When it comes to thinking "outside the pot," Joliet garden designer Patti Kirkpatrick is the ultimate recycler who is always looking at ways to turn ordinary objects into something delightful. "We all have seed packets and seed catalogs," she says. Here, she's transformed them into a lovely centerpiece that she calls "All Those Seeds I Meant to Sow."




Photos: Patti Kirkpatrick
 
What she used:

• A round piece of cardboard or poster board for the base
• Any straight sided container
• Seed packets
• Seed catalogues, double stick tape or hot glue
• Doilies, dried flowers for that vintage look, roses, peonies, lavender

Kirkpatrick, who's lovely garden was featured in our September/October 2007 issue, wants Chicagoland Gardening readers to know about two great upcoming events at the Barber & Oberwortmann Horticulture Center at 227 North Gougar Road in Joliet.

A Most Fabulous Plant Sale
Friday - Sunday, May 4 to 6, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

$4 for premium annuals in 4-inch pots, including several varieties of Salvia guarantica — the best hummingbird flower for our area. $12 for flats of 36 plants (Not 24, not 18 but 36 plants!) And lots of hanging baskets.

The Gardener’s Flea (and antique) Market!
Saturday, May 19, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

You'll find annuals, vegetables, shrubs, hanging baskets garden art, sculpture, birdhouses, and much more. And while you're there, take time to visit the greenhouse exhibits featuring spring flowering plants, coleus, cacti, a waterfall garden and more. Kirkpatrick, whose exhibit booth at the gardener’s flea market often features antique garden elements — including unusual containers — and whimsical garden art. Visitors will be sure to find a bargain among the more than 40 vendors indoors and out. For more information, call the B&O Horticulture Center at 815-741-7278.

— Nina Koziol
www.thisgardencooks.com

If only weather forecasters were gardeners. They’d begin each broadcast bemoaning the plight of their petunias — too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry. Just like Goldilocks and the Three Bears. They’d take a look at those fresh immature leaves on a Japanese maple, hanging down like delicate butterfly wings in their burgundy spring splendor. And, then, if they were real gardeners, they’d realize that if that tree could talk, it would say, “Help, I’m dying of thirst!”

Weather statistics show that last month was the 31st driest March on record for Illinois. And, on April 8, the Chicago Weather Center reported that the soil in 32% of the state was abnormally dry. 

This is bad news for plants that are pushing out new foliage and flowers. Take a good look (and perhaps pick up a handful) of soil. It’s most likely dry as dust. If your hose is not hooked up yet, now is the time to get a few buckets of water and pour them around young trees and shrubs. Without adequate water, they will become stressed and plants under stress are more susceptible to disease and insect damage.

A Chicago Weather Center headline this week states “Sunny and dry April could be taking a turn for the wetter.”  Just don’t hold your breath. If we had a nickel for every time the forecast was incorrect, we could build a heated greenhouse with a sprinkling system. Instead of waiting for what could amount to a few minutes of drizzle this weekend—not enough to wash the dust off your windshield—take the time to soak your plants now to get them off to a healthy start this spring.

Visit the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s website to find out all the current weather conditions, predictions and other fascinating facts.

— Nina Koziol
www.thisgardencooks.com

The Victorians had the right idea. On hot summer days, they retreated to chairs and benches under a leafy canopy of spreading trees, surrounded by cooling ferns, shrubs, vines, and wildflowers.

Come high summer, when sweltering heat and humidity are enough to wilt most gardeners, the shade garden continues to offer a welcome respite. With its dappled sunlight and morning dew, the shaded nook is a delightful place where gardeners can focus on plants that thrive on limited amounts of light. Shady gardens are often a fact of life for those who dwell in old houses, from residents of urban row houses with courtyards cast into deep shade, to the owners of venerable homes enfolded by mature trees and shrubs.



Growing plants under trees or in the shade of adjacent buildings presents a great challenge, however.  How do you plant when tree roots hog the space, or when you are faced with dry, dusty soil under an overhang of the house? And, how do you design a garden in the shade while making it look and function like a "well designed garden”?  Landscape architect Vallari Talapatra of Eco-scapes in Wheaton (www.eco-scapes.net) has dealt with many such problems when designing or renovating local gardens, both large and small.  You can learn more in her upcoming class “Creating Woodland Gardens” at the Morton Arboretum.



“You’ll discover how to blend native plants into an elegant landscape, learn to use the site to your advantage, and explore adding forms that can hold a diverse garden space together,” Vallari says.

This two-part class will be held, Thurs., April 26 from 6:30 – 9:30 p.m. and Saturday, Apr. 28 from 1 - 4 p.m. at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle. The class takes place indoors and out.  Dress for the weather and bring a sack lunch and beverage on Saturday. Fee is $66 members/$78 non-members. For more information, call 630-719-2468.  

— Nina A. Koziol
www.thisgardencooks.com

Tossing its blossoms in the midsummer air, the pure white snowball was one of the most spectacular shrubs in the tasteful Victorian landscape. Although about two dozen species of "snowball" bush are hydrangeas, many more are of the genus Viburnum. The two aren't related, but at first glance, they have similar flowers. Learn more about snowball bushes and how they were used along with specimen plants, carpet bedding and more in a two-part class, "American Home Garden Design: 1830 to the Present," Wednesdays, March 21 and 29 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle.
 
Draw inspiration for your own garden from the history of home garden design. In this program, horticulturist and garden writer Nina Koziol will look at how Midwestern home garden design has changed since the Midwest was first settled. Learn more about design evolution, the rise of the suburban lawn movement, foundation plantings, cottage gardens, moon gardens, and heirlooms, to name a few. Participants will take the best of these design ideas and examine how they can be used in their own garden, no matter what age or style home they own. Course fee is $59 for Arboretum members. For more information, call 630-968-0074 or visit www.mortonarb.org. 

— Nina Koziol

I went down to Navy Pier on the opening day of this year’s Chicago Flower & Garden Show, and I am happy to report that it’s a hit. Stylish, you might say. Which is what you want from a show whose theme is “Hort Couture.”

There are lots of pretty things to see, and some are downright dazzling. There’s a great series of water gardens in the large, centrally located Aquascape exhibit, for example. And the giant agapanthus sculpture brought over from the Chelsea Flower Show in England makes a stunning centerpiece for the entry garden. It’s flanked by a pair of large vertical wall panels that showcase just what this type of gardening is all about. It’s the latest thing, so be sure to check it out.

For practicality, there’s the replica of the White House vegetable garden with its raised beds set in a handsome green lawn, and everyone is certain to like the tulip garden and its 50-plus groups of different varieties. Be sure to take notes and write down which ones you want to get for yourself.  

I also had an unexpected surprise as I was leaving on Saturday. Three members of The Conservation Foundation were out on the show floor letting us visitors get up close and personal with a great horned owl, a kestrel and a red-tailed hawk. The owl regarded his admirers with the casual disdain of a movie star.  The hawk seemed annoyed with the attention and kept flapping his wings, no doubt wishing he could fly up to Festival Hall’s rafters and get away from us. The birds will be making repeat performances on Tuesday and Thursday.

The show will continue until 6 p.m. on March 18.

— Carolyn Ulrich

p.s. When you come to the show be sure to stop by our booth (#217) and say Hello!

This year’s “Good Food Festival & Conference” takes place in Chicago, March 15-17 at the University of Illinois Forum at 725 West Roosevelt  in Chicago.



This multi-day event focuses on regional and national issues vital to building a local and sustainable food system while supporting the needs of regional family farmers. There’s a full day of programs for home gardeners and cooks. On Saturday, March 17, the conference features Midwest artisan and farmer vendors, chef demos, nationally recognized speakers and workshops showing how to grow food and make food products. These workshops include a 3-hour presentation led by Vicki Nowicki, of Libertygardens.com and her team of chefs. The topic is Food Preservation: A Four Season Master Plan. Speakers include David Cavagnaro, from Seed Saver's Exchange in Decorah, Iowa, a long time expert on root cellaring, Jennifer Downing from Nourish Cooking School and others. There’s a Chicago Foodies Seed Swap, The Buzz on Bees, Putting Vegetables at the Center of Your Plate, Small Space Gardening, Home Cheesemaking and much more.

— Nina Koziol

I pulled a paper bag of white potatoes from the dark closet floor. The potatoes, smooth, very thin-skinned, waxy and white, come from a fresh market that sells potatoes untreated with chemicals to keep them from sprouting. These were still firm and very edible, but after two weeks in the closet, they had grown sprouts.

I examined the buds closely. Each cluster of new growth was the size of a pea, very firmly attached to the fleshy tuber and changing in color from white at the base, to purple, to light green at the tips. A few tiny, black, spider like tentacles arose from the base of a few. I was reluctant to pick the sprouts off and throw away this burgeoning new life that wanted only to become a new plant and store food once again, to perpetuate life.



I wasn't ready to cook the potatoes just yet, so I wrapped them in a black plastic bag, to protect them from light, and set them on the counter top. When I opened the bag a couple of hours later, a warm, moist cloud of air wafted from it. I reached inside and the tropical-feeling air enveloped my hand as the smell of damp earth hit my nostrils. Yes, these potatoes were as alive as the day they were lifted from the dirt.

I see my food living, growing and changing in my kitchen every day. The asparagus lengthens and fattens a bit as it sits in the cold water that sweetens it and keeps it turgid until it is eaten. The onions and garlic grow fat green spears at the center and the carrot tops get a fresh head of ferny green hair. The herbs grow, wilt a bit and then stand tall again as I remember to change the water and re-cut the stems. Too many days, too many changes, and they lose the green, life-giving chloroplasts that they need. Then they yellow and slither toward death and decay, also a process of the alive.

I have known that groceries grow since early childhood, thanks to a nature-loving grandma who grew all manner of kitchen scraps into plants that we could enjoy in the windowsill. It was my grandpa that led us out into the garden to see how the pretty yellow peanut flowers smiled at the sun, then buried their heads in the soil to grow peanut seeds. It was he who knocked sweet amber icicles from the big maple tree and told us the tree was so full of life-giving sap that its cup runneth over. We licked those icicles and knew what it was to taste the "blood" of a tree.

It occurs to me, as I ponder my potatoes, that the chic plastic box of Kumato tomatoes from the grocer are alive, too, and contain seeds. I get out the ripest looking one and cut it open, straining the seeds into a paper cup with some warm water. When the seeds ferment I will place them on a paper towel to dry and then roll them up to plant in May. What will they be? Brown like the parent that bore them? Red? Who knows. What is certain is that they are alive, and something will grow.

— Deb Terrill

That is, if you’re on the staff of the Lurie Garden in Chicago’s Millennium Park.

 

On February 13 at 7:30 the staff will begin mowing down all the perennials from last year’s growth and then leaving the chopped up debris in place to provide mulch for this year’s plants. This is a new technique known as “mulching in place” and it’s something that can be adapted to the home garden.

 

Photo: Jennifer Davit, Lurie Garden

At the Lurie Garden, the staff uses a riding mower and runs through the space multiple times in order to ensure that the plant debris has been sufficiently chopped up to make good mulch. The mowers blades are set at 4 to 6 inches off the ground so as not to damage the crowns of dormant perennials.  

 

This takes about three hours, much shorter than the three days that were required when the staff chopped everything down manually. Tall grasses, however, are still cut by hand.

 

To learn more about this relatively new concept, be sure to read Beth Botts’ story on the subject in the upcoming March-April issue of Chicagoland Gardening.

— Carolyn Ulrich

Mark your calendars!  You’re invited to a free slide program presented by Woody Imberman, president of the Wisconsin Illinois Lily Society, at 2 p.m., Sunday, February 19 at the Barber and Oberwortmann Horticulture Center, at 227 N. Gougar Road, in Joliet. 

You’ll discover the wide variety of lilies that flourish in our area, simple propagation techniques and how to grow lilies that will provide blooms all summer. Woody’s articles on growing lilies have appeared in local and national gardening magazines.  an amateur lily hybridizer, he has won many awards in regional and national shows and has been featured in Chicagoland Gardening.

Take a break from winter.  While you’re at Birdhaven Greenhouse, don’t miss the beautiful indoor floral displays before or after the lily presentation.  For more information, call 815-741-7278.  

 — Nina Koziol
www.thisgardencooks.com

I just started feeling so much happier. I was watering my four very large clivia plants this morning and suddenly I discovered that flower stalks were starting to emerge in two of them. This is what the books say should happen with clivias, but it doesn’t always work that way.

My spirits soar when something I have done proves successful. When a seed germinates, for example. And here the clivias were starting to bloom. All on their own without any input from me.

Photo: Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp

Maybe that was the key. Since clivias are a South African plant that naturally experience weeks of total drought in their native habitat and come into bloom only after the arrival of the rainy season, we North American houseplant growers are told to refrain from watering them during our winter months. Then, after we resume watering in, say, February, the plants will be prompted to bloom again in, say, March. Hard to follow that advice. Our instincts tell us otherwise. Surely it must be bad to let them sit dry for weeks on end, we think.

I confess that, over the years, I have sometimes watered more than I should. Yes, I have had bountiful blooming from some of the plants, but recently the schedule was getting erratic. One of the plants didn’t bloom this last year until July.

And so, when I brought them indoors after their summer vacation in the outdoor shade of the house next door, I resolved not to water them for weeks on end. But this morning, a Saturday at the end of January, I decided the time had come for a little stimulus. And then, lo and behold, a miracle! Stalks peeking out amidst the leaves with clusters of buds on top. Life on the move. Call it a God’s-in-His-Heaven-all’s-right-with-the-world moment.

Thus buoyed, I gave each of my pots a drink and then put the water jar away. I won’t bring it out again for a month. Really.

— Carolyn Ulrich