2410 Lanes Mill Road Hamilton, Ohio 45013
phone: 513-894-0022 fax: 513-892-2053 email: marysplantfarm@zoomtown.com
| 2410 Lanes Mill Road Hamilton, Ohio 45013 phone: 513-894-0022 fax: 513-892-2053 email: marysplantfarm@zoomtown.com |
Receive Mary's newsletter by Email
Spring 2003 Mary's
Plant Farm Newsletter
'As within the hazel's bough, a gift of mystic virtue
dwells.'
-- John Greenleaf Whittier
This February tops them
all. I've always found mild days when I could walk the garden. I'd have to wear
snowshoes this year. The first week of January I walked with a gardening
friend, so he could see things he might plant for his fall and winter garden.
The Hellebore were budded at ground level and the foliage on the Cyclamen, Arum
Italica, and Bergenia cordifolia were beautiful. It was too early for the
Hamamelis to be really blooming. Just before the blast on February 15th, I was
filling the bird feeder on the south side of the house and there peeking
through the snow were snowdrop (Galanthus) blooms. I picked them and brought
them in to enjoy. We're also enjoying the pots of Hyacinth blooms, Sherri
potted for us last fall. She keeps them in her garage till mid January, then
brings them into her breezeway and starts watering. By the first of February we
have bloom, and she shares with Fern and I.
I try not to repeat in these newsletters, yet
answer some of the questions we are often asked. One is 'What can I plant under
walnut trees?' I've read all types of information, and some I think is wrong.
My information on any gardening subject is what I find to be true from my own
many years of experience. Walnuts release a chemical, juglone, which can be
toxic to some plants. My father always kept his tomato plants on the other side
of the garden from the walnut trees. It never seemed to bother the other
vegetables. I have a huge walnut at the edge of my herb garden and everything
grows well there, even a rose. Directly beneath it I allow Hesperus and
black-eyed-susan's to reseed, plus there are rows of shrubs on the field side
of the tree. I know even hosta and narcissus do well there. I have been told by
a gardener I respect, that Rhododendron, Azalea and Mountain Laurel won't grow
near walnut roots. I do till the soil there and pile compost (rotting weeds)
which may help. Another question was what to grow in dry shade. There are many
plants, but each situation may be different. Near shallow rooted trees, like
maples, there will be lots of roots. Do not dig or add compost, it will only
increase the trees small roots activity. It is best to add a few inches of soil
and plant shallow rooted plants, that will tolerate really dry conditions.
Examples are; Arabis procurrens, Lamium galeobdolon 'Silver Frost', Campanula
posckarskyana, Cyclamen neapolitanum (hyderifolium) or Coum, garlic chives
(that bloom lovely white in September, but don't let them reseed), Fritillaria
meleagris bulbs, and the Stachys b.'Silver Carpet' (lambs ear) that has huge
leaves and no bloom. Under flowering crabs (Malus), flowering pears, and many
conifers, the roots go deeper and you may successfully plant beneath them. I do
have one spruce that the thick roots are practically on top of the ground, the
best thing in this situation is to mulch the area and leave it alone. Under the
malus etc., I plant Epimediums, evergreen gingers, Brunnera, Sweet Woodruff,
any of Lamium macualatum, hardy geranium, Arum Italica, and Lily of the Valley.
Last year we tried a new bush clematis that likes dry shade, C. tibetana
'Orange Peel' that blooms late in the season. The hardy Geranium macrorrhizum
varieties have a beneficial fungus attached to its roots, which searches the
surrounding soil to bring nutrients to the host plant. I read an article in a
trade magazine that one grower is charging more for his plants because he is
introducing the geranium mac. fungus into all his plants soil. If you're
unfamiliar with this geranium it is those with the fragrant foliage. Back to
shade. My Hellebore are in the woodland in dry shade, among trees. They do very
well, are evergreen all winter, and survived the summer drought. Even our extra
hydrangea stock is grown under the pines. They appreciate the acid soil there,
but had to be watered in the drought. One gardener inquired, should he cut
everything down in the borders for winter. No. A total clean up leaves nothing
to protect your plants roots. The accumulation of leaves etc. on soil, rotting
down to become soil and holding moisture is called 'duff'. This is what makes
the wonderful woodland soil and loosens our clay soil. Evergreen perennials
should never be completely cut down. Roses should not be trimmed in fall. Do
your pruning in the spring when you remove any winter damage. Climbers should
be tied up in the fall, and pruned after their first bloom, unless you have
severely damaged canes. Our hundreds of roses are never protected for winter. I
feel if a plant has to be covered, wrapped with burlap etc., it isn't worth
growing. There are so many wonderful plants that need no pampering. One writer
called the over use of soil amendments and fertilizers as 'feed and fluff'. It
is definitely not necessary in gardens that use xeriscaping.
Last spring's early deluge of rain rotted many
plants roots. Then came extreme heat and drought. The lilacs suffered the
worst. They can survive drought normally but not without a good root system.
The magnolia loved the extra water and with a good root system survived the
drought without watering, which surprised me. Sherri moved my six-foot Magnolia
g. 'Victoria' last fall. I didn't expect it to grow that fast. The Magnolia g.
'Victoria, M. g. 'Edith Boque' and M. g. 'Bracken Brown' are the true southern
magnolia grandifolia type, with the huge white fragrant saucer flowers. They
have the brown felt on the back of the foliage called inudentum. These
varieties can withstand our Z6, to minus 10 degrees for Z5.
So much has been written about growing natives
lately. I've always grown and loved them, but I'm not going to stop growing
non-native varieties. Many of the perennials and trees that writers are pushing
have been in most gardens for years. Black-eyed-Susan, Echinecea, Chelone
'Lyonii' and on and on. I don't like that some States are trying to ban many
lovely things their calling invasive. A New England state has banned barberry,
and Nevada has banned the lovely little Iris verna. I can't get it to stay more
then two years and it's on the endangered list in Pennsylvania.
I was amused when a wholesaler offered us
'designer and classic' daylilies. His wholesale price and varieties are the
same price and varieties we're selling in the north field. I will admit their
'designer and classic' varieties are better then some of the new ones offered.
They stated they have a hybridizer evaluating the varieties for them. I've kept
extensive growing records on mine for years, so I can tell you when bloom time
is, how long, what multiplies the fastest and which hold up in storms. Some of
the tets can look fairly awful after a storm if it’s a day you're showing
your guests your garden.
I've read an
article this winter about two small trees that will tolerate dry shade, or sun,
and even moisture. The Ostrya virginiana (American Hop Hornbeam) and his quote
'the under appreciated Alders'. I've loved them bother and we get a lot of
questions about the Alder in my woodland. The Alder has both yellow catkins in
the spring, along with the previous years one inch brown cones (strobiles). The
catkins soon form the new green cones and both stay on the tree. We are pleased
to have nice large sizes of both these trees available. Another gardening
article I read discussed fall planting for oriental poppies, peonies, iris and
bulbs. Fall is a good planting time for most plants, although I'm careful with
some perennials. For instance, Shasta Daisy and Japanese Anemones should only
be moved in the spring. I'm calling most attention to the mention of Iris. In
our area, move your Iris as soon as they have finished blooming, or they'll
heave and rot in our wet winters. Never move them later than early August. This
just brings to mind that there is so much misinformation being printed about
gardening. No wonder 'Flower and Garden' went defunct last year. If I'd had the
time I would have written them concerning three misleading articles. One said
you must sow lemon basil direct as it could not be transplanted. I've
transplanted hundreds. Another said nasturtiums could not be transplanted.
They're the easiest plants of all I transplant. One day Bonnie and I had just
transplanted a couple hundred and as she watered them a customer said 'I love
nasturtiums but I was told you can't transplant them'. Bonnie replied 'Gee, I
guess they forgot to tell Mary'. I won't say much about the article that said
there was only one grower of tree peonies in the U.S. I can name several old
companies plus myself. We only sell 3 year from grafting or older tree peonies.
If sold too young they sometimes die above the graft. I learned that the hard
way. Have you noticed advertising on the so called new 'temp-perennials? These
are the same bedding plants or annuals we've always grown. Some bedding plants
are perennial in the south; here we simply treat them as annuals. They do make
nice combination pots. Cannas seem to be back in vogue now. They can also be
used in pots, as they love to be watered. I like to use the Nepatas hanging out
of the pots. Its soft grey foliage and all summer blooms of blue are a nice
contrast with the Petunia 'New Wave' in lavender and plum. Add some white
petunia or alyssum to contrast with the dark foliage of the lovely newer coleus
varieties. Sometimes I think I read too much which brings me to a book Timber
Press has reprinted of Peter Loewer. For those who work all day and come home
to a garden, The Evening Garden would be a good read. We have copies, plus
other Loewer books from when he lectured here. Our hardbound copies are priced
10% lower than the new reprinted soft cover copies.
Congratulations to Rita and Richard King, and
Bunny Snow for their awards from the Cincinnati Horticulture Society last
season. I know that with all the awards their gardens have won, it is well
deserved.
This years seminar dates and
open house are listed below. They are free, but we do appreciate reservations.
Wildflower Seminar and Walk - April 26th 10:00 a.m.
Garden Tour
and Open House - June 22nd 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Mary's Lecture
'Everything Gardening' 2:00 p.m.
Hardy Bulb Seminar - September 13th
10:00 a.m.
Lecture 'Hardy Bulbs for Four Seasons' followed by garden tour
-- Mary Harrison
----------------------------------------------
NEWS NOT
NEWSLETTER
If you are looking for some
new additions to your garden we have some interesting finds. For years Nepetas
have been a great long blooming, heat tolerant perennial in shades of blue. Now
we have Nepeta sub. 'Sweet Dreams', in a lovely pink and only 15" tall. During
last summers drought the Amorpha (Lead Plant) looked great. We are offering
Amorpha canescens, a native with blue bloom spikes for June/July, 3'-4' tall
and the Amorphia nana, an earlier blooming dwarf variety with fragrant pink
bloom. Also the Hibiscus 'Red Belle' with its huge red blooms in July and
August stood up and shined throughout the drought. For those who love the hardy
geraniums, we will again have the Geranium Samobor, which sold out the first
few weeks last year. Its foliage with brown star center surrounds a lovely
cluster of dark purple upright blooms. In addition this year we offer the
Geranium 'Bertie Crug', a dwarf cultivar with shiny bronze tinted foliage and
magenta pink bloom, and Geranium 'New Deminsion' with blue flowers above dark
bronze foliage and 12" tall. For those who love baby's breathe but have limited
space try the dwarf double Gypsophilia pan. 'Compacta Plena'. Try the Stockesia
l. 'Purple Parasols', a new introduction that displays 5 different colors from
powder blue to magenta on one plant as the blooms mature. Those who were
disappointed to find we had sold out of the following, we have additional stock
this year on Rudbeckia hirta 'Cherokee Sunset' with its fully double golden
blooms with dark eye, and Salvia Azura var. grandiflora (Pitcheri) a 3' tall
true blue September to frost blooming salvia. A great color for the fall
garden. There are a number of new shrubs including two Viburnums; V. dent. 'Red
Feather' and V. dent. 'Blue Muffin', a dwarf variety with huge blue berries in
summer. Also Spirea thunbergii 'Mt. Fuji' whose early pink buds open to white
with pink edged blooms, and glorious fall foliage, five new boxwood (Buxus)
varieties, six new Hydrangea mac. varieties in some glorious colors including
H. m. 'Lemon Wave' with tri-color foliage and the H. pan. 'Lime Light' that has
eye catching lime-green bloom panicles. In trees we have a few more of the
popular weeping redbud (Cercis 'Covey') available and three new beech (Fagus)
varieties. Last but not least, the roses. There are three new Griffith Buck
selections including 'Distant Drums', a rugosa 'David Thompson' a
semi-thornless dwarf variety, olde rose varieties such as Henry Nevard a
fragrant crimson red, Rosa Mundi with fragrant pink and rose striped blooms,
climbing Sombreuil in creamy white, and additional stock of the ever popular
climbing 'Zephirine Drouhin' and hybrid musk 'Ballerina'. Finally the Romantica
Series of roses. We are taken with these hardy, beautiful and fragrant new
roses and include eight selected varieties this season.
As always our customers are invited to check out
the growing fields to see the stock available. There are also items in the
field that are not always dug and shown in the nursery area, so give yourself
some time to check out the north field to see what is growing. We always ask
that you watch your step, since we don't always have time to fill up the holes
when stock is dug on order. Remember to check out our website
www.marysplantfarm.com for new listings
and additional gardening information throughout the season.
GOOD
GARDENING!
----------------------------------------------
SPRING
2003 OPENING: APRIL 1st
Spring Hours:
Tuesday - Saturday 9:30a.m.
to 6:30 p.m.
Sunday 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
CLOSED MONDAY
Summer Hours (beginning July 1st)
Tuesday - Friday 9:30 a.m. to
6:30 p.m.
Saturday 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
CLOSED SUNDAY & MONDAY
----------------------------------------------
Mary's Plant Farm & Landscaping
2410 Lanes Mill Road
Hamilton, Ohio 45013
phone: 513-894-0022
email:
marysplantfarm@zoomtown.com
©Mary Harrison 2003