Innholdsfortegnelse for November/December 2021 i Horticulture

WHAT IS REWILDING? Basically, it’s the attempt to recreate the natural ecological systems that once covered our landscapes—woods, rivers, wetlands—and trusting nature to look after itself, perhaps with some help at the start to fix the most broken pieces. Many rewilding projects are large in scale, to allow nature to really do its stuff without interference and pollution from us. It is about vast estates and landscapes, large herbivores or carnivores and huge decisions made by distant landowners or institutions. These are invaluable. But it is not always about completely removing people—after all, humans are part of the natural world. Instead, we need to find new ways to live while reconnecting with the ecosystems we live in, creating a richer world in which people and nature can thrive together. We…

BLUESTONE PERENNIALS GIFT CERTIFICATES Give the gift of Gardening with a Bluestone Perennials Gift Certificate. Bluestone grows and ships over 1,200 varieties of perennials, groundcovers and shrubs, from beloved garden classics to unique and hard to find specimens. All plants have a 100% guarantee to grow and thrive. Values from $20 to $500 to fit any budget! SHOP: www.bluestoneperennials.com SANTA AND LADDER AMARYLLIS STAKE The first of its kind, our ladder-shaped metal stake holds up to two amaryllis stalks with ease and makes a perfect perch for our hand-painted Santa figurine. This fun and functional accessory keeps blooms upright as your amaryllis stems ascend. Display with any of our exclusive potted amaryllis gifts. (Pictured here with Miracle Amaryllis.) Ladder: 16”h, 4” dia.; Santa: 4½”h, 2¼”w, 3”d. Visit Breck’s Gifts online…

NO MATTER THE SIZE of your garden, you aren’t making the most of your space if it doesn’t include a climbing plant or two. Climbers expand the available growing area. They can provide interest at eye level and higher, hide an eyesore, or serve as a green ceiling. However, certain climbing plants have earned the group a reputation that gives gardeners pause. We might think of climbers as too slow (think climbing hydrangea) or too rampant (think certain honeysuckles). Happily, there are plenty of climbers that are quick to grow and flower yet unlikely to eat your landscape alive. Annual species and tender perennials make it a short-term commitment. Here are five to try from seed. SCARLET RUNNER BEAN PHASEOLUS COCCINEUS Both edible and ornamental, scarlet runner bean produces beautiful…

PAW PAW EVERLAST LABEL COMPANY We provide a variety of permanent metal garden labels for every gardener’s needs. Everlast Labels are durable and unobtrusive, letting your plants take center stage. Try our Introductory Offer (8 styles plus marking pencil for only $7.50). Free shipping & made in the USA. For more information, call 269-657-4921 or see all of our products online at: www.EverlastLabel.com BOTANICAL INTERESTS The Botanical Interests artwork you love on everyday products, inspiring gift giving for friends, family, or yourself! Enjoy the beautiful Botanical Interests packet illustrations on notecards to send personalized greetings, prints to decorate a home or kitchen, desk calendars for jotting down gardening notes, and tote bags for groceries or other essentials. Visit www.botanicalinterests.com or select garden centers to start shopping.…

CAROL REESE recently retired from her career as an Extension Horticulture Specialist based at the University of Tennessee’s West Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center. She is a popular writer and speaker, mixing humor with solid gardening information. She lives outside of Jackson, Tenn., with her beloved rescue dogs. SCOTT BEUERLEIN: How and when were you first captured by horticulture’s gravity? CAROL REESE: My love for the green world began on our farm and the neighbors’ farms that surrounded us in rural Mississippi. When I was still a wee girl, my mama would take me to the fields and the woods, turn me ’round and ’round and say, “Now which way is home? As soon as I know you can find your way home, I’ll turn you loose to roam the…

… IN SHRUBS 1 Let’s Dance ¡Arriba! reblooming hydrangea Hydrangea בSMNHSC’ Proven Winners ColorChoice Flowering Shrubs The new addition to the Let’s Dance series of hydrangeas is touted as its most reliable, quick growing and floriferous. Its round, dense flower-heads vary in color depending on the pH of the soil and its phosphorus and aluminum levels. Acidic soils (lower than pH 7.0) bring about blue or purple flowers. In higher pH, the flowers appear hot pink. Either way, the color is rich and gorgeous, and with time it fades to mauve. This plant is a hybrid between bigleaf hydrangea (H. macrophylla) and mountain hydrangea (H. serrata), with the latter contributing extra hardiness. A first round of flowers appears in early summer, from buds that formed the previous year. About three…

WHEN WE LOOK at our landscapes and gardens, most of us don’t often think about what we’re really looking at. We’re really looking at conglomerations of cells. Not only the cells that form the plants and animals we see, but also the single-celled prokaryotes and eukaryotes that are everywhere and coat everything, but which are too small for us to observe. We seldom think of them, but they run the world. Let’s define terms. Prokaryotes are single-celled organisms that lack a nucleus. They are asexual, reproducing by cell division. The first form of life on this planet seems to have been cyanobacteria, a prokaryote. Despite their independent lifestyles, some prokaryotes, including cyanobacteria, huddle together to form large colonies. So, from the get-go, the earliest life forms showed a tendency to…

REPLAYING AN INTERVIEW with gardener extraordinaire Robert Kourik the other day reminded me of how little I—and most other gardeners, I think—know about roots, and how much he does know. That’s important, because anyone who has ever planted a garden realizes the essential role that the underground parts of our plants play in their overall success. Indeed, a plant cut back to the ground, perhaps by frost or by a grazing animal, will often survive this trauma, springing up anew from the roots. Destroy the roots, however, and in almost all cases your plant will die. Yet most of us have only the sketchiest, flawed idea of what a plant’s root system looks like. The form varies from species to species. Some root systems reach deep, 100 feet or more…

Large feelings are sometimes so big that they must be taken outdoors. It’s simply difficult—or even impossible—for inside spaces to contain them. Decision makers at George Mark Children’s House in San Leandro, Calif., have understood that since its founding in 2004 as the first freestanding children’s hospice center in the United States. Many George Mark patients, who can range in age from newborn to 25 years, come here for end-of-life care. (There are also respite- and transitional-care programs.) The mission statement promises terminally ill children and their families a peaceful place to say goodbye. Though staff and equipment provide top-notch medical care to clients, nothing about the Children’s House says “institution.” Founder Kathy Hull had worked for years as a psychologist on pediatric intensive-care units, where she became “frustrated with…

Spring and summer gardens are awash with wonder. The sounds of crickets and cicadas ring as the days and nights get hotter. Buzzing and fluttering insects of all sizes forage on nectar and pollen, or sometimes each other. Autumn is a quieter time, but the bugs are still there, looking for shelter for themselves or their young as winter approaches. When designing our gardens, many of us have come to favor flowers that benefit insects with food in warmer seasons. We can also tailor our end-of-season tasks to help them through the winter. 1| Leave dead or brown stalks, canes and stems for nesting bees and butterfly chrysalises until warmth returns in spring. Mason bees (Osmia) are known for using mud to build their nests in hollow stems and other…