I’ve heard Dr. Allan Armitage speak a couple of times now (both times at New England Grows) and he could probably say the same thing over and over again (he may well have) and I’d probably hear something completely different and be endlessly entertained each time.  His topic this year was “New and Useful Perennials for the Northeast”.  He endeavored to convince his audience of green industry professionals to make life a little easier for customers and clients when it comes to choosing the best plants for their garden.  He used his daughter Heather as an example of someone who not only isn’t interested in learning 1000 Latin names (we’ve probably all read his post about using common names on Garden Rant) but also doesn’t want to have to choose from 65 coneflowers when she goes to her local nursery.  –That’s how many images of echinaceas Dr. Armitage has available so far on his images database website.  Heather just wants to know which one is “the best” and she’ll happily buy it for her garden.

I happen to think he’s absolutely right.  Pretty much.  Mostly.   I know what I want (some of the time) and will still leave a nursery empty handed if I’ve been overwhelmed by choices.  Here at Blithewold we’ve been trying to make those decisions easier by trying as much as we can so that we’ll know, and you’ll know when you visit, what works and what doesn’t in this area.  The year I started working here was a heuchera year.  Gail and my predecessor Sheila had planted a dozen – at least – of them in trial.  And unfortunately over the next couple-three years we didn’t find a keeper among them so we let them go as we changed the gardens.  Five years later, there are a few (hundred?) more choices available.  The breeders will never stop breeding – who’d want them to stop? And we might be ready to give heucheras another go.

The flip side is when we find something that works, something that we love, something that we praise to the skies and then discover that no one is actually selling it.  We love Phlox paniculata ‘Natural Feelings’ because it’s mildew free, it blooms for a month and it’s a perfect height and an interesting color.  I guess we were the only ones who felt that way about it or it would be lined up with ‘David’ and ‘Peppermint Twist’ and 10 others at every garden center.  Same thing with Rosa ‘Morning Has Broken’.  If only there were a way to convince the growers and nurseries to sell exactly what we think is the very best…

What’s your opinion?  When you go to a nursery do you want to see an acre of roses or do you want to choose from the 12 or so that have been determined to be the best for your region?

I think it’s safe to say that everyone who has ever set foot in the greenhouse makes an immediate beeline for the citrus plants.  The Citrus limon ‘Ponderosa’ (a.k.a. American Wonder Lemon) definitely has its own gravitational pull.  The lemons are about the size of Jupiter and hang on the plant, bowing the branches, seemingly indefinitely.  Kids (of all ages) also swarm the Calamondin orange (x Citrofortunella or Citrus mitis) because it’s almost always adorned with zillions of oranges that are as comparatively tiny as the Ponderosa lemons are enormous.  The Ponderosa lemon began as a chance seedling grown by George Bowman of Maryland in the late 1880′s and has been commercially available since the turn of the 20th century.  — I suspect that the legendary Logee’s Greenhouse specimen is at least that old.  The Calamondin is a Southeast Asian hybrid and our own tree is over 40 years old.

Citruses are not the easiest houseplants – and given the plight of California citrus trees which are being threatened by a bacteria that causes a “greening disease“, and Florida citruses which periodically succumb to drops in temperature, they might not be the easiest garden plants either.  Logee’s recommends temperatures above 60° in the winter (although many can take it as cold as 40°), to water when the soil appears dry and fertilize sparingly.  My Citrus aurantifolia ‘Key Lime’ evidently can’t tolerate temperatures below 60° throughout the winter which would explain why it looks as stressed out as it does  – even our warmest greenhouse, where it is currently recouping from pure torture at my house, is chillier than that at night.  It, like the rest of our citrus plants, is also plagued by scale (a tiny sucking insect protected by a tough brown shell) which produces a sticky honeydew poop that is a terrific host for sooty mold.  We treat the plants by washing the leaves, stems and branches by hand with insecticidal or dilute dish soap.  We must be doing something right this winter because we haven’t washed the lemon in ages and (knock wood) it’s never looked so healthy.  Occasionally the leaves on our citruses turn yellow which indicates an iron deficiency and possibly that they’ve been over watered.  Both are problems are treatable.

Do you have any citrus?  Are they a challenge for you as well?

I have always loved Groundhog’s Day (the actual day more than the movie) because, whether Phil sees his shadow (he did this morning) or not, it signifies to me that spring is on its way – a mere 6 weeks away!  I have to admit though that in the last few years I’ve become a little ambivalent about that.  There’s a really big part of me that is looking so forward to spring – I even plan on celebrating later today by cutting branches to force.  But there’s this other little part of me that loves winter more than I used to because of the chance it gives me to slow down, bundle up, contemplate and recharge.  The temperatures in the last couple of days have soared nearly into sweater weather, the birds have started singing in earnest and the vents have been opening in the greenhouse – all signs that point to a change in seasons.  Those signs along with my favorite holiday are now reminders to me to savor what’s left of winter.  With more snow in the forecast for tomorrow, I expect I’ll get that chance…

Meanwhile, warm air brought a snowy fog and the most dramatic light show I have seen here yet.  In my pious youth I probably would have called the beams “the hand of God”.

Click on pictures for a larger view (Hooray – lightbox is working again! – chalk up the lapse in functionality to operator error.)

How are you celebrating this High Holy Holiday?  Are you ready for spring already?