It has been a bit rainy of late. But much of that rain has come in the evening or night or early morn. What has come during the workday has tended to be light enough to remain out and continue working. Well, except for Wednesday afternoon when the sirens went off. It didn’t seem reasonable to stay out even though the weather looked fine. It’s really not wise to play games with tornadoes. So I’ve been desperately trying to get as much planted as possible, while trying to not damage wet soil, and while keeping an eye on the sky. It’s enough to drive you mad.

In addition to devoting many hours to planting the annuals and tropicals, I have been edging the beds.

I know they should be edged every year to keep them nice and sharp, but I just don’t get to it every year – which is a mistake, or rather, two mistakes.

First of all, I lose that nice clean edge. Your garden can be full of weeds, the perennials needing deadheading, the shrubs needing pruning, but……. if you have a nice crisp edge on the bed? Nobody sees the flaws. It’s like the eyes just stop traveling past the edge cut.

The other mistake created by not edging is especially problematic if you have turf bordering your beds. That grass sneaks into the plantings. Before you know it, the damn stuff is twelve or eighteen inches into your perennials or annuals. And it is always harder to get it out of the areas you don’t want it than to get it into the areas you do want it!

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Filed under: Art and Nature Park, Horticulture

At long last Winter has loosened its grip on us for a bit. While I am not totally comfortable with going from 20 degrees below normal to 20 degrees above normal, it surely does feel good. But it always causes some concern about the plants. Too much of this warm weather and they think it’s time to restart the system. Before you know it, flower buds are swelling – or worse yet – vegetative growth begins.

Then nature says, “Oops. It’s still winter. Sorry about that heat wave. Here’s some 10 degree weather to rebalance everything.”  The plants and I both are screaming, “NOOOOO! Too late. Spring launch sequence has been activated. Cannot abort mission. Repeat. Cannot abort mission. Catastrophic damage at this point. It’s too late. It’s too late!”

But you roll with it. As do the plants.In the meantime, it sure is nice out. This is the kind of weather that makes you want to get outside and get back to real horticulture work. That is to say, physical labor. So this week we pruned on the dawn redwoods (Metasequoia glyptostrobioides) around Sutphin Fountain, the paperbark maples (Acer griseum) on the tunnel, and the red maples (Acer rubrum) on Sutphin Mall.

The dawn redwoods really just needed limbing up to get branches out of visitors’ faces when they stroll around the fountain. Essentially we removed some lower branches. The overall structure or skeleton of these trees is fine.  The paperbark maples didn’t need too much work either. Some branch removal to improve structure was about it.  The red maples on the mall required the most work. This is their third pruning counting the one that was done before they were dug and then brought here. Of course we removed low hanging branches again so they were not in people’s faces. But we also got up in the trees to remove dead wood, crossed branches, and any branches that interfered with healthy growth and good structure. For instance, if two branches coming from the main truck were stacked one above the other, only a few inches apart, we usually removed one. The same could be true of branches side by side. You want the branch structure to be balanced, if possible.  A limb on one side of the tree has a partner on the other side, not always exactly opposite but near if possible. Some trees were developing a second leader also. The leader is the highest growing point on the tree and you want a tree to have one as a rule. A second leader is usually growing at a very tight angle from the trunk along side the main leader. These angles are generally weaker and can cause the tree to split from storm forces or with age. And frankly, the tree just looks better with a single leader. The secondary leaders can be removed at the main trunk or be cut back part way to allow the leader to remain in its position.

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Filed under: Art and Nature Park, Horticulture

Well, I’d planned to go out and take some new pictures for the blog but the snow just would not stop Thursday and today it is plain too damn cold. I love you all but I ain’t going out in sub-zero windchill for you. It’s called tough love. I know you can handle it. I mean, look, there’s even frost on the window.

So what to do instead? I was looking at the plants in my window and thinking that would be a good start. I brought several things in from home so I would be sure to take good care of them. It’s hard to ignore an Abutilon gasping for water when you can see it for eight-plus hours a day. And it is really paying off. The windows face…. What direction do they face? Just a second I’ll ask Chad. South. They face south. I actually figured that out before I asked him. But I did ask just to be sure. No wonder the plants are happy. That’s the Number One direction for a winter plant window in the Midwest. Hmmm, I’ll be damned. Isn’t that fortunate? Beats the hell out of a cubicle. Not that there’s anything wrong with a cubicle. But let’s go on.

Number one on my list of window plants that are making me super happy despite the crappy weather is Euphorbia fulgens.

Scarlet Plume appears to be the common name. I guess it does have a scarlet flower but it’s not a plume. Or not my idea of a plume. Anyway, it has beautiful burgundy leaves all year so it makes a great plant for containers in summer. I love the color and texture.

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Filed under: Horticulture

As this less-than-stellar horticultural summer has progressed, I have been less than displeased. Mother Nature has been hateful and spiteful, nearly drowning us then shutting off the rain completely giving us the driest August on record. And through it all she has kept the heat cranked up on high. Undoubtedly she is past the hot flashes. Perhaps the HRT is working. But she pretty much took the joy out of gardening for much of the summer. Well, Old Girl, you took my joy. I want it back.

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Filed under: Horticulture

Ask Oprah, and she’ll tell you she’d invite Jesus to her dream dinner party…(watch the clip below)

Ask us, and well, after last week, we might have to say Felder Rushing. IMA TV stopped to chat with the Southern gentleman in the Oldfields orchard while he was at the IMA for his talk as part of our Planet Indy series. Check out the latest IMA TV episode and you’ll see why we’re crazy for this offbeat gardening guru.

Filed under: Education, Horticulture, IMA TV, Interviews, New Media, The Toby