It is possible to have it all if you are willing to invest some time, imagination and a little work to make it happen.

I have avoided spending a lot of money by making that investment in my own landscape, and I use the term loosely. It is a work in progress. That progress is slow and sometimes I am the only one who sees it. I do have a vision, but it might be closer to becoming reality if I also had an overall plan. On paper. You can benefit from my mistake.

Have a plan

Hundreds of websites offer pictures, drawings and adaptable plans for landscape-it-yourselfers.

These can be downloaded for free and include quick tips and detailed instructions for plant and tree selection and placement and such features as rain gardens, rock gardens, fountains, ponds, paths, arbors, seating, wildlife habitats and seasonal color.

And they offer solutions to problems such as how to hide but not obstruct unsightly air conditioners, cable and utility boxes and trash receptacles.

Inspiration is free. As you work on your plan, be open to ideas from all directions. Clip or copy and collect photos of landscapes you like from books and magazines.

Choose the ones you like best and that can be adapted to your landscape.

If you see a home landscape you like, ask the owner if you can photograph it for your idea collection. Chances are he or she will be flattered and may provide helpful details. With an actual plan, you can complete portions of your landscape as time and money allow without losing sight of your goal.

Starting with the front yard or entryway provides immediate curb appeal and gives those plants a head start to maturity. Starting in the back yard or less-seen areas gives you a chance to “practice” and perhaps fine-tune your plan for the more visible areas.

Either way, having a plan for your entire landscape and completing it in sections results in a feeling of accomplishment, visual satisfaction and a preview of what the completed project can be.

A good place to start is at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/mg086, where you can download explanations of landscape principles and drawings of plans. Other helpful resources are listed in a box accompanying this article.

Used is good

Regardless of how simple your landscape plan may be, you will need tools. You can sometimes find name brands at house and garage sales and thrift stores for a fraction of what they cost new, yet the quality is still there.

Chipped and cracked secondhand pots and planters already have that aged look that people actually pay money for. Thanks to textured paints that cover any surface, you can change the look of an inexpensive pot or planter to reflect your own style in landscape, garden, entryway, patio or lanai. Two manufacturers of such paints are Krylon and Rustoleum. Shop for planters with an open mind: old cookware, storage bins, toy wagons, coffee pots, old sinks, end tables and even work boots become landscape features when filled with plants. An option which costs nothing is to trade planters (with or without plants) with a friend who is re-decorating or just wants a different look.

Sometimes you can find tiles and stones, benches, edging and sculptures at architectural thrift stores.

Savings in numbers

Coordinating with friends and neighbors enables you to purchase plants, stones, soil, mulch and compost in bulk and split delivery charges. You can do the same with equipment rentals. And you can save on shipping costs by combining online or mail orders with friends.

Mulch and compost

It makes no sense (or cents) to rake leaves, put them in bags for curbside pick-up and then go out and buy mulch. Mother Nature provides those leaves at just the right time of year for mulching your garden. Doing so saves in a number of ways: 1) You don’t have to buy mulch, 2) because mulch retains soil moisture, you won’t have to water as often, 3) as they decompose, leaves feed your plants, thus reducing the need for fertilizer and 4) because mulch retains soil warmth, your plants stand a better chance of surviving cold temperatures.

If for some reason you don’t want to mulch with leaves or you have more than you can use, compost them or offer them to your treeless neighbors.

Some tree services offer free mulch. I got a whole yard full when we had a tree cut down, but I noticed a sign on the company’s truck that said “Ask about free mulch.”

One caution: If poison ivy was growing on any of the trees, the irritating oils may still be viable in the mulch.

One reason for using mulch is to prevent weeds from competing with your plants for food and moisture. Putting a porous barrier under the mulch further discourages weeds and those that manage to go to seed can be easily pulled out. I used black garden fabric designed for this purpose. It did discourage weeds, but when I reworked the garden, I found myself digging up pieces of the fabric, which would have to be replaced.

Now I use 12 or so layers of newspaper under the mulch. Not only is it free, it provides an environment that earthworms love and enriches the soil as it decomposes. Watering the newspaper as you put it down keeps it from blowing away.

For specimen plants in the yard, I have made collars from flattened corrugated cardboard boxes and covered them with mulch. Besides making weeding easy, the mulch and cardboard provide a buffer from weed-eaters and mowers. Termites are partial to wet cardboard, so you should avoid using it next to your house.

You can save money by composting. Instructions are available from county extension offices and online as well as in an article I wrote at http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20120405/ARTICLE/120409795.

Extension offices also make mulch and compost available to gardeners who provide their own containers and transportation.

Saving with seeds

It takes a little longer, but starting plants from seeds can save you money and allow you to have varieties that your nursery doesn’t have growing. Flower seeds sown directly into the ground will save you the cost of potting soil and peat pots and save you the time and work of transplanting seedlings later.

Grass seed offers considerable savings over sod; however, it may take a while to get that lush lawn you want. You could still save by sodding the most visible areas of your yard and seeding the others.

Save on plants

Besides buying in bulk, you can save by buying plants at garage, estate and rummage sales and sometimes thrift stores. They may not be as picturesque as those in the nursery or garden center, but as long as they are insect- and disease-free, they should respond to a little TLC. Guidelines for determining plants’ viability and nursing them back to health are at www.gardeningknowhow.com/problems/how-to-tell-if-a-plant-is-dead-and-how-to-recover-an-almost-dead-plant.htm.

Look around at house and garage sales for interesting plants in the landscape. Ask the owner if you can buy a clipping. You never know when the opportunity might arise, so keep pruners, a plastic bag, paper towels and a bottle of water in your car for such occasions.

Master Gardener and community garden sales and farmers markets are good sources of reasonably priced rare and popular plants that in many cases have been nurtured by the folks who are selling them. Organize a plant exchange in your neighborhood or where you work. You will get plants appropriate for your area and advice from whomever raised them.

Close-out and clearance sales at nurseries and garden centers offer good value. Do your research to be sure the plant you are about to purchase will do well where you want it. Ask about guarantees on relatively expensive plants.

Perennials, because they don’t have to be replanted every year, tend to be more expensive than annuals, which provide almost instant color but do have to be replanted. Interspersing annuals seeds or plants in your landscape will fill it with color and greenery while the perennials mature. Consider buying perennials that can be propagated from clippings or root cuttings.

You may not want to wait for a small tree to grow enough to fulfill your vision. Money paid for a mature tree buys a unifying focal point, shade, color, wind resistance, privacy, a sound barrier and a sense of stability. You may find this article helpful in choosing the right tree for your landscape: heraldtribune.com/article/20120510/ARTICLE/120519954. Then compare nurseries that will deliver and install your tree and offer a warranty.

Saving on water

Besides mulching well, you can save on water by choosing native and drought-tolerant plants, and planting those with similar irrigation needs together. Water early in the day and at root level.

Rain barrels are a great way to save on water. Not only is the water free, it doesn’t have the chemicals of treated water. Extension offices have the rain barrels, brochures and classes to help you get started.

Special features

What’s a landscape without a path or a place to sit? These special use areas can be one of your biggest or smallest landscaping expenses. Here are tips for keeping them at the low end.

I have never done this, but several websites suggested visiting construction sites and asking for rejected stones, blocks, bricks and pieces of broken concrete to set in sand or mulch to create a path or patio.

Wood chips, pine needles and shredded leaves also make good paths and clearings for benches from which to enjoy your new landscape.

Besides the time, imagination and effort mentioned at the top of this article, you will need patience. Plants take time to grow and fill in the blank spaces, but once they are in place, you can enjoy watching the process, knowing that every day brings your landscape closer to your vision.

 

Residents living near Sawmill Pond (in the Davisville area of town, extending down toward Ten Rod Road) may be eligible for free landscaping of sorts.

As part of the Sawmill Pond Restoration Project, homeowners in the area are eligible for a free, grant-funded rain garden to be designed and installed right on their property. 

A rain garden is a subtle depression in the landscape, filled with native plants. These gardens help collect and filter stormwater, preventing it from polluting local streams, ponds (like Sawmill Pond) and lakes. They can also prevent flooding on properties. 

Those who are interested or would like more information are invited to attend an information session tonight (Wednesday, Nov. 14) at Davisville Elementary School (50 East Court) at 7 p.m. 

The following streets are either completely in or partially in the Sawmill Pond Watershed. If you have a home or business on one of these streets, you could be eligible for the free rain garden.

• Abby Lane
• Alison Court
• Amy Lane
• Brookside Drive
• Caddy Rock Road
• Clearwater Drive
• Crest Drive
• Edgewood Drive
• Ewing Road
• Grant Drive
• Harrington Road
• Hornet Road
• Iron Horse Terrace
• King Phillip Circle
• Lake Drive
• Lydia Road
• Midway Drive
• Misty Meadows Lane
• New Lexington Road
• Nichols Road
• Oak Tree Drive
• Old Baptist Road (portions)
• Parkside Way
• Pat Circle
• Pebble Road
• Pilgrim Drive
• Sachem Road
• South Road (portions)
• School Street (portions)
• West Court
• West Davisville Road
• Yorktown Road (portions)

The following are “significant size, non-residential properties” that are also within the watershed:

• Wickford Junction Plaza
• West Davisville Road industrial/commercial complex
• Stony Lane Elementary School
• Davisville Elementary School
• Ocean State Soccer
• Calvary Chapel Greenmeadow

In the past two years, the Town of North Kingstown began three $625,000 projects to reduce pollution and sediment that enters the nine-acre pond. 

According to a 2005 report by Patty Gambarini of the Southern Rhode Island Conservation District, Sandhill Brook was dammed to create Sawmill Pond early in Colonial days and last used to power industry before the Civil War. Over the years its 65-foot-wide dam has been reduced to about one foot in height, and sediment has filled the impoundment to the point that it resembles a marsh more than a pond – which feeds into the Hunt River.

Studies of sediment in the brook indicate that “average bacterial levels exceeding those of other Hunt tributaries in 2007 through 2009 by a factor of five, all indicating impairment.”

Learn more about the town’s projects for Sawmill Pond here.

Photo by Tim Johnson

A visual treat for humans, maples and other deciduous trees provide vital food for the soil: without them, the landscape would be barren.

When the deciduous forest sheds its leaves, it becomes an annual rite for me to praise the biomass it yields, give it a little eulogy. Indeed, cause for Thanksgiving, although it is hardly ever remarked upon within that context. For this annual leaf drop, along with the trees themselves that bore the leaves, is the source of our soils and the fact that we can live here in New England. I celebrate the Leaf Harvest.

Those who visit the central New England mountains are familiar with the granite that underlies that landscape, and much of New England. Most of New England would be as bald and adamantine as the knob of Mt. Monadnock without the gift of thousands of years of debris shed by our forests. The deciduous forest fueled this transformation and gives us the means to live and survive here, assisted by myriad creatures, insects, fungi, bacteria, and the elements.

It is inconceivable that we should fail to nurture and respect this soil in which we are rooted. Each autumn, as an infinity of leaves drifts down and blankets land and gardens, we can celebrate and renew our appreciation of what it means, what this biomass has done, in creating a habitable place for us. All life and wealth comes from the ecology of this earth we live on. Praise it and be thankful.

Storm debris and leaf piles

When we compost, we are adding humus to our gardens and sequestering carbon. Folks, it is not rocket science, but it is a great thing! In the aftermath of the two recent storms, many, many truckloads of debris have been delivered to the landfills. It is a shame. In the shorthand of composting, this is all “brown” (or “c” for carbon) matter. It is used to balance out the “green,” (or “n” for nitrogen) material when composting.

The twigs, branchlets, and bark that can be raked up are as equally valuable as leaves in a leaf pile or compost heap. Although containment is not necessary, a fence does make it possible to pile debris higher. But even a shapeless leaf dump in a back corner of the yard works, and, plus, becomes a playground feature for children.

A related word about debris concerns storm damage and windfall limbs. There are certain trees that have no place in Island plantings, where wind is always a factor. ‘Bradford’ Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana ‘Bradford’) was originally welcomed as a solution to landscaping streetscapes that included spring bloom and fall color. What was unknown then, but all too apparent now, is that with age the tree’s habit makes splitting dangerously inevitable.

The same may be said for silver maple (Acer saccharinum, not to be confused with A. saccharum, sugar maple): with age the tree becomes a liability. Silver maple transplants well and grows fast, accounting for its popularity. However, due to that fast growth the wood is weak and is easily damaged by snow, ice and wind

Ornamental grasses

During the two storms many tall ornamental grasses were flattened or partially smashed. Having clumps broken over is disappointing, as now is their time to star in gardens. In most if not all cases, they will not return upright. Might as well cut them back now: one less task to do come spring. When a neat job is made of it, the clump still has a presence in the planting.

Montauk daisies

At my house I am conducting a small experiment with Montauk daisies (Nipponanthemum nipponicum). As a sub-shrub here in zone 7a, normally they are left over winter, and pruned back hard in spring. Sub-shrubs receive some winter protection from their old wood during those extreme temperature fluctuations the Island sometimes experiences.

Sub-shrubs are a “neither/nor” group: plants that fall somewhere between herbaceous perennials and woody shrubs, such as mophead hydrangeas, caryopteris, potentilla, and buddleia. Farther south, however, many, including Montauk daisies, are cut back to about ten inches in fall, and then cut even harder in early spring. We may be heading for a climate resembling that of the Chesapeake area, the rationale for what I am trying out this winter.

Garlic planting

I plan to plant garlic tomorrow. I did some prep on the bed-to-be a while back: compost and Pro-Gro spread and broad-forked in. The expected crop of seedling chickweed duly appeared, which I cultivated off with the push-pull hoe. Now my cloves will go in, approximately six inches apart and two or three inches deep. It would seem self-explanatory, but maybe not, that the cloves go straight in, thick end down and pointed end up. The rows are close together but with enough access to go through for weeding — about 12 inches.

Soup from the garden

Now that the winter squash/pumpkin crop is in and stored (first cured by leaving in a warm place from several days to two weeks) it is time to enjoy it. The following recipe is adapted from “Wise Traditions,” Spring 2012 edition.

Butternut Tomato Soup

6 Tsb. butter

2 large onions, coarsely chopped

2 celery sticks, coarsely chopped

2 quarts diced or chopped tomatoes*, or equivalent amount of fresh or cans

1 medium butternut, peeled, seeded, and chopped

1.25 cup stock or water

4 oz. cream or whole milk

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 fresh or frozen orange peppers, chopped

salt, pepper, thyme to taste

* or substitute 3 qts. Garden Special for veg except butternut

Melt in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook onions and celery for five minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened. Stir in the tomatoes, squash, and stock: bring just to boil. Reduce heat for about half an hour, until the squash is tender. Allow soup to cool and purée until smooth. Gently re-heat, stirring in the cream and Parmesan cheese until just simmering. Remove from heat and season to taste.

The BBC series Ground Force, that aired between 1997 and 2005, hosted by Alan
Titchmarsh, Charlie Dimmock and Diarmuid Gavin, was the original gardening
‘makeover’ series.

Chelsea Flower Show has also seen a resurgence in the fashion for large trees
and shrubs in recent years, many imported from abroad.

Patrick Courtown, who used to run a landscaping business, said imports are
more likely to bring disease.

“There have been diseases that were thought to have originated from nurseries
in Holland that have hit shrub and trees.”

The most recent disease, ash dieback, is now on 155 sites around Britain. The
disease was imported from abroad on young saplings and could also have blown
over in the wind.

The Earl said the UK should be growing more of our own trees, especially
native trees like ash that are so easy to grow.

He also called for clearer labelling so that gardeners can be sure of where
trees were grown.

“If we look at our own home-grown it would stop the reliance on imports and we
might have fewer diseases.”

PLANT CITY —

Dwain Miller and Mark Headley love spending time in the yard and caring for their plants at their Cason Road home.

They also love showing off their handiwork on a tour sponsored by the Plant City Garden Club.

“We’ve been on the tour two or three times,” Miller said, as Headley fielded questions.

The Garden Club hosts the tour every few years to show off local gardens and foster a love for gardening.

“Everything we heard from the homeowners and the people who took the tour was very positive,” club member and past president Cassandra Banning said. “All the gardens on the tour were so different and I think everyone enjoyed that.”

Headley and Miller’s home is landscaped with daylilies, bromeliads, orchids and other plants they nurture in a labor of love.

About 80 to 90 people took the Nov. 10 tour, which included stops at five homes in and around Plant City. The money generated by the $10 fee went to such causes as gardening programs at Jackson and Robinson elementary schools.

Autumn can be the sweetest of icings atop the gardening seasons here in Baldwin County.

Long after that last luscious lily has faded, fall bloomers like camellias and Rose of Sharon and plants with electric foliage, such as fall-hued crotons, peek out from the shadows and take center stage.

In self-taught gardener Janice Hillman’s lovely Spanish Fort landscape, the seasons lend themselves graciously to her gardening visions, and every season becomes a showy backdrop for her gardening talent.

This Kansas City, Mo. native retired from a long 34-year career with ATT, and with her son Ryan already living in Daphne, she chose this lovely area to create her retirement paradise.

“I love the variety of flowers and plants I can grow here,” Janice says. “I have always loved the South and have considered myself a southerner for quite a while.”

Janice first learned how to enjoy gardening and how to grow tomatoes from her mother during her childhood in Missouri.

Since then, she has enhanced her gardening knowledge by growing in many types of climates and conditions — from living on a farm on the Texas plains, where she learned to successfully grow vegetables, to nurturing tropical gardens in San Antonio, Texas.

“During our first year in San Antonio, it snowed 12 inches when it hadn’t snowed there in 100 years,” Janice shares with a smile.

Later, as she established homes in different locations, Janice began to view gardening as decorating, and through designing poolside gardens and starting eclectic plant collections, she began her love of decorative gardening.

“I loved creating and landscaping a decorative water pond on a river at one of my homes,” she shares.

This adventurous gardener once lived on her own 65-foot sailboat for several years in the Bahamas,and later, on the Dog River in Mobile, where she enjoyed growing herbs near the dock.

Successful garden design requires learning certain skills, whether through a curriculum or through life experiences, as Janice has done, but in the end, a garden’s beauty is in the eye of the beholder and needs please no one except the gardener herself.

“When I bought this house four years ago, there were no grass or plants at all here,” Janice explains. “I started with a blank slate, and since I love a variety of plants and love to experiment with plantings, I have had fun choosing the colors of my palette and putting them all together in a way that pleases me. I choose colors and try to create a portrait around my house.”

Through her eye-catching creativity, Janice has not only pleased herself with her garden, but her neighbors, as well. On neighborhood walks, friends gaze on with wonder at her colorful garden beds and container plantings, and they often compliment her talent.

Janice began a helpful gardening habit by taking before and after pictures at her various homes, comparing the gardens and enjoying the visual representation of the changes she creates. In addition to learning with her hands in the soil, Janice reads gardening books, roams garage sales and garden centers looking for ideas and asks questions of other gardeners.

In addition to choosing and planting thriving and charming beds, Janice “does it all” concerning home projects.

“I have ripped out an old hot tub at this house, put up a wooden fence with my son’s help, mow the sizable lawn, fertilize my plants, trim trees and shrubs, have made my own rainwater collectors to help water my garden in addition to choosing my plants,” she shares. “It is a full time job taking care of all that.”

Every garden needs a focal point, and large, dramatic plants can provide this, often getting larger and showier every year. Focal point plants in Janice’s garden include tall potted cordylines, which she loves, near her entranceway onto the welcoming screen porch.

Janice has two bedding areas in the sun, which she uses as a test garden to determine optimum growing conditions. She likes to choose plants that encourage visiting butterflies and hummingbirds to stop and stay awhile. She also grows vegetables — pole beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and a blueberry bush — which “provides enough blueberries for my cereal,” she says.

Janice is a trial and error gardener, planting and replanting until she gets it right.

“I don’t know what I would do if I ever get it perfect,” she shares.

Perfection is not what gardening is about for Janice and most gardeners. In her case, it is about the fun of discovering colorful plant combinations that work to enhance the structure of her home. It is about creating that soothing spot to savor the peacefulness of the dawning or the ending of the days that grace each season. It is about, in Janice’s words, “the peacefulness, the solitude and the creativity that gardening provides.”

It is about starting with nothing except the soil and enhancing it with the beauty of carefully chosen blooms and gifts from family and neighbors to create, with God, a garden that is a gift to all who view it.

“To me, working in the garden is heaven,” Janice explains. “It puts me in touch with the importance of the whole process. A garden is a life of its own — it brings forth new life and it buries life in its time.”

Janice Hillman toils and sows and reaps in her garden with joy and wisdom, and so shares the gracious beauty of life with us all.

 

While new house starts may have struggled over the past few years, homes of a different kind of build are thriving.

The residents of these much smaller dwellings are quite petite and require a bit of shimmery dust to embellish their homes. To have a peek at these homes, a trip to Natureworks, an organic gardening and landscaping business, in Northford is a must.

Diane St. John, an organic master gardener from Durham, is one of Naturework’s head fairies. While she designs and fills beautiful full-size gardens year-round, she has the greatest enthusiasm for the tiny spaces perfectly crafted by kids of all ages.

As she moves miniature garden furniture about in one of her recent creations, she explains that this type of gardening is a truly effective way to associate children with nature. She suggest, “kids just get it instinctively. By creating these homes, children learn how to connect their personal vision to the natural world.”

The whimsical nature of the gardens create endless possibilities for creativity. They can be decorated with each season and the holidays in mind. But first, there are some important things to consider to keep the fairies happy. Like any good home, it requires “good bones.”

St. John highly recommends using recycled containers such as old tables, broken pots or crates to start with. Any planters should have small holes in the bottom for decent drainage or use chicken wire to help support the home’s weight. Pebbles and aquarium carbon help with soil drainage. 

Next, it’s important to decide if your fairies will live in a tropical, a New England style or desert type of environment. Mixing environments can lead to over or under watering and stress the plants. Once this is done, the fun truly begins as one chooses from a myriad of miniature house plants, mini evergreens, low growing grasses and moss. St. John adds that succulents are also great plants because they tend to stay low to the ground. Lavender scented thyme is another great choice. 

As the fairies move into their new home, some pixie dust and a good spell is a must. The kids “love adding rocks and natural things like tree bark. They also love to use milk weed for making beds and boats to add to their fairy homes”.

St. John worked closely with Naturework’s other head fairy, Kassandra Moss of Durham to create a fall program at Natureworks aimed at introducing kids of all ages to building fairy homes. St. John remembers, “Each kid went home with their own fun creations, but the best part by far were the natural things they found in their own yards that helped contribute to a larger fairy house that would remain here at Natureworks.” 

There is no need to put off your fairy home till spring, Natureworks stocks almost everything (except your imagination) needed to get this project started by the holidays. Natureworks is located off Route 17, on Route 22 in Northford. The store closes December 23 and reopens on the first day of spring.

For more information, visit www.naturework.com 

Posted on | November 12, 2012 | Comments

Interested in growing healthy plants that save water and reduce the use of pesticides and fertilizer? Want to grow food instead of a lawn?

Learn more about water-wise landscapes, composting, recycling green materials, reducing the need for pesticides and promoting friendly wildlife and butterflies at free workshops on Saturday, Nov. 17.

A sustainable landscaping workshop runs from 9 a.m. to noon, and one on edible landscaping follows from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

The University of California-sponsored events will be held in two locations: the Sam J. Racadio Library Environmental Learning Center, 7863 Central Ave., Highland; and the Frontier Project, 10435 Ashford St, Rancho Cucamonga.

Reserve a spot by Nov. 15 by contacting Janet Hartin at jshartin@ucdavis.edu or 951-313-2023.

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By AMANDA COPLIN

While writing my novel “The Orchardist,” I wanted to adequately render the landscape—the orchard country of central Washington state—in all its physical glory, as well as to portray how landscape can mirror characters’ inner lives.

Again and again I consulted the masters to figure out how they succeeded. Great landscape writers create a world that appeals immediately to the senses, especially to sight: not only the color and shape of objects but their weight and texture, their relationship to air and light. No one does this better, I think, than Virginia Woolf.

In her early short story “Kew Gardens,” she writes: “From the oval-shaped flower-bed there rose perhaps a hundred stalks…unfurling at the tip red or blue or yellow petals marked with spots of color raised upon the surface; and from the red, blue or yellow gloom of the throat emerged a straight bar, rough with gold dust.”

This satisfies our craving for specificity and informs us indirectly on the landscape. What’s the weather like? Sunny, most likely, since there’s the contrast of light implied by the “gloom of the [flower’s] throat.” Woolf’s intimate detail about one object extrapolates a world.

Style also distinguishes a landscape writer. William Faulkner and Cormac McCarthy treat physical detail in a way that verges on the rhapsodic, overlaid with mythic tones.

In his famous long story “The Bear,” Faulkner writes of Mississippi: “The rich deep black alluvial soil which would grow cotton taller than the head of a man on a horse, already one jungle one brake one impassable density of brier and cane and vine interlocking the soar of gum and cypress and hickory and pinoak and ash.” The rhythm of the sentence created by the strange punctuation and language mimics the reader’s own heartbeat, her own primal nature.

Finally, a landscape master can show how the exterior environment affects human interiority. In “Voss,” Australian novelist Patrick White tells about a megalomaniac explorer. The conventional style of the opening quickly alters as Voss travels deeper into the desert. In the more severe landscape, his soul opens up, and the novel’s structure, language and associations become more confused and wild.

Starving, Voss hallucinates a reunion with his fiancée: “So persuasive was the air which flowed into and over their bodies, they dismounted to pick the lilies that were growing there. They were the prayers, she said, which she had let fall during the outward journey to his coronation… She advised him to sample these nourishing blooms.”

Intangible prayers have become tangible lilies. Mr. White excels at such inversions—when landscape not only influences people but also becomes the mirror of man’s psyche, blinding in its mystery and terror.

So I tried to depict the landscape in “The Orchardist” as a haven for two distressed runaway teenage sisters who come into the orchard of the main character—William Talmadge—early in the book. They refuse to leave, touring the homestead, watching Talmadge from afar but never approaching him.

The orchard becomes their solace: “There was an apricot tree in the orchard that was perfect for stepping up into. Once one of the girls did this, a curved branch invited another step up, and a branch above that dipped slightly in the middle, inviting a hand to grip it for leverage… There was a type of heat and light that was direct and overhead and bleached the orchard of color. The orchard at noon on the hottest days. And then there were mornings when the air was blue and soft, and the leaves of the trees looked like velvet.”

In writing about the exterior, you describe the interior. Characters move through the world but also through their own bodies and minds, their own souls. Every leaf and cloud and ant becomes significant.

—Ms. Coplin’s “The Orchardist” was published in August.

More than 30 people attended the Flagler County Extension Services’ final program of the year Monday to learn the do’s and don’ts of caring for Florida landscape plants during the winter.

“It’s now time to ready our yards for cooler weather,” Louise Leister, water and environmental education program coordinator, told the group. “The care and culture for your landscape is not the same for 12 months of the year here. Even though it feels like the weather is much the same over the year, Flagler County can have some temperature extremes.”

Leister explained that, ideally, plants should go into the winter months with gradually declining temperatures so that they can start to slow down and harden-off for colder weather.

“Nature is telling our plants to slow down now with fewer hours of sunlight and cooler temperatures,” Leister said. “We’re going to be cutting back fertilizer and water and naturally bring them into the dormancy period.”

According to Leister, fertilizing should be finished for the year and, in fact, should have been done by the second week in October. The only exception is specialty palms that have not had their fourth fertilizer treatment. Those, she said, should be fertilized one more time to help them weather the colder months.

She cautioned that this exception does not include native palms such as the Sabal, cabbage palms or Washingtonians.

She recommended that everyone get out and walk their landscape, check the condition of the plants and see what needs to be done.

“If you’re not out in your yard, you don’t know what’s going on,” Leister said. “Now’s the time to go out and look. Now’s a good time to evacuate all weeds from your yard. Make sure your irrigation heads can pop up and water properly.”

Gardeners should make sure there is three to four inches of mulch on landscape beds by adding more or raking existing mulch over bare or thin spots.

“Do not throw mulch over weedy beds,” Leister said. “The very best mulch is pine straw, especially in Flagler County which tends to have alkaline soil. My second favorite is pine bark or pine chips, I like to mix the fines with the large pieces. It covers the bare ground but the big pieces allow for aeration.”

This can also be a good time to prune away dead branches from shrubs and hardwood trees. Leister did not recommend pruning citrus or palm trees at this time and emphasized that when pruning palms at any time, you should only remove completely brown fronds and seed pods.

Leister also recommended checking plants for diseases, insects and nutrient facilities and reminded everyone that they can bring plant samples to the extension office for diagnosis and recommended cures.

“Most important is to keep your landscape and healthy year round,” she said. “Weak and unhealthy plants sustain more damage in cold temperatures.”

How do you get ready for a cold winter night?

“I wake up early and turn the irrigation on and I get everything nice and moist and wet,” Leister said. “Wet mulch absorbs the sunlight and gets real warm, so when the sun goes down it radiates back out and helps moderate the temperature in the bed. Do not turn your irrigation system in the night, you are not a citrus grower. If you have anything that is really tender, cover it up and weigh it down. Do not use plastic, you can buy frost cloth. Do not put out Christmas lights, they generate no heat.”

Finally, Leister said that any freeze damage to plants should not be cut off the plants until March, otherwise tender new growth would be stimulated and another freeze would further damage or kill the plant.

The audience included newcomers to Florida and long-time gardeners, such as Terry Cochran of Palm Coast, a former master gardener.

“I usually come every time they have a program,” Cochran said. “You always learn something. It’s great. You get to talk to people and learn something new.”

Winter gardening tipsRecommended fall gardening chores include:

– plant cool season vegetables, hardy perennials, citrus trees and hardwoods;

– collect seeds from flowers;

– divide grasses;

– plant bulbs;

– put down bone meal on existing bulbs;

– trim and shape junipers;

– turn over garden soil;

– redo planters and edge beds;

– Prepare a spot inside for tender potted plants.