Book Reviews
Here are two book reviews from Fine Gardening a couple years ago. Both books are available at the Ashland library. If we get some October rains, planting within the next few weeks would be a good start. ….Viki
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“Wildflowers in Your Garden: A Gardener’s Guide by Viki Ferreniea.
This is an uncompromising book that demands from gardeners the same commitment to plants that has motivated the author, a trained horticulturist. And although Ferreniea writes about North American native plants with an amateur’s exuberant pleasure, she approaches their care and culture with the discipline of a professional, and she expects no less from her readers. This is not a book for sissies.
‘Patience and planning,’ she insists. How dull that sounds to a gardeners who is eagerly awaiting the time when the digging, planting, and nurturing can begin! But plan you must, and patience you must have, to achieve a successful garden and provide the best conditions for the plants you have been longing to grow.
She then describes the conditions for growing wildflowers and tells how to create these conditions. Where other books merely recommend a gritty soil mix for rock garden plants, Ferreniea goes further: ‘the majority of plants that favor naturally rocky places do so not only because they prefer to have less competition from other plants but also because they need cool root zones, rapid drainage – especially at ground level around their crowns – and full sun for their upper parts.’
Elsewhere, she fathoms the conundrum of moisture-retentive but well-drained soil: ‘at first, this sounds like a contradiction: what it is saying, however, is that the plant needs a soil that has enough organic matter (humus, compost, manure and the like) mixed into it to absorb and retain water, and at the same time has enough drainage material (sand, small stones or gravel) in it to allow excess moisture to drain off after the organic matter has soaked up all water it can.’ Now that makes sense.
Add to this kind of thoroughness a wonderful directory of plant portraits arranged according to the plants’ cultural requirements – easy, intermediate and specialty plants – and their light preferences: sun or shade; then throw in a number of beautiful photographs by the author along with plans and watercolor sketches often different types of wildflower gardens. What you end up with is the most comprehensive book of its kind that’s been written to date. “
“The American Mixed Border: Gardens for All Seasons by Ann Lovejoy.
Ann Lovejoy is a keen observer who clearly loves plants and who also loves the very process of gardening as well as the changes that a garden can exhibit over the seasons and from year to year. Lovejoy, who lives not far from Seattle, Washington, thinks Americans need to learn from England’s masterful gardeners, but also that they need to develop their own style, one adapted to their climate and the realities of limited space, time, labor and money. Her own five-year-old garden on Bainbridge Island in Puget Sound provides many examples of rich, layered, complex combinations of woody and herbaceous plants. She devotes a chapter each to small trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, vines, grasses and bulbs, and the roles that each one of them can play in the mixed border.
This isn’t a book that one absorbs in just one sitting. It’s dense with subtle plant combinations for all four seasons. Lovejoy assumes her readers already know something about gardening but are eager for design ideas to improve what they have. The design discussion is leavened with horticultural advice, clearly based on firsthand experience.
An interesting sequence of drawings shows a small section of a border that is on view all year. A pear tree and a few evergreen shrubs form the backbone. The informal planting includes 59 different plants, including deciduous shrubs, perennials, annuals, vines, grasses, ground covers, and spring-, summer- and fall – blooming bulbs for foliage and/or flowers from January to December.
The gardens Lovejoy knows best are located in the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast. Many of her specific plant recommendations are probably best suited to gardens in those climates, but the design advice, and her way of thinking about borders, can be adapted to all areas.”
Submitted by: Viki Ashford
Planting for Birds
Variety is the key to encouraging birds of all kinds. Providing a mixture of large trees, (deciduous and conifer); clumps of berry-laden shrubs; fruit trees; many kinds of flowers and grasses; weeds allowed to seed; insects to forage; fresh water; and a well stocked feeder will please a great variety of birds. (P.S. Remember, easy on the chemical sprays.)
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Conifers |
Warning: Conifers are high risk for wild fire | Conifers are “Prohibited Trees” in Ashland Oregon | ||
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Douglas Fir Western Hemlock |
Junipers Pines |
Spruce Yews |
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Perennials |
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Aster Bee Balm Coreopsis Columbine Crocosmia Lucifer Cardinal Flower Bleeding Heart Delphiniums Sages/Salvias |
Comfrey Pensemons Butterfly Bush Garden Phlox Globe Thistle Goldenrod Foxglove Ornamental Grasses |
Red Hot Poker Coral Bells Dianthus Lupine Cornflower Yucca |
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Deciduous Trees |
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Birch Dogwoods Madrone Russian Olive Mountain Ash |
Cherry Filbert Maples Crabapple Hawthorn |
Sassafras Oaks Hickory Walnut |
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Annuals |
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Marigolds Calendula Cosmos Sunflowers |
Zinnias Petunias Salvia Phlox |
Impatiens Nicotiana Fushias |
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Shrubs |
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Holly Pyracantha Viburnums Lilac Weigela Blackberry Mulberry Snowberry |
Oregon Grape Wild Current Honeysuckle Cotoneaster Sumac Serviceberry Flowering Quince |
Barberry Raspberry Hackberry Elderberry Manzanita Gooseberry Buckbrush |
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Vines |
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Trumpet Honeysuckle Virginia Creeper |
Scarlet Runner Bean Morning Glory |
Trumpet Vine |
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Ground Covers |
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Kinnikinnik |
Wintergreen |
Partridgeberry |
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Article from: Rogue Valley Grange Coop
Photo by: Carlotta Lucas
Give the Gift of Seeds!
Blue Hubbard Squash
Learn to harvest your own seeds with these basic instruction on the International Seed Saving Institute web site: http://www.seedsave.org/issi/issi_904.html
Then, print this free seed packet template I found on Country Living’s web site: seedpacket template or on Fine Gardening’s web site: http://www.finegardening.com/make-your-own-seed-packets
These self-made seed packets look great when printed on brown recycled paper. If possible, buy brown recycled paper locally, otherwise it is available online at: jampaper.com
submitted by: Carlotta Lucas
Garden of the Month: September 2012
As we approach autumn, it is such an unexpected pleasure to see the gorgeous display of blooming plants in Ronald Doyle’s garden at 945 Hillview Drive. In addition to more than 150 roses, currently in bloom are coreopsis, petunias, anemones, Jupiter’s beard, gaura, honeysuckle, ice plant, zonal geraniums, and a stunning display of giant phlox. A well-established crepe myrtle tree is just beginning its annual show. Other trees in the front yard include flowering crabapple, tulip tree, Japanese maple, and a giant cedar that anchors the corner at Ross Lane.
Ron has been gardening here since 1985. Much of the property was just gravel when he moved in. Some of the garden design is by his late wife, Eva-Maria vonChamier. He uses TID water for irrigation. Two dump-truck loads of soil and amendments have been brought in. The garden paths are of hazelnut shells, which he first saw at the Oregon Garden in Silverton. Presumably the sharp edges of the shells discourage snails and slugs, but Ron has good reason to believe otherwise. Well, it looks really good! There is a very large and graceful metal arbor in the back yard that Ron designed, based on something he had seen in France. The magnificent display is contained in the relatively small lot of 90’ x 130’.
The fragrant roses are an amazing array of varieties and colors, including a very large Cecile Bruner that has finished blooming. Other plants that are past the bloom stage now but provide color at other times of year are rhododendron, azaleas, lilac, mock orange, oriental poppy, lilac, iris, daphne, bellflower, clematis, and lilies. Ron has tomato plants in a raised bed, grapes, and a recently installed raspberry patch. Both a Granny Smith apple tree and cherry tree grafted to supply five varieties of the fruit are in the back yard. An especially lovely oregano fills in among flowering plants in the front.
If Ashland Garden Club members would like a guided tour during the first half of September, just ring the Westminster chime doorbell and, if Ron is home, he has graciously offered to show you around.
— Ruth Sloan
Slow-Roasted Tomatoes
Ingredients & Method
- 2 lb Fresh Cherry Tomatoes, and/or Sun Gold Tomatoes and/or Roma Tomatoes
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1-2 teaspoon sea salt
- optional: 1 tablespoon sugar
- optional: garlic
Preheat your oven to 225 degrees. Slice small tomatoes in half and spread them out over a baking sheet, cut side up. (If you are using big heirlooms, cut them into quarters or even eighths.) Drizzle olive oil over the tops of the tomatoes. Sprinkle generously with sea salt. Roast for 2-4 hours.
Options:
Sprinkle on a bit of sugar to add caramelized goodness.
Add as many cloves of garlic you want to bake with the tomatoes.
After roasted, if you don’t eat them all right away, you can keep roasted tomatoes in a jar by covering them with olive oil, then refrigerate them.
Uses: Blend into a pate’, spread on bread or pizza, use on top of baked brie, or use whole in sandwiches, pasta, quiche… the list is endless!
submitted by: Carlotta Lucas