As long as I’ve been gardening at this property (20 seasons or so) this area had been spring bulbs which dwindled over time as the dogwood shade increased. But that really didn’t matter because the bulbs got in the way when I wanted to put in the impatiens in the spring so I was sort of glad to see them go.

This year, of course, there will be no impatiens, so a week or so ago I told the Spoiler that I was going to put in perennials to solve the planting problem once and for all. He got kind of a sick look on his face.

“Do you have to? Why can’t we plant impatiens? Isn’t anyone selling impatiens?”

So I explained the problem–again–even though I’d explained it last year when they died and a couple of times over the winter. But the Spoiler is not a gardener and unless the problem is immediate, there’s no reason for him to remember or recall this information.

“Well, okay,’ he said grudgingly. “But they’d better not get in the way when I want to blow the leaves out of there in the fall.”

Now I already knew I couldn’t put hellebores there, which I what I would really would have liked to do because every time I show him hellebores he turns up his nose and says “Ick. They’re not very pretty, are they?”

If it’s not bold and splashy, you’d just might as well forget gardening around the Spoiler!

One of my other favorites, heucheras and heucherellas and tiarellas, which would work fairly nicely there too, because if we don’t get a lot of rain during the summer it can get a bit dry there–are also out then, because they won’t go dormant for him–but if I can find enough varieties of those, I just might do it anyway and let him “blow around” them.

Or perish the thought, I could actually rake out there area–it’s just a dogwood tree. The leaves aren’t that prolific.

But I’m already a slave to the almighty mower in what I can put on the lawn (in other words–nothing!) I refuse to be a slave to the blower as well!

But on the other, as someone who is committed to organic gardening, I find that there are very few of their products that I can support (I do use their organic potting soil) and there are some (Round-up, for example) that I feel I have to protest when ever I can, regardless of company affiliation.

Now Miracle-Gro, one of Scotts companies, has come out with a way to make vegetable gardening easier for those just beginning, or those with very little time.

They have put together a line of (trademarked, of course) what look to be peat capsules which contain a planting medium of some sort (one of their soil mixes, of course) together with a vegetable or herb seed already planted at the correct depth–and at the bottom of the capsule, slow release fertilizer (think Osmocote for vegetables) that will feed the plant all summer.

It’s quite ingenious. For folks who are a little hesitant about starting seeds, or for those who have had bad experiences with seeds in the past, this is the perfect thing. Best of all, the Gro-ables (as they are called) are guaranteed for 6 months, so that if you do have “crop failure” (as I call it when my seeds don’t grow) you can get your money back. What’s not to like?

So far as I can see, these things are sold on-line, in both single vegetable pods and whole salad and herb garden kits. Here’s the link to the site.

The actual site also has a video of how to plant the pods, recipes of how to use the harvest, the requisite FAQ section (including what to do if animals dig up your pod) and more.

The only drawback (other than the fact that these use peat, a non-renewal resource, and of course use non-organic fertilizer–but heck, everyone is not as picky as I am!) for the novice gardener that I foresee is that the video shows that the planted pod should be level with the soil. That leaves a lip of peat above ground. That can actually act as a wick to dry out the entire mass. Time will tell if that proves to be a real problem for the gardener.

Another tiny quibble that I have is that I could not see that the plants were identified by name–other than “Globe tomato” for example. But perhaps not everyone really cares to know the particular variety name of the tomato. I do.

Otherwise, this does appear to be quite an advance in making vegetable gardening from seed much easier.

Here are some more containers I’ve planted up for a lecture next week. This one is planted to illustrate color theory–the nemesia (the low trailer) is one shade away from the color of the geranium (pelargonium, technically). So I’m playing with tones and shades of color.

This container too is all about color theory and problem solving. Working from the croton, which has gotten way too stalky (in other words, it’s lost its lower leaves) I founds an annual (technically a bulb)–the reiger begonia and a perennial, the heuchera or coral bells, to hide its “bare legs.”

The fact that the colors all harmonize was also planned.

This is the latest container craze–or one of them anyway. Look closely–the “million bells” (calibrachoa species) are planted in an old purse!

I’ve seen as many variations on this theme as there are old purses (and gardeners willing to ruin them.) This one comes from the “gel purse” craze of a few years back so its tailor made for gardening. And the strap is a built in hanger!

Back when I was working in retail gardening, a lot of people would confuse annuals and perennials. It makes sense. “Annuals” sound like something that come back every year–or should, anyway. So I came up with the little reminder “perennial is perpetual” to help folks to remember which is which.

The one thing I couldn’t help them with is that “perennial” doesn’t mean “no care.” A lot of folks would think that perennials were “no care” because “you planted them once and they came back every year.”

While this is technically true (barring some unforeseen events like the October 2011 snowstorm, Superstorm Sandy, or a mail truck backing over your lavender [that's a post for yet another time!]) it doesn’t mean that just because they come back, you don’t need to care for them.

For example, the perennial at the top of this post is liriope, or lilyturf grass. It’s a great, tough as nails plant; it can work as a ground cover in both sun and shade; it increases in size every year–workhorse perennial.

But, I ask–would you call that a “no care” plant? Would you want to look at that all summer? I hope not!

This is what it looks like after its spring “haircut.” Most years you’d be able to see the new shoots coming up from the middle of the clump. This year, because it’s been so dry, there are no new shoots yet. I think this is the first time I’ve actually gotten the trimming done before the new growth started!

So while perennials are great, “easy care” plants, they do require some maintenance. And if the truth had to be told, I could probably stand to divide these too. But I don’t have to, thankfully. Because I have a lot of other work that must be done.

Here, for example, is a clump of siberian iris. It’s in desperate need of dividing–see that dead area in the middle? What should happen is that I should dig the whole thing out, section off the outer clumps and replant them and discard that “dead zone” in the middle.

Will I get to it this year? Most likely not.

But don’t let anyone kid you. While perennials come back every year, they are not “easy care” or “no work.” If you want that, get plastic plants!

I’ve been trying to nudge the Spoiler in this direction–with varying degrees of success-for years. It’s not that he disagrees with the “organic” approach–it’s that he has no idea what a “chemical” is. A week or so ago he tried to tell me that Preen was exactly the same as corn gluten. My head hurts just thinking about it!

In any event, we don’t knowingly use chemicals on the lawn. I’m not quite sure what the Spoiler does when I am working–nothing dire I hope.

In any event, the concept of the Freedom Lawn, as I understand it, is to allow the lawn to be more than just a monoculture of grass (even if it is a blend of different types of grasses as it should be–ryes, fescues, blues, etc.)

Instead, the lawn (if, indeed, you choose to have one at all–with Pam Penick’s new book Lawn Gone, some folks may just decide that there’s no need for a lawn whatsoever!) becomes a blend of lawn grasses, flowering plants, native plants and even, yes,–gasp–weeds. This makes the lawn more heat resistant, drought resistant, insect and disease resistant and it will even stay green a lot longer without artificial irrigation in the summer. What’s not to like?

Here for example are those violets that give most homeowners fits. I find them charming–and so do several species of butterflies that use them as nectar plants. If you want butterflies, you’ve got to stop using pesticides. That’s why we’re losing our monarchs and our bees.

Weeds? Or Wildflowers? You choose. This is clover and creeping veronica. I’ve also got a dwarf native hypericum, also known as St. Johns Wort, growing in the lawn. Now if you don’t want it there, it’s a weed. That’s how clover came to be listed as one of the “weeds” that are killed on all the pesticide products–because the manufacturers couldn’t figure out how not to kill it when they were killing all the other weeds.

But clover actually fixes nitrogen in the soil–in other word, it helps feed the soil. And the rabbits in my yard like to feast on it, leaving my “ornamental” plants alone.

It’s also a benefit to native bees and some butterflies. So you decide: weed or wildflower?

Finally, I’ve got lots of these ferns popping up spontaneously all over the yard. When they get too large for the lawn, I transplant them to my garden beds–we have plenty of shade for them.

But, for those used to the “golf course” look, there’s a lot not to like here. My yard looks nothing like a fairway and is in no way “manicured.”

But it’s a great habitat for all sorts of wildlife.

So you ask yourself a couple of questions: first–look at what I wrote about the heat resistance, etc.

Next, think about this. Right now, every single house in my neighborhood with children has a yellow sign on the lawn that says that some sort of pesticide has been applied. What’s wrong with that picture? Is it so important that those folks not have crabgrass that they’re applying chemicals where their children play–even though we have a law in this state that forbids us to do the same at their children’s’ schools?

That’s a scary thought–and maybe if more folks thought about it, they’d allow a little more clover, violets and other so-called weeds into their lawns–maybe even crabgrass.

I have no desire to put landscapers and lawn guys out of business–two of my neighbors earn their living that way. And they still could, even if more folks chose freedom lawns. There would still be plenty to mow.

A white native dogwood, cornus florida.

A crabapple of unknown species–I didn’t plant this one.

Back when I was doing some garden coaching, I had a client tell me that she wouldn’t put in any more hydrangeas because it took her half a day every spring to prune the ones that she had.

Of course, that’s her perogative, and obviously she doesn’t find pruning enjoyable or redemptive. I’d much rather prune than weed, for example. But I find the work that I have to do on my hydrangeas–which easily encompasses most of a weekend every spring–more than pays me back. Most years my early blooming hydrangeas start blooming in June and the rest take over and continue right through September. For continuous blooms for four months of the year, I’ll gladly put in a weekend’s work of pruning and thinning!

The image above is of an “unpruned” or “winter-killed” Endless Summer hydrangea. This was one of the hydrangea macrophylla or big leaf hydrangea that I had to do the most cutting back on. It stands, fairly unprotected, in the middle of a mixed shrub and perennial bed so that in the middle of winter there are no evergreen or shrubby plants around it to protect it.

But because it blooms both on old and new wood, I can cut it back as severely as it needs to be cut and still have blooms this year. I love this hydrangea!

This is the “old-fashioned” type of hydrangea macrophylla that blooms on old wood only. That means that all of the blooms for this year were formed last year and any of the pruning that I do this spring because of dieback, deer browse damage, or broken canes means that I have lost some blooms. It can’t be helped. But needless to say, I prune this type of hydrangea a lot more carefully. This is my ‘Nikko Blue’ hydrangea.

Finally this scary looking shrub is a “PeeGee” hydrangea (hydrangea paniculata grandiflora). Like the Endless Summer, it will bloom on new wood, so it can be cut back hard. Normally, this shrub should have leaves on it as well. But it, more than almost all my other hydrangeas, loves moisture. And remember my post from Friday? It’s been very dry. So although the shrub looks dead, it’s not. It’s just very stunted.

But that tells you how dry it really is here!

In my yard, the early spring color is mostly blues, yellows and whites. I like to try to imitate nature when I plant (with the exception of annuals, where I get a little crazy!) and you’ll see this color combination a lot in nature in almost all seasons. You see it in the wildflowers of spring: buttercups, flax, clover being just one combination, and you see it in the last combinations of fall: goldenrod, white and purple asters.

My blues come from bulbs, almost all finished blooming by now, and the yellows, almost a month later than normal come from trees, shrubs and perennials. My whites are a combination of bulbs and the flowering trees that you saw on Wednesday.

But I find yellow the cheeriest color in early spring. Even this late in the season it’s quite a delight to see all the different golden hues. For example, here is the buttery color of the kerria from Wednesday’s post.

Then there’s this lovely bright golden perennial, a bleeding heart (dicentra spectabilis). It’s even more unusual when it blooms, although I confess I’m not a fan of yellow and the pink flowers together.

This poppy, a “pass-along plant” from one of my homeowner’s association’s plant swaps, is a native plant. One of its best attributes (besides the color) is that it will grow in shade. It is the celadine poppy, stylophyorum diphyllum.

Finally, this slightly mangled magnolia is one of my favorites. I grew it from a one gallon plant obtained from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in 1999.

Back in 1999, it was a rare cultivar. Now it’s much more easily obtained. It’s called ‘Elizabeth.’

It was much taller than this until the October Snowstorm of 2011 topped it. Now it’s sort of a “weeping” version. It’s gradually regaining its shape. This was one of the trees I pruned back hard in March, when the snow was still over my boot tops (when I could see what I was doing).

My favorite spring shrub, kerria japonica. I prefer this to forsythia.

One of our Japanese maples, just coming into bloom (and leaf). This is one of the prettiest stages–almost prettier than the fall color!

Two of our flowering trees, a Snow Fountain Cherry (prunus x subhirtella ‘Snow Fountain’) and a Star Magnolia (magnolia stellata) just finishing up bloom.

Last year these trees were in bloom a full month earlier!

I grow a lot of sage (salvia officinalis and species) but I don’t really use it a lot in cooking. That may seem a little strange, but for me, sage is a beautiful, ornamental plant (it helps that I grow the variegated and purple leafed varieties). This is the golden sage topiary that was in that herbal planter that I showed in the post on thyme a few weeks back.

The other reason that I like sage so much is that it blooms with a lovely blue bloom–and anyone who has grown the perennial salvia knows the lovely color and long bloom time of sage. Not only is this useful in the garden, but it’s great for attracting bees. And why do we need bees in the garden? To pollinate our vegetables, of course. And since many of my herbs are in with my vegetables, it’s very helpful to have sage as a plant to draw the bees to the garden.

Sage, being in the mint family, will want full sun. It is better behaved than mint but a good sized plant can get a bit out of control in the garden after a few years. Luckily, a good pruning keeps it in bounds–it’s not like mint where you have to plant it in a pot to keep it from getting out of control and running amok!

When I do use sage to cook, I use it for the very traditional bread stuffing around Thanksgiving. I have used it chopped finely and sauteed in a little butter with some cauliflower and I served that with some cheese ravioli. Other than that, I’m not much of one for cooking with it.

But again, when a plant is so pretty and does such a wonderful job of bringing bees to the garden, what more do I need it to do? The fact that I can cook with it is almost an unexpected bonus!