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Saturday, April 19, 2014

The Most Reliable Plant of All


When I started writing  garden columns back in 1982 I had no trouble composing a new one each week, approximately 50 a year.  It wasn’t until 2001 that  I switched to writing just two columns a month.  Adding them all up comes to a total of more than 1100 columns.  No wonder I have  Writer’s Block!

 Nowadays when I pick a subject  I always check to see how long since I’ve written about it in a previous column.  Arbor Day? Colts Foot? Mud Season?  Spring Chores? I’ve covered them all, several more than once. Over the years I’ve written about bulbs 3 times, but this year they were the only cheerful sign of spring on Locust Hill, so excuse me if a bit of this column is familiar.

The first time I wrote about bulbs I was amazed when I discovered that the first bulbs resided to the tropics and had no bulbs at all. It was only when these plants migrated north to colder climates that they developed this unusual method of storage in order to survive. Wasn’t  Mother Nature clever to figure out a way to let these sweet flowers live in New England! 


If you slice down through the center of a bulb - a daffodil is easier to use than something as small as a snowdrop - you can see the tiny embryo,  protectively surrounded by layers of  leaves. This minute flower  is  just waiting for warm weather and water to allow it to start growing and become strong enough to push above ground. 

When I arrived home from New Orleans on April 1st I thought Mother Nature must be playing an April Fool's Day joke. The temperature was below freezing, the meadows still  a drab brown carpet, no eager red buds ready to open on the maple tree, not even any  bright yellow splashes of Colt's Foot blooms could be seen.

The only evidence of spring I saw were the brave little snowdrops, their tiny blooms looking like puffed rice.  They are by far the bravest bulbs to appear  each spring.   They will even force their way up through the snow, as you can see from the photo above.  Mine came so early that they’re already through blooming. 

I finally faced the unappetizing weather and spent ten minutes removing the clumps of dead leaves covering the crocuses and miniature daffodils so they could begin to show off.  




What other flowers can you plant that are more rewarding than bulbs?  They go on and on forever, free of diseases, increasing in size and beauty each year.  Plant a single narcissus and in a few years it has turned into two or three.  In five years they can be dug up, separated and the results replanted.  Provided you've marked the clumps that need dividing before their foliage disappears so they will be easily located when it's time to dig them up come fall, this cycle can be endlessly repeated.
I’ve repeated it so often that in 2001 I couldn’t think of another area that needed daffodils until Hank suggested I make a ring of them at the edge of the circle we mow under the Carpathian walnut so it’s easy to find the nuts.



That was a fine idea, but when the sapsuckers riddled the walnut with holes so it stopped producing nuts, I stopped mowing the circle.  Last year I had the walnut cut down, so now the  daffies are just part of the hay field, struggling to survive in the tall grass.  

I’m afraid  that’s just too bad.  Even if I had a new area to transplant them to, I haven’t the energy to even think about it.  There are far too many other spring chores to do.

Hopefully some of you will be inspired to tie a few of your bulbs with colorful ribbon this spring so they can be divided and transplanted come fall.  And I would be delighted to hear from any of my readers who have subjects they like me to write a future column about. 


Saturday, April 5, 2014

Just a Poem .


I’m back home from a great vacation in New Orleans, an entire week of good food, good laughs and fun tennis with my three girls,  It was a delight, but I am still in shock to find winter is still with us in New England.  Nothing in bloom, not even Coltsfoot, which usually sits on the roadsides shaking its shaggy yellow head by the first of March.  I was actually planning to write about it, but I seem to be suffering from Writer’s Block.  My solution is to  offer you the first song I composed when I began my career as a garden club speaker.    Hopefully I’ll get out of this rut soon,.



                                                    Passing a shady glen one day
                                                    I overheard a  violet say
                                                    “Listen girls, some botanist
                                                    Has made a Conservation List”
                                           

                                                    The gossip  flew like windblown seed
                                                    From bud to blossom, weed to weed.
                                                    Each flower felt to lack a place
                                                    Upon the list would mean Disgrace!
                                             

                                                   “Am I included?” asked Gentian fair,
                                                   “I’m delicate and very rare.
                                                   ”She blooms so late she shouldn’t be,”
                                                   The Adder’s Tongue hissed nastily.


                                                  “I need protection,” wailed  Wild Lupine.
                                                  “No more than me!” snapped Columbine.
                                                  The Bluets giggled at the fuss,
                                                  Then chorused sweetly “What about us?”

                                                  The beebalm gave a raucous laugh
                                                  And shook her shaggy head.
                                                  But then in deep embarrassment
                                                  She blushed a rosy red. 
                                              

                                               The delicate Hepatica
                                               Who rarely spoke a word
                                               Inquired, “Am I on the list?”
                                               But not one word was heard


                                             The Bloodroot, trembling and afraid,
                                             Her petals falling in the shade,
                                             Was sure the awesome botanist
                                             Had not put her upon his list.


                                            But Dutchman’s Britches who was near
                                           Quickly whispered in her ear,
                                           “I think your name was at the top.”
                                           And smiled to see the teardrops stop.