Each Little World

Crossing my fingers

Last weekend temps got up into the 80s followed by overnight lows hovering at frost levels. Day time temps have been chilly with mostly gray skies. We're supposed to hit 60°F. today and tomorrow and then drop back into the 50s for the next ten days.

The good news is that the overnight lows are all expected to be in the 40s, so I can plant the four mail-order shipments of perennials that are sitting in the living room, front hall and basement sink. 

A friend and I went window shopping for trees and shrubs at our fave nursery, K & A, on Tuesday. We bundled up, but we were still freezing. Here's the reality of our weather: All the perennials at the nursery were under covers and many had to be moved back into the greenhouse as we all wait for Spring to decide to stick around.

Two pots of tender bulbs on the left. First time I've tried to grow these and I'm nervous about how long it's taking for them to appear; as well as how long they've been stuck in the house. On the right are Orchids and Cyclamen: house plants waiting to go outdoors for the summer. In the middle are a mix of plants ready to go in the ground today.

I was expecting this small package of Cyclamen and Primula from Edelweiss Perennials but had not noticed the alert that I was also getting a package from Broken Arrow Nursery. Actually two big packages from them filled with evergreen and deciduous shrubs. Both nurseries sent beautiful plants wonderfully packaged. Can't wait for it to warm up a couple more degrees and then I'm off to plant and play in the garden. 

Looking for inspiration

Visiting other gardens is considered one of the best ways to be inspired with ideas for our own gardens. I find I get as many great ideas and bits of information trolling the web as I do visiting a garden in person. Here are a few online images that have recently sparked my imagination. 

I love Carexes and discovered this photo on the website of Plant Delights Nursery. I think this is a brilliant combination of color, form and texture. The grass is Carex retroflexa 'Bonnie and Clyde' but the Heuchera is not identified since the point of the picture is to sell the Carex. This image proves that two plants — the right two plants — can create a show-stopping moment. 

I have been growing bronze fennel in my garden but it doesn't do much visually for me. Nothing like this giant fennel in the garden of Dan Pearson in the UK. It went on my wish list the moment I saw this photo in the British House and Garden magazine. I am in love with plants that will tower above me. 

This is Rodgersia podophylla in the gardens at Cady's Falls Nursery in Vt. But it's surrounded by Barberries and Peonies, plants that like the sun. Rodgersias like the shade. But this image suggests they may be able to take more sun than I've been giving mine. This one looks so happy and healthy that I am probably going to move my slowpoke plant this spring. 

Author Matt Mattus has plants and ideas and information galore on his blog, Growing With Plants. In this photo of his early spring garden, he's done something it never occurred to me to do. He's put at least three different varieties of Fritillaries in three different colors around this urn filled with pansies. I've always put my Frits in different areas of the garden far away from each other. No more.

I saw this garden image on the blog of The Frustrated Gardener in the UK. Like Matt Mattus, he's another obsessive gardener sharing tons of advice, ideas and information. I grow a lot of Toadlilies (Tricyrtis sp.) and Heuchera but I've never seen them used as ground covers like this. The angle of the photo is a bit confusing because my Tricyrtis like this variety are at least two feet tall. What a thrill it would be to turn a corner and discover swaths of these plants that you could walk between.

I've planted the most floriferous area in my garden with a lot of pink, lavender and purple flowers. I wold love to add this plant, Lysimachia purpurea. It could be tucked in anywhere and would give a wonderful burst of color without overwhelming its neighbors. I've yet to find it for sale anywhere but I hopeful.

Have you got a blog, magazine or Youtube video channel that is your go-to source for ideas?

Spring meets winter

There's still snow on the ground and it's cold outside; only 19°F. (-7° C.) at noon and supposedly only feels like 9°F. But my snowdrops "in the green" from Carolyn's Shade Garden in Pennsylvania arrived in the mail just now. 

I potted them up and will plant them out next week when it's warmer. I can see snowdrops, planted in the garden in years past, poking through in the sunniest spots.

I should have some flowering blooming next week. I can't wait. That's Galanthus 'Wasp' on the left and G. 'Mrs. Macnamara' on the right. 

New plants for 2022

Yes, I am ordering online again, long before local nurseries will open. It's possible I'll discover I would have been able to buy some of these locally, but I am not going to wait and see. I've ordered very few perennials; concentrating instead on ferns and Carexes that will be happy in my mostly shady garden and some shrubs that will help me cut down on maintenance. 

Here are a few of the plants I've ordered, though I know that ordering things early doesn't always mean you will get them. Fingers crossed.

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Asplenium-scolopendrium-Furcata, a hart's tongue fern with lots of fascinating splits. I've had mixed luck with these but plan to add this to the two that have been in my garden a long time.

PLANT DELIGHTS NURSERY

I have had excellent luck with Dryopteris ferns and am always interested in adding more. Dryopteris-cambrensis, aka log fern, can supposedly deal with more heat and humidity than many ferns. It gets 30" x 3' which should be quite a sight eventually. 

PLANT DELIGHTS NURSERY

I've been successful with autumn ferns, making it sensible to try this one: Dryopteris erythrosora var. prolifica (prolific lacy autumn fern). PDN says it's drought tolerant and that the fronds emerge cinnamon red. 

PLANT DELIGHTS NURSERY

This drama queen looks too good to pass up, so I ordered three. Dryopteris wallichiana 'Jurassic Gold' hails from the Jurassic coast of England. Will it really look like this? I'll let you know. 

WHITE FLOWER FARM

I also ordered three of Dryopteris affinis crispa 'Congesta', a dwarf crisped golden-scaled male fern. I tend to have more large ferns and don't find many small ones that appeal to me. 

KEEPING IT GREEN NURSERY

I've had a lone Osmunda claytoniana, Interrupted fern, growing in the front garden for years. I decided it was time to give it some company, so I'm adding two more. It's a Wisconsin native. 

PRAIRIE NURSERY

I ordered five Carex exurbina, Ivory sedge, to put around the big tree off the deck. At 6"-1' x 1' they will be small enough that I can slip a shrublet in between, but big enough to make a statement. 

PRAIRIE NURSERY

I planted one Carex morrowii 'Silk Tassel' last summer and like it so much I'm adding five more this summer. At 1' x 2' they will make a lovely contrast on the Tea House berm with evergreen shrubs, blue Hostas and Hakonechloa grass. 

PLANT DELIGHTS NURSERY

I have been lusting for a ruby muhly grass for years and finally found one listed for Zone 5, Muhlenbergia reverchonii 'Undaunted'. Really looking forward to giving this a try.

WHITE FLOWER FARM

Before I ordered anything I determined where the plant would go. Then I made my usual id cards for each plant and noted its exact location on the back side of the card. At first I grouped the cards by the nursery where I ordered them.

Later I decided it made more sense to group them by the location where they would be planted. That way I can mentally go through what is already growing, what I'm adding and whether I need anything else.

I'm not ready!

My work table/desk is piled high with my garden notebook, garden magazines with sticky notes and dozens of Latin words scribbled on scraps of paper, written anytime I saw a plant whose name I wanted to remember for the future. It's all a big jumble that needs to be sorted out.

I figured I had until the new year to get that done. At that point I'd have a list of the things I want to order for the garden. But a list that was well-thought out and included plants that I have a place and a plan for already. No more impulse buying.

Primula 'Oriental Sunrise' from Odyssey Perennials

So I was not as happy as I might have been when Russell Stafford of Odyssy Perennials sent his 2022 catalogue on Friday Nov. 26. The very next day I got an email from Carolyn's Shade Gardens announcing that her 2022 Snowdrop Catalogue would be sent out Dec. 4. Then I got a notice that another favorite source was taking orders for 2022. In the past, I've always jumped on these websites the minute plants were available. 

An order of Snowdrops from Carolyn's Shade Garden (above) waiting for spring in my living room a few years ago.

This time I looked at the sites but did not click. In truth, I went back again to look at the plants I could not get out of my mind. Sold out! I guess I'm not alone in my plant lust.

But I really wanted a break to enjoy the holidays and get ready to think spring and gardening after January 1st. I'm glad I held off then as it's helped me remember that I need to add more low maintenance plants to the garden; that means shrubs rather than perennials. Plus I need to be looking at more natives than exotics. January in the wintry midwest is a dangerous time for online garden shopping. 

Fall bulb order

In late July, a Wisconsin garden blogging friend reminded her readers that it was time to order spring-blooming bulbs for the best choice. Having missed out on some special bulbs I wanted for the last few years, I did not take any chances this year.

I put in my order to Van Engelen on April 30th, as soon as their re-designed website went live. I ordered more Martagon lilies from Solaris Farms on June 13th. I ordered more Lilium canadensis (below) as soon as they were available, since the ones I got last year were so lovely.

I feel like I ordered a lot of bulbs — around 225 — but I am guessing I am quite restrained based on the size of my garden. But I knew that come October, my energy for planting would be waning. So I tried to be realistic. I planted most of them on October 18th, 19th and 20th, a trio of warm, sunny days that could not have been more perfect for working outside. Here are a few of the flowers I'm most excited about. 

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Lilium martagon 'Slate's Morning' from Solaris Farms. I have had great luck with Martagons and decided it was time to spring for a few  more. When I say "a few more," that's exactly what I mean. At $16.00 each, I only ordered three. I planted them in a spot in the garden where there are no other Martagons; nor many flowers except for early bloomers like snowdrops and Hellebores.  

I have a love/hate relationship with Alliums but I keep being struck by mass plantings of them, so that's what I am going to attempt. I got 10 Allium 'Summer Drummer,' a very tall variety, to mix with the next Allium below. (A garden friend who lives nearby, said she has not had good luck with this 'Summer Drummer'. We'll see how I do.)

I ordered 25 of Allium purpureum which gets 2-3' tall. These were mixed in with lavender Thalictrums and Veronicastrum.

This beauty, Allium 'Silver Spring', was planted among Calamintha nepeta ssp. nepeta, Geranium 'Crystal Lake' and Penstemmon 'Dark Towers.'

Fritillaria raddensa is rock hardy and long-lived according to Van Engelen. But I had no luck with it when I tried it a number of years ago. But a tall, pale yellow flower in April would be so lovely in the garden that I'm trying again. I just have to replicate the conditions of NE Iran to Turkmenistan!

Muscari are one of those "no fail" bulbs and M. comosum looks like a fun one to add to my other ones. It gets 6-12" high so it should make a visible statement almost anywhere it's planted. 

Now I just have to wait six months to see what happens!

First year sleep . .

You don't have to garden very long before you hear the old adage about plants: "First year sleep, second year creep, third year leap." When I plant something in May or June, I think that concept holds true.

But I am never sure how one counts when plants don't go into the ground until late August or September. That can be pretty dicey in my area, hoping that those late plants make enough roots to get them through the winter. 

. . .

I put in a pair of Agapanthus 'Galaxy Blue' in June 2020. The one in the slightly shadier spot came up but did not send up any flower stalks, unlike its partner. I've already moved it to a sunnier location. Though this is a variety hardy to Zone 5, I had my doubts. So I am thrilled they returned and I got flowers; great progress for year two. 

I planted Phlox paniculata 'Jeana' in mid-to-late August last year. This is a new variety that is supposedly less susceptible to mildew. It's the first time I've had Phlox in my garden in years. 

To my eye, it is a much more elegant plant than most Phlox, with its tall willowy stems and upright panicles of tiny lavender-pink flowers. I am considering this as the end of year one. So I am definitely impressed with this plant's performance.

I planted Angelica gigas last August in full bloom. It was one of my last purchases from our wonderful local nursery, The Flower Factory, before it closed for good. Since this is a re-seeding biennial, imagine my surprise when it showed up in the same location as last year and sent out flowers. 

I am absolutely enthralled with the way the flowers unfurl

I am making trips to check on what this plant is doing multiple times a day.

Every time I've gone to look at it, it's been covered with flying critters. Half of them took off when I came near the flower to take a photo.

Given that this plant can reach 6 feet tall, I am considering the fact that it is nowhere near that height proof that it is in year one. I let it go to seed last year, but did not see any progeny. I even took a photo of the leaf so I would recognize babies and not pull them, thinking they were weeds. We'll see how it goes this year.

Garden quirks of 2021

We began the 2021 gardening season with frost right up until the end of May, followed by temperatures hitting 90°F. in early June. So plants growing like crazy and blooming ahead of schedule should come as no surprise to this gardener. But I admit that I am a bit taken aback.

. . .

The flowers on my Kirengeshoma palmata began opening yesterday, July 21st. Last year they started to bloom exactly a month later on Aug. 21st and on Aug. 14th the year before that. 

I planted Angelica gigas last year, having bought a small plant at Flower Factory's end of season/retirement sale. I let it self seed as it is a biennial. It came up this spring in the same location and nowhere else that I've noticed. It looks like it is about to bloom again this year. I am so unfamiliar with this plant that I don't know if these are flower buds or even if it typically behaves this way. 

A few of my Epimediums, like E. 'Domino', are having growth spurts and even flowering in July. This one is ten years old and suddenly has leaves floating at 24" above the ground. See that stem rising above the rock?

This one and a few others are also sending out large and oddly misshapen leaves like those round ones that are reminiscent of the foliage of native wild ginger, Asarum canadensis. When a variegated stem pops up all green, I know to cut it off. But I am unsure whether I should remove these stems with odd leaves or just ignore them. 

It's always new and different and a learning experience in the garden. 

It rained!

The lightning was so constant that I got up around 1:30 a.m. Friday morning to be sure there wasn't a police car parked on the street out front. The thunder was so far off the two things didn't seem to be related. I was afraid yet another storm was about to pass us by.

But this one hit us with wind dashing rain again the house so fast and furiously that I got up to look out to the back garden to make sure the gutters were OK and then I checked the basement. Lots of noise but no problems as three or four storms seemed to move through during the rest of the "night."

We got 2.28" which was less than I anticipated but enough to make a big difference in the garden. It's raining again as I write this late on Sunday afternoon. Not having to water the garden means I can actually get some planting done. I feel as if I've been holding my breath waiting for a break in the the weather. It is lovely having clouds and gray skies instead of incessant sun. 

We drove out to the Flower Factory Sunday afternoon to pick up my last order from them. We had a chance to briefly chat with owners Nancy and David Nedveck which was a treat. I didn't get any new and different plants, just a few old favorites: A cinnamon fern to add to a pair to make it a threesome, an Apple Blossom primrose to add to all my red flowered ones and Bird's Foot violets to make a nice patch when I add them to the couple I'm already growing. 

I also got another Parsley fern. I'm growing two and really like them. They are neater and more compact than a number of my other ferns. You can never have two many ferns for my taste. They are a great way to cover ground and reduce maintenance in my garden. Rain and more plants. What a perfect way to start the week.

Luck with lilies

Back in 2006 I saw Martagon lilies in a local garden and fell for them. I bit the bullet and bought three bulbs of 'Mrs. R. O. Backhouse' from Klehm's Song Sparrow Nursery. They cost a whopping 3/$56.00 and I was very nervous at spending that kind of money on plants, let alone bulbs.

But Mrs. Backhouse has been a workhorse since the day she arrived. I now have a huge sweep of them. Some time ago I moved two groups of bulbs onto the slope below the Tea House. They have done so well that I dug them out yesterday. Both groups were planted near little trees which have now engulfed them. It's had to believe that the almost invisible little Hemlock by the lilies in this photo is now a bigger presence than the bulbs.

I assumed that the plants looked so tall because they were growing on a slope above me. Nope. They are easily 5 and a half feet tall. They are going over quickly in the heat, so I didn't feel too bad about digging them out.

But I was surprised to discover one of the bulbs had sent out bulblets and the whole thing had grown together in a huge clump of six connected stems. I am going to replant them in the Tea House garden but in locations where they hopefully won't have to get moved again.