Wayside Gardens Voices

The 2008 Wayside Gardens Collector's Edition is Here!

We are absolutely ecstatic to announce that this year's Wayside Gardens Collector's Edition is now available on our website.  We got to work with the amazing Ken Druse (I listen to his podcast, Real Dirt, every Saturday, and so should you), which was a tremendous honor and pleasure for everyone at Wayside Gardens.  The collection includes some of the most amazing plants I've ever seen, both woody and herbaceous.  Some of these plants are truly unique, and beautiful beyond almost anything currently in my garden (I'll be including some of this new collection in my garden this year, you can be sure of that).  With this great collection finally being released, I can't help but take the chance to write about a few of my favorites.  Making the cover of our Collector's Edition catalog this year is the Epimedium Ogisui.  It's a stunning flower that, as a great bonus, will throw out those elegant blooms very early in the season.

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of flowering vines, or that Clematis is one of my favorite flowers.  It should be no surprise, then, that the flower that excites me the most in our new collection is the Clematis 'Haku Ookan.'  Besides producing blooms of an amazing purple reminiscent of the popular Clematis Bourbon, it is one of the most prolific bloomers we've ever seen.  It also has two blooming seasons, which is something that I can rarely resist.  Once a vine has stopped blooming in mid-summer, I almost never remember that it will start blooming again later in the year, making the second season a fantastic surprise.

With more and more gardeners becoming deeply concerned with the effects that their gardening have on the environment, planting native flowers is a great option for nearly everyone.  We are offering as part of this collection one of my favorite native plants, Trillium erecta.  This flower's stunning color and unique blooms make it a great accent perennial.  It could even hold its own as the centerpiece of most gardens.  It is actually a red flower with pale green sepals that make it seem like a distinctly two-color bloom.  It is native to woodland areas up and down the Eastern US, all the way from Georgia to Ontario, and I have often encountered these while hiking in the hills of Georgia and Tennessee.  I wondered for years what these great flowers were, and this year I'll be planting some of my own.

Red Lace Leaf Japanese Maple Trees

The Japanese maple, Acer Palmatum, is one of nature's true works of art with it's statuesque architecture and intriguing and colorful foliage. It exudes the essence of ancient eastern gardens, voluntarily growing like a trained bonsai, branching out an layered.

Adding one japanese maple to your garden is like buying all new furniture for your home. The acer is a perfect way to take your garden to the next level and really draw the attention of your visitors. Whether you are going for a themed garden or you are just trying something new, Japanese maples will rarely disappoint if cared for properly.

The most important thing to remember is that maples are very thirsty trees with shallow roots, and they will dry out quickly if not watered frequently. Make sure you have well-drained soil-- amend with sand or bark if your yard is mostly hard clay. Mound up with good top soil to ensure good drainage. Water well at least three times a week, and make sure not plant your tree in direct sunlight or wind that may cause it to dry more quickly. Fertilize once at the beginning of each season with a go all-purpose slow-release fertilizer.

Wayside Gardens Acers

Fruit Trees Need to Mature

Fruit trees can be a fun addition to your home, whether you are adding them to your garden outside or growing them in containers. Having a gorgeous citrus tree full of fruit on your patio or a cute blueberry bush in your garden full of colorful berries is really rewarding. However, many people forget to consider amount of time it takes for a young plant to produce fruit.

I recently discussed this with one of Wayside Gardens' staff horticulturists. He says that we often get calls from customers who have had their fruit trees for about a year and have not gotten any fruit. They want to know how to get their tree to fruit.

He says that you must wait patiently. Most fruit trees will not fruit until they mature, which usually takes about three years. Many of the trees we sell have grafted rootstock that decreases this time somewhat. But he insists that the key is to wait, take proper care of your tree and wait.

If you are desperate, and your tree has long matured but is still not producing fruit, he did mention that there is one way that you can force a tree to fruit. He does not recommend it to the novice gardener because there is very strong possibility that the tree will die. So, try this method at your own risk. I do not want to be responsible if you kill your tree out of desperation.

In spring, after the tree has budded, tie a wire really tight around the trunk. This will trap the sugars in the tree and force them into the buds. You will start to see a bulge above the wire in the tree. If it works, there will be fruit. If not, you might have to call someone to remove a stump.

John Durst
Wayside Gardens Voice
jdurst@parkseed.com

Grafted Plants, Rootstock, and Scion

Many of the roses and fruit trees sold from Wayside Gardens are grafted plants. Grafted plants are simply your desired plants grown on top of a hardy rootstock. The top part of the plant, the part that matters, is called the scion. The scion bears all of the fruit, flowers, or foliage that we want.

Grafted plants are beneficial because they serve to increase variety, improve quality, and reduce prices. The extra hardy rootstock ensures survival for plants in zones that would normally be way too cold, allowing you to grow plants which would otherwise be off-limits. When a fruit tree is grafted to a mature rootstock allows fruit production much sooner than if you had to wait for the original roots to mature. You also know exactly what you are getting. Your plant has been cloned and will be exactly what you wanted. Clonal reproduction is also much quicker than growing from seed, making it more cost-effective.

Plants are grafted onto very similar plants, usually the of same genus. Most of Wayside Gardens' grafted roses are grafted onto 'Dr. Huey', a hardy old rose with flat blooms that are deep crimson with a golden center. You will see them often at old home sites where the scions have long died off, and the Dr. Huey rootstock has flourished. The Wayside Gardens fruit trees are often grafted onto strong, wild versions of themselves. For example, there is pear rootstock, which, left to it's own devices, would grow tangled branches with nasty thorns. Make sure you trim back the growth from your rootstock if you don't want it to take over. Sometimes, in a case where the delicate scion cannot take the extremes and dies back, the rootstock may take over completely. Make sure you pamper your young grafted plant until it gets established.

John Durst
Wayside Gardens Voice
jdurst@parkseed.com

Why do we Garden?

As Tracy DiSabato-Aust has shown us in the Wayside Gardens Collector's Edition 2007, design is a very important part of creating the perfect garden. Aesthetics is what draws many of us to horticulture, and for many it is the most significant reason to have a garden. Whether it is the untamed beauty of a lush tropical garden or the trim excellence if a well-planned estate lawn, the colors, shapes, and textures inspire us and motivate us to keep growing.

Humans seems to have a strong fascination with technology, mastery over nature and an unquenchable desire to know and experiment. There have been hypotheses that our tendency to gaze into a fire or for children to play with it are left over from ancient instincts that drove us to experiment with cooking and ensured the survival and expansion of our species. If this is true, maybe the awe inspired by the sight of a beautiful flower or the unending urge for some of us to plant and grow despite being engulfed in technological advancement and convenience is something a little bigger than a hobby. Maybe it is a part of who we are, and ages ago, it kept us interested enough to learn how to grow our own food and stop foraging.

Just a thought.

jdurst@parkseed.com

Color Theory and Garden Design

Collector's Edition 2007

Going beyond the rare, newest, and unique- the Wayside Gardens Collector's Edition 2007 catalog is an invaluable tool for designing a beautiful garden. We were very lucky to collaborate with Tracy DiSabato-Aust on this project , and the response so far has been tremendous. Her book, The Well-Designed Mixed Garden encourages you to view your garden as a blank canvas and the many shapes, textures and colors as your medium for artistic expression as a gardener.

This catalog focuses on color theory. On the very first page you are introduced to the color wheel and are given a little vocabulary lesson and a short explanation. The next page is DiSabato-Aust's introduction, Color Schemes for Your Garden, which explains the importance of color in designing your garden and gives a few helpful hints. The rest of the catalog is arranged according to the color wheel. Beautiful pictures of the rarest plants in the most vivid colors, including 125 brand new varieties span from the brightest reds to the deepest violets.

Order the Wayside Gardens Collector's Edition 2007 now for only $5.00.
It comes with a $5.00 coupon- so basically, if you buy something else, you got this wonderful tool for free.

Thanks for the feedback on Meconopsis

Sharon, I'm very glad to hear that about the Meconopsis. I have found a stellar supplier for these plants and look forward to making Meconopsis a hallmark of Wayside's line. Please tell any customers interested in these that there will be more exciting varieties this fall in the regular catalog.

By the bye, even though we haven't had our official walk-through of the Collector's yet, please tell everyone in Customer Service that the photo of Lavandula Snowball is misleading. The plant is actually rounded, like a little Boxwood or other shaped hedge. The bloom color is correct, but the habit is entirely wrong.

Thus far that's the only howler I've found in the catalog. Perhaps I'm slipping (or dreaming!)

Cheers,

Tamsin

A Bog Garden Story from Wayside Gardens

Good Research Makes a Happy Gardener

While probing for ideas that might add a little intrigue to the pitifully uninspiring flora of my backyard, I was told by a fellow Wayside Gardens employee to check out bog gardens. My first thought was of a marsh or swamp, something more appropriate for a wildlife preserve or ghost story than my simple little yard. However, trusting my source, I dove, head-first into that murky swamp of information, the all-knowing internet. Using my favorite search engine, I typed in the obvious “bog gardens” and amassed a king’s feast of information that was all completely useless.

While wading through the many explanations of what a bog garden might be and the varied items that I should purchase to enhance my garden, I realized the one thing I always try to tell myself before starting any home-improvement project: Always start your research with reliable academic resources, and work your way up to the commercial resources. That is one thing I have learned while working at Wayside Gardens. By the time you get there, you should know what it is you need to buy. I had not even thought to ask myself if I even knew what a bog was much, less how to plant anything in one. So, I did my research.

Apparently, if you have a low spot in your yard that never completely dries and you plant some elephant ears there, you have not created a bog garden as some of the sources I found would lead you to believe. It is a clever way to turn a problem into an asset, but not a bog garden. A bog is actually a type of wetland formed from a deposit of dead plant matter, most commonly some type of moss or lichen. Its moisture comes almost completely from precipitation and tends to be slightly acidic. An exotic environment for exotic plants- It’s exactly what I was looking for.

I also found that recreating this environment on the small scale is not very difficult; some people even create indoor bog gardens in terrariums, which would be a perfect way to display those bog-loving carnivorous plants and make an excellent conversation piece. I just needed a place that will hold moisture and that I could fill with peat. I had the perfect place, that gross little pond insert that I installed two seasons ago, or as I like to call it, my “mosquito nursery”. I just cleaned that out and poked a few holes in the bottom for drainage- lined the bottom with coarse sand and filled it with moistened peat. The moss maintains the acidity and I use a soaker hose to keep my bog damp. I planted an Iris “Holden's Child, this very interesting Juncus effusus Unicorn, and two Pine Hibiscuses. Some of these plants could even be purchased right here at Wayside Gardens. Situated in the center of my garden, accented with two lawn gnomes and a pink flamingo, my bog has definitely added spice to my back yard.

John Durst
Wayside Gardens Voice

Jdurst@parkseed.com

Wayside Gardens Collector's edition

Tamsin is right. It's a good gift for the newsletter customers. And anybody can find the Collector's plants on the site by going to the New Plants tab and beginning at the end. The first pages are from the spring catalog, but Collector's is all in the back. I guess that will change when the catalog is officially out.

Just the calls I've taken, I've heard good comments from two customers about the Meconopsis. I guess several of these have been hard for them to find until now.

Thanks and have a good day,

Sharon H.

It was me!

I must confess that I grew so excited about these new products in working on the catalog that I pushed for a sneak peek newsletter. Little did I realize that within 3 days we would have 300 catalog requests and I don't know how many dozens of orders. Nearly everything in this catalog is limited supply, of course, and our newsletter subscribers know this. I'm awfully pleased about the whole thing; our loyal subscribers should by rights have dibs!

Tamsin Guthrie

Horticulturist