photos of plants
Today’s post is the answer to last week’s post, so if you haven’t yet taken a look at that, I suggest you do so now.
So, did you solve my little botany quiz? The correct answer is…
But wait a minute. Did you recognize all those plants? Going clockwise from the upper left corner, we have Spanish moss, a lovely orchid, a tropical bromeliad, and a pineapple.
Now do you know the answer?
Here’s a little puzzle to keep your gardening brain from going dormant during the cold winter months. Which of these things is not like the others? Can you figure it out? I’ll have the answer next week.
My, how times change. I remember sitting in my 7th grade health class, watching a film strip (you’re as old as I am if you remember those!) about hygiene. It recommended washing your hair at least every two weeks! An old magazine I recently unearthed advised housewives to put on a dress and make-up to greet their hard-working husbands at the door. And, the book that accompanied PBS’s Crockett’s Victory Garden (copyright 1977) offers a recipe for disaster with their diagram on how to plant a Christmas tree. Don’t blame Crockett, however—his directions followed what was then standard procedure. Yes, we’re always learning something new, even about gardening.
I had an idea for a post for today.
Instead I got the flu.
So instead of new insights, I hope it’s okay
To repost this for you.
Lots of people like to make New Year’s resolutions. Gardeners are no exception. A quick web search turned up plenty of lists, with gardeners around the country vowing to stay ahead of the weeds, thin their carrots, and learn the Latin names of all their favorite plants. If you like to garden, you probably have your own list of good intentions. And if you’re like me, you’ll struggle to keep even one of them.
This year, I’d like to propose a list of gardening resolutions that any enthusiastic gardener can keep. Your garden may not be perfect, but at least you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you achieved your New Year’s goals.
May your Christmas be filled with wonder and love. I’m taking a break next week to focus on our house full of family. See you December 29 with a year-end post.
You can tell a gardener lives in this house… here are a few favorite ornaments on our tree:
Top: Apple, wowing Santa,wunshine, flowering maple (Abuliton)?
Middle: Tomato, ladybug
Bottom: White rose, strawberry, carrot, grapes.
Today it’s time for my once-a-year photography promotion. Does someone on your gift list go wild for wildlife or bonkers for birds? Do they laud landscapes? Are they passionate about plants? How about giving them a photo expressing their special interest?
You can visit my online store at mountain-plover.com, view my line of blank greeting cards here, or contact me directly for prints of any of my photos that appear anywhere on this blog. (Note that prints not in stock will take a few extra days.)
Dead leaves, bare branches, brown grass. It’s hard to create a landscape that looks attractive when everything appears to be dead. Yet, we live in a place where winter can last six months, or more. I want my yard to be attractive all the time, not just during the growing season.
With that in mind, this week I paid a visit to the Denver Botanic Gardens. They’re open in every season, so surely they’ll have ideas for making a garden worth visiting, even in the winter. How do they do it?
“You don’t want to buy that lot—the trees have mistletoe!” Our realtor pointed at a shrubby mass growing among the branches high in the Ponderosa pine.
It didn’t look anything like the mistletoe I was familiar with, coming from California. There, the live oaks often support huge masses of mistletoe. And neither plant resembled the old plastic “mistletoe sprig” I inherited from my parents, that we hung in our doorway at Christmastime to encourage kissing. Curious, I did some research. It turns out that there are hundreds, if not thousands of barely-related species of parasitic plants called mistletoe.
Japanese Barberry (Berberis thunbergii) is one of those plants that seems to show up in every Colorado landscape. From parking lots to office buildings, highway medians to front yards, it’s everywhere you look. When a shrub is used that much, we tend to become jaded to its finer qualities. But the fact that it thrives everywhere while managing to keep its attractive appearance is exactly why we see it in so many places. I admit to being a bit of a plant snob, ignoring barberry in favor of more glamorous shrubs. It was only as I was scrolling through my photos that I realized just how pretty Japanese barberry is.
It’s a good thing that barberry keeps to a modest size—plants can grow up to six feet in diameter but usually only reach half that size here in Colorado. Pruning them can be a nightmare, as the arching branches are covered with nasty thorns. Chain mail and gauntlets are required. Leaves are small, as befits a drought-tolerant species, and come in red or green. Rather inconspicuous yellow spring flowers turn into pretty red berries in the fall. As the leaves turn crimson and orange and then fall, the berries take center stage, adding color and interest when most plants are fading away.
Barberry is one tough plant, a huge problem in the northeast where they’ve become invasive but a feature here in Colorado. They’re hardy in zones 4 through 8, and not fussy about soil or exposure. Cultivars with red leaves are more brilliant in full sun, but the plum red they turn in shade is just as pretty. Water regularly to get them established. After that, it’s all right to cut back a bit, although more water creates lusher growth and more berries. Shrubs will be much more attractive if allowed to develop their natural shape, pruned only to remove old, woody growth branches.
Even the thorns can be a benefit. Deer tend to avoid them while small birds appreciate this well-defended roost, munching on the berries in safety. Planting these shrubs under a window forms a formidable deterrent to would-be burglars.
Barberries are subject to a number of pests and diseases, including scale insects, mites, Japanese weevils, canker, dieback, fungal leaf spots, powdery mildew, root rot, Verticillium wilt, and rusts. However, these are quite rare in our dry climate. Just don’t plant them where Verticillium wilt has been a problem in the past, as it persists in the soil.
Japanese Barberry might be a bit overplanted, but after considering its many assets it’s easy to see why.
I know we live in Colorado, but it feels more like the arctic outside! As I write this, my thermometer is hovering around 2°F—and it’s been there all day! I’m glad I have a nice warm house to bundle up in, but my plants aren’t so privileged. Aside from the potted herbs that I hastily dragged indoors, my shrubs and flowers are stuck where they grow. I have a hunch they’re not all going to make it.
To make matters worse, this fall has been mild, at least until now. With highs in the 60s and even 70s and lows barely below freezing, many of my perennials still had green foliage. It takes gradually cooling temperatures for plants to properly harden for winter. These poor victims never saw it coming!
Mountain Plover 