Category: The Gardening Guy

Worth giving containers a try

Recently I was at my local food coop and chatted with a friend about her gardens. She told me that she is having fabulous luck growing tomatoes, peppers and more in a bucket system she constructed. Her inspiration was a book by Vermont’s Ed Smith, who has written a number of great books, including The Vegetable Gardener’s Container Bible. And although I have used the Ed Smith system in the past, it’s good to see how another person uses it, so I visited her to see what she has done.

Susan Pillsbury has nine or 10 self-watering containers, each made from two 5-gallon buckets. Here is what she did: The bottom bucket is the water reservoir; the top bucket, which nestles inside it, holds soil mix. There is a 3- or 4-inch piece of PVC plumber’s pipe (3-inch diameter) that stands up in the bottom bucket and is full of holes she drilled in it.

The piece of pipe sits in the lower bucket and supports the upper bucket. She used a 2-inch hole saw to put a wide hole in the bottom of the upper bucket, right in the middle.

That short piece of pipe gets filled with soil mix, and because it is sitting in the water reservoir, the soil is constantly wet. Like a wet sponge, it wicks water into the soil in the upper bucket. The wicking action keeps the soil for the plant roots lightly moist. The problem with growing veggies in big pots or buckets is often that they dry out or get waterlogged.

Her lower buckets all have one-inch holes drilled just below the bottom of the upper bucket. If she gets a flood of rain, water passes through the upper bucket and out the lower bucket through those holes. This also allows her to fill the water reservoir from the bottom with a hose. Susan also drilled lots of quarter-inch holes in the bottom of the upper bucket for added drainage.

I asked Susan what kind of soil she used in the buckets. She bought potting mix and mixed it with her own homemade compost in a 50-50 mix. Because a 5-gallon bucket has plenty of soil for roots, and she uses a rich mixture, she does not add any fertilizer.

What does all this cost? Not much, really. Her biggest expense was the plastic buckets, which cost about $5 each, though they are often available free from building contractors. A big bag of potting soil might cost $10 to $12 and would be enough for three or four buckets, once mixed with homemade compost. Purchased compost would add to the cost, but most gardeners make their own. Plastic pipe is not expensive.

I noticed that Susan’s tomatoes were free of disease. Most tomatoes planted in the ground have at least some blight that blackens and kills lower leaves, eventually leaving a plant bare of leaves by September. The most common form of blight lives in the soil and splashes up onto leaves when it rains. But since her plants are in potting soil and cured compost, she has avoided the disease — at least so far. Not only that, her plants are in a fenced dog pen (to avoid deer) and no tomatoes have been grown in there in the past. Obviously blight could blow in and infect her plants, but so far, so good.

Next year Susan intends to grow corn in her self-watering containers. She will use six sets of buckets, each with one or more corn plants. Placed in close proximity, this should allow good pollination. From what she has read, she will need corn plants that are relatively small, given the amount of soil each will be planted in. I watched an online video of corn planted in 30-gallon totes with up to 11 plants in each tote. The ears were large and each plant produced more than one ear.

I called Ed Smith to see if he had any updates since writing The Vegetable Gardener’s Container Bible. He and his wife, Sylvia, still grow some vegetables in containers as well as in the ground. Ed turned 80 recently and likes using containers so he doesn’t have to bend quite so far.

Ed told me that he doesn’t bother with self-watering containers any more. He has several 2-foot by 3-foot containers he got from Gardener’s Supply as self-watering containers, but removed the baffle separating the water reservoir from the planting space, giving him deeper containers that he waters as needed from above. He is semi-retired and rarely travels, so that works for him. If you are at work five days a week, a self-watering container is probably a better idea for you.

I‘ve experimented with self-watering containers and ordinary containers. The best type I’ve used is called a “Veg Trug” and is sold by Gardener’s Supply. It is a tall V-shaped wooden bin 6 feet by 30 inches and 16 inches deep in the middle. I’ve grown tomatoes, peppers, herbs and flowers in it with good success — and no bending over. It’s made of cedar; mine is in its fifth summer of use and still going strong. I empty it each winter and put it inside, but reuse the potting soil, just adding a little compost and fertilizer each spring.

Even if you’re a city dweller with little space you can grow a few things on a deck or between the sidewalk and the street. Give it a try!

Featured photo: Tomatoes growing without blight using self-watering system with buckets. Courtesy photo.

What to do about invasives

Since ancient times, explorers have brought back seeds and plants from exotic lands. Some, like the apple, have been a boon to the citizens of their adoptive home. Others, like the notorious Japanese knotweed (a.k.a. “bamboo”), have been more headache than boon.

New England, with its cold climate, is blessed with a natural defense against some invasives: our winters. But many others have settled in and are taking over —‌ or trying to. It is up to us, the gardeners, to be responsible; we need to learn what the problem plants are, and we need to get rid of any we have growing on our property.

Invasive plants are those that reproduce rapidly and take over wild habitats, out-competing the plants that Mother Nature provided, stealing light, water and nutrients from less aggressive plants. By definition, they are alien species, plants that have come here from other countries.

Most invasives produce large numbers of seeds that are distributed by birds, by the wind, or by water. In most cases, invasives are also difficult to remove or eradicate once established and have extensive root systems that preclude simply pulling them up.

Back home, in their country of origin, most invasives have predators —‌ insects or diseases —‌ that keep their numbers in check. They may have come inadvertently or been brought by well-intentioned people who thought they were pretty or had some use for them. Some, like burning bush, barberry and Norway maple, have been introduced and sold because they are essentially indestructible —‌ and pretty.

For starters, you can learn to identify the prohibited species in your state, and eliminate them on your own land. Check with your local University Extension service to obtain a list for your state.

Getting rid of invasives, however, may not be easy for two reasons: you may like the invasive species, and may have planted it before you knew better. Secondly, it may not be easy to eliminate —‌ even with the use of herbicides (which you probably don’t want to use anyhow).

The Norway maple, for example, is a lovely-looking tree that grows fast and survives well even in urban areas. It will grow in sun or partial shade and is not bothered by road salt. If you have one that is shading your house, I can understand why you might be unwilling to cut it down.

If you are a city dweller, you may assume that since there are no forests nearby, it shouldn’t matter if you keep your Norway maple (or other invasive species). But it’s not just wind or birds that distribute seeds. Runoff can carry seeds to an outlet in a natural environment. Seed from your tree can end up in streams, rivers, ponds. Thus even city dwellers can make a difference, helping to control the propagation of this invasive tree by cutting down theirs.

To see if maple trees growing wild near you are Norway maples, do this simple test: Snap off a leaf at its attachment point, and look at the stem. If it oozes a milky sap, it’s a Norway maple. The leaves also tend to be broader and larger than sugar or red maple leaves.

For organic gardeners, getting rid of invasives is not easy. For herbaceous weeds, think lawnmower. Once you have the stalks (and as much of the root mass as possible) removed, plant grass seed. Mow it every week and the roots will not get recharged. Stems will continue to grow for years, but if you mow it, you can win.

Digging the stump of an invasive shrub like barberry, bush honeysuckle or burning bush is a pain in the neck, but you probably can do it. Digging the stump of a large Norway maple is not practical. But there are folks with backhoes and stump grinders, and the expertise to do it.

If your woods are full of small seedlings of invasive trees or shrubs, you may wish to get a tool for pulling saplings called a weed wrench. This tool has a gripping mouth-like part and a long handle to provide the leverage. A weed wrench of the proper size allows a 150-pound office worker to pull out shrubs and small trees that otherwise would not be possible to yank.

Why bother digging out invasives? You may decide to do it for the sake of your grandchildren, or for the environment. Even in states with good laws prohibiting the sale of invasive plants, no one can force you to cut down or pull out your invasive plants. But being a little selfish is OK, too. Think of all the great plants you can buy and plant if you get rid of those invasives. And think how wonderful it would be if wildflowers and native plants started flourishing in your woods.

Featured photo: Purple loosestrife is beautiful, but can take over a wetland, but will also grow in dry places if given a chance. Courtesy photo.

What to use and how to use it

Mulch is commonly used to help suppress weeds and to hold in soil moisture in dry times. There are many different kinds of mulch and it is important to get the right kind, and to apply it properly if you wish to get the benefits of mulch.

The most commonly used type in flower and shrub borders is sold as bark mulch. It is sold in bags, or by the scoop at garden centers to people who have access to pickup trucks. Bulk mulch is less expensive than bagged mulch if you have a truck or can borrow one from your brother-in-law.

I’m an organic gardener, so I avoid the orange and black mulches. Read the bag before you buy any to see what is in it. According to a report from the University of Massachusetts, the dyes themselves are probably not toxic, but the wood is usually recycled wood from pallets, old decks and scrap. Those sources are dry and accept dye more easily than fresh bark or chipped branches. Recycled pressure-treated wood, if older stuff, may contain arsenic; pallets may have been exposed to spilled toxins.

I often see deep layers of mulch to keep weeds down. However, a layer 4 inches deep will also keep a short rain shower from getting to the soil and your plants. I use an inch or two of mulch, maximum. Yes, some aggressive weeds will poke through a thin layer of mulch, so I try to do a good weeding first.

Chopped leaves are wonderful mulch. Last fall we raked up our leaves and stored them outdoors in a pile. This summer we ran that pile through a chipper/shredder and turned it into a fine product we use as mulch. You can also use your mower to chop fall leaves before raking them. I have friends who store the chopped leaves in bags in the barn until needed. Chopped leaves rarely blow away after they have been rained on.

In addition to weed suppression, a layer of mulch keeps soils from drying out quickly in the hot summer sun. Essentially, it shades the soil, keeping it moist and cool. In the spring I do not mulch my vegetable garden until after soil temperatures have reached their summer level — say, 60 degrees or more.

In May, I want the sun to heat up the soil as my plants need warm soil to grow in, and seeds need warm soil to germinate. And yes, that means weed seeds will germinate too. But weeding or hoeing the early weeds is not bad and goes quickly — just be sure to get the weeds before they get too big.

Mulch gets broken down over time by soil microbes. That is a good thing — wood chips or leaves that break down add organic matter to your soil and encourage earthworms to aerate the soil and add their castings to the soil, and they are rich in minerals.

Some gardeners tell me that they worry about soil microbes using up nitrogen in the soil as they break down mulch. A nitrogen-starved plant has yellowish leaves, not dark green leaves. But I doubt that you‘ve seen that occur, even in flower beds with plenty of mulch. If it has been a problem, or you worry it will occur, apply some slow-release organic fertilizer on the soil surface before mulching.

In the vegetable garden I mulch with straw or hay. Straw is sold as seed-free and is often grown and cut before seeds are formed. Nonetheless, straw often does have seeds, much to the dismay of gardeners who have paid a premium price for it. Buy it from a source you trust!

Hay is just grass grown for animal feed that has gotten wet after cutting. Those pampered cows or horses won’t eat it, so it is sold as mulch for a few bucks a bale.

I always lay down two to four layers of newspaper on the ground before applying hay or straw. This accomplishes two things: it keeps light away from any weeds that germinate even with a layer of hay, and it slowly breaks down and adds more organic matter to the soil.

In the old days newspapers used dyes with heavy metals, including lead. But now inks are made with soy products and are said to be non-toxic, or at least free of heavy metals. The newspaper itself is made from cellulose derived from trees, though some chemicals are used in producing the paper.

Black plastic will keep weeds from germinating, but it breaks down and goes into the landfill. It’s also ugly, and I avoid it. There are various “landscape fabrics” to put under mulch that do help, though pernicious weeds can grow through some kinds. The woven kind is more susceptible to that.

What about papers that have been through a shredder? I don’t find them easy to use or aesthetically pleasing. What about coffee grounds? These are quite acidic, and if you collect them at your local coffee shop, use them only for acid-loving plants like blueberries, hollies or azaleas.

I use no mulch in my mature flower beds. By letting perennials mature and spread, they will choke out almost any weeds, except perhaps in early spring. But by now, they shade out all but the most difficult of weeds.

Featured photo: This new bed needs mulch to keep down weeds and hold in moisture. Courtesy photo.

Vines offer special features

The story of Jack, of Bean Stalk fame, appealed to me as a boy, and still does. I love climbing vines and grow many, including those that are perennial or annual flowers, and some vegetables. Vines are a great way to save space and to get blossoms up and visible.

In the vegetable garden I have had great luck growing cucumbers on trellises. I made a simple frame to support my cukes, and you can, too. You can use four 6-foot-long 2-by-2 pieces of lumber for the framework. Attach them in pairs with simple gate hinges from the hardware store. Then space them 5 feet apart with pieces of strapping at the top and bottom, and attach chicken wire for the vines to grab on to.

I used a cordless drill and short sheet rock screws to put it all together. I made it sturdier by cutting short pieces of strapping to go from the front legs to the back legs. To ensure it doesn’t blow over, I drove a hardwood-grade stake into the ground on each end, and screwed it to that strapping. Once the vines are long enough, lift them up onto the chicken wire, and they will quickly attach to it and grow up.

Other vines will grow up on trellises, too, including squashes and gourds of all sorts. For heavier fruits you may want to build your trellis with two-by-fours, and perhaps to use stronger wire mesh or the stuff used to reinforce concrete that comes in 4-foot by 8-foot pieces.

If you have only grown bush beans, you should also try pole beans. As the name implies, these will encircle a pole and grow up 8 feet or more. The great thing about them is that if you keep on picking them, they will produce beans all summer. Bush beans produce just one load of beans over a three-week period, and then they are done.

Beans fix nitrogen, taking it from the air and storing it in usable form in nodes in the roots, but only if the soil has a certain bacteria to work with your beans. You can buy inoculants to make sure your beans do fix nitrogen, and can add some to the soil and water it in, even now.

Climbing hydrangea is a perennial woody vine that looks good all year. It is slow to get started, but once established (after a few years) it grows quickly. It does well on the shady north side of a building, a place often difficult for flowers. It will attach to brick or stone, but needs to be attached to a wood building, either with a trellis or with individual ties. It blooms in June, but the large white panicles look good long after, even into winter.

There are many types of clematis but all have wonderful blossoms, some 6 inches wide or more, others small but profuse. Most will grow 6 to 10 feet tall; some die back to the ground each year while others have woody vines that send out new shoots and flowers each year. The key to success is to give the vines plenty of sunshine, but to protect the roots with shade from other plants to keep them cool. There are spring, summer and fall bloomers. Some are fragrant, others not.

If you have lived in a warmer part of the country you may long for wisteria, a woody vine that blooms profusely with blue or purple flowers, and occasionally in shades of pink and white. Each blossom is actually a cluster of blossoms that hang down like a cluster of grapes. Although most wisteria varieties will survive our winters, most bloom on “old wood” and the flower buds get killed in winter.

I grow two varieties that do bloom in Zone 4 because they bloom on “new wood,” or this year’s growth. One is called Blue Moon, a hybrid developed in Minnesota. The other is Amethyst Falls, a native variety with smaller leaves and blossoms. Both bloom for me in late June or early July, and re-bloom lightly throughout the summer.

Annual vines are vigorous and delightful, too. We generally grow morning glories from seed. These come in many colors: reds, pinks, blue, purple and white. My favorite is called Grampa Ott. It is a deep purple, and can grow up to 15 feet in a season. It was one of two heritage plants that inspired the creation of the Seed Saver organization and seed company. They grow quickly so it’s not too late to plant some by seed.

Two decorative flowering beans that I like are purple hyacinth bean and scarlet runner bean. The purple hyacinth bean is a beautiful plant: The leaves are purple, along with the flowers and seed pods. It is slow to germinate and get up a pole or trellis, so it is best started in pots indoors before it can be planted outdoors. The young beans are edible raw or cooked, but the mature pods have seeds better used as dry beans.

Scarlet runner beans, like the hyacinth bean, can climb up a support and grow 10 feet in a season. They are quicker to grow than hyacinth beans, and I often start them in the soil near my hexagon cedar shade structure where I also grow wisteria. The bean has bright orange flowers and standard bean leaves. Plant four to six seeds around a pole and watch them grow — just like Jack, the bean stalk kid.

Featured photo: This fall-blooming clematis had hundreds of blossoms. Courtesy photo.

It’s a quiet time for flowers

Mid-summer is often a quiet time for flowers; many gardens have fewer dramatic blossoms than in the spring. I have made an effort to have plenty blooming now. It’s true that my Japanese primroses, peonies and Siberian iris have gone by. But I have many others, both old favorites and lesser-known beauties.

Bee balm has started early this year for me. Contrary to what most gardening books say, bee balm does not need full sun. In fact, full sun makes it dry out and go by more quickly. It does well in moist, rich soil but will grow anywhere. This year I planted some wild bee balm, a native prairie plant. Its scientific name is Monarda fistulosa, and some better garden centers are selling it now, even though it is not as flashy as its domesticated cousin. It’s a light lavender in color, and shorter than the standard varieties. It is terrific for butterflies and bees.

Just finishing up for me is one of the bellflowers, clustered bellflower. It stands about 24 inches tall with purplish-blue globes of small blossoms. It is a fast spreader but pulls easily if it gets out of its place. A relative, peach-leaved bellflower, is preferred by some as it is better-behaved. It has flowers growing up its tall stems and comes in blue or white. Both species are good cut flowers.

Feverfew has been used traditionally to cure many things, but I like it as a white cut flower with a yellow center. Each blossom is small — say half an inch — but there can be hundreds on a big plant. It is rambunctious. It sows seeds and shows up around my garden, but it is easily pulled. It keeps well in an arrangement.

Betony is in bloom now, too. It is in the same genus as lamb’s ears but has green, not silvery, leaves and sends up lovely purplish flowers on stiff stalks that look great in a vase. The best variety is one called Hummelo, named after the Dutch hometown of Piet Oudolf, designer of the High Line Gardens in NYC. But Hummel means bumblebee in German, which is appropriate — it attracts bees over its long bloom time. Small flowers appear all along its tall stems.

An uncommon flower in bloom for me now is called false hydrangea because the leaves are similar to those of the PeeGee hydrangea, although the flowers are totally different. This gem grows in full to part shade in moist, rich soil. It has small bluish-lavender cup-shaped flowers.

There is another false hydrangea, Deinanthe bifida, which has white flowers. Both are rated as hardy to Zone 5. I am in Zone 4 and have lost some plants, but others have survived.

A huge, dramatic plant is the giant fleece flower. The blooms are a bit like astilbe flowers on steroids. The hollow stems stand up to 8 feet tall, and flower panicles are sometimes 18 inches from top to bottom. It does not spread by root, but each year the clump gets larger. I just cut back a good portion of mine, as the plant was shading out nearby plants. It would take a pickax and a strong back to dig it up – which I have, on one occasion. It likes moist soil and full sun,

Moist soil is also good for Japanese iris. In fact, it is often grown in shallow water. I have one clump that has just begun blooming, after all the others. Its foliage is similar to Siberian iris, but the “falls” or petals lie back flat, looking up. It does not like the competition of weeds, I have learned, as we weeded it well early on, and it is going to bloom dramatically this year.

Great masterwort has small domed blossoms in white or pinky-purple that look like pins stuck in a small pincushion, surrounded by delicate bracts (petal-like structures). Deer won’t eat it, and it blooms for weeks, preferably in moist, sunny locations. Each year my clumps get bigger and more wonderful.

At the front of a prominent flower bed I have installed lady’s mantle, a tidy plant with lacy clusters of chartreuse flowers, a color that accents others nicely in a vase, or in the garden. It is probably best known for its tidy foliage which traps rain drops or dew and shows them off. It works as a ground cover, spreading a bit each year and providing dense foliage that helps reduce weeds. It will grow in full sun or light shade but does not thrive in hot, dry soil.

In addition to perennials, each year I grow some annuals. Last year we started many dahlia tubers for their big, colorful blossoms, and saved the tubers indoors to reuse this year, and to share with others.

This year we bought some canna lilies for their interesting foliage — one variety has deep purple leaves — and bright orange or yellow flowers. They stand from 2 to 6 feet tall and have been blooming consistently for a month so far.

If your garden is a bit short of flowers just now, try some of those mentioned above. There is always space for a few more.

Featured photo: Betony ‘Hummelo’is a good cut flower. Photo courtesy of Henry Homeyer.

Control the size of trees and shrubs

By now your rhododendrons, lilacs and other spring bloomers have bloomed and are ready to prune. By pruning now, you will not damage buds that will form later this summer and bloom next spring. This is also a good time to prune evergreens like pines and hemlocks if you are trying to control their size.

Let’s start with rhododendrons and azaleas, as many gardeners seem to put off pruning them until they are blocking the view out the windows. If you just want to keep your rhododendrons the same size this year as they were last year, pruning is easy: you just look at the color of the stems, and cut off the new growth, which is bright green. Older growth is tan or brown.

Make your cuts just into the green growth. By doing so you are leaving a growing point for new growth next spring. Most rhododendrons blossom on old wood, which is to say growth that occurred the year before.

But what if you want to seriously reduce the size of your azalea or rhododendron? You can make your cuts farther down the stems. Make cuts just above a fork or place where branches grow in two or more directions. You will be cutting away the growth of two or even three years’ growth. There are dormant buds on those bare stems, and they will start new growth. The farther down the stem you cut, the longer it will take for growth to begin.

Most rhododendrons keep their leaves all year, but many azaleas drop their leaves and grow all new leaves each year. The old leaves of evergreen species will be a darker color than new leaves, making it easy to see new growth. By the time you read this — depending on your climate — some evergreen rhododendrons will have sent out new shoots after the flowers bloomed. In the middle of a cluster of light green leaves you may see a small very pointed bud. That is next year’s flower.

If you want to shape or reduce the size of your shrub and see new leaves and flower buds, you must make a decision: which is more important? Next year’s show of flowers, or getting your shrub under control? I say (as the Red Queen said in Alice in Wonderland), “Off with its head!” Since pruning is so easily put off for another year, just do it now — even if it means sacrificing some blossoms. There should always be more blossom buds that will appear later this summer.

Lilacs should ideally be pruned two to three weeks after blooming but can be done now, too. Buds are developed over the summer at the tips of branches to bloom next spring.

If your lilacs are not blooming as well now as they have in the past, it may be because the soil pH has gotten acidic from acid rain, or from pine needles. You can collect a soil sample and send it off to your state Extension Service for testing, but if you only want to know the pH, you can buy a simple test kit at your local garden center or hardware store.

Lilacs perform best with a soil that is near neutral (pH 7.0), or slightly higher and more alkaline. The soil test or pH kit will tell you how many pounds of lime to add per 100 square feet, but that is difficult to translate into action. So often I just wing it: I add lime around the base of a lilac and out 3 or 4 feet all around. I measure it out in a one-quart yogurt container. One quart for small lilacs, two for big ones. Not precise, but it helps. Do that now — lime takes time to change the pH.

If you have a pine, hemlock or spruce in your yard or up against your house, you would probably prefer it to stay the same size, or at least not to tower over the house. It’s easy to do: You must prune off the new growth every year. Just look at the tips of the branches now. You will see that this year’s growth is a slightly different color than the rest of the branch. Just snip that off. Do it right away — this is the time to do it.

British gardeners — and hence, many American gardeners — love boxwoods. They love hedges and portly round balls. Some even create rabbits and other silly sculptures called topiary. If you have boxwoods, they need a light haircut every year in June or July. Never prune them after August, because pruning stimulates new growth and it will be tender, and turn brown and ugly in winter.

Prune your boxwoods with a good pair of hedge shears. Mine are about 24 inches long, with 9-inch-long blades. Don’t use old rusty ones — buy a good pair such as those made by Fiskars or Barnell. Most Fiskars tools are good quality and sold at a reasonable price. I don’t recommend electric hedge shears because they can ruin a shrub in the time it takes you to sneeze. I like lightweight shears for big jobs.

When pruning boxwoods, just take a little off with each snip. You can work quickly, but just take a little at a time so you can get the exact shape you want and don’t create holes with a big cut.

Pruning can be fun. You can create a lovely piece of art if you take your time and step back to look at it as you go along. And if you goof and create an “oops,” well, it will all grow back. So go for it!

Featured photo: This young boxwood needs a light haircut. Courtesy photo.

It happens to even the best gardeners

If you are a regular reader of this column, you know that I kill plants (just like you probably do). Houseplants. Annuals. Flowers in the ground. And yes, even trees. Although some oaks live 400 years, most plants naturally have a much shorter life span. And although some die due to my negligence, most do not. But I do push the limits of zone hardiness, trying plants that rather would winter in Pennsylvania — and occasionally killing them.

I have a native dogwood tree that shows up all over my property. It is called the pagoda dogwood and is one of my favorites. This small tree never gets much taller than 10 feet, has just finished blooming with understated white blossoms and has blue berries loved by birds in July or August.

But it has a short lifespan for a tree; 25 years is a good run for this one, even in the wilds. Fortunately it seeds in, so I always have plenty. When one dies, I can cut it down, thank it, and get rid of it. No mourning.

For the last 20 years or more, I have had a hazelnut tree called Harry Lauder’s walking flower stick (“Purple Majesty”) in one of my flower beds. This tree is a naturally occurring freak: Its stems twist and turn in unusual ways. Great in winter for its silhouette, mine also had purple leaves and was a great tree. I pruned it to keep it just 6 feet tall. But last summer it showed signs of distress, and this spring it did not leaf out. It is dead.

But because it is striking in profile, I decided not to cut it down. Not yet, anyway. I planted annual vines around its base and I am training them to climb up into the tree. If all goes as planned, in a month or so I will have purple hyacinth beans blooming in the tree.

In the meantime my wife Cindy and I decorated it with colorful strips of cloth. Each is just a couple of inches wide and perhaps a foot long. She attached threads to the top of each so we could tie them on like Christmas ornaments. Even the slightest breeze has them fluttering and twisting. It’s lovely.

Although nowadays I buy almost exclusively native plants, last summer I was tempted by a lovely Japanese clethra and brought her home. This spring it did not leaf out, a major disappointment. My test for a dead branch is to rub my fingernail on the bark, scraping off the outer layer. If it is alive, it will show some green. But this clethra showed brown everywhere, and I decided it was dead.

As I was lopping off the branches prior to digging it out, I noticed a few leaves growing at the very base of the tree. Life! So I am letting it stay. Unfortunately, I do not know if the tree was grafted onto a different rootstock, which is common in the landscape trade.

So, for example, a branch or branches of a Japanese clethra might have been grafted to a summersweet clethra. This avoids having to start a new plant from seed and ensures that the new plant has the desirable characteristics of the plant grafted to rootstock. If the rootstock grows, one gets a plant different from the purchased plant.

All apples are grafted onto rootstock because the seeds are hybrids and will not breed true. The rootstock used for apples determines the size of the tree. Some will produce miniatures, others full-sized trees. So if your apple was killed by rodents last winter and the roots sent up new shoots, what you get will probably not be interesting to eat. Yes, Johnny Appleseed traveled around America with a sack of apple seeds, but those apples were for making hard cider, America’s beverage of choice, not for eating apples.

If your rose died last winter, you might be able to bring it back to life. Most roses are sold on roots that are different than the flowering portion. You should be able to see a scar, the graft union, on your rose. If the union was planted below the soil line, the rose may sprout from the fancy rose you bought, not the rootstock. So wait and see what happens. By now, this late in the season, a “dead” rose should have sent up shoots if it is going to.

Most plants we grow are vigorous and seem to have an innate “desire” to keep their genetic lines viable. That is why they produce seeds, and many (especially weeds) send out roots that can send up new plants. So if a perennial plant dies, you may be in luck. A baby plant may replace the mother plant. It’s what they do.

A few words of warning, however. Any plant that starts from seeds dropped by a hybrid plant will probably not breed true, although it can. A hybrid is a cross between two genetic lines, and seed producers develop them in carefully isolated circumstances to protect their lineage.

I like to think that if I never kill any plants, I am not trying hard enough. I try to grow new and different plants, often things that would rather grow a few hundred miles south. When those rare (for here) plants do survive and bloom, I feel like a million bucks. Hopefully they did not cost that much, as I will probably lose them at some point.

Featured photo: Pagoda Dogwood berries are loved by birds. Courtesy photo.

Summertime, but the livin’ isn’t easy

As the song goes, it’s “summertime, and the livin’ is easy!” Well, not really. Yes, I’ve planted my 53 tomato plants, 200 onions and more, but there is still plenty to do. Let’s look at a few chores you might want to do this weekend.

Your tomatoes need support. If they lie on the ground or even on a nice bed of straw they are more prone to diseases. They need air and sunshine to stay healthy and to ripen up sooner.

I like wire tomato cages as supports. I recommend getting the biggest cages possible: 54 inches tall with four support legs instead of three. They are expensive but last for many years. Right now your tomatoes are short and standing up on their own. But if you wait too long they will be much more difficult to install. Do it now!

If you grow a lot of tomatoes and don’t have the budget to buy nice cages, you can tie them to wood stakes. Get one-inch hardwood “grade stakes.” Five-footers are best because you need to push at least a foot into the ground. Tie the plants to the stakes with something soft: strips of old sheets work well, or pantyhose. If you use string it may bite through the stems when they are loaded with fruit. You will need to add more ties as the plants get taller.

As your tomatoes get mature, you may notice that lower leaves are turning brown. This is probably early blight, a common soil-borne disease. It is not fatal but reduces your fruit production. You can minimize by doing two things: cut off affected leaves, and mulch the soil to minimize splash-up. Grass clippings, leaves or hay will help. They also keep the roots more moist in dry times.

If you are growing carrots or beets, this is a good time to thin them. You really should thin them by the Fourth of July. It is tedious work, which is why many seed companies are selling “pelleted’ carrot seeds. These are seeds that are coated with a clay covering to make them larger and easier to plant an inch or so apart. Beet seeds are actually seed clusters: several seeds are in each “seed.” So even if you spaced them carefully, they need to be thinned.

If you planted potatoes, now is the time to look for potato beetles, or their eggs on the underneath side of the leaves. The egg masses are bright orange and easy to spot. Scrape off the eggs into a jar of soapy water. If you see the beetles or their larvae eating the leaves, get them into the water, too. By reducing their population now you will reduce their exponential increase in numbers.

This is a good time to plant parsnip seeds because they need warm soil to germinate. Keep in mind that the seeds do not keep well, so do not plant last year’s seeds. Most garden centers probably still have parsnip seeds because they are not a terribly popular crop. But they store well over the winter — just leave them in the soil. I love them as an early spring treat: just boil them up, then serve them with butter and maple syrup. Yum! And don’t get discouraged if they take 2 full weeks to germinate; they are very slow.

I am eating lettuce from my garden that I planted early in the spring. That means it is time to plant some more seeds. Lettuce bolts when the summer gets too hot, which means that it elongates (reaching for the sky) and turns bitter before flowering and producing seed.

But there are summer varieties that are heat-resistant. Of the butterhead lettuces, try Skyphos or Buttercrunch bibb. Oakleaf lettuces such as Magenta do well, and a romaine called Jericho does well in heat. Read the packages well or study a catalog.

Plant mid-summer lettuces where they get morning sun and afternoon shade if you can. You can also use shade cloth to protect against strong afternoon rays. Perhaps you can plant seeds in six-packs to get them going, then transplant them in your tomato patch where the big plants provide some shade.

Pesto season is coming up in August, so plant some more basil by seed if you don’t already have enough planted. I like planting seeds in small pots to get them well established before planting them in the garden. But if you want a lot for pesto, dedicate a 6-foot row and plant plenty of seeds. They will do fine, even if a bit crowded.

Look around your garden now to see what you forgot to plant. For me this year, it was dill. No matter. I shall plant some by seed, and it will grow vigorously in the heat of summer.

If you have run out of space in the garden, think about creating a raised bed for those last-minute plantings. Most garden centers sell metal corners to help you build your own raised beds, even if you aren’t a carpenter. Not only that, your local lumber yard will cut the boards to your specifications at no extra charge. All you need is a cordless drill and some outdoor screws to put a bed together in no time.

Don’t forget a few annual flowers in your vegetable garden to attract bees and butterflies. Most garden centers still have plenty of flowers that are in bloom and ready to plant. Just remember to tease the roots apart before planting now, as the little cells are often root-bound. So get outside, and get busy. It’s summer!

Featured photo: Hand pick Potato beetles and look for orange egg masses on underneath side of leaves. Photo courtesy of Henry Homeyer.

You can never have enough

If you don’t have a peony, I’m surprised. If you don’t have three, you should. They are blooming now, and this is a great time to buy them. Go to your local garden center or family-run plant nursery and buy some more, no matter how many you have. Buying in bloom means you can see the color of the blossoms, and sample the fragrance. Not all are very fragrant, but some are so lovely they might make you swoon.

When my wife, Cindy Heath, moved in with me in 2019, she insisted on bringing many plants — including her dad’s favorite peonies and several others. I walked around recently to count how many peonies we have together. We have 44 between us, including my grandmother’s favorite, Festiva Maxima. Grandmother died in 1953, but her peony lives on.

I regularly get questions about peonies. “Why did my new peony bloom once, but never again?” It’s probably planted too deeply in the ground. In the fall, cut back your stems and feel for the “eyes,” which are next year’s growth. To get blossoms, they should not be covered with more than about an inch of soil. If your peony is too deeply planted, or covered deeply in mulch, don’t dig it up, just pull back some soil and mulch to fix it.

Another question I get: “Why are there ants on the blossom buds?” Some write saying their grandparents told them the ants are involved in opening the buds. Is that true? No. The ants are attracted because there are aphids on the buds, and aphid droppings are called honey dew. Honeydew is sweet and attracts ants.

Gardeners are often frustrated by the fact that after a rain, many gorgeous flowers flop over or even break. Peony cages are sold in garden centers, but often these are much too short to prevent the problem.

What is the solution? Buy bamboo stakes that are 3 or 4 feet tall and place two to four around each clump of peonies, pushing them deep into the soil. Then encircle the plant with twine, tying the string to each stake with a clove hitch. If you didn’t learn how to tie a clove hitch in the Scouts, YouTube will teach you. The encircling twine should be set about two-thirds the height of the plant. Do this when the buds have not yet opened.

Some gardeners write asking if it is OK to move peonies, and when should they do it? Conventional wisdom is that peonies do not like to be moved, but if you must, do it in the fall when they are starting to go dormant. That’s good advice, but peonies can be moved anytime. I once moved 50 peonies in June, and they all bloomed the very next year.

But I do agree that there can be problems moving peonies. The roots are fleshy, a bit like long, thin sweet potatoes. And they are easily broken unless you take great care. I would only dig them after a long, soaking rain — or if I had watered well a few days before and the water had soaked down deep. Some roots go 18 inches into the soil or more. And remember: be sure not to bury them too deeply. Look for those pointy little nubs and keep them near the soil surface.

Do peonies have diseases to watch out for? Rarely. The only problem I’ve ever had is with botrytis, a fungal disease that blackens leaves and kills them and the blossoms. And that only happened once. I removed the blackened leaves and sprayed with a solution of a product called Serenade.

Serenade contains a soil bacterium that kills fungal diseases including botrytis but has no ill effects on humans, pets, fish, insects or birds. It stopped the infection, and it has not recurred. Serenade is commonly sold at garden centers and has a shelf life of 3 years if properly stored.

I have peonies that bloom starting in late April some years, others that bloom in May and June. My earliest are woodland peonies: the fernleaf peony and the obovate peony. The first is bright red, with single blossoms and finely divided leaves. Both have just a single layer of petals. My obovate peonies are cream-colored but produce blue seeds in red seed pods. The seeds are vigorous self-sowers.

Then there are tree peonies. These are small shrubs that produce huge flowers, up to 8 or 10 inches across. The blossoms are short lived but spectacular. I had one for 20 years, but it died after a cold winter. Then a few years ago I bought an Itoh peony. This is a hybrid of a tree peony crossed with a regular peony. The Itohs generally have yellow blossoms and produce many, many large blossoms over several weeks at maturity. But they are pricey: Expect to pay $50 or more for a young plant.

Lastly, gardeners ask me, “Can you grow peonies in a shady garden?” Yes and no. Given good rich soil and plenty of moisture, you will get some blossoms with just four hours of sun per day, which is considered a shade, or part-shade garden. They really like full sun, and do best with six hours of sun or more. Those two woodland peonies I mentioned will do fine in shade, but are nearly impossible to find for sale.

One last bit of advice: Since peonies live so long, be sure to add compost and a little slow-release organic fertilizer at planting time. Then every few years, top dress the soil around your peonies with some fertilizer and compost to get best results.

If I were to be exiled to a remote island and could choose just one perennial flower to take with me, I don’t know if I would take a Festiva Maxima peony. I do know that it certainly would be high on my list. How about you? Send me the name of your favorite flower. Let’s compare notes.

Featured photo: Tree Peony. Courtesy photo.

Nothing wrong with a lazy gardener

I saw a friend recently who was bubbly and excited about her garden. “It’s full of color and stays that way all summer!” she exclaimed. “And it is NO work! All I have to do is water it daily, and give it a little fertilizer every few weeks.” She invited me to come see it, so of course I went.

What my friend has is a small outdoor courtyard that she has transformed into an outdoor room, complete with a small metal table and chairs sitting on an outdoor carpet. She has purchased lots of annuals and is growing most in pots (hence the need for daily watering), along with a few easy perennials.

The house is L-shaped and defines two sides of the space, with a low railroad tie retaining wall for the third side; the front is open and once allowed her to park her car right by the side door to the house. No more.

In addition to the annual flowers, she has a few perennials growing in the ground and lots of whimsy. She stops whenever she sees a “FREE” sign by the side of the road. A chair with no seat? Bring it home, paint it bright blue, and put it in the garden. See a sculpture of a head, or an interesting vase at a yard sale? Get it!

The annual flowers she generally buys as hanging baskets because they have well-established plants with blossoms from Day 1. Lots of color. Supertunias, verbenas, and marigolds of various descriptions are some of her favorites. When she gets them home she takes them out of their horrid plastic pots and puts them in nice ceramic pots. If she goes away for a few days she has someone come by to water.

A vining or trailing plant she likes this year is one I have never seen before. It has bright red trumpet flowers and is a Proven Winner trademarked plant called Lofos Wine Red, a lophospermum hybrid. Keep it in sun with mostly dry planting mix, and it blooms all summer, attracting hummingbirds. In general, trademarked plants like this offer good results with minimum effort.

Right now she has a big pink bleeding heart in full bloom, though that will bloom only for a few weeks. She has a groundcover that I use in shady areas called sweet woodruff that serves as a nice filler near it and is blooming right now. It has fragrant white blossoms and delicate lacy foliage that stays green and handsome all summer. Later an astilbe will blossom nearby.

Hosta is another important plant in her garden. She has many with large, green leaves. And although hostas are generally grown for their foliage, later in the summer they will send up flower stalks with white blossoms.

The side of the space that gets the most afternoon sun is filled with Stephanandra incisa or lace shrub. This is a deciduous woody shrub that spreads by root and roots in wherever the tips of branches touch the ground. It only gets a couple of feet tall, but has very dense foliage — dense enough that grasses and weeds do not come through. It blooms in June, with small white star-shaped flowers. The leaves are shaped a bit like maple leaves. Her stephanandra was planted 25 years ago and still looks great — it covers the bed that is over 50 feet long and 4 feet wide.

More than a dozen years ago I planted bulbs for my friend in another part of the property. My goal was for her to have blossoms from March until late May from spring bulbs, and the bulbs are still going strong: first snowdrops in March, followed by crocus, then daffodils. I selected daffies for their bloom time: some early, some mid-season, some that bloom in late May. Like everything at this property, the goal was to have no-labor or low-labor beds, so the beds were well-mulched with chipped bark.

What other plants grow at this garden? She had a steep rocky hillside with gravelly, poor soil. Grass grew on it, but it was impossible to mow. Someone suggested a creeping sumac, and she had it installed. It is variously called skunkbush sumac, creeping three-leafed sumac, or “Autumn Amber.”

The Autumn Amber sumac is a trademarked variety and boasts of ”a profusion of small chartreuse-colored flowers that bloom in delicate clusters before new foliage appears.” In fall the leaves transform into “striking hues of ambers, yellows, oranges and/or reds before dropping for the winter”. I have only seen it once before, even though it is hardy to Zone 4. It is supposed to be very good for tough, hot dry places. It is dense enough that I saw no grass growing through it.

Each year my friend picks a theme for her garden by the kitchen door. This year she focused on birds: metal birds, colorful bird houses, hummingbird feeders. She likes to find flourishes for the plants at yard sales and thrift stores, trying to keep her purchases to under $5.

I asked my friend how she would describe herself as a gardener. “I’m a lazy gardener who doesn’t like to weed. I love color and whimsy and like to repurpose everyday objects.” Nothing wrong with that — it gives her more time to volunteer, and take walks on her woodland trails.

Featured photo: Lofos Red Wine attracts hummingbirds. Courtesy photo.