2009 Holiday Walk @ GSP- Cabin

Photos courtesy www.aceofimages.com

A Dream of Beauty Holiday Walk

"Our Christmas was a dream of beauty," wrote Gene Stratton-Porter about her 1917 Christmas in The Cabin in Wildflower Woods. Come join us as we celebrate a 1917 Christmas on Saturday, November 21 from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Draft horses pulling a wagon will meet you in the Visitor's Lot and make regular trips around the site. After dark, the site will be lighted with luminaries transforming the woods into a place of magic.

Your first stop will be the Carriage House where you can purchase your wrist band for $3 and browse the Gift Shop. I'm really impressed with the variety and quality of items for sale, especially for you gardeners and nature lovers! And there is a special 10% discount on the day of the Walk. Decorations used at the site in the past will be for sale in the presentation room. (I'm planning to make a stop there early in the day because these are beautiful decorations.)

Upstairs in the Carriage House will be homemade cookies and candies. There will be two crafts in the Carriage House (corn husk dolls and pine cone bird feeders).

On the way down to the Cabin, stop by the Garden Shed and see a tree decorated with dried flowers from the Garden. In the Garden Shed you can also do a flower transfer craft.

On to the Cabin where I will greet you at the entry (OK so that may not be the high point of this stop). Get your senses ready for this experience. Music by Nancy Blough and two other musicians. She loves people to participate, whether with rhythm instruments or dancing the jig. Quick breads baking in the kitchen with one to take home. And Gene's dream of beauty decorations.

Here are some pictures from two years ago.

I hope to see you this Saturday and let me know if you read about the Holiday Walk on this blog.

Post-Freeze Garden Blooms

Can you believe there are still blooms in the Tame Garden? Recent visitors have commented on the nasturtiums, snapdragons, hydrangea (pink and blue), toad lily, calendula, profusion zinnias, gaillardia and geraniums. We have had several hard freezes, but the garden is situated so that a lot of the plants are spared.

Owl-o-ween

Photos courtesy www.aceofimages.com

Fall Tea

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Fall garden 1

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Nature Writing Workshop

The day after the nature poetry program for students, Joyce Brinkman led a program for adults at the Gene Stratton-Porter State Historic Site. Gerard Manley Hopkins and, to a lesser extent, Mary Oliver were given as models for "inscape" or more than surface descriptions of nature. We were instructed to select an object and delve deep into its essence, using word combinations, even made-up words and internal rhyming. So these are not finished poems, but the beginning of poems.

Poplar Seed Pod by Steve Ferguson

Splotch-brown, mold-white stripes
Delicate grooves, banana-bruised
Densely pregnant
With
Ten Ten thousand trees
The breeze sighs and rising,
Frees
The babes to sprout, grow
Destiny fulfilled.


The Nursing Log by Martha Ferguson

You beckon me,
With slanted sun skimming you
As you sink into the soil.

Bright red in the sun, out of shady dark brown.

You're cracked, perfect squares, rectangles.
All linear where once you were round
Invaded-insects, your only round now.

No long gray-barked, but green-mossed
No long standing, but supine
No longer green-leafed, but feeding tomorrow's green.

September Garden shots

Photos courtesy www.aceofimages.com

Westview students visit GSP on Sept 18th for Poet Laureate Joyce Brinkman's postcard poetry program

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Chautauqua 2009!

Miss Limberlost samples "Crackers Spread with Cream Cheese and Fresh Flowers" prepared by Kathy in the Herb tent in the gardens. Have I mentioned how awesome the food is at this site? Fit for royalty...

And Martha's Chicken?.....FABULOUS!

At left are the The Gospel and Folk Weather Girls providing entertainment on the second floor of the Carriage house for those enjoying a bit of birthday cake in honor of Gene's birthday.

A Plein Air painter takes advantage of the lovely afternoon as seen sketching a southeastern view of the arbor.

One of the rescued birds of prey saved by Soarin' Hawks Raptor Rehabilitation welcoming visitors by the front gate.

Photos courtesy www.aceofimages.com

The bees LOVE these! there were 10 or so swarming around within arm's length when I shot this. sorry kids, I'm not an entymologist nor horticulturist, so I can't tell you much more...

Photos courtesy www.aceofimages.com

Can't wait for Chautauqua this weekend!

shots from July

can't wait for Chautauqua this weekend!!! til then, here's some shots from July around sunset.

Photos courtesy www.aceofimages.com

Phlox paniculata

Under the Arbor is the column I write for the Gene Stratton-Porter Memorial Society's newsletter. Here is the latest article on phlox.

Enjoy the sweet perfume of clusters of white, pink or purple blossoms as you stroll through the western beds of the tame garden from mid-summer through fall. You may notice a tiger swallowtail or hummingbird on one of the blossoms. What is that plant? It is a native plant, an heirloom plant, and one of Gene’s original plants in her Tame Garden. It is Phlox paniculata, commonly called garden phlox, summer phlox, fall phlox or tall phlox, and its popularity in modern gardens is increasing.

Native Plant

There are more than sixty species of phlox. All are North American natives except one found in Siberia. The wild form of Phlox paniculata is native from New York to Georgia and west to Arkansas and Illinois. It occurs on rich, moist soils along stream banks and in open woods. The great naturalist and plant explorer John Bartram sent Phlox paniculata to England in the early 1700s. Their showy, fragrant flowers quickly became a hit throughout Europe and by the mid 1800s they were available in the nursery trade. They didn't re-cross the Atlantic until Victorian times.

Heirloom Plant

The native phlox, bred in England for a wide range of flower colors, improved habit, and increased resistance to diseases, quickly became a favorite garden plant in its native land and you can find it in many old gardens. (See picture of Gene’s garden.) It also held the romantic meaning of "our souls are united."

Pollinators

The interdependence between plants and pollinators, such as butterflies, moths, bees and hummingbirds, is mutually beneficial. A pollinated plant is able to reproduce and the pollinator has a food source. Phlox paniculata is a nectar source for the black swallowtail and zebra swallowtail, but its lure isn’t restricted to daytime pollinators. A Hawkmoth may hover next to its blossoms from late afternoon to dusk; in fact, phlox is listed as an adult nectar source. In the evening, as the sweet scent of phlox drifts across the garden, night moths may be drawn to the flowers, especially those with white blossoms.

Phlox in Your Garden

Phlox paniculata provides great garden color and fragrance from July through September, filling that gap between the bounty of the early summer bloomers and the fall bloomers. It is often called "the backbone of the summer border" by landscape designers. It can be used in a formal garden, a cottage garden or in a naturalized design.

Phlox are excellent cut flowers with a long vase life. Many of the smaller cultivars make nice container or patio pots.

There are hundreds of cultivars hybridized and selected for flower color, size and fragrance. The plant height when blooming varies widely by the cultivar and ranges from 15 to 48 inches.

Phlox paniculata is not a perfect plant. Powdery mildew is often a problem. The mildew can be reduced if you plant so there is good air circulation, if the plants are not crowded, and if you water in the early morning so the foliage can dry. Many new cultivars claim resistance to powdery mildew, but several studies have shown some heirloom cultivars have better resistance.

We often have Phlox paniculata for sale on the plant rack near the Carriage House. Why don’t you take one of “Gene’s plants” home and try it in your garden?