Euphorbia wulfenii is a mediterranean plant for Zone 7. No way it will grow in my Z. 4-5 garden. But I have been crazy for it since the first time I ever saw a picture of it in an English garden.
It's only a couple of years after planting Euphorbia palustris at the edge of the upper pool that I realized how similar the effect is to that of E wulfenii.
An unexpected but very pleasant surprise.
When you put a plant in the ground, you hope you've given it what it needs to survive and thrive. What a thrill when it grows and turns out to be more wonderful than you ever imagined.
Jacqueline van der Kloet has designed bulb gardens around the world; among them Keukenhof and Floriade as well as the spring bulb display at the Lurie Garden in Chicago where she worked with fellow Dutch-designer, Piet Oudolf. She was in Madison in 2017 for the Allen Centennial Gardens Symposium where she thrilled the audience, including me, with her knowledge and inspirational use of bulbs in garden design. If you missed that event, then you'll want to pick up Van der Kloet's latest book, "A Year in my Garden."
As the title says, this is Van der Kloet's own garden in the Netherlands where she experiments with bulbs and perennials. It is full of great bulb combinations, but is also valuable because we can see what plants she uses to hide dying bulb foliage. Though she's known for her Tulip mixes, the book looks at a wide variety of bulbs considering flower size, color and season.
The book is arranged month by month making it easy to see what she focuses on at different seasons. Though we garden in a different zone with different weather conditions, much of what Van der Kloet does in her garden is possible to do in ours as well, with the exception of some of the outdoor winter chores.
Though the book is arranged by month, it is noteworthy that Van der Kloet begins with September. She does so, she says, because it's the month when we start to say goodbye to summer and start planning and planting for spring. She says it is also the month where we can most clearly see the garden as a continuous process. I've always thought of September as the beginning of the year because that's when the school year starts, so I felt she reinforced my own feelings on the subject.
The book is an attractive size and shape (9 3/4" x 11") that's easy to hold with matte rather than glossy paper and easily readable type. The color reproduction is excellent with images depicting plants that look true to their natural color, rather than digitally souped up. There's even a nice red ribbon to mark your place.
Each month van der Kloet lists her favorite plants grouped by color or type, like grasses. She gives advice on how she blends her bulbs with specific suggestions on how to succeed with Tulips — which even she admits are not the easiest bulbs to grow. She talks about pruning woody plants, even lists her favorite tools and trees for small gardens. It's a very thorough look at one woman's garden.
Jacqueline van der Kloet planting bulbs with Piet Oudolf.
Though I am generally happy with the book, there are some things that I found frustrating. I bought the English edition of the book which just came out, but I realized "English" is the operative term; all the temperatures are given in Celsius and the measurements in metric!
After reading the entire text, I noted that Van der Kloet talked about aggressive or invasive plants that she unknowingly added to her garden and has spent years fighting. Yet she included a number of these same plants in her favorite lists with a much less critical description; a less observant reader might easily add these same problem plants.
The book is filled with beautiful garden images except for the double-page spreads of 12 pictures that showed the garden from one point of view each month. Most months, I found it difficult to see the changes from picture to picture over the year. For all the pages devoted to this concept, I would much rather have seen more full and double page pictures of the garden. A good idea that did not quite work from this gardener's point of view. That said, these critiques are not enough to make me regret my purchase and I certainly recommend it to those of you who love bulbs.
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.)
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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.
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.
Plants and people, of course, provided all the high points of our 2019 gardening year. The weather was the source of the low points, which seems to be the new normal judging by the last few years.
GARDEN PEOPLE
The year began with the workshop that I hosted at my house on "recording" one's garden. It was a snowy Saturday but everyone showed up for the morning and afternoon sessions. This event was one of many free workshops offered by members of the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society for other members. I've hosted a few and attended a number of others. They are a great benefit to members and a big "thank-you" goes to whoever thought of doing this. Brilliant.
We had a number of small groups stop by the garden as well as hosting members of the friends group of the Scott Arboretum at Swarthmore who were visiting Midwestern gardens. We ended the summer with a party celebrating 25 years at this house.
We also had a garden consult at the end of the summer on how aging gardeners should deal with their aging garden. I bought some shrubs at late season sales that I plunked into temporary locations as part of our plans to reduce maintenance. This winter I will need to spend some serous time looking at the garden, reading and planning about how Mark and I and the garden can all happily age in place.
The first part of that process was to hire Tree Health Management to look at all our trees to determine their health and who should go and who gets to stay. That process is just getting underway with lots of decisions still to be made.
Looking ahead: The 2020 Garden Bloggers Fling will be held in Madison, so I hope to see you in my garden next June!
PLANTS: HIGH AND LOW POINTS
The low point was the plants that succumbed to another bad winter. Everywhere in the upper Midwest, including our garden, saw Burning Bushes (Euonymus) and Japanese Maples felled by the weather. One of our maples started to send out a bit of growth so we didn't cut it down. We'll see how it looks this spring to decide if it stays or goes.
The high point of the garden — literally and visually — had to be Thalictrum 'Splendide' which grew skyward into the branches of a Korean Maple where it put on a show for weeks.
When this pale Martagon lily bloomed amidst a row of dark red ones for the second year in a row, I moved it to a bed across the garden where it can star instead of sticking out like a sore thumb. I'm looking forward to the result.
PROJECTS: Any project that gets completed is always a high point. Last year we had the electrical work that had been done for the Tsukubai water pot and the pond pump extended to the Tea House. An electrician took care of all that, but Mark was the one who re-soddded the grass feature that surrounds our deck. It looked great for all our garden visitors, though we are not sure if it is going to remain as a long term solution. One more thing to think about this winter.
WEATHER AND CLIMATE: HIGH AND LOW POINTS
An increase in the amount of rain we typically get in southern Wisconsin as well as more intense storms is the ongoing weather news here. My garden managed to soak it all up and we had no serious problems with water in our basement. But farmers in this state barely managed to get crops planted or harvested because of standing water in their fields; very serious issues for our economy and for our food supply.
We had record snowfalls in October along with extreme cold — all happening when most trees still had their leaves. As a result we have a few trees that never turned color and did not drop their leaves in the usual fashion. A lot of leaves and honey locust pods all came down on top of the snow and wound up covering the garden once it melted. Not the most attractive view at the moment, though our dusting of snow on New Year's Eve did brighten things up.
Now it's on to the next gardening season — at least in my head for the next few months.
Every day the number of plants blooming in the garden decreases. But a few things are still providing bursts of color like these autumn Crocus and the Tricyrtis.
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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.
A perfect Peony in a pickle jar! I put this Peony in the bamboo vase-within-a-vase that is intended to hold the water and a flower and fits inside one of my Japanese Ikebana baskets. Alas it leaked. So the flower enjoyed this temporary home until I jerry-rigged a solution.
Ikebana basket + Peony = Tea House arrangement.
Despite both doors and windows of the Tea House being open, it was cloudy enough outside to make it a bit difficult to get a good picture.
The Peony spent the rest of its days in the living room.
This is a contemporary interpretation on a traditional flower holder by Madison artist Richard Jones.
The flower is Geranium phaeum 'Joan Baker', a mourning widow, which makes a substantial clump.
We bought this wall container many years ago at a Japanese emporium in Boston. Both this one and the one above are perfect for narrow end walls and corners which makes photographing them awkward. This one hangs on the wall between a hallway to another part of the house and the stairs leading down to our front door. That space has a cherry display shelf currently holding a small Japanese chest.
The flower is Clematis 'Guernsey Cream'.
To see what other gardeners have put in a vase this morning, join Cathy at Rambling in the Garden to share our creations from our gardens. Cathy is the creator of this totally enjoyable meme.
My day-late posting for GBBD was so long that I cut it in two. Here are some of the other things having their moment in the May garden.
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None of my other Brunnera varieties put on a display like B. macrophylla 'Alexander's Great'. This year it is living up to its name.
Iris cristata is just beginning to put on its show. The sun needs to come back for the blue river to start flowering. The weather forecast is rain for the next few days.
A successful experiment: Euphorbia palustris will grow in up to 2" of water. Last summer I planted this one at the edge of the upper pool and it made it through the winter and is about to bloom.
Neither of my Dicentra spectabilis 'Gold Heart' are as big as they usually are at this point in May, nor are they putting out many flowers. That leaf color still adds a big jolt of drama.
Dicentra spectabilis 'Valentine' has suddenly grown into an impressive specimen. Up until this year, I've always found it to be a disappointment.
Viola labradorica looking lovely.
The last flower on Glaucidium palmatum. As the petals fall and age, they turn almost blue.
My neighbor's Pulmonaria is invading the street side bed where I have Narcissus 'Dreamlight,' a very late blooming Daffodil. Though I am not crazy about Pulmonaria's invasive tendencies, it does go well with this daff.
Just planted this foxglove, Digitalis x 'Goldcrest', a couple of weeks ago and it has settled in nicely. Since it is a sterile hybrid, I am hoping it will grow big enough to divide. I'd love to have a group without having to buy multiple plants.