Better Than a Boardroom

Yesterday I attended an informal meeting at the Hermitage Museum and Gardens here in Norfolk.  It was a beautiful day and at the last minute I opted to bike there instead of driving.  I was meeting with a group of people from the Elizabeth River Project/River Star Homes, and we are trying to come up with ways to encourage people in the local watershed to maintain their lawns in a more environmentally, river-friendly manner.  We are discussing such controversial issues as using less fertilizer, reducing turf area, planting white clover, creating rain gardens and shoreline buffers, switching from fescue to warm season grasses and other subversive topics.  Our meeting was held at a picnic table in the garden by the river, and when it was over we got a tour of the Hermitage's new rain garden.  After we said our goodbyes, I was able to wander through the gardens and enjoy the day.  This is not this blog's first trip here, and if you want to take a trip back in time go here or here.

Blackberry Lily (Belamcanda chinensis)


Even if Crape Myrtles (Lagerstroemia) never flowered, I think I would grow them just to have trunks like this in the garden, talk about bones and structure!

I believe this is Boston Ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata) which is not native to Boston, but China, Japan and Korea.

Beyond the garden walls are the wilder parts of the Hermitage.  There is a very successful living shoreline restoration project here.  Faced with erosion from the Lafayette River, they decided several years ago to forgo bulkheading and riprap and instead opted for creating a living shoreline that not only prevents erosion, but creates (or more accurately re-creates) natural habitat.


One of my favorite unsung native shrubs is the Saltbush (Baccharis halimifolia).  Regular readers may be tired of hearing about this plant, but it is sublime right now, ringing local shorelines with white clouds.

Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera) is not originally native to Virginia, but came from the southern plains.  It makes a good projectile to lob at a sibling if you are so inclined.  Thank you Mssrs. Lewis, Clark and Jefferson.


The wooded areas of the hermitage are scene to an epic battle of the invasives, including Privet (Ligustrum sinensis), English Ivy (Hedera helix) and the currently colorful, hometown favorite, Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia).

The Purple Curtain

Right now many parts of this area are cloaked in a purple curtain of Wisteria. It has naturalized to the point that many people think of it as native. What most people are seeing is Wisteria sinensis (Chinese Wisteria) that has escaped cultivation. There are several truly native Wisterias, W. frutescens and W. macrostachya. Although vigourous, these native varieties are much better behaved than W. sinensis and the other common Asian species W. floribunda (Japanese Wisteria). Despite their behaviour issues, we sell the Asian species at work because these are what people think of as traditional, but we sell the W. frutescens as well. Years ago several Japanese Wisterias were planted at the garden center onto steel poles and trained as trees, and right now they are stunning, their sweet scent nearly cloying. If you are in the market, you should know that it can sometimes take the Chinese up to 7 years to bloom, but the more expensive Japanese blooms at a younger age. The American species will bloom a little later, a little less showy, but will tend to re-bloom lightly and occasionally through the summer.

Wisteria floribunda 'Texas Purple'

Wisteria floribunda 'Issai'

Even plants ignore speed limits.

Happy Fish On A Good Friday

I am now in my spring work load mode and only have Fridays off. Fortunately this past Friday was an absolutely glorious day weather-wise, with temperatures in the 70's, clear blue skies and no wind. I was able to spend nearly the whole day in the garden, mostly working, but also with a lot of time just enjoying the day, listening to the accompanying cacophony of bird song and taking a few photos. My number one goal was to get the fish pond back in working order. I had pulled the pump out to help empty the basement during November's nor'easter, and the pond has sat idle since. I am amazed the fish didn't evolve so they could get up and leave to find a more attentive gardener. After Friday the water is now flowing through the waterfall/filter; all the muck, debris and rotting leaves have been dredged out; and the fish have gotten their spring kosher salt tonic (in honor of Passover). They are now happy fish, and I am a happy gardener.

The most dominant color in my garden right now is yellow. Most of mine comes from the invasive Ranunculus ficaria.

I also grow the more well behaved Rununculus x 'Bazen Hussy' with her near black foliage.

Another source of yellow in my garden is the very self seeding unknown Corydalis (recently renamed Pseudofumaria). My closest guess is that this plant is Corydalis lutea.

Most of my Camellias are past peak, with the exception of Camellia japonica 'Cherries Jubilee', which is my last to bloom.

Poncirus trifoliata (Hardy Orange)

Leucojum

I was worried that the Loropetalums would be damaged by this year's winter, but judging from this one, my fears were unfounded.
Loropetalum chinense var. rubrum 'Zhuzhou Fuchsia'

Euphorbia wulfenii

Scilla siberica (Siberian squill)

Veronica umbrosa 'Georgia Blue'

Finally another near weed, Viola sororia priceana (Confederate violet)

I hope you all can enjoy the renewal that is Easter, Passover and April, and may all your fish be happy.

Clearing The Air

On Tuesday of this week, a recently enacted smoking ban began in restaurants and bars across the entire state of Virginia. As both a rabid opponent of smoking and as an ex-smoker, I could not be happier. Here in Norfolk, most of the restaurants have been no-smoking for quite some time, but there are still a few that allow it, at least until this week. This move is quite a big step for Virginia - a place whose existence owes a great debt to tobacco. For years any anti-smoking legislation was held hostage by a small but powerful group of lawmakers who represented areas of the state where the tobacco crop was an important part of the economy, or where major cigarette manufacturers had their factories. Thankfully times are now different.

My hometown of Richmond was once one of the major tobacco cities of the world, and is still home to Philip Morris and its Marlboro brand. In parts of the city, the aroma coming from warehouses full of tobacco waiting to be made into cigarettes is surprisingly pleasant. There was once a Tobacco Parade that ran down Broad St. every fall that even had its own Tobacco Queen. The only mom on my street who worked full time, worked at American Tobacco's Lucky Strike factory. For the era the pay was considered excellent, and she had great benefits including full medical coverage. This coverage was needed as the company facilitated smoking among its employees by giving them a free carton of cigarettes for each vacation and long weekend.

My own resume includes working in the tobacco business. My first real job was with a company that manufactured tobacco processing machinery. I started out as a janitor after school and then later worked as a welder's helper. It was good experience, but I determined it was not the kind of work I wanted to do the rest of my life. The company made all sorts of thrashers, cutters and choppers. One of the largest things they made was a house-trailer sized vacuum chamber used to fumigate tobacco. Many of these machines were sold locally, but quite a few were shipped to Africa for its nascent cigarette industry. The factory had maybe 60 employees, and I think less than 5 of them were non-smokers.

It has been nearly 25 years since I quit smoking and it was one of the hardest things I have ever done. For the first few years of my not smoking I had recurring dreams in which I lit up. I would wake up angry at myself until I realized it had only been a dream. These days the very thought of smoking makes my throat tighten and after all the available information, I am amazed anyone still smokes. Then I remember how hard it was and how many attempts it took for me to finally quit.

Tonight we plan on celebrating my wife's birthday at one of our favorite restaurants, and will not have to ask for a table well away from the smoking section.


(These images are works of an employee of the United States Farm Security Administration or Office of War Information domestic photographic units, created during the course of the person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the images are in the public domain)

Be Careful Where You Park The Car

The former owner of the company I work for forbade us to ever sell two plants - Chameleon Plant (Houttuynia cordata) and Porcelain Vine (Ampelopsis brevipedunculata - now that's a Latin name). He was well founded in his prejudice, as he had seen more than one landscape overrun with these plants. I myself have the Houttuynia, but have not found it invasive and enjoy the colorful foliage and citrusy scent in my garden.

Porcelain Vine has been placed onto many invasive plant lists, primarily in the New England and the Mid-Atlantic areas. The plant is native to the more temperate parts of eastern Asia and was first brought to this country in the 1870's. It was used for quick cover on arbors and trellises and as a groundcover. Quick it is - where the plant is happy, it will grow up to 15' in one season. Porcelain vine grows almost anywhere in zones 4-8, as long as the site is not too shady or stays too wet. The foliage resembles that of grapes, and in fact it is in the same family - Vitaceae. The green flowers are not that showy and bloom in mid to late summer. The fruits are very attractive and do little to shake the family resemblance. The berries ripen in early fall and go through a color change as they mature from pale yellow to lilac and finally to a fine Delft porcelain blue. It is these beautiful berries that are primarily responsible for Porcelain Vine's original popularity, and their high fertility rate is responsible for the plant's invasivness. However, the plant will also spread vegetatively, and has a strong tap root that allows the plant to quickly regrow if cut to the ground.

If you would like to learn more about this plant, it is listed on the National Park Service's Plant Conservation Alliance website of Least Wanted plants. While you are at the site you may want to see if anything planted near your driveway is on the list.