Dead Shrub? Problem Solved!

Before I started doing projects for Lowe's Creative Ideas Garden Club, I blogged about a problem that developed last year with one of our Harry Lauder's Walking Stick (Corylus avellana 'Contorta') shrubs. This one was more in the shape of a two-trunked tree and half of it died. Since we put it where we did to create interest in a large blank area of the east side of our house, this was unfortunate.

I collected ideas from other gardeners and friends as to what I should do there. Romie voted to remove the dead part and let the live part remain. I nixed that idea pretty much before he got it out his mouth. Some suggested I paint the dead part a bright color, just to be whimsical. I entertained that idea, but just couldn't visualize it as looking good.

About two months ago, I was tired of mulling over the idea and decided to go with an idea I'd seen in the Lowe's Creative Ideas Home & Garden magazine. I loved the trellis and thought it might look good in place of the half-shrub.  So out the shrub came.

We went to Lowe's and got the materials we needed and I supervised as Romie cut the pieces of wood needed to construct the trellis. He cut the hardware cloth while I stained the pieces of wood.

After those were dry, we put the pieces together, and the trellis was complete.

 

Holes were dug in the ground for placing the legs of the trellis.

 

We used pieces of black PVC tile down in the hole and used Portland cement poured into them as a means of not only anchoring the trellis, but protecting the wood from decomposing.

Once we had them leveled and let the cement set up, we backfilled the spaces in the hole with soil and then used gravel around the legs so that water would drain and not soak into the base of the trellis legs.

I planted a Mandevilla vine at the base, because it's fast-growing and will fill the trellis before summer's end. I might plant a perennial vine, such as a Clematis, this fall, so that I don't have to plant it anew each spring, but I love the annual vines for their constant color.

 

I think I like the trellis here even better than Harry!

For a complete list of materials needed and instructions on how to construct this freestanding trellis, see the Lowe's Creative Ideas site.

*Though I do receive gift cards with which to purchase materials for my participation as a member of the Lowe's Creative Ideas Garden Club, I purchased the materials for this project myself.

My Passion (and Flower) Featured in Horticulture Magazine

December-January 2011 issue
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I've mentioned before that the first gardening magazine I ever read or subscribed to was Horticulture magazine. My mom had recommended it and I've been a subscriber for several years now. There's always something that inspires me and I never fail to learn something from each issue.

As I began to write this blog and then doing freelance garden writing, one of the dreams in the back of my mind was to somehow get published in a garden magazine, namely Horticulture. This month, my dream came true. Along with contributions from fellow garden writer friends Barbara Pintozzi, Carol Michel, and Jean McWeeney, the story of my passion flower (Passiflora caerulea 'Clear Sky') appears on page 68, in a story entitled Divas in Green.

The subtitle tells the common point to each of our stories - "We all have a plant for which we'll jump through hoops." Oh yes, my passion flower has been the recipient of extra-special care since I first brought it home from the Cleveland Flower Show in 2005.  It was the first plant I bought when I began gardening.

This Passiflora isn't hardy to my zone 5b, so Romie and I haul it in and out as the seasons change from warm to cold and back again. It blooms sporadically year round and sometimes it blooms best in the dead of winter, in the west window where it resides when inside.

Little did I know when I bought that gorgeous flowering plant over five years ago that it would still be around and making some of my gardening dreams come true. Its special care has been worth it in more ways than one.


Other gardening friends are also featured in this month's issue: Rebecca Sweet,  Jenny Peterson, and Carolyn Gail Choi, all of whom I've met personally and enjoy communicating with online.

Spot Me a Five?

Five! Five dollar! Five dollar foot looooong...

Okay, now you hate me for putting that jingle into your head, don't you? I figure I might as well have company while I "enjoy" that ear worm. As I walked about the garden yesterday, it was that annoying little tune that kept popping into my head. What prompted it?

This:

Five Spot (Nemophila maculata)

Here's the story about my Five Spot: It took two tries in two separate years for me to get this to grow from seed. Last year, it finally decided our amended clay soil was good enough to grow in. We had lovely blooms, each with five spots, except for the ones that had seven. Maybe the ones with seven spots are akin to finding a four-leaf clover?

The weird thing about Five Spot is that it's growing and blooming right now, in spite of not planting it this year. It's an annual and I didn't save any of last year's seed, but it turns out that I really didn't need to. It self-seeded and I have just as many plants this year as I did last year. And I didn't have to do a thing!

Now, if I can just get Baby Blue Eyes (Nemophila menziesii) to do the same thing.

On the "five" theme, here's another:

Five-leaved Akebia (Akebia quinata)

This vine would be cool to do time-lapse photography with. As it grows, it twines around the trellis, then when it reaches the top, it seems to twirl around itself, looking for something to grab onto. It has that "wild hair" look to it.

There are five leaves on each stem and when it blooms, there are five individual flowers in a group. Notice the little stripes on part of the bloom? I'll bet there are five of those, too. Just guessing though - I didn't take the time to count.

Another quirky thing about this Akebia is that I found it a couple of years ago at Home Depot at the end of the season for guess how much? FIVE dollars.

Have you had enough of the five stuff? There's more! One of my roses is called 'Cinco de Mayo.' Oh, it's not blooming yet, but it's got vigorous new growth and promises to look fabulous when bloom time comes. In case you didn't know, "cinco" is the Spanish word for "five." And May is the fifth month. And this starts my fifth year of gardening.

This blog post is brought to you by the Number 5.

Spring Project No. 1 - The Grape Arbor

I'm sitting here grinning, and it's such a simple thing that's making me do it. The outdoor thermometer reads 54° F. This makes me happy, not only because 54° is particularly warm, but because it means the weather is starting to actually act spring-like, even if it officially doesn't arrive for a few weeks yet.

This begins an up and down cycle of temperatures which, along with increasing hours of daylight, helps to signal the gardens that it's time to wake up from their long winter's nap. It makes me more energetic, too. My calendar is beginning to actually have things on it. Today I had lunch with a friend, and tomorrow Mom and I are going to attend the Ft. Wayne Home & Garden Show.

Warmer temperatures also bring to mind those projects that need to be done and first on the list here at Our Little Acre will be to finish the grape arbor. I mentioned last year that I wanted to grow some grapes, and while harvesting them will be wonderful, I really wanted to grow them for the beauty of their vines.

The first thing we did was consult our grape bible - The Grape Grower: A Guide to Organic Viticulture by Lon Rombaugh. This is undoubtedly the most complete and informative book that's out there on the subject of grapes.

In April, we planted eight vines of table grapes: 2 Himrod (white seedless), 4 Reliance (red seedless), and 2 Mars (blue seedless). They were planted in short rows from east to west, to allow for air circulation, since our prevailing winds come from the west. They were small and took awhile before they started to take off, but all except one Reliance did well.

Planted April 8, 2008

I moved the opposing Reliance vine and replanted it next to a section of the split-rail fencing on one border of our property. Then I replanted the other Reliance vines so they were equidistant from the others, which was probably a better situation anyway, since I'd placed them a bit too close initially.

I wanted there to be a distinct area for the grapes, so we used landscaping timbers to delineate the area and I killed the grass inside by placing layers of newspaper over it. Next, I put a layer of mulch over the newspaper and that was that.

While we weren't quite sure how we wanted to do the trellis system, we began by just letting the vines grow and staking them to a short post. They grew this way until fall, when we knew they were large enough that we needed to get the more permanent system installed. Otherwise, winter winds would whip them around, so with more sturdy support and staking, they'd be ready to go once spring arrived.

October 9, 2008

We adapted information found in The Grape Grower to our needs and Romie began by digging holes for the 4x4s that we used for end posts. Next, holes were dug for the 2x2 wood posts which would go next to the grape vines. Here is where we would have been much better off to have placed the posts first, but Romie was very careful not to cut any of the roots he encountered.



Eye bolts were put at the proper heights on all the posts. We strung heavy-gauge wire from the end posts, threading it through the eye bolts on the smaller posts in between.

The grape vines were semi-pruned of their lowest auxiliary shoots, leaving one large stem for the trunk. One of them has two strong stems, so we left them both until we figure out what to do with that one. The vines were then well-secured to the supports with Velcro® plant tape.

November 10, 2008

Now spring is coming and we need to finish what we started. Plans are to get four more 4x4s, which will go in between the middle vines and the end vines. Then a pergola-type covering will be constructed over the entire structure. It won't be tall enough to walk under, but will provide aesthetic interest and further support for the vines as well as keeping the end posts from collapsing inward.

I also need to read up on how to prune the vines. I don't expect to get any grapes yet this year, but I do expect that the vines will grow quite a bit.

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas...

...my true love gave to me...a trip to the Conservatoreeeeee! (Sing it real fast and it works.)

What better way to spend a foggy, damp, cold afternoon than to escape to one of my favorite places, especially in winter. We try to make a few trips throughout the year to the Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana. Today was the last day of their Christmas display, "Home For the Holidays," and I really didn't want to let it end without a visit.

We'd had freezing rain in the early morning hours and while it didn't appear to coat things with ice, there was a light layer on the roads. We had to be careful, but it wasn't unsafe if you drove a little slower than normal. Besides, we needed this pleasant diversion after the power outages Christmas week and the dreaded chore of taking down the decorations.

The first thing we saw when we walked into the main room was the old Ford truck and the Poinsettia tree. The "Home For the Holidays" theme was to depict the post-World War II era.



The next thing we noticed was the wonderful fragrance. Without looking, I recognized it and knew when I looked to my right, I would see their magnificent Brugmansia in bloom.



The last time I'd been here, they had just pruned it severely. That was disappointing, because I always love to see it and smell it, but today was proof that the pruning was a good thing. I wish we could grow these outside year round so ours could get this big!

There were several kinds of Poinsettias displayed throughout the Showcase Garden Room. As is the case with any colorful plant, seeing them en masse is stunning, and when it's red, it's even more so.


I also enjoyed the variants of Poinsettia we saw there...







I especially like this golden apricot color. That's Cordyline in the background. They make good use of it throughout this room.









These shaded red ones almost looked spray-painted, but they weren't.

Mini and ruffly

Usually this room and the next (the tropical rain forest) contain many specimens of orchids, but I only saw four today, and two of those weren't in bloom. There was a Dendrobium on its last bloom, but the Phalaenopsis was very nice.

Hausermann's Charm 'Justin'

Before moving on to the next room, we stopped to admire the Clerodendron. It was here that I first saw one and was spurred to purchase one of my own.

Nearby, there was a proliferate vine that I didn't recognize and wasn't labeled. I meant to ask before we left, but I forgot. If any readers know what it is, please let me know!

In the next room - the Tropical Gardens - there is a noticeable rise in temperature and humidity. Coupled with the lush greenness that surrounded us, we could almost imagine that we were far away from the winter that was on the other side of the walls.

Here, there were the usual suspects that we always enjoy when we visit (minus the orchids).

Powder Puff Tree (Calliandra haematocephala)

South African Honeysuckle (Turraea obtusifolia)

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Matensis'

This is an 8-foot tall Angel Wing Begonia that appears to be the same as my smaller one, 'Sophia'. It was just as beautiful looking up from below as it was looking at the spotted top side of the leaves.

Fiddlehead of a Lacy Tree Fern (Sphaeropteris cooperi)

Ixora (?)

And then, something new! While I've seen the Amazon Lily plants here before, I'd never seen them in bloom until today. I've had one of my own for more than two years and it has never bloomed. Now I know what to look forward to, if mine ever decides to bless me.

Eucoris grandiflora

The Desert Room is my least favorite of the three rooms at the conservatory and it makes me glad that I don't live in such a climate. I think I would tire of it quickly, although it does have some pretty unique plants.

Turpentine Bush (Ericameria laricifolia)

Agave, sprouting a bloom

Before leaving, we passed back through the Showcase Garden. We took with us a few more parting images.