Do One Last Winter Check of the Garden

When you think about your garden right about now, you’re probably dreaming about annual flowers and vegetables and how awesome your garden will look when things begin to grow. We all do. Spring can’t come soon enough for all of us who garden in the Northeast.

As we suffer through the last few weeks of winter, however, use the time to assess how your landscape looks NOW. As I’ve traveled around the Northeast visiting flower shows, I’ve seen some landscapes that make me want to stop and take a picture. Not many, mind you, but some gardens manage to look provocative even in a winter with no snow cover.

Here are a few basic principles to consider when you think about landscape design for the longest season of the year:

STONE AND STONE WALLS — Anything from a single well-placed stone to an old-fashioned sturdy New England stone wall helps give the landscape year-round form and structure. A full wall may be too expensive for your budget right now. If so, take a walk through the woods or along a public beach to find a single, interesting stone. Bring the stone home and place it in a focal point in the garden and you’ll be amazed how much interest it can add.

Stones have the magical ability to appear in different colors in different lighting, to shimmer when wet, or seem cozy when covered with snow. As a compromise between a single stone and building a wall, experiment with the Japanese design technique of placing three stones in a triangle. If you find you don’t like the stones’ position at any point in time, simply move them — with no transplanting needed!

WATER FEATURES — Natural lakes, ponds and streams are priceless in a landscape, but man-made water elements aren’t far off. Even a small pond that needs to be drained in winter will create interesting contours in the snow. If you dig the pond deep enough so the submerged pump doesn’t freeze, the pump can run all winter.

In open winters, a “dry stream” can be an awesome visual element. A path of small stones anywhere from one inch to four inches in diameter, a dry stream creates the illusion of water movement from one point to another. You can even place a faux pond at one end of the path to look like a resting place for the water. Use your imagination and you’ll be amazed by what you can create.

BIRDHOUSES AND BATHS — Many gardeners turn to feeding birds from autumn to spring. This year, we have kept a bird feeder on the front porch and have thoroughly enjoyed the steady parade of winged friends that stop by for a snack.

Consider, too, purchasing an electric birdbath that will keep water open all winter. Birds will invariably seek sources of open water during the coldest days. Nothing is more enchanting in January or February than the sight and sounds of birds flailing their wings in delight of water.

STATUARY — Whereas flora sometimes overshadows them in summer, exterior vases, urns and garden sculptures can really take center stage in winter. Be careful to select pieces that will withstand the elements without cracking. Then, have fun.

One woman in Belfast, Maine, Susan Roi Eastman, even makes her statuary evolutionary. As the seasons change from fall to winter and then early spring, she dresses her “garden gals” in colorful outfits that she purchases inexpensively at the Salvation Army. The locals make a point of walking or driving by on a regular basis just to check out the latest costumes on her feminine versions of scarecrows.

ARBORS AND POTTING SHEDS — These come in all styles and price ranges, from a homemade trellis crafted from saplings to a well-constructed cedar gazebo. Potting sheds are wonderful for emitting the faint, alluring scents of the summer garden even on a cool February morning.

A simple arbor can have four-season use as an adornment for plants. Plant daffodils around its base for spring, and clematis to drape over the top in summer. Then decorate it with lights and evergreen bows for the holidays.

PLANT SELECTION — In the category of “last but not least,” the plants you choose should have more to do with winter interest in the landscape than anything else. If you grow all deciduous trees and shrubs, and annual and perennial flowers, then yes, your garden probably does look a bit bland right now. Too many of us pick plants for the flowers that last only a few weeks. Select plants based on how they look the rest of the year and you’ll be making a better investment.

Some of the best? How about common winterberry, Ilex verticillata, which we see lighting up the roadsides in midwinter with bright crimson berries? Try other members of the same family, ‘Blue Princess’ and ‘Blue Prince’ hollies, Ilex x meserveae. The red berries and shiny green foliage are stunning in winter, but remember that you have to plant both male and female plants in your yard to achieve the fruiting.

Two words: Ornamental grasses. I just spent the weekend in Williamstown, Mass., for the winter carnival at Williams College, where my daughter goes to school. The landscapes that really stood out had tall, billowing grasses that added all sorts of elegance to the sites. Dozens of these grasses are hardy here in the Northeast. Ask your neighbors what is working in their yards, or stop by your local garden center to see what they have in stock. Here is a good link to a fact sheet produced by the University of Rhode Island. Here are just a few of my favorites:

Feather reed grass, Calamagrostis acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’, for Zones 4-9; strong upright habit.

Northern sea oats, Chasmanthium latifolium, for Zones 3-9; likes partial shade.

Ribbon grass, Phalaris arundinacea, for Zones 4-8; a good groundcover in the right areas. It does grow aggressively, however, and is generally not a good garden companion with other plants.

Red switch grass, Panicum virgatum ‘Haense Herms’, for Zones 5-9; it will grow two or three feet tall, with great fall foliage and purplish flower heads.

-Paul Tukey - March 8, 2006.

The Butterfly Gardener's Guide

Brooklyn Botanic Garden All-Region Series

Table of Contents

Observing Butterflies

* Butterfly Familes by Claire Hagan Dole
* Butterfly Biology, by Eric Eaton
* Butterfly Migration, by Pat and Clay Sutton

Advanced Butterfly Gardening

* Turning Your Yard Into a Butterfly Sanctuary, by Phil Schappert
* Inviting Caterpillars Into Your Garden, by Claire Hagen Dole
* Helping Butterflies Through the Winter, by Bernard S. Jackson
* Butterfly Meadows, by Claire Hagen Dole
* Herbs for Butterflies, by Jim and Dotti Becker
* How to Grow a Butterfly Gardener, by Sharon Lovejoy

Encyclopedia of Butterfly and Caterpillar Plants

* Northeast, by Jane Ruffin
* Southeast, by Kim Hawks
* Florida, by Pamela F. Traas
* Midwest, by Ann Swengel
* Southwest, by Jim Brock
* Pacific Coast, by Leana Beeman-Sims
* More Caterpillar Plants for Every Region
* More Nectar Plants for Every Region

USDA Hardiness Zone Map
For More Information
Organizations and Nurseries
ContributorsIndex

Ready, Set, Go! It's Seed Starting Time

I see it everywhere I go. We've all got the itch this year. Maybe it's the open winter, or maybe it's because last year's gardening season never got off the ground due to a wet spring.

Whatever the reason, people are ready to garden. The good news is . . . why wait? Even though we won't be able to begin outdoor gardening for several more weeks in most areas of the Northeast, we can scratch the gardening itch by planting seeds indoors.

Not tomatoes, mind you. Everyone wants to start these just as soon as possible, but the plants will be better off if you can wait another month - unless you have a good grow-light system or greenhouse set-up to give the seedlings enough light. Plenty of other plants can be started now from seed, including most perennial flowers and pansies, along with lettuce, cabbage, eggplant, pepper, parsley and some of the long-season melon crops.

Two or three weeks from now, you also get the seed-starting green light with most annual flowers, along with onions, leeks, Brussels sprouts, celerac and celery. By April 1, you can go ahead and start anything that will tolerate transplanting. Understand that a great many seeds would rather be direct-seeded into the garden, including corn, carrots, cucumbers, beans, radishes and peas.

I won't bother rehashing seed-starting instructions here, since most seed cataloguers provide perfectly good how-to information on the packages. Instead, let me take a moment to review some terms commonly associated with seeds. You can even give yourself a glossary quiz at the end!

Certified Organic - These are seeds harvested from organically grown plants, meaning the parents were not treated with synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. You can grow these seeds with synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, but that would be missing the point. Truly organic food and flowers begins with organic seeds . . . and probably, more importantly, helps support the organic farms that produced the seeds.

Disease Resistant - Some seeds are bred to be resistant to fungi, bacteria or viruses. These traits are typically noted on the seed packages.

Genetically Engineered - Seeds that have been mechanically altered in the laboratory may carry genes from an unrelated species of plants or animals. These seeds are patented and may not be saved and replanted in future years. These are also not allowed in strict organic gardening operations. Unfortunately, the United States is one of the few developed nations in the world that does not require genetically engineer seeds to be labeled.

Heirloom - An older type of seed that is "open-pollinated" (see below), heirlooms have survived multiple generations through the collection efforts of seed companies and dedicated gardeners.

Inoculant - A material, typically a seed coating, that protects the seed from disease or pathogen in the soil, or otherwise helps the seed to germinate more readily or quickly.

Hybrid - cross-pollinated variety of seed that resulted from the breeding of two parents typically within the same species of plants. The resulting seeds of hybrid plants often do not produce offspring that look anything like the parent plants.

Open-Pollinated - This seed can reproduce itself year after year because the resulting plants resist cross-pollination with other related species of plants.

Tolerant - These are seeds that can withstand pressure from environmental stresses, including drought, cold, heat or insects.

Treated/Untreated - Seeds may or may not have protective coatings known as "inoculants" (see above) that protect from diseases and insects, or aid in germination. All treated seeds are typically labeled.

Variety - Often used interchangeably with "hybrid," the term is often used to distinguish seeds within species, such as pole beans from bush beans, or early green cabbage from savoy green cabbage.

-Paul Tukey - March 1, 2006