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Every year for the last 25 years, the Perennial Plant Association (PPA) gets together and picks one perennial to name as plant of the year. If you are looking for a place to start a perennial garden- you can’t go wrong with most of their selections.

This year’s winner is cranesbill geranium,Geranium x cantabrigiense‘Biokovo’. ‘Biokovo’ is a short, mounding to slightly spreading perennial geranium with light pink flowers for six weeks in the spring-early summer. In the fall, the foliage turns a bright red. It is really quite lovely. ‘Biokovo’ grows well in sun to part shade. A little afternoon protection is not a bad idea. The PPA website recommends pairing it with Japanese painted ferns and red-foliaged penstemons. That sounds like a nice combination.

Several years ago another geranium, ‘Rozanne’ a more spreading type with darker purple flowers was selected. I like that one too. There aren’t a whole lot of perennial geraniums you can go wrong with.

Last year’s winner was my all-time favorite ornamental grass.Panicum virgatum‘Northwind’ is a selection of our native switch grass. Switch grasses are a tall prairie plant with blue foliage and a light airy seed head in the fall. Most tall grasses lodge, or fall over when they get large. ‘Northwind’ was selected because it doesn’t.

Panicums are warm-season grasses meaning they start growing when the soil warms in the late spring, and flower in the fall; think miscanthus or pennisetum. Cool season grasses include Calamagrostis and blue fescue.

If you have a shady garden, the previous two year’s winners are good choices.Polygonatum commutatum‘Variegatum, or variegated Solomon’s seal is a slender arching stemmed perennial with white bell shaped flowers that droop from the leaf axils. It spreads and multiplies relatively quickly to fill under a shady tree or forest edge. I have a nice stand by my kitchen door that withstands my dog laying on it.

2012 featuredBrunnera‘Jack Frost’. Of all the PPA selections, I think this one is the least versatile. Most PPA selected plants will do well in sun or shade, with little care. But brunnera tends to be a little picky. Bugloss needs shade and adequate moisture. It has lovely blue flowers in the spring and interesting variegated rounded heart-shaped leaves but will burn up in too much sun.

For a full list of the last 25 years’ winners, and a full description of each one, see perennialplant.org.

Photo credit: VALLEY VIEW FARMS

We lost my uncle earlier this month. He was in poor health recently, but his passing was a shock. I remember he was quick with a joke, and always kept my aunt laughing. He was a Southern boy through and through, born and raised in North Carolina. He did a stint in Vietnam jumping out of airplanes, was a great cook, admirable woodworker and loving father. His passing left a hole in our family.

One way to remember a loved one is to plant a memory garden. It can be as simple as a tree or single perennial, or as elaborate as dedicating a space in a public area where your loved one worked or volunteered. I saw a beautiful blooming star magnolia with a commemorative plaque at a local YMCA last week. Quarryville Library years ago built a children’s garden to remember a wonderful local woman who was active with youth. It was recently converted to a vegetable garden to help stock the food pantry for neighbors in need. I’m sure she’d be pleased.

Planting a small garden at home where it will be visible can be a way to remember your loved one. Using flowers that bloom at either their birthday or anniversary of their passing can be a comfort. Losing a child is an especially heartbreaking thing, planting a small butterfly garden or other child-friendly plants can be a way to heal.

Flowers can also be evocative. Every spring when the daffodils bloom, my friend remembers the daffodils she gave her grandmother every Easter, now planted in her yard. I know a woman who grows cigar cuphea plants every summer to remember her father and his always-lit cigar. Another woman plants a red, white and blue flower bed to remember her veteran husband.

Many plants have cultivar names to remind us of our loved ones. Azaleas and roses are often named after women. Men’s names can be found in hosta varieties and several shrubs.

When planting a memorial garden, keep in mind if you will be moving and would not want to leave the planting. Perennials would be much easier to divide and take with you than a large tree. Also site the garden appropriately for the plants you chose. Iris and roses don’t want deep shade. Hostas would do better in a woodland garden.

Include a bench to sit on if you plan on spending time in the garden. A feeder or birdbath would be appropriate to remember a bird watcher.

It doesn’t really matter what you plant as long as it is meaningful to you. It can help you heal and remember your loved one with joy. The first time I ever saw a crape myrtle was visiting my aunt and uncle. I may find a sunny spot in my yard for one this summer.

 

How many times have I preached that before you spend money on plants you should take the time to evaluate your site?

Apparently not enough that I got the message.Having spent most of 67 years on the farm along the west branch of the Octoraro Creek, west of Kirkwood, I thought I was well versed on cold, windy sites. You loved the summer breezes but often had harsh words for the wind in winter and early spring.

Then I moved to Peach Bottom to a nice, mostly wooded hilltop. I should have taken notice when the wind raked most of the leaves from the 40 large trees in my front yard. I didn’t.

I knew everything there was to know about cold, windy spots. Now with my first daffodils emerging this year after April first and damage to some farm regulars I’m beginning to get the message.

Arriving in September 2012 to large trees and no under plantings, I quickly added over 300 plants before of the 2013-14 winter. Included were some 11 hydrangeas, 12 rhododendrons, a small leaf Japanese holly, other deciduous shrubs, conifers, bulbs and numerous perennials.The three identified by name were happy at the farm but didn’t like ether of the last two winters here.We are near the cold limit for hydrangeas but I chose solid zone 6 re-bloomers. The first winter one died outright and the others died back to the ground. Last summer they recovered and bloomed in varying degrees. This year they are showing new growth to a point about eight inches off the ground. My guess is that they will survive and offer flowers on rather small plants. Not the focal points what I had envisioned.

Rhododendrons also come with varying levels of hardiness. I selected the most hardy ones but they were severely burned the first winter and appear to have fared even worse in 2014-15. Trying to keep them going might be a moot point as I suspect I will give up and remove them after a few more months and observations.The Japanese holly fared well the first winter but appears well toasted now. That’s a nice plant in a sheltered location but unfit for the front of a house, on a hill facing north.By last fall I had given up on a crape myrtle. Even my sunniest spot did not offer enough light to bring flower. My guess is that everything else will be fine but very slow to leaf or emerge like my daffodils.

Don’t give up on plant survival too quickly this year.

If you are willing to fight a few weeds, gardening is easy. It’s just full of surprises; some good and some bad. Did I say, think about your site before you plant?

My son was excited to see robins in the yard- though any worms they were finding were probably half frozen. My daughter likes to look for plants emerging. The hellebores in front of the door were just starting to bud when Mother Nature dumped a foot of snow on them. I didn’t help matters by shoveling all the white stuff from the walk on them either. Now all has melted, we’ve cut back the old leaves and there are lots of flowers ready to open.

She also helped me hunt for daffodils last week when it was warm. No flowers yet- but lots of green. Just have to be patient.

Around the farm we are doing clean up too. Cutting back all the ornamental grasses was a job for dad and his chainsaw. Picking them all up and hauling them to the burn pile fell to me. We cut down all the perennials we left stand to feed the birds over the winter, scraped mulch back from perennials planted last fall and raked more leaves. Where do they all come from?

My next task is cleaning out the gutters. Last year I saw maple seedling sprouting in them before I got there. Not again.

Also on the to-do list is re-enforcing the walls of the raised bed structures. Several winters of heaving and thawing have made them a little off-kilter. A few more pieces of rebar and some screws will help.

Saint Patrick’s Day came and went and my peas remain unplanted. The soil is still frozen! Let’s hope this week’s warming trend pushes us in the right direction. Melting snow and a few days of rain also has it very saturated. Do the palm test before planting- if you squeeze a handful of soil and is stays a moist ball- it is too wet. Wait a few days. If it crumbles nicely, go ahead and plant.

March, thankfully, is going out like a lamb. All the greenhouses in Lancaster County have blooming pansies and violas now. Those intrepid signs of spring give us colorful hope. As we come to the end of another Lenten season, and a very cold winter, I for one, am ready for rebirth. My kids are looking forward to the Easter Bunny, and new rain boots. Dad is looking forward spring migrations and we alre all ready get our hands dirty.

Where are the birds?

Where were the birds?

One hint might come from a day and a half jaunt to North Carolina after tiring of the late February weather. The afternoon we arrived and headed down along the coast it was bitterly cold and windy and their pond ice matched ours.  Limited success came only when we found a bridge pillar to shield us from the wind at an inlet.

The next day the wind dropped, the temperature rose and we headed inland about an hour and found a reasonable amount of open water. I offer this account only to point out that in that day and a half in North Carolina my wife and I saw more different birds than we have mustered so far this year in southern Pennsylvania.

This may call my fictitious reputation into question, but I have seen only 58% of the bird species logged in Lancaster County so far this year. Sure I’m a numbers guy but that doesn’t compare with the thrill of just getting out and seeing what you can see.

Ice, wind and the cold is part of the reason this winter has been rather slow on the bird front. Equally, or perhaps more importantly, was the excellent cone and seed crop across southern Canada. Last winter most of the northern vagrants visited my yard feeders. This year I waited until the first week in March for my first and only vagrant.

My two winter highlights were the variety of ducks that I often found below the Conowingo Dam and watching (from my easy-chair)the antics of the flocks of gulls repeatedly streaming past a large living room window at dusk heading for the protection of the Susquehanna River’s open water.

Birds are now on the move. I chuckled at a March 9 report by one of Pennsylvania’s most acclaimed bird authorities who lives just up the road in Schuykill County. He had just welcomed his first of the year robins, red-winged blackbirds, grackles and turkey vultures. They are all now twelve months of the year birds for us.

It amazes me that a long hour drive and a modest climb in elevation significantly changes the bird population. That appears true regardless of the season.

The first ruby throated hummingbirds have made it to the gulf coast early in March. I’m using hummingbirds.net/map to follow their progress.

April 1 is a good time to think about your feeders. You might be a few days early but you might get one of the first arrivals. I’ve also joined the facebook crowd by going to facebook.com/ebird. Once there I click on birdcast.info. From there I fumble my way to a regional map and another click will update me on the current migration patterns.

And of course there is the eagle cam you can access through the PA State Game Commission. Any day now the eggs laid in mid February should hatch.

With all the bird activity and gardening in the wings how am I supposed to keep up with my other interests?