Best Gardening Event of Winter? MANTS! by Susan Harris

Yesterday I made my yearly pilgrimage to Baltimore to attend MANTS.  the largest nursery trade show in the East – by far. This year there were 900+ vendors in 1,200 booths, and over 10,000 pre-registered attendees. It was a blast for me – getting to see dozens of garden-world friends, and being surrounded by plants, no matter that they’re inside a convention center.

Lunch was the highlight for me – nine of us garden writers at the Cheesecake Factory overlooking Baltimore Harbor. More garden-writer socializing took place at the Media Breakfast put on for us by the show (great breakfast burritos), and the GWA get-together in a hotel tavern the night before. Not to be sappy, but I’m awfully grateful to be part of this community.

Now for my favorite booths! Chosen not because they showcase the coolest new plants or interesting products but because the people in them are friends or nearly so.

The fabulous Carolyn Mullet, garden designer and tour-guide behind Carex Tours.

Writer Ruth Rogers Clausen, volunteer booth assistant to Dorian Winslow, president of Womanswork.

Products for women, by women, and endorsed by Oprah!

Paul Kelly, owner of St. Lynn’s Press, with an unidentified editor.

Mike Betterly and Mark Highland with Organic Mechanics.

Sandy McDougle, owner of Sandy’s Plants in Richmond, VA (my home town).

Jim Peterson, publisher of the now-awesome Garden Design Magazine.

Lloyd Traven, one of my favorite hippie growers, co-owner (with Candy) of Peace Tree Farm .

For the Perennial Plant Association, president Janet Draper with Joe Luebke, effectively debunking the myth that working for the feds makes you dull. Janet’s day job is as horticulturist for Smithsonian Gardens, while Joe’s horticultural domain includes federal buildings all over town.

They’re showing off Venus flytrap props to promote the upcoming national event in Raleigh, where the plant is native.

The National Arboretum’s booth touted some of their recent introductions, and one coming soon – a hemlock resistant to the lethal hemlock wooly adelgid!

Finally, the lovely booth by Kurt Bluemel Nurseries, located just north of Baltimore. I’ve visited a couple of times and of course read Allen Bush’s wonderful stories about Kurt, the game-changing grower who brought ornamental grasses to America.

Best Gardening Event of Winter? MANTS! originally appeared on Garden Rant on January 12, 2018.

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The Little Greenhouse That Could by Allen Bush

The little greenhouse in 1980.

My first greenhouse was neither big nor fancy. Built in 1980, the 14’ X 32’ hoop house—small by commercial greenhouse standards—became my plant propagation house for the next 15 years. I spent a lot of time in the little greenhouse at Holbrook Farm and Nursery near Mills River, NC. It was a quiet hideaway from the workaday world—a sanctuary for solitude and fecundity.

The greenhouse survived blizzards, heavy winds and even a fire. We propagated thousands of perennials and woody plants by seeds, top cuttings and more labor-intensive root cuttings.

Good fortune saved the structure when I closed the nursery in 1995. The little greenhouse might have ended up on the scrap heap, but my friends Heather Spencer and Charles Murray dismantled the bows, purlins, heater, fans and mist unit and drove it home to Asheville. Heather and Charles are passionate gardeners.

Charles Murray and Heather Spencer drive away from Holbrook Farm with a load of plants in 1990.

I had recurring dreams back then that revealed the precariousness of my little greenhouse and the life of the nursery itself. I would awaken to find that there was no sign of the propagation house. Everything had vanished in the wind. Not just blown down, during the night, but blown to the yonder reaches of who knows where. There was not a shred of evidence that a nursery had ever existed. No hoop houses, no plant containers, no gravel—nothing but green fields.

Once the panic eased, I would realize the nursery I had built was once again the bucolic hayfield I had first fallen in love with in the fall of 1979.

There are few traces of the nursery, now, but memories of old friends remain. The swamp white oak, Quercus bicolor, the first tree I planted in 1979 is now a respectable 43-years old. The mighty oak was started from acorns gathered across the street from my Louisville childhood home.

Jeremias Ramirez on the site of the original little greenhouse on December 4, 2017.

Jeremias and Alicia Ramirez now own the 19-acre farm. Jeremias had worked at the nursery back in the day. He was a veteran of the propagation house.

The Holbrook Farm propagation house.

I was happy to find the native bottle gentian, Gentiana saponaria, while I was visiting the Ramirezes last month. It had been growing near the farm’s rock garden and pond for over 25 years. Jeremias gave me seeds to plant in Kentucky.

Gentiana saponaria in the Ramirez garden on October 21, 2010.

Jeremias and Alicia have planted dozens of trees all over the 19-acre farm. My worrisome dream came wrapped with a happy ending. The farm is loved more than ever.

Heather Spencer and Charles Murray garden in East Asheville. I’ve returned often for visits. Their garden keeps expanding. I can’t remember any garden walk-around that was as interesting as the three hours I spent there this past December. They passed in the blink of an eye, though it was a pokey, stop-and-go stroll. We told story after story. And, of course, there were plants, lots of beautiful plants.

Cloud forest maple, Acer skutchii, on December 4, 2017.

Heather has been focused on perennials for many years but is leaning now toward trees and shrubs. Oak leaf hydrangeas are planted extensively along one of their many woodland paths. Farther along, I didn’t recognize Davidia involucrata. The dove tree had shed its leaves a few weeks before and was loaded with seeds. I picked a handful. Acer skutchii, the rare Mexican cloud forest maple, was in glorious late, fall color. It’s just one of many rare maples scattered around their 16-acre property. Charles, among many other things, is a maple expert.

Heather Spencer and Charles Murray on December 4, 2017.

I kept seeing plants that I’d once sold at Holbrook Farm, where Heather and Charles had been good customers. Arabis procurrens, Kniphofia ‘Paramentier, Indigofera decora forma alba, Sedum ‘John Creech’ and Geranium macrorrhizum ‘Ingerwersen’s Variety’ have spread their wings. I loved seeing my babies again.

The Spencer-Murray Little Greenhouse That Could.

The little greenhouse exhaust fan is rusty but is still functioning. The mist line is triggered, every few minutes, by the original time clock. The fine mist cools off top cuttings of hydrangeas, Acuba, Illicium, Cephalotaxus and Taxus. The mist line also gets a workout from Charles’s grafts of Japanese maples.

Seeds of columbines and lobelias had recently been sown. Crocosmia corms are temporarily stored nearby in five-gallon plastic pots, waiting to be potted for a spring garden club sale. Tender agaves were protected for spring replanting.

We walked out of the little greenhouse. I stopped two or three times to turn back and take a look at my old friend.

 

 

 

 

 

The Little Greenhouse That Could originally appeared on Garden Rant on January 11, 2018.

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Niagara Falls is not frozen by Elizabeth Licata

Near Terrapin Point

And it wasn’t three years ago either, which was the last time this clickbait appeared on Facebook. But it is pretty damn cold, and frozen mist has formed a crust of ice over some parts of the still-flowing water—the thinner Bridal Falls, in particular, really looks frozen, though water is moving underneath.

 

Sorry for the pixilation–this is a zoom in on the Bridal Falls, which (the approach to) are always closed in winter.

Frozen or not, it is beautiful and I love visiting Niagara Falls State Park in winter. Trees near the brink are coated in white and the snow and ice formations on the river and rapids are ever-changing and always fascinating. When we went a few days ago, it was so cold that a squirrel had made its way into the visitor’s center, and water birds huddled together on the ice and snow formations on the river. It’s actually a much more interesting place in winter.

 

The end of Goat Island, looking south

Winter weather exaggeration has gripped the news media for weeks now. I love the new word, “bombogenesis,” a legit scientific term for a rapidly intensifying storm that is a gift to hyperventilating weathermen everywhere. The dangerous thing is that too often, especially around here, there is hysterical excitement about storms that underperform and little talk at all before big events (we had minimal warning prior to the Blizzard of ’77 or the October 2006 storm that damaged thousands of trees). Nobody really expects weather prediction to be of much use, especially more than a few hours out, but sometimes the hyperbolic warnings of disaster from the sky can cause unnecessary panics. The positive side? Weather talk is always kind of fun—as long as nobody gets hurt.

Niagara Falls is not frozen originally appeared on Garden Rant on January 8, 2018.

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Noxious Cold

Like a good bit of the rest of the US, we were invaded by a particularly noxious and extreme cold usually confined to the northern polar regions. Fierce winds usually keep that cold where it belongs, but on occasion, that cold travels our way. In early December it became apparent that we had bitterly cold [...]

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Criminal Charges for Bamboo “Blight” in Yard by Susan Harris

From articles in the New York Times and the New London Day I learned that the City of New London, CT has declared overgrowth of bamboo in the yard of resident Carlos Carrion a blight. After failing to pay fines and ignoring orders to cut back the plant, he’s become “one of the first to be criminally charged under the city’s expanded blight ordinance.”

The thicket of bamboo reaches 20 feet – above the utility lines – and pushes to the edge of the property.

Carrion’s defense? Calling the charges a “politically motivated witch hunt.” Another is an attempt at sympathy by claiming the bamboo was a “gift from a friend, a Vietnam War veteran, and he keeps it as a tribute to him.” He says he eats the bamboo and uses it to construct furniture. He also defends the bamboo as a rebellion against “perfect square lawns.” As if 20-foot stand of bamboo is somehow better.

Are there any more bogus defenses he could have used? I can’t think of one.

The local law that  he’s charged under limits the growth of plants, except for shrubs, bushes and other cultivated plants, to 10 inches. I wonder if it’s unique to Connecticut that violations of zoning and building ordinances can result in criminal charges, with punishment including fines of up to $250 a day. And is Connecticut the rare state that doesn’t declare running bamboo to be invasive? It simply places limits on where it can be planted and requires plant sellers to warn buyers that it is a fast-growing plant that needs to be contained.

Carrion claims that his bamboo is of the clumping variety, therefore not invasive. Though when he protests that he “keeps the plant from crossing from his property,” doesn’t that tell us it IS invasive? As do reports of neighbors having to cut back the stalks that crept over property lines.

Then there’s how the stuff looks – unsightly. In addition to the overgrowth of bamboo, Carrion has been cited for having an abandoned car and debris outside the home. The complaint says Carrion’s property “is in the condition of an individual who could be best described as a ‘hoarder.’”

Comments to the story in the local paper run the gamut – from surprise that bamboo is a problem to defending most bamboos as not a problem, to a horticulture professor’s statement that “Bamboo cannot be reasoned with…I think it should be banned in all but the most restrictive conditions.” Another wrote, “Heed this message. Don’t plant bamboo outside, keep it for indoors use only.”

A commenter who observes the plant business wrote that the “Bamboo sold as ‘non-invasive’ to encourage sales is only a little less invasive than other varieties. Think buying a mini pig that ‘only’ gets to be 80 lbs. or a ‘dwarf’ pine that ‘only’ gets 60′.”

And who can argue with the commenter who wrote, “Everybody loves to say live and let live, but let’s face it – nobody would want to live next to that.” Amen.

Hat tip to Lois Hinrichs of Columbus, OH for alerting me to this story.

Criminal Charges for Bamboo “Blight” in Yard originally appeared on Garden Rant on January 4, 2018.

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Too darn cold by Elizabeth Licata

A back room that’s just chilly enough

After reviewing the situation in my root cellar over the weekend, I decided I better just get all the hyacinths out of there, whether their buds are large enough or not. The temps have been in the single digits for days now, with no relief promised, and the root cellar isn’t providing its usual protection. I’ve found that freeze/thaw cycles can turn hyacinths to mush (tulips are tougher), so better to let them take their chances at room temp. Already, after a couple days, the slower buds are emerging, and I know they’re rooted enough.

These big pots hold 12 bulbs each, which is really the best way to do it.

I’ve found that most bulbs—especially hyacinths—will take a decent amount of abuse and still bloom, but this winter is testing their resolve, even in the house. It’s like they know how bitter it is outside and are staying cautious, just in case. This year, I won’t see flowers until mid-February, I’m guessing.

It’s a good winter to feed the birds, which I’m doing with seeds and suet. It’s also a relief that I gave up on most of my macrophylla hydrangeas. The summer of 18 won’t be too good for mopheads around here. Every now and then, ma nature likes to remind us what a WNY winter can do. This is one of those years.

Too darn cold originally appeared on Garden Rant on January 2, 2018.

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Okra Pods

We were able to finish all of our 2017 projects last week, save one, by last Thursday afternoon. That final project needs a decent sized block of time, so we will do it this coming week. This meant there would be time for me to get some pots done at home. The materials would be [...]

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