|
Kathy’s Garden Writing |
|
THANKSGIVING TRADITIONS Thanksgiving is my family’s favorite holiday, and they want everything the same from year to year. Don’t suggest a new stuffing recipe, or a turkey breast instead of the whole bird. One year I substituted grits for mashed potatoes; well, I won’t tell you how that played out. Fortunately, they could care less about the table decor, so this is where I get to exercise my creativity. But now that I’ve “carved out” my little twist on tradition, what shall I choose for my arrangement this year? Well, peegee hydrangeas (hydrangea paniculata ‘Grandiflora’) are lovely in autumn, with their sienna cone-shaped flower clusters. They dry naturally on the shrub -- just clip, strip off residual leaves, and arrange. A new paniculata cultivar, ‘Quick Fire,’ even comes with bold red stems and deep rose florets. Landscapers do not use paniculatas much today, bored with their rangy growth habit and coarse leaves. But I enjoy their natural exuberance, as they grow quickly to a height of about 20 feet. Deer nibble on the foliage early in the season; but there is little damage to the fall floral display, which starts off creamy white in August, turning to shell pink by late September, and to earth tones by Thanksgiving. Stems from callicarpa, or beauty-berry bush, would provide a nice complement. The metallic-purple berries emerge in swirls along the length of the arching branches and last until late winter. Asian beauty berry varieties do best in zone 5 gardens, just treat them as herbaceous perennials and clip the three- to six-foot stems almost to ground level before new growth starts in the spring. They are rather unremarkable plants until late September, when the striking berries appear. Drought tolerant, happy in sun or partial shade, and deer resistant, their only real preference is for well-drained soil. So my family can have their turkey and mashed potatoes. I have my own Thanksgiving tradition, a special delivery from the fall garden to grace my table. The Koran reminds us that “bread feeds the body indeed, but flowers feed also the soul.” For this I give thanks! Kathleen Arcuri Published November 4, 2007 – The Danville Daily Item |