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Vitreographs: Series 1
Vitreographs: Series 2
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The Beauty of the Moss Garden
Ferns for the Graceful Garden
Growing Unusual Fruit
A Fungus, Among Us!
On the Green Road with Tosca and Forest
The Trip to Scotland
The Botanical Gardens
at Asheville
Smithsonian Archive of American Gardens
Past Columns from
The Wild Gardener
Plant & Seed Sources
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I never made it to the Porter County Master Gardeners Show--
but I miss it already, and it's only Saturday afternoon!
. . . I hope you had a grand day and wanted to remind you that if anybody
ever buys one of my books, I'm always happy to send an autographed and annotated
book plate. And I hope you all had a grand and gardeny day.
Image List for Wednesday Morning Talk
on Winter Gardens at Greensboro
Nursery Show--
The Garden in Winter--January, 2011--Based on the book, The Winter Gardenby Peter Loewer and Larry Mellichamp.
01. Title
02. Any crow can tell you that winter ends in spring!
03. Eschew gnomes in the garden, winter or summer!
04. Please don't use volcano or donut mulching, especially orange, yellow, or red.
05. Late November, cord grass (Spartina pectinata 'Aureo-marginata') and Sedum 'Autumn Joy'.
06. Little bluestem (Schizachyium scoparium) and fountain grass (Pennisetum alopecutoides).
07. Miscanthus in late fall.
08. Deer's-tongue grass (Panicum cladestinum) with its great winter coloration.
09. Hay-scented fern when touched with frost.
10. Lichens on a rock.
11. A rock pocket of mosses, lichens, and ferns.
12. John Cram's moss garden.
13. Boxwoods at the Clarke Farm in Fairview are especially fine in the winter.
14. "Fat Persian Cat" (Richard Reccia, 1888-1983), looks out at the early winter garden.
15. I tie up the stems of baptisias (Baptisia australis) for early winter ornaments.
16. A February scene in a mountain garden.
17. A light dusting of November snow.
18. Mosses and a mountain stream.
19. Sasa veitchii, one of our most beautiful bamboos, photo taken on 01/03.
20. Close-up of Sasa's winter foliage.
21. Four days before sasa photo taken.
22. Harry Lauder's Walking Stick loaded with winter blossoms.
23. The long-stalked holly (Ilex penduculosa).
24. The Perny holly (Ilex pernyi), has a particularly beautiful form.
25. Skimmia japonica has great bunches of berries.
26. Japanese laurel (Aucuba japonica) provides year-round interest.
27. Prickly pears (Opuntia phaeacantha) remain colorful until cold freezes the fruit.
28. Alabama crotons (Croton alabamemisi) have leaves that persist into winter.
29. Wintergreen barberries (Berberis julianae) are Chinese natives.
30. Barberries under ice.
31. Winged euonymus (Euonymus alata) is weedy but still a fine shrub for the winter garden.
32. Winter-creeper (Euonymus fortunei 'Silver Queen') and a Foo dog.
33. More sculpture: "Hedge Against Extinction" (Martin Webster), NC Arboretum with trimmed grasses.
34. Pinus griffithii 'Zebrina'.
35. Hardy orange cultivar (Poncirus 'Flying Dragon').
36. Ghost bramble (Rubus cockburnianus).
37. River birch cultivar (Betula nigra 'Heritage'), at NC Arboretum.
38. Snakebark maple (Acer davidii).
39. Paperbark maple (Acer griseum).
40. Plane tree (Platanus occidentalis).
41. Christmas fern in early winter.
42. Japanese maple becomes a winter sculpture at NC Arboretum.
43. Lacebark elm (Ulmus parvifolia) exhibits textures that jump from the screen.
44. Japanese pieris (Pieris japonica 'Pygmaea') is a distinctive dwarf form.
45. A monumental nude by Gaston Lachaise from the Hirschorn celebrates winter.
46. Winter jasmine (Jasminium nudiflorum) blooms reliably at the beginning of a new year.
47. Spiraea thunbergii blooms in late winter.
48. Christmas rose (Helleborus niger) on December 28.
49. A circle of stones at the NC Arboretum.
50. Winter daphne (Daphne odora 'Aureomarginata').
51. Winter daphne with ice crystals.
52. American wisteria (non-threatening), scientifically Wisteria fructescens.
53. A great and colorful yucca (Yucca 'Color Guard').
54. Morning mists in winter shines with the glow of Cornus sanguinea 'Midwinter Fire'.
55. A closer look at the fire.
56. Formosa rice tree (Fatsia japonica) is very tolerant of city conditions in Zone 7 and up.
57. Sweet box (Sarcoccoa hookeriani) has fragrant white flowers in late winter.
58. Nothing beats a greenhouse, either homemade or commercial, for added sunshine on a winter's day.
59. Darwin's barberry (Berberis darwinii).
60. Florida anise (Illicium floridanium) blooms in early spring.
62. White camellias in my Asheville garden.
63. Breath-of-spring (Lonicera fragrantisima) brought to the area from Biltmore, blooms in early spring.
64. Hamamelis intermedia 'Jalena'.
65. Star magnolia (Magnolia tomentosa [M. stellata]).
66. Magnolia 'Ann', one of the little girl hybrids.
67. Loropetalum chinense 'Roseum' usually blooms in March.
68. White forsythia (Abeliophyllum distichum) has the scent of fermenting honey.
69. Prunus mume in the Gentling garden in Asheville.
70. Evergreen clematis (Clematis armandii) is a true beauty, flowering in late February.
72. Cyclamen (Cyclamen hederifolium) and Christmas fern.
73. Widow's iris (Hermodactylus tuberosus).
74. Rock cress (Arabis alpina) and lichens.
75. Crocuses (Crocus tomasinianus) and aconites (Eranthis hiemalis) at right.
76. More aconites.
77. Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara).
78. Snowdrops (Galanthus byzantinus).
79. Anenome blanda needs excellent drainage, blooming in late February.
80. The mouse tail plant (Arisarum proboscideum) blooms in late winter to early spring.
81. Note the iris leaves in Christopher Mello's winter garden in Asheville.
82. Lenten rose (Helleborus orientalis).
83. Another great hellebore (Helleborus argotifolius).
84. Fraser's sedge (Cymophyllus fraseri) blooms in late winter.
85. Like democracy, Jeffersonia draba is a fragile wildflower native.
86. Weather depending: Adder's tongue (Erythronium americanum) blooms late winter or early spring.
87. Iris reticulate is a reliable flower of late winter and early spring.
88. Remember, even a wreath of twigs can brighten up a winter garden.
90. The Beauties of a mountain winter viewed by Peter Gentling in his great hillside garden.
The Garden Trip to England: 2012
It's off again to some of the great gardens of England--and no matter what might happen down the line,
next April we'll be off for a tour of gardens that top the charts for beauty and charm!
We start off on a luxury motor coach with the same driver/guide for the 14 days.
Saturday, April 28: We depart the US.
Sunday, April 29: we arrive at Garwick to meet our bus then we travel to Cirencester, stopping en route to the RHS Wisley Garden and our old friend Folly Farm.
Monday, April 30: we drive to Gloucestershire for visits to Barnsely House Garden
and the Cotswold Farm Garden, returning to Cirencester for a free afternoon.
Tuesday, May 1: Travel to Exeter where we visit Stourhead House & Gardens and
Castle Drogo & Gardens. We check into our hotel.
Wednesday, May 2: We travel from Exeter to Lands End, with visits to Trewithen
House & Gardens and Pencarrow House & Gardens.
Thursday, May 3: We take a cruise to St. Michael and visit St. Michael's Mount and
Castle. Next it's on to Gorran and Caerhays Estate Castle & Gardens. We continue on to Poole for our next two night stay.
Friday, May 4: This morning we drive to The Moors and visit The Garden House--
then on to Poole and a visit to nearby Forde Abbey House & Gardens.
Saturday, May 5: We drive northeast of Poole for Southampton and a visit to Exbury
Gardens then on to Ampfield for a tour of Sir Harold Hiller Gardens and Arboretum.
We return to Poole.
Sunday, May 6: Leaving Poole we travel east to Lymington and take the ferry to
Yarmouth for a visit to Ventor Botanical Gardens. Next we board the ferry to Portsmouth and drive the Brighton Coast for an overnight.
Monday, May 7: In the morning we visit the Brighton Pavillion then on to Wakehurst
Place for some free time for lunch. In the afternoon we stop by Wakehurst Place Botanical
Gardens and return to Brighton.
Tuesday, May 8: We travel from Brighton to Turnbridge Wells for a stop at Sheffield
Park to visit the gardens, then an afternoon at Sissinghurst, one of the most famouse gardens
in the world. At day's end it's on to a four-night stay.
Wednesday, May 9: We drive to Westerham for a visit to Churchill's house, Chartwell, then after lunch on to visit Hever
Castle & Gadens. We return to Tumbridge Wells for a free evening.
Thursday, May 10: Today we visit Penshurst Place and Gardens and end the day at Great Dixter House & Gardens, the home of Christopher Lloyd.
Friday, May 11: Igtham Mote and free time to explore in Tumbridge Wells.
Saturday, May 12: Back to Gatwick and the flight home.
An Autumn View of Kenilworth Lake
Asheville's Radio Gardeners Return to the Air!
Those Three Intrepid Radio Gardeners of Asheville are headed for MAIN,
not the Pine Tree State but the Asheville radio station combining a local
outlook that's always in perfect harmony with a world-wide view. The Wild Gardener,
Peter Loewer, will join Alison Arnold (she of perennial perfection), and the
great garden defender, Patryk Battle, all together again--hopefully to thrill you anew!
Right now MAIN is only broadcasting on your computer as they prepare to install a new
antenna thus enabling the station to increase their signal strength to 100 watts, and surround
the Asheville area with new insights into local, regional, and national programming, all
with a sense of responsiblity often lacking in other radio venues. Remember MAIN-FM, 103.5 on
your FM dial and for now use your computer.
The Cincinnati Show
The top eight pictures above were taken at the opening of a dual art show that featured
some of my botanical drawings alongside figure drawings of my old Manhattan partner Richard
George. The event was held at Cincinnati's Malton Gallery. It's a great gallery and owner
Sylvia Malton was a marvelous hostess. That night I was introduced to some of the most gracious
guests from the art world of Cincinnati. My images were all in black and white drawn
the old-fashioned way with pen and India ink.
The two images at bottom are (left) Japanese Palm Number Two and (right) Japanese
Palm Number Three. Both measure eighteen by twenty-four inches and are again drawn in pen
and ink.
Greetings to the Moon
I took this photo in the early morning light of last Sunday (09-18-11) before the
night owls nodded off or the morning paper was delivered. A member of the great morning glory tribe,
this particular tropical plant (Ipomea alba) begins to bloom in mid-July and continues
to charm the gardener until just before frost cuts it back to the earth below. But there are
always seedpods left behind to provide flowers for the next summer season. These fantastic
flowers are fragrant, too!
Welcome to My Garden!
Margaret Shook took this photo last week of the sundial (the fancy name is an
amilliary sphrere), on one of those days when the temperatures were moderate, there had been
adequate rainfall, and the sun was high!
English Ivy in Bloom
During the first week of August the mature English ivy (Hedera helix) growing on the
very old white oak that shades the path leading down to the larger of our gardens, began
to bloom. The flowers are small with tiny yellow petals, are deeply fragrant (mostly like
rich honey) and full of honey bees in search of nectar. Note the leaves are more like a goose-foot
rather than traditional ivy but that's what happens when ivy reaches maturity (30 to 45 years)
and changes from an climbing vine to an aboreal shrub.
Those Naked Ladies
The leaves of the lycoris species generally appear in mid- to late spring where they
persist for a month or so, then vanish. But towards the end of July, stout stems shoot up
from the earth, each capped with a number of beautiful blossoms--obviously lilies--and
in England known as naked ladies because there are no leaves to be found.
A Favorite Shrub
This is a beautiful shrub that is perfect size for smaller Asheville gardens.
The current scientific name is Salix eleagnos angustifolia but I still prefer
the original name of Salix rosmarinifolia. Usually never topping ten feet this plant is
perfect as a hedge or as a great pot plant, easily surviving our winters as long as the pot
is an adequate size.
Desert Cyclamen for Winter Bloom
The other day I talked with one of radio's great voices, Ken Adams, about the
most beautiful desert cyclamen (Cyclamen persicum) now blooming in my greenhouse.
Hope you listen to Ken!
Website for Great Plans Outlining Dr. Wilson's Hoophouse
Over in Black Mountain one Dr. Wilson heads up the great community gardens and also
formulated clear and easy-to-build plans for a plastic-sheeted hoophouse so you can
grow veggies all winter long.
Dr. Wilson's HoopHouse
Caladiums in the Shade
When summer winds blow (certainly not now), some tropicals just get to looking better because they,
like most of us, enjoy bright light but cooler temperatures. Here caladiums revel in
morning sun.
Joe-Pye Weed in Bloom
At the entrance to the garden a white form of Joe-Pye bends over with the weight
of the blossoms and welcomes the butterflies (and other pollinators, too), for a
chance to rest from the heat and at the same time, a great snack.
Waterlily in Bloom
Down at our dock on Kenilworth Lake, a waterlily cultivar 'Lemon Chiffon' is blooming to
beat the band. And while wondering about pollinators, when I posted this picture you'll see
within the lily's blossom, a small bee.
Ozone Alert!
. . . and you thought the ozone alerts in the newspapers or on TV-weather shows
were only attention grabbers and aimed at people with weak lungs or respiratory diseases?
Well, thanks to Pat Battle, the following link is the ozone alert we talked about on
the WCQS Garden Show that aired on July 7.
The Dangers of Ozone!
My name is Peter Loewer,
I'm a writer and artist, and often become quite passionate about
plants, from daffodils to orchids to the love of roses to the lore of
poison ivy. Friends call me The Wild Gardener
and perhaps I can help you to get the best from your garden and, along
the way, give you some fascinating insights into a world that, up to
now, just might have escaped your notice. After all, I'm the guy who
brought back the evening garden and the night garden from oblivion, and
that includes the night-blooming dayliliy (Hemerocallis citrina).
They're stealing your days--at least fight
to keep your nights!
A Big Welcome to Fiona Dudley
Fiona is an old friend, who delights in the wonderful world of nature, and knows a lot
about one of my favorite creatures of the night, the great family of moths that fly about
our woods, fields, and gardens, with only the moon and the stars above to guide their way.
Fiona has a great website with some marvelous pictures of wildflowers and the creatures that
haunt their vacinity. Fiona's Website. Be sure to
put an icon on your desktop so you'll be able to keep up with her continual discoveries.
Rapid River and the Asheville Art Scene
By-the-by, I've got a column now appearing monthly in Asheville's very fine
publication Rapid River, entitled "Thoreau's Garden."
If you can't get to a local newstand, it's easy to download the magazine from their
website Rapid River Magazine
and you won't be disappointed in the style or the content of this fine review of the arts.
Peter Loewer - Printmaker
 Vitreography: Hand-pulled prints using glass plates
instead of stone.
Please visit my galleries on this site:
Illustrations
Vitreograph Series I: Botanic Wanderings
Vitreograph Series II: Images and Botanicals
I also have a new Web site devoted to my prints, powered up by Microsoft with sound and fury, possibly signifying absolutely nothing!
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A Salute to Leeks and Garlic:
Morris Graves (1910-2001) remains today one of the more interesting of American artists, a man who
devoted most of his life to extolling the wonders and beauties of nature. In 1932 after graduating from
high school he settled in Beaumont, Texas but soon returned to the Northwest living around Seattle. His early
work featured oils and often touched on birds, especially birds that were metaphysical orphans of the
storm. In the early 30s he bagan to study Zen Buddhism and in 1934 built a small studio in Edmonds, Washington
that soon burned to the ground and included all his works to date. In 1940, Graves began building a new house,
which he named The Rock, on Fidalgo Island. He lived at The Rock with a succession of cats and dogs, all
called Edith, in honor of poet Edith Sitwell.
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Tough Plants
The following pictures (except for the Arundo donax, phototgraphed in a Wake Forest garden)
were taken in my garden during the late spring, summer, and early fall of this year. I call them
tough plants because they are growing in garden clay laced with shredded leaves and if in pots, bagged potting soil that is fertilized two or three times during the
growing season.
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The Wild Gardener Blogs:
When thinking about the madness of today, remember what W. G. Sebald wrote
about Austria's Thomas Bernhard, as quoted in the December 25, 2006
issue of The New Yorker:
"He found a dark humour in the tension between the insanity of the world and the demands of reason."
The following digest of a poem by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) is a salute
to the continued stupidity of the White House and the Cabinet and the
Generals and the Congress and the whole ball of Washington wax.
The Conundrum of the Workshops
The tale is as old as the Eden Tree-- and new as the new-cut tooth-- For
each man knows ere his lip-thatch grows he is master of Art and Truth;
And each man hears as the twilight nears, to the beat of his dying
heart, The Devil drum on the darkened pane: "You did it, but was it
Art?"
We have learned to whittle the Eden Tree to the
shape of a surplice-peg We have learned to bottle our parents twain in
the yelk of an addled egg, We know that the tail must wag the dog, for
the horse is drawn by the cart; But the Devil whoops, as he whooped of
old: "It's clever, but is it Art?"
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Recently, thanks to the instigations of Byron Belzak and Byron Belzak's salute to Asheville, I have started my salute to the upper level of Society Asheville
and its all-in-fun, continual pursuit of pleasure here in the mountains. Of course The Green
Road is the road less-traveled but eventually, the public will jump on.
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Here's another bit I was tardy about:
Some months ago I promised to run the old column on what you can grow in the vicinity of walnuts.
Walnuts, as most gardeners know, produce a poison known as juglans, a
chemical that attracts a number of other plants causing them to
languish, then slowly fade away. But there are a number of plants that
appear to be immune.
Read the Walnut Tolerant Plants List Here.
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And let's not forget the squirrels of Asheville,
rather entaining but by some considered trouble-makers, as they spend
their fun-filled days in eating birdseed, chewing off high branches of
oak trees, and using all the tactics of jewel thieves in Topkapi
when finding that birdseed. Look below and hear that tap of clashing
sabers. Listen! You can almost hear the memorable score of Manos
Hadjidakis as these furry critters play at fencing (courtesy of a
Victorian stuffed-animal display in a small antique shop just down the
road from Sissinghurst).
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Remember the world of strange flowers--
There are a number of very, very strange flowers living in the world today,
having nothing to do with prehistoric times. One belongs to a group of tropical
plants with blooms referred to as peilican flowers or calico flowers.
The most bizarre is the pelican flower, Aristolochia gigantea, which first arrived
in England being shipped from Guatemala in 1841. This is a high-reaching vine that can reach up ten feet, and bears flat,
smooth, heart-shaped leaves that have a slightly rank odor when crushed. The six-inch flowers are
off-white, veined with purple, and sit on top of a U-shaped tube of a greenish color and also with
an unattractive odor. Best as a flower for the evening garden, this is a showstopper.
The vines do best in pots that hang on wires, allowing plenty of room for growth. They can also
be carefully unwound from one wire and rewound on another but remember to maintain the counterclockwise
turns.
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It was a phenomenal spring, the spring of 2006. For some reason (closely
connected with the passing winter, the temperatures, the rainfall, and
the mountain psyche), everything seemed to bloom at once: Red maples
vied with camellias, in turn blooming above crocuses and daffs,
providing one of the best floral shows that we've seen in years. Then
came the trilliums on parade. The image on the right is the noble
yellow wake robin or toad shade (Trillium luteum also called var.luteum or
T. viride var. luteum), a yellow-flowering variety of the common deep maroon toadshade, with
flowers usually lemony yellow to a very pale green. The yellow
wakerobbin is native to the American Southeast, and found in damp woods
ranging from Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, to North Carolina and
Tennessee. Three yellow petals stand upright in the middle of three
green sepals that either lay flat or are somewhat upright like the
petals. The elflike mountain dwellers call it the goblet trillium and
unlike the maroon variety, this form has a light scent of lemons. Like
its maroon relative, the three large leaves are mottled and if somebody
could develop a variety that would keep its leaves until the fall,
their fortune would be made--many times over.
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 Last
October the toad lilies bloomed in my garden and the election came and
went--with about twenty percent of Ashevillians voting while eighty
percent sat at home, apparently watching survival shows on TV as their
city continues to embowell itself with dirt, traffic, noise, and woeful
development. This year Asheville pits those who want to keep the city
green and thriving with those who want commercial developement (like
the Grove Park Inn condos in our downtown square, a project soundly
defeated by the citizens of the city), brought in to eventually
strangle that golden goose who only awaits more developement in order
to burst! The rain promises to wash out our air remember, the higher up
the mountains you climb, the worse the ozone levels get. But be of good
cheer, the power companies to the west of North Carolina, continue to
spew smoke and the President wants to roll back any responsibilities
for those power companies. And the congress (lower case, here) bows to
political pressure believing that if the citizenry want to breathe, let
'em don masks!
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 A
while ago, moving some houseplants around the livingroom, I disturbed a
very small napping spider who was resting from building a little small
web that stretched between two branches on a flowering maple. It
reminded me to watch a great Sherlock Holmes' movie that I have on VHS
entitled Sherlock Holmes and the Spider Woman, with Basil
Rathbone as Sherlock, Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson, and Gale Sondergard as
the Spider Woman. In a dank basement in Soho, The Spider Woman was busy
raising a special breed of poisonous spider using a cultivar of the
night-blooming cereus as pet food. Upon reaching her goal, she was
prepared to attack the Houses of Parliament, freeing dozens of the
spiders and aiming them in the direction of politicians in general.
Only two things could stop her devilish scheme: The government could
pay her big bucks (or pounds) or Sherlock and Dr. Watson would foil her
dastardly plot. The government went to Sherlock and the Spider Woman
fell victim to her own little beasts. It all reminded me that Vanilla Sky
was very, very bad and would have benefited from spiders somewhere in the plot.
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 Dear Wild Gardener:
I realize there is often no answer to what market forces perceive to be
in the public's interest but I thought I would bring the latest threat
to good gardening to your attention (I will keep the process called
"Donut Mulching" for another letter). It comes from northeast
Pennsylvania where "colored mulch" has hit the scene with the physical
force of an old mushroom but the mental "POW" of a juggernaut. The
wood-chips are dyed with a fast color that borders on bright orange but
(thankfully) does fade over time. But, today, orange! Tomorrow,
possibly red, yellow, and blue! Imagine: Smiley Faces to beat the band!
Adding insult to injury, they spread the mulch over layers of black
plastic sheeting. I realize that education continues to be under
assault in our United States but imagine the future of gardening as
these folks continue to march in the name of the masses?
Best, J.H.
NOTE:
The term donut mulching might be in transition as the new moniker turns
out to be volcano mulching, the mulch being the volcano cone and the
tree assuming the guise of the spurting lava, usually brown instead of
fiery orange! And so it goes...
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 Occasionally,
bad taste rears its ugly visage in the garden and often the horror is
brought to the backyard in the name of art. Remember, I'm not talking
about rubber tires, turned inside out, painted white, then filled with
masses of petunias because I salute this method of container gardening,
finding it far more respectable then nothing. No, I'm talking about
gnomes, elves, and the polka-dotted garbed rears of rotund ladies who
are made of plywood and painted in primary colors. For example, at left
is one of the uglier elves (if it was a gnome it would be
subterranean), I've yet encountered and quickly point out, it's not
from around here.
 Here's
a case where the urge to do something decorative has been pushed into
service with no thought given to what is one of the fastest fading
trends in society, that of good taste. I am reminded of the old addage:
"Everybody to their own taste," said the Old Lady as she kissed the
cow. As to the "OL" look for her to the right where she continues to
garden away, possibly there until the mountains fall, all based on the
longevity of the plywood and the paint.
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