Sustainable Gardening Blog

Here’s why I ask.  This is in my next-door neighbor’s back garden by Holt Jordan.  With its sprinkling of evergreens, fabulous stonework, and two ponds with a waterfall between them, even winter looks damn good.

But imagine instead of these patches of cold season lawn there were just mulch, or bare earth above herbaceous plants that are hiding for the winter?  Or compare it to the muddy expanse where turfgrass used to be in my own backyard, which is now SO NOT PRETTY I won’t even photograph it.  (It’s sealed off from public display by its status as Work in Progress, I tell myself.)

Now that I’ve cavalierly, possibly rashly banned lawn as a groundcover from my property, is it really so terrible?  These patches may even be maintained organically - I know the folks at Safe Lawns promise it can look this good without the gardener behaving badly.  Not a bad deal, I say.

Don’t miss "Cracked" in tomorrow’s Washington Post Magazine by my friend Ruben.  Unlike A Million Little Pieces by James Frey, Ruben’s story about covering DC’s crime scene as a crack addict himself is the truth. And unlike another recent story of recovery in the Post - by a self-pitying ex-university professor - his is honest.  It would also make a helluva good book.

For years, this has been my favorite shrub for shady spots because of its outstanding
appearance all year long. Long white flowers appear in March and April,
but its evergreen foliage gets lots of attention, too, especially the
new growth that appears in fabulous shades of reds.

Then just this year I started hearing gardening
experts warn that global warming is NOT being
kind to this plant, and one has even stopped recommending it.  Say it
isn’t so!  Maybe now’s a good time to look into similar plants like the
American species and Japanese-American hybrids (more on them below). 

Photo credit.

DETAILS

• The straight species can grow (slowly) to 8 or more feel tall, but many shorter varieties are available.-12 tall )
   

• Hardy to Zones 5-8 Japan.   

• Performs best   in partial shade and acid soil.

CARE

• Pieris has only average drought-tolerance, so needs watering  during dry periods.
• Really requires no pruning but if you do you prune, do it after flowering to avoid cutting off the buds.
• Unless your soil is already acidic, apply Hollytone or other organic fertilizer for acid-soil-loving plants every spring.
• Lacebug is a common and serious pest that sucks the sap from the
  leaves, yellowing them.  Adequate shade, water and soil acidity reduces
  its vulnerability, however.

Photo credit.

PIERIS FLORIBUNDA, AND HYBRIDS OF THE TWO SPECIES

Pieris floribunda, a native plant from Virginia to Georgia, is 2 to
6′ tall, with a greater spread.   It’s harder to propagate so, not
surprisingly, it’s not as available as the Japanese species.  Woody plant expert Michael Dirr reports learning that the natives
consistently die out in the Atlanta area but that hybrids (crossed with
the Japanese species) do just fine there.      

The December issue is out and available right here.  "What’s New?" is a compilation of news and blog posts about such meaty topics as native plants, drought-resistance, composting, and organic gardening.  This month there’s a link to Kathy Purdy’s review of a new organic gardening book and Graham Rice’s review of New Gardening - a British take on all those subject that I can’t wait to read myself.  So please, if you know of good links or have written about these subjects yourself, drop me a line and I’ll include them - both in the newsletter and permanently on the site. 

Funny thing - by reading gardenblogs from other climates I’ve come to better understand my own climate and how it affects my gardening choices.  I now see that it’s only because my beds and borders aren’t covered with snow all winter that I care about having evergreen groundcovers.  And unlike other gardeners who write about raking dead leaves into their borders for the winter, I quickly remove fallen leaves because I’d much rather see the evergreen groundcovers underneath (and potentially being smothered by) them.

Something that all temperate zone gardeners can agree on, though, are the glories of evergreen shrubs and trees, like the ones I grow listed here just below the deciduous ones.  But today it’s not those big green partners in my garden that I’ve come to praise but rather the evergreen perennials that I wouldn’t even see if I didn’t continue to stroll my garden through the winter.  But stroll I do here in Zone 7, more days than not.

Euphorbia amygaloides (top) is
my new favorite perennial.
The lamb’s ears (above) are starting to look ragged and definitely aren’t  blooming but they still look good, even after our first snow.  Same goes for the Pulmonaria (right).  Liriope looks look good all year. Carex?  Same deal. (Photos in the links.)

And how about the Persian ivy ‘Sulphur Heart’ (above left)?  It’s well behaved and always gorgeous.

It all seems so obvious now, that planting tulip bulbs in groups is
waaay easier than one at a time.  Well,
that much I would have guessed but for some reason I thought we’re not supposed to do it that way.  So my 50 tulips
in front of a sunny border have always sprung from 50 separate holes.  But having learned
that Elizabeth sticks 50 of them in ONE HOLE and GETS AWAY WITH IT,
well damn, I can bunch ‘em up a bit, right?

So I planted in groups of 3, 5 and
7, resulting in the digging of only 10 holes for my yearly batch of 50
tulips.   And I already know they’re going to look better that way
because when I’m looking for a really super photo of them at their
peak, I crouch and contort myself to get as many as possible in the shot.  To me this is more proof that
the quest for beautiful garden photographs can be a fine guide to garden
design itself.  ("Let’s see; where can I plant this for a killer photo?")

Oh, oh, and another big advantage of bunching is that it’s actually
possible to put squirrel-prevention screening on top of them, which it
sure wasn’t when I planted all 50 scattershot among the perennials.  So
when I saw the squirrels digging right on top of where I’d planted them
(thankfully, stopping when they hit the red pepper flakes on top of
each one, but still messing up the planting) I knew I needed more protection than red pepper flakes,
and it was easy to cut just 3 pieces of wire window screening to cover
the tulip areas.  (Note to 2008 calendar: remove the screens by late March.)

And here’s one of those gardening tips to add to the frenzy of bulb
worship we seem to be in the midst of over on GardenRant.  Plant them in pure compost to make it super-easy.  My tulip border started life in my garden as a gully,
so I filled it in with pure compost and man, digging in it is a breeze.
Sliding my spade in that friable black goodness, well, it’s like
bud-ah, to steal from an old SNL skit.  And people like Elizabeth with
big raised beds all know this but here in the burbs, not so much.

WHAT THE USUAL SOURCES TELL US
I went a’surfing the Web and:

• Dutch Garden’s site offers the design idea that bulbs look best
  in informal groups of 5 to 11.  Endorsing the massing in one hole?  Well, no, because they go on to recommend a solid block of color or 20+ bulbs
  "planted just a few inches apart".  So either that’s lots of separate holes or a much bigger hole than I had in mind.
• Here’s Cornell
  telling us that planting tulips 4-6 inches apart leaves enough room for
  bulbs to "grow for 2 or 3 years before they  need to be divided."  Ah,
  so if that’s the reason we shouldn’t plant them cheek by jowl I can safely ignore that advice because my tulips are destined to being yanked and composted after they fade, anyway. 
• eHow has a video on the subject by the very well qualified Willi
  Galloway, West Coast editor of Organic Gardening Magazine,
  but she makes is pretty intimidating.  Materials needed before digging: soft rock
  phosphate, bulbs, compost, trowel, chicken wire, chicken cutters.  I can’t really disagree with anything she recommends
  but it’s kinda daunting, not the "Bulbs are easy-peasy" reports you
  read on blogs.

So are experts there to specify the ideal, while bloggers fill readers in on the reality, the good-enough, the relax-and-enjoy of growing plants?

UPDATE:
I’ve taken the question of invasiveness to the expert for HIM to figure it all out, and I’ll post his findings right here.
 

Where it isn’t an *invasive pest, Nandina is valued for its extreme tolerance of drought, its tolerance for sun or deep shade, its evergreen foliage, and the red berries that, when eaten by birds, are causing problems in the Southeast. (Photographed here with Aesculus parviflora or bottlebrush buckeye.)

Invasive?

Nandina domestica is on the invasive plant lists for Texas and the Southeast, as far north as Virginia, where it spreads by bird-carried seeds.   Yet I’ve read warnings from  naturalists that nandinas aren’t, in fact, food for birds (so shouldn’t be counted as wildlife-friendly).  So the unsolved mystery is:  Are there noninvasive varieties of nandina whose berries the birds won’t eat? They also spread very occasionally by stolens in a clumping manner, but that’s not been pinpointed as the problem - only the dropping of seeds by birds.

But just to complicate the issue even further, the former president of the Florida Native Plant Society has written publicly that Nandina was designated as invasive in Florida by the very groups who benefited from doing so (by receiving more funds for its removal).  He disagreed with that designation and quit the Society in protest.  Yikes.

In any event, some gardeners who grow Nandina prevent the production of berries and the possibility of spreading by removing its flowers.

It’s indigeneous to China and Japan.

Details

• Lacy white panicle-shaped flowers in the spring; bright orange berries emerge and last for months.
• Fine in full sun or deep shade.
• The species grows to 8 x 4-6 feet’, and dwarf varieties are available that are full grown at  3 or 4 feet, even just 2.
• Hardy to Zone 6.
• Deer-resistant.

Care

• Extremely drought-tolerant, meaning that gardeners report its survival through the longest droughts with no supplemental watering at all.
• No insect or disease problems are reported.
• If leggy, the stems can be cut back to the ground.
• May drop leaves if temperatures go below 10 F, or die back to the ground in below-zero temperatures.

Your Comments are Welcome and will be added to the plant profile on Sustainable-Gardening.

Here’s a new page on my Sustainable Gardening site - about tools for digging.  It includes all my favorites but I’d much rather it include some of yours, too.  Any suggestions?

Digging is our most basic gardening task, and
here are my favorite tools for getting the job done, and some others
you might try.

LONG TOOLS USED WHILE STANDING   

Basic Shovels and Spades

Technically, the bodies
and edges of shovels are rounded while those of spades are flat.  So
both are good for digging but the rounded shovels are best for carrying
the soil but when the digging job is a big one.  Whatever.  I use them
interchangeably, according to which has a short handle and which a long
one, the long one affording good leverage for those deep digging tasks.

The HGTV guru Paul James recommends that gardeners have both both.   

In the photo you see the spade I recently used to remove my entire
lawn.  A shovel wouldn’t have worked nearly as well for that task.

Perennial-planting shovels

By definition, these are narrower and what
I use for tight spots, to make sure I don’t damage nearby roots - or at
least try not to.  Photo right.

Bulb-Planting Shovels

These are even narrower, and work well  where the soil is easily dug (not so great for cutting roots or getting past rocks).

Hoes

Hoes are perfect for removing large quantities of tiny weeds or deep
tap-rooted weeds.  Elliot Coleman, popular guru of edible gardening,
recommends using a hoe regularly to prevent weeds.  Photo left.

Scuffle hoes are great for large areas because of their push/pull
action.   The weeds can just left on the ground to compost in place.
But there are SO many types, try your neighbors hoes out to see which
ones feel best for you.

Garden Forks   

Got
rocks or clay? Then the old-fashioned garden fork will help you
navigate through and around them.  They’re also good for aerating the
soil, breaking up clay, and digging up bulbs.  Photo right.   

The best
have 4 tines, not 3, which should be quite rigid (steel is a good
material), also a fiberglass shaft and a strong D-handle.

Pickax   
   

This
tool, above all, makes me feel like the Wonder Woman of Digging.  I
always use it in a sitting position, though, for maximum impact on the
clay I’m breaking up and minimal impact on my back.  Photo left shows a
well worn pickax. 
      

SHORT TOOLS USED WHILE KNEELING

Trowels   

This is the digging tool I use the most - for planting, weeding, moving small
amounts of dirt, and more - so I’m pretty picky about which one I use.
This one is my favorite because it’s strong enough not to bend under
pressure, it’s big enough to hold some soil, has a pointy end that’s
great for cutting, and even measures how deeply you’ve dug!  No wonder
it’s such a bummer when I misplace it and have to use one of my many
others.  Photo right.   

Steak knives for dividing and slicing

Every year or I stock
up on steak knifes at the local dollar store because it’s my favorite
best tool for slicing through small perennials like liriope. It’s also
the tool of choice for cutting through the roots of pot-bound plants.

Cobrahead for weeding

I
once won a Cobrahead and I was hoping to later write that I
love-love-love it, but I don’t.  I do know gardeners who can’t get
enough of it, so do give it a try.  Photo left.   

Hori hori knife or Japanese gardening knife, the knife that never needs sharpening.  It works well, and here are some photos of them.

Mattocks

I call this tool the "Slayer of Invasives" and indeed it is, at least the ones I tackle while kneeling.  Photo right.   

FOR MAJOR OVERHAULS
Rototilling is a
controversial practice, with many experts warning that it destroys soil
structure.  In creating new gardens it’s still practiced by many, who
find it the best way to get amendments (additives) mixed several inches
into the soil, so will disturb the soil structure once, but not again.

MORE GREAT INFORMATION ON LINE   
   

• Great article about shovels by HGTV’s Paul James
• Tool care tips by Felco.
• Caring for tool handles, and how to sharpen a shovel, from  Lowes.
• Good advice on cleaning and sharpening from Fine Gardening Magazine.   

AND IN PRINT   

• The Tool Book by Logan is the latest favorite.
• Garden Tools and Equipment by the editors of Fine Gardening.
• Year-Round Guide to Garden Maintenance by Gordon and Mary Hayward.
• Garden Tools by a bunch of authors.
• Tools, Techniques and Tips for a Successful Garden by Dobbs and Knowles. 

Fellow temperate-zone sufferers of garden withdrawal, how do you cope?  What activities replace all those hours you’d like to be in the garden but can’t because of, you know, winter?  I’m looking for help here because this is the part about being a gardening addict that’s sad, really - when we can’t.  And of course it’s on top of the normal challenges to happiness that affect everyone, like short days and hostile weather. Here are my pathetic attempts to replace digging:

• Thorough immersion in podcast availability, with the help of my new Nano and the growing supply of gardening podcasts available on the web.
• Plowing through my stack of gardening magazines and books, even my nongardening books and a few New Yorkers.
• The occasional daytime movie, and lots of little red envelopes from Netflix.

See, I’m in trouble coz that’s not nearly enough.  And this year is a particularly challenging one for me because I’m heading into winter without my daily dose of laughing at power from the dynamic duo on Comedy Central - the Daily Show and the Colbert Report.  Where else can I turn for that comic/tragic perspective?