Detention Basin Planting Day

Yesterday, 13 volunteers planted 325 trees and shrubs, as well as native grasses, in 6 stormwater detention basins as part of a township-wide wetland habitat restoration program. As chair of the Andover Township Environmental Commission, this is a project very close to my heart (see http://loisdevries.blogspot.com/2007/09/detention-basins-good-bad-and-ugly.html). Directed by US Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Brian Marsh, the project is a joint effort, with the federal Partners in Wildlife program providing the plants and technical assistance and the township providing the labor. Later on, the Township will plant wildflowers and perennials, and install nest boxes and interpretive signs.

The Problem

The purpose of the various types of stormwater basins (detention, retention, and infiltration) is to slow down runoff in areas where development has altered the natural drainage of the land. They are a common sight in residential, industrial, and commercial developments throughout New Jersey. Some older basins are constructed primarily of cobble-sized rip-rap, which is difficult to maintain and becomes overgrown with invasive trees. Others are planted with cold-season grasses, which impairs biodiversity, attracts geese, and requires constant maintenance. The maintenance itself can create problems by causing ruts in the wet bottom of the basin and contaminating the runoff.

The Solution

NJ Department of Environmental Protection’s preferred Best Management Practice for handling stormwater over large areas is the so-called Marsh Meadow Detention Basin, designed to mimic a natural wetland. They are low/no maintenance, eliminate the need for fertilizer and pesticide treatments, act as a visual and physical buffer, control erosion, act as biolfilters, and restore wildlife habitat.

Looking Forward

Andover is encouraging developers to include stormwater gardens at the planning stages of new housing developments as a means of improving water quality, restoring habitat destroyed by construction, and reducing taxes currently used to fund maintenance of the basins.

Thanks to everyone who participated: Brian Marsh, Diane and Fred Gillespie, Sue and Bill Howell, Bob Green, Linda Hubbard, Harvey Hummel, Kathryn Richardson, Peter Spinney, Township Engineer Joe Golden, Mayor Gail Phoebus, and Deputy Mayor Bob Smith.

Outhouse Tool Shed

This month’s Design Workshop at http://www.gardeninggonewild.com/?p=1935#more-1935 calls for sharing our outbuildings and sheds. One of Nan’s suggestions is “a tool shed that masquerades as an outhouse.” Well, instead of a tool shed that masquerades as an outhouse, we have an outhouse that masquerades as a tool shed.

As with many older homes in our area, ours came with an outhouse. In New Jersey, it is illegal to build an outhouse, but it is not illegal to have one. So, we did what most people do, just kept repairing it. At our place, we never have just your ordinary anything.

When the original flat roof could no longer be patched, Dan decided to make a garden feature out of “the little house.” He learned a lot when he put the first replacement on; no need to dwell on that. Suffice it to say that this is the second attempt, made with very thin shakes that were applied to plywood that had been bent to the desired shape. He turned the building around 180-degrees, so that the back faces the garden. The outhouse now stores the multitude of our purchased and inherited long-handled tools.

The little closet on the side was added to hold a small spade, the poop patrol picker-upper, and two garden forks, which are used to turn the compost pile, out of view to the right. The wreath is a castoff from friends who moved to Florida and has held up surprisingly well, having lost only one or two pinecones in more than 10 years.

Attractive all year-round, the outhouse-toolshed perches on the cliff and stands like a lone sentinel keeping watch throughout the winter. Come spring, phoebes usually find their way under the eaves to lay their eggs and raise their young.

The Color of Hydrangeas

I couldn’t wait to find out what special hybrid these wonderfully muted-color hydrangeas were so I could scoop some up for my own garden. The joke was on me, of course. This is simply the color regular hydrangeas turn in the fall in Portland.

It’s hard to believe that these are the same garish electric blue and shocking pink mopheads that scream out from lawns and foundation plantings across the country during the summer, but I did observe both phases on the same plant.

Hydrangea hybridizers take note: Get to work on season-long low-key colors and I’ll bet you sell a million of them. Those of us who garden in the country appreciate plants that don’t stand out so starkly from their surroundings, but rather add a subtle grace note, while looking as if they actually belong where we plant them.

Modern hydrangeas are refreshingly easy to grow, take only two or three years to reach a substantial size, bloom generously, hold their flowers all season long, and can add interest with unusually tinted (red) stems and (chartreuse) leaves.

Morphing from a hydrangea-hater into a hydrangea-lover has been an interesting journey. I hope other aficionados will join me in lobbying growers for a more artistic color spectrum.

Garden Writers Conference

We’re just back from the Garden Writers Association 60^th Annual Symposium in Portland, Oregon and in the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing some product, plant, gardening, and travel information from our trip. Those of us who have been involved in putting together any big event really appreciate the efforts of the volunteer committees who manage to pull together a four day whirlwind of seminars and garden tours, complete with meals and side trips, that have us up by 6:00am but not even close to a bed before 10:00pm. For 600+ of our closest friends! (That’s me in turquoise).

There’s always an after-tour on the fifth day. By that time, one needs a vacation from the vacation. Which is what we’ve learned to do. Dan and I tack on a few days, veg out, play tourist, then go home and dig some holes to plant our acquired treasures.

Vendors at the trade exhibit don’t just give away refrigerator magnets and keyrings; these folks know a captive, plant-hungry audience when they see one and give away hundreds of seed packets, seedlings, plugs, full-sized plants, books, and tools. We shipped it all, including 30 pounds of literature, via UPS. There are opportunities to sign up for field trials too, the main reason my rose garden has grown beyond its original two plants.

Garden writers are, for the most part, also gardeners, a group renowned for their willingness to share – plants, knowledge, ideas, and technology. I’ve made life-long friends of people across the country. Even though I only see them at this conference and correspond occasionally via e-mail, it’s great fun to hear what they’ve been up to in the intervening year and to share hopes and dreams for the future. These writers are some of the most inventive, imaginative, and creative people I’ve ever met and I come home invigorated by having spent time in their company.

While few conferences offer this level of satisfaction, those that renew us and re-boot our creative juices are a gift that all writers (and gardeners) deserve to give themselves.