HLG Spring 2011 by Ashley Rohde

your garden 2011

Big Fun! Why Heirloom Vegetables are Everywhere A Walk on the Weird Side: Wacky Plants

Image: Burpee's Coconut Ice

10 Great Tools for First-Time Homeowners

SPECIAL SECTION • MARCH 25, 2011

Food Matters: The 100-Mile Diet

Jeepers… Creepers! Edible… and Elegant 7 Plants Lazy Gardeners Love

ON THE COVER: New sunflower for 2011, Burpee’s Coconut Ice

trAnsForMAtion

Easy ways to transform a room.

Look out… they’re ALive!

Some deeply weird and wonderful plants are propagating all over the planet. Larry Mellichamp wishes you’d pay a little more attention.

oLd-schooL veGetAbLes For A new GenerAtion

Every heirloom vegetable comes with a story. Maybe that’s why more gardeners are seeking out these time-tested survivors and championing their cause.

biG Fun

Each spring, gardeners’ reckless love affair with enormous plants – the gaudier the better – begins anew.

LittLe GiAnts

Why modest mosses, sedum, thymes and creepers are working their way into more gardens. The lowdown on groundcover.

GeAr up!

10 great new lawn and garden tools for the new kids on the block: first-time homeowners.

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Home, Lawn & Garden • The Press and Standard

Best Friends Gardening plans should always include ways to attract birds, as there is no better pest control for garden insects.

here is nothing in which the birds differ more from man than the way in which they can build and yet leave a landscape as it was before. Robert Lynd, The Blue Lion and Other Essays

Gardening plans should always include ways to attract birds, as there is no better pest control for garden insects. Some will eat their own weight in insects in just a day or two! Attracting birds is easy if you provide the three things they need to survive — food, water and cover. With a little thought and planning, that can be accomplished in any yard. Large trees provide cover, nesting sites and food such as acorns, nuts and fruits. Hickory, sweetgum, tulip poplar, oak, persimmon, black cherry, red maple, black gum, pine, red cedar, magnolia and American holly are great trees for birds and will grow throughout South Carolina. Large trees are needed by bluebirds, robins, chickadees, scarlet tanagers, Baltimore orioles, warblers, and red-eyed vireos. Small trees offer plentiful food sources for birds. Dogwood, sassafras, hawthorn, wild cherry, crabapple and chinquapin draw birds and grow well here. Migratory birds such as wood thrushes and rose-breasted grosbeaks visit these plants to refuel on their way south. Shrubs provide nesting sites and protection from predators, and many offer food. Favored shrubs included blueberry, blackberry, holly, native azalea, beautyberry, oakleaf hydrangea, elderberry and viburnum. Birds that love this type of habitat include northern cardinals, bluebirds, cedar waxwings, mockingbirds, thrashers, gray catbirds.

Vines create a thicket that birds find irresistible for nesting and feeding. Try state flower Carolina jessamine, trumpet vine, cross vine, Virginia creeper and coral honeysuckle. Hummingbirds love the bright flowers of both trumpet vine and cross vine. Perennial and annual flowers provide birds with nutritious seeds. In a sunny area, try sunflowers, coneflowers, asters, black-eyed susans, coreopsis and goldenrod. Simply leave the plants standing after they flower, and the birds will do the rest. Ornamental grasses also supply seeds to hungry birds. Bushy bluestem, splitbeard bluestem, broomsedge, Indian grass (the state grass), switchgrass and northern sea oats are their favorites. Lawns and pastures are important to bluebirds and robins, so try to keep some of your yard open for them. A small lawn is all that’s needed, and it’s much cheaper and easier to maintain than a larger one. Finally, don’t forget about water! Without a water source you may not

The Press and Standard • Home, Lawn & Garden 2011

see many birds. At ground level, a birdbath will attract small birds like chickadees and finches. Taller birdbaths work well for larger birds like robins, cardinals and blue jays and protect them from attack. Birdbaths should be sited out in an open area, yet within a few feet of protective trees or shrubs. For more information on hundreds of gardening topics, visit Clemson Extension’s Home & Garden Information Center (HGIC) web site at www. clemson.edu/extension/hgic. It provides research-based information on landscaping, gardening, plant health,

household pests, food safety, food preservation, nutrition, physical activity, and health. If you are especially interested in songbirds, check out HGIC Fact Sheet # 1700, Attracting & Feeding Songbirds. (Colleton County Master Gardeners are available to answer your landscape and garden questions from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. every Thursday. Call 549-2595, extension 113, or visit Clemson Extension at 219 S. Lemacks Street (old hospital). Access the Extension office from the Black Street side of the Bernard Warshaw Complex.)

BOXING IN GARDENS. Colleton County master gardeners started gardens at Hendersonville Elementary School in February. Master Gardener Dana Cheney, with the assistance of long time farmer Ted Chewning of Sweet Bay Acres Farm, Round O, built five boxes. Collards, cabbage, broccoli, red onions, carrots beets, sweet peas and a lot of red potatoes were sown in four boxes. A 4 x 10-foot box was filled with soil but left empty for first grade students to plant what ever they want. Cheney plans to add fig trees and blueberry bushes. 3

GARDEN TOURS. Colleton County Middle School GAP students have transformed an overgrown lot at the Colleton Center into a garden. Students, including John Bucklew, a seventh-grader, wore the tie-dye T-shirts they designed and gave tours to those attending the recent Let’s Go Expo at the center. They identified the trees, vegetables and herbs planted and talked about those germinating in the classroom. Students weed and water the plots twice a week during the after-school program. Bucklew said he likes working in the dirt and watching things grow, but he isn’t going to eat the Brussels sprouts.

What is the South Carolina Master Gardener Program? This volunteer training program is administered by the Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service. Introduced in Charleston County in 1981, the Master Gardener program is now offered in 36 counties. The Master Gardener program is divided into two parts: instruction and service. In the first part, participants receive at least 40 hours of intensive, practical horticultural training. A few of the following topics are covered in the program: • Soils and Plant Nutrition • Basic Plant Pathology, Physiology, and Entomology • Vegetable Gardening • Tree and Small Fruit Culture • Culture of Woody Ornamentals • Lawn Management • Basic Landscape Design • Problem Solving After successfully completing the classroom portion, which involves regular attendance and passing a final exam, participants receive the title of “Master Gardener.” The Master Gardener graduates then donate at least 40 hours of service to complete the last part of the program. For information call 549-2595.

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old-school vegetables for a new generation Every heirloom vegetable comes with a story. Maybe that’s why more gardeners are seeking out these time-tested survivors and championing their cause. It’s an ancient practice passed down for many generations, told and retold to help future gardeners feed themselves. Such wisdom is not all that our gardening ancestors have passed down. You can try the Three Sisters with heirloom seeds, ones grown by those wise ancestors.

Burpee

Try these popular, time-tested heirloom vegetables in your garden this year.

Terroir Seeds

5 growanywhere heirlooms

Brandywine tomato. Large, juicy beefsteak variety prized for flavor. Pink, red or yellow, depending on the strain. Thin skin, mildly acidic, needs fairly long season.

The Pressyand Standard • Home, Lawn & Garden 2011 our garden 2011

lacinato kale. Also known as Tuscan or Dinosaur kale. Spear-shaped, dark green leaves grow to 12 inches, not the ruffled fan type of other kales. Compact plants are long-season producers. Strip ribs away and chop into hearty soups and stir-fries.

what is an heirloom? Heirloom seeds, like tried-and-true growing

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any gardeners have heard the story of the Three Sisters. It describes an old growing method practiced by Native Americans, who planted corn, beans and squash together to support one another and grow a bounty of vegetables with minimal water or external supports. The tall corn stalks support the vining bean, and together they shield the ripening squash, whose broad leaves shelter shallow roots and keep moisture in the soil.

practices, have been passed down by gardeners for generations. Today, their popularity is growing, but heirlooms are generally not varieties grown commercially. The definition presumes it is a valuable cultivar whose loss would be mourned, due to its unique traits or value to the gene pool. So many varieties have been lost that the definition would cover nearly every old seed still in existence. A research group studied U.S. Department of Agriculture variety listings in 1903 and 1983 and charted a loss of 93 percent of vegetable and fruit varieties. Today, old varieties are prized for their uniqueness, their beauty, and for the simple fact that you can save their seeds and grow the same variety next year – something not

rainBow chard. Also called Five-colored Silverbeet or Bright Lights Swiss chard. Stems come in red, pink, yellow, orange and white, with green leafy tops. From the beet family, but without a bulbous root. Winter star in mild climates. Young leaves transform a salad, mature leaves and stems sizzle in the wok.

possible with many commercial hybrids.

living history “Our cultural heritage is really fascinating, and it adds a layer of interest for me,” says Lisa Taylor, author of the new book “Your Farm in the City” (Black Dog & Leventhal, 2010.) “Heirloom seeds connect us to our immigrant history, and connect us globally.” Gardeners across the country join hands with that thought. “I love history, and especially history of how people lived and how they ate,” says Gayle Serle, an interior designer in Glenside, Penn. Sustainability has become important to her, so growing heirlooms addresses the questions “What’s my part? What can I do?” Serle’s answer is to

Gourmet Seed Int’l.

Create a hill of soil four feet across, rising to a foot high. In the center, spaced six inches apart, plant a small handful of winter squash seeds, perhaps the Red Kuri or Table Queen Acorn variety. You will thin these starts to one or two plants. Encircle the squash with a row of vining beans; try Cherokee Trail of Tears or Old Homestead. Around the outside edge, plant a band of Black Iroquois or Golden Bantam corn, two rows deep. When Three Sisters garden are thriving, you will not only have an abundance of food in a compact bed, you also will be growing a history book of stories.

speckles lettuce. Beautiful variety traced back to the Amish people, with sprays of maroon dotting its ruffled green leaves. Forms loose heads of tender, buttery leaves. Resists bolting (going to seed),

tromBoncino squash. Distinctive long, curved squash with a bell end. Can be quite curled into a circle or grow straighter if on a trellis. A rampicante (climbing) variety that really grabs a trellis. Tender, mild, tan flesh, good fresh but can hold into fall for baking.

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share the seedy wealth. “I love to be able to produce seeds to give to other people.”

At the end of the season, when you share the shiny black seeds that pop out

of dry Trail of Tears bean pods, you can also share the story of the Cherokee nation

being forcibly marched from the Southeast to Oklahoma in the harsh winter of 1838 with little but what they could carry. Four thousand people died on their “Trail of Tears” march, but the survivors carried those beans, which were so valuable to their cultural heritage. Your friends won’t soon forget that gift. Their stories come to life when you experience the unique flavors springing from many heirloom vegetables. In heirlooms, Taylor finds Lemon cucumbers so sweet that her 9-year-old son eats

them straight from the garden and sturdy Lacinato kale that eats well and is beautiful.” Of course, the pinnacle of heritage vegetables is the tomato, which can delight and surprise. “I’ll never forget when I first saw an heirloom tomato – some of them are so ugly!” says Serle. “You’re so trained to have things perfect.” Now she revels in the unusual fruit, which come in a paint box of colors. “I love how different they all are, in their shapes and sizes.” With an abundance of heirlooms available as seeds and starts at

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your local nursery, or online at seed companies like the non-profit Seed Savers Exchange, there is truly something for every taste. “I like to grow a new heirloom tomato every year,” says Taylor, “just to see how it grows, what the plant looks like and what the fruit tastes like.” For heirloom gardeners, every summer is a new exploration of a very old story.

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Home, Lawn & Garden • The Press and Standard

Green revolution

In uncertain times, more people are finding joy in one of life’s oldest miracles: with a few seeds and some soil, gardeners can change the world.

ardens have become the perfect canvas for people eager to respond to an era of uncertain political and economic climates. We can’t control the cost of produce at the store; we grow our own. We can’t end droughts or eliminate air pollution; we choose water-smart plants and build green walls. Gardeners don’t often see themselves as activists, but the hottest trends among folks with green thumbs prove that our yards are becoming outlets for our ideas about the world.

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What’s hot, What’s not

take care of mother nature Just when it seemed impossible to add “eco” to another word, garden pros coined the term “eco-scaping” to represent a broad range of earth-friendly gardening

Black or white foliage Contrasts are hot, hot, hot. Gardeners are flocking to black or deep purple blooms such as black daylilies, black Elephant Ears, deep purple pansies and Queen of the Night tulips. Gardeners searching for pure white blooms should look for new varieties of delphinium, hibiscus, daisies and iris.

practices that experts predict will shape gardeners’ choices for years. Chief among them: conserving water and choosing native plants. “There’s a real focus on keeping the water we

Pint-sized gardeners Thanks to national initiatives to teach children (and their parents) where their food comes from, families have an abundance of gardening resources to help kids understand the “people-plant connection.”

The Press and Standard Home, yo ur g a r • de n 2 Lawn 0 1 1 & Garden 2011

Images courtesy www.terranovanurseries.com

Vintage garden furniture Home design’s growing fondness for vintage and retro furnishings extends to the garden, where a refurbished wroughtiron bench feels like a perfect complement to a natural landscape.

Highly manicured gardens Fussy is out. Gardeners prefer gardens that feel more natural, less over-worked.

Water-guzzling plants: No surprise here. As gardeners become more water-savvy, plants that require higher-than-average amounts of water are often replaced with more drought-tolerant species.

Chemical-rich fertilizers: Gardeners are searching out alternatives to chemical-laden fertilizers and pesticides in an effort to keep their gardens free of toxins.

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of Garden Media Group, a Philadelphia-based public relations firm. “Used properly, they give a lot of pleasure for little work.” What’s more, a focus on native plants often leads gardeners to create natural habitats for wildlife, another growing trend. “Your backyard isn’t just your space,”

Jocelyn chilvers, landscape desiGner Choosing a permeable surface for hardscapes such as driveways, patios and walkways is another ecowise option that’s growing in popularity. “Instead of pouring a concrete patio, more people are using pavers or flagstone or compacted gravel so the rain water can percolate into the soil.”

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people are using pavers or flagstone or compacted gravel so the rain water can percolate down into the soil,” Chilvers says. Managing water is easier if gardeners choose plants native to their region. “Native plants are so lowmaintenance,” says Susan McCoy, principal

Images courtesy VAST Pavers

receive from the sky on our home sites,” says Jocelyn Chilvers, a landscape designer in Wheat Ridge, Colo. One option is to create swales or rain gardens – depressions in the soil fed from a gutter or downspout – that help water flow to areas of the garden planted with water-hungry plants. Choosing a permeable surface for hardscapes such as driveways, patios and walkways is another ecowise option that’s growing in popularity. “Instead of pouring a concrete patio, more

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your garden 2011

Home, Lawn & Garden • The Press and Standard

McCoy says. “You can create a haven for butterflies, bees, birds and other animals simply by choosing plants that would naturally grow in your area.”

eat up: edibles The concept of “eating local” is de rigueur – and there’s nothing more local than your backyard. The Vermontbased National Gardening Association’s annual survey of consumer gardening habits shows a 21-percent boom in sales related to food gardening from 2009 to 2010, the only area where the

survey found a significant increase in garden purchases, says Bruce Butterfield, the group’s research director. “Vegetables are hot,” he adds. “I think you’ll see more people trying a wider variety – not just lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers – and then learning how to cook with what they’ve grown.” Gardeners are also learning that vegetables can have as much decorative impact as flowers. The idea of designing with edible plants has taken hold. Instead of relegating vegetables to a separate plot of

ground, people are incorporating food plants across their gardens and containers, says Amanda Campbell, director of display gardens at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. “I think people are surprised by how beautiful edibles can be,” she says. Combine parsley and kale with pansies in warm climates in the winter, Campbell suggests. Sweet peas are excellent additions to a spring garden, and in the summer, Bright Lights swiss chard makes a colorful addition to a landscape bed.

urban GardeninG City dwellers rightly refuse to be excluded from gardening just because they don’t have traditional backyards. As the popular-

gardening as community builder,” says Chilvers. Community gardens have allowed urban dwellers to enjoy fruits and vegetables from a plot of land close to their homes. But the

bruce butterfield, national GardeninG assoc. “Vegetables are hot. I think you’ll see more people trying a wider variety – not just lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers – and then learning how to cook with the vegetables that they’ve grown.”

ity of eating local and greening the earth skyrockets, cities are seeing massive growth of community gardens and vertical gardens. “The freshest trend in urban gardening is

emphasis has gone from simply accessing fresh produce to getting to know your neighbors. “People are taking it a step further and having potlucks to share the harvest."

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If community gardens satisfy urbanites’ craving for homegrown produce, green walls satisfy their hankering for plant life. “We’re seeing people using plants as living art on their walls – inside and outside,” McCoy says. Chilvers attributes vertical gardens’ popularity to a lack of space and a desire for better air quality. No matter the political or economic landscape, the backyard landscape can be a source of empowerment, health – and, of course, fresh vegetables.

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Little Giants

Why modest mosses, sedum, thymes and creepers are working their way into more gardens. The lowdown on groundcover.

n residential landscapes from Northern Virginia to Southern California, a type of groundcover is gaining in popularity while keeping a low profile. types of groundcovers grow no more than an inch. These low-growing plants generally are classified as perennials and succulents. Some varieties withstand a reasonable amount of foot traffic. “Some of the most

Images courtesy www.stepables.com

Ground-softening creepers, some no taller than indoor carpeting, are gaining in popularity among gardeners who prize their beauty and toughness. While pachysandra, hosta and ivy grow a foot tall or higher, other

your garden 2011

popular are the various types of thyme – woolly thyme, elfin thyme. Most have tiny little leaves that lend themselves to creeping along in little crevices,” says Ginger Jennings, perennials department supervisor, Tagawa Gardens, Centennial, Colo. Hence, they are frequently planted between stone pavers for visual appeal. “For a flagstone patio

or pathway, if you plant them in between the stones, they soften the edges and provide for a more organic look – there’s something green growing and creeping between the stones,” Jennings says. Low-growing groundcovers are also used instead of mulch or soil around trees and shrubs, and in some cases instead of lawn. As mulch replacement, “It adds an additional layer and some depth, and some texture and richness, beneath your shrubs. By definition, groundcover forms a community and grows into a solid mass, so it creates a sense of continuity – everything looks more unified and tied together,” says Bob Hursthouse, president, Hursthouse Landscape Architects & Contractors, Bolingbrook, Ill.

Perhaps its most useful characteristic is weed suppression. “When you get a really thick mat of groundcover, the weeds can’t grow through it,” says Kevin McGowen, education specialist, Midwest Groundcovers, St. Charles, Ill. The company recently expanded its line of creeping thyme from two to seven varieties due to its popularity, he adds. Other popular varieties are blue star creeper, sedums, veronicas and mosses. “Groundcovers have really come to the forefront in consumers’ eyes as problem-solving plants. A homeowner can use them to keep weeds out and moisture in, reducing their need for fertilizers and weed killers,” says Frances Hopkins, founder and

Low ProfiLes “Buying a plant because it’s pretty doesn’t work,” Hopkins says. Before considering the following aesthetic or fun characteristics, make sure a groundcover is suited to your region and yard. Visual interest: It won’t win any beauty contests, but Leptinella Platt’s Black is arresting. “This is a creepy creeper, looking rather like a bunch of millipedes. For people who want something really interesting, this is that plant,” says Starla King, co-owner, Signature Gardenscapes, Ashburn, Va. Happy habitats: Thymes and sedums will attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. Step-and-sniff: The creeping thyme Doone Valley “has foliage that, when crushed, smells like pink lemonade,” McGowen says. Old softies: “Leptinella varieties feel the most scrumptious underfoot. They are like soft little ferns that creep and roam to make a very sweet carpet,” Hopkins says. Speedy spreader: Moneywort, or Creeping Jenny, “is a beautiful, bright, golden-green trailing plant, but it quickly will take over your garden floor, the path and anything near it,” King warns. Plant it at your own peril.

Home, Lawn & Garden • The Press and Standard

Image courtesy www.stepables.com

CEO, Under a Foot Plant Company, Salem, Ore. Hopkins created a line of groundcovers called Stepables that are robust enough to func-

tion as a surface for walking. “Consider these to be your Berber carpeting for the outdoors,” she says. The plants are

designed to withstand light, moderate or heavy foot traffic. Stepping on them “induces lateral growth and keeps plants tight to the ground,” Hopkins says. While Jennings agrees that this groundcover brand and others like it are “virtually unbothered” by foot traffic, McGowen says the plants are sensitive to trauma. Midwest Groundcovers carries the brand Jeepers Creepers, which can handle some foot traffic. “But the truth is, no plant really likes to be stepped on,” he says.

Certain types of lowgrowing groundcover suffer more than others. “Some sedums have more succulent leaves, and if you step on them you kind of crush them,” Jennings says. “It’s better to plant those off to the side.” Choose groundcover that is appropriate for your region’s climate and soil conditions, and for the amount of available sunlight. “If you plant a full-sun plant in a shady area, you will get a very thin, spindly plant,” Hopkins says. “If you plant a shady plant in full sun, it will

burn down to nothing.” If you don’t have automatic sprinklers, choose a plant that’s not particularly thirsty. “Most of us who water by hand forget a lot or get busy and don’t always get out there on really hot days,” Hopkins says. However, you shouldn’t water too frequently, either. Over watering and poor drainage are the most common groundcover killers, Hopkins says. Stepables should not be covered for any length of time under leaves or debris, she

adds, or they will turn yellow. Low-growing groundcover is not a suitable option for certain applications. Taller varieties are preferable for a large area that is difficult to maintain, such as a slope or hillside. “Planting a supersteep hillside with ivy makes a lot more sense than wooly thyme,” Hopkins says. “If there’s an area where you want to plant it once and forget about it, general ground covers like ivy, hypericum and periwinkle do their finest work.”

you r gar den 2 011

The Press and Standard • Home, Lawn & Garden 2011

Spring is

Gear Up!

IN BLOOM

10 great new lawn and garden tools for the new kids on the block: first-time homeowners.

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A lawnmower is arguably the most essential weapon in a homeowner’s outdoor arsenal. Fortunately, all but those having ranch-sized lawns can get by with a modest mower, with the latest rechargeable models giving up little in the way of power or capabilities. To that end, Black and Decker’s new SPCM1936 rechargeable mower includes variable speeds and is self-propelled to make

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Thanks to last year’s tax credits, rock-bottom mortgage rates and affordable listing prices, more first-time home buyers have joined the ranks of lawn keepers, hedge nippers and leaf eradicators. First-timers accounted for 37.2 percent of all home purchases in November 2010, according to a Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey. But those entering their first year of home ownership face a seemingly infinite selection of lawn- and gardencare tools available at hardware and home center stores. Fear not. We’ve sorted out some of the latest solutions to the most common outside chores, with a keen eye for those that simplify the process and are kind to the environment but won’t bust the household budget. Here’s a quick look at a novel assortment of lawn and garden products to help both novice and veteran homeowners maintain maximum curb appeal:

Home, Lawn & Garden • The Press and Standard

FOGLE’S which plants thrive in their yards and how best to nurture their growth can be a disconcerting trial and error process that takes years to master. Fortunately, the Black and Decker PlantSmart digital plant-care sensor leverages the latest

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a handy multi-purpose garden tool that incorporates a trowel for planting, a serrated edge for opening bags of mulch or soil, a sharpened straight edge for cutting sod, a twine cutter, a weeder tip, a poly tamper for tamping down stakes and fertilizer spikes and an 11-inch measurement scale that ensures accurate plant placement. Best of all it costs only $10. For many novice homeowners, knowing

to simplify the process. The reusable, water-resistant sensor measures and evaluates soil conditions and environmental information like sunlight, temperature and moisture, and uploads the data to an online account that provides personalized plant-care instruction. It retails for $50. Anything that grows outside needs water, and for most homeowners that means using a hose and sprinkler. Suncast’s line of Touch & Go hydro-powered hose reels makes quick work of hose storage by automatically rewinding it at the flip of a lever using only water pressure. A Smart Trak

The Press and Standard • Home, Lawn & Garden 2011

updates the basic centuries-old design with its Easy-Pour Watering Can. The 2.6-gallon can includes two separate handles, one inline and another perpendicular to the spout to accommodate multiple hand positions. What’s more, the second handle is hinged to allow comfortable twohanded pouring, and the spout can adjust to provide a gentle shower or a steady stream of water. It retails for $20. New from Fiskars for spring 2011: a collapsible round composting bin. The Fiskars Eco Bin Composter has mesh nylon walls and an open bottom. It telescopes to a compact disk for storage and pops open to start the business of decomposing.

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The cordless American Gardner YardStick 24V converts from a line trimmer with a 10-inch cutting path to a precision rolling lawn edger with the turn of a handle. It provides up to 45 minutes of trimming on a charge – a wall-mounted charger is included – and sells for around $100. Working with the soil literally puts one in touch with nature, but gardening needn’t require an armload of tools thanks to the Ames Planters Pal. It’s

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collecting it in a shoulder bag as reusable mulch. It sells for $250. For those living in Northern climates, the subsequent arrival of

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With the inevitable change of seasons comes with a new outdoors challenge, what to do with falling leaves. Of course an ordinary rake can rustle up what Mother Nature leaves behind, but a good leaf blower can do the job quicker and with far less effort. The LEHR Eco Blower features a 25cc fourstroke motor that generates a strong 150 mph air velocity, yet runs on cleanburning propane fuel via a standard recyclable 16.4 oz twist-on tank. The Eco Blower also vacuums garden waste,

winter means clearing sidewalks and driveways of snow, and nothing’s as efficient for that task as a snow blower. A maintenance-free and environmentally friendly alternative to a conventional gasoline snow thrower is the Toro 1800 Power Curve. The plug-and-go electric Power Curve weighs just 25 pounds, yet can clear up to 700 pounds of snow per minute up to a foot deep, with an 18-inch cleaning width and a 30-foot throw. Both the direction and snow-throwing angle

are adjustable. It retails for $300. A study cart to tote equipment and supplies, yard recyclables and the occasional tired child is an old-fashioned piece of equipment that earns its keep season after season. Gardener’s Supply Co.’s version has been a bestseller for 25 years. The medium cart can carry 400 pounds. The plywood panel one the end slides out when its

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Home, Lawn & Garden • The Press and Standard

your home

easy ways to transform a room Update your living room or family room with a few simple changes to transform a tired space into a fresh space.

pdating a living room or family room doesn’t have to mean giving it a complete makeover. A few simple changes can transform a tired room into a fresh space in no time.

Give your windows better treatment. Replace heavy draperies

– which can look outdated – with a more contemporary alternative. Faux wood, honeycomb blinds, roman or vertical shades – there are a lot of options to dress up your windows. Many online companies will send you samples so you can see how the different options will look in your particular space.

Lighten things up with sheers. The soft folds of billowy sheers allow more light to come into the room, but still offer some privacy. Sheers in lighter colors also make the room appear larger and serve as a color-coordinated highlight at the same time.

use mirrors to add visual interest. Instead of the hanging a large mirror in a traditional space, such as above a couch or fireplace, modernize by hanging several smaller mirrors. Create a grouping of mirrors with frames that have the same color, but different sizes, shapes and textures. Hang a large mirror between two windows to give the illusion of having more windows in the room.

replace an outdated furniture item. Update your coffee table or entertainment center. These larger pieces are often the focal point of the room, so changing them out can put the entire room in a whole new light. Look for items that are both functional and easy to assemble. For example, Z-Line Designs furniture includes an instructional DVD with each item, so you can

The Press and Standard • Home, Lawn & Garden 2011

easily assemble pieces that are traditionally complicated to put together. Their ready-toassemble mounts and stands for flat panel TVs can update any room in a flash. For more information, visit www.zlinedesigns.com.

freshen up accessories. There’s no need to reupholster a sofa or its matching chairs. Swap the current accent pillows out for some new ones. Try a new, complementary color or add some pattern or fun texture to a solid background. Switch out your centerpieces. Replace a silk flower arrangement for a tray with some pillar candles on it. Update the framed photos with new pictures and some new frames. Look around the house for some interesting pieces that can be put to new use – what can you do with a stack of interesting books or a grouping of pretty bowls?

your home

The art of Fine Furniture Design Furniture selection is made easier with a basic understanding of planning, placement and value.

omeowners seek interiors with fine furnishings and accessories. Whether enlisting interior designers or doing it themselves, many are turning to a popular trend of using traditional furnishings in a range of juxtaposed dÈcors. “With emphasis on comfort and personal style, many homes include varied elements of aesthetic form and practical function,” says Mike Howarth, president and owner of Englishman’s Fine Furnishings, a national company specializing in customized furniture and interior kitchen design. Planning spaces boasting this combination has challenges but is attainable with some insider knowledge. Having designed English- and European-style reproduction furniture for many years, Howarth provides the following Q&A advice.

that offer all the beauty and mystic of antiques but with the benefits of being new furniture.

Q. How can rooms be decorated to maximize form and function? A. To get started, decide how a room will be used. For example, consider if a dining room will be for formal or casual dining, or both. Determining if the room will host adults or children helps greatly with furniture selection. We recommend solid wood tables as they are resistant to permanent scratches. As dining rooms tend to be formal spaces, tables, chairs, china cabinets and sideboards can serve as a home’s finest furnishings. Yet, choosing comfortable pieces is essential. Our line, for example, includes furnishings

Q. How can reproduction furniture and antiques be differentiated? A. Only a trained eye should be able to tell the difference between reproductions and antiques. The thickness of veneers can be a sign, since antiques generally have more layers. Using the correct style of fixing blocks, drawer joints, screws or nails and hardware is critical. Most important is a finish with style-appropriate shading in the polish and patina. Many of our customers select our furniture because it is designed with realistic markings as if sourced from English country homes. A particular favorite is our Age of Oak Collection

Q. What makes a well-furnished room? A. Begin with style and design; then follow with size and placement. Rooms should have space for traffic paths with unblocked openings. Use heavier pieces in larger rooms. It is good to scale spaces with layout plans, or even tape out the sizes of the pieces onto the floor to visualize placement. Customization is also an ongoing trend. We’ve customized furniture in most every size and style according to specific space constraints. Layout drawings based upon dimensions, like those our in-house designer Anita Vreeland creates, can help delineate well-made arrangements.

dresser and rack with a rustic oak finish to give the authentic appearance of age. Q. Should furniture match interior colors? A. This can be very much a personal choice, but there are a few things to consider. Warm color palettes for walls, flooring and fabrics can dictate the use of warm tones for wood finishes. Likewise, a room’s foundational cool tones are best paired with finishes in similar colors. Mahogany, walnut, cherry, oak, alder and maple wood options provide unique appearances. Our in-house design schematics for traditional interiors include mahogany and walnut finishes. Though, for transitional looks, we suggest mixing it up a bit. Blending

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harmonized wood types in one piece creates design interest. One example is our mid-cherry wood dining table, customizable with lighter yew wood banding. Q. How does furniture hold value? A. Fine-quality pieces hold value as they age. Value is characterized by handcrafted manufacturing that entails subtle or ornate detailing and careful attention at every stage. Long-lasting value comes from furniture manufactured by skilled craftsman with experience derived from studying high-end pieces from past eras. We believe the reproductions we design today can become tomorrow’s antiques.

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Home, Lawn & Garden • The Press and Standard

your home

Homeowners insurance You rely on your home as a safe, comfortable place to live. But what happens in the event of a disaster?

t your home, you rely on having a safe, comfortable place to live. When you purchase a home insurance policy, it should contain a description of your home’s structure and a list of excluded events that may not be included. It’s important to ensure you understand what is included in your coverage and any additional options you may want to consider.

Your residence TYpe MaTTers Structures vary so widely that a different policy is usually required for each type of home. For instance...

• A condo policy typically covers interior structures like wallboard and lighting fixtures. Depending on your state, your association by-laws, and insurer, external walls may not be covered. • Within a home insurance policy, usually a home’s entire structure is covered along with sheds and detached garages. • For manufactured homes, the entire structure is usually covered, while sheds and garages may require an optional policy. • A renters’ insurance policy

The Press and Standard • Home, Lawn & Garden 2011

typically has no physical structure coverage at all, but it often provides essential liability and contents coverage.

MosT unforTunaTe evenTs are covered Most insurance companies offer coverage for the same events that may damage the structure of your home, including fire, smoke, lightning, wind, hail, frozen plumbing, theft, explosion, vandalism, the weight of ice and snow, and a few others. Talk to your agent about the different coverage options available to you.

excluded evenTs are naMed in THe policY An agent should explain the events that would not be covered by your specific policy based upon your home’s structure. Typically, floods and earthquakes are excluded from basic policies, but in some areas, you may be able to get supplemental insurance policies for those situations. A few other conditions most companies specifically exclude are mold, fungus, wet rot, dry rot and bacteria.

Big fun

Big, Bigger… ginormous Showing off prizewinning pumpkins, far left; Sunzilla sunflowers, 14 feet high and counting.Facing page, the plate-sized Luna Rose hibiscus blossom

Each spring, gardeners’ reckless love affair with enormous plants – the gaudier the better – begins anew. Why bigger and brighter is nearly always better. very year, Angela Eichorn’s moonflowers (Ipomoea alba) put on such a show in her Algona, Iowa garden that she makes sure to harvest the hundreds of seeds they produce and shares them with friends the following spring.

your

lobed leaves. “The flowers aren’t much but the color in fall is rich-red, green gold, with large bunches of pendulous berries again reds and gold,” she says. “This is the autumn’s rhododendron.” Gardeners like to boast about plants – it’s been going on for centuries. Whether it’s an enormous, 12-foottall sunflower or the beefiest tomato ever, we all enjoy swapping stories about our prize plants. In challenging economic times, we can downsize our homes, our cars, our spending and what we eat, but the one thing gardeners won’t downsize is the color in the landscape.

garden

2011

Burpee

Every year, Angela Eichorn’s moonflowers (Ipomoea alba) put on such a show in her Algona, Iowa garden that she makes sure to harvest the hundreds of seeds they produce and shares them with friends the following spring. “The blossoms are very large and white, only opening at night,” Eichorn says. “The fragrance is very sweet. So if you are a night owl or an early riser, you will get a kick out of these.” In Middlefield, Conn., Alice Malcom’s 15-foot high-bush cranberry, a native viburnum, fits the natural setting of her garden and is nicely shaped with large,

www.reneesgarden.com

We love giant fruits and huge flowers and they earn a place of honor and envy in our gardens year after year.

Big Plant Rules Large specimen plantings are used as focal points to capture the eye and awe, drawing homeowners and visitors into the garden to discover the mysteries there, says Bill Calkins, business

manager for Ball Horticultural Co. in West Chicago, Ill. But the garden’s size is an important consideration for where and what to plant. “Plants that are too large will make the garden seem smaller,” Calkins says. “The main thing to consider is the plant’s mature size. Something you buy in a small pot could soon become a

monster so be sure to consult the tag, as well as garden center staff to make sure you know how large the plant will get and in what time period.” In small landscapes, there really is such thing as too much of a good thing, Calkins adds. “Too many large plants will overwhelm the space and the shade they create could cause challenges for other plants. Space out large specimens and use them for a reason – whether that’s height, eye candy or to create a destination in your garden.”

Likewise, in a large landscape, plants can get lost, so planting en masse will increase impact of sizeable plants, says Dan Heims, the owner of Terra Nova Nurseries. As a perennial breeder and former landscaper in Canby, Ore., Heims says using unusual large plants are the foundation for developing an interesting garden. Gardener Kate Knight of Northville, Mich., accomplished this a few years ago when she planted three large pots of 6-foot-tall Golden Glow, which she found at a nearby farmers’ market. “They are tough, rugged-looking and impressive at up to 8 feet tall,” says Knight. “My daughter Eleanor identified them only last summer as greenheaded coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata). They’re native to Michigan, and a perfect accompaniment to sedum and other echinacea in a New American cottage garden landscape.”

the Value Of Plants Large specimen plantings act as the exclamation point of a garden landscape, maximizing space vertically, but it’s important to use a variety of different-sized material

Home, Lawn & Garden • The Press and Standard

Each spring, gardeners’ reckless love affair with enormous plants – the gaudier the better – begins anew. Why bigger and brighter is nearly always better.

your

garden

2011

The Press and Standard • Home, Lawn & Garden 2011

Burpee

Likewise, in a large landscape, plants can get lost, so planting en masse will increase impact of sizeable plants, says Dan Heims, the owner of Terra Nova Nurseries. As a perennial breeder and former landscaper in Canby, Ore., Heims says using very large, colorful flowers, like the unveils their true beauty,” Calkins unusual large plantssays. “In vegetable plants, new breeding hardy Luna hibiscus from Ball, with are the is actually resulting in foundation low-growingfor flowers measuring 8 inches across. developing interestvarieties that are amazinglyanproduc“Some of the most unique and beautiing garden. tive, giving more value for your garden ful plants are dwarf, and small flowers Gardener Kate space.” encourage close inspection that often Knight of Northville, Mich., accomplished this a few years ago when she planted three large pots of 6-foot-tall Golden Glow, which she found at a nearby farmers’ market. “They are tough, rugged-looking and impressive at up to 8 monster so be sure to feet tall,” says Knight. consult the tag, as well “My daughter Eleanor as garden center staff identified them only to make sure you know last summer as greenhow large the plant headed coneflower will get and in what (Rudbeckia laciniata). time period.” They’re native to MichIn small landscapes, igan, and a perfect acmanager for Ball Horthere really is such companiment to sedum ticultural Co. in West thing as too much of and other echinacea in Chicago, Ill. But the a good thing, Calkins a New American cotgarden’s size is an imadds. tage garden landscape.” portant consideration “Too many large for where and what to plants will overwhelm plant. the space and the shade the Value Of “Plants that are too Plants they create could cause large will make the challenges for other Large specimen garden seem smaller,” plants. Space out large plantings act as the Calkins says. “The specimens and use exclamation point of main thing to consider them for a reason – a garden landscape, is the plant’s mature whether that’s height, maximizing space versize. Something you eye candy or to create tically, but it’s imporbuy in a small pot a destination in your tant to use a variety of could soon become a garden.” different-sized material www.reneesgarden.com

na, Iowa garden that she makes sure to harvest the hundreds of seeds they produce and shares them with friends the following spring.

Big, Bigger… ginormous Showing off prizewinning pumpkins, far left; Sunzilla sunflowers, 14 feet high and counting.Facing page, the plate-sized Luna Rose hibiscus blossom

Ball Horticultural Co.

Big fun

large, reblooming, fragrant flowers in to add interest at every height, says a full spectrum of saturated color that Heims.“Your eye follows lines in the doesn’t fade and holds for weeks in cut garden, sweeping up to tallest item, flower arrangements. then sweeping down; if you have only 36-inch items in your garden, the eye really doesn’t have a place to go.” Bigger Isn’t Heims aims to develop gardens Always Better with constant color and texture for It’s true that large, unusual plant year-round interest. Famous for Terra specimens are dramatic and make Nova Nurseries’ selection of Coral Bells a statement, but let’s face it, not all (heuchera), Heims says these beauties gardeners have the luxury of unlimited provide appeal in the off-season with outdoor living space. Giant container evergreen leaves and in the summer plants can become the centerpiece in their tall flower spikes offer bursts of smaller landscapes, offering constant, bright color with added value in cut reblooming color and interest. Ball flower arrangements. Horticultural Co.’s Dragon Wing be“In a smaller garden, everything has gonia is a long-standing favorite that to earn its keep,” he says. “If a plant never ceases to amaze, Calkins says. only flowers for a couple of weeks, Ball’s new Gryphon Begonia features that’s just not enough. The more atdark, silver foliage and a 360-degree tributes that can be compiled in a single plant, be it evergreen foliage, cut habit, making it a great specimen plant for shade and part-shade areas, with flowers, long-lasting color, reblooming the bonus that it can be moved inside flowers, plant hardiness, all pay the rent, to stay in the garden. If it fails, it’s during colder months – performing just as well as an indoor plant. very year, Angela Eichorn’s out of there.” In the landscape, dwarf plants reachmoonflowers (Ipomoea alba) Terra Nova’s Prairie Pillars series ing a maximum height and spread of of echinaceaput is a on prime example, within her Algosuch a show 3 feet, can offer the same impact with

We love giant fruits and huge flowers and they earn a place of honor and envy in our gardens year after year.

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Survivors! Lackadaisical gardeners will love these plants. what is the perfect

houseplant? “For many people, it’s the one that’s completely unkillable,” says Susan Littlefield, horticulture editor at the National Gardening Association, a non-profit educational group. “Plants that can put up with a broad range of temperatures, are okay in pretty low light, and don’t require a lot of fertilizer are popular,” Littlefield says. “These are plants that can wilt completely and still

recover.” Littlefield offers this short list for those who might want to try their luck with the perfect houseplant, and throws in an outdoor plant that will grow almost anywhere in the country. Cast iron plant (Aspidistra Elatior). Grown as ground cover in the southern U.S.; it also takes well to pots. Grows slowly and has tough, leathery leaves. Pothos (Epipremnum aureum). For pots

or hanging baskets; likes bright but indirect natural light. Snake plant (Sansevieria trifasciata). A succulent, with long, thick, spiky leaves. Lucky bamboo (Dracaena sanderiana). Not really bamboo; said to bring good luck; virtually indestructible. Peace lily (Spathiphyllum x). Blooms with fragrant white flowers throughout the year. Jade plant (Crassula ovate). A succulent that can last for decades with proper care; likes bright but indirect light and temperatures above 55 degrees. Umbrella tree (Schefflera). With large, green glossy leaves; likes indirect bright light.

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Home, Lawn & Garden • The Press and Standard

look out… They’re alive!

here are close to a half-million plant species in the world. Fewer than 100 of them made it into a new book, “Bizarre Botanicals: How to Grow String-of-Hearts, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Panda Ginger, and Other Weird and Wonderful Plants” (Timber Press, 2010).

Authors Larry Mellichamp and Paula Gross profile fantastic flora, from whimsical ferns to flamboyant flowers, from plants that resemble animals to plants that act like animals. Call them the weird, wild and wacky of the plant world. Just don’t call them freaks, Mellichamp says. “You can compare them to a carnival but not the freak show. These are normal, wild, selfreproducing plants. Unusual? Yes. Freaks? No.”

Take a Walk on The Wild Side

Mellichamp is a professor of botany and horticulture at the University of North Carolina and director of the university’s botanical gardens. For this book, he set out to narrate what he calls a “tour of the most bizarre and unbelievable plants in the world.” “We had a few criteria. The plants had to be growable and obtainable, which leaves out the strange plants that are only found in jungles and can’t be grown elsewhere. We looked for plants that

were really different in one way from your ordinary garden plants. They had to smell bad, be strange-looking, have unusual pollinator relationships. They had to be larger than life. They had to stand out in a crowd.” The shiny blue oil fern made the cut. So did the red-orange, aptly named pigtail plant; the white bat plant, which resembles a bat, and the love-ina-puff plant, which has tiny whimsical seeds painted with a white heart. Mellichamp’s personal favorite is the fly-eating Venus flytrap, but he says the weirdest plant is the massive Titan Arum, also known as the corpse flower. “It’s the world’s tallest plant structure, so it commands attention that way. But it also

North American Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia) – with tubular leaves and a “mouth” that attracts winged insects. Clubmoss (Lycopodium) – with pyrotechnic spores filled with plant oils that are highly flammable and

The Pressyand • dHome, o uStandard r GAr e N Lawn 2 0 1 &1 Garden 2011

smells so bad – like an elephant that has been dead for three days – that you can smell it a quarter mile away.” That smell has a purpose. “It attracts beetles and flies looking for meat in which to lay their eggs. They visit the flower and pick up the pollen and carry it somewhere else.” That plant’s

used in early-day photography. Gloriosa Lily (Gloriosa superba) – with flowers that look like flaming balls of fire. Beehive Ginger (Zingiber spectabile) – a cone-shaped flower that resembles a perfect beehive.

Clockwise from top: Venus Flytrap: this carnivorous plant can appear to drool while digesting prey Bat Plant: its clusters of black fruit look like bats roosting from a cave ceiling Titan Aran: the plant’s size and hairraising stink have drawn crowds since its discovery in 1878 Pigtail Plant: the bright curlicue spathe looks like a pig’s tail physiognomy is a perfect example of one of the themes of the book. Mellichamp says. “Plants are like people; they are trying to solve the same problems that we are. They have to protect themselves; make a living; find food, clothing and shelter, find a mate and

Images courtesy Larry Mellichamp and Paula Gross, “Bizarre Botanicals,” (Timber Press,

Some deeply weird and wonderful plants are propagating all over the planet. Larry Mellichamp wishes you’d pay a little more attention.

reproduce.” In our culture, Mellichamp says, “Plants are often like wallpaper, in the background – a green tree, a pretty flower. There’s nothing exciting about an oak tree, unless you think about how that tree grows and builds itself and gets huge and withstands wind and snow and lives for 100 years. We are trying to get people to think about that – to pay more attention to plants.”

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Followers of a popular diet can forage up to 100 miles for locally grown food. Many quickly find a shortcut. source of fresh produce? Look no farther than your own backyard. As the local food movement has blossomed throughout the nation, so have home and community gardens. “Having a garden definitely helps with maintaining a local diet,” affirms Jenny Heins, president of Sustainable Ballard, a Seattle-based nonprofit. “It allows you to supplement your diet with a lot of foods that you just can’t find elsewhere, even at the farmer’s markets.” Heins’ organization, a neighborhood environmental group based in Washington State, sponsored a month-long experiment during which she and 80 other members vowed to follow a version of the “100 Mile Diet.” Inspired by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon’s “Plenty: Eating Locally on the 100Mile Diet,” the group restricted its dietary choices to food grown within a 100 mile radius of their Seattle hometown. With some exceptions, that meant no spices, no bananas, no searching for a local

beans, no bread, no coffee and most difficult for Heins, no orange juice or olive oil. Searching for substitutes and variety in her diet, she turned to her garden. There she grew herbs to add seasoning and personal favorites such as Asian greens and tomatillos. Heins and her cohorts are what are known as locavores, a term coined in San Francisco in 2005 when a group of food enthusiasts sponsored the first month-long Eat Local Challenge. Since then, similar challenges have been undertaken across North America, with individuals and groups vowing to restrict their choices to foods sourced within a 100-, 150- or 250mile radius. The motivation for these dietary restrictions is not just the consumption of higher quality fare, though locavores swear by the improved taste and nutrition that local food offers. Consuming only locally grown food is also a way to inject money into the local economy, support small farmers over large-scale agribusinesses and

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L&L

Both Meredith and Heins see locavorism as a growing trend. As part of her work as Gardening Program Coordinator for the New York Botanical Garden, Meredith has noted increased interest among gardening students over the last two years in growing foods to supplement a local diet. Although the total number of locavores in the U.S. is difficult to determine, in the Bay Area alone, locavore.com lists more than one thousand members. And counting. Food industry analyst Phil Lempert predicted 2011 to be the breakthrough year for the 100-mile diet, when it would finally become widely adopted throughout the country. Meredith agrees; she sees the popularity of a local diet soaring as a result of a confluence of societal factors, including increased concern over the state of the

environment, the GoinG LocaL popularity of celebrity chefs who • Does your land get sufficient sunlight? Don’t tout the freshness expect to grow tomatoes in the shade. that local food offers, and the bad • Plant the foods you eat and use frequently in economy. Growyour cooking. “If you use a ton of oregano, plant ing your own food oregano,” says author Meredith. is a way to save • Plant to supplement what’s readily available in money during the local grocers and farmer’s markets. Herbs are lean times. a good choice, since fresh-harvested from the According garden will nearly always be of higher quality. to the Urban • Enlist friends to try a local diet in a group. Share Agricultural recipes, sources for local foods – and the bumper Committee of the crop of zucchini. Community Food Security Coalition in Portland, as So, you may be wondering, many as one quarter of U.S. “with my busy schedule or households grow produce lack of culinary skills” is loin their gardens to supplecavorism right for me? Plenty ment their diets. Community authors MacKinnon and Smith gardens are also increasing in advocate giving the diet a try number reports the American on a small scale, maybe a day, Community Garden Assoweek or month, and allowing ciation. With garden space so yourself the flexibility to make readily accessible, going locaexceptions for the foods that vore is easier than ever. you simply can’t live without.

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reduce the pollution associated with shipping foods from such far flung places as Chile and Asia. It also provides food for thought. According to Leda Meredith, author of “The Locavore’s Handbook,” the agricultural industry is one of the top three consumers of fossil fuels in the nation. The average piece of produce travels 1500 miles before it reaches your plate, Meredith says, so eating local foods can cut your carbon footprint and make a positive impact on the environment.

So, what’s the hardest part of following such a strict diet? For Meredith, who spent a year on the 250-mile diet and still follows it “80 percent of the time,” it’s the cold winters when “all the fresh fruits go away.” But rather than focusing on these restrictions, she views her diet as an opportunity for culinary adventure. It has led her to discover new favorites, such as parsley root, and provided impetus to try new flavor combinations such as a winter salad made from cabbage, apples and scallions. “We are so used to getting anything, anytime that our diets get repetitive. But, when your diet consists of local, seasonal foods, it is never boring. I get so excited every spring when the first strawberries appear and the first tomatoes ripen in my garden. Every month brings something new.”

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