Daffodils are the trumpets heralding spring – or so some poet thought. Without a doubt though they do provide a wonderful end to winter and even if a late frost, or snow, arrives, they carry on regardless. Better yet they are not bothered by deer! The biggest problem though is that I get impatient for spring and find myself walking around the garden begging them to grow and prove that spring is here.

Last winter was perhaps the longest one I had endured for quite a while and being in a new location I had not put in any spring bulbs and did not know what was there from the previous owners – not a lot! So this year I did order bulbs, and I bought some from the box stores and planted dozens. Then I planted some in containers that had perennials and annuals in from the summer. What I really wanted though was a guarantee of spring color for Easter and was not going to let nature take that away from me this year. Little did I know that winter was going to be virtually a non event, and my insurance was to put some left over bulbs in the beer fridge to be forced into bloom on my time not nature’s.

January arrived and I came across the bulbs and planted then in little containers which resided in the master bathroom for a while. By the end of February they were peaking through but so were the ones outside. As time progressed my indoor bulbs languished and finally did put out a few little flowers which would have been great if there was snow outside, but as it happened the outdoor daffodils arrived before my indoor ones and looked much better than my attempts.

So nature obviously does some things better than me, and that is fine, but I will try the forcing idea again – but this time I will be armed with a brand new book by Art Wolk: Bulb Forcing (which is great) and will actually pay attention to which varieties I plant indoors, rather than use the ones that were left over from outside!

                    Calamint officinalis                                                              Showy Variegated Calamint

Calamints are another of the perfectly polite perennial herbs and I first came across them many years ago. The plant was named Calamentha calamentha which was a lovely plant with pretty pink flowers. Alas I lost the plant when we moved. A few years later I was giving a tour of the Virginia State Arboretum herb garden and Tom DeBaggio was doing a book signing at the same event. I asked him about the plant as I was not able to track it down again. He identified it as Calamentha grandiflora or Showy Calamint. There are also several other calamints which are part of the mint flower. The smaller calamints have small leaves and pretty little white flowers which makes the whole plant look like a shaggy green soccer ball covered in blossom! The showy calamint though is definitely a beautiful plant and whether you get the variegated leaf or the green leaf they are both great additions to the perennial bed as well as the herb garden. In warmer climates  keep the variegated calamint in some light shade so that it doesn’t burn. The variegated one is also not quite as hardy as the standard green calamint and may only be hardy to zone 6 unless it is protected in winter.

Betony, Stachys officinalis was one of the first herbs that I grew that were not strictly culinary. It has a wonderfully colorful history as being a one-stop-fix for everything from arrow wounds to serpent bites, and bruises to tonics. More than that, betony  makes a lovely herb for the garden. The mid green leaves come up reliably each spring around the time the doaffodils bloom and in late spring the pink flower arrives. The flower lasts for about 3-4 weeks, which is not too bad by perennial standards

What makes it a perfect perennial herb though is that the rosette slowly grows larger each year – not enough to need dividing every year, but just enough to be able to divide and give one to a friend when you want to.

So perfect polite perennials herbs have brightly colored blooms, do not set seed around the neighborhood and do not require division every couple of years, unless you want to. There is always room for perfectly polite perennial herbs in my garden.

Azaleas are some of the most colorful early season shrubs. In spring, when nature returns life to the garden, the trees put out blossom, the birds sing in celebration and the azaleas bloom! These azaleas are naturally large shrubs that flower with abandonment in reds and pinks. Unfortunately some people buy these wonderful shrubs only to make meatballs out of them by pruning them into neat shapes. The azaleas bloom on last year’s wood so pruning and ‘neatening’ them in late winter takes out all the buds, but so does constant summer pruning to the keep the shrub controlled.

Modern azaleas include the popular reblooming ‘Encore’ series that puts out a first flush of color in spring, them continues to put out blooms through the summer. These rarely need much in the way of pruning, just a little tidying in spring after the first bloom is over.  The native azaleas come in lovely oranges and whites plus some pastel colors and these do not need pruning either if they are placed in the right location. They look at home in the understory of trees and along open woodland paths.

What never looks good on an azalea is the ‘cupcake’ syndrome which people tend to make them into. Although spring is nature’s party, we do not need cupcakes in the landscape!

When I went back to the catalogue and checked my order, it seems that the pale blue are a variation of the reticulata and, although the page does list an I. histrioides which looks definitely like my little guy. Matching pictures is the only way I can assess this because I have not idea how the it is different from a reticulata except in color.

The first crocus fully opened March 7th, 2012

While I was waiting for the crocus to open though the rest of the garden was also coming to life. I almost missed the little snowdrops that are now in full flower in the perennial bed. I am not sure how I missed them as they are in the same area as the bird feeders, so I have to pass them every day, but I was just not looking maybe. The other surprise was the little iris reticulata which was off in the new perennial bed. These tiny iris bloom very early and look wonderful with either yellow crocus or the small Emperor tulips. Most of the time I do not grow tulips as they are eaten by deer, but this year I seem to have forgotten both yellow crocus and tulips! If they do not show up soon I will have to put them on the order for next year.

Iris reticulata

After such a mild winter with very little snow, we really thought that March would continue with the mild conditions. Last night though a flurry or two arrived and the roads were icy. The emerging spring flowers had to take a break in their growth spurts.

I have been watching the crocus which have been tempting me with a little show of purple for about a week. With the temperatures still cool, it is still waiting to open and the snow didn’t give it any encouragement at all! I was spending all my time looking at the crocus that I almost missed 2 little snowdrops which also emerged at the end of last week.Their little white heads are not quite open, but this afternoon’s sun will probably coax it into flower.

]]> http://www.katesgardenjournal.com/a-late-snow-and-ice-event/feed/ 0 http://www.katesgardenjournal.com/a-very-early-start-to-the-year/ http://www.katesgardenjournal.com/a-very-early-start-to-the-year/#comments Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:37:18 +0000 Kate http://www.katesgardenjournal.com/?p=1096 Continue reading →]]> It is no surprise to anyone that everything is just a little bit early this year. From Washington’s cherry blossoms in February the march of spring would seem to be underway. In my own garden, newly awarded a zone 6 status, I have the first signs of the seasonal changes. The witch-hazel is in bloom!

When I checked my images from last year the witch-hazel bloomed on March 19th – that is a full 5 weeks from now. Elsewhere in the garden the crocus are coming up alongside daffodils and a few tulip leaves. The mint and other perennials barely went totally dormant so are still holding their own. Once the crocus bloom it will be just a few weeks before the daffodils start and the real feel of spring will be here.

Of course there is still the concern that some of these things will get a nasty zap if we get an arctic blast – it is only the beginning of February. With no snow cover, and still no real snow in the forecast, we have no insulation on the ground to protect the young leaves.  I am confident that most things will do just fine though.

The National Wildlife Federation is partnering with Scotts the lawn chemical giant;

The USDA has published the 2012 Plant Hardiness map.

The Scotts/NWF debacle is being defended by the CEO as being beneficial to both sides. Perhaps they think that Scotts is going to go green and make more natural products for the lawn. I am having problems with Miracle Grow and natural backyard habitats. Scotts can make a difference but they have to start promoting some better, less toxic products for the home gardener.

The USDA map has been greeted with mixed reaction. Most think that the divisions are likely to encourage gardeners to take chances with plants. Better maps are touted as being from Sunset (which divides everyone into micro zones) and the Arbor Society that also has a map. The problems with both these maps is that catalogues and books really just use USDA. Using the theory that most years we fudge the zones anyway, I have been using 5/6 all along!

So just so that we have a picture of the wildlife that Scotts and NWF are so protective off, the little fellow at the top was perched in the old apple tree earlier today – he tries to bully the little birds by the bird feeder, or when they take shelter in the little spruce next to it.

]]> http://www.katesgardenjournal.com/news-in-the-garden-world/feed/ 2 http://www.katesgardenjournal.com/foraging-with-sam-thayer/ http://www.katesgardenjournal.com/foraging-with-sam-thayer/#comments Sat, 21 Jan 2012 15:11:07 +0000 Kate http://www.katesgardenjournal.com/?p=1084 Continue reading →]]> Sam Thayer has been foraging since a child and now teachers others how to forage too. He defines foraging as food that has not been specifically grown for eating – edible wild flowers, nuts and wild  berries are all good sources of nutrients. We talk about where you can legaly forage and how to learn how to differential between things that are edible and those that are not good for you.

The nutrients in nature’s food are generally higher than those in supermarket equivalents and although they cannot be gathered everywhere in winter, Sam processed nuts all through the winter and gathers pods from the Kentucky Coffeetree – Gymnocladus dioicus – which can be used to make a very coffee tasting drink. Raw food diets and paleodiets that are now becoming popular are also discussed.

Sam has a couple of books that help you become aquainted with nature and the food that you can safely forage. Head to Sam’s website : www.foragersharvest.com

The show airs Saturday January 21st at 10am and can be found on here after January 23rd here