Like most people, I look forward to warm weather for a thousand reasons. One of the many anticipated spring pleasures is sun-dried laundry, with its uniquely clean scent. It’s absolutely un-replicated by any fragrance or homecare product with “linen” in the name. And the thought that I’m sparing a few more grams of coal or natural gas gives me a clean, pure feeling on the inside, too.

Another occasion of springtime bliss is the ever-changing, often fleeting parade of woodland wildflower blooms. Referrred to as “spring ephemerals,” they mostly live up to their reputation. These flowers emerge from the leaf litter in deciduous woodlands, astonish us with their delicacy and variety of form, then wilt and subside within the space of a week or two. The trees leaf out, the forest darkens and the display is done untill next year. Fortunately, there’s a bit of succession, with (for instance) bloodroot and hepatica appearing earlier than others.

Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) is one of those spring ephemerals, and rarer than some. There is only one place in the Garden where it seems to thrive, and that’s in the Woodland Garden near the giant Medusa’s head sculpture. Greek mythology and sparkling clean pantaloons – a funny but charming combination. The plant is native to North American woodlands, in the same family as the various bleeding-hearts. It’s blooming now and will probably continue until mid-May.

Some neighborhoods frown on homely displays of washing on the line, but we find it perfectly acceptable here in the Woodland ravine!

Posted by Ann McCulloh

I’ve learned from experience that some plants will flop on me if not supported. It is disheartening to wake up in the morning after a stormy night to find the dahlias beaten down and broken. One year, my peonies came into bloom just before a rainstorm hit. At least I got to enjoy the blooms for a couple hours.

While we are glad to see growers develop plants with bigger and more prolific blooms, we also have to be prepared to support the added weight that the stems might not be able to bear in rain and windstorms.

Instead of using commercial stakes that might stand out in a landscape, let me suggest a natural look when staking. My favorite stake source is from the arrow wood Viburnum stems. I thin and cut these back every year. And as the common name indicates, these branches are long and straight.  Because of the opposite branching structure, they also provide a nice Y-support for caging in a plant that might want to flop. I circle my peonies with them, and they virtually disappear as the peonies grow into and through them. But they do the job.

As an added benefit, sometimes the stakes that I use from tree and shrub cuttings will leaf out themselves and might even flower. So, consider recycling the branches you prune in the spring and put them to work in your yard throughout the summer.

Posted by Bob Rensel 

This past weekend, I visited Cincinnati and it was around 86°. Not surprisingly, plants there are a bit ahead of the ones here in Northeast Ohio. Many of the daffodils were on their way out or had completely finished blooming. Unfortunately, I saw what many people do to their daffodil foliage - they tie it up and fold it over to make the plant look tidy and presumably to hurry dormancy.

Well, unless you actually want a weaker daffodil next spring, don’t tie up the foliage. Remember, the blades are still actively photosynthesizing and providing energy to the bulb and the roots for next year’s flower. By wadding up the leaves, you decrease the surface area that the sun reaches, thus eventually weakening your future flower. It really makes no sense to me. Is it really that horrible to let the foliage yellow on its own before cutting it off? Do the right thing for your daffodils - don’t tie them up and they’ll continue to provide you with years of pretty spring flowers.

Posted by Cynthia Druckenbrod

Narcissus ‘Kaydee’

Godzilla in the Garden?

Yes, my heart officially stops beating for two months every spring as I watch little plants emerge and little feet converge. One law of physics I know is that two bodies cannot occupy the same physical space at the same time. Plant stems poking their heads above the soil line must feel much like the little people peering up at the feet of Godzilla as he comes stomping through New York.

Just in case you have not noticed, kids don’t use a "garden" like adults do. Adults love big pretty vistas, and kids love the ant crawling on the sidewalk. Adults walk past and comment on how wonderful the garden looks, while kids run straight for the object of their desire (regardless what might be in their "path").

I discovered that telling kids "no" in the Garden does not work (for very long). Asking a child not dig here or there (especially right where I sowed seeds) is like asking the big Hollywood lizard to not smash cars or pick up helpless pedestrians. 

So, what do I do? I change my mindset, place physical barriers and distract them.  I must first remember my user. Second, I place bamboo stake and twine fencing around certain areas that come to about waist height on older children. Last of all, I distract them. "Oh, cool, do you hear what I hear? What is that over there?"

Posted by Josh Steffen 

This week has been heavenly. Everywhere you look, fragrant clouds of magnolia and cherry blossom are arranged against the bluest sky, with carpets of porcelain-cupped daffodils underneath. The Garden has a dozen different varieties of magnolia. We would plant even more, but around here, a perfect magnolia spring only comes along once every four or five years, if that. The blossoms of the Yulan magnolia (Magnolia denudata) pictured here are too often spoiled by frost.

Naturally, the contrarian in me seeks a counterpoint to all the prettiness. Call it a yearning for balance and moderation. Down in the streamside muck, literally, resides one of the strangest little plants around. The appearance alone is fascinating and a bit repellant to some. The unforgettable odor gives the plant its common name: Eastern Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus). It’s a member of the Aroid family, which includes Jack-in-the Pulpit, Calla lily and the champion of all smelly plants, the Titan arum, or Corpse flower.

 

Skunk cabbage has been blooming (yes, there’s a flower under that hood), since March. It has the property of actually heating up enough to melt snow. The air around a blooming skunk cabbage can be 25 or 30 degrees warmer than the ambient temperature. This also helps to broadcast its pungent, animal scent to the insects which crowd in to pollinate it and warm themselves inside its shelter.

Another of this plant’s odd attributes is the ability to contract its roots, pulling it deeper into the mud. Over the years, the roots become extremely deep, protecting it from being washed out of its streamside habitat in flood season.

The plant causes painful burning of the mouth and throat when any part is chewed. Like many plants that are poisonous when consumed incautiously, it has been used medicinally and as a magic talisman. Like the rich mud where it grows, there’s more to Skunk Cabbage than meets the eye.

Posted by Ann McCulloh

I like to play a little game in one of my gardens called “Hide the Concrete.” You see, it is a rooftop garden over the 200-car garage here at the Garden.  This garden can really heat up on a sunny day. My job is to cool the space as much as possible with greenery.

The walls are the easiest to hide. Weeping cherries and a Lavender Twist redbud cascade down from above and New Dawn climbing roses, Sweet Autumn clematis and Japanese Climbing hydrangeas work their way up to blanket the concrete.

Walkways are a bit more difficult to hide being that they still have to be passable, but the extra-wide walks are invaded by junipers and cotoneaster. This softens the hard lines formed by the edge of the concrete.

Concrete drives are the most difficult. Any plant spilling into the drives will certainly be run over. I learned this last year, because every time my sweet potato vine crept over the curb, it would meet up with a car tire. And the tire always got the better of the encounter.  So, I am working overhead to shade the concrete drives. I planted some new oaks along the drive last year. I selected a Chinquapin Oak because of its breadth.  It gets wider than it is tall.  Although I will be long gone before it reaches maturity, I have satisfaction in knowing that the "Hide the Concrete" game will continue!

Posted by Bob Rensel

Annual plants certainly have their place in the Garden, but by and large, I prefer perennials. I derive great satisfaction watching the perennials grow year after year, creating lush borders throughout the Garden. Last year, I planted Geranium ‘Rozanne’ in my home garden and it was a real standout. Not only is it a low maintenance plant, but it bloomed almost all summer! What more could you ask for?!

The Perennial Plant Association liked it so much that they declared it the ‘perennial of 2008.’ It likes partial sun and can tolerate dry, hot conditions. It grows well, given a little fertilizer, and will reward you with pretty blue flowers until frost. It’s a hearty growing plant and will easily fill in the space you give it. I noticed that it attracts a good number of pollinating insects like bees and skippers. It would make an excellent plant for hanging baskets and should definitely be considered as a border planting. This is certainly a plant you should have in your garden!

Posted by Cynthia Druckenbrod

Growing roses has been called a labor of love. For centuries, poets have written about suffering the thorns in order to enjoy the beauty and fragrance of the rose. Athletes have a more simple saying: “no pain, no gain.”

Let’s face it, roses are far from low maintenance plants. They are susceptible to a variety of insect and fungal problems. An especially cold winter can cause a lot of die-back, and humid or rainy summers bring on the inevitable black spot fungus. Yet, so many gardeners still find a place for this plant somewhere in their yard. Perhaps it is for sentimental reasons. Or maybe it is because the rose has such a long tradition in literature.   For whatever reason, start your roses off this time of year on the right foot with good structural pruning.

Now is the time to prune shrub roses into a nice v-shape. Follow the rules of pruning and first remove any dead, diseased or crossing canes. Then, select the outwardly branching canes that will form the v-shape and remove the other canes. Limb up the canes that remain so there is not a lot of growth low to the ground where fungal diseases can frequently take hold. Make your pruning cuts just above the buds on the cane in order to direct the new growth outward.  A lot of inward or congested branching leads to poor air circulation and potential fungal problems.

Don’t forget to sterilize those pruners as you move from shrub to shrub to prevent the spread of any diseases. I use rubbing alcohol. It also comes in handy when one of the thorns inevitable finds its way into my hand or arm. But, “no pain, no gain.” The reward will be there sometime around the end of May.

Posted by Bob Rensel

Vermicomposting Hershey Style

All this month, we are discovering the origins of soil in Hershey Children’s Garden. One of our most popular features is our vermicomposting (worm composting for short) unit.  I will not go into detail of how this system works beyond mentioning to always provide good drainage, moisture retention (they are not mutually exclusive) and feed them good vegetable (and egg shell) matter like lettuce, mushy carrots and fruit.

To learn more about worm composting and the wonderful world of wiggly worms, visit the Garden this spring.

Posted by Josh Steffen

The idea of a giant man-eating flytrap like "Audrey" in the Little Shop of Horrors is a hilarious joke, but the truth is, some plants are scarier than they look.  Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) isn’t poisonous to humans, and it doesn’t have thorns, but it has the power to seriously disrupt ecosystems and even to destroy other species of plants and animals.

Garlic mustard is an invasive alien plant. Invasive plants are those especially well-equipped to compete with and crowd out native plants. Like many other invasives, garlic mustard produces huge amounts of seed.  It leafs out earlier in the spring, shading out the fragile native wildflowers.  It also produces a chemical that retards the growth of other plants.

The destructive qualities of garlic mustard aren’t limited to the plant kingdom.  Garlic mustard is similar enough to some native wildflowers, the toothworts, that a rare butterfly is fooled into laying its eggs on the garlic mustard.

The West Virginia White butterfly is the unfortunate victim of garlic mustard.  When the caterpillars emerge, they feed on the garlic mustard leaves, which prevents them from thriving. Between crowding out the toothwort and poisoning the caterpillars, garlic mustard has significantly reduced the numbers of West Virginia White butterflies.

At the Garden, we no longer acquire known invasive plants for permanent planting.  We are gradually removing invasive plants and replacing them with less aggressive species. 

Posted by Ann McCulloh