Dayton "Dirt" - February 14, 2014

Last week’s seminar on Tropical Plants was quite interesting in that it included various methods to use tropicals in large combination pots including other tropicals, annuals and even perennials. The perennials that work excellent in a combo pot with or without tropical’s are Sempervivum (hens & chicks), Corydalis ‘Canary Feathers’ and Geranium ‘Rozanne’. While flowers of Sempervivums are not particularly attractive, the multi-colored foliage is beautiful when several different varieties are mixed in the same pot. The Corydalis and Geranium ‘Rozanne’ are familiar to most gardeners because of their long blooming time and lower maintenance requirements such as constant deadheading. Cynthia Drukenbrod of the Cleveland Botanical Gardens (last week’s speaker) reinforced the theme of combination pots as one of a “Thriller (anchor plant) filler and spiller”. Tomorrow’s theme is that of a sensory garden in order to invoke all the senses. Homeowners and gardeners most concentrate on the visual aspect of the outdoor “living room” and tend to neglect the other senses of sound, touch and taste. Taste is an interesting aspect as a number of edibles are quite capable of carrying their own weight to add overall aesthetics to the garden. Ornamental swiss chard, blueberry shrubs, asparagus and even rhubarb are significantly ornamental when planned in the landscape. Michelle Riley of All About You Landscape Design will host tomorrow’s seminar and couple other considerations of a sensory garden with other factors such as that of maintenance. Other goings-on at the nursery include the receipt of yet more cuttings of annual flowers from Central America, more transplanting of existing recently rooted cuttings and stocking the store with hard goods for a hopeful March 1st opening date. After the zero temperatures earlier in the week maybe that is the end of the zero or sub-zero temps. We can only hope! ~Tom