Pieris Japonica

Now gloriously in bloom.  I spent a sunny hour pruning out dead wood and old seed pods on our patio tree.

The Facts

Family: Ericaceae
Genus: Pieris Species: japonica Common Name: Pieris
Area of Origin: Japan, China, Taiwan
Characteristics:  An excellent large specimen broadleaf evergreen that can work well in the shrub border, on mass or with other broadleaf evergreens.  Dirr claims it grows 9' - 12' tall with a 6' - 8' spread, and is slow growing, 4' - 6' in 5 to 8 years.  Our patio tree is a least 15' tall and 10 wide.  The leaves are alternate, simple, crenate-serrate and lustrous dark green above with lighter green beneath.  The new growth is a rich bronze and the new foliage on some of the new cultivars such as 'Mountain Fire' is spectacular.  The trunk is vertically fissured and attractive.  The flower buds form in the summer prior to flowering, the flowers themselves are perfect, weakly fragrant, white, urn-shaped borne in 3"-6" long and wide, pendulous, racemose panicles.  The dehiscent fruit capsules are messy and best removed after flowering.  

Hardiness: USDA Zones 5 to 8.
Cultivation needs: Easy to grow, likes moist, acid, well-drained soil and prefers full sun to partial shade which ours now has but until we cut the large oak from the center of the patio was in full shade.  According to Dirr it does not grow old without a struggle and needs to be sheltered from the wind.  There are loads of cultivars flooding the market now, compact, red new foliage, pink flowers, red flower buds etc etc.
Typical Pests, Diseases, associated problems: Leaf spots, die back, lace bugs -- this is a real menace in our neck of the woods.  The bugs suck the juices from the leaves and cause yellowing to browning of foliage.  Also Florida wax scale, two-spotted mite, nematodes.  Still worth the effort.
Propagation Method: Seed or cuttings which root easily.  That's if you want to wait years for a stick to grow.

Corylopsis glabrescens

Flowering now, I fell in love with this shrub at Winterthur where Dupont planted a long walk of corylopsis or fragrant winterhazel underplanted with helleborus.  More subtle than the yellow of forsythia, the fragrant flowers glow in spring sunshine and are complemented wonderfully by the smokey purple hellebores.

The Facts

Family: Hamamelidaceae
Genus: Corylopsis Species: glabrescens Common Name: Fragrant Winterhazel
Area of Origin: Japan
Characteristics:  Another large multi-stemmed deciduous spring flowering woody shrub (usually 8' - 15' tall with a similar spread) which is somewhat flat-topped, rounded.  Simple, ovate, alternate leaves are 2" - 4" long and have bristle-like teeth a wonderful chartreuse color in spring turning dark green.  Fall color varies from yellow-green to clear gold.  The flowers are perfect, pale yellow and fragrant, borne in 1" - 1 1/2" long pendulous racemes and flower from March - April before the leaves.
Hardiness: USDA Zones 5 to 8.
Cultivation needs: Easy to grow, prefers full sun to light shade, ours is at the edge of the woods and in summer months is in fairly deep shade.  Likes moist, acid, preferably well-drained soil that has been amended with peat moss or leaf mold.  It's a great plant for early spring color and fragrance and can be successfully integrated into shrub borders.  It's best planted in front of an evergreen background so the flowers really pop.
Typical Pests, Diseases, associated problems: Like most members of the family it is free from significant problems.
Propagation Method: Seeds are difficult and require a 5 month/3 month warm/cold period so well beyond my patience.  Softwood cuttings root easily and can be gathered throughout June, July and August with a 90% success rate when dipped in rooting hormone.  However, Dirr notes that the cuttings are resistant to moving and should go through a dormancy cycle before transplanting.  

Weekly Reminder -- March 21

A Check List of Timely Tasks

1. Next week should be a great time to sow a range of vegetable seeds directly into the ground; carrots, spinach, lettuce, rocket, peas and broad beans.  The soil has had a week of above average temperatures to warm and dry it.
2. Most vegetables can be sown straight into their growing positions, it's important to thin them out as soon as possible which is something I find hard to do.
3. Leeks, cabbages and broccoli are best sown in a seed bed and then transplanted into their final positions later, spaced well apart.
4. After digging or tilling the planting beds you need to prepare the soil surface for seed sowing by thoroughly raking the soil and removing large stones and debris.  This creates a fine tilth -- great old English word meaning:- "the condition of tilled soil especially in respect to suitability for sowing seeds.  From the old English tilian [strive for, obtain by effort,] of Germanic origin; related to Dutch telen ‘produce, cultivate’ and German zielen ‘aim, strive,’ also ultimately to till. The current sense dates from Middle English"
5. Seed packets give good advice on planting depths and distances. In general, larger seeds such as peas should go 2in deep, while fine seeds need only a shallow covering of soil.
6. Use string to make a taut, straight line and run the back of a rake or hoe along it to carve out your drill.  Alternatively you can place a cane or stake across the bed and lightly push it into the surface to form a straight drill (shallow depression).  The depth should be as directed on the seed packet. The drills should be spaced according to the instructions on the seed packet.
7. Add water to the row before sowing.  This is usually better than watering over the top of sown seeds. 
8. Thinly scatter the seed into the bottom of the drill. Don’t be over enthusiastic, as plants will need thinning to the spacing recommended on the seed packet. A finger width apart is usually right for small seeds.
9. Use a rake to gently cover the seeds with soil, filling the drill back in again. 
10. Before you forget where the row is and what you’ve sown, place a label in the soil at one end.
11. Cover the patch with a single layer of fleece to protect against frost. Use a spade to push the edges of the fleece into the ground to ensure it doesn’t blow away, I also add staples to the edges so the wind doesn't catch it. 
12. Remember to water in dry spells. 

Spring soil

It's a deliciously mild spring morning, temperatures in the 40s before 9:00am and promising to soar into the 70s today.

The chickens are adjusting grumpily to their new location outside the vegetable garden and the straw littering the beds has been dug in with a sprinkling of milorganite as added fertilizer.  I'll let the turned soil sit for a day before raking in preparation for sowing peas and planting out the trays of kale and cauliflower I've moved from the potting shed to the cold-frame to harden off.

Ideally peas should be sown by St Patrick's day, but although the weather is now glorious it was such a cold wet winter the soil needed the warm days last week to dry out before being worked.

Some spring tasks you can write in stone -- sowing tomato seeds 8 weeks before the last predicted frost in the area.  If frost still threatens after planting out the new seedlings can be covered with fleece and survive.  Sown too early, you risk thin straggling plants that have stretched too long for light.

Other spring tasks are a moveable feast, if the winter is as wet and cold as this year's even if the weather is suddenly glorious the ground may still be too wet to sow or plant any edible crops.

The classic test is whether the soil sticks to your boots.  If it does, wait a couple of days until there is 'tanning' on the soil surface.

There's still plenty to do -- the soil might be too wet to dig but will be easier to edge.  Neatening edges and weeding now greatly improves the garden going forward.  The best way to edge is to use a moon-shaped cutter and angle the tool slightly outwards rather than straight down.  This exaggerates the edge and makes it look deeper. It also improves drainage and helps to prevent the weed seeds congregating in the groove at the bottom.

Sweet Peas -- lathyrus odoratus

The final Sweet Peas are sown, 3 to a 3" pot.   Too late of course, they thrive in cool weather and should have been sown in early february and be ready to be set out now the soil is warming.

Grey, one of the barn cats kept trying to help, although luckily she didn't eat any of them as they're poisonous.  After a while she gave up, disappeared briefly and appeared at the utility door with a plump mouse as a present!

I'm hoping for a long cool spring, long cool summer too if I'm going to have much luck picking flowers. I'm trying old and true varieties such as Elegant Ladies to some newer ones such as Rosemary Verey and Midnight , shown below

Sunny spring day

A beautiful day with temperatures reaching the low 70s.  The ground has thawed quickly and we've started to dig the vegetable garden for planting.  An old stone wall, lichen and moss covered with a cap of euonymus was stunningly beautiful in early spring sunlight.

The new American Chestnut

The American chestnut tree was once king of the forest and was found from Maine to Georgia and as far west as the Ohio Valley.  The once stately hardwood played a vital role in the ecosystem, important to wildlife, native cultures, settlers and generations of wood-based industries.

Then, in the late 1800s disaster struck in the form of an imported Asian fungus which quickly killed a staggering 99.9% of the species.  By 1950 less than 100 trees remained of the estimated original four billion on the eastern seaboard.

Restoration attempts started over 100 years ago, as early as 1912 there are records of high level meetings to discuss blight containment strategies but despite significant research a cure has yet to be discovered.

The American Chestnut Foundation has been leading the fight to restore the American chestnut tree to it's native range within the woodlands of the eastern United States using a scientific research and a back-crossing breeding program developed by its founders.  They have over 6,000 members helping to bring it back from the brink of extinction.  The first  blight-resistant nuts were harvested in 2005 and the foundation hopes to begin restoration trials with blight-resistant American-type trees before the end of this decade.

For the first time their Annual Sponsor members have access to their potentially blight-resistant seeds.  These seeds represent 26 years of their best science and are being sent to members for testing and evaluation only.  Although they are not guaranteeing they will be resistant to the chestnut blight by planting the seeds you become part of their science team in helping TACF researchers improve resistance.

My seeds arrived yesterday and have started to germinate!

Now I just have to coddle them for the next few years, record their height and diameter at year one, three, five, ten and  every five years thereafter.

For now I've potted them up and nestled them with some other seedlings in the potting shed until ready to plant outside.