The Tommies are up! Crocus tommasinianus

 For gardeners, this is the season of lists and callow hopefulness; hundreds of thousands of bewitched readers are poring over their catalogs, making lists ..., and dreaming their dreams."

-- Katharine White

Tommies, or Crocus tommasinianus are considered the most squirrel-resistant species of crocus because this species contains a bitter-tasting alkaloid that repels squirrels. Bonus... they re-seed freely for naturalizing! Win! Win!

They are early bloomers and adorable in the weakest of lawns but don't mow until after the leaves have died back, about 6-8 weeks after bloom fade. Those leaves are making food for next years flowers. Thick, fertilized, lush lawns can overwhelm them, so enjoy them in your garden beds instead.

Be sure to plant them in sunny sites. They'll open on sunny days giving a much needed early pollen source to bees.

Tommies, Crocus tommasinianus - look for them.

In Bloom in My Garden Today: Crocus, Galanthus, Cyclamen coum, Sarcococca, Erica 'Kramer's Rote', Helleborus

Embracing Wildlife

 "If we can teach people about wildlife, they will be touched. Share my wildlife with me. Because humans want to save things that they love." 

~ Steve Irwin

Yay! I am certified!

Embracing wildlife in the garden brings innumerable rewards. Creating wildlife-friendly plantings is how we do it.  Consider what comes into your yard already. Do you want them to keep coming?  Do you want something that you don’t see?

It’s simple really. Animals and insects need food, water and shelter just like you and me. Incorporate plants that will attract what you want to see more of into your garden spaces.

When buying plants for your garden, many plant labels give some wildlife information that can help you make your choices. The most common symbols I see on labels are for attracting butterflies, pollinators and hummingbirds and for deterring rabbits and deer.

 Firstly, water. Be sure to add a fresh water source or two to your garden for them to drink and/or bathe in. And remember to keep the water fresh and its container clean. You may need to hose it out and refill it daily depending on its popularity. Be sure to locate your water container where you can see it often, every day. You will be rewarded by seeing the wildlife that comes to it.

 Thrush at the fountain.

 

 Robin at the water bowl.

It doesn’t have to be elaborate. This (above) water bowl is just a saucer that is sold for catching water under pots.

If you have cats or dogs that visit your garden, I would suggest not putting a water source this low to the ground. You can raise it up on a tall stump or a stack of bricks or concrete blocks. Safety to the wildlife is key in enjoying them in your garden.

The depth of the water will attract different size birds for bathing. Shallow bowls will attract smaller songbirds while deeper water will be easier for large birds to bathe in. And hummingbirds love flitting through a mist, so a pump with spray may be in order for you.

 As for shelter, birds not only use birdhouses for rearing their young in the spring and summer, they can also use it for shelter during winter storms. 

Be sure to keep them mounted at an accessible height for you but out of reach for cats. I do clean the bird houses out late each winter before birds actively begin searching for a place to nest. A couple of times there were unhatched eggs that had rotted or babies inside that had died. It needed to be cleaned out or new lodgers would not have come, I think.

Lastly is the topic of feed. Best, first and foremost, are plants that offer natural food sources like nectar, pollen and berries all throughout the year, not just summer. In the two photos below, honeybees are gathering pollen or nectar to take back to their hive.

 Honey bee on Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’

 Honeybee on Verbascum chaxii ‘Album’

When you attract insects, don’t begrudge them taking advantage of your plants for their needs other than food. In the next photo, this is not damage in my opinion. This is evidence of the leaf cutter bee.

 

They cut out perfect circles in soft leaves. They then fly back with the disc to use as packing material for its tubular nest to protect the larvae till ready to hatch. I welcome these holes and smile every year when I see leaf cutter bees are active in my garden. If you happen to see one in the very act of leaf cutting, you are very lucky indeed. It is fun to watch. Leaf cutter bees are passive and one of the many native pollinators here in the U.S. We need them.

 Food supplementation is not without controversy, but I do believe it has a legitimate place in the wildlife friendly garden. If your garden does not offer winter food sources naturally, you may consider feeding.

Suet for bird feeding is a debated form of feed, but I do offer it during all the cold, rainy months.

Winter winds drive winter’s rain into seed feeders of all types in my experience. Soggy seed feeders are a mess to keep clean and molded seed is hazardous to your feathered visitors. I choose to feed suet because it is not affected by rain, it is consumed quickly and many species of birds come to it.

The hummingbirds will find nectar in a very large variety of flowers.

Commonly they are seen sipping from the plants with more tubular shaped flowers like penstemon, salvia and fuchsia.  However, I have also seen them on roses, and in the winter months they visit my Camelia ‘Yuletide’ which is not tubular, yet attractive to them by its red flowers and nectar stores.

 Here a green Anna’s hummingbird enjoying nectar from flowers on the right hand side of this pot of fuchsia plants.

  

If you feed them with a syrup mixture, it is not recommended to use that red dye stuff you buy at the store in a box. It contains a red chemical dye which is toxic for people and birds alike. The red plastic tops and tubes on feeders are enough to catch the hummingbird’s attention.

 

A simple syrup you make yourself with equal parts table sugar and boiling water, dissolved and cooled is better for them. Frankly they will find your offering with no color on the feeder at all but if you want red, buy one that has red parts. Or you could hang it with a red ribbon, tie on a red flower or use a red ‘write-on-glass’ pen to add some color to the glass bottle.

In reality, hummingbirds also feed on lots of flowers that are not red. While the color is attractive to them, it is not critical. Once they find your syrup feeder, they will be back as long as you keep it clean and filled. Give it a good wash out with a bottle brush before each refill. Check it weekly if not more often. Sugar water can mold quickly especially if in a sunny location. Shade is a more desirable choice. Depending on traffic, be prepared to fill it weekly or every couple of days.

You may find suggestions online for various syrup recipe ratios based on seasonal changes. Honestly, I used to do that but don’t anymore. They come year-round to my feeder with the same 1:1 water/sugar ratio recipe.

Feeding deer or rabbit is another matter. Plant tags with a slash through an image of deer or rabbit signifies plants that neither will tend to eat. If you have a lot of foraging deer in your vicinity, don’t plant roses or other plants they are known to devour. Personally, I would rather have the occasional deer wander through my yard instead of a lot of roses.

Don’t get me wrong. I like roses and have had many over the years. In my previous garden I had 3 Old English roses in the back yard where the deer didn’t go.

There are two roses in this garden that have been here for a very long time judging by the size of the older canes. This guy nibbles a few blossoms each time he comes by but he doesn’t devour the whole plant.

 

I will keep the roses for the time being. I don’t really like where they are planted nor do I know what kind they are, but they bloom all summer and well into the winter, don’t require extra summer watering or fertilizer and must not be like candy to the deer, like most fussy hybrid teas roses are.

Apparently, deer like fuchsias too. I see hoof prints often in my garden after one or more has been by the night before. Other than hoof prints the only evidence of browsing I have seen was that he ate all the top blossoms off this big pot of fuchsias pictured above. I don’t mind. I love seeing deer and we are not overrun with herds of them where I live and garden. They left enough flowers for me and hummingbird to enjoy too.

Deer are foraging wildlife. When food is abundant they will be choosy. When food is scarce they will be less so. Understanding this, there are many lists of deer resistant plants any internet search will provide you with, as well as symbols on plant lables, but accept the fact that when food is scarce they will eat even that which they may not prefer. They don’t read those lists. The lists are simply guides for you and me based on someone elses previous experience.

As for bunnies, we had tons of them in the spring. They nibbled a few low-to-the-ground flowers on the veronica but I didn’t mind at all.  Mostly they just ate the soft fresh leaves of the clover, dandelion and grass. I always leave clover in the grass anyway. It feeds nectar to bees and pollinators and clover root fixes nitrogen in the soil which feeds the grass. I have enjoyed seeing bunnies come by as part of my local wildlife mix too and don’t mind their nibbling on some of the plants. There’s enough to go around for us all to enjoy.

There is so much more I could write on this subject, but hopefully this is enough to whet your appetite for ideas if you want to create a wildlife friendly garden.

Here in the USA, many states have a backyard sanctuary program. The signage in the first photo proves my certification based on the requirements of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. If where you live has such a program, I encourage you look into the certification requirements. The signage sparks interest and conversation and maybe more wildlife friendly gardens will grow.

Thanks for reading and happy gardening!

In bloom in my garden today: Geum, Camellia ‘Yuletide’, Primrose, Calendula, Erica carnea winter heath, Lithodora, Erysimum (wallflower)

Bird photos courtesy of Patrick L. Chissus photography. You can see more of his work on Instagram @nwmaritimephotography

All other photos are mine.

Eye Candy

Despite the gardener's best intentions, Nature will improvise. 

~Michael P. Garafalo

I walk around my urban neighborhoods, alot. It is my favorite form of exercise, aside from gardening. Most of the photos in my posts, not of my garden, have come from those walks.

I have loved watching this tree slowly swallow up the fence over the years, and thought you might enjoy seeing it too.

In bloom in my garden today: Geranium Lily Lovell and the double white daisy are still eeking out a few blooms, but the pyracantha is the show stopper of the garden now.

Author's photo

Eye Candy

Delicious autumn! 
My very soul is wedded to it,

and if I were a bird, 
I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.

- George Eliot

The pyracantha berries are at their peak now in my garden. They are beautiful, bright, and full of goodness that the birds and squirrels are feasting on.

Plant pyracantha in full sun and prune before flowering in late winter or early, early spring and you and the birds will be rewarded year after year.

In bloom in my garden today: Cuphea vermillionaire, Double white daisy, Fuchsia, Hardy Geranium “Lily Lovell”, Knifophia, Lavender, Himalayan honeysuckle (Leycesteria Formosa), Pachysandra axillaris 'Windcliff Fragrant', Salvia, Solanum crispum

Author’s photo

Raking for Gold

Earth knows no desolation. She smells regeneration in the moist breath of decay.

– George Meredith, 1828-1909, English novelist and poet

Happy fall day!

 

Fall season in the Pacific Northwest is synonymous with alternating bouts of soft rain showers, hard rain, rain deluge, wind, hail, warm-wet storms from the south Pacific competing with frigid northerly winds and more rain. But then the sun will come out and warm and dry us once again. We revel in the beauty of this season as we venture out for our fall walks and absorb the amazingly gorgeous leaf colors that this time of year brings to our little corner of the world.

It’s October. The tree’s leaves reveal their true colors that lie hidden under the chlorophyll as it dissipates with the ebbing sunlight, only to drop as bounty to blanket the ground in glorious color. I love the fall for its beautiful sunny days and the beauty and systematic purpose of creation as it gears down for a long winter’s nap. It also brings the promise of a time of rest for me from what can at times be the rigors of tending the summer garden.

To the savvy and frugal gardener it also means time to rake in the gold!

The gold I refer to are all those deciduous tree and perennial leaves that are beginning to drop. Beautiful, wonderful, nutritious, weed blocking, soil feeding leaves blowing around that land on your lawn and garden beds. If you are like me you purposely planted deciduous trees with small leaves like Katsura and Japanese maple varietals. Small leaves or leaf pieces are faster to decay without smothering and are easy to rake and distribute over your garden beds like a snuggly winter blanket that will become food for your soil by spring time. Food for your soil means food for your plants, which means free fertilizer!

I cannot help but shake my head when I see homeowners and hired groundskeepers blowing leaves away (and into the street only to clog storm drains and cause minor localized flooding…but that’s a rant for another post) or neighbors grumbling as they mow up or rake then dump their leaves into yard waste bins for the city to pick up and haul away. Those leaves go to a compost facility only to be treated like the gold that they are for some months before the compost they become is bagged and sold back to the gardener who then spreads it over their garden. Save your time and money friend. You’ve already done the job of raking it off your lawn, now instead of giving it away, just deposit it over your garden beds and let it do the work of natural decay.

Honestly, can anyone really say they prefer the deafening drone of a gas powered leaf blower over the soft scritch-scritch of a leaf rake? Ever been on a walk, reveling in the beauty of color and sun on a quiet fall day only to round the corner and encounter, well…which would you rather hear? Not to mention the cloud of dust, debris and pollen that blower stirs up…well hello seasonal allergies!

Now that the leaf blower has done its job, the soil is bare once again and awaiting any and all airborne weed seeds to come in for a landing and call your garden home.

Have you ever considered the normal order of the seasons in nature? Rarely if ever, do you see bare soil. The forests annually cover their feet and floor with leaf drop and the meadows clothe themselves with leafy ground-covering perennials. Mostly, where you see a weedy mess is where the ground is regularly swept bare and weeds are allowed to multiply because there isn’t someone or something to constantly monitor or stir up the area.

My entire back and side yard are garden and the only places I have to do regular weeding is along portions of the walkways where foot traffic and breezes push away my annually laid leafy mulch.

My leaf corralling tools are inexpensive and easy to acquire.

1. A garbage can of a size easy for you to handle when full. Dry leaves are very light weight so a full can is not terribly heavy, but if you have to rake leaves between rain showers like I did today, wet leaves can be much heavier so it’s a good idea for your container to be of a size that accommodates your abilities.

2. A spring rake or leaf rake. This is not a heavy plastic rake. This rake has metal tines that are thin, light and springy. They reduce the amount of effort by half (if not more) and actually flip the leaves up rather than dragging them across. Believe me, when you experience the difference you will see the value of this rake.

3. Snow shovel. Don’t you just love the value of a thing that has more than one purpose? I do! It sure saves room in the tool shed. Once you get your leaves into a pile with your beloved spring rake, your trusty aluminum light weight snow shovel is the perfect tool to scoop them and (tilted at just the right angle) pour them easily into your can. With the snow shovel you will get through that pile in no time!

  

That’s it! One rake, one snow shovel and one can. No gas that needs to be mixed with oil. No running to the gas station because the blasted thing is out of gas. No ear plugs. No straps to keep a heavy gas powered-smoke-belching-engine-way-too-close-to-my-head strapped to my back. No machine that needs to drained of the gas/oil (now-what-do-I-do-with-it) before it gets stored for winter. No electrical cords to trip over or curse at because you just. can’t. quite. reach. Ok…maybe just one little rant. Thanks for indulging me.

So now that my can is full, I pull it (mine has wheels 😊) to where I want and proceed to pour out and spread an even layer over the soil, thus putting it to bed for the winter. Initially those fluffy leaves can be a nice 6-12 inch layer. It will quickly settle to less than half. Care must be taken not to cover plant tops with all these leaves. The leaves (leaf mulch only) can be spread up to the stems of plants and it is ok to cover bare crowns of herbaceous perennials like Asparagus or Hostas once their leaves have died back. 

This should be an enjoyable exercise, not a chore. Consider getting out to rake every other day or so depending on your leaf drop (and the weather of course). You can get smaller amounts raked quickly with a modest amount of effort, equating to regular exercise not to mention the de-stress-after-work benefit. If you leave it all to the end when your trees have dropped all their leaves, much of them will have blown away, losing a valuable resource and the job will be more time consuming all at once making it possibly an arduous task that you don’t enjoy. The goal is not to end up with a five foot pile to deal with!

The benefits of this pleasurable activity are numerous…

1.  Weed control  so your plants aren’t competing for nutrients with weeds. Weed seeds that blow around from neighboring yards can’t find purchase on bare soil because yours is now not bare and it prevents seeds already on the ground from germinating. And who wants to spend time weeding anyway?
2. Protective layer for plants root systems that may otherwise succumb to freezing temps.
3.  Fertilizer. Compost and leaf mulch is well documented for its nutritious benefit to the garden.
4. Soil tilth. Soil microbes and worms and bugs seek out this decaying matter and turn it into food for your plants.
5.   Soil health and plant health. See 1-4 above.
6. Gardener health. Cardio, muscle building (hello abs!)and mental health as it’s so good to get outdoors.

It's WIN-WIN! Fall exercise for your body equates to winter protection becoming spring nutrition for your garden. Does it get any better than that?

Fall time in the garden should be enjoyable, savoring the last days of gardening for the year, putting your garden to bed for the winter and putting potted plants where winter’s freezing temperatures won’t harm the plants or break the pots. If you don’t already, please also consider leaving seed heads on certain plants to feed the birds that winter over in your region. Already I am enjoying watching the juncos feed on the seed heads of Liatris and Echinacea. If you need more convincing, please enjoy my previous post for benefit to less fall cleanup and more time to go on lovely fall day walks and take advantage of the mental healing time spent outdoors can provide.

Cheers!

Side note: If your trees have big leaves that does mean an extra step, because big leaves mat down like plates over one another and can smother neighboring plants and shed the rain off that you want to seep in to the soil. Big leaves need to be chopped smaller then corralled by a method of your choosing. A quick search online can give many options but I think the easiest is running your lawn mower over them with the catcher in place, then spread over your garden beds.

  

In Bloom in my Garden Today: Ajuga, Aster, Caryopteris ‘Longwood Blue’ (bluebeard), crocus speciosus (blue fall crocus), Cyclamen hederifolium, Daisy (white double), Eupatorium rugosum ‘Chocolate’ (joe pye weed), Fuchsia, Geranium ‘Mavis Simpson’, Heuchera, Hyssop, Kirengeshoma palmata, Lavender, Nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’ (catmint), Oregano vulgare compactum ‘humile’ (compact oregano), Phygelius (cape fushia), Rose ‘Shropshire Lad’, Rose ‘Reine de Violette’, Rosemary, Salvia garanitica ‘Black and Blue’, Solanum crispum

Authors photos

A New Adventure

A gardener doesn’t sell their house. They sell their garden and the house happens to go along with it in the deal.

 

So now the time has come when we decide it’s time to find a new place to live.

It’s hard work moving a garden. Not only physically but it’s an emotional workout as well.

I have been creating this garden for 31 years. Sipping a  cup of oolong as I write this post, I look out to the garden while the bouts of spring rain and bursts of sun jockey for dominance. My beloved space of peace. A safe place where tears have been spilled, laughter has erupted and love has been shared. An oasis. A piece of my heart. A portion of my soul.

 My garden contains treasures from the gardens of loved ones long since passed and from old and new friends, all happily mingling with my own finds. They must go with me, these plants and the memories they release. True, we hold our memories in our hearts and they go with us where ever we go, but as long as I can work the soil I want my garden to be a visible reflection of the mosaic that embodies my life, even if it’s only evident to me.

On the one hand, I want to take it all with me yet on the other hand its healthy to be open to new opportunities, a new future both in a new garden space and in finding plants that I haven’t been surrounded by for decades already. So naturally I am compelled to make a list of my favorite, hard-if-not-impossible-to find-ever-again perennials. Those that simply must come along, never mind that I haven’t even found a new garden space or house yet. I don’t know what light and wind exposures or boundary situations that I will be dealing with yet. I don’t know anything yet. But what I do know is that in some capacity, it must become my new garden.

I have rarities like Geranium ‘Lily Lovell’ that I found on an excursion long ago and have never seen for sale since, two varieties of Hypatica and a finally-I-got-a-bloom-after-10-years (darn slugs) Calanthe tricarinata (Japanese hardy orchid).

Also, I have a few old cultivars. Like Cimicifuga simplex ‘Brunette’ (aka Actaea simplex, Bugbane, Snakeroot, Cohosh) who is harder to find now than ‘Black Beauty’. ‘Black Beauty’ was introduced after ‘Brunette’ but I happen to like the purply-chocolaty-to-copper variations in the ‘black’ leaves of ‘Brunette’ better. ‘Black Beauty’ has less variations to my eye.

And a particular Loosestrife that is NOT a garden thug.  Lysimachia ephemerum provides much sought after strong yet graceful, swaying-in-the-breeze height to the garden. I haven’t seen it for sale in many years but I think it’s a far superior option than its cousin Lysimachia clethroidesis better known as Gooseneck Loosestrife who is still sold in nurseries and is a bully, running rampant over anything that stands in its way. I steer clear of that one. Sadly, as is often is the case, some cultivars simply disappear. Growers stop propagating them in favor of newer varieties. 

And Echinacea ‘pallida’ who’s pouty petals are long, languid and so much more beguiling than her stouter brother ‘purpurea’. Yes, she is very fussy and demanding, but I love her far more. In our new location I will be experimenting with giving her a little more protection in the heat of the day. Either more moisture or dappled sun or more compost. Like I said, she's fussy. 

And Eupatorium rugosum ‘Chocolate’, and some Gladiolus ‘Boone’ bulbs reportedly dating back to the 1920’s, and Mullen chaixii ‘Album’ who came from my mother’s garden, and, and, and the list goes on. And don’t even get me started on all the ferns I must keep. That will have to be another post all together.

This garden is like a friend that I’ve seemingly had forever. We’ve grown up together yet, today this is not the same garden I planted all those yesterdays ago. Nor am I the same person that I was 31 years ago.

Of trees; over time I planted 10, yet after having flourished for several years 2 of them turned away and died fast, unexplainable deaths. Maybe I was hasty in my planting of them and didn’t get them to just the right planting depth, or didn’t nurture them enough in their first year. And two others, long time stalwarts whom I didn’t plant but had welcomed me to this patch of earth died too, no less dreadful to me but most likely their natural allotted time had simply ceased.

Of perennials; some have taken hold and happily spread while others have disappeared after growing weaker and weaker. Perhaps I didn’t put them in the right place or perhaps they just rebelled. Death in the garden is not always the gardener’s culpability. No matter how we strive, we simply won’t thrive if we are in the wrong place…or on the wrong path. In this 31 years we’ve both fought and struggled and failed only to get up again and again until in the end we’ve both grown stronger, my garden and me.

Of bulbs; Tulips are not generally garden devotees. They give up and eventually go away, only strong in their early years. I planted 100 Tulipa ‘Gavota’ more than 15 years ago, of which only 1 remains today. The force of their presence in that number was incredibly beautiful really. A lovely combination of burgundy red edged in creamy butter yellow. I didn’t spend a lot on them knowing they would not be longsuffering.

  

I have however, spent a small fortune on daffodil bulbs. Perhaps I should be more specific, some rare and some heirloom daffodil bulbs. I have purchased some amazing species… the Pheasant’s Eyes, the fluffy doubles, some species with short trumpets, ‘Sinopel’ has green trumpets, some species that have graceful swept back reflex petals permitting the trumpet to be the star of the show. ‘Earlicheer’ and ‘Thalia’ were delightful for the longest time (thank you for your fragrance), and I believe it was ‘Rip Van Winkle’ who was already in residence when I bought this garden but years later he wearied of blooming so I dutifully divided him… well, over the following 2 years he mocked my efforts by sneaking into oblivion never to return. Narcissus are reputed to be strong, ever-returning and expected to deliver a return on your investment by rewarding you with ever increasing clumps…so much so that when they are overcrowded, their blooming decreases and their legion must be divided and replanted so as to make more room to breathe and thus bloom on again, year after year. Well, that’s what they say, anyway. Yet not for me in my garden. Each and every one of those pricey defectors eventually turned on me and tiptoed away year after year until not a one remains today. COWARDS!

What I do have today, growing into a huge and happy mass is I-have-no-idea-who-you-are variety of daffodil. By happenstance, one day I found a few of these mystery bulbs on the walkway of a commercial establishment, tossed aside carelessly by a paid professional dunderhead gardener (I write the term loosely as no respectable gardener would do such an absurdity). I recognized these bulbs would be of the daffodil family so as I walked by I picked them up, tucking them into my pocket as I continued on my way. I remembered them days later, planted them and the sweethearts thank me more and more every spring as their tribe grows. Proof that a great garden need not require a princely income. Oh yes, you can be sure a few of them are coming along with me.

While I look forward with happy expectation of the new garden to come, I do with some sadness think of the one I will leave behind.

On the brighter side, who knows…maybe in my new garden I will create a secreted space within the whole… 

one of secluded tranquility where tea can be taken. 

A secret tea garden.

In Bloom in My Garden Today: Anemone nemerosa ‘robinsoniana’, Bergenia ‘winter glow’, Brunnera macrophylla, Clematis alpina ‘frankie’, Daffodils, Erythronium revolutum (fawn lily, trout lily, dogtooth violet), Heath (Erica carnea ‘springwood white’), Hellebore, Hyacinths, Mahonia repens, Muscari, Pachysandra terminalis, Primrose (double English), Rhododendron, Skimmia, Tulipa ‘Gavota’, Viola.

Authors photos

Gifts for the Gardener

"For gardeners, this is the season of lists and callow hopefulness; hundreds of thousands of bewitched readers are poring over their catalogs, making lists ..., and dreaming their dreams." ~Katharine White, "A Romp in the Catalogues," The New Yorker, 1958 (collected in Onward and Upward in the Garden) 

Gift giving is a year round opportunity to bring joy to those we love, is it not? This time of year it is of course ramped up as we celebrate this season of Christ’s birth with the giving of gifts following in the tradition of the wise-men that lavished gifts upon the child Jesus (Matthew 2:10-12).

As we consider which gift would bring the most meaning to those in our lives, I have a few ideas to share for the gardeners in your life. Here is my top 10, not necessarily in order of preference, but as ideas came to mind like a shuffling of a Rubik’s Cube, these kept recirculating to the top.

1. Number one and the most obvious of course is a Gift Card from a favorite nursery. If you are unsure what to get, your gardener friend will no doubt already have a list in their head of needs and wants. If however, you’d rather give items not money, read on.

2. Feed the birds – because bird song feeds the soul. If your gardener friend loves birds, and I don’t believe that I’ve met one that doesn’t, anything that will bring birds to the garden year round will be applauded. Bird houses, bird seed, seed cakes and the proper holders for each, suet cakes in winter as well as a heater for the birdbath, there are so many birdy gifts that will delight your gardener friend. Books to help identify the birds that come for a visit are invaluable. And don’t forget about the butterflies and bats, as both are extremely beneficial to the planet. There are identification books galore and specially designed houses for each you can buy that will entice them to the garden too.

 A side note about bird feed. Beware of the ingredients listing on the compressed ‘cake’ style blocks of seed…most contain gelatin to hold the seed together in addition to dextrose and salts. Personally I would not buy any with added salts and sugars, but a contact at NWF says “It (gelatin) is the standard for all molded bird seed products that are available in the market. The gelatin is safe. There isn’t any salt in the gelatin. All similar bird seed products (bells, logs, wreaths, ornaments, seed covered houses, seed cakes, seed blocks etc) have been made this way for the last 30+ years. The birds do not eat the gelatin, they eat the seeds inside the shell.” If you like to make your own gifts, there are many recipes on the internet, some may contain harmful ingredients like salts and corn syrup which is a GMO. Look for recipes from reputable birding sites like National Wildlife Federation (NWF.org), Audubon Society (audubon.org) and birdwatchersdigest.com. If you use peanut butter, it is recommended to use unsalted.

3. ARS HS/KR 1000 pruning shears – I spent 3 days trimming the topiaries at work this fall and after that I expected to have some repetitive motion fatigue in my hands and wrists. I would have been in trouble had I used my own heavy, wooden handled pair but not with these. From Japan, the hard-chrome plated carbon steel blades keep a sharp edge and the tool is so light weight. I couldn’t believe the difference this pair of shears made when there’s a lot of trimming to be done. There are other ARS models but replacement blades are available for this one. Even if you don’t have topiaries or hedges to shear, these make easy work of trimming the heathers, lavenders and thyme after flowering is finished.

 4. Felco hand pruners/secateurs – THE best pruners in my opinion and most professionals in the industry use these. They are built to last and the red handles make it easy to find when you forget where you put or dropped them in the garden or shed. There are several sizes and handle shapes available for a comfortable, personal fit in your hand. They also make a left handers pair. All the working parts are available for spare parts purchase so you can replace any as needed without having to buy a new pair. And don’t forget the leather holster. Having a place to put the pruners attached to my hip means I misplace it much less.

 5. Pocket blade sharpener –iSTOR and Corona make a nice pocket size sharpener. The more you use pruners of course the more you have to sharpen them. iSTOR’s website also has a short video that shows exactly how to use this style of sharpener. Dull blades translate to poor cuts and tired, sore possibly inflamed hands and wrists. I keep one of these in my pocket while at work to sharpen as I need. Save the grinder and rasps for the shovels and hoes, this is better for those more delicate blade edges.

 6. Magazine Subscription. A one year paid subscription to their favorite gardening magazine would no doubt delight your gardener friend. A couple of my favorites have been ‘The English Garden’ and ‘Fine Gardening’. If they already have enough instructive magazines coming to the house they may enjoy ‘GreenPrints - The Weeder’s Digest’ which is comprised of real-life stories written by gardeners rather than the how-to. And if you’re lucky, you may even find an article by yours truly in this year’s line-up!

 7. Memberships to various gardening organizations or foundations. A one year membership may give your gardener a new way to hone their skills in something they are specifically interested in. If you like to “buy local” there may be several clubs and foundations close within your gardener’s community. A few years ago I was given a one year membership to Seed Savers which is national. This year I’d like to join the Hardy Fern Foundation which is local to me.

8. If your gardener is like me and likes antiques, these gifts are awesome! My friend has delighted me twice with antique watering attachments. Made from brass they will likely outlive my gardening days. First was a really cool spray nozzle to add to my collection. I’ve never seen anything like it.
















Then more recently this wonderful fan sprayer….

9. In recent years I’ve discovered the absolute need for stretching my body to keep it happy. Stopping my work to do some meaningful deep stretches makes all the difference by the end of my day. I’ve found yoga stretching to be an outstanding exercise practice. There are many books and DVDs specifically for gardeners.

10. If you want to help them expand their library, visit my ‘library’ tab located under the banner at the top of the page for a list of my favorite books on gardening.

Well, there you have it my friends…but wait! A BONUS IDEA!

11. Conservatory or greenhouse. Who wouldn’t love to have this in their backyard?









 A REAL greenhouse is on my bucket list but if your budget is like mine…this may be a more realistic option.

In Bloom In My Garden Today: Erysimum ‘Rysi Moon’, Pachysandra ‘Windcliff’, pansies, Geum’ Lady Stratheden’ 

Author’s photos 
ARS 1000 photo from manufacturer’s stock photos 

Please Note: I am not endorsing any particular seller, nor will I receive any compensation for endorsing these products. They are simply products I have personally used and enjoyed. My only goal in writing about them is to pass on my positive experiences with these products to you.

Winter Beauty

Every gardener knows under the cloak of winter lies a miracle -- a seed waiting to sprout, a bulb opening to light, a bud straining to unfurl. And the anticipation nurtures our dream.
-- Barbara Winkler, American writer and editor

Never underestimate the power of a microclimate. Here in the temperate USDA zone 7 it’s not unusual to have some blooms in November and even a rose may send out a single bloom in December. We can get quite cold by our standards, the last couple of nights have dipped down into the 20’s F (-6C) but still I garden in what one friend calls “the place of magical gardens because we seem to be able to grow anything”.  Yes, being only a mile or less from the waters of Commencement Bay does have its advantages as bodies of water mellow temperature extremes.

Micro-climates can be small spaces of protection from the open air and winds just outside of them, those little warm pockets that are created by fencing and closely built houses. Hills and valleys create them too. Some can be warm and protective, others can be cold and ravaging. My back yard is a warm and protective micro clime. The photos below were taken just hours ago. Even though we are in the freezing temperatures of winter, for many of us there is still beauty to be found in our gardens, be it berries, blooms or beautiful leaves.

Blooms of Pachysandra 'Windcliff'

 Cyclamen hederifolium

Pyracantha Victory

 

 Fuchsia 'June Bride'

 

Hyssopus officinalis

Mustard Red Dragon Tongue

 

Fuchsia 'Aurea'

 

Salvia microphylla 'Heatwave Glow'

 

Geranium Lily Lovell

Heucherella 'Sweet Tea'

 

  Dryopteris erythrosora 'Radiance'

Geum 'Lady Stratheden'

 

On this eve of Thanksgiving, I am thankful for the beauty that surrounds us in the garden, the sunny day and the blessing of friends and family.

Happy Thanksgiving!

In Bloom In My Garden Today: Erysimum, Fuchsia, Geum, Geranium, hyssop, Pachysandra, Pansies, Salvia

Author’s photos