Each Little World

Head gardener at home

Way back in March, Jeff Epping, horticulture director at Olbrich Botanical Gardens here in Madison, gave a talk to the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society about his own garden. Many of us have seen Jeff's garden in the past, but it was going to be featured this summer on a WHPS tour of members' gardens. So we were all interested to hear what Jeff might have to show and tell.

Jeff talked about various garden design enterprises he's doing and gave us a teaser about the changes that have happened at his own garden. His shady front garden with no-mow grass (below) bit the dust when the city redid his street including replacing gutters and putting in a major drainage project.

Since this area (above) was about to be destroyed — more or less — by the construction work, Jeff figured it was the perfect time for a big change. Once the city was finished, Jeff turned his front lawn into a low-water, low-maintenance gravel garden similar to the sustainable ones he's created at Olbrich. This is a specialized kind of planting that needs the proper plants and prep to succeed. But in a couple of years it should be totally filled in creating quite a different look with very little work needed to maintain it. 

The Hakonechloa grasses that are still in the front garden (below) foreshadow what's to come. We walked around the right side of Jeff's house to get to the back garden. 

The side of the house features an array of different kinds and sizes of logs . . .

which are sporting mushrooms.

This is what Jeff's back garden looked like the last time I saw it, which was July, 2010. Wide mixed borders edged a central area of grass with a path that led through the garden out into a shared neighborhood park. The pots with small evergreen trees are on a pair of stone pillars that are part of the wall around Jeff's deck.

This is the view in 2010 looking back towards the side of the house with the mushroom logs.

Stepping into the garden at the same location as the photo above but the view today is totally different. 

The greensward has disappeared, replaced with a gravel circle that has a pair of Wave Hill chairs along with pots filled with plants and water. Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa species) has gone from an accent to become the foundational plant, interspersed with purple Perilla.

The deck is the same and still offers a view out to the shared neighborhood space, though Jeff mentioned the furniture has been replaced with items that are more low maintenance than what he had before. 

The deck also still showcases pots of plants, shrubs and flowers on all sides. 

These groupings offer so many ideas in terms of the plants one might use, size and scale and position of plants and pots. Both displays use repetition of plants and pots to great effect.

Jeff also still has my favorite pair of evergreens on the raised stone posts on either side of the steps leading from the deck into the garden. This shows one of them in the old garden view. 

The fabulous plantings in the narrow space between the house and driveway are still fabulous . . .

just much more mature. 

Jeff's artful driveway with its espaliered trees and plantings in pots and the ground is my all-time favorite  — after my own rather nice driveway!

 

Jane's garden

One of my favorite gardens is featured in the April issue of Fine Gardening magazine. Only the narrow space between the front of the house and the sidewalk is shown but it is a brilliant garden. It's also a lesson in how even the smallest spaces can be filled with color, texture and tons of creativity. You will have to get a copy of the magazine to see their lovely series of photos of Jane's garden along with a list of plants she's used. I had to laugh when I found an old photo from 2012 I took of this same garden. Note the tiny Japanese maple with the red leaves by the porch steps. That tree is now touching the porch roof and this whole area is stunningly mature and gorgeous and well-worth the purchase price of the magazine.

Here's what the cover of the issue looks like. The story is titled "Two Takes on Foundation Plantings."

Dreaming of June

Last June we toured a private garden that verged on what I would consider an estate garden. Certainly its location in the Highlands neighborhood right next door to the home of the president of the UW System, suggested a treat was in store. As it turned out, the homeowner — who is also the chief gardener and designer — was as down to earth as his garden was heavenly. 

Love the way the flower buds on the Spirea echo the foliage on the Barberry.

The same plants from the first two images above but viewed from a distance.

This is a closer look at the plants on the left side of the grass path above.

Not many of us have gardens where the grass paths widen out into serenely beautiful spaces where you can sit back and reflect.

The photo above and the two below all show the same area but from different viewpoints. 

The variegated leaves on the Dogwood tree are the clue to where you are.

Moss and millstones

A gentleman with a terrific-looking Wisconsin moss garden recently spoke about moss at the monthly meeting of the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society. He's a collector of moss, bringing it home from wherever he finds it. I'm a collector of moss as well. When moss finds my garden I leave it where it lands and nurture it. The moss that wants my conditions finds me; I never go searching for it.

I've got a nice collection of mossy areas in my garden now: on the ground, on stepping stone paths and rocks in the pond, on the roof of our house. The roof of the fence Mark designed and built had a nice blanket of moss until the turkeys landed there and removed the moss and a layer of cedar shingles during liftoff.

I don't water my moss or really do anything to it. It's lushness — or lack thereof — is a visual clue to the amount of light and water an area gets. This millstone (or grindstone, more likely) is richly covered in moss and is surrounded by Adiantum venustum and Epimedium. This moss is so happy it's now colonizing the adjacent ground. 

This grindstone gets much more sun though it is still in a fairly moist planting area as you can see from the Hart's Tongue Fern (Asplenium scolopendrium and Japanese Holly Fern (Cyrtomium fortunei). I think the extra heat and light from the sun is slowing down the growth of the moss on this stone. The type of stone is probably playing a part as well.

We used to have this grindstone mounted like a piece of sculpture in the house. This summer we decided to put it in the garden to add more secure footing at this spot where Japanese forest grass is starting to obscure one of the stepping stones. This grass has been cut back a lot but is really happy and keeps taking over half the path. No sign of moss yet and this is one stone that I hope stays moss-free for the sake of firm footing and safety when crossing the stream.

Wordless Wednesday

The worm has turned and is also being surveyed

Earlier this week I dug out an old shrub that I planted years ago because I remembered one growing at my grandmother's. I decided the memory of it was much nicer than my actual ratty shrub taking up a piece of valuable real estate. It took me a good two hours or more to get that monster out of the ground. The worst part of the job, however, was that there were Asian jumping worms (Amynthas species) in every spade of dirt I turned over. Now when I see a worm it is always an enemy siting. It was a very depressing afternoon. 

The next day Mark and I cleaned up the east side of the house where our garden work area is located. Mark is going to make me a new potting bench but we needed to get all the junk out of the way so he could get started. Piles of prunings, bags of garden debris, old pots and a pile of soil he bought in early spring to re-pot our waterlilies made the space a disaster area. We dealt with all the piles of junk and then lifted up the piece of plastic that had been covering the remains of the dirt pile.

It was immediately apparent to me that jumping worms had been working there. If you look at the photo above you can see how the soil looks like the proverbial "coffee grounds" texture we've been hearing about. The pale spot by the rock in the photo below shows the untouched soil. There's lots of pebbles and debris in this image but I think the difference in soil texture is noticeable. This is the first — and so far only  — place where I have seen any effect from the jumping worms, though this is at least the second year I have seen them in the garden. The number of worms I am finding appears to be higher than last year. 

Wisconsin DNR Invasive Plants and Earthworms Outreach Specialist Bernie Williams said in the WHPS June newsletter, “The best way to get rid of the worms at present — if you are finding one of the adults — try and grab and bag as many of them as you can. At least that way, you’re alleviating that pressure of having the cocoons in your soil. If you put them in a plastic bag and then put them in the sun for 10 minutes or so, you’re going to have a congealed mess of worms ... the humane way to put them out. And then just dispose of them in the trash.”

I used this technique when I was digging out the shrub I mentioned at the top of this post. I had three lunch-sized ziplok baggies each with about a dozen worms. Put the bags on a rock in the sun for the afternoon and then into the trash. So many worms it was hard to decide if I had a chance of making any kind of a difference in my garden in the long term scheme of things. 

I am on a list for email updates from the UW-Madison Arboretum. The Arb has been at the forefront locally of dealing with, learning about and researching jumping worms. They sent me the notice that I've pasted below in its entirety. It came right after my recent jumping worm experiences and definitely got my attention. I am passing it on for anyone who might want to volunteer since so many of us locally are already dealing with this issue.

Invasive jumping worm (Amynthas species) photo from (NTL-LTER) and the UW-Madison Arboretum 

 Volunteers Needed

for Invasive Worm Survey

The North Temperate Lakes Long-Term Ecological Research site (NTL-LTER) and the Arboretum will be surveying Madison properties for the invasive jumping worm (Amynthas species) on September 10. We need volunteers for two opportunities—both will be great learning experiences for those who want to know more about jumping worms:

1. People to help survey properties on September 10 
2. Madison homeowners who do not know if they have the worm and would like their residential site to be part of the survey

If you are interested in either of these opportunities, please keep reading and get in touch by the dates listed below. 

. . .

The North Temperate Lakes Long-Term Ecological Research site (NTL-LTER) and the UW–Madison Arboretum are seeking volunteers to join the Madison Citywide Jumping Worm Survey on Sunday, September 10, 2017, from 1–5 p.m.

Background

The jumping worm is an earthworm native to East Asia, but invasive to Wisconsin. This pest was found in Madison in the fall of 2013, and researchers and land managers are concerned about potential negative effects on soil and plant growth. The jumping worm is also of considerable concern to local gardeners and homeowners who worry about potential damaging effects to their property. This fall, our team seeks to learn about the spread of the invasive jumping worm in the Madison area.

Project Goals

The project's research goal is to get a first assessment (which could be repeated in subsequent years) of the distribution and abundance of Amynthas spp. in the Madison metro area. Specifically we aim to determine:

1. What is the current distribution of Asian jumping worms (Amynthas spp.) in the Madison metropolitan area? (i.e., where are the worms?)
2. How do the presence and abundance of Asian jumping worms (Amynthas spp.) vary with land-cover categories? (i.e., what habitats do they prefer or avoid?)

Volunteer Information

We are seeking volunteers to help us survey for jumping worms in residential, park, prairie, and forested sites throughout the city of Madison. We are also looking for additional Madison residential properties to include in the survey, especially from homeowners who do not know if their property contains the jumping worm.

If you are interested in having your Madison property surveyed as part of the Madison Citywide Worm Survey and you are unaware if you have the jumping worm, please email your name and contact information to Kelly O’Ferrell by August 28, 2017. *Note: Residential properties will be randomly selected from responses until we have met our site quota.

If you are interested in participating as a survey volunteer in the Madison Citywide Jumping Worm Survey on Sunday September 10, 2017, from 1–5 p.m., please email your name and contact information to Kelly O’Ferrell by September 1, 2017.

Thank you!

The Madison Citywide Jumping Worm Survey Team

. . .

Here is a link to the The North Temperate Lakes Long-Term Ecological Research web site if you are curious as to who they are. 

Polar opposites

I am always amazed and amused at how many serious gardeners live next door to their polar opposite. You know what I mean: one house is planted from side to side and front to back while the neighboring property hasn't much in the way of greenery other than grass.

We saw another instance of this pattern on a recent tour of gardens of members of the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society. Before we enjoyed the garden we'd come to see, Mark could not resist a few shots of the next-door neighbor's property.  

Mark managed to sneak a peek at the person's back yard and discovered a tiny vegetable garden well-caged against critters. Personally I was surprised that someone with that much grass would have had a gravel driveway rather than one with a sharply edged concrete surface.

Don't know when I've seen that much mown grass that wasn't a golf course! Maintaining a garden is a lot more fun.

Avian residents

We saw these two resident creatures in the gardens we visited with the WHPS earlier this week. The first one nicely suggests the quality of that owner's garden but the second one seemed a bit of an anomaly in that garden. A nice pair of birds nevertheless.

Peony extravaganza

Every summer the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society (WHPS) sponsors tours of members' gardens. They begin at 4 p.m. and go until dark. Descriptions of the gardens and directions are emailed to the members and you are on your own as to the order you want to visit the gardens in and how long you want to spend at each one. The first visits were held on Tuesday of this week on an evening that could not have been more perfect. 

This garden surrounds a small house located on a street corner with no sidewalks. There was not a bare inch of ground other than pathways, patios and the driveway (below). 

The gardener says she is trying to lower maintenance by using peonies and lilies. She had an absolutely amazing array of peonies, including tree peonies most of which had already bloomed. If the peonies were labeled I did not see them, so I can't provide any information.

My 2017 list: Bulbs

The first bulbs I bought for the coming season were snowdrops from Carolyn's Shade Garden. They will be delivered "in the green" in March or April, having already bloomed. The other bulbs I ordered elsewhere will get planted this spring and bloom later this season if I'm lucky. The photo below shows the stunning Nectaroscordum tripedale that I planted in 2016. I'm hoping they return again this year. 

The Nectaroscordum are growing just to the right of Lilium asiaticum 'Landini. I had hoped the two bulbs might share some bloom time but you can see from the dried up Nectaroscordum flower heads that it did not happen.  

I'm hoping I have better luck getting the L. 'landini' to bloom in tandem with my new lily, L. asiaticum 'Forever Susan' which I'm planting across a path from 'landini.' I first saw 'Forever Susan' last summer in my friend Cindy's garden and it was a stunner. Cindy's garden was on the WHPS members' garden tour on the same night as mine last June.

In the second photo from the top you will notice L. leichtlinii in bloom (and bud) on the edges of the picture. They are yellow touched with a bit of orange and I am picking up that combo on the other side of the path as well. I already have L. henrii in place (directly below) and I'm adding L. longiflorum 'Apricot Fudge.' 

Bulb connoisseurs Brent and Becky Heath describe 'Apricot Fudge' as a very unusual, "almost rose-like" form. It certainly is not typical looking, judging from the photo on their website (below).

Then I saw this Alstroemeria 'Inca Ice' at Avant Gardens and had to have it. Imagine, an Alstroemeria that's hardy in Zone 5. I only ordered one plant because I haven't a clue what they actually look like growing in a garden. And I will believe it's hardy in this zone when I see it. But look at this baby! It would be a swoon-worthy moment if its bloom time managed to cross that of L. 'Apricot Fudge.'

I've gardened for enough years that I am well aware that flowers rarely bloom on a strict schedule or in concert with other plants the way we hope and plan. That's why I am such a fan of foliage: it looks good all season. Foliage combos always work all the time.

These lilies have dramatic flowers but stems and leaves that don't make a big statement or take up a big space. They can be squeezed in between other plants so they disappear once they've flowered. But one can always hope that perhaps one of these lovely floral matches will prove to be made on earth and not just in my heavenly dreams.