After overwintering a basket of fuchsia, I realized it looked really barren and I probably wouldn’t get any blooms for several weeks. So I pulled out a lot of old soil and added two new plants and fresh potting soil. Also stuck in four cuttings that rooted in less than a week.

And added two new red geraniums to a dull-looking overwintered pot, suddenly in need of flowers.

New begonia. When it comes to begonias, I like hot reds and oranges.

These rudbeckias were gifts from a colleague, Liz Anderson, one of our metro editors. They were way too aggressive for her back yard in Crestwood. I divided them up even more and put them in a half-dozen or so sunny spots.

Oy, I got a little carried away at three nurseries last weekend. New shovel, too.

I’ve been doing lots of clearing of multiflora rose, Japanese barberry and other invasive junk, so it’s fun to finally be adding new stuff.

Purple-leaved sand cherry shrub.

Salvia guarantica ‘Black & Blue,’ which Sandy Morrissey calls the “No. 1 plant for attracting hummingbirds.” It’s an annual for us in the Northeast. I had it last year—hummers went nuts for it. Beautiful blue tubular flowers—I’ll post when I get a bloom.

May 23
Rye Brook: Friends of Crawford Park Annual Planting Day.  10 a.m. Crawford Park, 122 N. Ridge St.  914-939-5570.

May 27
Yonkers: The Return of Bluebirds. Sponsor: Hudson River Audubon Society of Westchester. Free. 7:30 p.m. Lenoir Nature Preserve, 19 Dudley St.  914-237-9331.

May 30
Nanuet: Plant Sale.  Free. 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Children of Promise Stable Barn, 135 Convent Road.  845-623-2677.

West Haverstraw: Adapted Gardening Workshop. Topic: learn about adapted gardening tools and techniques. In MacArthur Park at the hospital. Free. 1-4 p.m. Helen Hayes Hospital, 51-55 Route 9W.  845-786-4950. Read more of this entry »

I’ve got lots of shady, moist spots in my yard, perfect for an unassuming little charmer known as pulmonaria. Then when I had to take down two big trees a couple of years ago, I discovered it can take a lot more sun than I realized.

Here it is in my new root garden, among the roots and stumps of those two trees. It’s the silver-leaved clump in front:

Much of my pulmonaria now bakes in the hot sun for a few hours every afternoon — and it doesn’t seem to mind a bit.

Outside of bulbs, they are one of the first bloomers in my garden in spring, a welcome sight for bees and early-arriving hummingbirds.

Long before the popularity of buzzwords like “sustainability,” “locally grown” and “organic,” Denise Martabano was planting her first school garden with youngsters from the Meadow Pond Elementary School in South Salem.

Sixteen years later, that garden has grown into a hugely productive 1,200-square-foot patch of green, and every child at Meadow Pond participates in Martabano’s garden throughout the school year. The school is one of three with gardens in the Katonah-Lewisboro district, where Martabano works as a kindergarten teacher and the districtwide health, wellness and sustainability coach.

And now this local pioneer in the school-gardening movement is spending many of her Saturdays at the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Pocantico Hills leading workshops with teachers from throughout the tri-state region, teaching them how to grow gardens at their own schools and integrate them into the classroom curriculum.

That’s Denise, with the visor:

(photos by Angela Gaul, Ricky Flores and me)

“It’s been a passion of mine since I was hired by the district,” Martabano says. “I’m a lifelong gardener. I love to grow food and I love to share what I know.”

Ask the master gardeners

Q: I don’t have room for an herb garden but would like to grow a few herbs. Which herbs will grow well in pots?

A: Container gardening is a great way to discover the joys of fresh herbs. A variety of herbs will grow well in almost any type of container.

Only a few basic requirements are necessary: a sunny location (6 to 8 hours of full sun per day), good potting soil and good drainage. Once established, herbs don’t require a lot of watering.

Fertilization is usually not necessary except for heavily harvested herbs such as basil (Ocimum basilicum), chives (Allium schoenoprasum) and parsley (Petroselinum crispum).

Chives in bloom:

Perennials: Plant chrysanthemum cuttings, Japanese anemones and asters for fall bloom. Continue dividing and transplanting. Mulch well.

Flowers: Plant zinnias, cosmos, cleome and nasturtiums. Dahlia tubers, salvia, verbena, geraniums and impatiens can also be planted in beds or containers. Keep seedheads picked from ripening bulbs to ensure better bloom next year. Plant gladiolus corms. Set up trellises for summer flowering vines. Read more of this entry »

News from Clare Pierson, President of the Friends of the Rockefeller State Park Preserve, about a fund raiser on May 21st at the Preserve gateway to celebrate the peony blossoms at that magnificent garden.

Keith Austin, the former mayor of Briarcliff Manor who oversees the volunteers who take care of the tree peonies, says they should be in full bloom this weekend.

If you’ve never seen these peonies in bloom, go. They are spectacular.

Photos here are by Mark Vergari from last May. Here’s a link to that post, with more history and background on how they arrived.

From Clare:

“The Friends of the Rockefeller State Park Preserve
host
The First Annual Spring Peony Celebration

A Fundraiser to Benefit Trail Maintenance and Other Projects at the Preserve

Thursday, May 21, 2009

5:30 pm – 8:30 pm

The Gateway of the Rockefeller State Park Preserve
Rt. 117 – One mile east of Route 9
Sleepy Hollow, New York 10591

Featuring

“Blooms” A Fine Art Floral Exhibit & Sale in the Art Gallery
An Exhibit of Ichibani Designs
A Flower Show featuring creations from Local Garden Clubs

Buffet & Cocktail Reception in the Courtyard surrounded by our
Extraordinary Japanese Peony Garden

Ticket Prices: Daffodil $100 Forsythia $150 Peony $250

For additional information or to purchase tickets, please e-mail the Friends at friends@friendsrock.org”

Henriette Suhr, who has been creating a great garden in Chappaqua for more than 50 years, will be honored on Tuesday with a special award from the Foundation for Landscape Studies.

As part of its fourth annual awards luncheon at Tavern-on-the-Green in Central Park, the foundation will honor Suhr and garden historian Mac Griswold with its Place Maker award. Adrian Benepe, commissioner of New York City Parks, will receive the group’s Place Keeper award.

Suhr was highly regarded as the interior designer who created Bloomingdale’s imaginative furniture showrooms before she and her late husband became interested in gardening at their former weekend home in Chappaqua. Today, their 8-acre garden, known as Rocky Hills, is a showpiece that’s long been a mainstay of the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days Program.

Suhr is working with the conservancy and the Westchester County Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation to ensure that her great garden will be preserved as a horticultural education center.

(Steve Schmitt photos)

Previous recipients of these awards include Tom Armstrong, chairman of the Garden Conservancy, and Roger Kennedy, former director of the National Park Service.

For more information, visit foundationforlandscapestudies.org or call 212-595-8049.
—————-

Henriette Suhr will open Rocky Hills to the public from 2 to 6 p.m. on May 23 as part of the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days Progam. Admission is $5.

(Mark Vergari photo)
—————-

At 6 p.m. May 30, the conservancy and the Friends of Rocky Hills are hosting a garden party to raise money for the preservation of her garden.

Guest speaker will be Dr. Lewis Goldfrank, chairman of the Department of Emergency Mediciine at NYU Medical Center and director of the NYC Poison Center. His talk will focus on common poisonous plants found in Westchester.

The garden party will be at Rocky Hills, 95 Old Roaring Brook Road, Chappaqua.

Reservations are $40 per person for members of the Friends of Rocky Hills, $50 for nonmembers. To make a reservation, call the Garden Conservancy, which is based in Cold Spring, at 845-265-2029. Reservations are not needed for the Open Days Program. Both events are rain or shine.

Here’s a release from Barbara Feldt about three upcoming talks she’s giving on what steps you can take to have a great garden, even with a herd of deer.

“Deer, Deer, Deer

“Three opportunities to “talk deer” are being offered by garden designer and author Barbara Feldt.  Not only known as a practical, “here’s how” writer, Barbara is also known for designing wildlife gardens and urges residential and public garden clients alike to get your property certified as a National Wildlife Federation Wildlife Habitat.  Her book, Garden Your City, takes you step by step so you can grow vegetables and flowers successfully.

“Want to know great plants you can plant without needing to spray, what plants really annoy their noses, and learn about your deer herd?  Barbara will have handouts from her deer lecture at the Philadelphia Flower Show and about attracting beneficial wildlife to your yard – like the bluebirds that are busy feeding their first brood in her garden.

“Sunday, May 17th – Many Light Hands
This Sunday at 1:00, Barbara will be at Many Light Hands, 69-71 Main Street, Cold Spring.  “Living & Gardening with Deer” followed by Q&A.  $10.00 Space is limited; call to confirm (845-809-5069)  Sip local wines and enjoy local cheeses.
See www.gardenyourcity.com for their 1st Anniversary details.