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Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Wild Quinine, A Native Plant

I'm wild about Wild Quinine (parthenium integrifolium) after seeing mass plantings at The Battery Gardens in New York in June 2011. In fact, I was so mesmerized by the tiny white pearl blooms that I failed to take one photo, but found a few on the gardens website!

I returned to do a bit of research and decided that this is a native wildflower to try in my meadow garden for 2012. Quinine is a perennial that blooms in summer. Seed heads can remain over the winter.

zones: 3a-8b

height: 36-38"

light: low to full sun

soil: medium

Finding the plants is not impossible, but I decided to try seeds for next year. According to the instructions on my seed packet, it is best to plant quinine in the fall or cold stratify for two to three months.

Fall sowing has always given me good results as our weather can often turn too hot, too soon in the spring. I'm not one to pamper pots, so I prefer to direct sow into the ground.

With the moisture from autumn rains and daytime temperatures forecast for 60-70° F for the next two weeks, I'm ready to sow! I have cleared a section of the garden for a mass planting of the quinine.

I will add a mix of organic soil, compost and conditioner to the area; rake it smooth; sow the seeds just below the soil line; walk across the area; water with a gentle spray to keep the soil moist.

The test in my garden will be to see whether or not quinine is deer and rabbit resistant and can tolerate the droughts here in zone 7b. I'm optimistic!

Quinine is an attractor for pollinators and food for chickadees, so I'm excited about the birds, bees and blooms for next year.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Answers to Recent Questions from Readers

I am frequently asked for the house paint colors!

Although I try to answer questions sent to me by email, I have a backlog lately due to other distractions. Here are a few recent questions with the answers.

What is the exterior paint color used on your house? I still receive this question quite often due to my past participation on the GardenWeb forums. The sage-gray body color with off-white trim is a custom mix and I posted the formula here: House Paint Colors. A reader who saw the story about my deer resistant garden in the July 2010 issue of Southern Living Magazine even wanted to know the house plan! While the outside looks similar to the plan, I completely redesigned the interior of our house so that it bears little resemblance to the original plan.
Do deer eat zinnias? The deer tend to leave my zinnias alone until August, when food is scarce. Once they have little food, they will eat the zinnias. I grow Benary's Giant variety. The rabbits, on the other hand, will take down the four-foot high plants, at any time, as though they are cutting down trees!
How to Grow Lavender? This is a frequent question and an excellent story, written by local lavender farmer, Annie Greer Baggett, provides the best information. Annie wrote the story for my blog and I keep it linked in the left sidebar under "Reader Favorites".
Companion plants for rose campion? After lavender, I receive many questions and blog searches for information on rose campion (lychnis coronaria).This flower is a self-sowing annual and will winter over as a perennial/biennial in warmer zones. I like to use yarrow (achillea 'Pomegranate'), big lamb's ears, and autumn sage (salvia greggii), nepeta and Spanish Lavender as companions. Larkspur, poppies and cornflowers—self-sowing annuals also look good with, and bloom at the same time, as rose campion.

There are links in the left side bar to BLOG PAGES of popular topics which will also answer many of the search terms/keyword searches on my blog. I created these pages for my own record-keeping as well and make updates from time-to-time.

Flowers from Seeds: Flowers that I grow from seeds (with bloom photos).

Deer Resistant Plants: I try to update this list as the information changes and when I add new plants. Your results may vary from my results.

Rabbit Resistant Plants: By far, rabbits do more damage in my garden than deer.

Agastache Garden Plan: This is a labeled planting plan (photo) with a grouping of some of my favorite agastache varieties. I have more favorites, such as agastache 'Cotton Candy' that is not shown on this plan.

Monet's Gardens and Paris: This is a page with links to all the stories (with many photos) that I wrote about our visit to Paris and Monet's Gardens in Giverny, France in May 2009.

Monet's Gardens in Giverny, France

Sedum Tips: All Grown Up and Blooming

Sedum 'Green Expectations' grown up.
This was just a tip off the old plant in 2009.

Buy one. Make more. Sedum keeps on giving and giving. In June 2009, I wrote about pinching back the tips of tall sedum to make more plants while keeping the mother plant sturdy and shaped. Those tiny tips are now mature and blooming for early autumn.

A tip taken from
last year's tip!

Of the three sedum varieties that I pinched back, 'Green Expectations' has performed the best in one year. So well, that I have also pinched the tips of the new plants this year!

I actually use my pruners to make a clean cut, remove the bottom leaves and just stick the cuttings straight into garden soil.

The sedum performs best in drier soil and full sun, though they do well with afternoon shade. Choose companions that also work in the same conditions.

I grow sedum with salvia, perennial heliotrope, lavender, four o'clocks, agastache and purple heart.

The good news is that the rabbits leave the tall, blooming sedum alone, so I can grow these quite well inside the cottage garden fence. The bad news is that deer will probably eat the blooms, just when you are ready to enjoy the plant. Late summer and early fall is prime time for the deer to forage for food in flower gardens as the wild vegetation diminishes. Plants that deer ignore all summer may be more interesting in early autumn.

My 'Purple Emperor' sedum tips are doing well, but are not maturing as quickly as the 'Green Expecations'. I have blooms on only one of seven tips that I started in 2009. Sedum 'Bekka' has not done well in the summer humidity.

I would happily add more sedum varieties if I had the space! These are economical and carefree plants to fill a sunny garden.

Sedum 'Green Expectations'
with deep pink Four O'Clocks and
lavender-blue perennial heliotrope 'Azure Skies'

Sedum 'Green Expectations'
with salvia farinacea 'Victoria Blue'

Sedum 'Purple Emperor'
with gaillardia 'Grape Sensation' and foliage
of cottage pinks (dianthus)

Coreopsis 'Autumn Blush'

The weather is hot and humid and Coreopsis 'Autumn Blush' is in full bloom. Even with all the rain storms of the last few weeks, this perennial is standing straight and blooming profusely.

'Autumn Blush' is a butter yellow coreopsis with a strawberry red eye that changes with the seasons. When the cooler temperatures arrive in autumn, the strawberry "blush" will cover more of the bloom.

Terra Nova Nurseries sent me four small trial plugs of Coreopsis 'Autumn Blush' in September 2009. I made no heroic efforts to overwinter the coreopsis. Three were planted together in the butterfly garden (southeast) and one was planted by my sidewalk (southwest).

Not only did the coreopsis survive our zone 7 wet winter, torrential rains and snow, but all four plugs were fast-growing to an impressive size. A group planting of only three coreopsis makes a huge impact!

Coreopsis 'Autumn Blush' is rated as a perennial for for zones 5-9 in full sun. The mounding habit spreads to around 32" with a height of 24". In my garden, this coreopsis is also proving to be both deer and rabbit resistant.

Coreopsis prefers a well-drained, sunny location. I plant these in locations that are also favorable for agastache—which is a great companion for coreopsis.

I already had an Agastache 'Summer Glow' that I purchased at a local nursery.

The agastache, coincidentally another Terra Nova plant, is just beginning to bloom. I recently moved it to a grouping of three coreopsis. The colors are perfect together—probably not a coincidence, after all!

Coreopsis 'Autumn Blush' plants, provided by Terra Nova Nurseries, Inc. were planted on September 29, 2010. Words and photos by Freda Cameron,
Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks/copyrights/patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Buying Online: Perfectly Packaged Plants

Ordering plants online can be confusing and sometimes the results are very disappointing. There are always those nagging questions. What is the price of the plants? How large are the plants? Will they be healthy? How are they shipped? I'm happy to report my wonderful experience with Lazy S'S Farm Nursery in Virginia.

I had a list of plants that I had coveted, but couldn't find locally. My web search led me to Lazy S'S Farm online store. I checked the Dave's Garden Watchdog list and they are ranked in the Top 5 for perennials.

With their huge selection of plants, I had no problem finding everything on my wish list. (By the way, you can save a wish list on their website and come back later to purchase.) The prices, based upon the description of the plants and shipping methods, was reasonable. I got out my credit card and placed an order.

A few days later, I decided to add a few more plants to the same order. Easy to do.

On April 8, my box of plants arrived on my covered front porch. Opening the box was surprising—in a good way. The health and size of the plants exceeded my expectations!

Look at the packaging—stakes to support the foliage; plastic covering the soil meant moisture was retained and no soil dumped out; no damage at all.

I followed the instructions to let my plants adjust in a sheltered place and gradually move them to the sunshine and then plant in the garden after danger of frost had passed (April 15). Of course, we had no significant rain in April and early May, so I had to be diligent about giving the plants a deep, thorough watering until established.

Now that all of the perennials have been in my garden for over a month, I'm still thrilled with the plants. Each is growing well, still healthy.

Would I order from Lazy S'S Farm Nursery again? Absolutely! I have no hesitation in giving a recommendation as this was my best online plant ordering experience—ever.

No free products or discounts were received from the vendor, nor was the nursery notified in advance of my review.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks/copyrights/patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

European Garden Envy

It's for the sake of research. At least that's my rationalization for adding new plants to the deer resistant garden. To be perfectly honest, I have a case of "European Garden Envy."

There's a subscription card to BBC Gardens Illustrated sitting in my kitchen, waiting for me to give in to the temptation. That's one of my favorite garden eye candy magazines. Several times a year, I purchase a copy off the rack. I also pick up The English Garden when I can find it. If the French had equivalent magazines available in this country, I'd pick those up, too. Maybe it would help with my understanding of the language.

The reality is that I live in North Carolina, not Europe. Gardeners living in the Pacific Northwest have suggested that those with my affliction move there if I want to grow an English Garden. To be clear, North Carolina gets more measured rainfall than Seattle, we just have more sunny days. We have humidity and hot summer nights—the usual reasons why some of those plants won't like living in my garden.

There are a few plants that I just couldn't resist trying this year. I may be violating the rule of "right plant, right place." However, I'm willing to gamble. Perhaps these are the right plants for my garden?

After my visit to France last year, I started lusting after the French Blue ceanothus (California Lilac). I had dreams about this gorgeous blue shrub.

Imagine my delight to find a mail-order nursery, Lazy S'S Farm in Virginia, that carries several varieties of ceanothus! Ceanothus thyrsiflorus 'Victoria' is now planted in my garden.

English lavender 'Vicenza Blue' and stipa 'Ponytails' (purchased from a local nursery, Multiflora Greenhouses) are the companions to my ceanothus.

All of these plants have low water requirements, prefer well-drained soil, can withstand hot sun and are deer resistant.

Ceanothus thyrsiflorus 'Victoria'
zone 7-9
height 6-9 feet

Lavandula angustifolia ‘Vicenza Blue’
zones 5-9
height 10-12 inches

Stipa tenuissima 'Ponytails'
zones 7-10
height 24-36 inches

Stipa, or Mexican Feather Grass, was featured in several stories in the English magazines and caught my attention. The swaying softness, the short size for an ornamental grass are desirable traits. I decided to give the grass a try here after reading about gardeners in similar zones using stipa. It is possible for this grass to be invasive in some states, so check the invasive species list in your region before planting this grass. Deadhead to prevent seeding.

Several varieties of lavender are grown here in my garden, but the 'Vicenza Blue' is supposed to be short (10-12 inches). Finding a compact size is the big attraction as I have grown monster lavenders in my garden! If this one is easy to grow and is short, then I have more uses for this lavender.

Only time will tell if I am successful with my "research" to satisfy my European Garden Envy.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks/copyrights/patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

DoLeaf—Young Gardeners with a Fresh Idea

Three young entrepreneurs are on a mission to bring small, independent and specialty nurseries together for a new online shopping experience for gardeners. I like the spirit of the DoLeaf community. Sarah, Ryan and Micah not only created a different business model, but they are gardeners as well.

The advantages to the seller are apparent. The small businesses do not have to create and maintain a website to sell their plants. The DoLeaf staff takes care of the web development and support. By joining with other nurseries, a wider audience of customers is attracted to the site. When it comes to selling on the web, generating a high volume of traffic is crucial to success.

Browsing the interesting variety of plants at DoLeaf is similar to wandering through the nursery section of a farmers' market. Each nursery has a "store" where you can browse their plants. Or, you can search the selections by keyword, category, zones and other criteria. There are plants and seeds—veggies, herbs, annuals, perennials and houseplants—featured in the stores.

Micah sent me an invitation to try DoLeaf for free. Realizing the opportunity for the unique, I decided to shop for plants for my new hot colors, tropicalesque bed. The Green Sunshine store offers a good selection of intriguing plants that I have never grown.

For each plant in the Green Sunshine store, there are multiple images as well as details on growing conditions and care. I selected a Golden Lotus Banana and a Shampoo Ginger.

Both plants arrived carefully packaged and in perfect health. Information and instructions for the care of the two plants was also included.

The ginger was sent bare root as it is dormant until May. It was carefully wrapped and bagged so that there was no damage to the root. The banana arrived with beautiful foliage that was supported by cardboard. The soil was not only moist, but it arrived completely secure inside the pot instead of scattered in the box.

The two plants are now in my garden where I watch with enthusiasm for my tropicalesque bed to flourish—with red, orange and yellow blooms and lush, tropical foliage.

Based on my positive experience with DoLeaf, I now routinely browse all of the stores for interesting and unique plants to add to my garden.

The plants featured in this story were provided by DoLeaf. Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks/copyrights/patents owned by those respective companies or persons.