Gardening ideas

Thinking about problem-solving in gardens and landscapes is interesting. What we bring to the process is gardening ideas, gleaned from memories, experience, and observation melded with the practicalities of light, soil, and climate. A class today had me thinking about this again.

There's no point in dreaming of lush lilacs in Southern climates nor of productive fruit orchards of apples, peaches, nectarines, cherries, or apricots (unless you're willing to do the obligatory weekly spray maintenance, whether organic or not).

We can easily grow blueberries, muscadine and scuppernong grapes, persimmons (native and Asian), paw-paws (a native fruit), and figs (in the right site). Raspberries and strawberries can be productive, too, but require lots of attention.

But creating a garden from a 'yard' is a wonderful process, one of personalizing your landscape, and not only having it reflect what makes you happy, but also creating a garden that's giving something back, not just to you, but to the folks who will live there later, whenever that might be.

Trees are always good, and shrubs, if they're needed. Adding plants to places that need them, that's good too. And gardening, I think, should always be a joyful thing.

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Plants DO make a difference

Newly planted saplings in spring 1994

When we moved into our house about 15 years ago, the front yard was pretty bleak.

Lawn, ugh, with a few large trees near the house and a row of trees near the road. And these photos are in the growing season.

Coming home today, the front forest looked nice in late afternoon light, and reflected the difference that our plantings have made.

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Off to visit other gardens

Heading to a conference on the other side of the North American continent takes me from Eastern oak-hickory forest and old fields to the damp western slopes of the Cascades. I may not see much in the way of natural areas in downtown Portland, but it is certainly a city of gardens, parks, and focused (and contained) urban growth.

Rosehill Cottage chair

My part of North America (the Southeast) exemplifies sprawl and a larger ecological travel footprint, according to an expert interviewed on our CU-produced program (Your Day) for SC-ETV Public Radio, aired as I was driving to the airport. There’s certainly irony in that, but I guess I believe in the benefits of travel, and hope the carbon offset programs do some good!

But he also spoke about how Portland had made a choice between expanding highways and mass transit, opting for transit. I’ll take a light rail system from the airport to the conference hotel for about $2.30. If I have time to go to the other side of the Willamette River, transit is free in the main downtown area. Remarkable. And unfortunately singular in this country.

I’ll be visiting gardens and nurseries as part of the conference, and interacting with fellow gardening and plant enthusiasts who write, speak, and blog about gardens (with a media mix of TV, web, and podcasting added in).

Florist display in England
Since I enjoy encouraging people to think about learning more about plants, nature, gardens, gardening, and ecology, aside from being a total enthusiast myself – I think I’ll fit right in.

And, I love seeing how other people choose plants for their gardens and create special places. Rosehill Cottage was a private garden that I visited in May under the National Gardens scheme in England -- a weathered cafe chair made a perfect garden vignette. This small local florist clearly arranged her wares in an imaginative and welcoming way.

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