Classic Garden Plants – Morning Glory

We have morning glories in the garden because we both love them. They bring back memories of childhood gardens and simpler times. I’m also particularly fond of blue flowers.

I’m not sure why my vines are so puny – not at all like the prolific ones I’ve seen in other people’s gardens that cover everything in sight. But the mix of Glacier Moon’s sky blue and baby blue 4-inch flowers more than makes up for that. The plants are covered with buds that open in sequence, so our attention is focused on each huge individual saucer for its one day in the sun.

Dan has to make a trip home at lunch time to see the flowers, which are never fully opened before he leaves for work, and always finished by four o-clock.

Morning glories are easy to grow from seed (my seed was three years old and all germinated). I didn’t soak them, or notch them, just tossed them into growing medium, kept them warm and moist and seven days later, voila!

Morning glory’s easygoing ways make it a natural for any garden and a good starter plant for young children. They won’t have to wait long for the seeds to put up their first leaves.

Ongoing care consists of a little fertilizer and making sure the plants get enough water. Train morning glories to a trellis or post with a few pieces of garden twine to give the vines something to hold onto until they find their own way. Lazy gardeners can just let them sprawl – they will climb the first vertical object they encounter.

A bonus for photography buffs is that the simple structure of the flowers lends itself to a minimalist graphic interpretation with a huge impact.

Eyesores in the Garden

The pleasant view across my front yard lavender garden comes to an abrupt halt at an ugly utilitarian object --- a 300 gallon horizontal propane tank. The only comfort I can take is that, since I painted it brown, it is somewhat less ugly than its original puice, the reason we still refer to it as “the yellow submarine.”

This hideous blot on the otherwise pleasing view supplies us with gas to cook our food and keeps us snug and warm in the winter. It was originally placed to one side of the front yard because our north-facing driveway is treacherous in winter and difficult for the delivery truck to negotiate. It could not be moved back any further because of trees and a precipitous ledge behind it. The trees were taken down, but the ledge remains.

Its location right outside the window is a constant irritant and it continues to be the one functional object for which we have not found a landscaping solution. Last summer, we looked into leveling off the ground in order to move the tank farther back and found that it would be prohibitively expensive, so we’re still searching for another way.

We’ve discussed faux sheds, full sheds, screening fences, low rock walls, screening plants, vines, creating a faux animal shape (what North American animal is nine feet long but only three feet tall?), ruins, follies, artistic painting, etc. Few of these alternatives address the issue of the overview of this monstrosity from the window and most would call more attention to it. Some of them would look silly because of the scale and location in the yard.

We can neither move nor eliminate our eyesore, so the answer seems to be some type of screening that hasn’t yet occurred to us, or creating a distraction. Right now we are leaning toward putting a tall arbor behind it that would create a framed view of the lake across the way in winter and a vertical display of climbing roses or other vines when the trees are leafed out. For this strategy to work, Dan will have to extend the deer fence or the vines won’t survive. We would also need to address problems associated with building such a structure on the ledge. However, even this does not resolve the view from the window.

The tank will be scraped and repainted soon, but it will still be an eyesore. Any suggestions?

Garden Decorating on a Budget

Inexpensive decorating fun for gardeners can be as simple as running over to the closest Pier 1 and getting a pair of these candle lanterns at less than $5 each. Not the right color? A can of spray paint will fix that.

You never know what useful or pretty things you may come across in an import store that can be used in the garden.: Boxes, baskets, and affordable glass hurricane lamps that can be used with candles to light a path, or filled with fruit or flowers to create a centerpiece for an outdoor table.

Huge floor pillows and a variety of throw pillows, great for rejuvenating your porch furniture or adding a smidge of luxury, are all being offered during August clearance sales.

Check out the bed and bath stores for dorm specials on items like budget-priced throw rugs that can be used on the porch, and end-of-season specials on shatter-proof dishware, outdoor candles, napkins and placemats, etc. Dollar stores are also a good source for paper and party goods.

Odd-lot and closeout discount stores are catch-as-catch-can, but I actually got a pair of elegant 18-inch tall Polish lead crystal candleholders for less than $20 at Tuesday Morning’s. They have bargains on cache pots, birdhouses, ornamental ironware, and other garden goodies.

Garden centers are running end-of-season sales on many plants and accessories. Always check out the garden ornaments damaged goods section for slightly broken items, or those with missing pieces that can be repurposed. For example, a bust with a missing base, or a broken or cracked pot, can be partially buried in a flower bed so that it looks as if it has always been there.

And sometimes, you can get something for nothing. Once I visited a concrete ornament factory and found a perfectly aged bunny with a patina of lichen. “Oh my goodness, I can’t let you buy that,” the owner said, “It’s from our junk pile!” Once I convinced her that it actually was what I wanted, she simply gave it to me.

Happy hunting.

Pinky Winky™ Hydrangea

Last year, I received four small Pinky Winky™ field trial plants about 8-inches tall; two in the spring and two in the fall. I planted the spring arrivals in part sun and their fall counterparts in shade (I may have to move these, but want to see how they do). All are doing quite well, with the spring babies having grown to about four feet and full of flowers. Those planted in the fall are about half that size; no flowers yet.

So far, these have been carefree, easy to grow, and quick to flower. I gave them the same dose of organic fertilizer all of my other shrubs get. No bugs, no diseases.

If you like paniculata-style hydrangeas, Pinky Winky™ will make a nice addition to your garden. The red stems contrast nicely with the leaves and are strong enough to hold the flowers upright. It takes a little while for the 12 –16-inch white blooms to fully emerge (upper photo), so if you’re like me, you may spend a lot of time hovering over them, watching to see what they’re doing.

Once some buds have flowered out though, you’ll spend your hover time watching for Pinky Winky’s™ unique color flush, which begins at the base of the bloom and slowly works its way up. Starting as an almost imperceptible pastel pink, the long-lasting panicles deepen to dark pink over time. As new flowers keep coming, the plant will show both white and pink blooms simultaneously (lower photo).

It seems to me that this would also be a fun plant for kids, since it grows fast, does interesting things over a long period of time, and is loaded with flowers.

This was a new introduction for 2008, but last week I saw some mature shrubs in a local garden center for just $20, so they’re very affordable.

For more information, go to the Proven Winners™ website, http://www.provenwinners.com

Shrub Sales

Be on the alert for super shrub sales right now. Last week we scooped up 12 Boursault Rhododendrons, six un-named deciduous azaleas, and two Delaware Valley White azaleas (iffy in our garden) --- for less than $400. The sign said 50% off, but I’m sure it was a lot more than that. What’s the big deal, you ask? Well the rhodies are more than three feet across and about three feet tall with trunks more than two inches thick; the azaleas, only slightly smaller. The local nursery owner said he just wanted to move them out of inventory.

Another local nursery just ran an ad offering 50% off all shrubs, we went over there this weekend and got two wonderful Japanese Andomeda and a huge Viburnam mariesii for 40 bucks.

Timing is everything, of course. I spent last Saturday depressed after a morning of flipping through my extensive collection of shade gardening books looking for ideas and inspiration. Nothing. Then it hit me --- a wall of rhodies against the deer fence, fronted by azaleas, then a collection of native ferns in the foreground and, finally a groundcover of Allegheny spurge (Pachysandra procumbens).

Then depression. How many decades would my rhodie cuttings take to match the size of their 15 year-old cousins out back, or their 30 year-old parents out front? Would I live long enough to see them flower?

Problem solved. On our way back from a garden party, we stopped at a traffic light. There it was. Like a cosmic sign. Well, it was a hand-written, spray-painted sign: “Rhodies & Azaleas 50% Off.” In gardening, as in karate, one must be prepared to strike when the opportunity presents itself. All senses must be on high alert, scanning the horizon with radar-like precision for any hint of one’s target. And just as in karate, the target can vanish in an instant. While you were busy thinking, “What’s the catch?” I was signing my charge slip and loading my treasures into the truck.