the garden variety: Cleveland Botanical Garden Blog

Archive for the ‘Summer Gardening’ Category

August 13th, 2008

Empress Waterlily

            The ‘Empress’ is a hybrid tropical day-blooming water lily, in a color not found in winter-hardy water lilies. The flowers of tropical water lilies tend to stand up above the water’s surface. Hardy lily flowers rest at water level.

            The parentage of these thrillingly-colored purple, violet and lavender flowers includes the legendary Egyptian blue water lily (Nymphaea caerulea) which is sometimes   confusingly referred to as the blue lotus. The true lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) is an equally legendary, exquisitely beautiful water plant. Both lotus and waterlilies are thriving in the long, shallow pool on the Geis Terrace.
            We’ve been tracking the water temperature this summer, in an attempt to understand the micro-environment of the Terrace pool better. Temperatures in the pool fluctuate rapidly, since it’s so shallow (c.a. twelve inches of water.) It tends to drop into the 60’s at night, and zoom back up into the 90’s on hot, sunny days.
            It makes it rather difficult to keep fish healthy, but doesn’t seem to bother the waterlilies at all, they thrive in warm water. They are really at their peak in late summer when everything else is starting to look peaked and parched. Once frost threatens, they are scooped out of the pool, pots and all, and wintered over in immense livestock water-tubs in a cozy, warm greenhouse.
 
Posted by Ann McCulloh

 

July 30th, 2008

We’ll always have… Casablanca

Lots of flowers have “lily” added to the name: lily-of-the-valley, waterlily, daylily, calla lily, to name a few. It’s understandable – the lily is an archetypal flower, equal to the rose in history and symbolism, with thousands of years of reverence attached to it. Those other “lilies” have plenty of charm, but none of them have the sheer presence of the true lily.

 

Mid-July through mid-August, is “lily season” around here, and the Garden has a dozen or more fine varieties of garden lilies blooming in rapid succession. There are Trumpet, Oriental and Asiatic hybrids, as well as some of the true species, like  the native Turk’s Cap lily (Lilium superbum) in the Woodland Garden. The giant “Orienpets,” hybrids between Orientals and Trumpets are especially imposing, towering 6 and 7 feet high above their neighbors.
 
Although I’m something of a fragrance fanatic, I have to admit that the fragrance of most lilies is a little too much – intense, cloying, overwhelming - enjoyable from a distance! For some reason the ‘Casa Blanca’ lily, a very popular, easy-to-grow Oriental hybrid just captivates me with its scent. It’s potent, sophisticated and intriguing without so much of the overly ripe, almost animal muskiness that some of the others have. It’s sweet, even creamy, but with a hint of bittersweet chocolate. Maybe it’s the chocolate that has me returning to bury my nose in the blossoms each morning.
 
The flowers are immense – 8” across, white as snow, and substantial. The plants, blooming now in the Herb Garden here, are about 4 feet tall. Hawkmoths must appreciate the scent as well, because they are drawn to the flowers, even in the daytime. This is a perennial plant, which will return each year, if planted in moist, rich, well-drained soil, in a sunny spot, and lightly mulched for sun and frost protection. Although lilies make great cut flowers, I just learned that cutting the stems to bring indoors deprives the plant of important nutrients. I guess they are best enjoyed in the garden, if you don’t want to jeopardize next year’s blooms!
 
Posted by Ann McCulloh
July 24th, 2008

Simple Pleasures

Simply Chiming

Do you want to know what I am stoked about? Probably not, but since I am suppose to blog, I am going to share any way. I am excited about wind chimes! No not the annoying kind that everyone insists upon hanging from the front porch but the unusual. I was walking through the theme gardens on site with parents when I came across a very large single bell type chime. Instantly, I had a hunkering for new sounds in the garden.
Wind chimes, well made, provide a great dimension many do not consider in their gardening. . .sound. Interesting chimes add something to the air that when mixed with great visual and smelly interest makes a complete garden sensual experience.

One does not just hang a wind chime wherever, especially in a children’s garden. Sitting the fabulous chimes (shameless plug) I purchased from our very own gift shop (check out the upcoming tent sale by the way) took some careful thought. First, I want visitors to hear the sound before they see the chime. It adds mystery. Second, the chime must be in a part of the garden where wind passes through easily (not easy in an overgrown jungle). Lastly, and this is important for my garden, the chime had to be out of reach of most hands. Though I love for kids to engage things in the garden, the idea of mass groups of kids stumbling over each other to smack a gong or pull a clacker did not seem overly safe.

So. . .come on down for some sound fun.

Posted by Josh Steffen
 

July 23rd, 2008

Summer

The sight and scent of black elderberry in the Herb Garden give me a momentary touch of vertigo. The flower clusters covering the towering shrub in creamy-white domes, buzzing with bees of all kinds, just epitomize summer for me. It seems odd but wonderful to stand next to them in the heart of University Circle, with Severance Hall, the Peter B. Lewis Building and the Museum of Art radiating culture and sophistication a few yards away.

 
The sweet vanilla/almond fragrance expands in the hot sun, and transports me back in years, to the muddy streambeds of Knox County, Ohio.  My friends and I waded barefoot and kneedeep in every creek and ditch we could find, ducking under the rank, weedy shrubs to dodge a sun so hot it was like a slap on the neck. Chasing tadpoles, swatting mosquitos, picking wild raspberries near the train tracks, and always getting home late for dinner.
 
Memories like that are thick with the sweet scent of elderflowers. Although the purple berries cook up into nice jams, pies and a unique wine, I don’t recall ever picking the plant except to twirl the flowers around until they wilted. It’s probably just as well, since elderberry leaves, stems and uncooked fruits are poisonous, causing nausea and abdominal pain. The flowers and other plant parts have a history of dye and medicinal uses as well.
 
The USDA PLANTS database lists black elderberry as a European introduction, but it was, and is, a familiar sight in the heart of the Ohio countryside and the heart of Cleveland too.

Posted by Ann McCulloh

July 15th, 2008

Wet Feet

 

I finally got a new pair of work boots. My old ones leaked. Like most of my plants, I don’t like having wet feet.
 
That’s the challenge with much of our Northeast Ohio soil. The heavy clay is slow to drain. When I notice a plant failing in my garden, I check to see how it was planted. I will occasionally have a juniper turn brown or a cotoneaster bite the dust. More often than not, its roots are sitting in too much moisture. It sometimes even makes a suction noise when I pull it out of the ground.
 
So unless you want to fill your garden with plants that like wet conditions (willows, hydrangeas, sedges…) the solution is to plant your specimen correctly in the first place. You can send some of your soil away to be tested.   But to know if you have heavy clay, just dig a hole and then pour a bucket of water into the hole. If it is slow to drain, then you know that most of your plants are not going to be happy sitting in that hole after a rain. It is like putting plants in a clay pot that has no drainage hole. So make sure you dig a hole much larger and deeper than the root ball of your new plant. Then pour in some sandy soil that will drain away excess water. Then your plant can go in the hole along with the rest of the fill dirt. Plants like Rhododendrons that are especially adverse to wet soils can even be planted high with rich but well draining soils piled up around the rootball to avoid wet feet.
 
Clay can be so damp, cool and slow to drain that many gardeners in this region switch to raised bed and container gardening so that they can optimize the growing medium for their plants.
 
So if you have clay soil and the instructions for your new plant say it likes “well-drained soil,” be sure to take the necessary steps to avoid wet feet. 
July 9th, 2008

Have your garden and eat it , too

 I’m a staunch believer in beauty for beauty’s sake. Some things nourish us on a purely aesthetic level, in wonderful, intangible ways.

But idealism can lead you into quirky dilemmas. Is it morally defensible to put resources into rose gardens, lawns, and intensively maintained hedges? The answer that wells up within me is “yes!” it must be! At the same time I feel equally compelled by the idea of providing sustenance for myself, my community and the rest of the world’s creatures.
 
One of the Garden’s talented and dedicated gardeners, Larry Giblock, occasionally  gives a program called, simply “Eat Your Landscape,” which proposes that many edible plants are beautiful, and vice versa. When I heard of this, I found the most delightful answer to my moral quandary.
 
Combining flowers with more utilitarian plants isn’t new. English cottage gardens evolved from that practical approach, mixing fragrant pinks and roses with herbs, fruit trees and berry bushes. The French potager laid out with gorgeous formal symmettry is another example of edible landscaping.
 
Since several books and even websites have appeared on this topic (and much more could still be written), I end this by promising a list of edible ornamentals in a later post. And a suggestion: add some daylily buds or petals to your salad today. Good with a citrus dressing like this one:
 
whisk together:
 
2/3 c. olive, sunflower or other vegetable oil
2 tbsp. orange juice
3 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. honey
1 garlic clove, minced (optional)
1 1/2 tsp. grated orange peel
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
June 25th, 2008

Just breathe

Roses and June go together. Some of our lovely roses begin to bloom in late May, and many linger through summer, teasing with a stray flower now and then. September offers a sweet echo when a number of them rouse themselves into a last chorus before frost. A few really hardy roses can be seen blooming into October and November.

 
However. Nothing can touch the total, breath-taking immersion in sweet-scented petals that is the rose garden in June. I’m quite biased here, too. Few roses are worth time, trouble and garden space, unless they possess fragrance. The opalescent beauty above is Sharifa Asma, a David Austin introduction from the 1980’s that has earned a lasting place, in my opinion. A full, old-fashioned bowl of creamy pink petals, it offers a sweet myrrh/old rose scent with a lovely lemony note.
 
Sharifa Asma does produce some flowers throughout the summer, but its real crescendo of flower and scent comes smack in the middle of the height of rose season. Don’t overlook it. It’s worth a stop, a look, and long deep inhale all on its own.
June 24th, 2008

Plant Smacking Savvy

Why the "OVERgrowth?"

I sometimes get the complaint that the children’s garden is so "overgrown." This is a complaint of adult personages and not of children. Children seem to have no problem navigating the environment in which they find themselves. I thought of this particular comment yesterday as I was pruning the Little Leaf Lindens that stretch their arms over each side of the front garden gate. The bottom branches create a filtered view into the garden and a height requirement as adults must bend slightly or face branch brushing. Hershey Children’s Garden is built around immersion. The garden is designed as a full immersion experience with plant, flower, frog and dragonfly. As a gardener I want plants smacking you in the face. In this garden, people move for the plants and not the other way around.

Having said all that, I do take certain measures. My style of gardening is to provide a wild but controlled look to any space I manage. This is reflected most in the way woody plants are pruned. I prune to control growth so as to keep plants in scale with others or to provide filtered views or clear path ways. Kids do become intimidated when a path becomes too overgrown. We find kids do not choose a path if it is so congested that it looks like a scary place to be or an impenetrable barrier.
 

 

June 19th, 2008

Every thing old is new again

One of the pleasures of a perennial garden is definitely the anticipation of seeing favorite blooms and vignettes re-appear year after year. The scene is the same, but always with a difference. Some plants thrive, getting fuller and more beautiful every year. Others are meant to dwindle away, to eventually be replaced by something new and just as lovely. The rather short blooming period of many perennials adds to the charm of a garden that is always in flux, always on the cusp of another transition.

This is the Garden’s CK Patrick perennial border, composed of herbaceous perennials and medium-sized shrubs. All combine to create harmonies of color and texture with foliage as well as flowers. This is one of my favorite moments in this garden, when the 7-foot foxtail lilies frame a cottage-pretty view of ‘Carefree Delight’ roses, pale yellow foxgloves, ‘Bee’s Ruby’ thrift and a dozen other pink, yellow and lavender beauties.

June 19th, 2008

Bulbs For ALL Seasons

Yes They Exist!

Okay, so maybe you are not as horticulturally ignorant as I am, but until recently I still conceived (even with all my vast training) of flowering bulbs as a spring and fall thing. There is, however, a whole series of options that add interest throughout the summer. Here are a couple of my current favorites found in Hershey Children’s Garden:

  • Eucomis comosa  is the pineapple lily. This semi-hardy South African bulb provides interesting spikes of color for a solid week (if I recall) and the broad, coarse leaves add great textural interest.
  • Many lilies, Lillium sp., are wonderful to behold. An unknown orange cultivar, pictured above, is blooming as I write this article.
  • Triteleia sp. is actually a cormous set of fourteen species, but it’s delightful summer blue is worth pointing out. The blooms last for approximately a week and definitely like more sun. Come see such a display as seen below.

Cleveland Botanical Garden
11030 East Boulevard
Cleveland, Ohio 44106 USA
t: 216.721.1600
f: 216.721.2056
http://www.cbgarden.org/