is covered in this little paperback.

“Container Gardening for All Seasons: Enjoy year-round color with 101 designs”, by Barbara Wise, $21.99, Cool Springs Press.

There are Ten Commandment topics of container gardening: Soil, sun, low-maintenance, plants, drainage, roots, size, fertilizer, pests, and water and they are all clearly presented with lists, diagrams and descriptions.

The recipes for beautiful containers give the sun preference, container size, difficulty level, shopping list, planting instructions, water and fertilizer needs.

Go shopping with this paperback in hand and you will be able to duplicate any of the recipes.

HAVAHART Deer, Rabbit, Squirrel Repellent

We love our bunnies and turtles.

With that said, we do have to deter them from eating everything in sight. The vegetable garden had to be fenced to keep them away. Before the fence, each and every low hanging cucumber would have a bite out of it, lettuce and edamame plants would be decimated up to the height a baby bunny could reach.

In yesterday's blog you could see that we allow some beds to get pretty woolly = very little structure and stuffed with plants. Bunnies, turtles and other creatures live in there. Last night a baby cardinal was receiving its flying lessons from two very noisy and protective parents.

However. We do want things to have a chance to grow into maturity.

The poppy mallow I planted from seed has the purpose of caring for butterflies later in the season. It is apparent that baby bunnies enjoy the leaves.

Purple Poppy Mallow, Callirhoe involucrata, is a perennial wildflower that grows up to about a foot tall and sprawls across the ground, with vine-like stems up to 4' long from a central taproot. Bees and skippers enjoy the nectar.

Lakota and Dakota Native Americans burned and inhaled the dried roots as a cold treatment. Roots were also boiled and consumed to treat intestinal pain.

Once established this delightful ground cover will become drought resistant due to its deep taproots.

Because of its trailing habit, Poppy Mallow is useful as ground cover and in hanging baskets. Its drought tolerance makes it attractive for baskets also.

Prairie Moon seeds - Poppy Mallow native range

But back to the bunny problem. Havahart offered me a sample of its deer, rabbit and squirrel repellent.  We know about Havahart because of their live traps - in use here a few months every year.

Havahart Deer Off

Now, this line of their products is coming to the rescue.

Within a few weeks, there should be dozens of those rosy-pink flowers for pollinators to enjoy.

 

 

Terra Stone Plant Caddy - all recycled material Made in USA

TerraCycle, http://www.terracycle.net/en-US/,  uses recycled plastics to make this attractive plant caddy.

I asked the company to send me one so I could take a look at it and try it out.

I love the concrete look. And, I especially love the fact that it is as light as a feather and as strong as steel!

It measures 1-foot-square (12" by 12"), and holds as much 200-pounds of wet dirt and flower pot.

And the wheels work easily and well.

School volunteers collect those plastic drink pouches and TerraCycle makes them into their products.

The nonprofit that collects the pouches receives a donation of 2-cents for each pouch.

Available for $15 at Dwell Mart online.

TerraCycle's blog is at
 http://bagthebox.com/2012/02/the-prices-and-payoffs-of-being-sustainable/

TerraCycle is also giving refurbished laptop computers as an award for a contest -

Tech Titans Collection Contest

TerraCycle is gifting 10 refurbished laptops to reward each of the highest collecting Cell Phone, Laptop and Inkjet Brigade locations from April 1st through July 1st as part of the Tech Titans Collection Contest.

Our garden this morning

Herb of the year is Monarda, Oswego Tea, Horse Mint, Wild Oregano, Bergamot, Bee Balm

West Coast Seeds

The Herb Society of America's Notable Native Herb of 2013 is a plant of many names including its Latin name Monarda fistulosa, Oswego Tea, Bergamot, Wild Oregano, Horse Mint and Bee Balm.

The plant I started from a pack of seeds a dozen years ago is still going strong. The reason I planted it originally is because the seed pack said Bergamot. I love Earl Grey tea which is flavored with Bergamot so I knew I would enjoy the scent of the leaves in the garden.

Of course, the pollinator feeding aspect of Bee Balm is a double bonus. The flowers are covered with bees and butterflies in the summer.

This is one herb that is native to practically the entire continental U.S. It has been used medicinally for hundreds of years. Now, in the kitchen, it is used as an oregano substitute.

But, did you know that the roots are also beneficial? The Grower's Exchange said, "A very helpful companion plant, the Thymol contained in the plant's roots keep subterranean pests at bay, while the tubular purple flowers at the top of the plant attract many useful pollinators and predatory insects."

Monarda is a cold hardy perennial in zones 4-10. Give it a try in your garden, but know that if it likes where you plant it, a clump of Monarda can grow 3-feet wide and 4-feet tall. At least it did in our garden.

Plants are available from the Grower's Exchange and seeds are available from Easy Wildflowers, Prairie Moon, and West Coast Seeds.

Dragon Arum, Green Dragon, Arum Italicum for zone 7

Arums are commonly planted in shade gardens and under deciduous trees where they can be protected from hot summer sun. Fleshy spikes emerge in the spring and their flowers are funnel-shaped.

A few years ago, during a long, gardening-free December, a combination of touched-up photos, spring fever and sale prices, led to a bulb order that included a bag of Arum Italicum. They were planted in the dappled shade under the Osage Orange trees

Flower gardeners know Arum Italicum, or Lords and Ladies, by their beautiful arrow-shaped leaves, white flowers, and the cluster of orange-red seeds that follow the fading flowers. Another well-loved member of the same plant family is Calla Lily which has similar leaves and growing preferences.  

Green Dragon flower

Green Dragon leaf

Other shade-loving relatives include Jack in the Pulpit, Arisaema triphyllum, and Green Dragon, Arisaema dracontium which are native to our area.

Dragon Arum flower

For years, those sale bulbs’ fleshy, grey-green blotched stems emerged and sprouted interesting fans of leaves where the original five plants were tucked. No blooms appeared until this year and the flower that emerged is the one in the photo. It is not Lords and Ladies but a Dragon Arum.

Dragon Arum leaf

Jack in the Pulpit flower

Amorphophallus or Dragon Arums, look like they belong in the tropics but they are cold hardy to USDA zone 5. Their cultural needs include half shade and well-drained, but moist, soil.

Some of the common names in this family of Aroids include Voodoo Lily, Ragons, Snake Lily, Black Dragon, Dragonwort, Stink Lily, Snake Tongue, and Drakondia. But as with other common names for unusual plants, there is a lot of confusion. Look at a photo and especially the growing zones, before ordering. Plant Delights Nursery offers 20 different varieties of Amorphophyllus or Arum (www.plantdelights.com).

    There are 26-Arum species from shaded areas in Southern Europe, North Africa, West Asia and the Western Himalayas. They all have attractive, marked or lined leaves that are spear shaped or heart shaped. Some have sweetly scented flowers and others, such as the Titan Arum, have the famous smell of dead animals in order to attract the flies needed for pollination. Sometimes Arums are called corpse flowers because of their smell.

Titan Arums, the world’s largest flowers, are grown in a conservatory. When one of them flowers, live cameras and Internet links are set up to record every moment of its opening. At Ohio State University, seeds started in 2001 resulted in a 3-foot wide flower blooming ten years later. The opening can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0Mvtle2qCM.

Amorphophyllus or Arums were discovered by early plant explorers and because of their exotic appearance, many myths developed. Titan Arums were thought to eat the gardeners who cultivated them.

Other myths: Carrying the roots or leaves will protect you against vipers and serpents; carrying a plant onboard a boat will repel sea serpents; and, washing your hands in the plant’s juice will allow you to handle snakes without harm.

The plants in this group need half shade to full shade. The roots rot in wet soil so minimize irrigation and plant in a well-drained location. Ours thrive next to a dry-stacked rock wall. Divide clumps in the fall and replant a foot apart.

To cultivate a new bed, loosen the soil 6 to 8-inches deep and add compost, chopped leaves, and/or peat moss. Dig planting holes a foot or two apart and twice as wide as the tubers, Tubers are planted on their sides with the eye barely under the soil.

To start seeds indoors, plant them late winter and keep the soil 65-degrees. To plant seed outside, plant in the fall and lightly cover with compost or potting soil. Seeds take 6-months to germinate.

Check out the International Aroid Society, Inc. Arisaema page here. The Cluture link says they are almost as easy to grow as potatoes. How to grow from seed information is thorough.

AND, if you are considering shopping beyond Plant Delights' offerings, check out Telos Rare Bulbs here. Many wow possibilities.http://muskogeephoenix.com/features/x2089088583/Arums-offer-exotic-delights

Harmful and Helpful bugs in the veg garden

These little black and orange bugs have been trying to devastate my Red Russian Kale, broccoli and other cole or brassica plants.
"Both the adult and nymph suck sap from the collard/cabbage plant, causing it to wilt, turn brown and die." Clemson U.

I hand pick them off the plants though I've heard sprinkling flour on the plants help as much as poison. As you can see the broccoli heads are right there and I don't want to poison my food.

The Red Russian Kale is still in the garden because I want it to flower and go to seed - want the seeds for the fall garden, you know.

Harlequin bug Murgantia histrionica

Also in the veg garden there are Lady Beetles, the most welcome of predators!

Lady Beetles making the next generation.

When I was growing up in Ohio in the 1950s, I would have made the Lightening Bug the state insect,
but now I find out that The Convergent Lady Beetle is the state's insect. Sigh.

"Lady beetles, or Ladybugs or coccinellids, are the most commonly known of all beneficial insects. In Europe these beetles are called "ladybirds." Both adults and larvae feed on many different soft-bodied insects with aphids being their main food source. Ohioans like lady beetles so much that the Convergent Lady Beetle became the official state insect in 1975." Ohio State U.


Common Name               Scientific Name
Convergent Lady beetle Hippodamia convergens Guerin
Fifteenspotted Lady beetle Anatis labiculata (Say)
Ninespotted Lady beetle Hippodamia sinuata Muls.
Spotted Lady beetle Coleomegilla maculata DeG.
Twicestabbed Lady beetle Chilocorus stigma Say
Twospotted Lady beetle Adalia bipunctata (L.)
Red Lady beetle Cycloneda munda (Say)
Sevenspotted Lady beetle Coccinella septempunctata (L.)

Here's a lovely article in Fine Gardening by Joe Queirolo about attracting beneficial insects to your garden.

Queirolo says, "We're living in a bug-eat-bug world. And I want to keep it that way. To do so, I've transformed my garden into an insectary, a habitat where my beneficial insect friends will feel at home. I provide them with food, water, and shelter. I keep the soil covered with organic matter. And I avoid putting any harmful chemicals into their habitat.

      The menu for beneficials changes constantly as the pest population shrinks and swells, and as different flowers come into bloom. Many of the predators and most of the parasites will use pollen and nectar for food. I try to sustain them throughout the year by growing a variety of flowers that bloom at different times. Since many of the beneficials are tiny or have short mouthparts, I offer them tiny flowers with short nectaries. Many plants in the carrot and aster families offer just that.
      "I water my garden with overhead sprinklers, so insects always have puddles and wet leaves to drink from. If I were using drip irrigation, I'd offer them water in a saucer filled with pebbles, so they don't drown.
     Just like the rest of us, beneficials need protection from heat and rain. They need to hide from birds and insects who would make a meal of them. Again, a variety of leafy plants offers protection. Ground beetles hide in low-growing ground covers and in mulch or leaf litter. Flying insects hide in shrubs, on the undersides of leaves, even among the petals of marigolds.
     Beneficials also need a reason to stay on when they've finished cleaning up the crops or at the end of the season when you've cleaned up the garden. Consider trying to recreate in a corner of the yard or on the edge of your garden the thick, wild diversity of a hedgerow by using a variety of early-flowering shrubs, perennials, and grasses to provide year-round shelter and a place for alternative prey to dwell. Keep this beneficial insect reservoir as close to your garden as you dare. If the insects get too comfortable in the hedgerow, they might not be inclined to travel very far for a meal. As long as there is a place for pests, the beneficials may stay to eat in your weedy refuge rather than head for the neighbor's yard."

Don't miss the rest of Queirolo's great advice on how to keep a healthy garden.

On the road to Crystal Bridges - miles of bouquets by Holland Wildflower Farm

Holland Wildflower Farm created the seed mix for the gorgeous wildflowers along the road to the museum.

It was impossible for me to just enjoy them from the car. I had to get out and breathe them in!

Holland Wildflower Farm posted on their Facebook page today that the seed mix

that created the view along the road to Crystal Bridges is called "Little Bit Shady".

If you would like to plant a wildflower garden, check out Holland Wildflower Farm.

They sell individual plant seeds and mixes such as Floodplain Wildlife Mix, Eastern Native Habitat,

Continuous Color, Butterfly, Shortgrass Prairie Flower, etc.

Email: hwildflowerfarm@cox.net P.O. Box 328, Elkins, Arkansas USA 72727

Orders: (800) 684-3734 Customer Service: (479) 643-2622 Questions/Problems

Crystal Bridges Museum - the landscape

The building you see in this photo is art galleries at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville AR.

The body of water is fed by four springs on the 120-acre property.

Stella the Pig is one of the many works of art along the Art Trail.

Miriam Freedman couldn't resist stopping to pet Stella - no doubt many visitors feel the same.

This beautiful flowering American Yellowwood is on trail - so many beautiful plants to enjoy!

American Yellowwood Cladrastis kentukea, Cladrastis lutea 
University of Conn has information.

These 5 tulip trees on the Tulip Tree Trail
are called the Five Graces by Scott Eccleston and the staff.



The Gardens at Crystal Bridges Museum

The 120-acre site of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is a habitat for hundreds of thousands of native trees and plants.

Named for the Crystal Spring that originates on the family home site, Alice Walton’s
accomplishment in the Bentonville hills earned her a listing in Time Magazine’s
100 Most Influential People.

Since 2008, Scott Eccleston, Director of Trails and Grounds, has worked with the Walton family, Tulsa landscape architects Howell & Vancuren, Frank Sharum Landscape Design of Ft. Smith, the board and the foundation to make a vision into reality.

Eccleston said the passion of everyone involved is the reason it has all come together so spectacularly. Even though they started with beautiful Arkansas wooded hills, the site presented many challenges.
For example, the design plan for the grounds included 270,000 native plants.

“We put out feelers all over the country,” Eccleston said.
“The result was that we could purchase only 5% of the plant material we
needed.”

That was not the only challenge.

The first year of the six year project was spent blasting out the area for the museum buildings. The creeks on the site had to be diverted underground. To help protect the natural environment, museum construction workers were brought to the site by bus.
The hillside soil had to be removed, put back into place and amended with the soil stabilizer FiberSoils, and cottonseed meal before planting. Hillside plants had to be put in place by boom and carried in by hand.

“We did not take the easy road,” said Eccleston. “It was a challenging site and we chose overlooked plants. The landscape architect said this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to set the tone for this size project. The result is a marriage between art, the buildings and the landscape.”

The plantings were installed during last summer’s drought.

Seventeen miles of irrigation including drip, rotors and popup sprinklers, plus Gator Bags for the young trees, helped sustain them. The irrigation company, Rain Bird, has trained 15-20 landscape architects in how to work with large, difficult installations.

The green roof on top of the museum store is uniquely 12 to 14-inches deep. It is planted with serviceberry trees, coneflower, sumac, and ferns.

“We wanted to create art by how the plants were displayed,” said Eccleston. “The plants’ texture, shape and color help the art, museum and nature to coexist.”

For plant lovers, walking the 3.5 miles of trails is quite an experience. Each of the six trails
reveals a wide variety of native plants, views of the museum, or works of art.

“The grounds are designed through the eyes of the forest,” said Eccleston. “Everything had to be seen from the forest.”

- The Rock Ledge Trail is a 1/2 mile crushed granite pedestrian trail, the previous site of an early railroad. The Rock Ledge Shelter provides a place to sit and enjoy the surroundings.

- Dogwood Trail is a one-mile pedestrian trail with steps. There is seating along the trail where visitors can enjoy 500 dogwood trees.

- The half-mile Orchard Trail gently slopes through an evergreen forest, and connects with the Tulip Tree and Dogwood Trails.

- On the Tulip Tree Trail, walkers cross a rock bridge at the base of Crystal Spring, where the original steps into the spring remain. The trail ends at the Great Hall and the South Lobby of the Museum. The Tulip Tree Trail Shelter is a perfect spot to sit and enjoy being surrounded by forest.

- The 1/3 mile, hard-surface Art Trail is open for walking and biking. Along the Art Trail, families can enjoy several works of art.

Look for plant identifying signage as well as Eco-boxes for information along the way.

 

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR

www.CrystalBridges.org and 479-418-5731

Free admission to gardens and museum.

Closed Tuesdays

Master Gardener docent tours of the grounds Sat and Sun