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GARDEN REVOLUTION TALK IN SHARON

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If you care about your chickadees, what do these numbers mean: 350 to 570? My environmental and social justice pal Ellen Schoenfeld-Beeks let us know at her “Garden Revolution” talk at the Unitarian Church of Sharon, MA earlier this month. The answer is, 350 to 570 is the number of caterpillars a pair of chickadees needs every day to nuture their chicks from hatching to fledging. That’s just one pair of one kind of bird! Ellen inspired us to think and learn about every plant and practice in our gardens, and whether and how each helps or harms the natural systems that support all living things.

Ellen, who manages the church’s extensive gardens, showed examples of native plants at the church’s gardens and at her own home through the seasons, and how they support or harm our native pollinators, wildlife and local ecosystem at large. She even talked about plants she introduced to her gardens on purpose, only to find out years later that they were actually exotic invasive look-alikes of native plants. For example, she thought she was planting yellow marsh marigolds (Caltha palustris), but they turned out to be fig buttercups (Ranunculus ficaria, or, Ficaria verna), which are on the MA list of plants that are prohibited from sale.

After about three years they had spread like a spring carpet of yellow, in part because they aggressively reproduce by three different mechanisms. Once she realized her error, Ellen  took responsibility and removed them by hand, an intensive but organic gardening practice. It took three seasons to bring their numbers to a manageable level.

Ellen also reminder us that one of the Unitarian Universalist Church’s guiding principles is respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. She urged us to think carefully and learn about the impact of each of our plantings, as every plant in our landscapes matters, and your landscape supports, or doesn’t, those chickadees who need all those caterpillars every day to raise their young.

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GROW NATIVE MA ANNUAL PLANT SALE – JOIN ME JUNE 1st!

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Help Massachusetts communities and wildlife thrive by joining me at the annual Grow Native Massachusetts Plant Sale. You’ll find over 2,000 plants covering 120 varieties, and I (and other experts) can help you make smart selections for the particular conditions of your planting area. Just look for me in a blue volunteer apron from 8-11. Shop early for best selection.

From 9-2:30 at the UMass Waltham Field Station at 240 Beaver Street, Waltham 02452, you may find:

  • Perennials sorted by sun, shade and part-shade, and all types of soil conditions
  • A large selection of evergreen and deciduous ferns
  • Grasses and sedges, both cool and warm season
  • Trees and shrubs at small sizes so you can take home in your car. Native trees and shrubs do the most to increase biodiversity and to enhance the wildlife value of your landscapes.

AND new for this year: sweet goldenrod (Solidago odora), bluestem goldenrod (Solidago caesia) and spotted beebalm (Monarda punctata)—custom grown just for this sale, as these are top native herbaceous plants for supporting the entire life cycles of our butterfly and moth pollinator friends, and a whole lot of bees’, too.

All plants are native to the eastern United States—the majority indigenous to New England

Learn more: https://www.grownativemass.org/programs/plantsale
Download a list of the species available at the 2019 Native Plant Sale

 

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How, When and Why to Stake Your Tall Perennials in Early Spring

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How to stake your garden perennials in spring

Supporting tall perennials like peonies, before they get tall, is best done by late April, as shown here in a Cambridge, MA ornamental garden. If you don”t support them on time, their stems may break, dashing their flowers to the ground, especially during heavy rains and windy weather. The constantly-blooming garden was designed by Cheryl Salatino of Dancing Shadows Garden Design.

Got peonies or other perennials that will get tall? Late April is time to protect their structure for season by properly supporting them by staking. Play the audio to learn about how I like to do my staking.

 

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David Epstein’s “Weather and Gardening” Talk in Easton April 11th

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David Epstein to speak at Easton Garden Club meeting

Meteorologist and horticulturist David Epstein will present “Weather and Gardening” at the
Easton Garden Club’s April meeting.

The Easton Garden Club invites the public to attend a free program, “Weather and Gardening” featuring David Epstein, meteorologist & horticulturalist.

When: Thursday, April 11th, 2019; 6:30 pm refreshments, 7:00 pm program
Where: In the basement gymnasium of the Covenant Congregation Church, 204 Center Street, North Easton
Cost: FREE

David Epstein has been a professional meteorologist and horticulturalist for three decades. He spent sixteen years on-air at WCVB in Boston and currently is a meteorology professor at Framingham State University and Colby College.

Dave’s weather, climate and gardening content can be seen/heard/read regularly on the following media outlets: boston.com, Portland Press Herald, WBUR Boston, WBZ-TV, WGME CBS 13 Portland, and at www.growingwisdom.com.

The Easton Garden Club meets the second Thursday of most months (no meeting July, August, and December) at 6:30 pm at the CCC at 204 Center Street, North Easton. Members participate in workshops with natural plant material, listen to speakers on a variety of horticultural topics, and see demonstrations by professional designers and provide community service. New members are always welcome. Please visit www.eastongardenclub.org for more information.

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TWO CHICKADEES WALK INTO A BAR…IN A SHARON FOREST

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Carol Lundeen and Brenda Minihan as black-capped chickadees in the Sharon Garden Club's January 2019 presentation about the ecological harm of exotic invasive plants

Sharon Garden Club January 2019 program “Wanted Dead: Not Alive!” presenters Carol Lundeen, left, and Brenda Minihan take the role of a pair of black-capped chickadees in a skit that tells the tale of how the introduction of beautiful exotic invasive plants by early American landscape designers has had terribly destructive results for native wildlife and our local, regional, and national natural resources. Ellen Schoenfeld-Beeks, not pictured, played the role of landscape designer “Fredericka” Law Olmstead in introducing the exotic plants to our country. Photo courtesy Marcia Podlisny.
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Shrubs to Prune in Late Winter – Which Ones and How?

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hydrid Kordesii Rose ‘John Davis’

The hydrid Kordesii Rose ‘John Davis’ is a hard-working rose that blooms periodically from June to September on new wood. Prune it in late winter for the strongest show all season.

Late winter to early spring is a terrific time for pruning many shrubs. What should you prune and when? You could study pruning for an entire semester, but here are some basic guidelines. I recommend that you properly identify, then research, each particular kind of woody plant before you consider your first cut:

  • Safety first 1) If any part of a tree or shrub is within ten feet of any kind of electric cable or wire, stop and call a professional. 2) Wear gloves and sturdy shoes, and use only sharp tools like bypass (not anvil) hand pruners and loppers, and saws. 3) Sanitize your tools and gloves with isopropyl alcohol or a product like Lysol spray before you start, and again when you’re done pruning each individual plant.
  • General concepts Notice the overall shape of the shrub. Most flowering shrubs should be balanced and open in their center. Start pruning by removing all dead and diseased branches, then look for branches that cross or touch each other. Rubbing branches damage the bark tissue, inviting pathogens and pests, so remove one or both branches, depending on their condition, all the way to the base. Branches that grow from the perimeter towards the center should usually be removed. To shorten a branch or twig, cut it 1/4 inch above an outward-facing bud so new growth heads towards the perimeter of the shrub.
  • When does your shrub bloom? 1) For spring bloomers, pruning them during the late dormant period (late winter/early spring) will remove flower buds, which were formed last year after the shrub bloomed. No flower buds, no flowers, so wait until after they bloom this year. 2) For later bloomers, pruning them now, before they form this year’s flower buds, is ideal. These can also be pruned soon after blooming.
  • Roses Relax. Roses are simply shrubs that benefit from annual pruning. Prune in late winter to early spring (late dormancy) or when the buds start to swell. First cut out dead, broken, diseased and crossing canes. Put all your pruning debris in a trash bag and throw it away. Do not compost. Fertilize your roses with something like Espoma Rose-Tone or a good organic slow release fertilizer by following the directions on the bag. Climbers like to keep their main stems, so keep them fresh by pruning their lateral branches. Once the main stems are three years old, consider cutting one or two of them to their base to encourage new ones. Then cut one or two of the oldest every year. For shrub roses, cut up to 1/3 of the canes, the oldest, thickest woody ones, to their base as you open up the overall look to a vase shape. Cut to their base any super skinny canes from last year. For height, cut the remaining canes to about 1/2 their height, 1/4 inch above a robust outward-facing bud.

Please feel free to contact Carol with any questions.

 

 

 

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Native Winterberry Holly – A Feast for the Eyes and the Birds

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Ilex verticillata, winterberry holly, in Sharon, MA

Ilex verticillata, or wintererry holly, adds curb appeal and attracts many species of local and migratory birds. This multi-stem New England native shrub is planted in a garden designed as a screen along a driveway in Sharon, MA.

You can hardly beat winterberry holly, Ilex verticillata, for its winter show of bright red berries. The berries are coveted this time of year by migrating birds and holiday decorators, so why not have one of these hard-working native shrubs for your own personal supply of winter delight and support birds, too?

The one pictured here serves as a screen between driveways in Sharon, MA. The screen design includes a variety of shrubs and a tree with different bloom times and colors, deciduous and evergreen, including Carolina allspice (Calycanthus floridus), viburnum, lilac (Syringa vulgaris), and a juniper tree.

The winterberry prefers moist, acidic soil and full sun, but can do well in part shade and tolerate some dryness if the soil is rich organic matter. As with all hollies, there are male and female plants, so you’ll need one male nearby to get berries on the females. Most nurseries are good at labeling the sex properly. When in bloom, you can tell the sexes apart on your own by a close look at the flowers.

 

 

 

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WHY YOUR HYDRANGEAS DIDN’T BLOOM THIS YEAR

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Panicle hydrangea in Sharon, MA garden

Why didn’t your hydrangeas bloom this year? Most likely they were either pruned at the wrong time of year or their flower buds were damaged by winter weather or foraging deer. This panicle hydrangea, recognized by it’s cone-shaped flower head, is in a Sharon, MA garden. still blooming in early October.

Why didn’t your hydrangeas bloom this year? Most likely they were either pruned at the wrong time of year or their flower buds were damaged by winter weather or foraging deer.

With so many species and numerous cultivars, hydrangeas confuse many gardeners and even landscape designers when it comes to understanding the best time of year for pruning. Many gardeners prune at exactly the wrong time, eliminating almost all flower buds for the entire season.

Most early blooming shrubs, including some hydrangeas, develop their flower buds during the summer and fall of the previous year. This is known as blooming on old wood. Other hydrangeas develop their flower buds in the spring every year, then bloom later in the season. This is called blooming on new wood. Hydrangea cultivars such as Endless Summer™ bloom on both old and new wood.

Panicle hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata) and smooth hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens) develop their flower buds on new stems (new wood). Therefore they can be pruned back severely in the late fall or early spring to manage their size, and they will still provide flowers. Even after exceptionally cold winters where stems are killed to the ground, new spring stems will produce flowers. In our climate and soils, panicle hydrangea and smooth hydrangea are typically the easiest species to grow and provide the best show. Panicle hydrangeas, for instance, can bloom from July through October.

Common panicle hydrangea cultivars include: Limelight’, Vanilla Strawberry, Little Quick Fire, ‘Grandiflora’ aka PeeGee, ‘Fire and Ice’, Bobo®, ‘Bombshell’, ‘Little Lamb’, Quick Fire®, ‘Pee Wee’; Pinky Winky®, ‘Praecox’, and ‘Tardiva’. You can recognize them by their cone-shaped flower heads.

Common smooth hydrangea cultivars include: ‘Annabelle’, Invincibelle Spirit®, Incrediball®, and ‘Grandiflora’.

By contrast, hydrangeas that bloom in the spring bloom predominantly on old wood from flower buds that were formed during the previous summer and fall. They include bigleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla), oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia), mountain hydrangea (Hydrangea serrata) and climbing hydrangea (Hydrangea anomala subsp. petiolaris). These varieties should be pruned immediately after the flowers start to fade. You can cut off the just the flowers or cut the stem at any point you need to in order to control the size and shape of the shrub. If you prune later in the year, you’ll be removing next year’s flower buds.

If you know the type of hydrangea you have in your garden, it can take some of the mystery out of understanding why they’re not blooming as you expected, and knowing when to prune them. If you do not know what type of hydrangea you have, do not prune them. Remove only the dead wood in spring, then wait until they bloom to determine when to prune them the following year. If they’re planted in a favorable position in your landscape, they’re well worth waiting for.

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GRADUATION DAY from the NEW ENGLAND WILDFLOWER SOCIETY!

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Garden-911 Boston owner Carol Lundeen graduates with Advanced Certificate in Native Plant Horticulture and Design

Carol Lundeen graduates from the New England Wildflower Society with an Advanced Certificate in Native Plant Horticulture an Design on November 3, 2018. Executive Director Debbi Edelstein presents Carol with her certificate.

One of my passions is lifelong learning, and another is to help people — and plants — who appreciate sustainable garden design and maintenance. I’m proud to have continued my studies at the New England Wildflower Society and earned an Advanced Certificate in Native Plant Horticulture an Design.

Each graduate had the opportunity to make a presentation about the required community service aspect of their certificate. I was proud to share my story of one of the two eyesore sites that I re-designed (and helped to install) at the Easton Town Offices that had been long overdue for a landscape makeover.

Easton MA Town Offices landscape makeover of traffic circle

Easton MA Town Offices traffic circle landscape makeover by the Easton Garden Club. Several civic sites in Easton had become eyesores, and the Easton Garden Club collaborated with the community to sponsor a Design Challenge to spur interest in giving the sites a landscape makeover. Blueview Nurseries of Norton donated prizes. Garden club member and Garden-911 Boston owner Carol Lundeen re-designed this site, and it was installed with the town’s robust support.

I’m excited to continue to be a valuable resource in my community. While I currently serve as Horticulture Co-Chair with both the Sharon and Easton, MA garden clubs, I look forward to future opportunities to collaborate, create and educate people about smart, sustainable landscapes.

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What is the Value of Saving Established Perennials and Shrubs during a Home Renovation?

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Wygelia and hydrangea macrophylla shrubs to be saved

Is it worth saving shrubs before your renovation begins? Wygelia and Hydrangea macrophylla shrubs will be saved at this Sharon, MA home, but how would you decide?

Imagine that when you were a child your parents loved gardening, and over time you helped your family create secret gardens and woodland paths that changed daily with new sprouts pushing up from the earth, turning into a bounty of ever-changing blooms, and you loved every petal and leaf of it all.

Now, imagine that you’re middle aged and still living in that same beloved 1950’s ranch, but you’re ready to tear it down to build your dream home, and save as many of your family’s horticulture heirlooms as possible. You’ve come to appreciate that many of the plants your family selected and nurtured are quite unique.

Sharon, MA homeowners in this situation called in Carol Lundeen, owner of Garden-911 Boston, for landscape renovation consulting and horticulture services to help them make their decisions. The excavation crew was expected to start in a couple of days, and we needed to establish priorities, make a plan, and get a move on.

How do you decide which heirloom plants to keep and which to abandon to the dumpster? Here’s how we worked together:

First, we contrasted the emotional and financial value of various plantings. The client had many childhood memories in specific areas of the property, especially around the patio, past the boxwoods (Buxus sp.) and up the path into the woodland, past the doll’s eyes plants (Actaea pachypoda). There was also the giant Wygelia whose branches arched over the front door entryway, and if it could talk it would tell more than half a century of stories.

I reminded the client that financially it costs money to remove existing plantings (and manage their debris); to lift and temporarily relocate and care for existing plantings, then replant and reestablish them; and to purchase (plant selection and delivery) and install and establish new ones (site preparation and irrigating). Existing shrubs on the property were mostly well established beauties that would be costly to replace with same-size specimens, and perennials seemed to be everywhere. This client kept her sense of humor and broad perspective of the past and future, she asked lots of questions and we figured everything out together.

While he was already on the property, we had the excavator dig a trench in well-protected areas in the front and rear of the property, and with machines he lifted and placed many of the larger shrubs into the trench. Garden-911 Boston carefully backfilled by hand, irrigated, and mulched these specimens for the best possible outcome. Perennials were dug together by hand by the client and Garden-911 Boston owner Carol Lundeen, and we placed them into a long-overgrown garden area that we first had to clear of all manner of wild invasives vines and weeds, fallen-down raised beds and tangled chicken wire as the mini-excavator went to work nearby.

Eventually, as in all renovations, comes a period of being okay with not knowing when enough is enough. But most all very important plantings are safely stashed for the fall and winter, and spring will bring a new house and new possibilities for the client’s heirloom plants to re-establish in their new places. We’ll be working on the design together over the winter.

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