Author: Holly Scoggins

Rules, guidelines, and to-do lists


Elizabeth: You have to take me to shore! According to the Code of the Order of the Brethren…

Captain Barbossa: First, your return to shore was not part of our negotiations nor our agreement, so I ‘must’ do nothing.

And secondly, you must be a pirate for the Pirate’s Code to apply, and you’re not.

And thirdly, the code is more what you call "guidelines" than actual rules.

Welcome aboard the Black Pearl, Miss Turner!

—  Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl


There are ways, and then there are ways.

I’m always torn on this topic when it comes to pirate…I mean, gardening. How much I consider “rules” is minimal.  There are few absolutes.  Guidelines? Yes. Lots.

I know, absolutes and rules make decision-making easier and life simpler. Do this, now. Don’t do that, you’ll kill it.

Novices (at anything) especially appreciate rules.

As a not-so-seasoned beekeeper, the wildly diverse range of opinions and conflicting information on any one point is making me nuts.  Plus, all direction seem to come with the unspoken sentiment “…or they’ll DIE”.  March comes…”feed a 1:1 syrup to ensure a strong brood before nectar flow." Just as popular: “do NOT feed syrup in the spring, the bees have to exert too much effort to evaporate the water out and the hive will be too humid (and then you-know-what happens).  Aargh

To-do lists: great suggestions or fun-crushing obstacles to gardening enjoyment?

As the seasons change, you can’t pick up a gardening magazine or read a local paper column without some mention of Things You Would Be Doing In Your Garden Right Now If You Were Worth A Damn. Some lists even use the term "chores."  Chores are splitting wood and cleaning the toilet. Gardening, though requiring physical activity, is not a chore. Back to lists: a very fine regional gardening newsletter I just received had no fewer than 32 items on their March-April "To-Do List".  Thirty-two.

Three to-do directives I’ve seen in the last month and my judgement thereof:

“Browse plant and seed catalogs and get your orders in.”  Duh. Rule.

"Don’t prune Buddleia and other sub-shrubs until the buds are breaking. If you prune it in the fall, it will DIE."  Guideline.  I’ve done both, with no fatalities (has anyone actually killed a  butterfly bush by accident?).

“Wait until after last frost to set out tender annuals and warm-season vegetables.” I think our last frost was sometime back in February. Every man for himself on this one. I’m shooting for tomatoes in May.

Some lists skew more towards hard labor while others are not so time-consuming – such as “cut some daffodils and bring them inside to enjoy!” Marvelous! I may actually get around to that!  But wait – there’s a caveat – “because daffodil sap is ‘toxic’, don’t mix any other species of cut flowers in with them."

[or they’ll DIE]

Terry E. for the win!!!

Ray E. was heading in the right direction because he picked up on some family characteristics.

Terry E. got it…

"Blue Ginger (Dichorisandra thyrsiflora).
As per Ray’s offering above, this species is in the same family, Commelinaceae, as the spiderworts, dayflowers, etc."

To any plant i.d. students that may accidentally read this:  family identification is important and helpful. The characteristic triangular flower shape (three petals) and six stamens is a dead giveaway (I get some guff for making them learn families).

Plant photos taken at the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden near Hilo.  Lush and gorgeous!




We grow it as a tropical here, but it certainly doesn’t reach 6′ tall as in Hawaii. Easy enough to dig up and overwinter (and share with your friends – we got our clump from local plant goddess Elissa Steeves). 

Quiz (a day early)

Well, I was swamped on my usual posting day, and now I certainly can’t top Jeff”s post – I laughed so hard it took away my initiative.  "Throw and Go" indeed. 

I think we should start our own line of Garden Professors Soil Amendments – "Dr. Holly for Hollies," "Dr. Linda’s Flingable Compost (Not For Tea Dammit)",  and "Dr. Bert’s Conifer Special".  Dr. Jeff would have his own line of slug repellants and traps – available in six-packs. 

Back to my post… you get a quiz!  I’ve rooted through my stockpile o’ photos and found one that just may fool a few of you.  Or not.

 Guess away!

Madison Wisconsin takes care of bees-ness

The bee blogosphere (hiveosphere?) and listservs were abuzz the past two
days with news that Madison, Wisconsin, has taken an active role in
encouraging beekeeping within the city limits.   The version of the
story I found a link to was in the Madison Commons.

Apparently beekeeping was prohibited in town (though the prohibition was
rarely enforced, except in the case of complaints).  The ordinance was
changed to allow urban beekeepers to keep hives.

There are specific regulations, such as 25′ distance to the nearest
neighbor as well as a  requirement to supply a fresh water source near
the bees (very important – especially in urban settings). 

Flight barriers – fences, shrubbery, or  sheds are also required.  This
is a simple bit of beekeeping etiquette if you have close neighbors.
Bees will fly straight in and out of the hive entrance, usually just a
foot or two off the ground.  They’ll maintain this altitude until 
forced to go up or down.  Constructing, planting, or placing the hives
in front of an existing barrier they must fly over ensures they will
maintain a higher altitude coming and going and not zip across your
neighbor’s lawn at kid-eyeball height. 

I’m currently learning stuff like this and much, much more in the
brand-new Virginia Master Beekeeper Program, taught by the most
excellent Bee Professor on the planet, Dr. Rick Fell. Honeybee
physiology and sociology is absolutely astounding.  I’ve been beekeeping
for four years now, and am just finding out with this class how much I
didn’t know.  I was also unaware that incidences of beehive thievery are
at an all-time high, hence the out-of-site suggestion.

I’ll probably continue to pop out with the occasional post on bees,
because I just can’t curb my enthusiasm.  "Cleansing flights" might be a
good topic…



   Slide from Dr. Richard Fell’s immense bastion of knowledge.

Tom Fischer for the WIN!

The answer to last Friday’s plant i.d. quiz is Angelia gigas. Tom guessed it; confirmed (seconded?) by Johannes.

Fairly easy biennial from seed.  Bees and butterflies love it. This one’s a bit spindly due to too much shade (it had reseeded from another spot).  And that most certainly is not a dandelion in the background.

I love the buds – before opening, the flower is encased in bract with and disguised (?) with a wee leaf-like structure at the end.

[Return of] National Forced Affection Day

After several incredibly informative posts from Jeff, Bert, and Linda, I’m going to give you a break as I veer off into Useless-land.

I’ve written posts previously regarding how important Valentine’s Day is for floriculture, most obviously the cut flower growers and florists.  In past posts, I’ve suggested alternatives to the boring/overpriced/under-fragranced/outsourced bouquet of red roses that folks seem to gravitate to.   The National Retail Federation predicts record-breaking sales in excess of $17 billion this year; $1.8 billion will be spent on cut flowers.  Fully two-thirds of that amount will be red roses. Bleah!

Other than Mother’s Day, there are very few holidays/events associated with cut flower sales; Valentine’s and the few days preceding is the make-or-break week for most florists. 

Here’s where I veer off…I was in the process of jotting down potential floral marketing opportunities for this post, when I opened the GrowerTalks industry newsletter/blog that coincidently featured thoughts along those lines for garden centers. Author Chris Beytes pointed readers to “Brownielocks’ Weird Holiday Calendar” for ideas.  I followed the link and proceeded to blow an entire hour and a half of what was supposed to be a very busy morning.

SO, in addition to this week leading up to Valentine’s Day, there are a few other things going on, including…

Freelance Writers Appreciation Week (Feb 5-11), Just Say No to PowerPoint Week (Feb 6- 10), Have a Heart for a Chained Dog Week (Feb 7-14 and always), National School Counseling Week (Feb 6-11), and Dump Your Significant Jerk Week (Feb 5-11) (to be followed by National Flirting Week Feb 13-19)

As for the entire month of February, you may already be aware of American Heart Month and National African-American History Month. There’s more limited exposure for National Pet Dental Health Month, National Hot Breakfast Month, International Hoof-care Month, Marijuana Awareness Month, Jobs in Golf Month, and Spunky Old Broads Month.

We’ve already missed National Work Naked Day (Feb 1), Crepe Day (Feb 2), Marmot Day (Feb 2), and World Nutella Day (Feb 5). 

But never fear, there’s still time to celebrate Lupercalia (Feb 15), Cow Milked While Flying in Airplane Day (Feb. 18) and National Margarita Day (Feb 22, count down calendar here).

Google any for more information. If I linked them all, you’d just waste more time.

Stop planting things so close together, Holly!

I love Linda’s idea and there are some great comments – but y’all need to send her photo evidence of these gardening adventures/casualties to post! Would make me feel better. It doesn’t take much to get me going on dubious stuff I have done, gardening or otherwise.

Was just up to Northern Virginia to help with  Fairfax Master Gardener training (at the fabulous Merrifield Garden Center).  My talk was on "site analysis and plant selection." As I looked through my digital photos to illustrate the points made, I came across several "ahem" moments, that lead to the "do what I say, not what I do" caveat (but usually gets a few giggles and snorts). 

Here’s a classic:

East side of  our "yarden." The only preexisting material was the pair of white birch in the background and the purple-leaf plum.  Please direct your attention to the left side of the border.

We built the bed in spring of 2008. 

Inserted a very happy redbud, (7 gallon), Metasequoia glyptostroboides ‘Ogon’ (my pride and joy) ($$$ for a 15 gallon specimen),  Salix x ‘Hakuru Nishiki’ standard (7 gallon lollipop), underplanted with some sun/part shade perennials and one little Tetrapanax root dug from a friend’s garden. There was also a Calycanthus raulstonii ‘Hartledge Wine’ tucked between the redbud and dawn redwood but you can’t see it from this angle.

The sun perennials took off, and it looked AWESOME. 

Coming up on this border’s 4th anniversary, things are a bit…crowded. Only a few Echinacea remain to fight for the morning sun. The Tetrapanex just loves the light sandy loam and has gone ape-doo. The Phyllis Diller-esque Salix standard, despite my pruning it back each year, is about to get the chain saw.  ‘Hartledge Wine’ got relocated this fall.

I think this is a common gardener’s dilemma. Maybe I just can’t picture my pet dawn redwood reaching 50′ tall, like it probably said on the tag I ignored.  The upside is…"lush."  And there needs to be a new bed  built to relocate the sunny stuff (yay!).   I’m actually a pretty patient gardener; and I even distinctly recall with this particular bed I was all "Look how far apart I’m placing these! Suuuper genius!"  Feel free to giggle or snort.

Black is the new…black?

Dark foliage and flowers have been popular for quite a while.  Heck, an entire book (Paul Bonine, Timber Press) features the darkest of the dark.

Of course, "black" is a bit subjective.  Dark purple, dark brown, dark green.  But dark is hot; plant breeders and marketers know it. Here’s a few things that have come out within the past couple of years…

Ball Horticulture’s new patented petunia ‘Black Velvet’ is all over the place, along with its cousins, Phantom and Pinstripe.

Bench card from Ball for use in garden centers.  Odd choice of editorial photo for the "little black dress."  Petunia’s cute enough, though.

Centaurea montana ‘Black Sprite’ is a new perennial from Sunny Border Nursery (marketed by Skagit Gardens). You may be familiar with the blue version (Knapweed, Mountain Bluets). I am, because it reseeds all over my stinkin’ garden.  Maybe this one is better behaved.
 

I snapped this at the OFA Floriculture trade show in July.  Love the black outline on the bud "scales."

A new ornamental eggplant certainly falls under the "black" category.  This super-cute guy was in the "new plants" display at OFA also, but some dork had snatched the tag from the display. Let me know if you recognize it…


Meeestery eggplant has nice flowers and foliage, too. Until the flea beetles come.

There are so many wonderful ornamental peppers out there – all easy to grow from seed.  Most are pretty hot (pop a ‘Black Pearl’ some time for a thrill). From the U.K. breeding company Vegetalis comes the F1 hybrid pepper ‘Chenzo’.

 Like ‘Black Pearl’, the fruit change from black to deep red as they ripen. It’s also hot as blue blazes, with a Scoville rating of 45,000 shu.