Garden Witch's Herbal (5 page)

Wind and Rain Patterns

Rain is grace; rain is the sky condescending to the earth;
without rain, there would be no life.

john updike

Too much of a good thing may create its own challenges. Full sun and steady winds can cause problems. Plants can bake in strong summer heat. Excessive winds strip moisture out of plant leaves, which is known as transpiration. Transpiration is the process in which a plant loses water, primarily from the leaf stomata (the pores in the epidermis of leaves and stems).

There are four main factors that affect transpiration. These factors are light, temperature, relative wind, and humidity. How do you avoid this little situation? With regular watering and with mulch, my friend. Try adding an inch-deep layer of natural mulch to your planters. Also consider providing a little shade and/or a windbreak for those full-sun gardens with awnings, pergolas, and trellises.

The next time it rains, you will also want to keep an eye on how precipitation falls on your chosen site and how the water drains. Some spots may stay completely dry, some areas may take in a bit of water, and some will receive a good soaking—so plan accordingly. Together, these growing conditions of shade, sun exposure, and rainfall patterns will help you determine what you can and cannot achieve in your urban Witch's garden.

Don't panic now; go ahead and make your drawing. Find out how much shade or sunlight, wind and rain you will receive. Another quick method is to check out which direction your site is oriented to; use a compass if necessary. Here is an easy directional plant list with annual and perennial plant suggestions for color and structure. (This is a general rule of thumb only; remember those other site considerations that were discussed earlier. For more plant options, check out the plant list on page 29 as well.)

South Facing
. This is sunlight all day, which can be described as full sun. You should have success with the widest selection of plants and culinary herbs. Also try annual purple fountain grass, sunflowers, roses, geraniums, and petunias.

East and West Facing
. This is around six hours of sunlight, also considered full sun, but in the morning and evening respectively. East facing: hydrangeas, day lilies, morning glories, impatiens, and azaleas. West facing: geraniums, coreopsis, clematis, coneflowers, lavenders, and sunflowers.

North Facing
. This could be as little as two hours of sunlight per day. If you receive upwards of three to five hours of sun, this can be described as partial shade. Two hours or less of sunlight would be full shade. North-facing plants include begonias, bleeding hearts, hostas, ferns, hellebore, lily of the valley, and rhododendrons.

No matter what your sun exposure, make the most out of the space you do have by arranging containers in groups that complement each other. Today, container gardening is one of the most popular forms of gardening. If you take a look around, you can discover myriad magazine articles and books devoted to the topic.

Conjuring Container Gardens

I know a little garden-close
Set thick with lily and red rose,
Where I would wander if I might
From dewy dawn to dewy night.

william morris

Keep in mind that when you place large containers on decks, balconies, or rooftops, check the strength of the structure first. Find out if your building has weight limits or rules about heavy objects on balconies, as containers filled with soil can be very heavy. Conversely, small containers may be easily blown away. Find yourself a happy medium—try an intermediate-sized, lightweight container or use window boxes and fasten them down securely. You can also make use of hanging baskets. As you set up these containers, remember to utilize gravel or small rocks for the bottom two inches of the container to aid in drainage. Work with a high-quality potting mix and add lots of sterile compost to enrich your soil. Invest in some water-soluble fertilizer, and get ready to garden!

You will notice that I have included various annuals, herbs, and perennials in these mixed pots for added color, height, and scent. As you assemble your individual containers, place the taller plants either in the back or center of the pot. Then place the medium-sized plants in front or around the tallest ones, with the shortest or trailing varieties around the outside edges. A trick that professionals use when designing pots and containers for sale is to plant them very full. Don't scrimp on the plants! There is nothing sadder than a scrawny container that has to wait for two months of growth to fill in.

Mix and match these suggested combinations however your Garden Witch's heart desires. Just remember to coordinate the shade or sun tolerances of the plants. Plant many containers or a few large ones—whatever you have space for or would prefer. Now, here are some bewitching combinations that I have conjured up just for you. The sun requirements are listed first and then the plants.

Practical Magick Container Gardens

He could walk, or rather turn about in his little garden, and feel more solid happiness from the flourishing of a cabbage or the growing of a turnip than was ever received from the most ostentatious show the vanity of man could possibly invent.

sarah fielding

Moonlit Magick

(Part shade) Mugwort, nicotiana, betony, alyssum, and white petunias for scent and nighttime sparkle. Tuck in white zinnias to attract the butterflies.

Sorcery in the Shade

(Shade) Pansies, violas, ferns, hostas, ivy, and trailing mints. Look for chocolate or orange mint to add some fragrance. Plant variegated ivy to add some visual interest to the pot. Also, you can switch out the spring cool-weather-loving pansies with a colorful, shady annual like impatients for the hot summer months.

Faerie Garden

(Shade to part shade) Columbine, pansy, viola, foxglove, fern, periwinkle, ivy, annual blue lobelia, alyssum.

Fragrant Fascinations

(Full to part sun) A standard tree rose, lavender, alyssum, sage, pineapple sage, catmint, scented geraniums, coordinating shades of begonias and petunias for color. Add spicy dianthus (pinks) for color and more scent.

Hedge Witch Hanging Basket

(Sun to part sun) Look for prostrate varieties of herbs such as rosemary and thyme, the type of variety that “creeps” or trails. Nasturtiums make a nice trailing plant, as does scented bacopa. Strawberries make great hanging basket plants and require full sun. Try an ever-bearing variety of strawberry for plants that will produce fruit for a longer season.

Kitchen Witchery

(Full to part sun) Plant some of the classic Witch's garden herbs: rosemary, basil, dill, parsley, bronze fennel, thyme, and tricolor sage.

Faerie/Butterfly Garden

(Sun) Yarrow, coneflowers, brown-eyed Susans, daisies, miniature roses, lavender, parsley. Parsley is a host plant for caterpillars.

Silver Sorcery

(Sun) Artemisia and lamb's ears; add lavender, santolina, and heliotrope for scent. Let the silver and fuzzy licorice plant (
Helichrysum
) dangle over the sides of the container.

Colorful & Elemental
Theme Containers

Colors, like features, follow the changes of the emotions.

pablo picasso

This is fun to try: create container gardens to honor the colors of the four elements. These next four container gardens are a bewitching mixture of annuals, ornamentals, perennials, and herbs. Remember to put the tallest plants in the center and to work outwards, planting the containers full. Use a good potting mix, and make sure your pots and containers all have drainage holes.

Earth

Green (full to part shade). With lots of textured foliage, this is perfect for a mysterious, shady garden. Try ferns, lady's mantle, hostas, varieties of ‘Wizard' coleus, licorice plant (
Helichrysum
), and mints for fragrance. Add white begonias or impatiens for sparkle. Variegated white and green ivy will attractively spill over the edges of the pot.

Air

Yellow (full sun). Plant shorter varieties of the sunflower in the center. Add yellow cockscomb, white daisies or feverfew, marigolds, lemon-colored snapdragons, yellow calendulas, yellow zinnias, and santolina. Variegated vinca vine or prostrate rosemary have foliage that will spill gracefully over the sides of the container and add fragrance and style.

Fire

Red (sun to part shade). For the center of the arrangement, try annual purple fountain grass; its botanical name is
Pennisetum setaceum
‘Rubrum'. Or use perennial Japanese blood grass for height and visual interest. A miniature red rose or a standard tree rose in red would be gorgeous as well. Plant bright red annual sage (salvia), red geraniums, and scarlet petunias so that they dangle over the sides of the pot. Try deep purple, annual sweet potato vines to flow over the edges and to add more flair. In the autumn, switch out the spent annuals with russet- and red-colored chrysanthemums.

Water

Blue (shade to part shade). Plant tall blue delphiniums in the center of this pot for height. For fragrance, add heliotrope, streptocarpella, and bacopa, a trailing herb that has become popular in the past few years. Bacopa has a wonderful scent and tiny white flowers. Tuck bacopa into hanging baskets and pots to spill and drape over the sides of the pot. Finish out this theme container with purple- and blue-colored pansies, blue lobelia, and forget-me-nots. Switch out the pansies with pale violet and white-colored impatiens when the cool- weather-loving pansies fade in the summer heat.

Culinary Herbs
of a Different Color

I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple
in a field somewhere and don't notice it.

alice walker