Muck About

Variegated Buildup on Aisle Ten

I was cruising through a catalog this morning, enjoying all the flowers images inside its  covers.  Stunning photos of remarkable blossoms help nurseries sell their wares; however, what I want to see is foliage.  I love foliage.  It’s the reason I am keen on banana plants, cannas, and variegated foliage.  Almost any leaf that is bumpy or lumpy, brightly hued or unusual receives my attention.  Some leaves look like an impressionist painter created the artistic patterns and textures; other leaves such as the porcupine tomato (Solanum pyracanthum), look like Picasso had a bit of fun with it.

Foliage is the mainstay in the garden and without it, my little oasis would seem like a desert.  Don’t get me wrong; I love flowers just as much as the next woman does.  While blossoms take center stage, the leaves set the stage. Too many flowers in the garden is too syrupy for these eyes, I need a place to rest them in between the eye candy.  That’s where beautiful foliage creates balance and harmony, and a place to relax the eyes.

Too Much of a Good Thing

I’ve toured a few gardens where variegation has taken over. Ouch, my eyes!  Too many plants with variegated foliage, leaves me feeling slightly nauseous, like just before a huge migraine headache strikes.  I remember one home where acuba plants grew everywhere. They were foundation plants for the home as well as used as hedging for one side of their yard.  Whoever planted them; either received an excellent deal on them from a nursery, or really liked these plants to the point of obsession. Their bright gold and green foliage screamed at me whenever I walked down their long driveway.  Even now, I dislike this shrub even though I’ve seen single specimens used as understory plants in a shaded garden with toned down splashes of yellow on its leaves.  It immediately reminds me of the gaudiness of my first encounter with the plant.

Good Garden Design Includes Foliage

Foliage is an integral part of garden design. Gardeners, who design garden masterpieces, use foliage extensively in their artistry.  With all the diversity of size, color, and form in leaves, a creative gardener can give rise to combinations of plants that make any onlooker appreciate the garden canvas in front of them.

One of my favorite books, Consider the Leaf by Judy Glattstein, goes into much detail about using foliage in garden design.  Her fabulous foliage combinations are enough to make any flower gardener turn strictly to leaf gardening.

Click on images to view larger.
Top photo: Ilex 'Golden Milkboy' photographed in Wendy Tweten's garden.
Middle: Solanum pyracanthum photographed in Debbie Teashon's garden.
Bottom: Hosta 'War Paint' photographed in David Fishman's garden.

A Little Spring Cheer

 This morning the sun is shining, but only for a short-lived moment.  I can see clouds progressing in from the southwest that will swirl around my little town and eventually envelope us in a gray murk.  For that reason, I am looking for sunshine everywhere I can uncover it and at this moment it is in this appealing little daffodil—Narcissus ‘Elizabeth Ann’. Not yet in bloom in the garden; however, the buds are plump with a promise of bursting into color at any instant.  I peered into the plant gallery at Rainyside.com and found it blossoming profusely on the web.

The Many Uses of Sword Ferns

It is not surprising that native sword ferns (Polystichum munitum), so prevalent in the maritime Northwest, played an important plant in the lives of the indigenous people. It grows in the shade of our conifer forests where few plants dare to venture.

Food and Medicine

As food, the rhizome was baked in pits or boiled. Medicinally, the young, curled leaves were chewed for sore throats and tonsillitis. Chewed leaves also were used for sores, boils, and to help the progress of childbirth. Sores were washed with an infusion from the boiled rhizomes. As a dandruff cure, the hair was washed in the boiled roots, and the spores were scraped off the leaves as a treatment for burns.

Pots and Pans and Furniture

The leaves had many uses from lining baking pits to making mattresses. Berries were dried on leaves spread out on drying racks because the berries would not stick to them.

Childrens' Game

Children played a game with the fronds, seeing who could pull off the largest number of fern leaves while holding their breath saying “pila” with each leaf pulled.

Random Acts of Kindness

There were times in my life when people did exceptionally kind things for me.  A few were from people I didn’t know, such as when a person handed me a dollar bill when I was short on cash at a checkout line.  Some kindness came from people I knew; for instance, when a friend brought me a box of groceries when I was in college after a string of bad luck left me short on cash.  These actions always brought back my faith in our species, that we aren’t just war-mongering, greedy or selfish people, but caring and kind human beings.  This was years before the movie “Pay It Forward” debuted.  I particularly remember a discussion with a bunch of gardeners after seeing that movie.  One person talked about buying a bunch of flower bulbs and planting them in her neighbor’s garden.  She never took credit as the perpetrator of the unexpected gift, but she did remark how fun it was to give anonymously.

Today while running errands in town, I thought it would be fun to give a small act of kindness to someone I didn’t know.  My spontaneous thought came just as I pulled up to my favorite drive-through latte stand and ordered my usual drink.  When it was time to pay, I decided to buy a latte for the next person who came through the stand.  Since no one was behind me at the time, I have no idea who received it; which made the action even better that the recipient wouldn’t know who gave the gift.  I hope it was a pleasant surprise and their day made better because of it. 

Possibly because it’s days away from the beginning of May, the thought came up.  May Day is the holiday with a tradition of using flowers to commit acts of kindness.  As a child, I enjoyed picking flowers or making a posy during class at school.  We would leave them on a neighbor’s porch, and ring the doorbell.  Quickly we ran away and hid before they could reach their door, since it was traditional not to let your neighbors know it was you that bestowed the gift.

In Hawaii, May Day is called lei day; one of my fondest memories of that date comes from the year a friend, and I picked grocery bags full of plumeria blossoms that grew in our gardens.  We strung the flowers onto string, fashioning them into leis.  When we finished we put the many leis around our necks and ran around the neighborhood hanging one of them on each of the doorknobs.  And, just as I did as a child, we rang their doorbells and ran quickly away, giggling like young schoolgirls. 

All of us can practice random acts of kindness from time to time.  I would like to do it more often.  I don’t think it needs to be a huge act; but sometimes something simple like being aware that a person is struggling and helping them is all that’s necessary.  We can open doors for a person laden down with packages, or give someone a smile without expecting one in return.  Its fun to do and I believe we all benefit, as not only receivers but also givers.  It’s heartfelt, especially during a time when we’re bombarded with a large amount of negative news of the horrific things we do to one another.

Wash Panty Hose, Save Apples

Here’s an inexpensive way to recycle discarded hose and protect your fruit from apple maggots. This green tip was picked up today from the Seattle Tree Fruit Society booth at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show. After the unpollinated fruit drops in June, slip the panty hose over the remaining fruit. The apple maggot fly won’t lay eggs on the panty hose, saving your crop from maggot infestation. By reusing panty hose, you can quit using pesticides on your apples. You can’t get any greener than that!

If you don’t wear panty hose, visit your favorite shoe store and ask for their stocking discards they give customers to slip over bare feet when trying on shoes. Or you can order 300 Maggot Barriers for $20.00 plus shipping by e-mailing the Seattle Tree Fruit Society.

The Dangers of Plant Collecting

Almost everyone in the Northwest recognizes our common tree, the Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). Many are also aware of the very large Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis), which predominantly grows along our coastal waters (click on photo for larger image).  David Douglas (1799-1834) discovered both during the 19th century, along with many other Northwest conifers. The Scotsman collected plants for the Horticultural Society of London. Unfortunately, he died at the young age of 35 while collecting plants in Hawaii.  He fell into a pit where a wild bull had previously fallen and was gored to death.