How ‘Bout Them Apples?

That line from Good Will Hunting is one of my favorite movie scenes. In case you have not seen Good Will Hunting, rent it this weekend so you can see what I am talking about. For those of you who have seen the movie, you know exactly the scene when Will Hunting (Matt Damon) gets Skylar’s (Minnie Driver) phone number.

I have been repeating that line to myself since the beginning of September here in Maine as the roadsides seem to be exploding with an abundant apple crop. As you drive along the back roads of the Maine coastline, old apple trees seem to dot the journey. No two trees are alike. There are trees with green fruit, red fruit, and various patterns of red with green and green with red. This fruit display is a fantastic precursor to the changing leaf colors of autumn that will be coming soon. The sign and smells of apples ripening brings on a wave of nostalgia for me. My grandparents lived outside of Boone, North Carolina and my grandfather would always drive up to his local orchard to pick apples in the fall. He would pick a sampling of the fruit available and come home and try them all. One of my best childhood memories was when he took me to the orchard and we picked a peck of apples together.

This fall will be our fourth one in Maine and it seems to me to be the one with the best apple harvest. To confirm my suspicion, I sent an email to one of Maine’s apple experts, David Buchanan. I met David a few years ago at a TEDxDirigo conference in Brunswick. David spoke about his passion for growing heirloom apples on his orchard at this conference and I figured that he would be a great person to ask about the 2015 apple harvest. I learned from David that there was a late frost in 2012 which set back many orchards. 2013 was a good year for apple fruit set and since apple trees tend to have a heavy fruit set every other year, 2014 was not as good. David said that the growing conditions this year have set things up for a bumper crop. He has 200 different varieties of apples growing in his orchard alone. On the day of our email exchange, David had just picked 24 bushels of apples from his orchard.

I am now dreaming of one day having enough land to plant a small apple orchard. I can already taste the fresh apples along with apple crisp, apple pie, baked apples, apple butter, apple cider… and the list goes on. What is it about the sight of the bright red fruit and the smell of ripe apples that brings to mind clear, crisp days, autumn leaves, and happy times?

–Rodney

Images: The Take, Fotonin

I Cannot Believe…

that summer is almost over.

This cliche is the often repeated point of conversation these days. In New England, the kids are about to head back to school. Our son is about to start high school. What? I was just playing catch with him as a little boy as what seemed like yesterday. Our girls are entering sixth and fifth grades. Time is flying and for some reason, this summer seemed faster than others. I hear so many people saying that this summer was fast but I have not figured out what makes this summer different than any other.

Regardless, the garden has been rocking this summer. The fast pace of the summer has allowed most plants to flourish and etch warm memories for those long, January nights. We had plenty of warmth and moisture until mid-July when the rain in New England just disappeared. Our team has been watering like mad to keep up with the growth of our plants in the gardens. I feel as though our team has been focused on getting the gardens ready since April when the snow melted and the ground thawed. The fruits of our efforts are really starting to show. There are, of course, some weak plants here and there that I would never use again but for the most part, the garden has some dynamic plant combinations this summer.

One of the best garden performers this summer has been Ammi visnaga, which is know by the common names of bishop’s weed or khella. A relative of Queen Anne’s lace, Ammi visnaga resembles its weedy cousin in flower but differs in forming a dense clump instead of a wispy weed. The flowers are borne just above the foliage and look like Queen Anne’s lace except they are larger and a fresher white color. When I spaced these out this spring, I obviously was not sure how large they would grow. Whoa! They are now pushing four feet in height and width.

This annual is great for filling gaps in a mixed border and holds up extremely well as a cut flower. You will recognize the flower but the overall appearance is well-behaved and better for a garden setting. Truthfully, this was a happy accident. I was looking for Ammi majus this spring but the only finished plants that we could find were A. visnaga. Last week, Fergus Garrett from Great Dixter was in Maine to give a lecture and visit our gardens. He commented on what a better garden performer A. visnaga can be than A. majus.

Have you grown either Ammi in your garden beds? How does it perform for you?

–Rodney

Images: Rodney Eason, Garden At Heart

A Weedy Orchid

I recently learned that we have a weedy orchid growing in the northern part of the United States. A visitor to our gardens had sent us a photograph for identification of this cool weed. This plant was eventually identified as Epipactis helleborine or broad-leaved helleborine. Epipactis helleborine is native to Europe, specifically, parts of Poland. Its introduction into the United States occurred in the late 1800’s when it was planted as a possible medicinal plant. The first documentation of broad-leaved helleborine was in 1879 in New York. Since this introduction, it has escaped to become a somewhat weedy plant found along hiking trails and the edges of woodlands. I have seen it in several locations around Boothbay, Maine and by “weedy,” I would say that it grows where it was not planted by humans.

It is an attractive and striking plant. Epipactis catches your eye because of the upright growth and broad, tapering leaves. Once it flowers, you will see the small, orchid flowers which occur in shades of white, green, pink, with just a touch of yellow. Since it is cold-hardy and can reproduce fairly easily, I wonder if anyone has tried conducting any breeding work with other orchid genera that might be more difficult to grow in the garden. I would love to try hybridizing Epipactis with Bletilla, Pleione, or Cypripedium.

Have you encountered broad-leaved helleborine in your garden? Do you leave them or remove the plants, counting them as weeds?

–Rodney

Images: New Hampshire Garden Solutions, Northeast School of Botanical Medicine

Catching Up

Memory of Water by George Sherwood

How is your summer going so far? Have you traveled to any cool places or gorgeous gardens?

My summer is blowing right by at the speed of sound. The month of June came and went in what seemed like a week. Between projects at work and home, driving the kids to camp, and traveling, I honestly cannot believe how quickly everything came and went.

Suddenly it is July, I just celebrated my 43rd birthday, and we are finishing up our last big garden project at work. Today in Boothbay the temperature even got up into the 80’s. The rest of the US might not consider that a big feat, but after enduring almost two and a half months of brutally cold winter, 80 degrees seems like a sauna when the humidity is high and the winds are still. I hope to start catching up on the things that have been on the back burner, both at work and at home. Every day, I have even been able to get out and walk around the gardens. This warm weather and long hours of daylight are allowing the plants to grow like weeds (the weeds are doing their fair share as well).

The one plant that is bursting out of the gate like American Pharoah in a Triple Crown race is milk thistle or Silybum marianum. Our milk thistles went into the ground as 6-8″ plants in early June. The spiny, white-lined foliage is now over a foot across and almost a foot in height. By the end of the summer, these plants are going to be monsters. It is interesting to see how many guests have become used to safe landscapes. They see the spiny leaves and act surprised when they touch the leaves and they are actually sharp! In doing more research on milk thistle, it is cool to see how useful it is in treating ailments of the liver. A friend of ours commented to me that her husband takes milk thistle tablets each day to help treat his liver ailments. At the gardens, we are going to have to start moving plants growing around the milk thistle because we did not realize that it would get so large.

Have you grown Silybum before? Are there any other things that I need to know about growing this strangely beautiful plant?

–Rodney

Sun-drenched And Wiped Out

I took an unplanned blogging hiatus since the end of May. Like the gradual twist of a thermostat knob, summer seemingly discovered Maine right after Memorial Day. Our team at work has been spinning through the gardens like soil-stained whirling Dervishes. The tulips did not end their flowering until the first week of June. Since then, it has been a frantic pace of removing tulips, mixing in compost, and planting summer annuals.

The days have been long but satisfying as the sun has gradually turned my pale, Irish-heritaged skin into one of the best farmer’s tans I’ve ever had. There is something about the combination of salt air, working in the soil, and the summer sun that is intoxicating. By the time I get home, help make dinner, and help tuck in the kids, I found myself going to bed instead of writing. Do you ever get that feeling in the summertime where it seems that garden work is a higher priority than anything involving a computer?

Ok, enough excuses on why I have not been writing. Time to move onto what has been getting me up in the morning.

– Melianthus major – “honey bush” This unusual shrub from South Africa is being added as a focal point on our entrance bed. By the end of the summer, the pinnate leaves should reach about 20 inches in length. The total width of these silver plants could reach about three to four feet and four feet in height. A couple of references state that if mulched in late fall, it could survive a mild winter. The plants we have are near a wall where Phygelius was able to over-winter so I am hopeful that Melianthus can perennialize in Maine as well.

– Itoh peonies. If someone was to ask me my favorite plant right now, I would have to say peonies. Herbaceous and tree peonies are fine but Itoh or intersectional peonies are the “bomb” as our kids would say. Itoh peonies are hybrids between tree peonies and herbaceous peonies. They have the large flowers of a tree peony with the hardiness and vigor of an herbaceous peony. Two of my favorite cultivars are ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ and ‘Bartzella.’

– Compost. I am convinced that the vital element to having a great garden is adding great compost. There are so many different blends being made so it really takes time to find a good recipe. Finding a good compost is like finding a good wine. You really want to stock up on it and hope that it does not change in the future. I look for a pH close to neutral, a thoroughly mixed product, and little to no weed seeds. If aged properly, compost should “cook” all weed seeds and prevent them from germinating. Compost is essential for an organic garden because it adds nutrients to the soil, helps retain water, and suppresses some weed germination. Incorporating compost into your garden soil is such a vital step that many people still neglect.

– Books. I plan on catching up on reading books this summer during trips, long evenings, and weekends. I am starting the Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert. I also want to read Harper Lee’s new novel after it is released in July. The third book that I hope to read is Missoula by Jon Krakauer.

Tell me, what is getting you up in the morning? Are there any books you recommend adding to my summer reading list?

–Rodney

Images: blackgold.bz, yellowpeoniesandmore.com, brenebrown.com

Southern Highland Reserve

  
Several weeks ago, our group from Maine had the privilege of visiting the Southern Highlands Reserve in Lake Toxaway, North Carolina. The reserve consists of 120 acres nestled high upon the Appalachian mountains at 4500 feet elevation. SHR is the property of Robert and Betty Balentine who bought the property as a retreat from the hustle and bustle of Atlanta. Over time, they have worked with Gary Smith and Dick Bir to design unique gardens with local plants. 

The gardens are magical and the views out over the North Carolina foothills are breathtaking. I had heard a lot about these gardens from Gary Smith so I was anxious to see what had been done on the property. Among the woods on the top of this mountain, what they have created is as powerful to me as the gardens at Rousham or Dumbarton Oaks. The designs are sublime and the use of native plants en masse is pure genius. One of my favorite spots is the wildflower labyrinth. The size and scale of the labyrinth is comfortable, even for our group consisting of over 40 adults. I enjoyed watching our group walk back and forth among the paths, smiling and laughing at each other while peering above the plants.

As you make your way into the woods, you encounter a mass planting of hay-scented ferns which sways gently back and forth amongst the breeze. The way the light reflected off of the fronds, it reminded me a bit of the gentle waves over the ocean along the Maine coast. Among the ferns, we saw beautiful, nodding pink trillium.

  
Along the entire experience, Smith, Bir, and Balentine have worked with the staff to create a beautiful composition. The garden choreography goes from woodland setting to open, natural room with spectacular vistas of the Appalachian mountains and Carolina landscape. As Kent did at Rousham and Smith did at Peirce’s Woods in Longwood Gardens, this garden is orchestrated to the sublime. I am already longing to go back and to take more notes, more pictures, and to spend more time enjoying this wonderful reserve. 

– Rodney

Dryopteris – The Jason Bourne of Ferns

  
I have had a fondness for ferns since I took up gardening as an occupation in North Carolina. One winter, I was running through a state forest where nothing was green on the forest floor except for Polystichum acrostichoides, Christmas fern. This was in the early 1990’s and I remember stopping to marvel at how these ferns were still alive during a cold winter. As the years have gone by, I have constantly had a favorite fern for certain periods of time. After the Christmas fern, there was the holly fern, Cyrtomium falcatum. Not long after college, I began working at Plant Delights Nursery where I fell in love with the wood ferns: Dryopteris. Most of the hardy ferns that I had known were somewhat smaller in size but here was a group of ferns that could reach 3-4′ in height!

  
Now that I am gardening in Maine, I am rekindling my fondness for Dryopteris. In our Rhododendron Garden at CMBG, there is a mass planting of Dryopteris crassirhozoma. When I first walked by the plants at the edge of a gravel path, I stopped in amazement. The green and brown fronds were over 3 feet in height and arched beautifully up towards the sky. Most ferns appear frilly and delicate but D. crassirhozoma was big and bold. They are like the Jason Bourne of ferns. The last two winters were brutal along the Maine coast but like Bourne, these ferns just keep coming back for more. 

This winter, while searching for new ferns for a woodland garden, I came across Dryopteris goldiana. When I read that this North American native was even larger than D. crassirhozoma, I thought, “where have you been all of my woodland life?” In the next few weeks, we will plant a mass of D. goldiana and then I will wait in anticipation to see it grow and become as massive as the literature touts it to be. Also, with nearly 250 species of Dryopteris in the world, I look forward to growing as many of these as we can find.

-Rodney

Images: Pling-Belgium, WI and CalPhotos

Spring Break

  

Last week was spring break for our kids here in Maine. This was an opportunity for me to take them on a trip to see new places, meet new people and just spend time together. We drove to Burlington, Vermont as I was scheduled to give a talk on new gardening ideas. On the five hour drive, I thought about the other kids on break who went south for warmer climes for spring break while our kids went further north to watch their dad talk for an hour about gardening. I hoped they loved the talk and the ideas will resonate in their impressionable minds. The alternative is that some day they will relay this trip to their therapist wherein the counselor will point the finger of blame for everything on me. How dare a father take their kids to a garden club lecture! And there were no snacks, even. 

After the talk, I treated our kids to dinner which included root beers and chocolate milks all around (dad might have had an actual beer-beer). I asked them what they thought about the talk. Our son, Alex, said that he enjoyed it and did not daze off into the distance or stare at his phone once. One of our ten-year old twins, Callan, said it was really good but she did not understand some of my jokes and why they made the audience laugh.

I took our four kids to a horticulture lecture and they enjoyed it. Or maybe they were being good so they would get root beer at dinner. The other positive is that Callan has said that she would like to be a gardener as she gets older. This spring, she and Zoë started their own flower seeds. Callan helped me mulch for a few hours this spring and she loved it. All of our kids have spent many hours helping their mom in the vegetable garden. That means the world to me that our kids enjoy gardening. 

In my lecture, I pointed out that during the 1960’s and 70’s in the U.S., the next generation of farmers were encouraged to have a more comfortable life in an office somewhere. My dad grew up farming and he thought I was wasting an education by studying plants and soil. We’ve progressed beyond that, was his thought. Get a cushy job in an office somewhere and farm on your weekends as a hobby, was in essence his advice. I am glad that I did not take his advice to heart and continued to pursue what I enjoyed doing.

To see our daughter, Callan, as well as many others in the next working generation excited about agriculture and the potential of growing your own food for a local economy is fantastic. Farming and gardening are hard work and the pay is not comparable to a programmer who writes code. But, I argue, the next generation has the ability to change that. Good food and good plants are vital to a good life. Some people understand that and are willing to search out locally grown produce even if it means a higher price. Maine is seeing a groundswell of back to the land, local farmers. I hope this movement continues to grow and flourish into a sustainable lifestyle that brings in more of the next generation of farmers and gardeners.

–

What Are Your Favorite Plants?

Last week, I was interviewed by Dr. Lisa Belisle for a future episode of Love Maine Radio where she asked me questions about living in Maine and working at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. We were talking about some of the common questions that I get while working in the gardens when I said that as gardeners, we are often asked, “what are your favorite plants?” She then, of course, lobbed the question right back at me. “So, what are your favorite plants?”

This, to me, is one of the hardest questions to answer because it is similar to asking me which of our four kids do I like the best. But, in that moment, while sitting there in front of a microphone, I answered with the first plants that came to mind. First, I said magnolias. Then, I said, hydrangeas. If there is a group of plants that I would love to learn more about, it would be hydrangeas. Hydrangeas blossoms are my favorite flowers. They grow well in most parts of the United States and are as welcome in the deep South as they are in New England. If I had to pick a species of hydrangea, I would go for Hydrangea macrophylla. H. macrophylla is a diverse species from Asia that consists of the quintessential mophead style flowers as well as the flattened lacecap flowers.

When we moved to Maine, I was surprised to see so many big leaf hydrangeas growing in the gardens. During most winters, the plants are not stem hardy but can rejuvenate from the base in the spring. Older cultivars of Hydrangea macrophylla only flower on old wood so in a colder climate like Maine’s, big-leaf hydrangeas would look great with foliage but never flower because the flower buds would be lost during the winter die-back. There are newer cultivars in the Endless Summer line which are supposed to flower on old and new wood. The good thing about these plants is that they can die back in cooler climates and then flower in summer on the new shoot growth. Thus far, we have had mixed results with flowering ability on the Endless Summer line but with new selections coming out each year, I am hopeful that the flowering will be better with each introduction. I am trying out the newest selection called BloomStruck. Hopefully, along with the smaller size of BloomStruck comes improved flowering on new wood. I emailed Dr. Michael Dirr who has done a lot of work with Hydrangea and he assures me that BloomStruck is one of the best.

There seems to be a lot of potential for improved flower color, size, and duration within the entire H. macrophylla species. Are you growing any Hydrangea in your own garden? If so, which ones?

–Rodney

Images: Uncle John’s, The Good Thing

The Healthiest Profession

Recently, I was searching for any information on which professions have the healthiest people. I came across a research study from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that listed the fittest and fattest professions in America. Skipping right over the fattest, I scrolled to the fittest in hopes that horticulturists/gardeners would be among the list. Unfortunately, there was no mention of anyone working in the soil. I skimmed the list once and then went back through it with more deliberate attention. Here were the top 5 fittest professions in America:

1. Health diagnosing occupations, including physicians, dentists, optometrists, and veterinarians
2. Natural scientists and social scientists
3. College and university professors
4. Health assessment and treatment occupations, excluding registered nurses
5. Other professional specialties, including librarians, social workers, clergy, writers, musicians, and athletes

Hmm, I thought. Horticulturists and gardeners could fit within all 5 of these categories.
1) We diagnose the health of plants and ourselves on a daily basis. We need our plants to be healthy in order to be successful in our jobs. Also, we need to be healthy in order to do our jobs at the highest level.
2) We use the scientific method on an almost daily basis to analyze the weather, soil reports, plant physiology, as well as entomology.
3) Some of us actually go on to become professors, whereas most of us end up teaching or giving lectures as a part of the love for our jobs.
4) Health assessment goes right along with number 1, above. Not only do we diagnose but with the inclusion of integrated pest management (IPM) in our skill set, we end up finding the remedy for our plant maladies.
5) We are definitely specialists in that we spend our free time reading and sharing on social media about plants, visiting gardens and nurseries, and visiting other plant geeks around the country. For anyone who asks about what to grow in their yard, the sharing of our passion could be likened to a clergyman or woman.

In addition to this study, I have my own intuitive hunch about the horticultural profession. I would argue that most of us are a happy bunch with an irreverent sense of humor. Digging in the soil makes us a happy lot and some of the best jokes I know come from fellow gardeners with a quick wit. We are also looking for ways to physically stay on top of our game as we age. A lot of the gardeners I know stay in shape by walking, biking, running, practicing yoga, and just staying physically active outside of work. We tend to eat pretty healthy as well because not only do we know where our food comes from but we grow our own.

I’ve long felt that our profession is pretty cool. There are not many callings where you do what you do for a living on your own before work as well as for relaxation after work. This summer, I know there will be many mornings where I will get up at the crack of dawn to weed the front bed of our garden with a cup of coffee before biking the five and a half miles to the gardens for a full-day’s work.

–Rodney

Images: National Trust, Express