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.

---

[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

Simple Resolutions and Smart Solutions for 2012

Happy New Year! I hope this season of reflection and assessment will help you garden with soul and create an environment that will help you become healthier, wealthier, and wise. My four part series of resolutions this year are simple. With the economic times, I’m looking to working smarter in my yard, invigorate myself and my landscape, and recycle what works to save dollars and time.  Here's the first of the New Year series - the three areas of my landscape I need to work on:

Resolution: Use my compost pile more often.

I have a great compost bin that holds a bounty of hardworking earthworms and humus. But because my yard is already at a level elevation, I don’t usually take the time to incorporate the wonderfully organic matter into my soil as much as I should. It’s ridiculous to have this valuable resource and not use it. This year I’m going to use compost more to replace my tired soil with the nutrient rich humus. I’m going to put those good earthworms to work in my yard. 

Resolution: Spiffy up a boring corner with an easy care, low water use container garden.

It’s been six years since I designed my front landscape and it is in need of rearranging and invoking new life. I’m going to dig up my northwest corner “foundation” shrubs and move them around the yard like sofa furniture till I’m happy. Then I’m going to add a new colorful container with colorful xeric perennials, annuals, and a vine or groundcover that spills over, to the corner like a new end table with a beautiful lamp. Oh, that gives me an idea… solar lighting for an uplifting night time display.

Resolution: Create a seating area in my garden.

While I have “floors” of walking paths in my front and backyards, and “walls” of foundation plants, I haven’t decided on seating. Do I want wrought iron, cement or wood furniture? I have wrought iron rocking chairs that are ideal for the garden but do I want to take them off the patio? I also have wood that Tony could make into a swing. I sometimes see aged cement benches in yard sales and on Craig’s list. Don’t pass them up. Deciding on what type of chair I want will help me select the flooring underneath, whether it’s recycled bricks, pavers, or flagstone.

 If I do those two garden projects and incorporate my compost, I will be very satisfied at the end of the year to achieve those goals. Stay tuned for the after pictures!

What are your gardening New Year Resolutions?

Tomorrow, will be the second part for getting off to a good start in the New Year.  I'll provide some simple solutions to help you save money, make better use of what you have, and take time to enjoy living in your garden.

In Your Backyard - "2010 New Year Resolutions"

Happy New Year! My most important New Year's resolution is to keep this blog up to date! That being said there's a few things that I want to become more serious about and a few promises to myself to nurture my gardening soul. These resolutions will not only help you save money, they will help make our world a better place without compromising our freedom.

1. Get a Rain Gauge - Know how much rain your backyard receives. Adjust irrigation system accordingly. Using a rain gauge to water your landscape only when necessary will help save you money but also save you horticulture problems in the coming year. Most of the disease and pest problems your landscape has to endure is not their fault but the fault of the caretaker's compassionate but cruel care. Most people overwater their turf creating a short-root system. A short root system will be more susceptible to insects, more susceptible to diseases, and be less drought-tolerant. St. Augustine turf only needs 1" - 1.5" inches of water a week.






2. I'm going to create a living fence of orchids. Hanging them in clay pots from my shaded fence. Orchids are easy to grow outside under shade in Florida. Right now I have dendrobiums hanging from beautiful dried wood and they bloom for me three times a year with only Mother Nature's help. Here's another good orchid site.





3. I'm going to visit a Lake County Open Preserve that I have never been to or hiked. LCWA provides free canoe and kayak rentals. Great opportunity to see pristine and restored wetlands, scrub habitats, and native plants. I've been to Bourlay Historic Nature Park, Crooked River Preserve, Flat Island Preserve, Hidden Waters Preserve, Sabal Bluff Preserve, and Sawgrass Island Preserve and Wolfbranch Creek Preserve. This leaves Lake Norris Conservation Area to explore. Can't wait for spring to get here!





4. I am resolved to educate more people to remove exotic invasives from their yards! Invaders like Brazilian Pepper and Chinaberry Trees. The Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council has a great brochure to download and learn about exotics.


5. Reduce my water use by 10,000 gallons this year. Replace my toilet. Fix a leak Replace clotheswasher. Showerhead. Based on one 10-minute shower a day, an energy-efficient, low-flow showerhead can save up to 10,000 gallons of water a year, representing a $145 energy savings You can also check out The Best Low-Flow Showerhead review.

Other topics on the radio show today:

• Cold hardy palms. Palms that won't freeze in Florida or even South Carolina!



February 2009 - Frozen Queen palms at a nursery in Volusia County (and this winter will be colder.)


• Weather Underground - Check current weather and predictions, weekly, monthly, and annual rainfall.


• Word of the Day: Humectants - A humectant is a substance used primarily in foods and cosmetic products to help retain moisture.

LISTEN TO TODAY's SHOW.