Each Little World

Plant sale season: 2013

Every year I write about local garden sales and I pretty much say the same thing: I love them! Rather than give you lots of details here, I'm going to link you to more info. The Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society lists dozens and dozens of sales and garden events in their April newsletter. You can access it online here. Sale info begins on page 5.

My personal favorite sales are:

The West Side Garden Club: Friday, May 10, from 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. and Saturday, May 11, from 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. The sale is at 3518 Nakoma Road (near Seminole Highway and down the block from Thoreau School).

Olbrich Botanical Gardens: Plant Sale with the Pros on Friday, May 10, from 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. and on Saturday, May 11 from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Find complete details and why it's a must for gardeners at any stage here. I'll be working the Friday afternoon shift, so be sure to stop by and say hello. (Full disclosure: I'm an Olbrich member). 

The Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society: Saturday, May 18, from 9 a.m. - noon, at the West Madison Agricultural Research Station, 8502 Mineral Point Road, Madison. Plants are from members' gardens and there are always some unusual offerings. Before I sat down at the computer to write this, I walked around my garden to determine what I can dig and pot up for the sale. Another benefit of this sale: lots of free parking! (Full disclosure: I'm a WHPS member and am also on their Board).

One of my favorite purchases from the West Side Garden Club sale. I never had any luck with this primrose until I bought some from this sale. 

CBG Antiques & Garden Fair

After a hiatus of a number of years, Mark and I went to the Windy City for the 2013 Antiques & Garden Fair put on by the Chicago Botanic Garden. This year's event featured more than 100 vendors from the Midwest to as far away as Nantuckett Island and England. Everyone sets up their space with vintage, antique and ethnic treasures in tents and assorted buildings right in the middle of the CBG. 

The weather at the CBG was wet and windy — pretty much the same thing happening at home. It reminded us of our trip to the gardens with the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society in the fall of 2008 when the gardens closed due to record rainfall while we were visiting. The photo above — flooding that closed parts of the parking areas on Friday — gave us a clue about what to expect as we walked from our car to the Visitor Center.

As we exited that building onto the bridge that takes you out into the gardens we could see how high the water was in the lake that is a feature of the landscape. Note that there isn't any green showing on the trees and espalied shrub on the wall. Virtually all the outdoor blooming plants we saw were things that had been brought on in the greenhouses and put in place before the Antiques Fair.

How long can these plants survive this much standing water? 

Mark snapped the picture above in 2008. It shows water lapping at the shoreline path along this promenade area on the way from the Visitor Center to the Regenstein Center. Compare it to the shots below which he took on Friday — clearly conditions appear to be much worse this time. 

Plants as well as the path were underwater. I love this area of the garden with stepped rows of hedges and groundcovers, including boxwoods and cottoneaster. The railing along the pathway (below) is barely visible above the water.

Cold, wet and windy conditions meant the tents housing the dealers, the visitors, and the antiques had be securely fastened down.

Even with all the weight holding things in place, we did see a bit of occasional rippling of a wall filled with paintings. 

Once inside the tents, however, we pretty much were able to forget about the weather, though most visitors and even some vendors kept their outdoor jackets on.

The view below is the bonsai display courtyard in 2008. For the Antiques Fair, even the covered walkways around this courtyard are put to use.

The courtyard became a staging area for LP gas cannisters for the heaters that were whooshing warm air into the covered walkways that had been closed in with plastic sheeting to make more display stalls for the vendors. It was nice and warm in this area.

Once inside there was so much to see, that I put the woeful weather and the tragedy in Boston out of my mind for a few hours. I just honed in on beautiful old objects.

Among my favorites was this delicate Chinese bamboo vest displayed on an equally lovely stand. The garment was meant to be worn in the summer under a kimono to protect the fabric and keep it from touching one's hot sweaty skin. 

As you can see from the topiary in front of the vest, most vendors had some kind of fabulous flowers in their booth. This dealer had an assortment of topiaries and all of them were for sale, too.

Later this week, I'll share more photos of the antiques we saw as well as the stunning floral displays that were put together especially for this event. 

Seattle visitors

We had a group of out-of-town visitors to our garden Sunday afternoon after a mostly rainy morning. Though only .15" of rain actually fell, it still helped to perk up the garden. Once the rain stopped, we opened up the tea house and hung up our Japanese shop sign.

And I took a quick last-minute run though the garden to see how everything looked just minutes before they arrived — picking up fallen apples and black walnuts. I decided to wear my brightest shirt so folks could easily pick me out of the crowd to answer questions!

Even though the sky was still overcast there were waterlilies blooming which really emphasizes the pond as the focal point of the garden. Since it's been so hot and dry here in southern Wisconsin, a gray day was actually a nice change.

About two dozen members of the Northwest Horticultural Society came to visit our garden as part of their Chicago and southern Wisconsin tour. The event was arranged by Wisconsin native Daniel Mount. Like the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society (of which Mark and I are members), the NHS hosts lectures, garden tours and plant sale fund-raising events; but they have over 1000 members in the Seattle area while we're about half their size. 

They arrived at 3 p.m. — luckily having called to warn us they were an hour ahead of schedule! But it meant that they had extra time to spend with us as we were the last stop of the day after Taliesin and the Cedar Grove cheese factory. We've had lots of local garden groups tour our garden but this was the first time we ever had a bus pull up across the street from our house with visitors. It is definitely a bit disconcerting!

Just about this time last August, Mark and I were taking Daniel Mount around local Madison gardens, helping him to pull together this NHS group tour. Daniel grew up in Milwaukee and actually went to Luther Burbank Grade School, "which may very well have been the beginning of this whole plant thing," he says. Currently he is an estate gardener in the Pacific Northwest, garden writer, blogger and educator. His column for the NHS recently won a silver award from the Garden Writers Association and one of his gardens is on the cover of the current issue of Fine Gardening magazine.

We decided just to let folks wander around at their own pace and then to answer questions after they'd had a chance to see the garden. Though we have lots of paths winding through our garden they are narrow (perfect for the two of us) but cause a bit of a bottleneck when curious gardeners are walking them. Some of the Seattle folks actually were stopped by a plant unfamiliar to them — Carex plantaginea —before they'd taken more than a few steps.

Carex plantaginea (seersucker sedge) is one of many sedges we have in our garden, and one that is usually familiar to local gardeners. Folks wondered if we grew any native plants and that particular sedge is one of them — growing just a few feet from some of our other natives like Bur oak, witch hazels and Pagoda dogwoods. 

Another attention-getter was our large specimen shrub: Viburnum plicatum var. tomentosum 'Mariesii' (doublefile Viburnum) which is spread out behind the two gentlemen from Seattle. Their presence gives you an idea of its size.

Luckily Mark and I both were doing pretty well remembering the names of plants, trees and shrubs in the garden, so we were able to provide information when people liked something. 

See where I'm standing in the photo below? I'm trying to remember the name of the prostrate shrub on the ground below me near the birch trees. I couldn't do it nor could I find it in my file of plant names. That's because it was mistakenly filed under trees instead of shrubs. It is Pinus sylvestris 'Albyn Prostrata,' a prostrate Scots pine. Ours is more open and leggy than it should be as it needs more sun. Alas I did not get the name of the person who was interested in this pine, so I hope you are reading this!

Eventually we all wound up on the deck and then went indoors for Wisconsin cheeses and brews. Mark and I really enjoyed ourselves and it seemed as though our visitors did as well. They commented on a number of features that most folks don't mention and they wanted the names of some trees and shrubs that don't always get singled out for attention.

Who knows if this is the result of some special Northwest sensibility or just a reflection of individual tastes? What I do know is that I wished we could have spent much longer visiting with each other; everyone I talked to was so interesting and engaging. Maybe the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society will have to think about another Northwest tour.

Finally, a big thank you to whoever gathered up all the dirty dishes and nicely piled them on the kitchen counter by the sink. Now that's our kind of garden visitor! 

. . .

Seattle folks: If you are curious about the design and construction process of our garden, you can follow it step-by-step by clicking on "My Garden Odyssey" in the category list. Just be aware that the most recent posts are first. So if you want to start at the beginning, go to the archives for Nov. 2008 when the first Odyssey post appeared: "All in Good Time." 

Back yard whimsy

A local gardener who is also a quilter had her textile handiwork imaginatively displayed in her garden on a recent visit.

This totem, however, was my favorite object in her garden and one of the most creative things I've seen in any garden. It was a retirement gift made for her by staff and some of the students at Malcolm Shabazz High School in Madison. They also presented her with an accompanying book. 

A short reprieve

We were on Madison's far east side Wednesday night when the rain storm that's passed us by for the last 6 weeks finally stopped in.  We were touring the gardens of members of the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society when a darkening sky (below) signaled that we should head for home — on the opposite side of town. We spent the ride buffeted by high winds and blinding rain. No limbs came down at our house, just some water in the basement from clogged gutters. It's been so long since it rained that we've gotten out of the habit of checking the gutters; something that's a must when you are surrounded by big honey locust trees as we are.

Mark went out the morning after the storm to check for damage and to see how the garden was faring. The truth is that some things have flourished in this hot, relentlessly sunny summer. The water lilies are the prime example. The leaves have never spread out so well or been so lush and we have a dozen big blossoms almost every day. The leaf coverage is keeping the pond cooler and keeping algae away.

Grasses have stood up well to the weather as have drought tolerant perennials like Epimedium (behind the Hakone chloa grass below). But only the ones that have had time to develop good root systems. The Epimediums that are only a couple of years old are all stressed and have lots of brown leaves.

We've been watering the garden a lot — especially trees and shrubs and the newest plantings. We don't have an irrigation system because usually we don't need to water much in Wisconsin. Luckily we do have three locations where we can hook up hoses and sprinklers so we can hit every section of the garden. Like everyone in this part of the country, we've let the grass go brown and dormant.

When you look at the garden from a distance, everything looks good. 

It's only when you step into the garden and walk around that you begin to see the damage. These ostrich ferns are in our neighbor's garden but are visible from our garden so we get to enjoy them as well. They typically put on a show until they get hit by the first frost in the fall. But they gave up the ghost early this year. 

It's not easy to determine why things are drying out when plants next to them are doing fine. Usually these little dwarf Solomon's Seal stay green while their Sweet Woodruff companion plants die back. This year the two plants have reversed roles.

We have three very sculptural stems of Euonymous alata growing in the shade along this fence. The two bigger shrubs are doing fine but this one seems to have died. I've noticed the same behavior on the same plant in a garden down the street. Half their Burning Bush is perfect and the other half is dead. Go figure.

I thought I had been keeping an eye on our Golden Shadows Dogwood until I saw this photo. I've been watering and babying this little tree because it has a lot of root competition. It was doing quite well but I think a lot of things just hit the point earlier this week when they could not take the high temps any more — no matter how much water they are getting. There's only so many days of 100 degrees F. (37.77 C.) that any of us can stand before we curl up.

Perennial or tree, everyone is showing the same stress: Rogersia henrici bloomed for the first time in 14 years but is not happy now!

This is the second flush of leaves on this Magnolia sieboldii; the first succumbed to frost after the early warmth made them leaf out too early.

The rain has had some instant results: mushrooms popping up

. . . and mosses and lichens greening up.

We'll see what happens next since the temps look like they are going to go back to the high 90s F. (32.22 C.) right away. We need more grey days in the 80s (26.66 C.) to say nothing of more rain. 

WEATHER STATS: We got 2.91 inches (7.39 centimeters) of rain at our house in three separate storms Wednesday and early into Thursday morning. This was the first rain since June 21st when we got less than a quarter of an inch.

To get a sense of how widespread the drought is, take a look at this graphic from The New York Times on 7/20. So much more shocking to see it pictured like this.

Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society: Annual sale Saturday

Date: Saturday, May 19, 2012

Time: 9:00 – Noon, rain or shine

Location: West Madison Ag Research Station, 8502 Mineral Point Rd. (on the right just past the stoplight on Hwy M). Lots of parking, rain or shine. The plants are under a covered shelter which makes shopping more pleasant. 

If you're wondering what kind of plants you'll find there, let me just say that they are from members' gardens which means they are hardy here. Many are unusual since this is a sophisticated bunch of gardeners and many of them are in the horticulture industry as nursery folks and Hort profs at UW.

I haven't donated plants for a number of years but this spring gave me such an early start on the garden that I had time to thin a number of things. I don't know what other members may be contributing but my selection includes: old-fashioned bleeding heart, a Boomerang lilac, variegated toad lilies, primulas and pulmonarias, lily of the valley 'Hardwick Hall' whose leaves are edged in gold (originally from Klehm) and another lily of the valley with striped leaves (from the late Seneca Hill Perennials). And this nice weather means I may have time to add a few more things to my personal list of donations. 

Looking forward to seeing you Saturday!

Full disclosure: I am a member of WHPS and on their board. I am also a member of Olbrich and the UW-Arboretum, as well as being friends with many gardeners associated with these and other garden groups. But in no instance am I receiving any remuneration, financial or otherwise, for my comments and support of these groups posted on this blog.

I break for plant sales!

Plant Sale madness kicks off this week with the Hosta Garden Companions fabulous Hosta sale at Tom and May Riddle's garden at 1809 Waunona Way, Madison. This event runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, beginning this Friday and running each weekend through May. I bought four Hostas from them last year at reasonable prices, but what was really great was being able to see each Hosta in a bed at its mature size and shape in a home garden setting. 

Then comes the West Side Garden Club's Sale. This group has been beautifying our community for 90 years as well as contributing to numerous civic projects, outreach programs, and scholarships (as do many of our local garden groups) via the proceeds of their annual plant sales. The gorgeous Japanese primrose (below) is one of many plant purchases I've made over the years at the West Side Garden Club's annual sale. It was grown in a member's garden as is the case with many of the items sold at local plant sales. As a result, this primrose has bloomed and increased for me to the point that soon I will be able to offer seedlings back to the sale! West Side Garden Club Sale: Friday, May 11 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday, May 12 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 3918 Nakoma Rd. just west of Thoreau School and opposite Seminole Hwy.

Olbrich Botanical Gardens Plant Sale with the Pros is on Friday, May 11 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday, May 12 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Olbrich Botanical Gardens. Note the name of this sale: it is staffed with pros so no question will go unanswered. I could go on and on about this sale because it is always superb. Check out the link because they offer so many extras at this annual event in addition to wonderful plants. We've bought many of our best trees and shrubs at Olbrich over the years. I often donate garden books to the sale and usually take home a couple as well.  Not to be missed.

UW-Madison Arboretum Native Plant Sale is on Saturday, May 12 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the tent next to the Visitor Center. This is the premier event for native plant folks whether you have a woodland or prairie. 

The Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society is holding their annual sale on Saturday, May 19 from 9 a.m. to noon. at the West Madison Agricultural Research Station, 8502 Mineral Point Road, just past the stoplight on Hwy. M. The sale is held rain or shine and this is a covered localion so you don't have to worry about weather. Just before this sale last spring, I toured a WHPS member's garden where I saw more wonderful primroses (above). And then, there they were at the sale where I was able to buy some in each color pictured. I've also bought a number of Korean maples (below) at this sale. Again, these are plants grown in local gardens so you know they should also grow for you. Though this sale is held later than many, there's always something unusual and unexpected at this event so don't miss it.

Full disclosure: I am a member of WHPS and on their board. I am also a member of Olbrich and the UW-Arboretum, as well as being friends with many gardeners associated with these and other garden groups. But in no instance am I receiving any remuneration, financial or otherwise, for my comments and support of these groups posted on this blog.

Click the links for details of each sale. You can also find a long list of other local plant sales in the on-line version of the WHPS April 2012 newsletter, beginning on Page 3. Most of these are open to the public but check the details to be sure that is the case, as some are member-only events. Most sales are also held rain or shine so come prepared for the weather.

Blogger meet-up in Madison

Mark and I did not attend the most recent garden blogger meet-up in Seattle. We'd taken a trip to Seattle and points north and south of that city a number of years ago to see Asian gardens. Though we hadn't visited private gardens on that trip, we decided that the timing just wasn't right for us to head west this year. But, as it happens, Seattle came to us last week — in the person of Daniel Mount (below, with Joan Severa in her Madison garden).

Daniel Mount — garden designer, writer and blogger — stayed with us on a flying visit to Madison Monday and Tuesday. He was here to scout out local gardens for a 2012 tour of this area by Pacific Northwest gardeners. As the "Seattle Fling" blogger gathering suggests, usually gardeners are flocking to see those temperate northwest gardens rather than the other way round. (Those of you who were at the Seattle meet-up may remember seeing Daniel at the Epping and Lane gardens and Bellevue Botanic). 

Daniel is a Wisconsin native with family still residing here and he knows what we have to offer: Chicago public gardens like the CBG and the Lurie and Olbrich Botanical Gardens and the UW-Madison Arboretum here. Our Arboretum is home to the world's oldest restored prairie as well as an outstanding collections of trees and shrubs. Many of them were introduced by Emeritus Horticulture prof Ed Hasselkus, and are now consumer favorites like Whitespire birches, Columbus strain redbuds, and Northern Glow maple. Among the many highlights at Olbrich is the Thai Pavilion, or sala, a common structure in Thailand typically used as a shelter from rain and heat. Olbrich's structure is gorgeously ornate with teak, ceramic tile and gold leaf and is one of only four in the world located outside Thailand.

Late summer in the Midwest offers scenes and plants that differ widely from those in the Pacific Northwest and Daniel wanted to refresh his memory of what our region looks like at this season. So Mark and I chauffeured him to eight private gardens — the first two on Monday evening. It was a long day considering he'd spent the morning with Jeff Epping, Director of Horticulture at Olbrich, and the afternoon with Ed Hasselkus at the Arb. 

We were off to an early start Tuesday with six gardens on the agenda. I had to be the tough task master since we only had an hour per garden — and that included travel time. The gardens ranged from Middleton to Oregon with the majority in Madison. With the assistance of Jane LaFlash of the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society, I lined up gardens of all sizes and types for Daniel to visit. We saw landscapes with sun and shade, ponds and prairies, chickens and bees, native plants and the latest exotic introductions.

Despite our recent high temperatures and lack of rainfall, all the gardens were looking lush and lovely. Daniel got a chance to meet the gardeners who briefed him on their highlights. Staying on schedule was not easy as all these gardens had so much to offer in both design and plants. A number of them have been open to visitors as part of Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society tours of member gardens or Olbrich's annual Home Garden Tour. 

Jane LaFlash (above right with Daniel and me) has a garden tucked behind her house on a busy thoroughfare that is so secluded it's hard to realize it's smack dab in the city. We spent lots of time looking at her Japanese maples. Jane has had great success with them compared to most of us with sad stories about our attempts to grow them. 

At the garden of Tom and Rosemary Kleinheinz, we saw a plant that Tony Avent was touting at his recent appearance at the Wisconsin Master Gardeners state conference held in Madison. Tony put "Syneilesis aconitifolia (with feathery leaves above) on his list of "100 Favorite Perennials for Wisconsin Gardeners" — and I had just planted one.

The picture above gives you a sense of what it's like to see a bunch of gardens in quick succession. Mark snapped the photo while I am on the far left taking notes, and Daniel is bemused, befuddled and trying to take notes and keep it all straight as Jane LaFlash and Tom and Rosemary Kleinheinz make sure he doesn't miss anything. A long, confusing, exhausting, memorable day!

A season of iris

When we moved into this house almost 17years ago, the yard had traditional flowers like peonies and iris. The peonies have almost been shaded out over the years, but the iris are still going strong. Most likely they are Iris pallida dalmatica: tall, pale lavender, tough as nails with a Concord grape fragrance. I brought Iris pumila 'Cherry Garden' with me from our former garden. Over the years I've acquired countless other Iris until I now have Iris of all types blooming from the end of the snow until mid-June. That was never a conscious plan but it's certainly worked out well.

My Iris photo parade (below) includes a Rosebud matchbox for scale in a number of the pictures. It's 1 and 1/2" tall (3.8 cm) x 2" long (5.1 cm) and 1/4" (.06 cm) deep.

Reticulated Iris: Iris reticulata 'Harmony' (above)

Lake Iris: Iris lacustris 'Alba' is found along the gravel shores of the Great Lakes and blooms earlier than the Crested Iris in my garden.

Lake Iris: Iris lacustris 'Alba' is about half the height of the crested Iris.

 Dwarf Crested Iris: Iris cristata 'Navy Blue Gem' is a darker form of the popular plant.

Dwarf Crested Iris: Iris cristata of unknown origin. I bought a couple of plants at the WHPS sale and also at the West Side Garden Club sale — perhaps from the same garden. 

Dwarf Crested Iris: Iris cristata of unknown origin. This photo gives you a sense of what a great ground cover this plant is.

Iris gracilipes: a Japanese woodland plant. Slightly taller than Iris cristata.

Iris gracilipes: This was the first season for this plant. Notice the delicate stems and buds. I am totally in love with this little gem! It will develop into a rounded clump, a bit like a daylily.

Dwarf bearded Iris: Unknown Iris pumila from the garden of my former co-worker and garden mentor, Doris Lang.

Tall German or Bearded Iris: I call this Iris pallida dalmatica "Smithy," in honor of the Don Smith family who built our house and put in the original trees and perennials.

Tall German or Bearded Iris: These are pretty much pest-free, very tall (38" / 96.5 cm) and never flop over — even after strong winds and rain.

Tall German or Bearded Iris: This view shows you the irises in place. The area long the dry stream where these irises bloom is dry, compacted soil and they love it.

Dwarf bearded Iris: Iris pumila 'Cherry Garden.'

Dwarf bearded Iris: I've been growing 'Cherry Garden' for just over 20 years and still love its velvety falls and rich saturated color.

Bearded Iris: Iris germanica 'El Dorado' is bi-color and tends to flop a bit but the flowers are so stunning that I put up with that little fault. 

Bearded Iris: 'El Dorado' is described as an "unusual elongated open flower in which the tips of lthe standards never touch." It's about 35" (88.9 cm) tall.

Water Iris: This unknown Iris laevigata arrived in a pot of supposedly blue plants. Either that, or it is the result of the blue water Iris crossing with Iris laevigata 'Snowdrift' while I wasn't looking. 

Water Iris: This view shows two varieties of Iris laevigata that self-seeded in the pebble beach at the edge of the pond. The rest of these Iris grow in the bog where they were originally planted a dozen years ago.  

Not pictured: Siberian Iris (Iris sibirica) and Japanese Iris (Iris ensata).

Front hall garden

Last week we did a big house cleaning in preparation for a couple of social events. The day before the first party, I went to the WHPS annual sale and came home with two trees and half a dozen primroses. I managed to get three of the Primula into the ground and then gave up. Too many other chores on my "to-do" list. 

So I decided to leave the pile of plant purchases in the front hall where I had dropped them after the sale. I would disguise them as floral decor rather than deal with them on deadline. Luckily the plastic pots all fit nicely inside my collection of ceramic containers. 

For those of you who are wondering, the Primulas are unnamed. The tree on the floor is an Acer pseudosieboldiana (Korean maple). The one on the bench is a Korean maple crossed with a Japanese maple (Acer palmatum). It combines the looks of one parent with the hardiness of the other. I was hoping to find one of these in the Khelm catalog this spring, but no luck. So I am very happy to have this nice specimen from the WHPS sale for only $17.00! Trust WHPS to provide treasures at everyday prices.