Join us for a Wine Tasting at Old Line Fine Wine, Spirits and Bistro in Beltsville this Saturday, 1 to 4 p.m. Our Marian Parsley will be there with plenty of herbs and information on growing your own herbs plus coupons for your next visit to the garden center.  While you’re there, Old Line’s spirits experts will introduce you to a select group of liquors and ales made with different herbs, and the tasting is FREE. Good times!  Old Line is located at 11011 Baltimore Avenue in Beltsville, just south of Behnkes.

Or if you’d rather read about herbs and alcohol than taste them, Amy Stewart has a “hot off the press” book on the subject called, appropriately, The Drunken Botanist.  When not writing books, Stewart blogs on the popular blog Garden Rant with Susan Harris, who also blogs for Behnke’s.

Artemisia absinthum with B&B and Chartreuse

And all this has me thinking about Herbs and Alcohol…

Although it sounds like a boutique brewer’s latest experiment, herbal-flavored alcoholic beverages have a long history.  Of course hops offer the bitter flavor and characteristic aroma in beer, and craft beers and ales often distinguish themselves by the amount and types of hops they use.  May Wine, from Germany and Belgium, was traditionally flavored with Sweet Woodruff, Galium odoratum.  (Apparently no longer. Wikipedia says that it is now artificially flavored because the natural, organic wholesome, traditional ingredient is, well, poisonous.  Herbs often walk a fine line between whether they are edible, medicinal or deadly so you always want to do your research.  If an herb was dried and been placed in drawers to kill fleas, it might not be the best thing to sprinkle on your pasta. Just sayin’.))  Sweet woodruff is a popular shade ground cover in our perennial sales area.

Artemisia absinthum, a perennial related to sagebrush in the Western US and to ornamentals like Artemisia ‘Silver Mound’ and ‘Powis Castle’, is the flavoring ingredient of Absinthe, which is again legal after many years as a banned beverage.  My favorites are the herbal liqueurs that were originally developed in European monasteries “for medicinal purposes.”   Similar in spirit (no pun intended) to Coca-Cola, if not in flavor, they have secret recipes handed down over centuries, the exact components of which are known to only a few.  One of the formulations of Chartreuse is a lovely green color, and the color is named after the beverage, not vice-versa.  Chartreuse itself is named after the French Carthusian order of monks  who created it in the 1740’s .  Very strong, very expensive, very complex with 130 herbs in the mix.  I was going to say something similar about another favorite, Benedictine, except that Wikipedia (Killer of Dreams) has burst my bubble and says that the story that it was developed by Benedictine monks was a wee marketing ploy. Regardless: it’s good, if a bit sweet.  Benedictine and Brandy (B&B) may be more to your taste.

Posted by Larry Hurley.   Artemisia photo credit.

We read everywhere that now is the perfect time to plan changes to our gardens for the coming season, and I’m doing plenty of that.  But it’s not just sorting through seed catalogs, ya know.  I use the time to indulge myself in inspiration, and or just daydreaming about the garden.  It’s the dreams that lead to concrete plans for changes.

Front-yard patio and seating

Inspiration Galore

In my first year as a serious (some would say obsessive) gardener, I took out ALL the gardening magazines the poor local library had and when they wasn’t enough, ordered all the back issues of Fine Gardening Magazine and pored over them (definitely obsessively).  Books got some attention too, though the library’s garden book selection was pretty old, so  I raided the book shelves of my gardening friends.

Fine Gardening Garden Photo of the Day

Ah, but that was before the Internet.  Now new and experienced gardeners can find anything they want online.  There’s the wonderful Fine Gardening Garden Photo of the Day feature, which I’m told will soon include a search feature, so you could find “dry shade,” “patio,” whatever.  For inspiration that’s more local, try the Private Gardens and Public Gardens stories here on the Behnkes Blog, or the Behnkes Pinterest photos.

Best of all are chances to see gardens in person, so keep an eye out for garden tours, which start in April.

Checklist of Possible Improvements

While you’re glued to those photos of gorgeous gardens, here are some things about your own garden to think about:

• Are there more ways you could be using your yard?  Think big, like decks and gazebos, or small, like a play area – maybe a badminton set?  Anything that might get you and your family outdoors more.
• Is there enough seating, and places like patios to put all the chairs and benches? Because winter is not just the best time to think about those questions, but to implement the changes – or hire someone else to, before they get super-busy in the spring.
• How about more paths?  Gardens can usually use more of them -  to make the yard more usable and inviting. And patios don’t have to be created with expensive materials like flagstone; wood chips will suffice on flat surfaces and are often free.

• Water features can be as simple as plug-in fountains, which I highly recommend for low-maintenance gardeners, or ponds, which I do envy for the frogs and fish they hold or attract.
• Got enough shade?  Remember it can come from deciduous trees (Click here to see the array of popular shade trees and their gorgeous fall color) or even a market umbrella.
• And privacy; got enough?  Not just to screen unsightly views or nosy neighbors, but to create the feeling of an outdoor room that you’ll enjoy far more than the experience of sitting in an open field, which so many yards are like.  Screening can come from privacy fences, tall-enough plants, even containers filled with fake plants.  (In an earlier blog story I showed off my combination of privacy screen, evergreen trees and shrubs, and cut stalks of bamboo.)
• And could your yard or garden use more plants?  The easiest way to incorporate more plants that help local wildlife while filtering more stormwater is to rip up some lawn and replace it with new or larger borders or islands that hold shrubs, perennials and groundcovers.

Time for Not JUST Planning

Here in Maryland we’re lucky enough to have unfrozen ground through most of the winter, so there’s plenty of gardening we can get done now, before the spring rush.  Here’s my recent GardenRant story about winter gardening, where I agree with the Washington Post’s Adrian Higgins about how busy we can be this time of year.

Fine Gardening photo credit.  Post and all other photos by Susan Harris.

Rick Darke

What:  “Balancing Natives and Exotics in the Garden” by internationally acclaimed native-plant expert/author Rick Darke

When:  Saturday, March 2.  Registration and refreshments at 10 am, presentation at 11 am.

Where:  The Key School, 534 Hillsmere Drive, Annapolis, Free parking.  Talk sponsored by Unity Gardens.

Rick Darke brings a breath of fresh air to the debate about the relative merits or pitfalls of using native or exotic plants, a debate that’s so often long on emotion and short on common sense. He sensibly draws from horticultural science, contemporary ecology, and modern resource management studies to describe a balanced ethic for beautiful, functional, and sustainable garden design.

Darke heads a Pennsylvania-based consulting firm focused on landscape ethics, contextual design and photography.  His work blends art, ecology, and cultural geography in the design and management of livable landscapes. Projects include parks, scenic byways, transportation corridors, corporate and collegiate campuses, conservation developments, botanic gardens, and residential landscapes.

Rick Darke’s work has been featured in The New York Times, Garden Design, Gardens Illustrated, and on National Public Radio. He is the author and photographer of many books, including The American Woodland Garden: Capturing the Spirit of the Deciduous Forest, The Encyclopedia of Grasses for Livable Landscapes, and The Wild Garden: Expanded Edition. For further information check his website.

Who Should Attend:  Garden enthusiasts, environmentalists, educators, greening organizations, non-profits, community lovers, nature photographers, area planners and residents.

Registration: Online at Unitygardens.org or registration form can be sent to Unity Gardens, P.O. Box 6310, Annapolis, MD 21401 Cost per ticket: $55 (a portion of the ticket will be tax deductible).  Unity Gardens Inc. is a 501 (c) (3) not for profit organization.

Contact Information:  Email unitygardensaa@gmail.com or Barbara Dowling at 410-703-7530.

Note from a Fan: I’ve enjoyed all of Rick’s books and reviewed his Wild Garden here – with photos and a video.  I’ve also heard him speak in person at the National Arboretum and his talk and visuals were terrific!

Posted by Susan Harris.

Jim with a sprig of his beloved Lady Banks climber.

Jim Dronenburg is a long-time employee of Behnkes who also runs the Four Seasons Garden Club and is a certifiable plant nut and amateur rosarian, but claims no formal training in roses.  To my mind, he’s grown enough different roses – at least 40 varieties – over enough years that I want to hear what he recommends, which he did the other day at a seminar at our Beltsville location.

Species Roses

Dog rose

First, I want that Lady Banks climber Jim’s showing off in the photo above!  If only I had a large country garden like Jim’s to give it enough space.  Lady Banks is a species rose that produces flowers like crazy but no thorns, so handling it doesn’t endanger the gardener (like the “horribly thorny” ramblers do).  What it’s missing is scent.  Its scientific name is Rosa banksiae, which you can see from these images is a lovely muted yellow.  Lady Banks roses are remarkably disease-free.

Another species rose, Chestnut Rose, produces pink double flowers, and is slightly fragrant. (It’s shown here.)  Another is the Dog rose, or Rosa canina, which Jim wants, despite its flowers being “nothing to write home about.”  Well, I beg to differ – just look!  Not something for the vase, sure, but hundreds of these simple, single flowers on one old shrub is something I’d love to see.

 Modern Roses

'Blue Girl' hybrid tea

Modern Hybrid Tea roses are the type of rose we’ve come to expect in vases, those big double flowers that come one on each upright, stiff stem.  Not only are they perfect for cutting, but they’re what Jim calls a “massive improvement over once-bloomers” because yes indeedy, they rebloom.  And while once-bloomers have their fans – lots of them – most homeowners now look for roses that bloom throughout the season.   The popular ‘Blue Girl’ shown on the left is, you’ll notice, more pinkish lavender than actually blue.  But then blue roses are the Holy Grail that breeders have been seeking for many decades.

Floribunda roses are also popular, with similar reblooming characteristics to hybrid teas, but the blooms come in clusters on each stem.

Speaking of reblooming, Jim warns us not to expect constant blooming – that’s something different, and maybe only annuals can boost that accomplishment.  It takes the plant three to four weeks to gear up for each subsequent rush of blooms, of which there are perhaps six throughout the season.

Knockout Roses

Knockout Roses at Bethany Beach, with Daylilies

This very modern landscape rose was released to the market in 2000 and is now the best-selling rose in the U.S.  That’s because it blooms abundantly until December in our region, with almost a total lack of disease.  I’ve grown them myself and never seen a single speck of blackspot fungal disease, even late in the season.  The Knockout has won awards and many regard it as having single-handedly brought rose genetics from the 20th Century into the 21st Century.  Knockouts are now available in these colors:  red and double red, pink and double pink, rainbow, blush (very light pink) and the lovely yellow called Sunny.

Knockouts grow to about 4 by 4 feet, a perfect garden size, and I recommend them to almost all my garden-coaching clients.  For shorter shrub roses I love the ‘Flower Carpet’ and dwarf ‘Drift’ roses (photos coming soon of my new ‘Apricot’ purchases).

But back to Jim.  He likes Knockouts, too, remarking that they can take “enormous abuse” and are “indestructible”.

David Austin's 'Teasing Georgia'

David Austin’s “English Roses

Also in a category by themselves are the modern roses developed by the English breeder David Austin.  He developed them in response to hybrid tea roses that had lost their scent, with upright forms that are harder to incorporate into mixed gardens (as opposed to stand-alone rose gardens).  And Austin’s roses are indeed are fuller, more shrub-like than hybrid teas, and they have amazing blooms, like the ‘Teasing Georgia‘ variety you see here. The bloom is beyond double – it’s quartered, according to Jim, with “zillions” of layers. And don’t you love that subtle apricot color! David Austin roses are also pretty good at resisting disease.

An important point about David Austin roses grown in our region is that they can be substantially larger than claimed – because our climate is so much warmer and sunnier than most sites in England.

Got Fungal Disease?

Jim doesn’t mind a bit of blackspot himself and claims that his roses look like Bill the Cat by the end of the season but if you prefer a more robust look, he recommends using two different fungicides and spraying them alternately so the plants don’t develop a resistance to any one product.

Like Cut Roses?

Jim does, and that’s why he grows his own for cutting.  To disabuse you of the very notion of buying just any old cut rose, he recommends reading Amy Stewart’s Flower Confidential.  I’ve read it, too, and agree that finding out what’s sprayed on the typical cut flower makes for some scary reading.  (Full disclosure:  Amy and I blog together at GardenRant.)

When it comes to flower arranging, Jim is of the “cram school” himself, choosing the informal look over the more studied, formal one.  So the less formal shrub roses are great for Jim’s arrangements – no stiff hybrid teas are needed.

Cooking with Roses

Finally, true rosarian that he is, Jim also cooks with roses – think jams and jellies.  He also makes rose wine and says it’s easy, but according to his own mother, it’s “undrinkable.”  She compares it to drinking cologne.  (Okay, I’ll pass.)

Text by Susan Harris.  Dog rose credit.  Blue Girl photo credit.

Books We Love

Have you discovered Pinterest yet?  It’s the hot new social media site that you can peruse for gorgeous plants, gorgeous gardens, and really anything that can be shown in photos.   And now Behnkes has a growing number of photo collections (called boards on Pinterest) for your viewing pleasure.  For example, we’ve “pinned” dozens of excellent garden books – check ‘em out.

Blogs We Love

And above, you see just a few of the Blogs We love - all in the DC-MD-VA area.  Click on the photo to take you directly to the blog.  And if you know of any we’ve missed, let us know in a comment to this blog story and we’ll add it.  Local bloggers stick together!

There’s a dozen or so other collections of inspiring plants and whole gardens – check ‘em all out!