“Good things come in small packages” is an apt description of perennial plant expert Stephanie Cohen. She calls herself “vertically challenged” and named her own perennial place Shortwood Gardens in a tongue-in-cheek nod to nearby Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pa.
Often called “Dr. Root” in reference to Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the candid radio and television sex therapist, Stephanie Cohen shares her witty and humorous, tell-it-as-I-see-it style with the gardening world. Stephanie gives her frank advice to garden club and professional audiences who eagerly circle and note the selections on her Best and Worst Perennials list as she clicks through her slides.
High-maintenance plants, those with a short season of interest, perennials that behave like annuals, and thugs that travel unbidden throughout the garden are easy marks for Stephanie’s Hit List. Artemisia ‘Oriental Limelight’,” she begins. “I planted it in my garden and now it’s coming up all over the place. It’s a thug. Use it in containers only!” she admonishes.
About the current coneflower craze, she says, “Echinacea ‘Double Delight’ and ‘Coconut Lime’ are trendy, but they have no staying power. Who cares about them after a year or two? She dismisses the new Coreopsis ‘Sweet Dreams’, commenting, “It flops over and isn’t reliably hardy.”
She’s equally lavish with her praise for good garden performers, though. She enthused about Echinacea ‘Fragrant Angel’ and ‘Harvest Moon’ at the New England Grows conference, and predicted that fragrance will be the next big garden trend. Tiarellas and hardy geraniums also rate among her favorite plants because they flower abundantly and have attractive foliage from spring through fall. As a designer, she values the texture and color of ornamental grasses, hostas, and other foliage plants.
Stephanie has a soft spot for perennials that share her compact stature, readily pointing out dwarf Joe Pye weed (Eupatorium dubium ‘Little Joe’) and 18" tall Baptisia ‘Blue Pearls’ as good alternatives to their taller and more well-known brethren.
Stephanie bases her opinions on plenty of real-world experience. She’s an adjunct professor of horticulture at Temple University and former director of the school’s Landscape Arboretum. An avid gardener herself, she’s an award-winning speaker, writer, designer, and teacher, and has been a fixture in the horticultural world for more than 20 years. Plant hybridizers readily recognize her knowledge and influence and she has plants named in her honor. Dr. Darrel Apps, the daylily breeder who introduced Happy Returns and scores of other fabulous daylilies, named a particularly short new variety Stephanie Returns with her permission.
The Ohio Nursery and Landscape Association laudsthe Shortwood phlox, introduced by Sinclair Adam, as “the only Garden Phlox that has shown absolutely no mildew regardless of weather or crowding.”
If you get a chance to hear Stephanie speak, don’t miss her presentation. You will leave with list of perennials that you can’t wait to plant, and a smile on your face.
-Ann Whitman, Horticulturist
After spreading cocoa mulch, I like to water the area so the tiny hulls will knit together and are less likely to blow around. |
I used to disdain people who spread mulch on their flower beds and shrub borders. I thought, "Are they too lazy to weed?" My own flowerbeds were always mulch-free. I did have to spend a lot of time weeding though, especially during May and June.
However, after many years of landscaping for clients throughout northern Vermont, I've come to see the benefits of mulch. Yes, it does help prevent weeds, but it's not 100 percent effective. You still have to watch for weeds. To me, the main benefit of mulch—as long as it's not spread too thick—is to help the soil retain moisture during dry periods. This is especially clear when you tend gardens for clients who are infrequent weeders.
A couple years ago, I became a convert to cocoa mulch. Oh, it's expensive at about 10 bucks a bag, but I think it's worth the price. The mulch of choice around here is shredded hemlock bark. It's readily available, but getting expensive too: a cubic yard sells for $50 or more. So, even if you only use it in a small area, give cocoa a try. Here's why:
- After a year on the bed, it breaks down and improves the soil. You have to apply the cocoa each year, but the soil benefits make it worth the expense. (For even more soil improvement, sprinkle the beds with shredded leaves in the fall.) When that material gets turned into the soil in spring, the improvement is noticeable.
- Cocoa mulch is easy to spread—especially in jam-packed perennial gardens
- The fine texture is perfect for perennials and annuals, which are often smothered in coarse mulches, such as shredded bark—good for planters, too!
- Though it only lasts a week or so, the chocolatey smell is amazing
- It looks a lot like dirt, so it doesn't draw attention to itself; the plants are still stars of the border
This garden is filled with small, delicate treasures, such as this hepatica. Because of its fine texture, the cocoa mulch doesn't smother the delicate perennials. |
I still use shredded hemlock around trees and shrubs, which are fine with the more coarse material. However, I always look for a double-ground product, which is finer. And, if I'm lucky, I can find some of the partially composted stuff, which is even better. It breaks down more readily and doesn't form an impenetrable, water-shedding crust.
For more on mulching, read Mind Your Mulch; for related products, see our Mulch department.
-David Grist, Online Content Coordinator
Nancy Noble, surrounded by her gardens in southern Utah. |
As a professional biologist, Nancy Noble knows more than the average bear about plants. Though she has fond memories of gardening with her grandmother in Missouri and her parents in Wisconsin, her own passion for gardening didn’t blossom until she was in post-graduate school. Now she says, “I’m just a gardening nut.”
Nancy’s fervor for gardening has spilled over into two separate gardens: one at her condo outside Salt Lake City, and the other at her house in southern Utah. “The condo gardens surround a small patio (20 x 30’) and are intensively planted,” says Nancy. She maximizes her space by growing vertically. The patio is fenced in and Nancy uses the fence to support sweet peas, nine different types of clematis and climbing roses. “Some of my favorite climbing roses are America, Iceberg and Golden Showers,” she says. “We’ve only been here at this house for three years, but the Iceberg rose is already growing right over the 8' fence,” says Nancy.
Daylilies put on a grand display. |
At ground level, Nancy has planted tree roses and perennials, such as Japanese painted ferns, heuchera, daisies, phlox, asters and primroses. She also grows herbs and containers of petunias and gerber daisies. Because she isn’t at the condo all the time, Nancy has set it up to be low-maintenance. “I started by adding lots of compost to the clay soil,” she says. A 1" thick layer of mulch conserves moisture and keeps the weeds out. “Overall, I only have to spend one or two hours a week maintaining this garden.”
Low-maintenance is even more essential at her 90-acre country home because she’s only there 25% of the time. “Gardening in southern Utah is a challenge because we’re located at 7,100 feet and have hot days and cool nights,” says Nancy. To keep the wildlife at bay, she has fenced in a quarter-acre area for 30 fruit trees and a vegetable garden in raised beds. “I used raised bed corners to build eight raised beds and I feel like they’ll last forever,” says Nancy.
Surrounding her vegetable garden is a xeriscape garden where has planted perennial flowers and shrubs that don’t need a lot of maintenance once they get established. These include mugo pines, potentilla, salvia, daylilies, gaillardia and veronica. “I like trying new varieties. This year, my favorite is Fanfare gaillardia,” says Nancy.
Though she’s found creative ways to keep up with gardens in two separate locations, Nancy looks forward to retirement when she’ll move more permanently to the southern Utah location. “It will be nice to really focus on the gardens and feel less rushed about taking care of them,” says Nancy.
To learn more about water-wise gardening, check out my article, 8 Steps to a Water-Wise Garden.
-Kathy LaLiberte, Director of Gardening
Every year, I try to take on one big garden project. A few years ago, the project was a round patio, designed to accommodate a dining table we'd purchased. Our backyard was already set up as a series of outdoor rooms, but adding this new "floor" was transformative. The beautiful stone surface added a sense of permanence to the changing scene.
Last year, we got a set of Champlain Furniture, a kind of outdoor seating that has extra-deep, comfortable cushions—almost like a living room set. The furniture actually transforms the space into a living room, especially when the plants grow tall and enclose the space. But, with two chairs and a coffee table, there was no room for the dining table. Time for another patio, the "big project" for 2007.
I started the project in the fall. The goal was to create a 150-sq. ft. patio using natural stone that comes from the region. I was lucky enough to get some beautiful stone from across the lake in New York state. The site I chose is in a corner of the yard where I had to take out a diseased linden tree. The irregularly shaped patio is sort of oblong, perfect for a dining table.
Using all the available daylight hours on a series of weekends, I excavated the site, hauled away the soil, replaced it with gravel base, and set the final stones in a layer of rock dust. By the time I set the final stones, the ground was beginning to freeze; within days, the patio was covered in two inches of snow.
We're still waiting to have the first dinner on the new patio, but you can be sure we'll be out there on the first fine day of spring.
-David Grist, Online Content Coordinator
Just waiting for spring. |
Products with spinosad offer one more control option for lily leaf beetles. |
Flower gardeners are a peaceful lot—at least until someone comes between them and their favorite blooms. Then, they get mean. At least some of us do.
It was about three years ago that I first heard whisperings in the halls at Gardener's Supply of a new pest: "Something is destroying my Oriental lilies! What can I do?" The unspoken reply: "How far are you willing to go to save your lilies? Will you use chemicals?"
The culprit, the lily-destroyer, the evil insect is Lilioceris lilii, aka: The Lily Leaf Beetle. Oh, these scarlet beauties are striking in the garden. But then they breed and their disgusting offspring take over, devouring the lilies and covering themselves in their own poo.
The devastation brings out bloodlust in some gardeners—even the earth-friendly ones. At first, I tried neem, a relatively harmless spray that does wonders on aphids and controls blackspot on roses. It worked to control the larvae the first year, but I had to spray frequently (every 10 to 15 days). The second year, I couldn't keep the larvae under control. My lily crop was hit hard, and I got few blooms. Last year, I decided to resort to a systemic called imidacloprid. The results were instantaneous and effective. No more poo-covered larvae; no more devastation.
The eggs of the lily leaf beetle are usually found on the underside of the leaves, as shown on this fritillaria. They're smaller than poppy seeds, and usually bright red. If you see these, you've got a problem. |
Still, imidacloprid is not something I can feel good about. Systemic insecticides are harsh. Plus, studies have shown that imidacloprid can be harmful to bees, so I'm giving it up. I need a new approach.
I've been reading about something new, a substance called spinosad, which is made from a soil-dwelling bacterium, Saccharopolyspora spinosa. The sprays are said to control foliage-feeding caterpillars, beetles, borers and other pests. When used carefully (read the label!), it's not supposed to effect beneficial insects. Plus, spinosad has been classified as an organic substance by the USDA National Organics Standards Board. This year, I plan to try Monterey Garden Insect Spray, which is one of the formulations. I'll let you know how it goes. Have you seen lily beetles in your area? Let me know what works for you by posting a comment, below. Already I've had reports from two customers: one infestation on fritillaria and another on Asiatic lilies. Both sites were treated with spinosad.
In the meantime, keep your fingers crossed that researchers will find something that can be used to keep these pests in check. According to David Sims of the North American Lily Society, there is concern that the beetle will wipe out native lily populations. The group has been a sponsor of a study at the University of Rhode Island, where researchers are using predatory wasps to control the beetle. So far, the results have been encouraging.
-David Grist, Online Content Coordinator
A tunnel of laburnum outside the Palace at Kew Gardens in London. |
There are all sorts of good reasons to consider adding an arbor, pergola, tuteur or another type of freestanding trellis to your garden this spring. Here are just a few:
1. Create instant impact. Trees and shrubs serve an important role in a garden or landscape. They create focal points, add vertical interest, enclose a view and define spaces. When establishing a new garden or new area, there’s often a period of waiting while trees and shrubs are maturing. A garden structure can provide instant visual impact while those plants are growing in.
2. Define a space. An arbor will clearly signify the entrance to your garden or into a separate garden room. Well-defined spaces make small gardens feel bigger and bring a sense of order to large gardens.
These baby blue tuteurs add architectural interest to the border, while also supporting climbing roses. |
3. Grow climbing plants. Walking beneath a bower of flowers is an unforgettable pleasure! Trellises make it possible to grow lots of wonderful climbing plants including clematis, roses, honeysuckle, passion vine and kiwi. Put a trellis in a large pot and you can grow annual vines such as sweet peas and thunbergia.
4. Make your own shade. If your garden is short on trees, an arbor or pergola can provide welcome protection from hot sun. You’ll need a super-sturdy structure if you want to grow vigorous perennial vines such as wisteria, aristolochia and grapes.
5. Create a focal point. A tuteur is a freestanding trellis, usually with 3 or 4 sides that come together at the top. Tuteurs can be used to draw the eye to the end of a pathway. You can also use a number of them in sequence to create visual rhythm in the landscape.
6. Add privacy. Need to hide an unsightly view or screen yourself from the neighbors? A trellis can do the job nicely and won’t be perceived as a “fence”. If the gridwork on the trellis is relatively dense, you’ll get lots of privacy even before plants have time to climb their way up.
To learn more about trellises, read Smart Supports for Climbing Plants.
-Kathy LaLiberte, Director of Gardening
At left: the Andover Screen is one of many screens, trellises and arbors available on our website. This model is available in 5 different colors! At right: Climbing roses and clematis make happy companions on a tall, sturdy trellis. |
Community plant sales and swaps are a highlight of the gardening season at this time of year. These events are ideal places for new gardeners to hook up with seasoned veterans and for surplus plants to find new homes.
Perennials that spread readily and those that need frequent dividing make up the core offerings at these events. Vigorous creepers, such as like beebalm (Monarda), yarrow (Achillea), lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria), obedient plant (Physostegia), and common yellow sundrops (Oenothera fruticosa) can easily take over the garden if allowed to grow unchecked. Digging up the colony and replanting part of the population every couple of years keeps each in its allotted space.
Some perennials grow in dense or ever-expanding clumps that eventually stop blooming or simply die in the middle. These include tall phlox (Phlox paniculata), Shasta daisy (Leucanthemum), blanket flower (Gaillardia grandiflora), tickseed (Coreopsis), Siberian iris (Iris siberica) and lamb's ear (Stachys byzantina). Dividing the clump into smaller pieces rejuvenates the original plant and gives you lots of new plants to share with others or to put in other parts of your own garden.
 This clump of monarda is ready to be divided. |
Dividing and replanting perennials also gives you a good opportunity to replenish the soil. Whenever I move or replace a plant that I've divided, I add a shovelful of compost and a handful of slow-release, granular, organic fertilizer to the backfill.
Early spring is the best time to divide summer-blooming perennials—ideally when they are still dormant or just as they emerge from soil. I try to complete the job before the stems get more than a couple of inches tall. As plants leaf out, it gets trickier to divide them because their soft new growth is susceptible to drying out, wilting, and breaking. That said, there's always a long list of chores for early spring and it's often mid-May before I've divided and moved all the perennials that need it. As long as you make the moves on an overcast day and keep the plants well watered for a couple weeks, most of them will be fine.
Using forks, it's easy to get the clump out. Take a healthy piece for replanting and use the remaining divisions elsewhere—or share them with other gardeners. |
I usually start by digging out the entire clump with a garden fork or spade and putting the plant on a tarp to contain the soil and debris. Some plants are easy to pull apart by hand (beebalm), but others take some serious muscle (tall phlox) and the prying action of a couple of garden forks placed back to back. A few are so tough (Siberian iris), that it's tempting to resort to a machete or hand saw to get them apart. Regardless of the plant’s tenacity, I make sure that each division has plenty of roots and several vigorous shoots. A few of the largest divisions go back—into the garden with a thorough watering and the rest get potted up and labeled for the garden club’s plant sale in May.
For lists of perennials that need frequent dividing and more details on how to do it, visit these web sites:
-Ann Whitman, Horticulturist
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