Dreaming of new family members……

January 31, 2009

It’s usually this time of year that I put the finishing touches on the ‘Wish List.’ This past year was a bonanza for me, and I was able to find close to 80% of the items that were on my list. It was a strange year as far as new and exciting plants were concerned, and it very much depended on where you chose to shop.
I’m lucky in having access to a nursery that deals specifically with hard to find, Asian and European plants that are relatively new to cultivation. I usually order a copy of the catalogue and then compare my list against it to see if my quest will be short, and more importantly, are there plants in the catalogue that will undoubtedly peak my curiosity. Its usually a relatively even split, and I can often find out more about my ‘Wish List’ by speaking with the proprietor of the nursery, a bonafide plants man if ever there was!

Here is my relatively short list for the coming season. I need to do some major renovations in the back yard to be able to create another shaded garden or two, while at the same time ensuring that it will remain pet and child accessible and friendly as possible. I have tried to find as much information as possible and will share what I have been able to locate, mainly from Barry Yinger’s great site http://www.asiaticanursery.com/

Schizophragma hydrangeniodes ‘Moonlight’ is a climbing vine whose nomenclature refers to its lacecap hydrangea-like blossoms. Its shadowy foliage is a wonderful presence in the shaded woodland garden, either climbing up existing trees or structures. I am hoping to add this beauty to three wrought iron trellis pieces that I am hoping to use this year to separate the display and work areas of the garden

Hydrangea serrata ‘Beni-gaku‘ is a Japanese tri-colour lace cap stunner, with flowers that initially emerge white before darkening to a smoky pink with darker red hints around the edges of the petals. The small inner sterile florets are a dark purple that open to a light blue. This spectacular display is consistent throughout the growing season. Enjoys a partially shaded siting, attaining typical heights of 4-5′ in height with a similar spread. Z 6-9 (but I’m ready to challenge it if I can locate one!)

I have heard many people talking about the perennial Begonia grandis and have decided that I would like to have one in the garden this year – likely as a container planting so that I will be able to bring it inside to over-winter it. Its large, semi-heart shaped tropical looking leaves adorn the plant for much of the growing season, with typical to the genus shaped pink flowers with yellow centres.

Calanthe alpina is native to Nepal and Japan, and I am extremely cautious of trying it in my Zone 5 garden. It will definitely be another container specimen as available materials consider this to be a Z9-10! Its flowers immediately reminded me of another difficult selection – Anemonopsis macrophylla - but I have overcome my initial fear with that one and hope that it will make a return appearance during the coming gardening season. The slender rhizome is made up of small pseudo bulbs beneath the ground, and slender ribbed foliage above ground. Its pale mid-pink flowers are tinged with yellow towards the tips of its petals.

I love all members of this genus, and was thrilled to see a new selection of Polygonatum macranthum available, thanks to Barry Yinger! P. macranthum ‘Moon Tower’ is a graceful shade specimen with heights to 5′. Each of its slightly rounded leaves are outlined in a pale butter yellow. Its dangling flowers are creme with greenish tips, and are somewhat larger than the genus. Of course it comes with a relatively hefty price tag of $125.

Where would I be without the true blue flowers of the world? Gentiana scarba var. buergeri is but the latest in a long line of recent garden introductions for a genus that easily wins the ‘bluest of blue’ awards from this gardener’s perspective. There is no mistaking it for purple or mauve! This plant achieves heights of 2-3′, with stems clothed in attractive foliage. Fall heralds these spectacular blooms at the terminal ends of each stem. This selection is relatively easy to grow in an acidic, moisture retentive soil in partial shade. Hardy to zones 5B-8

There is something to be said for the spur less flowers of this member of the Epimedium family. At first glance I thought it was a peony, or the unique flowers of Helleborus thibetanus, but in fact it is one of the newest entries, known as Epimedium ‘Tama Botan.’ Its medium sized spur less, lavender pink flowers make it one of the showiest within the genus. As with many members of this genus, it adapts well to medium shade and is able to withstand extended periods of drought-like conditions. Hardy to Z5.

I want to say that I am one of the few who can grow the genus Cypripedium in my shaded gardens without fear or hesitation, but that would cause my nose to grow exponentially in a horizontal fashion! I have a single member of the genus ( C. reginae) who is pampered and coddled along to the extent that my friends think I should carry a picture of it around in my wallet! Alas, this charmer has me considering ‘adopting’ a sibling in the form of Cypripedium japonicum. There is something ‘Shakespearean’ about the wonderful ruff of pleated foliage that almost over-shadows their wonderful blooms. This comes with a warning label that it is not for the beginner, yet is relatively easy in mid to heavy shade, with moist, well-drained acidic soil. Of course with a price point of $95, I think I will continue my education before coming to a final decision regarding this regal beauty.

A month from now there will likely be more considerations, but these are the ones that stoked the fires of acquisition for me.

Remembering Tiff….

January 31, 2009

My infatuation with Timothy Findley began with the reading of ‘The Wars’ – perhaps one of the most memorable ‘war’ novels to come out of Canada. It opened my eyes to the horrors that exist not only on the battlefield, but also within everyday families. I devoured each subsequent release, and only stumbled when I reached, ‘Not Wanted on the Voyage.’ For me it marked a departure for Findley, and I struggled for three weeks trying to get through it. Eventually I gave up, and to this day it remains the only work that I have not read cover to cover.

Timothy and his partner lived at Stone Orchard in Cannington, Ontario, for many years,and it was while reading this short collection of stories, that I discovered his passion for gardening. He writes with intimate details about his prized herb garden, as well as the perennial borders that were a formidable jungle when they first took ownership. I love when an author is able to divide their time between the fictitious world that exists within the minds, and the reality that is the here and now. Throughout much of his writing, there is a common undercurrent always expressed in the form of the question: ‘Where am I?’ To Findley the obvious answer was: ‘You are Here!’

The down-trodden, the homeless, those with mental illness or with an ambiguity surrounding their sexuality – these were the people that inhabited his novels, and I think this is what initially attracted me to him. Opinions seemed to be nothing more than stumbling blocks for Findley, and he often created moments of sheer brilliance, even when he was tossing conventionality and public opinion on its ear! He didn’t create soapbox platforms, but rather let people see a view from the other side of the street. It had a profound effect upon me, and while living in Toronto would often find myself in the vicinity of a landmark so often prevalent in his Toronto based stories – the Toronto Mental Health facility on Queen Street. His talents continued to avail themselves with works that included: ‘Headhunter,’ ‘Pilgrim,’ ‘Piano man’s Daughter’ and his last novel ‘Spadework’ – a wonderful tribute to his years spent in theatre, set in Stratford, Ontario. If you are looking for something to break the pace of catalogue after catalogue, check for this literary legend at your local library or bookstore. You will not be disappointed!

Signature Plant(s) (A photo-less post)

January 30, 2009

I’ve been pondering this for quite some time, not sure whether ’signature’ and ‘favourite’ plant are the same thing, and have come to the conclusion that they are not! I remember being labelled as my Grandmother’s ‘favoured’ grandchild many years ago – but that didn’t mean that she cared about me any more than the rest of the brood! She once said it wasn’t a case of favouritism, but rather that I was the one who was ‘cut from the same bolt of cloth.’

I’ve even nagged at friends, asking them what they would consider to my my ’signature’ plant – and every one of them prefaced their answer with the question – ‘Is that the same thing as your favourite plant?’ It left me flummoxed to say the least! I know what my ‘favourite’ plant is – its not really hard to guess….. its splashed on the banner, and I’m quite confident if you typed the word corydalis elata in the ’search’ field on the NavBar that it would likely be included in almost every post. But is this truly my ’signature’ plant? Is this the first plant that people would leap to when thinking about me? I know there are some people who would immediately respond with Cardamine, only because they consider me ‘cuckoo!’

I love the colour blue, there is no denying it, and seeing it in a garden is something akin to experiencing a true ‘hortgasm!’ That single plant haunted me for two years until I was finally able to locate it in commerce, and then was almost my first gardening heartbreak, until I remembered being told to shear it back to the ground and wait for the following year’s growth. I haven’t been disappointed since! But there has to be more than an affinity for a colour, or the beguiling shape of a flower that lets you know deep down, and I’m talking tap root deep down, what a true signature plant entails.

It’s hard for someone who has tossed conventional gardening out with the bathwater, and is more interested in seeing how many species and cultivars of a given genera he can grow in his garden, not to resort to clumping plants as a way of choosing. It would be easy to say that because I have nine different Aconitum species, that surely this must be the true ’signature’ plant. Can a signature plant encompass an entire genus?

I suppose I am making more out of this than was intended, and its not like I don’t hear the same question time and time again throughout the growing season. I want to say its Corydalis elata, and I also want to say it encompasses the entire genera of Aconitum, but after sitting in front of the monitor for close to an hour, I realize that while I am confident that I have ‘favourite’ plants, perhaps I don’t have a ’signature’ plant…..yet!

Garden Stars of 2008

January 29, 2009

It’s been a cold and snowy day here (-7 Celsius; 15cm of snow and its still falling) so I decided I would look through last years garden journal. I love reminiscing over the past gardening year, and use my journals to help relive those special moments that brought me such happiness!

I vividly remember watching my clump of Corydalis flexuosa ‘Blue Panda’ as it finally decided that 2008 would be the year that it would finally establish itself in the garden. I guess it was tired of C.elata getting all the accolades and attention. Its heavenly, sky blue flowers started off as tiny buds on the ends of two or three stems, and like an expectant Father, I coddled and pampered it, encouraging it to admit that it was happy in my modest garden, and pleading and cajoling it to reward me with its wonderful blooms. It did for more than three months solid, and then it decided it was too humid and disappeared until September, when once again it sent up its lacy foliage.

My ever so narrow (maybe 3′ in total depth) sun filled border was an education for me. I knew that my existing Salvia sclarea var. Turkestanica was laboring in its current location, at the front of the shaded garden, where it received maybe three hours of morning sun at best, and was determined that it needed a spot that would afford it the visibility it deserved. It wasn’t hard convincing the neighbor to let me add a strip of border against the side of their house that faces ours, especially when I said I would supply all the materials, plants included. I was afraid that in moving it that I would be left with a large furry clump of foliage (not that I would have minded) if I moved it but decided to tempt fate yet again. I was rewarded with perhaps the most prolific spikes I have ever witnessed since purchasing it. It doubled its size, and was a striking complimentary planting to the standard form of Salix integra ‘Hakuro Ishiki‘ that was also added in 2008. I have been lucky to have somehow coaxed the plant to remain perennial, with a clump that is close to 2′ in width. I expected it would die back and I would have to start anew every year, but thus far this hasn’t been the case.

My gardening friends cannot understand the affinity I have with Persicaria(Fallopia japonica) variegata ‘Compactum‘ - such a fancy name for a variegated knot weed – and I am at a loss at times, especially when it decides to spread from one end of the garden to the other! Its redeeming quality for me starts when wonderful coral hued leaves break through the ground in May. It literally looks like sea shells popping up here and there willy-nilly. I was lucky to locate taller specimens, three to four feet tall, and added them as a living boundary to divide my compost-work space from the rest of the garden. I love the red stems that remain vivid throughout the growing season, and their sprays of flowers work well with those of a neighboring Artemisia lactiflora ‘Guizhou Group’ and A. vulgaris ‘Oriental Limelight.’ I remember ‘rescuing’ two or three of this same plant from nurseries in the fall who had them discounted by 60%, wondering where I would ever be able to place them, but then remembered that I was going to build another semi shaded border on the other side of the house…. a project that seemed to stall at every turn. My gardening logic at the time was that if I brought home new plants, it would motivate me to get digging! It worked!

I love that Eupatorium rugosum ‘Chocolate’ is so completely out of place with others in the same genus. I guess considering myself to be the ‘black sheep’ of the family, it was comforting to find another who could just as easily adopt the label. I have always called it my ‘Joe in a tuxedo,’ for there is nothing more spectacular than its dark purple-green leaves, caught in the rays of late afternoon sunshine. I think I had four plants in total last year, and with the abundance of precipitation, was rewarded with growth that rivalled my Persicaria! I’m not one for its flowers, so entranced with foliage as I have become, and was shocked when I did the minimal fall clean up, that its stems had actually become semi-woody!

I, like every other gardener am anxious for the coming growing season, but also find myself filled with trepidation – what will Mother Nature afford us for the coming year? I was thrilled to have had a stellar year for moisture – I am sure the ground was breathing a giant sigh of relief for being afforded more than a surface sip. I took advantage of Mother Nature’s generosity by diverting my downspouts into two reservoirs that supplied the garden with more than adequate moisture, and was in turn rewarded with spectacular displays of foliage from those who like things of the ‘wetter’ side. I know that whatever cards we are dealt, gardeners have long ago developed a strategy to make the most out of every situation. Happy gardening to all!

Book meme…. the fun continues!

January 27, 2009

Follow-up to Bloomingwriter’s Post – Undesirables in my Garden

January 27, 2009

No More Playing Second Fiddle

January 26, 2009

It’s time for the flowers to step aside and let the foliage stand up and take centre stage! I, as a shade gardener, have learned over the past few years that its not always about the colour or size of a flower that matters. I have had to sacrifice having an abundance of flowers in order to garden in the shade, and its been a most rewarding experience.

How often have you gone into the garden only to discover that your prized Anemone x hybrida ‘Party Dress’ has literally lost the dress after debuting it only three days prior? Its enough to make a gardener cry! I wait anxiously through most of the summer before I see its swollen buds hanging gracefully on the stems, and yet within weeks is a tattered mass of fallen petals.

I have all four of the above photographed plants in the garden, and while they all possess flowers, for my eye, its all about architectural presence and the foliage. I am a sucker for the purple hued foliage of Disporum cantoniense ‘Night Heron’, and the fact that its early spring shoots resemble bamboo moreso than its actual genus. Granted its flowers are impressive, but give me its tall slightly exotic stature and foliage any day!

Acanthus spinosus is a prickly subject for most gardeners as it requires a large expanse to truly exhibit itself in all its glory. Thistle like foliage can grow to three feet in length, and a mature clump can be four feet across! It too has rather spectacular flowers, white, pink and purple spikes made up of bracts and hidden petals, but its somewhat temperamental in flowering. Forget the flowers, check out those leaves which really aren’t as sharp as they appear!

Astilboides tabularis to me resembles large green flying saucers on very tall stems, slightly hairy. It thrives in consistently moist situations in light shade. Yes, it also has flowers but they seem inconspicuous compared to the mature leaves. The plant forms wonderful clumps when happy and is sure to attract attention. Touch the leaf, and be amazed that the entire surface feels as though it is ’spring loaded’ from beneath.

Diphylleia cymosa is another plant with dramatic, peltate, maple shaped leaves that wants to have a relatively large space in which to put on its display. I am partial to its fall berry display (blue berries atop red stems) but would have to say that this plant stands up for itself even without that added bonus.

Triosteum

January 25, 2009

Aconitum… also known as ‘wolfsbane’

January 25, 2009

The genus Aconitum is also known as ‘wolfsbane‘ as many European farmers used the roots of this plant to kill off wolves that were ravaging their livestock. It is native to the northern temperate regions of North America and Eurasia. It dislikes warm temperatures, and is not suitable to southern climates where overnight temperatures remain above 70 degrees for any considerable amount of time.

All parts of this plant are poisonous if ingested, and A. napellus, the European classic is the source of aconite which is a heart sedative. This is yet another genus whose nomenclature is confusing at best, therefore I will attempt a generalized overview and highlight three species that I consider garden worthy!

Most garden worthy species have similar morphology – flower stalks between 0.9-1.2m, and because of their height and toxicity, are best placed in the back of a slightly shaded border. Flowers show well above the foliage and are borne in terminal clusters – usually a raceme or panicle – to 60cm in length, predominantly blue or purple, but with white, yellow, pink and bi-coloured flowers becoming popular in recent years.

These flowers are 2.5-5cm in length with five sepals – the upper enlarged and shaped like a hood or helmet (thus the other common name – monkshood – and five petals, the upper pair shaped like spurs and included in the hood. In many species, flowers occur in late fall which gives the garden an added attraction! Foliage is divided, finger-like, lobed or cleft. In most species the leaves clothe the lower half of the stem. This plant contains a tuberous rootstock, and will happily form clumps when happy. This genus demands a soil high in organic content, that is loose and well drained, as they will suffer from crown rot if left standing in water.

I grow A. cammarum ‘Bi colour’ which is a lovely species that are 80cm-1.2m in height, with large glossy divided leaves. As its name suggests, the flowers, larger than normal for the genus are a cream colour with a blue or slightly purple edging, making it a visible addition to the fall garden.

Aconitum lycoctonum has pale to creamy yellow flowers on straight to slightly twining racemes, loosely arranged. Plants are 80cm – 1.5m in height, with leaves a dark green, round to slightly kidney shaped which are deeply divided into 3-9 lobes with an additional 3-4 clefts. Its name is entwined in its history as ‘lyco‘ is Latin for wolf!

Aconitum hemsleyanum is the pride of the garden and is one of only a few plants within the species that are actual climbing vines. It reaches heights of 10′, with its dramatic divided foliage and long racemes of purple to blue hooded flowers. I also grow Aconitum uncinatum, but this lacks the tendrils that are necessary for A. hemsleyanum to reach to such heights. Tendrils are only noticeable after the plant has attained height of approximately three feet.

Second only to Corydalis, this is a genus that is one of my all time favourites, and I have no less than nine different species in the shaded gardens.

Wildflowers in Hiroshima, Japan (2006)

January 23, 2009

There is something dangerous about searching through YouTube’s vast archives for possible feeds on Asian perennials. Many of the wildflowers in these feeds are recognizable, some growing here in North America, but there is also a plethora of new plants I have never witnessed before….. I’m getting that familiar itch and it’s still only January…. come and escape the ice and snow for a few minutes

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