Wine & Wetlands

I resolved this summer to visit many of the local sites and attractions that I have never visited. I guess that human nature is such that convenient nearby activities and diversions are not a high priority since the opportunity for a visit will always be there.

A leisurely Sunday was spent visiting a few Maryland attractions located less than an hour's drive away. A wine sampling at Friday's Creek winery lead to a stroll through its old tobacco barn art gallery. Afterwards, a hike ensued at Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary, and then a visit to Lower Marlboro Nursery, specializing in native species and run by a local women in her front yard.

The walk on the boardwalk at Jug Bay, along the tidal Patuxent River, yielded opportunities for bird spying on some winged friends not found in my neighborhood. Five osprey nests on platforms dotted the wetlands. Seven great blue herons foraged near each other. A group of palm warblers played in the trees on the old railroad bed trail. Bird watching friends brought along a scope to bring the birds closer.

The trails were filled in with a native rhododendron shrub in bloom, more appealing and delicate than the solid-color pink and fuchsia azaleas overpopulating every suburban garden in the area. A lookup on the internet revealed them as a Pinxter Azalea (Rhododendron periclymenoides (Michx.) Shinners). It likes wet areas, which explains why it was found in the shady spots around the shores of the wetlands. It is also supposed to be highly toxic to both humans and animals, leading one to believe it deer-proof.

The end of the wetlands trails wove along a beaver lodge, where red belly turtles were sunning themselves, perched on logs and rocks in the pond behind - 45 turtles in all. Orange-red coloring around the bottom of the shell with yellow and black tripes on the head were certainly not considered camouflage.

Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: coreopsis, iris, allium

Plant Swap Adoption

One year ago at our annual Plant Swap Brunch, I adopted a perennial geranium looking for a new home. Most gardeners attending our plant swap do not know the names of what they have, but I knew this was some sort of geranium.

I divided it into twins and placed them in a sunny location like their original home. With some TLC throughout the summer, they grew slowly. This spring, each came back and shot up some magenta blooms. Based on these, I identified the plant as Cranesbill Bevan's Variety (Geranium macrorrhizum). Isn't the internet wonderful?

Information seems to indicate that this is a semi evergreen that blooms throughout the summer, and can be considered a ground cover. This was not my experience, with few blooms last year and 100% winter die-back. According to one source, the highly aromatic leaves are used for 'woodland scented perfumes.' I always knew my twins fell into the scented geranium category. What I admire (compared to my other geranium [10.5.2008]) is that clusters of blossoms are held above the 8-inch tall (20 cm) mound of foliage. The plants are also beginning to spread out new little ones, so the ground cover behavior is beginning.

You Are Invited To A Plant Swap Brunch
All gardeners are welcome - maybe some local garden blog readers would like to stop in. Our plant swap brunch is near the Huntington Metro station in Alexandria, 12:00-1:00 PM, Saturday May 1 at the Huntington Community Center on Liberty Drive. Bring something to swap (seeds, seedling, plant) and a brunch item. Contact me if you need further info. At last year's spring plant swap, coreopsis, hosta, lettuce, St. John's Wort, and iris all walked my way. I said goodbye to pepper, & tomato seedlings, asters, dragonflowers, geraniums, and cosmos & castor bean seeds.

For The Record:   • Well drained soil   • Full sun   • No pests or disease Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: Cranesbill geranium, allium, azalea, viburnum   • Germinated: peppers (12 days), castor bean (5 days), tomatoes (9 days)     millet (8 days), cleome (14 days), hollyhock (11 days)

April 2010 Bloom Day

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day
What's blooming in the garden on the 15th of each month

This day, I got the urge to be more creative with the photos. Lighting from behind the azalea, lighting casting shadows to bring out highlights, chartreuse all alone among the red, and depth of field changing.

It is a toss-up on which photo to submit for this month's photo contest Green World theme. Please help me decide.

Doublefile Viburnum buds		St. John's Wort 'Brigadoon'
Azalea 'Snow'		Dogwood

Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: dogwood, azalea, poet & chiffon daffodils, grape hyacinth   • Seedlings: tomatoes, pepper, cleome, millet sprouted

Vertically Challenged

In addition to the regulars in the garden, I like to extend invitations to a few new plants each year. One of the new arrivals to my spring garden is the Tête-à-tête daffodil (Narcissus 'tete-a-tete'). (Tête-à-tête is French for 'head to head'.) My problem with daffodils is their inclination to wear out their welcome. After blooms have come and gone, they like to hang out long afterwards while their leaves slowly and unattractively die back. This miniature's petite size lead me to believe they will not become a noticeable nuisance waiting for leaves to die back, thus allowing other plants take up their place.

I have seen these little ones around here and there in other gardens, so they seemed like a good choice for a spot up front. They really need to be seen close up. They can get confused for crocuses from a distance. I must wear my glasses.

Being only 4-6 inches tall (10-15 cm), these particular tête-à-tête daffodils appear to be lower in height than others I have seen around town. Still others have longer cups than these. My guess is that these are a different subgroup of a larger mini daffodil group, or that they are new, or that I planted them too deeply. I know I planted them too far apart. They would surely look better snuggled together as a mature clump.

For The Record:   • Well-drained soil   • Full sun   • Small amount of bone meal in Fall Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: tete-a-tete, lemon chiffon, poet daffodils, apeldoorn tulips, hyacinth, snowflakes   • Seed started: cleome, tomatoes, millet, hollyhock, peppers

Incredible Hulk Hands

Physical changes to the body occur at this time of year. Muscles that last saw action in October are called upon to wake up. Skin tone and muscle tone begin to change, responding to the initial demands that will once again toughen them up for use in the great outdoors. My hands change too.

After my garden-a-thon yesterday, I wonder how many gardeners get the same Hulk Hands following a season of indoor winter diversions. They seem to feel larger, more muscular, and certainly tougher one day after being in the spring garden for the first time. They even turn green during the summer after working around tomato plants. Today, those hands feel like they could pull up those oak tree saplings I struggled with yesterday. After one round of picking up holly clippings, leaf debris, and working the pruning shears, the hands and skin are tough as the best garden gloves.

I use gloves occasionally, but find them bulky, clumsy, and difficult to maintain (keep clean.) On they go, and off they go, over and over depending what task is being performed. It's easier to keep them off. Dirt always find its way inside them.

Dirt also finds its way under the fingernails. The Hulk never had a good manicure. My summer gardener's nails end up being short stubby, worn down stumps out of necessity to eliminate a place for my garden soil to hide; much like American colonists who shaved their heads to prevent head lice from hiding there.

Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: ice follies & tete-a-tete daffodils, red emperor tulips, magnolia,     cornell pink rhododendron

Tiffany Goes Green

While on the late summer visit to the Chicago Art Institute, a Tiffany lamp caught my attention. Art nouveau design often contained motifs with anamorphic features and those imitating nature. This lamp, beautiful in the colors alone, contained several references to nature and plants. The lead between the glass is more than the structural came between pieces, becoming the veins of the leaf cells on the shade. Nature is not only expressed in the lamp shade, but throughout entire lamp, from the turtleback inlaid base, to the 'snail antenna' shade supports, to the flower bud finial at the top.

Tiffany Studios produced several lamp designs with the dragonfly motif, but this one was most interesting because of its large size and its uniform green/blue colors.

Formal Proposal

Looking for some garden item to write about at this time of year that I might find useful in the future, I reviewed travel photos form last year. The autumn trip to Chicago included a visit to Millennium Park as indicated in a previous post 13.11.2010. The paved walks, stairs, furniture, planter shape, park lights, plan, and relation to the city all speak in a common formal voice. However, informal grasses and perennials were integrated into the park's planting beds in an creative way.

The perimeters of each planter were trimmed with uniform, neat hedges and annuals arranged in rows that reinforced the planter's shape and formal characteristics. The centers however, contained natural groupings of the taller, more conspicuous offerings such as ornamental grasses, buddleia, cannas, and vines.

I was impressed with this ingenious way to combine untidy plants with differing textures, densities, and growth habits into a formal garden arrangement. Let a formal uniform border surround and contain the noisy, unconforming plants inside.

Snow Ice To See You

The record breaking snow storms of 2010 have left many area gardeners in anguish after reviewing the damage inflicted. 48-inches of heavy snow (120 cm) from two storms in a one week period slammed our area that averages 16-inches of snow (40 cm) in an entire winter. Everyone has relayed stories of broken tree limbs, buried gardens, and ice-sheared shrubs, and this gardener does, too.

My front display garden damage cannot be observed at this point under the white blanket. Hollies are fine, but the mountain laurel with its weak limbs succumbed to the snow load in the first storm.

My rear yard is another matter. The queen of the back yard, the Dr. Merrill Star Magnolia came away with not a scratch due to its muscular stems and trunk. The 15-foot tall (4 m) Photinia turned into a weeping photinia. The branches eased back to vertical after some snow melt, but are not as tight and upright as before. There is hope for the spring.

The ligustrum had a few lower branches broken from the weight of snow. Later snow melt will reveal the extent of damage, however the plants will survive. Their trained tree-shape may be the casualty. The dogwood lost a lower branch, but otherwise appears well.

The most damage that can be observed, or rather not observed occurred on the 8-foot tall (2.5 m) rhododendrons. These are nowhere to be seen from the house windows. It is feared they are completely flattened to the ground and buried under snow.

Pearly Whites Just In Time

Trying to extend the growing season by bringing it indoors, and being inspired by the Indoor Garden(er), a companion to the Paper Whites was planted just before Thanksgiving. Pearly white Hyacinth (Hyacinthus orientalis) bulbs were set in water, topped with green tumbled ocean glass, chilled, and brought out to be forced into an indoor winter bloom.

Now, I have never grown these type of hyacinths in the past because I never liked their form. They are too rigid and artificial looking for my taste - like little plastic toilet brushes. They never seem natural in the landscape. However, they were on sale at the local store late in the season, so a small packet was purchased to save them from the Christmas decorations muscling in on their shelf space. All but three bulbs were planted in the front garden.

The Paper Whites came and went, while the three Hyacinths took their sweet time. They began blooming last week, 2-1/2 months later. I found the indoor results different than the outdoor results will undoubtedly be:

1. The flowers appear natural - not formal and rigidly-formed
    as their outdoor brethren. I like that.
2. The flowers are blooming a few at a time. This will
    extend the blooming time.
3. The leaves are stunted - small so the blossoms are
    more visible.

All the effort is worth it for the fragrance. It hits you upon entering the house. And the best part - they are blooming now: right after our record-setting 25-inch (65 cm) snowstorm, and at a time when winter seems to drag on. One needs a reminder of spring in February.

I Like Lichen

I took a trip down to nearby Huntley Meadows Park. This is the largest county park in Fairfax County, with 1,425 acres of "majestic forests, wildflower-speckled meadows and vast wetlands for some of the best wildlife watching in the Washington metropolitan area." I wanted to review the winners of the center's annual Photography Contest, including a photo of Kingbirds entered by a bird-watcher good friend.

A walk through the wooded trails and along the wetlands boardwalk yielded a surprising amount of interesting wildlife for a drab Saturday afternoon in winter. A King Rail was spotted munching in the cattails, with its tiger-stripe orange back and zebra striped belly. Others loafing around included abundant Canada geese, mallards, gulls, cardinals, chickadees, nuthatch, and crows. The more interesting included the downy woodpecker, red-bellied woodpecker, and rare (in this area) red-headed woodpecker. My favorite sighting was the Eastern bluebird, standing out in a background without color.

With my tiny Canon Power Shot in hand, a few interesting photogenic features were found growing in the wood trails: lichen and fungus. The colorful lichen were growing in their symbiotic relationship with with algae and moss, as usual. However, there were a few areas where fungus instead seemed to be its mate. Lichen usually rely on the sugars produced by green algae, so with no algae or moss, I don't know what these little beasties were up to.

The same lichen on trees appeared to be two different colors - pale green and a pale greenish-blue. I wasn't sure if this was the same lichen in a different stage of growth, or a slightly different species. The lichen was so pervasive that the trees looked like a paintball game just finished.

The interesting fungi that were found resembled clamshells with the horizontal stripes, popcorn on the log, and bite-sized caramels on the fallen branch. I believe I was hungry that day, affecting the way I saw things. At least the birds didn't look like chocolate-covered marshmallow peeps.

The Paper White Files

It must be time to talk about the indoor garden plants. My first Paper White Narcissus (Tazetta narcissus) were planted the day after coming home from Thanksgiving vacation last year. The bulbs were snug in their paper bags just behind the milk and soda in the refrigerator for about two weeks prior to planting. They grew slowly at first, and then just after Christmas, the blooms began. They were stunning for my New Years Open House. What timing!

Since I don't like the concept of disposable plants, the bulbs were watered throughout the winter, spindly leaves and all, and planted outdoors in the spring. The hope was that they would grow strong bulbs with the sunlight and garden soil, go dormant like good bulbs should, and be harvested for planting indoors next year.

This process really confused the plants. Outdoors, the leaves flopped around worse than in the house and began turning yellow. After about a week of dormancy, (or of deciding what season it is and what the appropriate response should be), the plants began shooting up new vigorous leaf growth. This continued for at least two months. Now I was the one confused.

Not knowing what to make it this, and months after the spring blooming bulbs had disappeared, I stopped watering the paper whites. I dug one up to take a peek at what was hopefully a bulb. There was no such thing. The largest hints of bulbs were small marble-sized balls.

This year, new paper whites were planted a week earlier - just before Thanksgiving, but they still bloomed at the same time - right after Christmas and in time for my New Years Open House again. Guests noticed the fragrance after walking through the door. I know that paper whites don't come from the stork, so I need to research more on how to cultivate them to bloom again. I discovered they will die from the cold that our normal daffodils get in the winter. One piece of advice I always find - throw them away and buy new ones.

Fall Color For Gray Winter

It's the middle of winter, and there is not much to record in the way of gardening. In looking at some past photos that were not posted to the blog, a few noteworthy autumn items for the journal were found. First, there is the gooseneck loosestrife (lysimachia clethroides).

The leaves this year turned a vibrant golden yellow in the fall. The color stayed around for about two weeks before fading into brown. I believe the memory has been fading too, since I do not remember this color on the loosestrife in the past two years of growing it [22.6.2008]. I can think of three reasons:

1. In previous years, the plants were rather sparse, so maybe the increased density this year created a more solid blob of color that simply got noticed.
2. This fall had the right conditions to create the color, much like the conditions affect the leaf color in the trees from year to year.
3. The plants were healthier during the year, since I was trying to get them to fill in and spread (which they did.)

The color was a welcome surprise.

There is a small oak leaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) planted in the spring that did not grow much during the summer. The few leaves it had rivaled the maples in fall color. Since this was its first year in the garden, it is not known how prevalent this red color will be next autumn, but I am hopeful. Researching online indicates that the plant is known for its intense red fall colors.