Pretty, Pretty Planters.

Now that the last frost is over everywhere, it is time to get planting (if you haven't already started. I happen to be a season-rusher and have been planting flowers since March).

The beautiful zinc-lined garden containers (in photo on right) are from LexingtonGardensNYC.com. They are available in 3 sizes: 8x8 for $45; 9-in. square for $75; and 11-in. square for $130. I wish they came a little larger.

I recently ordered 5 of these from Smith and Hawken (4 medium and 1 large):The medium is 15-in. square and the large is 18-in. They're some kind of fiber material and they look great! I planted shiny Green Gem boxwood in two of them and I think Kimberly ferns (similar to that pictured above) will go in the two destined for the beach (or perhaps pink mandevilla, pictured below, which grows like mad at the beach and attracts hummingbirds!).


I still have a large one up north that I can't decide what to plant because it's in the shade (hydrangea? fern?).

Happy planting (or whatever) this weekend.

Gardenpalooza.

NYTimes photo

I am going to try to tear myself away from painting today to go on the Wilmington Garden Tour.

Click here to go to the NYTimes article to find a tour near you. Let me know if you go and how it was.

People Who Live in Little, Tiny Glass Houses...

Tovah Martin terrarium

I was at Terrain the other day and there were about 15 women making terrariums. It was the prelude to a booksigning by Tovah Martin, the author of "The New Terrarium."

When I was a kid, on my walk to elementary school I walked by a small white house with a garage that was converted into a greenhouse of sorts. Mr. and Mrs. Schmidlap lived there. They grew cacti and hens and chicks and my friend Angie and I would stop there after school and would often come home with the fruits of their labors.

Smith and Hawken

They created little terrariums which fascinated me even more than the cactus flowers. I am enamored of them and they were the only things at this year's Philadelphia Flower Show that mildly interested me. Sadly, I do not have a green thumb. But the beauty of these also lies in their easy care ways.

Kindra Clineff

All they require is a little dirt, some moss, pebbles perhaps, miniature plants... et voila: your own tiny secret garden. I wonder if I can find some rotting miniature columns and mini broken statues? Even just placing a cloche over an orchid or an African violet turns it into something special.

I made these while I was fooling around at Terrain. The oneon the right doesn't even have anything living inside it. I didn't buy the one on the left because after I added everything up it came to about $100. Apparently, Terrain doesn't understand there's a recession going on.

In Defense of Ivy.

From Ivies by Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall

flickr

The Paris Apartment

Professors at University of Oxford have undertaken a study, Ivy on Walls, to discover whether ivy acts bioprotectively or biodeterioratively with stone walls. Read about the study here.

I look forward to the results of this study because I am of the belief that ivy doesn't cause deterioration, it merely takes advantage of a deteriorating wall or sick tree. Its rootlets are not actual roots in the sense that they do not penetrate a surface in search of moisture or nutrients.

According to the above referenced book, Ivies, published in 1992, ivy is and always has been unfairly maligned. An experiment was conducted by Winchester College in the U.K., beginning in 1890, where half of the trees in an oak woodland were stripped of ivy every ten years and half were left covered with ivy growth. When the trees were felled in 1942, there was no difference in height, girth or average cubic content.

Ivy not only thrives where nothing else will, it provides shelter for birds and butterflies and food with some of the last nectar and berries going into winter. Ivy was the inspiration for poets and artists; it has a history of use as a medicinal herb and is the symbol of everlasting life.

In Delaware, it has been defined as an invasive, nuisance species so now people are ripping it out and putting in mulch which is so much better. Garden stores are advised against selling it and instead are requested to sell indigenous plants. I cannot argue that it is not indigenous to the U.S. but I'd much rather look at ivy in a dark corner of a shaded yard than a pile of mud or mulch.

While I was looking through the book for information, I found a four-leaf clover tucked in its pages. :-) I'll keep you posted on the study.

Winter Wonderland.

If you are not quite ready for the rapidly approaching holidays, this is sure to get you in the mood. J. Franklin Styer's nursery, winner of the 2005 Philadelphia Flower Show and longtime fixture in on Rte. 1 in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, this year massively renovated its indoor shop, now called Terrain, into a garden of delights! I left with an amaryllis bulb and a wire vase to fill with spaghum moss and soil as a midwinter treat for my aunt. There are bulbs galore, wreaths and kissing balls, treats for the birds, great pots and handmade pottery from South Africa, goods from Sweden, candles, soaps, stone acorns and stone coasters made to resemble woven wicker; a beautifully displayed selection of items for both indoors and out:









There is a cafe to stop for lunch, brunch or early dinner several days of the week. Events occur throughout the year such as winter birding and forcing indoor bulbs. Today I plan to attend the free outdoor winter container design class.

When it's really cold and miserable outside, I love to visit a great garden shop and dream of spring but for now I'll be content to dream of sugarplums...