prairie point

taste test

The Bookish Gardener started this. Then Kathy took it up and challenged others to take the test.

What you do is to pick one of the two alternatives in the list below and then compare your choices. I am posting my results below followed by commentary. My choices are the ones in bold.

For those more oriented toward the arts than gardening check out the original model.

1. Lilies: oriental or asiatic?
2. No-till or till?
3. Bare hands or garden gloves?
4. Garden tchotchkes, no or yes?
5. Clay or sand?
6. Shrub roses or hybrid teas?
7. Hollyhocks: single or double?
8. Foliage: gray or glaucous?
9. Hemerocallis: flava or fulva?
10. Impatiens: double or single?
11. Calendula or tagetes?
12. Arborvitae or juniper?
13. Spaded edge or "edging"?
14. Asters or mums?
15. Reflecting pool or coursing waterfall?
16. Morning glory blue or forget-me-not blue?
17. Lettuce: leaf or cos?
18. Hyacinth bean or red runner bean?
19. Orange or pink?
20. Garden bed shapes: formal or informal?
21. Garden bed planting schemes: informal or formal?
22. Hydrangeas: lace-cap or mophead?
23. Spirea japonica: dried flowerheads standing over the winter or in bloom?
24. Japanese beetle drowning medium: kerosene or dishsoap solution?
25. Garden stroll time: dusk or dawn?

This was interesting for a number of reasons. For one thing so many of the plants are ones I don’t even use.

I never thought about the distinction between oriental and asiatic lilies but pressed to state a preference I choose oriental.

We till the vegetable garden each spring. It is a raised bed and the top 12 inches of soil is all imported. Some of the flower beds were built by spading up the soil and amending it. Others were built by just mulching over the existing clay. I edge most of the beds with either steel edging or with limestone. Spaded edge beds look nice too though. Most of the limestone I hauled from a site a couple miles away where the ground was being excavated for a big apartment building. We have our own limestone just a foot or two below the black clay soil. If I had a choice though I would prefer a sandier soil.

I am skipping around a little I guess in my comments. I wish I could remember to wear gloves in the garden. Maybe my hands would not be so rough and the fingernails all broken. And yes we have lots of garden ornaments of various degrees of sophistication.

I am not sure just what the definition is for a shrub rose but I do like tea roses. Actually almost none of our roses fall into either category. Most are what are called China roses or floribundas. A lot of our plants, including the roses, were chosen for their fragrance. I have never planted impatiens. I usually don't bather with annuals unless they reseed themselves. I did not know impatiens come in single or double so I just skipped this question.

Calendula or tagetes? I have only Mexican mint marigold which is Tagetes lucida.

I choose junipers over arborvitae. In Texas juniper is called “cedar” and, like mesquite, is usually considered a big weed that has to be cleared off the land. There is a big controversy over whether it is native to the area or is an invasive alien. Personally I tend to like it though.

It would certainly be wonderful to have a coursing waterfall in the garden. Tricia and I have talked about adding a water feature but since the property is flat as a pancake I’m afraid a small pool would be all we could manage.

Im afraid I have forgotten what forget-me-nots look like, but I do love morning glories. Blue flowers may be my favorites which is why I like asters over chrysanthemums.

In general I do not like anything that looks formal or controlled in any way. I like for things to look as if they grew naturally. Actually though I think it takes more work and control to make them look natural than it does to make them look formal.

I also had to skip over the choice of hydrangeas. I can’t say that I know anything about either of the two. I don’t think they will grow in the type of soil I have. Also I had never really noticed the seedheads on spirea. I will have to look for them. We have a big bush out near the fence but frankly I don’t pay much attention to it except during the week or so that it blooms in the spring.

This is starting to make me think I am terribly ignorant and unobservant for I also have no idea what a Japanese beetle is. After doing a little research though I think perhaps it has not made it’s way this far south yet. I am going to go out on a limb though and express a preference for soapsuds over kerosene just for environmental safety.

And I prefer to stroll through the garden in the late evening, when there is a gentle breeze cooling things off.

Posted by Bill Hopkins on July 9, 2004 11:59 PM