February 20, 2010
Snow!
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by Gene Griffith
We don't often get snow at the nursery and when we do it's often cause for celebration, a bit of Mardi Gras, because it lasts just a day or two. An inch of snow around Atlanta is enough to strip the grocery stores of milk, bread, beer and firewood. A week ago we got nearly 3 inches. Certainly nothing like the winter for much of the country. In PA where my best friend lives, they'd recently had over a foot of snow and last week another foot was on the way with no chance to dig out. So I'm sure they don't see snow as Mardi Gras.
I just reread the chapter "The Practice of Carrying Water" in Barbara Brown Taylor's book An Altar in the World which initially views snow in the same Mardi Gras light I do (she also lives in Georgia) but changes as the days without power continue. I have also been reminded of Wallace Stegner's wonderful short story/novella "Genesis" from Wolf Willow, and the follow-up, "Carrion Spring." Get it, read them. They will flush any romantic notion of snow from your soul.
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February 10, 2010
Does One Size Fit All?
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by Gene Griffith
Winter allows me to look at other growers' catalogs and web sites. I learn a lot. What plants do they grow? Would they be a good addition to our list? What are their prices? Their shipping methods and charges. When do they ship? What do you get for your money?
I'm always curious to see what size plant they ship and how clearly is that displayed to the customer. Most nurseries describe the "size" by the dimensions or volume of the container the plant is grown in. Some nursuries list their plants by weight. Some list their plants by age. As you might expect, the federal government has a hand in this through the National Institute of Standards and Technology (www.nist.gov if you have a few days to waste). A good summary of the requirements (if you only have a few minutes) can be found at http://www.ofa.org/pdf/container121304.pdf
The basic three requirements as I read this document are:
1) Declaration of identity (botanical or common name)
2) Declaration of Net Contents ("must describe the contents in terms of weight, measure or count". Age apparently is unacceptable.)
3) Declaration of Responsibility -- who grew it; the location of the vendor; who is responsible that the first two are true and correct.
We list the size of the container the plant is grown in with each description, or if not there, then it is our "default" size the so-called "trade gallon" which is actually only 3/4's of a gallon by volume. You can see this in more detail at our "Size " page.
Unless stated otherwise, we send plants that are large enough to go right into your garden. We, too, have ordered plants that arrived much smaller than we had anticipated and strive to be sure that is not your experience with our plants.
Any day now this 5 year long winter will end.
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February 2, 2010
Pink and Orange
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by Elizabeth Dean
There is no accounting for taste, but there are some color combinations that one doesn’t love. Although I can remember a time with crayons when I loved yellow and pink side by side, one on top of the other, strong orange and pastel pink sets my teeth on edge.
What calls this to mind is the Jelena witchhazel now in full bloom out front. It is gloriously coppery orange and glows in harmony with the Hillside Winter Gold pine sited a bit farther out. This is a pine that you never notice until the temperature starts to drop and then it shines a brilliant yellow through the winter. It’s a satisfying combination and I wish I could claim credit for having understood just that 15 years ago. But as with much in our plantings it is happenstance.
Nor was I thinking about future visual combinations when I planted the deciduous magnolia Leonard Messel between Jelena and Hillside Winter Gold. Leonard has grown into a beautiful small tree. Good shape, clean foliage which turns bright buttery yellow
in fall and pussy willow fuzzy buds that tempt through the winter make up the back drop for the real show come early spring when the buds swell and begin to open.
The flowers are deep pink on the outside and white on the inside. The predominant color reads pink. Here’s the rub or rather the clash. Jelena stands orange next to Leonard as pink as he can be. They bloom at the same time.
Every year I struggle to decide which one has to go. I tend to think it has to be Jelena because she’s really too big for where she sits, but I can’t image yanking a mature witchhazel out. They take years to get of size. She also has sentimental value because I was inspired by Elizabeth Lawrence’s description of the one next to her front steps (it’s still there). And it looks so good with the yellow pine if you can just blot out the pink between.
I have been saved, or rather they have been saved by the odd fact that for the last two winters Jelena has bloomed her heart out for weeks before Leonard’s buds have even begun to fatten. I can’t figure the why of it. It’s been colder these winters and there was more rain in the summer and fall. Maybe they picked up on my threatening intentions and changed the dance.
Who knows? It makes my heart full to look out and see the orange with yellow behind fending off the grey wet chill of winter. I know that Leonard will not fail to declare spring and make my soul sing. I get my cake and to eat it too.
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January 27, 2010
Is it Native?
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by Gene Griffith
Lots of gardeners want to know if a plant is "native." Within the genus "Hydrangea" there are two species that were found within the boundaries of the U.S. --H. arborescens and H. quercifolia -- so they would qualify as native if your concept of native is tied to our nation's boundary. But if you draw a tighter ring, say New England or the South, you get a slightly different answer: the arborescent species was found growing in the wild in both regions, while the oakleaf was only found in the South. It will grow in certain areas of New England (the warmer parts), but was not "found" there. (If you define native by state -- California or Nebraska -- then neither is native.) The other Hydrangea species are from various parts of the globe: Japan, China, Mexico, Chile, the Philippines, etc.
Dr. J. C. Raulston influenced my thinking on "native" plants. From his article "Notes on Development of a Philosophy for Use of Native Plants in the Landscape" from The Chronicles of the NCSU Arboretum:
"'Native' is an indefinite concept - what is really meant by 'native'? - to the site (at what historic period?), to country, to region, to state, to continent, to world? Geographic and political boundaries have no relation to native ranges or adaptability."
Dr. Michael Dirr teased an audience of gardeners and growers once with the question: Is Leyland Cypress a native of the US? He was showing a slide at the time of one of the original seedlings that occured in Welshpool, Wales in the 1880's. (It was over 100' feet tall!) Yet the intergeneric hybridization forming the plant was of Cupressus macrocarpa -- Monterey Cypress from coastal California -- and Chamaecyparis nookatensis -- Alaska cedar from coastal Alaska to Washington.
Perhaps it's best to not dwell on the "nativeness" of the plant and concentrate instead on it's adaptability and ornamental features.
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January 24, 2010
The Seuss Sayer Says
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By Porter Griffith
On a cold winter's morning,
as I froze my caboose
I was shaking my head
when something shook loose!
It tumbled out hopping
and bopping around
It wiggled and waggled
and fell to the ground.
A doctor, I thought
must be what I need,
For wiggling things
should not fall from me.
But the wiggler wiggled
and snatched up my phone
And said not to worry,
to fidget, or moan.
A medic was coming
for my head and my thorax
a doctor with green eggs,
ham, and a lorax.
Whose funnies and gigglers
would fix up my woes
cure all my wigglers
and warm up my toes.
The eggs and the ham
were bad for the tummy
But stories were told,
and the fables were funny.
With good attitude
and a clever retort
He got me to snicker,
to chuckle and snort.
Remember the planet,
the plants and the grasses,
the joy of the garden,
the lads and the lasses.
Like flowers- don't gripe!
Or make enemies,
and what you shake loose
will be good memories.
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January 21, 2010
Winter Thoughts
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by Gene Griffith
A new year arrives and as Hal Clements had well marked in his Bible Psalm 118:
"This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."
I struggle to understand the peace contained in that prayer, to act everyday with such rejoice. I needn't list all the troubles we can find around us for they are manifest. We act, we vote, we hope for a better day.
Our New Year's Eve came with dense fog and no desire on our part to join any hoopla.
I used to be a voracious reader but that was 20 or 30 years ago. I quit and only read newspapers or People while waiting in the dentist's office. No excuses: I just did other things. I'm happy to say I'm reading again. When I read it's always been multiple books at the same time, in piles by the bed. We were given Taylor Branch's Parting the Waters for Christmas 1991 by one of Elizabeth's brothers. I finally picked it up and have found it captivating. Keillor's collection Good Poems is just that, to be enjoyed by those who don't know a poem from an electric bill.
Winter can allow both the appreciation of the earth which the Lord hath made as well as time to read and reflect. I hope that is true of winter for you. Here's a poem "Lost" by David Wagoner:
"Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you."
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January 17, 2010
Flowers Caught Soliciting
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By Porter Griffith
Yoo-hoooo! Over here, hot stuff!
By now, we all know about the birds and the bees. And thanks to Jewel Akens' 1964 pop classic, we also know about the flowers and the trees. Or at least, we thought we did. According to a BBC report , Welsh scientists have discovered that flowers "wave" at nearby insects to attract their attention.
While watching flowers swaying with the breeze at his daughter's birthday party, scientist John Warren began to wonder what purpose their long stems might serve. "I wondered why they have stalks and risked getting damaged in such an exposed habitat." Warren, a professor at Aberystwyth University, searched for any previous research into the subject, and found very little. Prior inquiries had concluded that motion was likely unimportant in attracting pollinators, because "insects are not good at detecting movement", which, according to Warren, "is clearly rubbish."
So, curiosity piqued, he and colleague Penri James measured and tested 300 specially-grown sea campion flowers of varied height, and determined that bees and other pollinating insects prefer their flowers tall, dark, and handsome. Or at least, tall, skinny, and waving. The evidence showed that flowers on long, thin stalks waved more in the wind, and attracted significantly more visitors. However, height is only beneficial up to a point. The tallest and skinniest blossoms were simply not stable enough for pollinators to land on, and were passed over as well.
As evidenced by the popularity of dancing competitions on reality television, the right moves can attract serious attention. But it's a fine line- overenthusiastic showoffs are never well received. Indeed, "only flowers that wobble the right amount are successful in setting seeds."
Sounds like an ancient Chinese proverb. Or at least, a confusing fortune cookie.
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January 10, 2010
Dónde está mi sombrero?
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Do hats really sell plants?
by Gene Griffith
Branding is all the rage in marketing replacing the slogans of my youth: "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should"; "Busch Beer: Head for the Mountains"; "See the USA in your Chevrolet." (Not all at once, of course, smoking, drinking and driving was frowned upon then just like texting while driving is today.)
But now it's branding and today's question is why do so many gardening gurus wear hats? Are they bald (like I am)? Their dermatologist told them to? Or, is life for them a constant "bad hair day?" Is Nike making hats and I just missed it?
Consider: Allan Armitage with his large white slouch hat, or Michael Dirr with his UGA visor, HGTV's Erika Glasener with her Amish-style straw hat; Roger Swain formerly of The Victory Garden in his topper and red suspenders! Now there's style. Holmes would have made a good gardening marketer in his deerstalker if he gave a damn about plants.
Of course, those blessed with a full, fine and stylish coiffure forgo the lid -- P Allen Smith or Martha Stewart come to mind -- and still sell boatloads of plants.
Rather than brand recognition connected to a certain name, face or hat, how about choosing plants based on actual comparitive trials as are conducted by the Royal Horticultural Society in the U.K. in its assessment of plants worthy of their AGM (Award of Garden Merit). These are awarded (and rescinded!) after rigorous testing. To learn more go to http://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/Plant-trials-and-awards/Plant-trials/2009-trials. Meanwhile look for me in a knit red-pullover because there's snow on the ground and cold on my pate.
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January 7, 2010
Seeking Beekeepers
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We're looking for a responsible,
knowledgeable beekeeper to set-up and manage beehives on our 30 acres.
Years ago we had a man tending bees here but his life changed and he
left the hives abandoned. While we enjoy honey (especially local
honey) our interest is primarily for the pollination provided to our
flower orchard and container crops.
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January 6, 2010
Britney Spears Not Addicted to Gardening
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By Porter Griffith
Dang! What a let down. The news came earlier this week that Britney Spears, though possibly addicted to plenty of other things, is not addicted to gardening. In the Spring of 2008, gossip blog I'mNotObsessed.com reported that the 28-year-old Spears was using "flower therapy" to "bring [her] a sense of quiet and stillness" and that "whenever she returns to her California home she's straight out in the garden working". The pop star's website this week listed the report among the top Britney-centric BS stories of 2009.
Too bad, we say! While Britney Spears is not someone with whom we would actively seek to associate, her life thus far has been undeniable evidence that no press is bad press, and press is something our tender industry could certainly use. When "quiet and stillness" were listed among the effects Spears had reportedly achieved, we should have known the article was bogus; but we are only mildly sarcastic in saying that it's sad to hear she's not a plant nut like we are.
The truth is that surrounding oneself with nature and actively nurturing a living garden is indeed a path to a calmer soul, and we hope that is something that Britney and her celebrity ilk can one day find, if only for the sake of her children and those she inspires. An influential young person with millions of fans worldwide making a move toward a calmer, gardening-inspired life could be exactly the kind of good role-modeling this world needs. So to Britney: take a queue from the tabloids, pick up a hydrangea, drop the charade, and get to hoeing!
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January 6, 2010
Hydrangea.com Blog Launched!
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December 12, 2009 marked the launch of Wilkerson Mill Gardens' all-new blog! Here you'll find industry news, personal updates, wisdom on green living and green thumbs, photos, jokes and stories from our adventures at home and travels to wherever stunning landscapes can be found. We hope to make this a place of reference for all the latest on Wilkerson Mill and its great staff, hydrangeas, and the gardening world at large. Check back often for news and photos, tips, tricks, and treats- thanks for stopping by, and happy holidays from all of us at Wilkerson Mill!
"Making a call on the cell phone"
This blog is evidence of our ever-improving technology.
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