Focal Points In Your Garden

I have been reading a great deal about focal points in the garden.  The two blogs I especially enjoyed were written at opposite ends of the country, one being Carolyn's Sweet Home and Garden Chicago http://sweethomeandgardenchicago.blogspot.com/ and the other Rebecca's Gossip In The Garden http://gossipinthegarden.com/ out in California.  Both are written by professional garden designers and are excellent in that they deal with what we can do in our own yard as regular gardeners.

I read all of the Roundtable blogs and each one had specific ideas which were usable.  But Carolyn's and Rebecca's displayed multiple focal point ideas which were all usable and executable by even the amateur gardener.  Talk about turning gardeners on, something we all need to think about when we speak our gardenerese.

Even if you have a small urban type garden like Carolyn and I have, there can be many focal parts to your garden.  Those with sprawling landscapes can think of focal points in terms of several rooms to a big house.  As you move through these rooms, the focal point will change.  Some will be close up and personal and some will be down a long gently curving path and some might be way in the distance, that we see immediately, but have a journey to reach it.

I have several focal points in my very small yard, however, I am still working on the north side of my home.  It just seems to be a long stretch with a gate at the end, not a lot of interest except the plantings on the side.

I loved one comment, I think from Pam at Digging, that some focal points just need to be screened off!

Container Time

It is that time again, to plant the containers!  I don't know why I bother each year to say I am going to cut down on my container gardening.  There is something about seeing various containers throughout the garden as points of interest.  They make every part of your garden a "go to" location.

I do have some small Guy Wolfe pots that I purchased up in Wisconsin and I use them around my vegetable garden.  Even with additives they dry out quickly, but they look "cottagey" and I like that look around my vegetable garden.  I do bargain hunt for pots at the outlet stores and have found some really special containers such as the broken ceramic piece pots.  We have added drainage holes to many of these with a ceramic drill bit.  It is important to have drainage holes or your plants will rot. 

I purchased two new pots this year the same color tone as my home, and I gave away pots that were repaired or just not something I use anymore.  We put them out in the alley and they were gone within an hour.  It is good to know that someone will get use out of them.  I have a ton of too small pots stored in cabinets in my garage which I should also give away because they dry out too quickly when planted. 

I do use moisture control potting soil, but I also add water retaining crystals to my mix.  Do not add too many preinflated crystals or during a rainstorm they will be all over the ground.  I know the resin pots are getting better and better each year, but I still favor the real thing, concrete, ceramic, clay, etc.  I did purchase two pre-planted bluestone look resin pots at Costco for the far end of the garden, and from a distance, they look great.

Containers require consistent fertilization, at least every two weeks.  I mix up a five gallon pail of super bloom fertilizer, fill up my gallon jug and fertilize, fertilize.  That's what I mean about containers, they are work!  We will revisit when I begin to plant the thrillers, spillers and fillers.  Figure out your expenses per plant, soil, etc., and sometimes is is more economical to purchase a preplanted container if it has all off the colors and plants you desire.

I keep telling myself with each one I plant, they are a lot of work but so beautiful!

Mr. Wizard

When I was a young child, there used to be a person on television called "Mr. Wizard."  He was an expert at experiments and could do things that would always amaze us.  Now, I am not saying that I am Mr. Wizard, but I am trying some experiments this year.

My first experiment was with a product called Plantskydd, a critter repellent.  I tried it in three different gardens, one completely overrun by rabbits - most perennials eaten last year, one with spring bulbs tops eaten and the other with various plants and bulbs eaten.  The product was applied in early March and reapplied in the overrun garden because mulch was put down.  Not one plant has been eaten or chewed in any of the three gardens.  The product is guaranteed against animal plant damage.  I know, no one wants to believe this, it it not inexpensive, but it seems to work.

My other experiment is the layered raised bed vegetable garden.  I have really gone big time this year, layering just about everything.  I am also experimenting using the philosophy of Art in the Garden and incorporating the colors of famous artists in my containers and garden beds.  My final experiment is the seed starting that I said I was not going to do, but I have done it without my lights.  I am now hardening off Nicotiana, Saliva and Amaranthus (Love Lies Bleeding).  They are all so fragile I hope they make it.

Mr. Wizard (Don Herbert) I hope you will be proud of me for being an experimenter!

What's Blooming?

There are several things blooming in a quiet way before the full blast of the spring perennials take over.  The Blue Dart Vinca is just beautiful this year.  It must have been the snow cover.  Those Orange Emperor Tulips will not give up making a final showing in the cooler and a little shadier part of the garden.

My strange fern is up and it looks like it could be from the dinosaur age.  I identified it at a local garden center but did not write down the name.  Bleeding Hearts are in full bloom on the north side of my garden and Viburnum Carlesi Compactum is full of blooms with a most heady fragrance by my front walk.  The Amelanchier Regent was beautiful about a week ago as per the picture  Anemone Sylvistris is blooming on the south side of the garden

The vegetable garden looks very colorful this year as I made it a point to grow some unusually named lettuces in some colors that just pop.  The carrots are sprouting between the lettuce, as most of my lettuce usually is done by July, seed onions are coming up between the sets.  It's an experiment called layering, so we'll see if it works.

Swale Gardening

I am doing a couple of coaching jobs, one being the typical blank slate landscaping job and the other can you believe is a swale.  Unbeknown to most gardeners, swale gardening is a whole other area of expertise.  I am certainly not an expert but I did have a swale in my last home. 

Just because there is a graduated dip so the water will flow into this area and away does not mean it is always wet.  The banks of the swale can be quite dry, but eventually the roots from these fringe plants will reach down into where the water flows.   I had three River Birches which loved the wet conditions, banks planted in day lilies which will also tolerate some wetness, some Red Barbary, Claveys Dwarf Honeysuckle and Cranberry Viburnums.  They all did very well with the only planting at the bottom of the swale being the River Birch.

The garden I have looked at had to do a swale because water was leaking into their windrow wells and subsequently their foundation and basement.  I am thinking just because of the size of our lots, River Birch trees will not be an option.  So we  talked about some plantings, Carex Ice Fountains (for the shady, wet area overshadowed by large arborvitaes), Viburnum Autumn Jazz in the sunnier area with plantings of daylilies below.  In the front area of the swale it is also sunny (with three Green Mountain Boxwood already planted), so I suggested coneflowers White Swan and Kim's Knee High.  At the back end leading into the back garden where the swale has ended, it would be nice to end the walk with Viburnum Carlesi Compactum.  All of the large fieldstones will need to be relaid because they are on a slant.  Not all of the plantings will be "in" the swale but will border it on top and bottom. 

The main goal with a swale is to hold the soil on the sides.  My present yard had a really dangerous swale when we moved in: whereas; you had to step down from the patio to walk to the front of the yard, there was no gradual descent.  We had a raised bed built and a paver walkway put from back to front gradually maintaining the swale.  In most cases you cannot remove this swale without impacting neighboring property or your own.