Readers may have noticed that I’m a diehard fan of evergreens; I preach their virtues year-round. So when I complain about one of them, you know it’s with a heavy heart. But who can blame me? This English roseum rhodo is, according to my local nurseryman, one of the best-performing in Maryland, so what does that tell you?
Well, it’s telling me that like my truly pitiful leucothoes, it’s time for this to go. I’ve given it 15 of the best years of my life, after all, and a position of honor in the front garden just inside my gate as if to say "Welcome to my garden; this is the best I can do with my plants." Uh-uh; I have a reputation to live up to, after all.
Like any gardener, I’m naturally thrilled to have the space for something I don’t already have – maybe something showy in winter like a witch hazel. I guess my heart wasn’t that heavy after all if I’m already dreaming of this guy’s replacement. (And no, I see no obvious parallels with my lovelife.)
Here’s a little piece of garden art that always starts a conversation – and raises questions I can’t answer, leading me to shrug stupidly and sputter disjointed bits of information. So I decided it’s time to stop embarassing myself and do a little Googling.
So, what you see is an artificial nest for orchard mason bees, pollinating bees that are native to the U.S. Solitary and therefore not hive-building, these bees lay their eggs in mud-walled cells like these drill holes, or straws packed in a coffee can that’s then mounted a few feet off the ground facing the morning sun. Although the person who sold me this nest-holder raved about the pollinating abilities of these bees, they can’t be managed directly by humans – say, hauled around to different farmers’ fields – and thus aren’t suitable to large-scale agricultural use. Even worse, most native pollinating bees nest in the ground, so any disturbance and they’re history. The use of pesticides has also reduced their numbers.
All of which helps in explaining why honeybees were brought here from Europe to pollinate crops for our growing population. But the recent destruction of about half the American honeybee population by a parasitic mite has highlighted the dangers of overreliance on any particular species. So I’m right there, offering these little drill holes to the wandering orchard mason bee looking for a nest site. I know it won’t make much difference in the scheme of things but hey, it’s something. And not a bad-looking garden ornament, either.
RANDOM HONEYBEE FACTS: The average honeybee hive holds 50,000 bees. It takes the nectar of about 2 million flowers to produce one pound of honey. Honeybees are used in the pollination of 130 agricultural crops in the U.S. and add $14 billion to crop yield and quality. 15 to 30 percent of our diet relies on honeybees.
FUN TREND: Reportedly, a "deeply cool and trendy" new hobby in British cities is beekeeping, on rooftops and in tiny backyards. One advocate describes it as a "fashionable thing to do something for the environment." Don’t look for this trend to jump the pond and land in Washington, D.C. any time soon, though. Beekeeping is banned in D.C. and many other stinger-fearing jurisdictions.
It’s Favorite Shrub time again so the anti-shrub among you can just click off to somewhere else (you know who you are, Amy. Some of us have a lot of garden to fill.)
Next up is the Kolkwitzia amabalis or beautybush (not to be confused with beautyberry). I admit it’s wild and scruffy-looking enough to be mistaken for honeysuckle shrub – not a flattering comparison – but I love it for its old-fashioned good looks and other qualifies, like:
It grows really fast, up to 15′ x 10′, but can fit into a smaller space by pruning or, as I’ve done here, by tying it up to a wall or fence. That’s a bit of cheating I indulge in lots cuz I hate to see plants crowding each other or lying on the ground. But scraggly or not, wouldn’t you rather see it than the toolshed? It’s shown here at its mid-spring peak, of course, because I’m a show-off kind of gardener. Heather in Houston nailed me on that score all right.
Finally, because I’m also a naturegirl, I admire the beautybush because it’s a perfect nesting shrub for my wild birds (feed ‘em enough and you start thinking they’re yours, not Nature’s). So I recommend this shrub from China as a wildlife-friendly plant, despite the fact that it’s one of those exotics, nonnatives, immigrants – pick a word. See, nobody ever wants to tell you about the good nonnatives, but I will. Gardeners need as many choices as we can get, dammit.
Over at Garden
Rant Amy put out a call for photos of hunky gardeners. While I second that emotion, in my neighborhood they’re in short supply, so how about some hunky cowboys from D.C.’s recent Gay Pride Parade? I say who cares what team they play for; these guys were HOT, downright SIZZLING. And how often do we get to see buff semi-naked men girating for our entertainment, anyway? In my day-to-day life, never, and it’s one of the many reasons I enjoy a good Gay Pride Parade.
But there was lots more to love than just the boy-toys. For the first time since I’ve been attending, the parade had a huge contingent of families, baby strollers and all. It had floats sponsored by such corporate giants as Southwest Airlines and Fannie Mae, with their gay or gay-friendly employees in the lead. It had every single city politician in Washington in th
is election year; no mayoral or city council candidate would think of missing this event.
And despite the forces of darkness and repression over at the White House and on the Hill, this event was about progress and enlightenment and PRIDE. Even the straight politicians knew to call out "Happy Pride" to the crowd because our local pols GET IT.
Now just so I’m not accused of any kind of bias – dear god – the other photos show hot female motorcyclists and one of their topless passengers – because every parade needs some bare-breasted women, as I’ve said before.
Now that I’m the editor of the D.C. Master Gardener News, I actually get paid to visit and report on cool projects like the following, and I’m loving it.
The Children’s Studio School in downtown D.C. was built in the old-fashioned style of schools-as-prisons, so it’s no easy task to humanize, to enliven, to make kid-friendly. And as recently as January of this year its side "yard" was covered with asphalt and rubber and was a functional – not to mention aesthetic - wasteland.
But thanks to Master Gardener Ed Bruske and his team of parents and neighbors, it now holds 40 raised planters of various sizes containing 18 yards of topsoil and compost. Not to mention dozens of 4- and 5-year-olds watering the planters with their cute little watering cans. Indoors there’s a sophisticated seed-starting set-up where the plants began, and a worm composting operation where worms produce castings for the garden.
Another Really Cool Person Who Gardens: Ed probably never imagined he’d someday be creating and managing a school garden. As a Washington Post food writer and caterer, Ed’s interest in gardening naturally began with growing herbs and expanded to vegetables. So when he noticed the empty space at his daughter’s school, the idea of the schoolyard garden was born. Luckily, his search for help of all kinds led him to the D.C. Extension Agent, who suggested he enroll in her 2006 Master Gardener class. So Ed attended and recently became the class’s first graduate to achieve official Master Gardener Certification. Congratulations, Ed, and no hard feelings about your beating the pants off the rest of us, including yours truly.
Some Really Cool Sources of Funds: The project’s roughly $3,000 in funding – to date – began
with Garden Resources of Washington, the community and youth garden group, and spread to the local political body (think mini-city council) and even included a mysteriously anonymous neighbor (please, no paparazzi). Next, the ever-resourceful Ed discovered the Mantis Corporation, makers of the marvelous compost bin in the top photo, and hit them up for a freebie. Got it! This model retails at about $500 and creates compost in a month, as long as the kids keep turning that handle. So add fighting childhood obesity to the many benefits of this aah-inspiring project.
[Click-to-enlarge photos: Ed with freebie composting bin; and his 5-year-old daughter Leila with her watering can. Readers, I can't show you the other incredibly cute photos I got because, I found out later, I needed parental permission. Sorry to say, that's the age we live in.]
Readers, it can now be revealed that I’ve been meeting privately behind your backs with two other gardening bloggers - by email, by telephone and even in person! – to plan and implement our scheme for world domination. In fact, the introductory feeler Amy Stewart sent to Michele Owens and me was entitled "World Domination," which got our attention. That’s Amy – a trim wisp of a woman who thinks BIG. And all that scheming has paid off because Garden Rant is already more than I’d hoped for – good-looking, funny and provocative as hell. And isn’t that provocative element exactly what the online world has added to the gardening conversation? Damn right, and long overdue.
So meet me over at Garden Rant for rants and raves and the kind of smart-aleck behavior my mother tried so hard to discourage. But Mom, this is so much more fun.
