Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 17:14:59 -0500
From: “N.A. Booko”
Subject: The gardem January . . .
With all the sunny days this month, despite the cold, avid gardeners go out and look at the garden. For those smart enough and able to rake leaves in the fall, it is a far different story than for the ones that couldn’t or didn’t rake leaves. And I have mega leaves. My problem is, in the fall, the leaves are so stiff and fluffy, I damage so much plant material trying to rake.
After a couple of months of wind and rain, the leaves are sorta beaten down around the plants, making it somewhat easier to see what I’m doing, but on the other hand, the leaves are usually wet and heavy. A bushel of wet leaves can seem like it weighs a ton. I find a few choice cuss words usually helps the situation. I was silly enough to design my garden into little’room-etts’- making it difficult to maneuver a wheeled cart near where I would be raking leaves. So, the solution is to rake enough to fill a four gallon container and then lug it off somewhere out of site to garden visitors, and pile it up. And, after 20 years or so, it does pile up. And forget it folks, I know what you are thinking- after a few years, those leaves would be good put back on the soil- I ain’t dragging them back- thank you very mulch!
I usually prune my Japanese maples in mid February – a chore that I didn’t manage getting around to last year. They are getting too tall for the red color to be appreciated. And, the variegated Hawthorn maple is now so tall, you can’t appreciate the bizarre coloring of the leaves. This is one maple that should be kept pruned at about six and a half feet.
A quick glance today told the the pink primrose (oenothera) I planted last August has spread by underground roots. This grew wild in our yard when i was a child and since, I have never gotten it to grow and multiply- but be aware, if you do get it to grown and it is happy, it is hard to contain. I shan’t worry about it. Its delicate pink blooms dance in the breeze and is a delight to behold.
The variegated Yucca, Holly fern, Christmas Fern and Rattlesnake fern are all still nice, colorful and green.
Many years ago, 43 to be exact, I ordered some wildflowers from the North Carolina mountains- Some of the soil in the shipment contained a little seed that had just broken open and the root sprouted. I had no idea what it was, so I planted it and gave it tender loving care. It turned out to be a wild native rhododendron. Today it is 10 feet tall and 8 feet wide, Huge waxy leaves and giant pinkish-white flowers. Five or six years ago, I managed to root a cutting and have grown it in a pot. Noticed today, that potted plant has at least five big buds . . .. I can hardly wait.
N.A. Booko
N.A. Booko lives and can hardly wait to garden again in Chatham County-