Volume 1 Issue 5

June 29 , 2007

What perfect blue hydrangeas? Plant a Yankee
The 2nd annual Rosebank Farms Hydrangea Festival
By Kristin Hackler

“Some of these roving beauties stroll over the mossy, shelving, humid rocks, or from off the expansive wavy boughs of trees, bending over the floods, salute their delusive shade, playing on the surface; some plunge their perfumed heads and bathe their flexile limbs in the silver stream; whilst others by the mountain breezes are tossed about, their blooming tufts bespangled with pearly and chrystaline dew-drops collected from the falling mists, glistening in the rainbow arch.” - William Bartram describing mountain vegetation, May 1775.

Throughout the 1700s, William Bartram, known to the Native Americans as Puc Puggy, traveled far and wide across the United States, collecting samples of native plants and writing his personal experiences as well as scientific observations down in his journal. This collection would later be titled “William Bartram’s Travels” and exposed all of Europe to the pristine, subtropical beauty of America’s southeast.

Today, Bartram’s passion for the wild foliage of America has planted itself in the hearts of many southern natives and in particular, in the sharp and knowledgeable minds of Sidi Limehouse and his gardening gurus.

On June 16 and 17, Rosebank Farms on John’s Island celebrated it’s second annual Hydrangea Festival. From 10:00am to noon and from 2:00pm to 4:00pm, four plant experts led groups of 30 - 50 aspiring horticulturists through the grounds of Rosebank Farms. Both sets of tours started at the old schoolhouse, now called the Walnut Hill School Museum, where professor Mack Fleming described how to propagate (to multiply plants by the use of seeds or cuttings) the various cultivars of hydrangea spread out across the farm. Afterward, the groups were divided up to follow experts Sidi Limehouse, Mack Flemming, Andy Colquit and Dr. Jane Hermes as they pointed out different species, from the old white standby Madam St. Emolieu, to a new white cultivar called Blushing Bride and the dozens of species in between. The large, basketball sized flowers of the mophead hydrangea were by far the most prolific and ranged in color from a pale pink to a shade the guides refered to as “burple”.

Hydrangeas are nature’s ph test. Plant a hydrangea anywhere and the color of the flowers will tell you how acidic or base your soil is. Most of South Carolina’s soil is acidic, so most flowering hydrangeas are anywhere from baby’s breath blue to deep midnight blue. “There was a Civil War unpleaseantness here,” Sidi writes in his gardening notes. “There is blood, lead, dead horses and Yankees in the ground.” The deep blue flowers seem to get their union colors from these subterranean contributors, but the color can easily be manipulated by mixing lime and super phosphate 0-0-46 into the soil. For deeper blues, try burying twists of aluminum near the hydrangea’s roots.

For purple and “burple“, Sidi notes that around the farm, “there is ample water rich in iron and other minerals. My experience is that the redder the color, in time, the more purple the flowers will be.”

Those who could walk the 200 yards back through the farm were treated to a showing of Sidi’s creek side home and land. Dogs ran around as free as the rest of the animals at Rosebank, barking and wagging their happy tails at the hordes of visitors. Field upon oak-shaded field were spilling over with mophead, broad leaf, oak leaf and lace leaf hydrangeas. One particular mophead, blossoming demurely beside a dusty path, is a thoroughly unique hydrangea and one that local horticulturists are struggling to reproduce. Since white hydrangeas never take on more color than an ever-so-slight tinting to their petals, this hydrangea has confounded plant experts by displaying white petals shot through with a central, deep blue striping. Although groups were free to take clippings from any one of the larger hydrangeas on the property, this plant was off limits until it has been successfully propagated.

Between tours, visitors were given the option of joining the Rosebank staff and tour guides for a full farmstead lunch. Fresh green beans, ears of sweet corn, cucumber and tomato salad and local barbeque were served under the pines on picnic tables and benches.

The iced tea was also plentiful and delicious, and for good reason. Mack Flemming, besides teaching horticulture at Trident Technical College, is also the founder of the American Classic Tea company on Wadmalaw Island. Although the plantation has since been bought by Bigelow Tea, Mack is still growing tea on his farm and has recently started selling it in many of the local Piggly Wigglys under the name “Carolina Select Tea”. As well as being a delicious blend of camellia sinesis leaves and orange pekoe, the tea is also helping to protect our local environment by sending 10% of all sales to the Soil and Water Conservation of North and South Carolina.

Although the Hydrangea Festival is only held once a year, the gardeners and growers of Rosebank Farms are available year round to help you with good advice, bunches of clippings and wooden bins full of mouth-watering local produce. Feel free to drop by any time and say hi to “I Declare”, the miniature Brahmin bull, the baby goat “Tidbit” and the multitude of yard birds, pot bellied pigs and bunnies that happily inhabit the grounds of Rosebank Farms.

Rosebank Farms
4455 Betsy Kerrison Parkway
Johns Island, SC 29455
(843) 768-9139

How to propagate your hydrangea

What you’ll need:
• One clear plastic container that can hold the amount of plastic plant trays you’ll want (one     container for each clipping)
•A plastic plant tray to hold your clippings
•50% soil and 50% peat, enough to fill your plastic plant trays
•White plastic with 55% light penetration (or a white garbage bag doubled over)
•Bungee cord
•Water

Take your clippings from the first 10 inches or so, Mack referred to the length as a “whip”, of the plant. Leave the second pair of leaves on the stem and pluck off any extras, including any that might be growing between the two leaves. Cut about an inch and a half to two inches below the two leaves and dip this end in a little bit of “Dip & Grow” (optional). To save room, you can also cut the remaining two leaves in half lengthwise if they are too big and seem to be crowding each other in the tray. Fill the plastic plant trays with your 50/50 soil, making sure you aren’t using soil with fertilizer in it, and bury the clipping up to the leaves in the tray. Place the plastic plant trays in the clear plastic container and fill the bottom of the container with about a ¼ inch of water. Cover the container with the thick white plastic and secure it in place with a bungee cord. Keep the covered container outdoors in the shade where no sun will hit it directly and were the temperature will not exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Now comes the hard part; DO NOT OPEN the container for at least two weeks and, if you’re will power is strong enough, leave it for three weeks to a month. The clippings need 100% humidity to grow and any alteration in that amount during the first two weeks will cause them not to grow. Once you’ve allowed them the minimum of two weeks, take out the containers and let them breathe awhile in a shady, outdoor area for a week before planting them. Hydrangeas take about a year before they start flowering, but once they do, it is worth it just to say you started those hydrangeas your self.

Blue flowers - to get a deeper blue in your blossoms, make your soil more acidic by adding        aluminum or a very small amount of sulfur.
Pink flowers - to get a pink to red blossom, blend lime and phosphate into your soil.
Burple flowers - blend a little iron along with your aluminum into the soil.

Lose the manure
“About a year ago I wrote an article for the Post and Courier about using manure in your organic gardens,” Mack Flemming said as we walked down the path coming from Sidi’s house. “Don’t! You can use manure if it has been pasteurized, you know, heated up to 180 degrees Fahrenheit, but otherwise do not use it. The recent outbreak of e.coli on spinach was due entirely to the use of manure on the farm. The bacteria e.coli only grows in the digestive tracts of warm blooded animals, so the only way we can get it is to eat something that has unpasteurized manure in and on it.” He went on to describe the benefits of composting, even suggesting a great spot along Bees Ferry road in West Ashley that sells compost by the ton, but when gardening in your own home, “cut that crap out!”

Recommended reading: Manual of Woody Landscape Plants by Dr. Dirr.

Kiawah Town Council – June 12, 2007*

Approval of minutes from May 1 public meeting
(reprinted from approved minutes) Mayor Wert opened the floor for public input and public comments.

• Wendy Kulick posed numerous questions about the various line items throughout the FY 07/08 budget.
• Art Morgenstern asked why $50,000 was listed in the Beverage Permit fund for budget FY 07/08 for a feasibility study for the Community Performing Arts Center. Mr. Morgenstern also commented on the $250,000 recommendation by the State Accommodation Tax Committee for the Community Performing Arts Center. Mr. Morgenstern asked why the Town was using funds prior to receiving public input on the Community Performing Arts Center. In addition, Mr. Morgenstern thanked the members of Council for allowing the Arts Council to continue bringing various events to the island.

Mayor Wert noted that the $50,000 in the Beverage Permit fund is in the current FY 2006/2007 Budget.

Second 2007/2008 budget reading
Council reported that, as of the second reading, there had been no substantial changes to the FY 07/08 budget, but they had tweaked it a little. Changes included:

• Funds from business licenses were increased by $50,000 based on the year-to-date amounts.
• The category of “Consultants, Professional” was increased by $25,000
  - $6,000 has been allocated to a joint effort with the Kiawah Island Conservancy for more GIS tracking equipment for bobcat research and associated projects.
  - $20,000 has been allocated to a maintenance and preventative maintenance agreement for the Town’s computer systems.

• Added $100,000 to the Hospitality fund for work that needs to be done around the island. A good portion of the funds had been allocated in this year’s budget, however, the work will not be finished before June 30 and the start of the new budget year. Also, the storm water drains around town need to be addressed. The current work is projected to be finished by July/August of this year.
• The Enterprise and General fund has been fine tuned, especially the recycling and solid waste program, as well as the subsidy for the Town to pay for yearly trash collecting bills. The Town will pay the same subsidy amount for each service, leaving the new yearly rates as follows:
  - Curbside: no fee
  - Back door: $155
  - Saturday service: $320
  -various regimes: $25
  - Saturday, patio: $190
  - yard debris fee: no fee

The second reading for the 07/08 budget was approved unanimously.

Tidal Trails lease renewal
The Tidal Trails, LLC lease has been extended to October 31, 2008, with an amendment stating that all rentals must be used “in a safe manner and safe location”. The amendment was included with 3 votes for the inclusion and 2 votes against.

BC-3 Technology renewal of contract
The contract with BC-3 Technology was renewed by a unanimous vote. BC-3 supplies Kiawah Town Hall with monthly, regularly scheduled maintenance of equipment. Following a review of their performance and service, Tumiko Rucker and the Ways and Means Committee recommended a renewal of their contract for another year.

Participation in Charleston Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan
On an annual basis, the Town of Kiawah Island is asked to confirm participation in the Charleston Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan. According to the Resolution, “updates to the Town’s Action Plan are critical to maintaining the current Community Rating System level and incorporating achievements and new goals“. The town agreed to participate for this year unanimously. Proposed projects to be undertaken/continued on Kiawah Island by Charleston County and the Kiawah Island Community Association and their level of priority are available at Kiawah Town Hall, listed in the document “Resolution 2007-2, Attachment A”.

Protecting the Town finances
Council unanimously passed Resolution 2007-3, a resolution that acknowledges that the Town is responsible for the continuing financial operations and safekeeping of all financial records of the Town, which are kept at Town Hall. The resolution concludes that “the Town of Kiawah Island adopts as its Finance Office Disaster Policy a commitment to do all that is necessary to ensure that damage caused by disasters will be minimized to protect the financial operations and public services provided by the Town”. The resolution was passed unanimously.

First reading of revised setback ordinance
The Town of Kiawah Island Council recently requested that the Kiawah Island Planning Commission review the current setback standards for R-1 and R-2 districts, as well as the current waterfront development standards. In response, the Planning Commission thoroughly reviewed the items, sought input from property owners, the Kiawah Island ARB and various other interested parties, held an advertised public hearing on the matter on June 4 and voted unanimously at an advertised Planning Commission meeting on June 6 to make the following recommendations to the Town of Kiawah Island:

• All lot standards (setbacks, lot coverage, etc.) that are included in the “Kiawah Island Property Setback Requirements Appendix” dated July 10, 2007, referred to as Article 12-G, shall apply in lieu of the proposed setback requirements in Tables 2B, 2C and 2D.

Table 2B: Lot standards for R-1 single family detached dwellings

Table 2C: Lot standards for R-2 single family detached dwellings

Table 2D: Lot standards for R-2 ( patio homes, duplexes and town homes)

• Please see Ordinance 2007-5 for specifications on lots on cul-de-sacs, corner lots, lots fronting on Eugenia Avenue and double-frontage lots.
• a minimum of 15 feet must be provided between structures.
• The minimum yard requirements shall be increased to 30 feet from any lot or parcel boundary which abuts a golf course.
• For patio homes, duplexes & town homes: separate notes apply. Please see Ordinance 2007-5 for full details.

According to the proposed amendment to section 12A-216 of the Waterfront Development Standards, “the OCRM Critical Line setback and buffer standards of this Article are intended to provide a protected area between the furthermost projection of a structure, parking or driveway area, or any other building elements, and all saltwater marshes/wetlands/waterways other than ocean front, on properties affected by OCRM (saltwater) Critical Lines. The purpose of the required buffer is to provide a visual, spatial and ecological transition zone between development and the Island’s saltwater marshes/wetlands/waterways. And to protect water quality and wildlife habitat”.

• The following dimensions have precedence over Base Zoning District standards for properties, which adjoin saltwater marshes/wetlands/waterways as shown on the following table:

Table 2M: Waterfront Development Standards

Please see the full copy of Ordinance 2007-5 for provisions applying to development of properties adjacent to saltwater marshes, wetlands and waterways, including existing platted lots, existing platted lots not included in Appendix 12 G, unplanted land, measurements, lot width, prohibited activities within the OCRM Critical Line Buffer, and variances.

A copy of Ordinance 2007-5 is available at Kiawah Town Hall on request.

Straight forward with the round-a-bout
Ordinance 2007-6 had its first reading to approve the issuance of a general obligation bond for the Kiawah Island Parkway Project. Council reiterated that there was a better than 99% chance that they would not have to issue the general obligation bond and that they had requested the option merely as a just-in-case. Although the wording of the issuance includes a specification stating that any unpaid debt would be taken from the Town’s tax fund, Council pointed out that such a case would NOT occur. Basically, Council stated that they looked into the possibility of a general obligation bond since the tax rates are very favorable at the moment. The Ordinance does not mean that the Town will borrow the $3 million, rather that the amount is available for use. The first reading of Ordinance 2007-6 was approved unanimously.

One good Tern deserves another
“If that wasn’t so funny, I’d say you were out of order,” laughed Mayor Wert after a citizen in attendance at the Town Council meeting stated that “one good Tern deserves another”, following Charles Lipuma’s report on the prolific amount of new Terns being born on the east end of the island. Mr. Lipuma also noted that a 120 lb. male deer and female deer had been spotted in Sea Forest. “I’ll also have to check with Jim Jordan about this recent report of a large alligator being pushed into the woods to get it off the road,” said Mr. Lipuma. “I had no idea he was that strong.” He also pointed out that the bobcat GPS collar study was almost completed and the finds would be available online by the end of June.

Arts Council
Council announced that the final Arts Council events in May, the French cabaret singer D‘yan Forest, were the last events for the 2006/07 year. A new schedule for the 2007/08 year would be discussed at the next Arts Council meeting on July 12.

Further down the bike path
Currently, the amount of wetlands that the Town of Kiawah has requested to use in order to build the new bike path to Freshfield’s is unacceptable. Council suggested meeting with various groups in order to come up with a solution. One idea expressed involved asking the Kiawah Conservancy if they can use one acre of conserved land that they have recently acquired to mitigate the use of the wetlands along the proposed path. No matter what, the Council stated, they will get started with the project by this fall so it will be finished by spring of 2008. By the end of June, Council will hopefully have an arrangement made and will begin the actual process.

Health and well being
Don McIver stated that, with 18 days left in the fiscal year, the town will come out of this past year’s budget with a healthy surplus. He also thanked the new treasurer, Kenneth Gunnells, for all his help in wrapping up this year and thanked him, as well, for doing such a great job.

Open communication
Alan Burnaford stated that the Communications Committee didn’t really have anything new to report. The Town Digest and Town Notes are going to have combined mailing by September and he also noted that there had been several reports of philanthropy on the island and he was working on compiling several stories on their works for publication in the Post and Courier.

Fix our roads first
Mayor Wert and Mayor McNulty of Seabrook Island have sent a letter to Charleston County Council members regarding the necessity of fixing John’s Island’s roads before the new I-526 extention begins construction. The suggested plan calls for fixing the three most commonly used roads, however, the letter left it up to County Council on how to proceed. No matter what, however, Council stated that the roads need to be fixed before 2012 for the next PGA tournament, or Kiawah could possibly forfeit it’s status as the location for the event.

Town Administrator report
Tumiko Rucker, Town Administrator, stated that the Town Hall’s new telephone system was installed and operational. The review and update of the computer system by BC-3 Technology is scheduled to finish by the end of June. Ms. Rucker also stated that the local government would be participating in the National Incident Management System (NIMS), participation in which is required by the Federal government. All counties and jurisdictions are required to be fully competent in NIMS and must complete the required training. If not, the community is deemed non-compliant.

Also, the Town will be preparing for the 2010 census. It was estimated that Charleston county missed out on a lot of federal assistance funds because of the lack of information from the 2000 census. Kiawah Island wants to ensure that the correct count is made for all homes and will work with KICA to make sure the count this decade is as accurate as possible.

“Even though Mr. McIver stole some of my thunder,” said Ms. Rucker, “I’d also like to thank Mr. Gunnels for all of his hard work in the past month and a half since his induction as town treasurer.”

Mayor’s notes
Mayor Wert requested that all people who live on the Island submit their phone number to Town Hall so that they can be included in the Town’s emergency phone system. The system, called Code Red, currently has roughly 80% of the Town’s citizens registered and the Town needs help in getting the last 20% so that they can make sure everyone is within contact in the event of an impending disaster.

Mayor Wert also thanked all the volunteers who put in the time and effort to help make the Senior PGA a great event. The Town received wonderful television coverage, especially of the restoration of the Town’s east end. Also, the Turtle on the Town at Freshfield’s has received a lot of attention. Two individuals have already approached the Town about purchasing the turtle and both were given the contact information for the South Carolina Aquarium.

Three large orange floats have been found on the east end of the Island and it have been traced to a nearby dredging company. According to the company, 11 of these floats had been knocked loose in the last heavy storm and they were working hard on locating the missing floats.

Citizen’s comments
Leo Fishman stood up to thank Council and the Town for helping to support the Charleston Symphony Orchestra (CSO) this past year. Without the Town’s help and help from a few other charitable sources, they weren’t sure if they would have made it. “The kindness and generosity of your Town has put wind in our sails and given us great encouragement,” said Mr. Fishman. “At last night’s board meeting, we found that we actually had a surplus this year. In light of that, we are scheduling a number of new artistic projects and managerial plans. We can’t thank you enough for your tremendous contributions. We couldn’t have done it without you.” Following his thanks, Mr. Fishman handed out letter of thanks from the CSO president to all of the Council members.

Another citizen stood to ask if there was any way to assess the impact on the Town of Kiawah Island of the small amphitheatre proposed by Seabrook Island. She also asked if there was a way to fix the communication disconnecct between property owners. “Prior to 12:30pm, I had to go through three steps on the Town website to get the agendas for this meeting,” she stated. “the Town of Kiawah Island has always gone over and above on addressing issues. We need to have easier access to the topics of discussion at meetings and we need better email responses from Town Council, as well.”

Who says Council meetings have to be serious?
Before thanking Council for all of their help in supporting the CSO, Leo Fishman shared a short story about his work in New England in the 1960s with a local airline. Apparently, several hundred terns had been located near an airport and he, along with a crew of workers, spent days relocating the birds so that they wouldn’t get sucked into the plane’s turbines. Once the job was finished, a good friend and fellow worker of Leo’s turned to him and summed up their work with a short quip, reminding him to “leave no tern unstoned”.

*Please note that these are not the approved minutes of the Kiawah Island Town Council meeting. The approved minutes from this meeting will be available at the next Kiawah Island Council.