April 2007

Over at the DC Urban Gardener blog I’ve posted the story behind this photo.

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I’m really, really liking the latest results in my tulip border.  Those 50 Blue Aimables I planted here are joined by what can never be predicted - occasional repeaters from previous years’ designs.  The key just may be to, of course, try something new every year but all within a compatible mix of colors.  So here you see assorted China Pinks and Cum Laudes and Esthers popping with the Blue Aimables.

I can promise you more photos where this came from - when the tulips will have the blooms of azaleas, viburnums and weigelas as their background.  I’m just being impatient to show you these now.

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Now I’m the first one to write off tulips as nonrepeaters; I even rip them out and start fresh every year in my main tulip border.  But back behind this large oak I’ve stuck assorted tulips over the years and have to admit that these dark pink Darwins have been blooming their hearts out for over a decade.  I think they look grand with the Actaea daffodils on the left.  Actaeas are smaller-flowered, later-blooming, clump-forming and reliably perennial.

But really, I’ve gotta hand it to those Darwins.

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I discovered via email this morning via email that I’ve been nominated for the Environmental Leader Award in Takoma Park, my hometown of choice - Yikes!  All because I write a modest little blog called Wild Wild Takoma, the official blog of our Community Wildlife Habitat project, and all too infrequently, at that.  Maybe they’re including my columns in the local paper about butterfly gardening and organic lawn care and whatnot.  Or the serious schmoozing I do at all the local enviro-events.

The competition’s pretty tough and I’m not holding my breath for the top honor but hey, I like the company I’m keeping and I promise to earn the nod by updating the blog TODAY.

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Meet Nina’s front garden.  Previous owners tried to grow grass here but between the northern exposure and the huge oak in the middle, their attempts were doomed.  Nina knew better and created instead this charming woodland retreat.  (Fitting, since it’s located on Woodland Avenue, just a few houses down the street from me.)  She filled it with understory trees, like dogwords and serviceberries, that are just now coming into bloom, plus spring bulbs, pathways and some brand-new perennials.  So like any real garden, it keeps getting better. It just needs a load of leafmold mulch every spring.

The photo on the left was taken from the sidewalk and the one on the right from her house facing the street.

Now  since I’ve already dragged you down the street to see new Nina’s garden, how about a quick look at her green roof?  It’s actually one you may have even seen before, since pictures of it are all over the web.  This shot I found on the site of a local nonprofit.  Her green roof plant supplier, Ed Snodgrass, also uses this gorgeous example in his promotional materials.

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Lots of good news from my new-best-friend Colleen at IntheGardenOnline.   My buddies and I at Gardenrant have been nominated for the coveted Mouse and Trowel Award in the following categories:

• Best Writing in a Garden Blog
• Most Innovation in a Garden Blog
• Best North American Garden Blog
• Garden Blog of the Year

Now friends, it’s time to vote.  You have until May 11, but why wait?

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For D.C.-area locals who’d rather avoid the HOARDS of tourists around the Tidal Basin, the Maryland suburban neighborhood of Kenwood is THE place to go to see cherry trees in bloom, so after 30+ years living in this area, I checked it out.  (On a weekday, the only sane way to do it.) 

Gorgeous as this neighborhood is, I can’t help feeling sorry for the (admittedly well-off) residents.  According to the Washington Post, more than 30,000 people descend on these few blocks during two weekends each spring to oggle their cherry trees.  Neighbors have resorted to rent-a-cops just to protect their properties and parking spaces. Apparently that doesn’t protect them from the time-honored tradition of cherry blossom breakfasts among Japanese immigrants.  One resident told WaPo he’s found Japanese families enjoying the view from his front porch, and even settling in for breakfast in his front yard or in the back around his swimming pool.  According to Japanese tradition, the cherry blossoms’ short blooming period represents the transience of human life.  (Something I recently reflected upon in lieu of whooping it up on my birthday, getting more philosophical with every passing year.) 

In the grand old American tradition, local kids are raking in the bucks at their lemonade stands.  But just when cynicism starts to rear its ugly head, we learn of the daughters of one cardiothorasic surgeon donating their take ($86 in just three hours) to the Cancer Society.  Ah, there’s a breath of fresh air for ya.

Naturally, the Kenwood neighborhood has a garden club, who act as keepers of the cherry tree tradition and report that 1,200 trees were planted here in the 1920s, even before any of the homes were built.  And just like the majority of the trees around the Tidal Basin, they’re all Yoshinos. 

Speaking of the Tidal Basin, I couldn’t resist checking out the scene there, too, and even on a weekday it was CRAZY CROWDED.  Surely thousands of money shots, like this one with Jefferson in the background, were taken that day, the last warm day before this freakish cold spell, complete with an inch of snow, hit town.  Global warming?  More like global weirding.

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Did you catch Adrian Higgins‘ story in today’s Washington Post about taking on the job of teaching fellow staffer Lauren Wiseman to garden?  He’s teaching her from scratch.  How much of a newbie is she?  Well, she bought some full-length and no doubt hot-as-hell wellies from J. Crew as her gardening shoes - that’s how much of a newbie, so Higgins has his work cut out for him.  To accompany the story of this journey, wherever it leads, is Lauren’s on-line journal, The Budding Gardener - what a great idea.

So I applaud Higgins for the story idea and for his usual excellent advice.  But what should people do if they don’t happen to work alongside an Adrian Higgins?  Why, hire a Gardening Coach, of course.  Funny thing -  I was recently interviewed by the New York Times for a story they’re doing about gardening coaches, so I’m interested to see that I’m not the only one and curious to learn something about the others out there, somewhere.  You can bet I’ll link to it here if and when it ever appears in the paper.

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