The holiday season is upon us. We are just past Halloween and the calendar seems to have sped up just a little bit. We are now quickly shifting focus on the upcoming holidays. Just today I booked stories on Christmas trees and holiday wreaths. It really is a shocker. Another shocker… we only have 3 more weeks of shows after this one. Hard to believe we are almost done with season 6.

We also just came out with our new edition of the Garden Time Magazine. This week we visited a ‘Stick’ artist that we featured in the show and we also introduce you to him in the magazine. Check out this month’s issue: FLASH VERSION  PDF VERSION. If you like what you see you can subscribe for your free issues on the Garden Time website.

This week we featured...

Fall Pond Cleaning

It is getting colder and it’s about time to get your pond ready for winter. We met up with Doug at Tsugawa’s Nursery (360-225-8750) in Woodland Washington to see how to prepare our ponds and pond animals for the cold. Doug mentioned that you should also take care of your pond plants by either lowering them deeper into the water or moving them to protected areas. You should also keep your water clear of all the plant material that falls into the pond during the fall. This plant material can cause a lot of problems when the weather warms up in the spring including an algae bloom. Doug also talked about the importance of feeding your fish the correct foods to prevent them from dying. Once the pond temperature drops below 45 degrees you should stop feeding your fish. They can’t process the food in the colder water. You will also want to keep your pond running. The water movement will prevent freezing and damage to your pond liner and pumps. If you have to shut off the pump, you will need to drain all the water out of the water feature to prevent long-term damage. To get answers to all your pond questions, contact the experts at Tsugawa’s.

Fall Color Maples

Fall is the time of year when Japanese maples really shine. Locally you can find them at all your local garden centers but one of the places we found that has a huge selection is Farmington Gardens (503-649-4568) in Beaverton. Farmington not only sells the maples, they grow them too! Tony walked Judy down a long line of maples that were in full color or just starting to show some changes. The first one we saw was a small weeping variety called ‘Select Red’. This one is going to get pretty wide so you want to give it some room. The next one was a short variety as well called ‘Coonara Pygmy’. This one would be great in the landscape because it is very vigorous! Then we moved to the ‘Coral Bark Maple’ named ‘Sango kaku’, one of the most popular of the maples. This one starts with a bright green foliage in the spring and then transforms to a gold color and ends up with an orange/red color. The leaves on this one will hold on pretty long and when they are gone you have the incredible red bark to enjoy. The ‘Oisami’ was next in line and it looked different than the others due to the large leaf size! This one will get big so you have to give it some room. It will get over 20 to 30 feet tall! The contrast to that tree was the ‘Tobiosho’ which we looked at next. This one won’t get as tall and has a vibrant red leaf in the fall. We were down to 2 trees now… and moved to the ‘Kamagata’, also known as Eagle Claw maple. This one stays short and will only get around 10 feet tall. Tony told us that you could even bonsai this tree! It would do well in a small pot on a deck or patio. Finally, we made it to the lace leaf maple, ‘Viridis’. This one is short and wide, starting with green in the spring and ending with a combination of gold, red and orange foliage! Farmington is just loaded with Japanese maples and other great fall color plants. Check them out so you can add some great fall color to your garden!

Chestnut Roast

‘Chestnuts roasting on an open fire’… We have all heard the old holiday carol, but few of us have ever tasted a roasted chestnut, even though they grow in our area. We heard about a chestnut farm near Hood River so we decided to pay a visit and learn more about these traditional, but underused nuts. Bernardo is the new owner of Nella Chestnut Farms (1-800-400-3658). Bernardo is Italian and his experiences with this nut have a deep rooted tradition. Even Judy, who is also Italian, has had chestnuts with her family for meals and snacks. First of all Bernardo told us that many cultures from Italian, to French to Asian, use this nut in their cooking. In Europe you can find vendors on the street corners during the fall, roasting these for shoppers. To harvest them you have to make sure that you are not using the Horse Chestnut (these can make you sick), the correct ones are like a big sharp, fuzzy looking pod. Once the pod falls from the tree you can step on the pod to have the nut pop out. Then take the biggest ones and cut them with an ‘x’ on the outside (to prevent them from bursting in the oven) and then roast them for 25 minutes at 400 degrees, you can then eat the yellow meat inside. You can even cook them in the microwave! There are lots of other ways to enjoy these naturally delicious nuts and you can find more recipes on the Nella Farms’ website. You can even order them on-line. Check them out this weekend for their annual Chestnut Roast at their farm in Hood River, taking place both Saturday and Sunday between 1 and 5pm.

Stickman Art

We recently heard from a friend of the show, Brian Phillips of Willow Station (503-897-7387) about an art installation that was going up on the campus of OSU in Corvallis. Brian was working with the artist to secure lots of willow branches and when we arrived we found out why. The artist, Patrick Dougherty, was building art with the branches, but not just any art, this art installation was over 2 stories tall and looked like something out of a futuristic landscape! Patrick took a couple of minutes out of building to tell us about his art and career. He started over 30 years ago working on small pieces of art that used wood and sticks. Now he travels around the world to make interesting and thought provoking pieces that use natural materials. These large pieces incorporate the existing landscape and are designed to be approached, touched and enjoyed. Patrick told us that this installation, which is located near Gilkey Hall in the middle of campus, reminds him of a line up of students. They are all individuals, looking ahead, over each other’s shoulders. Others tell him that they see something else when they look at it. Patrick has also written a book called ‘Stickwork’. It documents a bunch of his different pieces with his thoughts and commentary. You can order the book off his website, www.stickwork.net. If you are in the Corvallis area, stop by this wonderful piece of art. Patrick’s art is designed to last at least 2 years, but stop by early and again in a few months and see what changes happen to it over time.