why it’s time to learn some botanical latin; saturday’s hard freeze; tree peonies
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Hello ,
I’m grateful that when I began gardening, I fell in with a bunch of plant nerds who spoke not in common names but in botanical Latin, and turned me on to oddball mail-order nurseries whose entire lists were likewise written that way. Necessity was therefore the mother of
invention.
I absorbed at least a rudimentary command of the official language of plants, and my only regret is that I didn’t learn even more. Now, thanks to the fun I’ve been having dipping into “The Gardener’s Botanical: An Encyclopedia of Latin Plant Names,” I’m further sharpening my skills, because botanical Latin opens up a world for gardeners willing to try learning some. (And the book is filled with beautiful botanical art like the clematis above.)
What can a gardener learn from studying botanical Latin? Ross Bayton, a former editor of the BBC’s “Gardeners World Magazine” and now assistant director of the beloved Heronswood garden in the state of Washington, created the “The Gardener’s Botanical,” and when we spoke recently, he answered that question and more.
really? a may 9 freeze on top of everything else this spring?
We older human types sometimes kid that we are 29 (as in years old), but I’ll tell you what: 29 (as in F degrees) looks like shit on a garden in May. And yes, I said shit. I am old and I am cranky, and foot-tall Astilboides (above) and other tall and large-leaved plants here are cranky, too.
recap: how to keep the garden going strong after spring
A famous gardener Ken Druse and I know often says this one-liner: "Anyone can do spring."
What he means is: And then what happens after that?
What happens after the current tender, colorful parade of beauty, with flowers everywhere and fresh green foliage expanding by the minute without our effort, is up to us gardeners—and that's the harder part. That's our topic, Ken's and mine: what to do next to keep the
garden going strong for the long haul, into summer then fall, from pinching and shearing to pruning and other tactics.
Ken Druse needs no introduction except to say he's been my go-to garden friend for decades, is the author of an amazing 20 books, all of which I have read, and he joins me once each month on my public-radio show and podcast. Including last week:
#5 and 6 in my series for 'the new york times'
An out-of-the-blue email shook me out of my “new normal” routine. It was an invitation from a “New York Times” editor to create a series of how-to garden articles for readers finding themselves at home, in spring, who maybe could use the kind of information you come to my newsletter, website and podcast for.
We already completed Week 3--columns 5 and 6--of the assignment, which runs Tuesdays and Fridays. I'm pleased to be able to reach new gardeners, as the more happy garden moments that happen around the homebound nation, and the world, the better I figure.
I’m also pleased that for awhile at least, I get to write again for the place of my start as a journalist years ago. A mini-homecoming.
Last week's topics were a pruning Q&A and a very popular one on weeds (not that we ever have those in our gardens, right?).
the may garden chores: mulch on!
Each May I advise us all to remember, amid the frenzy, that there is nothing wrong that some good-quality mulch won’t improve visually (while helping build soil beneath as a bonus). I’m spreading it as fast as I can, but I have to say:
Whatever the winter was, onward I always mulch (not with dyed bark, as the garden doodle by Andre Jordan above makes clear!). I also do aggressive weeding—two top chores of the month of May...while trying to restore post-winter order with a lot of edging as well. But more creative-feeling to-do’s are on the list, too, I
promise.
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