Newsletter - April 2009

Hi,

It truly feels like spring this week. Every plant seems to be blooming out and every person is sneezing. Then the wind is up and drying out the garden faster than I can check and repair irrigation lines. If you haven't turned your timers back on yet, do it during the daytime, so you can check for plugged emitters, broken risers, or leaking hoses. I'm beginning to find snails too. I have more time for organic control this year, so I'll put out lettuce in the evening and gather the greedy snails early the next morning. They love lettuce more than marigolds.

Some of you may be thinking about re-deigning certain areas of your garden this year to make it more interesting, but we all make this mistake. We go to the nursery, fall in love with a beautiful plant and impulsively decide to bring it home. We're like kids bringing home a free puppy; very happy with the acquisition, but after discovering the work involved we rapidly loose interest. Even designers have been known to indulge in this pass time. Instead, let me tell you the way plants should be purchased.

If you have a blank slate at home, you probably are safe bringing home that first purchase as long as it is zoned for the area and you have the planting conditions that will keep it happy. It's very sad to watch an azalea burn up in the sun, or a pink breath of heaven become thin and lanky in the shade. If the plant tag doesn't tell you where to use your plant, ask the nursery person. Also address the eventual size the plant will attain. Some plants grow fast - five feet or more yearly. Just ask someone who has planted Scotch Broom or Eucalyptus. Some plants grow slowly and you'll be lucky to see an additional four to six inches added yearly. A moderately growing plant increases 12-18 inches a year.

A good designer measures the planting beds for width and depth and then determines how high the plant should grow to reduce garden pruning in front of windows, soften sharp house corners, provide privacy from the neighbors, reduce wind, direct traffic, screen storage areas, or provide shade. Height is very important and the average plant grows just as wide as it does tall. The excep-tions are spreading and columnar plant shapes. Height is very important. The trick is to find a plant with the right height that is also subjectively attractive.

Something else to consider is boredom in plant choices. Many of the species purchased with spring bloom (forsythia, lilacs, spiraea, weigela, mock orange lilacs, quince), may have similar leaf size and shape, so during the summer the whole garden is just green. This is especially true for native gardens, because natives all bloom during or just after our wet season. When designing the garden, look for plants that are not only pretty, but also have contrasting leaf color, shape, or size. These contrasts begin to give the garden touches of drama. Some of my favorites for sun locations include New Zealand Flax hybrids, Coleonema 'Sunset Gold', variegated myrtle, weigela, and euonymus, and red-leaved trees, such as purple smoke bush, and the 'Forest Pansy' redbud. I prefer these to red flowering plums, because there isn't fruit drop. For the shade use Chinese Fringeflower 'Plum Delight', gold dust plant (Aucuba), variegated hydrangea, and Lamium and arum root ground covers.

To contrast leaf size and shape takes a practiced eye sometimes, but it's fun. For the shade, ferns provide an easy solution, but if you prefer a tropical environment, look at bamboo, canna, calla and split-leaf philodendron (if you have the room). For the sun, use plants with strap-shaped leaves such as Nile lily, daylilies and grasses. Also look at herbs for beautiful silver foliage and dwarf, needled conifers for even more contrasts in color and leaf size.

Always measure the space first, and then go to the nursery. Or if you stop in at the nursery first, don't bring home that plant until you have gone home and measured. You'll save yourself so much time and money when you no longer need to rip out plants that have overgrown their space.

Have a wonderful April.