Hale and Hearty, well actually... Hale and Hardy

It’s March 1, and if you are like me, you are probably…
reviewing books and catalogs;
looking at others’ gardens;
tidying up the ruins and residues of winter;
searching for signs of life under leaves and mulch;
and finalizing your wish list of plants and projects to add to the garden.

Whether your garden is established or you are just breaking ground, there is always something to do.  And you have to decide, what can I accomplish?  Where do I start?  Where can I find what I need?  And how much will it cost?

"Plants in waiting"... I sometimes grow perennials in large containers until I can find a spot for them in the garden.

I have about two more weeks to finalize priorities.  (This time of year kind of has the frenzy of an all-night exam cram!)  And one of the things I’m taking into account is the Department of Agriculture’s new Plant Hardiness Zone Map.

The map was unveiled in January and compiled from almost 30 years of data.  The first thing you might notice is that the map is interactive and best used online.  You can view and download static maps of your state, your geographic region and the whole country.  But you can also find your hardiness zone by zip code.

Because the map was created with GIS technology, it includes greater, in fact, truer detail, especially in urban areas and communities close to natural features that often affect winter weather.  So, large cities, like New York and Chicago, or even Pittsburgh and Portland, now belong to warmer zones than their surrounding vicinities.  For example, Manhattan, previously 6B, is now 7A; downtown Chicago, previously 5B, is now 6A; parts of Pittsburgh, previously 6A, are now 6B; and Portland, Oregon, previously 8A, is now 8B.

The map shows that many communities immediately around the Great Lakes enjoy milder winters than their neighbors just 15 to 50 miles “inland”.  Leadville, Colorado, at an elevation of over 10,100’, is in Zone 4B, while Aspen, Colorado, at an elevation near 7,900’, is in Zone 5B, even though they are about 30 miles apart as the crow flies.  And in the past, the landscape around Brownsville was always lumped with the rest of southeastern Texas.  It is now distinguished as Zone 10A.  The new map also provides more definition to our tropical zones of Hawaii and Puerto Rico, which now include Zones 12 and 13 instead of maxing out at Zone 11.  Of course, gardeners in these locales have probably experienced and recognized these subtle differences for years.

It’s important to remember the “coldest” temperatures listed for each zone are not the coldest possible temperature for that region.  They are averages of the coldest temperatures recorded at each location from 1976 to 2005.  So, you still need to watch daily temperatures during the winter for out-of-the-ordinary cold snaps, particularly if you are trying to grow plants at the limits of their hardiness.

Definitely, check out the new Plant Hardiness Zone Map before purchasing plants this spring.  My guess is that this updated information will influence what is available at your local garden center.  And who knows?  Maybe you could be growing a wider range of plants than you realized.  I think all gardeners love to hear that!

Google Garden Calendar

Some gardeners are excellent journal keepers.  I am not.  And I know my garden suffers because of it.  I’ve tried different techniques over the years.

In 1999, and probably a couple years since, I just made notes on a free calendar I devoted to the yard.  March 1999 reads as follows:

March 3: Hail!;  March 5: Planted pansies;  March 5 and 6: Cleaned daylily bed and composted.  On March 6, it also rained “(two heavy storms) and temperatures really dropped”.

March 7: In the 20s at night and 30s in day;  March 9 and 10: Couple inches of snow;  March 11 and 12: Windy and chilly.

March 13 and 14: Couple inches of snow and heavy rain!;  March 15: Mid-40s, lots of melt;  March 17: Pruned jasmine;  March 17 and 18: Very warm, in the 70s.  On March 18, I also “prepped entrance to rose garden, ordered New Dawn, Carefree Wonder and Johann Strauss” roses.  March 19: Moved magenta rose.  Met with landscape designer at 5:30.  I remember the designer had a lot to say about how much we had already done… incorrectly in his opinion.  He was then very skittish when Walter arrived home, which made me uneasy.  We didn’t take his advice.

March 21: First day of spring;  March 23: Laid gravel entrance path;  March 24: First daffodil blooms, lots of peonies coming up;  March 26: Cool in the 50s.  Planted 2 Carefree Wonders and Johann Strauss.  I double checked.  The New Dawn was delayed and we didn’t plant it until early April.

March 29-31: Very warm, 60s-70s.  Daffodils in full bloom.  Astilbes and bleeding hearts coming up.

It’s a rather charming narrative, especially since the garden was only two years old.  And it certainly confirms the temperamental nature of Virginia weather.  But it’s not especially helpful… unless I reread it annually.

For many, many years after, I kept a large three-ring binder with tags from every plant that ended up in the garden.  Dicentra eximia, Carex elata ‘Aurea’, Rosa ‘De Meaux’, Tricyrtis sinonome, Scabiosa ochroleuca.  It’s rather disheartening how many plants haven’t survived the years!  Itea ‘Little Henry’, Cyclamen persicum, Hosta x fortunei ‘Albo-picta’, Dianthus gratianopolitanus ‘Spotti’, Angelica gigas and Claytonia virginica.  The tags are useful because they often provide a picture and written description of the plant, plus light, soil and water requirements, and sometimes grower, seller and price.  But then I didn’t usually keep records of the actual care provided each plant, or the yard in general, to correspond with the plant tag collection.  It was far from a perfect system.

So in February, I added the garden to my Google calendars.  I had already been using Google calendar for personal appointments, important events at work and family and friend birthdays, so it was an easy addition.  The garden calendar is in a cheerful, bright lime green, and it’s a great way to jot down short notes on the garden’s progress:

February 2: Planted lettuce seeds in Wheelbarrow Man;

March 20: Moved nandina, daylilies and red hot poker;
April 3: Planted Sunshine Blue blueberries;
April 4: Planted Bountiful Blue blueberries;
May 29: Cut back daffodils;
June 12: Found dead squirrel near maple;
June 29: Cut back columbines and feverfew;
July 18: Someone drove into bushel planter near driveway;
August 19: Noticed significant dieback on Lo and Behold;
September 4 and 5: Weeded pink garden and cut pink garden lawn.
 
I also track rainfall and unusual weather.  I don’t worry about actual appointment times… like when I worked from 8 am until noon moving a small trellis.  Anything in the garden is listed as an “all-day” event, so it shows at the top of the day’s listings.  What’s really wonderful is that Google allows me to search my calendar for related events.  Say, I want to review what and when I fertilized.  And of course, I could potentially share my calendar with other people.

I want to be better about adding everything I do to the calendar, especially weeding and pruning.  It helps to know, year to year.  And I may want to track bloom times, lawn mowing and animal sightings, which I haven’t really been doing regularly.  But the goal is to keep it as short and simple, as well as informative, as possible.

I still keep every tag and seed packet from what I purchased this year for more in-depth plant information.  I’m just storing them in a big envelope and will create a new envelope for 2012.

To be honest, the garden calendar as worked so well, I think I will start one for the house.  We definitely used to be more diligent about recording home maintenance and, dare I say (?!), home disasters.  The information can get overwhelming:

When did we service the furnace last?;

When did we update the fire extinguishers?;
What about vacuuming around the refrigerator?; or cleaning out the dryer vent?
When did we flip the mattresses?
And the front exterior light bulbs are blown again, when were they last replaced?

It would be extremely beneficial to have a central location for all this information.  And we could include more major repairs like, replaced siding on two front dormers and unclogged air conditioner hose, and keep abreast of problems in the making: noticed crack in small hallway ceiling after earthquake and plaster disintegration in southwest corner of basement.

A little depressing I know.  But knowledge is power, right?  Especially when you’re trying to maintain an older house and hundreds of plants!

Organizing My Thoughts

I know many books recommend that we keep “inspiration” notebooks or files for decorating our homes.  These files might include magazine articles and photos, paint chips and tiny fabric, carpet, tile, granite, laminate and wallpaper samples.  I think “inspiration” files are effective when you are working on a specific project and are trying to finalize purchase decisions.

But sometimes you just want to keep track of all the interesting things you read in periodicals.  I have a lot of magazines and continually use them as references.  I would never tear them apart!  How would I find anything?  Besides, magazine editors and writers expend enormous energy creating each issue.  Often the layout and writing are just as exciting as the products and décor described inside.

So, seven years ago, I started a reference index for all my magazines.  It’s just an Excel spreadsheet where I can organize topics of interest to me and note where they can be found in each magazine.  It’s extremely helpful and completely subjective and slightly absurd.  It has grown to over 5,100 entries.

"Fabric on Walls", "Banquettes", "Ceilings" and "Displaying Artwork" are four of my favorite categories in the spreadsheet.  Mainly because I think they are great elements in any room but are often extraordinarily tricky to imagine… so a picture truly is worth a thousand words.  "White Interiors", "Bold Interiors" and "Dark Interiors" are all categories that capture the essence of a room rather than individual features.

I love mirrors and try to document as many beautiful ones as possible.  There are 220 "Mirror" entries currently in the spreadsheet.  "Use of Large" is a subcategory within "Mirrors".  Large mirrors can look absolutely fabulous or terribly dated, so I like to record any good examples.  Kitchens are divided into four subcategories based on cabinet styles: "Painted Contemporary", "Painted Traditional", "Stained Contemporary" and "Stained Traditional".  But "Appliances", "Counters" and "Range Hoods" are all categories of their own.

Living designers, like William Diamond and Anthony Baratta, Mary McDonald and Albert Hadley, are listed under "Designers", and those not living, like Rose Cumming, Billy Baldwin and Tony Duquette, are considered "Trendsetters".

Some categories are fairly broad, such as "Bedrooms" or "Bathrooms" for when I like almost everything about a room.  Some categories are more detailed, like "Beds", "Bed Linens", "Bathtubs" or "Bathroom Vanities".  And some are ridiculously specific, like "Coat Racks", because attractive coat racks are few and far between.

Perhaps I should eventually transfer all this information to a real database, but Excel provides all I need for the moment.  I can sort and search by category, subcategory, magazine, issue and even special comments.  Let’s say I’m looking for a single article about these pretty toleware lamps by Two Girls Arts, but I can’t remember the name Two Girls Arts.  I can just search for tole or "Toleware".  In fact, I don’t have to remember toleware.  The same article is referenced under "Lamps".

Of course, it’s not a perfect system.  At the beginning, travel information was only organized by individual state or country, for example, Main Category: "Travel", Subcategory: "The Netherlands".  Now "New York" entries are overwhelming.  I’ve started to differentiate between NYC and the rest of New York State, but information may need to be even more precise, such as organized by neighborhood, for quicker accessibility and convenience.  I don’t want to double check forty magazines for two days of travel to lower Manhattan.

Some categories have escaped the spreadsheet all together.  Paint Colors, Fabrics and Wallpapers and Reading for Home and Garden have developed into separate documents… each with hundreds of entries of their own.

In the end, my magazine reference index is not much different than an “inspiration” file, except perhaps in scale.  Only things I like make it to the list.  I never include “bad” or “what-not-to-do” examples.  Categories are highly personal.  Would anyone else understand my descriptions of "Regional Décor": "Alpine", "Adirondack", "Mediterranean", "Californian", "Spanish Colonial", "Scandinavian", "Belgian" or "French"?  Maybe not.  But I do, and I can quickly find what I need.

Best of all, my magazines remain intact.  Just in case, I want to peruse them for even more inspiration!