Impulse buy

Yesterday I visited a marvelous downtown garden belonging to Carl and Ann Little, showcased by the Native Plant Society and the ridiculously named but valuable Tri-County City Soil and Water Conservation something or other. The Littles have turned their medium-sized city lot (they're on William Street backing up to Maury) into a beautifully diverse garden filled with trees, shrubs, perennials, a vegetable garden, a delicious compost pile, and a beautiful water feature. Not a blade of grass to be seen! It was a beautiful and inspiring garden, and they graciously welcomed everyone to stop by whenever we like to visit it again. I might just do that!

Their garden is filled with lots of native plants, too, some of which were being sold by the Tri-County people. On a whim I bought three bearberries, an evergreen ground cover that I thought could do well in the white garden, edging the side in front of the shed.



Well, on looking it up I discovered that it is Arctostaphylos uva-ursi and considered "Difficult to transplant. Does best in acidic, poor, infertile, sandy soils." And "does not like excessive summer heat." And its common name comes from its attraction to bears, though I doubt any will find their way to Ferry Farm.

Hmmm.

But the Missouri Botanical Garden also says "An excellent, albeit slow-growing, evergreen ground cover which provides year round interest. Can provide good erosion protection for slopes and hillsides. Good with Azaleas. Green leaves and red berries are often used for Christmas decorations." I'll give it a try and see what happens.