Each Little World

Rejuvenation

Amazing how quickly some plants have bounced back as a result of our recent rains. I have always had good luck with Japanese painted ferns; so much so that I use them in some areas in the garden to edge borders and almost as ground covers. But this year most of them faded or even disappeared from the heat. Even my watering did not help them. I was going to pull out the worst offenders but suddenly they're back, standing tall and looking good. So they get a reprieve for now.

One noticeable quirk: My painted ferns fall into two groups, one more gray and the other more greenish. All the new growth is the palest, ghostliest green I've ever seen. Maybe that's what always happens when they rejuvenate themselves like this. It's not something that happens often enough that I've ever noticed this color change before. 

The day lilies that were looking beat are sending up new growth as are the Astilbes that literally got fried from the weather. I have a number of the same Astilbe plant interspered in a short curved border and three really did not do well while one held its own for most of the summer. Difference in soil, slight variation in amount of sun or sprinkler water — who knows what causes the variation in their ability to withstand the weather. Definitely not something I've figured out yet.

If we get a little more rain, my garden will look almost normal when a group of Seattle gardeners come for a visit later this month. Keeping my fingers crossed. 

Bringing fall indoors

 

I cut the last of the toad lilies and assorted foliage on Nov. 2 to enjoy indoors. By the end of the first week, some of the ferns and other plants were dying. So I did a little rearranging and added some dried Hydrangeas to perk things up. But the backbone plants of the garden — Hellebores, Heucheras, native Pachysandra, NY ferns and an Araum Italicum — have been indoors in water for a little over two weeks and are still going strong. One more reason to celebrate foliage!

The Driveway Border

Hot sunny weather, followed by a little rain and the acquisition of new camera lenses sent Mark on a walking tour of our garden. Here's the long driveway border (about 60' long x 10' wide / 18.3m x 3.05m). Originally I called it the "Hendrix border" because my idea was to create a purple haze. There are still a number of plants from that plan like dark red 'Claude Shride' martagon lilies, red barberries, the 'Forest Pansy' redbud and dark Heucheras and Heucherellas. But the addition of a Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides 'Gold Rush') shifted the balance toward ochre, yellow and chartreuse. This spring we finally took out our 'Royal Purple' smoke bush to give the redwood the room it needs.

Epimedium rubrum (above) is filling in nicely along the front of the border along with a broad-leaved yellow sedge (Carex siderosta 'Lemon Zest'). This is the area with the Claude Shride martagons, also Heucherella 'Sweet Tea" and two ferns: Athyrium hybrida 'Ghost' and Dryopteris felix-mas 'Linearis Polydactyla'.

The large ceramic pot holds a dwarf waterlily. The bare space behind it is the home of the former smokebush. We will replace it with a 'Green Mountain' boxwood that is currently in a planter on the deck.

The standard tree in the angle of the zigzag stone wall is my "lollipop lilac." 

This sloping stone path is the wheelbarrow route to the back garden. You can also see some of the peeled trunks from the Arbor Vitae that Mark removed 14 years ago when we began the garden. We are still using them in a number of projects, including as a support for a red clematis that is visible (the support, not the clematis) in the 4th image.

Foliage Follow-up: 12.16.2010

Northern gardens mainly rely on evergreens for color once December arrives. But depending on the temperatures and snow cover (or rather, lack of it) ferns can provide a touch of fresh, bright green. I've discovered they are among the most resilient plants in my garden. They shine in December when their surrounding perennial partners are sleeping. This is what they looked like on Dec. 3 after major frosts and temps in the low 20s. Mark took these shots just before it snowed and pretty much buried them. In honor of Pam's Foliage Follow-up, here is some December foliage — just not today's foliage which is all white.

The other Bergenia

Bergenia ciliata is the other Bergenia — the one whose rounded fuzzy leaves look like an African violet on steroids. The leaves are similar in size to Bergenia cordifolia but mine are not quite as upright. 

I am growing this where it gets morning sun and afternoon shade, compared to my B. cordifolias which get just about full sun. 

All of my Bergenias tend to flower sporadically; B. ciliata's flowers are a sweet Apple Blossom pink compared to the strident magenta of most Bergenias. But this is a plant to grow for its gorgeous foliage. If they never flowered again I wouldn't complain.  

Don't let the moss in this image fool you. The ferns, the Bergenia and the moss are all growing in rather poor soil. In fact, the moss keeps colonizing the worst patches of hard-packed clay in my garden.

 

But the plants all seem to be happy, which means I'm happy, too.

Christmas (fern) in July

All spring and summer I've been enjoying posts by Altoon Sultan of Studio and Garden about what she discovers on her walks in the woods near her house in Vermont. In particular, I've been fascinated by the mushrooms and ferns she finds. As an urban dweller I have to create my "woods," which I've done by planting a grove of five River Birch trees. Then I followed up by putting in an assortment of ferns. 

 

Christmas Fern (pictured here) us one of my favorites because of its very upright habit. It's a member of the Polystichum family (specifically P. acrostichoides), which also includes the holly, sword and shield ferns. 

 

The other thing I love about this fern is its beautiful spores. John T. Mickel, in "Ferns for American Gardens," says the spores are typically so dark brown as to be almost black. However, he says, a few species have yellow spores. 

 

I would put my Christmas fern in the latter category. Though I would call this color more gold or umber. It positively glows on the backs of these ferns, where it is clearly visible because they are so upright. 

For northern gardeners, another advantage of growing members of the Polystichum family of ferns is that they are evergreen. For me, that means this fern will look good until it gets flattened by the first big snowstorm. In the spring, when the snow melts, I can see the old fronds smushed on the ground so I never have to worry about planting something on top of one of them — the way I did with another fern last spring!

Foliage Follow-up: 06.16.2010

In a year where flowers have bloomed and disappeared ahead of schedule, it's the foliage that provides the longterm color and visual appeal in the garden. The martagon lilies in the view below are certainly lovely; but the scene is just as attractive when they stop flowering. June foliage favorites follow:

 

Hosta with Autumn fern (Dryopteris erythrosora)

 

Epimedium rubrum with Heuchera 'Electra'

 

Crested fern with European ginger at the foot of an Austrian pine

 

Carex rosea (curly wood sedge) ready to be cut back so it can start again with delicate upright leaves.

 

Allium senescens 'Glaucum'

 

Gallium ordoratum starting to go to seed as well as send out new leaves

 

New growth on the purple Smokebush (Cotinus 'Royal Purple') with a Tiarella bloom peeking through

 
To see fabulous foliage in other gardens, visit Pam at Digging who hosts 'Foliage Follow-up," the day after GBBD. 

Snow date

Four months to the day since our snow season began with a record-breaking storm on Dec. 8, 2009. Judging by the view of the garden this morning, it ain't over yet. Mark took a quick tour with the camera to mark the moment. 

 

For those of you interested in such things, the plants are: Dryopteris odontoloma fern, Lilium martagon buds with one of last summer's stems, Paeonia japonica, Hosta, Bergenia (If past years are any indicator, the rabbits will eat these before they actually bloom), Trillium sessile, Muscari latifolium, yellow primrose from the grocery store planted many years ago, Pulmonaria 'David Ward' with its apple green leaves, Hellebous orientalis Blackthorn strain. The primroses probably are done for, but since almost everything else is still in the bud stage, they will easily weather this little April setback.

My garden odyssey: No room to grow

EPISODE VI

Just in case you forgot what our little urban garden looked like when we moved in, the photo below should refresh your memory. We started with the fence erected by the previous homeowners, a lone tree which we moved from one side of the yard to the other (the small circle of dead grass marks its prior location), a flat expanse of grass and some crumbling sidewalks. I'm standing in for the sculpture that my husband, Mark, proposed to create as a centerpiece to give the garden focus and scale. 

BEFORE:

AFTER: 

You can see from the picture above that we accomplished our dream: The sculpture's in place, we installed all the brick hardscaping we'd designed, and had areas at each end of the garden where we could sit and enjoy our handiwork. The garden was lush and lovely and every inch of space was full — from the borders to the raised rock garden located at the far left in the above photo.

So we began to work our way around the house. The planting areas were not large but they offered micro climates — like shade (above) on the north side of the house. It didn't take long before they, too, were full. Here, the ferns and Hostas hide an old, unused cistern in the jog of the house while the goatsbeard (Aruncus dioicus) hides the utility box.

We also managed to create ideal growing conditions for a variety of plants, including creeping thymes and sedums, that liked the sharp drainage (above) in our raised rock garden, which we built on top of discarded clumps of concrete. 

We also grew our best crop of prickly pear cactus (Opuntia species) at this garden (above). The cactus thrived in the rock garden, which was not only in full sun but baked in reflected heat from our huge blacktopped driveway. We even managed to get bear's breeches (Acanthus mollis) to bloom next to the driveway one especially hot summer — a feat never since repeated!

MIKE DeVRIES PHOTO

I was in my full English border phase in this garden: growing red Valerian (Centranthus ruber), pink Dianthus and Lady's mantle (Alchemilla mollis). The Valerian died numerous times and I just kept replanting it until I finally admitted it was one of the plants that was unsuited to the garden and the climate. 

At the end of three years, we'd accomplished our Five Year Plan. Actually, we'd gone beyond it and were gardening on all sides of the house. For the next couple of years we found ourselves growing vines up the fire escape and filling a Victorian wire plant stand on the back porch with potted plants.

Eventually there was only one place left to go and that was up — onto the roof of our garage (above). We decided we could either add crenellations a la White Castle or huge pots that could hold more plants. We now found ourselves watering plants above our heads. 

And that brought up the question: Just how far were we willing to go to garden?

To read more about how I started gardening, my first garden and the history of this garden, click on My Garden Odyssey in the Categories list.

Anything but fragile

Before there were dinosaurs, there were ferns. In fact, they were thriving 200 million years before flowering plants evolved. That may be the reason they cope so well with extremes. Most of my ferns have come through rainy, wet years as well as drought conditions with no discernable problems. And a number of them were still looking remarkably good for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day Saturday. I didn’t post their photos then, so here are a few ferns that always seem to make it through the first frosts and look good until the snow arrives. 

My top fern for dealing with challenging sites and weather is the always attractive Dryopteris filix-mas ‘Linearis polydactyla’ (Slender Crested Male fern). It's tall and airy, and the end of each frond (leaf to me and you) splits in two. The tip of each pinnule (leaf segment) along the stem also splits. Because it has a fishbone look, that’s what I've always called it. (The true Fishbone fern is Nephrolepis cordifolia so don’t let me be the cause of confusion for you at the nursery).

Dryopteris filix-mas ‘Linearis polydactyla’

My original 'Linearis Polydactyla' is about 13 years old, 30 inches high and almost 3 feet across. It grows in unamended clay soil and gets afternoon sun. Neither condition is ideal but neither seems to faze it. As a result, I've put 'Linearis Polydactyla' in other tough spots where it is also doing well, particularly the dry shade under spruce and maple trees. That merely seems to slow down the growth, which is fine with me.

Dryopteris dilatata ‘Recurvata’ growing with Pulmonaria 'David Ward.'

Dryopteris dilatata ‘Recurvata’ (Recurved Broad Buckler fern) is another noteworthy fern: ten years old, 30 inches high and at least that big around. Growing very well in dryish shade under old Austrian pines and not far from black walnut trees.

Dryopteris affinis ‘Cristata’ (Golden-Scaled Male fern).

Dryopteris affinis ‘Cristata’ (Golden-Scaled Male fern) was just planted in July and has settle in nicely despite a rather dry summer and fall. I am assuming it will be a star performer like all the other Dryopteris forms in my garden. 

Also looking great but not pictured:

Dryopteris erythrosora (Autumn fern) which is standing in a big upright clump; it looks like it’s midsummer instead of November. Polystichum acrostichoide (Christmas fern) and  Asplenium scolopendirum (Hart’s Tongue fern) are both considered “evergreen” but that usually means little in a climate that gets as cold and snowy as ours. They will be bedraggled by Spring but are putting on a nice show now.  

One of many Carex species that are still going strong in November: C. elata 'Bowles Golden.'

No, this is not a fern but I put it in because it has the same airy quality. It’s a clump of Carex elata 'Bowles Golden.' I've tried growing this a few times with no success. But finally it seems right at home and happy. And I’m happy that it’s giving me one last burst of green this late in the year.

CORRECTION:  Danger! Sleepy gardener at work. If you looked at this post earlier today, the last image was misidentified as an Iris.