There are few things that smell more comforting in a home than the smell of apples and cinnamon. The aroma brings back the sweetest memories of Mom’s cozy kitchen, which was always fragrant with something delicious, because she was an excellent cook! Today, our kitchen smells like apples; I am drying apple slices in the oven, and we were slicing, packaging and freezing the last of our apples, which kept beautifully till now. If you are looking for an apple tree for your yard, I would recommend “Fall Red”. The apples are tart and delicious, and keep well. In most years they grow to an amazing size, just like “store-bought” apples, and they have a lovely, vibrant dark red skin and crisp white flesh. Yummy for pies, crisps, or just eating.
At this time of year we all think of what we’re going to do next year in our gardens. We’d probably need acres for all the ideas we have when the snow is on the ground! I was browsing through another “vintage” gardening book, “The Complete Garden” by Albert D. Taylor, published in New York City in 1921! As I turn the pages, I am amazed at how much garden information is still valid today. One chapter that caught my eye was chapter 15: “Plants Valuable for Use in Rock Gardens, In Japanese Gardens, And in Wall Crevices”. There are likely many more plant choices are available than when Mr. Taylor wrote his book, but a lot of the principles of planting are still practical.
“The most interesting group of plants, perhaps, for rock garden work, includes the plants known as ‘alpine’ plants, which are low-growing, very dense, and compact in their habit of growth. Most of these plants have small leaves and the flowers are rather brilliant and marked in their colors. The term ‘alpine’ plants today is applied in its general use to that dwarf and low-growing group of plants which have a tendency to compactness of habit, and which in their mature form of development seem to fit into the confined atmosphere of the average rock garden.” Mr. Taylor writes.
Makes sense. So what do we plant? Let’s read on. “…the impression should not be conveyed that every plant which is dwarf in its habit of growth is desirable for the rock garden. Many of these plants are extremely undesirable, such as the creeping jenny and dead nettle mostly because of their tendency to grow rampant and to crowd out and smother many of the more sensitive and more beautiful types of rock garden plants….Many so-called rock gardens are filled with the more common annuals, with sweet william, phlox, hollyhocks, and even large irises, plants which belong to an entirely different type of garden, or which, because of their size, are not in keeping with the scale of a minutely detailed rock garden.”
Plants Mr. Taylor listed for rock gardens are divided into categories such as evergreens (including dwarf box, juniper); deciduous trees and shrubs (including Japanese maple, creeping cotoneaster, mock orange), and perennials (such as columbine, pinks, coral bells, perennial flax, various sedums, and speedwell). After reading this, I took two things to consider: first of all, that when we choose our plants, we have to think about proportion in our rock garden, looking for compact, non-invasive plants.
Secondly, I realized how far we have come as gardeners. While certain plants listed in that 1921 book were frowned upon for a rock garden, in today’s gardening we know that we can plant whatever we enjoy, and it is all right! We know that the garden is a place of serenity and enjoyment, not hard-and-fast rules. So plant what you please and enjoy God’s gift of gardens!
Have a great week!
