Studiology

Company in the Garden

Things seemed odd, witch hazel and quince with disappearing flowers, pear trees denuded, filipendula chewed to the ground - that can mean only 1 thing, deer! So as the conflict begins, I will share some photographs of things that have been left undamaged.

This is an adorable dwarf daffodil species, Narcissus canaliculatus. 

Primula sibthorpii from Dan Hinkley and Heronswood Nursery (way back in the day). I have always thought his selection had the best color.

 
The small pink puffs are the female flowers on comptonia or sweet fern, the male catkins or pollen source, are the male.

Stylophorum or wood poppy is a native that oozes an orange sap that is toxic, so I know I'm safe with this native.

Epimedium x versicolor 'Sulphureum' is sister to the following E. versicolor 'Versicolor'.

Daffodil 'Pistachio' is a strong contender for replacing my favorite D. 'Lemon Glow'. Both have that soft yellow color that goes with everything.

The male carpenter bee has the black dot centered in the yellow fur on his back, the female is completely black. The male has no stinger and is also known as Xylocopa virginica, indicating that it is native to Virginia. His tactic of intimidation is flying near or at you, but he is incapable of stinging. Also known as long tongue bees, they are able to access pollen and nectar from tubular flowers, although they will also steal nectar by making a slit on top of the flower and stealing nectar, particularly when they don't fit in the opening. 

For now I have built loose branch domes over plants I want to protect until I figure something out. Russian olive branches have been perfect because they bend and can be speared into the ground. Plus I enjoy cutting them down, as we should all be doing. The deer don't like the smell of the new leaves and stem, so that's another plus. We are very close to a large hunt club property which about to be converted into solar panels, so my deer problems may have just begun, I had zero deer last year. For the first time I put out a radio, just last night, tuned to a boring talk show; they ignored it. My trail camera shows 2 who seem very familiar with my garden space, tonight I might sleep in the garden.

 

 

Sweet March

With just a week to go before April, March was not bad, mostly sweet on the pulse of weather, no blizzards or severe freezes (at least here in central Virginia).

My new gardens have now reached their one-year anniversary and the daily garden review requires regular walks to see what's coming up. Poking and prodding are part and parcel of March. Thank goodness we think, winter is done. 

Last March was my first visit to the Virginia Daffodil Show at Lewis Ginter Gardens where many notes were taken, orders placed. Any daffodils that were rescued from my old nursery site went to my daughter's house, so this new space was completely void of any sort of bulb.  That was remedied with photographs and notes from the show and a few fall deliveries. 

As the Daffodil Show was scheduled for March of this year, my oldest granddaughter decided to compete with a few stems of those that had been transplanted, she brought a total of 3 and did her homework. In the bustle of labeling, she was expecting to exhibit in the youth division, she was placed in the adult category, which can only mean stiff competition. We were told that it was a good year (dates and weather), and over 1800 stems were entered for judging. There were 2 large rooms full of cut daffodils, it was incredible!

We all arrived for the show to learn that she placed second in her division with another Honorable Mention. The second place was for Daffodil 'Lemon Glow' (my favorite) and honorable with D. 'Delnashaugh', a fragrant double pink and white bloom. She was the day's daffodil rock star with no previous experience!

and her entry looking back at her

Of course, more notes and photographs were taken. There was interest in the orange petal with orange trumpet (like last year), but also the dwarf varieties that fit into nooks and crannies of March but also clean-up well. Here follow some of our favorites, just scroll over the photograph to reveal the name:

This little 'Itsy Bitsy Splitsy' is a seedling of the above - 'Equation'

It's been decided that we will both compete next year and a first for me to try my hand at daffodils on the competition stage. And it takes a few since the date might mean early or late daffodils, depending on the season. Hopefully it will be another sweet March.

New Shoes

A few more shoes were pulled out of my cache to become something entirely different, each with their own story. Two were men's shoes, patterns on the side were the reason I bought them, fully intending to give them a new life as a piece of art. This first one is made with a porcelain doll head, a small lion head (pseudo door knocker), lamp parts, lion's foot for a table leg, ribbon, and clay beads (and of course a shoe). The clay work for the mane took a few days but was well worth it once painted and completed. I titled this one simply "Son" with the adult lion at the top of the shoe and younger (human lion form) at the bottom.

The next one is built with a paper weight that highly magnifies. Behind the paper weight is a face, taken from "The Invisible Man" puzzle toy. It's a bit disturbing to suddenly realize that you are looking at a see-through head, and it is only realized when you look at it from a certain angle. All the better in my opinion. He is hard to photograph without reflections, I did my best. The title is "The Path You Choose" largely because he reminds me of a soothsayer or diviner and the linear piece on top goes to a star. There is also another face, more like an owl's face, holding the round paper weight in its mouth. 

And that was one funky shoe!

 The woman's shoe includes parts of a trumpet, another porcelain doll head, and a wooden parrot that was made of wood but was in rough shape and needed sanded and repainted. Naming a piece can be a large struggle and this one defied any clever ideas I had. In the end she became "Just a Woman and Her Parrot". 

In the end she reminded me of Catherine O'Hara as Delia Deetz in the movie Beetlejuice.

One of my favorite things about working with shoes is how they hang on a wall. I often call it skinny art and it's also the reason I like making wands, they can hang almost anywhere, in a corner, next to a door jam, next to a closet, above a lamp, etc... 

 

Time in the Garden

March has arrived and with that I spent an entire day and much of an evening mulching and planting. Cool crop seeds are in and this year I'm growing shelling peas as well as snap. Two more fruiting trees (both pears) were also planted, although they were inexpensive and from the grocery store, a huge disappointment once I got them out of their grow bags and found that the roots were almost nonexistent.  I will be surprised if they survive. 

With my assortment of little terra cotta pots, I potted up some bulbs and gave them moss companions. The one thing that does amaze me are the many mosses and lichens that thrive here. Commonly found is deer moss or lichen (which it actually is) and British Soldiers or matchsticks, which are strange little stilts with red tips. Not technically a lichen but an algae/fungus union. One of my favorite little daffodils is the species romieuxii which is similar to the petticoat narcissus but very yellow. Unlike the petticoats, which I have always grown on the wetter side, these want dry (or drier).

Other plants that have cheered me on are the little tommy crocus, snowdrops, and helleborus. My snowdrop collection was largely left behind, digging and timing were not on my side. But I have largish clumps of Galanthus nivalis, which are as cheery as any.

You can see the red tips of the British Soldiers with Crocus tommasinianus (farthest pot to the right). The clay pot on the left, in front of Narcissus romieuxii are little bluets or Houstonia caerulea, which grows everywhere here in central Virginia. They have yet to flower but will be adorable in a tiny clay pot.

Lots of daffodils were planted last fall and newly planted bulbs take a bit longer to flower their first year. I'm not a patient person (FLOWER ALREADY!!!). It's also clear that I lost a few things which I will chalk up to soil pH. We are acidic, more so than my old garden. I used a lime around plants that I thought would require sweeter soil, but alas a few are gone. 

The wet meadow has been way too wet to work in but it does look like everyone is fine and slowly waking up. It should be spectacular this year, even though it's only its second year. 

The helleborus are few, I left many behind when I moved. Of those I was certain to dig Helleborus 'Quilty' from Graham Birkin. He was hybridizing for upright flowers some 25 years ago, at least. 

Another favorite is H. 'Penny's Pink' with the tinge of pink in the foliage.

These are lenten roses from the old days, as new ones are often sterile with upfacing flowers which rise above the leaves. There really are very few that I dislike and chances are there will be more. My garden is young.