Agastache and Nepeta – Deer Repellents

Photo courtesy of Fine Gardening

Fine Gardening’s photo of Agastache ‘Cana’ has got me all excited. Recently I read somewhere (I wish I could remember where) that some plants were not only deer resistant, they were deer repellent. Deer have a sensitive sense of smell and some plants have such a strong scent that deer are actually repelled and avoid them. I am thinking of strategically planting some attractive deer repellant plants among my garden beds in the hope this will discourage deer – and bunnies.

The family of Agastaches, otherwise known as hyssop or hummingbird mint, has the advantage of including many attractive cultivars, like ‘Cana’ and attracting many insects as well as butterflies, hummingbirds and other birds who relish the seeds. It needs a good rich soil, sun and good drainage, but is not really difficult to grow.

Photo courtesy of Kentucky University

Nepeta Walker’s Low is just one of the catmints that is welcome in the perennial garden. Like the agastaches it is a deer and rabbit repellent plant and like them it needs soil with organic matter, lots of sun, and good drainage.  In the past I planted catmints that my cats have loved to death. Now the cats are older and my vegetable garden, which suffered considerably from deer noshing last year, is a small distance from the house so I am counting on the cats being less venturesome and staying nearer the house in their old age. I can hope.

The University of Michigan has a good list of deer resistant plants here.

I wrote about Ruth Rogers Clausen’s great book 50 Beautiful Deer Resistant Plants: The Prettiest Annuals, Perennials, Bulbs and Shrubs that Deer Don’t Eat here. We all have to remember that the power of the repellent or resistance may vary when deer get really really hungry, but I am hoping that including more of these plants in my garden, especially near the vegetable garden, will keep me happier, and better fed myself.

2012: Year of the Herbs

My chives in late April

Every year the National Garden Bureau chooses a flower, a vegetable and an herb to showcase, but they have declared 2012 The Year of the Herbs and are showcasing all herbs, not just one.

I have a long herb bed right in front of my piazza and the entry walk. Because it face south and is protected by the house it is the first garden I can work in in the spring and the last garden to be useful in the fall. I am a cook and it is wonderful to be able to step right outside and pluck a few sprigs of parsley or sage or dill to give the perfect piquance to any dish I am making.

Golden marjoram

The herbs in my herb bed include: basil, bee balm, chamomile, chervil, chives, cilantro, dill, garlic chives, golden marjoram, horseradish, lemon balm, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, rue, sage, and thyme. Not included in this handy bed because it is so large, is perhaps the most unusual herb I grow, lovage. Lovage grows to about six feet tall with celery-like leaves and flavor. It is wonderful to be able to throw a few lovage leaves into a soup or any dish that calls for celery – when you don’t have any celery on hand.

Lovage

The wonderful thing about herbs is that they are so easy to grow. They prefer full sun and well drained soil. The soil need not be especially rich, but I do spread a little compost when I weed and plant in the spring.  In general they are very adaptable but they do need the sun.

I have seen articles and photographs of beautiful herb gardens where the herbs are neatly groomed. Not in my garden. My culinary herbs grow vigorously and are unwilling to be clipped and pruned into precise knots. No matter. I want these herbs for their scent and their flavor.

Even if you have only a deck and a pot or two you can enjoy fresh herbs all season long.

Horseradish

Franklin County Community Development Corporation

There are often news stories in our local press about the business incubator at the Franklin County Community Development Corporation located in Greenfield. Last Friday I had my first opportunity to visit and see some of the work that goes on there.

John Waite

John Waite, the Executive Director of the FCCDC, welcomed me and members of the Herb Society of America to the commercial kitchens of the CDC and introduced us to some of the people who use this important facility which has helped fledgling businesses reach a point where they can fly off to their own spaces. I can’t fit all that we saw in one posting, but I am going to take you on a weeklong tour of what what I saw and learned last Friday.

Fresh horseradish roots

Terry Grinnan of Saw Mill Site Farm uses the commercial kitchen a few times a year to bottle his horseradish products. He buys most of hishigh quality horseradish roots from a Mennonite Farm in Illinois and processes and bottles them here. He gave us a demonstration of the whole process beginning with the fresh roots.

The roots are hand peeled and then washed to USDA specifications before putting into an amazing commercial kind of food processor.

It takes a sharp blade to cut up those roots. They get three minutes to do the job.

None of us were allowed to get too close when Terry Grinnan opened the machine to add some high grade vinegar for a little more processing. Even so, eyes and noses were watering.

After a couple more minutes of grinding, the horseradish was removed from the machine, all ready for adding final flavors like mustard or beets, and then bottling, and refrigeration.  Terry says it takes about four hours to process 1000 jars of his horseradish.

Saw Mill Site Farm Horseradish

Earlier this year I wrote about growing horseradish here, which is how I got to meet Terry and get invited to a wonderful day with Herb Society members.

Weeding and Compost

A 40 foot Herb Bed lies in front of our house where lilies and roses vie for space with rue, parsley, basil, variegated sage and thalictrum at  the west end of the building

past the Welcoming Platform where you can see yarrow, golden marjoram, sage, tarragon, rosemary, Ashfield black stem mint and chives

to the end of the Bed where there is more basil, horseradish, lemon balm and dill that was knocked down by the rain that fell briefly last night. An Herb Bed in August is not a lovely thing because herbs are not neat plants. I have seen photographs of beautifully pruned herbs in simple and symmetrical beds or in complex knotted designs, but I have never seen one in the flesh. I am willing to believe such herb gardens exist, but for the cook and gardener who is only interested in using herbs the herb garden is much more apt to be unruly, but productive and useful.

Today, after at least three weeks without weeding (Life interferred in the most delightful ways) I set to. I filled a wheelbarrow with all manner of weeds, some of them embarrasingly large,  but I am not done yet.  When I have a large amount of biomass which includes roots and seedheads I grit my teeth as I toss the load in the compost pile. I fear that those weeds are not totally dead and will infect the pile. This doesn’t happen, but I get nervous every time.

Birrell Compost Bin

When I visited the Birrell garden in Seattle and saw this compost bin I was instantly struck with compost bin lust. Anyone can make a big practical wooden bin with two segments – and fill both of them, BUT no bin I have ever seen has this unique removal system. Note the bottom two boards with hinges and locks.  When it is time to remove the compost you just lift the locks and open the bottom two boards, making it easy to remove finished compost. What an idea!

Red and Gold

Sometimes I get lucky. I moved this rosy achillea to the Herb Bed in front of the house last year. It is blooming right next to a large clump of golden marjoram and makes a beautiful little plantscape. Have you had any lucky juxtapositions?

Bloom Day June 2011

Salvia 'May Night'

The past few days have been cool (50s) and wet. Sometimes very wet. We got another 2 inches of rain. The sun came out for a few minutes last evening so just a portion of my Bloom Day photos show that summer light. This is Salvia ‘May Night’ in full bloom in the northern Lawn Grove. The new tree, only partially seen, is a weeping cherry. We moved the Sourwood tree that has been in that spot for at least three years because while it seemed healthy, it showed no growth. Maybe it will do better in another spot.

Dianthus - Cheddar pinks

In the same bed as the Salvia, these Cheddar pinks are just beginning to bloom.

Campanula glomerata 'Joan Elliot'

Also in this Lawn Grove is ‘Joan Elliot,’  a great plant. It is nearly indestructible, reproduces well which means I always have some for plant sales, AND it is beautiful.

Martagon lilies

The final bloomers in this Lawn Grove are the white martagon lilies. I thought they would be a little bigger, but maybe next year. The ‘Purple Sensation’ alliums planted next to the lilies have gone by, but other alliums are budding up.

Troillus and Snow in Summer

The southern Lawn Grove holds the new Blue and White arrangement that includes touches of yellow. Both of these plants have increased greatly since I planted them last year. I can see that the Shasta daisy to the left of Snow in Summer is looking pretty crowed with the cotoneasters encroaching on the other side.  This is just one place where I am having trouble calculating seasonal growth so that things look delightfully jam and crammed, but not overcrowded. I’m working on it.

Centaurea montana

We planted this perennial cornflower about 25 years ago. Even thought the plan for this spot has changed, the Centaurea montana as been persistent. Neither the unweeded roses, or the weeds have discouraged it.  I will have this area weeded before the Franklin Land Trust Farm and Garden Tour on June 25 and 26.  For more information about this great annual tour click here

Columbine

Years ago a dear friend gave me this purple columbine. I almost killed it planting it in hot sun, but it has thrived in the shade next to the Cottage Ornee. When I took this photo I noticed that some of the columbine are purple, and some are blue. I have not seen that before. I don’t know what is happening. Any ideas?

Culinary sage

The Herb Bed in front of the house has blooming sage, chervil and chives. Other herbs will bloom as the season progresses. The Thomas Afleck rose in this bed is also just about ready to bloom.

Yellow loosestrife.

This yellow loosestrife was growing in front of the house when we moved here in 1979. We love knowing it came with the house. I added ‘Terra Cotta’ achillea last year and this spring I added an ‘Orange Julius’ spider daylily that I bought at the Bridge of Flowers plant sale last month. I think this will make a nice combination if they all bloom together. We’ll see.

The tree peonies have come and gone. The herbaceous peonies are just beginning. First by chance, and then by design, I have many later blooming peonies to be an extra treat during the Annual Rose Viewing – or this year – the FLT garden tour.

Rosa glauca

So of course we come to the roses. Rosa glauca is usually one of the first to bloom, but not this year. I think I can count the number of tiny pink roses so far. But it is the foliage and magnificent size and shape of this rose that make it notable.

Rosa 'Blanc Double de Coubert'

The rugosa are also early bloomers. Oddly, these hardy tough roses are the ones who suffered the most winterkill this year, but the blooms, on diminished bushes, are as lovely and fragrant as ever. ‘Scabrosa,’ Dart’s Dash, and ‘ Belle Poitvine,’ are also blooming, as is Harrison’s Yellow. I’ll show which roses are blooming shortly before the garden tour, but I can tell you now I think we are in for the best Rose Season yet.

Thank you Carol for hosting Bloom Day at May Dreams Gardens. Stop by and visit and see what is blooming around the country.

Horseradish

Horseradish

My Swedish grandfather said he could never get horseradish to grow.  His troubles made me think horseradish must be a difficult crop. Not so. His failure was just one of those garden mysteries. Some people seem to have a chemical antipathy towards a particular plant, failing with that one while having success everywhere else in the garden.

Our first spring in Heath I sent out my seed order and included an order for three horseradish roots.  Then, with so many other things to do that year, I forgot all about the order.  The roots arrived, but I had given no thought to where I should plant them. Not having a plan for a perennial plant like horseradish will cause trouble for years. I speak from experience.

I had dug up a bed right in front of the house where I imagined bright zinnias. However, the horseradish was the plant in front of me and needed to be planted right away. In spite of the fact that horseradish needs a deep rich well cultivated soil, it has thrived in a bed prepared by a very new gardener. It has even been regularly trampled because that is where the water spigot is located. Over the years I have harvested horseradish for our own use and given away roots to friends and plant swaps from that  bed. My grandfather must have had one of those chemical antipathies towards horseradish.

Visitors to our house have often remarked on the big green planting in front of the house. Horseradish foliage is coarse and tall, nearly three feet some years. It blooms in May. As eye catching as it is, I don’t recommend planting horseradish right in front of a house’s foundation wall.

Horseradish has been used in kitchens and sick rooms since the Delphic Oracle told Apollo, the Greek god of medicine and healing (among other things) that horseradish was worth its weight in gold. Medieval herbals included the horseradish to cure a number of ills from relieving chilblains, stimulating the nervous system and for worming children. Nowadays we know that horseradish is a source of potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorous and vitamin C.. In addition the component that makes our eyes and nose water, volatile mustard oil, has antibacterial properties. We know it helps cure urinary tract infections and acts as a diuretic

It is more used in our kitchens than in our modern sickroom, but maybe there is something to be said for adding a little horseradish sauce to our meals from time to time. Horseradish is a traditional accompaniment for roast beef. Many mustard lovers add a little heat with grated horseradish. I have thought of my grandfather when I’ve grated cool cooked beets with horseradish for a flavorful salad.

A couple of years ago I studied up on horseradish cultivation in preparation for  moving and replanting my horseradish roots. I found lots of conflicting information. Some sources said the soil should be heavy wet clay. Others said it needed deep rich well cultivated soil.  Everyone seemed to agree that lots of rotted manure and compost were beneficial.

Everyone also agrees that once you have horseradish growing it will be hard to remove. This suggests to me that it is hard for most of us to fail with horseradish no matter what we do, my grandfather aside. When choosing and preparing a horseradish bed, do choose a spot where it, and you, will be happy for many years.

It pays to take care when planting any perennial.  If you buy horseradish roots from a nursery in the spring, planting them in deeply cultivated soil will encourage the development of long straight roots. Drought will cause bitter roots so make sure a hose is available..

You can harvest anytime, but the best time to harvest for full pungency is in the fall after there has been a frost. The roots can be kept in a cool root cellar in sand, or they can be grated and mixed with white vinegar and kept in the refrigerator. That famous pungency will diminish over time.

In the spring you can transplant the new shoots created by lateral roots. This is how horseradish propagates itself, not by seeds. After three years the old roots will be too woody to use in the kitchen. They can be dug and discarded.  While horseradish is a perennial, like asparagus and rhubarb, the individual plants need to be renewed on a regular basis.

I moved several roots into my long Herb Bed that runs in front of the piazza, the Welcoming Platform and the paved entry walk. This new location makes them easier to dig and harvest in the fall, and easier to manage properly.

You will see in my photo that the roots growing near the house where the compacted soil a foot down is rocky caused the root to grow in a contorted shape. However, the lateral root growing nearby – possibly from this old woody root, is just right for transplanting.

I just learned that the International Herb Association has named horseradish (Armoracia rusticana) Herb of the Year. I think it is about time that such a humble kitchen garden plant be honored.  And whether you like your horseradish with roast beef, in mustard or in beet salad, it can have a spot in your garden.

For more information about horseradish check out the International Herb Association and The Herb Companion.

Between the Rows    May 38, 20101

Spring Surprises!

Orchid Cactus

My orchid cactus lives in our main living space so it does not get the proper conditions to put on a real bloomin’ show, but every once it a while it gives us a glamorous surprise.

I was out in the garden enjoying the sun, and the breezes which meant no pesky bugs. While I was weeding the Herb Garden I saw that the chervil which self seeds several times over the summer is already up. And then I saw . . .

that the dill had self seeded as well.  Dill often self seeds, but the plants are so small and fine that I often clear out the bed, with the seedlings without seeing them.

Hooray for spring surprises.

Coltsfoot

Coltsfoot

Gail of Clay and Limestone is celebrating wildflowers this week and I wanted to get in on the fun. Fortunately I have one wildflower in bloom here at the End of the Road, coltsfoot, coughwort or Tussilago farfara. I usually call it an ‘herb’ because of its medicinal uses. Its leaves are used in an infusion or to smoke, in both cases to cure a cough.  Of course the word ‘herb’ in its broadest sense means only a plant that dies down to the ground in the fall or winter.

A wildflower is one that grows without cultivation, and that is how I found my coltsfoot, growing wild by the side of my road.   It is not a native American plant, but once here it became known for growing in moist, gravelly soils.  That describes the roadsides in my town, including the road that ends at our house. Coltsfoot looks like a little dandelion, but blooms earlier than dandelions. Also the bloom appears before the foliage, large leaves that are often described as looking like a horse’s hoof, or at least the hoof of a colt.  It often appears where the soil has been disturbed, like the roadsides, and sends out runners.  Last year I moved a couple of coltsfoot plants to the northern side of the Rose Bank and it has spread. I hope it will make a sufficiently vigorous ground cover that it will choke out any undesirable weeds.

Divine Salvia

My annual salvia in October

It was a surprise to see Salvia on the front page of the NYTimes Sunday Styles section.  Salvia has become stylish?

However it was not Salvia officinalis,  culinary sage, which is important in many holiday dressings and dishes at this time of the year  that was getting this publicity, nor even the Christmasy red annual salvia (Salvia splendens) that is so common in many bedding plant projects.  Unbeknownst to me, who does not keep up with Miley Cyrus or the drug culture, it is  Salvia divinorum, a hallucinogen, legal in California, that has been making the news.  The NYTimes describes “intense 15 minute highs” and some states have banned the herb.

However, many plants have chemical components that can be used for good or ill, or fun, and Salvia divinorum may be one.  “The herb’s active component, a complex molecule called salvinorin A that affects the brain’s Kappa receptors, could be useful in understanding Alzheimer’s disease, cocaine addiction and chronic pain. “We stumbled across a gem,” said Dr. Matthew W. Johnson, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who has studied salvia. He believes it is nonaddictive and free of neurotoxicity. “It could be that this is our first glimpse into a whole therapeutic pathway.”

I am glad that scientists will find this plant useful, but I am happy to maintain the common culinary sage in my herb garden, May Night perennial salvia with its tall, deep blue flowering spikes in the Lawn Bed, and an annual blue salvia edging the Shed Bed.  Blue summer skies and blue salvias give me as intense a high as I desire.