Coreopsis~Shift To Red!

early summer 2013

I've been thinking about how much I like Coreopsis. I mean really like them. They're dependable, have a long bloom period, are easy to grow and are usually trouble free and who doesn't like their colorful, daisy like flowers? 

Goldfinches enjoy Coreopsis tripteris seeds

Apparently, I didn't! At least for a while! I'm not exactly sure why I stopped planting them at Clay and Limestone. Maybe, it was that "too much of a yellow thing" I have going on with all the yellow composite flowers or it could have been that I thought they needed more sun and better drainage. Whatever! I reversed course and want more in the garden.

My favorite right now is Coreopsis 'Redshift'. The name is apt, the first blooms in early summer are a lovely buttery yellow that shifts to red as the summer turns into Autumn and the evenings cool. 'Redshift' is a hybrid (a complicated hybrid with many crosses)* and I appreciate the work that has gone into making this pretty flower that has survived the drought and deluge that is the hallmark of my Middle Tennessee garden.

Green metallic bee

 'Redshift' will rebloom all summer, often till the first frost, if regularly deadheaded. It forms a nice clump with its daisy flower dancing on sturdy stems above the foliage.

Bumbles visit it, too

'Redshift' was the first hybrid Coreopsis I added to my garden and I've been pleased with its performance for the past several years. Although, not a host plant for critters native to my garden, it does provide nectar to the many that visit it. (Go here for a post about this: The Flower and The Bee)

  But, seriously, I am loving the color change and almost constant bloom.

No two flowers are identical

'Redshift' has been such a success that I decided to try another Coreopsis hybrid.

Meet Coreopsis 'Garnet', a low-growing mounding plant (10 in. by 20 in.) with garnet-colored flowers.

Doesn't that color make your heart beat faster! So far the small bees love it.Keep your fingers crossed that it likes my garden, too.

xoxogail

*Coreopsis, 'Redshift' is also the result of 8 years of intensive breeding work and the crossing of 8 species of Coreopsis by hybridizer Darrell Probst. 

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

I Get Your Garden

Nothing makes me smile more than hearing a fellow gardener say "I get your garden." That was exactly what happened when a gardening friend stopped by last week.  Those simple words made my heart sing.

It's gratifying when others appreciate the work that has gone into creating this garden for wildlife. My goal is to have a four season garden that is a delight to me as well as the critters. But, Clay and Limestone is not appreciated by everyone. I’ve seen the puzzled looks on visitors faces and watched them struggle to find something to say! I know they enjoy the spring drifts of Phlox pilosa and later the Penstemon calycosus, but, after the intense bloom of spring and before the late summer aster explosion, a shady Middle Tennessee garden is a lot of green! Some people have said it's too natural for their taste, others think it's not floriferous enough and one dear friend asked if Nashville had weed laws.

There was a time when I might have agreed with them.

just a bit ago in the front garden

But, that was once upon a time. Now, a conventional garden with neatly weeded beds that are filled with exotic plants is beautiful to behold, but, it's not the standard by which I measure my garden success. When I discovered the beauty and wildlife value of native plants, my gardening standards changed. Nowadays, decaying grasses and seed heads are left standing all winter, the beds are mulched with shredded leaves, and the Danthonia spicata lawnette is dotted with critter friendly 'weeds' like clover, dandelions and Salvia lyrata.

It looks beautiful to me and the critters that live and visit here seem pretty happy... that feels like success.

But, that doesn't mean that I am not deeply touched when you all 'get my garden'.
I am...

Thank you.

xxoogail

"And it's all right now
yeah, I learned my lesson well
You see, you can't please everyone
so you gotta please yourself.
- Rick Nelson



Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Rethinking My Garden

If you asked me today what I would have done differently in my garden,  I would say:

"Build raised beds!"

If I had a do over I would build lovely raised planters that would be filled with loamy, rich, moist well draining soil.

'Peachie's Pick'  Stokesia from 2011

That's my fantasy soil. It's the complete opposite of Clay and Limestone's heavy clay soil that sits on a limestone bedrock that only blasting could remove. It's sticky wet all winter and concrete dry all summer.

Granted, good soil is only one of the many factors to be considered in the garden. But, let me have this moment, while I sink into the soft, loamy soil of my imagined raised bed.

Tennessee Coneflower

If you asked me today what's the second thing I would have done differently, I would say:

"Remove at least a dozen trees, maybe more!"

If I had a do over I would take down a few of the trees that make this garden entirely too shady and too dry. Rain rarely penetrates the canopy and the understory is dry from late Spring until the leaves drop in December.

Oakleaf Hydrangea

Granted, sunlight is only one of the many factors to be considered in a garden. But, let me have this moment to bask in the warmth of my fantasy sunny garden.

Hydrangea arborescens

If you asked me what else I have done differently in my garden, I would say:

"Have more hardscape and fewer planting beds"

If I had a do over I would have put in more paths, walls and created a gravely patio.  I would have planted fewer beds. Fewer beds means less maintenance and hardscape gives a garden more bones.

Granted, hardscape and planting beds are a few of the many factors to be considered in a garden.  But, let me contemplate my free time while sitting on the gravel patio of my fantasy.

The Waiting Bench will be a good spot to ponder changes

But, what I would have done differently way back then is not the question that needs to be asked! What I shall do differently in the near future is the real issue and that's the one I am pondering.  It took me some time to figure out how to garden here, and, I did manage to create a pretty fine place for wildflowers and critters.  But, change is afoot!  Weather patterns are changing;  our winters are warmer, our springs shorter, our summers hotter and dryer. The gardener is changing; she's looking down the road and  wonders how she can make the garden easier to maintain.

Time is ripe for change. I'll let you know what I decide.

xoxogail

PS I wrote about  my journey to become a wildflower gardener at C and L for State By State's online publication, you can go here to see On Becoming A Wildflower Gardener. 

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone." She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

A Native Grass Experiment

Poverty Grass sways in the slightest breeze.

Poverty Grass shows its silvery-gold inflorescence.

small and delicate inflorescence

I wrote about Danthonia spicata earlier this year in a Wildflower Wednesday post.  It's a cool season grass native to Middle Tennessee and can be found almost everywhere in the US and Canada.  

Poverty Grass is a perfect name for a grass that grows in the most inhospitable of 'lawn' spaces: Dry upland woods and forests, upland prairies, glades, tops of bluffs, old fields, eroded pastures, roadsides and dry disturbed areas. Of course, it's naturally occurring in my garden!

It's the dominant grass in the 'lawnette' areas of my garden.  It's a wispy, slender bladed grass that starts growing in the cooler weather of Spring, then flowers and sets seed in the early summer.  I don't water or fertilize this grass.  Traditionally, it is mowed to help balance the exuberance of my wildflowers.  But, last winter I decided to let it flower and go to seed.  I wanted to see how the grass looked full grown and I wanted free seed.

It looks lovely en mass

It looks lovely en mass.  The delicate, narrow blades are short by ornamental grass standards, about 12 inches, but, they move in the slightest breeze.  It's quite charming, sometimes it looks silver, other times quite golden.  I think it would make a delightful meadow grass...especially planted with aquilegias, phloxes and other native wildflowers. 

the wispy grass blades and seed heads dance in the breeze

In my book, this the experiment has been a success. The lawnette is:

• low maintenance: (no watering, no fertilizer, no pesticides, with only occasional mowing
• sustainable
• biodiverse (natives grasses in general are host plants for many butterflies and skippers and that increases dramatically if you plant forbs and the little bunnies love hiding there)
• charming 
• lovely
• making seed

Eastern Tailed Blue has been all over the danthonia!

 It's amazing but, this charming, hard working, grow almost anywhere grass is exactly the "weed' that lawn aficionados would work hard to eradicate!

They don't know what they are missing!

xxoogail

PS It's the perfect lawn alternative for a small garden.

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone." She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Have You Switched To Switchgrass?

Panicum virgatum 'Northwind'

I did and am I ever glad.

 

It's the perfect partner for the ex-asters, vernonia, juniperus, phlox, chasmanthium and hypericums that make their home at Clay and Limestone.  I value panicums for its strong vertical habit, showy flowers and interesting winter silhouette.

Panicum virgatum has a long history on this continent. It's native to the tall grass prairies of the Great Plains from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean.  Grasses like switchgrass, big bluestem, little bluestem and Indian grass dominated the tall grass prairies and were grazed by bison, deer and elk. It’s an upright, warm season bunching grass that can still be found growing in ‘remnant prairies’ and along interstates. 

Or, in your favorite garden center where delicious cultivars have made it to the market!  Once again, we have European  breeders to thank for making another marvelous native attractive to us! They've brought us lovely cultivars and spurred American breeders to get on the native grass bandwagon. I have two current favorites!

‘Northwind’ is without a doubt the most upright grass I’ve ever encountered. Heavy rains, and you know we have heavy rains in Middle Tennessee, have not brought it to its feet. The color is an interesting olive green that works well in my garden. But, holy-moly, what really makes this grass attractive is the long season of golden color.  In my garden it begins to golden up in September and continues all winter.  Some call it a tawny gold. I call it perfect.  Panicum prefers full sun, and moist, fertile soil; however, the plant will tolerate sand, heavy clay, dry slopes and boggy areas and less then full sun in my garden.  Drought tolerant. Hardy to Zone 4. Grows five feet tall.

‘Cheyenne Sky’ is a small red switchgrass that I am hoping can completely replace annual Pennisetum ‘Rubrum’ in my garden.   It’s been described as  a sturdy little plant that should remain standing throughout the winter.  I’ve read that  it can take  wet winters and even periods of standing water! That sounds perfect for this garden with our wet winters. Panicum prefers full sun, and moist, fertile soil; however, the plant will tolerate sand, heavy clay, dry slopes and boggy areas.  Hardy to Zone 4. Grows three feet tall.

Just in case I haven't made my case to convince you to switch to switchgrass.  Consider this~They fill the garden with movement and beauty all year long, while providing  food and shelter for visiting mammals, birds and insects.

Not bad for a grass.

xxoogail

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee.  She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone.