The Mysterious Garden Muse

My daughter lives in Orlando and works for Disney. I try to get down there every year for the Epcot Flower and Garden Show which runs from early April to the beginning of June. I love Epcot anyway, and the flower show is just icing on the cake. I have so many pictures from this event, it might take more than one post to show even a small sampling.

The Cincinnati Flower Show is the only flower show in the United States that has the endorsement of England's Royal Horticultural Society. Under the leadership of Mary Margaret Rochford and the Cincinnati Horticultural Society, this show draws thousands of people from all over the U.S. -- even some from around the world. I have had the privilege of working with the show for about a dozen years. I am going to attach some pictures from this year's show. Enjoy!

Another of my favorite haunts in Cincinnati is Rowe Arboretum on Muchmore Road in Indian Hill. If you go there, it's a very windy, hilly area with lots of deer. I got to know Rowe Arboretum, in a way, because of the deer problem. Chris Daeger is in charge of the grounds and pretty much everything else at Rowe Arboretum. I met Chris originally at a meeting of the American Conifer Society when it had a rare meeting in Cincinnati. Since then, I run into Chris pretty regularly when we both work on the Ask the Experts panels at the Cincinnati Flower Show. When I first met Chris, though, he was giving a talk to the Conifer Society on his problems dealing with deer at Rowe Arboretum. He made his point quickly and effectively by plonking a huge, dead shrub on the podium -- a shrub that had been killed by deer. Since then, Chris has become the person I always check with first when I'm writing about deer, because he always knows the latest deterrents -- what works, and what doesn't. ...

One of my favorite places to visit every spring is Krohn Conservatory, up by Eden Park, the art museum and Playhouse in the Park. Actually, there is something to see at the conservatory no matter what time of year you visit. Spring is my favorite because the magnolias and crabapples around the museum are in bloom then, and there are all kinds f blooming bulbs. If you go later in the year, be sure to catch the hot air balloon show at the mirror lake at Eden Park. I'll attach a photo taken by Devon Upton -- the balloons were shot by Devon, I took the plant pix. Back to the Krohn: in addition to their seasonal features, they always have a tropical rain forest in one part of the conservatory, while in other areas you can view bonsai trees, orchids, cacti and succulents. The conservatory is free to residents -- in fact, I'm not positive, but I think it's free to all visitors now.

Hi! I'm back after a long gap, as you can see. I've been traveling a lot in the last few months, and I've still got more trips coming up. So far this year I've been to Robinson, IL, Chicago downtown/suburbs - more times than I can count, Orlando, Las Vegas, McAllen/San Antonio/Dallas, TX and next the Bahamas, then Chicago yet again. We may also squeeze in a leaf-peeping visit to New York/Mass/Vermont in the fall, but that's not definite yet. The big traveler in the family right now is my son, who is getting ready to join his girlfriend in Beijing, China for a week in August, and then they are going to tour Tibet. He keeps telling me about the roads they'll be taking up into the Himalayas, and bridges over 17,000 ft. gorges. Not for me, thanks very much. Anyway, back to the blog. I'm still at Barnes and Noble, moderating the garden book club. Starting in July, I will also be moderating the mystery book club. We are kicking off by featuring a book called The P...

My dog Maggie died this afternoon. She was my first and only dog -- I'd only had cats and rabbits in the past. Maggie was a mix of Lab, German shepherd and chow, pure black when we got her and looking like a lab puppy. Her full name was Maggie Shannon (we voted on her name when we got her) but we called her everything from Maggie May to Maggity to Maggally to Maggie Bean to Ziplock Maggie. My son had been pushing us to get a dog for a long time, but it was hard when I was working outside of the house. I remember when we took our cats to the vet once, Jonathan picked up a bunch of brochures. I woke up the next morning with a brochure about dogs laying open over my face, with a note from Jonathan saying he wanted a Bassett hound! When we went to a picnic with my husband's coworkers, Jonathan spent the whole time playing with a puppy someone brought with them. When we moved to Cincinnati, I started working from home so we talked about getting a dog. I don't remember what final...

If a landscape is very formal in design, does that mean it inevitably has a stiff, sophisticated ambience? Does a more natural design automatically create a more relaxed effect? The ambience or “mood” of a landscape or garden design can certainly be influenced by the types of plants selected and the way the plants are arranged, but the effect may vary with the seasons. Hardscapes and artistic motifs can be used to create a unifying theme between the architecture of the home and the design of the landscape. If the house is of a distinctive architectural period, or if the hardscapes and garden structures feature prominently in the landscape design, those features alone could conceivably create a mood. The type of ambience would largely depend on the style of the house -- a plantation-style house surrounded by live oaks and magnolias would only need a tray of mint juleps to recall the old South. A house incorporating native stone, and repeating native stonework in the outdoor hardscape...

There is something about daffodils that seems to inspire poets, most famously Herrick and Wordsworth. Tulips have brought out completely different reactions over the years, most famously “Tulipomania”. Daffodils and tulips are far and away the most popular flowering spring bulbs, so why does one seem to push buttons with collectors while the other brings out the muse? Maybe it is just because the sunny yellow flowers of daffodils (Narcissus spp.) are such a change from the drab colors of winter. Also, when the daffodils bloom it means that warmer days are just over the horizon. Whatever the reason, it’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t like daffodils. What’s not to like? Unlike fussy tulips, daffodils will live and multiply for many years after planting, if the conditions are suitable. And while critters might dig up daffodil bulbs, they don’t eat them -- the bulbs are toxic to most animals. Even the nicest daffodils are relatively inexpensive and easy to find. Nearly all daffodil sp...

Aromatherapy has been a hot topic for some time now, but it shows no signs of fading away. Far from it – scented candles have pushed other merchandise off the shelves in malls across the country, while our television viewing is interspersed with ads for scented air fresheners in liquid, solid or oil forms, plug-ins, machines that shoot puffs of fragrance into the air, even CDs that “play” different fragrances throughout the day. Since many of these synthetic fragrances are meant to convey images of the great outdoors, fresh cut grass as well as floral fragrances galore, many people assume that just by planting flowers, a fragrant garden is sure to follow. Those who have more experience know that while many flowers are virtually without scent, the needles of some conifers, the bark of some trees and the foliage of numerous plants can often compete with the fragrance of the most valuable perfumed flowers. Think perfume and many people instantly focus on roses, lilacs or mock orange bloss...

At the moment I am moderating the Home and Hobbies book club at BN.com (and I visit a lot of the other clubs on a regular basis). The Home and Hobbies club is about to be revamped so topics like knitting will have a different moderator, and there will be a new book club, that I will moderate, discussing four or five gardening books each month. I've given the powers-that-be some suggestions for books to discuss including several soon to be published titles and a couple of classics. We may also include a "board" to discuss gardening mysteries, since there are a lot of those available now. The book clubs are free and now that people are becoming more familiar with the new format (as opposed to the old online university classes), the message boards are getting busy again. Stop by BN.com to say hi, and to talk about new and interesting books on garden topics. By the way, the photo has nothing to do with the topic of this post. I just wanted to see some summery flowers -- I...

Short of dropping Chicago smack into the middle of the Mohave Desert, it may be hard to conceive of cacti and succulents growing in this area. If Midwest gardeners have grown these plants at all, they were most likely grown as houseplants or greenhouse specialties. Certainly, in order to survive a Chicago winter, the great majority of cacti and succulents would need to be overwintered indoors. But with exotic gardens and distinctive container plants attracting more and more interest, these fascinating plants are escaping the confines of the house, if only for the summer. Since cacti and succulents tend to be desert plants, the soil and weather conditions in Chicago are a stretch. Luckily, one of the best things about container gardens is their flexibility. If a plant needs well-drained, sandy soil conditions, those conditions can be made to order in a container. If a plant needs plenty of sun but shelter from the wind, containers can be sited in exactly the right spot. And if the su...

Pansies are sometimes considered to be an old-time flower favorite because they have been around for years and they never really go away. Kids like them because of their friendly flower “faces”, while garden lovers favor them because they will bloom even when winter’s chill is in the air. Whether they are planted in a solid mass of a single color, or a vibrant mix of many-colored flowers, pansies are a welcome sight in early spring, when bulbs are about the only other flowers in bloom. Landscape contractors like pansies because they can plant them in beds, borders and even baskets and they will look good for weeks at a time, during the transition from spring to summer. Pansies and violets are often confused, but generally speaking, pansies are annuals and violets are perennials. Both belong to the genus Viola -- pansies are Viola x wittrockiana, which may have evolved from the European Viola tricolor. Pansies can act more like tender perennials at times, though, due to the introducti...

“Persian Shield: A Rising Star” By Becke Davis Five to ten years ago, if you had mentioned “Persian Shield” to a home gardener, a landscape contractor or a professional nurseryman, odds are their response would have been a blank look. At that point, Persian Shield was mainly used as a houseplant or as a specimen in tropical gardens -- a relic from Victorian times. Today Persian Shield is a hot topic at flower shows and in garden chat rooms, and both the media and the garden industry are taking notice. A survey taken on one garden website resulted in no negative ratings for this plant. As an added benefit, deer and rabbits are said to ignore it. Persian Shield (Strobilanthes dyerianus, sometimes listed as Perilepta dyeriana) is now recognized as a stunning addition to containers and window boxes, as well as a colorful accent in the mixed border or flower bed. Although Persian Shield does sometimes produce small, delicate violet-blue flowers in late spring to early summer, its distinct...

I had a fun weekend in Robinson, Illinois at the Zwermann Arts Theater, Lincoln Trails College. I was one of several speakers at the University of Illinois Extension program, "A Winter Day in the Garden," sponsored by Crawford County Master Gardeners and Lincoln Trails College (which now offers horticulture classes). The keynote speaker was Erica Glasener, a horticulturist, author and host of HGTV's "A Gardener's Diary." Erica's presentation was "On the Road with a Gardener's Diary: People, Places and Plants." She had some amazing slides of gardeners and the people who created them from one end of the country to the other. Erica lives in Atlanta with her husband and young daughter -- she has a rich and varied background in the gardening world. The brother and sister team of Judy Burris and Wayne Richards did a fascinating and hilarious presentation called "Butterflies: Gardening with a Purpose" that covered their first baby steps ...

“Plants for Containers - Anything Goes!” By Becke Davis Containers are one of the hottest trends in gardening, a trend that continues to heat up as the marketplace tries to keep pace with consumer demands. It’s been a long time since containers were simple plastic or terra cotta pots filled with petunias, spikes and vines. As customers started experimenting with containers, the selling season began to inch back from frost-free dates to early spring, with pansies, violas and potted bulbs filling the cold season pots. The season stretched out at the autumn end, too, with ornamental grasses, topiaries of boxwood, ivy and conifers, asters, mums, cabbages and kales, with berry-covered twigs and evergreen boughs filling in after the hard frosts hit. The availability of unusual annuals has changed dramatically since containers hit the big time. Annuals are no longer just bedding plants -- they are equally container plants, if not moreso. New cultivars of old favorites abound, as well as pre...