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2023: BARBIE Pink

The recently released film Barbie has grossed over a billion dollars and counting at the global box office. No surprise that Barbie pink is now the new black. The film has created a cultural pink tsunami!

Scene from the Barbie Film

Consider adopting an enchanting pink-flowering trio for your garden:

Camellia japonica ‘Maidens of Great Promise’ (Z 6-9)

copyright 2023 – Lois Sheinfeld

C. j. ‘Maidens of Great Promise’ is a very cold-hardy, healthy, glossy-leafed, evergreen shrub that blooms in the Spring. In my organic zone 7a garden, the Camellia has flourished for decades north of the house, in well-drained, moist, organically rich acid soil, in shade. It attracts pollinators and has been disease-free and insect-pest-free. Avoid direct sun. Protect from voles. (See November 3, 2022 post: “2022: Natural, Non-Toxic Vole Repellent”)

 

Cornus Kousa ‘Scarlet Fire’ (Z 5-8)

copyright 2023 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2023 – Lois Sheinfeld

Award winning Kousa Dogwood Scarlet Fire was introduced by Rutgers University, a leading Dogwood breeder. The tree blooms heavily at a young age — the second year in my garden — and its rich pink bloom is an improvement over the disappointing color of the other pink-flowering Kousas I have tried. When the May/June flowers fade, the tree produces showy red fruit. It is disease-resistant, pest-resistant and heat-tolerant. Provide well-drained, moist, acid soil.

 

Rosa ‘Earth Angel’ ( Z 5-10)

copyright 2023 – Lois Sheinfeld

I love this floribunda rose! Earth Angel has won many awards — including the coveted ADR. (ADR roses are trialed for three years without pesticides and graded for, inter alia, disease resistance, habit, hardiness and beauty.) Moreover, the rose is part of the Kordes Parfuma collection of healthy, extremely fragrant roses. In addition to delicious fragrance, robust good health, and excellent disease resistance, the rose’s gorgeous petal-packed flowers repeat throughout the growing season.

2023: Honeysuckle & Roses

“And because the Breathe of Flowers is far sweeter in the Aire (when it comes and goes, like the Warbling of Music) than in the hand, therefore nothing is more fit for that delight than to know what be the Flowers and Plants that doe best perfume the Aire.” Sir Francis Bacon.

As you think about enriching your garden with new plants, welcome two “that doe best perfume the Aire” and benefit from the joys of Aromatherapy in your own backyard:

Lonicera periclymenun ‘Serotina’ (Late Dutch Honeysuckle) Z. 5-9

copyright 2023 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2023 – Lois Sheinfeld

Celia Thaxter, author of An Island Garden, suggested that “nothing refreshes the human heart” like honeysuckle’s “wreath of heavenly trumpets breathing melodies of perfume to the air.” That is as true now as when An Island Garden was published in 1894.

Moreover, the vine’s exquisite fragrance is but one of many assets. Award-winning Serotina’s long-blooming, colorful, tubular flowers attract hummingbirds and bees, and when the flowers fade the vine produces clusters of red berries adored by songbirds. An added bonus is its pest and disease resistant foliage. Provide organically-rich, moist, well-drained soil and a support for the honeysuckle vine to climb.

 

Rosa ‘Lyda Rose’ Z 5-9

copyright 2023 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2023 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2023 – Lois Sheinfeld

My beloved Lyda Rose was bred in the U.S. and named for the breeder’s daughter. It has flourished in my organic garden for many years in a container in part shade and its pure, delicious fragrance sweetens the air. From late Spring until frost bees are besotted with the pollen and nectar from the beautiful flowers. Lyda’s foliage is resistant to black spot, rust and mildew.

Provide organically rich, well-drained soil and monthly fertilizer—roses are hungry plants. (Tip: Avoid fertilizer with alfalfa. Yes, roses love alfalfa but so do rabbits. IT’S RABBIT FOOD!!! I speak from experience: My garden quickly went from zero rabbits to attracting a rampaging horde of plant-eating bunnies.)

Lyda Rose is an uncommon beauty not widely available in commerce. My shrub was purchased from my go-to mail-order supplier of healthy, own-root roses, Roses Unlimited: Rosesunlmt@gmail.com; phone: 864-682-7673.

Summer 2022: A Rose & A Hydrangea

Rosa ‘Jasmina’ Z 5-9

My weather-worn, broken, metal rose arch finally gave up the ghost. In early April I detached its occupant Rosa ‘Jasmina’ and mail-ordered a new, weather-proof, vinyl replacement. By the time the arch arrived and was assembled, I was so overwhelmed with Spring cleanup I simply threw Jasmina over the new support — without proper attachment, pruning and feeding. Moreover, because the new arch was smaller than the old, which necessitated a change in garden placement, the rose stems had to change direction — north to south instead of south to north. I wasn’t sure Jasmina would survive this unfortunate treatment.

But survive it did and then some, filling the summer air with delicious perfume. I am delighted with the rose’s fortitude and untamed exuberance. Photos below.

copyright 2022 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2022 – Lois Sheinfeld

Jasmina is an award-winning Kordes bred climbing rose. The Kordes Nursery was founded in Germany in 1887 and since 1990 grows its roses without fungicides. All Kordes roses undergo years of trial evaluation for disease resistance, color, form and fragrance before they are introduced into commerce. Jasmina is beautiful, very healthy, fragrant, vigorous — and forgiving. It thrives in well-draining, moist, organic-rich soil.

 

Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Sumida no Hanabi’ aka H.m. ‘Fugi Waterfall’ Z 6-9

In recent years, there has been a staggering number of sensational new Hydrangea introductions. But like the nursery rhyme “make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other is gold,” I want to celebrate a golden oldie — a Japanese native Hydrangea I’ve grown and treasured for over a decade.

H.m. ‘Sumida no Hanabi’ is a captivating, award-winning gem of a plant. It possesses attractive, healthy, dark green foliage, but it’s the charming waterfall of double lace-cap florets, dancing from long pedicels, that make this hydrangea special. In acid soil the white florets sport blue centers and the small clusters of fertile flowers — surrounded by the elegant, dancing lace-caps — are also blue. The florets will eventually age to creamy mint green. Photos below.

copyright 2022 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2022 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2022 – Lois Sheinfeld

Hanabi flourishes in my acidic, well-draining, moist, organically rich soil, in shade. As with other macrophylla, the shrub blooms on old growth, so prune after flowering.

 

News Alert: Naming Names

The Governing Board of the Entomological Society of America has changed the common name of the Lymantria dispar moth from Gypsy moth to Spongy moth. They concluded that the word gypsy was an offensive slur of the Romani people.

I think anyone would resent being closely tied by name to these vile, foliage-chomping moths. They have laid waste to — and continue to kill — millions of hardwood trees, especially our beloved native Oaks.

The moths are not native to the United States but were brought here in 1869 by a Frenchman, Etienne Leopold Trouvelot. He was hoping to make a fortune in the U.S. with a misguided plan to breed silkworms. When the moths escaped captivity and set about the rapid destruction of countless acres of our hardwood forests and home garden landscapes, Trouvelot hightailed it back to France.

Surely, wouldn’t Justice be better served if the moth’s common name were Trouvelot? Just sayin’.

Justice was served in California: A court recently ruled that four species of bumblebees could be protected under the umbrella of the California Endangered Species Act because the bees fell within the statute’s legal definition of “Fish”.  A surprising decision, yes. An important win for our pollinators, absolutely. (And I’m sure that for two of the species, Crotch bumblebee and Suckley’s Cuckoo bumblebee, a name change was welcome.)

2022: Small Treats & Joyful Moments

”One of the secrets of a happy life is continuous small treats.”

Loyal readers know that I have often embraced this keen observation from the late British author Iris Murdoch. The New York Times now reports that the Murdoch “secret” has become a “popular trend” on social media called “Romanticizing Your Life.” Commentators on You Tube, Tik Tok, Reddit and Instagram are urging thousands of followers to find and appreciate moments of joy and beauty in their everyday lives and to “celebrate living for the smaller reasons.”

Here are some of my 2022 “moments of joy”:

First, after a long absence, native Lady Slipper Orchids have returned to the garden. Giddy with joy to have them back.

copyright 2022 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Second, two of the three ‘Liberty’ Hostas I planted last Spring have returned. Underground terrorist voles only got one!

copyright 2022 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Third, my husband gave me the best birthday present ever: The Radio Flyer Classic Red Wagon. We have a locked gate at the foot of the driveway to keep out the deer. Unfortunately, it also prevents package delivery to the house. I can barely lift heavy cartons of mail order plants, much less carry them 700 feet. With the small but mighty red wagon, I can effortlessly roll piles of boxes to the house. Don’t know how I lived without it.

copyright 2022 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Fourth, I love the pop of the color red in the garden and I delight in the Spring arrival of the tiny, unique red cones of the award-winning dwarf Norway Spruce, Picea abies ‘Pusch’.

copyright 2022 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Fifth, one of my favorite evergreen azaleas, Rhododendron ‘Marshy Point’s Daisy’, thankfully escaped a major garden breakout of azalea leaf gall, which affected both evergreen and deciduous azaleas.

copyright 2022 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Sixth, how can you not smile when enchanting gifts from Mother Nature suddenly appear? These mushrooms (Parasola plicatilis) are aptly named Pleated Parasols. (Lovely to see, not to eat.)

copyright 2022 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

And, finally, the roses never looked better, filling the air with their intoxicating perfume. They are represented here by my favorite climber,  the gorgeous, healthy, very fragrant Rosa ‘Compassion’.

copyright 2022 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Life is good.

2020 Summer Fragrance: Roses, Roses, Roses

There was a time in English garden history when the ne plus ultra ornament of a stately home garden was a hermitage and a hermit. Hard to believe, but true. In his play, Arcadia, set in the year 1809 at Sidley Park—a 500-acre country house–Tom Stoppard exposed the absurdity of the practice. Below, Lady Croom and her landscape architect Richard Noakes discuss the hermitage:

“Lady Croom: And who is to live in it?

Noakes: Why, the hermit.

Lady Croom: Where is he?

Noakes: Madam?

Lady Croom: You surely do not supply a hermitage without a hermit?

Noakes: Indeed, madam—

Lady Croom: Come, come, Mr. Noakes. If I am promised a fountain I expect it to come with water. What hermits do you have?

Noakes: I have no hermits, my lady.

Lady Croom: Not one? I am speechless.

Noakes: I am sure a hermit can be found. One could advertise.

Lady Croom: Advertise?

Noakes: In the newspapers.

Lady Croom: But surely a hermit who takes a newspaper is not a hermit in whom one can have complete confidence.”

I can appreciate Lady Croom’s frustration. These days it is difficult for gardeners to have complete confidence in anything. Surely not the weather. Or our good health — or even survival. But we find joy in our gardens, in our plants. Like Noakes, I don’t have any hermits. But I do have confidence in these beautiful, fragrant, healthy roses that have flourished in my organic garden:

Rosa ‘Golden Fairy Tale’ Z 5-9 is an award-winning Kordes rose introduced in 2004. Kordes roses are grown in Germany without toxic pesticides and undergo years of extensive testing before they are offered for sale. Golden Fairy Tale has a lovely fragrance, blooms from June to frost, and enjoys outstanding disease resistance. Yellow roses are particularly prone to blackspot but not this yellow rose. The abundant flowers are large and multi-petaled like old fashioned roses and the shrub can grow to 6 feet. Photos below.

 

copyright 2020 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2020 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

One morning, I was shocked to find numerous de-flowered stems along with the detritus of the loathsome crime. Photos below.

copyright 2020 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2020 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Who done it? The deer? The wild turkeys? The butler? The hermit?

It was SQUIRRELS!!! We caught the rose-chomping varmints in the act.

Five bird feeders aren’t enough? Do they have to eat the roses too? And they didn’t stop with Golden Fairy Tale. Let’s just say that for a time there wasn’t a need for a lot of rose deadheading. Apart from yelling and throwing tennis balls at them, we haven’t yet devised a fail-safe squirrel prevention solution.

Rosa ‘Summer Sun’ Z 5-9 is my latest award-winning Kordes rose addition. This showy, fragrant, recurrent bloomer has clusters of multi-petaled orange-pink flowers with a creamy-yellow reverse, and glossy, dark green foliage with excellent disease-resistance. It has been disease-free and winter-hardy here for four years and running. Lovely in the garden and in the house. The shrub grows to a compact three feet and thrives in a large container. Photos below.

copyright 2020 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2020 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2020 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Rosa ‘Leander’ Z 5-11 is the first rose I planted in my garden. I saw it on a garden tour and had to have it. That was about thirty years ago. It is a David Austin English Rose introduced in 1982. Austin bred roses for beauty of form and for fragrance. And he succeeded. Most of his roses are fragrant and drop-dead gorgeous. As is Leander. But unlike many other Austins I have tried which were overcome with blackspot, R. ‘Leander’ is disease-resistant — an essential asset in an organic garden. While classified as a shrub, it can be grown as a climber. The rose can grow to twelve feet and in my garden happily lends an arm to grace an arch. Leander has orange flower buds that open to orange flowers that change to apricot and finally fade to white. Dazzling at every stage. Photos below.

copyright 2020 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2020 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2020 – Lois Sheinfeld

Masses of flowers are produced from late May to early July, but while Leander may produce a blossom or two in the fall, it isn’t a recurrent bloomer. At least it hasn’t been for me. Yet, I would not want to be without it.

For more rose photos and information click on Roses under CATEGORIES.

Finally, many States in the U.S. are now suffering a catastrophic, alarming surge of the coronavirus. New York State is not among them. Thank you, Governor. When you speak, we listen.

All of us.

 

copyright 2020 – Jessica Amsterdam

Have a wonderful and safe 4th of July!

2019 Garden Year Review: Fragrant Plants

As the years roll by, I more fully appreciate this lament:

“While the spirit is still soaring eagerly onward and upward, the old bones and cartilage begin to insist that they can no longer handle the demands being made on them….What I object to is the steady process of gradual dilapidation: now it’s the knees, then the back, and in my case the eyes….I would propose we all go vigorously full speed ahead until our time is up, then fall suddenly on our faces, finished. I myself would like to meet Death in the flower garden—falling facedown onto a cushion of Dianthus gratianopolitanus.” [Sheldon, Elisabeth, Time and the Gardener (Beacon Press 2003)].

 

Yet, happily, there are recent studies designed to help us maintain our good health and well-being. For example, it has been shown that diets high in fiber — found in food like fruit, avocados, broccoli, and sweet potatoes — reduce the risk of intestinal disorder, heart disease and diabetes, and that fiber along with yogurt reduces the risk of lung cancer.

There are also positive health advantages to adopting a dog: People who own dogs live longer; they have a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and reduced symptoms of depression.

Note: If you are unable to take on the responsibility of a real dog, research has suggested that even a stuffed animal could alleviate some behavioral and psychological symptoms. In fact, even if you don’t have medical problems you might like Jennie, a robot modeled on a 10-week-old Labrador puppy. Photo below.

 

For me, the extraordinary benefits and rewards of working with nature far outweigh the problems. As I look back at the garden year 2019, I’m reminded of the immense joy I receive from fragrant flowering shrubs whose perfume carries on the air. Aromatherapy in my own backyard:

Bloom: March/April. Sarcococca hookeriana var. humilis (Sweetbox) Z 6-8

copyright 2019 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Bloom: May/June. Philadelphus coronarius (Sweet Mockorange) Z 5-8

copyright 2019 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Bloom: May/June. Cytisus scoparius ‘Moonlight’ (Scotch Broom) Z 5-8

copyright 2019 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Bloom: June-November. Rosa ‘Belle Vichysoise’ (Noisette Rose ) Z 7-9

copyright 2019 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Bloom: July/August. Hydrangea paniculata Z 5-8

copyright 2019 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Bloom: September/October. Osmanthus x fortunei ‘UNC’ Z 7-9

copyright 2019 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

When an early November freeze rudely zapped both garden bloom and autumnal leaf color change, instead of two aspirin and a nice lie-down this gardener opted for Plan B:

copyright 2019 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

2020 is just a shiver away. Wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday and a Happy, Healthy New Year!

Autumn 2017: Snap, Crackle and Pop

“Autumn is a second Spring”, said Albert Camus, “when every leaf is a flower.”

Sadly, not every leaf. This year our oaks, colorful superstars of Autumn, are clothed in dry, brown leaves that never turned their usual vibrant shades of orange and red.

Yet, with the looming threat of deadly Oak Wilt Disease (see post of July 3, “Summer 2017: Roses & Clematis”) we are grateful that our trees are still alive. Moreover, other showy plants have taken up the slack, like Enkianthus and Japanese Maples. Photos below.

copyright 2017 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2017 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Adding to the snap, crackle and pop is the fiery autumn foliage of the native Staghorn Sumac, Rhus typhina. Our shrub (small tree?) was a welcome gift from the birds. (Thanks to the Cornell Cooperative Extension for the ID!) Photo below.

copyright 2017 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

In addition to the Camus ‘leaf flowers’, there are real flowers to admire and celebrate in the Fall. Standouts in my garden are the repeat-blooming evergreen azaleas. Consider my long adored Rhododendron ‘Marshy Point’s Humdinger’, a time-tested reliable Spring/Autumn bloomer with disease-resistant foliage. Photo below. (For additional photos and for more information about Humdinger, see posts of November 2011, March 2013, and December 2015.)

copyright 2017 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

And new to my garden is the handsome evergreen azalea, Rhododendron Bloom-a-Thon Pink Double. The shrub possesses a winning combination of abundant ruffled, pink flowers in Spring, Summer and Fall, and healthy, dark green foliage. Photo below.

copyright 2017 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

{Note: Most Rhododendrons form flower buds in the Summer and Fall and bloom only in the Spring. A few of these plants are beguiled by warm weather spurts in the Fall and Winter and are seduced into bloom—as in the photo below. When the emerging flowers are zapped by the cold, Spring bloom is diminished if not destroyed altogether. Heartbreaking. Their lawyer should sue Mother Nature for wrongful death.}

copyright 2017 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Finally, homage must be paid to Rosa ‘Belle Vichyssoise’, a Noisette rose that started to bloom in June and continues to produce intoxicating, fragrant flowers to be enjoyed in the garden and in the house. Photos below. (For more information about Belle and Noisette roses see post of June 2012.)

copyright 2017 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2017 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2017 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving!

2017: Summer End Game

On a recent walk about the garden I was startled to see the distinctive upside-down-baseball-bat like seed heads of the butterfly weed, Asclepias tuberosa. Photo below.

copyright 2017 – Lois Sheinfeld

I guess I have a bird to thank. Over the years I’ve planted a slew of A. tuberosa but they all died–probably from a combination of lack of sun and an overabundance of voles. I join the butterflies in hoping this plant survives. (Note: I never saw the midsummer flowers because the gravel path in that area of the garden was then overgrown with vegetation laced with ticks and had to be avoided.)

My late summer garden is a showcase of interesting seed heads like the singular display of Clematis ‘Minuet’ and the golden pinwheels of Clematis ‘Duchess of Albany’. Photos below. (For flower photos and information about these vines see my last two blog posts.)

copyright 2017 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2017 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2017 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Another showy seed head is produced by the hummingbird magnet, Canna Lily Tropicanna a/k/a Canna indica ‘Phasion’. Photos of the seed head and flowers below.

copyright 2017 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2017 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Tropicanna is no longer in flower so the hummingbirds have moved on to a vibrant orange flowering geranium and the gorgeous purple-stemmed, blood-red flowering, Dahlia ‘Bishop of Llandaff’. Photos below.

copyright 2017 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2017 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2017 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Finally, to celebrate summer’s splendid End Game, a fragrant bouquet from the garden.

copyright 2017 – Lois Sheinfeld

Summer 2017: Roses & Clematis

Trouble in Paradise:

A pox on ticks!!!! Our gardens are harboring thousands of these blood-sucking vampires. It’s impossible to avoid them. My husband and I have already suffered 4 debilitating bouts of Lyme Disease. (And I shuddered when I read that in northern New England large numbers of moose have been killed by ticks.) Enough already. WE NEED A VACCINE!!!!

Our Oaks are also in need of help. A deadly fungal disease, Oak Wilt, is killing the trees by cutting off their supply of food and water. Last year the disease spread to six new locations in New York, including the East End of Long Island where I garden. The catastrophic loss of oaks would be devastating to our landscapes and to our wildlife. As yet, there is no cure, but there are preventive measures suggested by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation:

Oak Wilt is spread by insects, especially sap beetles, which are attracted to fresh tree wounds. Therefore, prune oaks between October and February — not during the sap-flowing growing season. And learn to identify the symptoms of Oak Wilt, which include discoloration around the leaf edge and a sudden, substantial loss of summer foliage. For more information, contact the DEC Forest Health office: 1-866-640-0652; or e-mail photos of tree symptoms to: foresthealth@dec.ny.gov

Pretty In Pink:

On to happier thoughts. The roses are in their glory, releasing intoxicating fragrance about the garden. I am partial to the disease-resistant Kordes roses, like the enchanting, multi-award-winning climber, Rosa ‘Jasmina’. We revel in her delicious perfume, which travels on the air all the way to our upper house deck — over 20 feet high. Photos below. (For more about the Kordes Nursery and roses see the post: “July 2014: Celebration of Roses.”)

copyright 2017 — Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2017 — Lois Sheinfeld

 

I do grow and treasure one non-fragrant rose, another multi-award-winning Kordes beauty, Rosa ‘Larissa’. If you are looking for a repeat bloomer that is über hardy and disease-resistant (disease-free for me), and will flourish in a container, look no further. Albeit non-fragrant, I love Larissa’s small, densely-petaled, cotton-candy-pink flowers. Photo below. (Larissa is still in bud. Photo from last year.)

copyright 2017 — Lois Sheinfeld

 

Speaking of a hardy, healthy, floriferous bloomer that will thrive in a container, consider Clematis ‘Minuet.’ This small-flowered  viticella Clematis does not suffer from the dreaded Clematis Wilt which plagues large-flowered Clematis. A big plus. As a general rule, viticellas are extremely hardy and disease-resistant. And pruning is a piece of cake. Minuet blooms on new growth, so in early Spring I prune the old stems down to the ground. (I wait until there is no risk of frost because the old stems provide protection for the crown of the plant — and birds appreciate any remaining seeds.) In the wink of an eye, new stems emerge and the vine produces masses of charming, purple-pink edged white flowers. Photo below.

copyright 2017 — Lois Sheinfeld

 

Note: In his 1597 Herball, John Gerard did caution gardeners about the viticella Clematis: “it climeth aloft,” he said, “and taketh hold with its crooked claspers upon everything that standeth nere unto it!” Ergo, keep to a safe distance.

Wishing you all a fabulous Fourth of July! a fabulous and.

July 2016: Summer Fragrance

Health Alert: A new study has found a link between exercise and a reduced risk of 13 cancers. People who exercised moderately had significantly less risk of developing cancer than those who were sedentary. And increased exercise dramatically reduced the risk.

While formal exercise is a non-starter for me, I hope to reap health benefits by working endless hours in the garden. Natural beauty and intoxicating floral aromas are good for the soul as well as the body.

I’d like to share with you a sampling of outstanding summer-blooming fragrant plants that have been time-tested in my garden:

Rosa ‘Compassion’ is an award-winning, very fragrant, repeat-blooming climbing rose. With disease-resistant foliage and beautiful apricot-pink flowers, it’s always a hands down favorite when I lecture on roses. I grow Compassion in a large container set beside an arch. In December, I cloak the entire plant with protective conifer branches. (Photos below.)

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Rhododendron ‘Weston’s Lollipop’ is a deciduous, hardy, summer-blooming azalea with mildew-resistant foliage. Numerous pink flowers possess a lovely sweet fragrance. Provide moist, well-drained, acidic soil. (Photo below.)

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Daphne x transatlantica ‘Blafra’, a/k/a Daphne Eternal Fragrance, is an ideal plant for a large or small garden. For a shrub of modest size — 2 to 3 feet tall — it packs a wallop of a return: masses of small, white, intensely fragrant flowers with a long bloom season from Spring to Fall. Be aware that Daphne has a well-earned reputation for being temperamental and unpredictable, ofttimes dying for no discernible reason. But so far — five years and counting — Eternal Fragrance is happy growing in shade in rich, moist, well-drained soil. Maybe this cultivar is the exception — eternal after all. (Photos below.)

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Hydrangea quercifolia (Oakleaf Hydrangea) is a winter-hardy, trouble-free, native shrub, with multi-seasons of interest. In Summer, it produces large panicles of showy sterile and fertile white flowers. When the fertile flowers open in July, they release a delicious fragrance that carries on the air. The sterile flowers slowly change from snowy white to pink. And in the Autumn, the foliage turns vibrant shades of red and orange. In addition, as a special bonus, when the shrub is established in the garden its woody stems will exfoliate.

Oakleaf Hydrangea can grow quite large — 6 to 8+ feet tall, and the same across. (The shrub is stoloniferous so volunteers pop up around the mother plant adding to its girth.) My plants thrive in shade with compost-rich acid soil. (Photos below.)

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

Finally, the native woodland wildflower, Chimaphila maculata (Striped Wintergreen a/k/a Pipsissewa), comes and goes in the garden beds and in the gravel paths and driveway. This diminutive charmer has tiny, nodding white flowers with a green button eye. The flower’s luscious perfume is to die for. Wish I could bottle it. (Photos below.)

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

NOTE: I have been asked the name of the gorgeous, long-lived peony I mentioned in the Post of Jan.27: “2016 What’s New: Klehm’s Song Sparrow”. The peony’s cultivar name is ‘Largo’. (Photo below.)

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

Spring 2016: Beautiful Gardens of Virginia

A recent study concluded that viewing pictures of nature can help people recover from stress. According to Magdalena van den Berg, who led the study at the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, the effects would probably be magnified if someone could visit nature and see actual greenery.

I can attest to that. My garden is a constant source of comfort and pleasure. And at the April 2016 American Rhododendron Society/Azalea Society of America Convention in Virginia, I was afforded the opportunity to tour many fabulous gardens. Here are a few highlights:

The Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden had a number of interesting design features.

copyright 2016 - Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 - Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Walls were adorned with Lady Banks roses (Rosa banksiae).

copyright 2016 - Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

And extraordinary trees were showcased, especially the Crape Myrtles (Lagerstroemia).

 

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

[Note: The Ginter added this surprising No No to the usual list of visitor guidelines:” The Use Of Drones Is Prohibited.” A sign of the times.]

 

Striking in design was a private, Japanese influenced garden, with a tea house by a pond surrounded by colorful Japanese Maples. Especially lovely were the images of the maples reflected in the water.

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

Further enhancing the beauty of the garden were the pink double blossoms of the elegant Japanese Cherry Trees (Prunus serrulata ‘Kwanzan’).

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

In another private garden, a dazzling Viburnum drew many admirers — including my husband. That’s him in the yellow slicker. (Note the wonderful blossoms marching two by two up and down the stems. My kind of buddy-system!)

 

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 - Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

And then there were the glorious flowering Azaleas. Notable among them:

The fragrant flowering deciduous native Azalea, Rhododendron austrinum ‘Escatawpa’.

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

And the evergreen Azalea hybrids, R. ‘Herbert’ and R. ‘Linwood Lavender.’

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

copyright 2016 - Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

All are winter hardy in my area, Northeast Zone 7a. Sadly, not so for my two favorite Azaleas: R. ‘George Lindley Tabor’ (a\k\a ‘Taber’) and its sport R. ‘Mrs. G.G. Gerbing’. (The large, showy, pure-white flowers of Mrs. G.G. Gerbing are so irresistible, I’m tempted to ignore her zonal shortcomings.)

copyright 2016 - Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Finally, I loved the winter-hardy shrub, Kerria japonica, a golden-flowering Diva flaunting her stuff in a private shady garden.

copyright 2016 - Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 - Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2016 – Lois Sheinfeld

Kudos to the hosts and organizers of the 2016 ARS/ASA National Convention for an outstanding, rewarding experience!

Fall 2014 Thanksgiving: Outrageous Orange

The academics are at it again.

Earlier this month, while you stood in line waiting to vote, did you notice people sniffing each other? You know, like dogs. A recent study out of Harvard, Brown, and Penn State Universities concluded that we are attracted to the body odor of people with similar political views. (I kid you not. See: The New York Times, Oct. 5, 2014, Sunday Review, p.5.) As explained by one of the researchers: “I believe smell conveys important information about long-term affinity in political ideology that becomes incorporated into a key component of subconscious attraction.”  Oh.

Huh??????

From street smells (See prior Post of September 18, “Fall 2014: The Fragrant Garden” ) to people smells. What will these surprising folks think of next?

Delighted to report that my attention is focused elsewhere, on sight, not smell. We are but a whisper away from Thanksgiving, and Mother Nature has finally given us much to be thankful for: My garden is awash in the dazzling colors of Autumn. This year, orange predominates in spectacular shades of apricot, peach and burnt orange.

First, to set the stage, an abundant pumpkin display at a local farm stand:

copyright 2014  -  Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

And now a few stars of my autumn garden:

Oaks:

copyright 2014  -  Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

copyright 2014  -  Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

copyright 2014  -  Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Dogwoods:

copyright 2014  -  Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014  -  Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014  -  Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

 

Parrotia:

copyright 2014  -  Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Euonymus Berries:

 

copyright 2014  -  Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Japanese Maple:

copyright 2014  -  Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014  -  Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

And, finally, my husband’s favorite rose, the luscious Rosa ‘Just Joey’:

copyright 2014  -  Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

copyright 2014  -  Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Note: Under CATEGORIES click onto Great Recipes for Thanksgiving treats.

 

 

 

Fall 2014: The Fragrant Garden

Isn’t it amazing what some academics will do to distinguish themselves from the rest of the herd?

Kate McLean, who teaches at Canterbury Christ Church University in Britain, is wandering the streets of New York conducting Smellwalks and collecting data for the creation of a Smellmap of the city. No kidding. She has already Smellmapped several cities in Europe.

“It’s a completely different way,” she said, “of knowing the world.”

On Wednesday, September 10, she led a nosy group of 24 on a sniffing tour of Brooklyn. According to the New York Times’s intrepid reporter, who covered the event, they experienced and recorded smells of “car exhaust, subway grit and festering sewer”, not to mention a “pungent stench” reminiscent of “conditions perilous to human life”. (The New York Times, 9/12/2014, p. A27.)

Different strokes for different folks. All I want to smell are the delicious, sweet perfumes of my fragrant plants. Please join me now on an autumn Fragrantgardenwalk focusing on a favorite tree, rose, and vine:

Cercidiphyllum japonicum  (Katsura tree)

For about a week, the senescent foliage of this beautiful, deciduous tree has been filling the garden with the scent of caramel. It’s intoxicating — like living near a candy factory.

In the Spring, the Katsura tree’s lovely heart-shaped leaves emerge a rosy-pink, then turn green for the rest of the growing season. Before the leaves drop, they turn yellow with hints of pink, and only then release their fragrance into the air. (Photos below)

copyright 2013 - Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

copyright 2014 - Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 - Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

There are upright and weeping varieties of Cercidiphyllum. I grow both forms. And when the trees advance through the growing season on different schedules, I reap the benefit of an extended window of yummy aroma. (Photos below)

copyright 2014 - Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

copyright 2014 - Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 - Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

Katsuras do require adequate moisture. They don’t like it dry. Otherwise, they have been problem-free.

 

Rosa ‘Lyda Rose’

copyright 2014 - Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

For fragrance, beauty, good health, hardiness, and continuous bloom from May to frost, USA-bred Lyda Rose is unmatched. The bees agree. ( Note the photos below with the bee pileup—two bees sweetly nestled in one flower!)

copyright 2014 - Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 - Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

Lyda can take a bit of shade. And she’ll do well in a pot. Trust me: To know her is to love her.

 

Clematis terniflora  (Sweetautumn Clematis)

copyright 2014 - Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

When I walk out my front door onto the front porch, I’m greeted by the sweetly fragrant flowers of the autumn clematis vine. By wrapping an Ilex pedunculosa in its soft embrace, it managed to climb 14 feet into the air, peek over the porch railing, and say Hi.

Moreover, the vine attained this height in one growing season. A piece of cake for an established plant; it can grow to 20 feet after being hard-pruned to the ground in Spring. And once established, it should be hard-pruned because it flowers on new growth. When the flowers fade, they produce interesting, showy seed heads.

The vigorous vine does tend to volunteer all over the place — ofttimes unnoticed until the flowers appear in the Fall. This may be a major drawback for some, especially in formal gardens. Yet, for the most part, I allow it to scramble about. I like pleasant, flowerly surprises.

BTW, Clematis terniflora does not harm its host plant.

 

Fragrant plants add so much pleasure to a garden. Why not grow a symphony of sweet scents?

July 2014: Celebration of Roses

Happy 4th of July! Hope you have a fabulous holiday.

With celebration in the air, it’s an ideal time to tell you about a few things — garden related, of course — also deserving of celebratory mention:

W. Kordes Sohne in Germany has been breeding and selling roses since 1887, but it wasn’t until the late 1980’s that the nursery adopted a new focus: establishing a breeding line of very healthy roses grown without chemical pesticides. Kordes garden roses must now endure seven-year trials for disease-resistance, fragrance, flowering and vigor. Only those meeting the highest performance standards are selected for introduction.

I grow a number of these special roses, and in my organic garden they meet every expectation.

Because I am in the process of switching from slide to digital-photo presentations, at a recent slide-lecture, “Growing Roses Organically”, I didn’t have slides of two favorite Kordes roses. I welcome the opportunity to feature them in this Post:

Rosa ‘Zaide‘, a tall shrub rose introduced in 2007, was recommended to me by the owner of Palatine Roses. (Palatine offers the largest selection of disease-free Kordes roses in North America:  www.palatine roses.com) I love everything about Zaide. She blooms in abundance until frost, is winter hardy, has healthy foliage and yummy fragrance, and her flowers are gorgeous from bud to full bloom. (Photos below)

 

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Ditto for the enchanting climber, Rosa ‘Jasmina’, introduced in 2005. Moreover, add Gold and Silver Awards in international competitions and the coveted ADR award. [ADR (Allgemeine Deutsche Rosenneuheitenprufung) winners are chosen after three-year trials without plant-protection sprays, in eleven different geographic areas in Germany; they are evaluated for disease resistance, winter-hardiness, abundance of flowers, flower form, fragrance and growth habit. The Common Core of the plant world!] (Jasmina photos below)

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

copyright 2014 - Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Finally, a word about a pig. After many years of trials and tribulations in the garden, namely, introducing a Piggy planter to a never-ending selection of new plants and new locations with wretched results, at last we hit upon a winner. Every Spring we fill a cedar container with butterfly loving lantana, but when the container didn’t survive last winter’s brutal assault and we could not find a suitable cedar replacement, Piggy was drafted.

EUREKA!  Some Pig! (Homage to E.B. White)

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2014 – Lois Sheinfeld

 

Let the celebrations begin.

Bee Update

Where is Teddy Roosevelt when you really need him?

He had the courage to stand up to power, to take on corrupt politicians and industrial barons in order to protect the American people and the environment. (For a comprehensive and detailed account, see Doris Kearns Goodwin’s The Bully Pulpit, Simon & Schuster 2013)

Now, by protecting the giant companies that produce toxic chemical pesticides, the EPA is a complicit enabler in the wholesale slaughter of bees — and who knows what all else.  Our regulatory agencies are marching arm-in-arm with the industries they were created to regulate. (See May 1, 2013 blog post, “Beauty and The Bees:  Going, Going, Gone?”.)

Teddy must be turning over in his grave.

The latest move by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) illustrates well whom it favors. Soon after being sued by beekeepers and environmental and consumer groups who demanded a recall of the EPA approved uber-toxic neonicotinoid pesticides, the Agency went into action. In a transparent effort to counter adverse public opinion, it backed off its decision to do nothing until 2018 and instituted a new neonicotinoid pesticide package-labeling scheme (scam?) which states:  “When Using This Product Take Steps To: Minimize exposure of this product to bees and other insect pollinators when they are foraging.”

Sounds good, doesn’t it? But it’s self-policing — leaving it up to the poison applicator to do the right thing. And we all know how that works out. As did President Teddy Roosevelt.

Note too that the original package is the only place where the protective-use instruction is required to appear. By the time the poisons are in the hands of the applicators — who are not always the initial buyers — the original packaging may be long gone. Moreover, the EPA left no doubt of its true intent when it explicitly provided that the protective directions for use “are not intended to be placed under each crop or site” where the poisons are applied. Why not? Site placement informs the public and might lead to independent violation reporting. Isn’t that a good thing?

In addition, the EPA attached a slew of exceptions that completely eviscerate any protection for pollinators. For example, no pollinator protection is necessary if the poisons are applied after sunset or when temperatures are below 55 degrees F. The EPA is well aware that these poisons are persistent and if applied after sunset will still be lethal to bees the next day and thereafter. Ditto for the temperature exception. Indeed temperature change — upwards — can occur quickly. The Environmental Protection Agency knows these things.

Yet, there is some good news on two fronts: The lawsuit against the EPA  is moving ahead — it’s currently in the pre-trial motion stage. And Congressmen Conyers and Blumenauer have introduced the Saving America’s Pollinators Act (H.R.2692). There are 38 co-sponsors of the bill.

More good news are the photos below, taken at first light in the garden, of sleepy bumble bees on Rosa ‘Pretty Lady’ and Passiflora ‘Incense’. [ See blog posts, “Superstorm Sandy & Rosa ‘Pretty Lady’ ” (Nov.13, 2012) and “Hibiscus ‘Jazzberry Jam’ & Passiflora ‘Incense’ ” (Aug.11, 2012). ]

copyright 2013  --  Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2013 — Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2013  --  Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2013 — Lois Sheinfeld

 

copyright 2013  --  Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2013 — Lois Sheinfeld

Surely sights worth protecting.

 

 

SUPERSTORM SANDY & Rosa ‘Pretty Lady’

Thank goodness, after two hellish weeks we finally have power again.  Suffering a nor’easter hot on the heels of SUPERSTORM SANDY, we had all but given up hope.

The garden is a mess, littered with fallen trees, branches, leaves, and blackened plants.  So it is with both wonder and delight that I can report that one shrub, the floribunda rose ‘Pretty Lady’, is in pristine condition, blooming away and wondering what the fuss is all about.

Funny thing, I never intended to buy this extraordinary rose.  Years ago, after watching a DVD about an English rose garden, I went searching for a hybrid tea named ‘Lovely Lady’, a favorite of the garden’s curator.  It wasn’t available on this side of the pond, so eventually I stopped looking.

Then sometime later I saw R. ‘Pretty Lady’ listed in a mail-order catalog.  Not remembering (as is my wont) that my quest was for ‘Lovely’ not ‘Pretty’, and for hybrid tea not floribunda, I ordered it.

Happy I did.  Rosa ‘Pretty Lady’ is a marvelous find.  She is fragrant, very disease resistant, and a nonstop bloomer with lovely pale apricot-pink flowers and lustrous, dark green foliage.  ( Check out pre-storm and post-storm photos below).  Fate works in strange ways, doesn’t it?

copyright 2012 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2012 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2012 – Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2012  -  Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2012 – Lois Sheinfeld

Slowly but surely we are recovering from the storms, and I’m looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving with family.  If you also have turkey on your mind, here’s a tip:  Before roasting, use the aromatic stems of rosemary to spread marinade on the bird and then throw the stems in the pan to flavor the juices.  Much better than synthetic brushes which are impossible to clean.

Moreover, according to Bancke’s 1525 “Herbal”, rosemary gladdens the spirits and delivers one from evil dreams. “Smell of it oft,” Bancke further advised, “and it will keep thee youngly”. (Who wouldn’t want that?)

And when ancient Greek scholars sat for examinations, they wore garlands of the herb to improve their memories.  Hasn’t quite worked yet for me, but hope springs eternal.

June 2012: Roses

No doubt about it.  Roses and hydrangeas reign supreme in June, and this year they are spectacular.

Roses first.

While it was difficult to decide which of my bewitching, lushly fragrant roses to talk about, Rosa ‘Belle Vichyssoise’ won out because of the fascinating history of Belle’s rose-class, the Noisette.

In the early 1800’s John Champneys, an amateur rose hybridizer in South Carolina, developed the first reblooming rose in the western world, R.’Champneys’ Pink Cluster’.  Then, as the story goes, he distributed the rose to a number of people, including his French-born neighbor and nurseryman, Philippe Noisette.  Philippe, in turn, sent the rose or seedlings of the rose to his brother, Louis Claude, a nurseryman in France, who used the roses as seed parents in his own hybridization program.

Louis invited the renowned botanical painter Redoute to draw one of the roses.   On the drawing Redoute wrote:  “Rosa Noisettiana, Rosier de Philippe Noisette.”  The rest is history:  Redoute’s paintings became world famous, along with the name Noisette, and all the hybridized roses in the class are now called Noisettes — not Champneys.

Was Champneys robbed?

William R. Prince, of the Prince Nursery in Flushing, New York, the  purveyor of plants to many notables, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, certainly thought so.  In 1846 he wrote:  “The origin of the first varieties of this remarkable group has been announced erroneously to the world by various writers, arising first, from the want of candor on the part of Philippe Noisette of Charleston, when he transmitted the plants to Paris; and secondly, from the ignorance of those who have discussed the subject.”

Was Champneys robbed?  Probably.

But don’t let this sorry history deter you from enjoying the splendid Noisette, my treasure, Rosa ‘Belle Vichyssoise’.  Unlike most Noisettes which prefer southern climes, Belle is winter hardy here in the northeast, zone 7.  She is in continuous bloom from late Spring thru Fall, flaunting fat clusters of small pink blossoms that perfume the air with intoxicating fragrance.  And she enjoys robust health, a sine qua non in my organic garden. Truly a must-have rose.

I purchased mine from Roses Unlimited (www.rosesunlimitedownroot.com).

copyright 2012 - Lois Sheinfeld

Update on Rosa ‘Golden Fairy Tale’. ( See “2011 Successes”)

This year R. ‘Golden Fairy Tale’ is better than ever. No change in the foliage—-still clean and healthy. It’s the flowers. The shrub is bursting with them; one large stem even jumped the fence looking for new worlds to conquer. The blossoms are fragrant and  beautiful from bud to mature bloom. Another must-have rose.

I purchased mine from Palatine Roses ( www.palatineroses.com) on the recommendation of one of the owners, Eva Schmitz.

 

copyright 2012 - Lois Sheinfeld

copyright 2012 - Lois Sheinfeld

Hellebores and Naming Names

Big surprise! February wasn’t the “cruellest” month, not even close. (See “Birds” (February 2012.) And now that March has arrived, Spring is just a shiver away. Let’s talk plants.

These days you can’t open a nursery catalog without seeing scores of new hellebores. Breeders have gone overboard,  producing double flowers, multicolored flowers, speckled flowers and all sorts of combinations. You name it, they’ve got it.

And the plant photos are spectacular. Which is all well and good if you are gardening in a catalog. In a garden, most of the flowers are so hangdog you can’t appreciate their beauty without first getting down on your hands and knees in order to lift their heads for a peek. I don’t know about you, but since my knees suffered through two bouts of Lyme Disease (ticks 2, Lois o) I might  be able to get down, but I sure as blazes can’t get back up.

But all is not lost. There is a fella I know (and grow), Helleborus ‘Ivory Prince’, who isn’t at all shy and downcast. With sturdy stems, lovely outward facing white flowers with streaks of pink and green, and blue-green foliage, he’s my kind of guy.

Ditto for H. ‘HGC Josef Lemper’, similarly endowed and possessing even larger white flowers that fade to a light green. I saw this robust hellebore featured in the Linden Hill Gardens’ exhibit at the 2012 Plant-O-Rama held at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The folks at Linden Hill told me that the plant blooms for them in Bucks County, PA, from November to May. Wow! The real Josef Lemper must be quite something.

Or, maybe not.

Breeders name plants for all sorts of reasons. Some auction off naming rights to the highest bidder and others, like Dr. Griffith Buck, the famed rose hybridizer, named plants after friends. But as Dr. Buck discovered, it didn’t always work out. One friend refused the honor because she didn’t want to hear:  “Fleeta has a weak neck, Fleeta wilts, Fleeta fades”. (Fleeta had a point.)

The most famous name-caller of all was the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, who, in the 18th century, devised an entirely new classification procedure for plants, the Linnaean binomial system of nomenclature, which is the basis of our modern method. As aptly stated in an informative article  by Kennedy Warne, founding editor of New Zealand Geographic, “Carl Linnaeus, born 300 years ago, brought order to nature’s blooming, buzzing confusion.”  (Warne, “Organization Man,” Smithsonian magazine, May 2007).

Linnaeus took advantage of his position as namer-in-chief to honor those he liked and to belittle those he didn’t. As for example, he “rewarded” one of his critics by naming a smelly weed after him. He didn’t always play nice.

(But he was quite interesting. Many of his lectures were nature studies held outdoors, walking through fields with hundreds of participants —  joyous, educational social gatherings replete with colorful banners and the jubilant sounds of trumpets, bugles and horns. Linnaeus styled these events, “inquisitions of the pastures”. Unfortunately, too much of a good thing for some. “We Swedes are a serious and slow-witted people”, protested the rector of Uppsala University.”We cannot, like others, unite the pleasurable and fun with the serious and useful”).

In the 2012 plant catalogs, plant names are followed by plant descriptions, but I don’t think we are getting the whole story — at least not where hellebores are concerned. I much prefer John Gerard’s popular Herball of 1597, because he paid attention to the “vertues”of plants. Accordingly, hellebores were recommended “for mad men”, “for melancholy,” and “for dull persons.” In other words, it’s a great plant if you are crazy, depressed or dull. Useful information.

Hellebores prefer a sweet (alkaline) soil. So, if your soil is acidic, amend with lime, or even better, wood-ash, in order to raise the ph. Provide some shade and moisture and you are good to go. (Note: Wood-ash from the fireplace also benefits other sweet-soil lovers like lilacs and peonies).

Finally, naming names isn’t limited to plants, and Linnaeus isn’t the only name-calling meanie. On a visit to the zoo, we saw a sign on a bear’s enclosure that said “Ursus horribilis”. Now, how do you suppose the bear felt? Maybe it says “Beautiful Bear” on his side of the fence, but I doubt it. (And his common name, Grizzly, isn’t much better!).

Postscript: Just read in the New York Times(3/6/2012, p.D.3) that, like me, the 5,300 year old Tyrolean Iceman had bad knees, and like me, researchers suspect that he had Lyme Disease. Wonder what he thought about hellebores.

Hot Tips: Winter Protection for Roses

Container gardening is very popular but container plants are extremely vulnerable in winter, even if they are hardy when planted in the ground.  One option, of course, is to bring them inside but that is often not convenient or possible.  I have adopted a successful method of protection for my roses in containers; it can also be used for other plants. In December, Garden Centers and such will  be selling evergreen conifer branches for inside holiday decoration. White pine branches work well for outdoor protection. Cover the plants top to bottom with the branches and tie them in. Move the pots together in a group, and that’s it. Unlike other methods (as for example, the use of synthetic cones), conifer branches allow for air circulation, and they look good and smell good. (Check out the photo for the looking part). And, most important, this works.

Copyright 2011