If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to start gardening, this is the book for you. The author is Joe Lamp’l and it was published in 2006. The subtitle, “Your how-to and why-do guide,” really says it all. Information is explained in a very down-to-earth, easy to understand way, and additionally you learn why you should actually be doing various tasks in your garden. Lots of pictures and side notes help further elucidate topics. Lamp’l gives organic resources where possible and even incorporates pets into the landscape – very important! There are chapters on soil, color, lawns, containers, lighting and just about everything else you need to know to have a fabulous yard. This book is available in our library and gift shop. Joe has a great website you should check out too. Not coincidentally, Joe Lamp’l is also the keynote speaker at our upcoming Sustainability Symposium on Saturday, February 6. His presentation will be based on his latest book, The Green Gardener’s Guide, which I’ll blog about next time.

If patience is a virtue, gardeners should be among the most virtuous.

It is tough enough to wait until spring to see the fruits of a bulb display planted back in November.  But some perennials require a few years of gardener endurance and restraint before they achieve the desired results in the garden.  Sometimes nurseries will wisely caution consumers that their new acquisition will follow the three-year “sleep, creep and leap” rule.

I like to think of gardens as living spaces that need to evolve and mature. Instant gardens are certainly more expensive and less sustainable than gardens that start small and grow into a space. This process not only requires good planning.  It requires patience.

A few years ago I was so impressed with an Arum italicum display  that I found a nice shady area in my garden for 100 of them. I had read about how aggressively they can spread so I put them in an area that is somewhat contained. The next spring I checked on them and only a few had come up. Not one bloomed that year. A fellow gardener then told me these plants are classic sleepers, creepers and leapers. Okay. So I waited some more. This past season was supposed to be their creep year. About 50 of them leafed out. About a dozen bloomed. And of the 100 originally put in, only five developed the bright orange berry stalks! I was expecting more.

So now I am waiting for leap year.  This is not only a test of my patience, but a lesson in gardening.  Not only do we need to do our homework so that we select the right plant for the right spot.  We need to allow each plant the time it needs to get established. 

Then enjoy the leap.

Posted by Bob Rensel

Like a refugee from Alice’s topsy-turvy world, the hardy cyclamen (Cyclamen hederifolium) seems to do everything backwards. The pale pink or white blooms appear in mid October before a fine crop of leaves that stay deep green all winter long. The plant virtually disappears in the summer, just when everything else is in full leaf and flower. It reappears to delight us every fall, in various spots around the Japanese Garden.

These delicate-seeming flowers are tough as nails. Their native range includes a large part of southern and eastern Europe, on into Turkey and Greece. They are related to the florist’s cyclamen that appear in shops in early winter, but they will actually thrive in Northeast Ohio gardens.  The fragrance is sweet and refined, a little like that of an heirloom rose. Of course it’s easier to catch a whiff when you are lying on the ground to photograph the flowers!

A reliable and long-lived perennial for shade gardens, their foremost requirement is a nice, dry summer season. Don’t forget their location when digging in the flower beds, either, because it is possible to accidentally damage the dormant plants. Cyclamen hederifolium are hardy to zone 4, and will gradually increase and spread by root and seed.

Posted by Ann McCulloh

Hershey Children’s Garden Cool Plants
(#10 in a series of 10)
Native Bird Food: Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)

Some adults bring their children to Hershey Children’s Garden and become engrossed in exciting adventures and programs — and possibly miss some of the horticultural nuances of this great garden space. Hershey Children’s Garden is a sophisticated and — now in its 10th anniversary season — mature garden with many plantings that any adult gardener or garden enthusiast would love to have in their personal greenspace. Who can blame them?

Here is the final plant in our series of 10 of our staff’s favorite Hershey Children’s Garden plants, along with their special and unusual properties to appreciate with a child.  

Fall in Hershey Children’s Garden is full of different colored leaves. Fall is also time for flowers that many people overlook. I am speaking, of course, of the perennial grass flowers or flower inflorescence.
There are many different perennial grasses in the children’s garden. Little Bluestem, one particular favorite, originates from the eastern tall grass prairies of North America.

Little bluestem is a native bunch grass with summer blue-green leaves and pretty inflorescence. The leaves change to an attractive multi-colored pattern as the temperature cools. Right now, it is a great plant to examine closely with your children. You can note the purples and reds. See how many different colors you can see.

I highly recommend Little bluestem for children’s gardens. The two to four feet in height makes a great scale for children. They can walk in a prairie of Little Bluestem and not feel overwhelmed amongst extremely tall grass. It is tolerant of a wide range of soil and moisture conditions as well. Also, it has many seasons of interest capped with great fall color.
 

Come see this little seasonal wonder on your next visit. Also, check out our self-guided tour of the children’s garden prairie on our activity cart. It is full of all kinds of information and things to do in the prairie.
 

       Some plants seem to wait until the last minute to start blooming. This is the case with the toad lily, a strangely named perennial with a strangely unique flower. The toad lily, in the genus Tricyrtis, is present in the garden all spring and summer but doesn’t start flowering until most gardeners have started putting out mums, kale, asters, and other fall plants. Blooming this late in the year isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It just makes toad lilies that much more unique.

      Besides being prized for their exotic-looking flowers, toad lilies are highly valued in the shade garden, being one of the few shade plants that flower in the fall. Though they seem to be growing in popularity, I believe that toad lilies are often overlooked in garden centers in favor of other shade perennials that bloom in the spring and early summer when most people are doing their shopping. Many new varieties are being developed, some with various types of variegated leaves that increase their appeal during spring and summer and can show off the flowers better. One low-growing, variegated variety that is already available is Tricyrtis ‘Lightning Strike’.

     There are about 20 different species of toad lily, all native to Asia. They enjoy moist shady areas in rich organic soil. The flowers are highly variable in their spotted patterns with most being in shades of purple. To me, the flowers look like a cross between a passion flower and an orchid. It’s easy to see why the common name for Tricyrtis in Holland is ‘poor man’s orchid’. No offense to this spectacular flower. I’d highly recommend it for any shade garden.

Posted by Nathan Tschaenn

Hershey Children’s Garden Cool Plants
(#9 in a series of 10)

Edible/Fruit: Raspberry (Rubus idaeus)

Some adults bring their children to Hershey Children’s Garden and become engrossed in exciting adventures and programs — and possibly miss some of the horticultural nuances of this great garden space. Hershey Children’s Garden is a sophisticated and — now in its 10th anniversary season — mature garden with many plantings that any adult gardener or garden enthusiast would love to have in their personal greenspace. Who can blame them?

Here is the ninth plant in our series of 10 of our staff’s favorite Hershey Children’s Garden plants, along with their special and unusual properties to appreciate with a child.

One memorable late summer and early Autumn sensation is the delightful burst of sweetness one experiences with every raspberry freshly picked from Hershey Children’s Garden. Every September, visitors of every age are treated to an abundant crop of red delicious aggregrate fruits. Staff have grown Rubus ’Latham,’ R. ‘Heritage,’ and R. ‘Illini Hardy.’ It is a fun discovery to come upon such an inviting treat.

Raspberries are fairly easy to grow in your back yard, and planting them give kids something to look forward to all summer long. There is nothing like fresh raspberries on one’s cereal to cheer little faces bound for school. I like to interact with kids who want to pick the fruit early about what ripe means and teach them proper harvest time. Raspberries are best harvested when they turn the richest red or gold. If they do not come easily off the plant then little fingers are best taught to wait.

Raspberries are best planted in moisture-retentive (yet well-drained) soil with lots of organic matter. An addition of compost in late spring or balanced organic fertilizer works well for me. Summer-fruiting varieties should be cut to ground level after fruiting. For summer varieties, only cut down the canes that produced fruit that year. Unfruited canes I then cut in half in spring. Fall-fruiting varieties should be completely cut back in late winter and then cut to six inches above any training wire.

Do these simple tasks and this low maintenance fruit will give more than it takes. Enjoy your cereal.

The brilliant purple flowers of New York Ironweed (Vernonia novaboracensis) are a sure sign that summer is winding to a close. This tall, sturdy native perennial flower is said to get its nickname from the “rusty” appearance of its stems and dried flower heads, which persist into fall. It is a wonderful source of nectar for butterflies. I am sure that the Monarch butterflies I see landing on it have crossed the lake from Canada, and are fueling up for their long journey south for the winter.

The difference between an annual and perennial.

When to divide hostas.

How to prune a lilac.

Are these gardening questions you’ve wanted to know the answers to —  but were afraid to ask? Help is on the way, my friend.

Twice a year, the Garden offers a“Green Gardener and Public Horticulture Volunteer” certification program. And the even better news is there is still time to register before the August 28^th deadline. The bad news (for you, maybe) is that this class always sells out. We began offering this class in the winter of 2006, and every time since then, a fanastic little community of learners has been created by the participants. The class is 10 weeks long.  Half of the instruction is conveniently conducted online, and the other half consists of hands-on labs conducted here at the Garden. Throughout the class, you learn the basics of horticulture, botany, plant health, soil composition, good versus bad insects — enough to make you a proficient and prolific hands-on gardener.

The Green Gardener/Public Horticulture Volunteer certification program is a great way to learn more about something you love, meet some fun, like-minded people, and end up with certification that you can brag to your friends about! Why not just sign up already! 

Hershey Children’s Garden Cool Plants
(#8 in a series of 10)

Aquatic Greatness: Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera)

Some adults bring their children to Hershey Children’s Garden and become engrossed in exciting adventures and programs — and possibly miss some of the horticultural nuances of this great garden space. Hershey Children’s Garden is a sophisticated and — now in its 10th anniversary season — mature garden with many plantings that any adult gardener or garden enthusiast would love to have in their personal greenspace. Who can blame them?

Here is the eighth plant in our series of 10 of our staff’s favorite Hershey Children’s Garden plants, along with their special and unusual properties to appreciate with a child.

Lotus is one of the most striking plants in Hershey Children’s Garden and one of my favorites. This Asian beauty displays wide, circular shaped leaves whose amazing "Teflon" effect repels water. Try splashing or placing some water droplets on the leaves and watch the liquid dance around as if it where on a hot skillet. Speaking of skillets, the lotus tuber is used in Asian cooking and holds much symbolism for the Chinese.

Lotus is a plant to watch develop over multiple visits throughout the spring and summer with your child. The first leaves lay flat on the water like lily pads in May. The second set of leaves shoot out of the water like umbrellas turned inside out in a wind storm. The flowers and seed heads are also great fun. The flowers form blooms and the resulting seed stalks look like shower heads with rattling seeds. 

See now why it is a top ten favorite plant?

Hershey Children’s Garden Cool Plants
(#7 in a series of 10)

Bird Plant: Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)

Some adults bring their children to Hershey Children’s Garden and become engrossed in exciting adventures and programs — and possibly miss some of the horticultural nuances of this great garden space. Hershey Children’s Garden is a sophisticated and — now in its 10th anniversary season — mature garden with many plantings that any adult gardener or garden enthusiast would love to have in their personal greenspace. Who can blame them?

Here is the seventh plant in our series of 10 of our staff’s favorite Hershey Children’s Garden plants, along with their special and unusual properties to appreciate with a child.

Cardinal flower is one of the many stunning blooms visitors may find in Hershey Children’s Garden right now. Redder than fire engines, hummingbirds love the flowers of this Midwestern native. It naturally grows in wetland environments, sporting a spike of brilliant blooms from mid- to late-summer. Visitors will find this plant growing along the water fall section of the pond, stretching toward the sky alongside other riverbank lovers golden Alexander and swamp milkweed. This  bloom offers a great opportunity to speak to children about how observing flower shapes (i.e. tubular), colors (i.e. red), and sizes (i.e. medium) serve as good indicators of a species’ pollinator. Wander outside and see if you and your little one can guess who or what visits your flowers.