So there’s been a good amount of porch sitting this June and although that sounds good in theory it’s maybe not the ideal scenario due to the reasons for all this sitting around. Reason number one is the rain. Here in NE Pa it just keeps raining and then it rains some more. Hmm. I just looked it up and it appears we have had something close to ten inches of rain since the beginning of last month and maybe that’s not something I needed to know on top of the fact it’s been chilly as well. Much of the porch sitting has included a blanket with a dog on top for additional comfort so to sum it up, wet and cold.
Along the street the daffodils, snowdrops and winter aconite have been covered by the lush, rain-fueled growth of summer perennials. Luckily I mulched last summer. I can’t imagine how many weeds I’d be looking at otherwise.
On the plus side I’ve done very little watering, but on the minus side I should have transplanted and divided more. Oh well, no sense in dwelling on these things, it’s literally all just water under the bridge this year.
The earliest red hot pokers (Kniphofia caulescens) are bringing some warmer color to the garden although I think more sun would make them happier.
For all the complaining this gardener doesn’t mind the cool. I can get through a garden day with just a shower before bed rather than repeated dips in the pool or hosing off every hour to fight heatstroke. Never fear though, the forecast says that’s on our way for the weekend plus a nice mix of severe weather and oppressive humidity to top it all off so it should be fun. Sounds like someone will be opting for day drinking and cleaning out the basement rather than getting to all the neglected jobs which await outside in the swamp.
Alongside the driveway is one of my few attempts at a theme. Purple foliage and whites and grays and I guess pink. The smokebush (Cotinus ‘Royal Purple’) was cut to the ground this spring, so no “smoke”, but the foliage is lush and dark which is nice.
A weedy and lush garden means either closeups or from-a-distance photos so perhaps this post will use that as a theme today rather than relentless weather complaints. Lets begin with weeds, specifically milkweeds. I like them but can’t recommend everyone plant them because of the weed part of their name. Why would you plant a weed is a very valid question, and I guess my only argument is don’t plant the weedy types, plant the clumping types and you won’t be dealing with mile-long runners and suckers coming up everywhere like I am.
Showy milkweed (Asclepsias speciosa) is a nice enough weedy, spreading type, but I’d rather have a form with broader foliage and a good amount of silvery hairs covering the plant. They’re out there, I just need to run one down.
Don’t plant the spreading milkweeds in a flower bed. They will come up everywhere just like my golden cut-leaved sumac (Rhus typhina ‘Tiger Eyes’) does, and just like the sumac, I also love my weedy milkweeds. I just pull them out when they get out of hand and don’t give a second though to the roots below.
The common milkweed (Asclepsias syriaca) is very common here. In my opinion there should be named forms of this. I love the darker flowered ones and have seen white, and wouldn’t mind some darker color in the foliage, so if you could get on that please do so.
Again we are talking about weeds. Lets stop there and move on to a more refined thing such as holiday amaryllis (Hippeastrum). I have a few old pots in bloom now, and even through some heavy downpours they are looking nice. Perhaps it’s not the season, but I didn’t feel like giving them space last winter under lights so they didn’t start into growth until April when they went outside. I would tell you how long I’ve had these plants but it makes me feel old so let me just say over a decade and they have probably bloomed every year since so I can’t complain. On the subject of blooming, I’m always a little surprised when otherwise excellent gardeners claim they have trouble getting them to rebloom. Here’s my two cents… or maybe two nickels as the penny is phased out. Plant them is a mix that has decent drainage and water and fertilize the crap out of them. Ok, maybe not too much fertilizer, but go with a tomato or flower-focused fertilizer, and not one focused on nitrogen. Give them plenty of sun, you want them actively growing all summer, and not just sitting there cramped in their holiday pot wishing they got as much attention as that mother’s day basket nearby. The more leaves they put out the more flower stalks you will get, and if they still don’t succeed then just toss them. Many are weakened by virus, and some just don’t grow well so stop trying to make a freeloader happy and just move on to your milkweed breeding program and buy a new amaryllis or two next winter.
My favorite is the white. It needs dividing since there are at least a dozen bulbs in the pot but with multiple bloom stalks it looks good for weeks.
Let me shift to some more acceptable plants. June is filled with some of the most beautiful flowers so rather than more weeds and out of season holiday flowers, here’s the view of ‘Wartburg’ in the potager. ‘Wartburg’ is not the most glamorous name but I think it still outranks more nauseating things like ‘Pinky Winky’ and industrial names like ‘Bloomerang Dark Purple’, so keep that in mind.
It might be a pink year. Pink New Guinea impatiens are starting to fill in, with the rambling rose ‘Wartburg’ (1910) topping the pergola with a pink froth.
Wartburg is on the way out but still nice thanks to the cooler weather. She’s also been darker this year.
Covering most of the support, I think this is the year I have to do a little more serious pruning before ‘Wartburg’ becomes a bird infested mess. Maybe. I like birds too.
I have other roses through the garden, but am perhaps a little too picky with them. A great show, fragrance, and disease resistance are my main reasons for keeping or trashing a rose, and I’ve trashed a few more than I care to admit. Maybe that sounds bad, but at least I’m not cluttering up my garden with plants I don’t care about. Back in the day they would go into triage for a I’m sorry, let me fix you massive investment of time and effort, but now it’s more a thank-you, next approach. I’ve been happier, you should consider it as well.
Clematis ‘HF Young’ also on the pergola with ‘Wartburg’. Clematis are almost all worthy of growing, I think there have only been two that I lost patience with.
‘Ville de Lyon’ also lives in the potager. She’s a favorite but could probably use a better spot to show off.
So I shall leave off on this thank-you, next theme. June is fresh and promising and all the baggage of the season hasn’t been taken on yet, so don’t waste your time and effort devoting yourself to the neediest and most troubled plants. You don’t want to reach September and realize you wasted your youth trying to fix him when all you really needed to do was sow a few zinnia seeds in the space. Hmmmm, sounds like a pretty good policy in general.
sorta like suburbia 