Cottage Gardens and Cineraria

The English Garden at the Minneapolis Home and Garden show is actually a series of gardens, each designed and planted by a Twin Cities landscaping firm. I’ve only been to Britain once and gardens were not on the agenda, though my younger daughter, then age 9, and I had a great time at the London Zoo, which has a garden-like feel and is located in Regent’s Park, home to a fabulous rose garden. I remember the day because she was so amazed that some kids considered baked beans on toast delicious fast food. Ah, the wonders of travel. In any case, I’m no judge of how realistic the 10 English Gardens at the home show are, but a couple of the gardens caught my eye.

This Cineraria is the bluest plant I have ever seen. The folks at Masterpiece Landscaping in Minnetonka used drifts of blue, blue-purple, and blue-white Cineraria to great effect in their garden. Josh Jerde of Masterpiece told me that the plant is not used much because the blooms fade by mid-June and the foliage is not exciting. I had to take a picture of this eagle garden sculpture nearby. I’m not sure what kind of a garden you would need to have one of these planted in it, except it would have to be very, very large.

I also liked the cottage garden. I believe the firm that did it is called Botanical, but I’m not positive. They used some cottage-y plants, like hydrangea and clematis, and combined them with interesting, unusual evergreens, including this evergreen on a stick. I’m planning to convert the bed in front of my house to a much more cottage look–though our house is more aptly described as a snout house rather than a cottage–but I like the feel of fullness and color that cottage gardens have. I’m still not sure how to realize that next to our garage/snout.

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New Northern Gardener Available

The March/April issue of Northern Gardener is now available and it’s all about spring–just what we need on a day when the landscape looks positively Arctic with the wind and fresh snow. Debbie Lonnee, Northern Gardener’s horticulture editor, wrote the cover story on new annuals for 2008. Debbie recommends a half dozen great newer annuals, including a blue Salvia (Cathedral series) and a lime-green beefsteak plant (Iresine ‘Blazin’ Lime’). In another feature, Mike Heger of Ambergate Gardens in Chaska recommends 10 native plants that he thinks more gardeners should plant. If you are not a subscriber, you can find the issue at independent bookstores, Barnes and Noble, and Lund’s and Byerly’s stores.

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Update on the Instant Garden

My Instant Garden seeds have germinated and tiny little cotyledons (first leaves) are stretching toward the light. I was concerned about how much stretching was going on, so I moved the pot to this precarious post under some florescent lights in my kitchen. The hope is the close light source will allow the plants to develop into hardy, stocky fellows rather than scrawny ones. I made one mistake (well, at least one) in planting the pot, which is that I forgot to note which herbs were planted where. The middle plant is the green pepper. Fortunately, I’ll be able to identify the oregano, basil, and parsley once their true leaves emerge.

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Prince of Peonies Back Online

Many Minnesota gardeners are familiar with Harvey Buchite, formerly co-owner of Rice Creek Gardens in Blaine and an expert on all things peony. Harvey is a frequent speaker at gatherings of gardening enthusiasts. A couple of years ago, he and his wife, Brigitte, who was trained in horticulture in her native Austria, decided to open their own nursery and purchased land in Spring Grove, Minnesota. They planted 23,000 peonies, hundreds of hostas and daylilies, and began planning for buildings and extensive display gardens. The floods that devastated parts of southeastern Minnesota in August took a toll on the property. However, the Buchites and their nursery, Hidden Springs Flower Farm, are up and running on the internet. (I grabbed the photo of a gorgeous Majestic Rose peony from their site.) The site offers more than 300 peony varieties, ranging from 100-plus year old varieties to brand new ones. The Buchites will be taking orders this spring. Plants are generally shipped bare-root in the fall, which is the best time for planting peonies. Because of the damage from the floods, Harvey tells me they cannot be open for visitors until late 2009 at the earliest.

Despite the setbacks, the Buchites remain upbeat about the project, something Harvey says they have learned from working with plants over the years. He wrote, “I know that we will end up with just a gorgeous home and nursery. I can’t help but be optimistic when I’m working with plants because they teach us patience and the end results from anything is always better when allowed to develop at its own pace.”

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New Resource for Native Plantings

When we built our house nine years ago, I planted wildflowers in an area behind our lot. That area backs up to a walking path and several city-owned ponds. Knowing little about prairies or wildflowers at the time, I bought a wildflower seed mix for the Midwest, prepared the area, scattered the seed and hoped for the best. Sometimes that method words out well enough, as it did in my case, but at the time, I could have used a resource available specific to Minnesota. Well, now there is one.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service of the USDA recently published a booklet called “Living Landscapes in Minnesota: A Guide to Native Plantscaping.” For such a small book (only 36 pages), it’s a remarkably thorough resource on native plantings. The booklet provides an overview of how to design your landscape using native trees, shrubs, wildflowers, and grasses, as well as information on site preparation and choosing the best plants for your soil type. It also includes information on rain gardens, alternatives to Kentucky bluegrass for lawns, and planting for energy conservation. The lists of native plants that are appropriate for each type of landscape are also helpful.

The conservation service has a few printed copies available for distribution or you can simply download a PDF of the book. If you are planning to use natives in your landscape, it’s worth checking out.

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Forcing Red-Twig Dogwood

Back in December, I blogged about how wonderful red-twig dogwoods are for providing winter color. In answer to my question about whether to coppice my dogwoods, a reader suggested taking out one-third of the branches each winter and putting the cut branches in water to encourage bloom.

It’s been so cold recently that I haven’t felt like roaming around the yard with a pruner, but Saturday was a pleasant day, so I went out and cut some branches from my rangiest dogwood. I followed the procedure for forcing branches that is outlined at the Purdue University web site. Forcing basically means bringing the branches inside and coaxing them into thinking it’s spring so they will bloom.

Purdue recommends putting the branches in a tall container and using a preservative liquid. The branches are essentially bathed in the liquid, which apparently keeps them healthy and makes them bloom more. I had one nice tall vase to use, but all my other vases have disappeared, so I had to put some of the shorter branches in a martini shaker. (The last time anyone had a martini around here, Reagan was president.) The preservative is a mixture of lemon-lime soda (pop to you Minnesotans), water and a touch of chlorine bleach. The branches will now sit in a slightly dark, cool corner of the basement for a few weeks. If it works, I should have flowers sometime between Easter and April Fool’s Day.

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A One Hour Tropical Vacation

I was in St. Paul on business today, and one of the events I had scheduled was canceled. So, I found myself not far from Como Park with an hour to spare. Impulsively, I set out for the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory, the tropical garden in Como Park. It was just a few minutes after 10 a.m., the conservatory’s opening time, when I arrived and already the parking lot was nearly full. It makes sense. The weather lately has been cold and lousy. I’m not the only one who decided to take a one hour vacation to the tropics.

When I got in, the first thing I had to do was wait for my glasses to defrost after the rapid change in temperature and humidity between outside and the conservatory. It turns out the conservatory was hosting its annual Winter Flower Show in the Sunken Garden Room. You couldn’t help but relax and slow down when surrounded by this much beauty, breathing that soft, humid air.

I was blown away by the azaleas that lined the room, mixed with Oriental lilies (pictured above right), cyclamen and amaryllis, among other flowers. The azalea flowers were enormous and each one seemed almost perfect. The top group of flowers in the photo at right actually comes from a tree that is in a pot about four feet below the floor of this display area. I talked with a very helpful volunteer named Maggie, who told me that the bushy azaleas in the main area also have thick trunks inside of them. The conservatory horticulturists keep them pruned tightly in order to encourage bloom for this annual show. I was feeling a bit sheepish about how wimpy my azaleas are in the spring, but Maggie told me not to make comparisons. The conservatory show features tropical azaleas, which are nothing like the Minnesota-hardy azaleas developed at the University of Minnesota.

In the main part of the conservatory, orchids are scattered among the palms and greenery. The conservatory keeps a large collection of orchids and sets them out when they are in bloom. I really liked the one at left. I was also fascinated by this Manila hemp plant. The scientific name is Musa textilis and it’s related to the banana family. The plant is known for its durable fibers, which are mainly used for making rope. That pink blossom that looks like its coming off of a cable is the plant’s flower.

Am I crazy, or does the flower look like something electrical?

My spare hour was soon up, so I bid Maggie and the tropics good-bye. If you are thinking of visiting the conservatory, it’s open 10 to 4 everyday in the winter. The conservatory is free, though a sign politely asks for a $2 donation per adult. (Definitely, a bargain.) You can also visit the Como Zoo while there, and even have a bite in the park’s dining areas. It’s not exactly Bermuda, but on a frigid February day, it’s a real respite.

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My Instant Garden

One of the trends driving garden-marketing of late is the supposed homeowner desire for low-maintenance, no-maintenance and instant gardens. This is driven largely by younger homeowners (say, under 40) who have more money than time, and want a backyard that’s a refuge not a work-factory. Now, some people think if you want no-maintenance, the solution is a gardener or a condo. I’m all for low-maintenance at least in some parts of my horticultural life. That’s why I keep very few houseplants.

The folks at Smith and Hawken and Tar-jay naturally are all over these trends. The other day while wasting a frigid February evening trolling Target for pens and other essentials with my daughter I was enticed by an end-cap display of “Instant Gardens.” They looked so stylish, like most things I don’t need at Target. The gardens came in several varieties from lilies to herbs. Having more money than fortitude, I plunked down my $15 and bought the Pizza Pot. Research–that’s what I call it.

The pot is a modified strawberry pot in a pretty aqua blue. Inside it, I found four tiny packs of seed and three little disks of highly compressed potting material. The instructions were minimal and not realistic for Minnesota in February: Wet the disks until they become potting soil, put it in the pot, and add the seeds, then put the pot outside in a warm spot until the seeds sprout. Then bring the pot inside and put it in a sunny window. The disks did not produce enough potting material to fill the pot, but I had some extra potting soil so I added that. Since there are no warm spots outside at present, the pot is on top of the refrigerator. We’ll see if any of the basil, oregano, parsley or green pepper seeds sprout. If they do, I may plant them in my regular, non-instant garden come spring.

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I Must Have Fruit!

There’s a funny scene in the movie Time Bandits, in which Michael Palin of Monty Python and travel book fame, has a relapse of his “problem,” and yells, “Oh, Pansy, I must have fruit!” When my daughters were younger, this was a much-quoted line in our house, in part because we all like fruit. I like to grow fruit, too, but for a northern gardener, the options are limited. We have two apple trees, raspberries and strawberries, and a tiny sour cherry tree that the birds cleaned out in a day last summer. I also grew a watermelon last year (just one.) I’ve given up on blueberries, having spent far too much money on plants that die the minute they hit my garden.

This year, I’ve decided to try to expand my home-grown fruit lineup. I ordered seeds for a cantaloupe called Minnesota Midget. It was developed at the University of Minnesota, apparently in the 1940s, and is a small, very sweet melon that grows on a petite vine. It should be perfect for my relatively compact vegetable area.

When I placed my order for seeds, I also ordered ground cherries and wonderberries. Ground cherries look like a tiny tomatillo and the flavor is often described as a cross between a tomato and a pineapple or strawberry. They grow rapidly and drop their fruit (hence, the ground in their name) before it is ripe. According to gardening sites I’ve visited, gardeners should pick the cherries up and let them ripen in a safe spot, because the cherries are favorites of animals and because they are not safe to eat until they are ripe. (Ground cherries are a member of the nightshade family.) I’ve bought ripe ground cherries at the farmers’ market in the past and eaten them raw. I like the flavor but apparently they make a terrific pie. The other fruit I bought is called wonderberry and was developed in the early 20th century by Luther Burbank. They are quite prolific, producing a tart blue berry, that tastes best cooked.

Clearly, neither of these fruits will be as luscious as a home-grown peach or pear might be, but both are easy to grow, and I’m looking forward to giving them a try.

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Time to Order Seeds

With the wind howling outside and highs below zero predicted for tomorrow, it seemed just the right time to make my vegetable seed order. This is the day of the year when my time to garden seems endless and my energy high. Reality will no doubt set in sometime between April and June, but seeds are cheap so I’m inclined to be generous in my expectations.

In the past, I’ve ordered tomato, pepper and basil starts (little plants) from catalogs. The advantage is you can get unusual or new varieties. However, these plants have generally performed in a disappointing way, either because they arrived at just the moment when I did not have time to put them in (see paragraph above), or because they started their life in an ideal environment, not at all like my backyard where the sun is hot, the water sometimes scarce, and the wind blows constantly. Inevitably, I end up buying replacement plants at the farmers’ market, the local nursery, or the hardware store. This year, I’m skipping the middle-man and just planning to buy starts from local sources.

Vegetables that grow from seed are another matter. I like ordering them from a catalog because you can get more unusual varieties at very little extra cost or risk. So, this morning I mapped out my vegetable beds, and ordered seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. I’ve gotten the Baker Creek catalog for several years, but haven’t ordered before. I checked the company’s reputation at Dave’s Garden, and it gets excellent ratings for service and seed quality. As the name suggests, Baker Creek specializes in heirloom and rare seeds. Looking over the varieties, I realized they must sell to market gardeners; several of the plants were familiar to me from buying at the farmers’ market, including the delicious French squash my friend, Penny, blogged about late in the fall. Many of the varieties Baker Creek sells have been around since the mid-19th century, so they should be reliable.

Here’s some of what I ended up ordering:

Golden Wax Beans: My family loves beans, so I bought three types. These yellow ones are bush-style beans that mature in only 55 days–good thing since you really can’t plant beans until late May, even early June. They need a warm soil to germinate and don’t like it too wet either.

Cherokee Trail of Tears: This is a bean brought from Tennessee by the Cherokee people as they were marched to Oklahoma in 1839 by the U.S. government. I love a plant with a story, even a sad one. Trail of Tears is known to be very hardy and excellent for dry beans. This will be my first attempt to harvest dry beans.

Taiwan Black: This is my risky bean. It’s a long bean (38 inches!) that was brought to the U.S. in the 1970s. It’s only for stir-frying, which I love to do. My concern is that Taiwan Black is recommended for the South. The catalog does not say how long a growing season it requires, but we’ll plant it and hope for the best. It’s a pole bean so I’ll be setting up a trellis for it. The photo is the one used in the Baker Creek catalog.

Golden Beet: Maybe it’s because I have a sweet-tooth, but I love beets. I roast them in the oven and dress them with olive oil, vinegar, and lots of salt and pepper. This is a yellow beet that’s been around since the 1820s and its color doesn’t run like other beets. Its greens are also flavorful.

Chioggia Beet: This is a well-known Italian beet, which I’ve bought many times at the Northfield Farmers’ Market. It’s sort of striped and very tasty.

Poon Kheera Cucumber: I like the pale color of this cucumber from India, which is supposed to have a sweet, mild flavor.

Little Gem Lettuce: I’ve not had much luck growing romaine lettuce, but Little Gem is a variety recommended by the Minnesota Master Gardeners. In addition to Little Gem, I’ll buy a mesclun type lettuce mix locally.

Pink Beauty Radish: Not many people really like radishes, but they grow fast, and early in the season I want to harvest something, so radishes it is.

Nimba Zucchini: This zucchini originally came from Poland and is reportedly tasty fried. Watch out, friends and neighbors, it’s advertised as producing “great yields.”

I ordered some berries and a neat seed-starting gadget, but more on those in another post.

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