People sometime ask me – “ How do you keep coming up with melodic theme ? ” And the answer is , I do n’t imagine that I will ever function out of new gardening projects or idea , for my back - up list is so long , that it might take 300 age to carry out all that I wish I could do . I blame this relentless drive on – my mother . I commemorate her tearing page out of gardening magazines , cockle pattern and and recipes Better Homes and Gardens , and then organizing them into 3 ring ring-binder .
My dad who was an artist , was no better . He prevent hundreds of images in manilla envelope – all torn from various art powder store ( and ok , if you really knew him – some pretty ladies from Cosmopolitan ) and he organized these all by content or topics – spell in sharpie on the outside of the gasbag . I still regain push-down store of “ Dogs and knight ” . ‘ Womens Hair ’ , ‘ C. P. Snow scenes ’ and ‘ flowered patterns ’ . This was indeed ‘ former Pinterest ’ . ( and BTW – Why the snake pit did n’t I invent that website ? ) .
It was inevitable then , that I too would become an influence hound , but thankfully , I have bookmarks , digital folders on my desktop and yeah – private Pinterest boards . There , I keep my individual inspirational images – what dahlia varieties I am plan to focus on , and mysterious beginning for more gruelling - to - find oneself plant which I ca n’t afford to share publically just yet ( often because a really great dahlia can quickl y become sell out in just a workweek or two ) . Look , I have to protect my own garden project too ! For that intellect , I am not divvy up on the button what dahlia diverseness I am ordering this year or what plants I am order until I actually lay my order ( suspicious , right ? But hey – we all do it , right ? ) . you’re able to depend on me to apportion my secret source and best varieties finally , you’re able to count on that .
Mostly though , I use my own note of hand combined with the pic I take during the class which I save in iPhoto ( and eventually stash away somewhere in the cloud and on a hard drives ) . These are images of gardens that I bring down or space I vacationed at , pic of the tags on works or a particular planting schema that I regain interesting . I have many photos from flush shows where I only show the tag with the name on it , so that I will remember what Dahlia kind or Lily motley to attempt and retrieve on - line . Much of this , I am shamelessly selfish with , after all , I do n’t want to share with you that I just discovered this amazing lily variety before I can snag a dozen incandescent lamp ! meritless .
This past twelvemonth I was rosy to visit many garden and innate sites , from Iceland , to Yellowstone , and botanic garden such as Denver Botanic Garden and the Coastal Maine Botanic Garden . You will remark that I was very exalt by the garden at Coastal Maine , and particularly those ofAmy Goldman Fowler . Her phenomenal garden , I think because she is both a plantswoman and a collector really inspired me to try many new things . Our sojourn to her farm in upstate New York was a highlight of the yr .
Lastly , not all of these project will come to realisation , and some new I will jump onto the lean . I just need a target , a goal ( or ten goals ) . I know , it ’s usually pretty ambitious , but you me ! I will also revisit last year list maybe in my next C. W. Post , to see where I netted out .
MY 2017 projection
1 . Collection of Potted strange Chili Peppers – This past summertime Joe and I had the joy to tour Amy Goldman ’s sinful farm and garden . I ascertain many things which I personally feel might be something I might like to adjudicate , but nothing surprised me more than her accumulation of peppers in pots . If you are not intimate with Amy Goldman Fowler ’s record , I highly commend them , if only for the information along , they are priceless , but their design and quality take them over the top .
decorative capsicum pepper plant are not new to me , if anything , they are a bit nostalgic . I remember my parent raise some decorative varieties , but mostly I remember and Peter and Nancy Pockevicius who lived just past the woods , behind our house . Peter was quite a passionate and highly accomplished gardener who raised amazingly turgid beets , and had a huge vegetable garden which we marveled at because it never had a mourning band in it . He also always preserve a few pepper flora in pots through the wintertime .
2 . Lactuca sativa asparagina – raised to perfection of path . Nothing raw , Celtuce is something many of us have run into in old seed catalogs but I believe that it deserves rediscovery . Celtuce , or Celery - Lettuce is something I always dismissed as a gaud – something worthy of inclusion only in the Guerney ’s catalogue but never something one would in reality grow . But after seeing it in many former 19th century seed catalogs , I began to wonder what the tale behind celtuce was ?
All changed for me last calendar week , when I ordered a bag of ‘ Stem Lettuce ’ at a unexampled ( and very veritable ) Chinese restaurant near us , a restaurant where everyone seat is Chinese , mostly students , but a few families , ( Red Pepper ) . I discovered that the crispy , strumpet - like razor - lean piece of Celtuce root word is delicious and deserving the quad in the garden . Besides , it fits into my interests of 19th century plant and crops which merit rediscover .
3 . Mastering the Culture of Mignonette(in the garden , and in pots)Not young on my listing , but you know what ? I do n’t give up easily . I have n’t had much luck raising Mignonette . mayhap I have n’t paid enough aid to its cultural technique ( frankly , it ’s been hard finding any good cultural selective information beyond when to sow it as a stratified plant , or for potted plant in a nursery or hothouse ( July ) , but I am persistent and identifying 2017 as the year when I master this craw which so beguile the Victorians both in pots , and in their garden .
4 . A Gourd Tunnel – only if I am adventuresome and overly challenging , but this one at Amy Goldman ’s was so unbelievable that I ca n’t help but imagine about creating one over our long way . I have this idea to raise Amerind gourd vine which my co - worker Sameer introduce me to , various bitter gourds and maybe even some South East Asiatic gourds , similar to those that another booster – Chau Ho bring to us this summer which his Church Father grew . Again , the foodie in me is curious . Without Curtis here this summer , we may not be able-bodied to follow through on this one , as he was going to construct the frame , but I am keeping it on my inclination .
5 . Collection of Campanula pyramidalis – I am trying a crop of potted Campanula pyramidalis , common as a potted works raised for conservatory displays or even for temporary displays in those enceinte English manor house home ( such asGreat Dixter ( from which this image came ) , ) , and today perhaps only realize at large botanical gardens .
Campanula pyramidalis can be a 6 metrical foot grandiloquent and impressive campanula when containerize . It was always on the head nurseryman ’s list of must - have plants for summer color on private estate and favorite of the tardy Christopher Lloyd . C. pyramidalis also appears in many 19th 100 horticulture books where it is described as a ‘ fine , indoor video display specimen ’ that is , if one can consider a 16 foot marvellous specimen ‘ satisfactory ’ ! Most containerized specimens will be a more achievable 4 - 6 feet improbable .
I ’ve get wind it grown for display at the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum , and Longwood conservatories .
6 . Other Annuals for irregular potted displays – I am conceive about stress Schizanthus again . after the success of NemesiaLast year , of which I fussed over with prudent ethnical tutelage , the right food , sidereal day - duration and temperature range . These more challenging annual often ask to be inseminate late in the previous year here in New England , commonly in late August , kept in a coolheaded greenhouse and then provide to grow and blossom in other spring while it is still cool .
Last yr ’ successes included yearly Phlox drummondii and Nemesia , both go off slow , but perform so well for me , that I was to test a few others this year .
Focusing on just a few new annual each year makes the task a piece easier , as right culture is often necessary for these industrial plant which one rarely sees at garden centers here in the North East . If I lived in California or London , these plant might be well-heeled to find , but they are not something often grown where summers are red-hot and humid .
4 . A private Project for a magazine article5 . privy Project for a Book Proposal
And … in case you are wondering what I am planning to add to the garden :
1 . A Significant Planting of Hardy KniphofiaLast June , while tour the Coastal Maine Botanic Garden ( lust , lust , lust ! ) a planting of kniphofia block me in my tracks . Yes , tritoma – in the state of Maine ! I know , it was coastal Maine where it is a flake more mild , but none - the - less , I ca n’t get this planting out of my thinker .
The head nurseryman there explained to me that this strain , called ‘ First Sunrise ’ is most hardy , and although the garden is firmly situate in a slightly more modest coastal USDA Zone 6 , that they still to a great extent mulch the planting with salt - marsh hay ( I ’ve already started this planting , but I plan on a meaning encyclopaedism curve ) . The melodic theme that South African plant from the ness could be hardy in a winter - wet New England nose candy garden is n’t all that novel , as some gardener are having luck with a few species of gladiolus , moraea , neuron and agapanthus – usually in those uneven quick zones we all have either near declamatory rocks , under the eaves of a house or service department , or on a shelf open to winter sun . I am always one to crowd the zones , and after see this planting of hardy knip ’s , I diving in .
There are a few hardier flame-flower in the marketplace already , mostly thanks to collectors ( such as Ellen Hornig ) who take in semen from species which have demonstrate cold daring – we have a couple which bloom every - other year or so , but these new selections show promise , although , I am still mulch well . Always check the hardiness zona , but I look for those which seem to be testing well in USDA Zone 6 .
2 . Honeynut Squash – I was introduced to this sweet , little squash vine developed at Cornell University by Dan Barber and Blue Hill at Stone Barns ( no , not in individual , but via his writings and a infotainment ) . Always willing to quiz a yummy , heirloom - inspired squash , I ca n’t resist anything that invoke to my inner epicure ) .
What look like a tiny gloomy Butternut , the Honeynut is just one of a handful of well – handful - sized squashed bred not for looks or marketability , but because of flavor . It take care like it may be hard to get seed of , Harris Seedsis backordered .
3 . Watermelon and/or Unusual MelonsAmy Goldman is to blame for this one . Joe is Armenian , and melon are his failing . Modern seedless and commercial varieties are nothing – cardboard compared to a garden - grown , more option salmagundi which may not ship well . How could I go through lifespan without such treats ?
Any Goldman sent us home with the back seat of my motortruck full with three handbasket full of precious , vine - ripened heirloom melons and watermelon vine from her farm , and even though we had enough melons for a family of 10 to last a workweek , they only hold up 2 days in our house .
If you ’ve never live a Citrullus vulgaris picked from the garden ? Then you are omit out . Like pea plant , Solanum tuberosum , tomatoes and tomatoes , melon freshly picked and eaten , tender from the Lord’s Day , the form crispy and fresh from the pelting of an all-night thunderstorm – yum . white-livered , orangish , pinkish , sweet and utterly delightful . Melons , and especially watermelons suffer my criteria of what deserves what little space I have in the abode vegetable garden .
7 . Other plant – some choice plants one my list that I saw in gardens this year – Symphytum x uplandicum ‘ Axminster Gold’a variegated Comfrey which I ’ve never think of innovate , but it entrance my heart at the Coastal Maine Botanic Garden . What a financial statement plant life , both in the evening , and in full Lord’s Day . I should mention that the bees liked it too . It ’s one of the few geomorphologic , herbaceous plant which dies to the ground each year , but which egress the next spring getting better with each year . I almost did n’t require to list it here , as I wanted to keep it mystic . Kind of how I felt about thisHibiscuswhich I bestow to my garden last yr after seeing it at Wave Hill . What the Hell . You ’re welcome .
The Showy Ladyslipper , Cypripedium reginae – now available at Plant Delights Nursery , may make my list ( if I can give a few and if they do n’t become sold out ) . Also seen at the Coastal Maine Botanic Garden , I feel that I can pop the question a gracious , slightly dampish and acidulous office for this curiosity .
Purple tomato help any bowl or home plate of heirloom Lycopersicon esculentum or ‘ young ’ heirloom varieties look perfectly color - balanced , and why not – I have no problem flux it up when it get along to tomatoes , as long as they try out great , are somewhat disease insubordinate and perform well in the garden .
Viscaria oculata – as a pot industrial plant on the terraceClaimed to be a classic yearly potted bench industrial plant for displays , Viscaria oculata selection are again , seldom seen , and never found at chief stream nurseries or garden centers ( except at Annie ’s Annuals who clearly have their act in purchase order ) .
I am also thinking about raising Okra varieties , Prune Plums , Dwarf Cherries and possibly another all white garden in front of the greenhouse . Not to cite a new alpine garden , a culinary herb garden in a fresh schematic parquet circle behind the mansion with Turkish boxwood and brick , and … .. and … ..
I am looking for Amaranthus salicifolius ( perhaps synonymous with A. tricolour ? ) It ’s listed in many books pre-1900 as a delicately - leaved amaranth commonly uprise as a conservatory flora . I welcome any information on this , or any all right - leave amaranth suitable for containers . I have a Suttons Seed catalogue from 1924 which name it with a exposure , but I can not happen anything later than this .
TO close up this out – – a few more undertaking I am considering this year ( or , at least the seeds have been ordered ! ) . I am considering some more gelded flowers such as Lisianthus , and annual delphinium the Yankee serial , as well as some of the newer cut flower Stock diversity ( KatzandQuartetfro Johnny ’s ) , tall marigold ( have some estimate about Indian wedding garlands and Day of the utter flower paintings , plus – I am just a sucker for grandiloquent , old fashioned marigolds ) , annual Sweet Williams ( dianthusVolcanomixed ) , purple globe artichoke ( Colorado Star ) for the veg garden , red Brussels sprouts , red okra ( I guess I like reddish veggie ) , and an embarrassing amount of sweet peas ( if I have room ) .
Also , think about : Tuberous Begonia ’s , dwarf bearded Iris collection , mini hosta ( God love why ) , leeks , three types of onions ( Red Long of Tropea , Sierra Blanca ) , ParCel cultivated celery ( for the foliage – should be with child for soups in which I mostly would apply celery for anyway ) .
For plant , I am tempted by the selection of Mangave ’s in the new Plant Delights catalogue – they might be a safer alternative to Agave ( piercing risk of infection with four pairs of doggy eyeballs – we made one trip to vet already ! ) .
I really have no idea where I will be plant everything , but I may be able-bodied to sing Joe out of using the back 40 for dahlias this yr , and till that over again for veggies and reduce flowers . care me luck !
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