Spanish Bluebells Welcome Sprin

Also known as Wood Hyacinths, Spanish Bluebellls (Hyacinthoides hispanica) are charming additions to the spring garden. The pale blue, dangling bells complement yellow daffodils, red tulips, white lily-of-the-valley, and many other spring flowers.

Spanish bluebells are bulbous perennials native to Spain, Portugal and northwest Africa. Each bulb produces a clump of 2-6 strap-shaped leaves and a flower stem with 12-15 hanging, bell-shaped flowers. The plants are 12-18" tall. The bulbs are inexpensive, readily available, and easy to grow, so if you are new to bulb gardening, they are great plants to try.

Hardy in zones 3-8, Spanish bluebells will grow in full sun to part shade, and are not fussy about their soil requirements. They are good naturalizes, spreading both through bulb offsets and seeds. Here in New England, they will spread discreetly but steadily, making a cheerful community. Like other spring bulbs, they should be planted in the fall, and will bloom in early April to early May. The leaves will disappear as the plants go dormant for the summer.

Spanish bluebells are versatile additions to the garden. In addition to the classic blue form, there are pink and white varieties available. They look great sprinkled among other spring bulbs in a sunny garden, or combined with bleeding hearts, geranium macrorhizum and epimediums in a shady border. You can plant them around the bases of hostas, and as the hosta leaves unfurl, they will hide the bluebells' yellowing foliage in late spring. They also complement spring-blooming shrubs, and look great massed in a woodland or naturalized in large drifts under deciduous trees. No matter where they are planted, Spanish bluebells create a delightful, cottage-style garden.

White Spanish Bluebells with Bergenia, Ajuga, and Geranium macrorhizum

Sources: Breck's, White Flower Farm

More Hellebores, Please

Hellebores have become one of my favorite plants since I began growing them about 10 years ago. They bloom at a time when the garden is mostly dormant - from late fall to early spring - and bring a smile to my face every time I see them bravely holding up their blossoms against the harsh weather. They are easy to grow, virtually care-free, and there are wonderful new varieties introduced every year.

This hellebore Niger began blooming in early December due to our warm winter this year.

Hybrid hellebores are expensive to purchase (about $17 for a one-gallon pot) because it takes three to five years for them to bloom, and growers generally only sell blooming plants. You can buy smaller plants through mail order. But the most economical way to increase your collection is to propagate your own plants. You can divide all hellebores except the caulescent varieties (H. argutifolius, H. livius and H. foetidus).

Unlike other perennials, hellebores are long-lived plants that do not need to be divided to remain vigorous. In researching hellebore division, I have found a range of recommendations as to when to divide your hellebores - from dividing them in early spring, to mid spring while they are still in bloom, to waiting until mid-summer, to early fall (September to October). Since opinions on this vary so widely, I think that it is safe to do the division in any of these seasons. I have done it successfully in early summer, while the flowers were still visible on the plant, but after their beautiful display in early spring. The keys to successful division seem to be:

1. Make sure that there are flower buds in each division

2. Divisions should not be allowed to dry out after replanting

3. Divisions should have enough time to establish a healthy root system before winter 

To divide a hellebore, dig up the entire plant, wash the crown free of soil in order to better see what you are doing, and then cut between the growth buds with a sharp knife. Try to leave at least three buds in each division so that the plants will recover quickly.

For your first experience, select a plant that has 5-10 flowers on it. Older plants are very woody in their center. Make sure that you have a very sharp knife. I keep a small pruning saw with a serrated blade just for the purpose of dividing perennials. Make sure that each division has a portion of the center along with the newer growth from the edge of the plant. 

Plant your divisions in full shade to almost full sun. Add compost to the planting hole, firmly tamp down the soil, water, and mulch. I also water with a high-phosphorous fertilizer to encourage good rooting. Divisions should be kept moist throughout their first growing season until frost.

One of my hellebore gardens with divisions from my own plants.

Another way to add hellebores to your collection is to grow on any seedlings that have rooted around the mother plant. Not all hellebores produce seeds - some are sterile hybrids. But many of the orientalis type do set seed every year, and if you look carefully, you will see little seedlings growing around the mother plant. These seedlings should be moved to a nursery location after they have developed a true set of leaves, so that they will not be shaded out by the mature plants. I grow them on for about two years in a nursery bed, and then plant them out in the garden, eager to see what these babies will look like when they bloom.

Seedlings with fully formed leaves at the base of the mother plants.

Two-year old seedlings in the nursery bed where they enjoy beautiful soil and no competition from other plants.

Hellebore foetidus produces many seedlings in my garden, and I find them in random places where they have planted themselves. Since foetidus is not a long-lived plant, you should keep some seedling growing by the mother plant so that you continue to have hellebores in that spot. Because they have finely cut foliage, these hellebores do not shade out their babies.

Hellebore foetidus seedlings

I have so enjoyed slowly collecting new cultivars, dividing my plants and growing on hellebores from seed, that I now have about 50 hellebore plants throughout my garden. And when I see them blooming every winter, I know that I will add more!

Sources: White Flower Farm, Pine Knot Farms, Plant Delights, Broken Arrow

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Hampton Court's Romantic Gardens

The sixty acres of gardens and grounds surrounding Henry VIII's Hampton Court Palace in Britain are majestic and inspiring. 

The earliest gardens, relatively modest gardens, were created for Cardinal Wolsey, but it was under the auspices of Henry VIII that today's ground plan largely took shape. Henry VIII was not much interested in beautiful flowers - he was more keen on the sport that took place in the Deer Park and Tiltyard, the scene of jousting competitions.

The gardens were formalized in the baroque manner under William and Mary and subsequent changes were made as 500 years of royals gardened on the property. Today's gardens may not be true to one particular era, but they are stately and awe inspiring. Even if your own garden is a small plot, you can learn from the lovely plant combinations, the cultural practices in the vegetable and herb garden, and appreciate the beauty and pageantry of the garden and palace.

The walled formal rose garden is punctuated with beautiful statuary and was in full bloom in September.

The herb garden's formal layout is reminiscent of Victorian-era bedding gardens.

The Kitchen Garden grew all of the produce and fruit for Henry VIII's court.

The ornamental bed decorated the river gateway to the palace grounds.

Ornate Victorian-style bedding gardens decorate the Fountain Garden, a strolling garden that original showcased 13 magnificent fountains and clipped yews.

The Orangery Garden (above) shows Queen Mary II's passion for rare and exotic plants. She had an orangery built to house her orange and lemon trees and cactuses.

The Privy Garden (above) has existed on the south side of the palace since it was first created by Henry VIII in 1533. The recreation that is seen today has all of the original plant varieties, statues and hedges that were installed by William III.

The Knot Garden (above) was laid out in 1924 to show the type of garden that Henry VIII may have had at the palace.

These sunken gardens (above and below) were originally ponds used to hold freshwater fish such as carp, to feed Henry VIII and his court.

Hampton Court is easily accessible from London by train. You can also visit the palace by Thames riverboat - just like the court members and royalty of centuries past.

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September in Kew Gardens

Thanks to my daughter's decision to spend a Semester Abroad in London, I was able to visit several wonderful English gardens in September. The first was the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew - regarded as the world's number one botanical garden with the largest and most comprehensive plant collection. What began as a "physic garden" of 9 acres in 1759 is now a 300 acre property with an arboretum, woodland, rock garden, Holly Walk, Winter Garden, numerous perennial beds and formal display gardens.

In addition to the plants, the garden is home to beautiful conservatories, museums, palm houses, Kew Palace and several temples. Since we had only one afternoon to spend there, we focused on the horticulture. Below are some views of the fabulous garden in September.

Kew's arboretum is a living library of trees that stretches over the majority of the Gardens and is a wonderful place to see many different species of trees including rare and ancient varieties.

This specimen monkey puzzle tree was planted in 1978. The first monkey puzzle trees were brought to the UK in 1795 from chile.

There are more than 2,000 species of trees in the vast arboretum including a collection of "Old Lions". These magnificent trees are the oldest trees with known dates in the Gardens, dating back to 1762.

Grasses and perovskia sway in the breeze and create a soft foreground for the collection of trees and shrubs.

The Duke's Garden showcases perennials with beautiful foliage such as the bergenia and heuchera above.

The large rock garden displays a range of mountain plants, Mediterranean plants, and moisture-loving species from around the world.

The beautiful Japanese Garden is comprised of three areas. Above we see the Garden of Peace, reminiscent of a traditional Japanese Tea Garden with stone lanterns and a dripping water basin.

Below, is a glimpse of the Garden of Activity, symbolizing the elements of the natural world such as waterfalls, mountains and the sea. The raked gravel and large rocks represent the motion of water as it swirls and tumbles.

Bunny Williams' Garden Style

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of visiting Bunny Williams' Litchfield County garden during one of the Garden Conservancy's Open Garden days. Bunny is a renowned interior designer and author of several books that I have enjoyed, including "An Affair with a House" and "On Garden Style". Her garden was at the top of my tour list for the day, and I was not disappointed. There was plenty of inspiration for anyone interested in plants, garden design, antiques and interior decor.

Bunny's fifteen-acre estate surrounds an eighteenth century New England manor house in Falls Village, Connecticut. A long gravel drive lined with gracious old trees brings visitors to the front door.

A rustic patio on the side of the house is welcomes guests from the parking court.

The back lawn is bordered by a whimsical yew hedge.

A small fishpond is the centerpiece of a sunken perennial garden.

Arborvitae line an alle to the upper garden.

The guest house with its adjoining conservatory looks out over this formal parterre.

A working greenhouse and elegant service barn border a beautiful vegetable/herb garden decorated with potted figs.

A cutting garden for house bouquets is included among the veggies.

An aviary with unusual chickens and fantail doves provides fresh eggs for the household.

Meandering paths lined with hundreds of mayapples, trilliums, ferns, solomon seal, tiarella and epimedium bring you to a large pond with a waterfall in the woodland garden.

Wandering uphill through an apple orchard of mature trees brings you to a swimming pool with eighteenth-century French coping.

A rustic Greek Revival-style pool house "folly", built to the exact proportions of a classical Greek temple, features a dining and lounging area for people and pets, and a small kitchen.

Private gardens such as this one are a treat to visit through the Open Garden Days program. For more information and a schedule, see the Garden Conservancy.

I’d Rather Be Blue: 10 Blue Perennials for Your Garden

Virginia bluebells, daffodils and celandine poppy in the spring

The color blue is overwhelmingly chosen as the most popular color by both men and women, so it is no wonder that we are drawn to blue flowers. Blue is a soothing color that evokes feelings of calm, trust, honesty and loyalty. Blue flowers add a touch of tranquility and cool elegance to the garden. They make excellent bedfellows in the garden, blending and complementing other hues. I love combining blue flowers with violet, pink and white hues and silver foliage in a sunny summer border, or juxtaposing them with bright yellows and oranges for a dynamic “pop” in the spring garden.

blue campanulas, geraniums and catmint in my summer perennial bed

Since they are less prevalent than white, pink and yellow flowers, blue flowers appeal to all gardeners. Here are some of my favorite blue perennials for Zone 5-6 gardens: 

1. Aconitum ‘Arendsii’

Blue flowers are particularly rare in autumn, and the deep indigo-blue flowers of Monkshood punctuate the oranges and golds of this season.

3-4’ tall, part shade, blooms September-October

2. Baptisia

Also known as False Indigo, this late emerging, statuesque perennial with spires of pea-like flowers and handsome blue-green foliage is a focal point in the perennial bed.

3-4’ tall, sun to part shade, blooms May-June 

centaurea montana

3. Centaurea montana

This perennial bachelor button is a cottage garden favorite, with furry gray-green leaves similar to lamb’s ears, and large, brilliant blue flowers.

12-18” high, full sun, blooms in May

Related post: Centaurea Montana: A Cottage Garden Favorite

Geranium 'Rozanne'

4. Geranium ‘Rozanne’ or ‘Johnson’s Blue’

Perennial geraniums with their delicately cut foliage and low spreading habit are beautiful companions to tall, upright perennials, roses and shrubs.

Rozanne: 24” tall, full sun, blooms June-frost
Johnson’s Blue: 20” tall, full sun to part shade, blooms late May-June

Related post: Geraniums: Delicate Beauty for the Perennial Garden

geranium 'johnson's blue'

pulmonaria 'trevi fountain'

5. Pulmonaria ‘Trevi Fountain’

One of the earliest flowers to bloom in spring, pulmonaria sports showy, lance-shaped leaves with silver spots, and deep blue flowers that change to violet and rose as they age.

11” tall, part shade, blooms in April

Related post: Pulmonaria Pops in the Shade

6. Lobelia siphilitica

Spires of brilliant blue, trumpet-shaped flowers on a perennial that gently seeds itself in the garden.

24” tall, part shade, mid to late summer

iris cristata

7. Iris cristata

A charming little plant, Dwarf Crested Iris is easy to grow, pest-free, and provides amethyst-blue flowers for the shade garden.

3-6” tall, part shade, blooms May

 Related post: Dwarf Crested Iris Brightens the Spring Garden

8. Nepeta ‘Walker’s Low’

This catmint sports compact mounds of aromatic gray-green foliage with lavender-blue flowers.

10” tall, sun to part shade, blooms from late spring until fall

phlox divericata 'blue moon'

9. Phlox divericata ‘Blue Moon’

Introduced by our own Garden in the Woods, this Woodland Phlox forms a meandering groundcover with violet-blue, fragrant flowers

8-12” tall, part to full shade, blooms in May

Related post: Woodland Phlox: A Natural Mingler

Platycodon 'fuji blue'

10. Platycodon ‘Fuji Blue’

With irresistible balloon-like buds that open to bright-blue, five lobed flowers, Balloon Flower is a late-emerging perennial that blooms in late summer.

20” tall, full sun, blooms July-August

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Favorite Nurseries in New England

Joan and I love to lecture about gardening and are often asked about where we obtain our plants. The short answer is “everywhere” – from specialty nurseries, local nurseries, plant swaps, big box stores, friends, mail order sources, plant societies and special plant sales. We both seek out nurseries when we travel, and almost always come home with souvenir plants. Some of my plants journeyed home with me from Cape Cod, Philadelphia, New York, New Mexico and Seattle. Some of the best nurseries in New England are destination nurseries with beautiful display gardens. Others are small home nurseries that grew out of a passion for a certain plant.

Here is a list of some of our favorite sources for plants in New England. 

Cochato Nursery

Cochato Nursery

Specialty nursery featuring unique plants and incredible display gardens. Great selection of unusual perennial shade plants (including hundreds of hostas), plus a variety of unusual trees and shrubs for all gardens. Owners Chuck Doughty and Sue DuBrava are welcoming and knowledgeable about all aspects of the plant world. Open May 2, 2015 to Labor Day, Thursday-Sunday. 373 North Franklin St, Holbrook, MA.  www.cochatonursery.com

New England Wildflower society

New England Wildflower Society

NEWS offers a wonderful range of native plants--with the genetic traits that make them hardy in the region and perfect for native wildlife--for home gardeners. Plants are available for sale at Garden in the Woods, 180 Hemenway Rd., Framingham, MA and Nasami Farm Nursery, 128 North Street, Whately, MA www.newfs.org

katsura gardens

 Katsura Gardens

Specialty nursery featuring rare trees, unusual conifers and specialty plants. Katsura Gardens is especially known for its large collection of Japanese Maples. 112 Carver Road, Plymouth, MA.  www.katsuragardens.com 

Weston Nurseries

Weston Nurseries

With a history of rhododendron hybridizing, including the ubiquitous PJM rhodie, Weston Nurseries is a favorite for its extensive selection of rhododendrons, shrubs and trees. Weston has always been an excellent resource for horticultural information – from the knowledgeable staff, to their catalogs and online plant library. 93 Main St. (Rte 135), Hopkinton, MA. 508-435-3414; 160 Pine Hill RoadChelmsford, MA. 978-349-0055 www.westonnurseries.com

Russell's Garden Center

Russell’s Garden Center

With an extensive gift and garden accessory shop, Russell’s is a fun destination year-round. I especially like their selection of perennials and roses, as well as water plants and pond supplies. 397 Boston Post Road, Wayland, MA. 508-358-2283  www.russellsgardencenter.com

Bigelow Nurseries

Bigelow Nurseries

Celebrating its 100 year anniversary this year, Bigelow Nurseries has a good selection of trees, shrubs and perennials at prices that tend to better than at other large local nurseries. 455 W. Main St., Northboro, MA. 508-845-2143 www.bigelownurseries.com 

Tranquil Lake Nursery

Tranquil Lake Nursery

Warren Leach’s Tranquil Lake Nursery is the largest grower is daylilies and Siberian and Japanese Iris in the northeastern U.S. Visitors are always welcome to stroll through the display gardens and more than 10 acres of growing fields and to choose from more than 2,500 cultivars of daylilies and 200 cultivars of iris.  45 River St., Rehoboth, MA. 508-252-4000 www.tranquil-lake.com

Briggs Garden & Home

Briggs offers a beautiful selection of annuals and perennials in addition to shrubs and trees. The nursery has expanded to include garden accents and home décor, and there is a café on the premises. 295 Kelley Blvd., North Attleboro, MA. 508-699-7421 www.briggsgarden.com

o'Brien Nurserymen

O'Brien Nurserymen

Specialty nursery. Incredible selection and quality: hundreds of hostas, plus conifers, Japanese maples, shade perennials. Beautiful display gardens. Definitely worth the trip! Owner John O'Brien is friendly, knowledgeable and passionate about plants! Mail order for hosta plants only. 40 Wells Road, Granby, CT.  www.obrienhosta.com

 Mason Hollow Nursery

Mail order and specialty nursery. Top quality plants for everyone from the novice gardener to the collector. Huge selection of Heuchera, hundreds of hostas, unusual shade perennials, conifers and small trees. Owners Sue and Chuck Anderson are a delight - and so helpful! Beautiful display gardens. Opens for the season May 9, 2015. 47 Scripps Lane, Mason NH.  www.masonhollow.com

Broken Arrow Nursery

Broken Arrow Nursery

Broken Arrow is best known for its mountain laurel collection, and has been featured in several gardening magazines. It features an unparalleled inventory of off-the-beaten-track and brand-new varieties of woody plants. Open April to October 31.13 Broken Arrow Road, Hamden, CT; brokenarrownursery.com

Snug Harbor Farm

Snug Harbor Farm

Lauded by Yankee Magazine as one of the top five nurseries in New England. Fantastic containers and topiaries created from uncommon botanicals elevate gardening to the level of fine art. Open year-round.87 Western Ave., Kennebunk, ME. 207-967-2414; snugharborfarm.com

Garden Sales

Conveniently located off of I-84 in Manchester, Conn., Garden Sales is a family owned nursery owned by the Turull family. Garden Sales has an excellent selection of hostas, as well as hard to find perennials, daylilies, roses, peonies, ornamental grasses, dwarf conifers and ornamental trees. 308 Oakland St., Manchester, CT  860-649-9406 www.gardensalesllc.com

Off the Beaten Path

Completely Clematis Nursery

As the name says, a small nursery specializing in all types of clematis, both retail and mail order. Completely Clematis focuses on small-flowered species and hybrids that are easy and rewarding to grow. 217 Argilla Road, Ipswich, MA. (978) 356-3197  www.clematisnursery.com

Boulderwoods Nursery

Boulderwoods Nursery

Boulderwoods is the home nursery of Joe Bruso, an active member of the Rhododendron Society and rhododendron hybridizer. His nursery is a wonderful place to visit in May, when hundreds of rhododendrons throughout his property are in bloom. Joe also propagates other woody shrubs and trees, including the native big-leaf magnolias. Available by appointment. 61 S. Mill St., Hopkinton, MA. 508-435-8217

Garden Vision Epimediums

Garden Vision Epimediums

Garden Vision Epimediums, also known as the “Epi-center of the Universe”,  is a small, retail mail-order nursery located in rural central Massachusetts. The plants offered represent the work of Epimedium expert Darrell Probst, who has discovered many of these plants through numerous collecting expeditions to China, Japan and Korea. The nursery is primarily mail order, but open to the public for only a select few weekends in May, during bloom season. 10 Templeton Rd., Phillipston, MA. 978-249-3863  www.epimediums.com

Do you have a favorite nursery? Add it in the Comments section!

Primroses for New England

The Primrose is among the first of the flowers to bloom in the spring garden. The Latin name, Primula, means “first”. Primula is a genus of about 425 species that occur in a wide range of habitats, from bogs and marshes to alpine areas. They are widely distributed in the Northern hemisphere, mostly in Europe and Asia. Most are extremely cold hardy, some to Zone 3.

Primula have linear to ovate green leaves in basal rosettes, and attractive flowers that are salvoform (thin tube with flat petals) or tubular or bell-shaped. Many are fringed. The flowers are often produced on slender to thick flower stalks in umbels, whorls or spikes.

Primula species that are native to the US are found in the western part of the country, primarily in mountain regions. They require thoughtful placement in garden settings in the New England.  Primula rusbyi, the Rusby Primrose (Z3), is native to the mountains of the Southwestern US. It has rosette-forming, toothed green leaves and salverform rose-red to deep purple flowers. It’s useful in alpine and rock gardens with reliable moisture.

Primula 'Cabrillo'

Other Primula species, however, grow very well in our area and provide unique beauty and brilliance to the spring garden. Primula veris, or Cowslip, native to Europe and West Asia, is very successful in my garden in dappled shade in rich soil. I have planted a cultivar named ‘Cabrillo’ in a slightly low area, not boggy at all, but never overly dry. It has sweet-smelling, brilliant yellow blossoms, and is the first primrose to bloom.

Cowslip has a long history of use in herbal and folk remedies to treat a variety of ailments. Its leaves have been used in teas to cure nerves and anxiety, its flowers to treat bruises, and its roots as an expectorant to break up mucus. In 17th century England, applying water distilled from cowslip, or an ointment made from cowslip flowers, was thought to make one more beautiful.

Primula seiboldii

Another primrose that is exceptional in our area is Primula seiboldii (Siebold Primrose, Z4). It has showy flowers in late spring held in umbels above attractive foliage. Colors range from white to soft pink to magenta or bluish lavender, and may differ on the petal reverse. Petals may be smoothly rounded or as intricately cut as snowflakes. Unlike most primroses, it can go summer-dormant to escape summer conditions that are too hot or dry for it.

I grow a cultivar called ‘Smooch’ and find it to be a beautiful, tough, trouble-free plant with gorgeous textured leaves. I love plants that make me get down on my hands and knees for a closer look – and ‘Smooch’ does just that. Its delicate complexity gets me every time – it is fascinating. It spreads from shallow, branching rhizomes, and has spread nicely in my garden.

Candelabra primrose

The Candelabra Primrose (Primula japonica, Z4) thrives in moist to wet areas in dappled shade. It can be grown alongside a water feature or pond, or near the house by a downspout that keeps the soil moist. It is a robust perennial with rosettes of finely scalloped or toothed light green leaves. Whorls of red-purple to white flowers appear in mid-May and June.

Candelabra Primrose sets seed readily, and forms lovely colonies that display substantial genetic variation as seen in this garden in Plymouth. New plants can be grown from collected seed and planted elsewhere in the garden, shared with friends, or sold at plant sales.

Primula vulgaris (English Primrose Z4) is native to the open woodlands and shady banks of Europe and W. Turkey. It adapts well to the home garden in locations that are not dry. The species has rosettes of bright green leaves and clusters of fragrant pale yellow flowers. It has many hybrids and cultivars displaying a wide range of colors, from purples and reds, to whites and yellows.

Primroses are beautiful additions to the spring garden. They combine beautifully with other shade plants such as hosta, bloodroot, and epimedium. Given the right conditions, they will add color to your garden for years to come!

By Joan Butler

Garden Adventures for Children of All Ages

Although we did not have a traditional American-style garden with a wide expanse of lawn and a swing set to play on, some of my fondest childhood memories are of outdoor adventures: playing hide and seek in the outbuildings of our farm, crawling through tunnels of overgrown shrubs, collecting large colorful snails for a "snail farm", and building countless forts from found materials. Those childhood memories fuel our adult yearnings and imaginations. How many gardening friends do you have that pine for a "treehouse retreat", or whose husbands have built amazing multi-level, wired tree houses "for the kids"?

With its theme of "Garden Adventures", the 2015 Rhode Island Spring Flower and Garden Show was chock full of whimsical ideas for kids of all ages. Many of the designed landscapes featured backyard escapes for both young and old, and creative "reuse" was evident everywhere. From tunnels to tents to teepees, opportunities for "play" and "getaway" were abundant.

An outdoor checkerboard leads to an elevated "campsite" complete with telescope for stargazing.

An outdoor shed becomes an art studio with a cozy daybed for napping.

Whimsical mushrooms surround a climbing wall.

An elevated "sandbox" bordered by a moss garden presents play possibilities for young and old.

A corrugated metal tube forms a perfect tunnel to hide in.

Reed fencing creates the walls of this naturalist's outdoor retreat, complete with nets, specimen bottles and microscopes to study the nature up close.

A Native American-inspired bark hut was the focal point of this naturalistic landscape.

Wood palettes are put to use in a building and fencing for this educational children's garden.

A chalkboard is surrounded by vertical gardens made of palettes.

The artist at work.

Recycled tires become whimsical planters…

…as well as "rocking chairs" and a tic-tac-toe table.

Five-Plant Gardens

I recently came across a book in the library called Five-Plant Gardens by Nancy  J. Ondra, which features 52 ways to grow a perennial garden with just five plants. I was intrigued by the topic – it reminded me of the “5-Ingredient Recipes” cookbook that my sister-in-law swears by. The book was beautifully designed and illustrated, so I just had to bring it home for a closer look.

Nancy Ondra wrote this guide to simple gardening primarily for novice gardeners. As she states in her introduction, “..when you’re new to the process, starting with a manageable-sized space, a clear shopping list, and a simple-to-follow planting plan can make the difference between inspiring success and frustrating disappointment.” I think her five-plant strategy is great for gardeners of any experience level, and may even be very beneficial for those seasoned gardeners who are looking to scale back and simplify their complex, time consuming gardens.

The “Five-Plant Gardens” concept is a great organizing and editing tool. (And by “gardens”, I mean a garden bed, or a small plot, not the entire property.) After gardening on my own property for 22 years, studying landscape design and visiting hundreds of gardens, I can attest to “less is more.” Less variety and more of each type of plant, that is. Not the collector’s approach of “one of this and one of that”, but large masses of the same plant, which create a stronger statement in the landscape. It can be very hard to do, and requires steely self-control, (not to mention a special “collector’s bed” where you can house your impulse purchases), but the result can be very satisfying. And with a small variety of plants, the maintenance is much easier.

I have a “five-plant garden” that I installed 20 years ago, and it still pleases me after all these years. It is a shaded circular bed in the loop of my driveway, with a gazing globe as its focal point. The five perennials are hellebores, astilbes, cinnamon ferns, hostas, and fringed bleeding hearts – low maintenance shade plants that provide four-season interest.

Every month has its own highlight:

Hellebore foliage in winter gives way to flowers in March

Emerging fiddleheads in April

Hosta foliage unfurls in May

Cinnamon fronds and bleeding hearts steal the show in June

Astilbe blossoms explode in July

Hosta blooms stand out in August, and the changing colors of fall foliage provide interest from September through November.

I’m going to break the five-plant rule by adding snowdrops for February appeal. Since they are early bulbs that completely disappear, perhaps they won’t count?

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Tips for Winter Pots

As the temperatures drop and the garden tucks in for its winter slumber, containers step out of their supporting roles to take a star turn in the garden. Here are a few tips and inspiration photos for creating beautiful winter pots.

Jazz up your winter landscape with pots, hanging baskets and window boxes planted with evergreens or overflowing with assorted cuttings from conifers, berries, seed heads and dried flowers.

You can plant pots for winter interest as long as the plants are hardier than your growing zone. Here, early blooming snowdrops surround a planted red-twig dogwood. Black mondo grass adds the beautiful texture and dark color. Planted pots need good drainage in the winter, which is provided with this brick and pebble patio. If you site them on the driveway or other solid hardscape, elevate the pots with pot feet or bricks to let excess water drain out eaily.

Don’t be stingy with your outdoor containers! Empty urns just draw attention to what is missing.

Beautiful winter arrangements are not just for the holidays. You can use a combination of living and cut plants to dress up your pots from late fall through late winter.

Hanging baskets lined with moss are gorgeous when decorated with cut evergreens.

The same plants that bring interest to the winter landscape bring pizzaz to winter containers,  such as the red-twig dogwood pictured here.

Remember to keep your containers in scale with their environment. Most homeowners select a container that’s too small for their space.

If you live in a townhouse and condo, winter containers are a perfect "gardening outlet". These winter pots combine abundance and whimsy with their magnolia leaves, fruits, cones, dried hydrangeas, and a twig reindeer head.

Branches provide height, visual weight and texture for your containers. Birch, red twig dogwood, golden willow and harry's lauder's walking stick are particularly decorative.

Here twig balls add a whimsical flair.

By combining many different types of evergreens, you can achieve a rich "tapestry" look of contrasting textures in various shades of green.

Simple modern pots set off classic boxwoods and a voluptuous evergreen arrangement. 

Elevating your pots makes them more prominent. Here a formally centered classic urn on a plinth creates a beautiful front entrance.

ith a big snowstorm in the forecast on the day before Thanksgiving, I quickly ran through the garden with pruning shears to fill the 7 urns around my house. Yews, hollies, golden cypresses, leucothoe and winterberry holly received their annual trimming as I filled up my pots. What a great way to spend a few hours out in the winter garden!

Selecting Spring Bulbs for Your Gard

It's not too late to add spring bulbs to your garden! Here are some tips and design ideas to inspire and guide you this fall:

Snowdrops  

Snowdrops (above) may be naturalized in the lawn or planted close to the entryways to your home so that you can enjoy them in late winter. I planted mine in a bed of hellebores and hostas. They complement the hellebores in late winter, and their dying foliage is hidden by the hosta leaves unfurling in late spring. 

Grape Hyacinths

Grape Hyacinths prefer full sun, but they can be naturalized in a woodland setting of deciduous trees where they will receive sun in the spring before the trees have leafed out. (Chanticleer Gardens)

Erythronium

Erythronium can be massed, planted with other spring bulbs, or with woodland wildflowers. 

Daffodils

Daffodils can be naturalized in the lawn, but the foliage must be allowed to die back naturally before cutting. A meadow area is best for this.

I interplant daffodils with daylilies. As the daylily foliage grows, it hides the yellowing daffodil leaves. I also moved my forsythia and PJM Rhododendron shrubs so that they back my spring garden, and echo the yellows, blues and violets of the perennials and bulbs.

Leucojum

The white dangling bells of Leucojum are beautiful complemented by the dainty blue flowers of Brunnera. (Brooklyn Botanic Garden)

Species Tulips

Species tulips bloom in April, and last many years in the garden. They look fabulous massed, and  interplanted with grape hyacinths. In my garden, they are backed by chives, which provide spring blooms in the garden and are a staple in my cooking. 

Alliums

Alliums complement the blues, violets and yellows of my spring garden. I love the giant 'Gladiator' and 'Globemaster' varieties. As a bonus, they are not eaten by voles or rabbits. Above, Alliums provide spring color to the daylily border at the back of my house.

Tulips

With so many colors and varieties of tulips available, selecting a few for your garden can be overwhelming. Thinking about companion plants can help.

Above, variegated red-twig dogwood is beautifully accented by white and purple tulips.

Maroon and white tulips are breathtaking with a 'Crimson Queen" Japanese maple. (Brooklyn Botanic Garden)

​Deep purple tulips combine beautifully with Frittilaria Persica. The color is further enhanced by the addition of red-leaf lettuce. (Chanticleer Gardens)

Hortulus Farm – Where History and Horticulture Meet

I discovered Hortulus Farm quite by accident, browsing the internet for interesting places to visit on my way home from Philadelphia. It turned out to be a terrific discovery, truly “off the beaten path” - a place I will return to on future trips to the area.

Located in beautiful Bucks County, Hortulus Farm is a historic homestead with beautiful gardens and a large nursery. The heart of Hortulus Farm is the Isaiah Warner house, a classic Pennsylvania stone house built in the mid 1700s. It is surrounded by two immense dairy barns and other outbuildings that were added in the mid 1800s when the farm operated as a large dairy. The current owners, author Jack Straub and garden designer Renny Reynolds, acquired the property in 1980. and set about the restoring the buildings and creating the present garden.

Hortulus Farm’s 100 acres of gardens are based in part on English models, but American in personality. They take their inspiration from American architecture as well as our native woodlands that surround the more formal gardens close to the house. Meandering paths and gracious alles pass between ponds and over bridges, connecting more than 20 individual gardens that surround the “village” of buildings at the center of the property. These include a breathtaking woodland walk, lush flower borders, a raised-bed potager, herb gardens and a stunning pool garden, all enhanced with hedges, topiary, statuary, follies and water features.

When you visit Hortulus Farm, you are immediately impressed by the pastoral beauty of the landscape, the gracious layout of the gardens, and the animals that call the farm “home”. Set amongst the formal gardens are dovecotes, an elegant cage with three peacocks, an chicken coop with a wisteria arbor, and horses grazing in the surrounding pastures. A large pond is home to ducks, swans and a resident blue heron. Unlike other “public” gardens, Hortulus is teaming with life.

I look forward to seeing the garden in other seasons – when the hundreds of daffodils and woodland perennials bloom in the spring, or when the vast peony alle is in full bloom (the owners supply cut peonies to the New York flower markets). Hortulus Farm can be toured from May to October, along with its museum and large nursery, which offers unusual tropical, topiaries, perennials, shrubs and preplanted containers.

To learn more about Hortulus Farm, visit www.hortulusfarm.com

Longwood’s Lovely Waterlilies

The metropolitan Philadelphia area is a gardening mecca, and I always squeeze in a few garden tours when visiting my daughter at school. So when Parent’s Weekend concluded last week, I headed off to a wonderful afternoon at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA.

 Late September is a great time to visit many public gardens, and I was overwhelmed with the beautiful borders of cannas, dahlias and grasses, a Dahlia Society show, and the stunning greenhouses. But the most awesome spectacle at this time of year are the water gardens of Longwood, whose peak bloom time is from late July through September.

Tucked into a protected courtyard within the Main Conservatory, five pools feature more than 100 types of day and night-blooming tropical waterlilies, hardy waterlilies, lotuses, giant water platters and other aquatic and bog plants, such as papyrus and rice plants.

The waterlilies bloom in hues ranging from blues to whites, yellows, reds, and oranges. Some have striking foliage streaked with maroon. I was duly inspired to try my hand at growing waterlilies in my humble home pond next year. But the most dramatic plant at Longwood defies home use, and is cited as one of the wonders of the plant kingdom: the giant waterlily ‘Victoria’.

This Amazonian wonder (below) features leaf pads that grow to a diameter of 6-10 feet, and each lily may have 10 pads at one time, consuming an area 30 feet across. The leaves emerge as prickly shells and then unfurl at a rate of as much as two feet per day. Fully open, they can support the weight of a grown man, and the undersides are covered in spines, apparently to protect the plants from fish and manatees.

Victoria's flowers are enormous and a little bizarre. As full buds, they begin to generate their own heat, and then open to attract pollinating beetles with a tropical perfume reminiscent of pineapple, oranges and jasmine. The lilies start out as female flowers but develop into male flowers on their second night, at which point they have changed in color from white to a rose pink. On their third day, pollinated, they sink to the river bottom to grow seeds that, when mature, float.

Since the Victorias crave the heat and humidity of the tropics, they are difficult to grow in our northern climates. At Longwood, these giants are started from seed in late winter and planted in submerged planters at the end of May. They grow rapidly in Longwood’s heated pools where the water is maintained at a constant 86 degrees. In an unheated pond, you would see them run out of steam in September with cooling temperatures, but at Longwood, the heating system allows robust displays as late as November.

Victoria water lilies were first observed in Bolivia by the Bohemian botanist Thaddaeus Haenke in 1801, and brought to Europe in the early 1800s. They were named in honor of Queen Victoria, who visited the first flowering plant at Kew in 1852. The two original species of Victoria (amazonica and cruziana) were brought to Longwood in the 1950s. Longwood’s aquatic plant expert, Patrick Nutt, succeeded in crossing the two species to produce a third Victoria lily, Longwood Hybrid, that is even more vigorous than its parents and produces a pad that is larger, with a pronounced and colorful rim. This fantastic waterlily draws throngs of visitors to Longwood every summer, and spurred the publication of Victoria: The Seductress by Dr. Tomasz Aniśko, curator of plants at Longwood Gardens, who oversees the proper naming and identification of plants, coordinates plant trials, and leads plant exploration efforts.

To see a time-lapse video of Victoria blooming at Longwood, visit http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/03/night-gardens/time-lapse-video

Top Ten Hostas (For the Moment)

By Joan Butler

With so many great hosta to choose from, creating a list of ten favorites turned out to be a daunting task. As I strolled my gardens, so many hostas caught my eye and jockeyed for position on my list. Thoughts of hostas I have admired in other gardens added to the delightful confusion.

Finally, I decided to choose five hostas that awe me every year, and five hostas that are awing me at this moment. Already, as I look at my list, I wish I had room for more! Hostas like ‘Paradigm’, ‘Cup of Grace’, ‘Whirlwind’, ‘Dick Ward’, ‘Sun Power’, ‘Salute’, ‘Little Wonder’ are also awing me at this moment and deserve recognition. Maybe on the next list….

1. Hosta ‘Liberty’ 

Large, 4’wide x 2.5’ high, possibly larger. Dark blue-green leaves with a wide margin of golden yellow form an upright clump. Its size, bright variegation and form make it a “wow” plant that is a focal point in any garden.

2. Hosta ‘Queen of the Seas’   

Large, 6’ wide x 4’ high. Forms a beautiful architectural clump of blue-gray leaves, deeply ribbed with pie crust edges. Breathtaking as it unfurls in spring and a commanding presence all season long.

3. Hosta ‘Guacamole’  

Large, 4’ wide x 2’high. This hosta made the list for two reasons. The first: its green-edged chartreuse leaves have a satiny gleam that makes them look springtime fresh throughout the growing season. The second: its large flowers are fragrant! Plus, this hosta is a fast grower, and can take plenty of sun.

4. Hosta ‘Allegan Fog’ 

Medium, 2’ wide x 1.5’ high. Gently rippled leaves with a curved tip and variegation that changes as the season progresses, make this a favorite. The leaves are irregularly margined with dark green; the centers are white in spring, changing to pale green flecked and misted with darker green. Lovely.

5. Hosta ‘Little Miss Magic’  

Small, 1’ wide x 6” high. The spring foliage of this little beauty is brilliant yellow! Add to that the lance-shaped form of its rippled leaves, and you have garden perfection.

6. Hosta ‘Duke of Cornwall  

Large,5’ wide x 2’ high. Big, heart-shaped dark green/blue leaves have a wide, feathered pale green margin in spring. The margin changes to ivory, a feature which looks especially dramatic by the light of the moon. Every time I see this hosta at night, I think it would make a great addition to a moon garden because of its large size and corresponding amount of white detail.

7. Hosta ‘Shade Fanfare’

 Medium, 2’ wide x 1’ high. Apple green heart-shaped leaves have wide creamy margins and a pointy tip. The leaf surface is slightly seer-suckered, a detail I am always drawn to in hostas. A delicate overall appearance on a sturdy plant.

8. Hosta ‘Raspberry Sorbet’

 Small, 1.5’ x 8”. Lanceolate, dark green leaves are very shiny, rippled and twisted, with petioles streaked with red. Its flower scapes do not rise straight up from the center as in other hostas, but emerge at an angle spaced all around the plant. To add to this: the petioles and calyxes are streaked with raspberry pink and the flowers are pale lavender with purple stripes. Wow.

9. Hosta ‘Blue Mouse Ears’ 

Small, 11” wide x 6” tall. Blue-green leaves are shallowly cupped and held horizontally. Charming flowers are held low on the plant, and are lavender with violet stripes. This hosta is very popular, and deservedly so. It is easily grown and likes morning sun.

10. Hosta ‘Little Ann’ 

Miniature, 3” tall. This sweet little hosta is a spreading type, with golden foliage and a narrow cream edge. It is useful as an underplanting for upright hosta and at the front of the border. As with other yellow hosta, its spring brilliance is outstanding.

If you are interested in learning more about these and hundreds of other hosta, visit the Hosta Library website http://www.hostalibrary.org/index.html. Arranged alphabetically, the site features numerous pictures of popular and rare hostas, many photos taken in garden settings.

Joan Butler enjoys her collection of more than 300 hostas in her beautiful half-acre garden in Holliston, MA. She is an active member of the New England and American Hosta Societies and served as co-chairman of the garden selection committee for the 2011 National Hosta Convention. Her own garden was featured in a tour of the New England Hosta Society in the summer of 2011.

Daylilies and hosta for dinner?

Although my garden is mostly ornamental, I’ve always longed to incorporate more edibles. My efforts at vegetable gardening have repeatedly been met by failure – I’ve been outwitted by chipmunks, rabbits and woodchucks, defeated by grasshoppers, cabbage flies and other pesky insects, and the weather never seems to cooperate with the type of vegetable that I grow that season. So it was with great interest that I discovered Backyard Foraging by Ellen Zachos in the bookstore of Longwood Gardens. I devoured the book in one evening, and am looking forward to tasting many of her recommendations.

As Ellen explains in the introduction to her book, many of our favorite garden plants have edible parts that have simply been overlooked. And since many of us gardeners already know what we’re growing in our own backyards, plant identification is easier than foraging in the wild. Sixty-five familiar plants you didn’t know you could eat are the stars of this impressively comprehensive guide, and Ellen stresses the “ease and elegance” of foraging these familiar greens, fruits, nuts, seeds, tubers, and fungi in yards and nearby environs.

I was surprised and delighted to find that some of the perennials that grow with unabashed abundance in my garden are on the edible list. Here are 5 of my favorites:

1. Daylilies

Do you have an abundance of the orange “roadside” daylilies somewhere on your property? Mine grow right in my compost pile where they were discarded several years ago. I have always known that dried lily buds are integral to Chinese hot and sour soup. But did you know that you can eat them fresh – either raw in salads where the taste is reminiscent of green beans, or lightly sautéed in olive oil with salt and pepper?

The best surprise about daylilies? You can eat the tubers, which are like mini potatoes! They are small like baby fingerlings, and are best harvested in fall and early spring when they are plump and full of starchy goodness. Like potatoes, they can be roasted in the oven with a light coating of olive oil, salt and pepper.

2. Dahlias

Every year when I dig my dahlia tubers for storage, I feel like a farmer harvesting her potatoes. Little did I know that dahlia tubers can be eaten like potatoes – boiled, roasted or baked. Apparently they don’t have a strong flavor, so they are a good vehicle for gravies and spices. They can also be grated and used like zucchini in quickbreads. Although I have a hard time picturing all those gorgeous dahlia flowers going to waste, dahlia tubers would be fun to try at least once!

3. Bishop’s Weed

I planted variegated Bishop’s Weed in my dry shade garden despite being warned about its invasiveness. It’s good to know that I can harvest and eat it to keep it under control! The plants should be cut at ground level and the stems discarded. Young Bishop’s Weed leaves can be added to salads, where their taste is light, fresh and reminiscent of celery. Mature leaves can be a substitute for cooked spinach in recipes, particularly Greek spinach pie. Can’t wait to try it!

4. Bee Balm

Bee balm, also called bergamot, is a member of the mint family, and both its foliage and flowers are useful as herbs. For some people, the taste resembles oregano, while others are reminded of Early Grey tea. You can actually brew a delicious bergamot tea, the chopped leaves may be used as an oregano substitute in recipes, and the chopped flowers make a colorful addition to pasta dishes, rice, pizza, tomato sauces and meat rubs.

5. Hosta

Like many gardeners, I was enamored with propagating plants early in my gardening hobby, and now I have a plethora of plain green hostas that require a crowbar to remove. It’s great to know that I can serve them for dinner! You can remove a third of the plant’s outer leaves without harming the health of the plant. New, tight shoots can be served like asparagus over pasta and rice. Slightly older shoots that are just starting to open can be briefly blanched , then sautéed and served as a vegetable with  or without sauce. In northern Japan, hosta has become a commercial crop. So what’s stopping us?

I hope that you’ve been inspired to learn more about “Backyard Foraging”. Sixty  more backyard edibles await you in Ellen’s book, which can be found at Amazon. Bon apetit!

Designing with Daylilies

With such a wide array of flower colors, shapes, heights and sizes, daylilies are fun to collect and use throughout the garden. My own collection began with a mail order of three different pink varieties that arrived as tiny divisions and took many years to grow into sizable blooming plants.

Red and orange daylilies in my "hot color" perennial bed, accented by bee balm, perilla and daisies

Later I discovered Steve Green’s daylily sales in Sudbury, MA, and my daylily border was born. Now that my collection of daylilies has outgrown the border, I am looking for better ways to display them. Through trial and error in my own garden, and by visiting some outstanding display gardens, I have developed a few tips on showing off these beautiful perennials to best advantage.

Orange and yellow daylily backed by the blue oval leaves of Baptisia

When choosing a location for your daylilies, you may want to ask yourself a few questions:

1. Are you featuring daylilies as the main attraction or will they complement other plants?

Daylilies make stunning accents in the garden. A well-established daylily clump can produce as many as 400 blooms in just a single season, and can flower for 4-5 weeks.  Daylily flowers light up the solid green mass of a spring-blooming shrub border and look terrific at the base of a large stone outcrop.

The maroon highlights on this peach daylily complement the 'Crimson Queen' japanese maple.

2. What colors will combine well with the other plants in the garden?

Resist the temptation to collect one of every daylily that's ever caught your eye. Limiting the number of daylily colors in a flower bed makes it more cohesive. Choose daylily colors that will either complement or contrast with the other flowers in your garden. And don’t forget foliage! Plants with maroon, blue, silver or gold foliage provide stunning color contrast for daylily blooms.

Soft pastels - peach daylily and creamy echinacea at Tower Hill

Maroon daylilies combine beautifully with a purple smoke bush.

3. What about texture?

Daylilies provide the strappy texture of their leaves and the bold, star-shape of their flowers. You can create texture contrast by using complementary plant with variegated foliage, feathery, needled or furry foliage for texture contrast, or oval and round foliage for shape contrast. Plants with daisy-shaped, spiky or tiny flowers also provide a textural contrast.

Pink daylilies against the feathery foliage of Hay Scented fern

Soft pennisteum blooms with peach daylilies

A striking contrast of blue Russian Sage and crimson daylilies

4. Is the planting intended to be admired from a distance or from close up?

The one lesson I've learned over and over again in planning gardens is that fewer varieties with more plants of each variety will provide greater impact of bloom and a better overall sense of harmony. This is particularly true if you’re viewing the garden from a distance. More plants are needed to create an impact.

A stunning mass of yellow daylilies with contrasting blue 'Rozanne' geranium and a gold conifer

5. What if you can’t resist new daylilies?

Mixed borders and dedicated daylily beds are great for accommodating impulse purchases or swaps with gardening friends. Just remember to provide a soothing background for such a busy border – an evergreen hedge or a large expanse of lawn balances the excitement of a colorful border.

Daylily Society border at Elm Bank

Gardening in the Hellstrip

The hellstrip — the space between a street and a public sidewalk, also known as a tree park, boulevard, meridian, and planting strip — is getting a lot of attention these days with the publication of Evelyn Hadden’s Hellstrip Gardening by Timber Press. This comprehensive guide with gorgeous color photographs of hellstrip gardens across the country offers inspiration and visual guidance to anyone ready to tackle this final frontier.

Hellstrip gardening is nothing new to my friend Kathy, who has been adding curb appeal to her home with hellstrip plantings for 15 years. Kathy began her roadside garden when she got tired of trying to keep the lawn grass alive in the hellstrip year after year. Always keen on water conservation, Kathy wanted a low maintenance solution for this long, sunny expanse. Her large backyard garden had also become shaded over the years as the pine trees grew taller and taller, so the sunny hellstrip offered a chance to relocate her sun lovers from the backyard and to try some new plants in this totally different environment.

She began the garden by digging up a small section of sod around her mailbox, amending the soil, and planting various sedums that would be low maintenance and drought resistant. Bit by bit, the hellstrip garden grew, and then expanded to the other side of the driveway. Now it measures close to 100 feet, and boasts a wide variety of perennials. Kathy learned through trial and error which plants to grow, and which plants to avoid. Some perennials, like yarrows, were too tall and floppy. Annuals were too labor intensive, except for the portulaca that self sows and returns year after year. But there were many perennials that acclimated to this dry, sunny area with its relatively poor soil.

Mediterranean plants and herbs – many of which sport silver foliage and prefer a sunny situation with lean soil and good drainage, thrive in Kathy’s roadside garden. Sedums, Lamb’s ears, salvia, sage, alliums, fescues, rosemary, thyme, mint, sea lavender, and catmint bask in the baking hot sun. The garden delights passersby with a changing palette of blooms and foliage. In the early spring, crocus, creeping phlox and species tulips, which love the good drainage, cheer up the border with their blooms. They are followed by stately bearded irises, columbines and poppies in June, and daylilies, helianthus and coreopsis in mid summer. A prickly pear cactus at the base of the mailbox surprises visitors with its yellow flowers in July. Sedums steal the show in August. In a shadier part of the garden, hostas and heucheras provided beautiful foliage from spring to fall.

Gardening in the hellstrip has its challenges. The soil in these areas is usually cheap, compacted fill. Kathy amends it at planting time with compost, and has been top dressing with leaf mulch. Because of the distance from the house, the garden is difficult to water. Although Kathy does not irrigate regularly, newly installed plants need supplemental watering, which amounts to many trips with a watering can. Weeds easily blow into the garden and crabgrass is a particular problem. Since the hellstrip is town-owned property, large sections have been dug up utility companies several times without prior notice.

But overall, gardening in the hellstrip has been a positive experience for Kathy. Neighbors stop by to admire the garden, and Kathy receives many compliments on sprucing up the neighborhood. “The hellstrip builds community,” says Kathy. “People stop by to chat and ask about the flowers. And it gives me a chance to try plants that I couldn’t grow anywhere else in my garden.”

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Endless Summer, Endless Bloom

A recent vacation in Cape Cod renewed my infatuation with hydrangeas. Their billowy blossoms in shades of blue, violet and pink, decorated every garden that we passed. It was truly ‘Hydrangea Heaven’ and I started thinking about adding a few more hydrangeas to my own collection.

 When I first began gardening, I loved the lush look of hydrangea blooms, but growing the plants was baffling. My sparse garden had a sickly hydrangea bush that produced one or two blossoms, and then just sat there for the rest of the season until it dropped its leaves in the fall. Some years it did not bloom at all.  Did it need fertilizer? What about water – there was “hydra” in the name after all. Were you supposed to prune those dried branches or not? It was a confusing plant, and I certainly was not eager to add any more of them to my garden.

And then about 10 years ago, I bought my first ‘Endless Summer’ Hydrangea, and everything changed. Most blue hydrangeas are the “bigleaf” or macrophylla varieties, hardy in Zones 6-9. While the plants themselves may withstand temperatures below zero, their flower buds, which form at the tips of their stems as the days get shorter and cooler in the fall, are often killed when temperatures drop to near 0°F. This is especially true in winters with a stretch of mild weather followed by a rapid plunge to zero or below. When those buds freeze during the winter, there will be no hydrangea blooms the following year.

The breakthrough in macrophylla hydrangeas came in the mid 1980s, when a bigleaf hydrangea that formed flower buds on new shoots was discovered at Bailey Nurseries in St. Paul, Minnesota. This hydrangea was propagated and its offspring went through an extensive trialing process by Bailey Nurseries and Michael Dirr at University of Georgia. It was finally patented as ‘Endless Summer’. In the first year of its introduction in 2003, Bailey Nurseries sold 1.5 million of these plants across North America!

For those of us in Zone 6, ‘Endless Summer’ guarantees flowers even after a tough winter like the one we just had. This winter, all of last year’s buds on my hydrangeas froze. But thanks to the breeding of these new “remontant” (flowering more than once in a single season) hydrangeas, this year’s buds are just starting to open and I will have ample blue flowers for the rest of the summer.

If you live in Zone 5 or colder, you should provide winter protection for all your big-leaf hydrangeas, including the ‘Endless Summers’. A 4-5” layer of leaves or mulch should be applied after the ground freezes, and removed in May.

‘Endless Summer’ hydrangeas require minimal care once established. They prefer 6 hours of sun in our Northern climate, with dappled shade in the afternoon. I fertilize mine once in the spring with a 10-30-10 fertilizer to encourage flower formation. After the first year in my garden, I only water the shrubs in times of drought. Hydrangeas will form large leaves, lots of green growth and few flower buds if over- watered. Over-watering may also slow the formation of flowers considerably. It’s normal for plants to wilt for a short time in the heat of the day. You’re better off to water well and less often, than giving a little all the time. And I prune my plants in late spring, after the leaf buds have swelled so that I do not cut off any healthy branches.

The rest of the year, I simply enjoy the bountiful blue flowers that turn to purple and green as they fade in the fall, and provide winter interest when they dry in the winter. I have 12 ‘Endless Summers’ so far, and want to try some of the other remontant varieties such as ‘Twist ‘N Shout’, ‘David Ramsey’, ‘Decatur Blue’ and ‘Penny Mac’. They are truly hydrangeas with ‘Endless Appeal’!

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10 Tips for Inviting Seating Areas

Now that the heaviest gardening chores are done for the season, it's time for us gardeners to enjoy relaxing in our gardens. We all spend so much time focusing on our flower beds and shrub borders that sometimes we forget to lavish our attention on our outdoor entertaining spots. Here are ten tips for creating jazzy seating areas that invite you to linger!

Tip 1: (Above) Paint your outdoor furniture a bright color that "pops" in the garden.

Tip 2: Create a rug under your dining table with contrasting paving. This owner's orange market umbrella complements the aged brick.

Tip 3: Add mirrors to enlarge and add depth to a small space.

Tip 4: Use rustic cedar logs to create a naturalistic feel, as in this "Teddy Bears' Picnic" hideaway at Brocoli Hall in Amenia, NY.

Tip 5: Surround yourself with flowers! These adirondack-style chairs backed by a white picket fence smothered with roses invite you to relax at a Cape Cod eatery.

Tip 6: Walls and hedges make a seating area cozier, as in this walled courtyard with a boxwood hedge.

Tip 7: Decorate your outdoor living room with accessories that complement each other in style.

Tip 8: Don't have shade? Create a wire "ceiling" for climbers such as clematis that will soon be large enough to shade this dining nook.

Tip 9: Mix furniture styles for a modern flair, such as these contemporary adirondack chairs matched with a marble table.

Tip 10: Add a touch of whimsy to the garden! This succulent-topped table illuminated by twig-ball candleabras adds a playful touch to an 18th century farmhouse in western Connecticut.