Paeonia mlokosewitschii
Otherwise known as Molly-the-Witch, this delightful seed pod is just another reason to grow this plant. Unfortunately, this isn’t in my own garden but it is on my “lust list”. For the record, the blue seeds are fertile and the red are not but the contrast between them is wonderful.
Peony - Molly the Witch
Plant Review: Euphorbia ‘Jessie’
I’ve just planted a Euphorbia ‘Jessie’ that I got from Barry Glick at Sunshine Farms and Nursery.
‘Jessie’ is a cross between the tender E. griffithii - a really tall species and E. polychroma (epithymoides) only about 18″ tall but very hardy and self-sows with abandon to earn a spot on my thug-list. Barry assures me the seeds from this particular cross are sterile and won’t be a problem. This is a patented plant and a first for Barry so he’s quite excited about it.
Now Barry is a bit of a plant collector (understatement if there ever was one) and a bit of an enthusiastic marketer (also understated given his penchant for wearing purple robes and crowns) and a good guy. So you can imagine how excited he is about this plant. 
I’m going to run this plant in a USDA zone 4 garden and we’ll find out how hardy it is. But I have to tell you I’m a little excited about a 5 foot tall Euphorbia in my garden. The link above is to Barry’s website where he describes the plant and offers it to you for sale as well. As you can see, the bracts are a bright yellow and according to Barry, we’ll likely get a good 6-8 weeks of show in mid-summer and then a fall display as the Euphorbia foliage takes on the species yellow/red combinations.
Ah yes, just one last tidbit to entice you - and one more reason I’m pleased to have this plant - it is deer proof as are all Euphorbia. I mean - deer don’t eat it unless they’re out and out starving and then it’s the last thing they’ll pick.
I’ll be updating these posts as the plants emerge next year and we declare the survivors and then the winners in plant performance.
Garden Writer Conference Awards
This post has taken the better part of a week to write as I struggle to find “up” amidst a whopping head cold I picked up at the conference.
The annual conference where we put 600 garden writers together into one hotel, and see what emerges, is always a good time. Newcomers invariably tell us that it’s the best conference they’ve ever attended. And if you’ve ever been to a conference with a trade show, you know that companies like to get your attention with “gifts”. Heck, when we attended greenhouse conferences, we’d come home with shopping bags of “stuff” to mess about with. Nursery trade shows are just as good and some of the nursery folks I worked with were famous for their ability to bring home competitor’s gifts. I still still have t-shirts from the computer shows I’ve attended plus a ton of cd programs. The garden writers trade show is no different - there’s a ton of stuff coming our way as different producers enlist our help in evaluating and promoting their products.
Without further ado, here’s my top list of innovative “stuff” I brought home.
The Shortest Lived Award - goes to Sluggo, the slug control folks. This was a bottle of good beer telling us we should drink the beer and use the newly OMRI (organic) certified product on the slugs. I’m all for both of these things. The beer was good. I didn’t eat the slug killer but it works much better than the chemical alternatives.
The Most Useful Conference Tool award goes to the folks at American Beauties for their insulated beer holders. We all wandered around the trade show with our beers (see above) and kept them cool. While the beer didn’t make it home, these did. This product was promoting their line of native plants that are regionally based and I think this is not only great marketing but great plantsmanship. If you want to grow “native plants” in the midwest, you get to pick different plants than if you want to grow native plants in the northeast - and this program will let retailers and gardeners make appropriate choices.
The Coolest Promotion Award goes to Fiskars for the monogrammed trowel. With my name engraved on the blade, nobody (hello Princess) can claim it as their own. These folks have a full line of garden tools and between the Princess and myself, we own most of them. But “I” own that trowel.
The Longest Lived Award goes to the AARS for the thumb-drives they were handing out. These were loaded up with rose images and I managed to wander by the booth twice (quite accidentally I assure you) . These darn little things will live in my camera bag (after I download the images to my server for regular use) and be used all over the continent on my travels. Mind you, the label of them makes it clear I won’t be forgetting their name any time soon.
Products I most Regret Award goes to Iseli nursery. This was a half dozen of this famous nursery’s woody plants. I lusted after these plants as I wandered around this premium nursery with it’s acres of rare evergreens, shrubs and trees. I was in garden-heaven and the gate was shut. I’m Canadian. This means I had to have not only a phyto certificate (obtainable) but also an import permit. Import permits have to be filled in ahead of time so we can’t legally get them into the country. I gave mine to one of the conference staff and I hope they grow well for her. (Insert big sigh here.)
I didn’t bring a lot of stuff home because I was flying; I know there are things on their way from various manufacturers for me to trial and I’m looking forward to putting these things through their paces. And then reporting on them for you.
Stay tuned - there are some really interesting projects and reviews on the drawing boards - from vermiculture to photography to hydroponics. Fun stuff ahead.
How to Build a Compost Bin
One thing that folks sometimes don’t consider is which direction the bin is going to be viewed from. You’ll often find that the skids are damaged when you get them and you have a choice - you can repair the damage (a great idea) or you can put the damaged or older-looking skids on the sides that won’t be seen easily. Point them away from your main view-point and you’ll have a nicer looking bin.
A history of the White House Gardens
We’re indebted to Roger Doiron and his Eat the View organization for this history of the White House Garden. Great video Roger! What do you U.S. folks think about this? Here’sRoger’s website.
Garden Television
There’s a discussion winding down at Garden Rant about television programming at HGTV and like a lot of things, I’m curious about how folks see gardening television. I’ve done several kinds of garden tv (guest shots, studio work, my own cable show ) and that medium is an interesting one. But I confess that I’m sometimes a little confused by how gardeners see shows about gardening.
So when I’m curious - I usually ask my readers. I’m going to do this exercise here on my blog and in my newsletter because I really want to know what makes good gardening television for you folks.
Design The Perfect Gardening Television Programme
I know that there isn’t likely going to be one format that works for everyone. That different gardeners will have different needs - but I suspect there are some common core elements to great gardening television.
So what are they?
Here’s how to do it
First - feel free to use the comments or use the contact me form so your answer will go directly to my inbox and will be tagged as a television project answer. I don’t want to lose these thoughts. And if you send it via the contact sheet, nobody but me is going to see it.
Second - the question or challenge is to tell me what would be the core elements, what kinds of things do you want to see on a gardening television show?
What kinds of things do you hate to see?
Give me the good, the bad and the downright plain ugly.
What would make a perfect garden tv show?
Where’s this going?
Darned if I really know. But like a lot of things, I tend to gather information and then let that information brew for a bit - then launch projects that meet the needs my readers have identified as important. From articles to blogs to newsletters to forums to seminars - that’s how this entire gardening project has developed. One reader input at a time.
So if I get some good ideas - you can assume I’ll be working behind the scenes to do something with them.
Plastic Recycling
Kudo’s to Landscape Ontario for their work on the beginning steps to put a Canadian national plastic recycling plan into place.
The hort industry generates a whole bunch of plastic. From the pots and baskets you take home to acres and acres of plastic that cover the greenhouses to trays and plastic propagation units that you never even see. Waste removal of this plastic is a major cost to production nurseries even if they try to recycle their own pots.
So - from a cost standpoint alone, this is a major effort.
From an environmental standpoint, this is really necessary and full marks and a salute with a dip of the shovel to L.O. for their work in this area.
p.s. L.O. was the site for the annual plant trials I attended a few weeks ago.
Landscape Ontario
Issues in Green Garden Design
I confess I had never really given a full green garden much of a thought until this past few weeks and hadn’t really taken much more than lip-service to the entire idea. After all, I gardened organically so what more did you want?
As it turns out, there’s a few other issues out there that seem to be going my way but I do have to report that the problems are also rearing their head.
First the problem area.
One major concern was handling the driveway and front fields. Short of hand shoveling an 800 foot driveway, this was going to take horsepower. Either mine or Noel’s (in his big plow). The front field (about 6 acres) is also a problem given I really want to control weeds and volunteer weed trees but I’m not about to take a week to scythe down this space by hand. And while I can reduce the snow damage with snow fencing, and I’ve lopped off quite a few of the volunteer trees by hand, there’s no way I can do this without mechanical assistance. So I bit the bullet and bought a tractor. Not your little tractor but a small diesel (much more energy efficient than gasoline) that will power a rotary mower capable of handling small trees and tall weeds. With a front end loader, it also has the capacity to do snow right up to the house or even the entire driveway if necessary. Again, the loader and diesel mean that I have a power system that is as efficient as possible but that will handle the work load of having a large estate garden.
Secret Garden
I’ve spent a few hours whacking back several hundred sumac trees and a ton of Virginia creeper that were attacking the lilacs along the front of the property. Now, you know that these are going to resprout either this fall (likely) or next spring (definitely). I’m going to let them resprout this fall unhindered because with the changing of season and lowered light levels, they’re not going to be able to store much energy into those roots from the new leaves. I’m hoping I can weaken them a bit before next spring.
At that time, all new shoots are going to be hit by herbicide strength vinegar on a repeated basis. I’m going to keep those leaves and shoots burned off until the plants die. I’ll grub out the smaller ones but the objective is to wipe out these plants in the lilac dell, shoreline and secret garden areas. The initial pathway to the secret garden has been cut and trimmed out (no, I’m not telling you where it is - it’s a secret garden) and it too will be “vinegared” next year to knock back the weeds and shoots that may decide to take advantage of the extra sunlight. Cutting spreading shrubs back and then stopping them from forming new shoots is a time-honored way of killing them.
The interesting thing about this is that I had forgotten the pleasure of working like this. Yes, it’s hot and sweaty and I left some DNA on the shrubs and broken bits of wood amidst the lilacs but after I had finished, I did indeed feel a great bit of satisfaction. It was a good feeling to stretch out the muscles and find they still worked after all too long becoming a desk-bound writer instead of a working nurseryman. You can call it hormonal with my brain sending out all those exercise goodies to make me feel good or you can simply call it satisfaction with a job well done.
Whatever you call it, I am a pretty happy camper now that I can see the garden progressing along this environmentally green garden design road.
How to Grow a Water Lily
Here’s a quick video on the most important things about growing a water lily.
