piedmont plots

summertime rolls

2011-07-25T21:06:00.003-04:00

It's been four years (almost to the day) since I got the nerve to sign up for a blogger account. Considering how much has changed since then in terms of twitter, facebook, etc., I can't believe how bashful I was to open this thing up in August of '07.

Since then, I've gone from an aspiring garden writer with a day job at Duke...... to a business manager at Duke with an aspiring home garden. I am very happy with that formula. Speaking of aspiration, that home garden of mine is doing its best to slow traffic without any supplemental watering right now. And except for the kitchenette garden, I can't complain. What's doing really well in the dog days of summer? Ironweed, native grasses, blackberry lillies, and asiatic lillies are thriving with no care. Also, coneflowers have reseeded across the yard by the hundreds and I even have a chance at flouting a ginger lily bloom or two in the ditch by my road come September.

I also have two young kids who are now old enough to appreciate the garden. My six year old and four year old know the difference between camellias and gardenias. They can point to a zinnia by name and are more interested in this year's vegetables than I am. I am proud and hopeful that they will grow to love and appreciate both the cultivated and wild outdoors as they get older.

So, I am pressing pause on piedmont plots and putting myself on a blogger diet for a few more months (or maybe longer)..... In the meantime, I will still cherish my daily commutes through Sarah P. Duke Gardens and my home "yarden" in southwest central Durham. But with my mind's eye open more than my iphone.

I want to thank those handful of readers out there who have encouraged me over the years. I have had fun. And happy gardening to every single one of you. Oh, and grow more chrysanthemums. No, not that pincushion type outside Harris Teeter. You'll thank me later.

Victor Gordon / Durham, North Carolina
USDA zone 7 / Cape Fear River basin

Duke commutes: May

2011-05-19T21:47:00.001-04:00

I've been busy these last few weeks, both with my job as a research administrator at Duke and taking care of my own home yarden. Thankfully, it is bright enough in the mornings that I can get some work done outside before my house wakes up. I've finally done all the transplanting, pruning, and potting that I wanted to do by April 15. It only took me an extra month.


From inside the historic terraces at Sarah Duke Gardens where folks were (justifiably) peony crazed all month long. This may be the best shot I've ever taken in the terrace garden.

Wherever the porcelain berry wants to grow, it does...it has led some of us to think it might be a wild hop vine. And yes, that would be me. I was very disappointed to learn otherwise. This picture is from near the Davison Bldg. on West Campus and definitely the best shot I have ever taken of an exotic invasive.

untitled

2011-04-21T20:29:00.000-04:00

April's Piedmont Pick

2011-04-17T21:39:00.002-04:00


'Kim's Knee-High' purple coneflower, photograph courtesy of Niche Gardens

This month's Piedmont Pick is in partnership with one of the country's best native plant nurseries....Niche Gardens, located outside Chapel Hill. Here's the unique back-story behind the plant from Niche's own Lauri Lawson:

"Echinaceas, or coneflowers, are a flower face every gardener can relate to. A basic daisy-type

arrangement, with a prominent spiny orange central cone, surrounded by bright pink petals. They are easy to grow in average soil, bloom well, spread, and attract tons of butterflies and other pollinators. This wonderful sunny garden favorite has become the poster child for the rising interest in native plants, as well as traditional medicinal plants.

Currently, there are hundreds of echinacea hybrids available, in many colors and habits, for gardeners to choose from. And the one that paved the way for the current trend was Echinacea 'Kim's Knee High' from Niche Gardens of Chapel Hill.

Found in the Atlanta garden of Jimmy and Becky Stewart, and shared with Niche plantswoman Kim Hawks, the original plant was notably shorter than the average echinacea, yet very vigorous. At the time, there were a few seed varieties of coneflower available, but nothing this radically different. Kim, at the forefront of making native plants available in nurseries, thought it worth developing. It took a couple of years to grow out seed from the parent plant, select the shortest and most vigorous, and make sure it was stable. Then, in partnership with Sunny Border Nurseries, who then developed the tissue culture protocol for echinaceas with 'Kim's Knee High', it was introduced to horticulture, and became an instant hit worldwide. Now, years later, there are hundreds of hybrid coneflowers, short and tall, doubles and bigger flowers, in all shades of pink, white, yellow, orange and red, for gardeners to enjoy. 'Kim's Knee High' still remains one of the tried and true favorites, sturdy and vigorous, with a small stature perfect for smaller gardens or mixed containers."

making a haul from one the country's best and oldest blueberry nurseries

2011-04-15T20:59:00.004-04:00

Finch plants for sale and pickup at Club Blvd. Elementary's first annual blueberry bush fundraiser, held two weeks ago...

Finch Nursery is also well known for their handmade bluebird houses

I've helped hustle blueberry bushes by the truckload over the last few weeks. These have come from Finch Nursery in Bailey, NC...not too far from Wilson. It's been well worth the two hour round trip. My son's school has been selling them as a PTA/Garden Club fundraiser. And it's been a wild success. I'm in charge of the sale next year. We are thinking about expanding to include muscadine vines along with the blueberries. Send me an email if you know a good grower in North Carolina.

Lehrich Ford

Dan Finch started the nursery over 50 years ago


Driving into the nursery, you will notice the large groves/windbreaks of Empress Trees. A fascinating sight in early April when they bloom.

coffee break

2011-04-06T06:23:00.006-04:00

this free landscape design has been brought to you by Morning Coffee and a
distracted / freelance / part-time landscape designer.....in business together since 2009.

march sky

2011-03-31T06:35:00.012-04:00

I took this picture last week. It was the last warm day of a warm spell but you could feel the air changing as a front was moving in. I guess wind and March are familiar partners. It was cool enough that the inside of my car (where the picture was taken) felt great after being zapped by a few hours in a sunny parking lot. But it was warm enough that I didn't need a coat.

you and millions of others "like" Spring's status

2011-03-25T07:02:00.001-04:00

I've been a sloppy blogger since January. First, I misspelled February in one of my post titles and left it there for weeks. No one really cares but me. And then, I somehow overlooked publishing a very nice comment from Alice and Stuart on my last post... I'll blame my iPhone. Since I've started using it to check email, I've been more likely to forget things, drop things, and procrastinate things. How can that be?

My goal for the rest of the Spring? Attend to the moment. So that may mean posting on the blog less. And that's okay. But it may make for more great pictures (like the cherry blossom walk above) that I took yesterday. So of course I will have to share that.

my yard and garden: early March

2011-03-04T21:02:00.004-05:00

for sale this week: my moss terrariums and cam forest's tea shrubs

2011-02-15T21:31:00.000-05:00

I am selling both of these for February's Piedmont Pick. See this link for details. Pictured below are a few of the terrariums that I will have on hand at the Bull City Arts Collaborative (401 Foster Street) during the Third Friday Durham event.

Duke commutes: February yellow

2011-02-12T09:07:00.004-05:00

wintersweet- Sarah P. Duke Gardens

crocus- Sarah P. Duke Gardens

winter jasmine- West Campus

yellow berried nandina- Sarah P. Duke Gardens

Salix- Sarah P. Duke Gardens

winter honeysuckle- West Campus

"..like roses, only easy to care for, don’t have thorns and aren’t ugly when they aren’t blooming"

2011-02-05T14:48:00.000-05:00

That is probably one of the five best quotes I have ever read in a garden article.

In case you missed Thursday's Home and Garden section from the NY Times, check out this wonderful story about rare camellias in southern Louisiana.

winter's green

2011-01-29T09:51:00.001-05:00

Japanese Cedar (Cryptomeria Japonica 'Globosa') Sarah P. Duke Gardens terraces

I have been in hibernation mode for the last month or so both in the garden and on this garden blog. Life's busy, work's busy, and the weather has been dismal. Things are looking up. I had a nephew born this week. The sun is starting to stick around after I get off work and half a dozen clumps of narcissus bulbs are showing their foliage in my herbaceous border. Sometimes, seeing this new growth is as exciting as watching the flowers unfold.

In the next few weeks we will start noticing the occasional daffodil around town and the swelling buds and early blooms of several choice flowering trees and shrubs: Japenese camellias, flowering apricots, Chinese witch hazels, and quince. But before we wish the mood ring beyond winter, we really should let our appreciation for the evergreens stick around. One of the best places I know to see what evergreens can do for a garden are the terraces at Sarah P. Duke Gardens. The staff does a wonderful job placing golden yuccas, colorful violas, and sivery cardoon plants throughout the beds. However, it is the cedars, the cypresses, the broad leaf evergreen shrubs, the plum yews, and the junipers that provide balance. Of course they are there for the structure. But they are beautiful by themselves.

outdoor miscellany: my favorite non-plant pictures from 2010

2011-01-04T21:04:00.000-05:00

I am culling and sorting and deleting odd pictures from 2010. I couldn't resist posting some of my favorites that do not easily fit into a gardening topic. I hope you enjoy them.

NEAR IREDELL STREET / DURHAM, NC

INSIDE FULLSTEAM BREWERY / DURHAM, NC

COAL PILE DRIVE / DUKE U.

SUMMER SOLSTICE ON FALLS LAKE

Last minute wishing

2010-12-23T12:32:00.002-05:00

Dear Santa,

If you are looking for ideas for me, here are four:

Please have your elves build me a tool shed from shipping pallets.
My personal shed construction project has seen the DP (design & procrastination) stage stretch on and off for almost two years. This unfortunate timeline has taken another blow now that I have just acquired 14 panels of glass windows from my father-in-law’s freshly demo’d Florida Room. …. Should I tack on a large cold frame or a tiny greenhouse? Please help.

this book

this app (although it won’t be available until after Christmas, I can take a rain check)

a badass Japanese farmer’s knife
P.S. I have been good.

cheers to the passing of the shortest day

2010-12-22T20:16:00.000-05:00

4:15pm on Circuit Drive, one day after the Winter Solstice

terrariums: no gloves, jacket, or trowel required

2010-12-16T20:42:00.000-05:00

This month's Piedmont Pick keeps you indoors. Given the way winter has come on strong, that is a good thing.

If you live in or near Durham and are interested in buying one of my terrariums, then check out the
details here. There you will also see my call for folks interested in attending a terrarium making class in early 2011.

a week of real winter

2010-12-10T06:54:00.002-05:00

Since last Friday we have seen the first night below 20 degrees, a first snowfall, and the first seed catalog in the mail...It feels like January already. Last Saturday's inch-plus of wet fluff broke a limb on one of my adolescent wax myrtles. A chunk of ice shattered my rain gauge. My roses are probably done and my spring bulbs are finally planted. So now I am taking notes on what to do next year.

Speaking of next year, I got the Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds Catalog in the mail on Tuesday and it is filled with lusciousness.....pulling names at random from its glossy pages, you could find things like the Knife River Squash, originally cultivated by Native American tribes from present day North Dakota; a watermelon developed by Mississippi State University in 1965; and the "Spanish Mammoth" sweet pepper which was (according to the authors) shipped to Paris markets in the 1880s from Algeria and Valencia. Oh, and if that is too Western Civ. for you, then you could cash out for Christmas on dozens of Pan-Asian antiques. I have my eye on a Japanese pumpkin developed in the Edo period (1804-1818). I don't know where the hell I could plant 1/100th of all the good stuff but I am excited to read and dream.

If you are interested in the heirloom, the unique, the rare, and the organic seeds that you can't find in local stores, then other catalogs I would recommend are:
Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, High Mowing Organic Seeds, and Seed Savers Exchange.

eye candy from the 2010 Baker's Creek catalog

for Durham backyard poultry enthusiasts..

2010-12-07T12:06:00.000-05:00

....there is a new website to check out. Purple Roost is a recently launched business designed to take care of your flock while you are away. Other services are in the works too. Keep this electronic bookmark handy if you or someone you know needs help raising chickens or is just interested in getting started. The entreprenuer, Michelle, lives in Duke Park but can service Raleigh area coops too.

a two year program

2010-12-03T05:51:00.002-05:00

Here is a hollyhock leaf. It's been swelling in size ever since I stuck the seedling in the ground during one of our hot months (I need to keep a better garden journal b/c I can't remember exactly when).

Biennials are one of those "concepts" that make gardeners sound a bit like magician-scientists to non gardeners. Even the whole annual and perennial thing smells like a mystery to the indifferent masses. But simply put, they are like a master's degree program: the first season, they sit around getting acclimated (growing foliage) and then they spend the next year trying to show off (this clump will exit via a flowering spike in late spring). After that they wilt (move in with their parents).

cherry pickers

2010-11-29T20:30:00.000-05:00

couldn't resist posting this story about urban bees in NYC.

Thanksgiving Day garden walk

2010-11-25T12:30:00.000-05:00

Still no hard freeze in sight around here. It's hard to believe that I can still find a lantana flower. Even some pumpkin seedlings have come up in the grave of one gourd that was dessicated by stink bugs.

It's raining and chilly right now and the pecan trees are starting to send down their leaves...unfortunately they are not as bright yellow as last year. But I can't complain.

Bynum Street sweet gum, Durham, NC

2010-11-25T12:03:00.000-05:00

-pictures taken between November 8 and 23rd, 2010

look out below.

2010-11-17T21:11:00.001-05:00

I just checked the NOAA weather summary for the last 24 hours at RDU. The wind was blowing pretty good last night ...10-17mph from the west. A lot of newly grounded leaves, like these maples, were beating the tree canopies all over town in the looks department.

If you are still interested in buying some campernelle jonquils, I haven't sold out yet. Feel free to stop by Fullsteam on Friday from 4:30-6:00pm. I've changed my mind about not taking walkup orders. I won't have a sign or anything but it shouldn't be too hard to spot the dude with a box of flower bulbs.

a new way to buy an old bulb

2010-11-14T20:18:00.001-05:00

If you live in or near Durham, check out Piedmont Picks. This week, I am offering a way to get your hands on an antique and favorite bulb---the Campernelle jonquil.

morning slideshow: from today's commute through Sarah P. Duke Gardens

2010-11-10T12:16:00.000-05:00

new Plensa sculptures in town..

2010-11-05T05:09:00.033-04:00

On Tuesday, I noticed the large Hewitt pottery pieces had been removed from the Nasher Museum's lawn. I was actually pretty disappointed to see this because of what I thought had been put in their absence. As I cruised down Anderson Street at 25mph, sporting a newly acquired Durham Pace Car magnet on the back of my wagon, I slowed down for the light and glanced over a half-dozen newly planted American Hollies. My thought was something like, "This totally screws up a perfect open lawn!" Left to reach their full size, the trees would one day murk the view of a gorgeous building. But then the light turned red and I looked closer. I was happily surprised to see these trees were being being held by some pretty cool looking figures.

I visited the Nasher yesterday with my five year old son. On our way to the east entrance, he asked me what the difference was between a statue and sculpture as he, ahem, tried to climb on a stone sculpture/installation just outside the doors. Because I didn't have a good answer, I pretended not to hear and instead told him that he was going to get us in trouble. But then I bought him cookies from the cafe and we hit the patio to see these things up close. It was fun.

According to the Nasher's marketing and communications manager Wendy Livingston, the cast bronze figures are on loan from the Richard Gray Gallery until the spring when they will be removed.....along with the trees. This work is entitled The Heart of Trees and was created in 2007 by Spanish sculptor Jaume Plensa, who is a regular household name in the Triangle. Enjoy it while it lasts friends.

pearson's falls- polk county, north carolina

2010-10-29T06:38:00.001-04:00

Well over a hundred years ago, an employee of the Southern Railway was scouting land in southwest North Carolina. He would remember one particular place of beauty and was able to purchase it for his family homestead. Now known as Pearson's Falls, this property's mountain glen has been open to the public ever since the Tryon Garden Club acquired the 268 acres in 1931 in order to preserve this scenic attraction and its native woodland flora.

An admission fee is charged by a resident caretaker. The site, open year-round, lies just off what used to be the major road (Hwy 176) between Henderson and Polk Counties. This two laner has plenty of narrow curves and kudzu covered embankments. Tourist cabins used to dot this stretch of Pacolet River valley before I-26 made the route obsolete. Visiting Pearson Falls is well worth the back road route and the $5 adult ticket.

On the hike up to see Pearson's Falls I was intrigued by the large number of wild native hydrangea canes that seemed to crowd the trail- Hydrangea aborescens is also called smooth hydrangea. Dried brown clusters of the summer flowers still hung on, helping me make the positive identification. Come March I would wager there is a good show of early spring ephemerals between the massive mountain laurel shrubs that seem to clamber everywhere. I'd pay to see that.

before the raking begins..

2010-10-22T06:12:00.005-04:00

Of course there will be that first Sunday in November when we tell ourselves that a whole extra hour in the day is great. We will use it to sleep in or put mink oil on our boots. That luxury only lasts one day. Personally, I would give up an hour of sleep every night if I could have the sun shine until after I finish washing the dinner dishes. But I will have to wait a while for that. Unless we get a hard freeze, I will spend the next week or two denying autumn and enjoying what I would rather call late-late summer.

Don't get me wrong, I am not a fall grinch. Once the maples and Chinese pistache trees are engulfed in color, you might just catch me nostalgically mumbling about apple crisps and the smell of pipe smoke at football games...... Until then here are a few pictures from my home garden of things that look good without a loss of chlorophyll.

the coarse-leafed but beautiful Mexican sunflower

Asteraceaceae oblongifolius 'October Skies'... this clump originally came from the 2005 Pinata Anchor of Hope public art/seedling project

an architect designed (and built) deer fence

2010-10-14T05:08:00.003-04:00

Durham architect Ellen Cassilly and her husband Frank Konhaus live in a breath stealing home that they co-designed for a perched site near Duke Forest. The project (which includes an artist's residence and gallery) has its own blog. Last summer their Cassillhaus made the New York Times.

I visited in August of last year and let Ellen show me around the property. Ellen loves to garden but when you live anywhere near the forested border of Orange and Durham counties, you have to deal with hordes of deer....or maybe herds? I think hordes sounds more terrible. So, Ellen was forced to do what many rural gardeners do...build a deer fence.

Deer fencing is not usually thought of as beautiful to look at- rustic at best, ugly at worst. But being the design minded couple that they are, they created a solution for how their deer fence abuts the driveway. Last Sunday I was invited back to check out the finished product.

Ellen and Frank dreamed up and assembled a very cool group of corten steel panels. That reminds me, I need to ask Ellen to teach me how to weld.

Two cattle grates were installed in the driveway. Apparently deer are not such great long jumpers when it comes to horizontal movement. Custom hinges (which were hired out to a metalsmith) allow one of the panels to be opened for visitors who do not want to brave walking over the cattle grates. And even though they understandably selected a more inexpensive fencing system for the property's perimeter, it is mostly invisible unless you are out tramping in the woods.

So how is it working? I noticed Ellen had put a lot more plants in the ground since my last visit, so it must be working just fine.

ten acres in chapel hill for ten thousand dollars...

2010-10-07T20:05:00.000-04:00

....and that's not even the most interesting part of the story. See today's Home and Garden feature from the New York Times.

perennial favorites

2010-09-29T20:47:00.006-04:00

I purchased a gallon-sized Ruellia simplex last weekend at the Sarah Duke Gardens fall plant sale. It has been showing up in more and more gardens lately...probably because it blooms late in summer and is pretty carefree. A common name for this perennial is Mexican blue-bells.

Ruellia simplex has simple needs: sun and room to spread...

I am sure if you were to pinch it back it would grow much shrubbier and less lanky. Last fall while visiting the incredible perennial border at the JC Raulston Arboretum, I noticed a clump growing in front of a tall patch of swamp sunflower- Helianthus angustifolius Not only was the yellow and violet color contrast a nice one, but the Ruellia shielded the lower 1/3 of the swamp sunflower which was looking pretty ratty at the bottom. The picture below is of the swamp sunflower that was planted alongside Ellerbe Creek in Durham’s Northgate park as part of a state funded stream restoration project. I took the picture yesterday...so drive or bike by soon if you want to see this native wildflower at its peak. Hell, you could probably fly over in a light plane and see it just fine.

swamp sunflower in bloom alongside Northgate Park's Ellerbe Creek

Speaking of plant purchases and the JCRA, this Saturday is their famous Plant Distribution Event where (I’m not making this up)....”thousands of choice and rare plants are freely given away.” You have to be a member of the arboretum to participate but you can pay your dues in person on the morning of.

coffee break

2010-09-24T12:35:00.000-04:00

wait for it.....

2010-09-22T21:02:00.014-04:00

If it has rained at all this month then I don’t remember it. But I have been finding rain sounds in my head. The flip-flops from college students make soft and steady drips throughout the Perkins-Bostock Library Plaza. Several mornings back I heard my chocolate chow mix scratching at the den rug. Her restless pawing sounded like miniaturized thunder. Am I going crazy? Well it isn’t 2007, so I can’t complain tooo much.

Besides, there are plenty of things to enjoy in the yards and roadsides around town. Goldenrod is finally letting go of those tiny buds. Late September means that we can count on interesting seedpods, tall grasses (sorry turf grass), and some members of the Helianthus family to get us by until the next rain or mid-October.....whichever comes first.

Goldenrod just before blooming. Behind is a clump of Red Switchgrass

podcast: from left to right- mimosa, Southern catalpa, trumpetvine

a gift for that loved one who really should quit smoking

2010-09-17T05:17:00.001-04:00

From 40 yards away, I thought this might have been a discarded houseplant or (even better) a failed perennial or shrub that I could rescue. But then I realized that it was near the smokers' station outside Duke South. Gross.

um, about that...

2010-09-15T08:48:00.000-04:00

You know how you can be so sure of something that was never 100% in the first place? ….(like high speed rail plans near downtown Raleigh)

Well if I had done my homework before writing yesterday's post, then I would have praised the SDG's choice to plant Sedum spectabile… ‘Neon’ not ‘Autum Joy.’

Compared to the almost ubiquitous rusty red of A.Joy, ‘Neon’ flowers are more of a hot pink. I'm jealous.

september's sedum

2010-09-14T06:44:00.000-04:00

I don't think I would have suggested a mass planting of 'Autumn Joy' Sedum in this spot at Sarah Duke Gardens.I would be too afraid that someone would walk through the fleshy stalks and succulent stems on a shortcut to the duck pond. But that hasn't happened in the two or three summers since this bed was planted. And it looks killer.

It also helps that the staff and/or interns made an attractive edging from spliced bamboo. Sometimes just a suggested barrier is good enough to keep people on the right paths.

I've noticed that this variety of sedum (although easy to break with a shoe or a frisbee) is a strong spreader in most gardens. It also blooms in some shade. I've planted mine under a limbed-up wax myrtle tree that sits close to where my 70lb dog likes to stick her nose through the perennial border. But even with canine curiousity nudging around its edges, my clump of 'Autumn Joy' sedum has grown large enough that I think I can rest easy.

there is an aperture for that

2010-09-10T07:36:00.000-04:00

-this pic is from Durham's Brightleaf district. I took it on a whim while putting my seatbelt on with the other hand. I am not usually this lucky.

Having a decent camera on my phone has become less of a novelty and is now something I take for granted. I love old film cameras as well as my wife's digital SLR. But I appreciate the convenience of not having to carry a bag with stuff in it just in case I see a good shot. And sometimes the stress of looking for pictures can suck the fun out of what you came to see. Now that my camera fits in my pocket all the time, I forget it's there.

Stress free? ...No. Not when you consider how easy it is to drop a tiny smart phone or spill coffee on something that cost more than a week's worth of groceries. I'm always worrying about that.

other people's wwws: N&O Sunday op-eds

2010-09-08T13:30:00.001-04:00

If you read the editorial page every Sunday in the News and Observer, you are probably familiar with the bit of seasonal musing-cum-nature writing that lands somewhere on the left hand side of the fishwrap. I am almost 100% certain that Bob Simpson writes these unattributed gems. Simpson is an old-school outdoorsman and journalist who has been writing for the N&O for a long time. I tried to find a really good bio. of him online but ran out of time on today’s lunch break. Here is the link to last Sunday’s piece. I have come close to writing him a fan letter now and again; I don't think a blog post counts. These weekly reflections on topics such as waterfowl migration, constellations, plant life, and Native American lore, help me keep track of how our seasons shift.

Wright's viburnum = bird feeder

White oak acorn. I pulled it off and put it on the sidewalk.

I was thinking on fall when I took several picutures this morning. Even though there is plenty of summer heat and foliage to obscure my commute through Sarah P. Duke Gardens, the signs of autumn are in the making.

what do you get when you cross kudzu with a banana tree

2010-09-03T05:31:00.000-04:00

The empress or princess tree is often seen as one of those grim signs of horticultural blight because it grows in and around parking lots all over the urban South. It actually has a pretty aristocratic pedigree since it was named for Anna Paulowna, Princess of the Netherlands (1795-1865). According to Southern Living's Steve Bender who writes of it in the book Passalong Plants, it likely spread south after an introduction to a Hudson Valley nursery just after the Civil War. Paulowina Tomentosa is native to Japan. And, besides the obvious tropical effect of the huge leaves, the empress tree gets looks in the spring with large panicles of purplish-blue flowers. BUT, is it an invasive weed tree? yeah, kinda....is it a prized ornamental and fast growing shade tree? um, yes.

This specimen sits just outside the side entrance to Durham's newly opened Fullsteam Brewery. It looks like it was cut back last winter, which was a good idea because the new vigorous growth looks pretty cool. Treating it like a perennial is smart. You get the large-leaf effect for the summer but without the seeds. This is because only mature trees seem to get enough gumption to actually produce blossoms. And no seeds means no renegade seedlings.

DIY plant tags

2010-09-01T05:00:00.002-04:00

We are arriving to that time of year where everyone should be planting. I do my share of planting and transplanting all year (despite the fact that I know it's not "best"). But the warm days and cool nights later this month usher in the Fall Planting Season. And if you are like me, you have found that the cheap plastic identifiers that come with most newbies don't hold up. Here are some sturdier plant tags I've made this week from things around my house. Both ideas were gleaned from internet searches focused around cheap garden hints and homemade garden things.

bin of old plant tags...i can't muster up the initiative to throw these out

Old metal blinds that I've had in my attic....I would recommend these over vinyl.

Snip whatever length you want and use a permanent marker....

Tag 2: Carefully cut an aluminum beverge container into squares. You will also need a hole punch, some sort of stylus, and wire. I'm using rebar wire. A thin coat hanger or clothes line would work too...

I usually write in ball point pen first and then go over it with the nail, pressing firmly to score the metal.

Ta da.

purple is not my favorite color BUT

2010-08-31T04:30:00.001-04:00

It is hard not to like the Ironweeds. They really do look like "weeds" if your definition of a weed is something tall and not quick to flower. Veronia noveboracensis is one of those 6-8 foot tall stalks that sometimes falls over and sometimes dies back after a couple of years. So it might not make a bestseller list. But if something looks good in September; naturalizes in dry and wet soil; attracts birds, bugs and butterflies; and has a super cool villainous name.....then, sign me up for a start. It is one of two wildflowers that Charles Frazier mentions more than once in Cold Mountain. I am not sure why I remember that.... (the other is Joe Pye weed).

from my yard

From the Golden Nature Guide "Flowers: A Guide to Familiar American Wildflowers" Golden Press, 1964.

back from a break...

2010-08-30T05:08:00.000-04:00

okay, it's been three years since I started this blog and I have had to struggle sometimes to pay attention to it. This last month has been one of those times. But I realized that taking pictures, posing questions, and studying gardens and gardening are really enjoyable activities for me. So... I am back from a self-imposed break to have fun again and see where that takes me.

Pictured above are two things that are representative of what I call late-late summer. Humidity and the sun's lowering trajectory can result in some very dramatic cloudscapes in August and September. I have taken more pictures of clouds in the past week than I have all year. I expect that trend to continue. The other photograph is from a tuberose growing at the North Carolina Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill. It smells incredible. Along with crinums and ginger lillies, tuberoses are some of the most fragrant things that a flower gardener can produce. And all three of these can be blooming in September around here. What a nice thought.

August Recess

2010-08-18T13:45:00.000-04:00

Well, I've had quite a break from the garden blogger routine. Vacation ranks as reason one. And of course, coming back from vacation is the other reason. Not only are we busy but my gardens are a mess. Sunflowers are broken. Pumpkins are covered in bugs. The fig tree does not have near enough figs on it. And Bermuda grass has a running start in several mulched beds. But I can't complain- the Helianthus angustifolius flowers are due to begin in about a month.

Callicarpa americana- American beautyberry

Bottlebrush buckeyes

yard and garden pics: August 3

2010-08-03T21:24:00.000-04:00

Rudbeckia, like grass or shade..you've got to have some

Asiatic hybrid lilies on the verge of blooming

cleome, aka spider flower, aka cat's whiskers...

one of two small ripening pumpkins; the vines take up 2/3 of my kitchen garden

above average joe..

2010-07-29T12:50:00.008-04:00

"...the average gardener pays too little attention to August and September, and it may be safely said that the average garden goes to pot on July 16 as regular as clockwork."
- from The Essential Earthman by Henry Mitchell (1981, Indiana U.Press)

I would agree with Mr. Mitchell. Even though I would like to think that I am an above average gardener, there have been too many pests, too little time, and a bit too much hot/dry weather to put this summer down as an allstar year. This is a picture of Joe-Pye Weed (Eupatorium maculatum). I snapped the photo of the colony on Tuesday; it stands just inside a western entrance to Sarah Duke Gardens. Joe-Pye is on the short list of 'highly recommended plants' for late summer around here. If you have a tidy or small yard, you can find a neater version called Coastal Plain Joe-Pye Weed. I bought mine from Niche Gardens three summers ago...and right now I am very glad I have it.

other people's wwws: Garden History Girl

2010-07-27T19:59:00.000-04:00

historic preservation and gardening... if you are looking for an intersection, here's one. Check out the links too.

in the shade of Duke Chapel and is there an app for this?

2010-07-26T12:46:00.001-04:00

On my lunch break today I pretended to be a tourist around a landmark that I am very familiar with. The trees below are extra large examples (from top to bottom): American Holly, Southern Magnolia, Purple Leaf Plum, Willow Oak.

The hinge is a reminder that Gothic architecture often pulls its motifs from Nature.

Speaking of reminders...can anyone help me remember the capitalization rules for plants... Hmm...the beauty and curse of blogging? Has anyone invented an app for editing? Or maybe there is a cloud-editor website out there that would employ live people pouring over inane blog post from around the globe and pitching back an occasional tidbit of goodness. This scribe would subscribe. Ouch, maybe I should have deleted that last play on words.

the grass is bluish/greeny-bronze-red on the other side

2010-07-23T11:11:00.002-04:00

I have been cleaning out my basement over the past week and putting it back together again. My time in the garden has been on the way to get the mail, trashcans, newspaper, etc. I've noticed some things but I haven't taken the time to really get down on my knees and study what's going on. Until today. Here is a clutch of old fashioned four o' clocks that has volunteered next to a fence and beside this clump of little bluestem. A Japanese spirea (not pictured) was hiding the arrangement.

I've got a half-dozen or more "ornamental grasses" in my yard, not counting monkey grass (which doesn't count anyway, it's in the lily family).
Of all these, the little bluestem may be my favorite. Unlike the one pictured in the hyperlink, mine is very blue. The stems turn reddish in the late fall.

Because I am a plant collector and am often crowding things together, I don't have room in my yard for a large sweep of anything. But if I did I would love to experiment with this grass.

morning news: Among the Hmong

2010-07-21T09:37:00.001-04:00

I'm having a busy week so it is hard to find time to come up with my own original observations about gardens, people, and outdoor miscellany. And the fumes from painting my basement aren't helping.
But that doesn't mean I can't rip a hyperlink out of the cyberworld for you to read.

Check out the lead from today's Life section in the N&O.

I had no idea that North Carolina's western piedmont and foothills were home to such a large rural population of Hmong immigrants...... Another pretty cool fact- you can grow rice in dry ground and charge $25 a gallon for it? Um, goodbye squash. Of course I am sure there are probably a few centuries of agricultural traditions that one might need to get some practice with first.... Enjoy this story.

other people's wwws: Name that Native

2010-07-20T08:03:00.000-04:00

I recently discovered this very interesting blog from Stefan Bloodworth, the curator of Sarah Duke Garden's Bloomquist Garden of Native Plants. I plan to follow along and polish my ID skills as each new list comes out. I also like that he has linked each plant to the USDA database.

the official start to late summer?

2010-07-19T07:31:00.002-04:00

above:

cuttings from this morning

I am not sure when late summer officially starts. Yesterday’s thunderstorms knocked over a loaded tomato plant, but that could have happened in June.. 5:30 am is not as light as it used to be and the night-time “lows” are pushing the sultry mid 70s. Large swaths of creeping Bermuda grass have had an ugly haze of seed heads since Wednesday…and of course, I couldn’t’ mow them down until Sunday. Despite the long dog days-stretch of summer ahead of us, I am not looking to cooler weather just yet. I am still enjoying the summer flowers in my perennial border and my promising crop of tomatoes, baby watermelons, and squash. But maybe I will change my mind this weekend. Word has it that the triple digits are due.

DOn'T

2010-07-15T13:02:00.000-04:00

So, a few weeks ago I wrote a post entitled "Roadside Attraction". It was an optimistic look at what I let go to seed in the ditch by my road.....a busy road maintained by NCDOT. One of their maintenance chores is to cut down the weeds that may be crowding culverts. *Sigh*.... and the cutleaf coneflower was due to bloom any week now. So now, a little more roadside runoff will go unfiltered into the watershed.
Maybe next year I will put up a homemade "no mow" sign and see if that deters them.

other people's wwws: Ellis Hollow

2010-07-13T14:44:00.000-04:00

So a few months ago I thought I had come up with a completely cool and mostly original idea: to scan picked flowers and put the images on this blog....and then of course I realized that:

a. I need to stop thinking about what would be cool and just scan some damn flowers ...that is the point of blogging yes? instant content generation!? sheesh..... will get to that soon, maybe before the 'obedient plant' peaks next month...those spikes would make a great scan.

b. MORE importantly, I was just browsing through one of my favorite garden blogs Ellis Hollow and realized that I probably got the idea from this site-- Great posts, great pictures, great ideas. Enjoy.

elsewhere: central tyrrell county, north carolina

2010-07-12T22:26:00.002-04:00

We spent this past weekend visiting my grandmother who lives between Fairfield and Columbia, NC in a farming community most folks haven't heard of. A couple of years ago I wrote an essay about my memories of this place. I was glad my grandfather got to see that column before he died. This weekend's visit came in the Season of Tall Corn. It's kind of like a little bit of Kansas sits less than an hour from the Outer Banks. The stalks photographed above grow less than thirty yards from my grandmother's kitchen door; she says that it makes the air still and hot. This farmed land belongs to a large scale agricultural operator that rotates the crop year by year...some summer it's potatoes and some it's soybeans. Through the last 25 years of growing seasons, the pines my grandfather and I planted beside that field have grown and tall and straight.

spooky

2010-07-07T22:21:00.000-04:00

This is a picture of a Japanese cryptomeria. It is part of the skyline of evergreens that line Chapel Drive on Duke's west campus. The roundish growth near the top of this old tree is called a "witch's broom." I had never heard of this until I started reading about rock gardening...apparently there are several dwarf conifers that have been introduced to the nursery trade after an enterprising propogation artist figured out how to graft a piece of a witch's broom onto "normal" rootstock. Now, I don't know if this particular Frankenstein on Duke's campus would produce anything new for the legions of Japanese cedar fans out there (ya'll are out there right?) but if there is an interested botanist reading this who has the time and the ladder....then shoot me me an email. I'd love to watch.

other people's wwws: Monticello

2010-07-06T15:36:00.002-04:00

Over the past week I noticed several garden related stories about Monticello. First, was the NY Times' piece on the work being done to interpret the landscape there.....the always excellent Anne Raver explains that there's more to these gardens than a postcard picture.

On Sunday I came across another reference to Monticello, this time from Pepperdine professor Wade Graham in a McClatchy op-ed piece. It made me think about those palladian windows that are so common in McMansions nowadays....

And lastly, I just opened my mid-summer email from the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. They are helping out with an heirloom tomato tasting at Monticello later on this summer. It sounds like a good enough reason to go....if I could just find a weekend to get away from my own garden. Of course with this heat and lack of rain, I may need to seek out someone else's tomatoes.

happy Fourth of July

2010-07-03T22:00:00.000-04:00

'easter rose' blooms on fourth of july... experts really not that surprised

2010-06-30T09:09:00.000-04:00

Okay, I've long bragged on the merits of the Japanese kerria as a tough and good-looking shrub for filling in those hard to plant part sun/part shade places where everyone seems to think only a nandina will do. And one of those bragging points was that it often blooms again "sporadically" throughout the spring and summer. But this shrub on Duke's west campus (see my post from earlier this year) really has me jealous. My home-grown version isn't coming close to another flush of yellow flowers.

other people's wwws: A Way to Garden

2010-06-29T12:13:00.015-04:00

Question
If you start to type "A way to ......." in the Google magic-bar machine, do you know what is the second most popular proffer?

Answer
A Way to Garden, a horticultural universe / garden blog created by Margaret Roach. She is the former garden editor for 'Martha Stewart Living.' Bookmark, check! That google-rank should clue you in as to how wonderful it really is... oh, and the third most popular offering is "a way to get on myspace at school."

a july jar and a plan to better one's garden

2010-06-28T21:43:00.001-04:00

Picured here is a small arrangement of Stokes' aster, a dahlia bloom I didn't feel like staking, one-of-a million black eyed susans in my border, and a few snips from Spireae thunbergii 'Ogon'. I didn't realize it echoed the colorful illustration on the dish above my sink until I placed them next to each other.

I spent a long weekend looking at my garden but not doing much of anything productive. We had plans to entertain, so to get ready (and to get out of the house) I stepped out into the sweaty Saturday morning to cut flowers. I cut tons of stuff. I got lazy and hacked up bushels of black eyed susans that were falling over. Careless me stripped small coneflowers from stalks that would have looked nice in a pairing with white Blazing Star....but I had to skip the Blazing Star which was growing at the base of a switchgrass clump. Did I say "growing?" I meant contorting. You see, the switchgrass flops over like fistful of wet spaghetti if the soil is too rich. And that smothering effect is not such a great thing for the sun-loving Blazing Star who was pitifully displaying way too much phototropism and way too little flower plumage. So much for trying to make everyone happy with good soil.

There is a pretty tight crowd in some spots: hop vines clamber all over a barberry which is hidden by this summer's Queen Anne's Lace. Forty feet down the row, a snowbell styrax may become a myth if I do not prune Mt. Wax Myrtle behind and around her.....I need to find some time to look through my notes and my old plant tags and reinventory my yard and garden in a serious way. If lolling about and daydreaming about my garden were a job, I'd be a Master at it. Maybe I'll start a Master Lolling program for us gardeners who aren't retired yet and can't take off work to finish a Master Gardener Program. We'll all get together for drinks at each others houses on the weekend and mispronounce scientific names with great abandon. It'll be fun.

imagine....

2010-06-24T22:20:00.001-04:00

.....that you are an inch tall and you could pluck off one of these hosta leaves and fill it with water. They kind of look like they are made of kiddie-pool plastic which is why I wrote that. It may have also had something to do with the fact that it was 100 degrees outside when I took the picture. Right now? It's 10pm and the air temperature is 84 degrees in southwest central Durham with the humidity somewhere near 65%. That does not make me want to sit on the porch and drink a cold one. Instead, it makes me sit in front of the computer and peck on the laptop with an AC vent at my back. Sheesh.

This hosta is called 'sweet sunshine' and looks great in shade, even in shade that feels like a sauna.

other people's wwws: UNC's North Carolina Collection- flower postcards

2010-06-22T09:02:00.001-04:00

Here's an interesting link . The picture above is of the W.A. Hanchey & Son Canna Farm (ca. 1940-60). Enjoy browsing the subject index too...

a growing concern

2010-06-21T05:35:00.003-04:00

So, I'm really trying to savor the kitchenette garden right now and hoping for the best....but the truth of the matter is, that right now is as good as it gets for me and vegetables.

"Wha?" you say... I haven't harvested a single eggplant yet, how could it be downhill from here. It boils down to space and ambition. As a lot of us kitchenette gardeners know, you cannot buy one pumpkin vine. You cannot buy two pumpkin seeds. And who in their right mind only wants ONE tomato plant...we've got to have golden, Roma, heirloom, and at least one other type right? And then there are the herbs, the root veggies, the marigolds, the ubiquitous crookneck squash (with the elephantine ear leaves), and viola....my zinnia seedlings have evaporated and the watermelon vine has become a patch....*sigh*
All those gourds and vines usually only give me an armful or two of produce all in the same few weeks of the year. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy it. But my enjoyment usually enters a valley in July and August after peaking with the Solstice.

Yesterday, my dad told me a story that I had heard before. It was about his grandfather who had moved from the country into Thomasville, NC sometime before WWII. He usually leased a few acres on the edge of town just for a vegetable garden but one year he decided to plant it ALL with watermelons. He drove my dad, who was just a little guy then, out to the watermelon patch to show him this eighth wonder of the world. And he made my dad promise not to tell his grandmother about it. She would have gotten angry at such a foolhardy decision....I don't know if she ever did find out because that wasn't part of the story......I cannot imagine she couldn't have considering they didn't exactly rely on Target or Harris Teeter to proffer up sweet white corn in July.

I guess I could think of worse things. Like not growing anything at all.

bottlebrush buckeye

2010-06-18T05:40:00.003-04:00

This is my four year old bottlebrush buckeye tree. I bought this handsome "yarden" speciemen from Niche Gardens ....."yarden" is my term, and kind of describes my home landscape's look and feel. More on that some other time.

It took a summer or two before this beauty finally flowered. She has finally decided to send up some shoots; yes it's a grove in the making but that will take a few more years. Here is what I had to say about this tree a few years ago.

white hot

2010-06-16T05:28:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, it felt like a someone had taken a still-wet towel from a hot clothes dryer and laid it on the atmosphere.....the newspaper forecast said it would seem like August; it did. Just before noon I took some pictures of the White Garden which sits behind Sarah P. Duke Garden's Doris Duke Center
Left-my silhouette... I really wished that I could've climbed down into the ferny glen that sits nearby. It looked ten degrees cooler down there.

Pictured below:
Echinacea 'white swan'
Rose of Sharon

other people's wwws: Garden Rant

2010-06-15T06:36:00.002-04:00

Who doesn't want to read from experts, especially when those experts are irreverent, funny, well-connected, and super consistent with their useful and entertaining posts?

It's hot outside, so take your 3pm tea or beer or whatever in front of the air conditioner and enjoy Garden Rant.

my yard and garden: leaning on the summer solstice

2010-06-12T11:51:00.002-04:00

a week away from one of my favorite stretches of the year: father's day, the summer solstice, and both my kids' birthdays...lots of great reasons to cut flowers from the yard.

from top to bottom L to R:
dill; hydrangea; moonbeam coreopsis; purple coneflower; cabbage leaf or great leaf coneflower (check out the Liberated Gardener for a nice post on this wonderful perennial).

made for scratch

2010-06-10T11:13:00.002-04:00

Scratch now has an open storefront on 111 Orange Street in downtown Durham. I've already been and the food lives up to the hype...no surprise there!
This past spring I had the enjoyable task of designing and installing several planters outside the shop. The owner, Phoebe Lawless, is a friend and down-the-street neighbor whose home garden is teeming with dozens of gorgeous plants. I was lucky to have a lot of choices from her yard that were both easy to divide and well suited for the site. For my early-to-full summer scheme, I used a mix of groundcovers for sun (sedum, ajuga reptans, and wire vine) and shade (creeping jenny and a velvety gourd-leaf lookalike from Asia Minor called lady's mantle). Yes, there are some things you could flavor a dish with (rosemary, cardoon, scuppernong) but right now the planters are not designed to grow food. I am hoping the ornamental grasses (chiefly, sea oats and feather grass) keep their promise as low-maintenance all stars.....we'll see. Like all plans, the best ones need to be revised once in a while. We have already spied a stray sunflower seed that has hitchhiked its way into one planter! We may just decide to see what it does.

P.S. When visiting the shop, take notice of the beautiful woodwork that Phoebe's partner, Chuck Samuels, completed. The counter and display case as well as the bluish table tops are really a testament to his skills.

Pictured below from top to bottom L to R:
*Northern sea oats
*Alchemilla mollis aka "lady's mantle" planted around a pre-existing azalea group.
*Sedums, blue fescue, and a small cardoon seedling. The smooth-ish rusty brown stones came from Phoebe and Chuck's backyard in Rockwood. They look identical to many of the rocks found throughout the Third-Fork-Creekbed that flows through our neighborhood's Rockwood Park.

staghorn sumac

2010-06-09T11:41:00.000-04:00

Staghorn sumac is one of those native shrub-like trees (or tree-like shrubs?) that I have wanted in my yard for some time. I am out of room for even this 10-15 tall beauty...but if I lose my golden retriever sized chaste tree sapling, then Rhus typhina 'will be the next candidate for that slot. This picture is of a cultivar called 'tiger eyes' that sits on one of the terrace beds in Sarah P. Duke Gardens. Its yellowish green leaves may be a bit much for some folks but I think the color would be perfect surrounded by the darker green foliage of Carolina allspice or cherry laurel. The more everyday Rhus that you might find growing along the Blue Ridge Parkway has darker green leaves. Staghorn sumac should not be conufused with the weedy and invasive tree-of-heaven which has similar leaves. You can count on the sumac to colonize by suckers, even on sites that are dry or have poor soil-- a perfect choice for a steep embankment that you do not wish to mow or fertilize. I should also mention that the Staghorn sumac is probably best known for its bright red fall color.

other people's wwws: Randy and Meg's Garden Paradise

2010-06-08T07:40:00.006-04:00

Randy Emmitt is from Rougemont, NC and is the blogger / photographer / handyman behind Randy and Meg's Garden Paradise.

His photographs of flowers, butterflies, dragonflies, and other works of Nature set the blogger-bar pretty durn high. I stumbled on his site as a link from a link and was psyched to find piedmont plots on his list of other blogs that he follows.... keep up the good work Randy!

wired grass

2010-06-07T12:29:00.010-04:00

Here is the creeping bermuda grass that will cross a sidewalk in few weeks if left unchecked. Amazing isn't it? Its growth spurt makes me nervous...After five inches of rain in May and some recent dog days temps-wise, my outdoor chore list is looking more like an emergency plan. After mowing my lawn yesterday, I had to rake the clippings so they wouldn't lay on the ground as pungent, deadly, oxygen-depriving mats; it wasn't fun. I would have much rather been cutting a bouquet or snipping chives. As the mercury rises and the Solstice gets closer, I am also hacking some of my stalkiest (is that a word?) perennials down to size...swamp sunflower? sorry dude, but your 12 foot tower was a little too much last year. We'll see what you do now that you've been forced to bush out a bit at the waist. ....

Later on this week I will post some pictures of my container garden outside of the newly opened Scratch Bakery (111 Orange St., downtown Durham); what leaping bamboo looks like after right after its jailbreak; a great garden/nature blog whose pictures put mine to shame; some shots of my Great Recession Kitchenette Garden; and a visit to the Sarah Duke Garden terraces- to gawk at a gorgeous staghorn sumac called 'tiger eyes'...But planning on all of that may be too ambitious for this week. I have some weeds to pull too.

S is for summer

2010-06-02T05:09:00.000-04:00

and Southern magnolia

and Stokes' aster

and sundrops

other people's wwws: Carl Sandburg Home and Connemara Farms

2010-06-01T13:09:00.002-04:00

Last summer my family made a pilgrimage to the Carl Sandburg Home, a National Historic Site in Flat Rock, NC. We spent the whole time outside enjoying the trails, gardens, and farm buildings, but if we had had the whole day, we would have gone inside a wonderful house museum to learn more about Carl Sanburg (1878-1967).

At the Carl Sandburg Home, you can learn a lot about his work as a Lincoln biographer, poet, folklorist, journalist, songwriter, labor organizer, ...( *maybe one reason a lot of folks don't appreciate the Sandburg legacy as much today, is because it is hard to describe exactly "what he did.").

Visitors can learn about his wife Paula, and her acclaimed goat herd. The descendents of these animals are still kept on the farm. Her dairy operation was nationally famous; the picture to the right is from the National Park Service's online exhibit about the Carl Sanburg Home, which has tons more images and information about the site in case you cannot make the drive in person.

roadside attraction

2010-05-31T15:29:00.005-04:00

One long side of my yard is bordered by a fairly busy road in southwest central Durham. When we first moved to the house six years ago, I came close to planting a row of broad leaf evergreen and deciduous shrubs for a quick privacy screen. I am sure it would have looked fine. But I am glad that I made another choice. By leaving room for perennials and some spaced out shrubs, I have been able to keep most of the good sun that this southern exposure offers. Five years later, I have gobs of stuff running and reseeding over both sides of my picket fence. This fall and spring I purposefully put some things in the drainage ditch (see the right-hand side of the picture above). I figured the runoff from the street could use a little filtration….and plus, I get tired of standing on a sharp angle with a weed eater. One of the most trustworthy natives for this type of location is the green headed, or cutleaf coneflower. It promises to be the standout flower for this roadside border come August.

For an interesting article on planting in the right-of-ways of an urban lot, check out Michael Tortorello's piece in last week's New York Times.

merit badge trivia...

2010-05-27T12:09:00.000-04:00

Here is a chart of discontinued merit badges...from Wikipedia

And here is a link for folks interested in signing a petition to bring the beekeeping merit badge back.
I don't think there will be similar initiatives for "Cement Work" or "Master at Arms."

other people's wwws: Bluebird Meadows

2010-05-25T06:38:00.017-04:00

I love this blog. As farmers, flower merchants, builders, bloggers, CSA providers, and etc., this couple (Alice and Stuart) are busy enough that I wouldn’t fault them if they didn’t post for weeks on end. But they seem to find the time to post observations from the great outdoors and lots of beautiful pictures. Some of my favorite shots come from their stall at the Durham Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings. Two other things I like about the Bluebird Meadows blog are the rotating blogroll (I am always aiming to keep piedmont plots in the top five of the most recently updated), and the masthead picture which changes every few weeks or months. I may have to copy those two ideas.

Butterfly Weed

2010-05-23T10:42:00.000-04:00

Asclepias tuberosa is near the very top of my list of favorite native perennials. Because of its long taproot, it survives drought but is hard to transplant. This means that you are probably not going to find a gallon of it in the Kmart garden center. The best bet is to buy the seeds and be patient. In a year or two you can have pretty large clump. It is a favorite for butterflies and makes a nice seedpod in the fall. This year I finally have enough that I will not mind cutting a few reddish-orange clusters to bring inside.

The photographed page is from the Golden Nature Guide series, "Flowers: A Guide to Familiar American Wildflowers" published in 1964.

third week of may: yard and garden pics

2010-05-21T05:36:00.000-04:00

Heading into the last week of the last month of spring, it sure feels like summer. We’ve had hot and humid and dry all this month. The real difference between May and June will be the nighttime temps which will probably stop dropping below 70F soon. High Summer is on the way and that always is the peak time for my perennial and shrub border. I’ve chosen mostly low-maintenance perennials, self seeding annuals, and native shrubs for this part of my yard. But every year there are things that get taken away, or spread beyond their boundaries….that is the real joy of gardening for me. I like messy and don’t mind killing things unless it was an expensive plant. My only real disappointment has been the fact that my red hot pokers have not flowered. They are a young clump- maybe next year?

Here is a quick tour of what's doing in my yard this week-
Hope bines: I have had flowers on these in past years, but I have not harvested them at the right time. Last year I waited until too late in the summer and they dried out on me. Hopefully this year’s late summer batch of home brew will finally get a homegrown hop dousing. The deeply lobed leaves of hops make a nice contrast against the fine textured foliage of Queen Anne’s Lace and yarrow, both of which grow on the sunny side of this fence.
If you are interested, here is a link from the blog of Durham's Fullsteam Brewery about recent experiments to find a good mold-resistant hop for the sultry South...

Flower buds from the stalk of my variegated yucca: I bought this yucca to sit near the road. It is very striking in winter, when yuccas are often appreciated the most…I kind of forgot that they can send up four foot spikes of bloom too….what a pleasant surprise.

Here is my property's preparation zone for the Scratch Bakery container garden project. Besides succulents, ornamental grasses, and some other things, I’ve added broken concrete and local stone to some of the planters near this shop’s address at 111 Orange Street in downtown Durham; this new shop is due to open very soon!

Fig leaves: I am so happy about this tree. I never really thought I would have room for one until I decided to make room. On a partly shady side of my driveway, and smack in the middle of grassy area is where I finally put it. Because it is not Full Sun, it will probably not be super bushy or super prolific, but that's okay.

yesterday's Times

2010-05-19T07:03:00.003-04:00

In yesterday's New York Times, there is a great profile on John Ameroso, a pioneer in the world of urban farming.

I had never heard of him before reading this article. I think his story is fascinating especially given the fact that urban vegetable plots and community gardening are often cast as trendy throwbacks to the victory gardens of WWII.....at least that is the impression you often get when you read about the "rise of urban agriculture" in most popular magazines and newspapers.

But as this piece shows, it's been catching on for quite a while.

other people's wwws: Gene's Garden

2010-05-18T08:37:00.001-04:00

I bet there are thousands of garden blogs out there but Gene's Garden out of Hampton, VA is on my shortlist of bookmarks. Cheers Gene and keep up the good work!

yard and garden pics: May 13th

2010-05-13T16:36:00.001-04:00

The first picture is of a tawny daylily which I am not used to seeing bloom before June 1. In Elizabeth Lawrence's A Southern Garden (1942), she notes the earliest flowering date of a tawny daylily in her garden as May 21. And I am assuming this would have been from her Raleigh garden..a full tinch warmer than my yard in Durham. To provide a full disclosure, this Hemerocallis fulva has been planted in a very hot site beside the driveway in extremely rich soil. So performance enhancement may be to blame.

Other shots:
*a Siberian iris
*seedlings of good old fashioned cleome....and a few hollyhock seedlings too.

other people's wwws: Liberated Gardener

2010-05-11T08:27:00.001-04:00

If you have lived around Durham long enough, you've probably heard of Frank Hyman. He is a writer, landscape designer, horticulturalist, political activist turned politician turned political analyst, artist.....I'm probably leaving something out.

This is a good month to check out his blog, Liberated Gardener, as he and his wife are traveling in France and blogging about it.

Pinus cellus toweris

2010-05-10T07:44:00.001-04:00

These pictures were taken of a tower near the old Elks Lodge on Durham-Chapel Hill Blvd.

dame's rocket

2010-05-06T08:28:00.002-04:00

I've had this perennial in my Durham garden ever since I've had a Durham garden. The seeds were originally sown from souvenir tins that were given away at a wedding. Folks don't throw rice anymore because everyone has heard that birds eat the rice and then explode.....I think that has been proven to be an urban myth but, whatever.

I made away with several tins and threw the contents all over my freshly tilled perennial border in the spring of 2005. Dame's rocket is the only surviving flower from that mix. For a few years, I wondered if I had made a mistake as it vigorously self-sows. If you do a google search for dame's rocket you will find all kinds of nasty comments about it being invasive. I have found that if you cut the flowers off after they fade but before they turn to seed, then you can keep it in check. If you like what most people call a Cottage Garden style garden....then you should grow some Dame's Rocket. My yard is an experiment in different styles so I can't commit to being a Cottage Garden style expert. Actually I am not a big fan of even using "styles" to describe gardens since most landscapes tend to evolve over time unless there is very diligent garden-editor/green thumb on hand to keep things in bounds. I think I need a blog editor since I am obviously veering off topic here.....

Hesperis matronalis is also called "sweet rocket." It is supposedly fragrant at night but I went out last night about 9:00 and sniffed around a few stalks. The scent was barely noticeable. My best description is that is smells like wisteria but diluted by about 80%.

Dame's rocket makes a nice bright cut flower. I have a simple bouquet mixed with orangey-pink floribunda roses on my dining room table. It could use some white peonies but I do not have any. Perhaps I will buy some at the Farmer's Market this weekend.

other people's wwws: Human Flower Project

2010-05-04T12:03:00.000-04:00

I am not sure when I discovered this website but it is one of my favorite gardening blogs / repositories of garden stories, pictures, etc.

I am epecially eager to read whenever Allen Bush contributes.....as he did today.

Maybe it is the humidity

2010-05-03T07:38:00.001-04:00

This morning I spotted my first Southern magnolia blossom of the season. It was pretty far above my head so I couldn't get a great shot....now it really does feel like summer.

today's times

2010-04-29T13:05:00.002-04:00

In today's Home and Garden section of the New York Times, there is a great story on Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery. I've only made a single visit to this horticultural zoo/wonderland, but I have about a half-dozen stars in my garden that have been delivered from their address in Juniper Level, NC...... including the magnificent and scary Jonesboro Giant Ironweed.

late april pics: from the Culberson Asiatic Arboretum

2010-04-28T12:23:00.002-04:00

There are many more pictures I could show from this wonderful section of the Sarah Duke Gardens but I don't always have my camera handy. And the trouble is, sometimes when I don't have my camera I tend to relax and enjoy my hike even more. Often I see a picture before long before I end up taking it- like this Chinese fringe tree. Its showy white blooms are more attention-grabbing than our native version. Not that I don't like natives. I am just calling it like I see it.
The second picture is of young winter hazel leaves (Corylopsis spicata). I really wish I had taken some shots of the blooms from a couple of months ago. Like it's relative the witch hazel, it is blooms on bare wood. I am not a botanist so don't hold me to any taxonomical quotes on this witch hazel/winter hazel relationship.....I don't have time to wiki it, (or better yet, break out the Hortus III).

other people's wwws

2010-04-27T11:51:00.003-04:00

Today is the first installment of what I hope will be a regular Tuesday post for piedmont plots. Every week I will share a blog or a website with my regular readers in mind (I think there’s enough of you that we could all pile into my minivan).

I do have a few trusty bookmarks that I check daily and those sites will eventually get featured. But I may also be guilty of a knee-jerk decision to post a link to a site I have only visited once (like today’s offering). So this isn’t meant to be an endorsement or an advertisement….just a weekly pause to share something interesting.

Today, I stumbled across the blog for the let’s color project, a global beautification initiative sponsored by Delux Paints. Even though it is not centered on ornamental horticulture, it is all about color… And what green thumb/flower geek doesn’t like color? Or maybe, in this case, colour…..

house and yard; garden and anxiety- nearly May, 2010

2010-04-23T05:01:00.000-04:00

All pictures taken this week and pictured from top to bottom L to R:
* a small cardoon that was given to me by a neighbor as a seedling. It promises to grow to four feet wide and tall someday.
*a colony of ginger lilly that I threw in my compost heap last fall because I couldn't decide where I should replant it.
*the old fashioned and tough-as-nails climbing china rose "old blush."
*strawberries that my wife bought yesterday from a roadside farmstand in Warren County.
* dark violet spiderwort, whose good looks up close make up for the fact that it can look lanky and weedy from ten yards away.
*what I call a German iris; it will likely bloom for the last time this month unless I get around to moving it in August. It is getting crowded by siblings and covered in shade from three nearby shrubs.

This will be my fifth spring living in our house and tending a yard fifty years in the making. Compared to April 2005, there is a lot less yard and a lot more garden on our slice of southwest central Durham. Most of my efforts have been to shrink the lawn and maximize the good sun with flowering things.

As we move into late spring, a familiar feeling of being overwhelmed has set in. But instead of responsibly pulling weeds from the perennial border this weekend, I predict that I will be sketching a homemade trellis of rebar shanks to support the heavy, scrambling, hop vines that may overgrow my picket fence by late June. I am all daydreams these days with not enough fire in my belly to get all my chores done. Of course I should remind myself that there is not a day of the year when all the chores can be done.

west campus: pictures from Duke and Duke Gardens

2010-04-20T12:22:00.001-04:00

Pictured from top to bottom L to R
Meyer lilac (Sarah Duke Gardens)this picture was taken this morning
Flagstone walk outside of the Davison Building on Duke's West Campus
Indian Hawthorne in bloom near the visitor parking lots at Sarah Duke Gardens....I always forget that this dependable evergreen actually has nice flowers. I usually think of it for its foliage / drought resistance. Even though that puts it on a list of "carefree" shrubs, I've seen plenty struggle in locations where there is not enough sun or the drainage is not good.
A native Fringe Tree Chionanthus virginicus- a nice blooming tree that does not wait until it is mature before flowering. This almost-medium sized specimen was probably planted about five years ago when the Bostock Library was constructed.

elsewhere

2010-04-15T12:16:00.002-04:00

This picture was taken from my car last Friday night as I drove through Rutherford County in southwestern North Carolina. I spent the weekend on a landscaping project for my in-laws and really enjoyed the chance to think about someone else’s yard and actually put some stuff in the ground. The plants I purchased, cottoneaster and a low growing gardenia, were chosen to replace several large foundation shrubs that had to be pulled out by a tractor..….unfortunately I didn't make it in time to use the tractor myself.

The weather was so nice, it was almost eerie. I made my way into North Carolina's "thermal belt" via a leisurely tour of backroads south of Interstate 40. On Hwy 64 from Rutherfordton to Morganton, I noticed dozens of ancient dogwoods in full bloom. They seemed to be much larger than the ones I usually see in central North Carolina….must be that near-mountain air, I suppose.

my yard and garden: pics from april 12th

2010-04-12T20:57:00.001-04:00

It's over. Winter, I guess. I left town this weekend and was amazed at what I missed....here are some things that caught my eye before dinner this afternoon, although I've been scheming about which photos to shoot for over a week now. Enjoy!

Pictured from top to bottom L to R:
fresh leaves from my pint sized Dawn Redwood
white candytuft blooms
old fashioned bluebells
Dutch iris and a 'knockout rose'
a tiny leaf from a my celeste fig
flower clusters from a red-twig dogwood
small pecan leaves and pollen clusters against the sky
poet's narcissus 'actaea'
Carolina jessamine vine
pink dogwood
'mellow yellow' a trademarked version of Spiraea thunbergi 'Ogon' that I picked up at the JC Raulston plant distribution-event two or three years ago. ... I was a week or two late to catch it covered in white flowers.

Not a true rose and not really from Japan...or Texas

2010-04-08T20:09:00.001-04:00

Pictured at right-double flowered Kerria japonica planted on the east side of Duke’s Nello Teer Engineering Library.

Kerria japonica is one of my favorite shrubs. It is in the rose family and has a wonderful litany of common names (kerry rose, Easter rose, Japanese kerria, Japanese tea rose, and yellow rose of Texas). It is an old-fashioned plant that folks love to divide and give away. One of the reasons for its popularity is the early flowers. They bloom just before before the waves of roses, dogwoods, and azaleas grab everyone’s attention around here.

In the landscape, you can find it growing in partly shady to sunny spots. Mine does fine with that difficult morning-shade-afternoon-sizzle equation which often ruins azaleas and hydrangeas in central and southeastern North Carolina. They can form a thicket up to six feet tall but unlike forsythia or winter honeysuckle, it does not seem to turn into a monster. After it loses its leaves in the fall the thin crayon-green branches are very attractive and airy. It survives drought once established and can be found in double-flowering and single flowered forms. Old thickets of kerria have a tendency to look a bit scraggly if the oldest canes are not cut down. Like a lot of other flowering shrubs, any pruning should be done after the blooms give out.

Call it kerry rose or yellow rose of easter or whatever you want to; Kerria japonica would make a very popular shrub if homeowners could find it more easily ….or if more of us gave some away from our own yards. Here is a link to Chapel Hill’s Niche Gardens’ online catalog. It shows the beautiful single flowered version that they have for sale.

more ammunition for wisteria haters

2010-04-07T11:39:00.000-04:00

Maybe you are sick of this flowery kudzuesque staple of Southern landscapes because it has conquered your neighbor's woodlot and is now sending tendrils and roots your way......Well according to the fact-link below, if you eat the seeds in large quantities it could make you sicker..
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/Wistesp.htm

Personally, I would not the seeds of any flowering vine that could scramble up (and strangle) a 75 year-old tree....

spring photos: late march - the first of april

2010-04-03T21:52:00.004-04:00

Around central North Carolina, 80 degrees has become the new 70F. I've gone from photographing flowering cherry trees to noticing the scary volume of green foliage emerging from fig trees, oak trees, and perennials all over my garden. Here's to hoping that all that new growth doesn't get burned by a twenty seven degree morning ten days from now....and here's also to a glorious growing season that is quickly kicking past second gear (pollen and bugs and all)

Photos from top to bottom L to R: new hosta and viburnum growth; one of several newly planted Chinese redbud trees at Sarah P. Duke gardens; a fresh bottlebrush buckeye leaf; an easter rose also known as Japanese kerria; arugula flowers; one of my later blooming daffodils.

japanese flowering cherry

2010-03-30T20:38:00.001-04:00

picture taken today on Duke's west campus

feverish

2010-03-28T21:03:00.002-04:00

To Do?
haul fieldstone from Randolph County to Durham.
remove the bolted arugula from my vegetable bed (but not before photographing the white flowers)
move six cubic yards of compost and mulch from my driveway to the garden
hunt and capture a balled and burlapped live oak tree (of "decent" size)

curse my yard's lack of a bright redbud tree...Done!
move my seedlings out from the basement light and into the real outside sun and wind and rain
"demo" the miscanthus from a large downtown container garden and replace with.....something(s) succulent?
confirm that a strangely beautiful groundcover down the street does indeed go by the strange and beautiful name of "lady's mantle."
weed
mow
linger

check this out...

2010-03-23T12:35:00.000-04:00

The eastern redbuds will be blooming soon. I noticed some glowing buds on my way to Duke's Bostock Library today. In the stacks, I've seen that more and more books have made their way to Bostock by way of Duke's Biological and Environmental Sciences Library, which has apparently closed.....

The illustration and old library card sleeve are from Carolina Landscape Plants, by R. Gordon Halface (1971, The Sparks Press, Raleigh).