Serenity in the Garden

 In 2009 Oxford Junior Dictionary (Oxford University Press) revealed a list of the entries it no longer felt to be relevant to a modern-day childhood. So they deleted these words from the Junior dictionary . These are the words deleted: acorn ,  adder ,  ash ,  beech ,  bluebell ,  buttercup ,  catkin ,  cowslip , cygnet ,  dandelion ,  fern ,  hazel ,  heather ,  heron ,   ivy ,  kingfisher ,   lark ,  mistletoe , nectar ,  newt ,  otter , pasture  and  willow .  The words taking their places in the new edition included  attachment ,  block-graph ,  blog ,  broadband ,  bullet-point ,  celebrity , chatroom ,  committee ,  cut-and-paste ,  MP3 player  and  voice-mail . This is an outright shame because as   Wendell Berry wrote:...

Cutting  ornamental grasses makes them healthier and better looking. Remove all dry, old growth so new growth will get sunlight and air.  Use sharp-bladed tool to do this (large masses - electric chain saw). Do not trim it any lower than 5 inches from the ground.

Fothergilla Leaf from  quercus design blog I adore Fothergilla gardenii Mt Airy.  (wonderful photo of fothergilla leaf from Quercus Design blog ) Fothergilla is native to the Appalachians, is  deer resistant    and sports fragrant, honey scented, early spring flowers before the leaves come out. The flowers are white, short bottlebrush spikes that light up a sunny to partial sun woodland corner. The flowers are followed by blue green, heavily textured foliage. Photo from Robs Plants Website -  http://www.robsplants.com/plants/FotheGarde photo by Laura McKillop 'Mt Airy' is a dwarf form and got its name from the Mt. Airy Arboretum in Cincinnati, Ohio. When compared to the native species, Mt. Airy Fothergilla has more vibrant multicolored foliage in shades of yellow, orange and red in October through mid-November. This fall color is the best! It is spell binding in the garden....  Photo for Monrovia by Doris Wy...

This week I was thrilled to be interviewed by the one and only Ken Druse...author of 19 books (with another one out soon!)   Ken's website is  Real Dirt . His last, beautiful book was done in association with my friend, Ellen Hoverkamp. It is called 'Natural Companions'  The interview is on a podcast and you can listen to it anytime. It is based on my book, Heaven is a Garden , and Ken, of course, is an excellent interviewer and the questions were wonderful.  I am honored that he asked me for an interview. Click here to go to REAL DIRT website and the podcast.

Cha Cha Cherry Penstemon I love Penstemon, an annual flower in my part of the world. A perennial in USDA 7 - 9. I was introduced to it back in the 1970s.  I worked for a French gardener on the grounds of a well known resort hotel, Mohonk Mt. House, in NY and they had won the award for the best hotel grounds in America the year before. He loved Penstemon and always said it was his favorite flower. We grew it from seed and planted it out on May 20...always May 20, no matter what.  Now they come in plugs, so much better! Now, of course, the varieties and sturdiness of Penstemon have improved remarkably. The one I am very interested in is the new variety from Terra Nova Nurseries, Cha Cha Cherry Penstemon.  It grows about 24" tall,  has dark cherry-red flowers and an upright bushy habit. It blooms from spring to late fall! And the dark seed heads are great for arrangements. Plant lust strikes again.....

Echinacea x purpurea Sombrero 'Salsa Red'   A new series of Coneflower bred for sturdy and compact plants featuring very large, single flowers with bright red overlapping petals surrounding a large brown cone.  Ideal for sunny borders. Attractive to butterflies. Excellent for cutting. Coneflowers begin blooming midsummer and continue for months if faded flowers are regularly removed. Keeping some dried flower heads on the plants in fall will provide food for wintering song birds.  Dried seed heads also add interest to the winter garden.

Steinhardt Garden - photo by Jan Johnsen "Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul." - John Muir