So another month begins, the temperature a balmy 95 or 99 or 100 or whatever the hell it reaches today. I mean, it is freaking 92 at 8:30 at night as I write this. That is not acceptable, as my friend Avonell would say. And quite frankly it’s more than a bit irritating. But thankfully it is back down to the 70’s for highs by Monday. Nothing odd about that now is there, Kids?

Well, my last blog talked about the upcoming Garden Writers Association (GWA) annual symposium to be held here in Indianapolis. I’m sure you are all dying to know if I won the Gold in 2011. As a matter of fact, no, I did not. GWA did not award the Gold in my category this year. Both my competition and I had to settle for Silver. As my friend Scarlet once said, “As God as my witness, I’ll never go hungry again”. Now, what does that statement have to do with this blog? Frankly my dear, not a damn thing. It’s just what came into my head and I have to get those things out of my head right away sometimes. Anyways, I’m quite proud of my Silver Award in Electronic Media Writing.

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Filed under: Horticulture

It’s been hot. Not oh-my-god-I’m-gonna-die! hot, but hot. Especially on the more humid days. As long as you have a patch of shade to work in during the afternoon, it is quite bearable. If you can wait til evening to do the gardening chores, there is a bit of a cool down as well.

The same can be said of taking time to enjoy the labors of your gardening. Rarely is it not lovely to stroll through your garden in the morning, the earlier the better some days, I admit. Come afternoon it is much lovelier to stroll through your shaded garden – if you have one. And again, come evening the temperature usually moderates so it can be nice to do the daily inspection or sit out in the garden and just relax.

But you need some plants out there or why bother? Something that does well in the shade. Something that shows well in the evening light. Something not too demanding as it is July and hot and humid and you are a little weary of garden chores. How about a shrub? How about a white flowering shrub? How about a tough shrub? How about a native white-flowering tough shrub for shade that also does well in the sun? How about Hydrangea arborescens, smooth hydrangea?

This plant can be seen back home in southern Indiana growing on the cut bank of the gravel road, clinging to the soil, and live no matter what the weather has been. You gotta be tough to grow along a gravel road. Trust me. That’s the ‘hood I grew up in.

Hydrangea arborescens can grow from three to five feet tall and wide, on average. Unlike the more sought after Hydrangea macrophylla (big blue and pink blooms), this hydrangea blooms on new wood so you can cut it back every year if you want and it still blooms (this also reduces the size somewhat). It will even bloom after one of our vicious winters. And yes, I know many new forms of H. macrophylla claim to bloom wondrously every year, but I have yet to see one truly pull that off. I want them to, yet the performance just doesn’t seem to match the promotional literature in my experience. But I will keep trialing them.

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Filed under: Art and Nature Park, Horticulture

Hi, folks. Sorry to run out on you all in a way, but no time again this week for much writing. We’ve got The Garden Club of America coming to visit and I am not ready for them!  You know how it is when company’s coming (and there is over 600 of them!), you want every weed pulled and that ain’t happenin’. It’s the GCA national convention and they are visiting the IMA on Saturday afternoon for a couple hours. I hear tell the weather will be nice.

In the meantime, while I’m out weeding, here are some pretty pictures for you all to look at. To make it more interesting, here are the plant names too. You put the names with the pictures. Have fun.

Magnolia ‘Coral Lake.’ Cercis chinensis ‘Don Egolf.’ Mattheucia struthiopteris. Cercis Canadensis ‘Pauline Lily.’ Epimedium x versicolor ‘Sulfureum.’ Tulipa ‘Dorodgne.’ Cercis Canadensis ‘Appalachian Red.’ Brunnera macrophylla. Mertensia virginica. Cercis Canadensis ‘Alba.’ Fothergilla major. Magnolia ‘Yellow Bird.’ Tuilpa ‘Blumex.’ Tulipa ‘Blue Aimable.’ Tulipa ‘Ballerina.’  Viburnum carlesii ‘Cayuga.’ Malus ‘Prairie Fire.’ Cornus florida v rubra.

Filed under: Art and Nature Park, Horticulture

Spring! Oh I know it’s not officially Spring but the weather this week turned so beautiful I can’t help but be overwhelmed with joy at winter being over (maybe, probably, hopefully).

And I know we may get slapped my Mother Nature a few more times but, by crackers, I’m going to revel in the joy of the moment.

If the weather wasn’t enough to get excited about, there was the arrival of spring annuals. It’s been a few years since we put in a spring show so I am so excited about doing it again. There’s even going to be tulips! Damn! I can feel the sap rising.

Speaking of sap, did you know the National Maple Syrup Festival is in Indiana? Indiana! Not Vermont or one of those other tiny northeast states. It was the first two weekends in March so watch for it next year. It’s in Southern Indiana (almost in my opinion but not quite) in the town of Medora.

Anyway back to plants. Everything I mentioned in my blog two weeks ago is still blooming like crazy and new things are opening every day. I mentioned the Crocus siberi ssp sublimis “Tricolor.” just opening at that time. Now they are in their full glory.

The daffodils that were just showing color are now in full bloom.

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Filed under: Art and Nature Park, Horticulture

And so we start another year. What it brings, I have no idea. I’m pretty much done with spring and summer designs. I hope my selections work well both aesthetically and culturally. If Mother Nature doesn’t play with me too much, I think they will be fine. But you never know her mood from one moment to the next.

I’m not so big on the whole New Year’s resolution thingie but I do see the start of a new year as an opportunity to do some things different. “That” didn’t work so well last year so I think I’ll try “this” and see if it is an improvement. And “that” and ‘this” could be a plant, a technique, or an attitude.

If we are talking about changing a plant, I have a few questions to ask. Is the new plant going to be resistant to the disease problems of the old plant? Is it going to be happier in the cultural conditions than the old plant? Most importantly, is it going to be prettier than the old plant?

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Filed under: Horticulture