Last Summer I visited Krones Conservatory to see their Butterfly exhibit. Within the Exhibit there were these baskets at various levels and heights filled with flowers. I knew this was something I wanted to try in my garden. I have a few areas that need height. I’ve been searching since then for these holders. Still haven’t found the exact ones that are shown here, in the photos. However, I found some online that are very similar. The basic difference is the pole. These use a 4×4 instead of an adjustable round pole. I certainly will use this method in my garden this summer. If anyone is interested in these as well, you can find them at http://www.gardenartisans.us/borderandpatiocolumns.aspx. There are some great photos there of the kits used. If you click on the section at the top “Pamela Crawford’s Side Planting Container Gardens” you will be re-directed to another page. This shows her planting some of the baskets. For a full PDF Tutorial click on “View Planting Demos here”. (about midway down). This PDF can be saved for future warm weather. Kits are available for purchase there. If you’re handy you can make your own. The ground spikes can be found at a home improvement store. They are in with deck materials. I actually purchase 4 of them for my arbor but never used them. The 4×4 material can also be purchased there. Just cut them to the various levels and paint them. The ones included in the kit are black, however I suggest you add bright color on the posts for interest. An alternate wood block or metal block can be used to clamp the basket to the top of the post and stabilize it. I also thought plexiglass may work well for this. It would be less noticeable Then you just need some U shape clamps to hold the wire basket in place or the large staples you hammer in. These are located in plumbing & electrical section of the store. They use these for holding wire, conduit and pipes in place. We can’t do a lot of outdoor gardening now, so it’s a great time to plan and prepare. I plan on using those 4 spikes this coming Spring. Enjoy your planning.
This week we have a lovely photo series from Peggy Z. Peggy writes:
In early October my husband and I traveled to Omaha, NE where we visited the area’s botanical garden, Lauritzen Gardens. Here are some photos from our visit, starting with the Visitor’s Center. The plant in the closeup looks like an annual. The was a large area of shade gardens. The turkeys wandered where they liked. I have other photos I can share. The garden’s website is lauritzengardens.org
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This past week Linda Welch demonstrated for me how to make an easy indoor vertical garden, using inexpensive wood file holders, breathable yet waterproof Wally Pocket Planters, and poinsettias. This project is simple enough for someone with limited skill using tools or doing household projects to accomplish, and quick and easy enough to still do before Christmas!
Linda found some inexpensive wood file holders with legs that allowed them to stand unsupported (although the possibilities are endless for choice of container.) To prevent the file holders from tipping forward after planting, she drilled a small hole through each into the wall behind, and secured them with a screw. (For more sturdy anchoring, Wallys come with plastic wall anchors included.) From there it was a simple matter to insert a Wally into each file slot, then plant a poinsettia into each Wally. Start to finish it took 35 minutes! Linda plans on using it year-round, planting spring-blooming bulbs after the poinsettias are finished. What an easy way to bring a garden indoors, and the result is stunning!
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This week, Linda submitted a photo of her newly purchased Selaginella krausianna variegatus, commonly called Frosty Fern. Linda writes, “It’s just a small plant, but at first glance it looks like an evergreen with frost on the tips. It grows to 12″, is a fast grower and some use it as a ground cover. Although in Michigan I believe it’ll just be a creeping house plant. The stems root where ever they touch soil. The stems are bright green marked with gold. Although it’s not really a fern, it does produce spores instead of seeds, like a fern. I think it makes a great house plant for this season.”
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McIntosh is not on most lists of heirloom apple varieties, perhaps because it is so commonly available, in fact still commercially important. So even though I knew it had been around awhile, I was surprised to learn from the November issue of John Deere’s “Furrow” magazine that it is now 200 years old.
According to Lorne McClinton’s article in this magazine, here’s its story: some native Americans in Ontario snacked on a settlers’ ‘Fameuse’ apples and discarded the cores, which then produced several seedlings along a path on John McIntosh’s farm. He came across the small trees and transplanted them closer to his house where only one produced desirable apples. His wife sold the apples which became locally known as Granny’s apples until a neighbor suggested giving them the family name. For decades the single tree supplied an increasing following until someone happened along who knew how to graft, in 1835. John’s son Allen then began to propagate the trees and to sell them on his travels as a country preacher. The popularity of McIntosh apples soared around 1900 and in just a few years it was being grown all over Canada, the US and Europe. Today it is the most widely grown apple variety in North America but is still most popular in eastern Canada and New England. All of the McIntosh trees are clones of clones of that original seedling tree that lived until 1906. And yes, the Mac computer was named for the Mac apple.
- Years ago I admired my mothers’ watercolor painting of apples in this favorite glass bowl; (–how does one paint a glass bowl with watercolors?) She gave me the painting, and later on the bowl as well. We Master Gardeners are discouraged from attempting to identify unknown apple varieties because there are so many and it is not easy even with DNA testing, but don’t you think that the models or inspiration for her painting were Macs?
It is a very versatile apple, good for fresh eating and excellent for processing into cider and fine textured applesauce. Its one known parent, ‘Fameuse’ or ‘Snow’ is my husband’s favorite heirloom variety, and McIntosh has been crossbred with others to produce some very successful modern apples such as ‘Empire’, ‘Cortland’, ‘Macoun’, ‘Jonamac’, ‘Spartan’ and probably ‘Paula Red’. Two of those stories illustrate the vagaries of apple breeding. Spartan is notable for being the first new breed of apple produced from a formal scientific breeding program, (not at MSU, nor even in Michigan), in 1936. However it was supposed to be a cross between McIntosh and Newtown Pippin. Recently, it was discovered through genetic analysis that it didn’t have the Newtown Pippin as one of the parents and its paternal identity remains a mystery. Paula Red apples were discovered around 1960 by grower Lewis Arends near a McIntosh block in his orchard in Sparta Township, Kent County, Michigan. He named the apple after his wife, Pauline.
I usually choose the more modern offspring rather than Macs although I like them in combination with firmer kinds for pies, but after reading this I picked out a bag of premium Macs at Applewood orchard in Deerfield and put some into a bowl.
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Wow, do we have a great FotoFriday ths week! We have a series of photos from Mary Ellen showing the progression of a neighborhood garden she designed. Mary Ellen writes:
Experimenting with annuals can be great fun. I test different annuals each year when planting large in-ground or small container designs. Sometimes I begin with the design or pattern, then decide on the annuals. Other times I choose the annuals then figure out the design. The Star Garden, installed in a common space in my neighborhood a few years ago, began with the pattern. Then I chose annuals with varying heights, colors, textures, and long bloom time. In a public space where access to water is limited I try to use heat and drought tolerant plants. For this pattern I used purple salvia, pink geranium, and white wax begonia.
Site preparation and pattern layout
Three weeks after planting
Seven weeks after planting
Linda submitted photos and information about Ixora coccinea (common names – Jungle Geranium, Flame of the Woods, and Jungle Flame). She writes:
This is a flowering plant from Southern India. It is often seen in Florida used as decorative shrubs and hedges. The leaves are glossy and leathery. There are many varieties of this plant (about 500) and comes in various colors of yellow, pink and orange. It’s now in bloom. I love the clusters of small tubular flowers. I keep it in my master bathroom where there is bright light and a heated floor. It does make a great house plant in a container. It will usually bloom from November and often it continues to bloom until February. I’ve had it now for about four years and it never has let me down. It always gives me a boost when everything else is fading. These’s a bit of maintenance during the flowering time when the individual flowers begin to fall; but it’s well worth it.
Posted in Community Projects, FotoFriday, Perennials | 1 Comment »
Between the last two and a half weeks of defective hard drives and electronic camera shutters, I was nearly shut out of the blogosphere. In the next several days I’ll try to catch up on posts and photos our members have been sending.
Gail sent a series of photos from Butchart Gardens in Vancouver. The colors in the photos are all from foliage – there are no flowers! I looked up the climate in Vancouver – it is very mild (up to zone 8!) but can actually be droughty in the summer months. Gail, if you have information about what some of these plant species are, please send us the information in a comment.
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It’s been a rough week. All things technological still hate me, and I’m posting from my husband’s computer since mine is STILL in the shop. To top the week’s bad luck with technology, my brand new Ferrari-like camera finally got delivered – defective. To content myself with some serenity-inspiring photos I went to my husband’s archives. I chose these because they all have a Zen-like quality to me. Hopefully you’ll enjoy them as much as I do.
Photo credit Tom Morrison
Photo credit Tom Morrison
Photo credit Tom Morrison
Posted in FotoFriday, Native Plants and Gardening, Perennials, Uncategorized | 6 Comments »
Mature Bladdernut seed pod
The American bladdernut, Staphylea trifolia, is a large, suckering, deciduous shrub or small tree 8 -15 feet tall and native to the Eastern United States. Bladdernut grows in the wooded bottomlands along the River Raisin and can tolerate a wide range of soils and conditions from dry to wet and part shade to full shade. It prefers moist soil, tolerates occasional floods but can also tolerate drought. I have one shrub planted in a dry, sandy, shaded area and another in clay soil which floods and both perform well in these extreme conditions. The blooms in April and May are clusters of small cream bell shaped flowers. The trifoliate leaves are dark green and the bark is greenish brown with white cracks. I find the inflated, three chamber bladder like fruit very interesting. The papery capsules, normally 1-2” long, change from green to cream and mature to brown. In the autumn the seeds within the bladder will rattle in wind. The American Bladdernut is an interesting shrub for the landscape especially in native plant gardens, shade gardens or in woodland areas.
American Bladdernut bark
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FotoFriday had glitches this week! This is the week for me to lose all battles with technology! My brand new computer is in the shop for warranty work and I couldn’t extract the photos I’d had saved for FotoFriday. I had several contributors this week, so I apologize profusely and ask if you could possibly resend them. They were all really nice photos and I want to make sure we feature them. Fortunately, Jennie sent these after my computer went down so I was able to post them from my husband’s computer. Jennie’s photos have a thanksgiving theme, in a personal way.
I am thankful my daughter is sharing gardening with her 3 kids and that they get excited over big carrots. Dug this late in the fall, they will be sweet.
My daughter-in-law grows herbs and a few edibles around her patio but the girls are close enough to visit my garden very often and loved taking this melon home in their wheelbarrow. Part of the fun was letting it fall out and loading it up again.
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Monroe County Master Gardener Association 