The Jolly Gardener...and I don't mean me

I spend a lot of time thinking about potting mixes, don't you?

So much of my work is in containers that finding a quality potting mix is crucial, and not always easy. There's a trade off between being light weight (significant for rooftop plantings) and providing adequate nutrition (peat-based mixes don't supply as many nutrients as topsoil), and it's tricky finding just the right balance. One of the questions I'm asked most often is which brand of mix do I recommend.

Big box stores carry Scott's Miracle Gro almost exclusively, but frankly, that's not good enough. Sun Gro's Metro Mix 560 and 310 are fine, but they're usually sold in wholesale nurseries, so recommending them doesn't help the home gardener.

Last year I was introduced to a new product: The Jolly Gardener line of potting mixes.


You might recall I started a comparison test last fall. I transplanted Montauk daisies and dusty miller (among other things) into two large, identical, stainless steel containers with two different brands of potting mix. This spring, the herbaceous plants in the Jolly Gardener mix are twice as large as their brothers and sisters just a few feet away. (I've included a solar panel in each photo to show scale.)

planted in Jolly Gardener

not planted in Jolly Gardener

I'm the first to admit that this is a single, small experiment; I don't have enough data to make sweeping statements about the best potting mix ever. But I'm excited about the Jolly Gardener product and plan to keep using it. I look forward to seeing how it performs throughout the season.

Jolly Gardener is available in several formulas (regular, moisture mate, fruits/vegetables) at independent garden centers and nurseries. It may cost a little more than a non-premium brand, but I consider it money well spent. I don't mind paying a few more dollars for superior quality, do you?

BIG APPLE GARDEN KLUTZ

It's 7am on my newly replanted rooftop. The chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia) is in full flower, promising a huge berry crop for fall. The dwarf lilac
'Bloomerang' is at peak
and will continue to
bloom throughout the
summer if I'm
assiduous about dead-
heading, a task I love.
All is serene.

But there's a snake in the Garden of Eden, a 150 foot garden hose, long enough to reach the far edges of the garden. It's just waiting for me to water in the transplants. I'm thinking of how I'll saw up the black bamboo and plant it in two containers, what I'll use to fertilize the roses, what variety of Monarda to order. I trip on the hose. I teeter and crash into the sharp edge of the new planter.Barely able to move without stabbing pain I finally go to my doctor, an avid gardener. He finds tears in the cartilage connecting my ribs to my sternum. We agree on the diagnosis, 'Garden Klutz'. He says he'll find the code in his directory of medical diseases so he can bill my insurance for the x-ray. He doesn't yet know if there is a sub-code reserved solely for New York City Garden Klutzes, but he rather thinks there is.

I've been called by many epithets, of course: ' herb lady', ' garden lady', 'wreath lady', 'lavender queen', and while still a psychologist, ' trouble maker' for whistle-blowing on the County Mental Health Administrator who was derelict in his duties.

I think 'Garden Klutz' has a certain ring to it. Daughter Jen says she once followed the Abbot & Costello routine and actually stepped on a rake and was hit on the head by the handle.
Have you ever been a Garden Klutz? Tell me please.

There's no picture of the actual accident. The image below is after the fall. Those planter edges look totally innocent don't they?

herbs make you happy (and pak choi doesn't hurt)

Sometimes life is tough. There isn't enough time in the day, deadlines loom, responsibilities seem overwhelming. What do you do? Take a deep breath and get to work.

This morning my task was a true tonic: planting herbs and a few edibles for two clients who have just recently become interested in growing food. We started slowly last year with a few tomatoes and this spring I've added lettuce, some spicy purple pak choi,

and "Bull's Blood" beets.

These plants look as good as they taste, and add color, shape, and texture to any container.

It's too early for hot weather crops like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants, but greens are perfectly happy with night time temps in the 40's. Peas also thrive in cooler temperatures and will soon be wrapping their grasping tendrils all along that terrace railing.

Similarly, it's too early to plant sweet basil, but rosemary, dill, lovage, and sage are happy happy happy.


And after a morning in the garden, so am I.

REFLECTIONS ON CHERRY TREES

Washington DC seems to own the US brand on cherry blossom festivals but I'm enamored of the cherry trees that grow in Brooklyn. Having gone to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden last year about this time, I wasn't planning to go again so soon, yet daughter Jen was in town, escaping from the still-winter of New Hampshire. We agreed BBG was a must-see. There's always something new, or a different way of viewing a favorite scene. Alan Rokach, noted garden photographer and my first photo teacher, says that when you think you've shot a subject in the best way possible, there's always another way. (double click on the photo above to enlarge).
Ben, Jen & I arrived early last Saturday morning joining a small group waiting to take advantage of the relative serenity. By the time we left at 1pm the crowd of viewers had intensified. This group of young people were gazing at the koi in the pond below. Another favorite stopping off place was the log crammed with basking turtles across the pond, near the bridge.At Magnolia Plaza in
front of the main
building, the deep
magenta Magnolia
'Vulcan' drew all
eyes. Every group
of family or
friends had at
least one camera:
our group of three
had three, and we
all took shots of
'Vulcan' This one
is courtesy of Ben.

The cherry blos-
som story will
continue to unfold
for the next few
weeks, as differ-
ent varieties
come into bloom.
It's worth a trip to see the spectacular Cherry Esplanade of Prunus 'Kazan' first planted in 1921. The yellow Magnolias 'Elizabeth' is also on its way to full bloom. If you're like me, beware the crowds on the official festival, May 1&2. If you love to people watch, by all means go then.

The Paper Bush that attracted attention on my post of 1/28/2010 was in full bloom this trip. When I first laid eyes on it in January the big buds looked like popcorn puffs. Now the flowers are more like powder puffs. Looking great from January through April is a hard trick in any New York City garden. Though my hort encyclopedia lists this Edgeworthia as hardy in Zones 8-10, it sure looks like a NYC winner to me.

bad behavior in Central Park

We're having HOT weather here..hot for April anyway. The first flush of spring brings the hordes into Central Park, most of them happily enjoying the flowers, the rental bikes, the luscious spring air.

Then there were the two kids (one boy, one girl), maybe 6 years old, who thought it might be nice to kick a tree. A noble plane tree that never hurt them in any way. Hard kicking followed by poking with pointy sticks, picking and prying at the bark, lifting off pieces and throwing them away. Why?

But more importantly, why were these two 6 years olds allowed to behave so badly when their two mothers were a mere 5 feet away? They must have been having a VERY important conversation, since they didn't seem to notice the arbor abuse going on right under their noses.

(Pardon the blur, I was zooming. And yes, I realize they don't look like bad people. But arbor abuse speaks for itself.)

I stopped, incredulous. I thought. I weighed my options. I yelled across the park drive, "Hey!" No response. (And my voice carries, ask anyone.) I thought again. I walked across the drive. I addressed the children, "You have GOT to stop doing that." They stopped immediately. Then I addressed the mothers, "PLEASE do NOT let your kids DO that to the TREES!"

They looked at me and murmured, "Ok." Were they mortified by the bad behavior of their offspring? More likely they were afraid the crazy tree lady was going to do them bodily harm. Which I wasn't. But ladies, if tending one child is more than you can handle, hire a babysitter. Or leave the kids at home. They're putting a cramp in my spring style.

A NEW YORK GARDEN STORY

The roof needed resurfacing, the leaks around the fence needed to be fixed, the brickwork on the side of the building needed repointing and I was told last year by the Board of the builing that the garden I tend would need to be deconstructed last summer. They hired a gardening crew of five, to come with jacks and dollies and move all of the 80+ planters to one side.I'm glad I didn't have to do it.The roofing crew lifted the pavers, laid new insulation and waterproofing.They took down fences, added new copper gutters and wall caps. All supplies came up 18 stories by crane.I worried about my trees during summer and fall, parched without their usual drip irrigation.
I placed an order of 31 new fiberglass containers in a faux lead finish to compliment the gray of the pavers. One man in a huge truck with gate-lift elevator delivered the containers on 8 pallets. Traffic on the street was blocked for 45 minutes. I learned the pleasures of being cursed at drivers who, though seeing the blockage, decided they needed to go a hundred yards down the street and sit there, honk and curse. My first order of potting soil was a modest 40 bags; I wasn't sure how much usable soil I'd find between the roots in the old containers. Not much, as it turns out. Two more orders, and today my total is 120 bags, and counting.I was assigned a crew of three hardworking men from the building who sawed the old containers apart; first the rotting wooden boxes, then the galvanized metal liners, then the pot-bound roots. They were able to lift plastic pots and pour in some old soil. They muscled the big shrubs into their new fiberglass containers. I did the easy stuff: pour in bags of new potting soil, divide and plant day lilies, lavender, peonies, and other perennials; deal with the roses.
I have a new and undying respect for the 'Saws-All' which cuts through the toughest roots; the name says it all. The grasses I won't need will find a home with Other Ellen and her deer in PA.
Although the job is 60% complete, we have another 12 big containers to go. Below, the sight on the roof today before clean-up. And oh yes, someone in the building doesn't like gray containers, and someone else doesn't like the metal chair that is the centerpiece of my xeric garden that will remain in the center of the roof.
Ben waters the first pot containing my precious Rosa 'Harison's Yellow' given to me as a cutting by Stephen Scanniello. The rose survived radical pruning in preparation for the move, a summer without food or water, and it's now leafing out in spectacular fashion. I've placed it against the East wall where it will be the first thing any visitor will see throughout May. Container #1 also hosts newly replanted iris, pass-along plants from Other Ellen, and California poppy seeds, planted in cool weather as they prefer.

SPRING PEEVES

At the top of my peeve list must be neighborhood stores, garden centers, and even the vaunted Greenmarket at Union Square where vendors sell tender crops like tomatoes and basil weeks before the last frost date.(double-click on any image to enlarge) What are they thinking? Where will these plants languish before they're planted by the gardener? Surely people aren't buying for their windowsill herb garden or their indoor hydroponic farm.
OK, I admit
that I planted
my pansies
March 15th this
year, but I
know that a
little frost,
even snow
won't hurt
them too
much. Plant
your sage,
chives and
thyme if you
want to, any-
thing peren-
nial, but the
vendors pictured top and below are complicit in garden failure. I can only think it's a way to get a second sale when the first plant fails in the cold weather. The Channel 1 meteorologist is predicting possible frost tonight. It's still March folks. Don't sell basil yet! (above right, ESP and her pansy 'hangover')2. For a consulting project, I've been thinking a lot about failure lately, and the roll it plays in the life of the novice gardener. I used to read some of those gorgeous gardening books by famous British writers, thinking I should be able to produce a similar garden. Well, the heat and humidity of a Philadelphia summer, not to mention the freezing winters, didn't exactly match a climate like Gloucestershire, England, and no publisher exactly made that clear. In fact the opposite. Gardeners from England and their publishers often imply that we could and should be doing what they do; another opportunity for failure, when a novice gardener doesn't know enough to even ask the climate questions.
3. A third opportunity for failure is offered by garden catalogs showing macro photos of tiny blossoms without showing the flower in a larger context. A buyer purchases a plant like the one above expecting it to be loaded with 6" blossoms, then must face the reality of 1/2" blossoms. It happened to with witch hazel. I read the description, saw the huge blossoms, and was later astounded by the discrepancies with what I got: small blossom on a shrub that held over its dead leaves from fall. (see above) Whose failure is that? Certainly not the novice gardener?

4. My fourth and last peeve (at least for now) are the plantings in the islands of upper Park Ave. I've heard that a special trust exists to support these plantings. Season after season there's a stage set of one type of flower, tulips in spring, begonias in summer for example. While I admit that the taxis and traffic lights make excellent foils for the color of the tulips, could we have some imagination please? An actual garden instead of floral theater?Now that I've confessed my current top four peeves, please write in your pet gardening peeves. You'll feel better for it.

Below, mid spring as I like it, at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 4/19/09.