Starting a summer container

Occasionally the growers of new plants send out samples to various garden folks. We can try them out and be able to comment on them, if a reader or listener asks.

Well, earlier this spring the Proven Winners folks did just that. They also sent along their book of “how to build a pretty container.” As someone who has very little eye for good color combinations (just ask my sister), I appreciate this. Their website also has dozens of container ideas – in case you have my sense of design.

So the variety they sent is Cherry Star, one of the Superbells®. That is, it’s a revved up version of the Million Bells®, which became so popular a while back – also called calibrachoa – sort of a smaller and less fussy/messy petunia.

Well, I saw it along side of a sweet potato vine in the photo and thought, “I can do that.” It is only a couple of weeks old and already looks like I know what I’m doing.

My lesson is – don’t turn down help and don’t give up on having nice-looking container combinations.

PS: the Cherry Star Superbells won’t be available until 2012, but there are many other current colors from White to Tequila Sunrise to Blackberry Punch.

Flowers and More Flowers

Judging the Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade Floats was not easy. Each has its own special sense of design and unique approach.

Unusual combinations of flowers and colors enhance a display or provide a particular effect. Want a wildflower meadow - it's there. How about an ocean motif - it's there. Drama, whimsey, humor - all done with flowers, seeds, leaves, fronds, and floral material of every kind!

My favorite? Well, there was this little snail - all decorated up using beans!! This one won't eat your lettuce, though. It's a sea snail.

Check out the fabulous floats, plus all the bands and other Rose Festival events, of course.

More on the ANLD Tour

Random Acts of Gardening has a great review of the ANLD tour.

Catch it here.

And this is what you call "adding color to your garden"!

How the Professionals Do It

On Saturday, the 18th, you can visit eight professionally-designed gardens to see how experienced landscape designers resolved the challenges these homes presented.

For me, the real fun of garden tours is finding those new ideas that can enhance my own garden. The Association of Northwest Landscape Designers (ANLD) Behind the Scenes Tour has lots to offer in terms of intriguing uses of plants, structure that defines and showcases a home, and some really dramatic art work.

Whether houses are getting bigger or lots are getting smaller, there seems to be less room for outdoor living. This path to the back of the house is a welcoming and interesting change from the traditional concrete-sidewalk-to-the-backyard.







And if that entry way needs a dramatic touch, perhaps a multi-level water fall would be just the ticket.

You'll find solutions and ideas for your sloped hills, small spaces, freezing winds, and privacy demands. Garden designers and garden owners will be on hand to give you the scoop behind the polished finale.

You'll also find garden art throughout the gardens - many pieces made especially to be shown at this event.

Find out more about the tour here. Tickets are $20 - available online or at local nurseries (Portland Nursery, Garden Fever, Magnolia Manor, and Dennis 7 Dees). Proceeds support ANLD scholarship programs in our community.

Judging the Parade Floats

This year I am on the Judging Team for the Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade Floats. What a treat! They are judged over three days, so it seems pretty comprehensive.

I look forward to seeing how the flowers and other floral materials are used to create the textures for all the characters, animals, structures, and more.

For a look at the floats from previous years, click here.

Temperatures are trending up!

It may not be a steady trend, but can we really wait any longer?

Do you still have plants in pots? Afraid that the soil is still too cold and wet? Let’s get them into the ground and give them a chance.

If you think your garden spot is still too cold, cover the plants with a cloche (fancy name for any sort of cover to keep heat around plants). It could be a plastic tent, a bell jar, or even a large jar turned upside-down.

One gardeners favorite is the Walls O’Water, those blue tubes filled with water. Though these are generally used to protect early plants from cold nights, they could be used all season to add extra warmth to the soil. And Portland gardens surely need that.

Tomatoes and peppers come from areas in South America where temperatures never dip below the 50’s. In our area temperatures never get above the 50’s. A bit of a tough spot for these crops.

And the continuing rain isn’t helping.

I'll be in the studio this Saturday, 10 till noon, so let's talk!

TaborSpace Master Gardener Clinic

Come celebrate the newest Master Gardener Plant Clinic in the community space and coffeehouse known as TaborSpace in the Mt. Tabor Presbyterian Church at SE 55th and SE Belmont. Today, Wednesday, May 18th, from 4 pm to 7 pm.

Tonight's Kick-off Celebration includes specially-selected Vegetable Starts to get your garden started - finally! Many of the varieties for sale are those recommended for successfully growing in the NW by vegetable expert, Willi Galloway.

Green Zebra Tomato
Juane Flamme Tomato
Legend Tomato
Purple Calabash Tomato
Stupice Tomato
Cherry Bomb Hot Pepper
Little Finger Eggplant
Purple Tomatillo

Portland Nursery loaded up 100 of these premium organic veggie starts and they are on their way to the TaborSpace Kick-Off celebration,.

So drop by TaborSpace tonight - join the 'Kick-Off' celebration, get your garden question answered, buy some beautiful veggie starts, enjoy some sweet and savory treats, and the company of the TaborSpace community.

Slug Talk

It’s spring and the slugs are on their way! In many gardens (including my own), they are already here.

Join me this Saturday (March 26th) at the Better Living Show and find out how to fight these garden marauders.

The Better Living Show is all about living sustainably. There’s lots to learn at seminars, booths, and demonstrations. Discover today’s electric cars, efficient appliances, and environmentally-friendly building materials.

And for gardeners, there’s even more to know. Grow delicious mushrooms right on your kitchen countertop with Fungi Perfecti. Discover native plants with Linda McMahan and Carl Grimm. Find out how to grow vegetables year round with the Grow4it system. Backyard chickens, rain gardens, and urban composting – get all your questions answered.

And if slugs are your problem – come see me.

Saturday, March 26th
4:00 pm
Room D201
Better Living Show
Portland Expo Center

Garden Shows Herald Spring

You can really get excited about the upcoming garden season as you walk through the display gardens at our two big garden shows.

First up is the Yard, Garden & Patio Show (presented by our own Dave Etchepare's Dennis' 7 Dees) from February 18th through the 20th. There are innovative garden designs and lots of booths with new garden plants, art, and tools. Save the date!

The following week in Seattle, the Northwest Flower & Garden Show fills the Washington Convention Center with green roofs, water gardens, terrific seminars, garden-related jewlery, plants, seeds, garden hats, and on and on. For many people, it's a must-do each spring.

The Multnomah County Master Gardeners take about 40 people up to the show each year. The bus trip lets you arrive refreshed and the cargo compartment will hold all the goodies you find. If you'd like to hop on board, it's on Wednesday, February 23rd (first day of the Show). For all the details, contact June @ 503-477-8698.

And while I'm mentioning garden-inspired jewlery, I'm going to mention my favorite designer - Nature's Creations. You can see them in Seattle or right here.

Freeze Damage in the Garden

I did get the grapefruit into the garage and covered the less hardy pots outside. All the leaves got raked into the beds to cover most of the perennials. But I didn't get to everything before the freeze hit.

Once again the bananas froze. Oh, the crown and roots are fine and will put up banana "pups" come spring. But, one day I will find a way to protect the stalk enough to grow it taller than the eight feet I usually get. This year I just didn't get out there in time.

If some of your plants got caught out, as well, you may not be able to tell how bad the damage is until spring. We'll just have to wait and see whether that shrub or perennial leafs out. There will be more cold weather before planting season comes again, so take another look around the yard.

--Get the pots in close to the house or cover them with a "freeze blanket." Check your local garden center.

--Wind can dry out the leaves or needles of evergreens and roots can't take up water in frozen soil. Think about covering exposed plants - in containers or in the ground.

--Check on plants placed close to the house under the eaves. They may need water during winter dry periods.

The Cold is Coming

Dire weather warnings are in every newscast. Winter weather will arrive any day. Yes, we need to get ready. But, take a moment to enjoy any last bits of fall. My tuberous begonia carries on blooming - seemingly oblivious of the frosty temperatures on the way.

The dahlias were so late starting in spring that they just didn't get all their blooming in over the summer. They still carry on, as well. I hate digging them up to store for the winter when there might be a few more flowers in the offing.




No other flowers are left in my yard, but there is still plenty of interest for the birds and if you know where to look.

Here's what's out in my garden . . .

You've probably heard Mike mention that I bring various clippings from my garden into the studio to show off or to be a reminder. Well, I thought everyone would like to see what we are talking about.

Turn left before you get to . . .

Have you ever gotten that advice? By the time you get to the tree (or gas station or Safeway), you've missed the turn!

Well, we do that in the garden, too. OSU Extension Plant Pathologist, Jay Pscheidt, says, "The phrase is 'spray before the fall rains'. Folks always ask when that occurs. The time would be now!"

As we get these last days before the rain starts in earnest, use a copper spray (Lilly Miller Microcop or Kop-R-Spray) for shothole fungus and brown rot on apricots and for apple anthracnose (sunken dead spots on branches and bulls-eye spots on fruit).

There are some other clean-up tasks to do before fall rains make gardening a soggy affair. Don't leave diseased fruit or leaves on the ground. This just allows the disease spores to blow or splash around the garden all winter. Get them out of the garden now!

Two Garden Doctors!!

This week is Apple Tasting at Portland Nursery and both your Garden Doctors will be on hand. Dave will be doing the show and I will stop by for a visit. Here's your chance to see us and attend a fun event.

This is the 23rd year Portlanders have had the opportunity to try out a bushel-ful of apples and pick their favorites. Once you've decided what you like, you can take home a bag for pies or table. Gardeners can even buy a tree to grow their own.

There'll be music, cooking demonstrations, cider pressing, and a scavenger hunt for the kids. Oh, yes. There will be also be lots of plants, too. Check out the sales for your October garden projects.

So, come by to see your Garden Doctors, ask that fall gardening question, and have a glass of cider!

Birds and Berries

Last Saturday a caller asked about red berries for birds. I thought of Nandina with it's brilliant berries, but was later challenged on that recommendation. My research went in two directions.

It seems that in some states nandina is considered invasive because birds eat the berries and disburse them - everywhere. But it’s not considered invasive in Oregon. Other information says that birds won’t eat nandina berries, anyway.

Carl Grimm and the folks over at Metro suggest that even if it isn't a particular favorite of the birds, it is a great landscape plant because of its hardy nature and water sparce ways. And it's not on any Oregon "problem plant" list.

Meanwhile, I'll also suggest pyracantha (fire thorn) . My mom had a fire thorn that always looked great against the brick front of the house with the dark leaves in summer and red berries in winter. And these days there are many types to choose from.

You can find brilliant, vigorous Mojave, the tiny (2 ft by 2 ft) Red Elf, and many in-between. The berries can be fire-engine red, a more orange-red, or really-orange. There's even a ground cover type called Low Boy. A variety to suit every bird lover's landscape.

Other shrubs offering red berries to the birds are kinnikinnick, red elderberry, some of the barberries, and the native red currant.

Photo thanks to Monrovia. Credit: Doreen Wynja

Visiting Wales - Invasives

One reason I went to Wales was that the climate is so similar to our Oregon one. I was surprised at how similar the weed palette is, as well.

As the train slid along from London to Cardiff, I instantly recognized the late summer purple of the butterfly bush – everywhere! I saw them pushing up from cracks in the sidewalks at stations, sprouting from ancient stone walls, nodding over canal banks, and encroaching on any space left untended.

Even as they invaded most wild landscapes, I saw that they are just as beloved by home gardeners in Wales as they are here. Several yards held large specimens as garden centerpieces.

Another quickly recognized invader was the Himalayan blackberry or bramble. Herb Robert (stinky Bob), dandelions, bindweed, and, of course, English ivy – all found in- and out-side of gardens. Wales and the UK are just as eager as we are to try to control these invaders. There, as here, they push out more desirable or just most other plants. Just as here, they cost the public time and money to keep them under control and prevent their advance.

In Oregon you can get information on identifying and controlling invasive plants at the Oregon Invasive Species Council or the Oregon Department of Agriculture.

Also watch the Oregon Public Broadcasting program The Silent Invasion to see the damage these invasives can do in our own backyard.

Summer Harvesting

When it was still raining in June, I despaired of having any harvest at all, but now many crops are doing quite well.

The tomatoes are ripening slowly but surely. As always my Sweet Olive variety is the favorite. The patty pan squash was left on the vine too long as I was away on vacation and had to be peeled to be edible.

But the eggplant is wonderful! They are ripening nicely and many more to come on the plant. Rosemarie Nichols-McGee of Nichols Garden Nursery advised me to plant them in a container for best ripening – and she was right!

The beans are coming on, along with the grapes. The dozen onions I put in as an afterthought may produce something yet. I’m hopeful for a warm September to keep everything going.

With many crops it’s easy to tell when to pick, but others can be tricky – beans get stringy and squash gets seedy, for example. For some general guidelines on harvesting all kinds of garden vegetables, check out these publications from Minnesota and Michigan.

And the Flowers. . .

Vegetable continue to grow with eggplants coming on and carrots getting bigger and sweeter. But, the flowers often steal the show and look great mixed in with the veggie garden.

This year the birds planted a dozen or so sunflowers and I didn't have the heart to pull them up as winter rains kept on and on. They were so cheerful and determined. So here they are towering over the banana plants which usually decorate the parking strip.

The unusual Leycesteria or Himalayan Honeysuckle is a favorite. The flowers are loved by the hummingbirds and the bees are buzzing about all the time. The arching branches are graceful and the leaves have a bit of a red tint, at the edges, matching the flowers, nicely. But, alas, I've planted it too close to the house. One of these days it will have to be moved farther to the front of the bed or find a new home.

The unusally colored Rosa glauca is the same - too big for my little city garden. But, until it gets its full size going, I'm enjoying it. The hips are spectacular against the blue-ish leaves. Shall I make rose hip jelly or rose hip tea?

I was a bit suspicious of the blanket flower (gaillardia), at first. I'm not one for many oranges in the palette (I generally go for the pinks and purples). But, the flowers are so bright and have such an interesting look, that it won me over. This one is called 'Frenzy'. And it blooms and blooms. I've cut the old flowers off again and again - more keep coming.

Veggies Growing Great

When the weather warms up, you just can't stop things in the garden. Yep, there's damage left over from the oddly wet and long spring (peonies with disease spots, a pineapple lily dead in a too soggy spot, tomatoes still green, etc.), but lots of other things look good!

I had a spiral tomato support that didn't work for me a few years back. After our visit from the Clackamas Tomato Master and her advice to get those tomatoes off the ground, I got it out again. This time I was more diligent in pruning off the suckers - and it looks great!!

Tying the cucumber up the bamboo trellis saves space, and gets the cukes out of the dirt. The beans are on their way up another bamboo trellis.

The Bright Lights Swiss Chard makes a colorful border, but the leaf miners have found it. The easy answer is to protect it with the floating row cover. It sure would spoil the decorative effect, though.

I started some of the alpine strawberries from seed and put them in place of the regular everbearing variety in the rock garden. They are tiny berries - about the size of the tip of your index finger - but with a really creamy taste. That is - if I get them before the slugs!!

Hot Times for Gardens

Our high temperatures can be hard on the plants in your garden. My winter honeysuckle did get some burned leaves, but most are just fine.

What you might see

Browning of leaves in centers or on edges - sunburn. Looks bad but won't kill the plant.

Tomato or squash flowers dropping off - they just can't take the heat. There will be more flowers when temperatures fall.

Wilting - many plants wilt to get leaves out of the hot sun. As temperatures drop in the evening, leaves pop up again.

Grass burns around edge of lawn - concrete reflects the heat onto the grass. To maintain a green lawn water once a week - 1" of water. A few mowings will remove damaged grass.

What you can do now

-- Water in the morning to get plants hydrated for the day.

-- Spray leaves in the afternoon to cool them off.

-- Shade newly planted shrubs and flowers with a box or fabric in the hottest part of the day, but don't over water - they have a small root systems.

-- Mulch around trees and shrubs to reduce evaporation and cool soil.