Getting Ready for 60 Degrees

Aren't they neat? As the black pussywillows emerge, they pop their "caps"!

Hyacinth buds

Day 49

The Daily DuBrule

Let's take a visual tour of my yard today. On the south side of my back garage, all the hyacinths are in bud. The black pussywillows are popping their "caps", at least that is what they look like to me! The peony buds are emerging from the soil so be VERY careful when you are walking around. I almost stepped on them as I leaned in close to take a picture of some variegated tulip leaves nearby.

Variegated tulip foliage with a pretty pink edge

Peony buds are emerging-I almost stepped on them!

Roses leaf buds are swelling fast. It's time to prune!

Everywhere I look, signs of life say it's spring! It feels like early April to me. The light in the afternoon is so long and lingering and gorgeous. I forced myself to stay glued to the drawing board all day, but admit I took quite a few breaks to take photos of the life emerging. Funny thing, if you check on things once an hour on a day like today, you can actually see the progress of the buds growing and swelling. Tomorrow is supposed to be over 65 degrees. We are sure going to see some action then. Stay tuned...

Winter aconite flowers push hard against the soil. Being reborn every year isn't easy!

My first large flowering crocus opened in my sunny southern alcove. It looks so pretty with the winter jasmine vine in full bloom behind it.

I'm happy to report the Iris reticulata survived last week's snow storm just fine. More and more keep emerging.

Dreaming of Design

Caryopteris 'Sunshine Blue and Sambucus 'Black Lace' look fabulous together but they would not be happy in the same bed. Caryopteris likes it dry, Sambucus likes it rich and moist.

Day 48

The Daily DuBrule

Long day today. Worked in my home office, worked in the shop, and then, taught a beginner's design class tonight. My head is spinning with design principles and ideas after sorting through, selecting, showing, and discussing tons of slides. It's good to keep talking about the basics, it reminds me of why I do what I do and why I love it so much. Looking at a yard and being able to pick apart the pieces of the puzzle- why doesn't it hold together? Why doesn't it look "right"? It always comes down to basic principles of scale, proportion, texture... the stuff that all good designs are made of.  One thing I didn't really get a chance to dive into in any depth tonight was foliage. Man, does THAT pull it all together. If you don't put a premium on good foliage structure, if all you care about is the flowers, it just doesn't have staying power. Beginning gardeners could really care less about leaves. It isn't until they have experienced the "meltdown" of the garden in summer that they appreciate the beauty of plants that have excellent foliage structure. The other piece of this design puzzle is to put opposites together. Just like a good marriage, mixing it up makes every plant's individual strengths shine.

Such a simple combination: Brunnera and Penstemon digitalis 'Husker's Red'

'Jade Cascade' hosta steals the show. Variegated, light textured plants behind this bold beauty really show it off.

Back to Basics

Color echoing

A great marriage for sun in deer country

Day 47
The Daily DuBrule

Tuesday night I teach the first of a two session class on Basic Landscape Design. It is interesting to prepare for this class, and an excellent exercise for this time of year when designing and consulting steps up to high gear. Having to explain the basics to a group of new gardeners is good for me. Sometimes I just worry I make it all so complicated and overwhelm the folks I work with. Basic principles of design are key. I have to keep remembering that.

Contrasting shape, texture, form

Look at the very simple picture of the front of my house at the top of this post. I remember the day I planted those deep burgundy tulips. I was wandering around, looking for a place to put them. The leaves were off the trees already as I tend to wait until really late in the fall to plant my bulbs. I looked over at the framework of the 'Bloodgood' Japanese maple on the corner of my porch and thought "they would look perfect on the other corner, the two burgundies would talk to each other". That is called color echoing. Designers do it without being conscious of it. 

Look at the next photo of Iris pallida 'Variegata' surrounded by the frilly silver foliage of Anthemis marshalliana. Spikes and frills. Broad strap-like leaves with a petticoat of silver lace. They both take the exact same conditions-hot, dry and not eaten by dear. Notice the Anthemis is in a drift of 3 plants. Basic design stuff there.

Look at the next photo of a combination in my courtyard. My criteria for this space is "keep it simple". Molinia caerulea 'Variegata' is a really nice, small growing grass that doesn't like a lot of water. Bingo. It won't get that in my courtyard, I don't water much if at all. The stems of the grass flowers turn bright yellow in the fall and the sun sets behind them, causing them to glow. This was an intentional placement. The Ajuga 'Caitlin's Giant' has broad purple foliage and is a perfect foil for the linear, variegated foliage. Again, opposites next to each other make the Molinia more linear and the Ajuga broader. Opposites attract. Hmmm... I've heard that somewhere before.

The Basic class will cover site analysis, bubble diagrams, scale, proportion, measuring, and all the thing we do in my design department to take dreams to reality. It's not complicated but to get people to step away from what they are looking at and analyze their property with a designer's eye is a big step. Everyone should try it BEFORE they spend a fortune on plants. It makes perfect sense.

 

Winter Weary Despite the Weather

Snow crocus were very happy today!

Day 46

The Daily DuBrule

I should be so grateful that today turned out sunny and in the 50's. Oh how my soul ached to spend quality time outside. I've had the blues for a while and I think its just the month of March that does it to me. It was such a mild winter, and then for the past week it's been snowing and yucky and gray and cold. Being a lover of the outdoors and a gardener, I long for flowers and food I can pick and warmth and everything that comes with it. I mean really, I have no right to complain. Yet I wandered about my yard, and I wandered aimlessly around the grounds of Natureworks, looking for every single sign of life, every tidbit of color I could find. Snowdrops. Hellebores. Iris reticulata. Scilla. Witch hazels. Pussywillows. Winter aconite. Winter jasmine. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Been there, done that. Does anyone know what I am talking about? 

March is just the most FRUSTRATING month. We've only just begun, yet it will be endless waiting and frustration and wishing and hoping and hanging on every single sign of spring. Despite the non-winter, I am still DONE with it. I feel like a whining, crabby, selfish person. My God, there was a foot of snow up north. That ought to set your spring thoughts back a bit and offer you a bite of a reality sandwich! We've just had flakes and frizzle and dustings and a bit of ice. Come on, Nancy, GROW UP!

I get like this every year. Winter is hard work in my business. Planning, ordering, organizing, and working hard for very little reward. Getting ready. Getting organized. I realize now that my soul is fed by nature. Deeply and totally. Walking outdoors in a gray landscape has its merits, but give me a lush, fragrant, sensual garden any day to soothe my soul. 

I will just stick my head my vase of spicy witch hazel, take a giant whiff of this marvelous bouquet of spring that lives on my desktop, and keep it together for a little while longer. 

The Old Guard and the Newbies

I spent today at the NOFA/CT conference at Manchester Community College. It was a long day-up at 6, at the college by 7:30, heading back home by 6:00 p.m.  A typical 12 hour day in the life of "on the road with Nancy" in the winter. 

I was so struck by the number of old time NOFA folks that I ran into . Wayne Young of High Hill Orchards was next to me. "30 years!" he said. How is it possible that NOFA/CT is celebrating its 30th anniversary? Come one Wayne, don't you remember the old days, when we met in Al Eliason's living room and all correspondence was done with phone calls and letters in the mail? My dear friend Kris Treat met me at the crack of dawn and helped me overcome my moving in blues. Kris and I worked these NOFA/CT conferences when we were happy to get 50-75 attendees and break even. Today there where 600 attendees! Wow!

Many of them were young and inexperienced and really enthusiastic about everything organic. I met a young couple who lives in a loft in Bridgeport who wanted to grow their own seedlings so they could plant them in a community garden plot they were going to work. I met a woman who spends countless volunteer hours working with gardening in the school system. She volunteers and LOVES every minute of it. It's not just about the plants, she said, it's about chickens and goats and everything else. I met people who were young and enthusiastic and hungry for non-genetically modified, organic food to feed their kids.

Man. When I was president of NOFA/CT back in the day, I would have LOVED this kind of enthusiasm. We just had to convince people that we weren't crazy, hippie radicals. That we really knew what we were talking about. That we weren't just fluffy pie in the sky crazies who dreamed big dreams.

Now, all that I imagined in the 70's, 80's, and early 90's has come home to roost. I no longer have to stand up on my soapbox and explain to the younger generation why organic food and non-genetically modified food is the way to go. They totally get it. They just need to be taught how to do this. That's easy. Emails. Websites. Blogs. Classes. You name it. I'm there. It is refreshing not to have to START by convincing someone that organics is the way to go. They accept that as obvious. Just tell me when to plant my lettuce in the ground. Teach me how to start seedlings. Explain to me what seed saving means. Tell me how to test my soil and make it right. That is EASY. I'm loving it. I have very high hopes for our world. These kids totally get it. And I am there 100% to assist them. 

Fabulous Foliage

Heucherella 'Solar Eclipse'

Day 44
The Daily DuBrule

Every once in a while a foliage plant really grabs my attention. Last week at the CT Flower Show, Heucherella 'Solar Eclipse' just kept saying "look at me!". Heucherellas are a cross between Heucheras and Tiarellas. Tons of breeding work has gone on with this genus, and the general public seems unexcited. As a garden center owner, these are not hot sellers. BUT, as a garden designer, Heucherellas, if chosen carefully, can be wonderful shade garden plants.

The thing I like about this particular one is the lime green edges that just glow. I imagine it in combination with the newest Hellebores, whose flowers go from white to lime green as they age. What a stunning marriage. I can see it with golden leaf hostas, in fact, with almost any hostas. And ferns, imagine the possibilities. 

Deer resistant, drought resistant, great foliage structure... what more could a garden designer ask?
 

What's up with Witch Hazels?

Check out the stubs at the base of this Hamamelis 'Arnold's Promise' trunk. These are the SUCKERS I cut off this summer. This is a GRAFTED plant. If you don't watch for and cut off the suckers, it will revert to the rootstock which is NOT what you bought.

Day 43
The Daily DuBrule

In the last week, I have fielded more questions about winter blooming witch hazels than I can remember. For anyone who knows my style, if I get more than a few questions, I WRITE about it. Then I post my writings as a handout on my website. So here goes...

If you have a hybrid witch hazel such as 'Arnold's Promise', 'Diane', 'Jelena', and a host of other FABULOUS flowering trees that are in bloom right now, listen up and then spread the word. These plants are grafted onto a rootstock that is not the same as the top. If you don't know this (and I didn't until two years ago) and you plant one of these wonderful winter blooming trees, you may be surprised when not only it doesn't flower profusely for you in March, it also fails to flower when you cut the stems for forcing. Why? Because the rootsock, which is really vigorous and hardy, has taken over the top grafted plant and become way too greedy, overtaking the floriferous top plant that you THOUGHT you purchased. This happened to me.

One of the first trees I planted when I bought my house 8 years ago was an 'Arnold's Promise' witch hazel. As I write this on the first day of  March, the intoxicating, spicy scent of this magnificent winter flowering tree fills my home office. I picked the branches yesterday, right before the impending snow storm. The first year after I planted this tree I was a very patient woman, not expecting much. I got a few flowers but nothing too amazing. Year two I was ready for a big show My tree had grown a lot in the summer but when I examined it in the fall I didn't see ANY flower buds. I was crushed. On close examination, I noticed that 50% of the tree consisted of suckers arising from-wait for it-below graft. What? I didn't know this plant was grafted. I went right to the phone and called Mike Johnson, the owner of Summer Hill Nurseries in Madison, CT, my nursery stock guru. "Of course they are grafted" he told me. You need to watch them like a hawk and cut off all the suckers as they appear or else the plant will be overtaken...blah blah blah. Who knew? 

Anyway, since then, I have been ever-vigilant. It's not really a big deal. A couple of times a year I go at it with my pruners and cut off any suckers I see sprouting from below graft. My tree is happy, healthy, and in full bloom right now.

Today I did a consultation for a friend in Wethersfield. Her 'Arnold's Promise' is a mutated pale orange flowering tree with stubby flowers that come from the below-graft rootstock, nothing like it was supposed to be but still, I guess, pretty enough. My friend Robin emailed me after the last class I taught saying that she tried to force her witch hazel branches and got nothing but leaves. All I could think of was that her original tree was overtaken by the below graft suckers and is now a different plant, probably Hamamelis virginiana, our native late fall blooming witch hazel. No wonder she doesn't see any late winter flowers, either in a vase or in the garden.

I think every tree that is grafted should come with a label telling the gardener that they should watch for suckers. This is what happens with 'Harry Lauder's Walking Stick' contorted hazels. I have seen it occur with weeping cherries that all of the sudden are huge and upright and don't weep anymore. The average homeowner has no knowledge of grafted plants. It's something that I, as a garden center owner and educator, need to take very seriously as one of my new missions in life. 

My 'Arnold's Promise' witch hazel AFTER cutting off the suckers last year and this year. It's true identity has made itself clear.