gardening

Helen’s Haven 2012 – a humble beginning – Part One

February 27, 2012 By HelenYoest 9 Comments

Helen’s Haven 2012 – a humble beginning

I’m hoping March will be the start of the new year for me. So far this calendar year, I’ve tried to keep up with a challenging schedule as I met deadlines, gave talks, and finished writing my book. As of this week, the draft of my book, 50 Ways to Garden with Confidence, is officially complete. As it goes through the edit stages, I’m looking ahead to where I can direct my established momentum. I have two books in mind and will slowly begin a bit on each. In the meantime, I’m taking my blog in a new direction, something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.

When garden blogging began, most people started blogging about their garden. But in the 5 years I’ve been blogging, I’ve written very little about my garden. I’ve written about Helen’s Haven some, but not as much I should have.

This was mostly because it has a complicated design that I’ve never taken the time to adequately describe. Nor have I tried to explain why I did what I did. My garden was never about what is pretty for pretty’s sake; it has a purpose. Pretty is part of that purpose, but my garden is also a sustainable, water-wise, organic, wildlife habitat.

Now I want to share my thinking on the building of Helen’s Haven. My goal for my blog this year is to write about my garden and the passion that went into each of the various garden beds. Over the 14 years I’ve gardened at Helen’s Haven, the garden’s structure and purpose have changed drastically in some ways. But in other ways, the change was just a natural progression as I got bored with a landscape, or made an important shift to water-wise design, or wanted to add more natives to the gardens.

When I give tours of my garden, I usually start at the mailbox and traverse the lawn to the various beds. I don’t believe I will use that order for writing about the gardens, though. Most likely, I’ll start in order of importance. Yes, I have a favorite child—I like some beds better than others.

Recently I was asked by Rebecca Pledger, JC Raulston Arboretum Graduate Student and president of the North Carolina State University Pi Alpha Xi (PAX) Horticultural Honor Society, to speak at their initiation banquet, where she wrote, “I would love for you to be our guest speaker at our initiation banquet. I have heard you speak many times and I love your enthusiasm and your words of wisdom.”

I’ve met Rebecca at Arboretum Friends’ meetings. Often I’ve watched her, in a casual ponytail, with a fantastic future ahead of her and I wonder what I might have done differently if I knew then what I know now. I’m a bit envious of Rebecca for knowing what she wants.

So when she asked me to speak to the group about how I got into horticulture and to share some wisdom with the other graduate students, I immediately felt like a fraud. But I knew what I would share—the humble beginning of my horticulture career. It only took me 30 years to get here. It all started with a gladiolus.

The next post will be the speech I gave to the new initiates. This speech tells the tale of how I became the hort head I am today.

Then the documentation of building Helen’s Have will begin — the good, the bad, the what was I thinking? My goal is to complete this in 2012. It’s a goal, anyway. Since the speech addresses how I got into horticulture, I feetl it was the natural beginning as to how I came to build Helen’s Haven.

Helen Yoest is a writer and speaker through her business Gardening with Confidence ®.

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Helen’s book, 50 Ways to Garden with Confidence, is due out this fall.

Filed Under: Garden of Helen Yoest - Helen's Haven Tagged With: Garden of Helen Yoest - Helen's Haven, gardening, Gardening With Confidence, Helen Yoest, Pi Alpha Xi

Tulipa clusiana ‘Chrysantha’

September 21, 2011 By HelenYoest 1 Comment

Helen’s Haven™ Rock Garden Collection

Tulipa clusiana ‘Chrysantha’

Name: Tulipa clusiana ‘Chrysantha’

Zones: 5b – 9a

Size: 8 – 12 inches tall

Conditions: Moist well drained soil while in spring growth. Hot well-sunned soil during summer dormancy

Perhaps it’s the orange that speaks to me. I do like orange, especially when it’s combined with a cadmium-colored yellow. Tulipa chrysantha, sometimes sold under the name, ‘Chrysantha’, is orangey on the outside opening to a yellow inside. The colors seem to have some spice to them. Tulipa chrysantha is planted
in Helen’s Haven’s rock garden, front and center, so as not to be missed. Each spring, these species tulips return to charm me out of winter, leaping me forward into spring.

My original planting of 5 Tulipa chrysantha bulbs has grown as the grouping reproduced offsets, increasing their numbers.

The petals open in proportion to the brightness of the sun. On overcast days, Tulipa chrysantha will remain partially closed; when doing so, the beauty of the bicolor exterior petals, is on display. The tiny bulbs like to be planted deep — a full six inches deep. Tulipa chrysantha may need to be lifted and replanted if they begin to show a slowed performance.

This fall, I plan to add more Tulipa chrysantha and other species Tulips. They may not pack the punch of a Dutch hybrid tulip, but they offer a lot of pizzazz from such a little bulb; one that just can’t be matched.
Helen Yoest is a garden writer, speaker and garden coach through her business Gardening with Confidence™.

Filed Under: Gardens - Rock Garden Tagged With: gardening, Gardening With Confidence, Helen Yoest, Rock Garden, species tulips, T. clusiana, Tulipa

Helen’s Haven’s Garden House

August 31, 2011 By HelenYoest 8 Comments

In too many years to count, I’ve had a re-occurring dream where I would open a door within my house and discovered a room I had yet to occupy. The dream was always the same. My heart fluttered at the site of this ancient place.

The room was old and worn. There were no freshly painted walls, of some realtor vanilla; rather, they were tattered and tired, as if it was once occupied by another being, abandoned after being bored.

The lightly crusted walls left a faint feeling of love. Yes, the space had once been loved; I could feel it. But it’s been a while. I also could hear the voices of those who spent time in the room. They were happy voices. Vines hung from the ceiling; the floor was crunchy and brown. There was some light in the room, but I couldn’t tell from where it came; perhaps it was covered by vines.

Often, I would fantasize about a room of my own, taking my re-occuring dream and reliving it in the light of day. Virginia Woolf wanted A Room of One’s Own and I wanted one too. Even when I wrote about design techniques, I would use the Garden House as an example.

There were many things holding me back. I had to first recognize the room of my own was not within the house; rather, it was a house within the garden. I will dub her — The Garden House.

Several years ago, I reviewed Debra Prinzing’s book Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways. My review included a description of what my room would look like. This room has been wrapped around my mind, heart, and dreams for far too long, it seemed more of a premonition than just a dream.

About 10 years ago, I sequestered a natural area of our half acre lot for the children’s play set. At the time, my three kids were 1, 2, and 5 years old.

For about a year now, the kids have been done with their play set. They tell me it’s time for me to have a room of my own. Happy of course, I mapped out the space for my Garden House and a place to one day also add chickens. I’ve now found the perfect house, (Market Imports in Raleigh, NC), so I’m all set. But then those pesky emotions started in.

I’m not often stymied by such emotions, well maybe I’m a bit sentimental. Most often, I can reason through the emotions with, this was their life then, they have moved on to other interests, and the like. But as I pulled back on the sledge hammer to begin the dismantle, I got a little choked up. There were so many years of fun on this play set. The cousins, neighbors, play dates.

For hours after dark, particularly, by the light of the low voltage lights, added to the oak tree looking down at the play set. This, of course, was by design to extend many hours of play. My husband and the kids made up a game called swing ball, where he would throw the ball a the kids feet as they were swinging. Even the neighborhood friends could be heard laughing and giggling along side of mine saying, Me next, me next.

The play set had a fort area that served as a teahouse, a place for picnics, as well as, a place to acquire bruised knees and skeeter bites. During the winter, we would make a fire near the play set, gather, and make ‘smores. We had it down. It became our routine.

Today, my oldest child is too busy reading her books to care about the play set and the younger two, affectionally known as the babies, only pass by the play set to get to their bikes from the shed. They are done with it. It’s time to move on.

I was able to get past my emotions when it dawned on me that the play set will, in part, be used in the Garden House. Pieces of wood will serve as the footing. And maybe more in the form of a bench or shelf.

As I laid out the dimensions of the Garden House, with some pieces of recycled wood, I noticed the remains of many summer paint projects, they were lightly crusted, with a faint feeling of love. I could hear the voices of those who use to spend time in this room. There were limbs with branches as thin as vines hanging over my head, blocking my light; as I moved around, the brown mulch crunched under my feet. Then I realized, I was standing in my dream. I was living my dream. It was then that I knew it was time for me to have a room of my own.

Post script – In anticipation of this week’s delivery, I cleared out the new area and laid out where the Garden Houses will go. I had to take down a weeping cherry tree and move 3 blueberry bushes. The bench will be moved to the area behind the Garden House and will be apart of the future design. In the meantime, most of the play set remains. I think I need to gather the kids to say our good byes, while toasting ‘smores.

Coming soon to Helen's Haven™

This is a week of transition. From my babies to tweens; from dreams to reality.

Helen Yoest is a garden writer, speaker and garden coach through her business Gardening with Confidence™.

Filed Under: Garden Design Tagged With: Garden House, gardening, Gardening With Confidence, Helen Yoest, kids gardens

The Garden of Jim and Jo Laskarin

August 24, 2011 By HelenYoest Leave a Comment

It’s a knack, no matter where I travel, great gardens are found. While on a recent trip to Indiana, next door to my wonderful in-law’s lake house, I found the home and garden of Jim and Jo Laskarin. I’ve actually visited their garden before and have long been an admirer of their gardening forays. I can count on a summer display of Rudbecka, Echinacea,and Monarda, plus other colorful plantings.

I like catching their garden in various light. Regrettable, when returning from a late afternoon spin around the lake, I stopped by to visit the garden and found the light to be just right, but my photo card was full. Each day thereafter, I returned to the garden at the same time, 7PM, in hopes to get the photo that got away. It got away. I have it in my mind, though, that special way the afternoon light hit the grass, probably a Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ - Feather Reed Grass, against the conifer . It was magic!

If the gardens weren’t enough, during each visit, we all benefited from Jim’s handwork in the kitchen. This visit added smiles, yum, and pounds with frosted banana nut bread and two batches cookies, one specifically bagged for my son — thank goodness — I can respect that. Otherwise, I would have pounded them back.

The gardens and food gave a welcoming feeling as if I was a guest at an inn.

As they apologized for the state of their garden with comments such as, you should have seen it last week, I continued to snap photos at every turn. The Laskarin garden is charming and delightful, full of color with borrowed backdrop not required. Yet, the sight of Pine Lake did, indeed, add value to my visit. Until next time, Jim and Jo….

Helen Yoest is a garden writer, speaker and garden coach through her business Gardening with Confidence™.

Filed Under: Garden Profiles - Plants and People Tagged With: gardening

The garden of Mr. McGregor’s Daughter — Barbara Pintozzi

August 10, 2011 By HelenYoest 7 Comments

With anticipation, I drove two hours from Northern Indiana, to a suburb of Chicago, for a visit with my long time blogging friend, Barbara Pintozzi, author of Mr. McGregor’s Daughter. We talk nearly everyday through social media and we’ve met before, at the blogger’s Fling, held in Buffalo July of 2010; however, I had yet to visit her garden.

the Nano Prairie at Squirrel Haven

Barbara's non-rock garden. I think I need this for my Rock Garden. Barbara, please remind me of the cultivar?

Barbara modeling her new garden gloves

Visiting gardens is a passion of mine; when the garden is that of a friend, built through passion only found in a dedicated gardener, the anticipation swells beyond the mere excitement of seeing a great garden. There is just something wonderfully special about sharing a friend’s garden — through her eyes; through her hand; through her heart.

I was not disappointed visiting Squirrel Haven, the ironic name Barbara dubbed her suburban lot. Barbara is plant collector and one who manages to keep plant names on the tip of her tongue, with the ability to roll off the most complex pronunciation of the most complicated Botanical Latin. I don’t know how she does it, particularly since I know she is not a trained horticulturalists, but rather, a lawyer.

Barbara’s passion as a gardener was evident throughout her garden. It was such a joy to see and walk the garden I’d been reading about for years. Her collection of clematis, blooming on and off throughout the summer, the phlox she collects, as she continues to look for the perfect color; the wildlife her garden attracts, bringing both of us to the same point, stepping on each other’s toes to get a better shot.

I was reminded when visiting, she is a variegated and chartreuse aficionado. She has a way of making her colors pop with contrast and compliments. If a color isn’t just right, she will pull or tweak until she is satisfied. Her efforts have paid off.

Through her dealings with squirrels, Barbara has put to use some clever ideas, like this one here, where she repurposed a basket from a thrift store to protect her Heuchera ‘Havana’.

I was most anxious to see her Becoming Green Women, garden art she made for her welding class project. Recently, a tree fell on it, causing a bend, but otherwise weathering the storm, to overlook Squirrel Haven for years to come.

After a two hour tour, we had to rush off since Barbara made arrangements for me to visit another garden in town. I regret having to cut our tour short, but I had limited time. Next time, I plan to invite myself to stay for coctails. I noticed her back patio sat in the afternoon shade, overlooking the back garden, looking all to welcoming.

Until next time, Barbara…

Helen Yoest is a garden writer, speaker and garden coach through her business Gardening with Confidence™.

Filed Under: Garden Profiles - Plants and People Tagged With: Barbara Pintozzi, Buffalo fling, gardening, Mr. McGregor's Daughter

Origanum pulchellum — showy Oregano

July 26, 2011 By HelenYoest Leave a Comment

Helen’s Haven™ Rock Garden Collection

Origanum pulellum

Name: Origanum pulchellum, showy oregano

Zones: 5b – 9a

Size: Under 6 inches

Conditions: Full sun, can take a little shade

The color of Origanum pulchellum is hard to describe, perhaps a pale pink or a rosy mauve, in any case, the color of Origanum pulchellum, also known as showy oregano or showy marjoram, is calming in a hot rock garden. I often find myself looking it with a second stare, as if it were something I’d find greeting me at the Pearly Gates.

Origanum pulchellum hails from Asia, but it has adapted well to my rock garden , located at the base of the Piedmont region of North Carolina. I often see our native bees flocking this exotic plant, too.

Staying low and wide (18ish inches), forming in clumps, it’s as if made for my Rock Garden. If you care too, they also make great cutting plants. Cut the long branches of fresh blooms, place in a vase without water, and let it dry naturally. It will hold it’s color and charm for some time to come.

Helen Yoest is a garden writer, speaker and garden coach through her business Gardening with Confidence™.

Filed Under: Gardens - Rock Garden Tagged With: gardening, Helen Yoest, Origanum pulchellum, rock gardens, showy Oregano

Pam Penick, Digging Helen’s Haven™

July 6, 2011 By HelenYoest 3 Comments

In my mind, the greatest complement my garden is given, is when a fellow blogger visits and writes about the garden. Making these visits even more special is when the visitor is Pam Penick. Pam has been blogging for a very long time; she is liked, respected, and considered one of the grande dames of garden blogging, even though I’m old enough to be her ~~mother~~ big sister.

Actually, that is one of the very best parts of all the on-line friends I’ve made, age matters not. We all have a common interest — gardening and writing about gardening. Plus garden travel, garden art, garden plants, fellow garden bloggers, garden books, gardening magazines, and just generally sharing our loves and laughs in the garden, across some cosmic contraption called the Internet.

I hope you enjoy Pam’s perspective of a visit to my garden, Helen’s Haven™.

The artful collector’s garden of Helen Yoest

While visiting my dad in central North Carolina last week, I was invited to pop over to Raleigh blogger Helen Yoest’s garden after a morning visit to Plant Delights Nursery. My family and I spent several hours at Plant Delights and then had lunch, so by the time I arrived at Helen’s the sun was aglare and the temps steamy. Helen wasn’t fazed a bit. After introducing our kids to each other, she pulled on a hat and led me into her lovely garden for a tour.

Pictured above is her front-yard garden, anchored near the house by this visually refreshing tiered fountain. Helen has planted this full-sun, sloping site with xeric perennials for seasonal color and with plenty of evergreen trees and shrubs to give it interest in the colder months. Ream more…

Helen Yoest is a garden writer, speaker and garden coach through her business Gardening with Confidence™.

Filed Under: Garden Travel Tagged With: Digging, gardening, Pam Penick

Reading more…

June 22, 2011 By HelenYoest 3 Comments

In the third and final post in my series of wishing I could mash a few gardening do-over buttons, I’m liberated to confess to you – I need to read more. Do you find this hard to believe? I do too?

Those glorious, glossy magazines I’m so fortunate to write for, are often left unread. Oh, I look through them; every page, in fact. I begin with the cover, reading the captions of what lies within. They pique my interest and I get all giddy knowing what’s to come. But then, I get stuck studying the cover shot for every detail. As I crack open the mag, I find myself staring at the photos. Often, I’ll start a story, only to be drawn back to the pics. They mesmerize me. However, religiously, I read the photo captions. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Gardening Op-Ed Tagged With: Christian Science Monitor, gardening

Rock Garden journal entry 6

June 15, 2011 By HelenYoest Leave a Comment

Slowly the Rock Garden forms. Continuing to address the hardscape, I’ve come to solid ground. During my last update, Rock garden journal entry 5, I explored the possibility of removing some of the paths around the Rock Garden area. This decision was not easy to make; I’m not sure why. Now that it’s done, it would appear the decision to remove the paths would have been an easy one, but it wasn’t it. It should have been done a long time ago. In fact, once I removed some of the paths around the Rock Garden, I removed others in Helen’s Haven. Learning from the design of one garden, led to the greater good of the others in my half acre wildlife habitat.

With paths gone and after adding an additional 600ish pounds of #78 Chesapeake gravel from Charles Luck Stone, in Wake Forest, NC., the garden has formed.

Finally, I was able get down to the business of plant selection.

Keeping to plants under 12 inches tall and liking a well drained, sunny location, I continued adding plants for the spring and summer; figuring fall finds would await me later in the year.

My first shopping trip took me took me to the JC Raulston Arboretum spring plant sale. Passing by big, bold, and lusty plants, one’s I’m usually drawn too, I honed in on the minute picks. Seeking out Tim Alderton, Research assistant at the JCRA, and one of the ones I hold responsible for getting me to this point of creating a rock garden, I asked for his recommendations from what was available. That trip landed Iris cristata ‘Vein Mountain’ (Dwarf Crested Iris,) Bouteloua gracilis ‘Blue Grama Grass’, Phlox carolina ‘Kim’ (thick-leaf Phlox) in the garden.

The next day, while at Lowes , a Tiarella ‘Spring Symphony’ jumped into my shopping cart. This Tiarella needs shade and the Rock Garden is primarily sun, so it went on the east side of an Osmanthus near the edge of the garden along the old path. Derysimum x ‘Bowles Mauve’ and Armeria pseudarmeria ‘Ballerina Red’ nuzzled next to the Tirarella in the cart and came home with me as well.

My eye keeps turning towards each spring blooming pretty faces. I need to pace myself and choose for summer, fall and winter too, or I will quickly run out of room.

Then I went on a garden tour in South Carolina with friends (other volunteers from the JCRA) with a keen eye on rock garden plants. I scored. I hope not too much so since, I do have other seasons to satisfy. Since I’m primarily filling the Rock Garden with plants from garden centers, the plants available are those in bloom at the time of purchase. As such, I MUST STOP and wait for the arrival of late summer and fall selections.

Still, I pretty tickled with my latest selections:

Prunella grandiflora ‘Bella Blue’

Sedum dasyphyllum ‘Major’ Corsican Stonecrop

Geranium x cantabrigiense ‘Karmina’. The mature size will be 12 – 15 inches; still an OK size for a rock garden plant. I would prefer for it to stay on the lower side tho.

Helinthemum ‘Hartswood Ruby’

Sisyrinchium angustifolium ‘Lucerne’ Lucerne Blue Eyed Grass (Thanks Barbara, for pointing this one out.)

Lotus corniculatus ‘Plenus’ Double Bird’s Foot Trefoil. I’m afraid this little guy might too wide for the space. Reported to get only 3 – 4 inches tall, but 12 – 23 inches wide. I’m OK with the tall side, not so much with the wide side. But, we’ll see.

Heucherella ‘Alabama Sunrise’

Juncus tenuis ‘Blue Dart’ Blue Dart Rush

Also, my trial plants arrived from Proven Winners, including the little beauty Echincea purpurea ‘Little Annie’. The Rock Garden is the perfect place to trial this plant. ‘Little Annie’ will not be released until the Spring of 2012.

My new challenge is to wait out the fabo cordoon which is just a tiny bit out of place in the Rock garden, as well as, the yarrow that is taking over. I was going to wait to remove much of the yarrow until it bloomed, but I think I need to work on it when I’m in the garden next.

Feeling feisty, I removed a the giant cardoon just as it was beginning to fruit. Heresy! And, I yanked out the aggressive yarrow before it bloomed. I was on a mission and I’m happy for it. This left a gaping hole. But as that door closed, Montrose had an open garden. With the open garden was a plant sale where I picked up the following:

Zephyranthes flavissima

Aethionema grandiflorum

Cryptomeria japonica ‘Duke Gradens Nana’

Scutellaria var. parifolia

Calylophus serrulatus

Helianthemum ‘Buttercup’

Orostachs erubescens

Origanum puchellum