Peace, Love and Gardening Understanding Pacific Northwest Gardens and Do-It-Yourself Projects to Beautify Them by Marcia Westcott Peck and Dennis Peck
2 Peace, Love and Gardening Copyright © 2022 by Marcia Westcott Peck and Dennis Peck All Rights Reserved • ISBN: 978-1-63846-022-0 No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the copyright owner or the publisher. Published by Pediment Publishing, a division of The Pediment Group, Inc. www.pediment.com • Printed in Canada. All photographs, unless otherwise indicated, appear courtesy Marcia Westcott Peck. To our amazing family: Without you, none of this would have been possible. And to Weird Uncle Gary: Without you, all of this still would have been possible.
To share that and even collaborate with family and friends was such a wonderful experience. With deep gratitude, we will be car ried along on life’s journey much like seeds carried by the wind through our garden.Whoknows how and where we will land and grow? Life is a never-ending adventure!
Introduction 3 Introduction
ABOVE Dennis and Marcia’s last photo under their longtime garden arch.
Dennis: First and foremost, if you’re reading this, thank you. This book is the culmination of a 10-year journey with my best friend that took us places we never would have imagined, a jour ney we shared twice each month in our column in The Oregonian’s Homes and Gardens section. A big thank you to The Oregonian and its editors as well, for taking a chance on a couple of fresh-faced 50-somethings just off the bus from Beaverton.Forthose unfamiliar with our col umns, here’s a little background about me to help you make sense of what’s toAscome.Iwrote in our first column in 2011: Back when I was 13, after I spent two days in 100-degree heat helping my dad put up some fencing, he turned to me, gave me that warm, fatherly grin and said: “After working with you here the last two days, I have one bit of advice for you.”
Eagerly, I craned my neck, not want ing to miss a word from my usually taciturn“Marrydad.somebody rich,” he said, “be cause you have no idea what you’re doing out Instead,here.”Imarried someone who has every idea what she’s doing, both “out here” and inside as well. Someone who has built arbors and steps from downed branches, and rock walls and stone mosaics and fountains and fine ly crafted metal gates. Back to the present. Over the decade we wrote, our col umns evolved from low-cost, do-ityourself projects to tours of Oregon’s finest nurseries and included closer looks at all varieties of plants and trees, from acers to zinnias (except notInzinnias).theprocess, we encountered some wonderful people, who you’ll find mentioned in our 10-year anni versary column starting on Page 157.
As for the most wonderful, let’s hand this over to her now. Marcia: I too feel blessed to have had the opportu nity to work for the past 10 years with my bestAndfriend.I’mdoubly glad that not only does he have a quirky sense of humor, he could also put that humor into words and share it with you, our readers. I was the idea person, handywoman, and photographer. He was the writer and humorist. I wouldn’t have changed a thing! I look back and have such fond memories of meeting and writing about so many amazing people: gar deners, plant experts, designers, nurs ery owners, community organizers, and some that were just outright char acters living their dreams.
Introduction 5 Our raised veggie beds and granddaughter Noelle’s playhouse. Table Contentsof Introduction ............................................................ 3 Garden Projects ........................................................... 7 Rockwork and Mosaics .......................................... 33 Vegetables and Fruits ............................................ 47 Flowers and Plants .................................................. 67 Nurseries ...................................................................... 87 Indoor Plants ........................................................... 137 Holidays ..................................................................... 149 A Decade of Memories ....................................... 157
Garden Projects 7 The roses and clematis are in full bloom as granddaughter Noelle walks the shaded garden path. ProjectsGarden 1
Sadly, our 10-year-old ‘Tuscan blue’ rosemary bush bit the dust this past winter, probably when it dropped down to 8 degrees. I always called it the communal rosemary, because it was large enough to share with the entire
Ineighborhood.boughtatrailingvarietytopotupthisyear,whichwillonlywithstand20degrees,andahardierbushvarietytoreplacethedeadplantinthegarden.Everyspring,Ican’twait
Here are some of the most common herbs that grow in our region, and how to use them: Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)
Renowned for its lovely color and fresh scent, it has several medicinal uses. Steep a teaspoon of the flowers in tea to aid relaxation, combat depres sion, ease headaches and tension, and promote sleep. Try adding a teaspoon of flowers combined with a sprig of rosemary when you need a moment of peace and relaxation.
Fortunately, while I hadn’t given much—any—of my attention to what we’d write about, daughter-in-law Andie, who has contributed before, had done my thinking for me, suggesting something on the medicinal benefits of some plants you probably already have growing in your yard. As a major bonus, a number of them have culinary uses,Marciatoo. was enthusiastic about the subject, which is good, because be tween work and undertaking a major redesign of two levels of our garden, I just didn’t have the thyme.
to re plant the herb pots because it means summer and all it evokes is just around the corner. I harvest sage, thyme, and rosemary pretty much year-round and I either replace, divide, or cut back the rest of my herbs this time of year. Andie: Spring is the perfect time to try your hand at wild crafting in your back yard. Wild crafting involves harvesting herbs that are growing wild, as opposed to cultivating them in a garden.
Many plants viewed as common weeds, such as dandelions, are actually some of our bodies’ best allies. Other herbs we use in the kitchen, such as sage, can be steeped as a tea and used as medicine.
16 Peace, Love and Gardening Herb Pots
Except I did, right there in the back yard. And, as it turns out, it’s excellent in a quiche. Marcia: In case you didn’t get Dennis’ drift, and he definitely was drifting there, this week’s column is about herbs both medicinal and savory. Our daughter-in-law has been study ing the healing properties of herbs for the last year, and will become a certi fied herbalist next month. And, since I always have a pot of fresh culinary herbs on the back deck, I thought we could combine our expertise about all things herbal and share them with you.
Seasonally, I always grow culinary thyme, oregano, chives, sage, parsley, rosemary, dill, spearmint, peppermint, basil, and tarragon. I love the conve nience of having a pot full of herbs right out on our back deck, within easy reach while I’m cooking.
Dennis: There I was, huge biceps bulg ing as I worked hard in the yard under a blistering sun while listening to Simon and Garfunkel sing about “parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme” on my $1,000 Beats headphones, when it occurred to me I had given no thought to the subject of this week’s column.
Pop quiz: Which of part of the above paragraph is actually true? If you know me at all, you know the answer (Marcia: And if you don’t know him, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have $1,000 Beats head phones, whatever those are).
Garden Projects 17
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) Rosemary is an excellent tonic for the circulatory and nervous systems. Steep a couple sprigs in one quart of water and sip throughout the day to relieve headaches, calm nerves, and support digestion. Sage (Salvia officinalis) Sage is best used to relieve inflammations of the mouth, gums, and throat. Gargle or sip a cup to ease a sore throat, or drink throughout the day to help heal sores or inflammation in the mouth. Do not take during pregnancy or while breastfeeding.
For plants that want a little more water, such as mint and basil, I just use potting soil.
Plantain (Plantago major)
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) Seen as the mother of all weeds, it’s one of our most useful allies when it comes to liver health. All parts of the plant are useful, including buds, flow ers, stems, leaves, and roots. The leaves have a bitter flavor that help activate digestion and cleanse the liver; try add ing a few young leaves to spruce up a spring salad. When drunk as a tea, dan delion leaf is also a diuretic and will aid the body in removing excess water. Basil (Ocimum basilicum) This sweet herb works wonders on the nervous and digestive systems. Drink a cup of basil tea after a heavy meal to aid digestion and relieve gas and cramping. Basil is also excellent for relieving headaches, fatigue, de pression, insomnia, and nausea.
V Plant herbs with similar needs in the same pot. Most Mediterraneantype herbs want full sun—which helps develop their depth of fla vor—and good drainage. Some, such as mint, will take sun or a little shade and moisture and since they are a bit invasive, I plant them in their own pots.
V Fill the bottom quarter of the pot with rock for good drainage.
V Mix 1/4-inch #10 crushed rock (which I buy in 50-pound bags from the rock yard) with potting soil. I use about one part crushed rock to three parts potting soil. This makes for excellent drainage.
V
V Plantain can be your best friend in the case of a bug bite, sting, or splinter.
ABOVE Basil can aid with digestion.
Tips
Red clover (Trifolium pratense) These little buds that are often buzz ing with bees are an excellent and safe remedy for those who suffer from skin ailments, such as eczema and psoriasis. It can also be used as an expectorant to remedy coughs and bronchitis. It has a light sweet flavor that combines well with just about any other herb tea.
Characterized by its round ribbed leaves and singular central stalk with tiny white flowers at the top, this plant will be your best friend the next time you get a bug bite, sting, or splin ter. Pluck a leaf from the edge of the sidewalk (this plant is happiest when pushing up through the sandiest soil; even concrete), rinse it off and chew it for a few seconds to release the active chemicals, then place the chewed herb directly on the affected area. Within minutes the pain will subside and the sting will begin to heal, or in the case of splinters, it will actually push the wood out of your skin. Plantain can also be drunk as a tea to help soothe inflamed membranes, such as in the throat from coughing, and even fur ther down the digestive tract to help alleviate diarrhea.
OPPOSITE Plant herbs with similar needs together.
V Don’t wear your good white capris while planting your herb pot.
V Soak the root ball of each herb start in water and then plant them.
Some words to the wise: Always know the area you are har vesting from. If you do not have pets, your backyard is an excellent place to start (Dennis: Or, if it’s dandelions you’re looking for, we seem to have a bumper crop in our lawn). If you have pets, be sure to harvest plants above knee level. If you are harvesting in na ture, collect at least 15 feet away from any roads or trails and be aware of where pesticide sprays are used. When in doubt, you can always call your local parks and recreation department for information on an area you are inter ested in. Remember to take only what youAlwaysneed. consult your doctor if you have health conditions or are taking medications before introducing new herbs into your diet. Recommendations are for adults only. Talk to your pedia trician if you are interested in giving herbs as medicine to your child.
Some herbs are a bit invasive (I’m looking at you, oregano), so keep them from self-seeding by cutting off their flower heads. Other herbs, such as chives and basil and mint, can be cut or pinched back and they will send up new growth for quite a while.
Chris Mulder’s favorites
I felt like I was in Provence, except it was even better because the fields are surrounded by oak savanna and giant firs. It’s breathtaking. Take that, France! Because of our wet weather, lavender needs
Dennis: Sometimes, colors are as sim ple as black and white. Take black and white, for instance. Black is black and white is white (un less you’re looking at paint chips, which feature hundreds of both colors). And lavender is, well, lavender. Except for when the blossoms are pink. Or white. But we know gardeners include them in their landscapes for beauty andExceptscent.when they grow them for cu linary reasons, or to make essential oils. At least we know they are all varia tions of one kind: English lavender, right?Ifyou really love lavender, you also know there’s French and Spanish lav ender. And if you are a plant nerd, you know there’s even Egyptian lavender. Ah, but the scent. Everyone knows the lavender smell. It calms the nerves, it fills the senses. Except that every lavender or lavan din smells subtly—sometimes not that subtly—different.Andthereare a hundred variet ies just at Chris Mulder’s Barn Owl Nursery in Wilsonville. And the essential oils produced by Dr. Michael Lemmers at RavenCroft in Mulino each have their own unique fragrance, based on the plant the oil came from. So, I think I’ll leave it to those two to make scents of all this. Marcia: Most of Oregon is known fa mously for its rainfall. In Ken Kesey’s classic book, Sometimes A Great Notion, I can still feel the drip, drip, drip of rain falling (and, strangely, an irrational fear of being trapped under a giant log). But the payoff is that we have a won derful Mediterranean summer, which means we can grow lavender.
I didn’t realize just how many laven der farms we have in Oregon and how beautiful a field of lavender can be until we visited a few for this column.
choicesassuresbut‘Hidcote’ourbuybreedingofmedicinally,wonderful,noretoblossoms,MaySpanishbloomloam.withandplanting,thrive,drainagegoodtosowhenmoundamendthesoilgrittyorsandyForaprolongedseason,plantlavenderforApril/blooms,EnglishforJuneandFrenchforamid-JulyOctobershow.Theyaredeer-resistant,slugsigthem,beeslovethem,theysmellandareusedincooking,asacutflower,oraspartabeautifullandscape.WithalotofcuttingedgelavendergoingoninOregon,wecanplantsthatweknowwillthriveinconditions.Traditionally,‘Munstead’andhavebeenlandscapestaples,ChrisMulderofBarnOwlNurserymethatthereareevenbetterforOregongardens.
Lavender
70 Peace, Love and Gardening
For garden landscapes: English Lavenders (Lavandula an gustifolia ) cultivars: ‘Betty’s Blue’, ‘Lady Ann’ (pink flowers), ‘Little Lady’, ‘Miss Katherine’ (pink flowers), ‘Mitcham Grey’, ‘Nana’, ‘New Zealand Blue’, ‘Peter Pan’, ‘Rebecca Kay’, ‘Thumbelina Leigh’, ‘Tucker’s Early Purple’, ‘White Dwarf’ (white flowers)—all of these are compact plants, some produce very dark blue or bright violet flowers, except where noted, and some will grow well in large containers/barrels.EnglishLavenderhybrids (Lavandula
For culinary use: English ( Lavandula angustifolia ) cultivars: ‘Folgate’, ‘French Fields’, ‘Imperial Gem’, ‘Melissa’ (white flow ers), ‘Opal Rain’ (white/pink flowers), ‘Royal Velvet’.
For essential oil: English Lavenders (Lavandula an gustifolia) cultivars: ‘French Fields’, ‘Hidcote Pink’, ‘Maillette’, ‘Royal Velvet’, ‘Violet Intrigue’. French Lavandins (Lavandula x in termedia) cultivars: ‘Fat Spike Grosso’, ‘Super’.
V Plant in full sun; should get 6–8 hours of full sun daily.
V For drainage purposes, plant in gritty or sandy loam. Grow on mounds, in raised beds or on slopes.
Growing tips
V Water well the first season. They are drought tolerant once es tablished, but might need more water in the summer.
V Hand prune all lavenders at least once a year, or lightly prune them throughout spring, summer, and fall.
V Lavenders grown in containers require more water, fertilizer, and pruning. Source: Oregon Lavender Association
LEFT The lavender harvest at Barn Owl Nursery, which grows 100 varieties. OPPOSITE A handful of fragrant, beautiful lavender.
French Lavandins (Lavandula x in termedia) cultivars: ‘Fat Spike Grosso’, ‘Gros Bleu’, ‘Impress Purple’, ‘Riverina Alan’, ‘Riverina Thomas’—all of these have darker flowers, for lavandins, and very long stems.
V Work in a light application of lime when preparing soil. Fertilize lightly with a low nitrogen fertilizer.
V Plant lavenders 3–4 feet apart and lavandins (French lavender) 4–5 feet apart.
Flowers and Plants 71 x chaytorae) cultivars: ‘Richard Grey’ and ‘Silver Frost’—both compact with striking silver foliage, long stems.
Northwest Garden Nursery: Hellebores
The varieties grown under the Winter Jewels name by Marietta and Ernie O’Byrne are painstakingly propa gated by seed—one step, repeated every five days, involves a paint brush and pollen—and lovingly nurtured.
To keep the color of the parent plant clump, either remove any seedlings as they emerge or remove the seed heads in early May. Bees, doing what bees do, will cross-pollinate your hellebores for you and the babies will not be some thing you want to brag about to the other hellebore moms in your neigh borhood. They will turn out a dusky, muddy rose color and not one true to the parent plant. The O’Byrnes pollinate their helle bores by hand, with paintbrushes, in
The day before Valentine’s Day, we drove up and down Interstate 5 for more than four hours to see some of the most beautiful plants we have ever seen at Northwest Garden Nursery in Eugene.Youmight say, we went to hellebores andOrback.not. Probably not.
These plants can admittedly be hard to come by, but they do sell in some re tail nurseries, such as Al’s and Portland Nursery and Petal Heads and Xera.
Marcia: When we moved into our house 24 years ago, one of the first plants I bought for our garden was a hellebore I found at the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon’s spring plant sale. It was a beautiful Helleborus arguti folius with simple green flowers, noth ing fancy—but I was smitten.
Dennis: We have gone to great lengths on occasion to write some of our columns, but this one stands out for what we were willing to do for you, dear reader.
The result is a flower of incredible beauty on a plant so hardy it can grow just about anywhere—Vermont, Minnesota, North Carolina, Europe, Japan—except in tropical zones. And no one has ever confused the cli mate in Oregon with the word tropical.
Even if you don’t buy a Winter Jewels hellebore, there are numerous others that can bring dramatic color in a winter and early spring garden and beautiful foliage the entire year. And as for that great length we went to, we’d both do it again in a minute. Make that 125 minutes, each way, and worth every one of them.
96 Peace, Love and Gardening
Since then, thanks to people like the O’Byrnes, the hellebore breeding world has exploded! There are many other species of perfectly wonderful hellebore, many of which we have in our garden. I have to say, though, that Helleborus x hybridus is my favorite. I really enjoyed and learned a lot from our road trip to Marietta and Ernie O’Byrne’s whole sale nursery (you can find it online at northwestgardennursery.com).Forinstance,helleboreshave been bred so that their flowers stand verti cally and not facing skyward so they won’t hold water and rot. The flowers come in double, semidouble, anemone, picotee, dotted, blotched, ruffled and an amazing flower color selection that runs from black, red, purple, orange and pink to white and yellow. They are even breeding some pretty wild leaf colors and vein ing,Andtoo.if that isn’t enough, they are one of the first flowers to grace a winter gar den, blooming from January to April. They are shade tolerant, frost tolerant, evergreen, deer resistant and poison ous (hey, you can’t have everything).
OPPOSITE Winter Jewels’ ‘Double Painted’ hellebore.
ABOVE Marietta O’Byrne hand-pollinating hellebores.
Tips V For Helleborus x hybridus, cut back the leaves just as the flower stalks emerge. For the taller species such as argutifolius and foetidus, cut back the old flower stems after they flower and when new shoots emerge at the base.
V To keep the color of the parent plant clump, either remove the seedlings as they emerge or in early May cut off all the flower heads that produce seeds.
They place a bag over each flower head at the end of April and collect the seeds from those bags at the end of May. The seeds from each hybrid are cleaned and kept separated and then either sold or planted for next year’s crop.
bee-proof greenhouses, every five days, beginning in mid-January. They look for the very best charac teristics in the parent plant, such as upright growth, coloring, disease re sistance, and vigor. It can take quite a few generations to stabilize the characteristics they’re looking for.
The process is labor-intensive as well as a labor of love, and it shows in the excellence of their hellebores.
V Apply an organic fish fertilizer in the fall.
V When planting, dig a deep hole and amend with compost or old manure.
V They don’t need to be divided, but if you do, wait until the fall.
Nurseries 97
LEFT Winter Jewels’ ‘Apricot Blush’ hellebore.
Dennis: Take a trip to any grocery store this time of year and one thing is abun dantlyPumpkinclear:is in.
LEFT Cutting the top of a pumpkin with a keyhole saw. ABOVE Sempervivum and pumpkin go well together.
Halloween
152 Peace, Love and Gardening
It’s in cereal bars and tortilla chips and salsa and lattes and ice cream and hummus and beer and just about any thing you can think of, and some you no doubt can’t (and neither can I). So we decided to take the idea that pumpkin is in everything and stand it on its jack-o-lantern head. What if, instead, we wrote about what you can put inside of a pumpkin?
You know, like a plant or a succulent or, uh, whatever else Marcia comes up with that I’ll take some of the credit for,Theytoo. make unique (at least, I’ve never seen anything quite like them before), color ful centerpiec es and decora tions, ones you can use for your fall sameyouingThen,get-togethers.ifyou’refeeltheholidayspirit,cancarveafaceonthepumpkinandhaveit on your porch for the trick-or-treat ers. Or you can put it out as is and then bring it back inside after Halloween and continue to use it indoors as part of your autumnal decor. At least, until the mold sets in. Of course, you might be thinking we’re out of our gourds to even tackle such a Funnysubject.youshould mention gourds … Marcia: I have to admit that after five years of writing this column, it’s kind of hard to come up with fresh ideas for holiday projects. After all, how many pumpkins can one carve? Actually, it turns out, a lot more than I care to think about ( Dennis: Maybe that’s how punkin’ chuckin’ gotAstarted).dozen carved pumpkins and gourds later, filled with succulents scrounged from our garden, a few from the nursery as well as ones “borrowed” from good neighbors Al and Cathie, and wouldn’t you know it, we have another Halloween column. And they were fun and easy to make, too!
V Don’t be afraid to snap or cut off rosettes and place them in your arrangement.
V
V
V Do not water, because that causes the pumpkin to rot faster.
V These arrangements can be table centerpieces or placed out on a porch protected from the rain.
Holidays 153
V If you want, you can use linoleum carving tools to etch the surface of the pumpkin.
LEFT How you completelypumpkinssempervivumspairandisuptoyou.
V After you arrange the succulents in the pumpkin, you can fill in any gaps with moss or rocks.
Cut the top off and gut your pumpkin or gourd.
FAR LEFT andpumpkins,usingHalloweenMakingplantersassortedgourds,succulents.
Fill the pumpkin with packing pea nuts topped with dry potting soil. Arrange the succulents on the soil. Or with some of mine I just sat the succulents on top of an empty carved pumpkin. Alternatively, you could just hot-melt glue moss and a cut succulent rosette on top of your uncarved pumpkin.
Tips for a centerpiecefall
V In general, succulents will last a long time; it’s the pumpkin that will degrade. After the pumpkin rots, replant the succulents in your garden, repot, or return them to the neighbors you “borrowed” them from.
