30 Things to Do for Your Garden

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Spring! It’s the time of year when passionate gardeners are preoccupied
with planting, mulching, weeds, dry spells, ravenous rabbits and deer.
Despite making vows in January that this would be the year we are going
to “enjoy” our gardens, the return of warm weather once again finds us on
our knees in the soil, only getting up to chase the groundhog away.
TEXT AND PHOTOS BY DR. RICHARD L. BITNER
Visit Public Gardens
One of the best ways to get ideas is to visit selected public gardens. This helps us look at our
own borders with fresh eyes. What I consider to be the finest pleasure garden in the Northeast,
Chanticleer, is not far away in Wayne. One could visit this gem every month. Every few steps
there is something of wonder: plant combinations, carvings, iron and woodwork and seating.
Chanticleergarden.org.
The Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College is a great place to see labeled and perfectly grown trees
and shrubs. The arboretum’s imaginative container plantings are also notable. Be sure to pay special
attention to the plantings around the horticulture offices and the Gold LEED-certified Wister Center.
Scottarboretum.org.
Closer to home, there’s Conestoga House, which was built over a three-year period beginning in
1812. Originally a tavern, it served Conestoga wagon traffic as it made its way between Philadelphia
and Pittsburgh. The property was purchased by James Hale and Louise Steinman in 1927. The
Steinmans brought in the Philadelphia firm Mellor & Meigs to create a landscape plan for
the estate. Since then, the gardens have evolved; European formality is balanced by today’s
gardening trends. You can see it for free, courtesy of the foundation that was established
in 1982. The grounds are open from early June through September (hours vary). Selfguided tours are available Wednesday and Thursday (hours vary), while guided tours (by
reservation) are offered Tuesday and Friday. Conestogahouse.org.
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Chanticleer
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L A N C A S T E R CO U N T Y | M AY 2 0 1 6
In
celebration
of
Lancaster C
ounty maga
zine’s
30th anniv
ersary, here
’s
m
y list of
30 things w
e should th
in
k
about
doing in or
for our gard
ens
this year.
Repetition Unifies the Whole of Your Garden
If you have a large garden or a series of small borders, introduce a feeling of unity by
repeating a plant throughout. For instance, I use a variegated form of yucca (Yucca filamentosa)
throughout my garden because the color of its sword-like foliage blends with everything and
is evergreen. I also like nepeta (Nepeta ‘Walker’s Low’) because of its fragrant mint foliage
and pleasant mauve flower color. After the initial long-blooming period, it can be cut back
for another period of display. Both of these plants can be divided every third year for further
planting. Repetition of a reliable plant provides a solid base line that holds the garden
together and keeps it from looking disorganized. Another way to unify our plantings is to
sprinkle foliage plants throughout, which rests our eyes and gives the colorful flowers an
added punch. Silvery foliage is great for this and combines well with both hot and cool colors.
Possibilities include dusty miller (Senecio cineraria); lamb’s ears (Stachys byzantine); silver
mound Artemisia (Artemisia schmidtiana); or silver sage (Salvia argentea). Purple foliage is
also a great unifier, especially with yellow flowers. Consider a purple basil, Persian shield
(Strobilanthes dyerianus), or an ornamental pepper (Capsicum annuum), with purple-black
foliage. Another useful foliage plant that also is great for containers is the chartreuse sweet
potato vine (that is, if you don’t have rabbits).
Create Harmony
Harmony is one of the hardest things
to achieve in a garden. To get started,
consider grouping plants according to
similar times of bloom, color harmony
and cultural needs. That is, sequestering
all the hot oranges and reds from the
misty blues, pinks and mauves. If
plants are matched according to their
cultural preferences and your growing
conditions, then they will grow well
(the first requirement for a
satisfactory garden). Beginning
gardeners should avoid plants
that are inflexible in their
cultural needs.
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Nepeta ‘Walker’s Low’
Plant and Plan for Serenity
The derivation of the word garden suggests an enclosure or safe place, a place for quiet and refreshment. And, I would add, a place
for creativity. All too often we are so enthralled with plants that we want to grow one of everything. As a result, our gardens become
too complex – there is so much variety to
look at that a feeling of repose is lacking.
The most important way to achieve
repose is repetition of plants and textures
throughout the borders.
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Photograph Your
Own Garden
Photographs taken throughout
the seasons and years will provide you
with a way to review what did well in
your garden and what failed.
Add an Element of Surprise
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Go On Garden Tours
The more one looks at gardens (even in books), the more
one can figure out what is appealing about some of them.
Fortunately, Lancaster County residents love to share
their gardens with the public. Upcoming tours include:
Marietta Garden Tour (June 5, parivertowns.com); Maytown
Garden Tour (June 11, maytownhistory.org); Columbia Garden
Tour (June 11, parivertowns.com); Demuth Garden Tour (June
11-12, demuth.org) and Secret Gardens of Strasburg (June 18-19,
strasburgheritagesociety.org). You not only get to see some great
gardens, but you are also supporting some worthy causes. Always
take your camera to grab an image of a plant or combination that you
like. Gardening, like any art form, begins with borrowing.
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Introduce an occasional shocker in the flower
border that will bring a visitor’s glance to a
standstill, like the vivid magenta color of rose
campion (Lychnis coronaria), against its silver
foliage, or a flaming torch red hot poker (Kniphofia).
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A Place to Reflect
Try to introduce surprises and secret places in your garden: perhaps a small bench under a tree
with a comfortable pillow, a piece of stained glass hanging from a branch and catching the light, a
piece of salvaged architectural molding, and definitely a pollinator hotel. Think about the way you
move through your garden and provide places to pause and reflect. When planning a new garden or
rethinking a garden in decline, plan meandering paths so that the garden unfolds to the visitor.
Rose campion
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Think Ahead
Late summer/early
fall is the time to
think spring, as
bulbs need to be
planted. A favorite source
is Brent and Becky’s Bulbs,
whose catalogs are filled with
information and instruction. You’ll
find countless possibilities that
your pillaging squirrels will not
bother. Brentandbeckysbulbs.com.
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Don’t Be Afraid
to Crowd Your
Plants
Tidiness might be a
virtue, but when each
plant is forbidden to
touch its neighbor and is
surrounded by an ocean
of mulch, the border
becomes little more than
a collection of plants.
Plants tumbling over
one another also help to
shade out weeds.
Contain Your Vegetables
If space, sun exposure or rabbits are an
issue, don’t give up on raising vegetables.
Instead, plant a
cooking garden
in containers.
Herbs are
naturals in pots, as are peppers,
cherry tomatoes, chard,
eggplants and pole beans.
Plant a Few Choice Woody Shrubs
Although many home gardeners think of colorful annuals and
perennials as being the centers of attention in their gardens, woody
plants are essential for providing structure and background. Plant as
many multi-seasonal flowering shrubs as space allows. Fothergilla
(Fothergilla gardenii), enkianthus (Enkianthus campanulatus), royal azalea
(Rhododendron schlippenbachii), smooth witherod viburnum (Viburnum
nudum ‘Winterthur’), and doublefile viburnum
(Viburnum plicatum var. tomentosum) will all provide
spring flowers and fall foliage color. The viburnums will
also provide colorful berries for the birds.
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By selecting plants that will thrive
in the conditions they are given,
you’ll have success growing them. Don’t try to
set up a 6-foot-deep English-style perennial
border and expect the delphiniums to survive
our hot summer nights. The swampy area
that you envision turning into a lawn might
better serve as a home for irises, primroses,
forget-me-nots or marsh marigolds. It’s wiser
to visit one of our many fine local nurseries
and discuss your choices with well-informed
personnel than it is to order something that
catches your eye in a glossy catalog. Try to
love the soil and topography that you have.
Your garden should be a product of the land
you have and not an attempt to reproduce a
magazine image.
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Deciduous
holly
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Shrink the High-Maintenance Turf
Start Composting
Compost plays a critical role in building healthy soil.
Compost fosters diverse life in the soil and supports healthy
plant growth. Healthy plants are less susceptible to damage
from pests and weather. Compost encourages healthy, strong
root systems in plants, which in turn holds water in and decreases
runoff. Composting is free, unlike the use of costly chemical
fertilizers. The hardest part is to just get going. Visit
epa.gov/recycle/composting-home.htm for ideas.
Cutting Garden
Set aside an area that can serve as a
cutting garden. Rows planted with
dahlias, sunflowers, salvias, irises, zinnias,
coneflowers and cosmos will provide
casual bouquets for your barbecue table.
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Set aside a plot for a young person in your life. Select seeds that sprout quickly. Fail-proof plants for children: radishes, sweet peas, marigolds, lettuce,
nasturtiums and zinnias. For more adventurous kids, try birdhouse gourds. And, why not butterfly weed (Asclepias) for the butterflies? It can be the first
step in the education of gardeners and could perhaps teach them about patience and cause them to momentarily ignore their electronic devices. For a
discussion of gardening with youngsters, consult reneesgarden.com/articles/child.html.
A plant – especially one that is boldly textured or irregularly shaped – can
function as a piece of sculpture in the garden. I’d suggest a conifer, such
as a dark-green upright yew, an irregularly-shaped Japanese white pine or,
perhaps best of all, a Japanese maple. For bold foliage, nothing beats cannas,
elephant ears, red castor bean and banana plants.
Certainly, expanses of green are expected around suburban homes,
and they provide the perfect backdrops for our gardens. Grass also
provides an ideal outdoor surface for play. But, today’s ecologically
minded gardener understands that the constant mowing, watering,
fertilizing and reseeding to ensure perfect turf is not sustainable. It’s
time to rethink the time spent maintaining these rolling expanses of
green. Why not enlarge your growing beds with large drifts of a single,
low-maintenance plant species or replace grass with less-needy fescues,
raked gravel or slabs of bluestone interspersed with creeping thymes?
At least 50% of the plants, shrubs and trees should add seasonal interest.
Gardens organized with only an eye for summer color are not always
successful, since they fail to draw attention in the off seasons. The astute
gardener celebrates the progress of the seasons and enjoys observing what
every change in the weather brings. Past gardening journeys have offered
many suggestions, most notably the red berries of deciduous holly (Ilex
verticillata), the peeling cinnamon-colored bark of the paperbark maple
(Acer griseum), or the late winter flowering of witch hazels (Hamamelis).
Youthful Entertainment
Add Architectural Drama
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Viburnum
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Fall and Winter Interest
Accept the Conditions
You Have
Have Courage
If something doesn’t look or feel right, get rid of it.
Remove that unsightly, overgrown shrub or even the
tree that is encroaching on the roof. It’s OK. Really, it is.
Plant Vertically
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If you have limited space in your garden or a wire fence between
properties, consider planting upright trailing plants: perhaps one
of the many beautiful varieties of clematis, the purple-foliaged
hyacinth bean vine, morning glories, black-eyed Susan vine, one of
the new climbing nasturtiums or, for your bread baking and beer
making, a hops vine.
Clematis
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Plant for Pollinators
This was discussed at length on our Gardening Journey from April 2014. Top herbaceous plants would be
hellebores, agastache, milkweed (especially the common roadside variety), herbs, mints and goldenrod.
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Invest in Good Tools
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Two tools are always with me in the garden.
One is my Felco pruner (No. 6 is great for smaller hands; they
also make left-handed pruners). Felcostore.com/pruners. I’m also
never without my digging tool made by Lesche. Amleo.com/
lesche-digging-tool-soil-knife-with-sheath/p/DT1. (Go with the
DT1; don’t buy the cheaper ones.)
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Plant for the Birds
The best bird plants are purple coneflowers, sunflowers, elderberry, cupplant (Silphium perfoliatum) – especially for the goldfinches. The cardinal flower is a magnet for
hummingbirds. Postpone deadheading your coneflowers until very late fall when the birds have
harvested all the seeds.
Think Boldly in Small Gardens
Although the range of plants must be limited in a vest-pocket garden, if it’s
well-designed with flourishing plants, the tiniest garden can bring great
pleasure and the envy of those with larger, more difficult-to-manage spaces.
But, don’t shy away from using bold-textured plants. Pop in cannas, elephant
ears, red castor bean and red hot pokers. And, why not an ensete banana?
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Fragrance
Tuck some fragrant plants along your garden paths. Lily-of-the-valley, lavender, lemon
verbena, heliotrope and scented geraniums are tops. For a small, underused shrub
with fragrant pale-pink flowers, plant the Carol Mackie daphne (but not in acid soil).
Plant an Oak
Be Sun Smart
Wear a hat, long sleeves and sunscreen when you’re working outdoors. The risks
gardeners experience due to sun exposure was discussed in our Gardening Journey
from June 2014. Plan your garden chores before 10 a.m. and after 3 p.m.
Don’t Be a Plant Snob
Garages are for cars, not garden ornaments.
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Most of us plant for the here and now or perhaps for next year, but not often for the
distant future. After all, it’s become unusual to stay at the same property for decades.
If you have a spot with full sun and good drainage, plant an oak. In addition to their
great summer shade, many species of birds use the cavities and crooks for nesting and shelter.
Birds are also drawn to the abundance of insects and acorns that are found on oaks. It’s better than
a gift card to honor a birth, graduation or other event! Check out Bringing Nature Home: How You
Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants, 2009, Timber Press.
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Clean Out the Garage
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Remember that well-grown and pleasingly arranged plants are the most
important elements of your garden. Old standbys and divisions bought at
roadside stands can bring just as much delight (and are often more reliable)
as the latest, pricey, double-flowered, variegated introduction offered in a
glossy advertisement. What pleases us most in a garden is its sense of
design and the thought and deliberate arrangement that went into it.
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