Too Much Thyme on My Hands

One of the challenges of starting seeds is that you never know what kind of germination rate you're going to get, or how many plants will damp off or otherwise not survive, so it's always safest to start more than you think you'll need. We did that with the thyme this year, had great germination, and now I've got more plants than I know what to do with!

I was going to put six in front of the veggie garden, but ended up putting in nine just because I had them. And I stuck another three in the back bed where there was a good spot for them. So now I have six homeless plants left over, which I'll probably end up offering to friends.

The plants look small now, but I've grown thyme at other homes, and it spreads like crazy! If the neighbors wouldn't care, I would seriously consider having a lawn entirely of thyme rather than grass. You can walk on it without hurting it, it never needs mowing (though it does need clipping if you want to keep it from spreading too far), it smells great, it has dainty pink flowers, and it can be used to flavor food! OK, as a lawn, maybe it wouldn't look great in winter. But does brown grass?

Make Mine a Cosmopolitan

Lamium 'Cosmopolitan' is one of the plants I grow as much for its foliage as its flowers. Of course, at this time of year, it's kinda hard to see the leaves—it's literally covered with blooms!

I do like Lamium, but I'm not sure if it likes me...or my garden, at least. I planted two last year, and both seemed to be very stressed during the summer. I cut back the one that looked particularly unhappy, thinking that this would encourage more growth in the spring. Wrong! The photos above are of the Lamium that I left alone. Here's a photo of the one I cut back:

No flowers! Not a one! So it's a good thing I like the foliage, huh? I'm going to leave it alone this summer and see if it rewards my negligence with blossoms next spring!

The Odd Find

It's not unusual for us to find plants we love in the catalogs that arrive in our mailbox, or when we're roaming the garden centers. But sometimes we run across the odd find in an unexpected place. And last week it happened at the hardware store.

Now, I admit that I'm normally fussy about where I buy my plants. I'm usually not impressed with the selection or quality that I find at the big box stores. But there we were, picking up some topsoil and river rocks at the local Lowe's, when we spotted a display of packets of native wildflowers! At about two bucks a pop—cheaper than a cup of coffee in some places!

So how could we resist?

We picked up three Mertensia virginica (Virginia blue bells), which should provide a nice "mirror" on the other side of the sidewalk from the Pulmonaria. And three white Trillium grandiflorum, which we grew before in New York, and really liked. And three red Trillium erectum, which were a novelty. And one Arisaema triphyllum (Jack-in-the-Pulpit).

The root plugs were small, and I'm not sure how many of them will grow. But isn't that the case with everything? What a delight it will be if they take off!

Cincinnati Flower Show

I used to love the Cincinnati Flower Show. I was proud that my hometown's show is the only one in North America recognized by the Royal Horticultural Society in England, home of the incomparable Chelsea Flower Show. I appreciated the fact that for many years it was held in Ault Park, which was a gorgeous setting replete with its own stunning flower beds. Even when it moved to Coney Island, I enjoyed the ease-of-access and picturesque setting next to Lake Cuomo.

Two years ago, however, the show moved to Symmes Township Park, which is much closer to where I live, but I can't shake the feeling that the event has gone downhill. It didn't help that the website failed to explain that tickets at the gate were seven dollars more than if we had purchased them online, and that the gate did not accept credit cards, so we had to go to a nearby ATM and pay a $3.00 fee for using a different one than our normal bank. That, plus the disorganized parking in the grass field across the street, did not put us in the best mood for the rest of the experience.

It seems like, in years past, the flower and landscaping displays were much more interesting, and you could spend at least as much time looking at them as you could at the various vendor booths. Now it seems like the vendors outnumber the displays, and the show doesn't attract the caliber of professionals that it used to.

They did have a tent with table settings, but most of the designers forgot that these were supposed to incorporate some form of dining, not just put flowers on a table, no matter how creative they might have been, like this homage to the Wizard of Oz.

There were a few nice displays in the three Grand Marquee tents, like this cool blue fountain surrounded by pink flowers.

I did appreciate the cute veggie garden installation.

And there were some whimsical elements, like the pioneer wagon and giant watering can.

But by and large I found it a disappointment, and judging by how few people were in attendance, I don't think I was alone in that assessment. I'm not sure that we'll go again next year, which is a shame, because it used to be one of the highlights of our gardening year.

No Sprouts for You!

I had mentioned in a couple previous posts that late last summer I planted Brussels Sprouts to see if I could get a fall crop of them, and when that didn't work, I overwintered them to see if I could subsequently get a spring crop out of them. Well, I'm sorry to report that that didn't work, either. We had a bit of extraordinarily warm weather for the past couple weeks, even tying a record 84 degress one day, and the Brussels Sprouts decided they'd had quite enough of that, and went to seed.

My husband is much more a fan of Brussels Sprouts than I am, but I still would have liked to know if I would have found a home-grown batch more palatable. I doubt I'll be trying again any time in the near future.

When Is a Dogwood Blooming?

Each year, I keep a spreadsheet with information about all of my plants, including when each one started blooming. For most plants, that's pretty easy. There's a bud, and it opens, and that counts as blooming.

But each year I'm puzzled about when to record that the Cornus 'Florida' has started blooming. Technically, the white "petals" around a greenish-yellow center aren't really flowers at all—they're bracts, or modified leaves. The greenish-yellow center is actually the flower!

So it is blooming when I see the little green "cups" form, like tiny tulips?

Or when the bracts have opened up and started to change color, even when they still have a greenish tinge?

Or when they've turned completely white and are easily distinguished from the other leaves?

Or does it not count until those little guys in the middle open up, like this one?

Of course, the exact date that the dogwood starts blooming doesn't really matter. All that matters is that it's finally spring, and this is one beautiful tree!

Vibrant Viburnum

The Viburnum 'Juddi' has just started to bloom. (I used to pronounce it "Judy", but have since learned that it's pronounced "Jud-eye". Now I can't watch Star Wars without thinking about 'Juddi' knights.)

Anyway—with this particular variety, it's hard to say which I like better: the buds...

...or the blooms.

OK, I guess the blooms have it!

Viburnums are among my favorite shrubs. The very first bush I ever planted was a Viburnum plicatum 'Mariesii' (or doublefile Viburnum), which I adored for its horizontal branching, bright green rugose leaves, and white flowers that looked like a lacecap hydrangeas. Alas, I have no pictures of it, except in my memory!

I don't recall 'Mariesii' as being particularly fragrant, but my next close encounter with a Virburnum was at another home where the previous owner had planted Viburnum carlesii (also known as Korean spice bush). The shrub was somewhat diseased and hadn't been properly pruned in 20 years, but oh, my, when it bloomed, the scent of its flowers was unbelievable!

When we moved to New York, our landscape designer recommended Viburnum nudum 'Winterthur'. It was supposed to have "fuzzy" white flowers in the spring (like a spirea) and nice red foliage with blue-black berries in the fall (if there's both a male and female, which we had), but our plants were small and did not grow enough for us to see them bloom before we had to move again.

Back here in Ohio, besides the 'Juddi', we also have a Viburnum dentatum, which produces a modest flower display in the spring.

I believe it's also supposed to produce blue-black berries in the fall, but I didn't notice any last year. It gets its nickname (arrowwood Viburnum) from the fact that native Americans liked to use its very straight branches for making arrows.

A friend told me that arrowwood Viburnums are supposed to get huge. In their current location in the berm, I really wouldn't want ours to get more than six feet high and wide, so I suppose I'll have keep an eye on them and prune them if necessary. (We might have a more dwarf variety.) So far they seem to grow at a reasonable pace. Our three shrubs were fairly small when we planted them in 2007...

...and last year they were still a manageable size.

My husband has never lived in one place for more than five years, so hopefully we'll be here long enough to see these plants become more mature! (Now that we have 'Juddi' knights, perhaps the force will be with us!)