Gardening With Confidence ™

I have the happy job of speaking to garden clubs throughout the south.   This past Tuesday, I was fortunate to able to speak to the Pines Garden Club in Fayetteville, NC.  I had never been to Fayetteville before, but grew up in a military family, in the military town of  Norfolk, VA, so immediately I felt I would “know” the city, and I did.

I’ve never made a secret of loving to be with garden club ladies.  Their chatter is comforting and I think garden club food is yummy.  The warmth and hospitality of being invited into a host home to speak on a gardening topic is just down right fun and truly a cherry on the top of the many hat-wearing gardening jobs I do.   My trip to Fayetteville was no different.  Better actually.

These ladies made me feel so welcomed and said they loved my talk (no doubt, that was just their southern charm talking.)  They also arranged for me to see some gardens and treated me to lunch (thank you!)

WOW, it really doesn’t get any better than that.  We made a future date so I could return to see these and other gardens during their peak season, allowing me to shoot them for scouting purposes.  This way, if all works out,  more folks than me, will be able to enjoy a “visit” Fayetteville, if only via gardening magazines.

Today’s post is about one aspect of what I saw there; a perfect a follow-up of Tuesday’s post  Is this grass really greener?

There were many things about this beautiful city the struck me, but one in particular, was that the Fayetteville area was warm-season grass territory.

Fayetteville is zone 8; Raleigh is zone 7b.  What a difference a half a zone makes.  I’m told by the ladies at the garden club, Fayetteville is just too hot in the summer for fescue.

As a young women of 32 when I moved to Raleigh, I remember studying  a map of grasses best suited for our region.  There was a line drawn right through Raleigh.  Our area was referred to as a “transitional zone.”  To an optimists, this means both grasses do well here; to a pessimist, this means neither grass does well here.  Even so, year round, cool-season,  green grass became to transitional of choice.  Even to the extent when new developments are built and conveniences drawn, year-round green grass prevails and are mandated.  I know of no development that actually mandates warm seasoned grasses, but their might be one.  I can only assume this is not the case, or they would have been a popular news story during the drought on 2007.

Fayetteville’s grass choices were mainly zoysia, centipedegrass, and  Bermuda.  As such, yellow, straw-colored grasses were the norm – and they were BEAUTIFUL!

No doubt, these nice ladies thought I was nuts to go so ga-ga over their grass.  Rightfully so, everyone in town had winter dormant grass, it was the norm.  I looked at these lawns and realized they provided an interesting contrast to the green shrubs and trees.  But as they ladies pointed out, the warm seasoned grasses give them 4 seasons.  They know they are in winter.

When I renovated Helen’s Haven, I went back and forth between my grass choices.  Environmentally, I knew the warm-seasoned grasses were the better choice; and yet I went with fescue.  My justification was that I would let it go dormant in the summer, and I do.  Why did I end up with fescue even  though I love the look of yellow grass in the winter – all the warm seasoned grasses  “run.”  My choice had nothing to do with the color green.  But to put in zosia grass would required me to also put in edging to keep it out of my various garden beds.  I wimped out.  Now after seeing these beautiful gardens in Fayetteville, I write that I wimped out with great regret.

All I wanted to know was if it was favored by bunnies…

As a garden communicator, when I write about a plant, I like to present as much information as possible,  at the same time making it readable.  Also, most times, I have had a good experience with a particular plant, bringing me joy and I want to share this experience and hopefully encourage the reader to plant one in hopes they experience  similar joy.  I don’t like to write about a plant I don’t have a personal experience with.

What I want to know about a plant may be different than what you want to know.  The variables per reader are vast.  Most gardeners will want to know about the plant’s USDA hardiness, sun requirements, soil type and the like. There are those plagued with deer who want to know if it’s deer resistance, with nearly every communicator qualifying the answer with, “But as you know,  deer will eat anything if hungry enough.”

I need to know the plants water needs.  I have a waterwise garden design, so I need to know if the plant of my desire will go into my oasis, transitional, or xeric zone.  From there, I can decide if I have room, or if I really want it, I’ll make room by trading up. I find it frustrating when I see a plant I want and have to go to several sources to get all the info about a plant that I need.

When I’m gathering gardening info, I’ll gather even more info than I need personally, in the event I really like the plant and want to put it in a clients garden or if I want to write about it.  For example, I am plagued with bunnies.  I need to know if a plant is resistant to bunnies.  I don’t have deer.  However, I will want to know this information to file away for a client’s need or for a writing assignment.

The magazines (me included) are currently writing about the 2009 Perennial Plant of the Year, Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ ornamental grass.   A timely endeavor.  I like it.  It looks good in the photos and I want it.  But with having made too many plant purchase mistakes to mention, and finding that zonal denial only benefits the nursery or garden center, I’m getting to where I need to be gaining more knowledge and killing less. If a plant is listed as a bunnies favorite, I’ll stay clear of it.   No use building a buffet line for those marauding, munching, members of the cute critter club.

Here is what I want to know about a plant.  The list started out organized and ended up random as I continued to think of things I wanted to know:

Hardiness range My garden, Helen’s Haven, is in Zone 7b.  I have to really, really like it if  is at the end of it’s zone.  Preferable, I like to have another zone  wrapped around it.  I no longer buy zone 8 plants; those days will be here soon enough if you listen to the global warming conversations, but for now, I’m sticking to my zone.

Water requirement I will accept most conditions, dry, moist or wet.  I don’t have all the waterwise  zones covered, but I do have most of them  including, sunny oasis, sunny transition, sunny xeric,  shady transitional,  shady xeric and a tiny bit of shady oasis.   I need a plant’s watering need so I know where to plant it.

Sun/shade requirements Absolutely need to know.  Boy oh boy, this simple concept can be so confusing.  A footnote could accompany just about any plant going something like this – give afternoon shade in hot climates, or give extra water if planted in sun…you get the point.

Height We all gotta know.

Width Ditto.

Good for containers Very useful for those with limited space and those of us who like to use containers throughout the home and garden.

Drainage requirements For the most part, most of Helen’s Haven is well drained.  This is by design.  As I created my gardens, I amended the heavy clay with lots of organic matter.  However, there are parts of my oasis zone that receive a lot of extra water either by my neighbors lawn sprinklers or from fountain splash.  As such, these areas stay wet.

Soil structure This usually goes hand-in-hand with drainage, but not entirely. There’s more too it when growing a living thing.  Every gardener needs to know their soil structure.  We are solid clay.  The kind I imagine potters use to throw pots – I sure would like to throw it about.  But, reality sets in and it does make good soil, if amended properly.

pH Every plant has a  pH preference.  It is no coincidence here in the south that pines and azaleas are the most common combination.  Not only do the azaleas benefit from the dappled shade provided by the pines, they also benefit from the acid soil the pines provide.  The pH in Helen’s Haven tends to be acid; a common occurrence in the south, which is why our hydrangeas tend to be blue and if we want to change to the color to pink, we need to go through some hoops and amendments, too many for me, besides I like blue.

Does it reseed? This could be a good thing or a bad thing.   I also need to know more than if it is listed as a reseeding annual.  Poppies, Larkspar, Cleome, Monarda are all considered reseeding annuals.  But the the success of each will depend of many factors, including mulching.  I can mulch like crazy and my Cleome and Monarda are snug as a bug and perform beautifully.  If I treat my Poppies and Larkspar with mulch, they will not survive.

Evergreen, semi-evergreen or deciduous This is most important in design.  If I’m building a buffer hedge, I may well benefit from an evergreen hedge for year round privacy.  Or I may like the lightness a deciduous hedge offers in the season I’m not in need of as much privacy since I’m not outside cooking burgers on the grill and such.

Deer resistance More and more people need to know this.  The deer population is growing at about the same rate as land is being claimed for new developments.  I don’t even want to consider how this gets balanced.  But my clients want to know what they can grow that the deer won’t eat.  I make suggestions and then of course I say, “But as you know,  deer will eat anything if hungry enough.”

Bunny resistance This is my biggy.  I need to know.  I don’t recall reading this as clarification on a plant tag.  As such, I’m always doing extra research, usually with no success.  My success comes if I find it is still standing the next day.

How it spreads and how fast.  Is it invasive? You have to look for code words to know.

• Reseeds freely
• Spreads by stolons
• Plenty to share with your gardening friends
• Oh, it’s easy to pull up if it gets out of hand
• It’s worth it

Origin Some want to know if it’s native.  Others not.  I think in general it is good to know.  Sort of like all of us.  Our origins are conversation worthy.

As I lust over the 2009 Perennial Plant of the Year Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ ornamental grass, I decide to consult the current literature and see how many source reviews I needed to do  to get all the info needed necessary to decide if this beauty will go into my garden.

Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’

Golden Japanese forest grass

Hak-on-eh-KLO-ah MAK-rah

The table above, represents 6 reputable reference I consulted to answer my questions about this plants performance. I have hidden their identify with letters.  But, just to give you an idea, one was a nursery, one an e-magazine, one a botanic garden, two were gardening magazines, one a professional organization.

My, my this exercise thought me a lot.  Did it you?  I had other referenced I could have considered, but I had enough trouble importing this table as it was.  But it didn’t matter, the sources I referred to all varied as you can see above.

Notice all the blank blocks?  Me too.  Who knew?

Sadly, I still do not know if this plant is favored by bunnies.