Garden Writer's Day

I was invited for the second year to Midwest Groundcovers Sixth Annual Writer's Day.  It is a long ride, close to an hour to reach St. Charles Illinois, but it is well worth the trip.

Eryngium

I need to find a place for this plant, had it at my last home but it didn't work in my too formal border.  I will try to work it in with the grasses and daylilies in my back garden or maybe the alley garden.

We had heavy much needed rain the night before and even some in the early morning.  The temperature was down to the 80's but extremely humid.

Amsonia and Echinacea

I was so anxious to hear our main speaker Jennifer Davit, Horticultural Director for the Lurie Gardens in Millennium Park.  She not only expounded on her extensive background in many types of plants but also the various locations in which she interned to learn about them.  She is originally from Chicago, but has studied in the four corners of the U.S. including Hawaii.

Echinacea, Amsonia and Asters

The majority of the gardens at Midwest Groundcovers have been designed by Piet Oudolf and the rest certainly show his influence.  Midwest is a large plant supplier to nurseries all over the United States, marketing under different brand names.  That is about to change and we will see their name on plants that we purchase at local nurseries.

The Lurie Gardens uses no chemical additives, all natural insect controls like other insects to keep destructive ones under control.  The mulch for the gardens is the leavings of the plants that are mowed down and shredded in late winter.  Watering is usually not necessary except for this year!  Piet Oudolf is consulted on all changes or additions of planting materials and Jennifer stressed this is a collaboration.

Agastache Blue Fortune

This is one of the few agastache that is hardy in zone 5.  I have this one in the alley garden.

The gardens at Midwest are smaller; whereas, the Lurie gardens is on five acres including hardscape.  The Lurie Gardens are built over a parking garage with real soil used on the roof, not synthetic which many times is used on rooftop gardens.

A speaker who was not on the agenda suddenly walked up to the microphone and it was a pleasant surprise to see Roy Diblik.  I met Roy many years ago when he first began Northwind Perennial Farm in Burlington, Wisconsin (close to my home in Lake Geneva).  I saw drastic changes in the farm in the last several years but didn't know why. 

Roy told the story of when Piet Oudolf unfurled the drawings for the Lurie Gardens, he actually got chills at the sight.  He was always a plantsman growing and researching and crossing all types of plants for his business, but he was never a gardener until that moment.   He supplied the plants, many found at Midwest Groundcovers, and Piet supplied the artistry.  Northwind Perennial Farm is now Roy Diblik's own study in artistry.

Allium Summer Beauty

Allium Peek-A-Boo

Will be offered on the market in the spring of 2013, similar to Allium Summer Beauty but shorter

Echinacea Virgin

Delphinium Blue Mirror and Burgundy Fireworks Echinacea

Geranium Soberliferum

We had never heard of this one, lovely leaf structure, gently mounding, no flowers at this time.

My Magical Moment

As I looked at the combination of structure, spikiness, softness and color it all made sense to me.  It doesn't matter how large your garden is because this can all be achieved in a small area.

I came home with lots of goodies, Allium Summer Beauty I purchased a flat (they don't sell in quantity to the public, but I still had an account from several years ago).  The gifts were from Roy Diblik (No names on any of them but I think I have them in my notes) and some Allium Peek-A-Boo from Midwest Groundcovers.  Where am I going to fit all of these treasures in the garden?

What Is A Gardener To Do?

What can we do?  Nothing, about the weather, are you tired of the heat, tired of watering, tired of yanking out shriveled plants?  I am learning the hard way that annuals with big root balls do not like confined containers in the heat!

My list is getting longer by the day of what not to plant in the lovely springtime.  Try to imagine 100 degrees and think of plants that not only will survive but might like it.

Coleus can be a staple in the heat affected garden, give it some water and it will perform for the long hot summer.

Coleus Redhead

Trusty Rusty Coleus

Indian Summer Coleus

Wild Lime Coleus

Wild Lime and Indian Summer Coleus

Sedona Coleus

These are the best of the best.  I am sure there are many others that are great performers, but I have found that year after year these do not disappoint.

Spillers are almost a must for most containers and two of the best I have found are:

Blackheart Sweet Potato Vine

Caroline Sweet Potato Vine

Phlox can be counted on to perform in the heat but it is not a xeric plant so does need to be watered.

Peppermint Twist Phlox

Blue Paradise Phlox

Blue in the morning, magenta in the afternoon

Miracle Grace Phlox

Rozanne Geranium

Rozanne takes the heat give her a light trim every so often.

Bob's Blunder Geranium

I am liking this one in its first year of bloom, low growing, gently weaving.

Peach Flambe Heuchera

This one is a winner on the north side of the house, some sun throughout the day, beautiful color.

Heucherella Stoplight

Very green on the north side and very yellow in the south back border

Daylilies are great in the heat and some are very long blooming, like Chicago Rosy and ....

Red Rum Daylily

Entrapment Daylily

Lady Lucille Daylily

Space Witch and Joan Senior Daylilies

Cherry Cheeks Daylily

Pop Art Red and Yellow Zinnia

Zahara Double Fire Zinnia

I started the zinnias indoors under lights and these have not disappointed.  You get very few seeds so it is important that most of them germinate.

Purslane takes the heat on the south side of the house, love it, but do not plant in the garden, only pots, reseeds everywhere.

Sunpatiens

These have been an experiment this year, started out in containers, not working.  The leaves became mottled with brown spots and flower buds fell off.  I had seen them at Ball Horticultural last year in full sun, not thriving for me in full sun.  They have thick stems and are very tall and stiff compared to regular impatiens.  I moved them to areas with part shade, planted them in the garden soil, and they are doing much better.

 

 

Let's keep going, watering, watering, watering and learning from this unusual season!

The Lurie Gardens

We have a former coworker in from South Carolina who had never been to Millennium Park before moving down south.  So, a group of us all boarded the "milktrain" into the city getting on at various stops along the way.  The extra time to get there was fine with us because we are never without a great deal to talk about.

The Bean is what most people come to see at Millennium Park.  After so much controversy when it was being built, it has now becomes the main draw for families and adults alike.

In the beginning the controversy was centered about the money it was costing to achieve this gleaming finish.  It is like a landscape painting looking at all of the reflections of the people, buildings and skyline of Chicago.

This is the water wall that is a huge attraction and activity for the children.


There is a lot of construction going on so the bus that usually departs for the park outside the train station was no longer stopping there.  We just kept walking east towards Lake Michigan and in no time we had arrived, again too much talking.

The Pritzker Pavillion is very futuristic looking with steel jutting out in all directions.

We were thrilled to hear the rehearsal for a tribute to Frank Loesser who wrote the music for Guys and Dolls, great music!

The Lurie Gardens (planned by Piet Oudolf) are probably in the hottest section of the park with very little tree cover.  Even though the temperatures approached 90 degrees that breeze from the lake made the gardens bearable with short respits along the perimeters where there were some trees.

Chicago Apache Daylily

The specimens are not identified as they state that they are not a botanic garden, but it is frustrating to walk through a display garden such as this and not have anything labeled.  They do identify all of their plants on the Lurie Garden website but is is like a game trying to match a photo to the name.

The philosophy, structure such as spiky, soft, arching, color, tall and rough.  These are all working together without that patterned look.

I am the last gardener who could implement this look in my small garden, but I can certainly use this philosophy of not worrying about our age old planting system of repeating plants, planting in threes, fives, etc.  I am now looking at structure, colors, mood, softness and trying to repeat these attributes rather than just using the same plants throughout the border.

There is a major use of Allium Summer Beauty throughout the plantings and the flowers still look great.

Prairie Dropseed With Allium

Softness, Filipendula rubra venusta

Anemone hupensis japonica splendens

Spikiness and roughness also works with softness

The Karl Foerster grass looked great much better than mine up in Wisconsin.

Veronicastrum Virginicum Diane

This is a spiky grass that also has softness, Panicum Shenandoah.  I am trying to incorporate this into my back border so there is some color during the winter.  Shenandoah is a shorter grass, narrow, and blends in great with perennials.

Again, we see the extensive use of allium, with some coneflowers and the softness of Amsonia Hubrichtii in the background.


I have come to the conclusion that most of us cannot have a Piet Oudolf garden but we can use some of his ideas to make our gardens more seasonally interesting. 

Well we were headed back home on the "milktrain" again but time flew as we were still talking!