A MUST-HAVE FOR THE GARDEN LIBRARY

I COULD KICK MYSELF: HOW COULD I HAVE MISSED
THIS BOOK FOR TWO YEARS ?

Experienced gardeners and garden designers are jaded when it comes to collecting books on gardening. Just when I thought there was nothing left to say on perennials, two professional passionate garden designers create a masterpiece that is a joy to read for both the novice and experienced gardener. It's down-to-earth advice, puns, quips and catchy phrases also appeal to the Taurus in me.

The writers, Stephanie Cohen and Nancy Ondra are , and I quote, " Obsessed with everything about gardens and gardening-with digging, planting, designing, and creating great canvases of living color and textures." Those are my sentiments exactly.

Along with design basics, they present 20 garden plans, as well as the before-and-after stories of gardens they've created for family and friends.

The contents of DESIGN PRIMER are simplicity itself : PART ONE : PERENNIAL DESIGN DEMYSTIFIED : 1. Getting Started 2. Selecting your Perennials 3. Exploring Perennial Partners 4. From Dream to Reality and 5 . It's all in the Details.

PART TWO : PUTTING PERENNIALS TO WORK: 6. Problem-Solving with Perennials. 7. Creative Color Effects. 8 . A Year of Perennials and 9. Gardens for Special Effects.

PART THREE : FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE: 10. Building a Border from Scratch., 11. Expanding an Existing Garden and 12. Reworking an Old Garden.

In its almost 300 pages are beautiful photos, designer "checklists" with helpful pointers, a very useful planning chart and the notebooks of both writers filled with their personal opinions.

Design Primer is available from Amazon.com. It was recommended as one of 2005's best by FINE GARDENING MAGAZINE.

WHAT I DID ON MY SPRING BREAK

OFF-SEASON AT GETHSEMANE'S TREE
AND SHRUB LOT

Yesterday Spring Break came to Chicago. The sun and balmy 50 degree temperatures beckoned me outdoors. I put on my good shoes and tried out my new bionic feet by walking a good country mile or so to Gethsemane Garden Center. The shot I made above shows the last of the rapidly disappearing snow cover.

I met with the Chief Honcho of Trees and Shrubs and persuaded him to give me the names of his purchases of the new woody plant introductions for 2007. It didn't take too much arm-bending to get him to give me his selections. He was pretty pleased with himself.

Being a big fan of Hydrangeas, I'll start with them. Hydrangea Quercifolia ( Oak Leaf Hydrangea ) ' Little Honey ' is a chartrese-leaved shrub that performs wonderfully in shady locations. New foliage is infused with red veins and fall color is more of a rose/raspberry than the standard cinnamon/maroon.

Hydrangea Macrophylla ( Big Leaf Hydrangea ) ' Lemon Daddy" is a gold-leaved, pink flowering, mop head for shady locations. Another big leaf is Hydranagea Macrophylla 'Forever and Ever' , a red mophead with great glossy foliage and handsome flower heads.

Hydrangea Paniculata ( Panicle ) ' Pinky Winky ' , has large two-toned flower heads that are white when they emerge, turning shades of pink while new flowers keep pushing out throughout the growing season.

I'm also keen on the evergreen shrubs, Taxus ( Yews) of which there are many varieties. This are not your Grandfather's yew, but new improved varieties and are great for background, specimen or structure in the garden. Taxus x Media 'Citation ' is a tight version of a columnar yew that is cylinder- like in shape and only reaches a mature height of 9 feet by 4-5 feet wide. Height can be controlled by clipping. For a new twist on a vintage shrub, Taxus cuspidata 'Golden Treasure' is a bushy form with bright gold foliage and is great for shady locations that need a color pick-me-up. It tolerates shade or sun and regular pruning, if need be.

And while I'm on the subject of evergreens, Juniperus ( Junipers ) are another fave that thrive well here in Zone 5. A new introduction I've got to get for my own garden this year is Juniperus-Communis 'Sentinel ' This is a tall, skinny evergreen that looks like Italian Cypress. Great for hot, sunny locations and can handle sun, wind, heat and snow. Grows only 1-2 feet wide by 7-9 ' tall.

These are my picks from his list and there will be more to come in future posts.

THE GOOD EARTH

A photo of the acid-loving plants in my garden :
'Limelight' hydrangea on the left and 'Oakleaf
Hydrangea on the right.

Quote : A real gardener is not one who cultivates flowers: but one who cultivates the soil. If he came into the Garden of Eden he would sniff excitedly and say, " Good Lord, what humus !" -Karel Capek

A frequent question , but in my opinion, the most important, that I ask all potential garden clients : How's your soil - sandy or heavy , acidic or alkaline ? Before planting a thing, these are the most important things you can do : If your soil is acidic ( rarely ever here ! ) then take advantage of it by planting acid-loving plants such as Rhododendrons, Azaleas, Hydrangeas, Lilacs, etc. If it's on the sandy side, adding amendments such as peat moss, compost and manure will make it fertile and hold moisture.

Heavy or clay soils are the most problematic. I thought I'd left behind the red clay of Alabama only to find it in my Chicago garden. I visited the local garden center and asked about how to amend it.

The guy at the garden center gave me a funny look . " You live within walking distance of Lake Michigan and you've got clay ? " He just couldn't believe it until I took out my small sample.

Apparently a previous homeowner, stuck with a yard of Lake Michigan sand, must have hauled in a load of sludge. The soil in my garden was so hard when it dried out and so wet when it rained. Death row for plants.

Lots of back- breaking double -digging and peat moss later brought back memories of my father plowing straw and pine bark into the soil every Fall. Guess when you do it for a living you'd better know all the ropes.

There's an even better product available at some select garden centers these days, Black Forest soil conditioner ( Gethsemane Garden Center carries it ) and it really works wonders in lightening up heavy clay soils. It's also used to acidify soil. Black Forest is finely ground pine bark that decomposes over a period of time. I use it religiously. Adding compost and manure ( it's combined in one bag ) is another amendment for heavy soil that I swear by.

A question I get frequently about plants that love acid soil is " How can I turn my Hydrangea blue ? Passing by my neighbors house one day I see him toiling away beneath his Annabelle Hydrangeas. " I'm turning my Hydrangeas blue. " he informed me. " That'll be a miracle, " I replied. Oh, yeah he says I got this stuff at Gethsemane and they said it really works. " Did you tell them what kind of Hydrangea you had, ?" I inquired. " Uh, no. Is that important ?" Uh, yeah, Annabelles are white and their color cannot be changed by amending the soil. You must start with a pink if you want to turn it blue.

As the song says, " Now don't that make my brown eyes blue ? "

SHOCKING NEWS ABOUT TOMATOES

Why is it that when you want red tomatoes
you can only find green and when you want
green there's only red ?

There's a lot more going on with plants that we ordinary mortals know . More than once I've gotten a raised eyebrow when I told clients they'd need a male and female Holly if they wanted red berries. Most folks don't realize that plants have a complex sex life. Human mating rituals have nothing on plants when it comes to methods employed to attract the opposite sex. Flowers will flaunt their petals, exude intoxicating fragrance and even heat to attract pollinators .

A fascinating book by British Naturalist David Attenborough, THE PRIVATE LIFE OF PLANTS , will leave the reader with a new appreciation of how plants struggle to find food, exploit predators or neighbors, reproduce themselves and establish their place in the world. You'll never look at a flower or plant the same way again.

Scientists have long known that plants have a defense mechanism but they believed it was chemical in nature. I read a recent study coauthored by North Carolina State University Botanist Dr. Eric Davies in which he demonstrated for the first time that when an electrical stimulus is used to injure a tomato leaf, bio-electrical signals are rapidly transmitted from the injured cells to other cells throughout the plant.

What does this mean ? The signals alert the cells to increase their production of naturally occurring pesticides called proteinase inhibitors which boost the plant's resistance to insect feeding. Amazing ! This is an important discovery, but don't try it on your tomatoes just yet.

Dr. Davies says that proving an electrical signal can turn on genes is important because it raises the possibility that we may be able to use electrical stimulation as an environmentally sound means for increasing crop resistance to pests. It also gives new meaning to the term, " One hot tomato ! "

THE GARDENS IN DOWNTOWN CHICAGO

Grant Park - Chicago's Front Yard

I came across something interesting in garden blogs today. A blog devoted to the Literary Gardener . READING DIRT, has wonderful photos of the gardens in downtown Chicago . With reviews of good garden books it offers a great way to pass the winters here by " Reading our way down the Garden Path , " as its creator states.

For many years I worked on the Magnificent Mile , as a long stretch of Michigan Avenue is called. Not until our current Mayor, Richard M. Daley, took office did the downtown area look so colorful and green. As I said in a previous post, he's a Taurus and he's got a very green thumb. You'll hear some citizens moan and groan about the flowers and trees being a waste of the taxpayers money but I personally think its worth every penny.

Not only has the downtown area been planted with beautiful trees and flowers, but the median strips dividing the streets in almost every neighborhood and Lake Shore Drive as well.

Unseen by most except the privileged few and landscape designers are rooftop and balcony gardens with breathtaking views of the beautiful Chicago skyline. I've planted a few high-rise balcony gardens and I must say that I admire the audacity of the homeowners who are determined against all odds to have their little piece of paradise at whatever cost.

" What will grow in containers on the 46th floor with a sunny, windy exposure ? " is a frequent question. You have to be a patient , determined gardener with a lot of disposable income to maintain some of these high rise paradises. Even the sturdiest plants can succumb to Chicago's harsh climate, be it summer or winter.

To see the planted traffic medians and public gardens in Spring is especially delightful for many winter weary Chicagoans. They've also inspired many homeowners to plant flowers and trees. I'm constantly hearing questions such as " What is that purple flower that blooms all summer , what kind of shrub is that pink one ? What are those yellow flowers with the brown centers ? and so on and so forth.

We have our own unique public garden at the end of our street, which due to its shape , has been dubbed " the Triangle. " It was installed and maintained by the city . The space is very small but the designer did a marvelous job of planting it with long-blooming, low-maintenance perennials that bloom from Spring right up to Fall : Ornamental Strawberry, Stella' d'Oro Daylilies, Knockout Shrub Roses, and Ornamental grasses. A hard combination to beat and one that has thrived with the little attention it gets.