January doesn’t seem like such a great time to attend to gardening needs, it being so cold and all. But there really are a lot of things that can be done in January that will make a difference in the upcoming . . . → Read More: January Gardening]]> And the seasons they go ’round and ’round – and 2012 is here! Happy New Year!

January doesn’t seem like such a great time to attend to gardening needs, it being so cold and all. But there really are a lot of things that can be done in January that will make a difference in the upcoming gardening season as well as make your garden more attractive in the mean time.

As for me, I just love being outside in South Carolina in the winter – gardening or walking or hiking, it doesn’t really matter. The air is so clear this time of year, and the sky is so blue, and the pine trees so, well, green! Any chance I get to look up at a clear Carolina blue sky through pine trees is a treat for me. And did I mention no mosquitos and low humidity (and no wasps)! Some things just stand out better in winter, like tree bark, white Sycamore bark being the best example. And I don’t know why but I like seeing those dangling Sycamore and Sweet Gum balls hanging on, or last spring’s Tulip Poplar flower brackets pointing skyward high in the tree. Birds are easier to see in winter, especially hawks! Sometimes it’s the crows yacking at them that alerts me to look up, but other times it’s the Hawks themselves screeching. I’ve been seeing a group of three Red Tails all around the Forest Lake and Trenholm Road area – not sure if it’s always the same three though.

Days getting longer always puts a little skip in my step. It’s encouraging at many levels, and knowing that longer day length or shorter night length triggers various hormonal chages in plants makes it more fun to watch the season unfold.

But what I think I like the most about winter outside are the buds, as in tree buds and plant buds. Inside are the tiny leaves and/or flowers, either well-formed in miniature, or at least already differentiated as cells ready to take on full form. What energy the tree didn’t put into its seeds or store in its roots last summer and fall it has packed into these buds. Indeed, as last summer wound down, and the buds started to form which would lie dormant over the winter, the tree “knew” to transfer important energy sources from the leaves to the buds. These buds are rich in energy which is why deer and other animals like to eat them. The softer tissues of the buds are protected from the cold by tough bud scales. These scales leave scars when they fall off, scars which tell stories about how the twig has grown over the last few years.

OK, enough of that. Here are some good things to do in your garden in January…

Apply mulch – Mulch regulates soil temperature and moisture and does a great job suppressing weed growth in the spring.

Remove unwanted vines and trees – English Ivy competes with your shrubs for water and food and is easier to remove in the winter making way for proper bed maintenance in the spring. Although Wisteria is not an evergreen, it does not hide itself very well. It is actually easier to track down and get rid of Wisteria’s underground runners (and root hubs) in the winter when access in and out of beds is easier. Green Smilax shoots are easier to see in the winter, and the tubers can be removed just as well in January as in July. Honeysuckle is not evergreen and the bark also gives it away. It can be yanked quite easily right out of the ground. Wild grape vines have very distinctive bark as well. These vines and others are so aggressive that they swarm your other plants in early spring faster than you can shake a stick. May as well get rid of them now. Winter is also a good time to remove some of the more common pesky large shrubs and trees such as Cherry Laurel, Ligustrum, Hackberry, and so forth. Even oak saplings are easy to see and remove, as they often keep some of their leaves in the winter.

Transplant – January is a good time to transplant shrubs.

Plant – January is a great time to plant a tree! Trees are good.

Clean up – One good thing about winter is that it is easier to see and remove those piles of bricks and concrete or rocks in the back of a flower bed, or old rotted landscaping timbers, or old planting pots hiding here and there. May as well get rid of that stuff while you’re noticing it. It is a good time to remove dead wood from Azaleas or rake old leaves or old flower petals out from under Camellias.

Prune, Clip, and Trim – Obviously January is not the time to prune plants grown for their flowers (best to wait until after they bloom), but it can be a good time to neaten up ungainly hedges or prune tree limbs that are hanging over your shrubs. Boxwood can be selectively thinned in January and made more ready to fill out come spring. Some shrubs like Camellia Sasanqua that bloom in the fall can be pruned safely in January. Winter can also be a good time for neatening up non flowering hedges. Why be anoyed all winter by ungainly shrubs? January is a good time to trim back monkey grass, get rid of the dying stalks and leaves of last year’s daylilies, cut back Ginger Lilies falling all over each other (and other plants), remove old Lantana stems, and so forth. OK, there are opposite views about when to cut back Lantana. Personally I do not think the very slight risk of water seeping into a cut stem and causing rot or fungal problems outweighs the unslightliness of gangly Lantana stems. I am actually not convinced that cutting back Lantana in the winter increases the chance of disease or cold damage, especially if one gives the crown area a good blanket of mulch. Some of the same arguments apply to Ginger Lilies and other plants. If Ginger Lilies are lying over other plants or lawn I would cut them now, and if not I’d wait until late February.

Prepare Soil – January is a good time to start to get the ground ready for a spring planting of vegetables. Bacteria and worms don’t stop working in our mild winters when the soil rarely freezes, and late fall (I think of December before Christmas as late fall) is an active time for worms and bacteria to work on decomposing leaves and enriching soil. Turning the soil in a planting bed, especially if it has some leaves or leaf litter covering it, can be a good way to prep the soil for an early spring planting.

Water – Remember to water in winter. Not only do plants still need water to live, but keeping the soil watered helps ameliorate the impact of a cold snap, just as putting water on peach buds during a hard freeze can help save the buds!

Plan – January is a great time to start thinking about and planning for the spring. Since we begin to get a lot of new growing activity by late February, Spring can sort of sneak up on us here in Columbia and by the time we’re ready for it we may have missed a window of opportunity. Best to get out the garden books and catalogs and start planning now, rather than then.

Of course I am available for these and other garden tasks. PLEASE feel free to forward this link along to anyone that you think could use my services – Columbia, Greensboro, and other select towns in the Carolinas.

Thanks,

Joel

I suspect with all the stuff to do for Christmas, with Christmas parties to attend, and given the cold starting to descend upon us, that a . . . → Read More: December Gardening]]> It is hard to believe that December is upon us, but it is, and it is starting to get colder, and dark ever earlier, and holiday season signs are everywhere.

I suspect with all the stuff to do for Christmas, with Christmas parties to attend, and given the cold starting to descend upon us, that a lot of us take a break from thinking about our gardens. But there are actually some useful things to do in the garden in December. And thankfully there is some color out there even this time of year to cheer us on…

December is a super time to transplant. Now that we have had or will soon have a couple of decent freezes plants are falling to sleep – going into dormancy – which means first that there is less transpiration going on (none in deciduous trees and shrubs obviously) and thus much less demand being put on the roots by the leaves to get water (for photosynthesis), and second, that the plant is not going to sprout new shoots and buds if it is cut back somewhat. This means that when we transplant at this time of year it is much less traumatic for the plant. But plant roots do grow slowly over the winter so that when the weather does heat up in the Spring and the plant comes out of dormancy it has had a chance for its roots to set and is in better shape to survive its first summer.

December is also a very good time to plant shrubs and trees, many fruit trees, some hardy perennials, and some bulbs.

December is a good time to get rid of vines and tree saplings that have been taking over the garden. Even with deciduous vines it is actually quite easy to see them this time of year, and much easier to see some evergreen vines. Now is a perfect time to take out English Ivy. English Ivy is an ongoing maintenance challenge and it also competes with shrubs for water and nutrients. Pulling Ivy out is less stressful on the plants around it when the pulling is done in cooler weather.

One thing I have noticed is that when Spring does finally come many vines like Wisteria take off so fast, that before we wrap our heads around the fact that it is Spring the vines have already wormed their way up through our shrubs and bushes. And we look, and sigh…

December is a good time to apply mulch to boxwood, azaleas and many other shrubs, especially after cleaning out old plant litter and dead wood. Since it also a good time to apply a light feeding to many shrubs (to help root growth over the winter) some folks like to use a mulch like Dixie Mix, or to sprinkle a slow release granular fertilizer in with, say, shredded hardwood bark mulch (my favorite mulch for around here).

December can be the right time to prune of cut back unsightly overgrown foundation plants, especially those whose flowering buds are not already set. One could argue that February is better, but if you just don’t want to look at an overgrown or unsightly bush or row of bushes all winter it won’t do any harm to prune it now since the plant is dormant. Boxwood too can be selectively pruned now to allow in more light and air which will stimulate bud growth in early Spring.

December is a good time to start to get the ground ready for a Spring planting of vegetables. Bacteria and worms don’t stop working in our mild winters when the soil rarely freezes, and late fall (I think of December before Christmas as late fall) is an active time for worms and bacteria to work on decomposing leaves and enriching soil. Turning the soil in a planting bed, especially if it has some leaves or leaf litter covering it, can be a good way to prep the soil for an early Spring planting.

Remember to water in winter. Not only do plants still need water to live, but keeping the soil watered helps ameliorate the impact of a cold snap, protecting plant tissue much as putting water on peach buds during a hard freeze can help save the buds!

Best of all, December is a great time to start thinking about and planning for the Spring. Since we begin to get a lot of new growing activity by late February, Spring can sort of sneak up on us here in Columbia and by the time we’re ready we may have missed a window of opportunity. Best to get out the garden books and catalogs and start planning now, rather than then.

I hope you enjoyed reading this. As always I am available to help however I can.

Maybe you have some other ideas to share about gardening in December – especially here in the midlands of SC.

Happy December…

Joel

I specialize in uncovering and reestablishing the beauty of once beautiful but now overgrown, overrun, and unmanageable southern gardens.

I often distribute this flyer (or one like it) - click here and read – and if it applies to you I can definitely help!

In addition to the general hard work of getting rid of smothering Wisteria,  Smilax, Honeysuckle, Ivy and . . . → Read More: What I Do]]>

I specialize in uncovering and reestablishing the beauty of once beautiful but now overgrown, overrun, and unmanageable southern gardens.

I often distribute this flyer (or one like it) - click here and read – and if it applies to you I can definitely help!

In addition to the general hard work of getting rid of smothering Wisteria,  Smilax, Honeysuckle, Ivy and other vines, and digging out Ligustrum and Cherry Laurel and other bothersome volunteers, I also do a lot of careful pruning of treasured shrubs, old fashioned weeding, mulching, as well as designing, planting, and transplanting where needed.

In addition, on a bi weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis I can come to your place and take care of your beds – pruning, mulching, planting, dividing, weeding,  ridding your beds of vines and volunteer trees and plants, and so forth.

Most overgrown shrubs – especially flowering ones – need several seasons to bring back into shape. And many invasive plants like Wisteria require several seasons to eradicate as well.

What gives me the most joy is when a homeowner who had been unable to enjoy his or her garden because it had become so overwhelming is able once again to get out and find pleasure in that special place called home.

You can reach me by e-mail at gillespie.joel@gmail.com or by phone at 336-207-0196.

I even like the name of it, how it rolls off the tongue.

I think I love those first hints of fall even more than fall itself, you know, that breeze that carries a different smell, air that seems a bit drier, and a touch a coolness unexpectedly on a Saturday . . . → Read More: September]]> September is here! I’ve always loved September.

I even like the name of it, how it rolls off the tongue.

I think I love those first hints of fall even more than fall itself, you know, that breeze that carries a different smell, air that seems a bit drier, and a touch a coolness unexpectedly on a Saturday morning.

I love the pennant races in baseball, and the hoopla surrounding the new football season.

I like the woods in September. There is always so much going on in the world of nature in September as plants and bugs and other creatures start to get ready for the coming winter.

I probably like September more now that I don’t have to “go back to school” as in my early years. That always kind of stunk!

I dig equinoxes, and September has one, the autumnal equinox, when the sun rises true east and sets true west, the first official day of fall.

I like gardens in September, the blooming of the late season flowers, so many plants going to seed, brave butterflies passing through or laying eggs, the beginning of the return to the earth of that season’s growth.

I like the poem “thirty days hath September…”

I like the stubble of fields harvested.

There are some September poems I have collected over the years. Here is the first stanza of Wordsworth’s “September, 1819″:

Departing summer hath assumed
aspect tenderly illumed,
The gentlest look of spring;
That calls from yonder leafy shade
Unfaded, yet prepared to fade,
A timely carolling.

John Updike published a calendar for children, each month with a short poem. Here is the poem for September:

The breezes taste
Of apple peel.
The air is full
Of smells to feel-
Ripe fruit, old footballs,
Burning brush,
New books, erasers,
Chalk, and such.
The bee, his hive,
Well-honeyed hum,
And Mother cuts
Chrysanthemums.
Like plates washed clean
With suds, the days
Are polished with
A morning haze.

We’ve had much trouble of late in September – Katrina and 9/11 come to mind, yet September seems to be a quiet month overall, one that sort of passes with little notice. It is sort of an in between month, tucked between its bigger sisters of August and October.

For Iris Dement, September in its quiet unassuming passing reminds her of the quiet passing of her life:

My life, it don’t count for nothing.
When I look at this world, I feel so small.
My life, it’s only a season:
A passing September that no one will recall.

OK, that’s a bit of a downer.

The change of the season from summer to fall, and from fall to winder, used to make me sad. It doesn’t anymore.

I like September. You won’t need to wake me up when September comes, I’ll be awake already.

Greetings Friends (March 08, 2011)

Well, Spring has definitely sprung in Columbia! Even though I have been outside almost everyday Spring still seemed to happen overnight. I never get tired of this Spring-flinging thing. Today I saw my first Redbud blooming, and noticed that the Oaks overhead were blooming as well. I saw honey bees all over . . . → Read More: Spring Greetings]]>

Greetings Friends (March 08, 2011)

Well, Spring has definitely sprung in Columbia! Even though I have been outside almost everyday Spring still seemed to happen overnight. I never get tired of this Spring-flinging thing. Today I saw my first Redbud blooming, and noticed that the Oaks overhead were blooming as well. I saw honey bees all over a blooming Holly bush and had the joy of pruning a Tea Olive. Add to that Cherry and Forsythia and Japanese Magnolia and Viburnum – along with the Camellias still hanging in there – and it’s downright beautiful outside!

I just wanted to pass the news along to friends and acquaintances in the Columbia and Greensboro areas that I am now gardening and tutoring full time, and continuing to seek customers and jobs looking forward into the Spring and Summer. As to school, well, we’ll see…

I am doing more and more ongoing bed maintenance and planning/planting than last year, but my bread and butter is still garden restoration. It seems that gardens once tamed need ongoing care, so that is working out well.

I have had the privilege of meeting some amazing folks, and working in some really beautiful yards and gardens. It’s not a bad gig really.

I have formed an LLC, and in the process of getting all my licenses and such, and am now looking for a helper, maybe 20 hours a week to start. If you know of someone who works hard, doesn’t mind getting hot and dirty, takes initiative, and may want to learn a thing or two about gardening, let me know. The pay is pretty good and there is opportunity for growth in both hours and pay.

Here is a link to a PDF of a flyer I have distributed to good effect in several areas. If you know of anyone who you think may want or need my services please feel free to forward the link.

I give thanks that I have also begun to get more tutoring business. I have been tutoring in Algebra, Physical Science, Physics, and basic Computer use so far. I am available for other Science and Math subjects as well as English composition.

I am most grateful for all the the folks who have employed me so far. I hope I have been even a fraction of the blessing to them that they have been to me.

In honor of such a perfect Columbia Spring day today, I give you a treasure, a celebration of Spring by one of the world’s greatest celebrants of such things, Gerard Manley Hopkins. It is one of his simplest and most accessible, and most beautiful poems, entitled, simply, “Spring.”

Spring

Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –
When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;
Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush
Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;
The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush
The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush
With richness; the racing lambs have too far fair their fling.

What is all this juice and all this joy?
A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning
In Eden garden – have, get, before it cloy,
Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,
Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,
Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning.

A while back I had a comment on my blog that encouraged me and which really got at the core of why I take pictures – of downtown Columbia or Greensboro or anything else for that matter.

I don’t repeat this comment in any spirit of self congratulation but simply because it feels good when the purpose . . . → Read More: The Joy of Taking Pictures]]>

A while back I had a comment on my blog that encouraged me and which really got at the core of why I take pictures – of downtown Columbia or Greensboro or anything else for that matter.

I don’t repeat this comment in any spirit of self congratulation but simply because it feels good when the purpose for what I do is realized. Here is the comment:

“Anonymous said…Love the Photography!!! Makes me really proud of our downtown. I tweeted your blog post this am, I hope you don’t mind because I thought it was fabulous. I look forward to reading and viewing your work in the future.”

It was the one phrase that stuck me – “makes me really proud of our downtown.”

I am the first person to admit that I am not at best a decent amateur photographer. It is true that I do often “see” things that other people don’t (no, I don’t see dead people), but that is mainly because I am looking and they’re not. There is a “way of looking” that opens up the mind and heart for impressions and nuance of light, color, perspective, and composition – and I hope that as I get better at photography I will be better able to capture these things. But I am no Ansel Adams.

But in the end my purpose in taking pictures is to enjoy for myself and then celebrate with others the uniqueness and diversity that inhabit “place” – whether “natural” or “man-made.”

Buildings may not in themselves be “life” but they are given a kind of personality as it were by their designers and builders. The jumbled interplay of forms and styles in a cityscape creates fascinating impressions. And though buildings do not walk around they do change their appearance or “impression” throughout the day and throughout the seasons as light plays upon them in a multitude of ways, the “impressions” changing with the varying backdrop of cloud and sky and sun. And as one walks around in different seasons and at different times of day, always looking, there seem to be a near infinite combination of viewpoints and angles. For example, from March 21 to September 21 you will never see sunlight striking the north side of a building. And only at this time of year will be noon day sun be at such a low angle.

For me, the goal is to enjoy myself all of this richness, and then to capture as much of it as possible so that another person may enjoy it too, or as in the above comment, feel proud of his or her “place.” There is no higher compliment that could be paid to me than this.

What is true of inanimate buildings is of course even more true of forests and trails and the tiny bits of “nature” inhabiting our city. Not only are there countless things to discover along a trail such as odd formations of life and ever interesting points of view, but a trail itself is in many ways a different trail depending on season and time of day. We think of different kinds of light – the slanting light of morning, the overhead light of midday, and the slanting light of afternoon. Each provides a unique impression and opens up different interactions of light and subject. Each season provides its own glory, so that, when you do the math, a trail has twelve personalities, three each day for four different seasons. Not only that but small intangibles like fog and mist and cloud give further variation within the twelve personalities. I could walk the same trail a hundred times and never run out of things to photograph.

But then, again, the point is not that someone would say, “that’s a great picture” or whatever (I take enough pictures where some of them are bound to be pretty good even if by accident). The real reward is when, like the person who commented above, someone feels blessed, proud of being a part of such a world as this and community as this, thankful for the people who helped make such views possible, and thankful to the author of such beauty.

And for me it’s not just beauty but also decay in a strange way that I celebrate. Late last week I drove back from Greensboro the “back way,” taking secondary (and tertiary) roads, going through small towns and seeing many many abandoned and decrepit old buildings and homes. What interests me about these old structures are the stories behind them, the histories of the communities, the reasons why people came there in the first place and why they left. Every abandoned old building was once a person’s business, a person’s dream, a place where they invested their fortune and their sweat. More often than not there was a time of prosperity for that business, and I imagine all the people who came and went and worked and shared stories with each other. It’s the story of people and their lives that fills me with a sense of wonder and respect walking around an old abandoned filling station with a faded out Esso sign still dangling from a pole.

Anyway, it’s a nice feeling when the purpose of what you’re doing seems realized even in a small degree. It inspires me to get better so as to bring more blessing and to make more people proud of the community and the world that they live in.

One final note: as I write this it dawns on my how much I have been impacted by my literary hero, Gerard Manley Hopkins. Thanks Gerard.

To learn more about my services please click on the “About Me” link above or to . . . → Read More: Bricks and Windows]]> Downtown Columbia, late afternoon, January 2011, on Sumter Street, looking north toward Medical Center and AME Church

To learn more about my services please click on the “About Me” link above or to the right.