Friends, It's springtime here in NY, and despite all of the frosts and freezing days, it actually looks like our Japanese Magnolia (Tulip Magnolia) may actually have a chance at blooming this year - most years we get these teasing buds, but then a week of frost and snow blackens them. But when they do, she's the Spring star of the garden.
If you go to the "Garden Pictures" section of the Clinton Community Garden website <A HREF="http://www.clintoncommunitygarden.org/";>Clinton Community Garden</A> you'll see our Japanese Magnolia and a small rock bordered bed in our center lawn area (to the left in the first picture and to the right in the second) that my wife and I work very hard to keep filled with color for at least 3 seasons so the folks who sit on the bench (usually seniors and Moms with babies) have something interesting to look at.) If you go to the Volunteer page, you'll see the bed, with the Japanese magnolia shading the fence side of the the plot and the hollyhocks and dahlias in full bloom in September. Our challenge: I've dug out the last of the decorative cabbages that line the border of the bed during the winter while the rest lies under leaf mulch. Now it's filled with crocuses,hyacinths, and early daffodils,to be followed by mid and late blooming and daffodils. As the summer perennials come in, and the various small hosta and Japanese black grass start doing their thing under the shade of the magnolia, I usually plunk in some annuals and rely on vari-colored nasturtiums, poppies and anemonies on the sunny borders to maintain visual interest until the hollyhocks burst into color. With all the work that we get out of this plot, we're always weeding deadheading, carefully composting and amending the soil, using fish emulsion during the season to encourage new blooms and color. Because the bed is small and only part of it gets full sun most of the day, I don't grow roses - others do: Annie Chadwick's York and Lancaster roses, which sit adjacent to our communal herb garden, are a mid-June treat every year. And this where a large rusted 1958 Buick sat until we dragged it out to the street - but that's another story. Throw in our native American plants, apple tree, beehive, natural lawn and our 108 raised beds for veggies in the back (two madmen even have even dug a small pond for Koi and goldfish) and you can understand why, in a city like this with museums, on top of concert halls, on top of libraries, on top of all that glittery stuff you see on television, I spend so much time in this third of an acre garden. Last June, right before our annual summer solstice celebration, a little boy went up to my wife and asked, "Why does that man talk to the flowers like they're people?" To which my wife asked, "Is he saying nice things and not bad words?" The little boy said, "Yes." To which my wife said, " He really wants to get another stalk of blooms out of that foxglove - the one over there with all the bells, and he's begging. " I'm at my wit's end with foxgloves, though... I've never had one come back, though I keep planting these suckers every year that I've started from seed at home, direct seeding outdoors in midsummer, fall and spring. Yes, I make sure they get morning sun, part shade, trim spent stems of bloom and scatter the seeds. Last year, before he moved away with his growing family, a shy Mexican guy, to whom I gave cut dahlias for his wife a couple of times drives by the garden in a landscaper's truck (his second or third job?) out of which fell two of the most glorious speckled Giant Shirleys I have ever seen. When I reached in my pocket to pay his boss, an red haired, freckled guy from the Island, he said, "nah, the rich television %%#)! didn't want them - can't use 'em for my other jobs. No, they're covered. Nice place," he said, looking at the garden, "you guys do this as a hobby?" When I said yes, he said," Got into this because of my father-in-law - I like to hunt." Handshakes all around, regards to Luis's wife and then they drove off. When I planted these two glories in the the bed, against the green background of the not yet ready perennials and the nascent dahlias, beginning to make their way out of the ground, they were the most splendid things which kept blooming for close to a month, putting off new stalks - they were glorious and hung out until the dahlias started coming in. The plants were still looking healthy until the last season asters and mumms pooped out. My fingers are crossed for this year. As I type this I'd training a contender on my windowsill, but I wonder if anyone out there on this list who really knows foxgloves can give me a few pointers on how to best cultivate this plant, whose bells capture the reflections of dappled sun and shade and sways so magically in the gentle breeze? Thanking you in advance, Adam Honigman ______________________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: https://secure.mallorn.com/mailman/listinfo/community_garden
