• Wobar and the Quest for the Magic Calumet
    Now available for $24.95 including shipping.
  • Now available for $21.00 including postage.
  • Recent Articles

  • Vendors I Like

    click here to buy from Cobrahead Click Here to buy from Cobrahead
  • Cobrahead

    This is the best darn weeder made in the country, and I think I've tried them all. I use it to dig weeds, tease out grass roots, and mix soil at planting time. Neither right nor left handed, it is lightweight and strong.
  • West Lebanon Supply

    I buy all of my organic fertilizers and soil amendments at West Lebanon Supply. They carry several lines of seeds, watering devices, tomato cages, landscape fabric and much more. They also sell pet supplies - and allow dogs in the store!
  • E.C. Brown Nursery

    E.C. Brown Nursery has an amazing selection of high quality trees, shrubs and perennials. The staff is incredibly knowledgeable. Looking for something unusual? E.C. Brown Nursery probably has it.

More Chores for Spring



Although I still have some snow around the house here in Cornish, NH, many of you may be looking at brown grass and mud. It will be some time before real spring weather is safely ensconced. We all want to get outside and enjoy warm, sunny days – and most of us are itching to do some work in the garden.
 

This plank will let me cut down this decorative grass without compacting the soil

If you do go outside, please be extra careful where you walk. Your lawn and gardens are probably soggy, and your footsteps can easily compact the soil and damage roots. Take a different route to your garden each time you go out. Game trails in the forest can be made by animals as small as a house cat due to compaction if they follow the same path, day after day. Plants do not thrive if their roots are in compacted soil.

 
I live on a dirt road, and each year the town plows dump sand and gravel mixed with snow on the lawn. I try to shovel that grit and snow back onto the road or haul it away while it is still mixed in with snow to cut down on raking later in spring. Use a soft rake – one with bamboo or plastic tines – when you rake the lawn so you will be less likely to tear up the grass as you rake.
 
If you have decorative grasses that overwintered, they are probably pretty bedraggled by now. It is better to cut down tall grasses before they start growing. Last year’s stems will not turn green- they grow new stems each year. The only problem you might have now is that they may be in a garden bed that you wish to avoid walking in. I use a serrated knife for the job, but pruners will work, too.
 
If you want to work in flower beds, find a couple of three-foot long 6- to 8-inch wide planks. Place them in your garden bed and step on them instead of the soil. They will distribute your weight and allow you to work while avoiding the problem of compacting the soil.
 

It’s time to clean out your birdhouses

If you have bluebird boxes or other nesting boxes, this is a good time to clean them out. I don’t know just when the bluebirds arrive and claim their nesting places, but I want to be ready for them. This would also be a good time to put up a bat house. Bats eat lots of mosquitoes so you should welcome them to your garden. Pre-made bat boxes are available, and directions to make your own are available on-line.

 
I love art and whimsy in my garden, and have all kinds of interesting art placed around my property. I recently noticed that some of it has tipped or fallen over. Depending on the nature of the whimsy, you might be able to right it now. Others, such as wire sculpture that has rods designed to go into the soil might have to wait. My soil is still frozen, which deterred me from fixing all of mine that needed straightening.
 

Fix art and whimsy that has fallen this winter

It’s too early here for me to rake leaves and clean up garden beds that need it. But I am picking up sticks that were blown out of trees. After a little drying time in the barn they will provide me with kindling for my woodstove.

 
In the past I piled up broken branches each year and burned it all in late winter while there was still plenty of snow around the pile. I have stopped creating burn piles, for two reasons. First, little animals may have settled into the burn pile over the winter, and I don’t want to evict them – or possibly kill them. And certainly there are lots of insects that overwinter in dead branches and stems of thing like goldenrod and bee balm – which used to go into the burn pile (but are now composted).
 
The second reason is environmental: the bonfires I enjoyed in the past send up a lot of smoke and air pollution, and I want to avoid doing that. Instead of burning those branches, we bought a chipper/shredder to make chipped branches that can be used on pathways to keep down weeds. Or they can be double-ground and the fine results are good for mulching or mixing with food waste in our compost pile.
 
Chipper shredders come in many sizes. We bought a gasoline-powered machine that will allegedly take 3-inch stems, but is actually better for things half that size and smaller. Manufacturers want to sell their products, so they tend to exaggerate a bit. But buy the most powerful machine you can afford. Ours cost $600 and is good for our needs.
 

This gas-powered chipper-shredder helps make mulch and compost materials

What don’t they tell you? Chipper/shredders are noisy and can be dangerous. Mine does not start in winter. One pass though the machine makes a rough mixture of shredded branches that is not aesthetically pleasing to my eye as a mulch. But this material is easily dumped in the top hopper for fine grinding. Electric machines are out there, but the ones I’ve tried are not as powerful as a gas-powered machine. Good for small branches and leaves, I suppose.

 
I’ll start my tomato seedlings around April 10 indoors. These I will plant outdoors around June 10. Vine crops I’ll plant later – early May will be fine for cukes, squash and pumpkins that will go out in mid-June. I don’t need to tend seedlings any longer than need be.
 
Spring and summer are just around the corner. So try to be patient and avoid compacting your soil. If you see foot prints in the soil, you should stay off it. Or wear your snowshoes to get around the garden!
 
Henry is a UNH Master Gardener and the author of 4 gardening books. His website is www.Gardening-Guy.com. Reach him by email at henry.homeyer@comcast.net.

The” No Work” Garden



I saw a friend recently who was bubbly and excited about her garden. “It’s full of color and stays that way all summer!” she exclaimed. “And it is NO work! All I have to do is water it daily, and give it a little fertilizer every few weeks.” She invited me to come see it, so of course I went.
 

Annual flowers and found objects have transformed this space into an outdoor room

What my friend has is a small outdoor courtyard that she has transformed into an outdoor room, complete with a small metal table and chairs sitting on an outdoor carpet. She has purchased lots of annuals and is growing most in pots (hence the need for daily watering), along with a few easy perennials.

 
The house is L-shaped and defines two sides of the space, with a low railroad tie retaining wall for the third side; the front is open and once allowed her to park her car right by the side door to the house. No more.
 
In addition to the annual flowers, she has a few perennials growing in the ground and lots of whimsy. She stops whenever she sees a “FREE” sign by the side of the road. A chair with no seat? Bring it home, paint it bright blue, and put it in the garden. See a sculpture of a head, or an interesting vase at a yard sale? Get it!
 
The annual flowers she generally buys as hanging baskets because they have well established plants with blossoms from day one. Lots of color. Supertunias, verbenas, and marigolds of various descriptions are some of her favorties. When she gets them home she takes them out of their horrid plastic pots, and puts them in nice ceramic pots. If she goes away for a few days, she has someone come by to water.
 

Lofos red wine attracts hummingbirds

A vining or trailing plant she likes this year is one I have never seen before. It has bright red trumpet flowers and is a Proven Winner trademarked plant called Lofos Wine Red, a Lophospermum hybrid. Keep it in sun with mostly dry planting mix, and it blooms all summer, attracting hummingbirds. In general, trademarked plants like this offer good results with minimum effort.

 
Right now she has a big pink bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabalis) in full bloom, though that will bloom only for a few of weeks. She has a groundcover that I use in shady areas called sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum) that serves as a nice filler near it and is blooming right now. It has fragrant white blossoms and delicate lacey foliage that stays green and handsome all summer. Later an astillbe will blossom nearby.
 
Hosta is another important plant in her garden. She has many with large, green leaves. And although hostas are generally grown for their foliage, later in the summer they will send up flower stalks with white blossoms.
 

A vase nestled in a planting of lacebush or Stephanandra

The side of the space that gets the most afternoon sun is filled with Stephanandra incisa or lace shrub. This is a deciduous woody shrub that spreads by root and roots in wherever the tips of branches touch the ground. It only gets a couple of feet tall, but has very dense foliage – dense enough that grasses and weeds do not come through. It blooms in June, with small white star-shaped flowers. The leaves are shaped a bit like maple leaves. Her stepanandra was planted 25 years ago and still looks great – it covers the bed that is over 50 feet long and 4 feet wide.

 
More than a dozen years ago I planted bulbs for my friend in another part of the property. My goal was for her to have blossoms from March until late May from spring bulbs, and the bulbs are still going strong: first snowdrops in March, followed by crocus, then daffodils. I selected daffies for their bloom time: some early, some mid-season, some that are bloom in late May. Like everything at this property, the goal was to have no-labor or low-labor beds, so the beds were well mulched with chipped bark.
 
What other plants grow at this garden? She had a steep rocky hillside with gravelly, poor soil. Grass grew on it, but it was impossible to mow.  Someone suggested a creeping sumac, and she had it installed. It is variously called skunkbush sumac, creeping three-leafed sumac, or Rhus trilobata ‘Autumn Amber’.
 
The Autumn Amber sumac is a trademarked variety, and boasts of ”a profusion of small chartreuse-colored flowers that bloom in delicate clusters before new foliage appears.” In fall the leaves transform into “striking hues of ambers, yellows, oranges and/or reds before dropping for the winter”. I have only seen it but once before, even though it is hardy to Zone 4. It is supposed to be very good for tough, hot dry places. It is dense enough that I saw no grass growing through it.
 

Bird houses add color to the garden

Each year my friend picks a theme for her garden by the kitchen door. This year she focused on birds: metal birds, colorful bird houses, hummingbird feeders. She likes to find flourishes for the plants at yard sales and thrift stores, trying to keep her purchases to under $5.

 
I asked my friend how she would describe herself as a gardener. “I’m a lazy gardener who doesn’t like to weed. I love color and whimsy and like to re-purpose everyday objects.”  Nothing wrong with that – it gives her more time to volunteer, and take walks on her woodland trails.
 
Henry is a UNH Master Gardener and he author of 4 gardening books. Contact him at henry.homeyer@comcast.net. His website is Gardening-Guy.com.

Creating a Great Garden: It’s More Than Just Plants



If you’ve visited any great gardens, you know that they consist of more than just flowers. They have fine trees and shrubs, pathways, perhaps stonework or pottery, maybe a bit of whimsy, or walls and great views. Now, before your trees are fully leafed out and the perennials have begun to distract you with their blossoms, this is a good time to think creatively about what you can do to make your garden spaces better.

 

Pottery by Stephen Proctor adds a lot to a garden

I recently visited the Inn on Putney Road, a B&B in Brattleboro, Vermont. This is a majestic old white brick building with lots of formal gardens. I went to see it because I had seen the outdoor pottery of Steve Procter (https://www.stephenprocter.com/) at the Vermont Flower Show, and he maintains a wide selection of his pottery on display in the garden at the Inn.

 

Steve Procter makes pots that are high-fired and impervious to the elements. Unlike flower pots, his pots are fully vitrified, and will not absorb moisture. Most are not designed for use as flower pots, but for their amazing looks. The come with lids and a drainage hole. In the summer, they may be displayed without the lid, and rain will not collect inside. In the winter lids are recommended to avoid any ice building up.

 

These pots would make my garden look even better than it does. But a 5-foot tall pot takes Steve about 3 weeks to make and a full day at 2300 degrees F to bake – and days to cool it slowly. These are not inexpensive, obviously, and not in my budget just now.

 

Steve told me that although people are used to placing 2-dimensional art work on the walls of their homes, 3-dimensional art is less common and not everyone is comfortable placing big pots in the garden, He generally delivers the pots and helps to find a perfect spot for each. The pots are placed on a square of bluestone or concrete to keep them steady.

 

Whether you are placing a pot, a sculpture or perhaps a tall standing stone, 3-dimensional art can provide a visual destination, something that draws a visitor down a path. And if you partially conceal the pot or art with a shrub or tree, Steve Procter pointed out that it can create a sense of mystery. Or provide a surprise when you turn a corner.

 

Large flower pots filled with plants add much to a garden, too. I have a fig tree and a Frangipani (the tree that provides flowers for Hawaiian leis) in ordinary big pots – but have to bring them in each winter. That can be a struggle. But they can add a lot to my landscape.

 

Birdbath used as a planter in my garden with papyrus growing in it

What else can one do to provide 3-dimentional interest? A simple ceramic bird bath adorns my garden each summer. Since the birds showed no interest in taking baths in it (I also have a stream nearby), I use it as a pedestal for a plant in a pot, or even as a shallow pot. Last summer I grew papyrus in it. Papyrus grows in standing water, which is good as a bird bath collects water and would drown many plants in a rainy time.

 

Standing stones are also wonderful. A significant part of the stone must be buried in order to achieve stability. I think the perfect stone is long and relatively narrow with a base that is wider than the exposed portion when installed. I prefer stones that are 4 to 6 feet from end to end and just a foot to 18 inches wide.

 

To make a standing stone stable, I dig a hole 18 to 24 inches deep and 2 to 3 feet wide. Once I have the stone standing in the hole and vertical, I place stones around it in the hole. I choose stones the size of a loaf of bread or bigger to hold the stone in place. Then I pour into the hole a bag of ready-mix concrete, dry. The concrete will harden up and cure nicely over time. I finish filling the hole with topsoil.

 

When I install standing stones in public places I make each even more stable by digging a mushroom-shaped hole. I dig the hole, then dig out laterally at the bottom to create a pocket under the un-excavated sides of the hole. This space gets filled with concrete mix, making a nice anchor. I use a hand tool called a CobraHead weeder to pull the soil out of the pocket area.

 

What else can you use to spiffy up your garden? Benches are nice. Wooden benches are probably the most comfy. Stone benches look great, but are cold and hard to sit on for more than a few minutes. But any bench will draw the eye, and encourage visitors to approach the bench.

 

Stone benches are handsome, but not comfortable to sit on for long

I have a marble bench next to my brook where there is a nice planting of umbrella plant (Darmera peltata). I placed some of my late sister Ruth Anne’s ashes under the umbrella plant at planting time, and it has been a nice quiet place to sit and remember her, particularly when it blooms in the spring with tall pink flowers. 

 

So look for some three-dimensional objects to enhance your garden – whether pots or standing stones or even an old fashioned gazing ball. And remember: you don’t have to prune or weed them!

 

Henry Homeyer is a garden writer, consultant, gardening coach, and the author of 4 gardening books. He can be reached at henry.homeyer@comcast.net.

 

 

Ways to Improve Your Winter Landscape

Posted on Wednesday, April 11, 2018 · Leave a Comment 



During hard winters like this, when we tend to be somewhat housebound, it’s important to have a landscape that we can enjoy from indoors. When I first gardened I only grew vegetables and flowers, which disappear from view in winter. But now I delight in growing trees and shrubs, and placing stones and whimsy in the garden.

 

When I do gardening consultations I often ask to go inside the house. I want to look out the window from the kitchen sink, and to sit in the armchair by the picture window. After all, most of us spend more time indoors in the winter than we do trudging around the garden on snowshoes. I need to see more than snow outside.

Harry Lauder Walking Stick

 

One of my favorite woody plants for winter viewing is a twisted, curly-branched shrub or small tree called Harry Lauder’s walking stick (Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’). This is a type of hazelnut that has been propagated vegetatively from a mutant plant found in a hedgerow in England in the mid 1800’s. It was named after Scottish entertainer Harry Lauder who was known for his singing and comedy routine. Around World War I he was the highest paid performer in the world.

 

Harry Lauder’s Walking stick gets to be about 10 feet tall and wide, but I have pruned mine to stay smaller than that, about six feet tall and wide. I use it in a flower bed that borders my vegetable garden. Mine has purple leaves which are outstanding in the early summer, all dark and shining, but most have green leaves. It does not, however, produce any nuts. It does best in full sun with rich, moist soil.

 

Over the years I have installed a few standing stones. They contrast nicely with flowers in the summer, and better yet, they stand out in winter. I have chosen stones that are 3 to 4 feet long and quite narrow.

Standing stones are wonderful in winter

 

When I install the stones, I dig a hole that is mushroom shaped – a cylinder down 18 to 24 inches, then blooming out at the bottom. Before placing the stone I pour concrete into the hole and make sure it spreads out to the sides. The mushroom shape makes a good solid footing. That way they are steady, even after time. Years ago I installed one in the Lebanon, NH Mall that stands nearly five feet tall, and it has never budged.

 

Strings of tiny blue lights adorn my Merrill Magnolia behind my house. I turn them on in the late afternoon, and they brighten my landscape – and not just at Christmas time. I use these all winter, and find them good for brightening my spirits on dar,gray afternoons. With snow on the branches, the magnolia just shines. I love it for its big, furry buds and their promise of a thousand large, white and lightly fragrant blossoms in late April.

 

Snowmen are not just for kids. Snow sculpture is a gamble, of course. We could have a thaw and a hard rain the day after you spend an entire afternoon building a whimsical figure. I love seeing them and know the young at heart will always build a few.

Winter Whimsy

 

Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH is known for the snow sculptures made each February for its Winter Carnival, and they are worth a trip to see. There is usually one giant sculpture on the Green, and smaller ones around the campus. But check on-line before making a trip to see them. I’ve heard that enthusiasm for getting cold and wet is diminishing. Kids today! (Truth be known, when I was a student at Dartmouth I did not participate much in building ice sculptures).

 

 

The old fashioned peegee hydrangea is a wonderful plant in winter, and if you don’t have one, you should. Most hydrangeas bloom in August with big pompoms of white florets. When frost comes the flowers turn brown, but most stay attached to the stems. In winter they hang one, decorating the white landscape and reminding me that summer is coming – eventually.

 

Actually, my favorite of the hydrangeas is one called ‘Pink Diamond.’ This has flower panicles that are longer and more pointed than the standard peegee. The stems are stronger and less likely to flop, too. These are great in winter.

 

A well-pruned apple tree is glorious in winter. Most gardeners prune apples in the spring – it’s warmer and easier to work then. But if you do prune in the fall or winter, you will be rewarded with a living sculpture that stands out against the snow. Trim out all those pesky water sprouts, dead branches, and clutter. I like to say that a bird should be able to fly through a well-pruned apple tree.

 

Greenery is especially nice in winter. That may account for the number of yews, arborvitae, junipers, hemlocks, Mugo pine, dwarf blue spruce and rhododendrons that are planted in the landscape.

 

Maintenance of evergreens is important. I’ve seen too many tall conifers- and even rhododendrons – blocking windows of houses to recommend planting anything but dwarf plants near the house. And some “dwarf” plants are actually just slow growing and can become problematic in 20 years.

 

Stoke up the woodstove and enjoy this cold, snowy winter. And plan on adding some height to the garden next spring if all you see now is white.

 

You may reach Henry by e-mail at henry.homeyer@comcast.net or by mail at PO Box 364, Cornish Flat, NH 03746. Please include a SASE if requesting a response by mail.

 

Filed under Article · Tagged with , ,

How to Lead the Eye and the Visitor Through the Garden

Posted on Monday, July 18, 2016 · Leave a Comment 



Garden clubs often enliven the summer by asking members to open their gardens to members and friends for an afternoon. For some, this is a terrifying day – they fear people will criticize their design, notice the weeds, make fun of the garden whimsy. For others, open gardens are fun. People walk through, talking plants and sharing ideas about how to create special garden spaces with plants that are right for the terrain. Clearly the second group of gardeners have more fun.

 

There is a group of gardeners in Lyme, NH that encourages garden visits: they call their events, “Pardon My Garden”. They acknowledge that few of us ever have a “perfect” garden, no matter how hard we work or how many weeders we employ. My garden isn’t perfect? So what. Gimme some ideas. I love the concept.

 

But let’s say you wish to open your garden to a group, or just to have a garden party for a dozen close friends. How do you get people to move around and find the special places and plants you have, especially if you have a large space? I think that hardscape is the answer: paths, archways, arbors, pottery, sculpture, stonework and water all will attract the eye and draw a visitor forward. Let’s look at these.

 

The most ambitious is to create paths. Public gardens use them to keep the foot traffic from killing the grass, and to direct people through the gardens. Often the walkways are covered with gravel and edged with steel or aluminum strips buried vertically in the soil. These pieces of edging often come in 20 foot sections and are serious work to install. I’ve done it, but it’s not easy.

 

A marble bench and umbrella plant call out for visitors

A marble bench and umbrella plant call out for visitors

In home gardens, paths between beds and from one part of the garden to another generally are grass. Sometimes people put down ground bark or wood chips to define paths, though I prefer grass. And flat stones work well, too, for short paths.

 

The only trouble with stone paths is that it’s tough to mow around stones if they are raised up at all. So if you install flat stones, be sure to dig out enough soil so that your stones will be even with the ground and you can mow the spaces between and around the stones. Sure, you can use a string trimmer to do the job, but that is slower – and hard work.

 

Wooden archways and arbors invite visitors to pass through them – to see what’s on the other side. I have made them out of bentwood and out of cedar posts. I have grown clematis, scarlet runner beans and wisteria on them. All are lovely. One word of advice if you are custom-making an arbor: design it so that your lawnmower goes through easily. Or make one that will allow an adult and a Labrador retriever to go through together – even if you don’t have a dog. Four to five feet is good.

 

Pots of plants catch the eye

Pots of plants catch the eye

I recently weeded out a dry shady garden that has a nice piece of exposed ledge. I realized that I rarely noticed the ledge. I want visitors to pause and look at the unusual palette of plants I use in front of the ledge, too (now that the weeds are gone). What did I do? I moved a tall blue ceramic planter that I had on my shady deck down to the ledge. I have a vine with green and white leaves spilling out of the vase. It really brings the eye to that space.

 

If you have gardens on different levels, stone steps are great. Line them with plants that have interesting foliage that looks good all summer. People just want to walk up steps to see what is at the top (like the bear going over the mountain in that kids’ song). I put in steps a few years ago and they are a constant source of pleasure for me.

 

Stone steps draw visitors up to a new level

Stone steps draw visitors up to a new level

Fountains, pools, ponds, streams are good visual attractions, too. I am blessed with a natural stream, and find I am drawn to it daily. I keep the edges mowed so that weeds don’t obstruct the view.

 

Places to sit call out to visitors. I made a bench with a piece of white marble some years ago. Even though it is not a particularly comfortable place to sit (it’s hard, stone is cold, and it has no back) – it draws me across the lawn. It is enhanced by an umbrella plant (Darmera peltata) I planted in 2009 to honor my late sister. It is a dramatic plant: it has leaves 16 to 20 inches in diameter standing up nearly 4 feet tall.

 

My Adirondack chairs also beckon to me, and to visitors. I got wooden ones and painted them magenta. Even from a long distance, they stand out in contrast to the greens everywhere else. I gravitate towards them.

 

And ultimately, for gardeners, plants are the ultimate call. Have a magnolia in bloom? We all will walk to it. Roses? We want to sniff them – even if they are largely scentless, as most new roses are today. And even if your garden will never be on a gardentour, creating a draw will please you and your family.

Filed under Article · Tagged with , , ,