Each Little World

New blooms for the pond

I've just placed my second plant order of 2012 and am quite excited about it. In 2005 I clipped an article from House & Garden magazine about water gardens that mentioned dwarf lotus plants. I wrote to Lilypons for more information and discovered the one mentioned would be hardy in our zone. We've always wanted to try growing a lotus, so this spring I finally ordered one. Lotus want sun and hot weather to flower; whether our summer will provide enough of both remains to be seen. But this mild winter suggests a long hot summer is ahead of us.

WATERFORD GARDENS

Nelumbo 'Baby Doll" is a small white lotus (above) that is often suggested for tub or barrel gardens. Though our pond is much larger than a barrel, this small lotus will be more in keeping with our garden's scale. The flowers are 4-6 inches wide, carried on stems that are up to 30 inches tall. But since the plant will only spread about two feet, it won't take over the pond the way that a full size lotus would. And with white flowers, it fits into my yellow and white pond color scheme.

PAM PENICK/DIGGING

The above cutie is a dwarf water lily named Helvola. We used to grow 'Helvola' in the big pond and then in our container water garden. Somewhere along the way it disappeared. I'm guessing when we were dividing and re-potting water plants a few years ago, it got mixed in with the debris and discared. It was so perfect for a small water feature that I decided to splurge and order another one. Both plants will arrive in mid-April and I can hardly wait.

The photo of 'Helvola' is from the garden (and blog) of Pam Penick in Austin, Texas. Amazing to me to know that this water lily works in Pam's garden as well as mine up here in Wisconsin. Hardy to extremes in both directions it would seem. 

Woven Memories

March means it's time for the annual Ruth Ketterer Harris Lecture. Presented by The Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection, this year's event includes both a lecture and film screening on consecutive evenings.                                          

"Woven Lives/Vidas Entetejidas" 

 A film by Carolyn Kallenborn, Design Studies Department

Wednesday, February 29th, 6:30-9:00 p.m.

The film will be shown first and will be follwed by a textile viewing and a discussion with Prof. Kallenborn and Ana Paula Fuentes Quintana, Director, Museo Textil de Oaxaca 

“Marrying Tradition and Innovation: Collaborations between Oaxacan Artisans and 21st-century Designers”

A lecture by Ana Paula Fuentes Quintana, Director, Museo Textil de Oaxaca

Thursday, March 1st, 5:30-6:30 p.m.

Both events will take place at: 

Ebling Symposium Center, Microbial Sciences Building

1550 Linden Drive, UW-Madison, WI

Both events are free and open to the public

. . .

 

The textiles of Oaxaca, Mexico are known for their vibrant colors and bold designs. The master dyers and weavers of Oaxaca who make them have inherited skills passed down for generations. Thanks in part to the work of social entrepreneur Ana Paula Fuentes Quintana, this rich heritage will endure through collaborations between Oaxacan artisans and international designers. The pioneering director of the Museo Textil de Oaxaca, Fuentes Quintana is passionate about preserving and renewing Oaxaca's vibrant textile culture by fostering innovation that respects tradition.

. . .

UW-Madison Design Studies professor Carolyn Kallenborn has participated in this exchange. Her beautifully crafted film documents the "woven lives" of some of Oaxaca's finest textile artisans working at this fertile crossroad between the old and the new. 

You can watch a trailer for the film here.

The above information is via the HLATC mailing and website.

Good-bye snowdrops. Hello snow!

Early last evening it started to snow: huge fluffy flakes that immediately stuck to everything they touched. It's wasn't long before it was the proverbial winter wonderland in the garden. I kept turning on the deck lights so I could enjoy the view. We got about 3.6 inches of snow, which may be the biggest storm of this very quiet winter. Here are a few shots of what it looks like this morning. At the moment, big clumps of snow are falling from the highest trees, knocking snow off the middle layer on its way down. 

Perennial Plant of the Year: 2012

The Perennial Plant Association recently named Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost' as their 2012 "Perennial Plant of the Year." If you pay attention to this annual plant choice, you will no doubt have noticed that the chosen plant is always something that has been on the market for a number of years, already well-loved and well-used. Once this was the must-have plant, but the group of gardeners who are always looking for what's new (that includes me) has moved on. So  Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost' can recive this accolade because the early adopters proved it will grow well for a wide audience. And that, I believe, is what really qualifies award status. 

Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost' / PPA photo

That said, I will definitely admit that I wouldn't be without  Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost' in my garden. I grow five Brunnera varieties. The straight species was growing here when we bought the house and I fell in love with its heart-shaped leaves and intense blue forget-me-not type flowers. First I added 'Langtrees' which has light speckles on the leaves. The following year I added 'Jack Frost'. Then I planted 'Looking Glass' in 2005 and 'Hadspen Cream' in 2006. 

This picture of Brunnera 'Langtrees" gives you a sense of the flowers and also shows the white speckle pattern on this variety.

The straight species and 'Langtrees' are workhorses; groundcoveres in dry shade that only draw the eye when in flower. 'Looking Glass' and 'Hadspen Cream' want more moisture than they get in my garden, so never look very good once summer commences. 'Jack Frost', on the the other hand, always looks good and performs well. It also self-seeds fairly generously. However, even the tiniest seedling are instantly recognizable by the leaf coloration so they are easily removed. More often than not, I leave them in place and ignore them and then one day notice a huge beautiful clump has developed.

This picture of 'Jack Frost' shows what I mean about how recognizable the leaves are no matter the size.

This is a plant that lights up dark corners of the shade garden and seems to work well with any number of other foliage plants. If you don't already grow Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost' this is the year to add it to your garden.

The leaves of Brunnera 'Looking Glass' are almost entirely frosted white except for the veining.

First snowdrops

A gardening friend e-mailed me Saturday morning suggesting I look out my window because her snowdrops were up and blooming. Since my snowdrops are in a sunny spot right below the library window, it's possible to check on them without going outside. And as it happens, I had already checked on them Friday afternoon because a number of Upper Midwest gardeners had snowdrops on their posts for GBBD.

Mine weren't showing on Wednesday, but two days later and voila! Given this coming week's weather forecast of temperatures between 45-50 degrees F. and rain, I am expecting my snowdrops will definitely continue their growth spurt. Now I need to get out and check on the Hellebores, and see if there are any other surprises lurking in the far corners of the garden. 

Typically snowdrops are dug and sold just after blooming "in the green." This is a common practice in the U.K. where dozens of snowdrop specialists offer plants for sale each spring. It is so rare an occurance in the U.S. that I know of only two people who follow this practice. One is Carolyn of Carolyn's Shade Gardens. Alas for me, I forgot to check her website early enough and there are limited choices left.

The other source is Hitch Lyman of Temple Nursery. Hitch is very low-tech. You must buy his paper catalog; no on-line sales. But reading his descriptions and seeing Carolyn's photos will convince you to start a collection. And Hitch's catalog alone is worth ordering and reading. It is so beautifully written and produced, it is a treasure in itself. (Temple Nursery, P.O. Box 591, Trumansburg, New York 14886. The catalog is $3.00).

Mark shot the above photos around 2:30 p.m. yesterday. You can see that one group is barely up while a nearby clump are starting to open. These are Galanthus 'Flore pleno' or double snowdrop which is why they look so plump. 

Indictable boy

We're singing a new song about Gov. Walker these days. The image quality, alas, is not good but great lyrics as always by Peter Leidy and friends. 

 

To follow the story, click here.

Foliage Follow-up: 02.16.2012

Yes, this is a bit of a cheat since this is another Rex Begonia, the third in the trio I mentioned on GBBD. Though I grow all of them for their leaves, this is the one that I keep in the bathroom in front of the mirror so I can enjoy the dramatic red and green underside of the leaves. It is a particularly striking contrast given the silvery color on the top side. If you look closely you can see the leaves are actually a bit fuzzy, a condition that is more obvious as the color fades from metallic to mint.

To enjoy other foliage posts, visit Pam at Digging who hosts Foliage Follow-up on the 16th of each month.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: 02.15.2012

Even though we've had what is certainly a mild winter, it's still too cold and too early for anything to be blooming outdoors in the garden. I'm hoping snowdrops will appear in time for GBBD next month. In the meantime, we've been getting a floral boost with a trio of Rex Begonias that were growing in pots on the deck last summer. I brought them all indoors, repotted them and they are suddenly puting on a growth spurt with the lengthening days. No flowers but the leaves are so ornamental that blossoms aren't really required. Alas the plant tags are long gone so I don't know the exact cultivar names.

To see what's blooming in other gardens in other climates, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens who hosts this monthly meme. 

The Journal of Japanese Gardening

When we moved to this house more than 17 years ago, we turned mainly to books for ideas and information about designing the garden we envisioned. We quickly came to the realization that most garden magazines focused on traditional European style ornamental gardens, with a nod to American prairies and vegetable gardens. But we were interested in Asian, especially Japanese, gardens. Until we discovered The Journal of Japanese Gardening — now known as  Sukiya Living — we just assumed there was no publication directed entirely at folks who want a garden based on a different cultural model than the typical British or American landscape. 

We've been getting Sukiya Living since late 2005 (Issue No. 47), and we find it fascinating and frustrating in equal measure. Because it is the creation of a small staff with a highly opinionated publisher, the magazine can be didactic, dismissive or delightful from issue to issue and page to page. We're never sure what to expect when it arrives in the mail. It comes out 6 times a year and costs $35.00 in the U.S. We subscribe since it is not a publication you'll find on the newsstand.

 Sukiya Living publisher Douglas M. Roth has very specific ideas about the magazine and the subject of Japanese gardens. He's not one to mince words if readers' attitudes or preferences don't fit his definition of Sukiya Living. One time the magazine published a long letter (Issue No. 72) from a reader critical of a story and the attitudes it expressed. The letter writer wrote, "I really don't like your attitude of intolerance and your snotty lambasting of those that don't meet your ridiculous and self codified standards of authenticity." The Editor's comment was "It's nice to hear that you enjoy your garden so much."

While that letter writer was an unknown garden designer from Louisianna, I had previously noted an even more critical letter from Douglas Dawson of Chicago (Issue No. 54). Dawson owns a prestigious art gallery specializing in "ancient and historic art from Africa, Asia and the Americas." So he knows what he is talking about when he criticizes Sukiya LIving, saying that like Mark and I, he is "often both humored and entertained by the vituperative opinions expressed . . ." But he went on to censor the writer of the particular article for "her narrow and borderline racist attitude" directed at all of us gaijin gardeners.

The attitudes and writing style by the staff of the magazine seem to be less strident in tone these days. But I would like to have a better sense that they recognize that the mere fact that we're trying to learn about this subject — and paying for this education with a subscription to the magazine — is a praiseworthy endeavor in and of itself. Not everyone has access to the same materials, skilled craftsmen and budget to create the kind of garden we might admire and aspire to.

Despite my criticism and that of other readers, I must admit that Sukiya Living is filled with informative articles, tips and directions for everything from pruning to concrete work, book reviews and assorted commercial and public resources. If Japanese gardens are your passion, definitely subscribe to Sukiya Living. Just remember to keep some grains of salt at the ready while you're reading.

Sissinghurst: An Unfinished History

It is an article of faith with me that a place consists of everything that has happened there; it is a reservoir of memories, and understanding those memories is not a trap but a liberation, a menu of possibilities. The richer the knowledge, the wider the options. Multiplicity is all. The only enemy is narrow, singular definition. And Sissinghurst, perhaps like any place that people have loved, is layered with these multiplicities. 

— Adam Nicolson

Is there a gardener anywhere, no matter the size, style or location of their garden, who does not know of Sissinghurst? Who cannot mentally envison the white garden or the view from the Tower? If you can do that, imagine what it would be like to spend your childhood roaming the landscape at Sissinghurst and then wake up one morning and know it's yours. And yet it's not.

That's the predicament of Adam Nicolson whose grandparents — Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson — restored the Elizabethan buildings to create a home at Sissinghurst and designed and built the famed gardens surrounding it. Nicolson inherited it from his father who assured its continuity by giving it to Britain's National Trust. Sissinghurst is one of the few Trust properties that has been a successful tourist attraction from the get-go.

But to Adam it is missing its heart: the working farm that existed as part of Sissinghurst for hundreds of years. Nicolson wants Sissinghurst to have that working center again. To put it in simple terms, he wants to "grow lunch," believeing "a good lunch would make a good landscape." How he tries to go about making changes at Sissinghurst — and whether he can or should do so — is an engrossing story no matter what way you look at it.

"Sissinghurst: An Unfinished History" is a must-read for anyone who loves Sissinghurst in order to understand not only its long and complex story but the larger implications of becoming a Trust propery. But Nicolson gives us so much more than that; it's  a story about family, history, ecology, change, tradition, consensus, individuality, and, of course, creating a garden. All of it so beautifully and thoughtfully written that I found myself reading phrases and paragraphs a second time, and though you can't tell it from this review, I compiled five pages of notes by the time I finished the book! 

Nicolson in the Rose Garden at Sissinghurst. NTPL/Penny Tweedie