Thank You James Taylor

I want to thank James Taylor. He is giving a huge part of his proceeds ($200,000) from his concert to the Southern Tip Partnership, which is a conglomeration of organizations that uses their funds to buy land on Virginia's beautiful Eastern Shore. The land is needed so that it gets set aside for migratory birds and not used to build estates or golf courses. The Eastern Shore is changing rapidly so it is important that this land be preserved.

You can learn more about this story here: James Taylor Concert

and here: Southern Tip Partnership.

Bloom Day - May 2008

My "May Gap" is not as big as it normally is. We have been having regular rains and the temperatures have been moderate. It has caused plants to hold flowers longer and bolt or set seed later. However, I can do without the tornadoes. Please join the rest of the garden blogging community by sharing your garden. You can link your posts at May Dreams Gardens.

The first shot is my favorite onion, Allium christophii or Star of Persia.
This is Rosa 'Caramba' that the good people of The Ivy Farm (on Virginia's beautiful Eastern Shore) gave me to try. It is so beautiful that I think my felonious neighbor tried to take a branch on Tuesday night.
This is Strawberry Begonia (Saxifraga sarmentosa) dug up from work years ago as it was growing like a weed.
This unknown Sedum came from my Mom's garden with a warning to be careful where you put it.
Purple Smoke Baptisia (Baptisia indigofera 'Purple Smoke') is more shrub like in its size and does not fit in with my color palette for the front, but I like it enough to bend the rules.
I have tried several of the new Coneflower cultivars, but the only one that does well for me is the species Echinacea purpurea. It does so well that it seeds itself all around my garden.
I love when bulbs go half price in January. All I can tell you is that Iris is Dutch.
Confederate or Star Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) is one of my favorite vines, and this one is a customer return given up as dead. The aroma reminds me of root beer, vanilla and Charleston.
Although it is not a flower and probably does not belong on Bloom Day, my Tetrapanex papyrifera (big leaf form) has surprised me with its vigor. I got this from Bill Pinkham last summer in the middle of the drought when it was no more than 4" tall. The round silver thing in the middle of the leaf is a quarter.

Here's a Dozen Roses - Happy Mother's Day!

These were all taken at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens this week. NBG is an AARS test garden, and the Bicentennial Rose Garden is usually a little corner of heaven on earth at this time of year. Unfortunately I was on business and didn't have much time, I could have spent the whole day.

No Snapdragons, but we do have....

This is a Common Snapping Turtle. Every year at this time we see them crawling through the nursery looking for a place to lay eggs, or looking for a new territory. This one was doing just that last week, and was about 18" from nose to tail, but was small compared to others we have seen. We have one living in our irrigation pond, whose moss covered carapace is every bit of 20", and is too big to ever get over the sides of the bulk-headed pond. It lives on a diet of gold fish. This has been their world for millenia, but I know that we and the new neighborhood next door are making their lives difficult.

A Native's Rant

As Virginians, we are often accused of having an inflated sense of our importance to the nation's history. Personally, I think our contributions are often under appreciated and overlooked. Part of this chip on our collective shoulders is the whole Plymouth Rock-Mayflower-Thanksgiving thing, like the good people of Massachusetts wrote the first chapter of American history. However, any student of history knows that there are several chapters prior to the one on Massachusetts, including the chapter on Virginia, and this fact is often overlooked in the national myth. Maybe it is easier to think of our nation as one founded by a group of godly men and women, seeking the shining city on the hill that would serve as an example to all nations, where they could live their lives according to their ideals. This in contrast to a nation founded by a group of men seeking their personal fame and fortune by any means possible, ill prepared for the realities of the new world, nearly done in by starvation and disease, and fatally inconsiderate to the people who already called this place home.


So normally I would be ready to give Virginia any credit possible, but as an horticulturist I have to draw the line. Last year during the state's 400th anniversary, there was a push for homeowners, businesses and municipalities to plant red white and blue anniversary gardens. There were pamphlets distributed with suggested plant lists and one of the anchor trees was Chionanthus virginicus. This great native goes by the name of Fringe Tree, White Fringe Tree, Grancy Gray Beard, or Old Man's Beard. What brought this whole rant on is, the trend among local garden clubs and other well-meaning Virginians to re-name this tree the Yorktown Victory Tree. Doesn't this species have enough monikers? How many other plants will have to be re-labeled in the name of civic or regional pride? I think we need to pull this weed before it gets out of hand.


Now that I have vented, please enjoy this native of Virginia (and lots of other places) in its fleecy, spring glory.

Honestly, I Can Quit Anytime I Want

I have developed an addiction to the color chartreuse, especially when it is combined with burgundy. The first time I heard anyone mention these two colors together in the landscape, was from my late design professor - George Baker. When he mentioned that all of his landscapes used these two colors in combination, I was initially repulsed, but now it is an obsession. It was sort of like the first time I tasted beer or heard Talking Heads, now I just can't get enough.

This first shot is of Fenway Park Boston Ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata 'Fenway Park'). This was a Hines Nurseries introduction, but I am not sure if they got it from anyone else. I do know that they no longer offer it, and I have not seen it available from any other nursery. This is a shame, because it is a great vine. I grow it on a utility pole and have to keep in cut back so the power company won't do it themselves.
You can also Fenway Park in the next shot take a few weeks back, behind Royal Purple Smoke Tree (Continus coggygria 'Royal Purple'), which I have to cut back every year. I do this to promote vivid new growth, and to not block driver's views when they are turning the corner. In front of the Smoke Tree is a variegated gold and green Forsythia, but I do not know the cultivar.
Here are some unknown Iris that I put in front of the Smoke Tree. It was my first deliberate attempt to try a color echo.
This combo is the yellow-leaf form of Common Jasemine (Jasminim officinale 'Aureum') and Pizazz Loropetalum. I got the Jasemine at a great retail nursery in Sanford NC, called Big Bloomers. They grow just about everything they sell, and it is all in reasonably priced 4 to 6" pots. It is the kind of place to go if you want to be able to pick from 30 Heucheras or 100 Sun Coleus, but don't go if you are looking for large specimens or landscape ready plants. It is plant geek's paradise full of things that fit in the trunk.
Tradescantia 'Sweet Kate' disappears for me in the summer, but will return in the fall.
My favorite Weigela is Rubidor (Weigela florida 'Rubidor'). Here it is coming up above one of my many garden thugs - Crocosmia.
On the north side of the house is where I grow some Hydrangeas, including the Sun Goddess (Hydrangea macrophylla 'Sun Goddess') which is paired with Ursula's Red Painted Fern (Athyrium nipponicum 'Ursula's Red') and my favorite Liriope, Pee Dee Gold Ingot (Liriope muscari 'Pee Dee Gold Ingot').
The other color I always try to use a lot of (especially in the summer) is orange, even better if it is a smokey orange. This is Iris 'Dante's Inferno' , and behind it is Abelia 'Sunrise' and the ubiquitous Rose Glow Barberry.
Finally, another plant that I am fond of is Asiatic Jasemine. There are several green and variegated forms that are extremely utilitarian and tough. They are a great substitute for Vinca minor and English Ivy. However, this one trails more than covers the ground, but the new growth is orange on top of chartreuse, yellow and green. It is Trachelospermum asiaticum 'Ogon Nishiki' , aka 'Golden Brocade'.

Busch Gardens -- The Plants Are Nice, But We Go For The Rides

Since I work every Saturday and Sunday during the spring, my son and I do not get to spend any days together for a couple of months, so I had no problem pulling him from school for a day of bonding. Our activity of choice is to spend the day at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, and thanks to my parents we each have a season pass. We thought that going on a pre-season Friday would let us have the park to ourselves, but it was full of high school and middle school field trippers (as if I didn't feel old enough already). Busch Gardens has won "The Most Beautiful" park award by the members National Amusement Park Historical Association for 18 consecutive years. It is easy to see why, from its setting in the woods, to its lush landscaping. This year they offered two weekends of programs geared toward the gardening public under the title of "Ready, Set, Grow". There were tours of some of the garden areas, the greenhouses, demonstrations and classes. I noticed too that there was a new emphasis on plant labeling that also included the Latin names.
They use a wide variety of plant material throughout the park. I particularly like the fact that they plant the perimeters of the public areas with unusual trees and shrubs. They also plant the more public beds with items most people would not consider because of the plant's ultimate size, but I know they have the resources to move things around when they out grow the space. The staff is particularly adept at containers, and they are used widely throughout the park. Their annual beds are extensively planted in a Victorian or traditional European style, and while the colors and the tidiness are not to my liking, I can appreciate the effort. I wonder if little gartenelfin come out at night to get it all looking good for the next day.




I am going to send this to my Monrovia sales rep. it's good product placement.
There were several other species in the park Friday besides those that fall into the flora category.


Here are a couple of cuckoos.
Finally, here are some shots of why we really go to the park. It is a great place to experience a variety of G forces (or lack thereof), speed, and simulated near death experiences.