On the occasion of the Garden’s 80th anniversary year, here’s the first in a series of short videos we’re featuring on The Garden Variety this summer based on a new Around the Garden in 80 Minutes self-guided tour that you can download for yourself on our website.

This year’s gardening trends are not much different from last year — but there are a few notable additions.

Edible gardening continues to be big. The recession bolstered a renewed interest in vegetable gardening last year, and we don’t see that declining at all this year.

Organic gardening is also a trend that is likely here to stay as homeowners rely more on natural means of pest control. Chemically dependent lawns are being replaced with low-mow lawns or, alternatively, homeowners are looking for and using more organic methods to control weeds and fertilize. Deer-resistant plants and sprays used to protect plants from deer will be popular as long as we allow their numbers to increase. Love them or hate them, they must be managed now.

Another new trend in gardening, vertical gardening and rooftop gardening, is bringing green to urbanites with limited space. There are a number of new patents and new companies dealing with green walls and green roofs. Here, we are in the midst of creating our own green roof above our cafe that we hope will inspire others to do the same. There are a number of environmental benefits that green walls and roofs provide. We’ll look at this particular trend more in depth in another blog soon.

Posted by Cynthia Drukenbrod

That’s right, the horticulture staff from the Garden will be making appearances at the Great Big Home and Garden Expo at the IX Center all week beginning February 6. We’ll be giving presentations covering a wide range of horticultural topics including: Sustainable Rose Care, Growing Orchids Successfully, The Best Beautiful Plants for Your Garden, Composting Basics, Container Gardening, Proper Houseplant Care and Selecting the Right Rhododendrons for Your Garden. We are once again sharing exhibit space with the Cuyahoga County Master Gardeners who will also be speaking throughout the week.

When you visit, you’ll notice that our garden display is quite different for the other landscapers’ gardens. We chose to showcase orchids and tillandsias on one side to make visitors aware of our upcoming Orchid Mania show, Feb 27-Mar 28. The opposite side of our garden was created by Shoko Morton, an expert in the Sogetsu School of Ikebana Japanese flower arranging. Our exhibits are unlike any other you will see at the IX Center! We hope that you will visit and enjoy our floral artwork!

Halloween, that most sinister of holidays, is upon us — and what better time to highlight a most sinister plant?  I’m talking about monkshood. Known scientifically as Aconitum, or sometimes referred to as wolfsbane, this is a very, very toxic plant and you should use caution when handling it for any reason. I planted several varieties of Aconitum carmichaelii this summer and I made certain that I always wore gloves. I didn’t want to take the chance that just touching these plants might produce numbness in my hands, as I have so often heard from many sources. However, even as poisonous as these plants are, they still show off vibrant blue and purple flowers that resemble little hoods and are a real standout in any garden. According to Amy Stewart’s excellent and enganging new book, "Wicked Plants: A Book of Botanical Atrocities." People who have the misfortune to ingest this plant may become seriously ill or even die.

Posted by Cynthia Drukenbrod

This summer at Cleveland Botanical Garden, we grew several gladiolus varieties in the David and Paula Swetland Topiary Garden. They stood high above the surrounding vegetation and demanded attention from all visitors. The corms were planted against a taxus hedge and really stood out against the deep green foliage. Many visitors who noticed them wondered why they hadn’t seen gladious in awhile. I suppose it was just coincidental that we haven’t grown them at the Garden for some time. Nevertheless, most of us probably think of funerals when we do see glads and perhaps the reason why we don’t see more places growing glads is due to the fact that it reminds people of sad times. While I can’t argue that glads are often used in funeral floral arrangements, they should not be ignored by gardeners. They are incredibly beautiful plants that come in a wide array of colors. New cultivars are released yearly and the hues that are being introduced become more complex and gorgeous each year. Some of my favorite varieites include ‘Drama’, ‘Blues’, and ‘Wind Song’ all of which can be found at Brent and Becky’s Bulbs. You must plant the corms in full sun and err on the deeper side so that they stand up nicely. If you sign up for Brent’s lecture or workshop on September 17th here at the Garden, you may even get a sneak preview of the new Glads that haven’t been released to the market yet. Hope to see you here!

The autumn crocus, Colchicum autumnale, is a lovely harbinger of cooler days to come. A chemical derived from this flower, called colchicine, is used by plant propagators to change the chromosome number in plants. For instance, in daylilies, many varieties have had their number of chromosomes doubled (going from diploids to tetraploids) using colchicine. This often results in plants that are hardier, larger and have more robust flowers and scapes. Colchicine is also used to treat gout in humans. But please don’t think about harvesting C. autumnale if you want to self-medicate. It’s very easy to overdose and there is no known antidote.

If you want to grow these darling little bulbs, plant them in the fall —  the foliage emerges in the spring. Unilke their cousins, the spring-blooming cocuses, the flowers of the autumn crocus are in full bloom right now. There are several varieties to consider including the single flowering, ‘Lilac wonder’ and the gorgeous double flowering ‘Water lily’. One great source from Brent and Becky’s Bulbs, www.brentandbeckysbulbs.com. In fact, Brent Heath himself will be here at the Garden on Sept 17th to talk about all the new and interesting bulbs that are about to be introduced. Don’t miss him — he’s one of America’s leading bulb experts.

Newly blooming in the Costa Rica Glasshouse is a fabulous orchid called Stanhopea gibbosa. It has no common name that I can find, so we use the Latin one. Stanhopea orchids are unique in that the flowers hang below the foliage, unlike more common orchids such as Phalaenopsis and Cattleya hybrids. The pendulous flowers bloom in the summer. In its native region of Central America, you can find them attached to large trees in the tropical, humid rainforests.

What’s most unique about S. gibbosa is its fragrance. If you ask 100 people what they think it smells like, you’ll get 100 different answers! There is little agreement even among the horticulture staff here at the Garden. Personally, I think it smells like menthol, similar to the frangrance of Vicks VapoRub. Nate Tschaenn, one of our Glasshouse specialists, thinks it smells like chocolate mint. And in doing a quick internet search, I found others suggest this orchid has a strong vanilla scent. Steven Frowine, the author of  Fragrant Orchids, writes that other Stanhopea species smell like jasmine and cinnamon.

So, which is it? Orchid fragrances are so chemically complex, and human scent so subjective, that all of the above are likely to be true. There are even some very exotic and difficult-to-find perfumes based on orchid fragrances.

So, stop in soon because these orchid flowers only last a few days and take in the heady scents of one of our most unique orchids!

Early August usually signifies that the last of the blueberries are ripening and that soon their season will be ending. I had high hopes that the cooler and wetter summer might have pushed back the season and even elongated it, but on a recent excursion out to a few Geauga County farms, we found that one farm was closed for the week to allow for ripening and that they would likely be picked out the following Saturday.

Luckily for my husband and me, another farm just happened to be open only on Mondays and Thursdays — and it was thankfully Monday that day. So, out we ventured into the farm with our little buckets strung around our shoulders. The blueberries were plentiful, although the Amish farmers said to us before we started picking:  "…not sure what you’ll find, but good luck." Undaunted by this less-than-optimistic warning, we proceeded to find lots of ripe, delicious, fat blueberries. My husband probably eats as much as he picks, so his bucket remained fairly light. My bucket, on the other hand, became uncormfortably heavy toward the end of an hour of picking in the bright sun, and I was ready to go when Mark said he was full. After an hour of eating blueberries, how can you not be full?! We paid for our blueberries – only $4.50 for what was probably a quart. A really good deal in my opinion. We also gave a little extra for the pint that Mark ate.

Geauga County has a number of wonderful blueberry farms. Check it out if you haven’t already. If you can’t make it out to Geauga County, you can always come here to the Garden to see our blueberries!

On Sunday, July 26th, from 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm,  the Northern Ohio Daylily Society and the Botanical Garden will be showcasing daylilies in all their magnificent glory! This is a judged event by certified daylily judges so you can imagine that the best of the best daylily varieties will be on display. There are two main sections in the show: the scapes and the individual flowers. Only the scapes are eligible to be judged. The individual flowers are shown more as an educational tool for those guests who are thinking about obtaining the newest varieties. The Society will also be selling several types of dayliles at incredible prices so get here early if you’re interested in purchasing a few lilies for your garden.

Many daylily experts will be on hand to answer your questions and provide insightful tips on successfully growing daylilies. If you’re interested in entering a daylily scape or individual flowers, please download the booklet. You’ll see there are different categories in which to enter your scape or flowers depending on the size of the flowers and whether or not the flowers are spider forms.

  Don’t forget to visit the Garden on July 26th for the Daylily Show! It’ll be spectacular!

What is the best way to rid your plants of aphids? Personally, I favor the quick, easy and instantaneous method of simply squishing the bugs. Don’t want to get gooey aphid guts on your hands? Ok, try insecticidal soaps, or neem oil. Neem oil is fantastic- a natural insecticide derived from the neem tree. It has a unique odor to it, but I wouldn’t call it off-putting, just distinctive. Do be careful if you use soaps- many plants don’t like soaps and will burn easily in the sun. Always spray a small test area first and never spray in the middle of a sunny day. Since soaps aren’t residual, you’ll need to spray as often as you see the bugs. Aphids have a nasty habit of getting out of control quickly. When their populations get really big, beneficial insects fly in to the rescue. The question is – can you wait that long to let the aphids get to large numbers before the ladybugs and lacewings come in? Possibly- remember, soap and neem can still harm beneficial bugs, too, so if you go that route know that your diminishing your chances of having predators knock down your aphids. If you choose to leave your aphids to the voracious whims of predators and parisitoids (mainly tiny wasps), you’ll be treated to the daily carnage that ensues when bugs are left to their own devices. Look for ladybugs (both adults and larvae) as well as lacewing larvae chowing down on aphids. Also, look for aphid mummies- the light bown, swollen, dead aphids that will eventually have a small exit hole in their backside. This small hole shows us that more tiny wasps have emerged and are on the prowl for more aphids. It’s a bug-eat-bug world!

An Aphid Mummy!