#lsuhilltop

[backfortyarboretum]

I HAVE KILLED A LOT OF PLANTS

I had not intended to do another in my occasional series on plants, but my very long time friend Judy made a comment that cannot be answered in a single sentence. It is going to take a few sentences and will be embarrassing for me.

Many, many plants have died in my care, so Judy, I may not be your best choice for saving trouble ones (although I’m sure that you requested that in jest). I was talking with my son, Brad, the other evening and he said that I had a green thumb. “My thumb is green in the middle and brown around the edges just like most of my plants.” Funny, but really true.

As a general rule for shrubs, I have about a 75% success rate. If I plant four things, one of them will die. In total, my success rate is probably less than 50% as I have had some spectacular failures. In the area in front of our deck we have planted no less than six different types of plants only to have them die. The christmas berry that are there now, although murdered by last year’s winter, are still hanging on and I am optimistic that they will continue to do so. I planted 13 Spring Bouquet vibernum (for a crap load of money) to create a tunnel. It took about 6 months for all of them to die. Maybe 12 or 14 would have been a more lucky, but 13 was the perfect number for that area. Monrovia said that they would replace them, but never did. I refrain from purchasing their plants now.

I cannot grow rosemary, azaleas, or gardenias. Being a glutton for punishment and feeling that no arboretum would be complete without them I have some poor looking azaleas and worse looking gardenias struggling along right now. A break in the heat may give them what they need. Aside from those and some dead looking abelias the rest of the property looks satisfactory. My success rate with trees is much higher and that has buoyed my spirits in the last week or so. I few trees that I thought were near death have started pushing out new leaves.

When Dan Gill checks his email in the evening he’s probably thinking, “what, him again, he needs to give it up.” I’ve worn out his inbox over the last couple of years, but he has tolerated me and I have learned so much from him.

So what do I look at when planting? I see something that I don’t have and it’s “Oh, I have to have one of those.” If Lucia is at home, she gets a call and I’m hyperventilating on the other end of the phone... “Look up this plant for me.”What’s the zone? After last winter, my cut off point is zero degrees. If a plant can’t take that I don’t want it. No more citrus. Sun or shade? I’m pretty much out of places for full or part shade or speckled sun right now, but could find a spot if I absolutely had to have something that required it. There are areas for full or part sun available, but many of those areas will find themselves in the shade in a few years. I think that this was a problem with plants by the deck. Trees were maturing and full sun became mostly shade. Soil condition? If a plant needs sandy soil it would be s.o.l in my yard. If a plant likes wet feet I’m a lot happier with it. My clay soil tends to hold water for a while, which brings me to one of the most important things I’ve learned... drainage. A plant requires well drained soil, what the heck does that mean? Dig a hole that will fit a 5 gallon bucket where you want to plant. Pour 5 gallons of water in the hole and watch how long it takes to drain. I’ve found that if it drains in an hour it is really well drained. Some sources will say that 24 hours is too long, but I find it tolerable for things that require well drained soil. I have areas of my yard that hold water for a while when it rains a lot and areas where the 5 gallon hole takes 4 days to drain. Find a plant that likes wet feet and put it there.

Short of the cold killing off some plants, I’ve probably done quite a few plants in by giving them the wrong sunlight and quite a few more with the wrong soil conditions. Over-watering, under-watering, and improper fertilization have killed a few. I’ll worry about that topic another time, but for god’s sake nothing planted in the yard needs watering every day. Once a week, twice tops is plenty good.

Today was the annual LSU Hilltop Fall Plant Sale. Lucia and I purchased 24 plants. Some of them are additions to similar plants that we already have and some of them are new. After we got home, we spent time figuring out the best place for each of the new plants so as to give them the best chance for survival.

I’ll end this with paraphrasing one of my favorite lines in a movie... I’m sorry for all of the many plants that I have killed, and for those I am about to.

[backfortyarboretum]

Arboretum: a place where trees and plants are grown in order to be studied or seen by the public.

I’ve decided to start an occasional series on trees and plants on our property. Figuring out where to start has been a thoughtful experience. I had thought to start it on October 16 as that was the day in 2010 that Lucia and I started planting in earnest on the back one-third of our acre that we commonly refer to as “the back 40”, but as yesterday was also a special day, today became as good a day as any to write the first of my series.

Between the trees that were originally on Lucia’s property, the trees that she planted, and the trees that we’ve added over the last six or seven years there are (I think) 52 different (not total) trees and a hundred and something different types of shrubs and ground cover. More about that later, but I’m hoping that everyone will give me a pass on calling what we have an arboretum. You will all be welcome to see it when most of the trees are over 24” tall. As far as the studying part goes, Lucia has to make me come inside most evenings or else I’d probably spend the night outside.

Yesterday was the annual Plantfest Teaser put on by the LSU Hilltop Arboretum (my home away from home). Last year, Dan Gill was the featured speaker. This year the topic was Marion Drummond remembered. She passed away a little over a year ago. After the teaser discussion is over, participants are allowed to walk around the grounds of Hilltop and see what plants will be on sale the following weekend. My list is pretty extensive as usual and Lucia says that we are going to be there before the gates open next Saturday morning.

I met Marion Drummond at the Fall plant sale two years ago. She asked me if I needed help and when I told her that I had room for a lot of plants she was very obliging. Of the 28 or so trees and shrubs that I bought that day the one that I remember her heaping the most praise on was the Almond Verbena (Aloysia virgata... Dan Gill suggests that you always know that you always know the latin name as it tells you a lot about a plant). “The smell is unbelievable, you have to put it in a very prominent spot,” she said. So we did, right behind Meagan’s old room in the back yard.

It didn’t really do much for some time and Lucia, who is one for immediate gratification, wanted it gone. Oftentimes I pay her no mind when she says she wants a plant gone (and I will have other stories about that), but after a while I gave up on this fight and dug it up. I moved it to the back 40 and gave it little chance for survival. It proved me wrong in a big way. It really came alive and was truly amazing last year, the smell being quite incredible. I’ll go ahead and give Lucia credit for making me move it as it may never have been good where it was.

As most of you in Louisiana and really most of the country, last winter was exceptionally brutal. I went to great lengths to protect many of my plants with little success. I covered this plant with an oven box filled with leaves and yet by the end of the winter there was only a bit of green still on it close to the ground. It has not come back as big as it was, but we planted three more of them in close proximity to it. Standing 20 feet from them last evening and 40 feet from them this evening the delicious smell was very evident. I told Marion’s daughter today that we had named that original almond verbena in honor of her mom.

It is attractive to birds, bees, butterflies, and human being olfactory senses so if you live in zones 8a through 11 you should definitely get one. To you folks up north...too bad. Mine stands only 18” tall or so, but was 36” tall last year. They can get up to 8’ tall. It is drought tolerant and should be planted in the full sun.