South Eastern Connecticut Landscaping

Mediterranean spurge (Euphorbia characias ‘Glacier Blue’)

Gloves, hat, scarf–I brought none of these things when I went wandering the Garden during lunch yesterday. The climate was just so perfectly suited to a stroll. And the greatest benefit of working at the NYBG is that–no matter the climate–there’s something out on the grounds worth visiting. It’s true there’s no luck of a permanent spring with buds and blooms sprouting up from corner to corner, but winter has its own subtle and touching charm.

This season’s odd patterns of sun and darkness make for confusing daytime walkabouts; I hadn’t expected to step out of the office at 3 p.m. only to find dusk creeping along at the edges of the afternoon. Adjusting to this kind of Norse winter is a slow process. (Being a southerner, anything north of Georgia is practically Norway to me.) But I decided that I was already out and about, and despite the settling dark I was going to soak up as much enjoyment as I could from the remains of the day.

Winter jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum)

From the Library Building I struck out toward the nearby Home Gardening Center, though much of it was already buckled down for the season. Still, the winter jasmine’s yellow blooms stood out like small sparks in the bramble; the simple, minuscule flowers make for an endearing contrast. You can expect the bright inflorescence of Jasminum nudiflorum to stick around until March in our neck of the woods, assuming our weather doesn’t choose to take an even more bizarre turn.

I then moved on toward the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, but with the Holiday Train Show still in swing through the 16th, I figured I would leave our visitors to their fun and keep to the quiet outdoors. In any case, two of our most peaceful gardens were right nearby.

I found the lolling flowers of the snowdrops peppering the ground in the Perennial Garden. These shy, bulb-grown blooms have a penchant for creating a carpet of untouched white and green clusters when propagated, though our Galanthus are just beginning to pop up here and there. In the right conditions, we’ll be able to enjoy them through March as well.

Snowdrop (Galanthus)

Next door is the Ladies’ Border. Tucked in alongside the Conservatory with a berm opposite, the crevice of flowers and small trees always seems to boast a few perky flowers and fascinating plants. It helps that it’s just a smidgen warmer than almost any other outdoor space in The New York Botanical Garden.

A bright pink speck bobbed at the end of the path, so I decided to investigate. There I found the last few blossoms of the ‘Spring’s Promise’ camellia toughing out the steadily dropping temperatures. Even as they begin to wilt, the flashy fuchsias and yellows of this Camellia japonica cultivar suck in most of the folks who wander down the pathway.

Camellia ‘Spring’s Promise’ (Camellia japonica)

Immediately underneath the camellia stood a rigid grouping of Euphorbia characias ‘Glacier Blue’, a cultivar of the evergreen Mediterranean Spurge with sturdy green and cream-edged leaves. Their stems jut up around one another like frilled spears.

Having no particular plan after this point, I left the Ladies’ Border and wandered off toward the Azalea Garden. And I know what you’re thinking–there are surely no azaleas blooming in this cold. You’d be right. But if you happen to visit over the next month or two, you might come to understand my personal fascination.

Dormant flowers leave behind a mesh of pathways winding between and around natural rock faces, jutting up out of the ground and making for sudden elevation changes. The barren trees add to the overall effect of a zen-like, introspective space. And if the Fordham bells happen to be tolling at that moment (they were) it makes the scene all the more surreal. But quoting Edgar Allan Poe at this point would be pushing my luck.

The moral of this story? Go outside, take in the weather, and make the most of the fact that there’s nothing frozen and miserable falling from the sky. It’s sunny! Let yourself enjoy it for once.

Tags: Azalea Garden, Camellia, Ladies’ Border, New York Botanical Garden, NYBG, Perennial Garden, snowdrop, What’s Beautiful Now, winter jasmine

This entry was posted
on Friday, January 13th, 2012 at 11:00 am and is filed under What’s Beautiful Now.
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Article source: http://www.nybg.org/plant-talk/2012/01/around-the-garden/whats-beautiful-now/whats-beautiful-now-winter-strolls/

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There are three days between now and the end of the 20th Holiday Train Show. Hands in the Conservatory are already preparing to pull down the tracks and gently store away the trains and miniatures, and soon the space will host fresh events and exhibitions of a more tropical nature. It’s something of a bittersweet moment for those of us here at the NYBG; it wasn’t that long ago that Paul Busse’s team was rolling out the first of the city’s bridges.

Since we unveiled the display in early November, thousands of people–kids and adults, first-timers and yearly regulars–have passed through the glass doors of the dome to view our sparkling homage to the city and the season. And while we’re sad to see the delicate landmarks disappear until next fall, we’re making the most of the time we still have to show the holidays the proper bon voyage.

Visit the Garden tonight (Friday, January 13) between our extended hours of 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. for a surprise evening of entertainment surrounded by holiday lights, friends, and family. We’ll even have a cash bar set up for those looking to top off the event with a casual drink or two. I’ve said it before–so very many times–but you really haven’t seen the Train Show until you’ve walked the paths under the dome after dark. There’s a fireplace glow to everything that tends to wipe the thought of miserable winter weather from your memory. And this weekend is aiming to be a frosty one (or cold in comparison, at the very least).

Between now and the closing of our gates on Monday you’ll have just a few more chances to see the Holiday Train Show, Gingerbread Adventures, and All Aboard with Thomas and Friends™ before they leave us for another year. But please be aware that tickets are a pretty finite resource right about now. Thomas™ spots in particular are flying out the door and many scheduled mini-performances have already sold out, so playing the early bird is your best bet for getting one of the remaining seats.

As an aside, I’d just like to thank all of our guests for coming out to support The New York Botanical Garden and celebrate this momentous anniversary with us. It’s only because of our gracious visitors that we have been able to keep this New York City tradition running for two amazing decades. But the year’s only just beginning–we hope you’ll come back for the many jaw-dropping exhibitions we still have up our sleeve.

Tags: gingerbread adventures, Holiday Train Show, NYBG, Thomas the Tank Engine

This entry was posted
on Friday, January 13th, 2012 at 4:43 pm and is filed under Holiday Train Show.
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Article source: http://www.nybg.org/plant-talk/2012/01/exhibit-news/hts/until-next-season/

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Sonia Uyterhoeven is the NYBG’s Gardener for Public Education.

Trees possess a physiognomy and physiology just like we do. If you are an arborist, a dendrologist, or just a lover of trees, you can walk into the woods and read the life stories of your local trees simply by tilting your head upwards and carefully observing your surroundings.

In lay terms this means that you can tell a lot about a tree just by looking at it and understanding the basics of how it functions. The snow storm we encountered at the end of October was an opportunity to reflect on the intimate relation that growth, structure, and environmental impact have on the lives of trees. I subtitled last week’s blog “No Tree Left Behind” because virtually every tree was at the mercy of last October’s unexpected snow, when the majority of deciduous trees still had full canopies.

An assessment of the storm damage here at The New York Botanical Garden reveals important lessons that help us understand which trees are generally hardest hit during a storm and why. Today I am going to discuss three variables that affect resistance to storm damage.

One has to do with the actual structure of the wood in different species. Some trees such as sweet gums (Liquidambar styraciflua), hickories (Carya sp.), willows (Salix sp.), tulip trees (Liriodendron tulipifera), and Chinese elms (Ulmus parvifolia) are weak-wooded species. They tend to be more susceptible to storm damage.

The October snow storm demonstrated the veracity of this claim, with the majority of the damage in the Garden incurred on the above species. As a homeowner, if you are choosing a tree for your property which will sustain minimal storm damage, the general consensus amongst the woody plant crowd is that slow-growing trees tend to be more structurally sound than fast-growing trees. The fast growers are generally the species with weaker wood.

Another reason has to do with pockets of decay and past pruning injuries. Several decades ago, when it came to making major pruning cuts on trees, the common belief was that you were supposed to make a flush cut. This meant that you followed the branch back to where it met the central stem and made a clean cut at the base of the connection. Research has now shown that it is best to make the pruning cut in an area that lies just slightly outside of what is called the branch bark ridge and the branch collar. In simplified terms, this is the location where the wood from the central stem joins with the wood from the branch.

By making the cut outside this area you are essentially avoiding damage to the living tissues of the central stem. Only the branch tissues will be damaged from the cut, and if it is close to the area where the two tissues connect then it will callous over and heal quickly. Old flush cuts that remain on trees or poorly-made pruning cuts will contain pockets of decay or areas of weakened wood that will be targets for any severe weather that taxes the strength of the tree. It is nature’s way of cleaning house.

Narrow branch angles are the third variable in winter storm damage. The problem with narrow branch angles is that as the branch and the central stem become larger, they begin running out of space to grow. They become crammed into a small space causing their bark to fold over onto itself. The technical term for this is included bark.

There is no space for a strong, woody connection between the branch and the central stem to grow and the structurally weaker bark fills the space. In this instance, the branch becomes heavier as it grows, but the strength of the woody connection between the branch and the main stem doesn’t correspond to its size and leads to a weak connection. Arborists who are making risk assessments on trees look for what those in the trade term “elephant ears.” These are signs that there is included bark. From the ground it looks like the branch has grown a funny bulge or, as the name implies, ears.

If you survey your property and look for weak-wooded trees, old pruning cuts that never healed properly, and narrow branch angles, you will come away with an accurate idea of where potential storm damage may occur. That is, of course, if the past year hasn’t already taken care of it.

Tags: New York Botanical Garden, NYBG, October, Sonia Uyterhoeven, winter storm

This entry was posted
on Tuesday, January 10th, 2012 at 11:02 am and is filed under Around the Garden.
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Article source: http://www.nybg.org/plant-talk/2012/01/around-the-garden/snow-tober-assessing-the-structural-damage-of-trees/

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Author: Kay

Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 2:05 pm (GMT 0)

This past February, we had to have an old tired Austrian Pine taken down.





tree stump ( photo / image / picture from Kay’s Garden )







It was really hard to make a decision as to what to do with the space. I had so many ideas. A lot of them weren’t feasible because of the cost (I so wanted another tree!) so after a lot of debate, and being anxious to plant something, we went for a pair of Lilacs. They should reach about 8 feet at maturity. They even had some fragrant blooms still on.

I also put a trellis in the corner and planted a Morning Glory at it’s base. That way, I can change that, perhaps with a perennial vine in the future.







filling in the corner ( photo / image / picture from Kay’s Garden )



As you can see, the perennials have returned, and I had to do some rearranging of them. I moved several Astilbe as it was going to be too sunny for them. The Daylily is happy in it’s new spot. And the stump will serve as a pot stand for now. I wouldn’t let the guys stump grind because I thought they would be too destructive…

This is just one of many of the examples of how we all adapt to the changes that continually take place when we garden each year.

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Balsam, Malar’s giveaways, zinnia from the old Putrajaya garden are flowering. The site is actually reserved for pandan which will soon conquer the area. For now flowerings are grown to fill the empty space.

Basil which is about to be a permanent feature here, is flowering too. The two basil at the back of the house are becoming more bushy after I did a complete pruning of all flower stalks. A few new flowers are coming up and are quite visible.

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A person’s home is their castle and their personal space, so many covet that feeling and don’t like prying eyes on anything outside the standard public areas. When it comes to remodeling and home maintenance, you shouldn’t take that attitude. A good friend is worth their weight in gold.

Knowledge: The coffee clutch you visit with every morning or your Twitter group of do-it-yourselfers has a variety of specialized knowledge that you can always use. John may be a mechanical engineer and can give you some ideas on how to move that concrete bench in the yard, and Steve could be a retired carpenter who knows all there is to know about flooring.

Odds are at least one friend has done whatever task you are planning and has some insights into the problems you’ll encounter and ways to shave off a few minutes. Friends are a limitless source of knowledge that can aid you in your endeavor.

Extra Pair of Hands: When my father-in-law has a big project like shingling a roof or laying some tile, he doesn’t hesitate to give friends and family a call. Doing a major project by yourself will take considerably longer than if you just had a few friends help out. One person sets the shingles, the other nails it to the roof. One person cuts the tile, another lays it and my father-in-law supervises. If lifting is involved, then it can decrease the risk of injury since you aren’t lifting it by yourself.

Never underestimate how much easier a project will go with a helping hand or two. Make sure to thank them properly. I like to provide a good lunch and drinks and maybe host a game night that everyone can come over. My wife doesn’t mind if it gets the kitchen cabinets up.

Support: It’s not easy being a handy man around the home. There are failures and disasters that creep up every time. We spend hours fixing something only to have it break again or fix one leak, only to have two more spring up in its place. Perhaps worst of all, we actually have to call a repair man. Friends will provide you a shoulder to lean on and listen to you complain about the cost of labor. Many a handy man has given up on projects out of frustration, but a few good friends can help you stick it out.

I have had many friends over the years with different skills, from professional painters and plasterers to mechanics and engineers. At one point or another, one of them has helped a project get done easier or faster or just kept me sane while I was going through it. I encourage you all to join do-it-yourselfer Twitter groups and web forums. If you don’t have any physical friends, then a few virtual ones will do.

Image Source: flickr.com/photos/usdagov/5041315529

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For a couple years now I’ve watched and waited for our hellebore to bloom. Every year I jealously read the posts of other gardener bloggers who are happily displaying their hellebore blooms but alas, I had no flowers to share! But now the single Lenten rose I have has grown into an 18″ little bush with glossy green leaves and has finally flowered.

Shade is hard to come by in our yard – at least in the cultivated areas – and so the space where other hellebores could grow has been occupied by other shade loving occupants, namely hostas and heucheras, which left little room for Lenten roses. But perhaps I should make some room?

I do have a location that might be perfect for more Lenten roses. There’s a little garden in the very back of our yard near the garden shed that could be a new home for hellebores. The deer have feasted there before on my hostas but since hellebores are deer resistant plants they might be safe. (Hellebores are poisonous so do not ingest!)

My hellebore may reseed and if that happens I could move any offspring to the back garden but most likely I”ll have to propagate more hellebores through division. Although from what I’ve read about dividing hellebores it could be tricky and it may be easier to make more plants with seed.

When the leaves aren’t frost bitten they really make a nice groundcover. My poor plant somehow managed to get itself singed by the cold. I’m sure it will bounce back with new growth once we have consistently warm temperatures. The only real downside to a hellebore is that fact that the flower face down! As you can see I had to hold up the flowers for the pictures.

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For a couple years now I’ve watched and waited for our hellebore to bloom. Every year I jealously read the posts of other gardener bloggers who are happily displaying their hellebore blooms but alas, I had no flowers to share! But now the single Lenten rose I have has grown into an 18″ little bush with glossy green leaves and has finally flowered.

Shade is hard to come by in our yard – at least in the cultivated areas – and so the space where other hellebores could grow has been occupied by other shade loving occupants, namely hostas and heucheras, which left little room for Lenten roses. But perhaps I should make some room?

I do have a location that might be perfect for more Lenten roses. There’s a little garden in the very back of our yard near the garden shed that could be a new home for hellebores. The deer have feasted there before on my hostas but since hellebores are deer resistant plants they might be safe. (Hellebores are poisonous so do not ingest!)

My hellebore may reseed and if that happens I could move any offspring to the back garden but most likely I”ll have to propagate more hellebores through division. Although from what I’ve read about dividing hellebores it could be tricky and it may be easier to make more plants with seed.

When the leaves aren’t frost bitten they really make a nice groundcover. My poor plant somehow managed to get itself singed by the cold. I’m sure it will bounce back with new growth once we have consistently warm temperatures. The only real downside to a hellebore is that fact that the flower face down! As you can see I had to hold up the flowers for the pictures.

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When I was a kid, I really wanted a bunk bed, but since my brother and sisters were more than a decade older than me, it made it a bit of a moot point. It wasn’t until college that my bunk bed dream was finally realized.

I currently have three boys, all close in age, and I have been thinking about getting a bunk bed for the two oldest as a way to save some space. This has been a long time coming, but the decision wasn’t easy. I am not a kid anymore, and the safety of my children is my first concern.

Space

Bunk beds save space in a room by stacking one bed on top of another. This creates a vertical space and significantly opens up a smaller room. You may even be able to consolidate two bedrooms into a single room and create a whole new room for toys, an office or a living area.

Coolness

Every kid loves the idea of sleeping on the top bunk. Bunk beds are just awesome. The problem is that someone has to sleep on the bottom. My plan is to let the oldest sleep on the top bunk and tell my middle child that he can have the top bunk when he is older. If this doesn’t solve the dispute, then you can always create a schedule where they can switch bunks every few days or every week.

Safety

This is why I spent many hours debating with myself about a bunk bed. Every parent has fears about their child falling from the top bunk of the bed and crashing to the floor with a thud. The good news is that bunk bed makers have thought about this over the years and put in place certain safety parameters to keep them from rolling over and off the edge. It’s still nerve-wracking, but they are relatively safe.

Types

Take your time in choosing a bunk bed, and let your kids get involved as well. Let them pick out the ones that they like best, but make sure it goes with the décor and feel of the room. Themed bunk beds are cool unless everything else in the room is completely different. A superhero bunk bed sounds great until you put it in a room decorated with Transformers.

I am excited about getting a bunk bed. It’s one of those childhood dreams that I never had fulfilled, and I get to pass it on to my kids, whether they actually want it or not. I’ll keep you posted on the search and how it ultimately goes over.

Image Source: flickr.com/photos/s_mestdagh/2488367266

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In my first several apartments, I never had a formal dining room. Instead, I had a kitchen/eating area and that was fine, when it was just my wife and me. The home we live in now does have a formal dining room, and with three kids, it definitely came in handy.

For many families, the dining room is a disappearing concept, often replaced with more usable space. People are having fewer major family get-togethers and are instead focusing on camming via the Internet and e-mail. We live in a global marketplace, and people are no longer staying near the places where they grew up.

The idea of the family dinner is also becoming an outdated concept as we fall into the hustle and bustle of the modern world. Parents are working later, and children are involved with school activities that keep them out until all hours of the night. Many people find it easier to just grab a bite on the way out or to take the food to the living room, where they can catch the latest episode of “House” before picking up their daughter or son from practice.

The dining room isn’t a traditional usable space like a kitchen. It’s simply an area to eat your meals, and other than that, it’s not used unless you need to do some kind of project for your child’s school. A dining room table always comes in handy for that. Many home designers are foregoing the dining room for a more utilitarian space.

What was once the dining room is now a reading room where the family can gather for game night and other functions. It’s a place where mom and her friend can visit while the kids play X-box in the living room. The tight economy has people wanting to get the most out of every penny and every inch of space, and that means saying goodbye to the large dining room table.

It’s a trend that I’ve seen evolving for several years, and it will probably continue until the economy recovers and people feel good about excess again. As for me, I plan on keeping my dining room for a while. My kids are still young enough that they don’t have a million things to go to, and we try to have all meals at the dinner table. It doesn’t always work that way, but we try.

Image Source: flickr.com/photos/bastique/3874763373

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