Out on the Streets ...and Country Byways

Those of you who are regular readers of Veg Plotting probably have seen her series of quarterly reports entitled "Out on the Streets," in which she documents public plantings, both good and bad, in her area of the UK. She has invited anyone who wishes to, to participate and recently wrapped up her second series at the end of June. True to form, I am late . . .


I had enticed VP by my exclamations of delight over some of the street plantings I saw in Chicago during Spring Fling. But, of course, when I downloaded all my Fling photos, not one street planting was in the bunch! So we'll have to do with my hometown images. I apologize in advance for the quality of these photos. Most were shot during midday on very sunny days, and I also found it difficult, as Frances recently noted, to get broad views of an area with sufficient detail. But the most challenging part of taking these photos was avoiding serious injury on busy highways and streets:)

Note: I just noticed that these photos are sooo much better when you click on them to enlarge them, if you want to see the plantings in more detail.


On one of my regular routes into nearby Champaign-Urbana, I kept noticing this median planting. Naturally, I never had my camera with me when it was in full bloom, but can you tell what's planted here? Yup, you're right--it's a mass of Stella d'Oro daylilies with a few orange tiger lilies bravely waving above them. When I first received some passalong Stellas quite a few years ago, I was thrilled with them, and I still do appreciate their prolific blooms in June. But somewhere along the line, they became the plant of choice for commercial plantings. It's easy to see why--they're low maintenance and multiply (and multiply!) each year. But surely whoever designs these commercial landscaping projects could get a little more creative . . .



. . . or at least plant them along with other plants. They seem to be a favorite for fast-food restaurants. The line at the McDonald's drive-through was busy this day, allowing me time to capture yet another photo of Stellas . . . and nothing else growing.

On the other hand, the local Humane Society is fronted by a mass planting of native prairie plants. They were in glorious bloom last week. I must admit when this garden is not in bloom, it looks like a patch of weeds, but I think the idea of native plants seems to fit the philosophy and purpose of the Humane Society.

Back in my small town, there are several good examples of how to plant public spaces. This median planting does contain some Stellas that are no longer blooming, but as you can see, there is a lot of variety here. Perennials and annuals are combined for all-season interest.

Since the long shot didn't show up well, here's a close-up of just one area. This area, along with several other places around town, is planted and maintained by a group of volunteers who meet monthly as the Village Gardeners. Sigh, no, I don't belong, though several people have invited me to join. It's one of those things I keep putting off, thinking how can I work in another garden if I can't keep up with my own? Maybe next year . . .

At the four-way stop on the "main drag" through town there are a few more plantings by this group. This square area has been planted in annuals the last few years. Although I'm a big fan of coleus, I'm not sure I like this mass planting of it, though you'll notice a few other flowers, including lantana at the borders. I talked to one of the Village members who assisted in planting this, and she told me that the different garden areas in town are assigned to different members who choose what they will plant. Last year this was a mass of pale pink supertunias, which was beautiful.

My favorite area, though, is just across the street from the coleus. This is primarily a perennial bed, with a few annuals planted each year. Every time I look at this, I see something different--today I noticed a magnificent orange bloom coming from the canna in the center. Sorry that there are cars in every photo--who would have thought this intersection would be so busy at 2:00 in the afternoon?? Apparently, no one worries about the price of gas anymore now that it's well below $3.00 a gallon:)

The Village Gardeners also maintain a few smaller beds around town as well as some large planters throughout the business district. Village workers keep the beds watered, which is a help, but otherwise they are completely maintained by volunteers. I think we're very lucky to have such a willing group, but my friend told me their numbers are dwindling. I really should join . . .

Lately, I have been enjoying my drives into town along country roads and highways. A few miles out of town there is a long stretch of tiger lilies, or "ditch lilies" as we usually call them, that have been blooming for a few weeks. I should have stood to the side of them to take this photo from a different angle, but they're along a busy two-lane highway with no space to pull off. As bad as this picture is, it was the best of the bunch. I took it while parked across the way in a cemetery . . . and I didn't want to stay too long:) My husband commented that in most cases wherever these lilies appear along the roadside there was once a farmstead. If you'd like to know more about these lilies, check out Marnie's latest post.

At one time roadsides were all neatly mowed, either by the county or state transportation department or by the landowner. But state cutbacks in funding and the price of fuel have reduced the amount of roadside mowing. Other areas are left to grow naturally for another reason as is this area full of milkweeds.

While we gardeners know that various species of milkweeds are an important food source for butterflies, this common milkweed is the bane of farmers. My summer job as a teenager was "walking beans" for my father, which meant pulling out all the weeds in a beanfield. It's taken me awhile to appreciate the beauty of a milkweed:)

As I said, the economy is not the only reason for less mowing of roadsides; we are seeing many more places like this around the area as people realize the importance of native plants, or what some people would consider weeds, to the balance of nature. These three photos were taken not far from my house on a recent plant expedition with Beckie. I asked her if she would mind if we stopped so I could take a few photos. Further down the road, she asked me to stop . . .

. . . a roadbank full of these pink flowers intrigued us. I carefully pulled off to the side of the busy country road so we could inspect these more closely. A kind woman driving by stopped to make sure we were okay. How nice of her, I thought, but I wonder what she must have thought of two women trekking through the ditch to look at wildflowers:) Beckie and I had our suspicions . . . could it be? . . .

A little hard to tell from the fading and curled up blooms, but Beckie and I both agreed this certainly looked like phlox pilosa to us, better known as Gail's "Perfectly Pink Phlox Pilosa"! Checking a website devoted to wildflowers in Illinois, I found that phlox pilosa, otherwise known as "prairie phlox," is a native in this area. This is the first year I have ever noticed it around here, though, and it is flourishing in quite a few areas. Don't tell anyone, but today I walked down the road with my spade and dug some up. It may not survive in my garden--it was hard to get all of the root---but I know where I can always find more, provided the prairie police don't stop me:)

I think I may have gotten off the subject of "Out on the Streets" a little, but my mind does tend to wander when I begin driving through the countryside. I spy a stray galliardia along the roadside and look up to see this . . .

Isn't this a riot of color? This is just down the road from the "Roadsides for Wildlife" pictured above and is planted next to the homeowner's lane. It's not a public planting or even an "au naturelle" area--obviously, the homeowner planted these coneflowers, brown-eyed Susans, galliardia, and lilies on purpose. But I love the way they look spilling down the embankment into the ditch. This was definitely my favorite place out on the streets and country byways.

Life's a journey, not a destination.

--Aerosmith

ABC Wednesday: Starting Them Young

We are nearing the end of the alphabet, and today I am going to stretch this meme a little in order to post a topic I've wanted to write about for a month. Today's Y is for . . .

. . . Young Gardeners

I pride myself on saying that I do everything in the garden myself from digging up new areas to planting to weeding. Or maybe it's just that because no one else helps me that I enjoy playing the martyr:) Either way, it's not entirely true, because I do have some young helpers in the garden occasionally.

Grandson #2 came over to help Grandma one very warm day near the end of May. He was so excited to be able to help me plant flowers in the new butterfly garden, and he came prepared with work clothes and gardening boots. Grandma just happened to have a new pair of gardening gloves just his size. (No, he's not doing a tribute to Michael Jackson here; one glove mysteriously disappeared during the afternoon, never to be seen again.)

He soon learned that gardening can be an adventure, as a toad suddenly popped out of the box of seedlings to be planted. Many attempts were made to catch Mr. Toad, but eventually he found his way into the garden where hopefully he is still happily munching away on unwanted insects.

Granddaughter #2 is a true nature-lover and another garden helper. But, having recently turned six, she had a busy schedule in May with kindergarten, soccer, and T-ball. She never had a chance to help me plant as we had planned, but she did help me plant a few flowers at her house. And she was so excited this spring when the bulbs she and I had planted last fall produced some lovely blooms, especially in her favorite pink and purple.

But her younger brother, just turned two, did help Grandma a little in the garden when he spent the night one evening. Those tall weeds were no match for his big muscles.

Of course, after all that hard work gardening, a boy has to have some time to play. GS #2 was thrilled to be the first to try out the new toy Grandpa had bought for the grandkids. Our large yard soon became a race track:)

Too small for the motorcycle, Youngest Grandson got his first chance at the John Deer "Gator. " He hasn't yet mastered how to use the pedal, but Grandpa found a long handle and patiently walked behind, applying the "gas."

When Grandpa or Grandma got too tired of walking behind, Littlest One found other ways to entertain himself. Besides mastering the steering, he became quite good at sounding the horn.

And when all else fails, there are other ways of getting a vehicle to move:)

While none of my children seem the least interested in gardening, I think there is hope here for another generation of gardeners. And even if the grandchildren lose interest for awhile, we have had some special times in the garden.

For other ideas on the letter Y, visit the ABC blog.

Book Review: The Garden of Invention

If you recognize the connection between a potato, a shasta daisy, and a walnut tree, then you may be aware of the impact of the work of Luther Burbank, plant breeder extraordinaire. Luther Burbank was responsible for "inventing" and improving many plants that we take for granted today, and in the early 20th century was regarded with the same awe as were his contemporaries and friends, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford.





The Garden of Invention is the story of Burbank's life and the early days of plant breeding. It is a book I ordinarily wouldn't pick up to read had I not attended Spring Fling in May ( a gathering of over 50 garden bloggers). At the Friday night reception, I was milling about before dinner, trying to meet as many bloggers as possible. A petite woman introduced herself as Jane Smith, and we began talking. I found out that she was not a blogger, per se, but a writer who had written a biography of Luther Burbank. It wasn't until after dinner that I found out that each of us was given a copy of the book, courtesy of Prof. Smith, which I later had autographed. I appreciate not only Prof. Smith's generosity, but also the chance to read a fascinating book I might otherwise have never read.




Luther Burbank was born in New England in 1949 to a brickmaker, not a farmer, and was a shy child who enjoyed reading Emerson, Thoreau, and Longfellow. Although his family recognized his superior intelligence, as he reached adulthood they feared he would never learn a trade and no doubt never envisioned the career path he would eventually take. Inspired by the writings of Charles Darwin, he eventually decided to raise vegetables to market. After a few years, he discovered one of his potato plants produced superior potatoes and began to market them, the humble beginnings of what would be Burbank's most famous contribution to agriculture--the Russet Burbank potato.

Below: One example of a Burbank creation, the

Shasta Daisy, "Becky"

While still a young man, Burbank moved to the warmer climate of northern California and eventually purchased land in Santa Rosa where he began his adventures in plant breeding by careful observation, plant selection, and experiments in cross-breeding. As his sales of plants and seeds increased, so did his fame, eventually drawing visitors from across the world to his garden where he became known as "The Wizard of Santa Rosa." Although well-respected for his botanical genius, Burbank never achieved the wealth one might expect. Because the U.S. Patent Office did not grant patents to natural products, he was unable to patent any of his new varieties of plants, preventing him from receiving the kind of royalties that surely would have made him a rich man.



The Garden of Invention is more than just a biography of Luther Burbank, however; it is a fascinating history of the end of the 19th century and the early 20th. Meticulously researched, the book provides a wealth of information to explain the impact of Burbank's work and the reason for the reverence accorded him by the public. Prof. Smith reminds us that in the late 19th century, the economy in the U.S. was based primarily on agriculture. It was a time when land grant colleges intended to promote the study of agriculture had only recently been established. Institutions like the University of California at Berkeley, a land grant college, and a small private school, Leland Standford Junior University (later Stanford University) were very interested in Burbank's experiments with plants.

Below: One of my favorite annual for containers, "Raspberry Blast"
petunia, which is a variegated pink. Note the solid fuschia
blooms--perhaps a reverting to one of its parent genes?

It was also a time when food had to be shipped to California around the tip of South America. That fact certainly explains the significance of Burbank's contributions to the development of orchards and vegetable gardens in that state.



It was a time when the word science was first coined, and a controversy began as to whether Luther Burbank was a true scientist, since his studies were not founded in academics but through personal observations. Of course, it also
didn't help that Burbank never revealed to anyone the exact details of HOW he created a new plant.

Burbank liked to talk to his plants, which some found rather eccentric. But nearly everyone who met him was impressed by his basic goodness and decency. He was a philosopher as well as a botanist, and as his reputation grew, people were eager to hear his views on many subjects.


One of the more interesting insights into Burbank's life is Chapter 10, "The Training of the Human Plant." It was a surprise to me to find out that this childless man wrote a book about child rearing at a time when the eugenics movement was gaining popularity. However, anyone frightened by the implications of that term—eugenics—is reassured by quotes from Burbank and Smith’s explanation of his beliefs. In short, he believed that it was the nation’s responsibility to ensure that all children received “the wholesome food and healthy environment needed to make [them] strong” (192). Rather than support any kind of artificial genetic manipulation, Burbank promoted helping every child to reach his or her potential.

“Give them nature. Let their souls drink in all that is pure and sweet…Let nature teach them the lessons of good and proper living, combined with an abundance of well-balanced nourishment. Those children will grow to be the best men and women. Put the best in them by contact with the best outside. They will absorb it as a plant does the sunshine and the dew.” (191-192)

One of the few notable Burbank failures: trying

to develop a spineless prickly pear cactus for cattle feed.

I don't read much nonfiction, and I skim rather

than read gardening books, but A Garden of Invention was a book I truly enjoyed. Jane Smith is an eloquent storyteller whose attention to detail and background information makes this an engrossing story. Gardeners and non-gardeners alike will enjoy reading about the man who changed the world of gardening forever.

Left: The legacy continues . . .

For other reviews of all types of books, check out Barrie Summy's Book Review Club.

ABC Wednesday: Not X-actly X

This week we have reached the letter X, an extremely difficult letter . . .

. . . But I didn't want to think too hard-- it's summer, a time to relax and to watch

puffy white clouds or jet trails make a pattern in the blue sky.

Summer is also an exciting time in the garden as the garden teems with insect life and blooms like these of my favorite flower, the purple coneflower, fill the garden with color.



Or when exquisite creatures like these flit about searching for food. Note this is not the same dragonfly I pictured last week; I've had several varieties come to visit in the past week.


It can also be an exasperating time--the Japanese beetles have arrived!


Check out more ABC posts here.

And a note to garden bloggers, particularly those who attended Spring Fling: Sometime tomorrow I plan to post a review of the book A Garden of Invention. I hope you'll have time to stop by and read it sometime.

Annual Garden Walk: "Rooms With a View"

On Saturday Beckie and I spent the day on the annual Garden Walk sponsored by the local Master Gardeners. The theme for this year's Walk was "A Room with a View," and we certainly weren't disappointed by the views we saw. Despite temperatures in the 90's, we had a great time and were joined this year by one of Beckie's granddaughters who was quite a trouper and made notes of her favorite things in each garden we visited.


I took lots of photos, so I'll try to be less verbose than usual and let you just enjoy the sights of the tour.





Three of the gardens were public spaces, all located near each other on the east edge of the University of Illinois campus. I've often driven by the University's President's house and admired the front gardens, but this was the first time I've ever seen all of the gardens close up.

Sweeping expanses of lawn with several garden areas are located in the back. Add to that the view of the nearby Arboretum, and you have a very pleasant vista from the back patio.

Beckie and I marvelled over the enormous Boston ferns placed around the wrap-around brick patio. Just a note--this President also grows vegetables--pots of tomatoes and herbs were located on a back porch.

Nearby is the Japan House with its traditional gardens, including a rock garden. A volunteer Master Gardener pointed out something I might have missed: when viewed from the front deck, you can see that the new plantings of shrubs and small trees here mirror the shape of the horizon beyond.

Walking into the tea garden, we were excited to meet the designer of the gardens. This area was begun only 8 years ago, and many of the plantings are only 6 years old, so it will be interesting to see how it develops over the years.

Since this was our last stop of the day, we took advantage of the time to go into the building itself. Japan House is used for various classes and workshops related to Japanese culture, including the tea ceremony and . . .

. . . classes in Ikebana, the traditional Japanese art of flower arranging.

The other public garden was the Idea Garden, maintained by the local Master Gardeners. Although Beckie and I visited this garden several times last year, this was our first opportunity to visit it this year.

We made sure her granddaughter saw the children's garden, which included some new displays this year, including this duck topiary.

And any little girl would enjoy the Jewel Box garden, complete with a princess in a jewel box filled with "Diamond Frost" Euphorbia.

But the best part of the garden on this hot, hot day was a vendor's display of whimsical sprinklers. The younger one wasn't the only one who took advantage of the cooling mist; Beckie and I also had to try them out. The Idea Garden is located in full sun, so our visit here was very brief--we'll come back another cool evening to check it out in a more leisurely visit.


My favorite gardens, though, were the private ones. These gardeners don't have a paid staff or a large group of volunteers maintaining their gardens, so it's inspiring to see what one gardener can accomplish. While I don't think I'll be talking my husband into building a pool and patio complete with fireplace and granite-topped cooking center like the home above, I did come away with new ideas, as I always do from these peeks into other people's gardens:

The Plants

A blue, blue delphinium "Summer Nights"

Unnamed daylily adds to my serious case of daylily envy

Lovely calla lily would be perfect in the shade garden.

And of course, hydrangeas, which were in full bloom.

Oakleaf hydrangeas lined the sloping edge of one garden, providing privacy from the street.

And, of course, the old-fashioned Annabelles that I fell in love with on last year's walk. One of these days I'm going to find the perfect place for them in my garden.

Even basic yews were used a little differently as in this circular maze in the center of one yard. Each garden is staffed by several volunteer Master Gardeners for this walk. At this home, I received some excellent tips from one volunteer on how best to trim my own overgrown yews.

Containers

I am always looking for new ideas for combinations for container plantings. This gardener provided some extra help by labeling each of the plants.

Beckie and I were both interested in this blooming succulent, Portulaca "Rio Rose."

Other planters weren't usually labelled, but still gave us ideas:

Garden Art

Just as gardening styles varied, so did the type and use of garden art. From the classical like this stone statue of Pan . . .

. . . or this bust on a pedestal . . .

. . . to the purely whimsical.

Combinations of wood and metal . . .

. . . or other materials, drawing the eye downward . . .

. . . or upward.

I don't have many art accents in my garden and would love to add more. But I realized when viewing all of these scenes that it's not just a matter of buying or making a piece of garden art, but it's also knowing how and where to place them. It takes a creative eye to place them in just the right place in the garden. Even stones and limbs can create a dramatic effect with some artistic vision.

These small blue chairs certainly draw the eye, but even more so when you found out that these belonged to the owners' two small dogs!

I wonder if the puppies also enjoyed watching the model railroads circle the garden area.

Even vegetables served as art in one garden!

But my favorite piece of all had to be this stone bench--isn't this beautiful?! Beckie and I thought it surely must have been imported from Italy, but we found out it had been purchased at one of our favorite garden centers in town. Maybe I could put this on my Christmas wish list--for the next several years:)

Of all the gardens we visited, my favorite was a large garden situated on a one and one-half acre lot. The program booklet described it as a park-like setting, and it was indeed a peaceful oasis.

When the owners moved in 18 years ago, all that existed were some very old trees.

This is not a new subdivision, but neither is it that old. I think it's wonderful that the developers recognized the value of these old trees and built around them. This huge example was actually in the neighbor's yard.

The size of this garden was impressive, but what made it even more so was how much the gardener at this home had accomplished in 18 years. All kinds of trees, shrubs, and perennials covered the acre and a half with more beds planned. I could have done a whole post on this garden alone!

For a moment I thought I had been transported to England . . .

. . . but the English garden was just one area of this garden.

The potting area, complete with large shed, was larger than some people's backyards!

Vegetables were included, too. Carol and Mr. McGregor's Daughter should take note: no critters of any kind should be able to get to this gardener's tomatoes!

All in all, it was a wonderful day, and I came home with some great ideas. As usual, I also came home with a serious case of garden envy, but looking at my own small garden I had to smile . . .

. . . the coneflowers are blooming!