I'm trotting off to The Chalet, the giant plant nursery and retail plant nursery and garden center in Wilmette. My garden club was met by Tony Fulmer, the head horticulturist who's been on the job there nearly 30 years.
Here are some of the tidbits I caught during his lecture: Snow mold ( which appears on some lawn grasses in spring ) is ugly but harmlessjust do a light raking; voles, those little mouse-like critters, can occasionally girdle ( cut the bark ) of some small trees and shrubs but are basically not too bothersome; and for salt spray from roads ( which can spread up to 300 feet ), one can apply gypsum, which chemically ties up the salt's sodium.
Other tips: For lawns, the best time to revamp is late summer/early fall; seed lawns in early spring; don't bury lawn seedlet it fall into minor cracks in the soil; fertilize lawns around Labor Day and Halloween; commercial fertilizer's three numbers = nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium; roses DO need fertilizer; Sluggo is a non-toxic slug bait; sulphur is a natural black-spot ( a rose fungus ) cure; if south-facing beds of groundcovers brown out, cover them with evergreen boughs; put sulphur on soil for blue ( even permanently blue ) hydrangeas, but don't apply it over mulch which ties it up; trees need a bark-based or wood-based mulch; and don't use mushroom compostit's too high in salts and can damage plants.
In making my spring plant order I'm mainly using the K. Van Bourgondien & Sons, Inc. catalog. This year, this catalog seems to be somewhat cheaper. I've used my old tried-and-true method of ordering: on the order form I write down everything I could possibly want. Then I go back and cross out half of the total. I settled on 3 Raspberry Sundae hostas ( red/purple stems ); 5 Brasilia lilies ( white/pink ); 5 Vice Versa lilies ( pink/yellow ); 5 Golden Stone lilies ( yellow/red ); 3 Martagon lilies ( purple ); 25 Blue Magic Dutch Iris; 5 Arum Italicums ( orange berries ); 3 Astranias Star of Magic ( purple/red ). I'm also getting a sun sensitive gazing ball from another catalog.
Here's this month's recipe borrowed from The Old Farmer's Almanac: Kale Salad
Ingredients = one big bunch of green-leaf kale ( to make about eight cups of thin sliced leaves ), 1 tablespoon minced shallots, half cup chopped walnuts, half cup crumbled feta cheese, half cup chopped dried cranberries, two tablespoons rice-wine vinegar, one tablespoon of lemon or lime juice, six tablespoons of olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. To do: wash de-stemmed kale, slice in half inch strips. Mix dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients and pour over rest. Serve.
Summer vacation is coming. Here are 10 of the best botanic gardens in this country. Go see 'em: 1 ) Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania 2 ) Bartram's Garden, Philadelphia 3 ) Denver Botanic Gardens, Denver 4 ) Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Coral Gables, Florida 5 ) Huntington Botanical Garden, San Marino, California 6 ) International Peace Garden, Dunseith, North Dakota 7 ) Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, Arizona 8 ) Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis 9 ) National Tropical Botanical Garden, 4 locations in Hawaii and one in Coconut Grove, Florida and 10 ) U.S. Botanical Garden in Washington, D.C.
The Fairy Gardeners have decided to collect and promulgate various gardening blogs. Here are three: hortiholic.com ( this is Chalet's Tony Fulmer's blog ); The Jackass Gardener ( a Chicagoan's blog ) and trust4781.blogspot.com ( WarningI may be writing for this Indiana-based gardening, re-cycling semi-Amish blog. )
Well, hallelujah: My 13 goldfish wintered just fine outside. Snow drops and purple and yellow crocus are blooming. Tulips and daffs are above ground. Found a large bag of still green pine branches so I cut them up for mulch. For the obsessive among you, cat, dog and people hair is compostable or even useful in mulch. ( It may deter some critters. ) For that matter, fingernails are compostableI clip mine over houseplants. I don't have to go farthere are seven in my small bathroom.
See you at the next garden club meeting at the Center on Halsted!