Happy Anniversary! Celebrating Our First Year as Blotanists

Time flies when you're having fun!

One year ago today, we became members of Blotanical.  It hardly seems as though it's been that long, but it has.  And what a year it has been!  Much of what we first learned about Blotanical and hoped to gain by being part of it has come to pass. (You can see our initial post about Blotanical from a year ago here.)

Steve and I have been gardening for nearly a decade together and for decades separately before that.  But in the last year, we've achieved milestones that in some cases, we didn't even know existed, and in other cases, while we were aware of various organizations and programs, we never anticipated becoming involved in them and certainly not to the extent that we have.  We can definitely see how being members of Blotanical has figured heavily in the choices we have made.

What a difference a year makes!

Attending a Titanic era afternoon tea, April, 2012.

Since last spring, we've gotten more involved in the regional and international gardening community than ever before.  In April, 2011, we joined both the American Rose Society and the New England Rose Society, renewed our membership with the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and started posting regularly on our blog.  We also began logging the number of visitors to our blog.

After we joined Blotanical in May, the number of visitors to our blog increase ten-fold.  We've met scores of  fellow gardeners and have developed friendships across our own county, in every quadrant of the country, across oceans, and across several continents.

Combining our love of old garden roses with my love of regency novels and recently discovering vintage dancing has also given us a wonderful pastime for the long winter months when we can't be out in the garden.

So what are some of  the actual stats?  Well, here are a few....

Since May 25, 2011, garden lovers have visited our blog nearly 19,000 times. We've gone from just over 100 views per month to as many in the average day.  We've posted 90 blog posts to date of which 84 were published between May 25, 2011 through May 25, 2012.

And lest you think we spend all of our time blogging, we actually spend a fair amount of it weeding.  We now have 32 distinct garden beds on our half acre property that include several sun and shade cottage beds, a formal English garden, briar patch, woodland garden, shrub and tree grove, herb garden, blueberry grove, butterfly garden, and water garden.: We went from 179 roses last May to over 200 this year (despite the damage caused by the dreaded voles).

At Blotanical we currently have a user rank of 191 and a blog rank of 190.  We've been "faved" by 38 fellow bloggers.  We've earned 5,812 Blotanical points.  More important than the numbers however, has been the sense of community, the support we've received, the genuine feelings of camaraderie and friendship.  Being a part of the Blotanical community has made us better bloggers, better gardeners, and more involved in our local and national gardening groups.

We attended our first district convention, the annual main event of the Yankee District of the American Rose Society held in March in Rhode Island.  This month, Steve and I were elected to the Executive Board of the New England Rose Society as Treasurer and Secretary respectively.

A sparrow takes a bath in the waterfall of our water garden.

Statistics aside, the most important things we've gained in the last year through our participation in Blotanical are knowledge and friends.  We've learned a lot.  We've learned about flowers, birds and wildlife all over the world.  We've learned to take better photographs, we've learned shortcuts and better ways of doing gardening chores, and we've learned to be better inhabitants of the planet.  Our garden is now a certified wildlife habitat. We've also learned that there are untold resources at our disposal and we frequently tap them all.

But best of all, we've made friends all over our county, our country, and around the world.  Friends we care about and who care about us.  Now, when we hear about a natural disaster or terrible storms or floods in other parts of the world, it's much more personal for us and we quickly check the blogs of people we will likely never meet in person but who we have come to call "friend".

Steve spends a few hours each month tending to the Masonic Center Garden.

We've also learned that sharing is caring.

We share our time and knowledge, teaching others about "green" gardening and encouraging others to nurture and protect the environment.

We also help in more tangible ways. We share plants from our garden with neighbors, guests and even strangers who stop to admire the gardens.


As members of the New England Rose Society, we support the mission of the Rose Society by volunteering in the rose yard of the Wolf Hill Garden Center.  There, we help people to choose the perfect rose for their yard and then teach them how to properly plant, prune, and care for it.

We also continue to help maintain the rose garden at the Masonic Center in Newburyport which we helped to design and build two years ago.  We open our gardens to the public one day a year for the Country Gardens Annual Water Garden Tour.  (This year, the tour is scheduled for Saturday, June 23, 2012.)

Our love of roses extends all the way to Brooklyn, NY where next week we will spend much of our vacation helping rose curator Sarah Owens to prepare the Cranford Rose Garden for the Brooklyn Botanical Garden's annual "Rose Night", a labor of love we are eagerly anticipating.

So what does any of this have to do with Blotanical, you might ask.  All of these activities and more have been shared on our blog, generated comments and interest within the Blotanical community, and have contributed to the ever widening audience of readers who have encouraged us and supported us.

Most importantly, we've appreciated being part of a community where we can share the highs and lows of our lives through and by gardening.  Our blog has been the vehicle and Blotanical has been the means by which we've done that.

Last June, we showed our roses for the first time ever in a juried rose show sponsored by the New England Rose Society and earned a Best in Show prize in addition to a fistful of first and second place ribbons. We blogged about our experience here.  We also shared our grief and the memorial garden we've established in the memory of nine soldiers who died in the crash of Blackhawk #571 in Afghanistan.  As Memorial Day approaches,  we have once again dedicated one of our garden beds to the soldiers of that mission and will share that with the Blotanical community on Monday (Memorial Day, for those of us here in the U.S.).

Book Review: The Perennial Care Manual by Nancy J. Ondra

As a longtime gardener, one aspect of gardening that often confounds me is what to do when the perennials stop blooming. I have been hunting for an easy to follow guide that would tell me which ones to cut back, how far, and when.

Over the years, my husband and I have acquired no less than a half dozen books that promised to be "complete guides" to perennial gardening, yet they invariably fell short with regard to seasonal care and troubleshooting. My Wish List has long included a thorough guide to actually caring for perennials throughout the year.

Nancy Ondra's The Perennial Care Manual fits the bill exactly and is the  comprehensive, easy to read guide that I was looking for. This is a book that every backyard gardener, both inexperienced newbies and those of us who have been around for decades, will find useful.  Filled with tips and information that is organized seasonally, with beautiful photographs by Rob Cardillo, this book instantly became my "Bible" for perennial gardening.

The book opens with a comprehensive review of perennial gardening "basics". I was delighted to see the attention she paid to preparing the garden bed. My husband and I learned the hard way that preparing the bed properly is the single-most important step in building a garden. From practical tips, like using laundry baskets to shade new transplants for a few days, to discussions about invasive plants, mulch, compost, and identifying and dealing with garden pests and weeds, the wealth of information in the first one hundred and twenty pages is incredible.

The second section of the book is devoted to the growing habits, propagation, seasonal care, and problems that affect individual perennials. Ms. Ondra chose 125 common perennials to feature and with each one, she goes through season by season, describing what to do and showing with wonderful photographs how to do it. She also describes and shows pictures of plant diseases, pests to watch for, and specific growing tips that are keys to success with certain plants.

When I first spotted the book at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society's book booth at the annual garden show last month, I immediately flipped to the two perennials that I always struggle with in terms of season-long care - peonies, which I absolutely adore, but whose heavy heads invariably sag, and phlox, which likewise tend to flop and sprawl. Her commonsense suggestions for dealing with both of these problems were remarkably simple, yet I had not read them in any other reference (nor thought of them myself).

For each perennial she gives spot on, very specific information about propagation, growth habits, and care throughout the year.  The pictures are spectacular and range from distinctive or common cultivars, to pests and diseases, to techniques.  The information is organized in a way that is user friendly and makes it easy to both search for a specific piece of information and assimilate information about a particular plant's habits and needs.


It's hard to find anything to say about this book that isn't "over-the-top" positive. I wish the book was twice the size - more varieties within different plant types, and more plants period. (Maybe she'll come out with Volume II?) And I wish she had included more information about weeds. (I know, that wasn't her focus, but the information she did include was fabulous - I could have used a hundred more pages of it!)

Listing at just under $25.00, this book is a bargain-priced goldmine of information. I will be watching for future books by this same author. We paid full fare for this book at the garden show but a quick peek at Amazon.com brought up a list of her past accomplishments that includes two books that quickly rose through the ranks and won the top spots on my Amazon Wish List - I'll be getting those in the very near future as well. Her books are discounted at Amazon, but I don't regret paying the list price at the garden show - it's worth every penny and more. (In fact, I thought the list price was a bargain, compared to some of the books we've bought in the past.)

Spring is Here - At Long Last!

 

After one of the snowiest winters in recent memory, Spring is  finally here - not just on the calendar, but in our home and yard as well. The garden burst forth this past weekend with our first blooms of the year:  snowdrops are blooming in the cottage garden and today, I saw the first crocus buds as well, just ready to open.

Earlier this week I snagged some tulips and daffodils at a local flower shop and the grocery store and filled vases throughout the house. We have been watching excitedly as the snow cover has melted away to reveal mounds of green where spring bulbs and eventually summer perennials will be blooming.

After a visit to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society's annual Flower Show in Boston, I found myself more inspired than ever to begin the spring gardening chores. I began by clipping forsythia wands for forcing indoors and his year, inspired by a display I saw at the flower show, I snipped some branches from our saucer magnolia as well.

Forcing forsythia and magnolia blossoms

This is my first attempt at bringing branches of our saucer magnolia tree indoors to force.  And this is especially gratifying for me because I had been concerned that with the funky weather we had last fall, I might not have any magnolia blossoms at all.

Last spring, we had scant blooms on our burgundy and cream magnolia and the yellow magnolias' blooms were sparse as well. After an exuberant bloom the year before, we were disappointed that the trees were nearly devoid of color last Spring. But this week I was delighted to see the branches full of plump velvety buds and I know that the trees are going to be gorgeous in another few weeks.

The rhododendrons are also in excellent shape, considering the many feet of snow that buried them for the last three months. The Nova Zemblas are full of buds and the leaves show none of the drying effects of winter. Our white rhodies, the catawbiense "Choinoides", also seem to have had new life breathed into them over the winter after a difficult spring and summer last year. 

Everywhere I look, mounds of green and green leaf spikes are poking through the mulch. The benefits of the heavy snow - insulation and ample water - are obvious. But so are the casualties. In particular, our sand cherry is likely a total loss, and for that we are dismayed.

For reasons we can't quite fathom, the plow service piled heavy wet snow on the sand cherry, instead of pushing it into the wide open space along the walkway to the shade gardens and the back yard. Every branch cracked under the strain and the main stem has split as well. Last year, the sand cherry was a stand out in the spring garden, covered with pink blossoms. We were hoping for the same this spring. Sadly, it looks as though we'll be seeking a replacement.

In the first picture, the tree has actually been totally bent to the side and the branches poking through at the top are actually from a side branch. We knew then that the tree was in trouble, but there was little we could do. After the snow fell, it rained, then froze. We couldn't dig it out and were forced to wait for warmer weather and for the ice to melt.

Just the tips of a few branches poke through the six-plus foot pile of snow crushing the sand cherry.

Every branch has evidence of damage from the weight of the snow.

Damage to the sand cherry - March, 2011

 

A Taste of Spring - The Boston Flower Show

One steadfast harbinger of spring, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society's annual Flower Show in Boston, was held last week and what a treat for the senses it was. We had been very disappointed with the recent past few years' offerings and very nearly didn't attend this year, but with complimentary tickets in hand (a benefit of membership to Mass Hort), we spent a most enjoyable afternoon at the Seaport World Trade Center.  We returned home to a wonderful surprise:  a clump of snowdrops blooming in one of our cottage garden beds.

Our own hellebores, April, 2009

This year's garden show far exceeded our expectations.  Steve and I both agreed that it was one of the best shows we've been to, ever.  The display gardens and exhibits were plentiful, well-designed, and bursting with color.  Many were attended by the owners or professional staff of the nurseries that sponsored them, a definite plus, as we could ask questions about the displays and get and give feedback on the spot.

The exhibit area was crowded and hard to navigate in a wheelchair, even harder with a cane, but with good reason - gadgets and plants, tools, clothing, decorative items, landscaping fixtures, gewgaws and bric-a-brac abounded.  There was something for everyone and we got quite a few "somethings".  If we're looking for the latest and greatest gardening gadget or a hard to find tool, the exhibit area has always been the "go to" place for us. This year we were delighted to find more booths featuring tools and gadgets for cooking - so in keeping with the Society's "Garden to Table" program and our new love affair with the Food Network.  Our two prized finds: a weeding shovel (watch out, skunk cabbage and cockleburrs) and a saucer that grates fresh ginger and garlic cloves.

Compared to previous years, we found Mass. Hort's book display far superior to that of years past.  My dilemma was trying to decide which of the many things on my "Wish List" I could live without.  Two shopping bags later, Steve and I both spent a wonderful hour in the food court area, where we relaxed on comfortable upholstered chairs at a table decked out with a linen tablecloth, paged through our newest literary acquisitions, chatted with friendly table-mates, and dined on the Seaport's version of a hot turkey sandwich (fabulous). The ambiance was rich, the experience overall a 12 on a scale of 1 to 10.

After having attended a family funeral the day before, we went to the flower show in a somber frame of mind and with very little expectation of truly enjoying ourselves.  In fact, our main goal was to replace a tool that had broken last summer and perhaps find another garden gadget or two.  Instead, we found an unexpectedly rich vista of spring and spent a truly wonderful, relaxing, and educational afternoon.  We attended an informative demo and lecture on roses, spoke with many professionals, and viewed many luscious garden displays. Meandering through the exhibit aisles netted us an eclectic assortment of new-found treasures.

My favorite garden display this year was the garden created by Heimlich's Nursery in Woburn, Mass.  We had an opportunity to speak to one of the professionals from Heimlich's and that convinced us that it's a place we definitely want to visit later in the spring when it's time to shop for additions to our garden. We also enjoyed meeting and chatting with the folks from the Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston and the New England Wildflower Society in Framingham, two other gardens that are summer destinations for us.

One of our chief (and perennial) complaints about many of the nursery exhibits at all flower shows and even in the conservatories of the larger public gardens (the New York Botanical Garden is a prime example) is that often, plants that simply would never be blooming at the same time are planted in demonstration gardens, having been forced in the greenhouse, giving people a completely unrealistic idea of what their garden would like if they planted the same varieties together.

When I shared this observation with one of the nurserymen, he told me that they are allowed to group flowers that bloom within 4-6 weeks of each other in an exhibit. While I am exquisitely familiar with the hassles of forcing blooms to a schedule, that remains my one significant criticism of this flower show overall. I do not think it's intellectually honest to stretch reality in that way. I'm sorry, but whether your garden is in Providence, on the Cape, or up here in Newburyport, with the exception of an occasional very late blossom, tulips are not blooming profusely at the same time that foxglove is in bloom. A garden display that includes beds of tulips, azaleas and other early spring blooms, summer blooming foxgloves, and a Meyer lemon is simply not a realistic representation of what you can accomplish in your own garden without benefit of a greenhouse and that is where I think some of the displays fall short.

One thing I was pleased to see, however, was that as we have noticed before, we seem to have a knack for being just ahead of the curve in our plant and garden decor choices. Several summers ago, we had a large urn-type planter custom drilled and plumbed so that we could use it as a fountain in our Zen garden. And
we had been on the hunt for (and finally found) a Meyer lemon tree for  over two years before we finally found one.

This year, for the first time, we saw a potted Meyer lemon in an exhibition garden. I can only hope that ours will eventually bloom as prolifically as the display garden tree did. It was immense and gorgeous! (Insert Ode to a Greenhouse here.) We also saw several urn-type water features both in nursery display gardens and for sale in the exhibit area.

Curtains and a chandelier in the gazebo

After the first chandelier appeared in a demonstration garden gazebo a few years back, we joked that the nurseries must send their spies to our house each year for decorating ideas. It's a point of pride for us that we'd already outfitted our gazebo with a clearance aisle chandelier and draped the walls and ceilings with curtains long before we saw one featured at the flower show several years ago.

All in all, I give the Society two thumbs up for a magnificent show and would encourage any local readers to visit their web site and mark your calendars for next year's flower show as soon as the dates are announced.  If this is going to be the benchmark for future flower shows, you won't want to miss it. Consider supporting the Society with a membership and you won't have to worry about missing it. As a member, you'll get regular newsletters by email and tickets to the flower show mailed to you a couple of weeks before the event.  As members, we are looking forward to attending more programs at Elm Bank and the annual flower show is once again back on our must-do list.