I’m Going Bananas!

Yes, that’s right.  I am going bananas!  Well, actually, I’m growing bananas.  And I have been for several years now.  Am I an expert? Maybe.  But, it really doesn’t take much to be one at all!  See how you can become an expert banana grower below!

(Picture below from my exhibition garden at Longwood Gardens).

For the past three years, I have been raising a few difference banana cultivars in my garden at Longwood and at home.  The one I am going to tell you about isn’t actually a true banana, but it looks like one and is related!  It’s a false banana, or the Abyssinian banana, Ensete ventricosum ‘Maurelii’.  Ensete is the ‘genus’ for false bananas and E. ventricosum is the ‘specific epithet’ of that species.  The scientific, Latin name for true bananas is Musa sp. (ie. Musa acuminata) which is an edible banana that actually produces edible fruit, unlike the Abyssinian banana, which does not produce edible fruit.  The Abyssinian banana is a relative of the true, edible banana and is in the same Musaceae family (see the ‘musa’ in the beginning of the family name?).  In a tropical climate, Ensete ventricosum will produce flowers and fruit one time.  It is a monocarpic plant, which means it will flower and form fruit one time, then die!  ‘Mono‘ means ‘one’ and ‘carpic‘ is Latin for ‘fruit’.  So, in this region, we need to grow it as an annual plant, strictly for it’s foliage qualities.  Ensete ventricosum ‘Maurelii’ is a reddish-purple variety of that species that is very attractive!

Ensete ventricosum ‘Maurelii’ is a cold hardiness zone 10-11 plant.  The higher the number, typically, the more mild, or warmer the climate.  In South-Central Pennsylvania, we are a zone 6.  Sunset National Garden Book gives more specific, detailed zone descriptions to particular regions.  A cold hardiness zone is helpful, but other information is helpful when growing unique, unusual plants.

An English, informal-style planting in my Longwood Garden.

Now.  If we can grow these bananas as annuals in our climate (during the frost-free period, May 15-October 15), how do we take care of them over the winter, when they can’t grow outdoors in the freezing, wet conditions?

The solution is very, very simple.  Much more simple than you can imagine.  Here it is…

1.) Dig it out in October after the first frost.  2.) Put it in any type of pot, no need for extra soil.  3.) Chop the whole plant down to 6-12″.  4.) Put it in your basement.  5.) Come back in early May and plant it back outdoors!

Yes.  It’s that easy.  I have done this for three years in a row, same plant (and with other species and varieties).  No need to water, fertilizer, OR add supplemental light for the plant during the winter.

Step #1.  Dig out the plant after the first frost in October, or just expect it to snow unexpectedly in mid-October.  Not!  Try and wait for it to frost so that the plant will send it’s energy down to the roots.

(this plant turned to mush after this snow!)

Step #2 AND #3. Put it in a pot, chop it down to 6-12″ high.  The whole thing.

Step #4. Put it in your basement.  Somewhere it won’t get wet.  No need to put it near a window or anything.  Just take it down there and leave it down there!

This is after the banana was in the basement for one month.  It will actually sprout up, using the stored energy in the roots!  Even in complete darkness!

See how banana plants have one, central shoot?  This originated from the central, apical meristem.  Bananas and other Monocots only have one meristem, or, place where growth originates.  There are no branches, like Dicots (woody trees, shrubs, many perennials, etc.).  This means that if the apical meristem (at base of plant, above the root zone) is damaged or cut too low, the plant most likely won’t survive.  Unless it produces ‘pups’ at the base of the plant, originating from the main, apical meristem.  Does that make sense?

Below is my hardy banana, Musa basjoo.  I only purchased this plant in August, and it was in a one-gallon pot.  So, it didn’t store up as much energy or form a large root system.  The shoot it’s producing is much smaller and slower than the Ensete.

Step #5. Come back in early May to prepare it for the outdoors!  It would probably be best to move it to the garage, near a window.  This will acclimate it to having more sunlight.  Give it a sip of water.

By around May 15, after the frost-free date, you may move it outdoors for it’s summer location.  The plant should be in full sunlight.  Fertilizing is optional, I haven’t fertilized mine at all this year and you can see how large it got.  Actually, I returned from Washington State in July and found it still in the basement!  It was in rough shape by then, but I took it outside to enjoy the heat and humidity in our Lancaster County summer.

A picture of my Longwood Garden, again.  With a few other tropicals, including; Musa acuminata ‘Dwarf Red’ (true banana), Hedychium (ginger), and the same Ensete I have had for three years now.

That’s it!  The cool thing about growing tropical like these is that the winter care for each of them is pretty similar.  Most that have good root storage structures are able to hang out in your basement for the winter.  Now that I am renovating the garden around my house, I will plan to incorporate more tropical and sub-tropical plants!

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Mount Gretna Patio Project

This fall we completed a nice little patio project in the Cornwall/Mount Gretna area.  The designed space was intended to provide an area where the homeowners and guests could relax, mingle and enjoy drinks around a central fire pit adjacent to the woods.  The space connects one larger patio area to the other end of the house to allow easier access as well as seclusion from high traffic areas of the house.

Enjoy the photos below and please comment!

Start of excavation.  We used the skid-steer loader, the CASE 1830.

Application of filtration/weed fabric and the beginning of 2A modified base stone, compacted every 2″ inches.

The first course of the wall was laid, which is the most important.  Each block must be ‘perfectly’ level and flush to the adjacent blocks to ensure levelness throughout the entire wall.  All blocks were glued together with concrete block adhesive for retaining walls.

More courses laid on the wall and the beginning installation of the drain pipes.  Most of the EP Henry wall blocks needed to be cut to follow the proper radius/curve of the wall.

A closer view of the low-voltage (LV) wire which we had to work up through the wall.  LED lighting will be installed later to light up the seating wall.

Once our base stone was at the proper grade, we then applied concrete sand and screeded that at 1″ thick across the patio space.  This provides a consistent sand bed to lay the pavers on top.

Once the sand was applied, we could start laying the pavers.  We used a 50/50 mix of 6″x6″ and 6″x9″ pavers and laid them in a random pattern.

We laid as many pavers as possible until all of the spaces left required cut ones.

Natural stone steps.

Natural, ‘Laurel Mountain’ flagstone steps and river stone and boulders to finish off the hardscape materials for this project.  The dry river bed was installed to add interest to the space as well as to function as a minor drain to remove surface flow water from the roof.  The surrounding roof does not have gutters or spouting, so before, water was eroding the soil below and splashing mud on the brick siding.  A 4″ perforated pipe was installed below the river stones/pebbles to better channel the water away from the source and into the lawn swale.

Plants consisted of: Rhododendron/white azaleas, Fothergilla gardenii ‘Mt Airy’, Ilex verticillata ‘Red Sprite’, Microbiota decussata/Siberian cypress, Vaccinum corymbosum ‘Duke’/High-bush blueberry, Geranium ‘Rozanne’/Hardy geranium, Dryopteris erythrosora/Autumn fern, Symphotrichum ‘Purple Dome’/Purple aster, Astilbe ‘Sprite’, Heuchera ‘Plum Pudding’, and Hosta tardiflora ‘Krossa Regal’.

The top end of the drains pictured in the beginning of the post.  The water is collected at the lower end of the patio and will drain out the bottom of the wall.  The wire is waiting to be spliced into the LED lights.  We will post pictures of the space in the dark once all of the lighting in the wall and surrounding areas are installed!

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Our next posts will feature a walk-through presentation of a patio completed at the Witmeyer residence, a tree planted in memorial of Ryan Edgell who passed away in early October and on a custom built lettuce growing box that we are building for a year-round lettuce greens garden.

Merry Christmas!

 

Road Trip! Destination: Lancaster County

Many of you know that I  spent about four months in Washington State in a landscaping and gardening internship early this Spring.  In early July, I decided that it was time to head back home to start a new season and continue my experience in the landscaping field.  I thought I would share some pictures from our trip, starting with a few pictures of the Washington backdrop!

Jefferson Lake trip, with Joe Wyatt and his family.

A field in Port Townsend, Washington.  End of June.

Driving into the sunrise with my dad, Gary.  We left Washington state at midnight and were into Montana by daylight.

Camping in Glacier National Park, Montana.

My dad and I.

Dad was tired!  We averaged about five hours of sleep a night.. Something like that. ?

A beautiful field.

A young forest of trees, after the mature trees have been burnt in a forest fire.  Many times, forests are rejuvenated after a fire moves through because there is excess organic matter from the ashes, and trees seeds are scarified (burnt) and better able to germinate.  Notice how thick tree seedlings are coming up!

Our first meal of the week.  Steak, corn and beans on the fire.  Honestly, tasted like the best steak I have ever had!

We make good steak.

Mule deer in central Montana.

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.

Grizzly Bear!

Buffalo.

Hot springs.

Tatanka! Tatanka! haha

Still snow!  In early July!

Yellowstone Lake.  Looks like an ocean.

A young cow moose.  We saw one our second morning, after camping in Glacier National Park.  We were driving out of the park before daybreak and saw a huge one running away from us and into the woods!  That one was a bull with a decent rack.  Couldn’t get a picture of it.

We saw some other really nice moose habitat.  Consisting of willows and sedge grasses, two of their preferred foods.

Some very nice mule deer bucks!

The stream right behind our campsite on the second night.  We camped just East of Yellowstone.

Buds.

Right next to our campsite.. Exciting!

Just past our campsite.. The rolling hills East of the Yellowstone area.

Heading up a mountain in Wyoming toward Bighorn National Forest.  There were no bighorn sheep in the area.

A mule deer, doe.

I don’t know what our elevation was after we got to the top, but the temperature dropped over 30F degrees from what it was at the bottom!  It was in the mid 50′s in the afternoon on top of this mountain.  Check out the snow!

Another cow moose!  No pictures of any bulls…

Next we headed to Custer State Park, South Dakota.

One of the many small tunnels in the park.

More buffalo, at Custer.

 

 

Say Hello to my little friend!!  I was tempted to leave my video camera on the ground a get a sweet shot of the male buffalo walking over it, but I didn’t have buffalo insurance on it.  haha

 

Mount Rushmore

 

Good one, Dad!  Now I know where I get my sense of humor!

And… Back to good ol’ Lancaster County!  We wanted to stop in and see my brother, Garrison in Illinois.  But, we were short on time and didn’t get to it!

I hope you enjoyed reading this post!  It was a great experience traveling back East with my dad.  It took us about five days to travel back and site see along the way.

My next post will be on a nice patio project I completed this fall at the Witmeyer residence.  The project consisted of a concrete paver patio, two seating walls, three veneer columns, a pergola, natural boulder steps and landscaping with plants to complete it!  It turned out really nice, so make sure you check in the next few weeks to view that post!  Thanks for following me!

 

Salmon Habitat Restoration

It’s pretty obvious that salmon are a ‘kind of a big deal’ around here in Washington.  Anyone who lives here could either tell you when the opening seasons for the different species are, or they can tell you where their favorite fishing spot is, whether it is out in the bay or up a local stream.

I call myself a fisherman and that I like to fish… However, I have learned that my younger brother, Gideon can easily school me and blow me out of the water when it comes to fishing skills and knowledge! He is obsessed with fishing!  Regardless, wild animals and aquatic life have always been an interest and passion to me since I was younger.  I grew up on a 16 acre property that consisted of various habitats including mostly woods, a few acres of field and meadow space, a natural spring and stream that flowed through our wooded ravine, and of course our domesticated barnyard full of chickens, goats, rabbits, you name it!  Having such diversity in my own backyard allowed me to explore these areas frequently throughout my childhood and learn from nature in its different seasons.

I grew up fishing for panfish and bass species in my Aunt Gail’s pond which was only a few miles from our house.  One of my favorite memories was to visit the three family apalousa horses and feed them carrots and apples before we went fishing.  As I got into my teenage years, I began fishing for trout with my buddy from high school.  As much as I like fishing, I didn’t seem to get hooked enough to keep going out consistently.  Only a few times each season.

As soon as I knew I was coming out to Washington, I was excited to get to try salmon fishing for the first time!  I started learning more about the salmon in this area by volunteering for the North Olympic Salmon Coalition (NOSC).  Their primary goal is to restore declining salmon populations to greater levels as they were in the past and keep them from going extinct!  The main ways they can do this is; to have trained employees to collect and record data on current species and populations and most importantly, improve, maintain and restore the salmon stream habitat in the area.  I decided that since I am very interested in salmon and I am aware of the importance of healthy stream and riparian habitat, that it would be good for me to become more involved with the NOSC.  There are certainly plenty of opportunities to volunteer!  Some ways I have volunteered so far include; planning and installing a nursery holding area for native tree seedlings to be stored for future habitat restoration projects, planting tree and shrubs seedlings along some local streams, fyke netting and monitoring, and volunteering at a fishing expo where NOSC had an information stand to educate visitors about the organization and the importance of the cause.

A brief overview of the life of a salmon:

Both salmon and trout are members of the Salmonidae family.  The latin name for Pacific salmon is Oncorhynchus, which means ‘hook-nosed’ in reference to the male upper jaw that changes form during the spawning season.  The main species of salmon in this area are steelhead, coho, chinook, sockeye, chum and pink salmon.  All salmon are anadromous, which means that they spend a part of their lives in salt water and return to fresh water to spawn.  The word anadromous is derived from the Green ana, meaning ‘up’, and dromein, meaning ‘to run’.  So, the fish run up the streams in order to get back to their spawning point.  As you may already know, when salmon spawn and travel upstream to deposit their eggs, they return to the exact stream which they were hatched from!  The salmon will spawn and lay their eggs in the streams and then travel as far up the stream as they can, where they die.  When the salmon eggs hatch, the baby salmon, called fry, spend the first part of their life in the fresh water, until they are ready to venture out into the ocean.  When they do enter the ocean, each species will spend different lengths of time out in the ocean, maturing until they are ready to reproduce and return back to where they were born.  Also, each salmon species tends to prefer a particular habitat and lives in a more or less defined range when living out in the ocean.  Salmon will begin to spawn and can travel from 60 miles in 21 days, up to 315 miles in eighteen days (depending on species).  Upon reaching fresh water, most spawners stop eating and must live on the stored nutrients in their bodies.  Oxygen is most important, whereas cold water holds more oxygen than warm water.  Salmon are cold-blooded and prefer cooler water temperature, from 53 to 57 degrees Fahrenheit.  If water temperature raises too high, the salmon’s oxygen demand becomes increases as well as their metabolism.  Since they do not eat when they are spawning, they deteriorate and die much faster.  During the spawning phase the bodies of the salmon change, including areas around their mouth, backs, width of the fish and their color.  Salmon will lay from 500 to 40,000 eggs!  For every 4,000 eggs, it is said that only two will survive all the rigors of life to reach adulthood, return and spawn.  Very soon after laying the eggs, the salmon will die from exhaustion and float back downstream.  The dead carcasses are used as a food source for predators and scavengers, as well as other juvenile salmon.

Salmon Habitat

Some events in the past which has contributed to the destruction and decrease in quality salmon stream habitat include; logging, dam construction, agriculture, pollution and commercial over-fishing.  Some ways salmon habitat are improved include fish hatcheries, man-made spawning channels, fish ladders, restocking and fish farms.  Much of the natural stream habitat was changed or destroyed by some of the various reasons mentioned above.  A few of the biggest concerns for salmon habitat seems to be preserving the native vegetation along the stream banks, maintaining the natural shape and streambeds of the streams, and managing what is being put into the streams intentionally or unintentionally.  These pollutants being put into the streams include; excessive nutrients from farmland and home lawns and gardens, and other debris like wood chips and excessive organic matter from erosion.

Many of the streams in this area were re-constructed and straightened in order to allow for more usable farm space.  This does not create a good habitat for the salmon.  The natural meandering stream layout allows salmon to swim upstream more easily, as well as create pools and silty spawning areas for the salmon to lay their eggs.  The NOSC has been applying for grants to restore areas such as these to provide the declining salmon species with more suitable habitat so the population can be increased.  Another way they have been increasing quality habitat is by creating man-made estuaries for the salmon to lay their eggs within the channels.  On a small scale, maintaining native plant vegetation and ground covers along streamsides is a very effective way to improve the habitat.  As mentioned before, salmon prefer cool water with high oxygen levels.  When vegetation is allowed to grow on the sides of the streams, it shades the waters as well as reduces erosion and unwanted excessive sediments from polluting the habitat.

As mentioned before, I have been volunteering for the NOSC with various projects.  As you are now aware of the importance of streamside habitat, you will know why we were planting hundreds of native trees and shrubs along the stream!  Tree and shrubs that we planted include: Picea sitchensis, sitka spruce, Tsuga heterophylla, Western hemlock, Salix sp., willows (we actually simply struck the 4’ stems into the saturated soil, because willows are known for having high auxin levels in them which aid in rapid root formation and growth), Alnus rubra, red alder, Betula papyrifera, paper birch, Pyrus fusca, Pacific/Oregon crab apple, Cornus nutallii, Pacific dogwood, Cornus sericea, red-osier dogwood and Physocarpus capitatus, Pacific ninebark.

A view of a different site where small trees were planted in an area along a stream, to enhance the habitat.  The tubing is used to protect the small trees from becoming damaged or destroyed by humans or animals, mostly.

Fyke netting- a method used to capture hatched salmon fry (babies) when they depart from the hatching site, out into larger stream areas and eventually into the ocean when they are more mature.  This method of netting is used to monitor and record data to analyze salmon species populations starting with the young.  This area was South-East of Sequim (see map above) and was near Salmon Creek.  The net was actually set up at the opening channel that lead out into the main stream from a man-made estuary constructed by the NOSC.  The site was previously a natural salmon estuary where salmon would lay their eggs and was eventually turned into a dumping ground for wood chips and other organic materials, destroying the habitat.  Later, NOSC came in to restore the habitat and reconstruct new channels which are once again being used by the salmon.

I snapped a few pictures of the netting area as the tide was getting lower.  As the tide lowered, the salmon fry were forced to swim out of the channels and into our netting system.  We also used smaller hand nets to catch the little suckers as they swam around the net!

A Sculpin!  A small bottom-feeding fish that we caught a lot of!

A chum salmon fry!  Most of them ranged from 30-40mm long.  It was hard to focus because some fish weren’t very hardy and could not be out of the water for very long.

We saw a river otter poking its head out of the water, watching us!  We also found some of his tracks in the mud nearby our nets.

A view of the back of the estuary where some of the natural vegetation is beginning to return after construction, which is good!

Volunteering at the NOSC information booth at a fly fishing expo in Sequim, WA!

I have not been out Salmon fishing, yet.  But, I have managed to go fresh water fishing for trout with my buddy, Joe!  Over a week ago, we went fishing for cutthroat trout species at Devil’s Lake, Olympic National Forest area.  We caught about five keepers and dozens of smaller cutthroat trout that we put back!  It was such a beautiful area.  We were able to drive up the mountain along a powerline and then hike in a mile or more into the lake.  We are planning to return there in a few weeks to cut some more fishing spots along the shore.  Yeah, I snagged my hook into the trees about six times, ha!  We had to cross a log to get over a ravine and a small stream.  Actually, Joe went around… Sorry, Joe. J  We found a Trillium ovatum, the native trillium on our hike in!  Joe also wrote his name on a mushroom…

Trillium ovatum

Our first catches!  We caught some larger ones later, but we didn’t get good pictures of them!  Well, Joe caught some larger ones.  I’m getting better!  We got some good meat from them to add to Joe’s family freezer.  Pretty soon we will have a fish cookout!

After we filleted the fish, we decided to get Joe’s garden goin’ for the year!  We dug out a few pathways and raised the growing beds which I find aids in healthy root growth and water drainage, as well as ease of weeding and harvesting when the time comes.

This past weekend, we went trout fishing again!  This time our friends Ray and Chris came along.  We all drove up to Jefferson Lake, but hit a road block!  We were so high up that the snow was still two feet deep on the road!  It would have been several hours of hiking up to the lake, which we were not prepared for.  Yeah, I know… So, we decided to go to another lake which was nearby called Lena Lake.  It was a three mile hike up to the lake, but the trail had a lot of switchbacks which made it a fairly easy hike!  The lower Lena Lake which we went to was at about 1,800 feet in elevation and the lake surface was about 55 acres large.  The upper Lena Lake was another four miles hiking and was at about 4,500 feet.  We just went to the lower one.

Joe and Chris decided to have a snowball fight when we first were stopped by the snow heading up the mountain to Jefferson Lake.

Erythronium oregonum, White Fawn Lily

We made it up after about an hour and a half of hiking.  Chris is seven years old and wanted to stop a lot! J  The lake was very beautiful!  We were fishing for the native brook trout, but we didn’t get any fish, or bites.  Just being up there enjoying God’s creation was awesome!

Where’s Joe? Can you see him?… ha ha.  It was fun climbing across those fallen cedar logs to get to some fishing spots that seemed pretty good, but it was definitely a challenge because most of them were awkward to walk across and very slippy!

So, it seems that fishing is taking up a good chunk of my time… Well, it is on the weekends, but I love it!  Sometime soon, Joe, his kids and I may go back to Devil’s Lake and see if we can cut a few new trails and get to some good spots!  We may even bring a boat this time so we can fish from out in the center of the lake, also.  I’m not sure when I will get to fish for salmon, if I do.  If I do, I will definitely be posting on here about my experience, with plenty of pictures!

I hope this post was enjoyable for you to read!  I understand that the information on the salmon was very brief, but there is a lot to learn about them!  Please subscribe if you would like to be informed when I post another blog in the near future!  Thanks!

A flash from the past, when I was probably fifteen years young!

 

Can You Have a Rain Garden Without Rain?

The answer is, yes.  What is a ‘Rain Garden’, anyway?  Rain gardens are planted, shallow depressions or basins that will eliminate run-off from stormwater systems by collecting, promoting infiltration and allowing pollutants to settle and filter as the water drains through the roots of the plants into the soil.  Many of you are probably familiar with the ‘Bioretention Pond’ concept, where stormwater is collected in a larger collection pond planted with native vegetation to help filter the water from surrounding developed areas.  Rain gardens may be used earlier on in the stormwater system than the ending bioretention pond point and can keep the water and pollutants filtered closer to the source.  Rain gardens can be applied in many different situations and can take any many different forms.  Some will simply be used to collect excessive water discharge from the down-spouting of nearby home roofs or paved surfaces, while others will be used in much large systems such as stormwater systems along roadways.  When applied to a stormwater system, the form of rain garden typically applied to the site is more of a Bioswale that continues from early on in the swale or drainage system through different cells further down the swales.  Overall, allowing a much greater level of infiltration, erosion reduction and pollutant filtration than the typical mown lawn grasses commonly present in stormwater swales along roadsides.  Typically, rain garden areas will infiltrate 30% more water than a conventional lawn, or turfgrass stand!

A rain garden installed in the city of Port Townsend.

Another view of the same rain garden.  This area is mostly collecting surface water from the surrounding sidewalks.

Another, small rain garden which has an inlet to collect running water from the street.  The honeycomb drain is connected with the underground stormwater systems.  Note the honeycomb drain for future references…

So, now we know a little bit about Rain Gardens and Bioswales… What are the specific ingredients?  Plants can be many types of trees, shrubs, herbaceous perennials, bulbs or grasses.  The site should be expected to get large amounts of water at a fast rate, and the plants should be adapted to these conditions and able to take well to the saturated soils for an extended period of time, depending on the drainage.  The most effective plants are those that are adaptable to large amounts of water, or periods of dryness in a drought season.  This is why I stated that you don’t need rain to have a rain garden, because sometimes the area won’t be very saturated at all, but this depends on the site, function and soil properties/drainage.  Also, these gardens can simply be used to collect water from irrigation or other water uses around homes and buildings.  In some cases, the water may stay in the area for days and in others, less than a day.  Ideally, you want the water to drain and filter as quickly as possible.  Just so you know, mosquitoes take four days to complete their life cycle, from egg to mature adult that is able to lay eggs itself.  So, if you’re garden is draining the water before four days of still water, then you should be one happy gardener!  As said before, plants of all types may be used.  Native plants are very great to use in these areas and will certainly increase biodiversity and healthy habitat for many beneficial insects and wildlife!  However, in this situation, plant selection should not be limited to natives.  The function of the space is most important and as long as the plants are supporting the desired function, it is okay to use ‘non-native’ plants.  Quickly spreading, U.S. Native plants are preferred in most cases.  The reason we prefer native plants is because there are many non-native, ornamental plants sold today that actually have potential to be invasive to natural habitats, competing with desired native plants!

A bioswale site which was planted about two years ago, maintained by Matthew Berberich Professional Gardening.  You can see the larger, clumping grasses, which are Dechampsia caespitosa, tufted hairgrass.  The smaller, finer, spreading grass in between those brown clumps is actually the same plant, which self-sowed into the area, filling up the space!  This is the goal, to have a dense, thick vegetative cover that is able to slow down surface water flow, and to have a denser rooting area to absorb more water.  If you notice, there is an even finer grass closer to the viewer.  This is a self-sowing grass, Festuca idahoensis (Idaho fescue).

The same rain garden/bioswale area, with the Washington Conservation Core Training Students who joined us for the day to learn more about installing and maintaining rain gardens!  Here they are pulling invasive weeds such as Cardamine hirsuta (shotweed, or hairy bittercress), Taraxacum officinale (Dandelion), Senecio vulgaris (Common groundsel).

A close view of the previously mentioned Dechampsia sp.  Other garden plants in these pictures incdlude: Holodiscus discolor (Oceanspray), Aster subspicatus (Douglas aster), Sambucus sp. (Elderberry), Betula sp. (Birch) and Mahonia aquifolium (Oregeon grapeholly).

A closer view of Mahonia aquifolium

After the WCC crew swept through, pulling weeds, cutting back taller grasses and composting.  Typically, you do not want to be adding nutrients to the area, as one of the functions is to filter out pollutants and excessive nutrients.  But, in the establishment phase of the garden, some compost (a natural form of plant nutrients) should be added to reduce weed competition and aid in plant growth and establishment.  For some, this is an acquired natural look, especially this close to the side walks!  But, if properly installer and maintained, this is a beautiful area!  Remember, this is only the beginning of April, things will really start growing and flowering more soon.

The installation process for the rain garden/bio swale will vary in each site, but there are a few basic guidelines that are followed when installing such systems.  Sometimes, the site may already be graded and a swale area may be present.  In others, you may have a flat, backyard space that has poor drainage and excessive water buildup from paved surfaces, down-spouting, or both.  With the swale, it is important to provide a well-drained soil profile to about 3’ deep.  This allows much more drainage and pore space in the soil than typical compacted soil in swale or lawn areas, which doesn’t have good drainage.  There are many plants that can have roots down to at least that deep into the soil, especially those adapted to seasonal drought periods!  If the soil has poor drainage, it should be excavated down to about three feet below the surface and filled back in with at least 50/50 compost and the native soil.  In the Pacific Northwest, it is recommended to add 40/60 compost/sand.  On the East coast, this is not recommended, because when you mix clay soils (typical of Southeast Pennsylvania) with sand, it tends to make a concrete-like structure… Bad for plants, bad for drainage!  So, I like to use half and half compost/native soil in the area.  Actually, I like my coffee black. J When the initial excavation is performed, it is important to make the bottom of the rain garden or bioswale area level for each area.  This avoids proper drainage and percolation into the compost/soil mixture.  In a bioswale situation, multiple cells, or sections may be used to slow down, contain and infiltrate excess water.  Below is a basic design for a bioswale project that I am planning to install this coming fall, 2011.  The bioswale contains three cells, and at the end of each cell is an overflow area for the water to flow into the next cell after the previous one has been filled.  There is a large swale circling a majority of the house which diverts water from three of the down-spouts off of the main roof.  So, during a Pennsylvania rain storm, there can be a load of water flowing through there!  I apologize for the poor picture quality.  I am not a great photographer, but my wonderful girlfriend, Jessica, and my awesome sister, Gabrielle are really great at it!  If you are looking for a professional photographer, go to them!

The WCC crew again.  This time, we installed a small entry-bioswale at the beginning of a swale system.  The water comes from the above paved surfaces and enters this small space, first.  When we got here, there was no trench for the water to flow into, off of the roadway.  We excavated the soil to the proper grade and divided a few perennials and grasses from the other rain garden sites!

The finished installation. 3/31/2011

A few rocks  and boulders were scavenged from nearby locations to reduce larger debris from entering the piping system, which connect this garden to the next swale area.

This is the outlet from the garden we installed.  From this point on, the swales are simply planted with turfgrass species, which we have said before, aren’t as functional as the native perennials, grasses and shrubs.

A picture of a bioswale at Matt’s house, which has been in place for almost two years!  The plants in this garden are mostly U.S. Natives, and in the past five weeks I have been here, I have not seen the same water contained in the rain garden for more than a few days.  This system is connected to a piping system from a few of the neighbor’s swales.  So, when the neighbor is watering his lawn, Matt gets the excess water in his rain garden!  Not to worry, though.  Any synthetic fertilizers that the neighbor applies to his lawn should be absorbed and filtered into the rain garden area before it reaches the end!  This is great because it will reduce the chance of those nutrients or pollutants from entering nearby bodies of water, especially streams and rivers.  Very important!

Uh oh.. The next day was supposed to be sunny.  But, we didn’t bring our rain coats, so it rained all day!  This wasn’t very good because the plants didn’t have a chance to establish, obviously.  It wasn’t too bad because the water flowed through the center of the garden and didn’t move any of the plants.

The other side of the driveway, where the water continued flowing down the swale, eventually into the stormwater system and out into the Straits…What we’re trying to reduce with better infiltration and absorption.

There is a build up of silt at the beginning of the garden, which is good.  Keeping the silt contained rather than flowing into the pipes will prevent clogging.  Soil is made up of a mixture of sand, silt and clay.  Sand particles are the largest, then silt, and clay particles are the smallest.  Silt has the lowest bulk density of the particles and does not aggregate together like clay does.  So, silt is usually the dominant particle the gets washed with rapid water flow.

A different rain garden site which the WCC crew cleaned up the previous day.  The rain gardens are working, but the swale area wasn’t engineered properly before we got there to improve the site.

This is the other side of the driveway from the last two pictures.  The problem with this site is that the surface area that the water is coming from is too large for these spaces and the swale system does not continue after these ones, and the two sections planted are not connected underneath the driveway.  So, the water diverts unto the road and back into the second one.  Not bad, at least it’s going back into the appropriate space..

A desired, native shrub in these rain gardens that is similar to one mentioned previously, Mahonia nervosa.

Below are some examples of potential rain garden sites, or problems commonly associated with these sites, before and after installation.  Look at the oil on the surface of the water…

The area which would be great to excavate and turn into an attractive rain garden!  We were going to work with the Conservation Core to install this, but it was not in the budget and time limited with the crew.  This is located at the Fort Warden beach area and would be an excellent spot to educate the how’s and why’s to these gardens and what we’re trying to do!

Remember the honeycomb drains I mentioned before?  Well, here they are used again.  This is in the city of PT, again.  The problem with this ‘rain garden’ is that the drain is positioned too low for enough water to collect in the site.  So, minimal water is absorbed into the soil or plants, somewhat defeating the purpose of have plants in the space.  If the drain was raised at least 8″ higher, the garden would infiltrate much more water, rather than have it flow into the stormwater drains.

A client that we do monthly maintenance for.  This inlet takes water from the parking lot surfaces, down into the rain garden to be filtered!  Down spouts also feed into this system.

An appropriately placed drain, higher than the flood level, but below other paved surfaces which collects and filters as much water as possible during rainy periods!

One more poorly engineered rain garden space.  This rain garden collects surface water from a parking area that is at least 2,500 square feet of surface area!  That is too big for this small garden.  Also, this garden is not connected with any drainage systems or overflows.  So, the results is major flooding of the entry  point and several parking spaces.

Look at that oil!  It’s sad that this could have been collected and filtered int he rain garden if the site was engineered correctly.

Well, that is my post on rain gardens and bioswales.  I hope it was informative!  There is a lot to talk about with this subject and I am excited to continue collecting data from previous installations and installing these systems more, myself!  I thought I would post a picture of the Olympic Mountain Range that I took the other morning for you to enjoy!  I know I said before that I was going to post about North Olympic Salmon and their habitat/restoration of the habitats.  But, I believe I will post that one next!  Feel free to comment, and definitely ask questions!  Thanks!

 

Pennsylvania Raisins

What are Pennsylvania Raisins? Well, my cousin, Jere White, could tell you all about them! Jere and his family live in Tioga County, Pennsylvania, about three hours North of Lancaster County. Every year after Thanksgiving the hunters in my family take a trip up there to visit ‘The White House’ for some family time, as well as whitetail deer hunting! An ongoing joke between our families is that the Pennsylvania Raisins refer to the scat of the whitetail deer, commonly found in woodland all around our area! Well, let’s say I have still been finding these ‘raisins’ quite numerous in the Washington area as well!

Many homeowners, especially near wooded areas, are commonly concerned with damage to their landscape plants done by the whitetail deer browsing in the PA region. Here, in WA there is a similar culprit, the Blacktail deer! They are very similar and closely related to the whitetail deer, but their tails are not as large, or as white as the white tail (they have more black on the backside of the tail) and their body size is generally smaller. These deer can be found in all areas of Port Townsend, WA! The crazy thing is that I have seen them comfortably browsing in someone’s yard in the middle of town and in the middle of the day! I know whitetail deer are known to do the same, but they seem to be more nocturnal and afraid of humans than these blacktail. Some areas are worse than others, but a safe way to assure that the deer won’t damage your plants is to be deer-resistant ones. Of course, there are many plants we love to have in our gardens that deer love to eat. Many people in this area have fences that enclose a majority of their garden space.  There are many types of attractive fencing systems used here and they serve many purposes!  Many have dogs, cats and children which they wish to contain in an area, not to mention the common blacktail deer as a pest, as well as raccoons, which seem to be a problem here in the PT area.

The properties in this area are generally smaller than I am used to in Lancaster County.  Two other things that I have also noticed are that the lawn spaces seem to be smaller, and the garden space seems to be larger! (Than in SE PA, that is).  It is very neat to see how people use the small spaces that they have to create comfortable and attractive garden areas.  This also allows people to fence in larger majorities of their property to keep out pests, sometimes even their whole property!  This form of enclosure can increase ways to create those unique garden spaces and also to screen out views that are undesirable.  Keeping out the deer and having an attractive barrier seem to be important here.  It doesn’t seem that too many people rely on other technique to keep the deer away, aside from fencing in individual trees and shrubs to avoid deer damage.

Deer will try many things at least once, and as they get older, their food palette becomes more specific and they may not nibble on things as they have in the past, and in the gardens that we install and maintain here, there are a lot more geophytes (bulbs) planted, which many are a favorite to deer, especially tulips.

Below are a few pictures that I took while venturing into a nearby ravine this afternoon.  I first ventured into the depression to get a closer view of a rapid flowing stream and great salmon habitat (for my next blog).  But, as I got deeper into the wooded ravine, I realized there were many other potential blog pictures to post!

The ravine consisted of mostly Pseudotsuga menzesii (Douglas fir) Thuja plicata (Western red cedar) and Alnus rubra (Red alder) for the trees.  The common, woodland, spring-blooming shrub 0emleria cerasiformis (Indian-Plum) was also present!  It is currently blooming in the woodlands in this area and is very beautiful!  I recently learned this plant and saw someone pick and eat one of the flowers.  I hadn’t learned that they were edible!  So, I looked it up in my book, Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast by Pojar and Mackinnon.  I read that the flowers have an unusual fragrance, something between watermelon rind and cat urine, ha!  Needless to say, I didn’t try it.  But, I did smell it and I would say the books description is accurate!

Thuja plicata

Oemleria cerasiformis

Another sweet plant that stood out was Lysichiton americanum (Skunk cabbage, or swamp lantern)!  This plant was abundant in the low, swampy areas.  I had to trudge through some serious mud to get a close shot!  Thankfully, I was prepared with my new 8” high, water-proof Labonville boots!  These plants are known as, thermogenic plants.  Thermogenic plants undergo a process known as thermogenesis, a common to aroids, or plants in the Araceae family.  Thermogenesis is the process where a plant can produce its own heat!  Plants in the Araceae family are also known to have a spathe and spadix as their sexual flower structures.  The plants produce their own heat, and in turn can emerge late in winter and even melt snow!  They mostly do this to attract pollinators to a source of heat so they can pollinate!  Skunk cabbage commonly attracts flies to pollinate them.  The leaves of these plants were used by Native Americans for berry baskets/berry drying and as a famine food in early spring, before salmon could be caught for food!

Lysichiton americanum

One thing common to the west coast are Lichens (the fuzzy grey/green growth in the picture below).  There are more than a thousand different kinds of lichens that make their home in Washington, Oregon, B.C. and Alaska.  Lichens are common in this area because of the moisture in the air and the air circulation from the nearby bodies of water.  The richest habitats for lichens include rocky headlands, ventilated forests and the alpine areas.  Lichens are within the fungal kingdom, but instead of invading and scavenging like other fungi (moulds, mildews, mushrooms) they cultivate algae within themselves and will photosynthesize to supply their own carbohydrates, vitamins and proteins.  Lichens have a symbiotic relationship with the algae since they provide them within protection from the elements and they do not harm the host trees in which they seem to take over!  There are many different forms of this fungi, but remember it as the fuzzy, flaky green, grey or bluish growth on the bark of trees and shrubs in woodlands.  Here it grows on trees and shrubs in all parts of the landscape.  You will commonly see them on the East coast too!

So, there is a little bit of information on the pest situation here, and a few native attractions in the woodlands!  I will be posting information and pictures on the installations we complete for our clients, as well as my visits to local wild areas and the vegetation that is native to this region!  My next post will be on the life of PNW salmon and their habitat!  I will also be posting information about salmon habitat restoration in riparian areas, which I have been involved in volunteering on the weekends!  Thanks for reading, please comment if you would like!

Below are some pictures after I first arrived, and of some cool sites that I was able to take pictures of…

The hood canal bridge.. longest floating bridge in the country, 1 mile long!

Matthew Berberich.  We were checking out a site for a potential rain garden… he’s like this a lot…

A view of the Olympics!

The beach, downtown PT

Steam from a fresh load of bark mulch. :p

I have seen a few sweet rainbows while I’ve been here!  Common because of the moisture content in the air. : ]

 

Four Days, Three Men, One Destination, Washington State

On February 22nd, 2011, My older brother Garrison, my buddy Alan and I departed from Manheim, Pennsylvania to travel across the country to Port Hadlock/Port Townsend, Washington State.  We left around 6:00am in the morning and drove the entire day to our first destination, Marion, Illinois, where Garrison resides with his wife, Terran and her family.  We arrived in Illinois that evening and spent the next two nights at Garrison’s house.  During the day on Wednesday (still in Illinois the day before we departed for the next leg), we ran some errands and went to the local mall.  That evening, Alan, Garrison and I lead worship at Heartland Christian Fellowship Church.  Afterward the whole church went to Steak n’ Shake for our last meal in Illinois, before we left early the next morning! :)

Garrison stayed behind in Illinois, but Alan and I continue our journey toward Washington.  We ventured through Missouri, Kansas, and Eastern Colorado.  We hit some major winter snow storms through the end of Missouri and through Kansas!  By the time we reached Eastern Colorado it was around 11:00pm and we had been traveling for over 17 hours (through snow, accidents, etc.)!  It was very cold in Colorado and a snow storm was moving through just North of us.  We experience a few minor problems with my truck… My MIL Malfunction Indicator Light had turned on and my truck would shut off at low rpm’s!  Thank the Lord, the next morning when I went about to fix the problem, our hotel was only ONE MILE from a Chrysler dealership, who took my truck and fixed it within an hour and a half!  Definitely not a coincidence, God was there! :)  My throttle chamber ended up being clogged and air could not pass through enough, so the engine would choke and shut off, which explain why it did fine cruisin’ 80mph, but would shut off without givin’ it some gas!  Don’t tell my mom ;)

Were were North of Colorado Springs when we left on Friday morning to start traveling upward to the Idaho area.  So far on the trip, we were traveling on Route 70, which we stayed on until we were in Utah.  But, before we got to Utah, we had to pass through the Rockies!  When we were past Denver, we started seeing these awesome landforms, covered in snow!  Unfortunately, this was when we hit another snow storm, which we were driving South to avoid.  But, it was hitting the Rocky area on Rt 70 and we didn’t want to go any further North.  So, we were hitting snow, but we also added 6 hours of “going nowhere” time by staying on Rt. 70 through Colorado, rather than cut up to another, Northern route.  The hardest part was driving on a 6% grade, with a lot of traffic and trucks, temperatures in the 20′s and icy conditions..  We finally made it through and continue to enjoy the surrounding mountains, although it was still pretty foggy.  When we were in Utah, the terrain changed from the evergreen, snow covered, Rocky mountain caps to the dry, open, desert area and sandy-tan looking mountain forms.  Utah had some really awesome sites!  There were more awesome sites and landmarks further South from us, but unfortunately we didn’t get to loop down and see them.  But, what we did see was awesome!

We traveled through Utah for the day and passed the Salt Lake City after dark.  Guess what?  We hit another snow storm!  Oh, and this one was a legitament blizzard!  Around 8:00pm we started hitting heavy snow and could barely see in front of us.  We knew we were driving into some snow, but did not expect that much!  One thing I forgot to mention was that we were both sick and were coughing a lot.  The night before I had a high fever and chills, so to travel the next day was tough!  We were trying to make it through the storm to find a hotel.  The closest one was 120 miles away!  After hours of driving, we made it!  We were both run down and needing rest.  I still had a fever, off and on and was trying to recover from this as well of get some decent rest for the next leg!  Our stopping point was near Twin Falls, Idaho.

The next morning we calculated that we had about 11 hours to travel from Southern Idaho, to Port Hadlock, Washington!  We left around 9:00am and traveled on Route 84, through North Eastern Oregon, up into Washington and Route 90.  There were some pretty open, simple areas heading through Idaho.  But, once we hit Washington, things were really getting beautiful!  We ended up taking Rt. 90 up a little, then cutting West on Rt. 12, through Mount Raineer and above Mt. St. Helens Monument!  These areas were heavily forested, and GREEN!  There were so many evergreens, with the predominant species, Douglas fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii.  I don’t have too many pictures of Washington states forests (yet) because it was getting dark.  We hit a snow storm, once again.  This time, the road were not very bad.  But, we still had to proceed with caution.  I certainly plan to make it back down to the Mount Raineer area to check out the flora and fauna in the spring and summer!  I did see a herd of about two dozen Elk sp. when we were driving, just before dark!

By 10:00pm Saturday night, we arrived at our destination in port Hadlock.  After we passed through some National Forests, and up into the Olympic Peninsula, we were ready to be there.  The peninsula is also heavily forested, mostly with Douglas fir, Pine and Cedar species.  The Port Townsend and Hadlock areas are beautiful!  Everywhere you go water is nearby, with giant mountains in the distance!  The main mountain ranges nearby is the Olympic National Forest, Mt. Baker, and Mt. Raineer.  Most places are only a very short walk to the beach.  Chimacum beach is only a 10 minute walk from my house and is just the start to a really cool walking loop you can take along the shore and up into a river outlet, and back to my apartment!

I am very excited to work in this area, meet lots of cool people, and learn lots of plants working for Matt Berberich!  It’s really cool that we had the same primary education at Longwood Gardens and are able to relate significantly in that area.  I will definitely be posting pictures of jobs that we do, plants that we see and use, and other adventures that I go on in this beautiful area!  So, please watch for my next post!

 

Port Townsend, Washington!

In about 25 days, I will be leaving to travel to the Pacific Northwest territory, Washington State!  There, I will be interning with Matthew Berberich, Professional Gardening Services I will be there for about six months, where I will be working for and learning from Matt.  The unique thing about this internship is that Matt has been through the same ‘Professional Gardener Training Program’ that I recently completed in December ’10.  Matt completed the course about eight years ago.  This is special because Matt will be able to show me how he has excelled using the vast knowledge and intense training achieved at Longwood Gardens, as well as how I can do the same!  Some services I will be completing while working in Port Townsend include; a lot of planting (trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, bulbs..), hardscaping walls & walkways, natural area maintenance, general garden maintenance, and much more.

About the climate… As you may already know, the PNW climate is a good bit different from our East coast climate.  Port Townsend, WA is actually a more-mild, USDA hardiness zone 8, whereas Lancaster County, PA is a zone 6.  Port Townse (PT) average temperatures are 43.9 – 58.3 degrees Fahrenheit (annual), and average rainfall per year is around 19 inches!  Pennsylvania precipitation accumulates to about 40 inches per year!  A general consumption is that Washington state receives a lot of RAIN.  This may be true to some, but false to others.  The weather in Washington is typically overcast and MISTY.  It rains often, but not in large amounts of water, usually.

I will be keeping an updated blog during my time in Washington!  I will have much more time to commit to posts than I did during the Longwood Gardens PG program.  Some places I plan to travel to and blog about include; Olympic National Park/Forest, Mount Rainier National Park, Wenatchee National Forest, Mt. Baker National Forest, Victoria, and many other places.  I will be driving across the country to Washington and plan to site-see and make many stops along the way!  I will certainly be stopping in at Marion, Illinois, to visit my older brother Garrison, and his wife, Terran!  For Washington Native Plants information!  For more info on Washington State.  Washington State Parks…  Please leave comments so I can see what you are enjoying reading about, or finding interesting!

 

Large Plants Mean Large Trans-plants!

Transplanting is something that should be interesting to anyone who has any passion for plants or horticulture.  There have been so many years of transplanting practices and experiments that shape the way we transplant plants today, particularly larger trees and shrubs.

This April I had the privilage of working with the Nursery crew at Longwood for a month’s time.  This was on the tail end of the transplanting for the season, until this coming fall when plants begin to slow down and the temperatures begin to cool.  But, I was still able to get a lot of experience transplanting various deciduous and coniferous large trees and shrubs form the nursery plots!

Our special project for the second week in April was to remove two selected Taxus sp. topiary shrubs from the nursery growing areas; to replace two older and senescing Taxus sp. in the formal topiary garden, within the Longwood Garden proper.  Both of these shrubs were easily over eight feet tall and have been previously sheared and trained in a specific shape and form that will be used to replace other dying topiary shrubs in the topiary garden.  Longwood gardeners are able to assess the condition of the existing formal topiaries and determine if they will need to grow a future replacement plant.  And if so, then the growing begins and that specific plant is trained into it’s own unique shape.

First, the two selected Taxus sp. were marked for removal.  We began by tying up the branches using inserted three, 1″ thick piping into the root area near the trunk and tying each individual branch to one of the poles.  This required at least one person controlling the top on each branch, and another person gently be tightly forcing the branches in toward the center for a tight tie.

Next, the roots are assessed with a spaded tool and the width of the root ball is determine.  Generally, nursery workers say that for every 1″ of stem thickness or caliper, you should have about 12″ of root ball width or, root width.  In this case, the shrubs were more-multi-stemmed and we were able to estimate an appropriate width for this particular application and transplanting process.

Once the width was determined, the excavation began!  We used a small excavator/backhoe machine to carefully remove the soil around the root ball area.  The areas near the future edges of the root ball were dug by hand with edging spades/flat shovels.  A proper taper was applied to the sides of the root ball with the hand spades and the root ball was shaped for future burlap material.

Once the root ball was shaped to the correct size and taper, burlap material was then applied.  Many pieces of burlap were used to cover the entire exposed root ball area.  3 ply Sesil twine was then used to ‘drum lace’ the root ball tightly and prepare it for removal.  We applied two drum laces for this root ball to ensure stability.

After the root ball was secured and balled and burlapped, it was time to cut the bottom and separate the root ball from the existing soil.  We used a JCB front end loader machine with a fork attachment.  We attached a cable to either side of the fork attachment and placed the loop of the cable around the other side of the root ball.  By slowly backing out of the area, the machine was able to slice through the bottom of the root ball.

To remove the Taxus sp. from the area, we used various chains and straps to lift it.  The partially transplanted large shrubs was placed on a large movable platform for future transportation across Rt. 1 and into the gardens!  From this point on, the Taxus sp. was carefully transported to the topiary garden on a large truck and was planted in place of a previous Taxus sp. topiary.

This was a great experience to take part in.  I have been learning how important it is to know how plants will respond to transplanting, when you should or shouldn’t transplants, specifically what methods are used in what situations, and how transplanting ‘overly large plants’ to some people, can be done successfully!  I guess Longwood has a history for taking on large projects, and I am sure that this one was not a record breaker by any means, but certainly an awesome opportunity to experience as a PG student!  (Longwood has transplanted large trees from other areas via helicopter, in the past!  Very awesome!)

 

A Summer of Severity!

This summer has certainly been tough for people in the horticulture field, and plants-alike!  We went from receiving average moisture in the early summer, followed by a drought period for about a month.  For a week or two, we had begun to receive average rainfall again.  And for the last few weeks, we haven’t been getting as much as we did then, going more toward another drought.  Today officially breaks that dry streak of weather, as we have been getting steady rain for most of the day.  The year has certainly been tough for many plants, not to mention the hard winter that we came out of, with a delay in spring leaf unfurling and flowering.  Despite the sporadic nature of the weather, I have still been able to gain a vast amount of experience growing plants of all kinds.  Actually, I was able to learn more!

A view of my vegetable garden in mid-June

Close up of a tobacco flower.  I am growing a smoking variety of tobacco, Nicotiana ‘Schelozzi’

A view of my herbaceous section.  As mentioned in previous posts, I decided to incorporate more edible plants and vegetables into this area where flowering annuals were last year.  Some include cabbage varieties, Swiss chard, lettuces and onion varieties.  You can also see my large patches of Calendula (orange flowering) and Verbena bonariensis that came up from seeds from last year.  The seed spread throughout both sections of my garden.  I am very pleased with the flowering of the calendula!  However, it seemed that by August they have started to die back.  This may be because of the lack of moisture,

My vegetables in early August.  So far I have been harvesting variegated eggplant (purple with white stripes!), squash and some tomatoes.  I have harvested cool season crops earlier this year, obviously.  But, have noticed a rapid decline in production once we struck hot weather in late June.

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The PG Exhibition Gardens are filling out and looking great!  My garden has really gone through some serious change since my last post in early June!  The plants have really been unified together in their block planting patterns.  The containers have really filled out and they are fragrant!  (picture taken in early July)

A view from behind the seating wall.  The Artemesia ‘Red Fortune’ is still blooming and growing well.  You can see how much the Agastache ‘Blue Fortune’ has grown.  We have debated whether we should cut it back because it is blocking our container view, but it is blooming so nice and has been for many weeks now, so we will wait!

Another shot of the garden.  (Picture also taken in early July)

Too much water!  A leak has been created in one of the irrigation lines, BELOW THE SOIL SURFACE! The sections of our garden has been overly saturated from the water traveling through the soil pores through a process called, capillary action.  These agastache were too wet and as you can see are beginning to show signs of decline!  We had to remove them, unfortunately.

An August picture!  The plants have filled in much more and are healthy, for the most part.  We have had a few problems…

Some of the containers, look how full they are!  On hot, dry days, we are watering them once a day.  We are especially watering the container with the Brugmansia (the one pictured with the larger leaves)

A close up of a new plant I am now familiar with, Centranthus ruber ‘Coccineus’.  This saw this plant all over the place when I was in England!  In fact, it was so robust and vigorous that it was growing through and in the cracks of stone walls!

An awesome combination of textures and color,k in my opinion… Calamagrostis ‘Karl Forester’ and Agastache ‘Blue Fortune’.  Also pictured are the new replacements for the previous ‘Red Fortune agastache that were removed, Monarda-Bee balm.

A picture of replacement Artemesia ‘Powis Castle’.  Since this is the first year that this space is being used as a garden, the drainage has not yet been improved adequately.  It seems that our artemesia have been developing Pythium root rot from being too wet.  Artemesia sp. does not typically like a lot of moisture, to begin with.  Here we replanted several artemesia but this time, we planted them higher than normal, incorporated coarse sand into the back fill mixture, and we also applied RootShield product to the roots.  RootShield is a natural microbial fungicide that helps to prevent root rot in various crops.

These artemesia were unintentionally planted above soil grade when we installed the garden.  These have not suffered from the root rot fungus and are doing well!  The problem with trying to re-plant is that the spores may still be in the soil, and intense cultural control such as removing the entire area of soil may be needed to remove it.  The plants will start to wilt when they are dry, or when they are infected with the fungus.  It is up to an experienced gardener to determine if the plant needs watered, or if it is going downhill and will soon need a replacement plant of the same, or something different!

One last problem to report about… Our Heliotrope arborescens ‘Alba’ has showed serious signs of decline and desiccation.  The plants were doing great during mid June to early July when we had a longer period of hot and dry weather.  But, as the moisture began to return, even with the hot days (that  heliotrope like), the plants started to decline, fast!  I have talked to several gardeners about this problem.  Heliotrope sp. can be very difficult to grow.  In fact, it can be like one of those plants that lives when it wants to, or dies when it wants to.  The conditions have to be almost perfect, and that aint happenin’ outdoors!  Not even at Longwood!  We may need to find a replacement plant for this soon.  See how the foliage immediately turns from healthy green, to sickly dark brown/black.

Pictured on the lower left is one of my new, favorite annuals, Salvia ‘Golden Delicious’. Also known as, Pineapple Sage.  And yes, it smells like pineapples when you rub the foliage!  The only thing that I’m not sure that I am loving about this plant is that is will usually require more water than normal annuals.  Although, it has been doing fine when watered every few days, when planted in natural soil.

Thanks for reading my posts!  I will continue to post every month or so… Hopefully more frequently in the near future!

Coming soon… Big projects at Longwood that I have taken part in: The East Conservatory Entry Plaza Construction Project-plantings, and a large transplant of Taxus sp. trees for the Topiary Garden replacement!