More Winter Color

The bright red berries and leaves of many trees and shrubs are one of the highlights of cold weather. Hollies, Nandinas (pictured here, Nandina domestica), even the invasive Japanese Bush Honeysuckle produce many berries.
The burning bushes are fading, but here's a flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) looking brilliant.

Some Fall Color

I went hiking and climbing last week, at a bluff overlooking the Cumberland River, in Clarksville Tennessee. Here are a few photos of some wildflowers.
I like how these find niches in the rock where a little soil has collected and grow right on the rock face. There are tons of Columbine as well, but they are not in flower right now.

Foamflower (Tiarella), Autumn leaves, Aster

Good Plant, Bad Plant

If you could read one article that thoughtfully covers the topics of invasives, monocultures, ticks, and poop counting .....why would you seek further entertainment? So read on... and find another reason to dislike Lonicera mackii (invasive Japanese bush honeysuckle):

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101011173245.htm

A shorter and more academic version is at:

http://esameetings.allenpress.com/2008/P13016.HTM (Ecological Society of America meeting abstract)

The gist is that it seems Japanese bush honeysuckle creates a dense monoculture, providing a chateau of choice for deer. The deciduous leaves emerge earlier and cling later than any other native (or exotic) understory plant, allowing the deer to nest/rest more during the times of year that tick larva emerge.

For those who don't already have Japanese bush honeysuckle on their NIMBY list, there's basically a big discussion among horticultural nerds (I say that in front of the mirror) about native plants, and invasive exotics, and who should be allowed over the fence.

The flash card version is that there is a debate about which plants should go in our yards. On one end of the continuum you would only choose plants native to your area.....native since when? How about before people started importing plants from other countries, which probably started before the Mayflower, the Vikings, and all the other immigrants...hmmm...when there was no country called the USA.....OK back to the sentence, that we should plant only natives when possible, for biodiversity and ecological balance. A lot of plants imported for landscape use and for agricultural purposes have no natural controls and tend to take over a landscape driving out a lot of other plants. Think Kudzu, think Burmese Pythons in the Everglades. There is real harm done and the 'downstream' effect can harm wildlife as well, because shelter and food options change. Heck, invasive insects might even affect the trout fishing industry if you can believe that, but I don't have that reference to cite at hand.
But if we only planted natives we would have a lot less color and shape and choice in our gardens. No roses for example. No tall bearded iris.

Another end of the continuum in this discussion have us saying "Bring it on, we are the masters of our little acre." Euonymous fortuneii Winter Creeper is such a useful plant, year round evergreen ground cover, it really serves an important purpose in the home landscape. Great weed suppression. Maintenance free. Sounds good to me.


So narrowing down the difficulty...let's try to avoid invasive exotics, plants which are so fast to multiply, have zero local controls, and are rapidly displacing important medicinal, habitat, agricultural, and wildflower features. But be thoughtful about what other plants we put in the ground. Hollies? Laurels? Butterfly Bush? Lavender? Many of the varieties are not native per se. But they stay where they are put, a lot of the time. So use them, just find out a little more before you plant. Just because it's for sale doesn't mean it doesn't have some 'side effects'.

My personal list, plants that are not my friends: Winter Creeper (Euonymous fortuneii) , Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera mackii) , Chinese yam (Disocorea opposotifolia). A lot more on invasive exotics at:
http://www.tneppc.org/pages/initiatives

So much for flash cards, sometimes stuff takes a little explaining

September Wildflowers

Goldenrod (Solidago, various species) and Ironweed (Veronia)






















An unidentified tall flower, white blooms.


JoePye Weed (Eupatorium purpureum)



and Ragweed (ironically its genus is Ambrosia).




Most of these were seen at Radnor Lake State Natural Area in Nashville.

Community Supported Agriculture and a Farm Dinner

Community Supported Agriculture

CSAs are local farmers providing food to local communities, typically on a subscription basis. The benefits to the supporters are fresh food delivered weekly; the farmers benefit by being able to practice smaller scale and sustainable growing practices, the environment benefits because your food is shipped a very short distance. Local products are generally shipped under one hundred miles from farm to market. 'Conventional' food products (typically found in grocery stores) travel over 1000 miles from source to market, and that is only including domestic products.*
Fresh food likely keeps more of its nutritional value than products transported for a week or more. Less gasoline and other resources are used and local people benefit from the jobs generated.
http://nashfof.wordpress.com/csa/ has a list of Nashville area food providers.

Fresh Harvest LLC a cooperative of organic family farms in the Nashville area is hosting their first Farm Dinner. A fully prepared dinner, made from locally produced products, follows a tour of Turnbull Creek (organic) farm.

Saturday September 25, at5:30
Visit http://freshharvest.locallygrown.net/weblog for details

*http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/pubs/staff/files/local_foods_HEN0604.pdf

A Perennial Lesson on Annual Vegetables

Most of our summer vegetable gardens are filled with annuals, plants that begin and complete their life cycle in one year. A seed germinates, sprouts, grows, creates flowers, which become fruit, which produce seeds, and then the plant is spent. But it has produced progeny and someone saves the seeds and sells them or puts them up in a jar or they fall to the ground. And they start again in the next spring as new sprouts. We buy seeds or seedlings or get volunteers. Tomatoes in particular seem adapt at reseeding and 'volunteering' in the garden.








Most years I have a small vegetable crop and it almost always includes tomatoes and basil. Then I have an inspiration for variety and try something new or neglected, like peppers or okra. I am almost always pleased with the tomatoes and basil and I have been perpetually disappointed, for as long as I can remember, with squash. I love to eat squash, of any color and kind. But when I plant it, the results are always the same. Sad wilting plants with strangled stalks. Squash borers. Tunneling through the once sturdy vines. One of the worst displays of vegetable destruction there is.
Of course I could use controls, mechanical or synthetic or whatever, but I have had years where I dutifully picked off insects, larvae, etc. by hand....and still they burrow. And each year that I try to grow squash I vow to never grow it again.
Due to life circumstances it's been 5 years since I had a veggie plot, but this spring I had beautiful soil and some spare time to dig out a bed and promptly planted tomatoes, basil, cilantro, marigolds.......and squash (I got starts, didn't grow from seed).
The tomatoes have been fantastic, the basil is overflowing, the marigolds are a great ground cover. And the squash looked fantastic until a week ago.
The pictures above show my successes and below, well, are my disappointments.
Caution: photo of actual squash borers, which are NOT attractive.










By the way, you can get in some fall veggies if you start now...........greens spinach beets and so on.

Atlanta Botanical Gardens, part 3

I left my friends in the conservatory and made my way to the color sections, through several nice annual plantings, and some great color borders. Check out this island, with Joe Pye Weed, hibiscus, cannas and more






The Succulent Garden included this Century plant (Agave americana) which blooms 'once in a lifetime' according to the tag (I am not sure if that is once in its lifetime or once in ours?)

Lastly, we enjoyed the Canopy Walk, a raised walkway through an undeveloped area of hardwoods which leads to at trail of understory plants. Here is a Big Leaf Magnolia (Magnolia macrophylla);(you can see many of these and their cousin Magnolia tripetala, in our Tennesse woodlands, especially along the Fiery Gizzard Trails).












http://www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org/

Atlanta Botanical Gardens, part 2

The Edible Garden area is an amphitheater with raised, angled beds showing off the veggies. Here: the left side, filled with mostly peppers...the right side with amaranth, millet, rhubarb, tomatoes, more peppers...and a close up of peppers.

On my way to the color gardens, we passed under this refreshing shady arbor of Crossvine, Bignonia capreolata....

And strolled past the Bog, with native southeast pitcher plants...

Next...perennial borders!

Atlanta Botanical Garden, part 1

Late July I got to visit the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, and although it was quite hot, just as in Nashville, we really enjoyed the gardens. They looked great, well-watered, no droopy plants anywhere! It's a large campus and we could have spent a couple of days there. So in three hours I managed to see a few minutes of the Conservatory, walked past the succulent border, hurried through 'Southern Seasons' which is a woodland area, and spent longer moments idling through the perennial color borders, the Edible Garden, and the Canopy Walk.


I'll post several entries here so as to divide up the areas and photos, starting with a quick trip through .....The Conservatory

The blue pots are part of 'The Orangerie' and feature spice plants galore: vanilla, neem, cardamom etc. Also a fleeting highlight, but alas no pictures: somehow a herd (and I say 'herd' because I am in no mood to research the scientifically correct term for this brood) ...ahem ... a herd of baby quail had been born in the Conservatory and after reading the signs advising to 'step carefully' we wandered through looking about for the little fuzzy guys and gals. Cute as buttons!

Next a visit to
The Edible Garden

Davidson County - Summer Events

THIS SATURDAY!! Volunteer Opportunity: Boardwalk Construction and Highland Trail Hike at Beaman Park

July31
Saturday
Boardwalk Construction: 9:00am to 3:00pmGuided Hike: 3:30 to 6:00pm

Beaman Park Nature Center
5911 Old Hickory Blvd.
Meet outside the nature center building.

Difficulty: Easy to moderate
Age level: 13 and up
No dogs, please.

Let's Meetup at the Beaman Park Nature Center (5911 Old Hickory Blvd) for a Volunteer Boardwalk Construction Work Day. Join us as we continue construction on a 350 foot long, handicap accessible boardwalk in the woods near the nature center. Bring your work gloves, wear sturdy shoes and clothes you won't mind getting dirty. Tools and training will be provided. Snacks and drinks will be served. Bring a friend and stay for as little or as long as you would like.

WARNER PARKS:

Volunteer Spirit
Saturday, August 7 9 a.m.-noonAge level: All ages . Call to register. Get outside and get dirty. Spend a day giving back to the parks that you love by lending a helping hand as we work on projects to restore and preserve the natural integrity of the parks.Leader: Paul Fowler

Hummers Galore
Saturday, August 21 10 a.m.-noon Age level: All Ages. Registration opens August 6Time to double up on the Hummingbird nectar, fall migration is starting. Learn how much food hummingbirds need to survive migration. This fact answered and many more at hummingbirds galore.Leader: Irene Perry

http://www.nashville.gov/parks/wpnc/wpnc_program_schedule.asp for more information on Warner Parks

Cheekwood

GARDEN SHOWS AND LECTURES
August 26 Gardening 101 - Part 3 of 4 (Planting)
Thursday, August 26, 1:00 pm $15 members / $20 non-members Love the idea of having a garden, but don’t know where to start? Let the Cheekwood Garden Staff help you cultivate a green thumb in this four-part seasonal workshop. Beginning with plant basics and covering topics such as planning, propagating, planting, and pruning– this class will teach you all you need to know to keep your garden looking great. http://cheekwood.org/Gardens/Garden_Shows_and_Lectures.aspx

I Love Summer

I have learned to appreciate shade, as much of my current garden space is mostly shady...I've been compelled to learn about Trilliums and Helleborus and ferns...and wonder about my luck with Astilbe. But at heart I am a sun lover and a lover of bold and bright color...and these are just a few of the creatures that make me smile big..... In the midst of heavy heat and humidity...early in the morning or at the end of my workday I sit on my porch and simply wonder at this and how fantastic nature is.

Thank you, sun!

(Echinacea purpurea, Purple Coneflower)
(Coreopsis 'Jethro Tull', Tickseed)
(Centaurea montana, Mountain Bluet)

May and June Events for Plant Lovers

The next meeting of Middle Tennessee Plant Swap is May 22 at 9AM at Henry Horton State Park. Come picnic and share plants and hear the featured speaker.
http://www.midtnplantswap.com/


Davidson County Master Gardeners are holding a Plant Sale at the Flatrock Festival – Saturday, May 29, at Coleman Park, at the intersection of Thompson Lane and Nolensville Road. Sorry, no further information.

National Trails Day is June 5. Locally, Radnor Lake, Beaman Park, Bells Bend, Warner Parks and others will host trail days for trial maintenance or clean up. Great way to meet wildflower enthusiasts.
http://www.americanhiking.org/NTD.aspx

Radnor Lake is rebuilding trails and roads after the flood, and education programs will be temporarily suspended. If you'd like to volunteer to help repair and rebuild, they are holding Volunteer Days on every Saturday in June from 8am to noon. Meet at the Visitor Center off of Granny White Pike. Lunch is being provided to volunteers each Saturday in June.
http://www.radnorlake.org/programming.html


Lots of educational opportunities at our state parks. One example... a Nature Hike on the Grundy Forest Day Loop to discuss unusual and 'dangerous ' plants at Grundy Forest.
9:00 a.m.June 26 at the South Cumberland Visitor's Center.
http://www.friendsofscsra.org/activities.htm#june


Botanical Tour of the Couchville Cedar Glade June 26 in Davidson and Wilson County
http://www.tn.gov/environment/parks/events/pdf/may_june_events.pdf

Many great events at the UT extension gardens in Jackson TN including their "Bloom Days" on June 26 & 27
http://utgardens.tennessee.edu/news_events.html


Water Resources
The interesting dilemma this past period in Nashville is that although our landscape plants didn't need supplemental watering for several weeks, residents of Davidson County and some other municipalities are taking a new look at water conservation. Although our area has a surplus of rain and ground water, we are needing to conserve our use of purified city water.
When we return to typical weather patterns and feel the need again to water our ornamental and food crops, we can use these lessons to think about recycling and reducing our use of water.

Rain barrels are one way to catch and hold rain water, thus using less water from your local water distribution system. You can have a few rain barrels and use them to hand water your potted plants or a small garden or you can have a larger water cachement system and possibly run distribution/soaker hoses to other garden areas.
Metro Water Services (Nashville) and Cumberland River Compact both sell rain barrels. There are many online sources and local groups teaching you to build your own
http://www.cumberlandrivercompact.org/
http://www.nashville.gov/flood/water.asp
http://www.nashville.gov/water/education/rainbarrel.asp

Rain gardens are another tool, involving a little more investment. Rain gardens can fit a lot of situations but basically are a way of thinking about plants as a tool to modify storm runoff, problem solve soggy areas, and help cleanse runoff going into our drinking water sources.

Flood Related

Volunteer with the Nashville Hiking Meetup in cleaning up various area greenways and water systems affected by the flood, including Radnor Lake and Richland Creek. You must register and join the Hiking Meetup. This is a group of fantastic fun hikers who also contribute a lot of volunteer hours in the community, helping out parks, greenways, Habitat, and Second Harvest.

http://www.nashvillehiking.com/calendar/

FOOD GARDEN SAFETY:
For information on vegetable/fruit gardens that were flooded or splashed by river water during the flood, please see Safety of Produce from Flooded Gardens from University of Wisconsin Extension at this link.
http://www.uwex.edu/ces/ag/issues/documents/SafetyofProducefromFloodedGardens08.pdf

Spring Things - "to do" in the garden

Vegetables
We are probably well past any hard freezes so feel free to plant warm season vegetables by seed or as plants. If your garden plot is new or the soil seems hard to work and you're not going to till it, add handfuls of composted manure with each plant. Mulching will help keep the roots cool and delay the weeds. I like to use wheat straw. You can also underplant taller plants (tomatoes, peppers, etc) with a 'green mulch' of lettuce, radishes, herbs, marigolds, borage etc.
Most of the summer vegetables need a lot of sun...6 or more continuous hours of full sun exposure.


Pruning
Prune any shrubs that have finished flowering. For example, forsythia can be pruned. Or not. If you want to control the size of the forsythia, prune by removing a quarter of the main stems, randomly selected from the interior, or cutting the larger, older stems; cut them all the way to the bottom. If you're wanting to take the power hedge shears to them...it may be the wrong plant for that location.

Young dogwood trees can be pruned for deadwood or structure.
Remember the rule of pruning: think twice, cut once; think once, curse twice.

Weeding and pre-emergents
For all the trouble weeds give us, they should be simpler to control. But we have to identify the weeds and their life cycles to control them effectively, and to not waste money or over-medicate the environment.

Weeds can be annual or perennials.
Annual weeds can be winter or summer annuals. The big crop you're seeing now are probably winter annuals like chickweed, henbit, purple deadnettle which germinated in late fall and are coming to maturity. Summer annuals (spurges, bedstraw,knotweed, Japanese stiltgrass etc.) are just little seeds germinating now and you likely cant see them, yet. You can help to prevent annual weeds by distributing a pre-emergent herbicide in fall and spring. Always read the labels and don't over-apply.
Perennial weeds include: ground ivy, dandelion, sedges, plantains, clover. Controlling perennials weeds takes a little more effort, including hand weeding and selective use of post-emergent herbicides.

Here are some links about weeds that might be helpful:
http://www.utextension.utk.edu/publications/pbfiles/PB956part1.pdf?what=pb956part1
http://www.ppws.vt.edu/weedindex.htm

Go, See....... More Spring Plant-Lovers' Events

The annual Plant and Herb Sale, sponsored by the Herb Society of Nashville April 17 9AM Sports Arena at the fairgrounds in Nashville. http://www.herbsocietynashville.org/events_open_to_the_public.htm

Trails and Trilliums, "A Celebration and Sale of Native Plants" April 17& 18, Sewanee TN ttp://trails.sasweb.org/

12South Neighborhood Tour April 17, 2010 http://www.12south.org/

Growild, Inc. Spring Open House Friday April 30 and Saturday May 1, 2010 From 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM on both days. Music, wonderful food, hayrides, bird, butterfly and wildlife walks and talks and beautiful gardens. http://www.growildinc.com/

The Elsie Quarterman Glade Festival, a celebration and study of cedar glades habitat, which is an ecosystem unique to Middle Tennessee April 30- May 1, 2010 www.state.tn.us/environment/parks/Cedars/features/festival2010.html

Spring Wildflower Hike at Beaman Park in north Davidson County April 23,2010 9-11AM
www.nashville.gov/parks/nature OR http://www.beamanpark.org/

NUMEROUS wildflower hikes in various Tennessee State Parks. Seek out information at your favorite park or try this site: http://www.blueshoenashville.com/wildflowers.html

April 9

Here's a nice view of a Red Buckeye, Aesculus pavia. This is a small deciduous tree for sun or partial shade.





One of the spring ephemerals, a Trillium. 'Ephemerals' are the spring perennial wildflowers living in the understory of the forest (or, in a shady spot in your garden, that gets some winter sun). They take advantage of the late winter sunlight, emerge and bloom before the leaf cover is fully out on the deciduous trees, and by the heat of summer have shed their foliage. The root stays cool and alive underground and waits for the following spring to emerge again.

Go to http://www.blueshoenashville.com/wildflowers.html#hikes for a a list of many wildflower events.

April 8, 2010

Unusually warm temperatures, pleasant breezes, lovely weather...



Virginia Bluebells, Mertensia virginia, with Columbine, Aquilegia canadensis




















Celandine Poppy, Stylophorum diphyllum (or possibly,stylophorum lasiocarpum?)

.....Spring....

Most of us are sighing with relief at the sunny warm days brought to us lately. We complain at even a day of rain now, having become so tired of the cold gray winter that's just fading.


Here are some beauties...

Daffodils

Star magnolia, Magnolia stellata, at the Green Hills Library

Saucer Magnolia, Magnolia soulangiana, in the Flat Rock neighborhood of Nashville

A red buckeye, Aesculus pavia, not quite blooming (look for pictures here soon)

Nice to see...

...a few fantastic blooms this week. Even with such a long and cold winter, these reliable splashes of color showed up with last weeks sun and warmth.

The shrub is witch hazel, Hamamelis x intermedia 'Arnold Promise'.

The white flower is Helleborus. Once the flowers show up I go ahead and clip back most of last years leaves. They may look a little like lollipops at first, but I want to see the blooms.