Kenyon Plant Lists: 

56 Kenyon  

2010
schedule
      notes

2008
schedule
     notes
    

65 Kenyon  

70 Kenyon  

2007
schedule

     March 13
    April 21  
    May 5  
    Trip for 6/2
    Sept 8   

75 Kenyon  

96 Kenyon  

21 Sherman  

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  Garden Events Around Town 2010:          
  
  

Rose Festival:

Also Poetry Readings - Friends and Enemies of Wallace Stevens

White Flower Farm:

Hear renowned British horticulturist and holder of the Victoria Medal of Honour, Adrian Bloom. His newest book, Bloom's Best Perennials and Grasses: Expert Plant Choices and Dramatic Combinations for Year-Round Gardens, draws on 50 years of experience as a nurseryman and gardener. 

Historical Gardens Day

Class: Plants from Cuttings

Hollister House

Garden Conservancy

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Adopted Rose Bed: 

Thanks to Martha, Kenyon Streeters have adopted a rose bed at Elizabeth Park again for 2008.  This means that Martha, Mildred, Victoria and I have volunteered to pull weeds and prune the dead blossoms off the roses in our bed for this year.  
Feel free to pull any weeds we have missed when you visit the park.  

We have bed #308, located just opposite the Info Center (also just opposite a bench just inside the rose garden).  
#308 is in the second row from the edge.  Our roses are "Weeping China Doll".
See a diagram of the rose garden, and all the varieties planted in the 474 beds.  

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Elizabeth Park Centennial Roses on Kenyon: 

Picture with permission of Elizabeth Park

Thanks to Doug, Kenyon Streeters are planting 15 of Elizabeth Park's Centennial roses in our gardens.  
They arrived on May 5, 2007.

The Elizabeth Park Centennial Rose was bred especially for 
Elizabeth Park's 100th birthday.     order form    rose care  
For those who have Japanese beetles eating your roses - Doug reports great success by using a product: 
Spectracide: Systemic Rose & Flowering Shrub Insect Control + Fertilizer.

Elizabeth Park Centennial Rose

The long awaited Elizabeth Park Centennial Rose is in the Rose Garden. 
It is a beautiful, pale pink, with a raspberry or deep pink picotee edge, hybrid tea. 
The form of the bush is upright and it is of medium height. 
It has a fairly fast repeat and it seems to always be in bloom.

 Elizabeth Park Centennial was hybridized by John Mattia of Orange, Connecticut. 
John is an amateur hybridizer, but he is no amateur when it comes to roses. 
John is one of the top three rose exhibitors in the United States, having won all of the top national awards including the prestigious McFarland and Nickelson trophies. 
John is one of the founding members of the Connecticut Rose Society, 
he is both a consulting rosarian and a master consulting rosarian for the American Rose Society, 
as well as being a Horticultural Judge. John is also a member of the Board of Directors of Friends of Elizabeth Park. 

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Low-Cost Gardening:
Use What You Have    The Perfect Plant     Low-Cost  
Download Low Cost Gardening   

 

The Kenyon Street Garden Walk folks trade secrets and plants.

   Plants for:

   Clay Soil   Dry Areas   Dry 2      Wet Areas   Wet 2   Moss  
   Shaded Areas    Shade Perennials    Shade Annuals
   Long Blooming Perennials   Low-Maintenance Perennials    Long Lived Perennials    Special Needs    Perennial All-Star Book   
   Self-Seeding Annuals   Annuals from Seed   From Seed   Rooting Plants    Bulbs to Naturalize  
   Trees to Avoid   2   Trees for Under-Planting    Recommended Street Trees    

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     Garden Design & Maintenance:  

                Download comprehensive Garden Design Tips

Basic Considerations

How will you use your yard?  
What style do you have/want (Victorian, English cottage, French, Japanese)?  
Where are the views from inside and outside?   What are the problems?  
Where do you have/want shade...  Where do you have/want sun?
Where do you want privacy?   Where do you want to sit?  Where do you want utilities (lighting, trash, compost, faucet)
Edibles, flowers, low-maintenance design?  Encourage birds, bees, butterflies?
Energy-sustainability considerations:  Deciduous trees on the south side, evergreen trees on the north side.  Plant species native to Connecticut.
How much work can you handle?   Do not plant high maintenance beds in front or in hard to weed spots.  
What is your budget?    Do one section at a time?    Plant front first.

Make a bird's-eye sketch with your house in the middle (show north) - add arrows showing your basic considerations.

Scale, Color, Bloom Time

Pick the shape, ultimate size & color that fits your sunny, part-sun or shady area.  Note that as trees and tall shrubs grow, sun will turn to shade conditions.
          Full Sun: (6-8 hrs of sun.), Part Sun: (4-6 hrs.), Shade: (1-4 hrs.)

Scale: Oversized or crowded plants, trees and shrubs soon become a maintenance headache, so pick the ultimate size first!   Choose evergreen for year-round privacy, shade and background.  Fencing, vines on tall lattice, and artwork can provide privacy, too.

Color: What is your color scheme?  Using at least two sympathetic colors in proximity more than doubles the impact.

What house color or other background is there?  Very important.
What are the colors and bloom times of the surrounding plants? 
Leaf color and textures (silvers, grays, reds and browns break up the mass of green).  Don't forget fall foliage color combinations!

Timing:  When do you want the bloom color (spring, summer, fall - continuous)?  Don't pick a bloom time you are never there.   Spring and fall colors used in locations you can see from inside extends your enjoyment.  Place summer blooms where you can enjoy them where you sit outside.  Continuous color will not be concentrated if it's all in one bed.

Make a design showing shape, height and color of materials for your planting area.   Show the height and color of the background house or plantings, too.

Identify Specific Plants

(See Lower-Cost Gardening, above for general conditions in Hartford, lists of low-maintenance plants and "How-To".)

Sun vs Shade plants is usually the first cut.  
      Shade (1-3 hrs), partial shade (3-6 hrs.) or sun (6-8 hrs.)

Wet or dry conditions:  If you have a bog, plant bog plants.  Don't mix dry-loving plants next to those that need plenty of water.  Fungus indicates over watering or endless rain.  

Heavily fertilize vs No fertilize requirements:   Try not to alternate plants with different fertilizer requirements - keep them in groups.  Fertilizing 'easy-care' plants like Echinacea will boost the leaf production and they'll barely bloom.  Fertilizer is essential for some, like lilies and roses.

Lime vs acid-loving plants:  Neutral soil has a pH value from 6.5 to 7.0, which is what to aim for in most perennial beds.  pH levels for plants.

Rapidly spreading plants:  If you don't want to have to dig rapidly expanding plants, plant them where they can expand at will.  Root-expanding plants like some fern, lily of the valley, bee balm and ground covers like pachysandra can be stopped by a below-ground border barrier. Hint for mint lovers:  Mint is invasive.  Plant it in the ground in a pot within a pot - put a plastic bag in between the pots as a barrier. Remarkably, it survives this way year after year.  Seed-expanding plants like Echinacea will spread into any prepared beds where the seed falls.  Do not plant 'pest plants'.  Consider removing them.   Invasive species will become the scourge of the neighborhood, the state..... http://www.ct.nrcs.usda.gov/plants.html.  Plant species native to Connecticut. 

Special Considerations such as root competition.  Certain plants are happy under trees, others are not.  Hosta can survive most any condition.  

Identify specific plants that fit the spot (for conditions, shape, size and color).  See lists, above.

Draw a bird's-eye plan giving each plant its required space - fill in with annuals between newly planted perennials at first.

Planting and Soil Preparation

Wear sunscreen, gloves and a hat!

See Nancy DuBrule's advice on starting a perennial bed.

When:
Fall planting (after the hot days have passed) is best for lawns, shrubs and perennials to give roots a good head start..  The first week of October is usually optimal for planting.  Spring planting is next best.  Generally, plant when the soil is no longer saturated, but crumbles, and after danger of hard frost, in Hartford about May 1 to 15.  Plant annuals and vegetables in May.  To plant trees, see Knox Tree Planting and Tree Pruning and Maintenance.  

Test the Soil and Augment:   Do a soil test to see if your soil is overly acid or alkaline.  Most plants prefer neutral soil (pH of 6.5-7.0), but there are exceptions. Lilacs like alkaline soil (spread some lime). Rhododendron, azaleas and most evergreens like acid soil (fertilize with fertilizer specifically for acid-loving plants. Some people use oak leaves, some research says this is a myth.)  pH levels for plants.  A light side dressing of compost and dried manure (5-3-4) in early spring spring both fertilizes and tends to bring soil in our area to neutral.  Here, large amounts of compost are required to enrich, neutralize and lighten clay soil when first preparing a bed. For planting acid-loving plants such as rhododendrons and azaleas augment the soil with peat moss instead of compost.    Add rock phosphate deep into the soil when first preparing a garden bed.  Nancy DuBrule also adds greensand when first beginning a perennial bed to develop strong root systems.  Use a soil tester (at most garden centers) and read the bag label instructions for specific quantities needed. UConn Cooperative Extension Service also tests soil. They are at 1800 Asylum Ave (at Trout Brook in W. Hfd – opposite the UConn main parking lot).  Rule of thumb: add some lime if it's too acid, extra manure if it's too alkaline. 

Layout the Bed, Create a Lawn Barrier:   
Use a hose to layout the location of your new bed.  If your bed abuts a lawn, cut in a continuous barrier line the depth of  your shovel all along the boundary.  The barrier should be about three inches wide, sloping up towards the bed.  Never let the grass cross - your bed will be very hard to maintain once grass infiltrates the bed.  A plastic or metal barrier is more expensive and harder to install, but permanently keeps the separation.  A brick barrier is pretty, but sinks, collects weeds and mold and doesn't keep the grass out.  In any case, get rid of any live grass or weeds from your bed by digging down and under the grass and roots with a flat shovel or a sod cutter. You can also kill the grass/weeds in the bed by first by smothering your patch with black plastic (garbage bags held by wire stakes or rocks over several weeks.) Compost the discarded grass. 

If you have wet areas, avoid this location, or plant a bog species.  If the location is unavoidable, several inches of gravel below the top 18" of soil  will help keep topsoil from being saturated. Change the soil level to redirect or distribute water so it doesn't collect (mosquitoes can breed in very little water, including soil that's always muddy.  For minor problems, augmenting your soil with enough sand and compost may be all you need. 

Dig the Bed, Compost:   Prepare the soil well or you're wasting your time.   Turn the soil over with a shovel and pitchfork to loosen and aerate it - down at least a spade's depth - best to dig down 18".  Either transplant any grass to fill a bald spot in your lawn, or shake off the dirt and compost the grass.  Add 3" of compost over the whole bed and mix it all the way in.  You may need more compost and manure, possibly sand if your soil is heavy or part clay.  Discard rocks and break up clods.  For a new perennial bed, Smooth the surface so it drains away from the house.  Top dress with dried manure which fertilizes (sheep manure is best, but chicken is good, too.)  Check the package label for quantities.  Mix it in the top inch or two.  

Plant, Water:   Lay out the plants according to your design.  When you buy the plant – ask how far apart they should be.  Follow label instructions to plant seeds.  (for seeds, press a shovel handle in the soil to give you a straight planting line.)  You typically plant the seed with ½” or less of soil on top, pressing gently to make good contact with the soil. Seeds differ, but most come up in a week or two. You will plant more seeds than you need, so you will thin the seedlings that become established.

For potted plants, make sure the soil level matches the level of the bed.  If root-bound in the pot, slice the bottom 1/3 of the roots into four flaps, and spread the flaps when planting.  Pat it in to make sure the roots are in good contact with the soil.  Create a little dam on the sloping side to catch the water.   

Give your new plants or seeds a long drink with a gentle light spray. To check if you’ve watered enough, stick your finger in the soil to make sure the soil is wet to about 2” when first planting. Water again in half a week after first planting if the soil dries out or daily if your plants are drooping. Thereafter you need 1” of water a week – from nature or the sprinkler.  Pfaus Hardware has gauges for about $3.

Pinch off the top set of leaves when planting to produce a fuller plant.  This encourages side growth.

Mulch:   Put 2 " of shredded pine bark mulch around the plants, and over the whole bed.  Keep mulch from touching the actual plant.  Mulch retains moisture and keeps the weeds down.   
If you have planted seeds in the ground, spread 1/2" of compost as mulch to get them started.  Pull or move the extra seedlings in between once they grow several inches in order to get the proper spacing between plants.   

General Maintenance Schedule

Download
also see -  Garden Clubs of CT list Month-by-Month 

• Late Sept-Oct:  
  Weed in fall to keep weeds from getting a foothold.
  Dig in compost to make soil lighter and better, if desired.
  Spread grass seed w/ a little potting soil over bald spots (after scratching the dirt).
  If it's a dry fall, water deeply in late October so plants go into winter hydrated.
  See below for dividing perennials.

• November-Dec. (after hard frost)
  Cut dead perennial plants down.  Compost disease-free ones.
  Bank mulch around plants that are not hardy to protect from wide temperature shifts.
  Protect young evergreen shrubs from bending with heavy snowfall (twine, tent, etc.) 

• April:  
  After it rains, pull weeds, or use a weed blade tool where weeds are clustered.  
  Add a side dressing of chicken manure each spring around your plants (and compost to lighten your soil), or  Hollytone for acid-loving plants (rhododendron, azelea, andromeda, mountain laurel, fir, cedar, spruce, hemlock, holly, hydrangea, viburnam,  magnolia, dogwood, oak, etc. are all acid-loving)  pH levels for plants
  Spread Preen if you like extra help to keep weeds down.
  

• Late May: Mulch (shredded pine bark)  is our friend - about 2".  A late mulch lets you find seeds that have sprouted.
  Cage or stake any plants that need support (tall lilies, delphinium, peonies, dahlias)
  Plant heat-loving tomatoes and peppers in late May.  Plant summer bulbs like dahlias now.  HINT:  in Hartford, if you plant gladiola bulbs 9" deep, especially if near your foundation, we have found them to be hardy, blooming year after year without having to remove them. 

• June:
  Fertilize:  Only certain plants benefit from post-spring bloom fertilizer:  like lilies, delphinium, roses, reblooming bearded iris...  
  
  Deadhead:  Deadheading means twisting or clipping the dead flower off the plant as soon as it’s gone.  Deadhead  lilacs and spring bloomers to encourage growth, pinching spent blooms from your rhododendron will net more blooms next year.  Deadhead repeat bloomers like Salvia 'May Night' and Nepeta to encourage repeat bloom later in the season.  

Hard Trim:  Some early-blooming perennials that form a basal rosette of growth may tend to become large and floppy with age.  Trim them back hard after bloom is finished – you will quickly get handsome foliage that will remain compact all summer. Candidates include: Alchemilla (Lady's Mantle), Cranesbill (Geranium), Aquilegia (Columbine), Tiarella, and Heuchera.

Half-Trim:  I f you have any of the glorious tall, fall-blooming Asters, such as 'Alma Potschke', you can trim them back by half this month. Just do so by the end of June. Plants will still bloom, but will be more compact than their usual 3-4ft heights.  This is also useful for higher growing sedum like Autumn Joy, if you have found your sedum to be leggy or droopy in the fall.

Narcissus Leaves.  Leave the browning daffodil leaves alone.  They should be allowed to remain at least six weeks after bloom, to feed the bulb for next spring's show.  It is ideal to let the foliage wither by itself.  If it's been 6 weeks since the blooms faded, you can trim the leaves if you can't stand it.

• Ongoing:
  Weed as you walk!  (easy after it's saturated with rain).  Maintenance out front!   
  Keep lawn tidy.  See "Create a Lawn Barrier", above.
  
  Water:  Rule of thumb-you need about 1" of rain or watering per week for most annuals and perennials.  CT gets an average 1" a week, but if 1.5 weeks passes without an inch, water your plants. (A 'V' shaped rain gauge is helpful.  Use it also to learn how long to sprinkle to achieve 1".  I water a 6' swath with a gentle hose for about 1.5 minutes to achieve 1/2".)  Do not sprinkle your porch or siding - a sure way to rot expensive details to replace.
  
  Collecting Seeds
  If you want to collect seeds to start for next year, leave a few dead flowers that will go to seed. Collect them in envelopes from the dried pod. Label the envelope so you know what’s in there. Or just let the seeds drop and when they emerge in the spring, transplant them where you want them.  Perennials that easily reseed include foxgloves, cone flower and black-eyed susans which make small plants this year, ready to bloom next year.  Annuals that reseed include cleome, cosmos and snap dragons. 
  

• July-August:
  Every 2 weeks spray diluted liquid seaweed on rose leaves to keep them healthy.
  In years of high heat and drought, spray fish emulsion once or twice on all areas.  Attach a proportioner to your hose, and you will fertilize as you water.
  

• Anytime:
  Cut flowers to enjoy indoors.
  

Pruning and Dividing.

Mid-Fall

Divide perennials that are crowded, usually every 3-4 years.  Otherwise the plant and surrounding plants will stop blooming and may eventually die.  To divide, gently dig around and pull up plant root shaking off the dirt.  Lightly trim tops and roots.  With a disinfected knife (use Lysol, an antibacterial mouthwash such as Listerine, or rubbing alcohol), cut in half vertically along the root division, or divide into more plants, as appropriate.  Replant one in original spot.  For remaining sections, plant in new location, plant in holding garden out back, pot or give to a friend.  

Example of specific instructions:  Transplant bearded iris in the fall, keeping them from being crowded by other perennials.  Cut bearded iris back to 3-4" and remove spent foliage to discourage borers.  

Early Spring

Prune roses in early spring.  
Cut clematis that bloom on new wood back to 18" each spring (or at least every 3 or 4 years).  Clematis that bloom on either old or new wood should have dead wood removed and light pruning each year to keep some blooms at eye level - severely back to 18" after the first bloom to rejuvenate an old plant.  (See WWF document to see varieties of each type)

Pruning Trees:  Two or three years after planting, it's generally safe to prune.  Any earlier, and it may be losing vital moisture before deep roots are established.  Trees grow from the tips, so a branch 10" from the bottom will always be 10" from the bottom, only growing thicker as the years pass.   So, if you want to walk under a tree, eventually remove the branches under about 6 feet.   Immediately prune to remove branches that are dead, or those that can damage a tree by rubbing another branch, branches that shoot straight up or cross another, to encourage growth in a certain direction, and to uncover the basic shape so branches have room to grow thick.  Rule of thumb:  prune enough so a bird can fly through.  Leave enough leafing so the tree can sustain itself.  Prune also for aesthetics or if a branch will eventually hit the house, for example.  If you can foresee that a branch will become a problem, getting rid of it now will save a much more expensive removal later, and the tree will put it's energy into growing where you want it to. See Tree Pruning and Maintenance for an illustrated guide.

Pruning Shrubs:  Most shrubs grow from the tips or budding directly off the main branches.  Generally speaking, you can prune shrubs way back and they will branch out and become fuller.  For example, if a Rhody or Mt. Laurel is getting scraggly, oversized or blocking your view, cut the branches back below where you want it to grow back to get fuller branching.  The same is true of a privit hedge that has gotten thin or too tall.  Whack it back to a foot  if you like.  Privit shrubs can grow to 25' if left unattended.   Arborvitae can be topped, thinned, sculpted or cut near the ground to re-grow.  See Pruning Arborvitae for more specifics.

Anytime

Thin and Cut Back:  Some perennials spread way out of their zone, killing, crowding out or shading others you want to maintain.  Pull them, dig them out or prune back, as necessary.  Infamous encroachers include, cone flowers and black-eyed susans, ivy, lily-of-the-valley, bee balm.

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Resources:    

 

Elizabeth Park:   Overwintering Roses    glossary     
           Winter Lectures      Native Gardens      "Green" gardening     Tree Tour

UConn Coop Extension Service   Hartford office    home-garden 
            soil test    plant-insect test    fact sheets    plant database  
            master gardeners   seminars  

CT Agricultural Experiment Station 

CT Horticultural Society Master Gardener Links  

Garden Centers-Books      

WFF Weekly Garden Tips    rose planting & care   Lloyd Border 
            Climate Change in the Garden 
            Video How-Tos:  
                        Collecting hollyhock seeds    

Connecticut Gardener Articles  

Federated Garden Clubs of CT  Monthly To-Do List

The Seed Savers Exchange (save and exchange heirloom seeds) 

Planting and Maintaining Trees - our Knox photo-journal 

Annual February Flower Show  (lectures)

North-Central CT Conservation District Plant Sale (early April deadline)

For those who have Japanese beetles eating your roses - Doug reports great success by using a product: 
Spectracide: Systemic Rose & Flowering Shrub Insect Control + Fertilizer.

Hydrangeas  

Kenyon Street Pests:

            Cedar-Apple-Rust Fungus 

            Red Lily Beetle  Summary

            Japanese Beetles on Roses

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Kenyon Garden Walk Photos: 

  

Click here to see photos of our Kenyon Garden Walks   

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