A few weeks ago I was in Portland and although it was a brisk day in February a bit of sun was shining through; a good day to wander into the Lan Su Chinese Garden, my first visit into this walled sanctuary in an urban setting. Many of the plants were very familiar: the winter jasmine was so lovely flowing over the rocks above the pond, many camellias were blooming, and the Edgeworthia was filling the air with a sweet fragrance. The tree that attracted my husband’s attention was a well shaped Japanese Black Pine. (You can see our example above, pruned to resemble an ostrich) He asked me if I knew that tree and I said yes it was a common landscape tree and we had lots at the nursery. I will bring one home to him and we can have it in our garden. It is not a tree I’d necessarily choose. There is no comparison to the right plant in the right situation. What is common in one case can be the most outstanding thing in another.
Erica carnea ‘Ruby Glow’ and honey bees, early spring at the nursery February 17, 2011, all is good in the world.
The National Firewise Communities Program is designed to encourage solutions to protect people and property from the risk of wildfire before a fire starts. Firewise focuses on planning, landscaping, construction and home maintenance. Financial grants are offered to residents making landscaping or structural improvements to their properties, which can increase the survivability of their home in the event of a wildfire. The list of firewise plants includes many of the plants we have at the nursery. If you apply for a firewise grant and receive one you may obtain many of the plants for your new landscape here at Pleasant Hill Nursery. Some of the plants on the list we carry include; hosta, daylily, iris, salal, vine maple, ponderosa pine, flowering currant, garden carnation, big leaf maple flowering dogwood and many others. Contact www.firewise.org for more information. Even if you don’t receive a grant there is much good information on ways to improve your property to protect against wildfires including the one we can help you with which is selecting the right plants for your firewise landscape.
Three weeks ago I fractured a couple of metatarsals in my foot. I like to move around on my own and this brought me to a screeching halt. We pruned most of our large apple trees on our farm before the breakage, but had yet to pick up the branches and haul them into the brush pile in the woods. That is usually my job. My husband piled them up in three piles on the lawn and I discovered they made a great spot for the birds to hang out in, between the lilac and the bird feeder by the window. I found this highly entertaining in my non active state. As I can not garden for a few weeks more, I’ve had to go on the premise that messy may not be so bad. Leaves fall from the trees and provide natural mulch for the tree. If you don’t like this look get some mulch, blended mint compost is my favorite, and sprinkle an inch or so over the leaves. This will give a neat appearance without loosing the layer of leafy organic material. Many plants like spiraea, forsythia, and philadelphus, get pruned into a blob by some gardeners, yet when left to their own devices will grow into a lovely fountain shaped plant. These same plants if overgrown can be cut to the ground and they will start up again. I often cut the ‘goldmound’ spiraea to the ground in July and it pops back up with its brilliant color and looks great all winter. You can also miss a year in your pruning and do no permanent damage. I did not get around to my favorite apple tree so I’ll let it go until August or next year. It’s okay because I love the color, deep maroon, of the upright shoots and they will be twice the size next year and good for projects. Patience is what one learns when one can’t do what is normally easy.
I believe High Schools would benefit from having giant swing sets, so would corporate offices, I'm sure. Everyone needs recess to recreate, regenerate and just relax. Today I had recess. Three of us from the nursery went to Maryann's nursery, Clearwater Nursery just on the other side of Mount Pisgah from us. Lorenzo and Pedro went to deliver plants. I went to ogle plants. I could have stayed there all afternoon, filled up our truck with Maryann's plants and been very happy. But my recess was 20 minutes long and just a taste of inspiration. Clearwater Nursery is full of all shapes and sizes and colors of evergreens and other plants. They propagate unusual and collectible plants and are doing some for us so I visited the babies and saw the parent plants the cuttings came from. In planning a new display garden for our nursery, I played pick with many of her larger plants to add as focal points. So I had a sunny recess which will allow my creative juices to flow all afternoon.
PHN Growers Blog
