2410 Lanes Mill Road, Hamilton, OH 45013

Mary’s Plant Farm & Landscaping

September 2016

So ever tend your garden, its beauty to increase, for in

it you’ll find solace, in it you’ll find peace.

August is disappearing fast and we’ve finally had rain. My Franklinia tree loved getting the extra water. It is full of 2” fragrant white flowers. I’m trying to keep this one trimmed back to be bushier and shorter. My first one got so tall (bought in tree form) that I could hardly see the bloom or smell the fragrance. It was obliterated when a big pine fell on it in a storm. So this one is planted where it is easy to see and only 6’ x 4’ in size. With the mornings getting cooler and the work load becoming less, I take my morning cup of tea and sit on the balcony off the kitchen to look out over the back garden. There I can see the sun coming up through the trees. I’ve purposely left a clear strip of lawn at various widths through the center, so my view to the back, herb garden and rose pergola is not restricted. I enjoy this view as much in the winter as the summer, as the garden should never lack color. Evergreens of gold, blue green, moss green or exfoliating bark on trees such as the Hepticodiummiconioides (Seven Son’s Flower) create the winter scene. The Hepticodiumt is now beginning its late summer/fall bloom in white that will last for weeks before the red bracts appear in October against it’s golden fall foliage. Although not widely known, or planted enough in gardens, we make it available to those who see it in my garden and fall in love with it as I have.The viburnum berries are gorgeous if the birds don’t eat them all, and I can sit in the den by the window and watch the cardinals and the occasional robin eat the red berries on the holly tree in January and February. Then I enjoy the lustrous dark green foliage of the various hellebore throughout the gardens and their bloom in December through April.

I love the fall, and time also to start trimming back and assessing the garden to see what can be changed or added for new interest. No garden should stay static. With cooler weather and rain it is time to plant new trees or shrubs for beauty, berries and flowers for the next year. With fall planting they will root well before the winter and start growing in early spring before you even think of going into the garden. Many gardeners wait till warm weather in the spring,and then have to water all summer if there is no rain. Now, back to Viburnums. They bloom in early summer, many with heavy fragrance. In the fall they are covered with berries in either, red, yellow, blue, orange or pink. The earliest blooming variety is V. bodnantense that produces pink bloom in February. I cut sprays of theberries for in bouquets. MichealDirr PhD, wrote “Living without viburnums is like living without music or art”. We have close to 45 varieties and remember there are many that deer don’t eat. Hydrangeas are another species of plants that out do themselves in the fall. There are the H. macrophylla known as mopheads or lacecaps. These are sold by florists for weddings, but it is an extremely hardy plant. My oldest one is over 50 years, and came from the original Wayside Gardens. Hydrangea arborescens is the native variety and one of the old favorites of this species is ‘Annabelle’. You can cut these huge blooms when they turn lime green and they will dry perfectly. My Hydrangea paniculata ‘Limelight’ is over 7’ tall with great cone shaped heads of white bloom, that turn green then pink and lavender. If you don’t like the height you can grow H. p. ‘Little Lime’ that only grows to 3 ½’ -4’ tall. I cut these blooms for dried bouquets for fall and winter using the glossy leaves of my southern Magnolia ‘Victoria’. Yes there are 5 varieties of these evergreen southern magnolias hardy for our area. Let’s not forget the oak leaf hydrangea, H. quercifolia. The new varieties of these shade loving hydrangea are unbelievable. H. q. ‘Vaughn’s Lily’ blooms in July with the largest and most full flowers I have seen. And the new dwarf variety H. q. ‘Ruby Slippers’ is only 3’-4’ tall, with white blooms that turn the darkest red.

I can truly say that we have the largest selection of trees and shrubs, including our old favorites to the newest varieties and natives. I know that everyone does not have as large a garden as I do, but my beloved sister Fern had a city lot and her garden was as full as mine with many of the unusual varieties we make available. Her garden won the cities beautification award, which reminds me that a few of my landscape designs have won awards for my customers. I always find out their likes and dislikes, as every gardener and homeowner is different and viva la difference. And my motto of “the right plant for the right place” is always used in design planning.

I never break up clumps of perennials in the fall. That is something best left to early spring. They then can be quickly replanted and take off growing with no worry of them heaving out of the ground and freezing in the winter. Hemerocallis (daylily) can be dug anytime. I’ve even left dug clumps, with a bit of soil on them, lay on the ground all winter and they survived. Of course that wasn’t a winter like 2014!

Two of the worst weeds right now are the nut grass (which is truly a sedge) and sour grass (that is an Oxalis). These always show up in August, but don’t bother pulling them, because they have an underground nut like cluster, and the oxalis has a bulbous type root that is below the root you pull. So, they both come right back. The best solution I’ve found is to keep a small household spray bottle of 35% Roundup and water to spray the weeds foliage. I will take a little time for the weeds to die, but they will no longer grow back. I pulled these for years before reading a book called Weeds!

For many who love native plants, they should view the garden now with the purple bloom of the Vernonia (Ironweed), vivid blue spikes of Lobelia syphilitica, yellow daisies of Rudbeckia (Black eyed Susan), and lavender Eupatorium that looks like Ageratum. Years ago I found a white variety listed in an Oregon catalog and ordered it. It is a lovely cut flower with the lavender variety. I’ve never seen it listed anywhere else. All of these listed will grow in sun or shade, and in wet or dry areas. With September arriving the colchicums, fall crocus (Sativus which is Saffron) along with the yellow sternbergia will start blooming. The fall bulbs will be in the sales barn, ready for purchase. Don’t just think of tulips or daffodils, as there will be the many varieties of alliums for months of bloom from May to July. Short ones for rockeries or the front of the border, or the larger taller varieties. I like the fact that the allium foliage doesn’t stay around, making the blooms look neater and cleaner. We have found a source for the blue blooming Brodiealaxa and other varieties that are of interest in the garden when they are in bloom. Our clumps get bigger every year and grow to 12”-15” tall with sprays of blue tubular blossoms that are great for cut bouquets. We will also have the camassia that customers see blooming in May/June and always ask what they are. The tall spikes of blue or white will grow in sun or shade.

I best end this, as Sept 1st is coming and I must start digging peonies for orders. Remember that Fallis the only time to move peonies. It would be nice if the weather would cool, as digging would be a lot easier.

As ever,

Mary

Just a note. We will be closing for the season on October 22nd, and will be open by appointment only, during the late fall and winter months, till we open for regular hours on April 4th 2017.

Our last class for 2016 is the Hyper Tufa Trough Class on Saturday, October 1st at 10:00 am. Fee is $35 pre-paid for instruction and materials to make at 12” x 18” trough. Limited availability.

Please like us on Facebook, and check out our page throughout the year for information and gardening tips.

Summer/Fall Hours:

Tuesday – Saturday 9:30 am to 4:00 pm

CLOSED SUNDAY & MONDAY