Phil the Philodendron has gone into a pout

November 23, 2020 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Phil the Philodendron’s adventures continue. For those not in the loop on my rescue plant’s progress as he moved from his summertime front-step happy place to my office, find out how the big lug has caused me worry lately. Sometimes it seems I just can’t do enough for that prima donna—a sunny window with a view of a vibrant street scene, classical music piped in on the daily, water (but not too much of it) — Phil’s got it all.

And yet, he will indulge in the occasional tantrum.

A little background on Phil…

Natick Report editor’s rescue philodendron thrives

Phil the Philodendron, an update

This South Natick, Massachusetts garden brings on the drama

October 15, 2020 by Deborah Brown 2 Comments

“When you love something, you don’t look at your watch or the clock. You don’t think about the time. When you love something you just do it,” said Karen Coffman as we looked out at her South Natick garden all dressed up for fall in purples, yellows, oranges, reds, and browns. “I put in the time in the garden, and I love it. I also have really good help. My husband is strong, built like an offensive lineman, and is willing. We’ve lived here since 1995, and I’ve been gardening the whole time.”

Natick garden, Karen Coffman — South Natick gardener, Karen Coffman. She grew up in Webster Groves, Missouri and comes from a long line of mid-western farmers. Karen says she’s the first generation off the farm. “I learned a lot about the instincts of gardening from my parents.”

Karen hasn’t always had her dream garden. For 11 years before she landed in South Natick, she and her husband called Wellesley home. She liked the town, but found the gardening an exercise in frustration. “There were just too many trees shading my property,” she said. “I couldn’t get the six hours of sun per day that I needed without chopping down my neighbor’s trees. I told Lonnie I needed more sun for a garden.”

She found the perfect property that abutted acres and acres of apple orchards and, most importantly, it was a place where she could get direct sun for the necessary 6 – 8 hours per day. Still, the 1⅓-acre space wasn’t exactly ready for its close-up. “When we got here we cut down 37 swamp maples,” Karen said.

With the shade eliminated, the sun poured onto the lot. That was one box checked.

Next, there was the matter of the lack of organic matter. “You know how they say in real estate it’s all about location, location, location?” Karen asked. “Well, in gardening it’s all about the soil, the soil, the soil. The soil was so poor here I knew nothing would grow.”

So she had truckloads of the offending dirt hauled away. “Then I ordered the best loam and filled the yard back in. My budget was 75% spent and I hadn’t bought a single plant. But I had to do it. The land tells you what to do if you pay attention.”

Once the dirt deed was done, another box was checked off. Karen was just a couple more steps away from realizing her dream.

Soil and sun are all very well and good, but a garden can’t grow without water. Since, as you can probably tell by now, Karen goes big or goes home, she had an 850-foot well drilled. “With the kind of investment I was making in this garden, I wasn’t willing to just let everything go during periods of drought.”

With the infrastructure in place, it was time to have fun and bring on the drama. Not a problem for someone who trained as an opera singer for 12 years. In fact, both Karen and her husband Lonnie trained at Indiana University. After graduation, they went to New York City and tried to break into the business.

“I did the starving artist bit for three years. Then I came to a fork in the road and made a decision to go into the tech industry, I went into business and entered the sales side of things. I had sold pianos before, and had been good at it then. I found I was still good at sales and that’s what I built my career around.”

But she never lost her love of all things theatrical, and compares the topography of her garden to a raked stage. That’s a set that slopes upward, away from the audience, giving those at the back a better view than if all the seats were at the same level, which explains why so much of the garden is visible from no matter where you stand. As I looked out from the back deck, I could see how the garden layout moved from orchestra pit to mezzanine to balcony.

Unsurprisingly, this was not by accident. Karen considers herself a student of gardening, but says, “I’m not a designer. Never claimed to be one. So I got help from someone who knew what he was doing.”

Enter landscape architect Thomas Wirth who fit in 40 specimen trees to replace the felled maples; added a koi pond; used the existing gazebo as an architectural element; and created flow and balance throughout.

Although the garden was professionally designed, it’s continually evolving. Karen adds here and subtracts there as the muse dictates and aesthetics allow. “My major considerations when planning and working in the garden are height, texture, bloom time, and maintenance,” she says. “It’s an experiment, number one. It’s a puzzle, number 2. If something doesn’t work, if it’s only pretty for a brief bloom time and then ugly for the rest of the year, out it goes.”

As you can see, she’s ruthless. Karen says it’s the only way and cites her decades in executive recruiting as good preparation for ripping out uncooperative plants. “Now that was a ruthless business,” she says.

My tour over, Karen sends me off with a red Solo cup full of dahlias and other autumn gems that she clipped with her number 2 Felcos as we strolled the grounds.

“Don’t forget to let me know which plants you want divisions from,” she calls out as I leave.

Oh, don’t worry, Karen. That’s an offer nobody could refuse.

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Just beyond Natick: a visit to The Gardens at Elm Bank

September 29, 2020 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

I was recently lucky enough to be invited along to tour The Gardens at Elm Bank at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s Wellesley headquarters, located at 900 Washington St. in Wellesley (a major part of the site is located in Dover). It had been a long time since I’d wandered the 36-acre property, listed since 1987 on the National Register of Historic Places, so I jumped at the chance. The Gardens at Elm Bank are leased from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, which maintains the 175 acres that include the Gardens, the woodland along the Charles River, and fields.

Tour highlights included a turn around Mass Hort’s Trial Garden; the Goddesses Garden; the kid-friendly Weezie’s Garden; the Italianate Garden; and the Bressingham Garden, created by British design powerhouse Adrian Bloom in 2007.

Here are some pics:

Elm Bank Reservation, Wellesley — The tour started off at the Trial Gardens, a cooperative effort between Mass Hort, the Massachusetts Flower Growers’ Association, and the University of Massachusetts. In this space, a wide variety of annuals, perennials, and vegetables are grown as a trial to see how they will do in the New England climate. New, unreleased, and old standard types of each variety are grown side-by-side and judged on how they perform. Results can be found at All-American Selections.

Elm Bank can always use volunteers looking for a meaningful and rewarding experience. They need help with everything from weeding and mulching to helping out in the library and the office. You don’t need a green thumb — the staff trains and guides volunteers.

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Gardening update: Natick Report co-editor’s philodendron

September 20, 2020 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Thanks to all for your comments and concerns about Phil the Philodendron, the once sad little rescue houseplant with an indomitable will to live. I wrote last month about the big lug and how after a few short years he’s grown into a handsome specimen with confidence and swagger to spare.

We just moved him upstairs after his summer spa vacation on the front steps of our house. Fall is coming, and Phil is cold-sensitive. Uncle Jerry from Dorchester, gardener extraordinaire says so, and when Uncle Jerry says get that plant inside, I don’t argue.

Here are his new digs. Please wish Phil well as he readjusts to life on the inside.

Phil the Wellesley Philodendron enjoys a sunny corner.

Here’s Phil on his yearly front-step spa vacation:

Gardening essay: Natick Report co-editor’s philodendron goes wild

August 24, 2020 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Every year around Memorial Day I lug my tree philodendron from its sunny corner indoors to its summer spa location outside my front door. There, the huge houseplant enjoys a three-month revel of fresh air, sunlight, daily watering, and the attention of passers-by.

Natick editor's philodendron — Phil the philodendron looking very handsome, indeed. I tucked a few impatiens into a corner of his pot, just so he could have a little summer fling. The inevitable break-up is scheduled for the end of August. Impatiens don’t do well indoors, and Phil can’t stay outside indefinitely. That’s the way it goes with these opposites-attract summertime things.

Phil looks fabulous now, but only a few short years ago he was the saddest thing you ever did see. A rescue plant, I scooped him up from a “take me, I’m yours” table where he had been left for practically dead. Poor Phil had been abandoned by someone who was at least kind enough to keep him out of the trash. He was a pathetic sight, indeed, living in squalor in a cracked plastic pot with no drainage holes. The whole of Phil was made up of just four ratty leaves and a hangdog posture, yet he possessed a tenacious will to live. In fact, with just a little care Phil has thrived and is now my most indispensable house plant.

Unlike some plants that complain when you move them from outside to inside and vice versa, Phil lives happily wherever he lands. Weekly watering when inside (daily when outside), a corner that gets plenty of bright, indirect sunlight, and he’s good to go. And after his monthly treat of fertilizer he generally goes gangbusters, sending up at least one new leaf shoot when indoors, and upping that to several new leaf shoots per month when outdoors. I just mix one tablespoon of Miracle Grow into one gallon of water, decant that mixture into a wine bottle (the gallon milk container is so unwieldy when watering plants) and do the usual watering. That’s about a quarter of a wine bottle of fertilizer/water mix when Phil is inside, and about a half bottle when he’s outside and living it up a bit because, well, summer. Any more than that and Phil gets tipsy, so I’m sure not to let this monthly happy hour get out of hand. As for straight water, he gets as much of that as he wants. Translation: about 1/4 of a wine bottle of water 1x/week when inside, and about 1/2 wine bottle of water per day when outside.

Natick Report editor's philodendron — Phil is ready for his close-up.

Over the years I’ve repotted Phil a couple of times, most recently last May into his current handsome bullet pot sourced from Home Depot. Phil and I dig the pot’s mid-century modern lines and appreciate the way it harmonizes with our 150-year old cottage. Also, I feel very smug when I wander the pricey garden stores and see a pot just like Phil’s for triple what good old Home Depot thought was fair.

Hard to believe, but in just a few weeks it will be Labor Day and thus time to move Phil inside until next spring. Even though he’s not the fussy type, everyone deserves to be eased gently out of summer. For a couple of weeks I bring him onto the front porch, an uninsulated and cheerful room filled with birds nests, board games, and disreputable running shoes. Part mudroom, part pandemic office space, the porch is a pretty good spot for a big old houseplant to get used to the idea of change. After that Phil will probably decamp to the main bedroom, like last year. Or maybe he’ll be open to giving the family room a try this year. We’ll see.

For now, Phil and I will hold onto this good summer living. Me, watering Phil from a wine bottle, causing neighborhood talk. Phil, throwing green shoots up into the air like he just doesn’t care. Both of us living life without an abundance of caution, here at the little cottage that has enough room for a big plant.