Liriope muscari is more than a foliage plant
(Via Gardening Tips 'n' Ideas)
Most gardeners wouldn't buy liriopes for their flowers. Dainty and delightfully pasted to a totem resemblant spike, they are fairly insignificant and command an attentive eye to take notice of them. Yet, isn't this one of the joys of gardening - discovering hidden jewels amongst the plethora of flora in our gardens?
Most gardeners wouldn't buy liriopes for their flowers. Dainty and delightfully pasted to a totem resemblant spike, they are fairly insignificant and command an attentive eye to take notice of them. Yet, isn't this one of the joys of gardening - discovering hidden jewels amongst the plethora of flora in our gardens?
For me, it was a spontaneous moment of breathtaking awe. As I spent Saturday afternoon systemically pruning my way around our back yard, I began to tidy around some of our pots. I was disentangling some alyssum from amongst our kalanchoe, which both shared a container with the liriope, when I discovered these beautiful flowers.
I had forgotten that liriopes even flower.
Purchasing them predominantly for their fountainous foliage, I had never even considered that there might be more to these plants than their strappy leaves. Honestly, I was a little surprised to find that it was producing flowers - and not just one spike but multiple emanating from what appeared to be the centre of the plant.
While this discovery was somewhat humbling, I did consider whether this knowledge would have affected my initial purchase decision. Alas, I reasoned that the foliage virtues were far more appealing to me than its blooming prowess.
In essence, liriopes are destined to be noted for their foliage over and above any other feature. And this isn't such a bad thing. Their common names; Lilyturf or Border Grass advance similar notions - and why not? We need foliage plants in our gardens as much, if not more, than flowering extroverts. They create the backdrop for our art-form like supporting actors help focus the attention on our movie prima donnas.
How to grow and care for liriopes
If you're looking for a border plant that won't be exposed to full-sun all day then liriopes might be a wonderful option. They actually prefer part-shade and can even tolerate full-shade locations provided they're situated in well-draining soil.
Liriopes aren't even fussy about fertilisers and can often reside in soil that is far from rich in nutrient base. But, if you want to get the most from these plants then rewarding them with a twice per year foliar spray might just encourage some better growth - and even a peek into their floral producing acumen.
Their watering needs are fairly minimal and they have few disease and pest problems.
Propagating Liriopes
The propagation of liriopes isn't overly onerous either. This plant, like many clumping foliage plants, is propagated by division. Simply lift the plants in late autumn or early spring and tease apart sections ensuring that each separation contains some rootstock. Then situate them back into their growing location or pot out in a well-draining potting mix.
Each plant can be propagated this way each year but you may want to give them a season or two before separating them out.
I just had a very fun adventure!
(Via Girl Gone Gardening)
Check out TiredSoles for the scoop on my little adventure today. http://tiredsoles.blogspot.com/2008/02/walk-into-history.html
Check out TiredSoles for the scoop on my little adventure today. http://tiredsoles.blogspot.com/2008/02/walk-into-history.html
Home in time for the Oscars
(Via Dig in with Kym - The Oregonian - OregonLive.com)
I've one more seminar I want to catch, one stop to make and then heading home. Gotta get home in time for the Oscars. The place I'm going before I leave is the tumbled glass store. I've been wanting to...
I've one more seminar I want to catch, one stop to make and then heading home. Gotta get home in time for the Oscars. The place I'm going before I leave is the tumbled glass store. I've been wanting to...
Cottage Gardens
(Via gardenauthor)
All Photographs courtesy CBI ©2007
A cottage garden, an English garden, an informal country garden... however you refer to this garden genre, a sound design that includes appropriate plant material, is key. All successful landscapes, whether formal, informal or somewhere in between, start with a plan. Before you start digging, put pencil to paper and start planning. If you’re not confident enough to design, choose plants and implement such plans, there are many qualified professionals to guide you through some, or even all, of the steps involved. For now, let’s assume that you have at least a nodding acquaintance with the concept of a cottage garden, many of the plants we’ll discuss and any limitations imposed by your own backyard.
Whether it involves a redesign of a small front yard or designating a portion of the larger landscape to the creation of a cottage garden, the design phase must take into consideration topography, soil type, exposure to wind and available sunlight. Let’s approach the planning phase assuming that we’re working with an ideally open, sunny, level area of moderate size with a friable, fertile soil.
Before we delve into color, texture and ornamentation, we need an understanding of the basic concepts. That informal, seemingly casual arrangement of plants has, at its foundation, a simple, but very calculated formula. Based on a series of three tiers, plant height is graduated, from the rear of the bed to the front. While ultimate height of each tier is the domain of the individual gardener, we’ll make some assumptions for this particular example. Allowing for a mature height of 5-6 feet, makes the back tier ideal for tallest perennials, certain roses and perhaps a few shrubs. At 3-4 feet, the middle tier would accommodate perennials, roses and grasses of more moderate scale. With an ultimate height of 1-2 feet, the front tier is well-suited to the cultivation of lower, bordering plants.
How will we frame up this garden? A tall privacy fence would provide a suitable backdrop, and possibly some protection from wind - particularly important for long-stemmed specimens, grown for arrangements. In my mind’s eye, a cottage garden combines the basic English concept with a bit of New England influence. White picket fences, an arbor with a moon gate, neatly pillared roses in the background, a weathered garden bench, maybe a sundial and birdbath, a low fieldstone edging, a winding pathway and, of course, exuberant “mops” of white, blue and pink hydrangeas.
Bones? Yes, bones! If your New England version of the cottage garden has good “bones,” it will be attractive year ‘round; therefore, include a few plants that offer the winter interest of evergreen foliage, exfoliating bark, berries or persistent fruits and pleasing outlines. Add to this the hardscaping features, just discussed, and you have a cohesive “big picture”... bones and all! Here in Zone 5, we’re bereft of foliage for about six months of the year, making year ‘round interest an important element in any landscape design.
Rose pillars were once quite popular. Providing structure, backdrop or focal point in the cottage garden, a ten-foot wooden pillar was used to support an old-fashioned climbing rose. Modern climbers, like ‘New Dawn’, ‘Golden Showers’ or ‘Eden’, are more reliable rebloomers than old garden varieties. Some of the fragrant, taller-growing David Austin roses also lend themselves to pillar culture. Attractive wooden obelisks and similar tall structures, will provide support and a focal point in that back tier of plants. Trellises, between windows or against a high garden wall, are another venue for the fragrance (not all roses possess strong fragrance, so do your homework) and beauty of roses, presenting an impressive backdrop. Obviously, an arbor at the cottage garden entrance, calls out for the fragrance and beauty of a climbing rose. ‘Climbing Iceberg’, ‘Polka’ and ‘White Dawn’ will enhance the pastel palette and entice the casual observer to traverse your garden path.
If stronger, bold colors are your preference, then you’ll need to strike a balance between complementary colors and contrasting colors... a color wheel is a great help with these decisions. The lighter, “cooler” colors include white, cream, light yellow and mid to lighter shades of blue, purple and pink. A garden filled with these paler hues, can actually make the observer feel cooler on a hot summer day. White and the lightest pastels are clearly visible in the evening, as are plants with variegated or silver foliage. Your cottage garden can also be a moonlight garden, extending the pleasure you derive, well into the evening.
Blue Baptisia, pastel Delphiniums, hybrid varieties of Joe Pye weed, Helenium, Boltonia, Aruncus, globe thistle (Echinops), hollyhock and giant mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos) are some of the perennials that would add color, substance and a long blooming season for that back tier. For texture, consider maiden grass in this tier, adding sound with rustling foliage, and plumes for fall and winter interest. Peonies, Pennisetum (fountain grass is great for texture), Rudbeckia, Echinacea, Monarda, Chelone, Campanula, Gypsophila (baby’s breath), poppy, shasta daisy, Iris, Anemone, Physostegia, tall Phlox and Thalictrum are ideal candidates for the middle tier. The front of the border can be a mix of plants that range from low, edging specimens to those that reach about two feet, at maturity. Catananche (cupid’s dart), Campanula, Alchemilla (lady’s mantle), Heuchera, Dicentra (eximia or formosa), Dianthus, Tiarella (foamflower), Geranium (Cranesbill), lavender, caraway thyme and blue festuca are all suitable for the front of the planting.
Mix in silver-leaved lamb’s ears, ‘Silver King’ or ‘Silver Mound’ Artemisia for a soft shimmer.
Save room for a few fragrant annuals, like climbing or hanging-basket sweet peas, climbing moonflower and old-fashioned white nicotiana. Let blue morning glories scramble up a trellis or across an arbor. White or lemony-yellow sunflowers add a cheerful note, as do white or picotee cosmos. Have fun planning and planting that cottage garden... truly, a calculated informality.
By Deb Lambert ©2008
All Photographs courtesy CBI ©2007
"COTTAGE GARDENS IN NEW ENGLAND...
A CALCULATED INFORMALITY"
By Deb Lambert
A CALCULATED INFORMALITY"
By Deb Lambert
A cottage garden, an English garden, an informal country garden... however you refer to this garden genre, a sound design that includes appropriate plant material, is key. All successful landscapes, whether formal, informal or somewhere in between, start with a plan. Before you start digging, put pencil to paper and start planning. If you’re not confident enough to design, choose plants and implement such plans, there are many qualified professionals to guide you through some, or even all, of the steps involved. For now, let’s assume that you have at least a nodding acquaintance with the concept of a cottage garden, many of the plants we’ll discuss and any limitations imposed by your own backyard.
Whether it involves a redesign of a small front yard or designating a portion of the larger landscape to the creation of a cottage garden, the design phase must take into consideration topography, soil type, exposure to wind and available sunlight. Let’s approach the planning phase assuming that we’re working with an ideally open, sunny, level area of moderate size with a friable, fertile soil.
Before we delve into color, texture and ornamentation, we need an understanding of the basic concepts. That informal, seemingly casual arrangement of plants has, at its foundation, a simple, but very calculated formula. Based on a series of three tiers, plant height is graduated, from the rear of the bed to the front. While ultimate height of each tier is the domain of the individual gardener, we’ll make some assumptions for this particular example. Allowing for a mature height of 5-6 feet, makes the back tier ideal for tallest perennials, certain roses and perhaps a few shrubs. At 3-4 feet, the middle tier would accommodate perennials, roses and grasses of more moderate scale. With an ultimate height of 1-2 feet, the front tier is well-suited to the cultivation of lower, bordering plants.
How will we frame up this garden? A tall privacy fence would provide a suitable backdrop, and possibly some protection from wind - particularly important for long-stemmed specimens, grown for arrangements. In my mind’s eye, a cottage garden combines the basic English concept with a bit of New England influence. White picket fences, an arbor with a moon gate, neatly pillared roses in the background, a weathered garden bench, maybe a sundial and birdbath, a low fieldstone edging, a winding pathway and, of course, exuberant “mops” of white, blue and pink hydrangeas.
Bones? Yes, bones! If your New England version of the cottage garden has good “bones,” it will be attractive year ‘round; therefore, include a few plants that offer the winter interest of evergreen foliage, exfoliating bark, berries or persistent fruits and pleasing outlines. Add to this the hardscaping features, just discussed, and you have a cohesive “big picture”... bones and all! Here in Zone 5, we’re bereft of foliage for about six months of the year, making year ‘round interest an important element in any landscape design.
Rose pillars were once quite popular. Providing structure, backdrop or focal point in the cottage garden, a ten-foot wooden pillar was used to support an old-fashioned climbing rose. Modern climbers, like ‘New Dawn’, ‘Golden Showers’ or ‘Eden’, are more reliable rebloomers than old garden varieties. Some of the fragrant, taller-growing David Austin roses also lend themselves to pillar culture. Attractive wooden obelisks and similar tall structures, will provide support and a focal point in that back tier of plants. Trellises, between windows or against a high garden wall, are another venue for the fragrance (not all roses possess strong fragrance, so do your homework) and beauty of roses, presenting an impressive backdrop. Obviously, an arbor at the cottage garden entrance, calls out for the fragrance and beauty of a climbing rose. ‘Climbing Iceberg’, ‘Polka’ and ‘White Dawn’ will enhance the pastel palette and entice the casual observer to traverse your garden path.
If stronger, bold colors are your preference, then you’ll need to strike a balance between complementary colors and contrasting colors... a color wheel is a great help with these decisions. The lighter, “cooler” colors include white, cream, light yellow and mid to lighter shades of blue, purple and pink. A garden filled with these paler hues, can actually make the observer feel cooler on a hot summer day. White and the lightest pastels are clearly visible in the evening, as are plants with variegated or silver foliage. Your cottage garden can also be a moonlight garden, extending the pleasure you derive, well into the evening.
Blue Baptisia, pastel Delphiniums, hybrid varieties of Joe Pye weed, Helenium, Boltonia, Aruncus, globe thistle (Echinops), hollyhock and giant mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos) are some of the perennials that would add color, substance and a long blooming season for that back tier. For texture, consider maiden grass in this tier, adding sound with rustling foliage, and plumes for fall and winter interest. Peonies, Pennisetum (fountain grass is great for texture), Rudbeckia, Echinacea, Monarda, Chelone, Campanula, Gypsophila (baby’s breath), poppy, shasta daisy, Iris, Anemone, Physostegia, tall Phlox and Thalictrum are ideal candidates for the middle tier. The front of the border can be a mix of plants that range from low, edging specimens to those that reach about two feet, at maturity. Catananche (cupid’s dart), Campanula, Alchemilla (lady’s mantle), Heuchera, Dicentra (eximia or formosa), Dianthus, Tiarella (foamflower), Geranium (Cranesbill), lavender, caraway thyme and blue festuca are all suitable for the front of the planting.
Mix in silver-leaved lamb’s ears, ‘Silver King’ or ‘Silver Mound’ Artemisia for a soft shimmer.
Save room for a few fragrant annuals, like climbing or hanging-basket sweet peas, climbing moonflower and old-fashioned white nicotiana. Let blue morning glories scramble up a trellis or across an arbor. White or lemony-yellow sunflowers add a cheerful note, as do white or picotee cosmos. Have fun planning and planting that cottage garden... truly, a calculated informality.
By Deb Lambert ©2008
Herbs Line Up
(Via Girl Gone Gardening)
I have some herbs already in the yard, this list will be of new ones I am starting this year. Catnip- I've already started it in the house. The cats help me keep the seedlings pinched so they will grow bushy. These were Ferris Morris seeds.Peppermint Mentha x piperita-- Already started in the house. I wouldn't mind at all if this escaped into the lawn...The seeds were a freebie from Celestrial
I have some herbs already in the yard, this list will be of new ones I am starting this year. Catnip- I've already started it in the house. The cats help me keep the seedlings pinched so they will grow bushy. These were Ferris Morris seeds.Peppermint Mentha x piperita-- Already started in the house. I wouldn't mind at all if this escaped into the lawn...The seeds were a freebie from Celestrial
Other Veggies in the Line-Up
(Via Girl Gone Gardening)
Slim Jim Eggplant--OP from Pinetree Garden Seeds. I've grown eggplants way back in ca, haven't tried growing them in IN. I don't like the big kinds. YUCK and I don't eat enough of them to grow a lot, so slim jim seemed to be the perfect one for me to try.Corn, sweet- Kandy Korn--Not OP, being surround by corn fields makes it darn near impossible to want to save seeds from corn. So I may as well
Slim Jim Eggplant--OP from Pinetree Garden Seeds. I've grown eggplants way back in ca, haven't tried growing them in IN. I don't like the big kinds. YUCK and I don't eat enough of them to grow a lot, so slim jim seemed to be the perfect one for me to try.Corn, sweet- Kandy Korn--Not OP, being surround by corn fields makes it darn near impossible to want to save seeds from corn. So I may as well
Cucumbers, Melons and Squash Line-Up
(Via Girl Gone Gardening)
I have a feeling, I'm going to have to do a LOT of digging this spring...to make more room for all of this stuff! And I'm going to use this opportunity to plead for others to join my Giant Pumpkin Contest! Yes folks, sign up, it's still not to late! I know those of you in more southern climes will be starting yours soon but that's OK! The prize will be awarded when everyone, southern and
I have a feeling, I'm going to have to do a LOT of digging this spring...to make more room for all of this stuff! And I'm going to use this opportunity to plead for others to join my Giant Pumpkin Contest! Yes folks, sign up, it's still not to late! I know those of you in more southern climes will be starting yours soon but that's OK! The prize will be awarded when everyone, southern and
Legumes Line Up
(Via Girl Gone Gardening)
20*, feels like 12*, 86% humidity, SSW 6 mph wind, fog, FLOOD WARNING Whats a garden without legumes? Pea--An OP heirloom pea I've been growing for years, got it from my great grand mother. I nearly lost it but managed to get a good crop of seeds from the few plants I had last year. Purple bi color flowers, big flat edible pods, knee high plants.Bean- Jacob's Cattle--an OP kind that i got in
20*, feels like 12*, 86% humidity, SSW 6 mph wind, fog, FLOOD WARNING Whats a garden without legumes? Pea--An OP heirloom pea I've been growing for years, got it from my great grand mother. I nearly lost it but managed to get a good crop of seeds from the few plants I had last year. Purple bi color flowers, big flat edible pods, knee high plants.Bean- Jacob's Cattle--an OP kind that i got in
Green Leaffy Veggies and Coles Line Up
(Via Girl Gone Gardening)
20*, feels like 16*, 86% humidity, SSW 6 mph wind, fog, FLOOD WARNING If it seems like I'm posting a lot today, it has to do with the fact that I'm antsy. I'm waiting for the weather to warm up and then I will be going hiking, checking out some fens I have heard of by word of mouth up in the dunes. It's supposed to be above freezing today. I'd like to enjoy that so I'm willing to wait a while.
20*, feels like 16*, 86% humidity, SSW 6 mph wind, fog, FLOOD WARNING If it seems like I'm posting a lot today, it has to do with the fact that I'm antsy. I'm waiting for the weather to warm up and then I will be going hiking, checking out some fens I have heard of by word of mouth up in the dunes. It's supposed to be above freezing today. I'd like to enjoy that so I'm willing to wait a while.
