Aug 30, 2019
Now is the perfect time to play doctor in the
garden.
Look for the sick or injured. Look for plants that haven't thrived,
plants with disease, and plants riddled with pests.
You don't want to leave any diseased plants in your garden over the
winter. If you are able to do only one fall garden chore, taking
out the sick and infirm is what you want to do.
All these babies get dug up and escorted out of my garden.
Generally I say that nothing green or brown leaves the property,
but these are items I don't dare chop and drop, or compost - these
sick plants go out.
Brevities
#OTD It’s the birthday of Lancelot Brown who was born
on this day in 1716.
Lancelot ended up at Stowe working for William Kent - the eminent
painter and Landscape Architect. Stowe was commissioned in the
1730’s. The garden at Stowe was a landscape garden. Lots of
straight lines and formality. The garden looked like a painting
with an 11 acre lake. The main area was the Elysian Fields; 40
acres featuring buildings and monuments that flank two narrow lakes
called the River Styx. The monuments honored the virtuous men of
Britian and Greece. The time spent with Kent at Stowe not only
transformed the land, it transformed Lancelot from a gardener into
a Landscape Architect. It was his big break.
After Stowe, Brown traveled all over England as a freelancer.
Brown’ skill and his nickname came from seeing the “capabilities”
of the landscape.
He became so popular that everyone with means wanted a Capability
Brown landscape - they craved his garden designs and garden
temples. What everyone wanted was beauty and Capability delivered
just that: beautiful gardens. Today, at least 20 of his gardens
remain and are in the care of England’s National Trust.
#OTD Today is the birthday of Agoston Haraszthy
who was born on this day in 1812.
Haraszthy's family wasHungarian nobility. In 1840, he immigrated to
the United States.Back home, Haraszthy had gotten hold of a
book that reported the Wisconsin territory offered the finest land
in America. So, he went there first. Since Haraszthy’s dream was to
make European wine in America, he quickly discovered Wisconsin was
not the place for that.
In short order, Haraszthy made his way to San Francisco with the
gold rush. But San Francisco was not a fit with the grapes. It was
foggy and cold. But then, Haraszthy found the Sonoma Valley in
1857. Sonoma Valley was called the "Valley of the Moon" by the
writer Jack London and it turned out that Sonoma was the perfect
place to grow purple gold. After a dozen years of searching
Harazethy had found a place suitable for growing European grapes -
which were more delicate and more finicky than North American wild
grapes. Giddy and hopeful, Haraszethy built a white villa for his
wife and six children on a property he named Buena Vista or Good
View. Then he went to Europe and collected 100,000 cuttings of 300
varieties of grapes; There were the rare white grapes of the Pinot
Chardonnay, the green Hungarian grape, the Cabernet Sauvignon
grapes, and the white Riesling grapes of the Rhine and Moselle
river region, just to name a few.
There is an old saying that the God of wine, Bacchus, loved the
hills. Well, Haraszethy loved them, too. He was the first vine
dresser to grow his grapes on the mountain sides in California. In
fact, Haraszthy brought many european growing methods to his estate
- which included growing the grape plants closer together. This was
something other growers found unwise. But Haraszthy knew that
growing grapes in close proximity stressed the vines, which in
turn, made better tasting grapes. Haraszthy also performed a green
harvest - something no one had ever done before. Today the
technique is known as dropping fruit which means doing an initial
harvest of some of the grapes; the fewer grapes on the vine - the
better the flavor of the remaining grapes. That year Haraszthy also
brought in a team of Chinese laborers and they worked to dig out
the first wine caves in the state. The most impressive
accomplishment included a 100-feet-deep stone wine cellar built on
the side of a hill.
In 1863, Haraszthy incorporated his vineyard as the Buena
Vista Vinicultural Society Thanks to investors, Haraszthy
purchased an additional 4,000 acres making Buena Vista the
second largest vineyard in the state.
In 1866, a vine disease swept through the area. Haraszthy and
his unique growing methods were blamed for the small tasteless
grapes and the brown, dying vines. The disease was actually
Phylloxera - an aphid that attacks vine roots and causes grapes to
harden on the vine. It wiped out Buena Vista. Haraszthy filed for
bankruptcy.
With his vineyard and his reputation in tatters, Haraszthy went
south to Nicaragua. He planted a large sugar plantation and he
planned to make and sell rum. But, on July 6, 1869, as he was
reaching for a vine and crossing a river on his property, he
apparently fell and was eaten by an alligator.
Today, Haraszthy is considered the father of California Vitoculture
or Wine-Making. In 1946, a plaque to Haraszthy was dedicated in the
plaza of Sonoma. In March 2007, Haraszthy was inducted into the
Vintners Hall of Fame by the Culinary Institute of
America.
Unearthed Words
Quinnipeague in August was a lush green place where inchworms
dangled from trees whose leaves were so full that the eaten parts
were barely missed. Mornings meant 'thick o' fog' that caught on
rooftops and dripped, blurring weathered gray shingles while barely
muting the deep pink of rosa rugosa or the hydrangea's blue. Wood
smoke filled the air on rainy days, pine sap on sunny ones, and
wafting through it all was the briny smell of the sea.”
― Barbara Delinsky, Sweet Salt Air
Today's book
recommendation: Deer-Resistant Design by Karen
Chapman
This fantastic book came out this summer - It's a fantastic
resource. If you are a deer-plagued gardener, you're going to want
to get this book.
Instead of relying on fencing or chemicals, Karen is proposing
another way: making intentional selections for deer resistant
plants. She showcases real home gardens across North America from
New Jersey to Texas. Each homeowner shares their top ten
deer-resistant plants. It's a book of best practices - proven
selection for a lush, deer-defying garden. what a brilliant
idea!
Today's Garden Chore
Consider installing more pathways in your
garden.
It's helpful to have a main walkway through the garden. Along the
path you can add focal points like statuary or containers. You can
add interest and intrigue with tall plants like cup plant or
lovage. The paths provide structure and function in the garden. I
remember when I installed a path along the garden in front of my
front porch; Best thing I ever did.
Something Sweet
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
Today in 1962, The Honolulu Star-Bulletin shared a story
about the first tulips.
Most of us have heard this fascinating part of botanical history,
but back in 1962, this story would have been a revelation to most
people. Here's what it said:
"The first time tulips were mentioned in Europe was in 1554, after
a botanist found a few specimens near Constantinople. Six years
later, another botanist brought some of the bulbs to Holland. From
about 1600 to 1650, Europe underwent a 'tulip-mania," with bulbs
being sold for as much as $2,200 each."
Thanks for listening to the daily gardener,
and remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."