End of a mighty oak

It's a sad day in the neighborhood, as a once beautiful willow oak is slowly dismantled. This giant was here long before any of the existing homes on our block. When we arrived in the neighborhood, it stood alone in a vacant field where we played softball and soccer and held bonfires in the fall. When the builders came, we worried that the construction would harm the tree (it probably did) and that they sited the new house too close to the mighty oak for comfort. This was true and resulted in the oak's demise.

A few years ago, I measured the oak's circumference at 13 feet. Somewhere on my desk is a form to nominate the tree for distinguished status in the county. I printed it out, but never gave it to my neighbor.

A lightening strike a couple of years back left a long vertical scar on an upper branch, and though weakened, the tree still stood. We have had some major storms in the past couple of years with significant tree damage throughout the D.C. area. No one wants to take a chance on of having a tree of this size crash through their roof.

Still, it's hard to say goodbye to this living landmark.

Quercus phellos in happier times

Is Mel’s Mix Really Marvelous?

Four lettuce plants per square foot

Making a batch of Mel’s mix for our raised bed involved a trip to the garden center and the labor of two people to mix the ingredients on a large tarp and then shovel the mix into the box. Done. No digging, rototilling, or fertiziling required. Ever. Compare this to the advice on soil preparation offered by garden writer Adrian Higgins in the Washington Post, this week: “Our native clay soil is a beast, but it can be tamed, initially with large quantities of compost, leaf mold, well-rotted manure, mineral soil conditioners and even sand.” And don't forget the Advil. 

So what about those grids? The whole point of square foot gardening is to make maximum use of minimal space. The grids provide an easy visual cue for planting: 4 lettuce plants per square foot, 2 peppers, or 1 tomato. No wasted space, and no need to plant hundreds of seeds, only to thin most of them to achieve the right spacing. I’m sold.

Gardening by the foot

Like baseball fans, gardeners literally "spring" back, undeterred by memories of last year's disappointments. This year, we are adopting a new approach to edibles - square foot gardening, as described by Mel Bartholomew in his book All New Square Foot Gardening. Mel wrote the first Square Foot Gardening book in 1981 and has been tweaking the method ever since. He also offers loads of practical advice on his website.

The basic idea is to grow more, in less space and with less work. (No, he doesn't promise you'll loose 10 lbs, too. That would make it too good to be true). Planting in raised beds filled with garden soil made with Mel's own recipe is the main strategy here. We purchased our raise bed from Rebuild, a nonprofit in Springfield, Va., that recycles used building materials. It is sitting on pieces of slate and Larry added the cedar planks along the top edge as a place to rest tools and bottoms.

Our raised bed is made of recycled 2x8s

The bed is filled with Mel's mix, a lovely, loose-structured gardening soil made up of equal parts peat moss, compost, and course vermiculite. Since our box is so deep, we made two batches, mixing the ingredients on a large plastic tarp. Both the peat moss and the vermiculite are very light and dusty, so we wore masks and picked a not-so-windy day on which to do the mixing.

Peat moss is readily available at the big box stores, and we located the vermiculite at a full service garden center. Mel recommends blending compost from two different sources, so we combined a bag of commercial compost with some from our own pile.

For the grids, we bought plastic lath, cut it to fit and used Liquid Nails to glue the joints. Why the grids? Good question, and the subject of a future post.

April Showers and Signs of Spring

Daffodils nod

Hyacinths and yes, that is a dandelion

A good year for the magnolias

At last, time to come out of hibernation. For this first post of 2011, on this rainy Friday, the photos say it all.   

Edibles and Ornamentals

Here was a happy accident: a cantaloupe sprouted along the walkway to the front door. Initially, I didn't recognize it as a cantaloupe -- it could have been a zucchini or pumpkin, for all I knew. But the large leaves offered a nice contrast to the smaller-leafed caryopteris, and the two seemed to enjoy a happy co-existence. Since they were happy, I was happy, particularly since my attempts to grow tomatoes and raspberries haven't yielded much of a harvest. Today's breakfast table included the first fruits of this accidental blending of edibles and ornamentals, a practice I plan to continue. In fact, I think I'll save some seeds for next year.

Rain at Last

4 inches of rain on Sept. 30, 2010

I don't know about you, but my gardens -- as well as my enthusiasm for gardening -- were severely stunted by this summer's prolonged heat and lack of rain. How bad was the summer of 2010? Here in the DC-area, we set a number of heat records, including the warmest ever June, tied the record for the warmest ever July, and had the warmest ever summer. There were 64 90-degree days extending well into September. See The Washington Post for a complete run-down on this summer's heat records.

Cooler temperatures and soaking rains (including a record rainfall on September 30) have gone a long way to reviving my flagging interest and my garden's withering stems. So what now?

Here are the top 5 things I plan to do in the garden in October.
1) Plant a couple of shrubs I picked up at recent plant sales while the soil is still warm
2) Collect seeds for sowing next year
3) Clean up some beds neglected in the summer heat
4) Prune drought damaged branches -- testimony to my frugal ways with water
5) Bring in tender house plants that have summered outdoors.

What is on your list? Post a comment to share your garden plans for October.

Where *are* my naked ladies?

Okay, they are not really naked or ladies, but members of the Amaryllis family, also known as “surprise lily” or “resurrection lily.” The flower scapes (or leafless stems) emerge in late summer or early autumn after the foliage has died back and disappeared. Each stalk bears 4-7 flowers that are quite fragrant.  When shopping for bulbs, look for Lycoris squamigera.

After seeing these blooming abundantly in California in late August last year, I was pleased to find them for sale at Green Spring’s Fall Garden Festival (this year’s Fall Garden Festival will be on Saturday, Oct. 2). I know I planted them somewhere (hmm ... where I don't recall) but have yet to see any trace of them. I had all but forgotten, until this group of naked ladies waved hello to me this week at Oatlands Plantation near Leesburg, Va.

Experienced gardeners advise patience; they say it may take a year or two before my naked ladies settle in and put on a similar show.

Queen of the Night

This post comes from my sister, Beth Skulas, and features a night blooming Cereus (epiphyllum oxypetalum), a member of the cactus family. It is also called Dutchman's Pipe.

A bit like Cinderella at the ball, the night blooming Cereus blooms only at night and for only one night. By morning the blossoms have wilted.  Due to bad luck or bad timing, some people never see the plant in bloom.

Beth’s plant is about 15 years old, a descendant of one that our Grandmother raised and our cousin propagated. It began blooming every summer about 7 years ago, once with as many as nine blooms in a single night. The blooms are especially fragrant. Some say the center stamens depict the nativity scene, with the largest "starlike" stamen, representing the star over Bethlehem.

There are a number of videos available in which you can see the buds slowly opening. Follow this link to see one in which three flowers opening simultaneously.  Enjoy and thank you, Beth.

Heavenly Scents

For several recent weeks, a heavenly fragrance greeted me upon leaving or entering my home. The source? A few dollars' worth of lily bulbs I planted two years ago. They return yearly, growing more robust with time.

Washington Post gardening columnist Adrian Higgins wrote about lilies in a recent column titled Summer's heat and humidity bring out the best in lilies. With today's weather forecast offering a double whammy of heat and humidity, why not stay indoors, read the article and view the slide show that accompanies it.

Lilies are best planted in fall, so now is a good time to be thinking about ordering a few. A good local source is Brent and Becky's Bulbs in Gloucester, Va. Even better news is that through the Bloomin' Bucks program, you can order from Brent and Becky's and support Green Spring Gardens at the same time. Brent and Becky's Bulbs will donate 25% of the cost of your order to the Friends of Green Spring (FROGS).

Here's all you need to do:
1. Go to www.bloominbucks.com
2. Click on the drop-down box and scroll to Friends of Green Spring Gardens
3. Click GO
4. Click Yes accept the terms and continue to shop.

Japanese Beetles are Back!

By Diane Hampel, a master gardener in Fairfax County who writes a monthly column, The Laurel Hill Gardener, for her community association's monthly newsletter. This article appeared in the July 2010 newsletter. 

Yesterday while I was out on a neighborhood watch patrol with my neighbor she told me she had seen her first Japanese beetle. While I have not seen any in my garden yet, I know that by the time you are reading this article we will be inundated with them.

This garden pest is the one I hate the most and causes me the most problems. My garden is full of the plants they love to feed on.

I will not go into a lot of detail here because most of the information I want to relay to you is discussed in the Virginia Cooperative Extension Publication on Japanese Beetles. Please take some time to read and study this publication to learn about the life cycle of this insect.  The beetles start as grubs that eat the roots of your turf grass and vegetable plants in the garden, so if we can reduce the number of grubs in the soil, we will reduce the number of Japanese beetles feeding on our trees, shrubs and garden plants throughout the community.


Late July or early August is the best time to apply chemical controls for grubs.  This is when the grubs are small and easily killed.  Applying controls at other times of the year is not as effective.  If you want to apply a natural or organic product rather than a chemical control, I would recommend applying milky spore.  It is available in two forms.  The powder form is a one-time application and applied in a checkerboard pattern on your lawn and then watered in.  You can purchase a special applicator for applying the powder.  The second type is a granular form and is easily applied with your fertilizer spreader.  Granules must be applied three times throughout the summer for two years.   The application of milky spore has a higher initial cost than the chemical application, but over time is the least expensive approach.  If many of us in the community apply this product we should see a reduction of the beetles after a few years.  This one or two time application of milky spore can control beetles for 10-15 years or more.

Once the beetles arrive, the best way to control them is to hand pick them and toss them into a bucket of soapy water, which should kill them immediately.  This is hard to do though, if you have 50 million of them in your yard like I have had the past few years!  DO NOT put one of the Japanese beetle traps up in your yard!  Research has shown that this will only attract more beetles to your yard.

I am testing neem oil for controlling the beetles this year.   I have applied neem oil to the plants in my garden that I know will attract the beetles. This includes all of my ferns, astilbe, hibiscus, clematis and cannas.  I plan to spray at 7-10 day intervals over the next 5 or 6 weeks when the beetles are actively feeding.   Neem oil is a natural insect repellant and pesticide made from the bark, leaves and oil from the neem tree, which grows in India.  I have read that if you can control the beetles early in the season, less will flock to your yard.  I’ll report in the next newsletter what kind of success I have this year with this product.   I am also willing to pay any neighborhood kids who would like to hand-pick the beetles from my plants each week!  The only criteria I ask is that they are not squeamish about bugs!

Whether you decide to use chemical or natural sprays on your plants, always remember to READ THE LABEL before applying, and only apply in early morning or in the evening when bees are not actively pollinating plants.  Also do not apply in windy conditions.

Please feel free to contact me if you need further information about Japanese beetle control or other gardening questions.  You can reach me at bandhampel@gmail.com.

Memories of Cape Cod

Years ago, while staying at the Wequassett Inn on Cape Cod, I fell in love with a rose named "New Dawn." While our climate in Northern Virginia is a far cry from that of Cape Cod, I put this rose in my garden as a way of remembering the magic of the Cape and New England gardens. Fortunately, it has not let me down, with this year's bloom being especially spectacular.

I'm not a serious rosarian, but have learned a few tricks. Number one is that New Dawn does NOT like the usual late winter pruning recommended for most roses. Instead, I prune rampant growth at the end of the growing season. Now if I could just figure out how to get it to rebloom, as some books suggest it should. Your comments and suggestions welcome!

A New Border Leads to the Front Door

In Fall 2009, the flagstone walkway leading to the front door was renovated. The stones were lifted and a new subsurface of stone dust was put down to raise the sidewalk to prevent water from pooling on it. A border of creeping phlox and blue rug junipers was removed.

In Spring 2010, a new mixed border was planted. The idea is to create spring and fall interest playing off the yellow-green of the Caryopteris and Sedums and the purples and burgundies of the Nepeta (catmint), Salvia, and Heuchera (coral bells). Also included is an Amsonia (blue star) and a yellow Baptisia .


Here is the before and after.

Hard Pruning a Knock Out Rose

After several years, this Knock Out rose had seriously outgrown its space and was making it difficult to get in  and out of the car when parking next to it. The solution was a dramatic pruning in late winter and here are the results.

Before pruning - a tangled mess

After Pruning - March 7, 2010 after the February snows melted.

Full bloom in progress on May 22. I expect they will bloom continuously until November. Knock Out has proven to be drought tolerant,untroubled by pests and diseases, and able to withstand my attention!

Passion in Bloom, Not Bed

Seen in the Neighborhood

Vitex is also known as Chastetree. A Mediterranean plant whose medicinal uses have been known since ancient times, it is mentioned in Homer’s Illiad as a “symbol of chastity, capable of warding off evil.” Monks are said to have used it to decrease sexual desire, hence another nickname, Monk's pepper. Among women the fruits, small pepper-like berries collected in the fall, are used for menstrual irregularities. It is very attractive to butterflies and bees. This vitex was seen in full bloom on July 1 in the boulevard on Walter Reed Drive just north of Leesburg Pike.

Red, White and Blue

A flowerful 4th of July.