Buy Plants when It’s Snowing!

If you love to get your hands dirty in the garden, winter can be a costly time of year. That’s because you can continue to shop for new garden plants even when a blanket of snow is covering your gardens.

I have discovered that buying plants online is very satisfying. First, you have unlimited online resources to choose from because most garden nurseries have a website. You can also visit the online plant auctions like the Lily Auction and the Hosta Library Auction. Whether it is a garden nursery or a specialty farm growing a particular type of plant, like hosta or daylilies, the variety of plants online is limitless.

Hosta Lakeside Love Affair (online purchase-New Hampshire Hosta)

It is easy to compare plants online. One of my favorite pastimes in winter is to research and compare “must have” plants. Collecting online photos of your favorite plants and placing them in a file to compare and contrast varieties helps me choose the best plants for my garden. I also compare multiple images of the same variety online to be sure the picture is truly representative of the plant.

Daylily Lock Ness Monster (online purchase-Partridge Hill Gardens)

Purchasing plants online saves time. Instead of driving from one garden center to another, I can simply search, buy and have the plants delivered when it is best for me to plant. In the spring, it feels a little like Christmas each time a package arrives at my front door.

Russian Comfrey (online purchase-Variegated Foliage Nursery)

You may have noticed that I did not suggest that purchasing plants online saves money. Online plant shopping is a little like being a kid in a candy shop. There are so many choices. If you love unique plants and are always searching for the new and unusual, you may have a tendency to buy more or buy more frequently.

Daylily Night Beacon (online purchase-Hallson Gardens)

Don’t hesitate to buy plants online. I have been buying plants online for more than six years and have been very pleased by the quality of the plants received and how quickly they acclimate to my garden. The next time you need a garden fix in winter, shop for your favorite “must have” plant online.

What’s in a Garden Name?

Walkway Garden

 Do you have a name for your garden or names for your individual gardens - names that conjures up images of beauty, creativity, or even humor? New England is home to many wonderful gardens with intriguing names, like Rosecliff or Blithewold or Merryspring to name a few. These names conjure up images of what the garden might look like. I consider myself a creative type; however my garden names are much more functional.

Yellow Twig Garden

Most of my gardens are connected and flow through the yard like a brook flows through the woods. However I have 16 different garden names to identify different areas in the garden. These names are usually very practical and simply help me to identify where my plants live. Oh, once in the while a garden name may be inspired by some interesting element in the garden. However, more often the names are the result of a dominant plant, color or location in the yard, East Side, Katsura Garden, or Bird House.

Perennial Border

Robyn's Nest Garden

This year I prepared a new garden bed in the last uncultivated area in my yard. For a number of years, every time I walked by, the area sang out, “Plant me”. All summer I thought about names for this final garden that would be home to a sea of hostas. My inspiration was a stone planter in the shape of a woman’s head with seashells in her hair; garden art that looked a little like Greek sculpture. And then the name came to me. This last garden, the one that had been calling to me for years, would be the Sirens’ Garden.

Takeaway - Go Vertical

I recently made a trip to Minnesota to tour the American Hosta Society Convention gardens. I visited 12 fantastic gardens in varying parts of the state; all very different in style and taste.  I loved every one of them and will share some of the photos in future posts.

Whenever I visit a garden I look for inspiration; design elements that might enhance my own gardens. My big takeaway after visiting the convention gardens was to go vertical with plants and structures.

Many of the garden owners had an appreciation for Clematis and grew a number of varieties. These same garden owners found or built a variety of tall structures for their Clematis to climb on.  Most of these structures were seven or eight feet in height and added vertical structure to the garden.

Another great plant that I have only used sparingly is the drumstick Allium. I saw a wide variety of Alliums and many of them were the tall drumstick varieties that grow at least 36" in height. I recently did a little homework on drumsticks.  Which was not hard to do as all the bulb catalogs are coming in the mail this month.  I found four different varieties that will grow up to 36" that I would like to grow, including Allium stipitatum White Giant which will grow up to 48" in height.

Some of the gardeners had a little fun with the Allium flower heads after the flower went past.  They spray painted the flower head a vibrant color to extend its visual interest in the garden. 
Another must have for colder climates is the Martagon Lily.  These lilies have green foliage that grows in whirls topped with generous blooms.  These lilies make a great verticle statement in the garden as they grow at least six feet high.  They love the shade and make the perfect companion plant for hostas.  The Lilies will come up and bloom while the hostas are still flushing out.

I was very inspired by these towering plants and have plans to add all three of these to my garden to help  create more vertical structure and interest.

Miniature Hostas

Have you seen the little hostas that sometimes rise only a wee 6” above the soil? They are cute miniature hostas - tiny versions of the big leafy plants most of you know and hopefully love. These little hostas are just too adorable to pass up when I’m hosta shopping and I now have about 33 of these petite hostas in my collection. However, they may not all be minis. Many a hosta has been registered as a mini and bought as a mini only to grows out of its size classification as it matures over a number of years. Did you know it can take some hostas as many as five years to mature and show their true characteristics?

When you own mini hostas, one of the challenges is how to display them. They may be cute, however sometimes they are so tiny that they appear insignificant in the landscape. I originally designed two places to display my minis. I thought if I grouped them together, they would have more impact. Not really so. They were still small and insignificant. 

They are adorable, however after viewing these pictures I believe you can understand why placing them next to their bigger brethren does nothing to highlight their cute stature.  In fact, many an online hosta forum topic has explored options for displaying miniature hostas. The one solution that seems to me to have the most impact is to place these little darlings in a raised bed of some sort to provide closer viewing.

So I finally decided to create a raised area for my mini hostas. I chose to do this with a grouping of containers. The perfect setting for these containers was under a maple tree that casts wonderful shade; however the root system of the tree killed any hosta planted within five feet of the tree trunk.

This display houses about 2/3 of my collection.  Here are a couple of my other favorites that are not shown in the display.

Blue Mouse Ears

Fireworks

Here are a couple of nice mini hostas displays I photographed in other people's gardens.  In both cases, the garden owners created raised beds for their minis using cobbles or stone.

A mini display in the Adams Garden in Rhode Island.

A nice display of miniature hostas in the Apter Garden in Connecticut.

And back to the debate on size. A miniature hosta is determined by the leaf size - leaf length X leaf width. It has nothing to do with the spread of the clump. The American Hosta Society (AHS) judge’s handbook indicates that the miniature hosta leaf size can be no greater than 6 square inches. There has been much discussion about this size criteria for the reason noted above. A recent article in the AHS Hosta Journal suggests that the powers that be are looking to increase the mini leaf size somewhat...stay tuned.

Sleeping Rooftop Garden

Can you visit a garden any season of the year and appreciate its beauty? I know many people that only focus on the flowers. However a die-hard gardener like myself can see beyond the bloom to the structure and bones of the garden. This weekend I found an unexpected surprise in New Hampshire - a sleeping rooftop garden at the Mount Washington Resort.

The Mount Washington, a beautiful hotel built in 1902, has a very storied history. Over the last decade the current owners have given the hotel new life.  I was pleasantly surprised to find the original character and atmosphere of the hotel in tack after they added a huge addition to house a spa and conference center.

Upon arrival at the hotel, there was little snow on the ground due to a recent warm spell. The weather was just right to venture out and check out the views from the roof of the new addition. As I climbed the long staircase, I was surprised to find a whole series of raised gardens - think massive troughs.  And even though it is winter, I could see the signs of alpine plants – no surprise considering this is a mountain resort with a cool climate, short growing season and probably fairly harsh growing conditions.

These gardens have piqued my interest. I am looking forward to making another visit to the hotel next summer to see the plants in the rooftop gardens in all their growing glory.

Here are a few more pictures of the beautiful Mount Washington Resort.  A snow fall the second evening of my visit enhanced the festive holiday air of the weekend.

Collecting Requires Discipline

Don’t be horrified - I threw out some hosta this week. The plants had no names, were unhealthy, not attractive or were not performing well. None of the plants are featured in these photos. Collecting hostas should be about quality not quantity - right? I’m collecting big, beautiful, luscious leafy plants. It’s all about the foliage and not about collecting names. When I began collecting, I did not understand that I could not have them all or that some may not be worthy of collecting. With over 8,000 registered varieties; I could not possibly fit even a 10th of the hostas available in a yard the size of mine. It is too easy to buy hostas with different names that look the same. Anyone can register a hosta. Do you know how many look-a-likes are out there? Also, I may sound a little callous; however I have no interest in wasting precious garden space with poor performers. I don’t need hostas that look bad in the middle of the growing season, burn in the sun, or attract slugs like ants on a picnic blanket. What I do need is a system to ensure I make well-thought-out purchase. This spring I vowed that I would only purchase a new hosta if I have observed the mature specimen growing in someone’s garden. This was going to help me to be more selective. However, I toured a few more gardens than usual this summer; more opportunities to see mature plants. I added about 59 new varieties to the garden and added quite a few hostas to my “lust list” (right now about 114 varieties on the list). Next year will be different. I have already prioritized the “lust list” and plan to purchase about 10 must have, really unusual, hard to find hostas that I could not find this year. I’m also looking forward to attending my first hosta convention in Minnesota. How many hostas can you pack in a suitcase?

Slugzilla X 100,000

This has been quite the year for slugs and snails – yes snails. I don’t remember ever seeing a snail any place other than the beach – until this year. I have slugs and snails galore – and of course they love Hosta. You might think that I grow a slug smorgasbord; after all – 300 hostas provide a lot of big luscious leaves to chew on and plenty of dark, damp places to hide under. One slug can lay 50 eggs or more. Multiply that by the number of huge slugs I have seen this season and you will understand why my slug battle won’t end until a hard frost.
I have been very busy with the slug treatments this very rainy year. Beer? Forget it because you can’t catch enough slugs to make a dent in the population. My slug treatment of choice is Ammonia. Ammonia is reasonably priced, easy to apply, safe, and it can zap a large number of slugs in a short period of time. I simply mix a 5 to 1 solution of water and household ammonia in a five gallon pump spray bottle and I’m armed and ready to attack. I walk the gardens in the wee hours of the morning and spray all the hostas. I soak the base of each plant and under all the leaves. Some may ask, “Won’t the ammonia harm the plants?” Not at all - ammonia is nitrogen and the plants love it. When the slug population is high, I treat once every couple of weeks. Tomorrow morning I’m off to spray and hopefully I’ll have hole-free hostas in 2010.