Each Little World

More containers

I typically don't do fancy garden containers. Mine usually have just one plant such as a giant Hosta or a small tree like this little Ginkgo. They're subtle markers rather than exclamation points in my garden.

But I am always inspired to rethink that personal pattern every time I visit Olbrich Botanical Gardens. The staff there are masters of container composition. Even focusing on one form of a plant they create displays that always stop me in my tracks. This one is a fascinating lesson in color, texture and size relationships. 

I am not a big fan of air plants — Tillandsia — but this display showcases them better than I've ever seen. 

Plants that too often look lost and alone are used to dramatic effect here.

I think my problem is that I want to have containers that look like this. But in our zone you really need a greenhouse to nurture these plants and get them to a size that makes a statement. 

Though this container is filled with yellow and black plants and touches of orange, I find it a subtle and very sophisticated grouping. 

As a fan of both silver foliage and Euphorbia 'Ascot Rainbow', this container is a win-win for me. 

The repetition of 'Ascot Rainbow' in the ground below is a clever touch. I have been growing this Zone 6 plant for a few years;  mine gets smaller each year. I can only dream of having one that looks like this make it through the winter in my garden. 

I'm looking forward to seeing what the Olbrich staff does in their containers this year. 

Native plants vs. exotics

When I started to garden behind my apartment back in the 1980s, native plantings pretty much meant prairies to me. Once Mark and I began creating a garden influenced by Japanese landscapes, we looked to plants from that part of the world. If I liked it and I could grow it, I did not worry about where it came from. 

These days there is so much emphasis on planting natives that one can easily feel guilty, despite having a garden with barely a blade of lawn grass. As I specifically began to add some natives to my garden, I wondered what natives I might already have — or if, indeed, I had any natives at all. So I looked at the 39-page list of "Wisconsin Native Plants," published by the DNR. Guess what I discovered?

Turns out I have multiple plants of every one of Wisconsin's seven native ferns. Though I'm only growing 5 of the 17 native varieties of Carex, I've got hundreds of those 5 natives all through my garden. I'm only growing 4 types of native shrubs in my garden; but I have a total of 17 plants. Then there are the 25 trees of 8 native varieties. Add to the list countless plants of a couple of dozen varieties of native ephemerals and perennials.

I've been spending a lot of time and effort trying to figure out what natives I could add to my garden to make it more attractive to wildlife and assorted pollinators. Turns out my garden is loaded with natives. That means I can continue to add natives when and where they make sense in my garden, but they don't have to be my entire focus. 

Plants pictured (from the top): Japanese Peony, and three natives — Maidenhair fern at the bottom of the steps, Hemlock and Bloodroot flowers. 

Container plantings

Last summer, it seemed like most of the containers I saw on garden tours were planted with Begonias or Coleus. I'm not sure if that meant they were the gardener's favorite plants or the ones most available to buy. 

I find Coleus varieties very attractive, but difficult to use once I get them home with me. So I was smitten with this pot containing a single plant left to flower. What could be prettier?

I initially thought this planting was a little lacking for my taste, until I took a couple more steps past the front door in this garden . . . 

and discovered this display. The Begonias nod to the simple grouping by the nearby door, but are show stopping when grouped with multiple varieties of Coleus and a purple leaved Japanese maple. 

Flowers, furniture and umbrella all glowing in this small shade garden.

The same colors that I saw in countless displays, but this time with Fuchsias and sweet potato vines.

This display was was unusual with the glass art and the container providing the dramatic color rather than the plants.

This was my favorite Begonia composition of all those I saw. The orange of the flowers was toned down by its neighbors and the Begonia foliage reflected the underside colors of the huge tropical leaves above it. Perfection.

I've decided to test a couple of Begonias in my garden next season. But I'm still undecided about adding Coleus. 

Change is inevitable

“You wonder after many years if any of it was worth the bother. The answer is, I think, more or less yes .... Entire sections of the garden have to be rethought and old friends given up. All seems to be nothing but change and irregular advances and collapse, as if paying little attention to the gardener, who is seen to be far less consequential than we supposed.”

 "The Essential Earthman"

Henry Mitchell 1923-1993

. . .

Our street is scheduled for a major rehab this summer. The original 1950s sanitary and storm sewers will be replaced, a shared pedestrian/bike lane will be added, most on street parking eliminated and the street resurfaced. This means the traffic islands will be removed, some curbs will be replaced and my front garden will be dug up to put in the water lines and update the fire hydrant on our property.

Over the years, I've spent a lot of time and money gardening on this little island. It's the sunniest spot I have and has rocky soil perfect for bulbs. 

Currently it has Tulips, Allium 'Summer Beauty', the famed Geranium 'Rozanne' and four big Calamintha nepeta ssp. nepeta. As soon as the plants come up this spring I will dig them out and move them to new homes elsewhere in the garden. Construction is slated to start in June and go all summer, seven days a week. 

The city owns the first 14' of our property as we have no sidewalks or "hell strips." So I intentionally filled this area with plants I could afford to lose or that could be easily moved.  Geranium macrorrhizum is a forgiving plant and should cover the construction quickly once I can replant. 

The most important point is the city will not have to remove the Oak tree that abuts the street at the end of our driveway. If they have to replace the gutter, they will hand-form it to protect the tree. This tree was here when the house was built in 1954 and for many years before that. (Don Smith, the original owner, with one of his daugthers and the oak tree.)

When we moved here in 1994, arborist and local tree historian Bruce Allison estimated the tree's age as at least 125 years old. It's our treasure and we are thrilled that we finally have a group of seedlings that will eventually create an oak grove that will be long after the road project is history.

Five mistakes

Chickadee Gardens recently wrote about five plants she regretted adding to her garden. I've gardened long enough that I have a list like that, too. Longtime gardeners like me are lucky if our list only contains five items. Here's my biggest regrets.

When we moved into this house, we spent the first couple of years coming up with a design. Along the way we considered a lot of different ideas. We wondered how it would look if we turned the back garden into a prairie. So we just stopped cutting the grass and waited to see what would happen. We got a daisy invasion. We thought it looked lovely until we realized we'd unleashed a monster. We're still dealing with those darn daisies.

I used to say that I'd never met a Carex I didn't like. But that was before I met a couple that I learned to loathe. I planted a clump of Carex muskingumensis (palm sedge) in the bog area of our pond. Alas, it was in the days before Google or I might have noticed this statement on the Missouri Botanical Gardens fabulous website: "Plants slowly naturalize by rhizomes in optimum growing conditions."

I provided optimum conditions and could not get rid of these plants. Since they were in the bog I could not dig deeply without cutting into the pond liner. Mark managed to finally get rid of them when he disassembled the pond last summer. Carex muskingumensis is the feathery "grass" going across the middle of the image below.

I planted a Tiger Eye Sumac intending to eventually limb it up to reveal the planting below it. I put in a few Carex 'Blue Bunny' aka 'Hobbs' directly under the Sumac and they immediately took over. The Sumac ended its life in the storm where we got 11 inches of rain in a few hours. But I am still finding the deadly Blue Bunny all over this part of the garden. Luckily it is distinctive enough that I can easily distinguish it from my other Carexes when I see it and dig it out. 

Wild ginger (Asarum canadense) is a native ground cover that was beyond aggressive in my garden. If I could have had some scattered patches of it like the one below, I would have have been happy. But it romped around like crazy and ate everything in its path. It died back early and came up late. I'm still pulling it out where ever I see it. 

Last, but definitely not least, are Pulmonarias; a plant that is still very popular among many gardeners. I have tried to get rid of every Pulmonaria but one. Alas the others have planted themselves in the gardens of my neighbors on two sides and thus keep reappearing in my garden. Pulmonaria rubra 'David Ward' has never spread in twenty years. It comes up very early sporting apple green leaves edged in white. This is the only one that I've found to be regret-free. 

Please alert me to the plants you regret adding to your garden so I don't make any more big mistakes. 

Good-bye Gypsy Moths

Well, not the moths. Just their name. 

According to an article in the Tree Health Management newsletter (the company that takes care of our trees), the Entomological Society of America announced last summer that they have removed the common name — Gypsy Moth — of this critter because of its derogatory nature. The ESA has introduced the Better Common Names Project to get community suggestions and input for new names. 

You can send your ideas for a new name for this pest here.

Another tree departs

Before we were ready to start work on our garden, we had a nasty Norway maple removed, but didn't really give much thought to the other trees on the property. All our attention and budget was focused on putting in the pond.

Almost thirty years later we're taking down what we hope is the last problem tree in the garden; the one that should have been removed first — before we did anything else. 

The tree in question is a tall curving cherry tree on our side of the lot line. It was growing into a Tsuga canadensis, a Scots pine and a Stewartia. Mark's beautiful fence had been built around the tree's trunk and I had planted boxwoods and ferns at its foot. 

That bulge on the cherry branch above is the arborist! I took these next shots of him with my phone from inside the house — the full depth of the back garden away from the work area. 

I could hardly watch it made me so nervous. This was a very difficult tree to take down as big equipment could not be used and there were not a lot of big branches to work from. 

There wasn't enough snow on the ground to cause the work to be postponed, but it was slippery as the snow has been melting and refreezing with an icy crust on top. Not the best surface for the other members of the team who were hauling piles of branches on the icy path. 

It's always a shock to see how much comes off a tree that I barely noticed when walking under it or even looking at it while they were all busy working. 

We had them cut the trunk at the same angle as the fence roof where we will just let it slowly fade away. You can't see from this photo, but everything around the cherry looked untouched. This crew was so careful lowering all the branches and chunks of wood through the other trees and around the boxwoods below. 

Now our trees and the neighbor's Dawn Redwood can be seen without a dying monster in their midst.

More great work by Tree Health Management and Lundin Tree.

Summer garden tour: John Mathews, Part 2

John Mathews garden had more than beautiful plantings to inspire the rest of us. It was filled with wood structures and detailing as well as creative stone work not often seen in small home gardens. The air conditioning unit that we passed by as we entered the back garden was nicely disguised in a manner related to the rest of the garden.  

The back lot line of the garden was beautifully marked by this wall that lets air and wind blow through. It offers a peek at the neighbor's garden without taking the focus off the homeowner's garden. 

The exterior of the garage has been transformed into a structure well suited to the style of the garden. Plus its surrounded by noteworthy plants and stone work.

Everywhere you went there were striking details that caught the eye.

The fence wall along the driveway alternated open and closed panels along with bamboo details. 

Even the folding chair was in keeping with the setting.

Summer garden tour: John Mathews

Last summer a gardening friend and I went on the annual tour of home gardens sponsored by Olbrich Botanical Gardens. We took advantage of the fact that most of the gardens were on our side of town. I was familiar with half of them — which is how I am able to identify this garden.

John Mathews is a professional designer and we've visited each other's gardens a number of times. I always know I will see unusual plants and creative solutions when I visit his garden. 

John has a exceptional collection of conifers and they were marked with id tags which was a treat.

This garden is heavily influenced by traditional Japanese gardens but seen through the eyes of a western homeowner and plantsman. So I was not surprised to see a rain chain or large rocks.

When I get back home I always want to be sure I have images of how these lovely parts of the garden are actually put together. 

So I tend to take lots of detail photos.

We turned left at the rock which took us through the front garden. 

John interpreted a classic Japanese barrier using bundles of prunings. This was across the path from the big rock.

Further along were these standard Ginkgoes. I've rarely met a Ginkgo I didn't like and these were no exception. Look at the moss, rocks and ground cover. The path is behind this display.  

Nothing has been left to chance in this beautiful combination of planting and hardscaping along the side of the house, leading into the back garden. 

A koi pond nestled among rocks and plants. 

I love this scene because it has familiar plants and a simple bamboo fence that anyone could make. Great inspiration.

Again, familiar plants that showcase all different tones of green — contrasted with a big empty pot. 

Every garden we visited had containers with various types of plants. None compared with this one with its span, limited depth and use of rocks as both decorative accents and to create a mini crevice garden. 

Next up: John Mathew's wood and stone garden elements.