Hellebores Party Dress Picotee

You know by now that it's always good manners to show up to an event with a little trinket for the host in tow. But if you're feeling stumped about what to bring with you to the next summer get together that's on your calendar, we're here to provide you with a whole new list of ideas that are sure to be well received.

I MUST GO OUT TO THE STILL AND SEE IF THE LATEST VINTAGE is ready for the holiday weekend’s festivities. (And you thought I grew all those potatoes for mashing and baking, did you?) I love the play, dear Andre Jordan, on the somewhat obscure informal definition of “potted” (intoxicated by drink or drugs, esp. marijuana: a party where everybody was pretty much potted), which really matches the idea of a potting bench/table/shed. But it seems like a doodle (and a party) in need of a soundtrack…and so I made one. Feeling retro? Feeling brave? Caveat emptor: Heaven help us, since 80s music is not my strength or taste.

YES, YES, I KNOW: I have already told you I love hellebores. While waiting for mine to reach full bloom, I took an online tour this very cold morning of other hellebore plantings that are enviably farther along.

EVERY SUMMER, SOMEONE OF THE AMPHIBIAN PERSUASION sets up housekeeping in the seasonal water gardens by my kitchen door–a pair of big glazed clay troughs I fill with water and floating plants. This year’s renter: a female green frog who’s inclined to wearing something skimpy in green velveteen at poolside.

I think they are easy to grow, and don’t feel as if I did much but plant them and keep them watered till they settled in.It’s not that simple, I suppose, but almost, since hellebores seem to be about as tough as any perennial. If you avoid an area that’s sodden, or too baking-hot in full summer sunshine (especially in more Southern gardens than mine), you’re in. At least that’s my observation after maybe 15 years of growing

I ALWAYS START TO FEEL BETTER, like we’re turning a corner, when the hybrids of Helleborus x hybridus (the orientalis hybrids) jump all the way up out of the ground and start showing off. After a couple of weeks of timid semi-bloom, with the flowers hugging close to the ground on unextended stalks as if in fear of assault by lingering winter blasts, here they finally come.

For just $40, plus $10 for lunch, visitors can enjoy Nate and Berta Atwater’s modernist masterpiece, before heading to John Gwynne and Mikel Folcarelli’s rarity-stuffed hidden garden, Sakonnet. Amazing Opus Nursery, the place of master grower Ed Bowen, will be on hand all day for a plant sale that’s every bit as special as the palette of Dixter.For those within a day’s drive, this is a garden party not to be missed. Get glimpses of all the gardens (as well as of Dixter) and the event details in this pdf about the event. Best of all: Each dollar raised will be matched by the UK’s “lottery board” so that Great Dixter may carry on in its colorful, inspirational style.(Anthony Chammond photo of pots at Dixter from Flickr.)

Background: Barry Glick–a serious plantaholic who’s even a vegan and is sometimes also referred to in mock botanical Latin as the Glicksterus maximus–is a native of the Philadelphia area, and has been gardening since childhood.  In 1972, he purchased 60 acres of a 3,650-foot-high mountaintop in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, that became Sunshine Farm and Gardens (which you can stroll though and shop from at sunfarm.com).  Barry’s a garden writer and a longtime lecturer—but most of all I love how he was described in one magazine article I read recently:“The Flower Child Who Became the Flower King.”snippets from my q&a with barry glickIN THE TEXT BELOW, I harvested just the briefest details from conversations with Barry before, after and during the show taping, so be sure to listen in as well as read (the podcast player is just above), for extra unexpected goodies. Examples: the fact that a Number 8 “camel-hair” brush—which Barry uses for hand-pollination of hellebores—is actually made fro

Dr. Elizabeth Andress, is a Professor and Extension Food Safety Specialist at the University of Georgia, and oversees my go-to reference website about all matters of putting up food sanely and safely: It’s called The National Center for Home Food Preservation. We hope to inspire you to plant extra and make this the year you enjoy the fruits of your garden labors all through the offseason–whether canned or dried or frozen. Read along as you listen to the Feb. 27, 2107 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).getting ready to preserve the harvest

Read along as you listen to the June 9, 2014 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).Side note: The photo above came from another neighboring business, Crossroads Food Shop, where I order my work-fueling takeout breakfast on gardening days. When I opened Friday’s meal in birthday week (short stack, egg over easy, syrup), inside was a message from owner David Wurth—and a candle. I am so lucky to live here, with such dear, wacky friends nearby. Make my birthday cake pancakes anytime.the garden birthday music showEVERY YEAR at my birthday, the late peonies and roses are blooming, a

Hellebores herald the arrival of spring, often blooming as early as January with delicate cup-shaped flowers in a wide variety of colors.These evergreen perennials don’t usually

A thriving urban forest can plant the seed of wellness in the minds and hearts of people navigating the dense brush of mental illness.