Gardening Aspirations in 2017

 

 

So pleased to have survived 2016, in proper order, family traumas, national political upheaval, and various household appliance and maintenance issues. As the New Year has arrived, I had planned on instituting and avowing to customary resolutions, but after listening to Frank McKinney, best-selling international author, modern realtor extraordinaire, multi-millionaire, and world wide- philanthropist’s philosophy,  I want to outline my gardening aspirations in 2017 for you.  

1.       Make better use of quality #gardening products.  There certainly are quality products in gardening.  Whether it’s DeWit gardening tools, legacy tools which make gardening easier and allow the gardener to achieve their goals in the landscape, to using quality fertilizers like Sunniland TurfGro, RiteGreen, and Bloom Special, to planting quality annuals, perennials, ornamentals, shrubs, and trees, from Proven Winners, Monrovia, Plant Delights Nursery, Annie’s Annuals, and David Austin Roses, and many more![1] You will have healthier landscape and gardens, and a healthier you.

 

2.      Use national organizations, like the National Garden Bureau, to keep up with #gardening trends.  I subscribe to multiple gardening organizations that keep me excited and let me know when the newest plant innovations and best-testing varieties are available.

 

3.      Read and use more catalogs in my design work.  Catalogs can showcase design choices, companion plants, become creative muses, and educate on how to grow plants. 
 

 

4.      Visit more botanical gardens.  In nearly every major city in the world, there are gardens that showcase seasonal and regional flora, imaginative displays and container planters, and implement walkways and hardscape in ways that I may not have thought about. Imitation may be the highest form of flattery, but it’s also a design tool where you can add your own personality, to become a garden that is one of a kind garden suited to your tastes.  

 

5.      Use more art in the garden. One of my greatest memories as a child in the 60’s is of visiting Weeki Wachee, an entertainment venue that featured live mermaids. They had gardens where child-sized vignettes of fairy tales and storybook characters.  I can still see them vividly in my mind.  Fifty years later, as I wander through gardens, I love to see the gardener’s own unique knick-knacks, statues, and artwork on display.  It encourages anticipation, providing memories of your visit for a lifetime.  Adding floating metal flowers, candles, bird baths, bird houses, furniture, or rain chains, in any artistic media will add serendipity to your gardens and create ambiance for your guests to enjoy. 

2017 will be a year of recuperation, soul-searching, and respite from last year’s chaos.  Choose to aspire to a higher form of gardening that reenergizes and rejuvenates by adding beauty, whimsy, a more harmonious design, with quality flowers, shrubs, and trees.  Aspirations in the garden is good for your soul.

All photographs are owned by Teresa Watkins copyright 2017.

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[1]  All-America Selections

    American Meadows

Bailey Nurseries

Brazelberries

Brent and Becky’s Bulbs

Encore Azaleas

High Country Gardens

Irish Eyes Garden Seeds

Messinas

Southern Living Plants Collection

Tessalaar

Great Seed Catalogs

Here are some of my favorite free seed catalogs:

• Abundant Life Seeds: Certified organic and biodynamic seeds. OMRI listed fertilizers and pest controls.  Out of 2011 Catalogs but get on their list for the 2012 catalogs.
• Bakers Creek Heirloom Seeds: Open-pollinated pure seeds1400 heirloom garden variety from the largest seed grower in the United States.  Family owned, the seeds are descended from original 19th century seeds. Jere Gettle and his wife Emilee created an authentic pioneer village called Bakersville.Their most recent project is the restoration and preservation of the Wethersfield, Connecticut landmark, Comstock, Ferre & Company, the oldest continuously operating seed company in New England. The Gettle family is featured prominently in the colorful and interesting catalog.
• Botanical Interests: Family owned. Organic seeds. Guaranteed untreated seed germination.
• Bountiful Gardens:  Certified organic. Rare and unusual varieties. Medicinal herbs. Super-nutrition varieties.
• Brent and Becky's Bulbs: Perennial bulbs and seeds.
• Burpee:  One of the oldest seed catalogs in the United States. Vegetable, perennial, and organic seeds.  Great website with gardening videos and information on growing vegetables.  

Enjoy seed catalog artwork? The Smithsonian has an online database of original seed catalog artwork to enjoy. Take a look at them here.

Growing your own vegetables is easy and satisfying.  It can also save money by reducing grocery bills and not having to work out at the gym.

"In Your Backyard" Growing Fruits in Florida

The Sunshine State grows 75% of the oranges in the United States and produces 40% of the world's orange juce supply. With our abundant sunshine and ample rain, Florida is a cornucopia of agricultural crops. Yet, gardeners, especially our Northern transplants yearn to grow other fruits and nut trees and we are told that you can't grow the fruit trees that you grew up in the North. There's a reason why that's partly true: provenance.

Provenance is important to remember when you purchase plants out-of-state on your travels, on the Internet or from a catalog. Provenance means the original growing region of where the plant, shrub, or tree, were produced. It's important because it means that plant will do well in that original location but if you move it to a different geographical location, it won't have the same growing conditions and may not thrive or survive. For example, a native Cornus florida dogwood in Connecticut or Kentucky would not have the same growing conditions as a native Cornus florida in Florida. Roses bought from a West Coast catalog will not survive in Florida's sandy soils. Provenance could be the reason that a plant, shrub, or tree that you purchase from a catalog out of your state doesn't survive. Your yard doesn't have the same growing conditions as the catalog's nursery.

We are fortunate that here in Central Florida we have a sub-tropical climate, all the benefits of sunny tropical winters with occasional small doses of cooler temperatures that make us appreciate what the North experiences. That was extremely evident this last month with a huge three week dose of regional pockets of snow and sleet, and state wide freezes. Your tropical landscape may not feel that it was fortunate, but for those of us who love to grow apples, peaches, nectarines, and pears, it's great! Because of these low temperatures, we can grow special low-chill hour varieties of those Northern fruits we love.

A great nursery to visit and purchase fruit trees for Lake County is Chestnut Hill Tree Farm. Bob and Debbie Gaw of Chestnut Hill Tree Farm in Alachua, Florida have a great catalog with many varieties low-chill fruit and wonderful nut trees that you can grow in Central Florida.

Listen to the gardening questions and answers on today's radio show this afternoon! If you would like to listen in on the Internet, go to WLBE's website and click on "Listen Live" or the shows are archived for one month. Don't miss a broadcast!

What's going on in your backyard? Call the show!