Wild Bill

The past two Saturdays I have gone over to Watkins Glen and then up and down the rolling hills to Ithaca and then north on Route 34B to visit gardens; one a week ago and three this past Saturday. It’s a bit longer that way, but I enjoy the sense of being on top of the world.

The first was that of fellow rock gardeners, Bill Stark and Mary Stauble who for the past 10 years of so been building a house and constructing a garden; neither of which are finished. Of course a garden is never finished. Their lot is in Lansing on Cayuga Lake and they have taken advantage of their site to construct a most unusual garden. They have these immense limestone outcroppings which they have exposed and in this small ravine have built a whole series of ponds and waterfalls and directed little trickles of water to create a habitat for Candelabra primroses which were in full bloom along with a host of other plants that like a moist environment. There were other gardens around the house which I did not have time to explore. It certainly deserves a return visit (with my camera).

This past Saturday was the Garden Conservancy’s ”Open Days” where they featured three gardens; one in Lansing and two in King Ferry. The Lion Garden in Lansing I had been to before, but my memory failed me until I saw the long stone wall with a circular opening. Then it all came back to me; the stone work at the entrance and the long brick driveway, both done professionally, the series of ponds, the sloping

garden beds and the sculptures scattered throughout. The rest of their property is heavily wooded with forests paths throughout. It was disappointing that no attempt has been made to develop this portion. A lost opportunity to make a good garden even better.

The next garden I visited was Bedlam Gardens of Jeff and Debi Lampan on route 34B in King Ferry. As one enters the garden you are greeted by a long, wide perennial bed abutting the highway featuring a huge root and trunk of a tree. They have a half

dozen types of gardens from hot gardens to rock gardens as well as a cathedral garden which provides shade for growing my kind of plants. Her collection of unusual trees and shrubs includes magnolias which were long past bloom and a red-flowering Sartoma Kousa dogwood. As I was talking to Debi another visitor asked her about the unusual blue alliums. She sprays the faded flower heads with blue paint.

As one entered the long driveway at the Turek garden one could not help but be

impressed by the huge weeping willows and a majestic weeping beech. Oh to go

inside it on a hot day and enjoy the cool stillness. Below the house is a large rose arbor. Under a large maple they have planted an assortment of hostas, ferns and other shade lovers and along the side of the house a multi-trunk paper bark maple. Surrounding the swimming pool is a Japanese garden and other perennial beds containing tree peonies.

All three are large impressive gardens with a wide variety of perennials, shrubs and trees reflecting the gardeners’ interests which many of us can only emulate on a smaller scale.

Since I was in Lansing, I could not resist stopping at the Plantsmen Nursery and picking up a few plants on my way home. Now, all I have to do is figure out whee to plant them.

IIf you have traveled the highways and byways these past few weeks, you have surely notice tall plants with white, pink and purple flowers making a colorful display along the roadsides. These are Dame’s Rockets, Hesperis matronalis. f you have traveled the highways and byways these past few weeks, you have surely notice tall plants with white, pink and purple flowers making a colorful display along the roadsides. These are Dame’s Rockets, Hesperis matronalis.

Many people think they are a phlox, but if you look at the flower you will find that it has four petals and phlox has five petals equal to the letters in its name. Flowers with four petals are members of the mustard family, the crucifers which is easy to remember because of the cross-like shape. But so much for botany.

I’ve always known it as Dame’s Rocket. But I learned from Wikipedia that It has a host of other names including: dame’s violet, dames-wort, sweet rocket, vesper rocket and mother-of-the-evening. Its Latin name reflects some of these; Hesperis derived from the Greek meaning evening and of course the species name, matronalis. The aroma is said to intensify in the evening, reflected in its Latin name and three of the above common names.  Another common name is gillyflower as in dame’s gilliflower, night-scented gilliflower, queen’s gilliflower and winter gilliflower. I never heard of gilliflower and discovered that it refers to a carnation. Dame’s violet, Damask violet and summer lilac reflects the color of many of the rockets.

It does make a very attractive roadside plant, but I can’t help but wonder whether it is crowding out some of our native plants. Connecticut and Massachusetts seem to think so. It is prohibited in Massachusetts and I don’t recollect in years past whether there were stands of it along the Mass Pike. In Connecticut it is listed as invasive and it is banned. It is illegal to move, sell, purchase, transplant, cultivate or distribute. Some “wildflower seed” mixes sold for “naturalizing” include seed of Dame’s Rocket, I hope they are not sold in the Nutmeg State.

I remember driving out in Washington State and where we had Dame’s rocket they had Foxglove. This plant is invasive not only in Washington, but in Oregon and California as well. Some plants find their niche and just proliferate. I have both Dame’s Rocket and Foxglove in my garden. I enjoy them while in bloom and then pull them out. Both are biennial so they will die after producing seed. I just hasten the process and remove the not so attractive plant that has finished its bloom. They are prolific seeders so new plants come back; last year’s seedlings will bloom next year and this year’s seeds will sprout and flower in two years. I never know where they will pop up.

IIf you have traveled the highways and byways these past few weeks, you have surely notice tall plants with white, pink and purple flowers making a colorful display along the roadsides. These are Dame’s Rockets, Hesperis matronalis. f you have traveled the highways and byways these past few weeks, you have surely notice tall plants with white, pink and purple flowers making a colorful display along the roadsides. These are Dame’s Rockets, Hesperis matronalis.

Many people think they are a phlox, but if you look at the flower you will find that it has four petals and phlox has five petals equal to the letters in its name. Flowers with four petals are members of the mustard family, the crucifers which is easy to remember because of the cross-like shape. But so much for botany.

I’ve always known it as Dame’s Rocket. But I learned from Wikipedia that It has a host of other names including: dame’s violet, dames-wort, sweet rocket, vesper rocket and mother-of-the-evening. Its Latin name reflects some of these; Hesperis derived from the Greek meaning evening and of course the species name, matronalis. The aroma is said to intensify in the evening, reflected in its Latin name and three of the above common names.  Another common name is gillyflower as in dame’s gilliflower, night-scented gilliflower, queen’s gilliflower and winter gilliflower. I never heard of gilliflower and discovered that it refers to a carnation. Dame’s violet, Damask violet and summer lilac reflects the color of many of the rockets.

It does make a very attractive roadside plant, but I can’t help but wonder whether it is crowding out some of our native plants. Connecticut and Massachusetts seem to think so. It is prohibited in Massachusetts and I don’t recollect in years past whether there were stands of it along the Mass Pike. In Connecticut it is listed as invasive and it is banned. It is illegal to move, sell, purchase, transplant, cultivate or distribute. Some “wildflower seed” mixes sold for “naturalizing” include seed of Dame’s Rocket, I hope they are not sold in the Nutmeg State.

I remember driving out in Washington State and where we had Dame’s rocket they had Foxglove. This plant is invasive not only in Washington, but in Oregon and California as well. Some plants find their niche and just proliferate. I have both Dame’s Rocket and Foxglove in my garden. I enjoy them while in bloom and then pull them out. Both are biennial so they will die after producing seed. I just hasten the process and remove the not so attractive plant that has finished its bloom. They are prolific seeders so new plants come back; last year’s seedlings will bloom next year and this year’s seeds will sprout and flower in two years. I never know where they will pop up.

What can I say? This little known and underutilized shrub is one of my favorites from the flowers in the spring to its fall color and interests throughout the winter with its shape and handsome gray bark. Truly a Power Plant!

It is a member of the Ericaceous family; that includes Rhododendrons, Mountain Laurel

and Blueberries. Indeed, don’t the flowers resemble those on our blueberry bushes? The Latin name for the species, campanulatus, refers to the bell-shaped flowers as does the genus name of the bell flowers, Campanula. And who doesn’t know of Pisa’s famous campanile, the leaning tower?

I enjoy the upright shape of the shrub throughout the summer and look forward to its fall

display. The plant can grow in shade and indeed mine is growing under a big old pine with tall trees on all sides.

Throughout the winter I can enjoy the overall shape of the plant and its attractive gray

bark.

There are more than a dozen species of Enkianthus that is native to Japan, but Enkianthus campanulatus is the only one commonly available. A gardening friend who had travelled to Japan had a number of species in his Larchmont garden, all of which were desirable garden plants. Alas!

I have had mine for nigh unto 50 years and have recently planted one on the southeast corner of Christ Church in Corning.

Our native flowering dogwood, Cornus florida, is one of America’s great contributions to the horticultural world. Its floral display of the large bracts are usually white, but can be various shades of red; the contrast of a white and a red tree making a dramatic statement. The flowers are followed by a cluster of red berries, relished by squirrels and the pileated woodpecker. Its fall foliage display will vary from tree to tree with shades of red, yellow and purple. The horizontal branching of the tree adds to its attractiveness as does its alligator-like bark; truly a tree for all seasons. I had one on the property when we bought it years ago which we lost after several years. We bought and planted a half dozen nursery trees and another half dozen or so seedlings. We have two trees at the front entrance; one white and one red, another at the back of the house and two off the patio. Others are scattered throughout the woods; both front and back. I have lost one to the anthracnose fungus that was in deep shade, but by pruning out dead wood; all the others appear free of the fungus. It is more serious in a shady situation with poor airflow.

Years ago I strongly suggested to the Glass Works that they plant a smattering of dogwoods along the sides of the road going up to Sullivan Park. Can you imagine what that would look like today in the spring and again in the fall? It could still be done and would benefit future trades, scientists and technicians as they drive to and from work.

Another of the dogwood clan is the yellow-flowering Cornellian cherry, blooming ahead of and with forsythia. Coming into bloom now as the flowering dogwood fades is our other native, the pagoda dogwood, Cornus alternifolia. This differs in that the leaves are alternate, it is missing bracts and its horizontal branching is even more pronounced; hence its common name. Although lacking bracts the flowers are borne in such profusion as to make a beautiful display. Its fruit is a blue berry on red stalks devoured by birds as soon as they ripen. This was, and is, a common understory tree on my lot.

The Asian relative, the Kousa dogwood, blooms a month later than our native. Its bracts are pointed, rather than rounded.  Not realizing when I bought it, but the bark as it ages is outstanding; a light and dark brown flaking bark. The red fruit resembles a strawberry. It is not susceptible to the anthracnose fungus and has been bred with our native dogwood at Rutgers University to produce as series of hybrids.

On Sunday May 19^th I will be opening my garden from 10 am to 4 pm. So come and let me share my garden with you. I am at 10 Fox Lane East in Gang Mills. Google knows where I am. The garden was begun on a wooded lot many years ago and has evolved over the years to what it is today. I have added a host of native plants (not exclusively), but that is my main passion. Other passions include rhododendrons, ferns, rock garden plants, dwarf conifers, and in general plants for shade...

The garden changes throughout the year and I get to enjoy each day from the last leaf fall till to the first snowdrop and on into spring, summer and fall. Other gardeners can enjoy and appreciate a garden in any season. But if there is any time that casual gardeners and non-gardeners can enjoy my woodland garden, it is mid-May. So come and enjoy.

Enjoy all the Dogwoods in bloom; a baker’s dozen. Enjoy the Silverbell and the White Redbud tree. Enjoy all the Rhododendrons and Azaleas in flower. Enjoy all the Epimediums lining the driveway, paths and patio. Enjoy the sweep of our native Trillium and all its cousins scattered throughout. Enjoy all the native wildflowers, some in flower and some setting seeds. Enjoy the ferns from the tall Ostrich ferns to the little Oak fern and the Himalayan Maidenhair. Enjoy my rock wall; the plants in it and in the bed above.

Enjoy walking the paths and discovering new treasures or meeting old friends as you meander. If you get tired plop down on my “sitting rock” or on one of the patio chairs and relax for a spell..

For about the last ten years 171 Cedar Arts and the Corning Garden Club have joined forces in their annual spring pot and plant sale just in time for Mother’s Day on Saturday May 11^th. 

Cedar Arts Center's Woodcock Ceramics Studio by studio artists, students, and volunteers 171 Cedar has added glass garden totems and a bake sale to the mix. They are also offering a raffle featuring a beautiful potted urn and a garden themed painting by Lynn Dates.

Members of the Corning Garden Club for the past weeks have been digging and potting up select plants from their own garden. For the past weeks I have been digging up a slew of plants from my garden – wood anemones in white, yellow and blue, three yellow “poppies”; our native wood poppy, one from Japan and one from Wales, Pachyphragma an early-blooming plant with small white flowers, two varieties of Epimedium (a great plant for shade)

We will also be offering many of my wildflowers: Solomon seal, merrybells, mayapple, twinleaf, bloodroot, wild ginger, blue cohosh, snakeroot, our native pachysandra and ramps. And the exquisite double bloodroot.

Three members came up last week to help pot up the plants I had dug and heeled in in a shady holding bed. A special thanks to Massi’s who supplied all the potting soil.

Other members will be bringing annuals, perennials, herbs, vegetables, ferns, shrubs and trees. - plants for sun and plants for shade.

Prices are low for the values you will be getting. Many gardeners look forward to this sale in anticipation of what unusual plants may be offered. They come chomping at the bit for 8 o’clock when the sale begins. As the morning progresses, prices drop and the bargains get even better.

See you at 171 Cedar Arts on Saturday.

Or is it Adder’s tongue or maybe dog-tooth violet? Would you settle for fawn lily?

Whence Adder’s tongue? I’ve read three different explanations. The most logical to me is the sharp purplish emerging shoot resembles an adder’s tongue. The European species  dens-canis translates to dogs tooth. They often grow near trout streams, flower when the trout are running and the mottled leaves resemble a trout’s markings. John Burroughs preferred fawn lily for the leaf markings resembling those of a fawn. One writer lists eleven other common names. How can they all be common? It is a handsome and beloved plant to acquire so many names. I wonder what the native Americans called it. Did each tribe have a different name for it?

I have huge patches of small immature plants, but relatively few blooming plants. It makes

a lovely ground cover with its mottled leaves. By summer though it will disappear until next spring. For years I could count the number of blooms on one hand. A few years ago I got up to ten. This year hooray!  I have over 50 in bloom.

There is another species that grows in the northeast, Erythronium albidum which is not

very common. I have only one plant. It has not set seed so it may be self sterile.

here is one species in Europe, E, dens-canis, mentioned above. There are at least six named varities. The other species in the genus are from the west coast. Shown here is

White Beauty

Another one I have is Pagoda which is a hybrid of two western species.

Both of these reproduce by offsets and can be lifted up, divided and replanted.

What’s for dinner tonight? Fiddleheads. Oh, it’s that time of year again. The fiddleheads are up and it’s time to gather some. Hurry though before it’s too late and don’t cut too many from any one fern.

I learned that it is the state vegetable of Vermont and New Brunswick’s major export crop. In some parts of the US and Canada you can find them canned or frozen. They can be broiled or baked in butter and garlic or boiled in salted water and served with butter. Bon appetite.

Ostrich ferns are the tallest ferns we can grow here in the northeast. In the northwest some avid gardeners grow tree ferns, but have to wrap them to protect them from cold spells. They are also one of the most aggressive of our ferns sending out roots and popping up feet away. It certainly is not a fern for a small garden and can sometimes overwhelm even a larger garden. But it is a majestic looking fern and that bright green color of the emerging fronds is a joy to behold. Given moisture, it will even grow and thrive in part sun. Years ago on a raft trip down Pine Creek, there were banks filled with Ostrich ferns. The fertile fronds which contain the spores arise in late summer and overwinter turning from green to brown.

Almost al ferns form fiddleheads, but it is those of the Ostrich fern that is another of the woodland delicacies in the spring. After a hard winter the deer will eat them when little else is available.

Our locally abundant Christmas fern unfolds its fronds a tad later than the Ostrich and is strikingly handsome as well as eye-catching; the fuzzy covering is silvery giving it a distinctive appearance. Notice last year's frond; still green and still photosynthezing.

Soon after the wood ferns will uncurl their furry fronds. They are covered with wooly hairs as though to protect them from the cold.

Not to be outdone, the Lady fern gets into the act. The fronds are quite distinctive with the black hairs on the stipe. These disappear as it matures

The most delicate of all the ferns unfurling their fronds is our maidenhair as it performs its distortions. The red of the stipe will turn black when it matures. The western maidenhair is barely distinguishable in its mature state, but the emerging stipes are green rather than red.

Ferns are handsome throughout the year, but the emerging fronds add an extra dimension to their beauty.

One of the joys of the woodland garden is to see not only the ferns uncurling their fronds, but the emergence of all the wildflowers such as the bloodroot, twinleaf, trilliums, blue cohosh, mayapple and all the others in their distinctive manner.

What an interesting name for such a delicate plant. It conjures up images of pantaloons

and indeed that is what the flowers resemble.

It has a look-alike as far as the foliage is concerned with the common name squirrel corn.

Whence that name? Dig up a plant and the answer will be quite obvious; the root is like a golden kernel of corn. Both grow only a few inches tall with the flowers held high above the soft green foliage. These are two of our ephemeral plants that flower early before the trees leaf out making use of all that sunshine to flower and set seed. In two months they will have completed their life above ground, die back and get ready for next spring when they will repeat the cycle. They are two of that group of woodland plants that have a fatty attachment to their seeds called an elaisome. This attracts ants that carry the seeds back to their nest, devour the elaisomes and discard the seeds. This makes an ideal germination site. The site is so favorable that the plants are much more vigorous than the original plants that I planted. Many of them are growing out of my shaded wall, with the roots firmly embedded deep into the wall. The plants also spread and form large colonies. They are indeed treasures and one wishes they would stay around the rest of the summer and fall.

Both are members of the Dicentra clan as is our wild bleeding heart, Dicentra eximina.

This one does stay around from spring to fall blooming over a long period. It grows taller than its little cousins; its flowers are indeed heart-shaped and a soft pinkish-red in color. It spreads nicely and is easily transplanted. I grow two very similar Dicentras, one with white flowers and the other with dark maroon flowers, the three making a nice display in a shady site.

The common name and the scientific name Sanguinaria canadensis are descriptive of its blood-red rhizome. Even handling the seeds stains one’s hands.

It is one of the earliest of our woodland flowers to come into bloom. When it emerges from the cold, cold earth the leaves are wrapped around the flowering stem like a cloak to protect it from the bitter March winds. On cloudy days the flowers do not open to preserve the pollen, bur when the sun comes out the flowers open wide and await the bees and flies. The flower is ephemeral and in a few days the petals will drop off and it will begin to set seed. If you have only a few flowers you might get a

week of bloom. But I have so many in so many sites that I get a month of bloom. He leaves are heavily scalloped and get the size of dessert plates. The seed pod is like a miniature pea pod and splits open when the seeds are ripe. Ants then do the work of spreading the seeds. I discovered that I have no photos of the seed pods. That will be remedied this year.

When pollinated the seed pod will start to form. It is like a miniature pea pod and when the seeds are ripe will split open and spill the seeds. Ants will pick up the seeds and take them back to their nest and feast on the fatty elaisome attached to the seed. If the ants don’t remove the seeds they will germinate around the parent plant forming large colonies.  Each plant will also extend its rhizomes giving rise to a plant with many flowering stems. It is oh so easy to dig up a plant, break it apart making sure each piece has at least one eye. That is if you don’t mind staining your hands! They are easy to propagate by seeds. Just open the pods and scatter the seed in a likely spot.

Many articles claim that the plant goes dormant after the seeds ripen. No so! And here is

proof taken on the 12^th of October one year. In gardening there is always the danger that what you think is a general case does not hold for every garden. What I suspect is  that in areas with hotter summers, bloodroots do die back after setting seed.

Years ago in Ohio, a gardener noticed an unusual bloodroot. It lacked anthers and stamens

and instead had dozens of white petals. He had found a double bloodroot.  He gave a division to a friend and it is now wildly available from many nurseries for $15 and up. I suspect we will have a few plants for $10 at the Corning Garden Club/171 Cedar Street Pot and Plant Sale in May.

If you are downtown this week stop by the Peace Garden in the Nasser Civic Center. There you will see a tree in full bloom bearing small yellow flowers. This is the Cornellian Cherry, Cornus mas.                                                                                                        

It is a member of the dogwood clan and gets its common name from the red cherry-like drupes that adorn the tree in late summer.

It is a native to Eastern Europe and Western Asia and chosen for the Lviv section of the Peace Garden because it grows in the Ukraine. In fact the Ukrainians have selected forms which have drupes more than a half inch in length. The fruit is tart can be used to make jam, vodka or eaten with salt. A neighbor and I grow this tree and there is also one on Cedar Street at Christ Church. It can be grown as a single trunk tree or as a multistemmed tree as in the Peace Garden. There is an Asian species, Cornus officianalis, which is very similar  and has the same common name. (The workmen inadvertently planted this in the Japanese section and it had to be replanted.)

The rest of Appalachia have Ramp Festivals, why don’t we?

Do any of our local restaurants offer ramps on their menu, and if not why not? 

You don’t know what a ramp is. You haven’t lived! The early settlers had a wild onion in England and the continent that they called ramson. When they came to North America, they found a similar wild onion that was one of the first to come up in early spring. Some called them wild leeks, others called them ramps. But whatever they were called, they provided fresh greens filled with vitamins and minerals; a welcome addition to their table after the long winter. So from Quebec and throughout the Appalachians they would go into the woods and gather ramps and cook them up or use them in salads. To celebrate the harvest they would have festivals. It was a time to gather together and party.

So, what is this plant that people harvest and have festivals over? It is, as you might surmise, a member of the allium clan which is in the lily family. It is, as I remarked, one of the first plants to emerge in the spring and covers a wide expanse in my back woods. After a particularly hard winter years ago and before I erected my deer fence, the deer browsed on them despite their pungent taste. They are a peculiar plant. They are ephemeral, but in a strange way. Most ephemerals like Virginia bluebells, which are emerging now, flower, set seed and die back having completed their growth cycle. But not the ramp. True the leaves die back by summer. But then the flower stalks arise and the flowers open and set seed. So it has three seasons of interest: spring, summer when in flower and in fall with the black seeds sitting on the flower stalk. Oh, and the seeds are what gives it its species name, tricoccum: the seeds coming in sets of three.

The Chiondoxa are coming! The Chiondoxa are coming! The Chiondoxa are here!

Known as “Glory of the Snow”, Chiondoxa are the glory and the bane of spring with their soft blue flowers with a white eye. I don’t know how many we planted, 25, 50 or 100, but now we have thousands and thousands that have spread all through the front woods and several years ago into the front lawn.

They were some of the first of the minor bulbs we planted along wit Crocus, Snowdrops and Winter Aconites. The Crocus have declined over the years, thanks, probably, to the chipmunks. The Snowdrops have increased modestly, but now may have reached a critical mass and are starting to expand. The Winter Aconites are well established and spreading every year with my driveway strip filled with seedlings. But it is Chiondoxa which are taking over my woods, my lawn, my rock garden, my flower beds, my paths, my patio and wherever else a seed my drop. They have only recently spread into the back wood and now that they are there, they are there to stay, Oh, and how do the bees relish flitting from flower to flower, collecting nectar.

But as they are a glory they are also a bane. There are places I would prefer they not go. As the foliage dies, they get a tad unsightly. Fortunately, by the time the Trillium and my other wildflowers are up and blooming the foliage has died and what remains can be pulled. Mowing the lawn has to be delayed a week or two, but since I cut high that is of little concern. In addition to the Chiondoxa, a few other bulbs have seeded themselves into the lawn: Snowdrops, Winter Aconites, Pushkinia, Crocus and the most recenty, a Daffodil.

Good tools are essential and the first item is a bypass pruner which will be your most used pruning tool. For larger branches a lopper is a must as well as a pruning saw. My other tool is a tree pruner which can be used either as a saw or as a pruner. I recently bought a shorter pole pruner for lighter work and am well pleased with it. If you have a hedge you want to maintain shears; either manual or electric will make the job easier, although I am not a big fan of yew hedges.

Why Prune?

Plants want to grow and left alone will in time outgrow their allotted space.

Some think shrubs are high maintenance, but what is high maintenance is a lawn which has to be cut week after week after week whereas once a year is usually enough for a shrub. So why do we see so many overgrown yews? Because out of ignorance they have been left to grow to block windows and sidewalks. Instead of yews I have used Japanese holly for foundation plants. After almost 50 years they would be 8-9 feet tall, but are less than two feet tall because pruning started when they were young and has been continued in all the intervening years.

Next I come to my pet peeve; the pruning of forsythia. The natural shape of forsythia is a fountain and I firmly believe that pruning should retain that shape. To do that I follow a three year schedule; each year I cut out one-third of the stems at the base targeting the thickest. Any other deciduous flowering shrub should be treated the same way. When should forsythia be pruned? Either in late winter to bring branches in to force or shortly after they flower to assure bloom the next spring. But again, wether out of ignorance or not wanting to take the time to do it right, they are often given a brush cut as those in the Wegman parking lot. When will they ever learn?

When it comes to trees, you want to enhance the natural shape of the tree. I have borrowed the 4 D’s from a gardening friend from San Francisco: Dead, Diseased, Damaged and Deranged. I think dead and diseased are obvious reasons, unless you are creating bonsai and wish to retain a dead limb. If it’s damaged, it soon may be dead. Deranged may take a little explanation. Step back and look into the future and imagine what the limbs will look like in five years. Do you like what you see or do you see branches interfering with each other?  It is far easier to correct it now than in five years.

If your tree needs extensive pruning, do not be in a hurry. After each cut, step back and  walk around the tree before doing more. If you hire it done, be wary of hackers who defy all the rules of pruning and take a chain saw to your crab apple.

Winter and early spring are the best time to prune. The tree is bare and you can see the structure. Some trees bleed in the spring and others bloom in the spring so you will want to wait until later.

I am impatient. Winter has gone on long enough and now is the time for spring! Some snowdrops are up, but others are just emerging. The aconites are showing their bright yellow buds and on a sunny day they open up, but I have yet to see the bees buzzing around. More cyclamen continue to pop out of the ground and are a welcome sight. Many of my daffodils are up a few inches and those that poke through my leaf mulch are a nice bright yellow which will soon green up. My geraniums are showing signs of new life as are my bellflowers. I am spotting more of the thin grass-like leaves of spring beauty joining those that have been up for months. I am still waiting for my “February” Daphne to bloom. I am actually looking forward to the thousands and thousand of my Chiondoxa, the “Glory of the-snow”. I even found a few of that noxious weed, garlic mustard. One day this past weekend, I got out my power-vac and sucked up leaves where the wind had deposited them. Then on Sunday I took my hand pruners and cut off last year’s leaves from my Hellebores, filling two bushel baskets and added them to my compost pile. Their flower buds are showing color, but need a few days of spring to stand tall and open up.

I had a meeting of the Adirondack Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society on Saturday afternoon so I drove over early to see Hitch Lyman’s garden and collection of Snowdrops. I had been there years ago with the chapter in the summer, but my recollections are faint. I visited the garden again two years ago and was anxious to go back to see what made it so special to warrant being listed three or more years in a row with no other nearby gardens to visit.

Why having more than 400 species and cultivars of one genus warrant annual “Open Days”? So aside from the large number of “distinctive” snowdrops what makes Hitch’s garden special?

It does have some nice features such as this small circular pond bordered by the stone

wall and boxwoods with the central column. (The bare shrub is either deciduous or a dead boxwood.)

Another nice feature is the large pond backed by the Greek Temple. The yellow-twigged

dogwoods add interest, but the evergreen in front of the temple detracts from the scene. It was a cold, raw day and there was a blazing fire burning in the temple.

I am not a great fan of pollarding, but it does add a distinctive touch to the house. 

Next to the small circular pond was a nicely designed and constructed stone wall. In the

center and to the right it is built into the bank, but to the left is free standing. This seems anomalous to me as to the purpose of the wall.

There are some other design elements which reflect the owner's interest, but which may or may not appeal  to others.

These are the good features of the garden.

But what about the snowdrop collection? There seems to be no order to their display.

They are scattered (or have scattered themselves) hither and yon with tags lying beside clumps. Also in bloom were cyclamen and winter aconite with a few hellebores showing a bit of color in their buds.

The garden itself was in a bit of disarray with plants yet to be planted scattered about in

pots and one stone wall falling apart.

If anyone else visited the garden, I would be interested in your comments.

My email is: remmulp@stny.rr.com

On Saturday, March 16^th, Hitch Lyman of Trumansburg is opening his garden as part of the Garden Conservancy’s Open Day program.  Hitch’s passion is Snowdrops.

The common snowdrop is Galanthus nivalis which I grow and so may you. I have one

Galanthus nivalis

or two other snowdrops, including a double, but Hitch has more than 400 varieties which earns him the title of “Galanthophile”. There are reputed to be more than 500 varieties some of which have been lost to cultivation. The common snowdrop is native to southern Europe and the Middle East and is reputed to having been introduced to Britain by the Romans. Be that as it may, the Brits have long had a love affair with this early blooming bulb and the snowdrop thrives and has naturalized in the English countryside. Many of them and other Americans share “Galanthophile” with Hitch.

Worldwide there are only 20 species, some quite rare so that collecting from the wild is now banned. But through hybridization and sports have arisen more than the 500 distinct varieties. The main differences are the size, shape, markings and bloom time of the flowers. But to the collectors there are subtler distinctions that these enthusiasts are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for these rare varieties.

One nursery that I googled offers six varieties ranging in price from less than a dollar a bulb for the common snowdrop to $5 for some of the others. The second most readily available is the giant snowdrop, Galanthus elwesii, native to the Middle East and growing to nine inches tall. The Crimean snowdrop, Galanthus plicatus blooms earlier and can be a foot in height.

Hitch’s garden features a collection of more than 400 snowdrop varieties planted in a woodland setting as well as other early spring flowers. The 1848 Greek Revival-style farmhouse was moved to this site in 1990. Please note due to rough terrain this garden is not handicapped accessible nor appropriate for small children. In case of rain, the garden will welcome visitors March 17th. Please call 272-8165 to confirm.

Hitch Lyman’s garden   is at 3441 Krums Corners Road, Trumansburg and is open from 10:00 to 4:00. Admission is $5.00. From Corning you don’t have to go through Ithaca, you can go to Watkins Glen and over to the garden.

This past weekend a lady from Syracuse presented a very interesting and informative talk on gardening for monarch butterflies. She is a member of Monarch Watch and her yard is certified as a Monarch Waystation. Why garden for monarchs? What is a waystation? Why should we be concerned?

Well, this amazing and beautiful butterfly needs help. It has lost milkweed, the host for its

arval phase habitat from agricultural practices and roadside spraying. Its life cycle is tied into milkweed plants. Without milkweeds the butterfly has no where to lay its eggs. So why does it need to lay its eggs on milkweed?

Well, milkweed is the only plant that the larva feeds on.

to grow into that colorful caterpillar and then metamorphose into a butterfly. How does this metamorphosis take place?

The caterpillar forms a chrysalis and within that chrysalis what was once the caterpillar is

transformed into our monarch butterfly.

The butterfly, in turn, needs nectar plants like Bee Balm during its short life cycle before

laying eggs to restart the cycle. So the gardener needs to plant milkweeds to provide food for the larva and nectar plants for the butterflies.

This cycle repeats itself four times during the year each butterfly living for only six to eight weeks. But something happens to that fourth generation.  It flies to Mexico for the winter stopping at waystations along the way. Instead of living only six weeks, this generation lives for six months and in the spring starts its return trip and the cycle goes on and on.

 Provided that it has milkweed host plants for the larva and nectar plants for the butterflies. That is where the waystations come in. If interested go to Monarchwatch.com

Brigid Galusha wrote about trees and pruning this past Sunday and I would like to add a few thoughts of my own. Let’s start with trees. My last blog talked about Grahams Rice’s “520 Powerhouse Plants” If you are looking for a tree to plant in your yard, I urge you to get this book out of the library and choose one of the powerhouse trees that he recommends.

Crab apples, in the genus Malus, provide flower in the spring, often favorite, prolific fruits in the fall and often gorgeous fall color. Smaller varieties are available, but count on 30-40 feet in height and breadth for many of them.  That will determine where to plant them. Brigid mentioned one drawback and I would like to offer another. They have, as Brigid noted, a propensity for branches to grow upright which will mar the appearance of your tree. They also have a propensity to throw up suckers from the base of the trunk. Although your major pruning to shape your tree is best done when it is bare so you can see the structure, the suckers and small shoots can be pinched off with your thumb and finger as they extend. Hence the saying that gardeners have a “green thumb”.

Other powerhouse trees that Graham talks about, other than crab apples, are maples, birches, redbuds, dogwoods, conifers, witch hazels and mountain ash.

Brigid gives good advice on siting trees. Do not plant too close to the house. If you are planting taller trees such as oaks or spruces, pay attention to overhead wires or the electric company will come along one day and top your tree whether you want to or not,

I cannot emphasize enough Brigid’s “Never cut just anywhere in the middle of a branch”. Some hack did a hatchet job on a neighbor’s crab apples leaving two inch stubs. I never would trust him to touch one of my trees, nor should you.

When Spencer Crest Nature Center had their auctions, I would offer my pruning services using “Plummer’s Principals of Practical Pruning”.

Happy Pruning!

Email me at remmulp@stny.rr.com