Spring Ephemerals and Beyond

Henry James said that the two most beautiful words in the English language are “summer afternoon.” But when you see this photograph of Riverside Park taken April 2, it gives you pause.  

I cast a vote for the words “spring ephemerals.”  The phrase doesn’t have the resonance of long shadows and leisurely days, but it means what it says.  Spring ephemerals are fleeting.  You will find them in the woods, generally low to the ground, and they are beloved of gardeners who are out and about with the first breath of mild air.  They need the sunlight and the active pollinators that are present only before trees reach full leaf.  They appear in early spring, and vanish within six to eight weeks.

Among the earliest of the spring flowers are the Trilliums.  Called wake-robins because they begin to bloom at the same time as the return of the red robin, they are among the loveliest of the woodland flowers.  Trilliums are beautiful as a single plant, but they are an astonishing sight when you come across them in large drifts.  They are generous spreaders, so a large drift is not too much to hope for when planting.  

Trillium

There are about 30 Trillium varieties native to North America, and they are immediately recognizable as they all share a distinguishing feature -- the arrangement of three leaves, a single stem, and a single flower at the top.   You will find them for sale in bulb catalogs, as they are tuberous plants. 

Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema tryphyllum) makes a bold entrance into the landscape, emerging from the forest floor on a single, sharp, pointed spike.  The leaves slowly unfurl, revealing a hooded enclosure, the spathe, and the rounded shape of the preacher “Jack,” which is then covered by the hooded “pulpit.”  They are impossible to overlook.

If you are fortunate enough to have a patch of woodland, plant the wild geranium (Geranium maculatum), a close cousin of the sanguineum hybrids much admired in sunny borders.  In the light shade, with its pink flowers and slightly loose habit, it is beautiful in combination with its wildling cousin, the columbine (Aquilegia  canandensis). The geranium will form low mounds along the ground, while the columbine blooms on stems up to two-and-one-half feet, emerging from a mound of green leaves.  Flowers can be yellow or red, and will bloom for almost a month.

Many of the ephemerals will spread to form a groundcover.  Dwarf iris (Iris verna var. smalliana), can be used to particularly fine effect tucked in the crevices between large rocks.  Growing no more than six inches tall, it will spread wherever there is room.   

Woodland phlox (P. divaricata) lasts too long to be characterized as ephemeral, but is too beautiful to exclude.  In early spring it blankets the woodland floor with sky-blue blossoms.  Phlox slowly seeds itself about an area; individual plants grow into one-foot mounds, quickly forming a carpet of blue that lasts for several weeks. 

Shooting star (Dodecatheon media) shows its tall clusters of white flowers atop single stems.  Planted among ferns, it serves as a striking focal point.  The foliage dies down and disappears in the summer, which will go unnoticed in a woodland garden.

For some reason, we seem to see more yellow ephemerals than any other color.  Perhaps we notice them because we long for the sun.   Green-and-Gold (Chrysoginum virginianum) blooms richly with a profusion of yellow, daisy-like flowers.   It does so again in the fall. 

Golden ragwort (Senecio aureus) is a rapid spreader, creating colonies of golden flowers rising above heart-shaped leaves.  It is happiest in moist soil in sun or partial shade, thus a good choice for the woodland edge of a streamside.  Heartleaf Golden Alexander (Zizia aptera) is another healthy spreader.  Usually seen only in mid-western prairie gardens, its resistance to drought, heat, biting winds and severe winters make it a winner in the northeast. 

On the wet side, the Marsh marigold (Caltha palustris) blooms in a rich yellow when there is no other color around.  It is usually found streamside where the downstream flow of water carries it along, allowing it to colonize on the banks.  Their areas tend to increase on their own, and if you look closely you will find tiny tubers scattered over the surface of the soil.  

Marsh Marigold

One of the beauties of a woodland garden is that unlike cultivated borders you can forget about something once it has disappeared and not pay attention to the area until the following year, when you will enjoy the resurgence all over again.  For now, when walking in the woods, keep your eyes on the forest floor.  It’s there that you will find the tiniest and the most fleeting of the ephemerals.

April Calendar

Now that we are in full battle dress for the gardening season, it’s time for the return of the Monthly Calendar.  Print it out, post it on the refrigerator door, or in the potting shed, should you be so fortunate.

M. stellata. The end of the earliest blooming variety of Magnolia.

The close of March put a serious knot into everyone’s plans. The extraordinary heat pushed many plants into an early growth spurt while they were still under wraps.  Then a late March freeze made everyone nervous.  Native plants seem to fare well in unexpected turns in the weather since they respond more to light cycles than temperature, but the imports can be been fooled.

Survival of the fittest: violets in concrete.

Planting conditions are a concern; the soil is bone dry since there has been warm sun and virtually no rain.  Dazed New Yorkers are wandering around in T-shirts and sandals.  We are not off to a good start.

If you haven’t already done so, start a garden diary.  Looking back at 2011 will be informative for those of you who are already in the diary mode.

WEEK ONE

By now winter coverings should be off. Clear mulch carefully to avoid injuring new growth. Keep a few old sheets around for an unexpected frost.

Make sure you water dry soil before turning over, but not so much that you damage the structure.

Unwrap roses, prune deadwood, remove mulch from crowns.

Start weeding onion grass and chickweed.

Pansies along a sidewalk. You can plant pansies now.

It’s not too late to sow sweet peas outdoors. Saint Patrick’s Day and Good Friday are the traditional days for this.

Train vines to their supports, typing up branches dislodged by  winter winds.  Cut off bruised and broken ends.

Check shrubs for suckers and prune.

Paint railings and steps.

Scrub terraces and balconies.

Visit local nurseries to select trees and shrubs.

WEEK TWO

Buy new containers and tubs.  Fill with soil in anticipation of planting. Selection of pots at Phantom Gardener Nursery in Rhinebeck.

Soak and plant second round of sweet peas.

Plant cool weather vegetables : lettuces, herbs, beets cabbages, onions and leeks.

Rake the last of the dead leaves from lawns and beds.

Hose down house siding.

Cultivate and rake perennial borders.  Feed with                      commercial fertilizer.

Seed the lawn.

Fertilize lawns, shrubs and roses.

WEEK THREE

Consider the gift plants.  Prepare to deal with your Easter gifts by locating a place either outdoors in the soil, or outdoors in a larger pot.

Beware of cut-rate plants.  There are no bargains in this world.

Watch out for rabbits, chipmunks, and voles.  Look for tell-tale holes.  If you have any success in keeping them at bay, please let us know.

Track down the little bulbs-- crocus, scilla and their kin -- and take notes for your fall orders.

Finish dividing perennials that performed poorly last year.

Last call to move large trees and shrubs.

WEEK FOUR

Flowering quince: glorious blossom, hopelessly awkward form. Prune forsythia and other spring flowering shrubs whenever the blooms are finished.

If the soil is not sticky, sow seeds of hardy vegetables and flowers. Make sure night temperatures are steady at or above 55F.

You might be able to keep pansies blooming through early July by picking off the dead blossoms so that seeds will not form.  If they are planted in a shady spot for part of the day, they will bloom even longer.

If you are growing lavender, prune it back hard to encourage new growth.

The Sunday Gardener Returns

MARCH CALENDAR

No matter how mild the days, it is still too early to remove winter coverings.

Check equipment, scrub pots.

If you haven't sown seeds indoors, now is the time.

By mid-month you should be able to plant pansies.

Visit local nurseries and select trees and shrubs. Chelsea Garden Center

Prune all but spring flowering shrubs and trees.

Leave roses and hydrangeas alone for the moment.

It’s been a long, dull winter.  No ice and snow to worry about, although March has only begun and we have been visited with March blizzards in the past.  Nonetheless, there are a few jobs that the restless and desperate can tend to.

Now is the time to turn your attention to houseplants.   March is the month when they will need more watering than they have all winter.  The days are lengthening and the plants are readying for a growth spurt.  Cut back any plants that have grown too straggly and they will send out new growth quickly this time of year.  Fear not; I have cut a huge ficus back to a hat rack and it responded beautifully.

For want of a sunny south window my houseplant inventory has dwindled to one elderly, tired oxalis.  It is an indomitable plant, surviving despite low light and too much water.  If you forget it completely, it will appear to be a total die-back but its corms will lie patiently dormant underground waiting for you to treat it well.  At the moment, the supermarkets are filled with oxalis in anticipation of St. Patrick’s Day.  Snatch them up before they disappear, because with proper care they will reward you with sprightly white flowers for years.

 There are a few tasks you can take care of in March, weather permitting.  Saint Patrick’s Day and Good Friday are the traditional days for sowing sweet peas.  Check back in our 2011 March archive “Getting Through March” for instructions. 

If your garden beds are new, test your soil and add whatever amendments are called for in the soil report.  In addition to the recommended nutrients, it’s a good idea to add compost and well-rotted manure.  Layer it on top of the beds and turn it in with a fork  or spade to a depth of about one foot.  Let it settle for a few weeks before planting.

All your seed orders should be in by now.  I have stayed with my usual sources, and you will find them listed in the Archive for February 2011, “Looking Ahead.”  

Rooftop corner with Lantana and Geranium

In the absence of the longed-for greenhouse and cold frames I still only direct-sow out of doors.  I’ve ordered nasturtiums and sunflowers, the largest assortment possible; Cleome ‘Color Fountain mix’ in pink, rose, lilac, purple and white; Cosmos ‘Sensation mix,’ the old-fashioned cosmos with white, pink and carmine flowers on 36 to 48 inch stems; ‘Heavenly Blue,’ the traditional Morning Glory; Hyacinth bean, a vigorous climber with beautiful dark green leaves and purple flowers; and Zinnia elegans ‘Benary Giant’ in the full blazing range of yellow, pink, scarlet, salmon and white, with two inch blooms on three foot stems.  This year I’m adding California poppies in the traditional orange to be planted alongside lavender; Nigella, butterfly- attracting with lovely flowers and a graceful habit; and Verbena bonariensis, tall and sturdy with rose-purple flowers.

Sunflowers and Verbena

The annuals in the Catskills do not do as well as I would like as they are grown in raised beds in a fenced-in cutting garden.  I suspect they would be sturdier and more robust out in the open.  There will be a chance to test this as it looks like I will be experimenting with a second garden.  I’ve taken a lease on a small apartment in a four-family house in the village of Rhinebeck, primarily to clear out a warehouse holding the goods of many moves.  There is a roomy shared backyard yard with one very large shade tree and not much else.  My co-tenants seem keen to garden and if we can figure out how to work around the two resident dogs we will be off and running.

Banana Canna and Companions

A Report From the Field

The following communiqué from the field arrived November 1.  There are no photographs accompanying this for the obvious reason: there was nothing left to photograph but devastation. 

OCTOBER SNOWSTORM! LOCAL DEER GO BERSERK!

Earlier today, a Catskills homeowner reported that deer had taste-tested a stand of heuchera in his native woodland garden.  Curious, we sent out an investigator who reported back that they had not only nibbled the heuchera, but the native anemone & cimicifuga, all never before touched at this savvy master gardener's woodland niche.  Clearly an unprecedented attack.

Further widespread devastation was later found down the road, where dozens of peonies had lost their leaves prematurely.  Upon closer inspection, each and every peony leaf on the three-acre garden plot had been eaten after standing untouched for nearly half a century. In addition, old growth lilac, azalea, clethra, viburnum, sweet autumn clematis, rosa rugosa, virginia sweetspire, hydrangeas (oak leaf, climbing, paniculata and mycrophylla) -- all previously untouched -- CHOMPED!  Every plant in the perennial beds -- phlox, sneezeweed, daisies, heliopsis, baptisia, buddleia -- CHOMPED!  Not a single leaf spared.

The only plants untouched were the fern stands and the rhododendrons, leading our experts to the conclusion that the deer population was in widespread panic. While rhododendron is commonly nibbled in late winter when there is little else and the deer are naturally desperate, their clear avoidance of this shrub and widespread unprecedented attack on everything else leads us to conclude that unnaturally high anxiety levels led them to eat everything available in the first line of attack.  Experts assume that the anxiety attack was triggered by the sudden snowstorm occurring in the wake of Hurricane Irene.  “The poor dears just don't know what the heck to expect next.”

No mammals were taken into custody and any and all resentments have been discharged by reasons of insanity.

Needless to say, local garden helpers spent the following days deer- spraying the b'jesis out of both properties. Every one is now officially out of Liquid Fence ™ and waiting for the stores to re-stock.

Closing Out October

Remember the anonymous gardener who cried “Hooray! The first frost.  The dahlias are dead at last.”

The end of October brought much more than the first frost this year; we were walloped with snow that tallied power failures, road and rail closings, and county-wide states of emergencies.  I was in Rhinebeck for the weekend, tucked up safe and warm in a village house within walking distance of everything, including storm damage.

Hedge under snow load

I was also able to visit Phantom Gardener, a local nursery, to see what was available at the end of the season.  If you have the strength for it, now is the time to pick up plants too large to be held over easily.  At Phantom Gardener there were marvelous hydrangeas and quite large Sugar maples, all at half- price.  I contented myself with a dozen paperwhites for forcing and a bag of potting soil.  More on the technique for this next week. 

End of season at the Phantom Gardener

NOVEMBER CALENDAR

Mulch clematis vines with rotted manure.

Check rose climbers for insecure ties

Rake gardens clear of all debris.

Prepare beds for next spring by tilling the soil lightly.

The last gasp You may still find a few interesting offerings for sale this time of year.

To boost your inventory of house plants look for oxalis.  O. rengnelii sprouts from underground corms.  White flowers grow in clouds several times during the year, accompanied by green, clover-shaped leaves.  When they become leggy, cut them down to soil level, and they will start all over again.