Summer, we hardly knew ye

Sometimes it rained so hard we couldn't see the waterfall

Wait a minute! Wasn't it just a couple of days ago we were visiting Christopher C and his fabulous Mom, Bulbarella, enjoying their wildflower gardens and stunning rhododendrons?

Drop dead gorgeous Rhodys in the Carrie gardens outside Clyde

Biltmore in May

Then wasn't it yesterday we spent Memorial Day checking out the winners of the first Biltmore International Rose Trials? It certainly seems like yesterday. So how come the calender now says September 12th? And what happened to June, July and August?

Looking back, our summer was literally washed away. We had over 30 inches of rain in July alone, and spent most of August looking out the window at dark skies and watching the veggie garden drown.

And of course, a sea of blackspot washed over the roses.

Ironweed (a member of the aster family) and Joe Pye

But now we've actually had a week with sunny skies! So I've been out exploring, appreciating the early fall beauties that are strutting their stuff right this minute. I am loving the Joe Pyes, sunflowers, phlox, dahlias and a plant I've never seen before, Ironweed.


Summer may have evaporated, but I'm going to savor every minute of this September show. Because I am certainly not ready for mums, pumpkins and black cats.

A field of sunflowers near Highlands

Red Bleeding Heart (Clerodendrum thomsoniae)

Sedum looking like refreshing cones of strawberry ice cream

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and buddleia

Female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and phlox

Green-headed coneflowers (I think) growing along our trail

And now, a word from your sponsor...

As many of you know, The Dirt Diaries website features an area where you can sign up to get an e-mail notification every time a new article goes live. Although I can easily see how many folks have signed up as “Followers”, I have no idea how many receive my postings in their e-mail inbox.

So those readers will not have seen the shiny new widget on the site announcing that my iBook, The Dirt Diaries, is available right now for $4.99 in the iTunes bookstore. Here is the link:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-dirt-diaries/id683519179?mt=11&uo=4

I’ve been working on creating the book for the last seven months using the amazing software called iBooks Author. The result is a compilation of my articles and photographs from the past several years, along with some of my favorite Dirt Diaries postings.

Unfortunately, at the moment, you must have an iPad to be able to download the book. Later this fall when the new Apple OS system becomes available, anyone with an Apple computer, Touch or iPhone will be able to purchase it.

I’m posting a few screenshots from the book to give you an idea what it is all about. Here’s how the description reads in the iTunes store:

Bears, Yogi Berra, bats with five-foot wingspans, wildflowers that look like a skeleton’s fingers – not the usual topics found in garden books. But then The Dirt Diaries isn’t your everyday tome about gardening. International award winning writer and rosarian emeritus Lynn Hunt presents the best of her best on gardens and gardening, featuring know-how and nonsense, instructive insight and flights of fancy.

You’ll learn how to build your own nature trail and protect yourself from the bite of a sea dragon. You’ll meet the world’s most accomplished rose hybridizers and chickens that like habanero peppers. You’ll visit historic rose Edens like Mottisfont Abbey in England and take an unfortunate trip to the National “Buttfly” Garden.

And, of course, tales abound about the Queen of Flowers and her glamorous garden sidekicks.

And here are snippets from a couple of the reviews :

Move Over Eleanor Perenyi and Diane Ackerman.  There’s a new ‘read-me-just-for-the-pleasure-of-it’ garden writer in town.  Her name is Lynn Hunt and ‘The Dirt Diaries’ is one of those rare pleasures for both armchair and active gardeners: it’s as entertaining as it is informative. 

– The Principal Undergardener

This book is a little gem with beautiful photography and engaging storytelling.

– Debbie from Kingston

I hope you’ll give it a look, and if you do decide to buy the book, I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I enjoyed putting it all together.

The Dirt Diaries is available in nine other countries including the UK and Australia. If you are interested and your country isn’t named, let me know and I can add it to the list.

 

So please pardon the interruption from your regular reading pleasure.

I will be back very soon with two new postings, the first with some amazing photos of the award winning David Austin displays at Chelsea and Hampton Court.

Now I’m going to pour myself a celebratory glass of champagne!

Creating meadow magic

Every other year, local volunteers organize the Joy Garden Tour to benefit the Village Green, a 12-acre park in the heart of Cashiers, North Carolina.

In 2011, I waited too long and the event was sold out. This year I bought my ticket right away and joined 1200 other enthusiasts who traveled from at least a dozen states to view several private gardens in the area.

Of course, the homes were quite spectacular and there were many attractive gardens displaying a combination of native plantings and seasonal ornamentals. However, it was the meadow at the Morse home that was highlight of the tour for me.

You enter the front door and walk straight through the house to a flagstone terrace where you are treated to a spectacular view of Whiteside Mountain. 

The cliffs there are the highest in eastern North America, rising to an elevation of 4,930 feet. That view is amazing enough, but there is also a carpet of wildflowers at your feet that seems to go on for miles.

The meadow and other gardens on the property were designed by Jeremy Smearman of Planters Landscape. He and his associates have been working on just the right combination of plants for the meadow and this year everything has come together to create a most memorable vista.

As you can see from the photos, Echinacea purpurea is the dominant plant in the landscape right now, along with Liatris and Bishop's Flower.  This scenario can change depending on the time of year, so the folks at Planters were kind enough to share  the rest of their wildflower list with us:

Bishop’s Flower

Black-eyed Susan

Blanketflower/Firewheel

Coneflower

Cornflower/Bachelor’s Button

Dense Blazing Star

Ox-eyed Daisy

Red Corn Poppy/Flanders Poppy

Tickseed/Lance-leaved Coreopsis

 

According to Planters Regional Manager Bo Gambrell, it takes three seasons to establish a healthy wildflower meadow. “The main reason being that you will only get 60-70% germination each time you seed and each meadow has its own needs. The first thing you should do is get a soil sample and find out what your soil is lacking in nutrients. Then, order three times as much seed as you need and store the leftover seed to broadcast each spring. Most of the time you will want to mix some sand with your seed when using a spreader to help spread the different sized seeds evenly. If you have raw soil, you should also mix in a little bit of creeping red fescue grass seed on the first application.”

After that, further seeding should be unnecessary as long as the meadow is doing well, although you might have to replenish some areas if flowers are thinning. Aside from that, as long as the meadow gets enough water each year, you need only mow it and cut down volunteer tree saplings.

I have a small slope I’d like to dress up with some wildflowers. Now after seeing the work done at Morse Meadow, I have some beautiful ideas growing in my head.

Some new faces in my 2013 garden

After moving to North Carolina in May of 2011, we took a critical look at the garden and decided to get rid of just about everything that had been planted by the previous owners.

We ripped out some wild rhododendrons, nondescript shrubs, and a diseased evergreen tree. Later, I dug up and divided all the hostas that were growing unhappily along the front of the house. In time, I used all 96 of them to line the new trail.

Here’s what the garden looked like in 2011:

You can see a tree rose, a few of the hydrangea cuttings we brought from Maryland, a foxglove, a few daylilies and the hostas I mentioned.

 Here’s how the garden is doing this summer:

Needless to say we are delighted at how quickly things have started to take shape.  And now that the roses, hydrangeas, lavenders, catmints and daylilies appear to have settled in well, I am free to add a few new bits and pieces here and there.

 I’ve become a big coreopsis fan and am very pleased with the ‘Heaven’s Gate’ variety. (I’d show you my ‘Mercury Rising, but something has eaten all the flowers. It was pretty while it lasted.)

Some of my other new additions are keepers, others may be subjected to the shovel. 

Kim's Knee-hi – the butterfly will live longer in my garden

Yellow Lollipop – delicious!

Love Song – hate it

Rudbeckia 'Cherry Brandy' – not crazy about the fading color

Lemon Splash shrub rose – did a bellyflop

Lamium 'Purple Dragon' – also like 'Shell Pink'

Lovely Fairy – love it

Clematis Comtesse de Bouchaud – a regal beauty

The Bourbon rose Mystic Beauty – I'll drink to it

Wollerton Old Hall – could be a new Austin fave

I have a number of new roses coming in 2014 including the David Austin red rose, Heathcliff. I can't wait to see it bloom.

And I can’t wait to audition some other new faces in 2014.

Meet the beetles

Light colored blooms make beetles sing

 

If the invasion hasn’t already hit your yard, rest assured it will be starting shortly. Those little whispers of “Tora, Tora, Tora” you may hear while walking through the garden are warnings that adult Japanese beetles (Popillia japonica) are emerging from the ground, ready to attack more than 300 different species of trees and shrubs, ornamental plants and flowers.

           

I know because during my last summer in Maryland I went looking for beetles to photograph and didn't see any. Four hours later, dozens were feasting on some of their favorite victims, my light colored roses.  Blooms of Pristine, Cottage Rose and First Kiss weren't  the only fatalities because before long they were also snacking on hollyhocks, sweet peppers, Japanese maples and crape myrtles. These eating machines even like poison ivy.

           

Japanese beetles were first discovered in a New Jersey nursery in 1916, possibly having stowed away in a shipment of iris bulbs. By 1930, the beetles had traveled across almost 6,000 square miles in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. Today, the pests are established in 30 states and continue to spread at a rate of 5-10 miles per year.

           

As adult beetles reach the soil surface, they crawl or fly to low growing plants and begin to feed. The first ones to break ground release an odor (pheromone) that attracts other adults, and party time begins in earnest.

           

The females live about 45 days and can lay up to 60 eggs each, generally under grass roots in lawns. Within a few weeks, the eggs will hatch into grubs with voracious appetites. They munch on grass roots and can devastate a yard.  In fact, according to the University of Florida Extension Service, Japanese beetles cost the turf and ornamental industry approximately $450 million a year.

When cold weather settles in, the grubs move deeper in the soil. In spring, they again feed on grass roots until pupation in late May. The adults emerge with brilliant metallic green bodies and hard, copper-colored wing covers to start the assault all over again.

So do we just raise the white flag and watch our favorite summer plants fight a losing battle? In their homeland, native predators keep beetle numbers in check.  Not so in America. Adult beetles have few enemies -- they aren’t tasty fare for birds although grackles, starlings, cardinals, redwing blackbirds and robins do feed on grubs.

Beetle grubs are on the cardinal menu

(My good rose judging friend Jim Diggs tells me sparrows take care of his beetle population in Richmond, VA. He reports the birds knock them to the ground, then lap them up. I had a word with my sparrows who were falling down on the job but they did not respond.)

           

As a natural control, picking beetles by hand is safe but not very effective. Shake them into a pail of soapy water and they’ll eventually drown.

Don’t ever crush a beetle -- as a dying insult it will release more pheromone and attract even more pests.

Milky spore is a bacterial disease harmless to humans and animals that kills grubs.  It is applied to the grassy areas of the yard and may take two to three years to become effective. Neem oil, insecticidal soaps and sprays containing garlic are also recommended. High value plants can be protected with spun polyester covers such as Reemay.

In recent years, commercial traps have been offered up as an effective way to thwart the beetle population. Research done at the University of Kentucky shows commercial traps may attract more beetles than are actually caught.  If you are determined to use traps, place them at least 30 yards away from plants you want to protect. (In fact, the best idea is to locate the trap in your neighbor's yard.)  (:

           

If you choose to bring out the heavy artillery, keep in mind Sevin kills beneficial insects and other chemicals must be used with care in areas frequented by children, pets and wildlife.

           

I tried to avoid the scorched earth theory of bug control and used a combination of spot pruning and insecticidal soap to limit the damage. I’ve also heard beetles can be confused by the scents of garlic, mint, chives, catmint, basil and onions. 

These companion plantings can’t hurt, and certainly might help in our struggle to bid sayonara to a determined enemy.

Amateur hybridizer blooms at Biltmore International Trials

Athyfalaa stole the show at Biltmore

 

A part-time hybridizer made history last month when one of his creations won Best in Show at the first Biltmore International Rose Trials competition held in Asheville, North Carolina.

Mike Athy of Gisborne, New Zealand entered his climbing/groundcover rose (temporarily known as Athyfalaa) in 2011 and after eight rounds of judging over two years it was declared the winner in five of eleven categories. Another of his roses was the second highest scorer in the trial.

David Austin's Darcey Bussell won Best Shrub

As mandated by International Rose Trial guidelines, the entire bush is taken into consideration, not just the flowers. Roses are judged by a distinguished panel on growth habit, vigor, disease resistance, repeat bloom, fragrance and flowers. Any entry that displays disease over 25% of the bush is removed from the competition.

The breeders of the various roses are not revealed until after the awards are presented. Mike Athy’s rivals in the trial featured luminaries of the rose world including David Austin, Kordes of Germany, Meilland of France and Bill Radler of Knock Out fame.

Not too shabby an achievement for a self-proclaimed backyard breeder.

Hooked on roses since boyhood

Mike has been hybridizing roses in his spare time for over 20 years. He has no formal horticultural training, but his parents were keen gardeners and encouraged his interest in plants.

The second highest scorer

As a young boy he tried to sow some rose seeds and was discouraged when they didn’t develop into multi-petaled beauties with fabulous fragrance.

Despite disappointment, the hybridizing bug had bitten.

Today he makes crosses from October through January that will produce about 75,000 seeds. After being chilled in the refrigerator for a few months, the seeds are planted and resulting flowers are evaluated. Ones that show promise are planted and five years later, fewer than 20 varieties meet his high standards.

In the meantime he does things we’re all told NOT to do, like watering roses in late afternoon.

“I want to give disease the best opportunity to show itself. If a plant proves susceptible, I pick it out and burn it.” That way he remains true to his goal of producing trouble-free garden plants that anyone can grow and enjoy.

A 120-year love affair with roses

The setting for this first-ever East Coast International Rose Trial couldn’t have been more inspiring. It was held in the shadow of the Vanderbilt’s famed Biltmore House on the grounds planned by Frederick Law Olmsted in 1895.

Known as the father of American landscape architecture, Olmsted had previously designed a number of legendary projects including Central Park and the grounds of the U.S. Capitol Building.

 Biltmore and its thousands of acres would be his last landscape.

Olmsted’s plans featured several formal gardens including one of the largest walled gardens in America. Now the lower half of that 4-acre garden features 250 rose cultivars ranging from heirlooms grown at the end of the 18^th century to modern day favorites.

George and Edith Vanderbilt took great interest in the Rose Garden, so much so that it eventually doubled in size from the original design.

Daughter Cornelia had a platform built there for a special gala in 1931 that included orchestral music, dancing, a late night supper and fireworks. One partygoer recalled the Rose Garden as a place where “the lighting made it look more like a fairyland than anything I have ever seen.”

A feast for the senses

Today, Biltmore Rosarian Lucas Jacks and his team lovingly maintain Mr. Vanderbilt’s garden and have worked to make it a rose lover’s paradise.

All who stroll near the area are greeted by the intoxicating perfume of 2500 roses.

A riot of color beckons the admirer to come closer. And visitors pause to have their picture taken by the Maypole or double arches smothered by blooms.

Inside the walled garden not far from the Conservatory, you can see the impressive rose called Athyfalaa.

Its performance at the International Trial may make it possible for the part-time hybridizer to pursue his passion full time ( Paul Zimmerman Roses is acting as Mike Athy’s American agent.)

It was historic first win at a historic first event, hosted by historic, beloved Biltmore.

That’s the stuff dreams are made of.

Return to rose paradise

Last year I wrote about my visit to Doug and Shari's majestic mountaintop rose garden. If you missed "What you didn't see in Southern Living", you can read the article here.

Last week I was invited back, and I must say the garden is more spectacular than ever. 

Words cannot describe the beauty. 

Words are not necessary. 

So sit back and enjoy your personal mini tour.