The Obsessive Neurotic Gardener

Author Archives: jmarkowski

Philadelphia Flower Show 2013

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I drove into the City of Brotherly Love last evening for my annual sojourn to the Philadelphia Flower Show. This is the trip that unofficially kicks off the gardening season for me (never mind the fact that we are due for a major snowstorm over the next few days) and the scent alone upon entering the showroom floor is enough to put me into a plant frenzy.
The theme for this year’s show is Great Britain and I’ll agree with the official logo of the show; it was damn “Brilliant”. The centerpiece of it all is a giant replica of good ol “Big Ben” that was bloody brilliant (imagine a British accent for full effect):           ï»¿

Of course, it didn’t take me long to take my eyes off of Ben and focus on what I really came for … the plants/flowers. It all started with what was planted at the base of Big Ben:

I thought about jumping into the roses head first and just lounging out there for a few hours but that probably would have been frowned upon by all of the other onlookers, so I remained calm and moved on.

At last count, I took over 267 photos and it has taken some time to sort through them all. The challenge, as always, is to take the photos without any of those damn “people” in them. I have found it is a lot easier to go later in the evening when the crowds are much smaller. I have also found it helps to be 6 foot 4 inches tall, so I’ve got that going for me.

I don’t want to put you all in sensory overload, so I will be breaking up my FlowerShow pics over the course of 2, maybe 3 days. For today, I’ll share my photos of the various exhibits/displays and tomorrow, I’ll focus solely on the plants. You good with that? Brilliant.

Here we go:         

And before I leave you, I wanted to share with you the song montage that plays at the top of each hour on the Big Ben video screen. The highlight for me has to be the quick Adam Ant tune; he was a staple for me as I grew up watching MTV in the early 80’s. Enjoy:

Until tomorrow … 

Cutting back the ornamental grasses with my daughter

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I had the itch to get outside and “do something” today and based on the time of year, knew it was time to cut down the ornamental grasses. There was a time when this might be a 1/2 hour task, but with my steady accumulation of grasses over the years, it has become a monumental task. 
Today was nasty; all sorts of windy and cold, but on a whim I asked the kids if they wanted to assist their dear dad with his gardening work. My daughter volunteered with gusto and put a huge smile on my face. We got all bundled up … well she did at least, because as you know, I’m way too tough and manly and can handle the rough conditions without a jacket or gloves. 
The plan was for me to cut down the grasses with the hedge trimmer and she could help with carrying the dead grass blades to the compost bin. Things were moving swimmingly at first: 

But then she started to get bored.

I thought long and hard about letting her use the hedge trimmer and eventually figured I could allow it but only after a safety lesson from me. So we went through an impromptu training and I have to admit, she picked it up super quickly. I had some reservations at first, but she seemed good to go and the trimmer has a safety shut off and the blades are pretty dull. I knew she could do it.

Her first task, a bunch of ‘Karl Foerster’ grasses:      

She attacked with reckless abandon and did a phenomenal job:

Next, was a decent sized Switch grass:

Again, no problem at all for my little girl:

We took a break, so I grabbed my phone ready to record my young apprentice at work. Girlfriend kicked some serious butt:    
Damn impressive, eh?
We weren’t able to cut down all of the grasses, but I promised my daughter she could continue to be the “cutter”. Yeah baby!
Before we could head back indoors, I made sure to give one final lesson to my protege and shared with her the differences between “cool season” and “warm season” grasses. We got down on our knees and I showed her how this Feather Reed grass is already showing signs of new growth in this cold weather:  

All in all, a damn good day. I got some gardening chores done and my daughter was officially introduced to power tools.
John  

Gardening inspiration from my childhood

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I have been undergoing self administered psychoanalysis of late (Don’t worry, it’s OK, I have a B.S. in Psychology … well technically, I minored in it) in an attempt to determine where my love of plants originated from. It has been an overwhelmingly emotional exercise but I think I was finally able to “dig up” the “root” cause of this passion. 
I had always believed that my love of gardening started when I would stroll around my grandparents backyard as a tot and watch my grandfather gush over his huge azalea collection or get all giddy about his rose garden and the giant blooms he managed to maintain all summer. While this clearly impacted me at a young age and still remains in my blood today, I’ve come to determine it all started even earlier than that.
Admittedly, I was a huge TV junkie at a young age and to live through your childhood in the mid 1970’s to early 1980’s is pretty friggin awesome. TV for kids in that era couldn’t have been trippier, wackier and stranger but it was also incredibly intoxicating. I couldn’t get enough of it … social growth be damned. 
Which takes me to current day and my self imposed therapy. I was laying on the couch one evening, ignoring my quarreling children when I found myself humming “See ya, see ya, hope you had a good, good time.” I couldn’t place the song at first but then my wife remembered that it was from the classic kid’s show “Magic Garden.” Once I heard her say that, I drifted off into all thing kids television from my childhood. And that is when it all made sense. 
These shows were all about the love of nature, plants, animals and maybe a recreational substance or two. No video games, just get outside and enjoy what Mother Nature has bestowed upon you. That was a comfortable place for me that felt safe and innocent and good for the soul. Who wouldn’t like that and want to go back to it as they got older? Deep stuff, right? College has paid off after all.    
Don’t believe me? Check out this series of clips from some of my favorite classic TV shows and you’ll be feelin me dawg:
First up, the aforementioned “Magic Garden”. I think this may have been a local NJ/NY thing, not sure. Pay close attention to that beautiful curved path and those phenomenal sunflowers in the back. Add in the folksy tunes and who wouldn’t want to hang there for hours on end? 

Of course, what child of the 70’s wasn’t obsessed with “Sesame Street”? I remember watching this short clip and fantasizing about getting my hands dirty all day. And listen to those song lyrics, it’s all about compost, bee pollen and everything natural. Kind of what we are aspiring to today, eh?

Warning, this “Romper Room” video will f you up big time if you are not purposely medicinally impaired, but give it a shot anyway. All I remember is that bees were cool … and could dance really well.

“It’s the ‘New Zoo Revue’ coming right at you”. GREATEST. SHOW. EVER. I always remember wondering how they could let Emmy Jo sing, but that was besides the point. The Owl was the coolest and wisest dude ever and I still am in awe of all owls today because of him.  

I was a huge “Brady Bunch” fan and can pretty much recite the dialogue from every episode. But what stands out more than anything else for me was their ridiculous astroturf backyard. I always dreamed of my own backyard looking like that, where we never had to worry about cutting the lawn or weeds or the grass turning brown in winter. Check it out for yourself.

And finally, who could forget about “Captain Kangaroo“. I remember thinking he was such a nice “grown-up” with a comforting voice, but his hair couldn’t have been creepier. Check out the flowers on the window sill in this video. It just made everything seem so bright, cheery and positive.

I am thrilled to have made such a breakthrough in my therapy and hope it may have jogged a memory or two for some of you.

John

Turning the corner?

Shopping at Wayside Gardens

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Sticking with the theme from my last post, I went shopping online for some new ornamental grasses. I checked out a bunch of different sites but eventually settled on an old favorite, Wayside Gardens.

I can always count on finding unique and difficult to find plants at Wayside and this spree was no different. I created a massive wishlist with reckless abandon and then after some serious analysis (mostly financial), pared it down to the “must haves”.

And here they are …

Quick aside: My wife and I spent this past weekend in New York City and did nothing but eat and drink while we were there. Because the possibilities are endless in the “city that never sleeps”, we did our research ahead of time to find the hidden gems. This included a lot of perusing the Zagat website which includes short quoted comments in their reviews. I’ve taken a liking to this style so will mimic it in my description of the plants I purchased below. I hope you approve.

Now on to the plants …          

Blue Lyme Grass Plant
“Naturalizes readily”, “Stiff blue-gray leaves”, “For difficult to plant heavy soils”, “May need to divide every two years”, “Some consider invasive”, “Beautiful if kept in check”, “Looks good in a container”.

Peppermint Stick Arundo
“Keeps its variegation all summer long”, “Imposing presence”, “Lover of damp and boggy”, “Fast growing but not invasive”, “7 to 12 feet tall”, “Birds take shelter in it in winter”, “Plumes may need support”. 
Boxwood ‘Wedding ring’
“Eye catching evergreen”, “Unpalatable to deer”, “Rich glossy green”, “Holds color through winter”, “Stunning in containers”, “Matures to 3 x 3”, “Great winter color”, “Beautiful lime margins”.
Misanthus ‘Huron Star’
“More colorful than older varieties”, “More upright habit”, “Coppery amber to fluffy white blooms”, “Draws in the birds in fall”, “In fall – red, orange and gold”, “7 to 8 feet high”, “Doesn’t mind the wet soil”, “Doesn’t flop”.
So what do you think?
I am only accepting positive feedback today so I won’t suffer from buyer’s guilt.
Thank you in advance.
John

Ornamental grasses are my destiny

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It was time to get down to business yesterday afternoon.  
I grabbed my camera, my phone, a notebook, a pen and my shitkicking boots and headed out into the yard. It may have been bitterly cold with a wind chill in like the single digits, but I didn’t care. There was serious work to get done and a little frostbite wasn’t going to get in the way. 
So there I was, in full on planning mode with a single minded purpose of determining which existing garden beds would be extended (short answer: all of them) and where would new beds be created (short answer: everywhere). As you may know, I live on a 2+ acre property that was a complete blank canvas when we moved in back in late 2004. I’ve done my best to add as many trees, shrubs and perennials as possible, but there is still a long ass way to go. It can become overwhelming at times but who am I to complain? The possiblities are endless (well not really; the deer are a nightmare, the soil sucks … sorry … where was I?). 
As I surveyed my lot and started drawing imaginary bed lines in my head (notebook and pen were a bad idea, my fingertips still haven’t recovered), I came to a relatively easy realization; I am going to focus mainly on adding ornamental grasses to the landscape. This is generally borne out of necessity based on my previously documented struggles with deer and wet soil, but it also felt like a welcome challenge. Could I make a high volume of ornamental grasses look natural and appealing? Could I add just the right number of non-grasses to keep things interesting and varied? 
All of this will be worked on feverishly the next few months and as always, I’ll be documenting it all along the way. I plan on adding some seriously large grasses that are in the 8-12 foot range and some new mid-size grasses I’ve been researching for a while now. But most importantly, I am making a serious commitment to dividing my existing grasses and spreading the wealth all over the yard. Yes, I’ll be savings some serious dinero, but the manual effort will be epic.
What has two thumbs and can handle any physical challenge thrown his way? This guy (now imagine me pointing to myself with a cocky grin for the true effect for that riddle.) 
For today, I want to address my grass detractors (you know who you are … or maybe I made you up for false inspiration) by demonstrating that grasses are not only good for their fall display and little else. Yes, they typically put on their best show in late summer and fall, but they can shine at other times as well. They are a great complement to blooming shrubs and perennials and also offer great foliage contrast to non-blooming shrubs and perennials.
And here is my Exhibit A:                                       



Joe Pye Weed and Miscanthus ‘Morning Light’ (Summer)

Joe Pye Weed and Miscanthus ‘Morning Light’ (Fall)



Peony and Panicum (Switch grass)

Penstemon ‘Husker’s Red’ and Panicum (Switch grass)

Spirea ‘Snowstorm’, Viburnum ‘Aurora’ and Miscanthus ‘Gracillimus’

Weigela ‘Wine and Roses’ and Panicum (Switch grass)
Panicum (Switch grass) blooms and Rudbeckia
Spirea ‘Anthony Waterer’ and Panicum (Switch grass)

Rose of Sharon and Miscanthus ‘Gracillimus’

Feel the love? I know I do.

More to come my friends …

John

Birds & Blooms Magazine – Blogger Spotlight

Three years later …

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I remember it like it was … three years ago.

I was watching the TV show “Lost” while on my laptop (which by the way, was a really dumb way to watch a difficult to comprehend time traveling program. Multi-tasking is not my strong suit.) and casually was poking around the Blogger website. Before I fully understood what the hell I was doing, I had set up a blog that you are reading as we speak. Admittedly, the blog name wasn’t given much thought but it was too late; I had already paid the fee for the rights to the URL.

I’ve spent some time the past week reading some of my early blog posts and many are cringe worthy. I clearly imagined myself to be the King of Wit and pushed the limits on “going off tangent”. But that’s OK, it was a process that needed to play itself out so I could get around to writing in a more concise and well thought out manner. I needed to hone my craft so I could deliver my powerful message to you, the reader … OK, now that was a fun sentence to type. I am pretty damn witty after all.

But seriously, I feel confident declaring that I have come a long way since that dark, cold night in February 2010. While it wasn’t easy, I’ve come to accept that perfection in the garden will never be attainable and to get my panties all up in a bunch just ain’t worth it. There were posts early on threatening to quit writing and threatening to quit gardening alltogether. A little too “woe is me” for my tastes now. After all, we all love the hell out of gardening BECAUSE we know we will never get it all right. I plan to tinker with my plants until they day I die.

What I have learned is how much I enjoy sharing my failures almost as much as my successes out in the yard as a means of education (mostly for you to educate me on what I’ve done wrong) or as a means to say “It’s going to be OK.” Sure beats flipping out and swearing off gardening for life.

Dare I say, I’ve matured.

Photogaphy has also trended in a positive direction. I can’t tell you how many of my early photos had a mailbox in the background, the edge of my car peeking in from the side or maybe a wheelbarrow and dead plant lingering in the back:

And lighting, forget it. The sun beating down meant nothing to me; I would just squint and snap the shot:

Today, I have a better appreciation for exposure to light and even shutter speed. With future photography classes in the works (Thank you Tony Granata) I hope to push my photography skills to the next level.

Enough of the patting on the back. My bad.

Let’s take a stroll back in time and find some interesting factoids from my three short years blogging about all things gardening and whatever else struck my fancy.
          
First sentence ever typed – “I suck at garden design.” (Some things never change)

First post title – “Day 1” (Deep stuff there)

First commenter – My wife (Bless her heart)

Second commenter – My mother (Bless her heart too)

First non family commenter – Leslie at Tranquil Acres of Alexandria

Most overly dramatic blog post – The path. (I have a hard time getting through this one.)

Post with most page views to date –  Spring: The musical post (Some how, over 20,000. Confirms that musical episodes ALWAYS work).

Most comments on a post – “I’m a bad dad” (33 to be exact. I actually still like this one and it was 100% true.)

Most bizarre post – Dig, plant, grow (And it’s not even close. My attempt at Hunter S. Thompson maybe?)

Best post idea that never stuck – Friggin Furious Friday (Thought this could rival Wordless Wednesday.)

Best post title – Cool things to see while you pee

Another post idea I thought could stick but didn’t – What John Ate

Proudest moment – Getting Allan Becker to do a guest post

First photo used in a post (Shocker, it’s an Ornamental Grass):

May there be three more years with even more opportunities to get to know so many great people and to receive invaluable advice from you all.

This is an absolute blast and a true labor of love.

Thank you all for giving me a chance.

John

Sledding, boozing and spreadsheet reviewing

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First off, let me pass on “best of luck” to my more northern neighbors after “Nemo” passed through last night. Here in central NJ, we only received about 6 inches of snow but I can see that New England really got pounded. If I had to guess, they are “Finding Nemo” unpleasant.
6 inches of snow is about the perfect amount of snowfall. It is enough to make it feel like a “storm” and it’s enough to be able to play outside (yes, I am 40 years old). It is also “not enough” to be trapped inside or too overwhelming of a task to remove it.

So after a late sleep, eating of “from scratch” pancakes (apple cider to be exact; my wife so rules) and general relaxation, we took the kids to the local sledding joint in Solebury, PA. My daughter has been a bit ill of late but she was willing to fight through it for the good of the family.

The place was packed with sledders and an inordinate amount of punk pre-teen alpha males but we were able to find a nice area all to ourselves. The kids loved it and we hung for over an hour.

Here’s a few quick videos of the kids sledding down the hill. It is actually a lot steeper than it looks and was a fairly sweet ride:         

The main hill is a lot higher and more adventurous, but we’ll take baby steps with the kids. Future X Games participants they are not. But still, an awesome winter good-time:

Back home by late afternoon and a hoppy beverage was required … an IPA to be exact. Today, we sampled the following:

Like the beer in snow pic? I know, I know … impressively creative.

Anyway, Founder’s Centennial IPA was extremely drinkable and not as overwhelming as some IPA’s can be. Extremely fruity and floral (yes, I just said that) and a wonderful IPA’ish finish. Good times. An 8.5 on a scale of 1-10.

So snow sports done, good beer drunk and it was time to find my favorite spot on the couch. I had serious work to get done. The kids needed to disappear and stay quiet. I needed to pull up my ever precious plant spreadsheet so I could work more on my spring planning/planting.

After careful thought and consternation, I finally came to grips with sharing just a snippet of said spreadsheet with you. Here she is (and don’t even think about stealing the format):     

Yes, it is all in alphabetical order by Latin name.

Yes, I’ve started to log the exact bloom times of plants to the day.

Yes, there is a method to the madness of shading some of the plant names (a secret for now).

And yes, the spreadsheet extends further to the right with even more bits of valuable info.

The process of reviewing the spreadsheet reminds me of plants I forgot that I had planted the following fall and helps me remember which plants bloom at the same time for design purposes. I keep it updated on a regular basis and it always sparks creative ideas.

Speaking of which, last year I had planted a few Allium ‘Puple Sensation’ (which began blooming on May 2nd last year, as witnessed in the spreadsheet above):

These bulbs loooked tremendous scattered throughout my beds; a nice architectural addition if you will.

On a whim at the end of October, I planted a mass of these to see how that effect plays out vs. individual plants here and there. I had totally forgotten about this mass planting until I reviewed the spreadsheet. A nice momentary “Oh yeah, sweet.”

While I have your attention and in a somewhat related note, I have a Heuchera that I love but have no idea what cultivar it is. That is where you all come in. I have tried Google but have yet to make a definitive connection. Take a look at the following pics and if you can identify the cultivar, I will be forever indebted to you:
     

Thank you in advance.

The day will end with my wife and I watching a few episodes of “Homeland” and chillaxing.

Good times.

John

Two plants I am struggling with

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My review of this past season’s plant pics continues, and today I am focusing on two plants that I have found to be maddening the last few years. 
In theory, both of these plants should thrive in my wet, clay soil and both have proven to be deer resistant. But, for reasons unknown, they have yet to perform to my modest expectations. And by modest, I’m talking one successful, clean bloom that I can ogle at, even for a day.   
First off, we have Chelone glabra or as I like to call it, White turtlehead. I purchased a bunch of these at a native plant sale a few years back banking on the fact that I could stick them in the ground and forget about them.
Well, not so much.
Each year to date, this native perennial looks healthy all through the late spring and into summer and I get all sorts of fired up when the numerous buds begin to form:         ï»¿
Only to have it all fall apart literally, overnight:  ï»¿

It has gone down this same path every year and I am still no closer to determining why. I had been keeping these in full sun so to mix it up a bit, I moved a few to a more “partial shade” area last fall. We’ll see if that has any impact.

Plant #2 is an ornamental grass that excited me like no other when I first read about it. The leaf color on Panicum (Switch Grass) ‘Ruby Ribbons’ looked fantastic and I figured “Hey, it’s a swtich grass, those always work for me.”

To date, the leaf color has been phenomenal as promised:  

But it has never really bloomed in three years and hasn’t reached a height taller than maybe 18 inches. I had moved it a bit early on so I’m sure that played a role in it, but I have left it alone for two years now.

Here’s hoping year three is the lucky one.

Anyone have any feedback on either of these? I’m willing to try anything.

John