If you, too, are converted to the idea of a meadow instead of a typical lawn, this is the way to go about it. First assess your site. If you have a twenty-five to fifty-foot stretch of fringe growth or wilderness area anywhere, you could let part of it go even wilder and enjoy there some of the meadow flowers. If you own a larger field, you are really set. You might even consider letting part of the actual lawn grow into meadow?it would mean lots less upkeep and a new kind of gardening for you.

Of principal importance: Don’t mow the area till late August. Observe the area from spring on and see what plants come up by themselves. This interval will also allow what comes up to go to seed. All through the first season note and mark areas where no flowers come and where you’d like some. Plan then to sow these areas the next spring.

In naturalizing meadow flowers your eventual goal is not a half dozen of anything but a hundred or, preferably, a thousand.? Only Nature can be this lavish in planting (to buy even fifty plants would be prohibitively expensive), so you start with a few plants which, once established, will reseed by themselves. You can transplant anything at any season if you follow these few suggestions.

If you go plant-hunting on public property, first check to be sure that what you are about to dig is not on the conservation list in your location. Fortunately most of the plants mentioned here are not. Usually anyone who has a field will gladly share his abundance with you. I asked the man in charge of our neighbouring reservoir if I could dig some white pentstemon from along the water’s edge. “Those weeds?” he called, then, “take all you want!”

Here’s a very important point: study the site where the plant you want is growing and then provide in your landscape an environment reasonably similar as to location, sun or shade, slope of land, moisture or dryness, rich or poor soil. However, some plants will thrive in various locations, and this invites you to experiment.

If you possibly can?by referring to advance weather reports (or simply by hunch)?plan to dig the plants just before a rainy spell. You’ll need a sharp spade, really sharp. If it is dull, have it sharpened, so you’ll be able to cut into dense field sod with ease. A sturdy fork may be advisable, too. When you lift the plants to take them home, take as much soil as you can with each one, disturbing the roots as little as possible.

If you are transplanting on a sunny day, wait until late afternoon or early evening to settle the newly dug clumps of plants in your meadow. If you can, soak the soil first, this softens the earth and facilitates digging. When you do dig planting holes ?and this is really a matter of turning back a large hunk of meadow sod?loosen the soil a spade depth beneath, and then set the plant. Often two or three plants can be spaced out in the same hole. Even the holes should be close, a mere few inches between them. This way the new plants can grow thickly and present a solid front to encroaching grasses.

And now for the most vital point. Before you fill in with dirt and fold the sod down again, pour water in the hole. It is not enough to plant them all and then water the top of the ground. The water must be in the soil, under and all around?the newly set roots. Then, water daily until new growth commences, or until the leaves feel stiff with renewed vitality. If, with luck, a three-day rain comes on the heels of your planting, you may not need to water for quite a while after the original soaking. Even if you plant in the rain you must soak the soil in the hole.

If a drought comes along during the next few weeks, water all the new plantings as needed.
It is most satisfying to collect plants in flower. Those we have successfully moved in midsummer and in midbloom

include bouncing bet, pentstemon, and bellflower. When you dig up mature plants, do not be concerned if the surrounding grass is tall and tangles with them. It is only with young seedlings that you need to bother about removing weeds and grasses from the soil clump.

Photo: Free Digital Photos

Tagged with: meadow • meadow lawns

Filed under: Gardener

Japanese gardens are a living work of art?in which the plants and trees are ever changing with the seasons. As they grow and mature they are constantly sculpted to maintain and enhance the overall experience. Hence a Japanese garden is never the same and never really finished.

While the underlying structure is determined by the architecture, that is the framework of enduring elements, such as buildings, veranda’s and terraces, paths, tsukiyama (artificial hills) and stone compositions, over time it is only as good as the careful maintenance that it receives by those skilled in the art of training and pruning.

As the Japanese garden evolved over 15 centuries it is difficult to label or “put in a box”. As there are many garden types in Japan, to typify it as (just) “a Japanese garden” is not enough. It is not workable nor does it do justice. The differences between e.g. a Tea-garden and Karesansui-garden are just too big to talk about in general terms when working to design one.

It is important to know what type of Japanese garden you are “planning” so you can name it and focus on the relevant characteristics. There are of course commonalities between all Japanese garden types but these are often not the subject of discussion. It is required to typify it one degree more precise to be able to successfully realize a Japanese garden, either of a single type or a composition of divers elements.

Since the Muromachi Period, the Japanese tea ceremony has flourished. Sen no Rikyu established the style of tea house, and they usually had a roji or ?dewy path? leading to them.

In the beginning of Edo Period, when shoguns and daimyos built their castles and mansions, they created many excursion-style gardens, in which people could walk around the garden. One of the famous garden makers in this period is Enshu Kobori. The excursion-style gardens have a pond or an artificial hill at the centre, which are often seen in daimyo?s mansions, are called Chisen excursion-style gardens.

Japanese gardens might fall into one of these styles: Strolling gardens, for viewing from a path and sitting gardens, for contemplating from one place, such as the tiny tsuboniwa found in machiya (traditional wooden townhouses).

Typical Japanese gardens contain several of these elements, real or symbolic:

• Water
• An island
• A bridge to the island
• A lantern, typically of stone
• A teahouse or pavilion

Photo: James Phillips, Japanese Garden – Portland, Oregon.

Tagged with: Jananese garden styles • Japanese garden elements • Japanese gardens

Filed under: Featured Articles • Gardener

Christmas Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides, 15-18 in.) with rich dark glossy leaves, is one of the sturdiest and most dependable. Last year’s fronds are still green as this year’s new ones emerge. You can easily recognize the Christmas fern for each pinna is shaped like a long Christmas stocking, foot and all (foot against the stem). Light brown scales also cling to the stalk. One plant for years remains one plant. It spreads by spores alone, not by underground runners or by division of clumps.

Evergreen Wood-Fern, leather wood-fern or marginal shield fern (Dryopteris marginalise 2-3 ft.) weathers almost any winter and is found among snowy boulders in thickly forested areas. It is common, easy to grow, and spreads very slowly, remaining a single plant for some time. You will recognize this fern by fruit dots located on the margins of the pinnae, the chestnut brown scales on the stems, and its habit in the growing season of erupting its roots several inches up out of the ground!

Common Polypody (Polypodium vulgare, 4-10 in.) sends a parade of erect fronds marching across the surface of rocky ledges where they are bright green whether surrounded by snow or by summer. They soften harsh ledges wherever they grow, also cling to steep banks, and make splendid terrarium material.

Ebony Spleenwort (Asplenium platyneuron, 4-12 in.) is almost evergreen. You can find its twisting turning stem and delicate green pinnae snuggled in any bank of snow along with ground pine and cedar. It takes many hard freezes before this fern finally gives up. It is ideal for terrariums.

Bublet Berries

Berry Bladder Fern (Cystopteris bulbifera, 2-3 ft.) not only likes rich moist woods but is often found clinging to limestone cliffs. A fine ground-cover for large areas, it spreads rapidly. You will know it by its tapering almost vinelike fronds, but more especially by the tiny bulblets at the base of the pinnae that drop to the ground and sprout (hence the “berry” in its common name). It also bears the more conven?tional fruit dots.

Bracken (Pteridium aquilinum, 3-4 ft.) which has a nice Scotch sound, does thrive in great sweeps in Scotland as well as in almost every country in the world. In England it was the basis of an old time medicine. And in rural areas many a mattress was stuffed with the fronds to prevent rickets! Bracken is an informal fern suitable for casual plantings. It is one of the most adaptable and will grow anywhere?wet, dry, sun, shade, high, low, hot, cold. Where nothing else will live the bracken fern will thrive, and spread furiously. The sporophyll edges curl under, and spore cases are hidden beneath these rolls.

Cinnamon Fern (Osmunda cinnamomea, 3-5 ft.) is not only one of the loveliest ferns but also one of the easiest to grow. You will know it by the abundance of golden brown wooliness on its unwinding fronds in the spring. Also characteristic are brown wool-like hairs on the stem, a tuft of down at the base of each pinna, and several long slender lovely sporophyll during the summer. The fruiting stalk is a rich cocoa brown, erect and clustered.

Fragile Fern or brittle bladder fern (Cystopteris fragilia, 5-18 in.) is not too fragile to grow the world over, even in the frigid areas of Greenland and Alaska. Thus it actually is a robust grower; the brittleness of its stems is responsible for its name. Clinging to shaded rock ledges, it also grows on the ground, and is among the first ferns to start up in the spring.

Tagged with: Add Interest • Exciting contrast in foliage • Ferns

Filed under: Gardener

There are many ways that you can add interest to a garden. Anything that becomes a focal point will add interest and that can range from garden sculptures to the types of plants you choose.

Adding block planting of a particular specimen can become a focal point in the garden.? Even adding areas of variegated foliage can create a focal point in the garden.

Seats are another item that can add interest to the garden and additionally they can offer a nice place to rest and relax while you admire your work.

Mirrors that are strategically placed can enhance the garden in many ways.?? They can bring reflected light to dark corners of the garden.? They can also give the impression that the garden is bigger or alternatively they can give the impression that the open space is bigger.? Placed at various angles, mirrors can add a lot of fun and interest to a garden and help to lead a visitor on to other areas.

Using hedges can also add interest to the garden while offering protection to the plants.? Hedges are also an excellent way to gain privacy without feeling closed in.

Water features are a favorite for many people and the sound of running water in the corner of a garden can add an atmosphere of calm and relaxation.? Water features can also be good for the birds in the garden particularly in the summer months when they might find it difficult to find water lying around to suit their needs.

As with sculptures, stones, rocks and pebbles can add interest and offer areas where you can walk even when the surrounding ground might be too wet.? Shells also make a good cover on the ground for paths that can remain dry in the wet season.

There are so many different things that you put in your garden to add interest.? Everything from old cartwheels to wind chimes, aviaries or anything else you can imagine.

Photo by courtesy of bigfoto.com

Tagged with: garden focal point • garden interest • water features

Filed under: Gardener