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Trowel & Glove: Marin gardening calendar for the week of May 10, 2014

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Marin

• The Novato Garden Club’s annual May Mart plant sale is from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 10 outside Pini Ace Hardware at 1535 S. Novato Blvd. Call 897-8607.

• The annual Beyond the Garden Gate tour of four private gardens in Ross is from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. May 10. Shuttles leave every 15 minutes from the College of Marin’s Lot No. 15 on Kent Avenue in Kentfield. $40 to $50. Go to www.rossgardentour.org.

• The Friends of Falkirk Gardens succulent sale is from 9 a.m. to noon May 10 at the Falkirk Greenhouse at 1408 Mission Ave. in San Rafael. Go to www.falkirkculturalcenter.org or www.marinmg.org.

• Betsy McGee of Marin Master Gardeners speaks about “Creating a Haven for Wildlife” at 11 a.m. May 10 at the Novato Library at 1720 Novato Blvd. Call 473-4204 or go to www.marinmg.org.

• Yvonne Horn discusses “The Traveling Gardener” at 2:30 p.m. May 10 at Book Passage at 51 Tamal Vista Blvd. in Corte Madera. $25. Call 927-0960 or go to www.book passage.com.

• West Marin Commons offers a weekly harvest exchange at 1:30 p.m. Saturdays at the Livery Stable gardens on the commons in Point Reyes Station. Go to www.westmarin commons.org.

• The Marin County Outdoor Antique Market, with antiques, collectibles, books, jewelry, art, rugs and vintage furniture, is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 11 in the parking lot of the Marin County Veterans Memorial Auditorium at 10 Avenue of the Flags in San Rafael. Free. Call 383-2552 or go to www.golden gateshows.com.

• Lloyd Kahn discusses “Tiny Homes on the Move” at 7 p.m. May 12 at the Bolinas Community Center at 14 Wharf Road. Free. Call 868-2128 or go to www.bocenter.org.

• The Novato Independent Elders Program seeks volunteers to help Novato seniors with their overgrown yards on Tuesday mornings or Thursday afternoons. Call 899-8296.

• Volunteers are sought to help in Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy nurseries from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays at Tennessee Valley, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesdays at Muir Woods or 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays or 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays in the Marin Headlands. Call 561-3077 or go to www.parksconservancy.org/get-involved/volunteer/.

• Lidija Treadway speaks about “The Easy Way to Exhibit Your Beautiful Roses” at a Marin Rose Society program at 7:30 p.m. May 13 at the San Rafael Corporate Center at 750 Lindaro St. $5. Call 457-6045 or go to www.marinrose.org.

• Gaylan Faulk of Avant Gardens speaks about “Landscape Designs” at a meeting of the Peacock Garden Club at 11 a.m. May 14 at the Falkirk Cultural Center at 1408 Mission Ave., in San Rafael. Free. Call 453-2816.

• The SPAWN (Salmon Protection and Watershed Network) native plant nursery days are from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fridays and weekends. Call 663-8590, ext. 114, or email preston@tirn.net to register and for directions.

• “The Groundwork of Organic Gardening,” a workshop with Wendy Johnson, is from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 17 at the College of Marin Indian Valley campus at 1800 Ignacio Blvd. in Novato. $30. Go to ucanr.edu/survey/survey.cfm?surveynumber=12001 to register.

• The Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership’s Eco-Friendly Garden Tour is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 17 at gardens in Novato, Petaluma and Sonoma. Free. Call 707-547-1933 or go to www.saving water partnership.org/partner/ to register and for directions.

• The Marin Rose Society’s 40th annual spring rose show is from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 17 between Macy’s and Applebee’s at the north end of Northgate Mall at 5800 Northgate Drive in San Rafael. Enter your roses between 7 and 9:30 a.m. All blooms will be offered for sale at 4 p.m. Call 457-6045 or go to www.marinrose.org.

• Marin Master Gardeners and the Marin Municipal Water District offer free residential Bay-Friendly Garden Walks to MMWD customers. The year-round service helps homeowners identify water-saving opportunities and soil conservation techniques for their landscaping. Call 473-4204 to request a visit to your garden.

• Marin Open Garden Project (MOGP) volunteers are available to help Marin residents glean excess fruit from their trees for donations to local organizations serving people in need and to build raised beds to start vegetable gardens through the MicroGardens program. MGOP also offers a garden tool lending library. Go to www.opengardenproject.org or email contact@opengarden project.org.

• The Marin Organic Glean Team seeks volunteers to harvest extras from the fields at various farms for the organic school lunch and gleaning program. Call 663-9667 or go to www.marinorganic.org.

San Francisco

• The Conservatory of Flowers, at 100 John F. Kennedy Drive in Golden Gate Park, displays permanent galleries of tropical plant species as well as changing special exhibits from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. $2 to $7. Call 831-2090 or go to www.conservatoryofflowers.org.

• The San Francisco Botanical Garden Society, at Ninth Avenue and Lincoln Way in Golden Gate Park, offers several ongoing events. $7; free to San Francisco residents, members and school groups. Call 661-1316 or go to www.sf botanicalgarden.org. Free docent tours leave from the Strybing Bookstore near the main gate at 1:30 p.m. weekdays, 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. weekends; and from the north entrance at 2 p.m. Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Groups of 10 or more can call ahead for special-focus tours.

Around the Bay

• Cornerstone Gardens is a permanent, gallery-style garden featuring walk-through installations by international landscape designers on nine acres at 23570 Highway 121 in Sonoma. Free. Call 707-933-3010 or go to www.corner stonegardens.com.

• Garden Valley Ranch rose garden at 498 Pepper Road in Petaluma is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. Self-guided and group tours are available. $2 to $10. Call 707-795-0919 or go to www.gardenvalley.com.

• The Luther Burbank Home at Santa Rosa and Sonoma avenues in Santa Rosa has docent-led tours of the greenhouse and a portion of the gardens every half hour from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. $7. A Mother’s Day plant sale is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 11. Call 707-524-5445.

• McEvoy Ranch at 5935 Red Hill Road in Petaluma offers tips on planting olive trees and has olive trees for sale by appointment. Call 707-769-4123 or go to www.mcevoy ranch.com.

• Wednesdays are volunteer days from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Occidental Arts and Ecology Center at 15290 Coleman Valley Road in Occidental. Call 707-874-1557, ext. 201, or go to www.oaec.org.

• Dennis Dierks of Paradise Valley Produce speaks about “Soil Health and Fertility” at 7 p.m. May 13 at the Petaluma Seed Bank at 199 N. Petaluma Blvd. in Petaluma. Free. Go to www.brownpapertickets.com/event/667839 to register.

• Quarryhill Botanical Garden at 12841 Sonoma Highway in Glen Ellen offers third Saturday docent-led tours at 10 a.m. March through October. The garden covers 61 acres and showcases a large selection of scientifically documented wild source temperate Asian plants. The garden is open for self-guided tours from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. $5 to $10. Call 707-996-3166 or go to www.quarryhillbg.org.

The Trowel Glove Calendar appears Saturdays. Send high-resolution jpg photo attachments and details about your event to calendar@marinij.com or mail to Home and Garden Calendar/Lifestyles, Marin Independent Journal, 4000 Civic Center Drive, Suite 301, San Rafael, CA 94903. Items should be sent two weeks in advance. Photos should be a minimum of s megabytes and include caption information. Include a daytime phone number on your release.

Bee-friendly tips for Minnesota home gardeners

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    After our seemingly endless winter, most of us are itching to load up on plants and get our hands dirty. Whether you grow on a grand scale or tend a couple of pots, chances are you’ll be buying plants at a garden center or plant sale. When you do, a growing chorus of voices is urging you to keep bees in mind.

    Bee die-offs, colony collapse disorder and possible causes have made headlines. They’ve also “made the public aware of our stewardship role with bees,” said Vera Krischik, associate professor of entomology at the University of Minnesota.

    In fact, bee-friendly gardening was named a top national trend for 2014 by the Garden Media Group, and Minnesota, in particular, has become a hive of bee-related activity and advocacy.

    “Here in Minnesota, there’s a lot going on with bees,” said Lex Horan, local organizer for the Pesticide Action Network North America, which helped organize a “swarm” at a local Home Depot in February to urge the retailer to stop selling products believed to be toxic to bees.

    People have been packing auditoriums for bee seminars, pushing for new legislation to protect bees and beekeepers and urging retailers to stop selling and using neonicotinoids, a widely used class of insecticides that some suspect is playing a role in recent bee die-offs.

    Research on neonicotinoids’ impact on bees is currently underway. But in the meantime, several large local players, including retailers Bachman’s and Gertens and wholesale grower Bailey Nurseries, have decided to err on the side of caution and eliminate or sharply reduce their use of neonicotinoids.

    Feed the bees

    Trying not to kill bees is only one piece of the pollinator-protection puzzle, however.

    With more and more habitat lost to development and agriculture (corn and soybeans, the state’s top crops, don’t provide nectar), bees need food, too. And that’s where home gardeners can really help, according to experts.

    “The main thing is to plant more flowering plants,” said Heather Holm, of Minnetonka, a landscape designer and author of the new book “Pollinators of Native Plants: Attract, Observe and Identify Pollinators and Beneficial Insects With Native Plants” (available at www.pollinatorsnativeplants.com).

    Native bees, in particular, have a short flight distance — about 500 yards, she said. “If you and your neighbors aren’t providing forage, they will have a hard time finding food.”

    From the pollinators’ perspective, it’s important to have a continuous succession of plants flowering throughout the growing season, Holm said. “In most gardens there is a gap,” especially in early spring and late fall. Holm advises gardeners to evaluate their landscape, identify the flower gaps and fill them. Good early-spring bloomers are woodland plants, such as bloodroot, Dutchman’s breeches and wild geranium. Good fall bloomers include asters and goldenrod.

    And all flowering plants aren’t equal, from the bee’s perspective. “Stick with straight species” rather than cultivars, Holm advised. “If breeding has changed the flower color, it can also change the fragrance or nectar. It may look better to us, but it may not be attractive to bees.”

    When choosing plants, opt for older, simpler varieties, Holm said, even if it means passing up the plants that catch your eye with their showy form or unusual hue. “Rethink how a bee or pollinator would see your garden — not just what you think is prettiest, with double flowers or a brand-new introduction in a cool color,” she said.

    Good plants for bees include coneflowers, liatris, salvia, catmint, catnip, hyssop, black-eyed Susans and single-flower sunflowers, Krischik said. (For an extensive list, by region, of bee-friendly plants, visit the Xerces Society’s website, (www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/GreatLakesPlantList_web.pdf)

    Many of the plants sold today “have been hybridized to the point that they don’t have much value to pollinators,” said Ron Bowen, president of Prairie Restorations (www.prairieresto.com) of Princeton, Minn., who encourages homeowners to convert 25 percent of their land to native prairie plants.

    “If you plant natives, you’re going to be helping something, native bees or other beneficial insects,” he said. “Most of us have been taught that insects are bad, like mosquitoes. But insects are pretty important. That awakening is upon us.”

    To help gardeners create more bee-friendly landscapes, Bowen has developed a series of prairie-restoration kits, which contain plants and seedlings to cover a 500-square-foot area — about the size of a very large living room — along with a book about wildflowers. One of Bowen’s kits, the “Pollinator Package,” consists of 32 species of wildflowers and grasses that provide habitat and food sources for bees and other pollinators.

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    This week’s gardening tips: plant palms and basil now, last chance to zap … – The Times

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    Plant palms in May through August, as they establish best when planted into warm soil. Always ask how hardy a palm is before you purchase it. Ideally, palms should be hardy down to 15 degrees or lower to be reliable here — particularly on the north shore. Keep newly planted palms well watered during their establishment period.

    • Apply paint or shade cloth to greenhouses to prevent heat buildup. Fans should run just about constantly, and there should be plenty of ventilation. I usually empty out my greenhouse this time of the year and move plants to benches outside.
    • Plant basil now for harvest all summer. Choose a sunny, well-drained location and space plants about 12 inches apart. Consider growing some different types, such as cinnamon, lemon or Thai basil, in addition to common sweet basil.
    • May is the last chance to apply many of the broad leaf lawn weed killers before the weather gets too hot. Virginia buttonweed is particularly troublesome, and it’s easier to control now while it is young. Try using Ferti-lome Weed Free Zone or Weed B Gon.
    • Cannas that have brown, deformed leaves with holes have been attacked by canna leaf-rollers, a caterpillar that can be devastating to cannas. Control is difficult and requires regular spraying all summer. If you decide to treat, use a systemic insecticide such as acephate and make weekly applications.

    USU Botanical Center plant sale coming, gardening tips offered

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    USU Botanical Center in Kaysville - courtesy photo

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    KAYSVILLE — Warmer weather means time for getting those hands dirty in the  earth, doing gardening-related projects.

    To help with that, the Utah State University Botanical Center in Kaysville is holding its annual “Members Only Plant Sale.” It will be May 16, 5-8 p.m. at the greenhouse.

    This 10th annual plant sale for the “Friends of the Garden” gives a chance to see the newest in perennials and annuals and heirloom vegetable starts.

    USU horticulturists will be on hand to provide information. The sale will be at the Rasmussen Teaching Garden next to the greenhouse, information from USU said.

    The Botanical Center is also sharing gardening tip information.

    Here are items to consider when doing that spring planting:

    • Finish planting the garden and put down a good mulch layer for weed control.

    • Thin the apples and peaches to one fruit every five to six inches.

    • Plant annuals once the danger of frost is past.

    • Fertilize annuals about two weeks after planting to stimulate growth.

    • Fertilize the lawn with   high-nitrogen fertilizer and broadleaf weed killer to turf grass.

    • Water lawn one to 1/2 inches per week.

    • Control broadleaf weeds in the lawn with a 2,4-D product before temperatures are above 85 degrees.

    • Spray birch trees to control the bronze birch borer, and ash trees for ash borer.

    • Call Davis County Extension at 801-451-3412 for the date to begin spraying apple and pear trees to control codling moths and prevent worms in the fruit.

    • Use mulch or a pre-emergent herbicide to prevent weeds in the garden.

    • Clean sprinkler heads an check for good water coverage.

    • Start planting tender plants such as celery, cucumber, dry bean, snap bean, spinach, summer squash, sweet corn.

    • Check USU Pest advisory to get a head start on controlling garden pests.

    • Plant your new perennial and annual flowers

    • Treat perennial plants with compost or slow-release fertilizer.

    • Prune spring blooming shrubs after they finish blooming.

    • Apply chelated iron to plants suffering from iron chlorosis.

    • Enjoy time sitting in your flowerbed to deadhead spring perennials and dig annual weeds.

    • Become a member of the USU Botanical Center.

    • At the end of the month, begin planting tender plants such as cantaloupe, eggplant, lima bean, pepper, pumpkin, tomato, watermelon and winter squash. 

    Saturday: Woodside event offers native plants, tips on water-wise gardening

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    By Kate Daly | Special to the Almanac

    A local group of garden lovers is offering fresh plants and fresh ideas on water-wise gardening at its biennial plant sale in Woodside on Saturday, May 10.

    The Woodside-Atherton Garden Club is selling hundreds of drought-tolerant natives at the Woodside Library Native Plant Garden from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

    Janet Larson of Atherton and Sheree Shoch of Woodside are co-chairing the fundraising event.

    “We are excited to have such a wide selection of unusual plants that are drought-resilient, yet still grow well in our Mediterranean climate,” Ms. Shoch says. “Our sale presents a great opportunity for people to replace their water-guzzling plants and pick up some tips from experts at the same time.”

    The sale takes place every other year, giving club members a chance to propagate and grow plants from seeds in their own yards.

    This year varieties include: salvia, ceanothus, mimulus, penstemon, spirea, sedum, cactuses, roses, irises, and vegetables.

    Woodside-Atherton Garden Club members will also run a boutique filled with Mother’s Day gifts, such as miniature flower arrangements in teacups, succulent potted plants, hand-painted straw hats, and books on gardening.

    In addition to the sale, informational tables will be set up with landscape designer Lori Morris advising on water efficiency, beekeeper Mike Vigo sharing insights on pollination and the honey business, and Save The Bay’s Jack States explaining the group’s plant restoration work.

    In cooperation with the Woodside Library, the Woodside-Atherton Garden Club will be introducing the new Woodside Seed Library, which member Barbara Tuffli of Atherton says is “part of a large, significant, national movement” to preserve local plants.

    Seed packets of flowers, fruits and vegetables that members have collected will be stored in a chest of drawers at the library. Anybody is welcome to come in and check out the seeds, grow plants, let a few go to seed, and ideally return those seeds to the library so someone else can “borrow” them.

    “We’re going to encourage heirloom varieties because of open pollination, and encourage natives,” Ms. Tuffli says. “We’re trying to make (the seed library) sort of educational, make it a community resource, and multi-generational.”

    Founded in 1929, the garden club is a nonprofit charitable organization associated with the Garden Club of America. Proceeds from the sale benefit the library garden and other civic projects.

    Woodside-Atherton Garden Club members maintain the garden and use it as a showcase to illustrate what natives grow well in the area. Plants are labeled and divided into different sections, such as chaparral, oak woodland, and a redwood grove. The garden is located behind the library at 3140 Woodside Road in Woodside.

    Go to woodsideathertongc.org for more information.

    Freelance writer Kate Daly is a provisional member of the Woodside-Atherton Garden Club.

    Garden Tips: Refresh container potting mix

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    I grow all of my annual flowers in big pots on my back patio. At last count, there were 10 and replacing the potting mix each year would bankrupt me. Instead of buying new potting mix each spring, I refresh and reuse the old.

    I start by digging out the dead roots and stems from last year, if I didn’t remove them in the fall. Potting mixes tend to compact throughout the course of the growing season, so I use a trowel and garden knife to break apart residual roots and loosen the mix to a depth of at least
    8 inches. Along with loosening the mix each spring, I also add some controlled-release fertilizer and work it into those top eight inches.

    After refreshing the mix, I add some new potting mix if the level in the pot has declined because of decomposition or from removing the old plant roots. After several years, I may replace the old mix in the top half of the pot with new because it is not draining well due to the break down of organic matter over time. When I remove old mix, I don’t throw it away. Instead, I mix it into my sandy garden soil.

    I recommend investing in a quality potting mix when starting a new container. I prefer a mix that consists of peat moss or coconut coir, perlite or pumice, earthworm castings and some compost. I also like the ones that contain controlled-release fertilizer that the label indicates will last for several months.

    I mentioned earlier adding fertilizer to potting mix that is being reused. This is necessary because last year’s plants probably used up most of the available nutrients and whatever they did not use was likely lost through leaching with the frequent watering necessitated by hot weather. The addition of fertilizer to reused potting mix is important for the good growth of the annuals, flower or vegetables, planted in containers. Just imagine the fertilizer needs of a vigorous growing sweet potato vine, trailing petunia or tomato vine.

    I prefer controlled-release or “time-release” fertilizers. They are more expensive than traditional water soluble granular fertilizers, but I like the convenience of not needing to reapply them frequently. When I select a controlled-release fertilizer, I look for one that is a balanced fertilizer, one that contains nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). The percentage of these by total weight is indicated somewhere on the product label in that order: N, P and K. Because the amount of nutrients vary with types and brands of fertilizer, I follow the recommendation on the label.

    Product labels also indicate the length of time that the nutrients should last. However, because hot summer and fall weather in our region dictates frequent watering, it may not last that long. Consider applying the same fertilizer again in midsummer. If not, you can use a water soluble liquid or crystallized fertilizer if the plants are showing signs of nutrient deficiency, such as yellowing leaves or poor growth.

    — Marianne C. Ophardt is a horticulturist for Washington State University Benton County Extension.

    Hot Picks: Downtown market, Red Green, women’s handgun class, garden tips

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    Comedy: Red Green’s “How to Do Everything Tour”

    Star of “The Red Green Show” and noted duct-tape aficionado Red Green will come to Anchorage with “all-new jokes and stories and advice and BS.” 7 p.m. Thursday, Atwood Concert Hall. $48.50. (centertix.net) safety

    Women-only beginning handgun class

    This class is designed to be a safe place focused on questions that women may have. The class covers how to handle a gun safely, the parts of a gun and how it operates, how to choose a gun, how to load and unload safely, proper stance, trigger control and other skills. 6 p.m.-9:30 p.m. Thursday, Birchwood Recreation and Shooting Park, 20269 Birchwood Spur Road. $99. (441-2415, gunstart.com) outdoors

    Raised gardens and composting 101

    Can’t wait to get your hands dirty in the garden this summer? There are a few classes this week to help you get the most out of Anchorage’s brief, prolific growing season.

    Raised beds are a useful tool for gardeners with limited space in their yards, and they can be built at a level to help reduce the aches and pains produced by kneeling or bending. This class will include information on building raised beds, including instruction on soil-warming techniques. Parents must accompany children. 6 p.m. Monday, Selkregg Chalet, Russian Jack Springs Park, 1600 Lidia Selkregg Lane. $5. (343-4217)

    Composting 101 — the how, what and why of composting in Alaska. Learn how to enrich your soil using items that would otherwise be sent to the landfill. Vermiculture will also be presented, and attendees will learn how to use red wiggler worms to eat kitchen scraps and enrich garden plots, containers and house plants. Instructor: Donna Mears. 6 p.m. Wednesday, Selkregg Chalet, Russian Jack Springs Park, 1600 Lidia Selkregg Lane. (343-4217) market

    Anchorage Market and Festival

    Temperatures are rising, leaves are budding and the outdoor market season has begun. The Anchorage Market and Festival will cover seven acres of downtown with fresh produce, clothes, crafts and souvenirs from more than 300 vendors. There’s free entertainment and food and it’s sure to be a lively atmosphere. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, Third Avenue and E Street. Free. (272-5634, anchoragemarkets.com) business

    Lemonade Day Workshop

    Lemonade Day is an annual event that encourages entrepreneurial skills in youth. Bring your child to learn how to sign up for Lemonade Day, manage the finances and even build a stand. 2 p.m. Saturday, Loussac Library Innovation Lab, Level 4, 3600 Denali St. Free. (343-2841, anchoragelibrary.org)

     

    Let there be spaces in your garden

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    .

    Japanese garden design offers a good example of how to create spaces in the garden. Picture: Loren Shirley-Carr

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    Johannesburg – The decision on whether to fill a space in the garden or to leave it needs careful consideration. In garden design, there is a need every so often for a pause – a space – where the viewer is able to rest and absorb what he is seeing.

    The amount of space should be relative to the size of the garden and to the homeowner’s needs. It is about personalising your garden to suit your lifestyle, and creating outdoor spaces where you can relax and entertain, where there is space to walk, to sit, to read and to daydream.

    Identify spaces

    A useful way to identify whether to fill or leave a space is to look at black and white photographs of different sections of the garden. These photographs are best because colour tends to dominate visually, and it is the garden’s design that is the important factor in deciding how to alter or integrate different spaces.

    Centuries-old traditional Japanese gardens emphasised the importance of space; where careful consideration and symbolic meaning were given to the positioning of each stone and every plant.

    The idea of using objects economically, whether outdoor accessories, garden features or plant material, and having only what is either useful or beautiful, is not new.

    In 1938, Christopher Tunnard, the spokesman for both the Modern Movement and at that time the new profession of landscape architecture in England, stressed the importance of understanding that gardens, like houses, are built of space.

    With today’s smaller properties, this perception of space has become increasingly important in both interior design and landscaping, and designers visualise and use space as a sculptural concept, where the emphasis is on clean lines and pure form.

    Types of space

    Space in a garden is relative. It can be defined as great as the distance between the house and the boundary, or as small as the area between two plants. It may take the form of a paved area with spaces left for plants, a boma for entertaining, a pool, or even a sandpit for children. There is space between two upright shrubs and between an avenue of trees.

    Spaces are important in all gardens to a lesser or greater degree, depending on the style of the garden.

    Spaces can direct you to a sculpture, a view or a particular plant. In a formal garden, space remains more or less constant, because hedges and topiary are used to create spaces and plants are restricted by trimming and pruning.

    The opposite applies in a cottage-style garden, where the emphasis is on an abundant, generous look. In this garden, spaces may take the form of a structure, such as a pergola, an arch, or even a gap cut in a hedge.

    Vertical space

    Vertical planting is especially suited to small gardens, where not only does this free up more ground space to make room for lower growing plants, it adds a further dimension to the landscape, creating screens for privacy, defining boundaries and entrances, and taking colour skywards.

    Trellis is one of the most popular materials for growing plants vertically. Pillars and posts on verandas and patios offer vertical support, as do internal fences that separate parts of the garden.

    Arches should have restrained climbers, rather than ones that will need continual cutting back, while arbours can have stronger growing varieties. Beware of climbers that have a rampant growth habit or your garden will lose definition.

    Filling spaces

    Plants that fill spaces in the garden also have an important role to play. They may reinforce or highlight a particular colour scene, clothe bare stems of plants, or cover soil.

    “See-through” plants help define and create spaces in a garden. These plants are so airy and spacious that they don’t cast heavy shadows and so introduce subtle depth in a border; so sheer that other plants in the back-ground are visible through them.

    Short-lived shrubs such as lavenders and daisy bushes are useful for filling spaces in a newly planted garden while waiting for permanent plants to grow.

    Disposable fillers are those that cover temporary spaces among permanent plantings of perennials and shrubs. These usually consist of annuals that can be relied on to compliment a particular colour scheme or to provide seasonal interest.

    The potential of vegetables as temporary fillers in the flower garden is often overlooked. Use plain or frilly leafed lettuce in shades of green and red to fill gaps in the front of a border. Cabbages can also be used as temporary fillers in a flower border.

    Plant red-purple cabbages in a red border or with grey foliage plants. Blue-green cabbages introduce a contrast in form and texture, especially attractive when used in a white colour scheme of iceberg roses, dianthus and nutmeg geraniums.

     

    GENERAL GARDENING TIPS

    * In cold gardens, finish watering by mid-morning so plants can dry out and the soil can warm up before nightfall.

    * For a bright display of indigenous spring flowers, sow African daisy, orange venidium, nemesia and mauve wild cineraria (Senecio elegans) seeds. Plant in their permanent position, in full sun, and in ordinary garden soil.

    * Plant a wide border of pansies along paths, in bold groups in the front of borders, and in containers. You have a choice of single colours, pastel or rich shades. Remove fallen leaves around the young plants as they prevent air, light and water from reaching them. Combine pansies of brilliant orange and black for a dramatic colour scheme.

    * Do you grow plectranthus to add shades of pink, mauve and purple in your autumn garden? They provide a long-lasting display in autumn on low-growing, medium and tall shrubs in light shade. Another worthwhile autumn-flowering shrub that can take more sun is the lilac-flowered ribbon bush (Hypoestes aristata). – Saturday Star

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    Green Space | Improve your garden’s design – The Courier

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    OK, Derby is now over and you can get back to a more reasonable pace of gardening. There’s no Derby party deadline to keep you yanking weeds and jamming plants in the ground until well after dark.

    You can take your time and do some gardening that will have long-term impact on the yard. It is in this spirit of the post-Derby gardener that we offer our top tips for improving the design of your garden.

    Design, don’t collect! This is a tough one for those of us who suffer from the collector’s disease. It is an easy affliction to self-diagnose. If you are one who peruses plant catalogs, ordering one of everything even though you know you have no space for them, you’ve been infected.

    We’re sorry, but you’ll have to find an uninfected friend to arrange a horticultural intervention. If you can’t manage that, we suggest you forget calling your place a garden and just refer to it as a nursery. It’ll reduce everyone’s stress in the long run.

    Shape the lawn rather than the bed. This tip comes from one of our great garden-designer friends in New England, Gordon Hayward. He suggests starting your garden layout by shaping the lawn and allowing everything outside the lawn to become planting bed. You’ll be amazed how much easier this makes the design process.

    Plant in drifts. One of the biggest mistakes made by most novice garden makers is to buy one of everything they like and then figure out how to arrange them in a pleasant presentation.

    Rather than one each of 30 different perennials, try 10 each of three compatible varieties. This allows you to weave masses to provide some movement and continuity in the garden.

    Pick a stunning focal point. If your garden is an unending series of blended masses, that’s certainly better than a polka-dotted nursery planting, but it can still lack pizazz. To add some sparkle, pick out a couple of primary views across the garden (outside a prime window, at the end of a path, etc.) and drop in a focal element.

    Long views work best when they terminate in something that grabs your attention. The element can be a stunning container planting, a small tree with standout character or, even better, a nicely placed piece of garden sculpture.

    Focal points, if they are to have the most impact, are best backed up by a simple planting; large groundcover bed, plain green hedge, even a plain fence. The key is to use the background to make the key element jump out. If the setting competes too much with the feature, you end up with a mess.

    When placing artwork in the garden, be sure to account for the changing sun angles and shade patterns and how they’ll change the look of the piece.

    Step out of your comfort zone and plant things you’d never consider in the past. Edge a perennial bed with an herb (the triple cut form of parsley makes a great edge). Plant a summer-blooming vine to scramble over a spring-blooming shrub. Dwarf conifers in bright ceramic containers make excellent garden accents that can be overwintered in the garage.

    The possibilities are endless, especially if you avoid a few of the plant zealot admonitions: “Woodies are weeds” or one with a long history … “friends don’t let friends plant perennials!” Like most sound bites, they might get a quick chuckle but don’t do anybody any good.

    The bottom line is that improving your garden design isn’t rocket science. Follow a few basics, make a bold statement or two and, above all, make the garden your own.

    Happy (post-Derby) gardening!

    Yew Dell Botanical Gardens is at 6220 Old La Grange Road, Crestwood, Ky. Information: www.yewdellgardens.org.

    COMMONWEALTH BANK AND TRUST GARDEN SCULPTURE SHOW

    Featuring Louisville sculptor Ed Hamilton

    What: 24 regional sculptors showing more than 60 garden pieces during the two-month show and sale.

    When: Show, May 17-Aug. 3, during regular garden hours; opening reception, 5:30-8 p.m. Friday, 5/16

    Where: Yew Dell Botanical Gardens, 6220 Old La Grange Road, Crestwood, Ky.

    Cost: Reception, $25 members; $35 nonmembers (reception tickets available at www.yewdellgardens.org). Sculpture show free with paid admission to gardens — adults $7, seniors $5, children under 12 free, active military free, members free.

    Information: (502) 241-4788; www.yewdellgardens.org