About Our Group

When we were young gardeners, our days would quickly melt into nights as we amended, weeded, plotted, planned, and planted our gardens. Aches and pains could be soothed soaking in a hot tub at night followed by restful sleep that allowed us to repeat the process again the next day. We dreamed of more plants and more land – there would never be enough. It was a way of life that we would never dream of leaving behind.

We are now all at least sixty years old - a group of passionate gardeners with a more realistic approach to our gardening. We do not want to let it all go, but we feel the need to get it under control. Our bodies do not heal overnight. We take breaks and quit before dark. As a group, we share our experiences, learn from each other, and provide mutual support and encouragement to continue to enjoy gardening through our golden years.

Membership is limited at our monthly meetings. Those on our waiting list can visit this site and keep up with our group discussions. This Blog will continue to be refined over time – just like us!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

December 15, 2010

Our first freeze followed by those windy days sure changed the look of the garden. Flowers on Fuchsias and on Salvia ‘Black and Blue’ have disappeared along with the canopy of color displayed on the trees above them. Between rain, wind, and cold I have managed to clean up most of the leaves and replace their slug infested blanket with a fresh layer of mulch. The idea is to reduce the number of slugs laying in wait for the young, tender growth of spring. Cleaning up all of the decaying plant material that was left behind in the wake of our first blast of wintry weather will also help to reduce their numbers – especially the babies that continue to hatch.  

The pathetic looking daylily with its base surrounded by fallen leaves in the picture at the right is a perfect example of just how opportunistic those young slugs are. When temperatures drop, they hide close to the ground, safely tucked into the folds of the fallen leaves. When temperatures rise, they slither up to leisurely dine on what is left of the daylily foliage. I will need to spend another eight hours cleaning up in order to finish the job.


In early December, I took my camera and walked the garden in search of photo opportunities that would reflect just how good or how terrible things looked. There were many surprises.  I think this will be a new monthly ritual – unless it is too cold for this old body to tolerate. It is especially useful because I have added so many “new to me” things in the past three years and now realize that I haven’t spent enough quality time getting to know many of them. I am surprised at just how good some of the shrubs look. 


An example of what looks good is Kerria Japonica, a shrub I added after seeing Kay Ross’s beautiful bush in the spring of 2009. My little baby was planted that same year, growing to a mid-sized shrub that bloomed beautifully this year. I didn’t realize that not only would it have a flush of bloom in early spring, but that it would also continually produce a few new flowers throughout the season. Most surprising was how this shrub looked on December 3rd after the freeze and several windy days. That one last flower just did not want to give up and the stems are so green!

The pieris look great, but two stand out because of their variegated foliage. P. japonica ‘Little Heath’ has small leaves and its size makes it a great container plant. ‘Flaming Silver’ has large leaves with bright red new growth in spring. Both of these shrubs look unscathed by the severe weather.




Pieris japonica 'Flaming Silver'


Pieris japonica 'Little Heath'