Flowers First - Leaves Last

For those of you who were lucky enough to have a Nana who allowed you to have dessert first and then deal with dinner; you are going to appreciate this.

There are many plants that Flower First and Leaf out Last; thus confusing even the most savvy of perennial buyers. They receive their delivery and some of the plants that were listed as "Bud & Bloom" on the sales list, come in as a pot of dirt with a flower in it. They're all "Seriously, dude. Dude? What Is this? Seriously, dude."

And, then our phone rings.

And we're all, but seriously, dude? This is what it does. Flowers First, Leaves Last. And that is so cool. Really, it's like setting aside all of your expectations and receiving the Lotto win, before looking up the numbers. Or having the Fried Ice Cream before the broccoli. Why not?

Heres a short list of those plants you will be pleasantly surprised by:

Pulmonaria - Lungwort - Fancy spotted leaves provide interesting accent in the garden, but the flowers bud in early March and open in April when the leaves are still only as big as one knuckle length. Joyously colored,abundant purply-red, blue, dark pink on corymbs mature to blueish flowers. Rosettes of leaves plug on in the shade all summer long.

Helleborus - Lenten Rose - The winter die back leaves persist on Helleborus, while the early flowers find their way up to the light. Many varieties have nodding flowers, with the die-back leaves, but it flowers so early, who cares? After a few weeks the new leave sprout up with abandon and the flowers are steadfastly still hanging on. The leaves are evergreen, so what could be bad?

Epimedium - Bishops Hat - This low growing perennial is a tough customer, useful in shade and dappled sunlight and dry conditions. It bears starry flowers in the early spring before this ground cover's leaves have a chance to really fill in. It naturalizes nicely and emerges with a red tinge to the leaves. It is pest and disease free to boot.

Mertensia - Virginia Bluebells - this outstanding woodland plant serves as a spring beacon. Stalks of beautiful nodding pinkish flowers emerge and turn a striking blue in spring and are over taken by the plain medium green leaves through the season. These blue flowers just put a smile on your face. Plant in shady areas with moist soils. Remember that this mid-western native goes dormant in the summer heat, so interplant accordingly.

Bergenia - Pig Squeak - Bergenia is an industrial type of plant with coarse paddle shaped leathery leaves, but it sprouts pink to dark pink to white flower stalks in spring, before the large leaves unfold entirely. The stalks are thick and the flowers are undelicate, but provide a punch of color when we are all just waiting around for the season to star. Bergenia is a wonderful plant that tolerates a variety of soil and moisture conditions easily adaptable and very hardy, plant in full sun to shade.

1 comments - Posted by Laura at 5:20 PM - Categories: Garden Smarty

The Landscape of Resolution

So, here were are at the end of February, and our New Year's Resolutions are to be implemented in a few short weeks. Yes the merry-go-round we call spring will be here in a few short weeks and there are those of us it seems who have already forgotten our new year's resolutions.
 
Here's a sampling of the few I've heard:
 
"I'm going to follow up every job with set periodic phone calls to gauge our customers satisfaction"
 
"I'm guaranteeing our work by returning to job sites for follow up inspections."
 
"Actually doing the basic soil testing we swear we are going to do on each new job site."
 
"I'm going to actually bill my clients the day I finish a job, instead of scurrying around a month later calling vendors for plant lists to sort out who got what."
 
Is 2010 the year we will actually  _____________ (fill in the blank.........bill, prune, divide, conquer) the way we promised ourselves we would? Are we spending enough time building a relationship with our clients? Are we educating them in the process?
 
If you're new year's resolution is as simple as mine: never ever again stick your thumb in molten-lava- right-out-of-the-oven-hot baked clams; then perhaps this spring will be a breeze for you. But if you've made a pact with yourself that you will follow up with clients or spend the extra buck to go back and prune then the application of that resolution comes from one simple action: Sacrifice.
 
The act of sacrifice is the way all resolutions come to fruition. You give something up to see another thing through to the end. So you get up earlier or stay out later each day so you can swing by a job site  and drop off a business card, that shows you are concerned follow-thru kinda guy, and then you go home and watch the end of Man vs. Food.
 
Or you take 15 mintues at the end of each day and call back every customer you visited last month to find out how the planting is getting along, or if they're interested in a walk-through the natty looking side yard just to go over some ideas that you are really excitied about, and then you go home and fix up the natty looking side yard at your house.

One year my new year's resolution was to actually water my own garden through one whole season. Every day. Actually water. I had to sign a blood oath to myself.......eeehhhh I won't tell you how it turned out.
 
Sacrifice 15 mintues each day for your resolution and don't ever stick your thumbs in molten-lava -hot baked clams and you'll escape second degree burns, and your customers will appreciate your diligence and tell their friends and neighbors about you.

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0 comments - Posted by Laura at 7:12 AM - Categories: Garden Smarty

Green Blues

This article appeared in it’s original form in the February 2005 Issue of The Landscaper

 Green Blues

By Laura Ann Harrington

 It’s funny how the color green grabs your attention this time of year. Your psyche seems to crave it. Green seems to quantify your life and return the slate cleaned of stress.

 As you sail through Home Depot for the rock salt and snow shovels, you do a double take at the indoor plant aisle. The opulent bromeliads catch your eye as do the Golden Pathos.  You think to yourself, ‘O yeah, plants, that’s what we’re in this for.’ 

 Seeing those plants reminded me of the Herbaceous Plant Identification course in college. Studying indoor plants, and I couldn’t imagine why. Who cared? It was bogging down valuable brain cells I needed at the ready for the plants I’d actually have to garden with.

During that spring semester, I was lucky enough to travel to the Florida Key’s for a long weekend. My husband was already there on business and picked me up in Fort Lauderdale in the late afternoon and we drove into the night toward Key West with no specific plans or reservations.

 As we pulled into the parking lot of The Kon-Tiki Hotel that would’ve made Thor Heyerdahl spin in his grave; I thought to myself, “I’ve turned down way nicer places to stay than this; even if it is almost midnight.”

 While my husband was inside inquiring about a room I stared blankly out the rental car window.  Along the sidewalk under the yellow glow of the parking lot lights were many of the houseplants I had to study for the Plant Id course. The Scindapsus was a thick lush groundcover. The bitterly poisonous Oleander was well over fifteen foot tall.  Variegated Silhouette plants looked like giant Dr Seuss trees.

 Here were all the plants I was struggling with! Here they grew to their full potential, not like some puny mutant pot-bound waifs. Here they thrived and multiplied. It was the perfect review session for my class.

 When my husband came back to the car I shouted and pointed wildly out the window, ‘Look!’

 “Uh-huh, plants,” he said flatly.

 ‘Not just plants! It’s Plant ID test one and two! Look Sansevieria and Monstera deliciosa! Here they grow like weeds! Like grass and oak trees back home! Don’t you realize at home these are houseplants? ”

 “The hotel offers free paper umbrellas with your complimentary daiquiri,” was all he remarked.

‘Hmph,’ I replied.

  As we drove on into the night I settled back in my seat and I couldn’t wait till morning to see what other plants I could identify.

 When morning arrived there were all the plants I had memorized. It was like being greeted at the jet way by old friends. I could see these plants in their own habitat and I had such a new appreciation for them. Bird of Paradise marched around yards peeking over pickets. Hot pink Bougainvillea flirted up and down wrought iron fences with abandon. Every variation of green imaginable transcended all other colors and permeated all my senses. From emerald and lime to celadon and sage. Pea, jade, olive and sea. It was intoxicating and sublime.

  No matter which street we turned down I always had a point of reference because I recognized some of the plants growing there. I found you never know where life will take you, and it doesn’t hurt to learn as much as you can along the way.

0 comments - Posted by Laura at 9:35 AM - Categories: Garden Smarty