Remembering an Old Gardener Friend

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I’m working in Charleston this week, and as I was driving down Monday I was thinking of all those I know in Columbia who will be attending funeral services for my friend, gardener John Wyndam.

Being on the road constantly is sometimes a blessing and sometimes a curse. At least I was able to go to the house on Sunday and do some flowers for the front gate.

John rescued me when I was in a job that made me miserable. He told me just to jump into his home, his kitchen, his garden, and his family where I became sort of a live-in gardener. More importantly, about a year later, John told me to jump again. Well, actually he sort of kicked me out of the nest into my current very cool gardening life.

John always painted, then he cooked (Le Petit Chateau), then he gardened. Then, when he got sick, he painted again. And during all of that, he ran a groundbreaking HIV/AIDS clinic when it seemed everyone else was still afraid. And he painted this really cool lampshade that lights up our living room.

May Garden Checklist

Fertilize plants in water gardens. Put summer tropicals in water gardens. Last year we used Arundo in the pond in isolated pots. The one-gallon plants looks like they were floating. Ive also used cannas this way with really good effect.

Collect seed for biennials. Were collecting Linerea Canadensis (Old Field Flax) now from roadsides, as its a beautiful plant that isnt available commercially. My grandparents would be proud!

WEED, and dont forget to look under the benches!

Hesperaloe campanulata and others are sending up tall wands now. Its a hard thing to do, but if you break the new flowering stems about halfway, theyll branch and you will have more flowers in the summer.

I’ll give a liquid foliar spray of 10-10-10 and complete micro nutrients to all crinum, ginger lily and other tropicals this weekend.

Looking Good Now

Delphinium sp. (Larkspur) is in full flower now. This is actually a biennial that you sew in November for masses of Mothers Day flowers. Larkspur grow on stalks that can be anywhere from 4 to 6.5 feet tall or more and are covered with purple, blue, red, yellow or white flowers. Butterflies and bumblebees are attracted to these wonderful old standards. There are dozens of old wives tales that contain references to Larkspur, probably because of its extreme toxicity! So if you need something to ward off lightening or to keep the witches from the stables, be sure to have some Larkspur in the garden.

Yucca filamentosa on some variegated varieties send up colored leaves now, and established plants are beginning to flower. Ive planted them in various spots in Lake City form the formal gardens to the camellia bay. They seem to thrive almost anywhere in my gardens. The massive evergreen tufts of spiky foliage are sometimes 30 or more high. AND the large, white flowers are edible. Try some in an early summer salad!

Beschornaria septemptrionalis, another evergreen perennial has semi-woody stems and produces rosettes of succulent leaves with rough edges. Some of the big ones flower in fall and winter, but my plant of Zacualtipan are in flower now with slender reddish trumpets. The truly is a spectacular plant both for foliage and flower.

Ononpardum acanthium (scotch thistle) is another great biennial, this one producing dramatic spikes up to 10 feet high with spiny, fuzzy stems and purple flowers on top. We started some in the outdoor nursery in August, and by the end of March they were thriving!

Monarda didyma Jacob Cline (Scarlet Bee Balm) is about as red as a flower can get! Many people regard it as the best of the reds. Its flowers are long-lasting and it resists powdery mildew, although all Bee Balm is subject to some mildew. It has a strong desire to spread. And will self-seed, but generally will not produce plants true to the parent. Propagation is properly by division. Usually in the 3rd or 4th year the center of the clump will die off and look bad. Just dig, divide, and replant. These bright red flowers rise on stems to 4 or 5 feet high and can get floppy.

Ariseama ringens: See pic. Enough said.

Others things I admire right now are:

Corydalis. The yellow flowering forms do best in the South. My flowers are just fading, but I leave the flower heads on so theyll seed around. My Moore Farms colleague, Ethan Kauffman, notes that some we purchased in March are still in brilliant flower

Two of my favorite weeds are Verbena rigida with what Ethan calls sharp purple flowers, and Scorpion Weed – a wild heliotrope that is lavender and is coming into flower now.

Drymiopsis is a really cool little bulb for deep shade and very dry areas. It has liver-spotted leaves and tiny spikes of creamy green. These never grow more than 4 tall so youll need a mass of plants. Leaves go away in the winter but are back up in March.

Meet Jenks Farmer

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