Asters, Garden Art & North Carolina Intersect with Hurricane Helene
10/5/2024 3:05 pm
I should be in the garden today and everyday in this glorious weather. It is a great time to move things about, divide plants, plant things, nip and tuck some things. Wielding a pair of pruners can be quite empowering and distracting.
But in the wake of hurricane Helene, I am a little paralyzed by anxiety. We love Western North Carolina so much that we picked it for our future home. My husband has at times had doubts about our choice (he is a second guesser by nature). But whenever we have strolled the path by the French Broad River just below our build, listening to its roar, my husband has been teary-eyed at the beauty and majesty of it. Now Hurricane Helene has devastated much of the area. I spend too much time scrolling the internet, keeping abreast of updates on the rebuilding of Asheville's water systems, the homes still without power or roads to access them.
Our build is to the left of the horse fence . . . .
I know how long this recovery will take -- years -- and it will change the character of many places. People will leave, either for a while or permanently, in search of homes and jobs. The River Arts District took one of the worst hits. Artist studios floated away with their life's work inside. Beloved restaurants and breweries were swept away or flooded. Many lives were lost, jobs are gone or derailed, homes and businesses were destroyed or ruined. Very few folks had flood insurance, never imagining a need for what was a once in 500 year event (a two-tenth of a a percent annual chance per year).
Thankfully, my husband and I didn't lose our current home in Atlanta nor our home in progress just outside of Asheville to Hurricane Helene. We didn't know for days whether the French Broad River reached our home, and to be honest, during that time while we angsted some, our concerns were far more about the well being of our builders, our neighbors and residents who we knew had suffered so badly. For us now. it is just a dream deferred and morphed -- we don't yet know exactly how.
So as you can imagine, I have been sort of paralyzed to write . . . until member Annette Quinn checked in on me and offered to help with anything.
I'm always trying to get folks to write articles for this newsletter, so I asked her. Annette responded with regrets that she couldn't write about Asters because this year, for the first time ever, bunnies devoured hers. In lieu of pictures of asters, she sent along pictures of fabulous bunny sculptures in her garden, originating from NC artist Josh Coté, who specializes in wire sculpture. Josh Coté Art.
Official name: 'Reclining Rabbit'. Annette calls her 'Slut Bunny'
"Bird Watcher"
After Annette mentioned the artist was from North Carolina, I decided -- not without a little dread -- to see if he was near Asheville. It turned out he is and luckily I learned that Josh and his family are safe and well for now, although he may have lost his secondary work space in decimated Old Fort and his livelihood will be impaired by diminished sales as the area begins its recovery from Helene. Josh's Instagram
After checking on that artist, I started to think about asters, bunnies and Asheville all together. For the first time ever, bunnies ate my Japanese asters -- Aster ageratoides 'Ezo Murasaki' -- to the ground this year along with previously untouched Campanula 'Pink Octopus'. Luckily 'Ezo Murasaki' has recovered and is just starting to bloom. I guess I can credit the bunnies for a mid-year Chelsea chop.
Aster ageratoides 'Ezo Murasaki'
My other asters went untouched, like the currently blooming Chrysanthemum x moriflorium 'Ryan's Pink' (pictured below). I admit to attempting to thin the quantity of these last year, confining what remains to certain quadrants. That's something bunnies have in common with these asters -- they freely reproduce. I may take to calling my plethora of these asters to names for groups of bunnies: herd, colony, warren, and my personal favorite from Canada, a "fluffle."
I was not entirely successful containing my fluffle of Ryan's Pink. These are prolific spreaders and that is nothing to complain about -- unless you, like me, have changed the color palette of your garden to add more reds and oranges that do not play nicely with this lavender pink color.
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Chrysanthemum x moriflorium 'Ryan's Pink'
My Symphyotrichum oblongifolius 'Jane Bath' are starting to bloom too. Fortunately no bunnies have been observed munching on these either. They are free spreaders also. I regularly cull the herd and sometime plop them elsewhere, even in part shade. They don't seem to mind!
Symphyotrichum oblongifolius 'Jane Bath'
Ajania pacifica (Gold and Silver Chyrsanthemum) is just budding up. It usually opens around Halloween. ✅ Marked safe from bunnies today.
Ajania pacific
Chrysanthemum x ‘Campfire Glow’ -- which I think is a good mixer with oranges and reds -- is budded but not yet open. So far no bunny interest has been noted.
Very soon they will look like this, a great color for blending:
Another good combiner for oranges, yellows and even purples, is Chrysanthemum 'Hillside Sheffield Pink', a beloved old variety which is really an apricot shade of pink. Many of mine have dwindled over time or they are just a little late this year thanks to drought. Sometimes they even bloom nearly white. John Ragland recently gifted me with a new one, budded up and I can't wait for it to bloom.
When open, they will be this pleasing color.
Chrysanthemum 'Sheffield Pink' mingling with Aster ageratoides 'Ezo Murasaki'
Bunnies also have never bothered my Kalimeris species either. These Japanese asters are tiny -- about an inch or less across -- but bloom multiple times a year, especially if periodically sheared back. They are the ultimate in low maintenance, ground cover asters. Below are three species intermingled: K. pinnatifida (double form white bloom) which dominates; a variegated foliage form with a blue flower, K. yomena 'Shogun' (single blue flower); and K. integrifolia (single white flower form). All three (even the double, which is a flat form) are very popular with bees and wasps of varying kinds and size.
K. yomena 'Shogun' mingling with Chrysanthemum x 'Ryan's Pink.'
Sort of looks like mother and child.
I also have some garden art, not as classy as Annette's bunnies, and none are bunnies. Not even one of a fluffle! From New Haw Creek Forge in Asheville, I do have this beautiful yet subtle copper praying mantis.
Somewhere hiding in the garden is a dragon fly like this. I hope to find it again one day! Maybe when the leaves drop.
The good news is that New Haw Creek Forge -- despite being next door to businesses decimated by the French Broad River flooding -- survived, though they were hardly unscathed. Post Helene Pics of Haw Creek Forge They are cleaning up mud on the floor and salvaging materials, and taking orders for the holidays. Learn more about New Haw Creek Forge. Then there is this cute chicken made by Boy Scouts in Brevard, N.C., an area which escaped the worst of Helene's wrath.
Of course, I've also brought back plants from this area too (okay, I bring plants back from everywhere). That got me thinking about my favorite nurseries and ones I have yet to visit that I hoped to.
Some of the nurseries near Asheville escaped relatively unscathed, mostly with general clean up needed -- including personal favorites like Sandy Mush Herb Nursery and Mountain Meadows conifer nursery.
Carolina Native Nursery was badly damaged losing 90% of their plants and a great deal of infrastructure, but has already exceeded its $100,000 goal in donations to rebuild. Plus Izel Plants raised money through plant sales for their benefit too. Up near Old Fort, a particularly hard hit community, Painters Greenhouse suffered structural damage but they are neither down nor out, fortunately, and they hope to recover fully for spring.
Raymond's Nursery in nearby Hendersonville (home to the Shady Ladies that so entertained many of us in Greenville last January at the Greenville Master Gardeners Symposium) suffered a great deal of damage. Severe flooding wiped out their stock and left them with major repairs and renovations ahead. Good news? Repairs are underway.
Hurricane Helene Damage at Raymonds Garden Center
Beloved and popular Asheville nurseries, Reems Creek and B.B. Barns experienced minor damage only. They both pitched in to help neighboring communities and other nurseries in crisis immediately. Ross Family Farms in nearby Candler also suffered very little damage and showed up for the community. They offered water from their lovely little pond out front to anyone from anywhere in need to come take large bucketfuls for flushing toilets.
Of course, all local nurseries -- damaged or not -- will struggle now. Whether or not directly damaged by Helene, most dealt with a loss of power for a week or more or not yet resolved. Running water is not available yet for many of these nurseries either so they cannot water inventory (it has not rained since Hurricane Helene). But worst is the immediate loss of business for all. Landscaping is not in the forefront of most folks' minds as yet. That will likely change by spring, of course, and land laid barren formed by landslides and mudslides will need to be revegetated to mitigate and forestall further flooding events. But many folks may not have the money needed, so it will take public and private partnerships, I suppose. (A seed of an idea forms in my head . . .)
As to public gardens and popular trails, the Asheville Botanical Garden was hard hit, with many trees falling. It remains closed for the foreseeable future. Similarly, the North Carolina Arboretum is closed indefinitely due to tree damage and instability. Biltmore Estate will undoubtedly get up and running more quickly than most; they cannot afford not to and they have greater resources than the public gardens.
It's a lot to wrap one's emotions about. Whether our own gardens are damaged by pests, fluffles, or storms or whether we witness others' lives, properties and gardens ruined by hurricanes. Annette, annoyed by bunnies attacking her asters for the first time in thirty years, found some wine to soothe her irritation a bit. "Serendipitously, I went to buy some wine and found a bottle of Spanish Tempranillo called “Los Conejos Malditos” [the damned rabbits]. A small vineyard was decimated by rabbits, but the owners salvaged enough grapes to produce a bottling. It’s pretty good." What an excellent example of resilience.
I haven't turned to wine to cope with bunny damage or Hurricane Helene impacts as yet, but I may seek out Los Conejos Malditos soon. Or I may seek out my own "bad bunny" sculpture and name her Helene. But for now, I am instead wistfully reviewing how -- for many years -- I've been bringing a sense of other places to my garden via art or plants purchased elsewhere, including the devastated areas near Asheville. They are in my heart and soul.
Contributed by Liane Schleifer
