Posts | Deborah Silver & Co.

Monday Opinion: Freezing

Our weather forecast called for 27 to 33 degrees overnight Sunday. The prediction for 33 degrees is for downtown Detroit-my yard is 30 miles due north. I must have stared at the Accuweather frost zone map for at least 15 minutes. It appears that my yard is in the center of a frost warning zone spanning 11 states. The chances of a hard freeze overnight look incredibly good. I shouldn’t be surprised. May in Michigan is spring-not summer.

If you are an experienced gardener in the midwest, you know that frost is possible until the end of May. The most reliable table for determining frost dates comes from NOAA-our national weather service. You can check their frost tables for many cities in all the 50 states here: National Climatic Data Center Their date shows that Detroit Has a 90% chance of a frost on or prior to April 21. A 50% chance of a frost on or prior to May 10. And a 10% chance of frost on or prior to May 28. The fact that I live 30 miles north of Detroit, in a much less densely built area than Detroit, tells me those frost figures may be a little optimistic. Growers that I know with farming roots tell me that they do not rule out the chance of frost until the date of the May full moon-which is May 25 this year.

At 6 am this morning, it was 30 degrees-this constitutes a freeze. Cold tolerant spring flowers, such as pansies, violas, ornamental cabbage, spikes, annual phlox, osteospermum, spinach, chives, peas, and alyssum are not bothered by this. The blossoms on fruit trees and ornamental flowering trees, new soft perennial growth and the like can be damaged, but not killed by this. Very cold sensitive annual and vegetable plants can be severely damaged, disfigured, or killed by a 30 degree night. I did mist my pear tree, which is in flower, and my delphiniums which have shot up in the last 2 weeks. I felt everything else could handle the chill.

What I do not have in my yard, or at my shop are very cold sensitive plants. Basil, coleus, lantana, begonias, New Guinea impatiens, bananas, mandevillea, bean vines, caladiums-tropical plants cannot taking freezing weather. Ditto for tomatoes and beans, and a slew of other vegetables and herbs. Yesterday we had several mini-hail and snow showers. Even assuming that the late spring temperatures are sufficiently high that plants won’t die, there can be lingering effects from planting too early.

The air temperature is not nearly so significant as the soil temperature. If you put your finger in the soil, and that soil is cold, you can be sure that a tropical plant that is native to Florida or South America is not going to be happy being planted. I believe that cold soil can stunt plants such that they take weeks to recover. Or they never really recover and prosper at all. I see this too early planting most often in commercial locations-flat after flat of fibrous begonias planted in early May that look like they are shivering. These plants actually seem to get smaller, the leaf color paler. They will at best languish until the soil warms up. At worst, they don’t really grow much, and give up growing early. However I have seen houses with pots full of summer flowering annuals on the front porch recently.

I understand that irrepressible optimism that fuels every gardener. But in this case, planting early in hopes of getting a jump on the summer season can actually put those plants behind. I do not usually plant my pots at home until the first week of June-sometimes later. I may plant earlier, but I have to be convinced that the night temperatures are consistently going to stay above 50. The forecast tonight-39 degrees. Better that the tropical plants have the benefit of a warm and sunny greenhouse for a while longer. Our very cold spring means that many of the summer plants are really small still. An annual plant that has not put on much growth yet is even more likely to suffer from cold weather.

There are benefits to waiting to plant for summer until the soil has warmed. You can focus on enjoying the tulips, pansies, and the lily of the valley. The flowering crabs and the apple trees blooming. The redbuds, the hellebores, the moss phlox and the wildflowers. Give the spring season its due. If your yard does not have much in the way of spring bloom, you could consider adding some things-no need to starve yourself. The need to see something flowering after a long winter is a real need. There are ways to satisfy that need in a successful way. I plant a lot of summer containers and annual gardens every year. Those that get planted when the time is right take off quickly, and grow well.

Posted on: May 13, 2013 3 Comments

Filed Under: Uncategorized

At A Glance: In Bloom

spring basket

apple tree

parsley, pansies and alyssum

crab apple

spring container planting

redbud

swiss chard, pansies and alyssum

tulips

in the pink

galvanized trough

May blooming

lavender

redbuds

Posted on: May 12, 2013 5 Comments

Filed Under: Uncategorized

The Magnolias

In most every year I have written this blog, there is an essay about magnolias. I have a big love for them. The flowers are dramatic and showy-I so welcome a gesture of this magnitude after a long winter. A good bloom is never a certainty. They bloom early in my spring-which also means they bloom late in my winter. Last year, given a string of April days in the low twenties, every bud was reduced to a gooey black rotted mess, hanging from the branches. That hanging persisted well into the summer-a vile reminder of the capricious nature of spring weather.

But when the magnolias are good, they are very very good. My neighborhood has plenty of old saucer magnolias in evidence. Some are planted very close to the foundations of homes-they do not seem to mind this. Many have multiple trunks that have grown to considerable size. A saucer magnolia in full bloom is heart stoppingly beautiful. My saucer magnolias are a hybrid of magnolia soulangiana, named Galaxy. The day I planted the three of them in my driveway garden, they had long spindly arms-gawky, they were. The one tree with the most sun has grown to a considerable size.

The second tree will catch up to tree number one in the next few years. Tree 3 took a giant hit in the trunk from a careless truck driver in the driveway. Late this winter I took down an old Norway maple in this area whose girdling roots have been hard at work squeezing the life out of it. So little of the canopy was green last year-looking at it made me wince. It was time to give up the maple, in the interest of the health of the magnolias-and a group of parrotias.

This cool spring made for a glorious magnolia bloom season. I admired them up close. I stood under their blossom laden branches. I admired them from afar. Why this love of magnolias? The spectacular bloom aside, they are a very handsome tree. The grey bark is beautiful. The mossed bark on old trees-sensational. The leaves are large, and glossy. Their winter shape is strikingly architectural. They are beautiful trees, no matter the season. Their mature size is a size that any modest city property such as my own, could accommodate. I have a city lot and a half, which is home to 11 magnolias-no kidding.

8 of my magnolias are planted in the half lot, in the front of my yard. They are under planted with boxwood. They are yellow magnolias-yes yellow. Hybridized by Phil Savage, the blooms of the magnolia “Butterflies” are the most astonishingly gorgeous pale yellow imaginable. I met Phil Savage when I was young, and working for Al Goldner. Al was a landscape designer who owned a nursery. He loved plants-and he loved design. I was so lucky for my exposure to him, and his work. Al made it his business to introduce anyone designing for him to people who grew great plants. So many years later, I treasure that experience.

Phil owned a large property in my area. Though he passed away a few years ago, that property is loaded with magnolias-many of which exceed 60 feet in height. I had occasion to see his trees in full bloom a few years ago, courtesy of a niece, who is a client. I was astonished at what I saw. Yellow, peach, pale pink and hot pink flowers on magnolias that towered high above the ground. My pictures of his property are so bad-I would not publish them. But the experience of his vision about magnolias-this I will never forget. This is why I plant magnolias, any time I have the chance.

The bloom, even in a really great year, is not long. Should you need more than that momentary experience of their shockingly beautiful flowers, consider their leaves, and their gorgeous shape. I for one do not mind an experience of the garden that is fleeting. Every season has its perfect moment. I do not need any plant, any garden, or any landscape to to do more than their season. I do not hold the brevity of a season against any tree. As for Phil Savage’s property-yes. It has been sold. The buyer I would guess has no interest in that magnolia forest the likes of which I am sure does not exist any where else on this planet. The new owner has another idea in mind. I hear from friends and colleagues in the growing community that there is a plan to take cuttings. I so pray this plan comes to be.

A plan to preserve and nurture the magnolias bred by Phil Savage-this seems a fitting essay for Mother’s Day weekend.

Posted on: May 11, 2013 7 Comments

Filed Under: Plants, Woody Plants, Spring Tagged With: spring blooming magnolias, saucer magnolias, magnolia Galaxy, galaxy magnolia, Magnolia Butterflies, saucer magnolia, Phil Savage

The Impatiens Dilemma

I have a big love for all of the annual plants that are available to augment my garden. Many of them come from tropical climates. One of the most popular annual plants of all time is impatiens walleriana. This plant grows readily in the heat, and covers itself with self cleaning flowers in a wide range of colors. Impatiens also tolerates a good bit of shade. They are happy in the sun, given sufficient water. They are the workhorse of annual shade bedding plants. That said, the impatiens are sick. A fungal disease that causes the plants to collapse in a rotten mess has infected our area. This picture, taken in 2009, at the one place I plant impatiens, tells the tale. I was so sure the client was over watering. I know now the plants were diseased. This devastating disease has affected impatiens plants all over the globe. There has been lots of discussion about planting impatiens this year in my area. I believe those major growers who are brave enough to suggest the disease is currently inherent in the seed. The upshot-should you find a nursery this season who still offers impatiens for sale, be advised that your purchase comes with an expiration date. Preventative applications of fungicide may stave off the disease, but once the disease is present, there is no cure. Any places planted with impatiens last year should not be replanted with them this year. No matter how much you love impatiens, the look of the plants in the picture above is not a good look.

The list of annual and tropical plants that tolerate shady locations is considerable. The toughest part is getting past the fact that a favorite plant in a favorite color is not available. On the positive side, adverse conditions can produce some very interesting and creative results. Green shade plants such as the irisine standards pictures, hostas, creeping jenny are not prized for their flowers, but the leaves are strikingly colorful. The same goes for the oxalis and Moses in the cradle. The flowers are not so showy, but the leaf color is spectacular.

Dragon wing begonias are quite tolerant of shade, though the colors tend towards the yellow reds, coral and orange-not at all like the bluish pinks so common in impatiens. The appearance of the color of this plant has everything to do with the color of its companion plants. Yellow will make this flower appear more coral orange. A red violet companion makes this begonia appear more rose red.

Fuchsia flowers may be small, but they have a very interesting shape, and come in a wide range of colors. A fuchsia on standard makes a great centerpiece in a container planted for shade. This fuchsia “Ballerina” will flower next to a north wall, all summer long.

Few shade tolerant annuals can rival coleus and caladiums for dramatic color and form. For many years coleus did not interest me that much. The colors looked so muddy. New cultivars have very clear and vibrant colors. They old standard caladiums have a lot more company these days. The arrow and strap leaf caladiums have a saucy shape, and are visible from quite a distance. The new white cultivars are very bright in shady locations. Variety is the spice of life, yes? In my opinion, the planting in this window box is much more visually interesting than a mass of impatiens. A good design assembles a collection of materials that look good together. Sometimes, the relationship between one element and another is vastly more interesting that the individual element alone. I do understand that there is a financial aspect to the impatiens debacle. An impatiens plant runs between .25 and .40 each. A single 4″ pot of coleus is 10 times that much. But many growers are offering coleus and seed New Guinea impatiens in flats. Some larger growing shade annuals can be found in 6 packs-18 plants to a flat. Other alternatives? Take the most ordinary white fibrous begonias in flats, and plant them in interesting shapes, swirls and stripes. Make the statement with a shape, rather than a specific variety. Impatiens has a tendency to get massive and shapeless by summer’s end. A planting of white or pick or red fibrous begonias can hold an intricate shape or pattern. A mix of three colors is more sparkly and interesting than one color. Those begonias can be punctuated with a 4″ pot of some other shade tolerant annual every so often. Another tip-fibrous begonias with dark leaves have a dour muddy look-stick with the green leaved varieties, unless you have a whole “other than green” foliage idea in mind. But the best of this bad situation is a chance to become acquainted with plants you may have passed by before. There are some very beautiful plants out there, looking for a home for the summer.