Each Little World

Peony Heaven

When I think about my family's garden "history," it's mostly about vegetables. Though there were flowers in the yards at the houses where I grew up, I think they were there when we moved in. In his later years my Dad had Alzheimer's, and while he was still able to live at home, my most lasting memories of him are in the garden tending Peonies. Thus the Peonies in my garden always remind me of him even though I mostly grow species Peonies and not the big blowsy beauties we had. 

Though my garden is packed full, I think I have room for one more Peony. And this spring, Klehm's Song Sparrow Nursery in Avalon, Wisconsin, is offering the beauty I've had my eye on since it was first introduced. I've been waiting for the price to come down but it hasn't. And I'm not going to wait any longer to add Paeonia 'Golden Angel' to my garden.

KLEHM SONG SPARROW WEBSITE PHOTO

Here's Klehm's description: "Newly emergent stems have red and gold color to add an intriguing accent to spring bulbs such as daffodils. Then, as the foliage completely unfurls it shows the gold tones that inspired its name. As the season progresses the foliage matures to green. Single soft cream yellow blossoms are lovely atop the foliage."

SOLARIS FARMS WIKI IMAGE

Isn't this a stunning plant?!! I have had little success with P. Molly the Witch and this seems like an excellent replacement for her. I wish I had a bed that I could devote to Peonies. I'd grow one or two old classics for the fragrance because the newer ones usually only have a very slight fragrance. But I love the colors and forms and quirky flower types that are available these days. 

'Coral Charm' (below) was a big breakthrough in Peony color and it's easy to see why it is an award winner. 

P. 'Spumoni Whisper' is swoon-worthy beside having a great name!

I used to only like the very traditional Peony flowers. But over years of looking at Klehm Peonies, I've come to appreciate some of the forms that are quite unusual and not at all what comes to mind when one says "Peony."

'Daisy Coronet' is a perfect example of what I mean. She's kooky but has a large dose of dramatic charm with those dark maroon-red pistils! It's worth mentioning that 'Daisy Cornet' is an early bloomer with small 2-3" flowers and the plant is only 22 inches tall. That means she can be blended into a garden more easily than some of the more showy Peonies.

Roy Klehm is the sole hybridizer for 'Daisy Coronet' and 'Spumoni Whisper' and shares the honors with another hybridizer on the other Peonies show here. Though the Klehm family has been specializing in Peonies for generations, they offer a wonderful selection of perennials, shrubs and trees as well. I've bought a lot of different plants from them over the years and highly recommend them. Good value and great packaging so I've never had a plant get harmed in shipping. 

Roy Klehm has spoken to the WHPS many times over the years and often lets members shop in person one day each spring. But I wrote this post because I discovered Klehm long before I found WHPS and think the nursery is well-worth recommending. 

Too cold to think!

Friday afternoon the storm blew in at the exact time forecasters had predicted. We didn't get too much snow, only about 4-5 inches (10-12 cm.). But it's enough to insulate the garden from the cold that came with the storm. At least I hope it is!

The garden looked beautiful. Not a footprint marred the snow, not a sound but the wind.

Despite chilly temps and snowy roads, everyone came to my house for my workshops on Saturday. Lots of sharing of ideas and energizing garden talk.

Sunday morning I was up and out of the house by 9:15 a.m. to go to the annual Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society pot luck, seed exchange etc. It was clear and sunny so the 0 degree F. (-17.77 C.)  temperature didn't seem that bad. 

But this morning, it's -16 degrees F. (-26.66 C.) so Mark and i are hunkering down in front of the fire with books, laptops, and coffee. The Polar Vortex has definitely hit the neighborhood!

Prepping for a pair of workshops

I'm presenting a pair of workshops Saturday on "Recording your Garden." Here's the description: 

"When it comes to your garden, you are the expert; the only person who has been there from the beginning. But memory is an unreliable way to keep track of your plants and all your work, the constant changes you see, the weather and whatnot. Linda Brazill has been journaling about her garden and other subjects for many years. She’ll share ideas and her inspirations about the myriad ways you can record and interact with your garden on this deeper level. Mainly print, some digital but not spreadsheets."

My offering is part of on-going series of programs given by members of the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society and offered mostly free to members. I'm doing mine at my home and limited the group size to eight people counting me. I wanted to do something where we could really interact, talk and share ideas and reflections.

I mention all this because I am going to stay off the computer while I get everything ready today and tomorrow. See you all on Monday!

Winter classes

It doesn't matter how many years I've been gardening, I always look at the classes, lectures and workshops that are being offered locally at the UW-Madison Arboretum, Olbrich Botanical Gardens, Allen Centennial Gardens and through organizations like the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society. Some things are for members only while others are open to the public. 

Last year, I signed up for some lectures at Olbrich and I was hoping they would offer a reprise of my favorite — which it turns out they are doing. "Year in Reviews: Olbrich's Horticultural Highlights of 2018" is being offered by Erin Presley, one of their staff horticulturalists. Erin created one of my favorite sculptures in Olbrich's herb garden last summer, so I am very excited to hear her take on the gardening year. What is so much fun about this topic is that it is a "grab bag" with highs, lows, inspiration from here and there. It is one person's response to the garden and the year and I'm really looking forward to it. 

Olbrich is offering three different programs on dealing with increased rainfall and ways to protect your house and garden through planting and design. There are also a number of food-related and cooking classes, including a few by Huma Siddiqui whose cookbook I own. She is a great presenter. I helped her on a number of occasions when she was teaching at Orange Tree Imports where I worked at the time. Some offerings are geared to children and families while others are for knowledgeable and beginning gardeners, so be sure to check out all the options. 

I don't have personal experience with the offerings through Allen Centennial Gardens but the line-up looks great. I've been a member of WHPS for years and their programs for members are always rewarding. The real benefit of becoming a member of any of these groups is that you get to meet lots of other gardeners, share problems and insights. 

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.