May 2011 Meeting: Carolyn Starner on Garden Design

2011 Events, Design, Meetings No Responses »

Jun 112011

Carolyn Starner’s garden

We were privileged this month to have Carolyn Starner with us, author of the book Emerald Journey: A Walk Through Northwest Gardens. Carolyn gave a very enjoyable presentation on garden design. Carolyn had some good ideas that many of us felt would help to improve the look of our own gardens.

Carolyn showed some very nice phtotgraphs of her own garden and told us a great deal about her work designing and revamping her garden. This was so intriguing that I asked her to allow us to visit her garden in August for a tour. You won’t want to miss that!

Carolyn is a graduate of the University of Washington School of Art with a BFA in interior Design, and completed a course in terraced, town and village gardens at the English Gardening School in London, England. She has been a Master Gardener since 1992. She has 20 years’ experience photographing gardens and is a member of the Garden Conservancy.

Pat Vacha provided refreshments.

March Meeting: Eva Lusk – Native Plants & Wildlife

2010 Events, Companion Plants, Design No Responses »

May 012010

Everyone who attended our March meeting thoroughly enjoyed the entertaining and informative talk given by Eva Lusk on using native plants to attract wildlife to our Spokane area gardens. (Now, by “wildlife” we mean the good kind, i.e. hummingbirds, butterflies, bees, etc., not deer.)

Eva gave us a wonderful presentation on the many plants native to our area that will make our gardens more friendly places for birds, butterflies and other beautiful creatures. Her presentation was illustrated beautifully with photos of the plants she recommended taken in her own yard, a designated Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary due to her passion for using native species.

The plants Eva recommends have the added bonus, as native plants, of being easier to grow and maintain than plants from other geographical areas. Native plants are adapted to our local soil and weather conditions, and are more likely to be resistant to local pests and diseases.

Beautiful and Unusual Native Plants

Here are a few examples of plants she recommended. (Photos are from the University of Washington Library Digital Collection.)

A good example of a lovely native vine is Orange Honeysuckle (Lonicera ciliosa) – a vigorous climber, 6 to 18 feet, blooms in May, produces berries in September. Attracts hummingbirds.

Another native is Western Trillium (Trillium ovatum) – a shade loving plant, 6 to 24 inches, blooms April through May.

Another native shade plant is Wild Ginger (Asarum caudatum) – an evergreen shade plant, 4 to 6 inches, it produces unusual brownish-maroon blooms April through July.

A fine example of a beautiful native wildflower is the Grass Widow (Sisyrinchium douglasii) – 6 to 12 inches, blooms early April though June.

If you missed the meeting or would like to request a handout compiled by Eva with her recommendations and descriptions and uses for each, call or visit the Spokane County Extension Master Gardeners at 222 N Havana in Spokane just south of the Spokane Fairgrounds and the Indians Ballpark, phone: 477-2181. They are open Monday – Thursday from 9:00 am – 3:00 pm and Fridays from 9:00 am – 1:00 pm. You can also visit the Master Gardeners website or email them at mastergardener@spokanecounty.org.

For More Information

If you would like more information on gardening with native plants you may want to visit some of the following sites.

Spokane County Conservation District: Landscaping With Native Plants

Washington Native Plant Society

WSU Extension Guide to Native Plants

How to Train Your Roses to Climb and Create a Flower Wall

Design, Gardening Tips No Responses »

Jun 112009

This video is from AshdownRoses and the topic is training your climbers in such a way that that the canes have blooms along nearly their entire length, instead of just at the tips. In a nutshell you will be training the canes to grow almost horizontally. Watch the video and Mr. Zimmerman will show you how to properly train your climber(s) and create a gorgeous flower wall.

Books

Speaking of climbers and flower walls: If you’re a fan of climbing roses, whether or not you’re in any particular climate zone, you might want to check out this 1994 book, Climbing Roses: “This guide catalogs 65 beautiful rose varieties that thrive in the varied soil and climate conditions of North America. It is full of suggestions on how to cultivate and train the roses. 90 full-color photos.”
From Sunset Books: Roses: Placing Roses, Planting & Care, The Best Varieties. This is one of the books from our library and it covers pretty much all aspects of growing roses. The book isn’t specific to any one climate zone, though. So if you’re in zone 5, like we are, you may have to pick and choose a bit, otherwise it’s an excellent book. (Here’s some of our info on zone 5 roses.)

The Rose Show: The 62nd Spokane Rose Society Rose Show will be on June 27th 2009 at the West Central Community Center, 1603 N Belt St. Spokane WA. Here’s a map and here are the rules and regs if you want to participate.