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DORMANT SEASON TIME FOR RESEARCHING NEXT YEAR'S PERFECT PLANTS
On the first day of November, I went down to my raised garden by the pond and picked a generous bouquet of white and purple cosmos. 'Prism Sunshine' petunias in the window box on the north side of my house bloomed fuller than at any time since I planted them. A 'Nearly Wild' shrub rose was still displaying pink flowers.
Blooming flowers in a Minnesota November is a rare treat. In the days that followed, hard freezes gradually turned my prolific annuals to a dull shade of brown. It sure was fun while it lasted.
Now that the 1998 gardening season is officially over, it's time to turn our gardening thoughts to next year. We Minnesota gardeners have the luxury of five to six months of "quality planning time." Think of what an advantage that is over southern gardeners who are forced to grow things year-round and never have any time for contemplation and planning!
I like to spend time during Minnesota's dormant season researching and selecting the best plants for the various garden areas on my lot. I'm sure at one time or another you've driven by or walked by a beautiful vegetable or flower garden and thought "if only I knew how to achieve that look." This is the time of year to figure out how to do it.
I have areas on my lot that could be described as dry shade, moist shade, dry sun and moist sun. For each of these four garden areas, there are specific plants that will thrive.
Conversely, there are hundreds of beautiful plants that will flat out refuse to perform to their genetic capability if placed in the wrong environment.
I recently came across two excellent articles on shade - one that lists plants that like dry shade and a second article on plants that like moist shade.
I've made photocopies of both articles and am in the process of reading them with a highlighter pen, noting the plants and descriptions that sound just perfect for my dry shade and moist shade gardens.
The next step will be to locate a more complete description of each plant in a perennial encyclopedia or other source of plant information such as a gardening web site on the internet.
When I've assured myself that particular plants are appropriate, I'll look through the various nursery catalogs that fill my mailbox and check descriptions and prices. Sometimes these plants may be successfully started from seed. Others need to be ordered for spring delivery as bare-root plants, or purchased in May or June at a garden center.
I have found this process of researching, list-making and mail-ordering to be more efficient and productive than taking the list to a garden center because often the plants that I've researched and selected aren't all available at the garden center on the day of my visit. Also, some plants described in articles may be rare or uncommon and therefore not stocked at garden centers due to low consumer demand.
One of the realities of ordering barefoot plants for spring delivery is that the shipment you receive in the spring can look like a mistake on that day the shipping container is delivered by the UPS truck or mail carrier.
With bare-root stock, you definitely have to be blessed with the gift of faith. A plastic bag may contain a handful of sawdust and a little nubbin of brown growth with several dry root strands. It takes faith to admit to your spouse that you paid $3.50 for this gnarled, dead-looking knot, and it requires faith to dig a hole and plant the dried-up thing with expectation that it's capable of sending forth green shoots in a week or two.
Several plants that I'll be studying more closely for dry shade are members of the perennial geranium family. The article states that Geranium macrorrhizum 'Ingwersen's Variety' produces light pink flowers in early summer and mounds of soft green leaves that are fragrant when touched. Commonly called big-root geranium because of its thick, spreading roots, it is a tough plant that can compete with tree roots.
Geranium phaeum 'Joan Baker' produces two-foot mounds of deeply cut leaves. Geranium cantabrigiense 'Karmina' is a carpeting geranium that establishes quickly and blends easily with other foliage plants.
The article also mentions Epimedium x versicolor, an undemanding perennial that spreads fast from underground stems and is very drought resistant, and Serbian bellflower, a drought-tolerant perennial for partial shade that produces a low-spreading mat of leaves and upward-facing stars of pale lavender-blue.
I encourage you to devote some time during the dormant months ahead to discovering plants that will be the perfect addition to your 1999 garden. Good luck, and have a great winter!
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PUTTING DOWN ROOTS:
A Delightful Blend of
Gardening Wisdom, Wit
and Whimsy
$10 + $2 for shipping
by Cliff Johnson |
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