Hort Shorts
- One of eastern North Carolina’s most common hollies is adorned with glossy, dark bluish-black berries. Ilex glabra, also known as inkberry or bitter gallberry, isn’t as well known in gardens as the red-fruited hollies, but it also is a valuable evergreen landscaping shrub. Tough and hardy, it works nicely in hedges and foundation plantings. ‘Nigra’ is a well-tested, relatively compact selection (3–6 feet).
- Soaker hoses are the drought-stricken gardener’s best friend. Cheaper than a drip-irrigation system, these porous hoses water vegetable and flower beds efficiently. Because of its incredible efficiency, low-volume irrigation is often exempt from mandatory watering restrictions that limit use of sprinklers and standard hoses. (Check with your town or county authority.)
- Rely on spring-blooming bulbs like daffodils and alliums if marauding squirrels are a problem. Unlike tulips, which are “squirrel candy,” these bulbs don’t tempt the rascally rodents.
- Gardening can be such a summer-centric obsession that we often neglect to plan for year-round interest. On a pretty day in winter, visit your nearest botanical garden or arboretum with a notebook and digital camera in hand. Take reference snapshots of favorite plants and close-ups of plant labels to use in later research. Pay attention to plant combinations and to the exposure and conditions in which the plants are growing.