gardens and landscaping | Gardening

Andover couple get rain garden thanks to road project

The Fastner couple of Andover were finally able to build the rain garden they had talked about for years thanks to a road reconstruction project and a local company’s donation.

Ellen Fastner shows Kameron Kytonen, natural resources technician for the city of Andover, the progress of a rain garden of her property that was planted last year during the South Coon Creek Drive road reconstruction project. Fastner is pointing toward common oxeye. Photo by Eric Hagen

When Ellen and Peter Fastner lost a large shade tree to disease, their front yard was looking barren. Now the visible lot at the corner of South Coon Creek Drive and Raven Street has a rain garden that has added some color to a mostly gray and green corridor.

“This spring as everything started to come up, the neighbors have been excited,” Ellen Fastner said.

A lot of people will see this rain garden not only because of the vehicle traffic on this busy city road, but many people run, walk and bike past.

Ellen Fastner noted during a few minute period during the early Monday afternoon (Aug. 12) interview that three people had run by.

She also has seen the Andover High School cross country, track and Nordic ski teams. A school bus stop is nearby, so she sees a lot of younger kids as well.

The amount of foot traffic is why the Fastners wanted the road reconstruction project to take place and they are happy with the results. Ellen Fastner is thrilled that the timing worked out to get the rain garden done as well.

The main purpose of a rain garden is to provide an alternative storm water retention and treatment method. The Fastner property is a the perfect spot for a rain garden because most of Raven Street south of South Coon Creek Drive and a short segment of South Coon Creek Drive itself drains on to the property, according to Ellen Fastner.

Instead of just going to Coon Creek, the water in this area of the project drains to the rain garden, which cleans the water before it infiltrates the ground, according to Kameron Kytonen, natural resources technician for the city of Andover.

“It’s a great opportunity to improve the quality of storm water runoff,” Kytonen said. “It’s a nice break from the norm of conventional turf grass.”

Although Kytonen would love to see rain gardens become more common in Andover’s road reconstruction projects, this was really a perfect scenario for the city and the Fastners.

Ellen Fastner said she and her husband Peter moved into their Andover home in 2003 and had been contemplating a rain garden for quite some time. Peter works for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and is very knowledgeable about water runoff and rain gardens. Ellen loves to garden, so she brought her knowledge of flowers and plants to the table.

When they heard about the city’s plan to reconstruct South Coon Creek Drive from Crosstown to Round Lake boulevards last year, “we thought this was the perfect opportunity” to complete their rain garden project, Ellen Fastner said.

Andover Assistant City Engineer Jason Law and Engineer Technician Jake Knuston led the design of the South Coon Creek Drive drainage plan, which ultimately included this rain garden, Kytonen said.

The city had heard that Mickman Brothers, a Ham Lake landscaping, irrigation and gardening company, had contacted cities expressing interest in donating to a project, Kytonen said.

Ellen said Mickman Brothers donated all plants and flowers and Mariah Mickman, daughter of John Mickman, is the business’ landscape care manager and visited the Fastners to help design the project.

Designing a rain garden is much more than digging a depression in a lawn and planting some flowers. For starters, a curb cut is needed, which was done during the road reconstruction project.

The Fastners have a diagram with dozens of color coded spaces showing different types of plants that will work for areas of the garden. Rocks are required by the entry points to slow down the water and prevent erosion, but plants such as blue flag iris that can handle turbulent water are needed near these areas.

The lowest areas of a rain garden should have high water tolerant plants such as swamp milkweed or turtleheads, Ellen said. Other flowers can fill in the middle areas that get water at a moderate pace, she said.

Kytonen was surprised how fast everything has sprouted since last fall, he said.

Ellen said their neighbors were worried about the contractor digging a hole in their lawn, but the Fastners assured all those concerned that it was part of the plan.

Now plants such as common oxeye, chokeberry bush, coneflowers, marsh marigold and cardinal flower are blooming.

“Next year it will be even more vibrant,” Kytonen said.

Eric Hagen is at
eric.hagen@ecm-inc.com

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See Kylie Kwong work her magic on a range of insects at her Australian Garden …

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Landscaping tour will spotlight enviable yards

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Jim Weiker

The Columbus Dispatch

Sunday August 18, 2013 5:16 AM

Henk and Ruby DeRee’s backyard offers a commanding view of the ninth fairway at Muirfield
Village Golf Club, but all the couple saw between their house and the course last winter was a sea
of mud and mulch.

Working with John Reiner of Oakland Nursery, the DeRees transformed the space into a luxuriant,
serene Japanese retreat, complete with a sand and rock garden, multiple elevations, a fairy garden,
a babbling brook, sculptures and a low-maintenance mix of small evergreens and perennials.

“We wanted something rich and different and relaxing,” Ruby DeRee said. “John suggested
something Japanesque. It was exactly like we wanted; it’s amazing.”

The DeRees’ garden will be among 13 stops Saturday during the Columbus Landscape Association
Outdoor Living and Landscaping Tour.

The tour — the third in four years sponsored by the association — features a cornucopia of
outdoor spaces, including the DeRees’ retreat, a formal European garden in Bexley and a
family-friendly setting with a bocce court in Upper Arlington.

“It’s really different strokes for different folks,” said tour chairman Jason Cromley, one of
the owners of Hidden Creek Landscaping, which created two projects on the tour.

“The idea behind the tour is to try to educate the common homeowner on the types of things
people are doing in their backyards,” he said. “A lot of people don’t know what we do because it’s
hidden behind the homes.”

In addition to 11 recently updated landscapes, the tour features Ohio State University’s
Chadwick Arboretum Learning Gardens and Hope Hollow, the Northwest Side center for relatives
of cancer patients and the beneficiary of the tour proceeds.

For many of the homeowners, the outdoor renovations have transformed the way they use their
home.

“We’re out here all the time,” said Chuck Kegler, whose backyard is on the tour. “It’s an
unusual day we don’t have breakfast out here; and when we don’t, we’ll come out and say, ‘Is this
great or what?’ ”

Kegler and his wife, Twi, worked with Wood Landscape Services to replace two old concrete patios
with a 1,300-square-foot paver patio featuring a 25-foot-long stream that cascades down several
levels to the ground below.

The patio features a gas-fueled fire pit as well as a built-in kitchen counter with a grill,
refrigerator and space for a trash can. More than 100 people have gathered on the patio at one
time, the Keglers said.

The renovated space, coupled with the removal of two large hackberry trees, allows the couple to
take full advantage of the striking view of the Scioto River behind the home.

An Upper Arlington home on the tour also backs up to the Scioto but takes advantage of the view
in a different way. The home sits on a rise overlooking a large field and the trees along the
riverbank.

Behind the home are patios and gardens that provide a variety of spaces and perspectives. A
traditional trellis on the side of the home opens to a bocce court and patio made of Vermont slate.
Behind the home lies the main patio, made of tumbled paver stone and centered on an oval pool
planted with lily pads and grasses and featuring a shooting fountain.

The gardens, with their understated blend of organized plantings, complement the Colonial home
they surround.

And that’s the point, Cromley said.

“You really have to give people a reason to go outside,” he said. “These projects try to give
these people, through the use of different materials and elements, a true extension of the
home.”

jweiker@dispatch.com

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Villa Rica teen could be Georgia’s youngest Master Gardener – Times

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Like most Master Gardeners, Tyler Hemrock of Villa Rica enjoys talking about his vegetable garden and the problems caused by this year’s rainy growing season. He can also answer questions about soils, fertilizers and insects.

But unlike the other 125 or so Carroll County Master Gardeners, Hemrock is only 14 years old, the youngest in the club and probably the youngest Master Gardener in Georgia. That distinction cannot be verified since each club keeps its own records.

“Tyler is a very unique individual,” said Paula Burke, the county’s Extension coordinator, who oversees the Master Gardener program. “Being home-schooled allowed him to attend the morning training sessions. He was already involved as a team leader in the Junior Master Gardeners. If you enjoy helping others and want to volunteer, that’s what Master Gardeners is about.”

While there’s no age limit on being a Master Gardener, Burke said, not many young people have the level of interest or the available time for the 27 weeks of training and 50 hours of volunteer service during the first year’s membership.

“The purpose of the Master Gardener program is to train volunteers to complement, enhance and support the educational efforts of the local UGA Cooperative Extension office,” Burke said. “The training is like a mini-college course.”

Some Master Gardeners do volunteer work at the Extension office, but that work has a minimum age requirement of 18 years. Hemrock has been doing his volunteer work in the community garden and Heritage Day projects.

“As long as I can remember, I’ve always liked gardening, watching things grow,” said Hemrock, who will celebrate his 15th birthday next Sunday. “I’ve read a lot of books on gardening and have a whole shelf of gardening books in my room. My parents have always had a home garden and I’ve taken that over.”

He picked up an interest early from watching his mother, Diane, raise flowers and his father, Michael, work in a vegetable garden. He joined the Junior Master Gardeners, an auxiliary program run by the Master Gardeners, at the age of 9.

“After awhile, I just wanted to know everything they knew,” he said.

The road to becoming a Master Gardener involved filling out applications, an interview and then attending 27 weeks of classes, from January through April. He then had to pass two written tests. After completing the training, he performed his volunteer work and received his Master Gardener certification on June 5.

In addition to his gardening interests, he has been a Boy Scout since age 11 and also likes camping, hunting, fishing and beekeeping. His favorite school subjects are chemistry and literature.

Despite his early interest in gardening, Hemrock said he has no plans to enter agriculture as a profession.

“I’d rather keep it as a hobby,” he said.

His career plans are in dentistry. He plans to take pre-dentistry courses at University of West Georgia and study dentistry at Georgia Regents University College of Dental Medicine, specializing in orthodontics.

As for Hemrock’s garden preferences, he said he likes growing vegetables best because “you can get something to use from them.” His personal home garden includes tomatoes, peppers, okra, peas, zucchini, cucumbers and sweet potatoes.

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Garden gives opportunity for growth to SJ inmates

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STOCKTON – As he combed his hand through the vines, Michael Moore came across a ripe yellow squash and picked it off the stem.

“That one right there is about ready,” Moore, 43, said, explaining the summer harvests of squash, corn and melons.

Varieties of fruits and vegetables spawn in the garden as the seasons change, making it an everyday task for Moore and fellow inmates at the San Joaquin County Jail’s Honor Farm to sow seeds, tend to plants and pick them at maturity.

They do it, in part, knowing their labor benefits hundreds of individuals and families struggling financially.

The horticulture program was started and continues to be run by correctional officers George Lauchland and Scott Thomas. They are sharing their farming and landscaping skills with inmates in hopes they will prove valuable to them, as well as place food on the tables of the county’s neediest.

“We wanted to do something where we could really grow something tangible to give to some of the people in need,” said Lauchland, also a grape grower and president of the San Joaquin County Correctional Officers Association.

What started as a small garden, Lauchland said, has evolved into a full operation in which inmates produce about 500 pounds of fruits and vegetables a day. The goods are donated to food banks and other nonprofit organizations twice a week.

“It means a lot, number one, that they care about us and that they’re thinking about women and children,” said Brenda Castellanos, executive director of Haven of Peace, an emergency shelter in French Camp for women and children.

Fruits and vegetables are commodities the shelter rarely receives but are essential in providing nutritious meals to an average of 40 homeless women and children per day, she said.

“They give us watermelons, cantaloupes, tomatoes, things we don’t usually receive from a food bank or that we can afford to buy,” Castellanos said.

Filed Under: gardens and landscaping

Landscape Blunders to Avoid

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Free Summer Gardening Classes

August 17: Vacation Landscapes, Less Work

August 24: Cutting Time, Work in the Yard

September 7:Fall To-Do List for a Healthy Yard

Spring and Fall . . . the best seasons to be adding to our landscapes. When thinking of altering your home’s landscape, remember the 60% rule. It dictates the perfect balance between plants and the inanimate objects in your yard. It specifies that 60% of an outdoor property should be comprised of living breathing plants. This percentage of plants is an excellent design guide. Too many plants and your home could look like it’s set in a jungle; with too few plants the house will be standing in what’s called the Arizona Lunar Effect.

Without enough plants you risk imitating the Mac-mansion on top of the hill in a horror film; the buildings starkly protrude into the barren landscape, hard and unnatural. This is the cold, dark feeling projected on a neighborhood from a landscape lacking basic foundational plantings and proper tree placement. As landscape plants reach the 60% mark the property’s architectural elements appear more like the warm, inviting home we all long to have.

Experienced gardeners know that great gardens are a process, not a destination, and the wisest gardeners learn from each other’s mistakes. In my many efforts to create the gardens I see in my mind’s eye I’ve had my share of blunders. Here are some avoidable mistakes that you can take from Ken’s gardening school of hard knocks.

Subsoil on top. This is at the top on my list of avoidable landscaping mistakes. I have learned that mountain builders and developers carve off the topsoil from a home’s building site, leaving only the subsoil. As a result, homeowners are left to grow things in soil that is almost impossible to nurture any plant life. This is why I repeatedly write about composted and organic amendments in landscaping and the use of shredded bark as topdressing. You can never replace the topsoil lost, but you can amend planting beds and/or individual plants to create the environment your landscape needs. It is so important to add fresh organic topdressing every year to every garden.

Wrong plant in the wrong place. The previous owner of our home loved holly and had planted holly throughout the yard. The yard is relentlessly hot and sunny, and holly cannot stand up to hot, full sun conditions. Those poor little hollies struggled to survive until I repositioned them in parts of the yard that catered to their needs. BEFORE you plant, know the light, soil, and water conditions your prospective garden additions require. As your landscape changes, and it invariably does, note whether you need to transplant something to a more suitable location or thin it out of the landscape altogether.

Out of proportion. A nearby ranch home in our neighborhood is all but obliterated from view by two gigantic deodar cedars. Years ago, when they were planted in front of the house, they probably started out as cute Christmas trees. Seventy feet later (and 25 feet wide), they allow only the slightest glimpse of the home hiding behind their branches. Don’t plant trees or shrubs in areas where they won’t have room to grow. If necessary, consult with the plant experts at your local garden center. Their expertise is well worth the cost and the extra travel and shopping time.

Too busy. When you’re an enthusiastic gardener, it’s fun to have one of everything. But, planted here and there throughout the garden can result in an unsettling, “too busy” look. Try to congregate your one-of-a-kinds into one area or find a way to pull the look together by repeating some of the same colors and plants in other parts of the landscape.

All the Same. If you want to camouflage a 100-foot length of a neighbor’s chain link fence, there may be a better way than planting red tipped photinia every four feet. Besides being monotonous, too many of the same type of plant sets up a monoculture, which can become susceptible to an invasion of pests. How much more fun to have a selection of viburnums, cotoneaster, silverberry, blackberries, currants, and other flowering and fruiting shrubs that provide multi-season viewing interest and provides varying feed for the birds.

Right now in our landscapes the Arizona Smoke Tree has stolen the show. Its dramatic smoke-like flowers form in clusters that smolder brightly above the prized 12′ tall tree. This dynamic Southwestern plant grows in more colors than most gardeners realize, but they all have the same wispy flowers that hover above the dark royal purple to chartreuse foliage. This truly is a heat lover, but it’s worth planting now for the scarlet leaves that appear in fall. This tree is on my Yavapai Friendly plant list for really tough, low water use plants.

While a picture is worth a 1,000 words when it comes to describing a flower, video is the only way to share the feeling of a garden. With a fancy new pocket video recorder and a quick upload I can record the creative local landscapes that I regularly seem to find. Consequently, every day on my Facebook page, in the section entitled the “30 Second Plant Tip of the Day”, I post one new picture and a different video of local gardens. This week it has plant highlights from the Yavapai College campus. All flower pictures and videos can be viewed at www.facebook.com/watters1815 .

Garden Class – This Saturday’s 9:30 a.m. gardening class is entitled “Cutting Time Work in the Yard”. After this class you no longer will be a slave to your landscape. You’ll take home lots of shortcuts, tips and tricks that can turn any garden project into fast work. An ounce of know-how can prevent hours of work! Best of all, this informative class is fun filled and FREE.

Until next week, I’ll see you in the garden center.

Filed Under: gardens and landscaping

McKinley Park Community Garden Promotes Healthy Lifestyles

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McKinley Park Community Garden.
(The Gate/ Adriana Cardona-Maguigad)

The McKinley Park Community Garden (MPCG) hosted its first garden walk, a tour of the neighborhood gardens owned by local residents.

The garden walk is just one of the many efforts of the McKinley Park Community Garden, a not-for-profit organic garden established last April.

On Saturday Aug. 10, residents saw firsthand the lush vegetation of the garden and the crisp leaves flapping in the wind.

Gardeners young and old visited each plot, curious to see what harvests would be born. Yet the sun’s beams radiated on nature lovers near and far as they relished in the day’s summer beauty.

Besides the MPCG, people were given maps of gardens nearby, where residents opened up their backyards and shared the joys of their personal at-home greeneries. One man even owned a chicken and gave those on the tour fresh, organic eggs.

The garden provides plot land and soil for residents who may not have their own backyards and want to grow crops of their choice at an affordable rate. Community gardeners pay $50 for the entire growing season from May through October.

“We really wanted it to be rooted in community, and not [have] decisions made by just one person,” said Corenna Roozeboom, McKinley Park Community Garden organizer.

MPCG is not exclusive to McKinley Park residents. Gardeners from Pilsen and Back of the Yards have bought plots as well. It serves all Chicago residents, but particularly those living in South Side and West side neighborhoods who want to grow their own food but can’t, Roozeboom said.

Urban gardening is part of a broader agricultural movement in the U.S. that has gained exposure in recent years. “People are becoming more aware of where their food is coming from. They want to eat healthy food without industrial chemicals,” Roozeboom said.

Located at 1900 W. Pershing Rd., the community garden is situated in front of a warehouse. While the warehouse had been abandoned for 50 years, Roozeboom said she still had to negotiate with the property owner over the course of nine months in order to get permission to use the land.

Through persistence, she secured a two year lease agreement with the property owner. She was able to secure a two-year contract. In lieu of paying for the use of the warehouse’s lawn, Roozeboom and local gardeners must maintain the care of the property.

Ten residents form the community garden’s steering committee. The committee helps draft the garden’s bylaws, coordinate outdoor events including the garden walk and monthly volunteer cleanups, as well as workshops on planting, composting and square foot gardening that take place at the local library.

The community garden received strong support at the municipal level. 12th Ward Ald. George Cardenas provided city shovels and landscaping equipment during the construction of the garden, Roozeboom said.

The garden itself is approximately 84 by 284 feet, and the plots themselves are 4 by 8 feet. The rectangular design of the community garden and the close quarters of its plots encourage neighbors to interact side-by-side.

Sixty-three plots will yield a variety of crops, including corn, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, sweet potatoes, beans, beets, cucumber, lettuce and even quinoa, kale and Swiss chard.

The crop yields of two plots will be donated to two local parishes, St. Andrew Lutheran Church and St. Maurice Church.

So far, McKinley Park residents’ response to the community garden has been positive. Blanca Aviles, McKinley Park native and member of Windy City Harvest, has recognized the benefits such a community garden has given to the locals. “Being able to grow your own vegetables offsets supermarket prices and helps people add greens to their diet,” Aviles said.

Roozeboom, along with Aviles and other gardeners, hope to foster McKinley Park’s growing passion for gardening, and even more so the general well-being of the environment. “There’s value in taking care of something together,” she said. “I hope the garden helps people connect with Mother Nature even more so now.”

The McKinley Park Community Garden’s next event is the first Garden Cocktail Soirée, a social evening of flora-infused drinks taking place on Friday Aug. 30 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. The garden is open to the public.

Jardín Comunitario en McKinley Park Promueve Estilos de Vida Saludables

(The Gate/ Adriana Cardona-Maguigad)

El Jardín Comunitario de McKinley Park (MPCG) celebró su primer paseo de jardines, un recorrido por los jardines del vecindario propiedad de los residentes locales.

El paseo de jardines es uno de los muchos esfuerzos del Jardín Comunitario de McKinley Park, un jardín orgánico sin fines de lucro establecido el pasado mes de abril.

El sábado 10 de agosto, residentes vieron de primera mano la exuberante vegetación del jardín y sus frescas hojas ondeando en el viento. Jardineros jóvenes y mayores visitaron cada parcela, con curiosidad por saber cómo nacerían las cosechas. Sin embargo los rayos del sol radiaban sobre los amantes de la naturaleza cerca y lejos mientras disfrutaban de la belleza de verano del día.

Además del MPCG, la gente recibió mapas de los jardines cercanos, donde los residentes abrieron sus patios traseros y compartieron las alegrías de sus propios jardines. Un hombre incluso tenía una gallina y le dio a aquellos en el recorrido huevos frescos, orgánicos.

El jardín provee una parcela y tierra para los residentes que no cuentan con sus propios patios traseros y quieren sembrar las cosechas de su elección a precios asequibles. Los jardineros comunitarios pagan $50 por toda la temporada de siembra de mayo a octubre.

“Realmente queríamos que se basara en la comunidad, y que las decisiones no fueran tomadas por una sola persona”, dijo Corenna Roozeboom, organizadora del Jardín Comunitario de McKinley Park.

MPCG no es exclusivo de los residentes de McKinley Park. Jardineros de Pilsen y Back of the Yards también han comprado parcelas. Sirve a todos los residentes de Chicago, pero particularmente a aquellos que residen en los vecindarios del sur y oeste de la ciudad que deseen cultivar sus propios alimentos pero no pueden, dijo Roozeboom.

La jardinería urbana es parte de un amplio movimiento agricultural en Estados Unidos que ha obtenido exposición en recientes años. “La gente cada vez está más consciente de dónde provienen sus alimentos. Quieren comer alimentos saludables sin químicos industriales”, dijo Roozeboom.

Ubicado al 1900 Oeste Pershing Rd., el jardín comunitario está situado frente a una bodega. Aunque la bodega había estado abandonada por 50 años, Roozeboom dijo que todavía tuvo que negociar con el dueño de la propiedad durante nueve meses para obtener el permiso para utilizar el terreno.

Mediante persistencia, ella pudo asegurar un contrato de arrendamiento de dos años. En lugar de pagar por el uso del césped de la bodega, Roozeboom y jardineros locales deben darle el mantenimiento a la propiedad.

Diez residentes forman el comité directivo del jardín comunitario. El comité ayuda a redactar los estatutos del jardín, coordina eventos al aire libre incluyendo el paseo de los jardines y limpieza con voluntarios, además de talleres de plantación, compostaje y jardinería de pies cuadrados que se lleva a cabo en la biblioteca local.

El jardín comunitario recibió apoyo a nivel comunitario. El Concejal del Distrito 12 George Cardenas le ofreció palas y equipo de jardinería durante la construcción del jardín, dijo Roozeboom.

El jardín mide aproximadamente 84 por 284 pies, y las parcelas miden 4 por 8 pies. El diseño rectangular del jardín comunitario y la cercanía de sus parcelas animan a los vecinos a interactuar de lado a lado.

Sesenta y tres parcelas rendirán una variedad de cultivos, incluyendo maíz, chiles, berenjenas, camote, frijol, betabel, pepino, lechuga e incluso quinoa, col rizada y acelgas.

La producción de dos parcelas será donada a dos parroquias locales, la Iglesia Luterana San Andrés y la Iglesia San Mauricio.

Hasta ahora, la respuesta de los residentes de McKinley Park al jardín comunitario ha sido positiva. Blanca Aviles, originaria de McKinley Park y miembro de Windy City Harvest, ha reconocido los beneficios que dicho jardín comunitario les ha dado a los residentes locales. “Poder cultivar tus propias vegetales compensa los precios de los supermercados y ayuda a la gente a añadir verduras a su dieta”, dijo Aviles.

Roozeboom, junto con Aviles y otros jardineros esperan fomentar la creciente pasión de McKinley Park por la jardinería, y más aún el bienestar general del medio ambiente. “Hay valor en cuidar algo juntos”, dijo. “Espero que el jardín ayude a la gente a conectarse con la madre naturaleza y más ahora”.

El próximo evento del Jardín Comunitario de McKinley Park es su primer tardeada de cocteles en el jardín, una noche social de bebidas infusionadas de flora que se realizará el viernes 30 de agosto de las 6:30 a las 9 p.m. El jardín está abierto al público.

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L.A. Finally Realizes Front-Yard Gardens Are A Good Thing

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If you live in Los Angeles, here’s a good way to fight crime: Read the Bureau of Street Service’s Residential Parkway Landscaping Guidelines, then take to the streets. Regardless of what neighborhood you’re in, you’re bound to find something illegal on almost any block—whether it be near Beverly Hills or near Baldwin Hills.

Until just this week, many of the front-yard vegetable gardens (a rare sight) you might spot while cruising the block for landscape crimes were illegal too.

Rose bushes, towering shrubs, cacti, bougainvillea—if these are planted on the strip of land between the sidewalk and the curb, publically owned land known as a parkway, their presence is almost certainly against the law. According to the guidelines, “non-standard parkway plant materials”—anything other than grass, basically—must be shorter than 36 inches, can’t be noxious or invasive, and should not have “exposed, rigid spines or thorns.”

Despite the rampant presence of residents with a blatant disregard for the landscaping law of the land, no one in Los Angeles seems to care about parkway planting rules until someone puts in a vegetable garden.

Ron Finley—he of the “if you ain’t a gardener, you ain’t gangster” TED talk fame—planted just such a parkway garden in front of his house in South Central L.A. in 2010 and was duly fined by the city the following year. City Council member Herb Wesson, who represents the district where Finley lives, stood by the activist-gardener, vowing to change the restrictions. On Tuesday, two years later, now-City Council President Wesson brought up a measure that would temporarily suspend the parkway garden restrictions. It passed unanimously.

“They’re worried about someone tripping over an eggplant,” Finley said of the city’s initial resistance to changing the rules. “Not tripping over the couches and the bed and the garbage or the condoms. They’re worried about an eggplant. I’m glad we got our priorities straight.”

But it’s not like he’s been in a holding pattern for the past two years, waiting until the city changed its regulations. Just two days before the measure passed, he helped to plant “one of the biggest street, vegetable edible plantings in the city” on parkways in a South Los Angeles neighborhood.

Elsewhere in the city, other gardeners have ignored the restrictions too, including Abbie Zands, who hired the edible landscaping design company Farmscape to install a raised vegetable garden on the parkway in front of his Los Feliz home. He too was fined, as was Finley’s neighbor, Angel Teger, two incidents that led to a renewed round of media coverage, including a column by Steve Lopez in the Los Angeles Times.

“Last time I checked, Los Angeles had 5,000 miles of ruptured sidewalks—some of which look like mountain ranges—caused primarily by invasive roots on unmaintained parkway trees planted by the city,” Lopez wrote at the end of July, suggesting that vegetable gardens on parkways “is the least of our worries.”

While the city finally seems to agree with that sentiment, Farmscape’s Dan Allen points out that the suspension is temporary, designed to give the Bureau of Street Services time to come up with an amended list of approved plants. Allen’s concern is that only nominally edible plants like rosemary and lavender will be added, leaving out the likes of tomatoes and cucumbers and fruit trees. Raised beds may not be approved either.

Finley, however, is dismissive of the “academics” worried about a plant list. “The city doesn’t have enough money to enforce this shit,” he said, imagining how ridiculous a vegetable beat cop policing someone’s garden would sound: “Hey, dude, that’s purple cabbage—you’re supposed to have rhubarb.”

Which is not to say that Finley doesn’t see the City Council’s action as a major victory. ”I think it’s a long time coming. It’s a sign that, possibly, the people who run the city want to change this food injustice, equality injustice, and change the health of certain communities. It’s big.”

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Our Town: Roswell Garden club does more than lunch

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If you’re having a bite in a Roswell restaurant and wind up near a group of women with soil smeared on their shirts and caked on their sneakers, there’s a good chance you’re next to ladies of the Roswell Garden Club. The organization’s 40-plus members pride themselves on being a club that’s not afraid to get down and dirty in the name of community beautification.

“We’re not a lunch garden club; we’re a working garden club,” said Debbie Vann, the current president. “We get out there and work, then we go to lunch looking really dirty.”

The grassroots group has been making Roswell a bit lusher since it was formed in 1951 as an offshoot of the Roswell Women’s Club.

“Some members wanted to do more with floral design and landscaping,” said Vann. “The first project we took one was fixing up the town square. We’ve put up the gazebo and two benches there, and we donate funds for the upkeep. If someone calls and asks us to help with a simple project, we will – and if we take it on, we take care of it.”

The club maintains and supplies the plants for gardens at Barrington Hall and Smith Plantation, two of the city’s historic homes. At Barrington, they restored a neglected boxwood garden, planted a vegetable garden, cleaned up the butterfly and hydrangea gardens and put in a pink garden to honor cancer victims. They also work on landscaping at the Roswell Adult Recreation center and were recently asked by the Visitors Center to take over care of their side garden.

But their energies aren’t restricted just to planting and weeding. On Oct. 12, they’ll sell jams, jellies and baked goods and provide free activities and crafts for kids at Smith Plantation’s Fall Farm Days. They’ll then move onto decorating the Smith house inside and out for the holidays and trimming the official city tree on the square.

Selling homemade goodies and hosting a spring plant sale enable the club to supports its endeavors and to make donations to causes such as Habitat for Humanity and the Ronald McDonald House. But it’s not all hard work; the group has monthly meetings the feature interesting speakers and often head out on garden tours.

“It’s fun!” said Carolyn Herndon, who joined in 2006 after seeing photos of the club in action. “I’ve made a lot of new friends. Anyone can join; no special knowledge, just an interest is required.”

Member Hilary Boyle joined the club a year after moving to Roswell from England in 2005.

“I love it because I have always been an avid gardener,” she said. “As a London native, it’s in my blood.”

The club’s friendship and comraderie were the draw for Vann.

“When I first moved here in 2002, I had quit working, and a neighbor invited me to a meeting,” she said. “It was a great way to get out and make new friends.”

Each Saturday, we shine a spotlight on a local neighborhood, city or community. To suggest a place for us to visit, e-mail H.M. Cauley at hm_cauley@yahoo.com or call 770- 744-3042.

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Landscapes showing more color, special features

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SALISBURY — Landscape contractors, designers and nursery owners congregated in Wilmington last week to discuss and learn trends in landscapes at the Summer Green Road Show.

The show is similar to the Green N Grown Show held in January each year. It’s like a mid-season new car show but features landscape plants and materials. Improved construction materials, stricter environmental regulations and an improving but tight economy make landscaping more challenging than ever. Developments in both the university and private sectors seem to have created a neverending supply of new and interesting plant materials for the landscape. It’s really difficult to predict the future of these new and existing materials, but the industry can look at trends and hopefully come up with some realistic assumptions.

Low maintenance

Nothing new here, but it seems to be more popular now, whether commercial or residential — the most popular trend is low maintenance. One nurseryman lamented that many people don’t want low maintenance, they really want no-maintenance landscapes. Many people want to work in the yard, but not to excess. They want some work, but they want to take time to also enjoy the fruits of their labor. The casual elegance of the gardens is dressed up with more formal planters at the building’s entrance, which is planted with a bright variety of annuals. Many landscapes with a dash of color seems to be popular. Deer-proof plants are in big demand.

Warm season turf

Even though cool season fescue is the turf of choice, warm season grasses such as zoyzia, Bermuda and St. Augustine are gaining in popularity in the Piedmont. Cold tolerance and longer green color in the fall make this turf a viable option. Warm season grasses require less water and are able to survive with low water requirements.

Planters

Pottery, metal containers and statuary continue to make their way into landscapes, filled with non-traditional plant materials such as grasses, small trees and vines. Instant color bowls are becoming rather common at big box stores. Garden benches, lighting fixtures and paving options are adding additional interest to the landscape. New technology allows high-quality materials at a fairly low cost.

Proper planning is important

Basic organization and flow, the layout of the space and the purpose of elements in your plan are a result of well thought-out landscape designs. Developing a viable plan, no matter how small it may be, is very important. Once you have the function in place, then the form can follow with the continued improvement and availability of plant materials.

Darrell Blackwelder is the county Extension director with horticulture responsibilities with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service in Rowan County. Learn more about Cooperative Extension events and activities by calling 704-216-8970 Facebook or online at www.rowanextension.com

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