Fairy Gardener: Buying, Buying, Scratch, Bought!

Buying, Buying, Scratch, Bought.

by James Edminster, Chicago, IL

Courtesy K. van Bourgondien & Sons

Trotting off to The Chalet, the giant plant nursery and retail plant nursery & garden center in Wilmette, IL, my garden club was met by Tony Fulmer, the head horticulturist who's been on the job there nearly 30 years. Here are some of the tidbits I caught during his lecture:  snow mold (which appears on some lawn grasses in spring) is ugly but harmless - just do a light raking;  voles, those little mouse-like critters can occasionally girdle (cut the bark) of some small trees & shrubs but are basically not too bothersome;  for salt spray from roads (which can spread up to 300 feet) one can apply gypsum which chemically ties up the salt's sodium;  for lawns the best time to revamp is late summer/early fall;  seed lawns in early spring;  don't bury lawn seed - let it fall into minor cracks in the soil;  fertilize lawns around Labor Day & Halloween;  commercial fertilizer's 3 numbers = nitrogen, phosphorous, & potassium;  roses DO need fertilizer;  Sluggo is a non-toxic slug bait;  sulphur is a natural black spot (a rose fungus) cure;  if south-facing beds of groundcovers brown out cover them with evergreen boughs;  put sulphur on soil for blue (even permanently blue) hydrangeas but don't apply it over mulch which ties it up;  trees need a bark-based or wood-based mulch;  don't use mushroom compost - it's too high in salts & can damage plants.

In making my spring plant order I'm mainly using the K. van Bourgondien & Sons, Inc. catalog.  This year this catalog seems to be somewhat cheaper.  I've used my old tried-and-true method of ordering:  on the order form I write down everything I could possibly want.  Then I go back and cross out half of the total.  I settled on 3 Raspberry Sundae hostas (red/purple stems) 9) (see above);  5 Brasilia lilies (white/pink);  5 Vice Versa lilies (pink/yellow);  5 Golden Stone lilies (yellow/red);  3 Martagon lilies (purple); 25 Blue Magic Dutch Iris;  5 Arum Italicums (orange berries);  3 Astranias Star of Magic (purple/red).  I'm also getting a sun sensitive gazing ball from another catalog.

Here's this month's recipe borrowed from The Old Farmer's Almanac:  Kale Salad - Ingredients = one big bunch of green-leaf kale (to make about 8 cups of thin sliced leaves), 1 tablespoon minced shallots, half cup chopped walnuts, half cup crumbled feta cheese, half cup chopped dried cranberries, 2 tablespoons rice-wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon of lemon or lime juice, 6 tablespoons of olive oil, salt & pepper to taste.  To do:  wash de-stemmed kale, slice in half inch strips.  Mix dry ingredients.  Mix wet ingredients & pour over rest.  Serve.

Summer vacation is coming.  Here are 10 of the best Botanic Gardens in this country.  Go see 'em:  1) Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, Pa. 2) Bartram's Garden, Philadelphia, Pa.  3)  Denver Botanic Gardens, Denver, Colo. 4)  Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Coral Gables, Fla.  5)  Huntington Botanical Garden, San Marino, Calif.  6)  International Peace Garden, Dunseith, N.D.  7)  Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, Ariz.  8)  Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Mo.  9)  National Tropical Botanical Garden, 4 locations in Hawaii & one in Coconut Grove, Fla.  10)  U.S. Botanical Garden in Washington, D.C.

The Fairy Gardeners has decided to collect  & promulgate various gardening blogs.  Here are 3:  hortiholic.com  (this is Chalet's Tony Fulmer's blog);  The Jackass Gardener ( a Chicagoan's blog) and trust4781.blogspot.com  (Warning - I may be writing for this Indiana based gardening, re-cycling semi-Amish blog)

Well, hallelujah - my 13 goldfish over wintered just fine outside.  Snow drops & purple & yellow crocus are blooming.  Tulips and daffs are above ground.  Found a large bag of still green pine branches so I cut them up for mulch.  For the obsessive among you - cat, dog & people hair is compostable or even useful in mulch (it may deter some critters).  For that matter fingernails are compostable - I clip mine over houseplants.  I don't have to go far - there are 7 in my small bathroom.

See you at the next garden club meeting at the Center on Halsted!

K. van Bourgondien & Sons