The Rural Voice, 2005-06, Page 42Rhea
Hamilton -
Seeger and
her husband
live near
Auburn. She
is a skilled
cook and
gardener.
By Rhea Hamilton -Seeger
For 13 years we have hosted the
Orgasmic Gardeners' Garden party.
This year friends, Alex Berry and
Michael Dawber, picked up the torch,
or hoe, in this case and hosted the
potluck/plant exchange. The change
in venue was appreciated on my part
although I was experiencing
withdrawals for a few moments.
Despite the cold weather,
everyone managed to find some
plants from their gardens to offer up.
There was a lovely mix of
experienced and not -so -experienced
gardeners and what a treat to talk to
so many of them all. I am always
delighted with fellow gardeners and
ever happy to answer questions and I
never leave without some tidbit to
add to my own knowledge base. A
refreshing give and take of
conversation, there were stories about
plants, ponds, and garden trips and
the sharing of them was a way of
teaching and learning from each
other.
Some new gardeners do not have
any great plans for acres of gardens,
they just want something to grow.
well and bloom nicely from a spot
they can see easily from either their
deck or favorite window. Not a
problem. We grabbed up some nice
pots or bags of plants and scribbled
out instructions on scraps of paper.
Others had shady back yards and
needed help deciding what bits of
greenery spread before us would
flourish in their yard.
This year I was among the lucky
ones taking plants home. A bit of
purple allium, a small pot of lady's
mantle; and a treasure I should have
left right where I first saw it.
Last year Alex was showing off
this spectacular broad leaf, and I do
38 THE RURAL VOICE
Gardening
Monster plants
mean, broadleaf, plant that filled the
back corner of his yard. 1 was
impressed. The leaves were about 24
inches long and almost as wide and
the whole plant only stood about 24
inches high. This was only one year's
growth so I knew it was trouble.
Anything that spreads that quickly
could be a monster in the making.
This year the "monster" had a
name: Astilboides Tabularis. It was a
member of the Rodgersia family but
was renamed in the last 10 years.
Astilboides flowers late in the spring
or early summer, atop high stems
above their leaves. The white fluffy
flowers resemble plumes, rather like
astible or goats beard. It is hardy to
zone three and thrives in moist, rich
soil in shady areas. It is a native of
China and with all these wonderful
conditions will
grow to 36-48
inches high and
30 to 42 inches
wide. I suppose
the line that you
have to heed is
the one that
reads "may be
noxious or
invasive".
You guessed p
it. I know I am
not alone when I
tempt fate with
my garden
choices. In this
case I am well
aware of what
this plant is
capable of, and yet I am going to give
it a try on our gravel ridge. I brought
a piece home and promptly walked
around the yard trying to decide
where to put this possible monster
plant. I really didn't want it near the
garden that I was still struggling to
clear of gout weed. So under the
lilacs it went. My only line of defense
is that we have dry soil. Some
runaways that require moist soil will
survive here but stay relatively tame
because we don't have the ideal
growing conditions. So they are
stressed into behaving.
If you don't want to wreak havoc
on your garden you could look to a
tamer version in the Rodgersia
family. These are coarse-textured
perennials with tiers of dark green
compound leaves, and billowing
plumes of creamy white flowers.
They make a lovely back drop in a
shady border and will definely shine
when planted along water gardens,
streams or ponds. They too can grow
fabulous heights reaching anywhere
from two to six feet. Wow.
Dominion Seed House is offering
Astilboides plants as well as
Petasites, another large -leafed
spreading perennial that only a large
garden should be sporting or a daring
small one. It too loves the cool moist
conditions of a woodland stream site.
Hostas compete for our attention
so nicely. They offer the large leaves
without the
in 'asive behaviour.
If you like the
tall plumey flowers
look no farther than
Eupatorium or
more commonly
called Joe-Pye
Weed. Eupatorium
purpureum is
'naturally found
•- along our streams
and wet areas and 1
have often
6 �
. wondered why we
don't see more of it
i n our gardens. It
prefers mostly
shade and will grow
anywhere from two
to six feet. It has wonderful flat-
topped fluffy clusters of pink or
purple late -summer flowers. There is
a white version, Eupatorium
perfoliatim, commonly called
boneset. It is a bit smaller growing
anywhere from two to five feet
depending on the growing conditions.
One last member of this group is
Eupatorium rugosim or white
snakeroot, which grow up to five feet
with dropping terminal clusters of
tiny white flowers from midsummer
to early fall.
A lovely grouping of garden
giants, but not for the weak of heart.0