Member profile for Groundskeeper

Gardening since 1984

My details
My story

Name: YGS Groundskeeper Mark Kane
Location: Des Moines, IA
Gardening experience: I'm a master gardener
Personal links: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.323455428344.194547.323330173344&type=1
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/markadriankane

I am a gardener, garden designer, garden writer, and garden photographer. I have been the Editor at Fine Gardening, Organic Gardening, Garden Gate, Better Homes and Gardens, and Learn2Grow.com.

I teach garden photography, organic gardening, no-till gardening and garden design.

I designed and built the Test Garden of Better Homes and Gardens magazine in Des Moines, Iowa.

I am a certified master gardener, a graduate of the Shigo course in Tree Biology and of the Kyoto University Seminar in Japanese Landscape Art and Design.

I have taught gardening and photography at the Missouri Botanical Garden, Chicago Botanical Garden, Strybing Arboretum, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Cleveland Botanic Garden and many flower shows (including San Francisco, New York, Seattle and St. Louis).

My own garden is ornamental and vegetable, mingling evergreen conifers, flowering shrubs, herbaceous perennials including native prairie species, and many spring and summer-flowering bulbs. I also maintain an ornamental garden in the traffic circle on my street.

My gardens
Gardens I follow
My interests
Messages for me

Our Grounds Des Moines, IA

Ornamental, beds and borders where evergreen conifers and deciduous shrubs mingle with perennials, bulbs, and a few favorite annuals. Some Iowa prairie plants such as side-oats grama grass. A still-water, self-maintaining pond. Big arbors, trellises and pylons for... » more

Last updated: May 17, 2012
Garden type: urban

Pocket garden Des Moines, IA

Not my garden. Look closely. It's a garden on an urban corner with buildings on two sides that have the garden painted on them. This is in an old suburb of St. Louis. Photos are 30 years old. The garden is no longer there. How about a forum on illusions in the... » more

Last updated: September 28, 2011
Garden type: urban

Garden in the Street Des Moines, IA

An evolving ornamental garden of perennials and bulbs in a formerly all-grass traffic circle at the intersection of two quiet residential streets. Maintained by volunteers, mulch and compost provided by the city, weeding and deadheading by me (Groundskeeper). All... » more

Last updated: May 17, 2012
Garden type: flower

Pastor Bob's hunger garden Des Moines, IA

A new, young garden for growing vegetables to be donated to groups in Des Moines that help the hungry, especially children. No digging, no tilling. The first step was yesterday (Sept 6, 2010). Eight of us spread newspapers and mulch to make the first bed, 4 feet... » more

Last updated: January 14, 2012
Garden type: vegetable

The 'Hood' Des Moines, IA

An accidental neighborhood arboretum, consisting of front and back yard gardens and many trees and shrubs, some planted one hundred years ago » more

Last updated: May 17, 2012
Garden type: color community

Sunnyside, Denver Denver, CO

These are photos from rambling walks around the Sunnyside neighborhood at Christmas time, 2010. The neighborhood has lots of frontyard gardening and many surprises that made me think about changes to my own garden. The big one: planting the curb strip with tough... » more

Last updated: February 07, 2011
Garden type: urban

Crabapple collection Des Moines, IA

The Arie den Boer Arboretum in Des Moines, Iowa, was started in t1930 by one guy, the well known horticulturist Arie den Boer, who collected cultivars of crabapples from around the world. Some are to be found in no other collection in North America. Full bloom comes... » more

Last updated: October 20, 2011
Garden type: garden visit

Garden on granite Boothbay Harbor, ME

Not my garden...a splendid young public garden in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, located in the mid-coast region, where the glaciers scraped the granite clean and gouge north-south canyon spaced close together that give the coast its characteristic topography of long,... » more

Last updated: December 23, 2011
Garden type: back yard

The garden of ID mysteries. Des Moines, IA

Can anyone ID this plant? » more

Last updated: May 17, 2012
Garden type: color community

A Garden on its Own Napa, CA

This is not my personal garden ("Our Grounds") but a garden at a winery in northern California that was made to be left alone while the plants grew and spread. I imagine that if I returned next year, it would look different; in ten years, completely different. This... » more

Last updated: September 11, 2011
Garden type: vineyard

Gardens far and wide Des Moines, IA

The story: I have visited and photographed gardens all over the U.S. for thirty years, an invaluable bonus of my work as staff editor of Organic Gardening, editor of Fine Gardening magazine, founder and editor of Garden Gate magazine, and Garden Editor of Better... » more

Last updated: February 29, 2012
Garden type: garden visit

The Brenton Arboretum in Iowa Dallas Center, IA

This spacious young public garden devoted to trees and shrubs is still a teenager but the trees (2,000 to-date, more to come) have taken hold and are growing strongly--their presence shows across the long vistas of the grounds. Forty minutes northwest of Des Moines.... » more

Last updated: April 27, 2012
Garden type: back yard

Swingset Lasagna Garden Dayton, OH

by krandolph

My very resourceful sister bought a house with this old swingset frame in the backyard. When she wanted to add a bed for more veggies, she made a lasagna garden under the frame, and used the frame and some PVC pipe...

International Women's Day Public Garden San Francisco, CA

by PublicGardens

This is a space for Public Gardens! And this one is dedicated to International Women's Day. On Tuesday, March 8, 2011, people from around the world are celebrating women – mothers, daughters, sisters, grandmothers,...

International Women's Day Public Garden San Francisco, CA

by PublicGardens

International Women's Day Public Garden San Francisco, CA

by PublicGardens

YourGardenShow Busy Bee San Francisco, CA

by The-Busy-Bee

YourGardenShow.com - the social network for gardeners, by gardeners

Favorite gardening books:	Hortus III, The Cyclopedia of Horticulture (L.H. Bailey), Pomona's Harvest (Fred Janson)
Favorite vegetable:	Sweet potato
Favorite flower:	Surprise lily
Favorite tree / shrub:	Seven son shrub, Pecan
Gardening organizations:	Local community garden, Local Botanical garden, Local Arboretum, Local conservation group, Garden Writers Association, PPA - Perennial Plant Association, and Other
Favorite park / arboreteum:	Chanticleer (Wayne, PA)

Add your comment here

rbjr45 replied 3 months ago
	Welcome to Glacier: https://plus.google.com/photos/1051884235886999....../albums/5641793277272130......?authkey=CNai8Kyi-q-JtAE

Clenram replied 4 months ago
	If you get a chance will you look at my pictures and give me advice on photography. Right now all I have is an iphone...but so far seems to be doing ok for this format.

Groundskeeper replied 4 months ago

@Clenram: I have an iPhone 4 that has surprised me. Almost all the photos I make with it are plenty good to post here at Your Garden Show. That is, if I truly hold the phone still while touching that pesky button icon. That's a tip. I'll be glad to post more tips.

Whethe by iPhone or Nikon camera almost all the photographs I post here are files of a size around 200kb, in other words, pretty small. But big enough as long the subject fills most of the frame.

Clenram replied 4 months ago

@Groundskeeper: I started out using a Nikon digital camera 12 years ago with my job as the webmaster for my school district. I have looked at some of those old pictures and they are about the same as the Iphone now. Technology is crazy! There is a lot of difference in preparing as photo for printing vs. a web application. I always try to get the tightest shot for a web pub. I am not sure if that still stands true for gardening photos. I have always have tried to size pictures to be the fastest upload on a website, but I always save a copy in high resolution.. I have been putting higher resolution on this site thinking they are automatically resized, am I wrong?

Clenram replied 3 months ago

@Groundskeeper: I went to a photo workshop and found out you should not center everything. That is kind of the opposite of what I learned for websites. Website = Tight pictures...that means really focus on the parts you want to communicate and get rid of the rest to help make a faster download time.

Where do you give your photo workshops? Do you ever do skype workshops?

The guy gave a lot of information about cameras. He suggested Nikon...with a bunch of things I didn't understand. I have a lot to learn!

Clenram replied 4 months ago
	Mark, Thanks so much for visiting my garden and posting comments! It has really encouraged me to keep going or is that growing!

Groundskeeper replied 4 months ago
	@Clenram: Thank you. I'm glad to hear that you're encouraged to keep posting here. The more the better so we all learn each other.

Katrina replied 8 months ago
	Thank you for stopping by my garden! I have loved looking at all of your gardens and engaging in a bit of garden banter! You are doing a wonderful groundskeeping job around here!

Groundskeeper replied 8 months ago

@Katrina: Thanks. Have you tried searching for gardens? You can find all of mine by typing "Groundskeeper" in the Search box at the top right of the page. If you find the gingko saga(it's somewhere in the garden titled "the Hood") here's an update. Deer and rabbits lopped the seedlings in half, but the little trees have survived. They're mulched and wrapped (in row cover fabric to balk the deer) and next year will move to their permanent homes--front yard, neighboring yards.

Birdnut replied 8 months ago
	Hi...I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to look over my thoughts etc. and photos from my garden. I am a bit of a newbie...at least with a large vegetable garden...I've done it for about 5 years out of my gardening history and I'm just developing a thickened skin to all the forces that manage to thwart my best intentions. Love my teacher and my classroom...under the wide blue sky.

Groundskeeper replied 8 months ago

@Birdnut: You're welcome. I love your poetic comment that your teacher and classroom are the garden under the wide blue sky (instead of the usual fluorescent lights?)

I am a staff member here ("Groundskeeper is my offical title, as my bio says here) and one of my jobs is to say hello and another is to help if I can. This means I visit gardens all day and meet gardeners along the way. It's wonderful.

greenkathleen replied about 1 year ago
	I am enjoying following your garden and photographs. Very inspiring. Thank you

Groundskeeper replied about 1 year ago
	@greenkathleen: Thank you. Gardening here at YourGardenShow (so to speak) adds to the pleasure of gardening in the yard. I'm learning from other folks. I hope they're learning from me.

Groundskeeper replied over 1 year ago
	I have not grown hardy impatiens. I think there are two species. I've seen the one with yellow flowers, Impatiens pallida, growing wild in big patches in the woods on Mouse Island in Maine. Here's a page about the orange-flowered one, Impatiens capensis.

Xotchilt replied over 1 year ago
	@Groundskeeper: Beautiful impatiens. I have never grown this orange one. I have a pink one that loves the shade and grows better than weeds. The seeds they spread last Summer and fall are popping up all over my yard. I'm not sure if the orange one would be more difficult to sprout.

Groundskeeper replied 8 months ago
	Follow up to my comment seven months ago. This year I grew yet another impatiens, an annual with the common name Balsam (Impatiens balsamina). Lots of flowers on an upright stalk, like little roses. I think it got too much sun and heat, however. It's growing in the traffic circle posted on Your Garden Show as "Garden in the Street." To visit, click here.

carola replied over 1 year ago

may be iowa will get an early spring - why not. i am shopping for some seeds i can order online and a friend (jefferson native) will bring them when she is visiting in may. a favorite is the: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikijunior:Summer_Flowers_o.../Impatiens_capens... i got some strange seeding advice : double dormancy. i looked and looked about that treatment. too complicated all the science. have you ever grown this? it would be perfect - i have lots of shade and it is ORANGE! and so pretty..

Liz replied over 1 year ago
	Groundskeeper....When tagging......how do you delete when your tag shows up 2 or 3 times? Please help! I don't want to tag any more plants until I fix these mistakes. I am NOT all that computer savvy, but I am ready to learn something new. I've taken you on as my mentor since you encouraged me to tag my plants and I also admire your garden. Thank you in advance for any help you can give me. Liz

Groundskeeper replied over 1 year ago

@Liz: I have not had the problem with multiple tags that you describe and I'm sorry for the trouble you're having, especially because tagging should be a big benefit of visiting gardens on the site. I tried to remove tags from photos of my own garden as an experiment in figuring out what to advise you, but I could not figure out how to remove a tag. So you and I are in the same pickle. As a last resort, I forwarded your description of the problem to Maria Mobilia, who is the co-ordinator for YourGardenShow. When she gets back to me, I will pass her reply to you.

Liz replied over 1 year ago
	@Groundskeeper: Thank you!

Entomolo-garden replied over 1 year ago
	Hi Mark - I appreciate you checkin' in about Your Entomolo-Garden. And that instinctive movement away from a buzzing bee - how right you are! Look forward to learning more about your work.

Groundskeeper replied over 1 year ago

@Entomolo-garden:

Thanks. I kept a hive for two years. Hoping to introduce my daughter who was five to the fun of watching bees at work I invited her to visit the hive with me. She didn't want to go. Like a dummy I walked her in the direction of the hive anyway and, unknowingly, right across the flight line of the bees. By mal-adventure a bee flew directly into her left ear and stung her instantly. She had no chance to recoil, even warned by the approaching buzz. So much for a relaxed introduction to bees.

I hope you'll visit my garden at YourGardenShow. Type "Our Grounds" in the Search box on the home page. That will take you to 30 photos. Double-click on the first photo to see all the photos at full size. Photo 7 takes awhile to download because I tagged (identified) most of the plants in it. You'll know the download is complete when plant names appear in small blue type below the photograph. Mouse over a name and white lines will draw a box around the plant. Or just mouse over the photo to see the boxes and the text that goes with each plant. If the plant is in the plant database the tag will link to the database. It's a cool system.

I have other gardens on the site. You can find them by typing "groundskeeper" in the search box.

carola replied over 1 year ago
	ciao Mark - the small photo size did not help either. may be today is a bad day ? did you hear from othres having the same problem? hope all is well in good old des moines.

Groundskeeper replied over 1 year ago
	@carola: I don't know what is wrong with uploading photos. I have emailed Maria Mobilia about the problem but she has not replied. Darn it, I want to see your photos. Good old Des Moines has eight inches of snow and tomorrow is supposed to be colder and colder, down to 3 degrees. Brrr.

gardenrocks replied over 1 year ago
	Thank you for the information and thoughts ... all good stuff.

Groundskeeper replied over 1 year ago

gardenrocks, you're welcome. Good luck next Spring. Wait...I think I forgot another point. Before you spread the straw next Spring, lay newspaper on the dirt. That starves all weeds of light. Some may sprout in the straw but none of last year's weeds and seeds will grow. For a look at how to lay newspaper, see this new posting: http://www.yourgardenshow.com/users/Groundskeeper/pastor-bobs-hunger-garden

Groundskeeper replied over 1 year ago

gardenrocks replied over 1 year ago

Thank you for your time and response. I think I may try the strawbales again; purchase them in the next couple of weeks and then put them down late November or early December. I do not know if they are "clean" or not, I buy them from the local nursery -- they sell them to households that generally use them as ornamentation during the Fall holidays. They do not appear to have seed heads on them, but I think if they sit in the elements for a couple of months I may get lucky again next Spring? The only down side that I see beyond the weeds is that mice like to live in the straw, but they live outside anyway -- as long as they don't live inside my house, I'm okay with it. Thank you again.

Groundskeeper replied over 1 year ago
	I'll be glad to try. By the way, YourGardenShow is planning to put together a team of horticulturists... (with the cutesy name "the Tag Team") who will identify plants that people post in photographs but can't name. In the meantime, I'll try to help.

Xotchilt replied over 1 year ago
	I was wondering if you could take a look at my beautiful climbing pink rose and see if you might be able to identify it. Thanks.

Groundskeeper replied almost 2 years ago
	Yes, this is cool, with trees floating above the floor. It's halfway to art. I don't think it's permanent, however. In weak indirect light the plants are going to struggle. But replacing a plant every year or two is not much different from growing annuals in containers. Just a matter of preference. Big props to the innovator. There's always a new way to go in gardening.

Xotchilt replied almost 2 years ago
	Check out this link on "String Gardens". Very cool! http://www.facebook.com/pages/string_gardens/279501074538?v=wall

Xotchilt replied almost 2 years ago

First we paint soda cans or plastic tubs with golden rod yellow spray paint. They are attracted to the color yellow. It is also important to remove damaged and dying foliage as this also attracts them. The product we spread on the cans is called Tree Tangle Foot. It is very sticky. They fly right into it and get stuck. We also lightly coat one end of a dowel or stick with the Tree Tangle Foot and go around (early morning is best) and catch them. Working pretty well, but we are seeing more this year than I have ever seen. They are attacking all of our plans, not just the beans. You can get the Tree Tangle Foot at most nurseries. It comes in a tube and in a tub.

Groundskeeper replied almost 2 years ago
	The equivalent in my yard was the squirrel that maimed my pet locust tree, my neighbors tomatoes and elm tree, and so on. I've live-trapped seven in two years (I free them in a wooded cemetery seven blocks from here). I wouldn't call this "control."

Xotchilt replied almost 2 years ago
	Yes, We have a flagstone patio with 4 feet of base rock, weed cloth and 3 inches of sand. They dig up through all of that and come up between the pavers. Maddening! I adopted two ferral cats that showed up in my yard and they have been hunting, catching and eating some of them. We also have gopher snakes and I guess they help control them a bit.

Groundskeeper replied almost 2 years ago

Your wire cages sound like the one sure way to keep gophers from taking your plants. Other Californians do the same. My sister in Napa made a kind of small plaza instead of a deck. She used decomposed granite, the gritty stuff. A gopher popped in the middle of the plaza. That was not acceptable, not with a wedding coming soon. So Michaela dug up the whole plaza, made a wire box to cover the floor and sides of the hole, and refilled it with the grit. No more gopher trouble in the plaza since then, thank goodness

Xotchilt replied almost 2 years ago
	Yes, We have a terrible gopher problem. Since we lost almost everything to the gophers last year, just before harvest, We decided to build round square and rectangular cages to plant everything in. We are using Galvanized hardware cloth and we sew it together with strong galvanized wire. A lot of work, but hopefully it will last several years. So far it is working. I will post more photos soon.

Groundskeeper replied almost 2 years ago
	I love that phrase "tiers of foliage." The arrangement of the leaves on the stem of a lily is architectural. It has something in common with the look of white pines and pagodas.

Xotchilt replied almost 2 years ago
	Great to be among a community of experienced gardners!

HeidisLifestyleGardens replied almost 2 years ago

Sorry it took me a bit to get back to you & have just been swamped..........I have no complaints about experiencing a banner year in the greens industry. While retail had an awesome April, they tanked on rainy May weekends. For me, being a professional gardening & landscape design/build firm, our early April offered many more billable hours while we plant rain or shine so no worries for us.........plants love the rain with all of the ions & the weeds pull easier! Anyway, the martagon foliage does not die back until Oct, unlike asiatic lilies that go dormant much earlier. I did not intend for it to send like it was evergreen or semi-evergreen, simply that one could enjoy those tiers of foliage throughout the whole growing season. I appreciuate the clarification........Bloom & Grow Forever!

Groundskeeper replied almost 2 years ago
	Thanks. St. John's Wort is now on my list. I love making photographs in the gardens. There's always new beauty to discover and new ways to share it.

Groundskeeper replied almost 2 years ago

I think compost is almost magical. Helen and Scott Nearing kept their vegetable gardens productive for four decades by spreading about half an inch of compost on them every year. They made their own compost by the cold method (let a big pile decompose for two years or more) when they were elderly--Helen in in her 80's and Scott in his mid-90's. I lack their industry; my compost comes from the city of Des Moines. After fifteen years of spreading an inch or so every year, I have to say that compost has transformed the dirt in my gardens. It was good prairie loam at the start but now is black and alive.

ursula replied almost 2 years ago

Thank you for the compliments on my gardens - the Yucca matured quickly because we transplanted it from a friends house who wanted to get rid of it. Our soil is solid clay and I have amended my gardens with compost. I am a firm believer in composting almost all organic waste (no meat) and then using the compost to mix into a new garden or expanded plot. Compost is one of those simple but absolutely beautiful things - it reduces your garbage, eliminates your yard waste and gives black gold. The plant below the Yucca is a St John's Wort - I love the color and texture. I love your flower photographs.

Groundskeeper replied almost 2 years ago
	I am looking forward to seeing photos of your trompe l'oeil gardens. I'm still looking for my few photographs of garden illusions--mirrors doubling vistas, a hose and spigot attached to a walnut tree.

Groundskeeper replied almost 2 years ago

Yes, my friends live in the Marche, about 30 km southwest of Civitanova Marche. The region is sparsely populated and hilly (from what I can tell at this distance). The nearest town of any size (I suspect that it too is small) is San Ginesio. My friends are avid gardeners. They feed themselves to a large extent from their gardens, olive trees, ducks and chickens. They moved to Gualdo about three years ago, no Italian, a somewhat dilapidated house and some outbuildings and a tangled hillside. Lots of work and progress so far, including their Italian. Meanwhile, my wife and I dream of visiting.

Patricia replied almost 2 years ago
	Your friends live in the Marche, and I in Umbria. There are many Gualdos. Gualdo supposedly means "a wood". It was used to name a lot of villages in Italy in the Middle ages. I like your painted garden. I have painted Trompe l'oeil gardens for people-illusions OF Gardens. I will put some on my page! If I can find the photographs....

cooston replied about 2 years ago
	Here in Chicago temps are in the 50's I had to brings some plant in. I hope it warms up again soon.