observations of a landscape designer
Pictures of the yellow hellebores, as promised. Helleborus hybridus with red flares. As this strain is seed grown, each plant has individually marked flowers. The yellow color is pale-but definitely yellow. I couldn’t resist-I had to have this one.
Milo spent the entire weekend of our 2012 spring fair at the gate, saying hello. We started hosting a spring fair 3 years ago, after Rob had the opportunity to attend one in Italy. We invite growers and nursery people in our community to bring plants and sell them. Everyone is encouraged to bring a flyer or postcard or announcement that would tell people about their business. Last spring the weather was a little spitty on Saturday, but generally balmy. He was perfectly happy at his post, all weekend.
However this weekend promises to be cold-28 degrees overnight tonight. There is a chance of snow flurries, and the probability of 20-30 mile an hour winds. We have had a lot of rain over the past 3 days. What kind of weather is this for a spring fair?? Terrible weather! So we spent the entire day today arranging to move the fair in doors and under cover. Our warehouse is not the most glamorous space, and the lighting is not the best. But we are determined that the inside of our shop will represent the spring that we all have been anxiously awaiting.
Mark from Bogie Lake Green house does a great job of forcing spring bulbs. We’ll have plenty of them on hand, for any gardener who is despairing over the tulips that are 2 inches all in their garden, or the daffodils that are not showing any signs of having buds. I myself plan to take some hyacinths home, and breathe deep. This wintry weather has hung on like a really bad cold.
Fiona Brinks, the Vice President of Bordines, is a great nursery person, and a really good friend. She will bring all kinds of spring plants-including some of the juiciest and well grown pansies you will ever see. Her staff is knowledgeable and friendly. They’ll have a sheet about their upcoming expo, and anything else they have planned for their nurseries.
Wiegand’s Nursery, English Gardens, Eckerts and Goldner Walsh will be here too, with much the same story in quality plants and great service. The nursery people in our area are good people, who work hard. And they have a big love for plants and gardens. I shop all over the area for plants-I enjoy this as much as any other gardener. Every grower will have something that appeals. We don’t grow plants, but we do plant pots-and lots of them. Though the cold spring has meant that both the annual and perennial plants have been slow to come on, I think we have some very handsome pots.
The property shared by the landscape company, Deborah Silver and Co, and our manufacturing company, Branch, is home to some great live moss colonies. Contrary to what I would expect, this moss grows in little hummocks in full sun, on the gravel. These round dense colonies look great in these miniature urns. To say that we grew these is a stretch-there was another hand in charge of this planting. Julie’s Floral, and Greystone Gardens will be here-representing the Oakland County Farmer’s Market contingent. Lloyd is sure to have some herbs, and Crystal will bring a beautiful assortment of planted containers and plants.
New this year to the fair is Arrowhead Alpines. Joseph Tychonievich, nursery manager and author of the book “Plant Breeding for the Home Gardener”-recently published by Timber Press, will be here in person! A hort head’s hort head, he is extremely knowledgeable about plants. I met his today for the first time-what a treat. He has some pale yellow hellebores that are fabulous-I am trying to stay out of his small stash of them.
Though our pussy willow branches are absolutely saturated with water, they still look like spring. We will have some plants outside-but the majority will be inside. They say 60 degrees on Monday. I am hoping this number represents a trend.
Cold rain and wind is not so friendly to the big flowered pansies, or the lettuce.
Though these pansies may be hanging their heads right now, a few days of warmer weather will get them back in the game. Mother nature is not quite ready for spring, but we are. Hope to see you tomorrow.
I expected to feel exasperated-but this scene made me laugh. The cut pussy willows are representing for all the world as if it were spring. At their feet, the remnants of hard packed snow and frozen ground tell a different story. Though it is late March, our weather is quite February-like. This is the late winter hand we have been dealt. We have not been able to do so much outside the shop, as everything is frozen to the ground. Some espaliers breaking bud when the arrived went in the garage. Other, unquestionably dormant, we placed outside-and we hope for the best.
Prairie willow-I am confident it is tough as nails. It grows in the prairies-this means that weather extremes are the norm. I had no problem placing the bunches outdoors; they will shrug off the cold. But what would anyone do with them? Pots, and the soil in them, are still frozen solid. A vase full of prairie willow inside-that would not only be beautiful, it’s just about all we can do. The prairie willow may be fine outside given night temperatures in the teens, but we are holed up, pending a shift of the season. Plants and animals have great mechanisms for dealing with untoward weather. The bears hibernate. The bats congregate deep in caves. The plants go dormant, and stay that way. Lichens go dull in color when dormant. A heavy rain brings them roaring back to an interactive life. Some pine cone seeds will not germinate, unless there is a fire. Other seeds will not germinate unless they have a cold period, or a good soaking. The perennials die back to the ground. They endure the winter, their life on hold- underground.
The first truly warm day of spring-insects hatch, and swarm. The grass puts on a green outfit. The bulbs, long silent underground, push up towards the sun. The process by which the natural world wakes up after a winter is an extraordinary event to witness. Who knows what day will signal sweet release from the dormant season. No doubt, every northern gardener is waiting. Given that people do not hibernate, they are witness to every moment of the winter.
I am a natural organism that does not go dormant. My winter life involves heat and shelter. This means I live through the winter, like it or not. I am not a skier or a snow shoe afficianado-I endure. My experience of the dormant season involves lots of winter gear-coat, boots, gloves, and hat. And the time it takes to get dressed. No doubt, I am a hothouse variety. In Victorian times, miniature greenhouses known as Wardian cases would protect tropical plants from any hint of cold. Rob’s placement of these cyclamen in a Wardian case-his dry and subtle humor at work. Cyclamen cleave to the cold. No need to heat them up. What really needs a place in this Wardian case-all of us gardeners living in northern climates.
The late winter weather aside, we have plants. Potted bulbs. Hellebores. Delivered just today, topiary plants, big and small. Bulb pans overflowing with angelina. Tiny euonymus topiaries. We have had to make a place for the plants under glass, and inside. We heat this space to 50 degrees. Any amount of sunshine will quickly warm it up. From now until the middle of May, this room will be stuffed with plants. The moment the winter weather breaks, every gardener will be looking for plants.
The plants make the space smell great. The hyacinths blooming fill the entire space with their fragrance. Rob washes down the floor almost every day. The resulting humidity is a welcome break from the dry winter air.
Even this stoneware cat has an aura opf contentment, given a sunny spot on a bench.
These double ball boxwood-leaved honeysuckle topiaries are charming in their stump pots. The moss on the surface tells the story. These plants have been grown with heat, water, and some shade.
Euonymus trained into a topiary standard is a great plant for a small space. It is the most luscious shade of green imaginable.
Rosemary on standard, and tubs of lavender have that warm Mediterranean look-not to mention the fragrance.
Rob starts rhubarb in pots early-they make such great centerpieces in spring pots. The large leaves atop red stalks-you can’t miss them. Nothing could be further in color and texture from rhubarb than a lemon cypress. This lime foliaged version of an Italian cypress is not hardy in our zone, though it will tolerate fairly low temperatures. They also look great in spring containers. Plants wintered in a space that stays above freezing grow fast.
Ivy topiaries are great for shady locations outdoors, and they are fairly easy to winter indoors. The vines grow fast if they are happy. Regular snipping to hold the shape is one of those garden chores that is actually a pleasure. How Rob has paired them will simple terra cotta cylinders is handsome.
The shop has a few other places that get good light, and a fair amount of sun on a sunny day. Forced bulbs are good for low light spots indoors. They come already programmed to bloom. If the light is too low, the green of the foliage will fade, and the leaves will stretch and flop over. It’s only natural that plants seek the light-it is essential to their well being.
Even low light tolerant plants will struggle if that low light goes on for too long. We rotate our plants in and out of low light areas, in a effort to keep them happy. Plants placed in the dark too long look as grumpy as gardeners who are stuck indoors.
Hyacinths forced in pots provide a lot of late winter pleasure. The leaves are good looking. The buds are good looking. The flowers will last quite a while, provided they have a well lit spot that is not too hot. Potting them low in a container provides a little support for the big leaves and large flowering stalks.
Spring plants indoors-a way to make the best of the worst of it.
It is no secret that I am very fond of espaliered trees. Espaliers? These are trees or shrubs which are pruned to a 2-dimensional shape. Though the practice dates back many centuries, a French monk, Fr. Legendre, published a book in 1684 entitled “Palmette Legendre”. He detailed his method for drastically pruning fruit trees so they could be grown against the monastery walls. This made it possible to grow many more trees, and harvest more fruit, in a small space. The French word espalier is derived from the Italian word “spalliera”, meaning “something to rest the shoulder (spalla) against”. These fruit trees rested their shoulders against the wall.
Fr. Legendre discovered that fruit trees that were subject to this kind of hard pruning, and enjoying the warmth generated by the wall, produced better yields. The growth generated in the third dimension would be cut back to the fruiting spurs. The first espaliers were pruned to encourage long horizontal arms. It seems that horizontal branches bear more fruit than vertical ones. This horizontal shape is known as a cordon, and is quite similar to how grapes are pruned.
Eventually, many different styles of pruning emerged. Some styles are just as decorative as they are utilitarian. The tree pictured above has been trained into a classic fan shape. All of the primary arms radiate outward from the trunk in the shape of a fan. This shape is great for a wall that is both tall and wide. Blank walls in the landscape are a perfect spot for an espalier. The pattern of green, light and shadow that the tree creates provides interest in a spot that is otherwise empty. Should I under plant an espalier, I like like a short growing plant. Part of the beauty of an espalier is being able to see the entire shape, from top to bottom.
Espaliers are traditionally created from fruit bearing trees. Though apples prefer a sunny location to fruit well, a pear tree is fairly tolerant of a shady location. I am partial to pears. Their glossy leaves are beautiful, and they seem more resistant to fungal problems. Many fruit trees require another tree for cross pollination. If you want to grow an espalier for fruit, be sure you grow a pair, or pick a variety that is self pollinating. All fruiting trees are beautiful when they bloom in the spring. An espalier fruit tree in full bloom is especially gorgeous, as the white flowers dramatically detail the geometry of the shape.
These four espaliers are Kieffer pears, trained in the candelabra form. It is easy to see here that an overall form has been determined for the large branches. Once a horizontal branch reaches the width desired, the young branch is turned towards the sky, and tied to a form. That branch will require support until it gets enough to stand on its own. Pear wood hardens off quickly. If you are training an espalier, be sure to make any change in direction when the branch is still very young. Barely visible at the top of this picture is a horizontal fish line. The branches are tied to this to keep them vertical, and keep them the desired distance from neighboring branches. We have secured the branches in this manner for display only. Once they are planted against a wall, galvanized steel eyes will need to be installed in the mortar. The branches will be tied to those eyes using a flexible and expandable landscape tie.
Though a fruiting tree is a traditional subject for an espalier, lots of trees and shrubs readily take to this kind of pruning. Pictured above is a white rose of sharon, trained into a fan. The picture is not the best. Imagine many branches emerging from the soil in a line., rather than a mass. Any branch which emerged from the ground outside of the line-either to the front or back-was removed. The fan is created with many branches, rather than just a select few. This shape of this shrub reminds me of fan coral. It will be a solid mass of green, in leaf-and a solid mass of white in flower.
A Belgian fence is a series of espaliered trees that are planted equidistant from each other. Each interior tree has a single trunk which comes up up out of the ground about 18″. Years ago, that trunk was pruned down to 18″. A pair of emerging side shoots were trained at a specific and repeating angle. The collection of trees produces multiple diamond shapes. Ideally, each diamond is the same size as its neighbor. Maintaining the diamond shapes requires faithful and regular pruning. The larger and simpler the diamonds, the easier the care. This group of trees are Calloway crab apples. They have a beautiful cinnamon colored bark, and flower and fruit like all crab apples.
The large espaliers in this picture are lindens-old lindens. The cordon espaliers in front of them-Bradford pears. Both species are ornamental, and tolerate hard pruning. These trees may also be allowed to fill in between the horizontal layers. This would result in a solid thin wall of green. They could be grown against a wall, or as a freestanding green wall. Any espalier which is grown as a fence will need lots of support and direction in the early years. Big bamboo stakes are prefect for this. The bamboo you see on the foreground trees was attached to keep all the branches in place during shipping.
This espalier has been grown in a goblet shape. The change in direction from a horizontal to vertical is a gently curve, as opposed to the right angle of a candelabra style. As the main arms are fairly well established, we only needed to secure the tops of the branches to keep the tree representing its intended shape.
These fan espaliers are apples and pears of various varieties. A whole orchard could be grown in a relatively small space. Training espaliers is an art form, but a form that can be learned. As slowly as trees grow, you would have time for your knowledge to grow. A large caliper espalier is an investment, mainly due to the years it took to get it to size. This particular grower does not sell any trees unless they are at least 7 years old. Over the course of that 7 years, he waters and feeds, and keeps the yellow bellied sapsuckers from drilling holes in their trunks. He has trees that have had a major arm die back-heartbreaking this. But once an espalier is established, they are no more care than any other tree or shrub. Some nurseries and garden centers carry 1-2 year old plants. This makes it easy to give one a try.