Each Little World

Sad news from Song Sparrow

When I look back on the year 2020, it won't be the pandemic that I will remember most — as crazy as that sounds. It will be the loss of the two nurseries that have been my go-to sources for plants since I started gardening. First Flower Factory closed its doors in September with the retirement of its owners, Nancy and David Nedveck.

Now comes the news that Song Sparrow Nursery will close at the end of this year. I always refer to the nursery as Klehm's Song Sparrow because it was still owned by the Klehm family when I first discovered it. In recent years, the staff took over the business. 

Members of the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society taking advantage of a few hours of special on-site shopping at the Song Sparrow nursery on a chilly day in May, 2013 (above).

 

I've been shopping at Khelm's for so long that my memories and list of plants from them are both endless. I still have one of the first catalogs I ever got from them — 1995 — when they were still located in Illinois, before they moved to Wisconsin. The catalog was for mail-order plant purchases and remains the most beautiful garden catalog I've ever seen. It was a square format (9" x 9") with thick, high quality paper. There were limited color photos on glossy paper, grouped in three sections: Peonies, Daylilies and Perennials.

The rest of the book (it was 109 pages!) was detailed with beautiful watercolor illustrations, like the one on the cover (below) by Marcella J. Spanogle. The design quality, time and attention to detail that went into the creation of the catalog suggested to me that any plants I ordered from this lovely book would be of equal quality. And that has proven true, right up to my most recent order.

When I had a sunny garden in the early 1990s, Klehm was my go-to source for unusual daylilies, including those with small flowers like 'Cricket' that suited my small garden at the time. When I moved to a larger garden, Klehm provided me with Hemerocallis 'Tetrina's Daughter,' a daylily with four foot high stems that bloomed at the end of the day with a extreme lemony fragrance.

How many of us are still growing Paeonia 'Soft Salmon Joy', the Peony plant that Roy Klehm gave to every member of the WHPS at the October, 2001 meeting where he spoke to the group? Mine is still going strong (below, after a spring rain storm), even after having been moved during a construction project. 

Perhaps my most notable memory of Klhem's is the year I ordered three Martagon lilies from them. They were expensive enough that it took me a while to decide to take the plunge. When my plants arrived I was stunned to find three narrow boxes, each at least three feet tall. I assumed I was getting bulbs but, instead, I received three plants that were fully budded with stems as tall as the boxes they were housed within.

The boxes opened like a closet door to easily remove the plants without damaging them. In fact, not a bud had come off in the time those lilies left Klehm's and arrived at my house. At that moment I fully understood the cost of shipping and I've never complained about that expense again. (Martagons in bud in my garden).

It is heartbreaking to know that I will never again get a catalog or a package of plants from such a rare and historic nursery as Klehm's Song Sparrow. Best wishes and a healthy and safe future to all the wonderful people who made Song Sparrow such a trusted and treasured name among gardeners.

Small surprises in August

In August of 2018, I ordered a few plants on a late summer sale from Avant Gardens in Dartmouth, Massachusetts. Imagine my delight when I discovered they had included a Cyclamen purpurescens as a free, bonus plant! This plant has performed since day one, never really going dormant during the growing seasons. It slowed down during our current hot weather but has never really stopped looking good. 

I was so happy with this little charmer that I ordered another from Edelweiss Nursery along with some other things last spring.

This second one has settled in nicely as well. Despite how it looks in the above photo, the foliage is still quite small as you can see when its contrasted with the surrounding swath of Thalictrum kiusianum.

I decided to take a chance on a couple of fancy foliaged Cyclamens as well. But I was disappointed when they disappeared almost immediately after planting. I assumed they were unhappy and died. But they both popped up again and are looking good for baby-size new plants. This is C. purpurescens ex. Lake Garda which is correctly described as having "strong markings on the leaves."

This is C. purpurescens "pewter leaf" and definitely is that. 

I am happy with my tiny collection and the plants are perfect companions to their small neighbors like this hairy lip fern aka Cheilanthes lanosa 'Mighty Tidy.' Though it will only get six inches tall, it is supposed to get a foot wide, which would be a nice ground cover.

Playing in the garden

Last Friday we drove out to our favorite local nursery, The Flower Factory. They have been my go-to source since I began gardening right around the time they opened. They are retiring and closing up shop at the end of this month. So I made a big haul last week during pre-scheduled, masked and distanced shopping. 

Mostly flats of assorted Carexes and five more of my favorite fern, Dryopteris australis. I've spent mornings every day since then putting things in the ground, hoping that the rain that is continually forecast will arrive soon. 

IVOM: A slow-growing season

This is only my third vase this month. Gray days and a week of overnight freezing temps have kept my garden in stasis. Last year we had snow during the last week in April so I shouldn't complain. Yet, looking back, I see a greater variety of flowers in my vases than are blooming this year at the same time.

Our neighbors have a huge old Forsythia 'Beatrix Farrand' growing next to our fence. We convinced them to prune it rather than cut it back as we love it coming through the fence into our garden. Along with the Forsythia twiglet, I clipped some Euonymous and stems of Spirea 'Golden Thumbellina'.

But the stars of this display are the daffodils, N. 'Beersheba'. This daff was introduced by Rev George H Engleheart in 1923 when he was in his 70s. It became popular, as the first all-white trumpet daffodil of its size, according to John Grimshaw. In fact, the flower emerges with a creamy yellow trumpet that fades to white. According to Old House Gardens, where I bought my bulbs, this variety "won high praise from Guy Wilson, the century’s greatest daffodil breeder, as 'a flower of arresting beauty and outstanding purity.' " I totally agree. 

Linking to Rambling in the Garden, who hosts this most enjoyable Monday meme where you can see all sorts of spring garden flowers in vases. 

What I ordered: Shrubs for my 2020 garden

Last fall I put a number of late season shrubby purchases in temporary spots with the intention of planting them permanently this spring. They will take the place of Hostas or other high maintenance plants that will then go off to new homes. All part of my plan to make it easier to maintain my garden.

Though most of the shrubs that I ordered this spring are fairly low growers, not all of them are. I also made an effort to add a few that are fragrant; something that is sadly lacking in my garden. I have number of native plants, especially trees, so that was not my first consideration with these. 

Whether these mail-order nurseries will even be able to mail my purchases to me is an unknown at this point, but I am hopeful.

Rhododendron arborescens is large and fragrant.

Rhododendron atlanticum tops out between two and three feet with a spread of up to five feet over the years. It has glaucous leaves and is described as "powerfully fragrant.'

Deutzia scabra Variegata is a large plant with fragrant flowers. I can't wait until mine gets this big and beautiful. 

Thuja occidentals 'Anna’s Magic Ball' is a little charmer, barely a foot tall — hardy to Zone 3!

Thuja occidentals 'Primo' will get four feet tall but only one foot wide in 20 years; also hardy to Zone 3. Not sure if I have 20 years left to spare, but I'll chance it!

First two photos from Rare Plants Nursery, then Far Reaches Farm, Bluestone Perennials and Plant Delights Nursery. 

What I ordered: Perennials for my 2020 garden

I fully intended to keep myself well in hand and not order too many plants during the winter months. My favorite mail order nurseries will tell you I failed miserably. I did, however, mainly order plants that I have had good luck with over the years: Epimediums, Geraniums, Hellebores, a Primrose and Toadlilies. (These photos are all from the nurseries where I purchased the plants, as most of them have  not yet arrived at my garden.)

. . .

I bought a few Epemedium 'Pink Elf' from Klehm's Song Sparrow Nursery that were on sale last fall. I planted them in a spot that is quite dry.  The Geranium cantabrigiense 'Biokovo' that has been there for years, has never liked this location. I am hoping this Epimedium and the next two are happier with this spot. 

E. fargesii (Edelweiss Perennials)

E. 'Shadow Dancer' (Edelweiss Perennials)

Geranium phaeum 'Langthorn's Blue' (Digging Dog Nursery/Salmon Creek photo). I've rarely met a "mourning widow" Geranium I did not like and this one is a beauty.

G. phaeum 'Raven' (Digging Dog Nursery)

G. 'Azure Rush' (Bluestone Perennials). This should be a star performer on the order of G. 'Rozanne', but I prefer this softer color. 

Priumula kisoana iyobenii (Edelweiss Perennials) This Japanese primrose is the reddest of all P. kisoanas and does not spread as fast as the species. I have had wonderful luck with this species and love the color. 

I grow four different kinds of Toad Lilies: Tricyrtis formosana, T. hirta, T. latifolia and T. macrantha. I have been growing most of them for years. I was a little disconcerted last month when local gardening legend, Frank Greer, said that T. formosans is the least hardy for us. Most of the varieties I ordered are T. formosana. On the other hand, I have a gorgeous clump of T. formosa that I've been growing almost as long as I've been gardening. So I remain hopeful. 

T. 'Taipai Silk' (Digging Dog Nursery)

T. 'Empress' (Digging Dog Nursery)

T. 'Autumn Glow' (Digging Dog Nursery). I obviously ordered this one for the foliage alone. 

March weather has been giving us a taste of spring, making me very excited for all these lovely plants to arrive at my house. But that won't happen until the end of April. I'm not taking any chances on early shipping dates and having my house filled with plants that can't go outdoors because it is too cold or snowy. 

Flower Factory Forever

First it was Roslyn Nursery, then Heronswood, then Seneca Hill Perennials — poof! Here for years and then suddenly gone. I still have plants from all of those memorable nurseries. But they were "paper" places; I read their catalogs but never shopped in person at any of them.

They were coastal destinations, not friends and neighbors like Nancy and David Nedveck, hands-on owners of The Flower Factory, down the road from Madison. You run into them at local garden events as here at Olbrich Botanical Gardens before we all went inside for a talk by Fergus Garrett of Great Dixter in the UK. 

The first plants that I bought for my very first garden, a rather simple affair located behind my apartment, were from the Flower Factory at Madison's original downtown Farmers Market. To a new gardener, stopping there was a weekly slice of heaven. These days I can't remember the last time I went downtown on a Saturday morning and socialized with David; now I always drive out to the nursery so I can bring home a heavy haul.

I usually go out to the nursery a couple of times a season. I always sit a minute in my car anticipating what fun I am going to have shopping here. 

Then I meander along the incredible flower border running the length of the adjacent hoop house. 

Next I turn around and walk over to take a closer look at the plantings across the parking lot. Just a glance at those bright pink Dianthus carthusianorum told me why mine are not as happy as these. Mine are in soil that's too rich and moist: A garden lesson learned and I haven't even left the parking lot! Hasn't that always been one of the benefits of buying locally? We can learn just by looking, let alone consulting Nancy or David and their staff. 

This little green-roofed building always makes me smile. 

I save the Hosta houses until last. That way I don't bang up those big leaves while I shop. 

I peek in but don't stop. (photo below from April, 2010)

If the weather looks threatening, I wear my hooded rain jacket leaving the umbrellas for those who need them! I usually look like a gardener when I go to FF: boots, jeans and an old T-shirt, gloves, a hat. Now and then people have asked me for help because I looked like I must work there.  

Most of these photos are from 2016/17 and don't begin to show the kinds of container plantings and inspirational displays that abound at Flower Factory these days. I've been seduced more than once by plants that were unfamiliar or just so beautifully grouped into a display that I had to take some home with me. 

Even though I always bring my FF catalog and have a specific plant shopping list in hand, I don't think I have ever managed to get away without at least one impulse buy. 

I started filling an index card with relevant information (including source) for each plant I purchase beginning in the late 1980s and still do so. Thus I know I bought my first Japanese painted fern at FF in 1989; my first Toad lilies in 1996 and Geranium macrrohrizum in 1998. These are stalwarts in my garden.

More recently I started taking a photo of my plant purchases before I leave the Flower Factory or as soon as I get home. It's a great visual record of what I bought when.

These wagon loads are from early spring, 2010.

August, 2016

August, 2017

June, 2019

September, 2019

I would not be the gardener I am nor have the garden I do if not for Nancy and David. The incredible variety of plants they offer each year (2,500 in 2019) is only one small part of what they've given us. On-the-spot plant identification and advice no matter when or where I run into them. Presentations to garden groups large and small. Their catalog has a page of general gardening information in the back and they provide an entire alphabet list of uses for their perennials ranging from drought and salt tolerance to plants that like it wet or are fragrant and on and on. 

In my gardening heart-of-hearts, I've known that one of these days David and Nancy would retire. Why wouldn't they? Lots of us did it years ago, which is why we have all this time to garden. Running a nursery on the scale and complexity of Flower Factory is a job that never stops and rarely slows down. It is a business that is subject to the vagaries of weather and the whims of the gardening world. Those of us who live in Dane Country and the Upper Midwest have been luckier than most American gardeners to have such a rich source of plants and pleasant nursery folks right on our doorstep. Best wishes to David and Nancy as they take this next step on their journey.

Whose idea was this?

"Stupid, stupid, stupid" was Mark's suggested title for this post. Lucky for me he was laughing as he said it. All the rain we've had this autumn had me indoors looking at end of season sales on my favorite nursery web sites. Of course I fell prey to temptation when I looked at Song Sparrow Nursery. I've been buying plants from them forever and they never disappoint. This is part of my spring 2019 haul: Helleborus 'New York Night', Epimedium x 'Royal Flush' and Heucherella 'Brass Lantern'.

Song Sparrow may be gone next year as their future is very uncertain. Seemed like the sensible thing to order a bunch of shrubs and easy care perennials to help in lowering maintenance in the garden. Look what showed up at my house less than 48 hours after I placed my order online!

I know many gardeners complain about the cost of shipping when ordering plants online. I think it's just a case of getting what you pay for. Since this was the end of the season, the plants were large and healthy. Epimediums and dwarf conifers were layered in this larger box. 

Individual plants were encased in little "houses" with a cardboard door flap that opened outward. 

There was a wide strip of tape across the bottom for extra stability, but it was super easy to remove the plants from their container without breaking anything.

In addition to the Epimediums, I bought pairs of plants: dwarf conifers (Picea abies 'Tompa' ), small scale Hydrangeas (H. quercifolia 'Pee Wee'), and Orixa japonica. The only "onsie" is a dwarf sand cherry (Prunus pumila).

The Orixa japonica will get cut back somewhat in the spring to promote side shoots as they are almost at their mature height of four feet!

The Orixa grows in shade and has beautiful glossy foliage.

When I wondered whose idea it was to order plants on the last day of September, I was worried about how wet it had been and how much rain kept appearing in our forecast. I was concerned the plants might rot before they could settle in. One Orixa was put in its new home but every thing else went into any empty spots I could find.

We haven't had a killing frost yet and everything seems to be doing fine in their temporary locations. All the plants but the Epimediums have been caged to protect them from marauding rabbits. Now I will have the coming cold season to think about how I want to use these new plants to reduce maintenance — and what else I might need to add to the mix!

I should also note that I used a lot of the cardboard as inserts between pieces of framed art in our new basement storage rack. 

Plant spree

I recently bought 20 plants at my favorite local nursery, Flower Factory, and managed to get all but one of them in the ground within 48 hours. I bought 2 to 5 plants of each variety except for three plants  that were onesies. Even those were joining their siblings in the garden so I felt that, though I bought a lot, I was very focused and didn't stray from my list. 

I added ferns (Dryopteris australis, Polystichum makinoi, P. polyblepharum), Lizula (wood rush) and Asaram splendens all to the Turtle Mound in my ongoing effort to stabilize the slopes that can no longer grow grass because of the shade. Dryopteris australis (Dixie Wood Fern) is a tall workhorse fern. I've been planting them for that last few years and they've come through every kind of winter and summer weather. 

A few fancy plants: Another hardy Begonia to hide another summer bare spot left by one of my dormant Trilliums. Heuchera 'Silver Gumdrop'; this summer marks my first venture into this Heuchera color. Tricyrtis 'Samuri', a shorter toad lily with gold-edged leaves and dramatic flowers for the front of the border. 

I've had a love/hate relationship with both native and European gingers (Asarum canadense and A. europaeum) because they proved to be almost invasive in my garden. But given the fact they are colonizing the Turtle and Buddha Mounds, I've made peace with them. Not only am I letting them spread to their heart's content, I've added A. splendens — the variegated beauty in the lower left corner of the photo above.

We've had a four day dry spell this week so I got out in the garden and worked, worked, worked as next week looks rainy again. Since it's the end of August, I plunked two shrubs and a small tree into holes in the border where they will sit until Spring. I hope by that time I will have decided where they should permanently be sited.  

August lilies

Hosta plantaginea is more romantically known as the "August lily" because that's when it blooms and its flowers look like small lilies. It is also one of the few Hostas that is fragrant. I grow ‘Royal Standard,’ a hybrid introduced in 1965, whose flowers are a crisp white. It's easy to ignore these Hostas since they don't have fancy leaves; but they flower just when my garden needs them most. 

For Hosta drama in August, nothing beats H. 'Spritzer'. First, this Hosta has pointed, downward drooping leaves making it a great plant for a slope. But the flower buds are explosive.

There are few Hostas that are as visually interesting in bud and early bloom stages as 'Spritzer'.

'Royal Standard' and 'Spritzer' are among the few Hostas I grow whose flowers I leave in place. 

Though it was Klehm's Song Sparrow nursery that suggested planting H. 'Spritzer' on a slope, I bought my original plant more than twenty years ago at Flower Factory and I see that it is still listed in their catalog.