Slideshow: Powerscourt Gardens To see captions, click on the image. To share comments or explore further, go to Flickr.
Wherever I travel, great garden visits top my list of must-do activities. My family spent a week in Ireland last summer. While our kids attended a Metallica concert in Dublin, my husband and I enjoyed a peaceful afternoon at Powerscourt Gardens about 30 minutes away. This magnificent estate is nestled in the Wicklow Mountains just south of Dublin and dates back to the 12th century.
I find inspiration in estate gardens and appreciate the design and engineering required to envision and construct them. At Powerscourt, the designers used Sugar Loaf Mountain as the focal point from the upper terrace and house. The concept of borrowing the surrounding landscape is an old one and well used in this garden. The carefully designed the formal gardens spread out below the terrace before blending into the farm fields and mountains beyond their borders.
The central Italian Garden sweeps down from the house in a series of terraces to the man-made lake near the bottom of the slope. Plants in this formal, symmetrically designed space serve only to add blocks of color and texture. The manicured turf frames the wide walkway and intricately patterned steps and terrace paving. Surrounding the garden, groves of huge trees, many of them rare species from around the world, soften the transition from this formal space to other gardens and natural landscape.
The walled gardens nearby predate the Italian garden and have a much less formal atmosphere. Deep perennial borders lie between the decorative gates, encroaching upon and softening the wide gravel path. Unlike the more formal areas, plants are the feature here. I loved the swaths of color and texture and happy plant combinations in this garden. Although large in area, the ancient brick walls give a feeling of privacy.
At the other side of the lower garden, the Japanese Garden, begun in 1908, symbolizes the transition from the outer, public world to our inner selves. Increasingly narrow paths lead from the open lawn and formal azalea borders of the outer landscape down into the damp grottos and closely planted inner garden. Bridges span the winding brook that bubbles and falls between moss-covered rocks and Japanese maples. Ferns grow from the towering ledges.
The most familial part of the Powerscourt Garden is the Pets' Cemetery tucked into the trees near the bottom of the Italian Garden. Formal headstones with fond epitaphs mark the resting places of family dogs, horses and even a cow. This intimate place is a quiet reminder of those who lived here and shaped the land over the past 700 years.
—Ann Whitman
Green Goods Supervisor, Gardener's Supply
Not to be outdone by the White House, the folks over at the USDA started up their own organic vegetable garden outside the agency’s headquarters on the Mall.
No matter how you feel about the new administration and about our new Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, Washington’s newfound enthusiasm for gardening is pretty darn wonderful.
Last spring, not to be outdone by the First Lady's new vegetable garden on the White House lawn, the folks over at the USDA started up their own organic vegetable garden outside the agency’s headquarters on the Mall. The 1,300 square foot vegetable garden is the centerpiece of a master plan that calls for converting the USDA's entire 6-acre site to a collection of ecologically-sensitive demonstration gardens.
The USDA is calling this new landscape The People’s Garden, taking inspiration from Abraham Lincoln, who, when founding the Department of Agriculture in 1862, referring to it as the People’s Department.
In a short video clip, below, Secretary Vilsack talks about the highlights of this year’s garden and how the initiative is catching on in other parts of the country.
Recently, the USDA recognized the valuable services provided free by certified Master Gardeners.
Equally encouraging was a press release from the USDA that came out this past summer. The agency gave its Extension Service Master Gardener program some well-deserved recognition, acknowledging the incredibly valuable community development and educational services being provided free by almost 100,000 certified Master Gardeners.
With so many eager new vegetable gardeners just starting out, there are more demands than ever for the sage advice of Master Gardeners. If you're interested in helping out, learn how you can become a certified Master Gardener. Most areas offer certification courses at least once or twice a year.
Tom Vilsack, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with an update on the USDA’s People’s Garden initiative.
Plants make office workers happy, but can anything green survive in a cubicle? Yes. In fact, there are many plants that grow happily in the workplace.
This rattlesnake plant, which I just added to my cubicle, is the secret to my increased productivity.
Best Plants for Low Light
Peace lily (Spathiphyllum )
Cast iron plant (Aspidastra)
Norfolk island pine (Araucaria)
Aglaonema
Ponytail plant (Beaucarnea or Nolina)
Peperomia
Rattlesnake plant (Sansevieria)
Ferns
Devil's Ivy (Pothos)
Like many people, I spend a fair amount of time in a windowless office. If I stand up, I can see the windows, but when I'm seated, it's just me, the PC and the coffee cup.
Will anything grow inside these fabric-covered cubicle walls? The answer: Yes.
Even if you work in a windowless office, chances are you can grow some sort of plant. What's more, green plants have other benefits to the office denizen. Studies have shown increased productivity (12 perecent) and reduced stress (lower systolic blood pressure) in offices environments with plants. Participants in the study, conducted by Washington State University, also reported increased attentiveness when plants were present.
More benefits of green plants:
Studies have shown that houseplants remove toxins from the air. There's hope that indoor plantings might help relieve "sick building syndrome", a condition found in many energy-efficient buildings.
In a process called transpiration, plants release moisture, increasing humidity in winter-dry offices.
Healthy plants make your office look sharp; your boss is sure to be impressed.
My shelves are full of gardening-related titles that get used rarely. But there are a select few that are always within arm's reach.
Michael Dirr, author of the most widely used books on trees and shrubs, speaks with students at Middlebury College in Vermont during a 2009 visit to the campus.
I’ve collected hundreds of garden-related books over the past few decades. My bookcase shelves are organized by topic: vegetables, fruits, trees and shrubs, perennials, herbs, travel and field guides, landscaping, water gardening, small-space gardens, xeriscaping, flower bulbs, pests and diseases, companion plants and weeds, lawns and more. All have been useful at one time or another, but most of them just insulate a wall of my office and collect dust.
A handful of them, however, stay at arm’s reach, ready to answer questions, give advice, or provide inspiration on a weekly or even daily basis. In my professional life as a garden center nursery supervisor, I use Michael Dirr’s Manual of Woody Landscape Plants every day as I help customers make buying and planting decisions. I’m willing to bet that nearly every garden center in the U.S. that sells trees and shrubs has a reference copy of Dirr’s manual, too.
I used the first edition of the manual as an undergraduate horticulture student back in the 1970s. After five revisions, this bible of woody ornamentals remains fresh and invaluable. The current edition, released in July 2009, tops out at 1,325 pages. It’s organized alphabetically by plant genus and species. To assist readers who haven’t memorized hundreds of scientific names, the book has two indexes: one by botanic name and one by common name.
“The manual”
The book’s clear organization and depth — plus Dirr’s opinionated and often humorous writing and expert recommendations — make this book truly valuable and accessible. He covers each species in depth, including most commercially known cultivars. Each species includes 19 topics, including leaf, bark, fruit and flower descriptions, major insects and diseases, growth rate, mature size and habit, hardiness, culture, propagation, native habitat, landscape value, and cultivars. Most species include pen-and-ink illustrations of the leaves and twigs for identification purposes.
Dirr’s Hardy Trees and Shrubs also makes my short list of most-used books. This one is filled with color photos of the author’s most recommended woody plants. Most are shown in landscape settings, making it easy to imagine how they might look in your own situation. One of the book’s finest features, though, is the section at the back in which Dirr includes nearly 40 lists of trees, shrubs, and vines categorized by specific uses. Looking for shrubs that tolerate dry soil, have fragrant flowers, or make good hedges? Need a tall, narrow tree or one that has great fall color? When I’m working with customers who have specific landscape challenges and requirements, this is the first book we consult.
Average gardeners may not need or want to own these books, but I think it’s important to know that they exist and that they’re readily available references at most garden centers. When you shop for trees and shrubs and want more information than appears on the tag, ask a salesperson to pull out their copy of Dirr's book. Chances are they’ll have a tattered copy of the manual somewhere within reach.
I'll be writing about more of my favorite gardening books and authors in future blogs. What books do you turn to year after year?
—Ann Whitman
Green Goods Supervisor, Gardener's Supply
There's no easier way to shield plants from frost, hail, wind and too much sun, as well as many sorts of insect damage.
A bed of spinach and beets, still thriving in late October under the cozy warmth of Garden Quilt.
Here at Gardener’s Supply, we’ve been singing the praises of season extending fabrics since our very first catalog way back in the early 1980s. There's no easier way to shield plants from frost, hail, wind and too much sun, as well as many sorts of insect damage.
This fall we ran several blog posts and how-to articles about using season extending fabrics, and for 2010, we’ve also expanded our selection of season-extending products (Shade Netting is back!). But the fact remains that most gardeners are still not taking advantage of this super-effective, low-tech gardening solution.
Maybe the White House and USDA will be more successful in spreading the word.
In this short video, Sam Kass, assistant chef and garden coordinator for the White House, and Kathleen Merrigan, USDA Deputy Secretary extol the benefits of garden fabrics, as their workmates put it to use covering some of the beds in the White House vegetable garden.
Harris Sherman, USDA Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment also makes a brief appearance to talk about a new program for farmers that’s encouraging the wider use of these fabrics by helping to offset costs. He encourages interested farmers to contact their local NRCS office to sign up.
Don’t be left out in the cold this spring. Discover what savvy gardeners like Eliot Coleman have known for years: garden fabrics keep plants happier and healthier and will make your vegetable garden more productive.
After poring over about a dozen 2010 seed catalogs, I've come up with my list of new vegetables to try this year.
Guardsmark beets and Black Cherry tomatoes are two of the varieties I will try this year.
Seeds to Try
in 2010
After poring over about a dozen 2010 seed catalogs, I've come up with my list of new vegetables to try this year. Some of these varieties have already made their debut in seed catalogs in prior years, but they're all new to my garden.
Guardsmark beets
Black Cherry tomato
Calypso cilantro
Dancine lettuce
Finale fennel
Super Delight squash
At my house, gardening is more art than science. In the vegetable garden, I strive for bumper crops, high soil fertility and timely succession planting. But my vegetable garden is also a canvas for experimenting with color, texture, form and flavor.
At this time last year, I listed nine new vegetables I’d be trying in my 2009 garden. More than half of them will be back for 2010, including Goldie husk cherries, Fresh Pick green beans, Astro II arugula, and the bitter green spigariello liscia, which I wrote about in a blog post last fall.
Tops on my list this year is a new type of beet: Guardsmark. Beets have preferred status in my garden. I grow both red ones and golden ones, but have yet to try those red-and-white-striped Chioggia beets. Guardsmark is supposed to be an improved strain that keeps its bull’s-eye stripes even after cooking. For more information and seed sources, see my detailed list of new vegetables for 2010.
What's on your list of "things to try" in 2010? Please share by leaving a comment, below.
Houseplants can be used to improve the quality of indoor air. But a new study shows that some are better than others.
Asparagus fern, one of the top air-scrubbing houseplants.
More Information
The abstract from the UGA study: "Screening Indoor Plants for Volatile Organic Pollutant Removal Efficiency", published last year in HortScience.
A Guide to Indoor Air Quality: A comprehensive guide for people who suspect problems with the air in a home or office. From the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Sure, most people know that houseplants can be used to improve the quality of indoor air. But a new study from the University of Georgia shows that certain houseplants that are better than others.
Purple waffle plant
Researchers tested 28 plants and identified a set of five "super ornamentals" that removed the most contaminants in a process called phytoremediation. So, look for these beauties in your local greenhouse:
Purple waffle plant (Hemigraphis alternata)
English ivy (Hedera helix)
Variegated wax plant (Hoya cornosa)
Asparagus fern (Asparagus densiflorus)
Purple heart plant (Tradescantia pallida)
Going into the project, the researchers knew that plants would reduce indoor pollution. The big surprise: "the poor air quality we measured inside some of the homes we tested" said Stanley Kays, UGA horticulture researcher and one of the study's authors. "We found unexpectedly high levels of benzenes and many other contaminants that can seriously compromise the health of those exposed." Indoor pollutants, also known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), can emanate from many things, including furniture, carpet, plastic, cleaning products, drywall, paint and adhesives.
How do you know if your indoor air is polluted? Testing is expensive, but adding plants is a simple way to ensure that the air is better. Try a diverse mixture of houseplants, including some of the "super ornamentals", above. It's not clear why some plants are better at scrubbing indoor air. "That's one of the things we want to learn," says Kays. "We also want to determine the species and number of plants needed in a house or office to neutralize the problem contaminants."
Research will continue at UGA, where Kays and his team collaborate with researchers in Korea. "Scientists [in Korea] are substantially ahead of us in phytoremediation research," Kays says.
The Garden Crusader Awards were created by Gardener's Supply to honor individuals who are improving the world through gardening. These enthusiastic men and women are planting trees and flowers, growing food, creating new green spaces, and teaching their friends and neighbors about the rewards of gardening.
To learn more about the people and programs that have received Garden Crusader Awards, see our Garden Crusader page.
Do you grow what you eat? Check out our slideshow of gardeners who've taken the Grow What You Eat pledge. To see captions and full-size images, go to Flickr.
Gardener's Supply company is made up of several businesses. They are:
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