Pond Life

We have two ponds on our property. One is out in the field and serves as water reserve in case of fire as we do not have fire hydrants out here in the country.

The other one is smaller, not as deep, and closer to the house so it is more a part of our garden.

The first couple of years we just left it alone, but the cattail (Typha latifolia) growing in a neighbouring swamp just invaded the pond. We decided to introduce some "desired" native water plants and last year we purchased the following from Acorus Restauration:

Blue-flag Iris (Iris versicolor) was one of the first plants to bloom in the pond early June this year.

The Sweet-scented White Water Lily (Nymphaea odorata, N. tuberosa) has spread beautifully with lots of lily pads floating on the water and new blooms appearing all summer.

The Pickerel Weed (Pontederia condata) didn't disappoint with lots of beautiful blue flowers attracting a variety of insects for a few weeks now.

The flowers of Arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia) have also been a delight along with it's beautiful "arrowhead" leaves.

The leaves of the Broad leaf Water Plantain (Alisma plantago-aquatica) resemble the well known (annoying weed) plantain, just much larger, but the flowers are quite different. Tiny, white flowers on a large, very "bushy" stem. Really not that spectacular.

Around the edge of the pond there's a variety of sedges and rushes, some of which we have planted and some just appeared. And then there's the residents and visitors:

We have lots of frogs in and around the pond - green, brown and leopard frogs - but they usually jump into the pond as we get closer. A "frog" noise and a splash, but one day, when the water level was lower, I was lucky to get a glimpse of this guy.

The dragon flies are amazing. We have green, blue, yellow-ish ones in all sizes.

I would have liked to capture one of the big ones flying - they are just like tiny helicopters!

Salix 'Americana'

In the spring of 2007 I decided to grow willows as I had an idea of building fences from willow-rods - and this will be the first of a series about my willows. (More about willow fences later).

Salix 'Americana' was introduced to Britain and Europe from North America where it is extensively grown for basketry and it was one of the five varieties I planted that year.

My first rows of Salix purpurea 'Streamco' and S. 'Americana'. 'Americana' is growing taller and 'Streamco' has somewhat finer rods. Both varieties are very flexible and grow long slender rods, most of which have no branching, and they are some of the willow varieties most willow weavers in North America and Europe know and use.

'Streamco' throws lots of rods from the base of the coppiced plants.

In 2008 'Streamco" produced from 10 to over 30 rods per plant - which I thought was a lot for their second year. All rods were dried as I decided not to plant new stock of that variety this year - so the coming winter I will be experimenting with some weaving.

My harvest of 'Americana' on the other hand, was all cut up for propagation and I planted 1500 new plants.
I am quite happy with the new plants in the field as most are growing well. 'Americana' is not the most vigorous variety the first year - but they are not the slowest either!
A shoot showing off the beautiful bluish, grey leaf colour of the 'Americana'.

Perennials from seed

The greenhouse is bursting with plants, some of them ripe for transplanting. Actually, some have been in their pots far too long so that by now they are pot bound and need to go in the garden very soon - or some of my hard work will be wasted. The Leucanthemum maximum 'Crazy Daisy' (Double shasta daisy) are rapidly filling in and they are thirsty constantly.

Verbena bonariensis (Brazilian verbena) are just as big and compact and screaming for more room.

I transplanted the first 10 of Aruncus dioius (Goatsbeard) last week-end as one of the beds that they are going in was cleaned up and mulched.
The native Aster puniceus (Purple stemmed aster) was almost "standing still" for some time, but the last couple of weeks really got them growing.

Digitalis stewardii (Foxglove) is the best looking of my three varieties. D. furreginea and D. parviflora didn't have a high germination % and are more or less just surviving. I think that I'll get a few of each, but this one is the best so far.

Agastache foeniculum (Giant blue hyssop) have done extremely well and also need to get a new home soon. Looks to me like a couple of seeds were from the golden-leaved variety?

Some species/varieties seem to be doing well, but stay small as this Heuchera villosa (Coral Bells),

Monarda fistulosa (Bee balm), and

Thalictrum pubescens (Tall meadow rue). I wonder if they would have looked different had I transplanted them into larger pots earlier, or are they just enjoying their youth as they don't have to rush to maturity like their annual cousins? I feel that they are too small to go into the garden and I will probably have to transplant them to either larger pots or a nursery bed until the fall or next spring.

In the green house, but not shown here are also Papaver anomalum 'Album' (White poppy), Euphorbia polychroma, Lobelia siphilitica (Great blue lobelia), Helenium flexuosum (Sneeze-weed), Sanguisorba officinalis (Great burnet), Liatris 'Floristan Violet' (Blazing Star), Asclepias incarnata (Swamp milkweed), Salvia superba dwarf 'Blue Queen', Salvia nemerosa, Phlomis tuberosa, Echincea purpurea 'Primadonna', E. purpurea 'Alba', and E. purpurea 'White Swan'.

It's all been fun and very exciting - although lots of work - to see the seedlings grow and flourish.

Winter-sowing however has been disappointing. Many varieties didn't germinate, some only had very few seeds germinate, and then some germinated and disappeared again before the seedlings grew big enough for transplanting.

Winter sowed Eryngium planum (Flat sea holly) had one seedling from a packet of seeds as did Sorghastrum nutans (Indiangrass).

Eupatorium maculatum and E. purpureum (Joe Pye) both germinated with 5-8 seedlings then died for me.

Angelica (Great Alexanders), Trollius europeanus (Globe flower), and a handfull of varieties from seeds I collected didn't germinate at all (yet?).

Sunflowers, Hollyhock, a double rudbeckia, echinacea, and shepherds scabiosa germinated well and are growing, although very tiny seedlings. Also germinating, but in small numbers were Astrantia major (Great masterwort), Trollius ircuticus (orange Globe flower), Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly weed), Leucanthemum x superbum 'Alaska' (White daisy), and Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm'

I don't plan on growing this many seedlings again, but I am quite sure that whatever I grow, I'll get my grow lamps out in the office and then raise the seedlings in the greenhouse again. It may be a little more work, but with much greater results.

Bit off more than I can chew---

------hope not, but that is how I often feel these days!

After a loooong winter the grounds around here were wet, cold, and not workable until mid May by which time the weeds were far into the race to reach maximum height before the end of the month.

It is really not that I have been lazy (haven't even had time to enjoy most of my favourite blogs the past couple of weeks) - things just seem to all of a sudden to have gotten out of hand.

Think of myself as a pro-active person - at least during "normal" times - the gardening chores these days, however, have my mind and body jumping from one to the other, depending on which one appears to be most critical. It's like damage control - do I let the weeds take over totally while I get the veggie garden in order? - or do I spend my time on the jobs with the biggest impact letting my seedlings suffer as they need larger containers? - do I get my perennial beds ready for transplant of my seedlings (most of which will not bloom till next year) ignoring planning and planting the multiple containers that should be focal points on our new deck by the time we'll have about 100 guests here late July?

Happily I finished planting and sowing the veggie garden today. My tiny basil plants along with tarragon, parsley, rosemary, and the "perennials" sage, oregano, thyme, and chives in the raised bed.

The potatoes were sown 2 weeks ago and are showing some healthy leaves.

The willows in the field are doing great. Looks like almost 100% of this year's plantings are growing well and not - so far - any signs of deer stopping by for munchies.

I'll have to make some kind of "project plan": Lene's 2009 garden, step by step to stay focused (pro-active if possible) and save my sanity.

Propagating willow

After harvesting my willow beds during the dormant period, I used almost all of this years rods for propagation.These are samples of cuttings from a few varieties, ready to be planted.

I made a total of 7600 cuttings that were stored in closed plastic bags (to prevent them from drying out) in our dark garden shed until it was time for me to plant in the field.

Willow bark contains a natural growth hormone making it very easy to propagate willow from hardwood cuttings which produces plants of each variety with exactly the same genes as the mother plant. It is particularly beneficial when growing willow for weaving to know what the plant's characteristics are and willow weavers around the World all have their favourites.

I have chosen to mulch the willow field for two reasons. First, the plants can't compete with weeds during the first couple of growing seasons and our soil being heavy clay, it is not possible for me to weed mechanically around their new, shallow roots. The second reason being the new plants' need for moisture until roots have developed and the plants are well established. Since I started my first willow beds, I have used different kinds of mulch. First I used a geo-textile, only to find out that it wasn't dark/thick enough to prevent weeds from growing underneath it. The weeds were growing very well, competing with the willows and by mid-summer I had to cover the textile with grass cuttings. This is a Black Maul cutting with new shoots - the competing weeds underneath the mulching geo-textile.

So last year I made a larger investment in a woven poly-cover (the kind nurseries use for ground cover in display areas) as this was recommended to me by another willow grower. Just like the geo-textile water and air were able to pass through the cover to benefit the plants. It seemed to be the perfect solution until later in the season when the faster growing varieties started to get strangled by the weave. The plants were not harmed, but after harvesting this spring I started to make cuts around each plant (about 1500) as most had a thread or even a "piece of cloth" embedded in the growth. Cutting holes in the poly-cover will allow weeds to grow around the willows. I hope however, that the plants are big enough this year to quickly produce shade to out compete the weeds.

This year I used left over material from last year and then bought a heavy plastic from a greenhouse/nursery supplier. It is common to use black plastic for this purpose, but I was afraid that with the high temperatures during summer, the new roots of the plants would get fried. The plastic is black on one side and white on the other so we put it down, white side up which will reflect the sunlight on the plants.
INFORMATION ADDED LATER: Do not put the plastic down with the white side up. It will reflect the sun and make it too hot for the plants. Place it with the black side up!


The cuttings are planted before, or just as they break dormancy and these were planted on April 19, 2009. In this photo from May 1st new shoots are visible on almost 100 % of the cuttings. That's exciting - it doesn't mean that they have rooted already, but they are alive and have enough energy stored to start growing and rooting.
I'll have to admit that my main reason for all this willow stuff is a plan to be able to run a willow based business with the raw material coming from my own field.
And that is a LONG-TERM commitment............
I started in the spring of 2007 and it will be at least another couple of years before I will have enough material to work with. As time goes by, those of you who are interested will be able to get more information on the web-site that I will be setting up in a few months.

Challenge: Six plants I can't live without!

My favorite garden writer/blogger Country Gardener - has extended the challenge to write about the Six plants you can't live without.

You would think that would be rather easy - but it is too difficult to really narrow it down, so I have picked the following (after I stopped thinking too much about it because that kept me awake last night!):

My very favorite flowering plants provide hope and promise at the first signs of spring. All the spring flowers are beautiful, yet the Snowdrop (Galanthus) is my favorite.

The European Beech (Fagus sylvatica) is the national tree of my native Denmark and a late spring day in the forest is just like the picture - maybe with an added carpet of wild anemones. The light shining through the canopy is like a magic lamp as the leaves are stretched out in almost vertical blankets. During the summer the leaves turn a darker green and in autumn the golden brown is like nothing else. Did you know that the leaves are edible?
I believe that the Nordman fir (Abies nordmanniana) is the cadillac of Christmas trees. I love its shape - open with almost horizontal branches that on older, larger trees will curve gracefully. They have a couple of very large specimens at the Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens.

Another favourite bloomer is the Siberian Iris (Iris siberica). I have quite a few of the above blue variety and even though each flower is short lived, it blooms for awhile during late spring as the buds open along the stems. After flowering the grass-like foliage stays fresh and green all summer.
I never liked most rose bushes - I think the plant itself is ugly - but those flowers!! There are many beautiful (and also some climbers whose "frame" is good looking too), but I will choose the floribunda rose Iceberg (Rosa 'Iceberg') which was bred in Germany in 1958 and marketed under the name "Schneewittchen" which means Snow White. The buds have a light pink tint and the flower is almost completely white. It blooms all summer and the foliage is a healthy dark green. When I am ready to put in a rose garden, this one will be the first on my list.
Not much as soothing with the ability to make me feel good as my meadow (hey field) with different grasses, clover, trifoil, ox-eye daisies and more. That's not really "A plant" so the ornamental grasses will make up number six.

I can't pick just one, but here is a lovely summer pic of the early plumes of my Pampas grass (I think - but I don't know for sure) on a sunny summer day last year.

Thank you Yvonne, for challenging us - this was fun.

Garter snake release

Days are getting warmer and we are having some nights without frost. Time to release "Isicle" the snake in the bucket (the bucket covered with cloth, secured with heavy elastic string - I am not a snake person, really) in the garage.
Lately "he" has been spending more and more time outside his black hiding saucer and he seems more alert, so we decided to let him out yesterday.Looks like he is really eager to explore the world again.
We released him on top of the berm - approximately where we found him in the snow in January.
Ready to go - gone! I am sure though, that I'll meet him again.