Hellebore Helluva bore?

In case you're among the innocent who think controversy in the plant world means what shade of pink petunia to grow...

Back in April, trouble starting brewing on NPR's Sunday morning show, Weekend Edition Sunday, during a piece about hellebores. The brew, let us say, remains quite tasty.

Seems my colleague Lianne Hansen, who continually tackles far thornier stories than spring-blooming perennials, interviewed a seemingly nice gardener named George Ball about his hellebores.

What she didn't know was that Ball is reviled as a traitor in some horticulture circles, after shutting down Heronswood Nursery in Kingston, Wash., easily one of the finest mail-order nurseries in the world.

The man was certainly within his rights since he owned Heronswood. But until this unexpected move, he'd left the care and cultivation of that holy grail of a place to the man who put it on the map, Dan Hinkley.

Suffice it to say, when Ball bought Heronswood, he bought the good name and life work of a man considered to be one of the greatest plantsman in the world. (Dan's one of my best friends, so do know I would never describe him that way. Mostly I hate him for his oh! so tedious talents.)

So here comes Ball onto NPR, talking about his prize-winning hellebores, when anyone who knows his H. foetidus from his H. argutifolius is painfully aware that Ball is no breeder. He's a businessman with a good p.r. machine which was certainly not going to muck up a good story with excessive facts about the origins of his stellar plants.

WESUN followed up with some shake and bake the the following Sunday. And Ahhh Heyullped.

8:16 PM ET | 06-28-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

A Case of the Hebe Jeebies

No sooner did they hit the PLAY button on my Hebe piece that aired on Morning Edition today, that it hit me, Uh oh! I'm a sitting duck for the Native Plant Police, or NPP (not to be confused with that triumverate of nutrients, NPK).

Introducing the genus Hebe, a New Zealand shrub that comes in tons of delicious foliage and flower choices but resents humidity and low temperatures. Sorry to wet/whet/worry your whistle if it's out of your hardiness zone!

photo by KL

 

If you're unfamiliar with this family feud concerning native vs. non-native plants, you'll be surprised to learn it bears a slight but sordid resemblance to the current controversy over immigration issues right here at home.

The botanical argument goes that non-native plants have done irreparable harm to our environment. (Take a look at what kudzu, ivy and other non-delectables have done in the U.S. and you'll see the picture.) They overwhelm native plants, deprive them of their habitat, and wreak havoc with the ecosystem in countless ways.

The solution, some argue, is to banish non-native plants from the garden in an attempt to restore a very delicate balance and celebrate the inherent birthright of North American plants.

But not all non-native (aka exotic) plants are invasive. Far from it; they're some of the most sublime and well-behaved plants one could have. We'd be bereft of enormous beauty, joy and genes if we were forced to garden only with plants that were native before the Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch and of course English arrived.

So why do I feel like a sitting duck? Because my feature about the hebe - a wonderful New Zealand shrub - celebrates all kinds of exotics. So in an attempt to ward off any tedious mail about my non-ecological sympathies, I refer any naysayers to my last story about conserving native seed.

Alternatively, if I was defensive (I am NOT! I am NOT!), I could suggest that those gunning for me take a cold jump in a duckweed-covered lake.

I'll be the one wearing flippers...

4:45 AM ET | 06-28-2007 | permalink | comments (28) | e-mail post

A Limit to Leafy Greens ... or ... Enough already!

Inevitably, many of you will write to Talking Plants with your gardening questions. I have good news. You may well find your answers in the Why Did My Plant Die archives.

An entirely healthy but exceedingly exasperating E. coccineum

Photo by Ketzel Levine

If you don't, the even better news is that we've now got this lively community of folks who've killed so many plants they finally know how to grow them. So I hope you won't go away mad if I beg off doing the answering, and instead defer to dirtier hands and more reliably retentive minds.

Though I would like to ask a question of my own.

What the hell am I supposed to do with an eight year old Embothrium coccineum that absolutely will NOT flower? It's got a posture-perfect upright form and is just the right fit for my entry courtyard, but it's not like I'm hard up for plants with green leaves...

Not that I have any intention of killing it (we've been together too long for such a betrayal), but I will move it come spring if the community so adviseth.

5:15 PM ET | 06-26-2007 | permalink | comments (8) | e-mail post

Discussion Guidelines

Every Web site has its own rules, and these are ours. If you break them, don't be surprised if we block your comments.

First things first: If you can't be polite, don't say it. Of course, we don't want to stifle discussion of controversial issues. Some topics require blunt talk, and we're not always going to agree with each other. Nonetheless, please try to disagree without being disagreeable. Focus your remarks on positions, not personalities. No name calling, slander, comments about someone's mother, comparisons to notorious dictators -- you get the idea. And under no circumstances should you post anything that could be taken as threatening, harassing, sexist or racist.

Continue reading "Discussion Guidelines" »

3:00 PM ET | 06-26-2007 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

Frequently Asked Questions about the Talking Plants Blog

What is Talking Plants?

Since you already know it's the name of my blog, perhaps what you really want to know is why I have one. Truth is, I've loved and lost so many plants that my beneficent employer thought I might have better luck just talking about them. (I've also loved and lost dogs, too, but NPR isn't crazy enough to give me two blogs. Not yet, anyway.)

Who is Ketzel Levine, anyway?

If you're that curious, you can check out my official NPR biography. But the long and short of it is this:

I was raised in public radio. I started at a member station in the early '70s, joined NPR in time to help launch Morning Edition, worked overseas at the BBC and, in the last 30 years, have been NPR's sports director, arts reporter, workplace correspondent and gardening expert. You may know me better as the Doyenne of Dirt, my nickname during a decade of on-air gardening shtick (1992-2002, RIP) with Scott Simon.

As for my creds, I'm a student of horticulture, a design consultant, a reasonably well-paid lecturer and a garden book author. Mostly, though, I'm a plant nerd.

Continue reading "Frequently Asked Questions about the Talking Plants Blog" »

3:00 PM ET | 06-26-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

The Doyenne of Dirt Returns!

Hello strangers and would-be friends,

It's a launch, and a long time in the making. What was once a Web site is now a blog. But that might not tell you anything, particularly if you want to know why Talking Plants and why me?

Well, I'll put it you in this fashion (my father was famous for that line), when was the last time a garden bummed you out? A wildflower betrayed you? A big tree let you down?

That's why we're Talking Plants here, and not talking politics. Or relationships. Or cures. This blog is dedicated to cultivating wonder and never-ending astonishment. I have learned -- after two decades of fieldwork -- that there's nothing like talking plants.

Listen. I am no Pollyanna poster child for emotional equanimity. (Click here for the TP list of Preferred Pharmaceuticals. OK, I was kidding. Stop clicking.) But don't let a lifetime of anti-depressants fool you. I am a gardener. Are you a gardener? Gardeners do not put plants in the ground in the hopes that they will suffer and perish. Gardeners plant to see tomorrow.

And if the plants croak? Or their colors are hideous? And the garden's no more than a concrete slab with a few crusty pots? So what. We imagined beauty and we reached for it. And whether it was in the buying, the planting or the imagining, we soared way above the fray.

And what a blessed relief it was.

So let's brag, blog, swap pix and stories, meet great gardeners and fellow slobs. I'll throw out a few, you crack 'em back. We'll dig dirt and make a glorious mess together. I have no doubt you'll be amazed just how lively and bizarre things will get once we start Talking Plants.

3:00 PM ET | 06-26-2007 | permalink | comments (6) | e-mail post