Central Virginia gardening
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15 May 2013
Deer and voles are the bane of gardeners everywhere. Fighting them has not worked for me so I do my best to discourage them. Dogs help keep deer out of the garden and so do fences, but planting things that are not their favorites is a good place to start. They will eat anything when they have to, so know that nothing is truly deer proof. At Lake Monticello, a true test for deer resistance, barberry and its relative the mahonia are not tasty. The amaryllis family includes belladonna lily, known as ‘naked ladies’ or ‘resurrection lily’, which are not eaten by deer or voles. If you use mulch, make a pocket of sand and chicken grit where you plant to discourage voles. Many plants are listed as resistant but have they passed the Lake Monticello test?Add a comment
Our wonderful sun, Helios to the Greeks, is so beautiful he turns heads. Especially in the world of flowers. Heliotropic plants turn their faces during the day to follow the sun. Alfalfa, soy beans and cotton are heliotropic but they are not ornamenting our gardens. The backbone of the heliotropes is the sunflower. Planted at the back of a garden facing south, their huge heads turn from right to left as we look at them seeming to be reading the garden before them like a book. Okra also follows the sun and is so ornamental in the vegetable garden.
Having had some success growing the normal assortment of fruits and vegetables, I now include some more exotic homegrowns. Many gardeners have thornless blackberries which are big and juicy and dependable. The same is true for the paw paws, popular for their custard like flavor and consistency. The hard seckel pears are producing well this year and I use them for chutney but I’d rather make brandy. Young bamboo shoots are steamed and served. Currants and gooseberries, goji berries and josta berries are all grown here in Virginia. Even a non-bog type of cranberry graces my garden though my first harvest was less than a cup. My new shiitake mushrooms will take a bit longer to produce. 
When asked to design a garden recently, my conversation with the homeowner was almost entirely prepositions - words and phrases which locate in time and space; over, under, around, and through. We looked up, down, along, beside, and behind. And further discussed across, amidst, between, opposite, and underneath. These perspectives lead our senses through the garden. What do we want to see and what is in the way of the view? What will we hear and smell? Where will we touch and taste? Be inquisitive and explore when designing; use all angles guided by the five senses. 
