Nan Quick: Travel Journals

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Nan Quick, past garden club member who move back to New Hampshire, has sent her latest travel journal for our reading enjoyment.

Chapter 1:
LONDON IN THE RAIN; YOKO ONO AT THE SERPENTINE GALLERY; BALLGOWNS AT THE V&A.
http://nanquick.com/2012/10/25/london-in-the-rain-yoko-ono-at-the-serpentine-gallery-ballgowns-at-the-va/

Chapter 2:
VENICE:THE CENTURION PALACE HOTEL; ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE; THE HISTORIC REGATTA.
http://nanquick.com/2012/10/26/venice-the-centurion-palace-hotel-architecture-biennale-the-historic-regatta/

Chapter 3:
FLORENCE & LUCCA–THE VILLAS, GARDENS & TREASURES OF TUSCANY
http://nanquick.com/2012/10/28/florence-lucca-the-villas-gardens-treasures-of-tuscany/

Chapter 4:
A BIT MORE LONDON-LINGERING; & A LONG WEEKEND IN OXFORD
http://nanquick.com/2012/11/01/a-bit-more-london-lingering-a-long-weekend-in-oxford/

Mums the word!

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There are over 5,00 varies of mums, but only common garden varieties are usually found at local nurseries. Check online if you are looking for unusual ones, or ask your local nurseryman if they can order a specific variety for you.

Guide to chrysantheMUMS:
  • Select mums that match your hardiness zone. Mums are available in both tender and hardy perennials.
  • Plant mums in full sun, they need at least 6 hours daily.
  • Mums like well draining soil. Boost soil with compost and fertilize mums every 4-6 weeks with a water-soluble fertilizer during the growing season.

  • Never let mums wilt! Water often and do not let them dry out.
  • Watch for pest,  and treat plants with insecticidal soap, if needed.
  • Pinch spent blooms to encourage more blossoms and to keep plant bushy.
  • Mums bloom at different times during the season; there are early, mid, and late blooming varieties. Fall mums will continue blooming until a hard freeze.

~Carlotta

Plant a Tree

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Planting a tree in the fall while the soil is still warm and moist allows the tree to grow strong roots before winter freezing. Then, winter and spring rains provide the tree ample water for a healthy jump start in the spring. 

How to plant a tree:

  1. Visualize the tree full grown!  Then plant it where it has plenty of room to grow and where it gets at least six hours of sunlight,
  2. Dig a hole 3X bigger in diameter than the root ball and as deep as the container. Make a mound of soil in the center of the hole to support the roots.
  3. Grab the trunk near the root ball and pull it out of its container. Loosen the roots by pulling the tree’s main roots loose from the soil!
  4. Place the tree in the center of the hole. Do not fertilize now wait until spring.
  5. Set the tree’s crown 2″ above the soil line, point loosened roots outward & downward in the hole. Root placement is important, otherwise years later you could discover the roots are strangling the tree and causing crown rot!
  6. Fill the hole halfway with soil, then water a few minutes. Once the water

    example of  slit pipe

    is absorbed, fill the hole tampering as you go, water again thoroughly.

  7. Mulch around the tree, but do not allow the mulch to touch the trunk.
  8. Stake tree for stability and also protect its trunk from deer damage;a 6″ black corrugated-perforated drain pipe wrapped around the truck works well for this purpose.

 

ENJOY!… Carlotta Lucas

Local Classes: November 2012

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Winter Dreams—Summer Gardens
OSU Extension - Jackson County Master Gardener Association
14th Annual Gardening Symposium
 Saturday, November 3, 2012
 RCC Higher Education Center in Medford.
 For information call 541.776.7371
Pruning Japanese Maples for Balance Beauty and Comfort
 Thurs, Nov 29 time 7-8:30 PM
 North Mountain Park Nature Center
 Instructor: Julie Gates
 For information call Ashland Parks & Recreation 541.488.5340

Note: All classes have fees

Garden of the Month: October 2012

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The home and garden of Helen Jones at 264 Grant Street has been selected as October’s Garden of the Month. Her garden is available for your street-side viewing pleasure.

Helen purchased this property in 2005 and she says it’s still a work in progress. Helen occasionally consulted Alan Miller and Aaron Blasen of Renaissance Landscaping, but it was her idea to have a natural meadow to bring back memories of the meadows she loved at Mt. Lassen.

When Helen bought her house the magnificent rock walls already existed, but she added many of the trees & shrubs which are now showing wonderful fall colors. The plantings around the front of her home includes: dogwoods, white birch, mugo pines, Japanese maples, eastern redbuds, lilacs, and a lovely weeping cedar.   Recently she scattered Asian poppy seeds around her flowerbeds, and Helen stated, “in the spring her purple wisteria is gorgeous.”.

Helen’s large circular drive creates a mounded area where she planted a ginkgo, a madrone, and a slender rather than broad magnolia. Interspersed among the trees are two  manzanita; one native and a cultivar with dark green leaves that loves the granite soil. The under-story plants include a variety of perennials such as Shasta daises, asters, lavenders, dianthus, rudbeckia, coreopsis and many types of ornamental grasses. The evergreen kinnikinnic spilling over the rock walls adds the finishing touches.

Helen has garden help once or twice a month to help keep the garden manageable, but in a natural state. She also has  a drip watering system to keep it all green.

The effect of all her planning is just what she was hoping for, a mountain meadow that we all can enjoy!

Karen O’Rourke
October 2012