Eden Watch

Adventures in Growing

February 20, 2010
Snow!

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.

February 10, 2010
Does One Size Fit All?

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.

February 2, 2010
Pink and Orange

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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