Ground Covers---And I Don't Mean Snow!

Spring is here, but in the northeast you wouldn't know it. Cold temperatures and snow, and now they are calling for a blizzard tomorrow? I think we've been spoiled because the last few years we've had warm temperatures early in the Spring so now we've come to expect it.

It's also March Madness- but Syracuse lost in the NCAA and time 'Marches' on so now we have to move on.

Several of us have asked the question- - - how can we be having Global Warming when it's been so cold for so long and we've had all this snow?  Here is a link on some thoughts of Global Warming: Is Global Warming Causing Harsher Winters?

One of my favorite outdoor smells is a spring rain warming up the soil for the grass to start growing again. It's just so fragrant and you know that everything is coming alive with this new awakening. Another favorite smell of spring is a fresh mowed lawn. Especially the first time you mow it after winter. So very sweet! When the snow melts and you are ready to go outside make sure your soil is dried out. When you walk on it and it's still wet, you are compacting the soil. Your grass roots need air, and compaction will fill all those spaces of air pockets. The air pockets also assist in drainage. It's not a good idea to start raking your lawn right away either. When the soil is still wet and you rake it, you could tear out grass and then you will end up with bear spot in your lawn.

I thought I would share a few ideas for ground covers for your yard. There are several of them so I will just list a few in this issue.

Ground Covers for Shade

Ajuga

Ajuga (Bugleweed): Ajuga is a small, creeping, semi-evergreen perennial that has purple flower spikes. It prefers well-drained or moist soil. The common ajuga plant has shiny, dark, small leaves, but there are other varieties that have a variegated leaf. Ajuga can be a very agressive ground cover so be careful where you plant it. I had some in a garden bed on the side of my house and it did fine there for awhile until it spread out to the side lawn. We had a hard time getting it out of the lawn (even weed killers didn't help) so my husband ended up scraping the lawn with a shovel and putting down fresh dirt and grass seed. Once in awhile there are still a few plants that pop up in that spot now. It grows from 4"-14". This perennial can also be invasive in some areas of North America. Here is a link to areas where this plant is invasive: Ajuga- invasive area in North America. The plant spreads by sending runners on top of the ground.


Bergenia: This plant is also know as heart-leaved bergenia. This perennial is clump-forming. In late winter or early spring it will send up a reddish stalk for the pink flower to bloom on. This plant does best in partial sun to full shade with well-drained to moist soil. In the fall the leaves will turn a bronze color. They are tolerant of deer, rabbits, drought, and heavy shade. It will grow from 12-18". Hardiness zone 4-8. I have a small clump in the photo at left that I planted with some of my hostas.

Forget-me-nots (blue flower at left),  variegated pachysandra (to the right of hosta),
lily of the valley, and purple-pink flower in center back is pulmonaria,
white flower in background is sweet woodruff. 

Japanese Pachysandra (Japanese Spurge): Pachysandra grows best in Hardiness Zones 5-9. It grows no taller than 1 foot. It has a little white flower that will appear in April. Personally, I think the flower is insignificant. It grows best in part to full shade. The leaves will stay green over winter and in the spring new, bright green leaves will grow from the older plants. It is very tolerant of any soil types and rabbits and deer will leave it alone. It will also tolerate clay and dry soils. I have the variegated pachysandra and have not found this plant to be invasive. As a matter of fact the variegated variety appears to be a very slow grower. In the photo at the left, I started with about 5 variegated pachysandra plants. This clump has been there for at least 15 years and it has not spread out any farther than shown. After looking up this perennial online it appears that it can be invasive in some areas. It's not a native plant to the United States. It's native range is Japan, north-central China. It is invasive in the United States in some areas including Virginia and Washington, D.C. Here is a link to a map of areas where it is invasive: Invasive Plant in US- Pachysandra

Pulmonaria

Pulmonaria (Lungwort): Pulmonaria is hardy in zones 3-8. It grows 12"-18". The bloom season is between April-May. What I like about the pulmonarias are their pretty little flowers that change colors. They start out blue and over a period of a few days they turn pink. It will be successful in part-full shade. The leaves are a mottled silvery-green, however they can look kind of ratty peaking out from under the snow in early spring. They are tolerant of deer, heavy shade, and may be planted under black walnut trees. (Black walnut trees can be toxic to other plants, animals, and Black Walnut Toxicity.)

A Fine Winter Job! I want to thank our Town of Mexico NY Highway Department for keeping our roads plowed and sanded over the winter (and Spring). Every time it snows (or when we had ice) they were out there at all hours of the day and night helping to keep our roads clear. And also a shout out to the County & State highway workers as well!

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." 

-Albert Einstein

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St. Patrick's Day! Wearing of the "Green" - Hostas & Other Shade-loving Plants

Wood poppies (look like Shamrocks to me or oak leaves)

March 17th commemorates St. Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, as well as the heritage and culture of the Irish in general. The three-leafed clover is associated with St. Patrick and is also referred to when one hears the phrase "Wearing of the Green".

In this issue of my blog I'm going to share with you some of my "green" photos. So many beautiful ones that it was hard to decide which ones to include in here.

I think I'll start with some hostas, or plantain lilies. When I first purchased some hostas several years ago, I didn't realize that there were more than two or three varieties. So after I planted the first three I went back to get a few more to match the ones I planted. Well, the next year after they started growing and spreading out, I noticed that the last two I purchased were different from the first three. It was then that I realized that there were more than two or three varieties. Actually, there are about 50-70 species of hostas, and each species has several varieties and cultivators totaling in the thousands.

This is Patriot Hosta in my bed of sweet woodruff. This is one of my most favorite of the hostas.

Hostas range in size of clumps from miniatures of 1" to very large ones up to 4' high.  And the same is true for the widths of the clumps. They are shade tolerant foliage plants. I love the flowers on them, too, but many of them are not very fragrant. They are native to Northeast Asia.

They come in all shades of green, some with a bluish tint, and some with lime-colored leaves. There are also several varieties of variegation in the leaves with either cream or white edges on leaves or in the center. The flowers will either be white, lavender or violet, and a few have a nice scent. The flowers usually hang like a pendent from a tall stem above the clump.

2014 Hosta of the Year- Abiqua Drinking Gourd. I've had this hosta for a few years now,
but I transplanted it to this location about 3 years ago so it's a little slow getting re-established.

Hostas sometimes can be a challenge in your garden especially if you have deer, rabbits, slugs or snails. Unfortunately, I have problems with all four of the above 'pests'. Hostas are like candy to deer. They love them. To deter the deer we usually use one of the sprays that are available in your garden centers. We use the sprays more often than what is recommended on the bottle, which is about once a week. And because of all our shade trees we have a lot of slugs and snails.

I do think some of the gardens in the northern sections of the Country might experience more than usual damage from the deer this year. There has been a longer period of time for snow cover and the deer might be running out of food sources.

August Lily Hosta. This hosta blooms late in the season (August), is very fragrant,
and the flowers are huge. All the little holes on the leaves are from slugs.

Hostas have become a very popular perennial because of their easy care, and they can add a focal point to your garden. Depending on the variety (the smaller ones), some hostas can be used successfully in containers. If you want to overwinter your hostas in a container, just plant the pot in the ground with the rim of the container a little below the surface of the soil or you could try storing them in your basement or garage if it doesn't freeze. The roots should be protected from a heavy freeze. What I did at the end of the season was to take them out of the pot and plant them in the ground.

Be careful with other perennials that you combine with your hostas. Although ferns look beautiful with them, the ferns can creep out and end up towering over your hostas. And ferns are hard to get rid of once you have them. They send out runners and when you want to eliminate them you have to get all the roots. I like combining hostas with spring flowering bulbs and perennials like forget-me-nots, astilbes, daffodils, and especially sweet woodruff.

Paul's Glory Hosta-  used in containers

A few years ago, after visiting an area nursery that specializes in hostas, Rawlings Nursery, I decided that I wanted to try to make a small hosta bed. In our back yard we had an area of sweet woodruff growing and I thought it would be nice to plant some hostas in with them. Every year I add a few new varieties to it, and I'm hoping that this year they will start to fill in a little heavier. Hostas prefer moist, but well-drained soil with lots of organic matter. (Rawlings Nursery is also a vendor at the Central New York Regional Market in Syracuse on Saturdays during May and June.)

Sweet Woodruff (Galium Odoratum). Sweet woodruff grows in hardiness zone 4-8. They grow anywhere between 6" to 1' tall. A very delicate looking plant with small whorls of white, musk smelling flowers in the spring, and they add a fairy-like appearance to your garden when they are in bloom. They grow in the shade and do poorly in the sun. They like medium to wet soil, and are a very low maintenance plant. It is mostly used as a ground cover so it will spread out to a large area, but they are easy to pull out if you want to keep them contained to a certain area. They spread by creeping roots or self-seeding. I like to use them to naturalize around my yard because we have a lot of shade from our pine trees. They are tolerant of very heavy shade, and also do fine under black walnut trees where other perennials fail. If they are grown in dry, sunny areas they will go dormant in the summer. If grown in shade they will stay green all year until fall and then they will dry out. They have no serious pests or diseases.

Our hosta garden with perennial fillers of foxgloves and sweet woodruff  (lower left) which had finished flowering.

Hosta bed

Ivy, Chameleon Plant (Houttynia cordata), ferns, hostas

You can see how the hostas can add a lot of interest and highlight an all-green garden.

Additional information on hostas: Hostas

List of the Hostas of the Years: Hosta Growers Hosta of the Year

Here is a wonderful article on this past week's snowstorm written by Sean Kirst, from the Syracuse Post Standard:  Consolation Amid Our Big Storm in 2014. It explains why we need those March snow covers.

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A friend of mine emailed me information about an upcoming presentation in Syracuse, NY:

Learn about Gardening For Nature With Native Plants

Wednesday March 26th, 2014 at 7:30 pm

University United Methodist Church, 1085 E. Genesee St.  Syracuse.  

Park and enter on University Place.

Janet Allen, President of Habitat Gardening of Central New York will help us understand the wonderful positives of native plants in preserving the best world for us and all the pollinators and birds. Think of the bees, butterflies and birds that depend on us. Think of the plants that will have space to thrive in a natural setting. Time to get out of that seed catalogue and learn how, why and where to get the truly native plants (not cultivars) for your garden.

Free and open to the public. Contact: 315 492-4745

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"Our prayers should be blessings in general, 

for God knows what is good for us."

-Socrates

Thanks for touring my "green" garden!

Feel free to leave a note below 
in the comment section.

Anxious to Get Some Work Done Outside?

"You can't get too much winter in the winter." 

Robert Frost

Well, I know you're ready to get out there and do something in your yard.

How do you feel like going outside in below freezing temperatures and trimming acres of apple trees?

Some friends of ours that own AppleDale Orchards in Mexico, New York, have been busy getting ready for spring. They have been trimming their apple trees. I appreciate the fact that I was able to share these pictures that were posted on their Facebook Page. Thank you, they are truly beautiful and I just loved them.

For those of you on Facebook, here is a link to their Facebook Page: Facebook- AppleDale Orchards

If you have fruit trees or bushes this is the time to get out there and trim them. While we personally don't have any apple trees, my husband does have blueberry bushes.

We used to have a mess of wild blackberry bushes growing in a spot in our yard, but we cleaned them out and it's now a shade garden. We do have a lot of wild blackberry bushes growing across the road from us, but it's such a tangled mess (not our property) and blackberry bushes have very thorny branches. If you care to pick wild blackberries- dress for it: long pants, long-sleeved shirt, gloves, and boots. You'll probably still come out of that thicket looking like you got in a cat fight with some feral cats.


Pruning fruit trees. When you prune your fruit trees in the winter you can see which branches need to be thinned out. And because the trees haven't started growing yet, there will be less nourishment or sap lost from the ends being trimmed. You will first want to remove any diseased, dead, or deformed branches. And if you have branches which grow straight up trim those, too. Those are called water spouts. And my friends from AppleDale also said that there are many advantages to pruning your apple trees: they don't get too big, it allows more sunlight into the trees for the apples, it gets rid of the old wood that doesn't produce as well, and allows room for new growth.

In the photo above I wasn't sure if they were on their knees or standing. What a surprise that the snow is so deep there that they were standing and walking around in probably 3'-4' of snow.

So you must be the apple of my eye!

This photo is so beautiful with the snowstorm in the orchard.

You can trim your fruit trees in late winter/spring. It is not recommended to trim your fruit trees in the fall. When the branches are cut back it stimulates new growth, and you don't want new growth in the fall because the new growth will most likely be killed off by frost and cold temperatures.

All the hard work in winter will pay off with beautiful apples in the fall.

Thanks again to AppleDale Orchards for allowing me to use your photos!


Here is a link with more information on pruning apple trees: Prune-Apple-Trees


Blueberries. My father-in-law's hobby was having a small nursery called "Link's Nursery" in Niagara Falls, New York. Some of my "older friends" from our hometown might remember the nursery on Pine Avenue/Niagara Falls Boulevard. He was very knowledgeable of growing fruits, vegetables, shrubs, and flowers. He first told us that blueberries will perform best for you if they are planted with at least one other variety of blueberries. They produce more and bigger fruit in this environment. Planting it with another variety allows for cross pollination. This planting of different varieties that ripen at various times can lengthen your season for harvesting blueberries. Another important point is to make sure that you have the correct variety for your hardiness zone.  

For blueberries to perform well they prefer soil that is high in organic matter, high acid, and well-drained, but moist. The pH is recommended between 4-5. Blueberries do best if mulched with pine needles, woodchips, or sawdust. They will perform well for you if they get 1"-2" of rain or water per week. After the berries have formed on your bushes and start to ripen you probably will have to cover them up with netting if you want to have some to harvest. Otherwise the birds might get in there and steal them on you. Blueberries are a fairly pest-free bush.  After planting your bushes they will not have to be pruned for the first four years. If your blueberry bushes have not been pruned annually they may be bearing less fruit, and overgrown. Prune the bushes in late winter.

Pruning Blueberry Bushes. If you have the high bush variety, remove branches that are over 6 years old with large cuts. Then remove any branches that are drooping to the ground or crowding out the center. Then remove low branches where the fruit will touch the ground, and also remove any spindly twigs. Here is a video on pruning blueberries: Pruning Blueberries

Additional information on growing blueberries: Learn and grow blueberries

Hardiness Zone Map: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone

Pruning Grapes.  Grape vines are very forgiving so you don't have to worry about making mistakes. And if pruned correctly, you should have removed about 90% of the vines. The are best pruned in February or March, or early April. But if pruned too early a hard frost in late winter can damage the canes and buds. So in our area of Central/Northern New York probably April is best for pruning grape vines. Here is a good link for more information on pruning grape vines:  Grape Pruning Basics


Waiting for Spring. . . soon to come . . .  branches and buds!

Thank you for reading my blog. 

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Is Spring in the Air? Maybe-Maybe Not Yet

"In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours."

-Mark Twain

Yellow Primrose

I think we thought Spring was just around the corner, but you wouldn't know it. Snow days the middle of the week and those bone-chilling temperatures in the teens or below. Most of the schools in the County were closed Tuesday and Wednesday of this past week due to the poor weather conditions. And now they are calling for more winter storms over quite a bit of the Country. This one is called Winter Storm Titan.




Well, we still have to think about Spring. It will be here and when it gets here we'll forget about all the snow we had this past winter. We have short term memories when we think in terms of weather. Can you remember the sweltering days of summer last year in the 90 degree heat with high humidity, and you were looking for solace under the shade tree in your yard or your air conditioned home? Probably not. . .

Well, we know one thing for certain: the seasons always change. Without fail. We always have Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. Sometimes certain seasons don't last as long as we'd like them to though. We are blessed in the Northeast to experience all these glorious seasons. Each one makes us appreciate the next one on the horizon. After a snow-filled winter we are all looking forward to some nice warm, sunny days with the robins singing, the "peepers" chirping, and the smell of fresh earth drying out after a winter-long snow cover. And the first time the grass is cut in the spring always brings a smile to your face from the sweet, refreshing smell.

Thought I would share with you some of my favorite, and easy care spring perennials in this post.

Purple Primroses

Primroses (Primula). One of the first spring perennials to appear and flower are the primroses. They are a small, little cluster plant. The flowers appear sometimes when there is still snow or ice on the ground. They don't get very tall, maybe 8" most. And they are not invasive. Tight little clumps that you can split up and divide for more plants. I found that I have the best luck with the yellow and purple ones. They come in other colors like pink, white, and reds. Primroses like shady, moist areas with rich soil. I didn't realize that they didn't do that well in sunny areas until I transplanted some in the sun. They just about withered and died out in the sun until I transplanted them. Primroses do best in Hardiness Zones 2-8. The Japanese Primroses are a little taller and do best in waterlogged soil.




I think this year I'll try dividing up some of my clumps and plant them under pine trees in my back yard or in between some hostas. They will be up and flowering before the hostas even pop up out of the ground.

During dry weather you will want to keep your primroses well-watered. Primroses do well partnered with astilbes, hostas, forget-me-nots, and pulmonarias. You can plant them with ferns, but I have found that some ferns can be invasive with their runners and crowd out the smaller perennials such as the primroses.

Some primroses are referred to as cowslips. Cowslips are a native of Europe and Asia and are also referred to as English cowslips. They are frequently found in more open areas such as fields and meadows. They are usually the tall yellow variety. It is considered a wild flower in England. They are a valuable food source for bees.

Hellebores. Another spring flower is the Lenten or Christmas Rose. The Latin name is Hellebores. Depending on your hardiness zone some bloom early around Christmas and others in the early spring around Lent (the time before Easter). The flowers are rose-shaped, and they last quite awhile on the plant (blooms can last up to one month). The flowers are mostly white with shadings of pink on them, but they also come in other colored varieties. As the flower gets older it has a tendency to darken.

Hellebores or Lenten Rose

Hellebores will grow in hardiness zones 4-9. They also grow in shade or partial shade. They grow in clumps and when they are in full bloom they are about 1'-2' tall, and about 1'+ wide. They are suited to woodland gardens or work well with foundation plantings too. They prefer a rich, moist soil, but will rot if it's too wet. The hellebores re-seed very well and if you look around your plant after a few years you should see little seedlings underneath the parent plant. It can take a few years before they germinate and sprout so you need patience. When you do see some seedlings under the plant you can transplant these to other areas of your garden, but be sure to keep them watered until they get established. These plants require very little care. In the spring, cut back the old, withered foliage. Some varieties do not divide well and you will be better off starting them from seed.

This is about three clumps of bleeding hearts.

Dicentra or Bleeding Hearts. Probably one of my most favorite perennials is the bleeding heart. I think it might have been one of the first perennial plants I purchased as well. This plant has been so hardy for us. I don't know how many times I've divided it, and I have a lot of these plants that have gone to seed. I've transplanted them in quite a few places around our yard, and it almost looks like they have naturalized.

Bleeding Hearts

This plant does very well in moist shade. It will grow in some sun, but will die back faster earlier in the season. It likes the cool weather. In some areas of the Country it may bloom at other times during the season too.  I find the white bleeding hearts to be more tender than the pink ones. There is also a dwarf variety too. The bleeding hearts can grow from 6" to 2' depending on the variety. Bleeding hearts usually die back in summer so don't be alarmed if you see them turning yellow and drying out before fall. When this happens just cut them back and next spring they will be blooming again for you. This perennial will do best in Hardiness Zones 2-9.

White Bleeding Heart

It won't be long now and the nurseries and stores will be stocking their shelves with perennials and annuals for your gardens.

United States Hardiness Zone Map: US Hardiness Zones



I see it! I see Spring! Can you see it? Look closely, it's on the horizon. 

Breitbeck Park, Oswego, New York

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Hope you enjoyed it. 

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