Down To Earth Garden Club

What can a gardener do with a small area that he wishes to keep colorful and attractive during the entire growing season? The obvious solution is to plant annuals. .”Some areas” are the operative words as annuals tend to be shallow rooted and require more care in inhospitable areas.  Also, replanting every year is time consuming and expensive.

   By Sandie McClure

 Linda Hepfner, Lorraine Martelli, and I joined the Mercer County Master Gardeners and Friends on a bus trip July 31.Our first stop of the day was at the private garden of Carol Knock, a retired teacher in Warren, Ohio.  She plants and maintains an acre of beautiful landscape in her backyard.  We enjoyed seeing a variety of willows, rose of Sharon, and dogwoods (one had green stems which turn golden in the fall).Her rock garden was highlighted with delightful and whimsical plant containers—boots, a blue-enameled roaster, tea kettles, large cups, and other innovative containers.The colorful landscape had many unique birdhouses and feeders.

Fans of Japanese painted fern, Athyrium niponicum var pictum, will be pleased to know that a silver cousin is now available. ‘Ghost’ is a cross between Lady Fern (A. felix-femina) and Japanese painted fern. Its developer, Nancy Swell, is an amateur horticulturist, and calls herself a “fern fernatic”. She grows and propagates hardy ferns in her garden in Richmond, Virginia. ‘Ghost’ is a sterile cross and can only be propagated by division which, as we all know, is illegal with patented plants.