The hikers take a walk

Four of the five hiking girls met at the National Arboretum last month for a stroll around the grounds. It had been years and years since I was there, and it's definitely worth a trip. It starts at the water gardens by the entrance.
 

 

The Asian gardens had perhaps the best use of bamboo I've seen.


I made several Notes to Self.
 
This was a delicious combination of ginger and Hosta 'Halcyon.'

 
Kirengeshoma will get pretty big - I'm glad I have it under the oak tree instead of in the front garden.

 

I don't know Hexastylis, but it looks perfect for the shade gardens.

 
This plumleaf azalea is a native - worth looking into.
 

I loved the larkspur blooming among the balloonflower (though mine are just now coming into bud, so the timing might not work - nevertheless, get some larkspurs!)


There were a couple mysteries, too. What is this plant? The fruit left a heavy coating of orange pollen on my fingers.
 

 

And this is something ordinary, I think, but what? Elderberry??

More pix online here. Note the gorgeous lilies, poppies and larkspur by the Herb Garden. Delicious!

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.

More underplanting

The Carroll Gardens newsletter includes this timely question about underplanting maple trees, my exact challenge:

Question: The soil under our Maple tree is filled with roots and grass simply will not grow no matter how many times I have tried. I gave up on the grass and tried Pachysandra but it has dwindled away to nothing over the last year since I planted it. Is there anything that will grow under these conditions?

Answer: Growing plants under a Maple tree is indeed difficult. The problems are: shade, root competition and impoverished, dry soil. You may literally have to axe out a small section of root to be able to get your plants established, but this will not harm the Maple. The three plants with which I have had success, are: Symphytum grandiflorum, Geranium macrorrhizum and Japanese-variegated Solomon Seal (Polygonatum odoratum Thundergil Variegatum). I suggest you start with a few plants of each and see which thrives best under the Maple. All three will eventually spread and cover the ground.

I love the perennial geraniums and will seriously consider them - the others seem too tall for what I'm envisioning, but my vision changes by the day.