Takoma Gardener

Natural Boxwoods - Not an Oxymoron

Here's a plant we think of as too formal, too boring, too (fill in the blank).  But I suspect our criticisms of boxwoods are based primarily on the way they're traditionally grown - pruned to soldierly uniformity, despite the less than robust good health enjoyed by plants thus brutalized by shearers.  (The poor plants must whimper in dread when they see gardeners approaching with the damn things.)

So I offer an alternative - the Natural Boxwood.  Here are two 'Green Ice'  boxwoods I planted smack dab in front of my front porch, replacing the existing (and hideously misplaced) large azaleas in this brutal southwest exposure.  Here's what the tag says: "Buxus x 'Green Ice' - deep glossy green foliage that maintains its color throughout winter.  A solid, semi-compact plant with vigorous new growth.  Extremely hardy.  A soft and sturdy plant."  And it's proven to be all of that.  Boxwoods even tolerate significant amounts of shade.  And do I need to remind the reader it's EVERGREEN?  No, I didn't think so.  On the right is a Spirea 'Goldmound', sporting chartreuse foliage all season and brassy fuchsia flowers in June.

The key to natural boxwood growth is to stop shearing and start thinning.  Removing some of the extra thickness keeps the plant nice and open so that more air, light and rainwater can reach the plant's interior.  The correct pruning technique is often referred to as punching holes in the foliage but if done right, you'd never know that little green globs have been removed because the plant still looks so natural, so unpruned.  The best pruning is unnoticeable, a standard that unfortunately can't be met when corrective pruning is finally undertaken after years of mispruning or a total lack thereof.  In those cases the natural look can't be achieved immediately but will follow, in time.  Yet another lesson in patience.

I'm hoping to convince Elizabeth Doyle (of the Yankee Clippers) to create a how-to video on the subject of shrub pruning because she's a full-time professional pruner and a proven public speaker to boot!  Update to follow.

I Survived the Making of a Gardening Video

THANK GOD THAT'S OVER.  That would be the taping of the gardening how-to video I agreed to do for a new website of how-to videos.  Why all the relief?  Ladies, you know.  Guys, maybe you do, too.  But more important than how-do-I-look is do-I-make-sense?  The topic suggested to me was "How to Create a Garden" after all, not something I could just demonstrate.   And one horrifying sit-down with a tape recorder told me this wasn't something I was going to just WING.  Unlike Ms. Amy Stewart, who's so good on her feet I'm sure she could do an off-the-cuff on any old topic.  Or Kathy Jentz, who does radio and TV all the time and does it so WELL.  God love 'em; I'm not one of 'em.

But at least I knew what had to be done.  And that would be prepare.  Ignore the person telling me not to write a script.  Write it and practice it.  Then create cue cards to refer to while I'm talking to the camera sans-script.   It all happened this morning and I can at least report that I survived it.  Let's hear it for Girl Scout training.

So preparedness and videographer Derek Campbell are all it takes to make it a surprisingly happy experience.  He's a really nice guy who seems to be good at what he does.  So when he promises he won't make me look bad, I believe.  I WANT to believe.

But as I said, it's OVER.

Photo:  Derek and his two cameras.  See the cue cards taped to the back of the beach chair on the left?  Very professional.

Giving in to my Weeds

This is a short addendum to our GardenRant discussion of plants that are rampant spreaders, which I call weeds when I don't want them. 

In the spirit of going with the flow and getting positively Buddhist about it, here are a few weeds I've learned to love.

In the center is what I call creeping sedum; it landed here on its own accord a couple of years ago and I've let it have its way.  So the dry streambed is almost covered up but that's a good thing - the water is slowed down by the sedum.

The pink on the left is Mexican or evening primrose, Oenothera berlandieri, which I admit to introducing here with 10 seedlings from a neighbor.  You see how happy it is here in its first full season.  I just learned in Burpee's Complete Flower Gardener (which I'm reviewing tomorrow on the Rant) that it's been used over the years to treat quite an array of ailments, from eczema to hyperactivity.

And on the right you see a few clover blossoms.  I keep having to remind myself that most people view clover as a noxious weed - BAD PLANT! - because except for the stinging danger to barefoot gardeners, I think it's positively saintly.

How DO you teach gardening by video?

THE OFFER
I recently got an email from a video production company looking for someone to create gardening videos for a website to be launched next month. (They'd gotten my name from a friend who's a local community garden organizer.) You can see the actual offer by clicking "Continue reading" at the bottom of this post.

I just love the concept - that thousands of how-to videos will be available on line, presumably all created by people who know what they're talking about.  I think it's actually pretty cool they chose a Gardening Coach for the assignment - even if it IS me - and I'm looking forward to getting help from their other experts - maybe instruction in bleeding my radiators or restoring my deck. 

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION
So the upshot is that not one but TWO gardening videos by this very gardenblogger will be coming to your Internet soon.  They're titled:

• How to Create and Care for a Low-Maintenance, Eco-Friendly Garden (or whatever title the producers in their wisdom choose.

• How to Choose, Use and Care for your Gardening Tools (with the same possibility of a better name being assigned).

In the two days I have available to prepare for the taping this Friday (!), I have to write the 8-12 clips that make up each video, choose locations for each that will demonstrate what I'm saying, assemble the materials I'll need to show, some of which have to be bought, and get any necessary permissions (which indeed I got because we'll do some of the taping in my neighbor's garden).  Hey, could all this be called being "in production"?  Sounds impressive!

So come back soon for a report on the big day.  This time if the result isn't more than 2 minutes of airtime, I'll know it's me.  (But wait - on the web we can't call it "air time," can we?  Maybe screen time.)

THOSE POOR BOOBS ON HGTV
You know, I've already gained something from the experience - sympathy for anyone trying to demonstrate something as complex as gardening in a stand-still, one-time video.  NOW I understand why we see so many demonstrations of "How to Plant a Container" - because it can actually be done easily enough in front of a camera, all at once.  Compared to, say, my HUGE first topic above - planning, implementing and caring for a whole fricking garden.  (What was I thinking?)  More or less in one spot and all demonstrated in one afternoon?  Ha!  The video about tools seems doable enough, but more will be revealed.

Now tell me why the offer below mentions TV and not the Internet.  Does everybody still want to be on TV?

The Gift of a Garden for Mom

Say your mom, in need of some new interests at this point in her life, tells you she just might like gardening if she only knew where to start. You'd like to help but you live 200 miles away.  Most of us, myself included, would let it go at that but not the son who called me last month from NYC looking for someone to teach his mom to garden.  His search had started with calls to garden designers here in the D.C. area, where he grew up and his mom still lives.  Well, the notion of teaching a client to garden is apparently so alien they reacted as if the very notion were nutty.  But with a combination of persistence and chutzpa that surprises the Southerner in me but is essential for hailing cabs in Manhattan, he researched and found the D.C. area's one local gardening magazine and called its editor.  Now would you do that, even for dear old Mom?  Me, neither.  And luckily, the friendly editor of Washington Gardener Magazine is my buddy Kathy, who was more than happy to refer him to me.

So we talked and at first I didn't quite know what to make of this guy but after meeting his sweetheart of a mother, I was sold on the endeavor, whatever the hell it might turn out to be.  See, the goal here would be to teach and excite and create a gardener far more than to create a beautiful garden or add value to a piece of real estate. In fact, don't create too much garden and overburden the student; just a little something to tend to and enjoy.  Okay.

So where to start?  The backyard, with its old patio overlooking blank walls and a large AC, was the obvious place, the kind of fresh start that makes for great before-and-after pictures.  And after our first three afternoons together, I'm happy to present a colorful but manageable little garden of spireas, both 'Anthony Waterer' and 'Little Princess,' Hypericum shrubs, dianthus, scabiosa, and coreopsis, all chosen by Mrs. R.  Turns out this 70-something gardening newbie has a terrific sense of color and an eye for foliage, too.  As lovely as this is, imagine those shrubs blooming, not to mention a year or two older -  Sweet!  We've since moved on to the front, so stay tuned.

And before leaving this aaah-inspiring Mother's Day Story, let's ponder the question raised in my last post, namely how DO you create a gardener? 

In this situation I could have hired workers to install borders all in one visit, then left instructions for care and been done with it, but how much learning and inspiration would that have accomplished?  So we made several trips to the nursery together, an essential gardening activity that can be intimidating to the uninitiated.  And after drawing borders with my handy spray paint, I broke my own rules and removed the sod myself, amended the soil and planted Mrs. R's new garden, all under her watchful eye and chatting away about what I was doing and a million other topics.  And I'm hoping to arrange an educational outing together, like a garden tour or a visit to a public garden or even my own.  So, Readers, any other ideas?

Oh, and funny thing about this story.  Turns out Mrs. R's son has done lots more with his persistence and chutzpa than find a gardening teacher for his mom.  He's an entertainer, seen and heard all over TV, radio and even on Broadway.  Too bad he's too modest to let me name him.

Happy Mother's Day, Mrs. R!

2007 UPDATE
This story was originally posted on Mother's Day of 2006, so an update is in order.  Mrs. R's garden is  looking good and being added to gradually - recently some Flower Carpet roses, with 2 large weigelas coming soon.  And more importantly, she's become a friend. 

One Great Combo

I posted this photograph to the sidebar over at GardenRant and I must say: I LOVE it.  And maybe someone else will love it and wonder what those lovely plants are.  So let's dissect the shot.

What you see are the blue-blooming Amsonia hubrechtii at the base of the wall, Heuchera villosa 'Autumn Bride' on the right and an unidentified iris also in bloom.  But truly, these guys look great all season for their foliage, especially in contrast to each other.  People gasp in amazement at the Amsonia foliage up til winter - honest.

And how about that stonework, huh?  Almost anything planted in front of it would look good.

This is just one of dozens of great shots I could show you from my next-door neighbor's garden, now in its third year.  It was designed by Holt Jordan of Jordan Honeyman Landscape Architects, and this particular scene lines the joint driveway my neighbors share with me.  Now where's the link, you might ask? Incredibly, this very hip and professional firm doesn't have one.  And you'd better believe there's a frustrating tale to tell here - about $10,000 wasted on a site they don't like, contains spelling errors, and has never been used. 

Behind the Scenes of a Terrific Community Gardening Project

Notice the components of this large planting project at a subsidized housing project for people with disabilities, mainly AIDS.  Looks to me like a win-win for everyone involved.  And blogging about it, then distributing the link to all the participants, who then put it on their websites and send it to their listservs - well, that's what bloggers do, but it also might light some more fires out there for greening our neighborhoods.

Here's a couple more projects if you're really interested:  landscaping a police station and a traffic triangle+median strip.

Finally, my 2-minute TV appearance

Retirement Living TV, hip to the YouTube world, is uploading its shows to their website.  So, as promised, here's their segment on "elderblogging," featuring Ronni Bennett, some other totally charming bloggers, and yours truly.

Yoko's "Wish Trees" have stories to tell

As part of Yoko Ono's "Imagine Peace" project, she took part in a brief "Wish Tree" ceremony at the Jefferson Memorial,  one of several D.C. sites for her 10-day performance art installations.  The 74-year-old (!!) Ono invited people to write wishes on pieces of paper and tie them to the branches of potted cherry trees.  They evoke the wish trees she knew and loved in her native Japan, and she's intalled them in cities around the world. 

The exhibition is now over but Ono has collected all the wishes (adding them to the 100,000 she already has) and will place them in her Imagine Peace Tower to be installed in Iceland.

Here's a sampling of the wishes, courtesy of the Washington Post:

I wish I was retired.

I wish my Dad would stop smoking.

I wish for a family that loves me.

I wish I could be a Fashion Designer.

I wish my daddy would come home and be a changed man.

I wish I had a half million dollars.

I wish for my Cushings disease to be gone forever.

More guns in my house.

I wish Yoko would clean up this tree.