2007 Dixie Meeting
If you missed the Dixie Regional meeting, June 1 and 2nd in Birmingham you
missed a great time!
The faint smell of burning south Georgia swamp was in the air as we arrived
Friday afternoon for the beginning of the 2007 meeting. After signing in and
grabbing a quick snack (those Alabama folks know how to feed you) I headed
off to the Judges Clinic. Judges training chair Claudia Walker conducted Judges
Clinic II for nine eager students. At 4:00 Dixie Board Meeting was held. It
was decided that Atlanta would host next year’s regional meeting; details
to be settled on later. Later Nashville called in an offer to host the meeting
and so Atlanta said ok, and the next Dixie meeting will be in Nashville on
May 30 & 31, 2008.
Dinner was at 6:00 followed by a plant/garden stuff auction. Auctioneers
Mike Chambers and Bob Solberg raised slightly more than $1800.00. for the
Region and Alabama Hosta Society to share. Saturday morning found everyone
bright and ready for a days worth of classes. I am going to try to summarize
what each of the speakers talked about. My apologies in advance, if I missed
anything. Mike Chambers welcomed everyone as the Dixie Director and also gave
a $500 donation to the Birmingham Botanic Gardens on behalf of Dixie. The
BBG did not charge us anything for using their facilities this weekend. After
the introductory remarks our keynote speaker W. George Schmid gave his presentation
on “Hosta Flowers”. George opened his talk with some slides of
hosta flowers. Hosta flowers can help identify the species of hosta. In addition
tube length and color help identify the genus. Some hosta have branched flower
scapes such as H.tibae. Hosta developed their flower scapes according to their
environment. Tall scapes developed on hosta in competition with tall grasses.
These hosta have greater distance between the flowers. Some hosta scapes lay
close to the ground, so that low flying or crawling insects could do the pollinating
job.
Staging of hosta is very important. White flowers show up better against a background than colored flowers. Some of George’s favorite hosta foe flowers include H.nakaimo, H.’ Rocky Road’, H takahashi.(two color flowers). H.yingerii is the only hosta which has flowers that grow around the flower stalk. All others only grow flowers on one side of the flower stalk.
George was followed by Dr. Daniel D. Jones. His specialty is ferns. Alabama
has 86 native ferns, part of the 10 to 12 thousand fern species available
world wide. Ferns date back over 200 million years. He said that red light
helps fern spores germinate. Some of his favorite ferns are; Uulong Island
Fern, East Indian Holly Fern,
Autumn Fern, and luctulosum (only 4-5” tall). Among the draught tolerant
ferns are the Marginal Woodfern and Champion’s Woodfern.
Our next speaker was Jan Midgley, owner of Wildflower nursery and author
of several books on native plants and native plant propagation. She propagates
plants using seeds collected from the wild. She divides plant seeds into two
categories. Wet seeds have an aril or a fleshy covering or just do not tolerate
drying out. An aril is an appendage on a seed which makes it attractive to
ants. The ants pick up the seed, take it back to their nest, eat the aril
and then throw away the seed thus spreading the seeds around. Wet seeds need
to be planted right away or stored in a plastic bag with peat moss or sand
and a small amount of water.
Dry seeds can be stored for a long period of time in paper envelopes in the
refrigerator. Seeds require various ways to scarify or be pretreated before
they will germinate. They may also require various light levels or temperatures
before they will grow.
Our last speaker before lunch was Mr. William Cureton aka “Captain
Compost”. Mr. Cureton spoke at length about the benefits of compost
and compost teas. He has web site at www.captaincompostalabama.com.
After lunch our first speaker was Susan Webb, a landscape designer. She spoke
about the Woodland garden and landscaping with ferns, hosta and wildflowers.
She packed a lot of design information into her talk. The key to using ferns,
hosta and wildflowers is to plant them based on their natural habitats planting
from sunlight to shade. A woodland garden is about space. The woodland garden
extends vertically to the deciduous canopy above. Plant carefully around pine
trees. They can be real consumers of light and water. Establish perimeters
for the area you wish to develop. A border makes a room; rooms need to be
connected with a path. The path or steps should be smooth and wide and not
straight. They should lead to a focal point or destination, and then lead
on to the next focal point. In a real woodland garden ephemerals (plants that
come and go) should be about 2/3 of the plant material. Arrange the plants
according to the perspective and scale, with a foreground, midrange and background.
Water if used in the garden should be heard before it is seen. It should be
a surprise.
Our last speaker was Bob Solberg owner of Green Hill Farm. He spoke about growing hosta in pots. The primary reasons to grow hosta in pots is to defeat tree roots, and to create more garden space by using decks, patios, driveways and porches where you could not normally plant hosta. Planting in pots is easier than in the ground and the pots are more easily moved around. You can create a perfect growing environment which helps to defeat pests. The drawbacks are the additional water needed the cost of pots and over wintering the plants. Potting mix can be mixed according to the amount of work you want to put into watering. Larger particles allow water to drain through. More peat moss or compost holds water. For fertilizer he recommended Miracle grow tomato food or a slow release granular. What kind of hosta should you grow in pots? Hosta that are difficult to grow under normal growing conditions, baby hosta that need to grow before they can be put in the garden, specimen clumps, mixed pots and miniature hosta are all good candidates for growing in containers.
After the last speaker the winners of the photo contest were announced. Delona Schockley and Chuck Zdeb won for their entries. Attendees were then free to shop the vendors and to take a guided tour of the Birmingham Botanical Gardens and their new hosta walk.