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Georgene A. Bramlage's BlogPosted by Georgene A. Bramlage The Dog Days of Summer - July 3 to Aug. 11 - are past, but my lists of garden chores continue to grow. I am hampered by arthritis in my right hip and so move slower and slower. As the lists grow, so does my frustration. Delightfully, my love of growing new plants and excitement about design have not slowed. Landscape garden inspection and the resulting lists of garden chores are essential. They :
Posted by Georgene A. Bramlage I found these screen savers while looking for references for my articles about spring-blooming bulbs.
Posted by Georgene A. Bramlage It is midsummer here in my North American garden. Like many of my readers, I am trying to get through heat and humdity while coaxing the best from my garden landscape. However, an important project beckons to all of us - designing spring-blooming flower beds and ordering necessary bulbs to plant this autumn. This is tough for me when thermometers hover in the mid-90's, and everything in my little garden needs deep and thorough weekly watering. I have not yet responded to practicality and actually sat down to plan what bulbs I want to plant this autumn in my little garden. The space is so very compact, and present-day bulb choices are so many and enticing. However, I can begin to share results of my thinking and organizing with readers with my article: 2008 Catalogs of Spring-blooming Bulbs. Readers will, of course, be the first to know about plans for my spring-blooming bulb gardens. Worth checking out while designing bulb gardens is a photo site for flower lovers. Images are from the library of the Dutch Flower Bulb growers and exporters. Photos are for personal use (not for resale) to all those who love bulb flowers. Stay Cool!Posted by Georgene A. Bramlage However, this is probably the best time in the gardening-year to do just that! In my recent article Spring-blooming Bulb Designs Now, I elaborate on why I think so. And then in the followng article Pest-proof Spring-blooming Bulbs, I offer some practical design ideas for gardeners being overrun with bulb-eating and bulb-flower-destroying pests. The reason I feel that midsummer is the time to plan for spring-blooming bulb gardens is that every spring, I hear stories from disappointed gardeners who spent a great bit of money and time in the previous autumn planting dream bulb gardens. Unfortunately, the dream often results in nighmares of green leaves and no flowers, a smorgasbord for neighborhood deer, or patches of bare ground. Why do these gardeners have little to show for their autumnal efforts?
Posted by Georgene A. Bramlage Most gardeners love to show off their landscapes. Entering and winning a garden contest harvests praise and respect from gardeners other than those within our immediate circles. Monetary prizes or valuable garden-related goods make winning even more pleasurable. My U.S.P.S. mailbox and e-mailbox contain at least one announcement for an interesting and appealing contest each day. Here are a few of those I consider most interesting:
Posted by Georgene A. Bramlage My greatest fantasy is evaluating, perhaps correcting and then looking after every landscape garden hedge I see. Yes indeed, monitoring hedges locally and worldwide is the foundation of the duty roster for my alter ego super hero, "Landscape Lady." Many times, in the course of a real day, I am able to help correct troublesome and inconvenient problems. Moreover, judging by e-mails received at landscaping@suite101.com, many faithful readers say that landscape garden hedges do create misgivings and problems. Landscape hedge problems usually begin by failure to consider basic questions and observations: Design
Posted by Georgene A. Bramlage Papaver rhoeas, corn poppy or Flanders poppy, a sign of blood and new life since ancient Egyptian dynasties, is now a poignant symbol of wartime sacrifice and remembrance. Growing up in the Midwest U.S., I remember little red paper poppies sold by veterans as a symbol of Veterans' Day (U.S.A.). I also remember pictures of the Queen of England wearing a red paper poppy for Remembrance Day ceremonies (England and Commonwealth Countries) in the autumn. More and more, corn poppies also represent Memorial Day (U.S.A.) in early summer. Memorial Day – 2007: Poppies (Papaver rhoeas) for Landscape Gardens, a Landscaping article, outlines six Suite101 Landscaping articles and three blogs about growing and using poppies in garden landscapes:
Posted by Georgene A. Bramlage Each growing season landscapes become buffet tables for white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). And questions about deer-resistant plants start coming ito me. Yes, it is possible for landscape gardeners in eastern North America to outwit large populations of white-tail deer by carefully choosing plants for their designs. Lists of deer-resistant plants flourish on the Internet. Now, I'm adding to these numbers! What makes my lists different?
Posted by Georgene A. Bramlage Cercis has been my nom de plume (pen name) since I first started using the world wide web and writing landscape gardening articles. Readers of my landscaping articles here at Suite101 usually recognize Cercis as the eastern redbud, native to eastern North America. However, those friends and readers not familar with native species of eastern N.A. always ask, 'Why do you use such a strange nom de plume (pen name)?' There were no eastern redbuds where I grew up in Cleveland, OH. My first introduction to Cercis canadensis came when I was a botany student at Miami University (OH). I fell in love with these trees. They are as wisps of red-purple smoke in understories of acidic woodlands. I have consistently tried to grow eastern redbud trees in my garden landscapes. However, there has been little success.
Posted by Georgene A. Bramlage I recently attended a chapter meeting of the VA Native Plant Society that at first seemed to have nothing to do with plants or landscaping. However, the messages presented by Mark McClain, from the Roanoke Valley Cool Cities Coalition, and the Film Kilowatt Ours: A Plan to Re-Energize America by Jeff Barrie were loud and clear. McClain emphasized that unless energy consumers - most of us - change direction in how we obtain that energy there will not be any plants, gardens or landscapes about which to worry. One surprising fact stressed by McClain and empasized by the film is that the southeastern states of the United States use more electricity than any other section of the country.Posted by Georgene A. Bramlage Vernal Equinox, Full Moon and Easter Each year, the synchronous occurrences of the Vernal Equinox and Easter bring to my mind a chant I've taught to students and my own children to answer the question, "How do we determine the date of Easter?" The traditional formulaic response says, "Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox." The date and time for the Vernal Equinox - 2008 is, according to the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, March 20 at 5:49 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). On this day, the sun shines directly on the equator, and the length of day and night are nearly equal in all parts of the world. The first full moon on or after the Vernal Equinox is March 21 at 18:41 UTC. So, Easter Sunday is March 23 - the earliest Easter I'll see in my lifetime. Date and Time Facts
Posted by Georgene A. Bramlage I fell in love with the plants and gardens of Ireland during an Irish garden tour five years ago. Irish gardens, due to vicissitudes of Irish history, are pages in a garden history book. They are firmly interwoven with Ireland's manor houses, historic castles and ancient ruins. Here are some of my articles for Landscaping at Suite101:
Posted by Georgene A. Bramlage Certain of my relatives always, within my knowledge, planted petunias. And they loved to talk about them, extol their virtues, and draw onlookers into the circle of admiration. In those early days, petunias were not my cup-of-tea. There were too many other plant pleasures for me to enjoy. Petunias, according to University of GA Professor Allan M. Armitage, were the number-one-selling annual from the 1950s through the 1980s. By the 2000s, they were in second place, with annual impatiens now number-one-sellers. However, high-performance hybid types like Wave® Petunias continue and extend petunia popularity because they are relatively inexpensive, easy-to-grow and low maintenance. They are available in trendy new colors that make landscape focal points. Gradually I became a petunia convert , putting them in full-sun hanging baskets and tucked into small beds that cried for a bit of the dramatic. There was no success, however, when I forgot or ignored petunias' love for full sun and well-drained soil. I am looking forward to more experiments this year! Here are four recent articles in which I enjoy telling readers about one of my favorites, the Wave® Petunias.
Posted by Georgene A. Bramlage A front garden crowded with Winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis), a N.A. native, and Crocus Tomasianus surprised us last week during a drive through Salem, VA. Two of my favorite "small / minor bulbs," they remind me of the year I spent living near Sissinghurst Castle Garden (Kent, UK) and time spent in this remarkable garden. Vita Sackville-West, writer, poet, and maker of Sissinghurst, along with her husband Harold Nicolson, writes of the yellow winter aconite and diminutive light purple Crocus Tomasianus in her long poem The Garden, published in 1946 and set against the backdrop of WWII. Winner of the Heineman Prize, this poem is very personal and symbolic. The seasons in the garden represent, to Sackville-West, the seasons of life. "...consider too Crocus Tomasianus, small, so pale, Lavender cups of tiny crockery; The winter aconite with mint of gold Like new-struck coins that shame the spectral sun Hung in our jaundiced Heaven, - these are frail, So frail it seems they scarcely could endure One touch of horrid life and life's fierce wind." Sackville-West also writes of these two tiny spring plants, especially the crocus, in Country Notes in Wartime (1940): "...The little lavender crocus, Tomasianus, is another wanderer, and some of the finest lilies of the valley I have ever seen..." © Text by Georgene A. Bramlage. 2008. Reproduction without permission prohibited.Posted by Georgene A. Bramlage I've watched the nude green stems of winter jasmine (Jasminium nudiflorum) for several weeks now waiting for what I expected as an explosion of yellow blossoms. I've seen no explosion, but each day the arching stems show a few more blossoms. They are still, for me a snowbird from New England, an exciting harbinger of spring. I bring home a few blossoms to float in a glass saucer - distilled sunshine! Winter jasmine is so plentifully planted on soil banks in my residential community, that I don't need to even think about planting even one near my little cottage. Now the snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) are a different story! A garden landscape can never have too many snowdrops! I saw my first large patch of snow drops driving home from church yesterday (Sunday, February 3rd). They were nestled next to the road under some pine trees and fully emerged. This was the sort of irregular spontaneous-looking patch that probably arose over the years from a chance seedling or two. It was a temptation to throw on the brakes so I could run back and delight in them at eye-level. Now that I know approximately when snowdrops bloom in my corner of VA, I can plant some of these little beauties where I can appreciate them the most from inside! In the U.K. there are many cultivars (cultivated varieties) of snowdrop plants that are sold "green" in the spring. Planting this way, really transplanting, supposedly ensures healthy and robust patches. Unfortunately, most of us here in the USA order dry bulbs from catalogs to plant in the autumn. There are also fewer cultivar choices for us. For more about early-spring bulbs check out: ©Text by Georgene A. Bramlage. 2008. Reproduction without permission prohibited.Posted by Georgene A. Bramlage Happy Valentine's Day! Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things; believes all things; hopes all things; endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7. In honor of the great Saint(s) Valentine associated with love on February 14th, one of my recent articles - Landscapes of Love - presents five historic landscapes that symbolize five extraordinary historic couples. I have been impressed, or even smitten, with these five couples and the landscapes that symbolize their relationships. It took me longer than usual to write this article because I wanted to get it "just right." I hope that you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. There is still time to vote in my Landscape of Love poll at the bottom of the Landscaping topic page. Today, February 12, shows these results:
Posted by Georgene A. Bramlage There is still snow on the ground in New England, but anticipation for spring and the growing season is like a fever in the blood of horticulturalists. This is, I believe, the best time of the year for plant conferences. Below is information on two of my favorites sponsored by the University of CT Cooperative Extension System. 2008 Perennial Plant Conference This Conference for professional horticulturalists presented by the Ornamental Plant Extension Team is March 13, with early registration by March 6. The one-day conference draws 350 to 400 attendees each year. The conference targets wholesale growers, retailers, landscape designers, and landscape installation/maintenance specialists. The 2008 Perennial Plant Conference hosts 10 speakers discussing the latest horticultural topics from green roofs and native design to making money. Pesticide Recertification credits are available for attendees from CT, MA, RI, NH, VT., and ME. 2008 Conference for the Home Gardeners This Conference is gardeners is scheduled for March 14 with early registration by March 7. The one-day conference is suitable for all levels of home gardeners and all interest levels from beginners to master gardeners. The 2008 Home Gardeners Conference includes five speakers discussing the latest information about the Green Revolution and our changing environment to gardening in deer country and maintenance shortcuts UConn Certified Master Gardeners can receive two (2) Advanced Master Gardener classroom hours for attending the Garden Conference. ©Text by Georgene A. Bramlage. 2008. Reproduction without permission prohibited.Posted by Georgene A. Bramlage It may be cold outside, but my fellow writers here at Suite101 generate warmth with their writing. Tel Asiado (Great Thinkers topic) recently wrote two polls -Medieval Thinkers and 19th Century Scientists - which kept many of us on our toes. To vote, we needed one out of five possible choices. Some of us went on to justify and expand on our choices. How do Great Thinker polls relate to St. Francis of Asissi and saints for the garden? I argued with Tel that Francis was a mystic and not a thinker; she rejoined with her definition of Francis as thinker. He was one " who shaped intellectual life during the middle ages - philosophical, religious and political thoughts central to that point in time." And her final argument that got me to yield, "he brought monastic life to a new level of humility that hadn't existed before in thought, word and deed." Ultimately, the discussion got around to St. Francis and garden statues. Tel, being an Australian, has never seen one. I'm a great fan of this monk, so friends seem to think I need statues of him! Francis garden statues and Francis as the "patron saint of ecology" are relatively new. Earth Day and the ecology movement as we know it began in 1970, and earth people and gardeners probably latched on to Francis shortly afterwards. We utilized Francis mythology, springing up after his death with publication of Fioretti (The Little Flowers), a collection of his legends and folk-lore. Other saints for the garden have followed Francis: Isadore, Dorothy, Barbara, Elizabeth of Hungary, and Fiacre. The impetus for these garden patrons was probably the little paper booklet Saints in My Garden (about 1970) by Adelma Grenier Simmons, now deceased, founder of Caprilands Herb Farm nr. Danielson, CT.Posted by Georgene A. Bramlage Angela England over at Plants and Bulbs just posted a new poll about "What Plants Do You Grow?" that focused my thinking for 2008. What my gardening year comes down to is that it is going to be the year of small-space gardening for me. My winter move to a condo-like living arrangement in a zone 7 area means a lot of early spring / autumn / winter container gardening. So, anything new I try needs to be small, a good container plant, or something I can share in communal garden space. Fortunately , residents in my new community have a small "arboretum" as well as a much loved and well-tended hybrid rose garden. I'll bring my self-watering containers down from New England and probably plant them with small woody ornamentals, my favorite decorative herbs and anything else that can make it through a zone 7 cold spell or overwinter in an unheated storage unit. Summer work means maintaining my New England garden and downsizing some maintenance-heavy (maintenance nightmare) areas. All last summer I invited avid gardeners into the New England garden to dig small woody ornamental shrubs that resulted from natural layering. Those plants are mostly selections of physically small selections of native North American plants like Fothergilla and Clethra. Next autumn, I can bring back my own small layed cuttings to plant in my VA garden space now that I have a better idea of what I have to work with here in zone 7. There will still be plenty of cuttings left in my New England garden to share! No doubt about it...a lot of gardening choices await me in 2008.Posted by Georgene A. Bramlage Catalogs after the New Year tempt us to try at least one new plant in our garden landscapes. Short of not buying, are there any ways to avoid the ad writers' enticing pull and maximize our investment?
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