GIVING THANKS FOR NATURE’S BOUNTY AND BEAUTY

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Richmond’s talented arrangers got creative once again for Thanksgiving. Now that the ugly weather has finally passed through, and the sun is bringing in a glorious day, these arrangements might lure you to take a walk and enjoy — and be thankful for —  nature’s beauty, even on a cold November day.

Berries

 

Melinda Hardy supplemented the native Bittersweet with Seeded Eucalyptus, twigs, and even feathers.  Rumor has it she plucked that turkey herself.

 

Melinda dining room

On her dining room table, Melinda filled three containers with white Roses, Lilies, Rose Hips and more Seeded Eucalyptus and Eucalyptus pods.

Eucalyptus pods

Melinda gathered her leftover  Eucalyptus pods and created a stark, yet stunning composition.

Melinda tubes

Melinda filled the test-tube container with the same flowers and fruit, but what a completely different feel it has!

Susan

Susan Robertson combined hot colors with the Mums, Carnations and berries, but provided the cool anchor of Rosemary, Ferns, Seeded Eucalyptus and white Roses to allow the warmer colors to shine.

Pepperberry

Susan cut some Bittersweet growing on a tree in her neighborhood.  The berries and the pumpkins frame the countryside painting so beautifully.

McVey

Nan McVey sent this picture to me a couple of weeks ago.  Nan’s flair for elegance is on display here, where white Roses and Orchids are reflected on a mirror-topped table.

Ashley

Ashley Wallace and Jeannie Shutt filled this beautiful, abundant arrangement with the foliage, flowers, berries, branches and gourds of the season, including Magnolia, Japanese Maple, Oakleaf Hydrangea and Deodar Cedar foliage.  They spiced it up with Spider Mums, Lisianthus, Hypericum and Kangaroo Paw blooms.

Laura table

Laura Valentine created a work of art in her dining room, surrounding the Great Bird with a subtle palette of grays, greens, creams and a touch of gold. Pumpkins, gourds, pinecones, white Roses and Seeded Eucalyptus create a sublime tapestry.

Laura wreath

Laura gathers the same bounty on the mantle, underneath a wreath made of pine cones and seed pods.  I love the cool palette of the pumpkin (yes, it’s real!), the Seeded Eucalyptus and Roses in combination with the rich browns of the pine cones.

amaryllis

A simple bunch of Amaryllis stems greets visitors in Laura’s entrance hall.

Jeanette

Jeanette McKittrick’s arrangement veritably glows.  She filled a copper pot with Mums, Clementines, Kumquats and Date Berries.  Australian Pine (note the new red growth at the tips) provides a dramatic backdrop.

Palm cornucopia

Jeanette filled the shedded bark of a Palm Tree with the same Australian Pine, Kumquats and Clementines, and added Paperwhite Narcissus bulbs and little Pumpkins to the overflowing cornucopia.  Jeanette worked some of the Pine branches to repeat the gentle curve of the Palm bark.

 

Spider mums

Jeanette used some of her Mums to create a simple, beautiful line arrangement.

Jennifer table

The flower power team of Jennifer, Blakely and Charlotte Sisk took their dynamic art collection as inspiration for these Thanksgiving arrangements.  They created a colorful, earthy vignette by filling terracotta pots with Sunflowers, dried Hydrangea blooms, Tulips and Euphorbia, then placed them in a long rustic wooden container with candles wrapped in Birch Tree bark.

Tulips

Tulips and Wheat are happy together.

Grasses

 

The dried plumes and leaves of these grasses simply, but dramatically, convey the turn of the seasons.  May you and yours take the time this Thanksgiving to drink in, and give thanks for, the beauty and the sustenance that nature brings us each and every day.

BOXWOOD BLIGHT ALERT

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BOXWOOD BLIGHT UPDATE Grasses

When I last reported about Boxwood Blight (Cylindrocladium buxicola) in my blog,  the only known infected plants in Virginia had been quarantined in a nursery on the North Carolina border. The nursery industry and the Virginia Department of Agriculture acted immediately to establish best practices to  limit the spread of the blight, and the industry, the government and academia have been working to find ways to combat the disease. Unfortunately,  these efforts have not succeeding in isolating the disease.  Boxwood Blight has now been reported   in residential gardens from North Carolina to Rhode Island, and has been confirmed here in Richmond. Studies have also found that Sarcococca (Sweetbox) and Pachysandra terminalis may also be hosts for the Blight.

 I’ve found Saunders Brothers Boxwood Nursery to be the most thorough and  current  resource for both historical and developing information on the Blight. If this is a subject that affects you, please check the Saunders Brothers website and your local extension agency for the latest updates.  The American Boxwood Society will hold its annual symposium May 14-16, 2014, and will devote significant time to Boxwood Blight.

THE SYMPTOMS:

  • Dark brown spots on leaves, may eventually cover entire leaf
  • Black streams on stems that appear to move from bottom of plant to top
  • Severe defoliation and dieback
  • North Carolina State University has some good images of plants infected with the Blight.

TREATMENT AND PREVENTION

  • It is now accepted, based on research in Europe where gardeners have been dealing with the Blight since the mid 1990’s,  that Boxwood Blight is not something that will be eradicated or even prevented, but is instead something that we need to learn to live with and manage (as we do with pysillid and leaf miner).
  • The United States Department of Agriculture recommends

     removing infected twigs, fallen leaves and the topsoil under affected plants because the fungus can persist on fallen leaves and debris.

  • Saunders Brothers recommends ensuring good air flow in and around plants, ample sunshine, and no overhead irrigation.  USDA recommends regular fall pruning to thin the branches of English Boxwood (Buxus sempervirens ‘Suffruticosa’) or other tightly growing Boxwood,  to provide air circulation, thus making it harder for the fungus to incubate and spread. This is especially important for tightly growing hedges.

  •  Saunders Brothers also reports that some “fungicides are very effective in controlling the disease, particularly when applied just before a prime infection period, which would be average temperatures in the 60’s to 70’s and complete wetting of the plant for an extended period”.  Please contact your trusted landscaper, extension agent or nursery for more specific guidance on this front.

LESS SUSCEPTIBLE CULTIVARS

 English Boxwood seems to be the most susceptible Boxwood to the Blight. Saunders Brothers and North Carolina State University are aggressively researching which cultivars of Buxus are most resistant to the Blight.  This from Saunders Brothers:

“We continue to work with the researchers at NC State as they do varietal susceptibility trials.  This spring we took a second load of plants to begin testing.  The good news is that early tests show several of the varieties we have grown for years appear to have very good resistance to Boxwood Blight.  ‘Green Beauty’, Insularis ‘Nana’, ‘Golden Dream’, ‘Winter Gem’, ‘Dee Runk’, ‘Fastigiata’, ‘Green Gem’, and ‘John Baldwin’ all show considerable resistance to the disease.  ‘Green Mountain’ and ‘Jim Stauffer’ both show some resistance.”

If you think your Boxwood are infected with Boxwood Blight, consult a trusted landscape expert and/or bring a sample (double-bagged) to your local extension office for diagnosis.