A gardeners farewell

In the first post about my garden I said,"A place to gather with family and friends to share happy times and build memories." I lived in that charming little house in Clear Lake, Iowa for 11 yrs and the money I put into that outdoor room was the best money I ever spent. I cherish all of the moments: My Grandchildren's visits, All of the many 'Girls retreats' in Clear Lake, My close friends relaxing and sharing a glass of wine, The teachers 'get-togethers' and my Minneapolis kids coming down with their family's. All great memories in a beautiful place. My daughter once gave me a garden plaque which read: "Gardeners live in the most beautiful places, because they make them that way." Change happens, I have lived in Brooklyn for 2 1/2 years now making new memories with my family here. Soon I will be moving to Mpls to retire and concentrate on making Art. I probably won't be able to have a garden and that is a sad thing. Working in a garden is the best therapy in the world. Nature,flowers,weeds,birds,butterflies,squirrels,dirt,the job at hand,leaves no time for negative thoughts. Alone with God and nature, what more could you want? But there will be flowers where ever I live and lakes and trails and birds and music and it will be good. I will be talking a lot about 'Change' in my upcoming posts. I certainly can speak from experience on that topic. I am hoping some of my readers will join in the conversation with comments. I am ending my Garden series with some photo's from those 'good times' in my outdoor room.

A great story about a Monarch Butterfly

All of this garden talk reminded me of my Monarch butterfly story. A few summers ago I unknowingly planted a milkweed plant. One Aug afternoon I discovered a large yellow and black stripped caterpillar on one of its leaves. I cut off a section of leaves and branches (with him on it) and placed it in a glass jar. I was hoping to have it turn into a chrysalis but never dreamed it would really happen, but it DID! Not just for THAT caterpillar but for the 2 dz that came after that. Adult caterpillars kept showing up everyday. My garage and patio had glass jars with caterpillars hanging upside down in them everywhere you looked. My camera was sitting by the door for a month and I was 'on watch' constantly. Throughout the month I captured every phase of the Monarch from a tiny little black speck to a beautiful butterfly. During the month I shared the chrysalis's with my friends children and my grandchildren so they could watch the butterfly emerge in front of their eyes. It is an amazing thing to see. To have the new form dry out and open its wings to sit on my finger for 15 minutes before it takes its first flight was awesome. I took the last one to school in Sept and invited the staff and students to come into the art room to enjoy. This is a painting from a photo I took of this ones first flight from my hand to this flower that was about 2 feet away.He stayed on that flower for about 1/2 hr before he flew away.

Adding a personal touch to your garden

One of the really nice things about a garden of your own is that you can add a personal touch using decorating items. Gardening shops have so much to choose from and everything is so beautiful. Personally, I go crazy in those places. The figurines and pots and bird baths and wind chimes,oh! if only I had more room. A word of advise here: do not overdo. It is a temptation, I know, but a way to get around that is 'grouping'(strategic placement throughout the entire garden) I also display a few plants in pots to add height and interest where needed. I bought a 3 tier fountain that filled in a dead space. The moving water attracts the birds and soothes the soul.Every garden needs the sound of moving water. You may enjoy seeing some of my original art on display in the following photos. They say a picture is worth a thousand words.

MY LIST OF EASY PERENNIAL PLANTS and TIPS

By trial and error,during the 11yr love affair with my garden, I found several perennials to be tried and true (I am talking Midwest) The Cone flower has to be at the top of my list. It breaks through the soil in early Spring,a little bigger each year, and blooms July through Aug.and its beautiful blooms attracts butterflys.

I have also had great success with BeeBalm It does attract bees but don't worry, they are so busy on the plant that they will not bother you. You never have to fear that this plant will not come back each Spring; it will, and it is always bigger, so when you plant it, leave enough room for it to spread. In addition to the beauty of the flower itself, it smells wonderful. If you 'google images' you will see the many varieties bee balm comes in. Hydrangeas are the most beautiful of flowers.

It is IMPORTANT to know that Hydrangea's need water! If your plant starts to droop, WATER it! It is amazing to watch the poor flower come back to life after seeing it completely collapsed. Not that that is a good thing, just amazing to see it's will to survive. It also needs to be guarded from the sun, so if it isn't in shade and the sun it hot on it, guard it with an umbrella for those few hours. This flower becomes a nice full bush year after year and it is one flower that drys naturally on the vine in the fall and can be cut and used in the home all winter (simply laying on a shelf, or used in a wreath or standing in a vase.) I am going to talk about drying flowers in another post. Black eyed Susans. Not much to say other than they come up each spring, adds great color to the garden and doesn't need much attention other than deadheading.

There are so many more, but I will let you have the fun of the search and the trial and error process. I DO want to talk a little about placement. 1.My first priority is where to plant the larger perennials. I evenly space them along the back row of the flower bed about 4ft apart. (Sometimes a symmetrical decision should be made,an example:I had steps coming out of my back door so I put a Hydrangea on each side.) 2.In between those spaces and slightly in front of the back row would be a mixture of either shorter perennials or annuals. Notice in the photo below the pink flower next to the purple petunias. It is my favorite, the generic name is Butterfly plant. 3.In the front row the choice is endless, just be sure these plants are the shortest ones in the bed. I hope you enjoy these photo's. Tomorrow I am going to talk about Art in your garden.

5 STEPS TO A BEAUTIFUL GARDEN

I am going to begin with a list of Gardening 'chores' (most gardeners do not consider these chores, they call it "working in the garden') It is the best therapy ever invented. I find that when in the garden all of my problems disappear. 1. Cover all of the dirt around each flower with a thick layer of mulch. (Cedar mulch is my favorite) It serves several purposes: a. If you cover the entire garden bed, it almost eliminates the weeds. b. It is much more pleasing on the eye than dirt. c. I helps keep the soil moist. 2. To keep ANY flower blooming, you must'dead head'. That is a very important part of a Gardener's life. Dead heading simply means to cut off all the old blooms. Cut them off just above the top leaves on the stem. That process sends a message to the flower to make more blooms. In addition, it also keeps the plant looking neat. 3.Another important step,seems obvious,but important: Fertilizing. I keep it simple and spray Miracle grow from my hose attachment twice a month. There are many products on the market, so what ever you choose, don't forget to use it. 4. Water. General rule: If it doesn't rain, water...... all summer long. I don't use a sprinkler, I just stand there with my hose on a soft spray. It is a delightful task. 5. Pull weeds. If you pull them when you see them, it never turns into a big job. Just like anything else,if you put it off, then it turns into a big job. That is it for today. Tomorrow I will start to tell you about some of my favorite flowers.

How to lay pavers on a patio

In case you have just joined me,my garden posts are one continued story so you might want to read the previous two posts on this page first (don't sigh,they aren't long) Shortly after the plants were planted I realized that the patch of grass between my house and fence was more annoying than it was pretty.I had put some garden furniture down and the grass under it just didn't work. In addition, I needed a tree for shade. This space that I had created was more of a 'terrace' and it needed a floor. Back to Menards I go. I choose some stone pavers that would look nice with the fence. They were delivered the next day along with a driveway full of sand. My fantastic neighbor Tom and I dug up all of the soil to a depth of about 8 inches. (He actually did the most, I was just a 'token' worker) Lucky for us, the neighbor behind my fence needed our soil to level off his. Tom put all of the sand over the raw dirt and then laid the pavers on top. When all of the pavers were down it was my job to pour sand over it all and sweep it into the cracks. Done! The transformation was amazing. About the tree: When Tom was laying the pavers I asked him to leave a 3ft square open, close to the fence in line with my kitchen window. I wanted the tree in view so I could enjoy the birds and animals that it attracted. I bought a Locust,it seemed so small at first but I could almost see it grow, at least a foot each season. With proper pruning, it grew to supply wonderful soft shade and atmosphere.

I am going to talk about some of my favorite plants on my next post and I also want to show you how I incorporated my art into my garden.

Planting a large garden in a small space.

 As you saw in my last post, the fence was up, the soil prepared, the lot line established and now: 'let the fun begin'!

This was my first attempt at a real garden. I have always loved flowers, I was raised in the business. My folks owned a Flower Shop for 41 yrs. at a time when the only place flowers were sold was at a Flower shop. But 'cut flowers' and growing a garden are not the same.

In the beginning I bought all perennials.  My theory was that perennials come up year after year, the easiest way to go. Since then I learned that if I wanted color all season, I needed to add some annuals to the mix. A few years of trial and error helped me create a piece of art, not on canvas but still a piece of art using color and balance and repetition, just like I use in my paintings.

 When it comes to choosing your plants, don't stress over your choice. Have fun with it and get what you like. The trip to the greenhouse is the most fun you can ever have.

        1.Think about height. I only had room for 3 rows so I had 3 heights: low, medium  and high.

        2.Think about colors. My theme was to repeat colors through out, not to cluster colors in groups.                                                                                             For color ideas, browse through garden magazines.

        3. Don't overcrowd. It is very deceiving in the Spring, to image how large some of these plants will grow, so follow the directions on the label.

        4. Think sun and shade. This could take a little homework, but with Google, how hard can this be?

        5. As a general rule, the largest plants and the biggest investment will be the perennials. I always had them in the back, the 'kings' in my jungle. The middle row was different every year, some mid sized perennials or annuals. The front row was always very short, almost a ground cover, but not.

In my next post I will tell you some of my favorites and why, but it depends on where you live, what did well for me in the Midwest might not be the best choice for you.

I have much more to say so please come back.

     

Lets plant a garden

Let me start by saying, "Don't ever think you do not  have room for a garden."  Here is my story.  Back in 1994 while the realtor was showing me the house that I fell in love with, could afford and wanted to buy, we walked through the garage to look at the back of the house and she said, "I am sorry there isn't a yard." There was grass up to the house but it blended right into the neighbors yard. Bummer!!

 I saw potential.

As soon as the house was officially mine, I  found the property line. It was very close to the house, I am guessing  12ft or a little more, but room enough for a chaise lounge chair and a picnic table . Within days I was at Menard's buying a cedar privacy fence. I hired someone to put it up for me and Walla! I had a yard!  Small, but it was mine.

To add to my delight, I discovered that the attached garage jutted out just enough to serve as a wall on one side and the neighbors garage served as a wall on the other side, nice and cozy.   That served me well in the 11yrs. that I lived there. In the Spring and the Fall,on the coolest windiest days, my backyard was warm without wind.

The next step: I needed flowers. I decided to put the flowers along the back of the house curving  around at each end.  I dug up the grass to a depth of 4 ft. and then tilled the earth and added some good soil.  Back to Menard's for bricks which I used as 'edgers' to give my garden a border.

I will continue this story all week. Here is a teaser: This little garden turned into a terrace, my retreat, a haven for birds, a place to gather with family and friends to share happy times and to build memories. It  was chosen by the city to be on the 'Tour of Gardens' in 2005.

I will continue to share my gardening secrets and lots of photo's

Please share your gardening stories with me as well. Comments are very welcome!