Fasten your seatbelts, my friends. We've got a lot to cover!

Volunteering at Kempf House
I was excited to discover that Deborah Burling was looking for garden volunteers at Ann Arbor's Kempf House. Deb created a Master Garden Plan and Guidelines, which we are following to restore and repair the garden to the 1890s-1920s period. (After having researched, planted, and maintained an 1860s fountain garden at Cobblestone Farm for five years, I was ready to move on to a non-leading role volunteering in another historic garden.)

Kempf House was built in 1853 in Greek Revival style, but interprets life in the late 1800s. I'd been inside a few times, with my friend Carole, to help decorate for Christmas.

My assignment today was digging soil out of the beds between the fence and sidewalk, moving the soil to other parts of the garden, leveling the area, and adding mulch.

At my first volunteer session on May 9, I weeded around the base of this gorgeous saucer magnolia (Magnolia x soulangeana). It's over 100 years old, and I was sorry to have missed its pink blooms.

Update: Deb just emailed me a photo of the tree in bloom in April!

I also pulled a ton of goutweed (Aegopodium podagraria) out of various beds--those suckers have crazy roots. I was so glad I had my Fiskars hori-hori with me, because it sure helped. (Thanks again, Gen!)

I swear, the German connection is incidental! Ne, wirklich!

One of the "grilles" mentioned in the sign.

I took this photo last time. I love how the bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) intermingles with the hosta. The bloodroot flowers early, before the hosta is fully unfurled, and will die back later, letting hosta steal the summer show.

Star-of-Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum) was blooming today...

...as was this NOID lemon yellow day lily. It had a nice scent. The plan is to plant more lilies.

This large NOID rose caught my eye. I liked how the leaves are backlit by the sun so you can see the leaf veins.

I'm warming to roses... I love how the rugged calyx and the serrated, darker leaf margins.

Touring My Garden
Lots going on; too much to write about.

I haven't seen the groundhog all season, but someone has eaten my beet foliage. I'm pretty sure it was raccoons, a species I haven't had trouble with before. Someone also ate most of my marrowfat peas, but (knock wood) two remain.

The turnips remain intact...

...as do the radishes, which are almost ready to harvest. (All these veggies were winter-sown.)

Even though columbine are notorious self-seeders, I've always had trouble growing them in the garden. I have a few plants, but they only get maybe two to five blooms each. Then I find this columbine growing in extreme shade in the brick pathway next to my deck. I get it, Mother Nature, and appreciate your sense of irony.

Speaking of which, for the first time ever I had trouble getting nasturtium seedlings to sprout... and look what I found growing in the bin with my potatoes! I ask you!

Tooling around North Campus
Last week I was meeting my friend Mary Helen for lunch, and decided to ride my bike the 5 or so miles. I was huffing and puffing, but I didn't have a heart attack. I could even pedal up all the inclines, even those I used to have to walk up. And I made amazingly good time. I was just starting to feel the tiniest bit smug when the Universe humbled me: a 60ish-year-old gentleman (a regular guy in street clothes, not a super-aerodynamic bike racer) passed me at a clip that made me feel like I was standing still. Heh.

I had my camera with me and used the extra time before lunch to take some photos of the University of Michigan's North Campus. Allium, with no yellowing leaves!

I almost fell over, I was so shocked to see this Alexander Liberman sculpture. Not just because I oohed and aahed about his work at Meijer Gardens, and totally have a thing for orange, but because I'd never noticed this piece before, despite having been to this part of campus dozens of times over the eight years I worked nearby. Let's just say my job left me preoccupied!

I also like the Wave Field, which reminds me of Native American mounds.

The mounds are only maybe 3-feet tall, but I went ahead and rolled down one anyway. You kind of have to. Well, OK, you might not, but I did.

"Dude, some lady in a bike helmet just totally rolled down the mound!"

Lots more to catch up on, but I'm heading into the garden now. Happy Sundries Sunday, everyone!

Two years ago (on May 9, 2008) I helped install a green roof, along with other master gardener volunteers, at A3C Collaborative Architecture in downtown Ann Arbor.

The roof serves as a demonstration and research garden that highlights many possible green roof options. Different sections showcase various plant types (meadow, alpine, and park), planting techniques (tray, mat, and monolithic/plug), and watering systems (irrigation and rain water only). The roof also serves to collect storm water which is rerouted as gray water into the building interior.

The trays were provided by LiveRoof and our installation training also certified us in the technique!

The plastic trays hold the medium and plants, and sit, as a whole unit, on top of the roof membrane. The sides of the trays lock together, but we had to be careful to orient the trays correctly so the proper sides interlocked. And the trays were heavy--25 pounds! The plastic around the edges is removed after trays are put into place, so the plants can spread into one another.

The growth medium here isn't for the trays, which contain their own growth medium, but for plugs planted on either side of the tray systems. It's really important no tiny pebbles get between the roof membrane and the trays, so one volunteer had to sweep while the others put the trays in place. Note the plastic edging being pulled out.

The trays were planted down the center of the roof and contain alpine plants (mostly Sedum). Here is the completed section.


Beyond the tray section, plants were established using a mat/rug system from Xero Flor America (XeroFlora). Volunteers were not involved in this installation, but it's easy to see how the system got its name: The mats come rolled up, like sod, with growing medium and plants already in place and are simply rolled out on site. XeroFlora also did the green roof at Ford's Rouge plant.

On either side of the tray plants, volunteers planted plugs and larger plants directly into the growing medium. This is the corner of the park section, with a little patio out of sight to the right.

The soil medium in which the plugs were planted is 93 percent inorganic. This prevents soil erosion (or particle size shrinkage) and soil compaction.

Here is the completed park area.

On the other side of the trays is the meadow area.



Once the trays, plugs, and mat were all in place, they were watered in. Now, an irrigation system waters half of the garden while the other half gets by on rain water only.

Watching you watching me... I had to get this photo of an Ann Arbor News (it still existed then!) photographer, perched high to get all the action.

I went back later that year, on November 19, 2008, to see how things had progressed. Despite the slight snow cover, I could tell things had filled in over the summer and fall.

I love rain chains.

Look how the grasses have grown in the meadow side!

Everything looks lush in the park corner...

And in the park area overall.

Some Dianthus deltoides 'Firewitch.'

It's high time I visit again. I bet the plants have grown by leaps and bounds in two years! I've marked my calender for August.

More Info

• A3C green roof plant list
• A3C video explaining roof and materials (Select Green Roof to the right; Bonus points: how many times do I show up? ;-)
• Related article about the green roof at the Malletts Creek library branch

The Matthaei Botanical Garden's plant sale runs today through Sunday. Click logo for details!

I volunteered to help set up for the sale on Tuesday and Friday mornings. The sale is a huge endeavor, requiring a lot of staff and volunteer time and planning. My little bit of help was only a small cog in a much, much bigger wheel! If you're in southeast Michigan, be sure to stop by for some plants. They have a huge selection, and a plant list is available by clicking the logo. The sale is a major fundraiser for the gardens.

We had wonderful weather on Tuesday, sunny and warm, but not hot. This morning was another story. Lots of rain. There were also very strong thunderstorms going through this afternoon and evening, once the actual sale opened.

On Tuesday morning, our group of volunteers put price tags in flats and flats and flats of plants...

...and recreated any missing plant tags.

Once that was done, we started moving plants from the holding areas to one of two tents. The garden tent booked pretty bare on Tuesday morning (this is only about half of the space!)...

But ended up full, lush, and ready to rumble by noon on Friday. Some plants include:

Oenothera missouriensis 'Lemon Sunset'...

Digitalis purpurea 'Camelot Rose.' I've always adored foxglove — they seem like a quintessential faerie garden plant. (Which is ironic as I don't have any!)

Poppies (Papaver nudicaule, 'Flamenco') just popped in the dark tent.

The parking lot tents were also ready by noon on Friday (note volunteer in rain parka and wet pavement!).

Plants were also set up in the auditorium.

Another volunteer, Chris, and I were responsible for getting the rhubarb plants (which you can't see) and the raspberries (which I'm sure you see standing tall in the back) from one of the greenhouses to the auditorium. We also pruned the raspberries as needed.


We used this kind of cart to wheel the plants through the conservatory to the auditorium. The hanging baskets and other accent plants are located on the patio. Note the wet pavement. It thundered and rained Friday morning, which didn't deter the brave volunteers assigned outdoor duty.

After finishing my volunteer shift, I took a closer look at some things in the conservatory. I love this display of a huge lobster claw (Heliconia vellerigera), orchids, and ferns.

The lobster claw was fascinating up close. It grows yellow flowers, which turn into berries, first yellow, then turning green, and finishing up blue. Doesn't that berry look like a marble? I found it stunning. And I love the fuzzy texture!

I was also fascinated with this sausage tree (Kigelia pinnata). Now if only there were a bacon tree!

The most amusing thing in the conservatory is this flower kaleidoscope. At first glance, it looks like cool garden art; a decorative and imaginative container planting. But the kaleidoscopes really work.

I put my camera lens right on the eyepiece so you could see what I mean.

You get different patterns by moving the lens...

This may actually be intended for kids, but I got a real kick out of it.

Special thanks to Deiatra, who let me use her camera on Tuesday and emailed me the photos!

And, finally, unrelated to my plant sale experience, I've been wanting to show this sculpture on the Matthaei grounds:

Shadow Pavilion by Karl Daubmann in collaboration with John Marshall. (The mulch is incidental.)

I like how it looks different, depending on where you're standing.

And that it's easy to interact with. You can touch it!

This is my favorite angle.