One of the benefits, or maybe the only benefit, of having relatively poor gardening conditions in my yard is that it makes it a lot easier with plant selection. When I am looking to add a new plant to my landscape I know there are three conditions that must be met:

1. Plant must prefer moist soil and/or can handle wet conditions
2. Plant must be deer and rabbit resistant
3. Plant must handle full sun 

I can push the limit on some of these and do just that because I refuse to give up on some of the plants that fall outside of the criteria above. Some times it works, other times it fails miserably.

Here in the Northeast US, native plant sale time is upon us and I love nothing more than mapping out my strategy as I read through the different native plant catalogs. My personal favorite is the native plant sale held each year at the Bowman’s Hill Wildlife Preserve in New Hope, PA. I have scored quite a lot from this sale over the years and I am starting to get all giddy as it approaches yet again.

I’ve already thoroughly reviewed their online plant listing and thought I’d share with you what is on my wish list this year. While the listing is long, it is easy for me to narrow down my potential choices knowing that I have very specific criteria I need to abide by.                              

On to the plants:

First, there are the plants I already own and want to add more to my collection. These have all performed well to date so we’re safe with these. They include:

And as always, there are the plants that I’ve never attempted before or admittedly, never even heard of before. I’ve narrowed the list down and here are some of the potential candidates:  

I would love any feedback any of you may have on any of these natives. While you’re doing that, I’ve got some more “googling” to do.

Thanks for stopping by
John

One of the MANY promises I made to myself this winter was to be more “experimental” this gardening season. Take some chances, be a little fearless and make sure to document the results through “before” and “after” photos.

Well, today was the day I put my big boy underwear on, grabbed my pruner and started the experimental … um … experiment.

Before I get into things, I have to first share an article/blog post I read this past weekend that was a huge inspiration for what I accomplished today. Noted author, Nancy Ondra, wrote an incredibly in depth piece on cut-back shrubs which you can read here. It is filled with amazing photos and detailed “how-to’s”.             

So, today’s victim subject was Weigela ‘Wine and Roses’:

I have three of these and decided to prune one severely:

Before

After

Selectively pruned another:

Before

After

And left one as is:

It felt good to get outside and in the dirt and to have the pruners in hand once again. And it felt invigorating to play around with varying pruning techniques. I will be watching each of these shrubs intently over the next few months and will be sure to share the results along the way.

I may have sacrificed these in the name of experimentation:

But ultimately, I am after the beautiful foliage color these offered when they were a bit younger:

Let the fun begin!
John

I hate “mission statements” and “plans of action” and all of those cute, catchy and inspirational terms that are involved in any type of planning. Maybe I’m just jaded from all of the times I’ve had to brainstorm and come up with these only to be asked to go in another direction the next day. Or maybe I’m just a “simpleton”. Probably a little of both … but I digress.

I live on a decent sized lot out in the “country” (yes, that is possible in NJ) and have only scratched the surface when it comes to designing and planting my garden beds. Already though, I realize I need to do a better job of planting to scale. And what I really mean (regretfully, I do have a “mission statement”), is that I need to “Think Costco”. I need to focus on planting more “in bulk” or in larger drifts. By doing so, the plantings will have more of an impact and will be more in scale with the size of my property.

This is my plan going forward, but here are some of the challenges I know I will face:

1. Cost – buying perennials in lots of 7, 9 or 11 (odd numbers of course) can be expensive. My best solution for that will be to continue to divide my existing perennials. 
2. Poor conditions – when I do purchase new plants, I tend to buy 1 or 2 initially as a means to test their staying power. They need to be deer proof, handle poor drainage and handle full sun. Only after careful analysis, am I confident enough to purchase in larger numbers.
3. Avoiding plant lust – spontaneous purchases lead to squeezing in plants and that can impact the overall design. I end up with lots of groupings of 3 and that can take away from the garden as a whole.

Patience will be the key (as always) but I am determined to stick with my Costco tag line. Here are some additional photos that are already serving as an inspiration:

My kids know I write this blog and that it is about “flowers”. But I never really thought they cared about all of my rhetoric or even wondered why daddy was taking photos in the Downward Dog position each morning.

Well, I was shocked this evening when out of the blue and without any prompting from me, both of the kids displayed an interest in gardening like I’ve never seen before. Even better, I just happened to have my phone with me so I could spontaneously capture it on film. Here they are:      

There may just be hope for them both.

ONG