Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education. Join her each weekend for home gardening demonstrations on a variety of topics in the Home Gardening Center.
What makes a plant drought tolerant? Plants have evolved some clever ways of adapting to dry conditions, and you can easily identify these plants if you know what to look for.
Plants such as stonecrop (Sedum) and hens and chicks (Sempervivum) have evolved fleshy leaves (the same strategy as cacti) to help them retain water during periods of drought. They are the camels of the plant world. Other plants have leaves that are thick and leathery or finely cut to help prevent water loss.
Some plants have evolved a waxy, whitish coating (glaucous) on the leaves. Other plants such as lamb’s ear (Stachys, pictured) have evolved hairy or woolly surfaces to help conserve moisture. Plants with fine hairs are easy to identify in the garden; they have gray or silver foliage that reflects light and heat. Many of these plants contain fragrant oils in their foliage that serves a dual purpose of protecting the plant by repelling predators as well as helping to slow down the rate of water evaporation.
Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education. Join her each weekend for home gardening demonstrations on a variety of topics in the Home Gardening Center. July 31 and August 1 she will present Butterfly Bonanza.
Last week I talked about the life cycle of butterflies and how you can create a garden with features important to caterpillars as well as adult butterflies. Today we’ll look at some of the plants that both prefer.
When designing a butterfly garden, first find out the kinds of butterflies you can expect to see in your area so that you’ll know what you need to attract them into your garden. Shop in the Garden and the LuEsther T. Mertz Library have a wonderful collection of books on the subject.
Some of the common butterflies you will find in the New York area are the spicebush swallowtail, black swallowtail, eastern tiger swallowtail, monarch, viceroy, clouded sulphur, buckeye, spring azure, and pearl crescent.
Good nectar sources for regional butterflies are lilacs (Syringa), clover (Trifolium), chives (Allium), cosmos (Cosmos), zinnias (Zinnia), lavender (Lavandula), catmint (Nepeta), milkweed (Asclepias), mint (Mentha), bee balm (Monarda), blazing star (Liatris), phlox (Phlox), anise hyssop (Agastache), bugbane (Cimicifuga), butterfly bush (Buddleja), summersweet (Clethra), blue mist shrub (Caryopteris), and glossy abelia (Abelia).
Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education. Join her each weekend for home gardening demonstrations on a variety of topics in the Home Gardening Center. July 31 and August 1 she will present Butterfly Bonanza.
When we think of wildlife and gardening, sometimes the initial perception is that the two should remain separate, when the reality is that they are entirely interdependent. If you tell people to encourage insects into their garden, their nose often curls. Rephrase it and say “invite butterflies into your garden” and frowns turn into smiles.
Aside from an appreciation of their beauty, why would it serve us to attract butterflies into the garden? Butterflies are second to bees as our most important plant pollinator. They are also sensitive to the environment and act as a good indictor of how healthy the environment is. From an educational standpoint, they provide a wonderful connection to the natural world and a way of teaching children the importance of the food web.
When you see a tiny winged creature flutter by, how can you tell if it’s a butterfly or a moth? Butterflies are active during the day, while moths are usually nocturnal. Butterflies have slim bodies, while moths are fat and hairy. When a butterfly lands, it rests with wings closed; moths rest with their wings open. Butterflies have antennae that are shaped like mini golf clubs; the antennae of moths are either feathery or straight.
Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education. Join her each weekend for home gardening demonstrations on a variety of topics in the Home Gardening Center.
In my blog post last week I discussed combining color and texture in the vegetable garden. This week we will look at some new introductions and some old favorites that are worthy additions to a rainbow garden.
Gardeners who grow beets are familiar with the classic heirloom, Beta vulgaris ‘Chioggia’. It is incredibly sweet and mild when cooked, but once you slice through its red skin, its outstanding feature is revealed: alternating red and white rings. It retains its impressive bull’s eyes even when baked whole. This year growers such as Johnny’s Select Seeds and Parks Seeds are touting an improved version of this Italian classic called ‘Chioggia Guardsmark’.
When we think of butterhead lettuce we generally think of hydroponically grown, buttery-smooth green heads. I grew up on this Boston-type lettuce, and it is still a favorite choice in my family’s household. Some popular green varieties are ‘Buttercrunch’ and ‘Butterking’. The red-tinged heirloom varieties ‘Pirat’ and ‘Yugoslavian Red’ have long been a staple in my garden. This year a heat tolerant red variety called ‘Skyphos’ entered the market. It looks sensational. It is not too late to try both the beet and the lettuce as fast fall crops.
Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education. Join her each weekend for home gardening demonstrations on a variety of topics in the Home Gardening Center.
Last week I blogged about the historic and design aspects of ornamental vegetable gardens. This week I take a look at some of their basic features.
Many traditional kitchen gardens have some kind of boundary or enclosure that not only separates the garden from its surroundings but often provides a practical barrier to keep out unwanted pests. Classic boundaries include brick walls, stonewalls, wooden fences, wattle or woven fences, and hedges.
A simple split-rail wooden fence lined with chicken wire to keep out rabbits surrounds the vegetable garden in the Botanical Garden’s Home Gardening Center (see photo). “A flat-top picket fence would give it a Colonial feel, while a more open and rustic setting could be created by a zigzag wooden fence,” says Chris from a fence company in Louisville, KY. The hardscape of the garden will help set the mood and contribute to the overall design. Enclosure creates a sense of intimacy and gives a framework to your garden.
Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education. Join her each weekend for home gardening demonstrations on a variety of topics in the Home Gardening Center.
While it is commonplace to invest a considerable amount of thought, energy, and pride in the design of our gardens, herbaceous borders in particular, the vegetable garden often gets overlooked and undervalued as a potential site for artistic excellence.
However, ornamental vegetable gardens have a long-standing tradition. The Persians filled their walled gardens with fruit trees and edible plants, adorning these places of refuge while providing food for the table. The Cloisters Museum & Gardens, a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan’s Fort Tryon Park, is a wonderful example of how medieval courtyards were home to the cultivation of culinary and medicinal herbs while providing a place for peaceful retreat.
Inspiration can be found in many historic restorations of ornamental vegetable gardens, ranging from the Grande Potagér at Chateau de Villandry in France to England’s Lost Gardens of Heligan and the walled Victorian kitchen garden at Chilton Foliat. Closer to home, Thomas Jefferson’s historic gardens at Monticello in Virginia celebrate America’s vegetable gardening tradition.
Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education. Join her each weekend for home gardening demonstrations on a variety of topics.
Every year around Memorial Day weekend or shortly thereafter we observe the ritual of rooting through our kitchen drawers on a mission to find and inspect the condition of our barbeque paraphernalia. We locate the barbeque fork, the long-handled tongs, the broad spatula, and the tattered basting brush.
For gardeners the ritual starts well before Memorial Day, and by the end of May or early June preparations for the seasonal grilling fests are in full motion. Garlic was lovingly planted in the fall, perennial herbs were groomed in mid-April, and annual herbs and vegetables were started from seed indoors around February or March and popped into the ground as transplants starting in April and running into June.
If you’ll be spending weekends and evenings standing over the grill, you will want to grow plants that aid in this culinary endeavor. Sometimes the choices are easy. Sometimes the choices are easy. Gilbertie’s Herb Gardens has come out with a line of herbs that were destined for marinades and skewers. (Herb plants from Gilbertie’s are sold at Shop in the Garden).
On the front line is the rosemary with the cultivar name ‘Barbeque’. It is a handsome, deep-green, upright, and incredibly tasty specimen. Other good options are ‘Sal’s choice’ (named after the owner) and ‘Tuscan Blue’. Oregano is also an essential herb for the grill. I grew a cultivar named ‘Hot and Spicy’ last year whose kick was phenomenal.
Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education. Join her each weekend for home gardening demonstrations on a variety of topics in the Home Gardening Center.
Many cool or early season crops such as radishes, beets, lettuces, and peas are easy to sow from seed.
In mid-May I harvested the radishes I’m shown sowing in early April in the video. I recently completed a second sowing for harvest in 4-6 weeks.
Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education. Join her each weekend for home gardening demonstrations on a variety of topics in the Home Gardening Center.
Last week I discussed the tradition of flower pressing, the creative uses of pressed flowers, and a few important tips for successfully pressing flowers and making your own designs.
Remember to collect flowers when they are at their peak Avoid any excess moisture on your flowers by collecting them in late morning after the dew has burned off. Below are some simple techniques for pressing flowers.
Waxed Paper
The simplest way to press flowers is the one we all experimented with in grade school—the waxed paper technique. Take two sheets of waxed paper and place your flowers between them.
Cover the waxed paper with a thin cloth and press with a warm iron on a low to medium setting. The cloth prevents the iron from acquiring a waxy residue. Waxed paper today is not as waxy as it used to be, however, so you might need to add some melted paraffin. You can use dried or fresh flowers. Flat flowers and foliage are easier to press.
Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education. Join her each weekend for home gardening demonstrations on a variety of topics in the Home Gardening Center.
The craft of flower pressing began hundreds of years ago in China and Japan, where flowers were pressed between sheets of rice paper weighed down with heavy stones. Pressed flowers were highly valued for their decorative qualities.
In the West, plants were collected and pressed for scientific as well as ornamental purposes. Botanists created herbaria, collections or libraries of pressed plants, for research and teaching. With proper care, these collections preserve plants for centuries. When in her teens, Emily Dickinson created her own herbarium, a digitized version of which can be seen in the Gallery exhibition of Emily Dickinson’s Garden: The Poetry of Flowers.
Collecting and pressing flowers was a popular pastime in the United States during the 19th century, when there was an abundance of open land. Today urbanization and the damaging effects of herbicides and pesticides threaten our native flora. It is important when collecting plants to make sure that they grow in abundance. Never collect plants in parks or protected areas. The best place to collect is in your own garden.
Pressing flowers is a beautiful way to preserve memories of the growing season. The decorative uses for pressed flowers are limited only by your creativity. They can be framed or used to adorn note cards, writing paper, book covers, bookmarks, paperweights, candles, placemats, and more.
What makes a plant drought tolerant? Plants have evolved some clever ways of adapting to dry conditions, and you can easily identify these plants if you know what to look for.
