My Fifteen Seconds of Fame: Eat Your Heart Out Warhol!

Gardening In The Shade is the New Utopia – Ron Stevenson, Fergus Horticultural Society

Once established, gardening in the shade has many benefits. Obviously in the shade, water does not evaporate as rapidly. The need for watering is greatly reduced, especially during the heat of summer. Insects proliferate in moist sunny gardens, but seem less of a problem in the shade. Weeding is considerably reduced, as weeds do not germinate without heat. With these major tasks out of the way, a shade garden can be considered to be low maintenance.

The biggest challenge in shade gardening is choosing the right plants. The selection does not have to be limited to Hosta and Ferns. At a recent meeting of the Fergus Horticultural Society, guest speaker Barry Vanderveer asked the imposing question: ‘Why do we garden?’ Vanderveer certainly lives for the plants that grow in his garden, openly referring to them as his ‘children!’ The botanical Latin name of each one rolls off his tongue, with a critique of the merit and growing requirements soon to follow.

By means of a PowerPoint presentation Vanderveer allowed for the audience to be a part of his small plot. He is not an ordinary gardener! He seeks out the rare and unusual that are not readily found in neighborhood garden centres.  Of his numerous personal photographs, a stunning Lady Slipper Orchid [Native] – Cypripedium reginae, and ‘Blue Panda Fumitory – Corydalis flexuosa ‘Blue Panda’ are a must for any shade garden. Also included were ‘Molly the Witch’ Peony [Paeonia mlokosewitschii], Indian Pinks [Spigelia marilandica] Pink Fawn Lily [Erythronuim revolutum] and Umbrella Leaf [Diphylleia cymosa] each one considered a worthy inclusion to a shade garden’s repertoire.

Being a lover of all blue flora, he seeks out little-known, off the beaten path nurseries, to seek unique ‘must have varieties’ to add to his collection of 230! He spends winters scouring catalogues from destinations near and far, just so he can add another of his ‘must have’ selections! Vanderveer believes that gardening, ‘If not for the opportunity to indulge in the re-creationist philosophy that resides deeply within each of us,’ can be practiced in any accessible piece of ground. Simply by removing unnecessary materials, carrying out soil testing and pushing the limits of growing zones , any space can be a Utopia, when continually cared for.

Vanderveer’s present garden is the product of removing wheelbarrows full of rubble from a subdivision plot. This unclaimed piece of land was evaluated and brought into a garden vogue. Only a person with a long term vision would conceive of capturing and converting such a space. He believes that all immense gardening tasks must be scaled down to manageable chunks. Starting small and bringing tiny parts into usable space made the task much easier.

‘We all want to create our own personal Eden, that sanctuary of peace and tranquility that we can call our own,’ said Vanderveer, adding that ‘if the desire strikes, we can indulge in a little naughtiness of our own!’ Every gardener has the opportunity to create their own Garden of Eden. ‘Its ironic, considering that a garden was the supposed site of the ‘original sin,’ that so many gardeners try to recreate that very setting!’ he mused.

Vanderveer is a life long horticulturalist who welcomes visitors to the local nursery where he is employed and is happy to suggest and locate plants of distinction. ‘What is an obsessed plantaholic to do when confronted with a postage stamp sized plot of fertile soil? Why cram it full of rare and unusual perennials of course!’

  

‘Conformity simply isn’t a word contained in this gardener’s dictionary. If there’s room to step, there’s obviously room for another plant….. or three!’ Vanderveer believes that, ‘the success of a garden starts from the ground up! Knowing your soil, and most importantly, knowing the type of soil that your plants will respond to most favorably is key to creating a successful garden.’

For a strong visual presentation of some of his plant specimens, a weekly visit to tezalizard.blogspot.com is an excellent catalogue of possible additions to any shaded oasis. He is very generous with his photographs labeled with botanical Latin nomenclature so that hopeful gardeners are able to track down species of specific interest. He has a fluid horticultural knowledge of the individual species that he coddles in both the nursery setting and his own garden. In botanical speak, his expertise in a humble demeanor makes for an enjoyable evening of the commitment that gardening can bring to the audience.

Words cannot express my humbled appreciation to Ron Stevenson for this wonderful editorial of my recent presentation at my Hort Society’s monthly meeting! Your words of praise have deeply touched me. Heartfelt thanks dear friend!

Chelsea’s New Darlings

Anemone ‘Wild Swan,’ the winner of this year’s coveted Plant of the Year at Chelsea, is on the tip of everyone’s tongue as news of it’s triumphant win begins to spread through the world of horticultural interest, so it should come as no surprise that it caused a rather substantial blip on my radar!

Liz MacGregor bred this stunning beauty for Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants, and is said to be the result of breeding spring and fall flowering Anemones together! The wonderful two tone flowers [white above and a subtle mauve-purple beneath] are said to bloom from May through to October, making this a definite all season showstopper in the garden! Sales are expected to be nothing less than brisk when the plant goes on sale next year! And now I have my first Wish list plant for 2012.

Say Barry, have you happened to have seen that startling blue flowered Verbascum? Excuse me? Thompson and Morgan placed third with their smashingly divine selection, Verbascum ‘Blue Lagoon.’ The hairs on my arms are still standing tall! MUST HAVE THIS PLANT!

Sadly, I was unable to uncover a photo of the second place winner, Saxifraga ‘Anneka Hope’ bred by Matthew Ruane for Kevock Garden Plants.

Vicarious Gardening

  I have one of the best imaginable jobs, ever! Imagine if you will, being able to talk gardening eight hours of the day, not only with favourite clients, but with virtually total strangers, who over the course of a gardening season quickly become gardening friends. Gardening friends might I add, who graciously open their gardens for me to visit!

No two gardens are the same, nor for that matter are any two people that one meets during a day at the garden centre. It has been a wonderful learning experience for me, one whose proclivities tend to lean towards the shadier side of life!

And yet each of the gardens that I have been privileged to have gained intimate access to, all speak to me on a deeply subconscious level that only a fellow gardener would be able to understand. Did I mention that I have the best job ever!

Astrological Gardening

I had to laugh out loud whilst enjoying Anna Povard’s ‘The Curious Gardener,’ in a section where she translates the signs of the zodiac to gardening tendencies and practices….. tell me, was she not dead on?

Gemini: Criticism never goes down well with Gemini’s, but is it really such a good idea to plant an all black [substitute with blue in my case] garden? It is voguish, certainly, but just the teensiest bit limiting. You can have too much, even of Ophiopogon! [substitute with Corydalis flexuosa] Finance continues to be a problem and will be until you learn that you do not HAVE to throw away the potted Camellias after they have finished flowering. You are good at pretending to know more than you do, love variety and are a compulsive buyer of garden gadgets. [substitute with plants in this case!] Speaking of which, there is the most amazing gizmo around now which cuts edges, shaves legs and minces Parsley!. Not all at the same time of course!

LMAO funny!

Up Close and Personal: Before the Rains

At Long Last… When a Star Falls From the Sky

However and whichever way you choose to look at it, the genus Athyrium never fails to impress! While hesitant at first to add this showstopper to the Shaded Walk, it is now one of the first displays of beauty to leave me breathless!

Kirengeshoma koreana, with its cool, waxy, whipped buttery yellow tubular flowers is a long lived, must have perennial for the woodland garden. I love the silvery patina that covers the newly emerging foliage at this time of year. but alas, so do the damned slugs! A roll of copper mesh has thus far been the best garden related purchase of the season thus far! Cool, rainy weather has created a veritable breeding ground for theses damnable nasties, and I refuse to risk losing even one of my children to their voracious, unbiased appetites!

More gardeners need to be aware of not only the beauty, but the amazing versatility of the genus Epimedium. If you’ve got dry shade, this delicate yet resilient plant would be my first choice. I love that its foliage remains handsome throughout the season, long after its stunning flowers [sometimes spurred, sometimes not] that come in a fantasmagorical rainbow of colours, have faded. Be forewarned, its another one of the many genera that for some easily becomes addiction forming! [Thanks in part to the tireless work of breeder Darryl Probst!]

There WAS a time when you would not find a yellow flower in any of my borders. In the early days of growing this wonderful woodlander, Saruma henryi, I told myself it was because of the wonderfully tomentose, heart shaped, burgundy infused foliage, but as the years pass, I find myself being almost hypnotized by its brilliant yellow beacon-like flowers! Who says you can’t teach an old dog a new trick every now and again!

  … and it was only yesterday that I realized I must be doing something right….. why else would a star fall from the sky and land in the rare and unusual border?

The Excitement Builds

Finally managed a day without rain which allowed for me to get into the garden and check on it’s progress. The cool, wet weather has provided the ideal conditions for most of the residents of Teza’s Garden, with the exception of a couple of ferns that didn’t manage to over winter. Speaking of ferns, I never grow weary of Adiantum pedantum, our native ‘Maidenhair’ as she is lovingly known as. Here she is unfurling her wonderful ebony spined fronds atop a wonderful blue foliaged Hosta, whose name is ‘Ice Prancer.’ Of course, not to be outdone, I am happy to report that many of my ‘children’ are well on their way to another season of exceptional beauty! I was tickled a little more than ‘pink’ to discover a seedling of Anemonella thalictroides ‘Cameo,’ a beguiling dainty, adorable sprite that I was certain had met its demise by means of an unwieldy trowel! Yet another pleasant surprise for 2011!

  

What was supposed to be a pink flowering Erythronium japonicum has, for the second year in a row [I guess they don’t have the capacity to change colour on odd seasons! LOL!] emerged yellow, but what a sumptuous shade of yellow. That ‘whipped buttery’ shade that people snicker at whenever it escapes my mouth! Another whipped confection is an unidentified Fritillaria that I should know the name of!

Most are aware of my adoration towards the genus Polygonatum, with my favourite being Polygonatum falcatum ‘Variegatum’ with its sublime wine infused stems and foliage that looks as though an artist painted wonderful cream markings on each leaf! No two are the same! My den of vipers, aka Arisaema triphyllum as spread magnificently from where it was originally positioned, greatly assisting with the overall plan of turning the walk into a shaded glen of wonderful naturalized colonies! Abies koreana ‘Silberlocke’ – last year’s star addition - has taken hold and its lower branches are covered in these amazing conelets! [Yes, a word of my own creation! LOL!]

 

The many shades of blue that reside in the gardens. I do admit to being gaga over the colour of the ‘sea-horse’ blooms on my latest Corydalis introduction. They truly are a shocking electric blue, and when suspended by the ruby infused petioles atop a sea of blue grey foliage…… Sweet Jesus, perfection is so close! Of course there is one other blue in the garden, but I am trying my best to not curse it, only checking it to make sure the copper necklace is thwarting off those damnable slugs, to check for water and to add fresh compost every month!

Fingers crossed that we maintain the clear skies that this evening has brought forth, and that the temps continue to climb, at least throughout the long weekend – business is counting on clear skies and a full parking lot!

If It Rains One More Day……

… the gills that have appeared on the side of my neck will come in handy! I remember reading somewhere last Fall that Spring 2011 was going to be unseasonably wet and cool. Yup! The ‘Heathcliff’ part of my personality says that the kids [my shady characters] absolutely LOVE the cool, damper weather, with my newly acquired Cory ‘Blue Heron’ putting on an electric blue display that leaves me speechless every time I pass it on the way into the house!

And then there is the stunning Glaucidium palmatum, that even now, a week after her flower first opened, continues to dazzle me with her unquestionable beauty. She’s another one that doesn’t like the heat and humidity!

  Of course, the downside to all of this beauty is that everything seems to be close to a month behind where it normally is. I went poking to see if I could feel the nubs of Cupripedium reginae, and still nothing! Last year she was starting to unfurl her fabulous pleated foliage. I hope that she’s just languishing, trying to keep warm beneath the soil’s surface. I do worry about my children so! In the meantime there is nothing to do but sit tight and wait….. I’m not ready to start building the Ark just yet!

Independant’s Day: Thank You!

In a nutshell, our very existence relies upon gardeners like yourself, who, when selecting plants for their gardens, look to people who spend their livelihood growing and nurturing a comprehensive selection of not only the ‘tried and true’ selections, but will also provide you with ‘something a little rare and unusual,’ if only to give you a gardening challenge.

You are the gardener who enjoys coming into the garden centre with one dimensional dreams, confident that our competent and knowledgeable staff will be able to help you turn these dreams into three dimensional reality. You are the gardeners who demand top quality products, who are willing to spend a few more dollars if it equates to a plant that will survive more than one season.

You are the gardener who comes in looking for one associate in particular, confident that they will be able to answer all of your questions – regardless of how inane they might appear. You are the gardener who thrills in stopping by, if only to let us know that you’ve managed to overwinter that Zone 7 beauty that neither you nor the obsessed perennial manager could resist. You are the gardener who, as hard as it might be, goes out of your way to learn the botanical latin name of at least one plant a year! You are the gardener whose face lights up when we know you by name, and better yet, ask how that somewhat lackluster Beautybush is faring a year later!

You are the reason that we are here. You make our job a pleasurable joy! We would not be here without you, and for this we give thanks!

My Shimmering Beauty!

 Allow me to boast, if only for a moment! Please? Arriving home from a day spent in D’s fabulous gardens, I decided to sneak a peak and see how the flower bud of Glaucidium palmatum was doing! Need I say more?

Something tells me that my Meconopsis will have some serious competition if and when they bloom! In the meantime, I also added another long lusted after prized possession to the garden as well:

Acer campestre ‘Carnival’ has been on my MUST HAVE list since first stumbling across its diminutive beauty in the display gardens of Lost Horizons. A sublime variegated Hedge Maple, its strikingly variegated foliage emerges with delicate blush pink edges that eventually turn a creamy white in colour. Because of this, it requires a partially shaded placement to ensure that it [foliage] doesn’t burn or scorch with the unforgiving noon day sunlight. Somewhat of a shady character if you will! How appropriate! 1.5m in height, I am looking to the day when it will help to camouflage the bland white siding of the neighbors house. Four years I have been trailing this rascal, and finally, thanks to the great people at Canadale Nurseries, I now have one to call my own!

I was this close to picking up a much smaller specimen at the recent Rock Garden and Hardy Plant Sale, where, after spying it hidden toward the back of a table of rare and unusual trees, was dumbfounded to see it priced so cheaply! [$33.00 – an absolute steal let me tell you!] Luckily for me, logic prevailed and I passed it over for this beauty that had been patiently waiting for me in the protection of the annual house. Every morning we exchanged greetings, until finally my boss suggested it come home with me. She could see or sense the separation anxiety perhaps?

Time to call it a day. Nematode spraying tomorrow if the thunderstorms hold off long enough!