Month: March 2007

My 5

gardeners anonymous logoGo on over to Hank’s place to get in on the 5 crazy things to which only a gardening addict would admit extravaganza. Here are my five:

  1. To celebrate my birthday (April 29), every year I drive 70 miles to save $5 on hanging baskets — even though it’s usually a month before I can stop bringing them in a night.
  2. When it’s 90 F (really hot for these parts), I mow the lawn anyway because I need the grass clippings for mulch.
  3. Because my soil is too wet, I built a raised rock garden to grow dryland plants.
  4. Because my soil is too dry, I dug out a water garden so that I could grow aquatic plants.
  5. Whenever I see an object that  will hold more soil than a saucer I think, “What can I grow in that?”

Equal time for Frida

When looking at Diego Rivera paintings yesterday, it was inevitable that I’d get drawn in to Frida Kahlo’s.  She’s a little more surrealistic — and darker — in her use of flowers and foliage, roots and branches.

Kahlo painting

Even the flowers in her hair are less than joyful.  And the thorns.  The pain must have been unbearable.  Jah have mercy.  Thankfully, she could paint.

frida kahlo portrait

Tufa workshop with Harvey Wrightman

Harvey demonstrating tufa plantingLast Saturday, our local Adirondack Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society held a tufa workshop with Harvey Wrightman (right), owner of Wrightman Alpines in Kerwood, Ontario. Harvey sells many alpines that are well-suited for tufa gardens, rock gardens, crevice gardens, and troughs.

Tufa is a relatively soft, high-lime rock that forms when calcium carbonate precipitates from water. It’s also pretty pricey. It’s not to be confused with hypertufa, which is made from concrete and usually some peat. I’ve made a bunch of hypertufa troughs, but this was my first experience with the real thing.

Harvey brought along hunks of tufa that had already been planted. (Did I get any pictures? Of course not.) They mimicked slides he showed in a presentation earlier in the day of alpine plants growing out of rock faces.

Tom Myers drilling tufaThe process is pretty simple. Drill half-inch holes in the tufa, no more than 2 inches deep. Nestle in rooted cuttings (foreground of top picture) along with a mix of crushed tufa and some of the fines leftover from drilling the hole. Water.

Once the weather settles, the planted tufa can live outside year-round, with occasional watering when it’s dry. Over time, the plants actually sink their roots right into the rock, and form cute little buns or mats that flower in their particular season.

I’ll add a list of species later when Harvey sends one along. (I was in drilling and photographing mode and didn’t write anything down during the workshop.) Will post some pictures when there’s something more to see than little bits of plant in a rock.

Here are the hunks of tufa before planting.

Hunks of tufa

The cuttings, rooted in pumice, before planting.

rooted cuttings before planting

One of the finished products.

finished tufa

Update: Here’s a short list of some good species for tufa.

  • Armeria x ‘Little Penny’
  • Asperula boissieri (and other species too)
  • Arenaria tetraquetra
  • Primula allionii ‘Neon’
  • Heterotheca jonesii
  • Androsace hirtella
  • Campanula bornmuelleri
  • Saxifraga x ‘jana’ and other kabschia saxifraga are particularly good in tufa
  • Draba acaulis
  • Ramonda myconi

Harvey said he’d pass along some mature tufa pictures in a bit. I’ll get them up as soon as I can.

Sunday music: Carrie Rodriguez

Carrie’s coming to Castaways in Ithaca April 1. (With local special guest, local banjo hero Richie Stearns.)  Carrie, who got her start in Austin, has been in heavy rotation on the ol’ mp3 players this year.  Her latest CD, Seven Angels on a Bicycle (link takes you to her website where you’ll hear the title track and then ’50s French Movie, another favorite of mine) is a little less twangy than the video, where she performs with veteran songwriter Chip Taylor (Wild Thing, Angel of the Morning). But hey. Nothing wrong with twangy.  Tout c’est bon.

Hey Austin crew: I once heard that Ithaca has more musicians per capita than any other city in the U.S. — except Austin. But watch out, we’re hot on your trail.

Saw you
With him
His hands
Your skin
If you done it once, will you do it again?
No, no, no. I really don’t need this pain.