SHOW ARCHIVE

Episode 214 • July 30, 2011

VIDEO ARCHIVE

Summer heat… It can take a lot out of you and your plants. During these hot days of summer, remember to drink lots of water, take extra breaks when you are working in the garden or do your work earlier in the day while it is still cool. Also, get extra water to your plants when they show signs of stress. Better yet, start thinking about a water wise garden. This week we show you how one homeowner is saving 2/3 of the water she used to use on her garden, by using the right plants in the right place.

This week we featured...

Garland Art & Wine in the Garden

Garland Art & Wine in the Garden

There is nothing better on a warm summer day than to wander through a nursery looking at art and plants while sipping some wine! If you are looking for something of interest in your garden that doesn’t require watering, you may be thinking of garden art. The local garden art scene is packed with talented people and you can see many of them this weekend at Garland Nursery (1-800-296-6601) in Corvallis. We stopped by the nursery to chat with Brenda and Erica from the Powell family (the owners of Garlands) and to visit with Gail, one of the featured artists this weekend at the nursery. This year they will have 29 different artists who work in metal, glass, fabric, pottery, paint and stone. Some even work with recycled materials. Gail is recycling hubcaps, but these are truly works of art. She uses glass pieces to recreate pictures on the hubcaps. You have to see them to believe them. They are very cool and unique! There will also be 4 different wineries sampling their best vintages and food available for purchase. The nursery will also be loaded with sales and discounts on everything from roses and hydrangeas to patio furniture. The event happens from 10-4 on Saturday and Sunday. If you are down in the Albany or Corvallis area, stop and check it out.

Conifer Garden

Conifer Garden

Being from the Northwest most of us are familiar with conifers. Most of us even have them growing in our yards and gardens. But we found a conifer garden that goes beyond the normal fir, pine and cedar trees you may be familiar with. The conifer garden at The Oregon Garden (1-877-674-2733) is one of the best collections of conifers on the west coast. We stopped by to chat with Doug Wilson a conifer expert and volunteer at the garden. Doug and William marveled at all the different varieties that the garden has in their collection. You will see the amazing variety in textures, shapes and sizes of some of the specimens. The one thing that has changed through out time is the size of the conifers in the collection. Doug has noticed that they have gotten smaller in the past few years. He also told us his favorite time to visit the collection is in the winter. During that time of year you can see some of the most interesting colors on some of the conifers and they really stand out against the drab backdrop of winter. In the next week the American Conifer Society is having their annual national meeting in Oregon and the Oregon Garden is one of the top tours while they are here. You can join them for the tour, but you have the benefit of seeing this wonderful garden year-round! If you would like to volunteer to work in the garden or join the society, feel free to contact the Oregon Garden for more information.

Parking Strip Garden

Parking Strip Garden

One of the hardest places to grow a garden is in a parking strip. This area is hard because it is usually pretty far from your house and there is no easy way to maintain it. One way to get around that problem is by planting a water wise garden in this no-man’s land. We paid a visit to Lisa, a local homeowner; to learn how she did it and what you would have to do to follow in her footsteps. Lisa started with a beat up grass lawn and some overgrown shrubs. She removed the lawn and cut back the shrubs then amended the soil. This took some time since she worked hard to remove all the grass and roots so she wouldn’t have problems with them later. Next she selected some drought resistant, water wise plants from her local nursery. Putting the right plant in the right place will go a long way in assuring your success. She added some rocks to her garden and even some gravel with some plants to assist them with drainage. The first year of the garden she had to water pretty regularly to help the plants establish new roots and acclimate to their new home, but once that first year was done she has been able to cut back her water to about 1/3 of what it used to be. She has also done some similar work in her backyard as well. And if you think that water-wise plants are boring, think again. Lisa’s house has become a focal point in her neighborhood because it is so beautiful! If you would like some advice on how to save water in your garden (and home) you can check out some tips at the website of the Regional Water Providers Consortium, www.conserveh2o.org.

Smith Summer Jam

Smith Summer Jam

Saving the taste of summer is made easy if you capture the flavor in a homemade jam or jelly. Joelle from Smith Berry Barn (503-628-2172) invited us into her kitchen to show us how quick and easy it is to make a jam from fresh fruit. All we needed was 3 ingredients, fresh fruit, pectin and a sweetener. The pectin we used was Pomona Universal Pectin which is great because you can use any type of sweetener (Equal, Splenda, Honey or even Steevia), so it is great for diabetics. First we crushed the berries and then added the pectin, next we added the calcium mixture (part of the Pomona product) to our sweetener. After bringing the fruit to a boil we added the calcium/sweetener to the pot and kept stirring. After a couple of minutes we pulled the mixture off the stove and poured it into our containers (in this case it was sterilized jars). Joelle went one step further when she added a sprig of lavender to the mix during cooking to add an additional unique flavor. If you would like to try this at home, you can call Smith Berry Barn, or pick up a packet of Pomona’s Pectin; the instructions are in the box.

Lord and Schryver

Lord and Schryver

A couple of the most influential landscape designers in our state are hardly known! In fact their work is celebrated and appreciated in some of our most popular parks and our nicest private homes. Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver were leaders in their field. Most people don’t know of them because they have since passed away, but their work is all around us. After graduating from the Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture in Groton, Massachusetts, they met on a trip to Europe and in 1929, established the first women’s landscape architecture firm in the Northwest. They worked from their home and office on Mission Street in Salem, and through their 40 year landscape architecture partnership, designed and created over 250 gardens and public spaces in the region. You can get a feel for their work at an exhibit taking place at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University in Salem. The exhibit runs through September 18th at the museum. They did public works like Wilson Park at the State Capitol and the grounds at the Marion County Courthouse and North Salem High School. They also designed gardens for the Bullitt family in Seattle and the Pamplin Family in Portland. Be sure to check it out and see how these two women left a legacy of beauty all around us!
 

 
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