What is the secret to a beautiful city traffic island?  After 4 years, mine is still awful.  In 2007, I volunteered to manage an island in my town that is right in the heart of a major traffic exchange.   In the center of an asphalt jungle.   I thought it would be a great experience, that I would learn a lot and that eventually I could refer to it as an example to promote my business.  I was sadly mistaken.

The first year I cleaned out the island.  The red mulch and the weeds.  Weeds like this vine that continue to plague my planting from year to year.  And the yuccas had to go.  I was not a big fan and they were definitely not a signature plant of mine.

I put in all kinds of meadow plants and bulbs.  Leftovers from jobs.  Grasses.  Daylilies.  Peony.  Yarrow. Drought tolerant plants.  Workhorse plants that would fill in.  I was creating a low maintenance, beautiful garden right in the heart of all of this traffic.  People waved to me as I was planting.  They smiled.  I was hopeful.  And confident so I had the city order my sign.

The first year, Spring 2008,  the garden was getting established.  Plants were small, but they were alive and the garden even seemed color coordinated. I weeded and people thanked me for this service as they drove by.

Later that summer, it was still looking good.

Until the town decided that the grasses were impeding sight lines and cut them.  There goes the beautiful panicum virgatum blowing in the wind.

In 2009 the yuccas returned. Where the hell did they come from??????

The rest of the island looked presentable but I had lost a lot of plants and put new ones in – starting at square one again. I weeded but not that much and was confident that I was on my way to a low maintenance island.

In 2010 the yuccas were really back.  And we had a severe drought.  The entire month of August.  So bad that even the yarrow died.  Back to square one.

Late last fall, I replanted.  Forget drought tolerant plants.  I put in aggressive natives.  Mountain mint and Agastache ‘Blue Fortune’. I hope they take over like they did in my garden.  Next step – Gooseneck Loosestrife!  Anemone canadensis. Or bee boxes and fun art and forget plants altogether.

I had every intention of planting daffodils so the island would look great this spring but the ground was frozen by the time I had any energy. I hope bulbs can last a season in a basement.

I have not been over to visit the island yet.  I hope everything survived and that the island will begin to live up to the billboard “Meadow Design”.  One can only hope.

photo credit: Ryan Somma

One of the most beautiful trees we have growing in New England, the Shagback Hickory,  is undoubtedly a tree that adds both texture and personality to any landscape.  They are some of the tallest and stateliest trees of the eastern forests and they also are some of the longest lived, according to Bill Cullina. Hickories are tap rooted, like tulip trees and oaks.  They can take a while to settle in and get going and therefore are very slow growing.  Hickories are every important for wildlife, especially with the demise of the chestnut.  They are more reliable nut producers than an oak and their leaves feed a wide variety of insects.

Shagbark hickory is seldom browsed by deer unless preferred foods are limited or unavailable.  The nuts are readily eaten by a wide variety of birds and mammals including black bear, red fox, gray fox, white-footed mouse, eastern chipmunk, and rabbits.  Many birds, including the mallard, wood duck, northern bobwhite, and wild turkey, feed on shagbark hickory nuts.

You can read even more about this tree at the native plant girl blog with information about bat habitat and First Nations arboriculture which is fascinating.

photo credit: scazon

I always wish I could better ID some of the backyard birds I see when I travel and visit gardens in other cities.  I’ve pretty much mastered the ones in my neighborhood but I often have a hard time knowing who’s who elsewhere .  Well I just discovered that National Geographic has a great site dedicated to backyard birding including a great application that helps you ID birds.

photo credit: Nemoralis

The Staghorn Sumacs or Rhus typhinas are looking beautiful this fall. Consider planting them in tough spots where you need something aggressive and tough. Here is a good  article about them.

Part of gardening is supporting local biodiversity and the number of butterflies that show up in your garden in one of your scorecards! Not to mention how happy the tend to make most people.  Painted Ladies are one of the most common butterflies worldwide.  You can recognize them by their dots and slashes on the front wings and when their wings are folded, you can see four eye dots underneath.

The adult Painted Lady nectars on many plants, especially the composite flowers of the Asteraceae plant family. Favored nectar sources include thistle, aster, cosmos, blazing star, ironweed, and joe-pye weed. Painted Lady caterpillars feed on a variety of host plants including Achillea millefolium or Yarrow, thistle, burdock and even dandelions.  They like meadows, so plant some of these plants where you get full sun. 

photo credit: jcantroot

photo credit: mueritz

This is a Google seach of images of the Painted Lady Butterfly so you can get even more information about them.

photo credit: Dluogs

Being an animal lover, I think deer are adorable. But when they decide that your garden is their next 5-course meal, they become much less cute.  Here are some ecological practices you can use to help keep deer out of your garden.

#1 Choose Deer Resistant Plants

The reality is that plants can only be deer resistant, not deer proof.  If deer are hungry, and after a long difficult winter, possibly very hungry,  there is little knowing what they may eat.  Regardless, you should still try to plant as many deer resistant plants as possible.   In general, deer tend to avoid plants that have a bitter taste, ones that are hairy or prickly, ones with milky sap and  those with a strong fragrance.

Luckily, many of our native plants have some of these characteristics.  Here is just  a short list of a  few you may want to consider:

Ferns – Plant these as a barrier or even in the same hole as a beloved deer-perennials and when the deer get a mouthful of ferns, they stop eating.

Grasses – Panicum virgatum or Switchgrass and Northern Seat Oats or Chasmanthium latifolium are just two examples.  I planted Switchgrass around the entire border of a public garden I recently planted.

False Indigo or Baptisia australis

Low-gro Sumac or Rhus aromatica Gro-Low – Mildly fragrant, you can use this to plant a barrier hedge.

Mountain Mint is also fragrant and it will repel deer.

For a more detailed list of deer resistant plants, visit Bowman’s Wildflower site or use the  handy tool from Rutgers that provides a list of landscape plants rated according to their resistance to deer damage.  More information is also available at  New England Wildflower Society.

# 2 Get a Dog

My clients that have dogs keep the deer at bay, especially if the dogs spend a lot of time in the yard which happens when there is an electronic dog fence.

#3 Spray Something Natural

There are numerous natural products on the market that you can spray around the perimeter of your garden to keep the deer away.  To make sure that the product is safe, read the ingredients and make sure you recognize them.  Many of these have to be reapplied if it rains.  Many of my colleagues swear by Liquid Fence.  Unfortunately, it smells like eggs. There are others on the market that don’t smell as bad.

#4 Fencing and Caging

Deer browse throughout the year, but  in general it is in the spring when the deer browse a lot because new growth is luscious and full of nutrition.  Fencing is the most effective way to keep deer out of your yard and garden and it is available in all types of materials including plastic and metal.  It must be high enough, 7′ or 8′ tall, and you have to make sure that the deer cannot crawl under it – which they will if it is not secured.  Electronic fencing is  the preferred method but most expensive. For vegetable gardens, consider something that  just goes around the garden like the fencing sold here.

Trees suffer damage when foliage is eaten to the browse line which is approximately 5 1/2′ from the ground and when bucks polish their antlers on tree trunks which they usually do on young trees, those under 3″ in diameter.  Protect these with a wire cage until the tree is taller and more mature.

# 5 Hang Soap

Apparently Irish Spring soap bars are the best and they repel deer.  Probably one of the cheapest ways to go and a local hosta nursery uses them.

#6 Motion Activated Sprinkler

If all else fails, then get a motion activated sprinkler like the Scarecrow.

Still blooming in my garden now with its silvery flowers, Mountain Mint or Pycnanthemum muticum is a wonderful native that‘s a magnet for pollinators.  More specifically, its nectar attracts predatory wasps who need large quantities of sugar for their endless hunting of pests in the garden.  With its 4-sided stem, you can tell it is from the mint family and its foliage has a fragrance that smells as such. These plants are easily grown and if they put this on the High Line in NYC, I figure it can do well anywhere.  This plant requires full sun, does well in dry soils and is drought tolerant.  It spread easily so plant it in a tough spot where its aggressiveness is an asset. I planted in my “hell strip”  in the front of my house and I just planted five of them on my urban island which is one of the toughest spots ever.  I sincerely hope it will take over.

Whenever I do a garden consult, I always end by showing homeowners the tools that I use to get the job done.  I’ve tried a lot over the years and the ones I list below are some of the tools I cannot live without each season.  I am still trying to find the perfect lopper (see #10) but the other tools on this list are absolute favorites.  Treat your self this season to any of these and you won’t be sorry.

#1 Japanese Hori Hori Weeder Knife

What can I say about my most important tool that I use at every garden site.  I carry two with me at all times in case I lose one which happened one season.  This tool is great because it is multi-purpose.  It has a point like most trowels but it also has a serrated side.  I use this to plant small perennials, dig out weeds, cut the bottom off of a root-bound pot and everything else in between.  It’s a great tool when you have to do a lot of different tasks in one day in the garden.

Available at Amazon.
Joshua Roth 1516 Japanese Hori Hori Garden Landscaping Digging Tool With Stainless Steel Blade & Sheath

# 2 Cape Cod Weeder

This is my top pick for a weeder.  It can dig out those weeds with deep taproots but in a fleeting instant, held sideways, it can dislodge tons of tiny weed seedlings in seconds. I used to use my Hori Knife for weeding but this works faster and better.

Available at Amazon.
ACW A.M. Leonard Cape Cod Weeder

#3 Atlas Gloves

I used to wear gloves that were much thicker and sometimes I have to when it is really cold out or I have to work with stone or hardscape materials.  But 95% of the time I have Atlas Gloves on that are skin tight and let me feel everything as if I had none on at all.  This makes it much easier to do the garden tasks at hand with precision.  When I wore thicker gloves, I used to have to take them off for fine work (ie loosening fine roots).  These gloves are thin, so I go through a few pair a season since they will rip after weeks of abuse.  You can find them on Amazon.
Atlas Nitrile Tough Gloves – Assorted Colors

#4 Felco Pruners

Every gardener must have pruners but the ones I stick with are the Felco Classic Pruners #2.  I always have a replacement blade handy and I always have my sharpener with me (see #5).  They last a lifetime as long as you clean them and wipe them free of water (aka don’t leave them in the rain!).

Available at Amazon.
Felco Classic Manual Hand Pruner F-2

#5  Diafold® Diamond Flat Folding File Coarse

I use my flat file sharpener daily for my pruners, loppers and snippets.  Keeping your tools sharp makes everything so much easier.  There is an art to sharpening and you have to do it at a specific angle but once you get it right, you’ll never garden with dull tools again.  And they are made in the US.

Available at Amazon.
DMT FFC Diafold Diamond Flat Folding File Coarse

#6 Lawn Grips Shoes

These are the first garden shoes I purchased and now I buy a pair every two years.  Lawn Grips are made by a small family run business and they are all so nice so I think this is half the reason I love them. I get the Classic version but they have come out with all kinds of products since the original style.  I like the Classic shoes because they have a velcro strip and are easy to take on and off.  They are also very sturdy so they are perfect for strong ankle support and they hold up well in wet weather.  Not to mention they are very comfortable.

#7 Florian Fine Nose Hand Pruner

These are what I call my snippets and they are simply the best for any fine work that is being done on perennials.  Florian products are all made in the US and they are a third generation family business.

Available at Amazon.
Florian Fine Nose Hand Pruner

# 8 Long Hand Shovel

I always use a long handed shovel to plant and it gives you so much power, even someone relatively short and not so strong like myself.  This year, I am going to consider buying one from the King of Spades.  I have broken 2-3 shovels each season and these are guaranteed for 5 years!  This is another American company on the East Coast worth supporting.

# 9 Pruning Saw

My Silky saw is a must if you are cutting large tree branches – 2″ or more.  It saws quickly both because of the  large and double teeth and it is curved which seems to also help.  I use a smaller Felco F600 saw for smaller branches and it is nice because it folds shut.

Available at Amazon.
Silky Curved Landscaping Hand Saw SUGOI 360 Extra Large Teeth 390-36
Felco F-600 Classic Folding Saw with Pull-Stroke Action

# 10 Loppers

Last year I used the Bahco 24″ Lightweight loppers and I am still deciding how much I like them.  They are light, which was the good part, but I found that the hook was not always as deep as I would have liked.  I’ve used Corona in the past and the ratchet ones from Florian but I still can’t quite find the perfect lopper.

Available from Amazon.
Bahco Standard Lopping Shear

photo courtesy of UMASS Extension

If the winter moth is out again this season in large numbers, you’ll want to call an arborist as soon as possible to ensure that you are on the list to get treated next season.  My good friend Carl Brodeur, an arborist for 30+ years and one who practices organic land care (NOFA certified) told me that when the season hits, he gets so many calls that it is virtually impossible to handle them all.  So don’t wait until you see the damage next spring.  Winter moths devour many trees and shrubs with maples, birches,  crabs, apples, blueberries and cherries among their favorites. So if you have these types of trees, you’ll need spraying.  The organic approach is to spray them before bud break in the spring with a horticulture oil which essentially tries to smother these pests.  Then, once the leaves start to unravel, you’ll need to spray BT, a bacteria that gets ingested by these caterpillars and then kills them.  Otherwise, they will completely defoliate your trees.  This may not kill the trees this one time but if trees gets subjected to multiple stresses over time – pests, drought, etc. – they can eventually decline and die.

You can find a good summary of info at the UMASS Extension site.