Into the Garden Week 25

Plant of the Week

Pinus strobus from Maine.gov web site

Plant of the Week

The state flower of Maine, voted into existence by those rugged individualistic Down Easters in 1895, is not, botanically or even aesthetically speaking, a flower. It’s the White Pine cone and tassel, and if that’s what they like as a flower, that is what they should have. Pinus strobus is a native tree from Canada down to the Bayou, and it’s a fast-growing evergreen that is home to many insects and birds. Its wood makes good lumber, and it’s easy to ID because of the 5 needles per cluster instead of the 2 or 3 for many other pines. My tree ID skills are meager, so I will try to remember that little nugget of info. Speaking of remembering… Here is the link to the magical nursery in Kennebunk, Snug Harbor Farm,  that our daughter made sure we visited (“this is not a drill!”), and she did the right thing.

Guest

Andy Brand of the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens is someone whom I have followed for a while on Instagram, and he was kind enough to chat with me after I had two hours to walk around this impressive site. The only negative about our convo was that it was clear I would need another day or two to really see the gardens well. Ahhh, such are gardens, especially good ones. Started in 2007, this amazing resource has already had to go back to the drawing board in terms of increased visitor amenities (more than two football teams could square off in the new car park, and guess what they did with the old one? Aye-yuh, new gardens). The plants were enough for me, but it would be hard to ignore the 25’ tall trolls created by Thomas Dambo, a recycled art activist. They are currently trolling all visitors, including ones that may not have thought botanical gardens were their thing, about how to protect the environment. Oh, and they may have magically become influencers along the way. 

The Play List

• Shake some seeds around your garden for more plants. Foxglove, columbine and rose campion are brown and crispy and just asking for distribution help.

• Peony foliage—if it’s brown or white from mildew, it sure isn’t photosynthesizing, so do you still have to look at it? Cut it back and feed the tubers with a bit of triple phosphate.

• Plant out fall veg such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, kohlrabi, and mustard.

• Start seeds of beets, carrots, lettuce, radish, spinach, and turnips.

• Keep in mind that I don’t know much about veg, and I get my info from here. They’re nice to share. 

Listen
American singer and songwriter Rusty Gear kindly provides the music for Into the Garden with Leslie, and although I have mentioned him before, we need to talk about his new album, Delivery Man. My podcast music is the instrumental version of “Forgiveness After All,” which I like for its ballad-like sound. Two new favorites of mine on this latest album are “We Know Too Much” and “Gold on the Horizon,” the latter of which has a wholesome romantic video to accompany. Sweet!

Into the Garden Week 24

Plant of the Week

Plant of the Week

Pycnanthemum muticum is the sort of plant name that makes a great argument for common names, unlike last week’s POW, Phlox paniculata, which has the not so helpful common name of garden phlox (the genus has 67 species, and can’t they all grow in a garden?) But back to mountain mint, an excellent plant for so many reasons.  P. muticum is also called short-toothed mountain mint or clustered mountain mint. I am in love with the tiny silvery buttons surrounded by garden gnome scale petals. This plant is deer-resistant, drought-resistant, grows as well in shade as it does in sun, and is an amazing native pollinator. It spreads, yes, but wouldn’t you want something so good to spread? Very easy to edit with all your friends in mind to extend the joy, and offers the ability to make a Mountain Mint Julep.

Guest

Brie the Plant Lady is a foodscaper extraordinaire, author of two books on the subject, excellent speaker, YouTuber, and TV star on the PBS show Growing a Greener World with Joe Gardener. She and I chatted about all of that, and she gives great ideas on how to easily incorporate edibles into your landscape. You could build a separate veg patch if you want to, but why not think of these edibles as ornamental too? Rice instead of pennisetum. Basil instead of coleus. Not only will you provide food for yourself, but if you use deep rooted grains, you can bust up clay soil and bring nutrients up to the surface to benefit all of your plants. Talking with Brie makes me want to give up the Farmer’s Market and get going in my own garden.

Brie mentioned another great foodscaper, Rosalind Creasy, and the web site Ample Harvest, for sharing the piles of food you are sure to grow if you follow Brie’s advice.

The Play List

• Get yourself some Mountain Mint. I’ll share— I’m serious!

• Water water water water water do a rain dance water water water...

• Be sure you know the difference between the similar purslane and spurge, the former being a nutritious edible and the latter having a milky sap that you really don’t even want on your skin, much less in your belly. Get more info here. Those two are very much happening right now.

• If you missed the tick information that I talked about in Episode 21, here is that link again for TickEncounter.org.

Listen

The Temps keep running through my mind, cuz I wish it would rain.

Into the Garden Week 23

Plant of the Week

Happy bee, happy gardener. This is right out my kitchen door.

Another sentinel of summer, Phlox paniculata is just a good old-timey plant that defines the late summer garden. Sometimes described as a brazen hussy of color, there are also some subtle hues to employ, and the white ones stand out when the evenings come on earlier. (Lord, it was just July 4th and I am already going there? Sorry!)  They’re also outgoing in the form of offspring, and I remember a pal observing that the garden of a mutual friend had basically evolved to be a phlox garden. She wasn’t trying to be nice, by the way. Yet the garden looked magical.

Try some of the ones that don’t get that icky powdery mildew, such as David for a white, Jeana for a pink, and the Fashionably Early series, with their thicker, darker leaves and early show as a season beginner.

Guest

Sister Sue Ann joins in again and this week our topic is getting ready for a garden party. We delve into what to do and when, but we aren’t talking menu planning and tablescapes—we will leave that to you. We are Into the Garden for gardening. We want the place looking great for when you and your guests settle down to G&Ts. Make mine Hendricks with a splash of bitters.

The Play List

• We are still watering, and if your container is smaller rather than larger, there is less earth to soak up and retain moisture.

• Pinchy pinch pinch, including all those annuals I have been harping on plus

• Cleome—if the lead flower starts to have a huge population of seed heads, cut it off and let the lower ones have their place in the sun.

• Tomatoes—that little part that grows out above a branch that I call the armpit hair should go before it becomes a whole new part of the plant that you haven’t accounted for in your staking scheme.

Listen

99% Invisible is a great podcast. It’s based on architecture and design, but there’s a ton of history and culture involved. Here’s that link to the 15 most popular episodes on Podcast Review and here are two more that are garden related:

• Guerilla Garden of Eden: The Death and Life of an Urban Microtopia

• Fruit Walls: Before Greenhouses, Walled Gardens created Urban Micro-Climates

Thumbs up to the amazing table scape Caspari did for Historic Garden week!

Into the Garden Week 22

Coneflower is one of those sentinels of high summer.  A native perennial, great pollinator, and cut flower—you could even make echinacea tea with it! After native bees, moths, and butterflies feed on it for months, goldfinches love to peck at the seeds.

If you would like a deeper dive into some of the types you could grow, go to the Mt Cuba Center trial results for all kinds of detailed information. If you just want to find out if your fave cultivar won, read on:

“The best performing Echinacea included in our trial are E. purpurea ‘Pica Bella’, E. ‘Sensation Pink’, E. ‘Santa Fe’, E. ‘TNECHKR’ (KISMET® Raspberry), E. ‘Snow Cone’, E. ‘POST301’ (Postman), E. ‘Glowing Dream’, E. ‘Purple Emperor’, E. purpurea ‘Fragrant Angel’, E. ‘TNECHKIO’ (KISMET® Intense Orange), E. ‘Balsomcor’ (SOMBRERO® Hot Coral), and E. ‘Julia’.”

Yes, my Fragrant Angel won. And yes, I am smug.

If the Mt. Cuba trial sounds familiar, I mentioned it a couple of weeks ago during my P.O.W segment on Monarda. 

Guest

I have been tracking Steph Green’s amazing container game for a few years now. She puts together luscious combinations for her lucky clients down in Richmond. Contained Creations also has an envy-inspiring Instagram feed, and besides knowing what to put into elegant containers, Steph knows how to keep the creations looking good. This week, we share tips on dealing with soil, ferts, colors, scale, and maintenance!

The Play List

There are some pests in the garden right now, and I have some ideas on how to deal with them.

• Bunnies

  • Chase, yell, terrorize (it’s a work out).

  • Use bad smells such as Deer Scram (contains dried blood—your dog will love it, so be careful. It won’t hurt your dog, but bunnies won’t smell it anymore if your pooch loves it), or REALLY hot cayenne pepper.

• Japanese Beetles

  • Go out in the early morning to pinch or drop into a bucket of soapy water.

  • Spray with soapy water.

  • Please try not to use Sevin—bad for bees!

  • Using a trap attracts more beetles than your trap can handle—not good, because they will look around to see what else is tasty in your garden besides the overflowing trap party.

  • Prune your plants after the wee beasties have had their way, and wait for them to be gone (mid-late August).

• Ailanthus Trees (Tree of Heaven)

  • Pull while small—the ONLY thing they have going for them is that they are easy to pull.

• Japanese Stilt Grass

  • Again, mercifully easy to pull, so if you have a little, pull now before they go to seed.

  • If you have a lot, strim (string trim/weed whack) them down before they set a jillion seeds.

Listen

• Maybe just listen to the birds and buzzing this week… I checked out the song behind the very popular hashtag #hotgirlsummer because I thought I was being so cool using #hotgardensummer. Turns out, there’s a reason we don’t hear that song on the radio!

Into the Garden Week 21

Persicaria virginiana ‘Painter’s Palette’. This is the one I forgot to share with Sue Ann. Next time!

No Guest, Just little Me

This week, I was a loser without any gardening pals to interview, so I took advantage of my imaginary friends (other gardening podcasters), and filtered and pilfered some good gardening bits I have learned from them lately. Tom Christopher’s interview on Growing Greener with Dr. Tom Mather of TickEncounter.com, also known as The Tick Guy, was illuminating both in terms of what you can do to protect yourself from ticks, and how to recognize the tick that bit you. You can send in a photo to The Tick Guy’s site and get info about how dangerous the tick is before you start to hyperventilate. Once you find out, let the panic commence, but honestly, not all ticks will give you a disease. InsectShield.com sells clothing that repels not only ticks but other disreputables such as chiggers and mozzies. Not only do they sell you their clothing— they will treat YOUR clothing! I’ve had Lyme disease twice, and it’s just a matter of time before I get it again. Wonder why I don’t protect myself better against the little beasties?

Margaret Roach of A Way to Garden chatted with Patrick MacMillan of Heronswood in Washington about nature and gardening. This sent me on a jag about Capability Brown and how great it is that the current vogue of nature in the garden does not go as far as mid-18th Romanticism inspired landscapes. Re-directed streams and newly built “ruins,” made nature perfect in the eyes of Brown and his deep-pocketed clients. At least our current interest in naturalistic gardens is less about having teams of oxen create new lakes and more about letting go. Better for the bugs and for your sciatica, too.

Joe Gardener recently interviewed Dave Whitinger of the National Gardening Association about their annual gardening survey. Turns out, not only did the pandemic produce more quilters, fly fishermen, and model railroad enthusiasts (thank you, God, that my husband did not rekindle his former flame for that basement destroying pursuit), but 18 million new gardeners. Joe and Dave were scheming over ways to keep the newbies on, and it did not go unobserved that marijuana is a gateway… plant.

The Plant of the Week

Persicaria is not to be confused with Knotweed, which is its common name. The Knotweed that should concern you (Fallopia japonica) is a virulent and pestilential hazard, whereas Persicaria is a well-behaved garden perennial. That got me started on why we need Latin Botanical names to help us keep plants straight. It isn’t a ‘let’s act highbrow’' thing, more of a ‘let’s make sure we know what plant we are talking about’ thing.

The Play List

• Watering time in the garden— any time you can, but morning is optimal.

• Layer bits of your vining landscape annuals by burying a part of the vine so it makes new roots: petunias, sweet potato vine, tradescantia (Wandering Jew).

• Deadhead lilies as you would any flowering bulb.

• Consider removing the spent brown sticks of daylilies, unless they contribute to your enjoyment of your garden!

Into the Garden Week 20

Audio Block

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Plant of the Week

Monarda didyma ‘Balmy Lilac’

Monarda is a little fuzz ball of pollinator activity. It vexes me if it flops or gets mildew, but other than that it is a total native winner. If it runs a little rampant (it will), the easiest remedy is to pull some, pot some, plant some in another spot, and/or share it with a friend. It comes in so many different heights! I have an adorable short purple guy that blooms in spring, probably ‘Balmy Lilac’ (Monarda didyma), that I actually wish would be more aggressive, though it does divide nicely. I suspect my big runner, blooming strong now in the first week of July, is probably ‘Judith’s Fancy Fuschia’ because this variety had a good report in the Mt. Cuba Center trial, and I rarely see mildew on it. 

Guest

Everything always sounds better with a British accent, particularly horticulture. That being said, I have searched high and low for good American gardening podcasts, and Christy Wilhelmi’s Gardenerd Tip of the Week is The One! Based in California, she concentrates more on edibles than ornamental gardening, but she has a wide variety of guests, and she makes gardening fun. In this interview, we discuss her garden, her new book Grow Your Own Mini Fruit Garden, compost, and of course, a couple of the wonderful garden tips she has accumulated over the years.

The Play List

• Don’t let ivy grow up your trees—it’s an alien invasive. The area at the base of your trees (where the trunk flares out as it meets the ground), should always be free of both mulch and ivy.

• If you are going to use manure (such as Lisa Steele, the Chicken Lady from Fresh Eggs Daily and I discussed in last week’s pod), you need to let it age before applying it to your garden.

• Water well or not at all! Roots grow toward moisture, and you want roots to grow down. Water your plants deeply and remember that foliage doesn’t need water.

Listen

No surprise here: Gardenerd Tip of the Week!

Into the Garden Week 19

Plant of the Week

I love on my daylilies so much you might think they are the plant of the week as you listen to the pod. What a great plant—there are early, mid-season, late, and everblooming ones. They range in color from cream to deep purple, and they can survive a drought or a flood. Unfortunately, deer love them as much as we do, so be careful where you plant them.

The REAL plant of the week is lavender. This flower is used in everything from essential oils to cookie baking (check out the ones my sister @CookiesSAK made on Instagram). It’s easy to grow if you have great drainage. If not, give it a try by digging deeply into your soil, allowing the roots to nestle into gravel or well-draining compost instead of our brick-like Virginia clay. Check out this comprehensive article on how to grow lavender from The Spruce.

Also, Happy DIY Home has published an updated, comprehensive Lavender plant guide. It is completely free and you can find it here.

Lots of good info— have a look!

Guest

It’s The Chicken Lady! Also known as Lisa Steele, she has the most amazing knowledge, enthusiasm, website, and newsletter all about eggs. She has even written six books on the subject! Fresh Eggs Daily will tell you everything you need to know about caring for fowl (ducks and geese too!), cooking with eggs, even choosing garden plants to make yolks more yellow! In our conversation, I try to get her to convince me to have chickens in my garden. You’ll have to listen to find out if it worked, but read my old blog post from several years back to understand my mindset. I really want them! But do I really want them?

Playlist

• Weed, pinch annuals, do away with browns and downs, deadhead, rinse, repeat.

• If you spy poison ivy in your garden, protect your hand with a big hosta leaf and pull. If it’s a big one, protect your arm with a plastic bag.

• Common purslane weeds are starting to show up. Not a bad weed, as they go, and supposedly extremely nutritious—if you’re into that sort of thing. Here’s some good info on it from The Foraged Foodie.

Listen

Tom Christopher’s podcast with Aimee Code, Pesticide Programs Director of the Xerces Society, is so informative. It turns out that the companies you can hire to fumigate your yard are NOT a good solution; not for you, not for your wallet, and not for the environment. Get other ideas (really good ones!) about how to control your mozzies by listening in. And here’s a quick tip from Doug Tallamy—very easy and satisfying. It keeps the little guys from ever even hatching!

Lisa Steele with some of her charges.

Into the Garden Week 18

Plant of the Week 

Itea virginica, also known as Sweetspire, is a Virginia native—hooray! On the scruffier side, this shrub is not ideal for a formal look. However, it serves as a great transitional plant at the edge of your wood, leading into the wild beyond. Because it’s native to swamplands, it will thrive in your yard’s pesky wet spots. Growing up to 3 feet, it is both deer resistant and a great pollinator. Currently in bloom, it sports 2-3 inch racemes that dangle from its bright green leaves like fuzzy white caterpillars. 

Guest 

Matt Berry of Dos Amigos Landscaping joins me to talk about hardscaping—the only permanent features in our otherwise ever-changing gardens. Hardscaping includes everything from fountains, patios, sidewalls, house drainage, stonework, masonry and more! Both ornamental and practical, hardscaping is key to the foundational and visual success of many gardens. Most hardscaping is practical in nature, serving to prevent erosion and divert unwanted water through drainage systems. The bonus? Hardscaping can improve your house’s resale value! Tune in for Matt’s tips on DIY hardscaping and hardscape maintenance. 

Playlist 

• Jenny Hopkins’ (Big Arms Farm) life-prolonging potion for cut-flowers: 

  • ¼ cup water

  • 2 tbsp sugar

  • 2 tbsp vinegar/lemon juice

  • 1 ½ tsp bleach 

• Consider “flopping” Baptisia and Amsonia for your garden, both native plants with great foliage. Prune towards the middle of summer and enjoy fresh green foliage in August. 

Listen

“Sweet Virginia Breeze” by Steve Bassett and Robbin Thompson (1978).