July 16, 2013

By Jane Garrison

For the first time in many years, we had nice, dry weather in June when the sun was at its highest and the days were the longest of the year. That means we had more early heat, and crops west of the Cascades got a big boost. We can all celebrate by consuming tons of strawberries.

Early, dry weather may be good for crops and farmers, but it could mean stress for some of your garden plants. If your plants look bad, and you wonder if water is the problem, check out the following symptoms:

• Fruits are different sizes
• Stunted plants

• Wilted discolored flowers and leaves.

You can’t tell by looking at just the plant; you have to check the soil. It’s time to water when the top 3 inches to 5 inches of soil are dry. You can buy a probe or just dig down and look.

Shrubs and lawn take different amounts of water. Lawn requires more. The following may help you determine how much water you need for a healthy landscape.

If you live on the hard soils around Issaquah, during drought, water shrubs beds slowly, twice a week until they begin to puddle or run off. Planting beds should be moist to about 2 feet deep.

Lawn is more difficult if you want to keep it green. It needs to be watered to a depth of 6-8 inches each time, which means about 3-4 minutes every day. If you don’t have an automatic system, this is very difficult to do. Rather than drag hoses around every day, just try to deliver about an inch of water per week, and it will probably be able to stay green depending on soil and exposure. Otherwise, brown grass is a good thing for our water supply.

New trees and shrubs need more water than established ones. They need to be watered regularly, because the roots have not spread to take in water from a big area. Basins around new plants help retain the water near the roots, especially on sloped sites or mounds. Watch to see if water soaks in or runs off. Run-off does the plant absolutely no good.

We all need to be aware of the stresses on our water supply and ways to conserve. Consider the following:

Mulch shrub beds to reduce loss of water through evaporation.

Limit lawn areas or allow it to brown.

Use drought-tolerant species or native plants in your landscaping.

Now, go water per the above guidelines and enjoy the rest of the summer. Don’t forget to eat a big bowl of fresh strawberries. They are amazing when they are locally grown.

 

Jane Garrison is a local master gardener and landscape architect. She gardens in glacial till on the plateau.

 

 

Get some help

Visit master gardener clinics on Saturdays between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. at Squak Mountain Nursery and the Issaquah Farmers Market. Bring problems, samples and photos, or just stop by to visit.

 

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Before you comment, please note:

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• Comments should be relevant to the topic at hand and contribute to its discussion.
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July 16, 2013

By Jane Garrison

For the first time in many years, we had nice, dry weather in June when the sun was at its highest and the days were the longest of the year. That means we had more early heat, and crops west of the Cascades got a big boost. We can all celebrate by consuming tons of strawberries.

Early, dry weather may be good for crops and farmers, but it could mean stress for some of your garden plants. If your plants look bad, and you wonder if water is the problem, check out the following symptoms:

• Fruits are different sizes
• Stunted plants

• Wilted discolored flowers and leaves.

You can’t tell by looking at just the plant; you have to check the soil. It’s time to water when the top 3 inches to 5 inches of soil are dry. You can buy a probe or just dig down and look.

Shrubs and lawn take different amounts of water. Lawn requires more. The following may help you determine how much water you need for a healthy landscape.

If you live on the hard soils around Issaquah, during drought, water shrubs beds slowly, twice a week until they begin to puddle or run off. Planting beds should be moist to about 2 feet deep.

Lawn is more difficult if you want to keep it green. It needs to be watered to a depth of 6-8 inches each time, which means about 3-4 minutes every day. If you don’t have an automatic system, this is very difficult to do. Rather than drag hoses around every day, just try to deliver about an inch of water per week, and it will probably be able to stay green depending on soil and exposure. Otherwise, brown grass is a good thing for our water supply.

New trees and shrubs need more water than established ones. They need to be watered regularly, because the roots have not spread to take in water from a big area. Basins around new plants help retain the water near the roots, especially on sloped sites or mounds. Watch to see if water soaks in or runs off. Run-off does the plant absolutely no good.

We all need to be aware of the stresses on our water supply and ways to conserve. Consider the following:

Mulch shrub beds to reduce loss of water through evaporation.

Limit lawn areas or allow it to brown.

Use drought-tolerant species or native plants in your landscaping.

Now, go water per the above guidelines and enjoy the rest of the summer. Don’t forget to eat a big bowl of fresh strawberries. They are amazing when they are locally grown.

 

Jane Garrison is a local master gardener and landscape architect. She gardens in glacial till on the plateau.

 

 

Get some help

Visit master gardener clinics on Saturdays between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. at Squak Mountain Nursery and the Issaquah Farmers Market. Bring problems, samples and photos, or just stop by to visit.

 

Comments

Got something to say?

Before you comment, please note:

• These comments are moderated.
• Comments should be relevant to the topic at hand and contribute to its discussion.
• Personal attacks and/or excessive profanity will not be tolerated and such comments will not be approved.
• This is not your personal chat room or forum, so please stay on topic.

• 
  Bright Colors
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  Custom-Built Shed
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  Yard
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  Hammock
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  Desk

Talk about it

This year’s 24th annual American Association of University Women Garden Tour isn’t just a showcase of flowers and landscaping — it’s also a sharing of art, stories and friendship.

“I’ve always thought of gardeners as being a kind of artist,” said Kelly Krein, who selects the tour’s gardens each year. “Jamestown has some wonderful gardens.”

This year’s tour is from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday. The tour’s hosts are Robert and Sue Carlson at 705 17th St. SE, Harley and Jaci Trefz at 709 17th St. SE, Caryn Claflin at 404 Fourth Ave. SE and Sandy Eckelberg at 229 18th Ave. NE.

During the tour, the hosts will be out in their yards, answering any questions about their gardens as visitors are allowed to explore.

“It’s just a nice evening,” Krein said.

The tour can be educational, she said, and each year she tries to select a variety of gardens so that visitors can get many different ideas.

Meet this year’s Garden Tour hosts:

The Trefzes:

This year is Harley and Jaci Trefz’s third time on the Garden Tour, but it’s their first time showing at their current address, 709 17th St. SE.

“Harley and I are first and foremost artists,” Jaci said. “Some love the colors (of a garden.) We like creating things and making things pretty.”

Their yard, which is on a riverbank, features all perennial flowers, some fruit trees and some garden art pieces, like small fountains.

“This yard is a yard full of perennials,” Jaci said. “The only annuals are in pots.”

She said she and her husband really enjoy birds, and hummingbirds are often attracted to the flowers and fruit trees they have in their yard.

Harley is just finishing building a new storage shed, which will be seen on the tour.

“Harley designs things and he builds thing with a flair,” Jaci said.

The Trefzes have enjoyed their Garden Tour experiences so much that they convinced their neighbors to join the tour this year.

The Carlsons:

Robert and Sue Carlson live next door to the Trefzes at 705 17th St. SE.

“Their yards sort of flow into one another,” Krein said. “It’s fun.”

“(The Trefzes) is kind of a newer yard,” Sue Carlson said, “and ours has sort of evolved.”

She and her husband have made the yard into somewhere that they enjoy spending a lot of time, and they enjoy entertaining guests.

“It’s very unique,” Sue said. “We just find it really peaceful.”

There’s a raised garden in the back of their yard, with some trees, many different flowers and a vegetable garden. They also have a porch with a wood fire oven. They make pizza in the oven using herbs from their garden, Robert said.

The Carlsons have lived in their home for five years now, and their yard is now “getting to that point where we’re really satisfied,” Sue said.

Robert works a lot with the vegetables, and Sue works with the flowers, she said.

“Sue does all the management and planning, I do all the medium-hard work,” Robert joked.

Both Sue and Robert said they’re excited to share their yard on the tour.

“It’s just a nice setting,” Sue said.

Caryn Claflin:

This is Caryn Claflin’s first year on the Garden Tour, and she’s excited to share her garden full of memories and stories.

It’s her second summer living at 404 Fourth Ave. SE, she said.

“Everything in her yard has been repurposed,” Krein said. “She makes things out of nothing.”

And all of the repurposed items have some meaning to Claflin.

“There’s a story to everything in here,” she said.

She’s planted flowers in a desk from her parents, in dishes and in bras to symbolize women in her family who have struggled with breast cancer.

Many items in her garden were made for her by friends or family, like her shed was made by her son.

The very back of her garden is a memorial garden for a close friend of hers who passed away.

And when it comes to flowers, Claflin said she has “no rhyme or reason.”

“I just throw them in and see what happens,” she said.

Claflin is excited to show on the Garden Tour, she said.

“It’s nothing fancy,” she said of her garden. “It’s just — this is who I am.”

Sandy Eckelberg:

Although she’s hosted on the Garden Tour before, this is Sandy Eckelberg’s first time showing at her current address, 229 18th Ave. NE.

“Those of us who are addicted to this — you can tell,” Eckelberg said while showing her garden.

When she moved to her home in 2008, she put in all new flowerbeds. She also brought some plants from her former home.

She has many unique plants in her yard, she said, like a giant fleece flower plant and a weeping willow. Eckelberg has a degree in horticulture, which helps her in caring for her many different plants.

“I like experimenting with plants,” she said. “I do a little bit of everything.”

In the back of Eckelberg’s garden, she has a porch, where she has different artwork displayed.

“I really like it back here. It’s very private,” she said. “It’s kind of fun decorating with wall art.”

Because she has so many different plants, Eckelberg said she has “something for everyone.”

She said she’s looking forward to the Garden Tour because she always loves to hear ideas from other gardeners, and she said she hopes her garden can help inspire people on the tour with ideas for their homes.

Refreshments will be available at the Arts Center during the tour, starting at 5:30 p.m.

Garden tour tickets are $8 in advance and $10 the day of the tour. They can be purchased at the Arts Center, Country Gardens Floral, Don’s House of Flowers, Don’s Garden Shop, Lloyds Toyota and The Garden Gate.

Proceeds from the Garden Tour go to Jamestown’s branch of the American Association of University Women, which funds two scholarships at Jamestown College, Krein said.

Sun reporter Charly Haley can be reached at 701-952-8455 or by email at chaley@jamestownsun.com

Annual AAUW Garden Tour

When: Wednesday

Time: 5 to 8 p.m.

Tickets: $8 in advance, $10 day of tour. Purchase tickets in advance at the Arts Center, Country Gardens Floral, Don’s House of Flowers, Don’s Garden Shop, Lloyds Toyota and The Garden Gate. After 4 p.m. on the tour day, they will be available only at the Arts Center and the tour sites.

Tags:
local news, news, local, garden, home, aauw

Heavy rains caused flooding that damaged the Natural Heritage Garden Trail at the South Carolina Botanical Garden in Clemson

Much of collection destroyed

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Hundreds of years of horticultural knowledge and lore are accessible through collecting books on gardening, according to Kenneth Gloss of the Brattle Book Shop.

By Kenneth Gloss

Pardon the pun, but gardening books are a perennial favorite with collectors. They have been around from the very first days of writing because they served as guides for the all-important agricultural tasks people had to do each day. The earliest versions of gardening books were nothing like what we think of today. They were advice books, filled with information on how to till the land, what seeds to select, when to harvest, etc. For a good example of a recreated 15th century gardening book, look for De Boke (The Garden Book) by Jenny Day Haynes, published in 1906. This book is a replica of what one might find 500 hundred years ago.

It wasn’t until the mid-1700s to the 1800s that gardening books offered more landscaping tips. Many of these books were large folio size with hand-colored drawings of plants and flowers, similar to the Audubon books that were printed then. These elaborate, beautiful books can run up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Many print dealers will buy these books and take them apart, mounting the individual drawings to sell as prints.

By 1880, the world was still very much an agricultural society. Gardening for Profit by Peter Henderson, published in 1884, offered a complete do-it-yourself guide for gardening. However, these plots weren’t today’s typical 10-by-10 square feet with a few tomato plants and some cucumbers. Gardens in those days were a few acres in scope. Peterson’s book took the home gardener from beginning to end, explaining how to rotate crops for maximum soil usage, what plants worked well with others and other practical considerations.

Repton’s books in the 1800s were the first to offer detailed landscaping techniques and pictures. He had colored overlays in his book that helped people see what their landscaping would look like a few seasons down the road. Downing’s books, released around the same time, are one of the foremost American landscape architecture books. In cost, these can run from the hundreds to the low thousands, depending on condition and rarity. Repton’s books run a little higher, in the $2000 to $5000 range. Both authors helped cross that barrier between gardening as a necessity for life and gardening as a means of bringing beauty to one’s environment.

As society changed, so did the books on landscape and nature. Olmstead’s famous Emerald Necklace of parks throughout the Boston area spurred an interest in green spaces and beautifying civic areas. At the same time, a number of people were espousing the health benefits of open air, encouraging them to garden more often.

Seed catalogs are an excellent reflection of the times as well. In them, one can see what vegetables were popular, how flowers began to gain in demand and what tips the catalog manufacturers offered. Early seed catalogs were done with lithographic plates, making them worth hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars. Later catalogs manufactured around the turn of the century, featured prints and photographs. These editions are also popular with print dealers.

Gardening shoots off into so many different areas that one can specialize in virtually any type of gardening. From rock gardens to water gardens, Japanese gardens to flower arranging, just about anything to do with flora and fauna takes root in gardening books. Many people like to specialize in one particular type of flower. Notes on Lilies, by Dr. Wallace, published in 1879, is an example of a book that delves deeply into the care and origin of different lily varieties. It details every step of tending to lilies, making it a comprehensive, targeted book for that one subject area. There are also books on indoor gardens, container gardens, even organic gardening. Rodale’s series on organic fertilizers and pest control is still popular today with people who want to return to more natural ways of raising plants.

Many of the pamphlets and smaller ephemera dealing with gardening are also interesting. Simple how-to brochures on repelling pests or how to construct an elaborate water garden have been produced for dozens of years. Some of these items, like the Farmer’s Almanac, are so plentiful that they aren’t worth much in terms of collecting. The Farmer’s Almanac was at its peak in popularity during the 1800s, resulting in a plethora of copies.

Anytime you say the word “gardening,” most people immediately picture vegetable gardens. For the book collector, however, amassing a collection in this area almost requires specialization because there are so many different categories and subcategories to choose from. For instance, one could narrow their collection to flowers, narrow further to roses, finally specializing in growing roses in Florida. Most people who choose this area for collecting love the outdoors and love the hands-on aspects of gardening as much as they do the books. Often, they belong to a horticultural society or other group that allows them to share their interest in plants. An interest in gardening books can serve many purposes: not only can interacting with other collectors provide social activity, but the process of getting outside and tilling the soil has great benefits for the mind and body.

Kenneth Gloss is the owner of the Brattle Book Shop in downtown Boston. It’s the oldest antiquarian bookstore in America. This is the 64th year of Gloss family ownership. He has been seen as a guest appraiser numerous times on PBS’Antiques Roadshow. Visit them at 9 West Street in downtown Boston and at their website: www.brattlebookshop.com for a list of his free and open talks or call 800-447-9595.

Elizabeth Wheale spends winters on the ski hill and summers working outside in other people’s yards.

The 28-year-old recently finished a landscape gardener apprenticeship and started her own business, Fair Haven Landscaping. The Red Deer-based company services central Alberta, including rural areas, completing projects ranging from building retaining walls to starting flower gardens from scratch.

Landscape gardening is a red seal trade that requires a four-year apprenticeship, including a minimum of 1,200 hours of on-the-job training and eight weeks of technical training each year.

Wheale grew up on a farm and enjoyed working outside, including a winter job as a ski instructor. But she hadn’t considered a career in the landscaping trade until she started working for a local company.

“Originally I was actually planning to go to the United Kingdom and do a bachelor’s degree in theology and youth work,” Wheale remembers.

However the program she had her eye on didn’t start until June and Wheale’s ski instructor job had finished for the season, leaving her looking for work for a few months. She ended up at a Red Deer landscaping company, where the owner encouraged Wheale to consider an apprenticeship. “He saw the potential there and told me about the apprenticeship and said I’ll hire you for the summer, but I want you to do an apprenticeship. I hadn’t been totally sure about moving to the United Kingdom, and once

I started working it made sense to stay,” she said.

She finished her apprenticeship with top marks and earned the Top Apprentice Award in 2011 for landscape gardener.

Landscape gardeners can work for a variety of employers, including landscape architects, contractors, nurseries, tree farms, greenhouses, cemeteries, governments, garden centres and landscape supply outlets.

Others, such as Wheale, are self-employed.

“I enjoy the challenges that come from different people and their different preferences. I get bored easily so it’s nice to have variety,”

she said. Still, Wheale points out that starting a business comes with challenges.

“It’s thinking through the estimates and cost evaluations and valuing your own time and deciding what hours you’re willing to work and what type of work you’re willing to do. There’s lots of logistics you have to work through and you’ve just got to do it, and any entrepreneur is like that,” she said.

Wheale said one of the biggest challenges she’s encountered so far is getting customers to understand they get what they pay for.

“Cheap is out there, it’s just not skilled,” Wheale said.

Educating customers about the finer points of landscape gardening is something that Wheale enjoys.

“I think education is a huge thing. As the world moves more to organics and ecologically friendly practices, it’s even more important to have skilled, trained people,” Wheale said.

Laura Caddy has also made a career out of working with plants. The red seal landscape horticulturist works year-round at the Devonian Botanic Garden, southwest of Edmonton.

“I’ve been gardening since I could walk,” said Caddy, who worked in greenhouses in Red Deer after finishing high school.

“I was more interested in a hands-on approach than the university route, so I found a horticulture trade program at a school in Ontario,” Caddy said. “Our classroom was a botanical garden just outside Niagara Falls.”

After graduating from the Niagara Parks School of Horticulture, Caddy challenged the red seal exam for landscape horticulturist and worked at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton, Ont.

She has worked at the Devonian Botanic Garden for just over a year, as a horticulturist and curator in charge of the Patrick Seymour Alpine Garden. “As a horticulturist, I’m doing the hands-on, physical taking care of the plant, while as a curator I decide the direction of the garden and what goes where,” she said.

“I love being outside, I love working with my hands. I’ve always loved plants and taking care of them, and with my position it’s more than that. It’s a scientific collection. There’s a purpose to the gardens, a reason why we have plants above and beyond display.”

This sign, outside the Storm Stadium, welcomes visitors to a demonstration water-wise garden project. (JOHN HUNNEMAN)

One of the coolest things I’ve seen his week is also a way to save money on your water bill.

Heading to a meeting Thursday in Lake Elsinore at The Diamond Club at the Storm Stadium I came across a bit of landscaping you don’t always see at a ball park.

The City of Wildomar’s garden.

Last summer the folks at Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District teamed up with the Storm and several cities to plant water-wise gardens next to the ball park.  The Temescal Garden Showcase Demonstration Garden is next to the sidewalk along the west side of the stadium

Lake Elsinore’s demonstration garden.

There are actually three small gardens, one each for the cities of Canyon Lake, Lake Elsinore and Wildomar,  which are now in full bloom and demonstrate just want you can do using native vegetation and a minimum amount of irrigation.

Canyon Lake has their garden.

We’ve done a bit of this are our house it and really makes a difference in the water bill.

So check it out next time you’re at the ball park and learn more at www.evmwd.com.

 

EDMONTON – Elizabeth Wheale spends winters on the ski hill and summers working outside in other people’s yards.

The 28-year-old recently finished a landscape gardener apprenticeship and started her own business, Fair Haven Landscaping. The Red Deer-based company services central Alberta, including rural areas, completing projects ranging from building retaining walls to starting flower gardens from scratch.

Landscape gardening is a red seal trade that requires a four-year apprenticeship, including a minimum of 1,200 hours of on-the-job training and eight weeks of technical training each year. Olds College is the only school in the province that offers technical training in the trade.

Wheale grew up on a farm and enjoyed working outside, including a winter job as a ski instructor. But she hadn’t considered a career in the landscaping trade until she started working for a local company.

“Originally I was actually planning to go to the United Kingdom and do a bachelor’s degree in theology and youth work,� Wheale remembers.

However the program she had her eye on didn’t start until June and Wheale’s ski instructor job had finished for the season, leaving her looking for work for a few months. She ended up at Geneva Gardens Inc. in Red Deer, where the company’s owner encouraged Wheale to consider an apprenticeship.

“He saw the potential there and told me about the apprenticeship and said I’ll hire you for the summer, but I want you to do an apprenticeship. I hadn’t been totally sure about moving to the United Kingdom, and once I started working it made sense to stay,� she said.

She finished her apprenticeship with top marks and earned the Top Apprentice Award in 2011 for landscape gardener.

Landscape gardeners can work for a variety of employers, including landscape architects, contractors, nurseries, tree farms, greenhouses, cemeteries, governments garden centres and landscape supply outlets.

Others, such as Wheale, are self-employed.

“I enjoy the challenges that come from different people and their different preferences. I get bored easily so it’s nice to have variety,� she said.

Still, Wheale points out that starting a business comes with challenges.

“It’s thinking through the estimates and cost evaluations and valuing your own time and deciding what hours you’re willing to work and what type of work you’re willing to do. There’s lots of logistics you have to work through and you’ve just got to do it, and any entrepreneur is like that,� she said.

Wheale said one of the biggest challenges she’s encountered so far is getting customers to understand they get what they pay for.

“Cheap is out there, it’s just not skilled,� Wheale said.

Landscape gardening is an optional certification trade, meaning a recognized trade certificate is not required to practise the trade. That can mean skilled workers who are certified find themselves fixing other people’s mistakes.

“There’s one customer right now where I’m problem-solving because the landscaper who went in before did things that aren’t best practice,� Wheale said. “There are so many people out there with a wheel barrow or bobcat, but do they understand soil textures, or hardiness zones?�

MIDLAND PARK — The subject of RS Landscaping’s fourth annual photo contest will be New Jersey’s Gardens, the Midland Park-based company has announced. The contest gives local residents the opportunity to submit photographs displaying the beauty of nature for which the Garden State was named.

Previous subjects of the photo contest have been butterflies, hummingbirds and children in the garden. The garden was previously the backdrop for these contests. This year, the garden itself is brought into the foreground to be celebrated, said a company spokesperson.

“In past years we’ve chosen subjects for the contest we’d hoped would be an interesting challenge for photographers to help connect them with nature and learn about the local ecosystem,” said Robert Schucker, president of RS Landscaping. “This year we wanted to focus on the garden itself. Sometimes the biggest challenge is to recognize the beauty that is right in front of you every day.”

The Garden State certainly has no lack of gardens within its borders and in order to illustrate the diversity of these gardens, RS will not discriminate as to the type of garden. It will accept photographs of any garden within the state, whether it is a private backyard, a public garden or a state park.

“This great state has some of the most beautiful display of plantings in the world,” said Schucker. “We look forward to viewing all of the entries.”

From July 8 through August 31, individuals can submit photographs for a chance to win the first place prize, a $100 gift certificate to Kodak. The second place winner will receive a pair of gardening books that detail perennial care and garden design.

RS Landscaping has specifically made this available as a summertime project that’s fun for kids and parents can make educational for the entire family. Kids and adults can learn about flower or vegetable gardening and improve their photography skills in the process.

Submissions should include the photographer’s name, town, location of the photo, and a short story behind the picture. Submissions can be sent via e-mail to info@rscape.com. All submissions will be posted on RS Landscaping’s Facebook page, and members of the RS team will select the best photograph. The winners will be announced in early September, and the winning photographs will be posted on the company’s website, www.rscape.com.

RS Landscaping may be reached at 201-447-6205 or service@rscape.com.

The Save Ardmore Coalition

SAC is a grassroots organization dedicated to the revitalization of Ardmore, Pennsylvania’s business district based on community input, consensus building, sound and comprehensive planning, and the preservation of our architectural heritage.

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