All posts by Catherine Feldman

GARDENOPOLIS Cleveland Plans Pollinator Pocket Project!!!

November 24, 2015BEAUTY, GENERAL INTEREST, POLLINATION, PRACTICECatherine Feldman

News from the trenches: GARDENOPOLIS Cleveland proposes planting Pollinator Pockets around the city!

The need to establish habitats for pollinating insects has been much in the news lately. Many homeowners have been inspired to do their part and we are inspired to help them to do so. Our grand goal is to facilitate the planting of a series of carefully curated 5’x5’ pollinator pockets throughout the Cleveland urban area. According to a number of sources these small plots are enough habitat to nurture and sustain a variety of pollinators, including bees, butterflies, moths and other needed insects.

We think this is a great idea—a manageable and incremental way for each of us to do our part. And, just think how beautiful it would be if each block had a series of such plantings!

Right now we are preparing the soil of 7 sample plots around Shaker and Cleveland Heights using the lasagna mulching technique (layers of newspaper, straw, leaves, manure, compost and wood chips.)

In the spring we will install pollinator plants for all-season bloom and deer-resistance. We will provide participating homeowners with an instruction manual for the maintenance of the chosen plants. You will be able to identify our Pollinator Pockets by the yard signs posted near the pollinator pockets. Sound appealing? Next year you may yearn for one of your own. We will keep you posted as to pollinator plot progress and how you may sign-up.

Watch for our sign:

Our Book Review Corner: “The Indestructible Houseplant,” by Tovah Martin

November 3, 2015BEAUTY, PASSION, PRACTICECatherine Feldman

by Catherine Feldman

I just read Tovah Martin’s “The Indestructible Houseplant” and I am happy to announce that I have discovered a new outlet for my Plant Gluttony. She endorses full-green-immersion-indoors, and that sounds like a good goal to me!

I have always kept my houseplants to a minimum, because I like to leave my plants to do their thing without too much fussing on my part (Garden Sloth Method.) Most of my experiments with houseplants have not fared well due to that approach. Now, I have discovered (and I hope, you will, too) a host of houseplants that can take a fair amount of neglect, yet provide much pleasure to the eye and soul. Winter is taking on a whole new cast! She encourages us and shows us how to have gardens, forests even, in the house. Inside could reflect the outside. Think of the beauty, clean air, and sense of relaxation! I can’t wait. Recommended.

Extra tip: Watch how she combines plants with containers. That’s the magic.

A Gardener Reviews “The Martian”

October 26, 2015GENERAL INTEREST, PERTINENTCatherine Feldman

by Catherine Feldman

“The Martian,” in theaters now, revels throughout in the abilities of the New Man: the kind of person who uses numbers and computers to manage daily tasks as well as to innovate. Almost all of the diverse roster of characters are supremely capable in this way and they are fun to watch in action. But only our hero, Mark Watney (Matt Damon,) stranded alone on Mars, has the full range of skills necessary for survival.

Like Adam, Mark is the First Man on a planet, yet he has thousands of years of human development and knowledge at his fingertips. In addition to his technological abilities, he is a botanist with the inspiration and ability to increase his food supply by growing a garden. He confidently takes the risk of planting his ration of potatoes! He knows that he needs water and fertile soil, so he uses his background in mechanics and chemistry to create a water-making machine and in ecology to inoculate the soil of Mars with bacteria from recycled human waste. He also has character traits that enable him to survive the loneliness: he is humorous, brave and persevering. Using these strengths to meet these challenges, Mark becomes the Future Man, a hero who grows a version of Eden out of next to nothing. This delights us.

Mark faces and overcomes challenges on Mars that may have some similarity to the consequences of climate change on Earth: devastating storms, barren soil, extreme temperatures, lack of water. What appear to us heroic abilities now may become the basic survival skills of the future. A big scary challenge!

Fortunately, we would not be alone. There is another component to Mark’s survival that is at the core of this movie: community and friendship. The world and his teammates come together to bring him back to Earth. Will we be able to work together with bravery, ingenuity, and skills to survive the coming changes? And even to grow a new Eden here at home?

Never Plant This! — Akebia Quinata

October 12, 2015BEAUTY, PASSION, PRACTICECatherine Feldman

First in a series of plants we do NOT recommend

by Catherine Feldman

One day, early in my gardening years, I fell in love with a lovely five-leaved vine (akebia quinata) that was growing beautifully up a post in a Botanical Garden. It even had some other charming virtues, being edible for humans, distasteful to deer, shade tolerant. and drought resistant.

Above all, it was gorgeous; you can see why I had to have it. Oh my, though, what a misguided romance! I am stuck now and forever with this plant that pops up everywhere, especially where a current loved one is planted and struggling to maintain a relationship with me. No luxurious sloth allowed in this relationship, only remorseless vigilience, else I would have an Akebia garden. If it calls out to you, block it!

The Peripatetic Gardener Visits a Hospital by Catherine Feldman

September 18, 2015UncategorizedCatherine Feldman

The Peripatetic Gardener Visits a Hospital by Catherine Feldman

In San Francisco this month the Peripatetic Gardener sat through three seemingly endless visits to one emergency room. Great gratitude was due to the medical staff who so graciously and effectively attended the Gardener’s elderly parents.

Dear Demeter, though, how different a hospital was from a garden! “Where is the greenery to provide fresh oxygen to the stuffy rooms?” asked the Gardener. She longed for sunshine to help dispel the known and unknown diseases that contaminated the air and surfaces. While it made sense to her that a 92-year-old man would have a severe vitamin D deficiency, it was an eye opener to learn that so do many of the young interns and residents. Much has been said about the need to improve the food in hospitals; she called now for a discussion of how to make the environment in hospitals more comfortable and healthful for patients, visitors and staff: that is, more like a garden.

New Series: One Thing I Learned This Year by Peggy Spaeth

September 11, 2015UncategorizedCatherine Feldman

One Several Important Thing(s) I Learned This Year

The official Ohio state flower is the carnation (a Mediterannean native!) but the official Ohio state wildflower is our native trillium. This past spring I visited Garden in the Woods and the horticulturist mentioned that white trillium petals turned pink after the flower has been pollinated. (I didn’t know that!) Since this is the first year I’ve had trillium in my garden it was the perfect opportunity to observe this beautiful spring ephemeral daily. These photos track the buds through flowering and setting seed. Observing the seed case I thought there would be one big seed inside. I was surprised when it burst open and scattered a whole bunch of shiny brown seeds on the ground. (I didn’t know that!) I learned it takes up to seven years for trillium rhizomes to produce a flowering plant. (I didn’t know that!) If you want to learn more about trillium seed development here is a fascinating article and another about propagation. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a plant nursery in NE Ohio that propagated our native woodland ephemerals so everyone could enjoy them in their garden?

More photos are here.

GARDENOPOLIS Cleveland Launch Party

September 7, 2015UncategorizedCatherine Feldman

GARDENOPOLIS Cleveland thanks Ken Weiss who photographed some of the wildlife at our Launch Party on August 30th.

View below some party animals – genus, “gardener”

Plants We Like: Pycnanthemum or Mountain Mint

September 6, 2015BEAUTY, PERMACULTURE, POLLINATION, PRACTICECatherine Feldman

Pycnanthemum muticum or mountain mint is one of my new favorite perennial plants. Not only does it have a sweet white-pink flower, the leaves and stems have an almost icy appearance. It is lighting up one of the darker spots of a shady forest area in my front yard. I am planning to add lots more of it (plant gluttony, again) throughout that area. Although it is not supposed to do well in deep shade, rather preferring full sun to part shade, I am going to experiment a bit to see how deep into the shade it will thrive. Already now, on the edge of sun and shade, it is doing a good job of lighting up the area. It is native to the US in zones 4-8. It’s height and spread is from 1-3 feet. It blooms from July to September. It tolerates some dryness and attracts butterflies and bees. It is not bothered by insects or deer. It can be used to make tea and may be used as insect repellant when rubbed on the skin. So many virtues!

Margaret Ransohoff’s Late Summer Garden

September 2, 2015PASSION, PRACTICECatherine Feldman

The first in a series on intriguing gardens and their gardeners.

Margaret’s late summer garden is a feast of exuberant color and form created with a mix of annuals and perennials: take a look at the flowers and foliage, and Margaret, herself, dressed as one of her favorite creatures, a butterfly.

Most striking in the above photo are the giant castor bean plants, grown this year from seeds of last year’s planting. See also, dahlias from tubers and cardoon at lower left.

Cutting garden of dahlias from tubers and zinnias from seed.

Margaret’s container arrangements show an exceptional sense of color and form.

Above container with canna, New Guinea impatiens, verbena and portulaca, surrounded by Gardenmeister fuchsia, petunias and annual blue lobelia.

The pot on the pedastal has canna, verbena and calibrachoa. It is surrounded by darmera peltata, hydrangea, blue cardinal flower (lobelia siphilitica).

She defines space and creates structure in the late summer with annuals, canna and zinnias.

Watch for further posts on Margaret’s garden in other seasons.

Catalogue of Sins Summer Sloth Series

August 17, 2015PASSION, PRACTICE, PUNCHYCatherine Feldman

Sloth Wears Pajamas

With regard to gardeners’ sins, I would like to put in a good word for Sloth. In particular, I think that there is something to say for Pajama Gardening. Does everyone do it, or just the members of my extended family? I know that in England there is a Nude Gardening Day, but that is only one day per year. One can garden in some variation of pajamas almost any time of year, especially in the summer, when morning and birdsong begin early. What could be more pleasurable than wearing one’s nightie, carrying a cup of coffee and plucking the spent daylily flowers?

Watch for future posts…we have a lot to say about Sloth.