Nothing says spring like that smell of freshly mowed grass, and yesterday I caught my first whiff of it. It is such a great smell you would think someone would try to bottle it. As it turns out, someone actually has.
Demeter Fragrance Library offers it along with some other unique scents like “Dirt” and “Dog Paw.” A few years ago, I ordered “Grass.” With great expectations I gave it a spritz. Nose in the air, I inhaled deeply and…it just wasn’t there. It was but it wasn’t. They had captured something of its sweetness, but it just didn’t say, “Spring!”
Lawn flowers
Speaking of grass, I noticed this morning while walking the dogs that the first lawn flowers were up. Some people call them weeds. Actually, most people call them weeds. Don’t get me wrong. I have no problem with turf. In it’s pure weedless state, it is beautiful. It’s just a lot of work and expense to keep it so.
Before selective herbicides and synthetic fertilizers became widely available after WWII, there were plenty of lawn flowers. In fact, grass seed was often sold with the white clover we work so hard to eliminate from our lawns. It helped supply nitrogen to the grass. Now, the nitrogen comes in a bag and clover is now a weed.
Granted, dandelion seed heads are obnoxious, and I am as aghast that I have found virtues in violets. Twenty years ago, they were the enemy. Then one day while looking out our Bronx apartment window, I saw the light. The full conversion didn’t occur though until I arrived at Kingwood. Glenna Sheaffer, the Perennial Gardener was actually cultivating violets, even labeling them.
“Really?,” I thought. They’re like cats, though. They purr, wind around your ankles, and in the end, they’re just too darn cute. Just don’t tell anyone I said that.
The great Mr. King himself even allowed lawn flowers. A low-growing mint was planted near his swimming pool, so swimmers stepping on it would release its aroma. Of course, mints being mints, it has found its way around Kingwood and you can often smell it in the air on mowing day. So the next time you grab your spray bottle to get that lone dandelion in the middle of your pristine lawn, I ask you to get down on your knees and behold the beauty before you. Then you can spray it.
Hold the garlic, please
Each spring I’m reminded how much I hate garlic…wild garlic, that is. It looks and smells like onions so it is often called wild onion, but wild onion is actually a different plant. The stems of wild garlic are round and hollow while wild onions are not. It is wild garlic (Allium vineale) that is most often found in gardens.
Hate is a strong word, but every year I seem to get a call to rescue a garden that’s been taken hostage by this insidious weed. Negotiations are useless, but deadly force is difficult without collateral damage. The trowel is an option, but plan on it being a long siege.
Wild garlic is a difficult weed to control because like its domestic cousins it grows a bulb underground. When you simply pull the foliage it has the reserve power to put out more shoots along with the ability to produce a lot more little bulbs. Next time you grab a garlic clove in the kitchen notice how many cloves can be in one head. That’s why even digging them usually leaves a couple behind. Then there is the flower. Most flowers produce just seed. This produces bulblets, all ready to take full advantage of any opening in your garden.
There is no silver bullet when it comes to getting rid of wild garlic. The best thing is vigilance. Dig them out as soon as they appear. In cases of heavy infestation, painting them with a high concentration of glyphosphate (the active ingredient in RoundUp) may be a solution. Another solution is to just move.
Narcissism
As the minor bulbs wind up their season, daffodils have appeared on the playbills around the area. Watching the progression of bloom, it is obvious Spring is rushing to get back on schedule. A couple items of note about them: first, all narcissus are daffodils, and all daffodils are narcissus. Narcissus is just the scientific name for daffodils, and sometimes used in catalogs, I believe, just to confuse people. Secondly, you can’t cut them back yet; not until they’re turning yellow, and yes, they become messy long before that. Just don’t look at them. Look at your lawn flowers instead.
Plant of the week
This week’s “plant of the week” is Thermopsis chinensis ‘Sophia’, or Peabush. Introduced by North Creek Nurseries, I first saw it last year at the garden center where I work. I kept on waiting for it to bloom, and it never did. This year I understand why. It is an incredibly early bloomer for such a large perennial. Its luscious yellow lupine-like flowers would mix well with a variety of daffodils and mid-season tulips.
It grows to 18 inches tall and as wide. North Creek’s description includes the phrase “good drainage” so keep it away from low spots, and heavy clay.
Finally, don’t forget it’s Earth Week. So go out and dig some earth. Just leave the mountain top where it is.
Since his days as forced labor in his mother’s garden, John has learned to enjoy gardening and has actually made a career out of it. From the backyards of Columbus to the rooftops of Manhattan, John has soiled his hands. Former Head Gardener at Kingwood Center, John still gets his hands dirty in the local community. You can contact him at jmakley@centurylink.net.
