Scott Arboretum at Swarthmore College (7) by jilldaisy
A plant sale is coming up that you don’t want to miss. This sale will be held on Fri., Sept.11 through Sun. Sept. 13 at the Scott Arboretum on Swarthmore College’s campus. Even if you don’t want to buy any of the hundreds of varieties of perennials, trees, shrubs, vines or houseplants, you will enjoy this free event with free parking where there are tours of the gardens and mini lectures or individualized sessions with landscape designers to discuss your garden plan going on every 20 minutes. If you do purchase plants you will help support the new Wister Center . If you have never seen the grounds of Swarthmore College, you are in for a treat. The arboretum provides a display of the best ornamental plants recommended for Delaware Valley gardens. Over 4, 000 different kinds of plants are grown on the campus, selected for their outstanding ornamental qualities, ease of maintenance and resistance to disease. (Also, on the campus, but in a different location- so you have to ask for directions- Swarthmore College has the largest display arboretum of hollies in the US that is free to tour on your own.) Try not to miss this rain or shine Plant Sale event. The Scott Arboretum is located at 500 College Avenue in Swarthmore, PA 19081. The website is www.scottarboretum.org
TheGardenLady received this question from Vincent.
Do succulents like acid soil….specifically coffee grounds added to the soil?
You do not tell me which succulents you are interested in growing nor whether your succulents are potted house plants or outdoor, garden grown, plants. In containers, the plants are in smaller amounts of soil so one has to be a little more careful with the soil pH than if grown in your garden or in a field.
It also depends on the type of succulent you are growing. Succulents need the pH of the soil where the succulent originated – that is, its original habitat in the wild. If the succulent came from an alkaline area, like Ariocarpus fissuratus Living rocks which comes from Mexico – it will want alkaline soil. If it is in the Echevierias family – Hens and chicks – it hates lime. See here.
Most succulents are grown succussfully in a neutral soil pH. Good drainage is of primary importance so a porous soil is needed.
TheGardenLady would not recommend adding coffee grounds to the soil without knowing which succulent you are growing.
Do you know when lady apples are in season? I heard it wasn’t until October, I wanted to use them in September for Rosh HaShanah.
The Pink Lady Apple is a new apple that was developed in Western Australia and is now grown in the United States on our west coast.
Because TheGardenLady wanted to give you the correct information, she contacted the Pink Lady America spokesperson. Pink Lady America is a grower-supported association in Washington State.
Here is their response:
Thanks for contacting Pink Lady America.
Are you referring to ‘Lady Apples’ or ‘Pink Lady Apples’? Domestic Pink Lady Brand Apples are available from December until mid summer while fruit from Chile is on the market through September.
If a consumer can’t find this apple at her favorite supermarket, we
recommend she ask the produce manager and store manager to stock it.
Thanks again,
Alan Taylor
Marketing Director
Pink apples with honey would look lovely on the table at Rosh HaShanah. Have a sweet, happy, healthy New Year.
Perennials are wonderful to have in the garden. Many are almost carefree once they are planted. Oh yes, you have to dig up and divide every few years for optimum bloom, but other than that, you are pretty free of work once the plants are planted. But you do sacrifice something. The sacrifice is that generally perennials have a short blooming period. You have to enjoy them while they are open. Many gardeners try to find perennials of the same type that bloom early, mid season and late. Or you try to find different types of the same perennials that will extend the bloom season. To prolong the season, many artists have tried to capture the beauty of the perennials that they love in paintings, sculpture, ceramics or whichever art they practice.
One of my favorite perennials is the iris. The Japanese iris, the siberian iris, the bearded iris or whatever iris. The GardenLady loves them all and wishes her garden could hold all off them.
Many aritists around the world over the centuries have created art of the iris. From ancient times to modern times, from the amateur to the professional, in paintings, sculpture, glass art, ceramics, etc. the iris has been memorialized. Here are some examples.
TheGardenLady received this question from Jessica.
I was wondering what you thought about Yerba buena. I discovered this plant today and love the lemony minty smell to it. I wanted to know if it’s a dorm friendly plant. I’ll be living in Mills College in Oakland, CA. I was thinking of buying a small bamboo shoot and another plant (yerba buena?). Maybe you can recommend other plants the do well in dorm rooms and has a nice fragrance (not to strong)? I also like plants that can be used for different things, like made into a tea to sooth the throat. Something like that.
Yerba buena is Spanish for good herb. Another common name is Oregon-tea. The Latin name is Satureja (savory) douglasii, sometimes called Clinopodium douglasii and is in the Lamiaceae or Mint family. The common name Yerba Buena has been applied to several species of mint, especially Spearmint (Mentha spicata), but in the West it generally refers to Sartureja douglasii.
Sartureja douglassi is native to western N. America. It grows in redwood forests and was much used by tribes in the Pacific Northwest. It needs moist, sandy, slightly acid loam and partial shade when grown outdoors. It is used as a trailing plant for the front of window boxes and hanging baskets in semi-shade. TheGardenLady has never heard of it’s being used as an indoor plant, but since most mints will grow indoors, give it a try. Just know that it is a creeping perennial that likes to spread up to 6 ft. across. So give it a big pot, put it in a window with good light but not sun and keep the soil moist. If you are lucky, you will be able to make a mild tea from the leaves.
The article below has been going around the internet and is being posted so that TheGardenLady readers can see what creative gardeners can accomplish. To see more of the art check out this site or this site.
Stunning crop art has sprung up across rice fields in Japan. But this is no alien creation – the designs have been cleverly planted.
Farmers creating the huge displays use no ink or dye. Instead, different colours of rice plants have been precisely and strategically arranged and grown in the paddy fields.
As summer progresses and the plants shoot up, the detailed artwork begins to emerge.
A Sengoku warrior on horseback has been created from hundreds of thousands of rice plants, the colours created by using different varieties, in Inakadate in Japan
The village has now earned a reputation for its agricultural artistry and this year the enormous pictures of Napoleon and a Sengoku-period warrior, both on horseback, are visible in a pair of fields adjacent to the town hall.
More than 150,000 vistors come to Inakadate, where just 8,700 people live, every summer to see the extraordinary murals.
Each year hundreds of volunteers and villagers plant four different varieties of rice in late May across huge swathes of paddy fields.And over the past few years, other villages have joined in with the plant designs.
Napolean on horseback can be seen from the skies, created by precision planting and months of planning between villagers and farmers in Inkadate Fictional warrior Naoe Kanetsugu and his wife Osen appear in fields in the town of Yonezawa, Japan
The largest and finest work is grown in the Aomori village of Inakadate, 600 miles north of Toyko, where the tradition began in 1993.
Another famous rice paddy art venue is in the town of Yonezawa in the Yamagata prefecture.
This year’s design shows the fictional 16th-century samurai warrior Naoe Kanetsugu and his wife, Osen, whose lives feature in television series Tenchijin.
Various artwork has popped up in other rice-farming areas of Japan this year, including designs of deer dancers.
Smaller works of crop art can be seen in other rice-farming areas of Japan such as this image of Doraemon and deer dancers
The farmers create the murals by planting little purple and yellow-leafed kodaimai rice along with their local green-leafed tsugaru roman variety to create the coloured patterns between planting and harvesting in September.
The murals in Inakadate cover 15,000 square metres of paddy fields. From ground level, the designs are invisible, and viewers have to climb the mock castle tower of the village office to get a glimpse of the work.
Rice-paddy art was started there in 1993 as a local revitalization project, an idea that grew out of meetings of the village committee.
Closer to the image, the careful placement of thousands of rice plants in the paddy fields can be seenThe different varieties of rice plant grow alongside each other to create the masterpieces
In the first nine years, the village office workers and local farmers grew a simple design of Mount Iwaki every year.
But their ideas grew more complicated and attracted more attention. In 2005 agreements between landowners allowed the creation of enormous rice paddy art.
A year later, organisers used computers to precisely plot planting of the four differently colored rice varieties that bring the images to life.
I recently had some plants that I transplanted From 1.6L pots to 3.5L pots. For the first sized pot I used a mix of plain peatmoss/perlite/topsoil/black earth. I noticed that I had to water these plants every 2/3 days depending on the heat outside. Now that I’ve put my babies in “new shoes”. I’ve used a new soil mix to fill in the rest of the space in the new pots. The soil I used is Schultz’s moisture plus w/time released nutrients (0.08-0.12-0.08). I am completely unsure now when to water because 2 days after the transplant and watering the soil still feels fairly fresh. I tried running some water through one of the plants to make sure it’s not clogged, which it isn’t. It”s slowly dripping out. I guess my first question is, if my particular plants are prone to root rot, is this new soil going to cause this if I over water them? My second question is, what would be some tips with this soil on when to water it being they are gallon pots?
You have asked excellent questions. This GardenLady called Schultz’s for the answer. They said that you were doing the best thing for plants and especially for seedlings that are prone to root rot by using their moisture plus w/time released nutrients because the crystals are mixed so well in the potting soil that they help control the amount of water released into the soil. This prevents too much water in one spot which causes root rot. Also the soil is kept consistently wet from the top to the bottom of the pot. The way the crystals work is that they hold the water and then continue to release water into the soil until all the water in the crystals were released.
I asked how to tell if the plant needs more water. I was told that with the crystals it takes twice as long for the plant to be watered – so if your plant needed to be watered in 2/3 days, with the crystals in the soil, the soil will dry out in 4 to six days. I asked how to check if the soil needs watering. I was told that you stick your finger in the soil and if the soil clings to your finger, it doesn’t need watering. I asked if there were a device to stick in the soil to see if there were enough water and was told that was a good idea and he will suggest inventing such a device.
TheGardenLady wrote an article on caring for plants in time of drought. Schultz said that you can use their crystals on plants that have already been planted. Work them into the soil, water the plant and put a mulch over the crystals and soil where you put them to help retain the moisture.
For more information check out their website and go to Products and click on Moisture Plus Potting Mix or call their product specialists at 1-800 257 2941
”]TheGardenLady received this question from Bonnie.
We planted a knock-out rose bush this past spring. It started blooming and had beautiful roses. We noticed that the stems were cut. The deer are eating them. What can we do?
Deer love roses. It seems strange because there are thorns. In spite of the thorns, I guess deer like plants that humans eat. Rose petals and rose hips and are eaten by humans. See here, here and here.
I spray my roses and other plants that deer love with a product called Liquid Fence. I have been using the product for a few years and my plants are not eaten by deer or rabbits. I think it is pricey because I use it much more frequently than recommended on the container. I have used it even more frequently this summer because of all the rain. Even though the product label says it lasts through rain, I am fearful of losing the plants. Because some some plants are deer resistant, I do not spray all the flowers I have. But I have learned that some plants that I wouldn’t think deer would eat, like sunflowers, will be eaten by the deer if I don’t spray. Liquid Fence stinks like the rotten eggs that is the major ingredient. That dissipates fairly quickly for the human nose; but the smell lingers for the more sensitive nose of the deer. The one thing that I dislike is that the leaves retain a white film from the spray. However, it washes off in the rain.
TheGardenLady recevied these additional questions about Knockout roses.
I just heard about the knockout rose and think it will be perfect for my side patio. Two questions: The above picture? are those purple or pink? How does the Knockout do in partial shade?
There is no purple Knockout rose. They have single and double pink, single and double red, and have recently brought out a yellow rose plus they have a rainbow colored rose and a pale pink single rose. Check out their site.
TheGardenLady has the pink and the red Knockout roses . Though the company says they grow 3 to 4 ft high and 3 to 4 ft wide, mine are higher – 5 or 6 ft tall and and about 5ft wide. I pruned mine down this spring yet they grew back as tall. They bloomed their heads off this spring. And with all the rain we have had, the plants are very healthy with no rose diseases.
I just had the lower branches of trees pruned so that the roses would get more sunlight. Until then they were getting about 5 hours of morning sun. But the company says they can do well with as little as 4 hours of sunlight.
If you’re interested in reading about blooming problems with Knockout roses, please take a look at this post.
![Cropping the Roses by Beyond the Trail [Gary]](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3169/2616166078_35aa8e134f.jpg)
