birthday tradition: an old essay from the old gal

When it comes to overall enhancement of your garden on a more strategic level, your best solution will arguably be a landscaping one. Sure, throwing in some pretty plants in the back yard is certainly necessary, but you can hardly beat the blend of emotions, sizes and shapes that a fully executed landscaping project gives to the home-owners.

The ancient Chinese have cultivated Tree Peonies for over 1500 years. Prized specimens are and were grown for medicinal purposes as they contain glucocides and alkolides. The  imperial palace gardens had many specimens that became quite valuable.

I have always loved the look of benches made from head and foot boards, especially the ones made from metal. I found this one in the most unlikely places. It was leaning up against the side of a vault, ( a holding building for bodies to be buried in cemeteries. The caskets are kept here during winter months when the ground is frozen and graves can't be dug until spring.) It was buried half in the ground and deep in the trees. I was very excited with my find, my mother was looking at me with those eyes that quietly said my daughter has finally lost it but didn't actually say it… I went back to my mom's house and called the church secretary and asked if I could remove the bed. Ironically she didn't even know one was there. She said if I could dig it out I could have it. After some choice words under my breath, tree branches in some not so nice places, and falling on my behind while trying to get it out of the ground my determination paid off.

READER TERRYK HAS ME STUMPED THIS WEEK with the Urgent Garden Question forum question she posed: whether a doublefile viburnum or a Kousa dogwood rated being granted the limited garden space available.

I LOVE THE FORUM POSTS THAT START with “somebody ate my…” (Actually, I hate these stories, but feel better knowing that I am not alone in the Case of the Disappearing Crop.) This week in the Urgent Garden Question Forum, there was one I really loved: from member NYGardeningGal who titled her question,“Somebody Ate My Plant From Underneath the Ground?” Oh, dear.

THEY ARE GARDEN STALWARTS, FEARING NOTHING–not even low single digits and multiple feet of snow. In this old-fashioned Northeastern winter of 2010-11, I’m counting my blessings, and tops on that list: the conifers who live here with me (including the weeping Alaska cedar, Chamaecyparis nootkatensis ‘Pendula,’ above).

IT’S A QUESTION I DON’T HAVE AN ANSWER FOR, but maybe you can help: What’s the best way to keep track of gardening records—a format or tactic that can grow with the garden? Is it index cards; spreadsheets on the computer; a series of actual journals, such as the popular moleskine notebooks? Forum member KK asked the other day, and maybe you have the secret to record-keeping success.

THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE CELEBRATED BIRTHDAYS with me here on A Way to Garden any of the last four June 10ths know the routine: I show you my favorite childhood photo (above), and then try to make you read an essay that I wrote to mark my 35th. Or you can skip it and just chip in for a new umbrella as a gift.

IRECEIVED MY FIRST REVIEW FOR MY UPCOMING MEMOIR, and it came with its own gold star. The details of what “Kirkus Reviews” said about “And I Shall Have Some Peace There.”TagsMargaret Roach memoir

WHAT FLOWERS DO YOU PLANT in the vegetable garden to encourage good pollination of your food crops? That was the great question raised the other day in the Urgent Garden Question Forum by member NanZ.

It’s just a start; some things aren’t even planted yet, and nothing has grown in, of course. But I wanted you to see what I’m trying (and tell me what caught your fancy for containers this year). Click on the first thumbnail to start the slideshow, then toggle from slide to slide using the arrows beside each caption. Enjoy.Other Timely Mid-June TopicsPots don’t need to contain soil; they can be mini water gardens. Here’s how. As we watch the spring garden crumple, remember: Nothing lasts (and that’s OK). Which oregano is the one that tastes good, please? So confusing! I first formally “met” doodler Andre Jordan last June. Here’s the doodle that drew me to him. Categoriesannuals & perennials container gardeningTagsMargaret Roach

FORUM MEMBER ANN HAD a good question this week: Ever eaten pea tendrils or flowers or any of the bits other than the peas themselves? Well, yes I have, I replied, offering the best variety to grow for this gourmet salad ingredient or garnish, and I wonder what you think? Do tell. Or if you have nothing to report on that score, what about this: Have you lost seedlings you started to the (dreaded fungal disease called) damping off? Let us know (or just hear our horror stories).