There was a little pressure this spring on cleaning up the garden and getting it visitor-ready.  Parts are often nice enough, but to have the whole thing somewhat weeded and looking respectable all on the same date is not how things roll here, but a graduation party in the garden sounded nice (it was), even if the process of getting there seemed like a brutal amount of work(it was) combined with expensive combined with the many ‘ifs’ of weather and bugs and number of guests and reliability of plumbing etc.  In retrospect it’s possible there was more than one occasion where the dad of the grad thought it would be a whole lot easier to just write a check and show up, but of course that always comes at a point when it’s too late to change the path of the massive tanker we’ve set into motion.

Visitors didn’t seem to mind having signage blocking the view of the rock garden.  I guess not everyone came to see plants…  

I think it worked out well.  As is typical here there were a few ‘haha gotcha’ moments where tent sizes were a surprise and cars started acting up and maybe we should go to the Energency room, but if you get home by 3:30am I think it’s still just a visit, and not an overnight stay so all is well.

The party begins.  Clouds kept things cooler and the rain stayed away!

As is the norm for me only about four photos were taken of the whole event, and three were attempts to get someone to keep their eyes open, so there’s not much proof of the evening but I believe some of the kids had cameras and maybe a few other pictures were taken.  It was a good time.  My mantra for the day and perhaps a few days prior was ‘it’s fine’ and that really cuts down on the stress and mania.  A neighbor once told me that people who know, know enough to not say anything, and the rest won’t notice, and that was my guiding light as I considered the trim in the house which shouldn’t still be missing after six years and the unfinished deck details which were put on hold the day before our last big party (*cough* two years ago).

The potager is awash with a white froth of Erigeron annuus, which sounds far less fancy when you call it fleabane, and lesser still when you admit pretty much everything blooming white in the garden is technically a weed.  

If our guests noticed a bunch of flaws they were nice enough to keep it to themselves (or to just a few closer friends) and there were no awkward confrontations about growing pokeweed or having clover in the lawn.  If awkward was in place it was mostly on my part as I deflected compliments and undercut the work it took and then changed the conversation back to the food and the graduate’s plans.  Then is quickly became awkward again when I had no answers on how the graduate and her parents were going to pay for her next few years at Clemson University.

The firepit and ‘waste area’ did not frighten people off this year.  A planting of zinnias came into bloom just in time, and the weeds which were smothered to create this bed are politely dying… I hope…

So how did the garden measure up?  People mentioned it.  They said it looked great, and it was the steps up the berm and my little calamondin “orange tree” which brought on the most questions and compliments.  I was happy to see the calomondin getting so much attention since my fingers were crossed for the last month or so hoping for at least a few orange fruits to remain.

One of the planters at the base of the berm steps.  Thanks go to my friend Kimberley at Cosmos and Cleome for the color and plant consult for these planters, I do like how it all turned out.

Perhaps the garden really did look good.  The berm had been weedwacked and that probably distracted people from the uncut meadow which has grown well now that it’s less shaded.  Two aspens were cut this spring to give the meadow more light, and more importantly to keep the lanternflies away from the stone wall.  Lanternflies really don’t damage stone walls, but when they sit in an aspen tree above it and pee 24/7 the stone develops a black smut of moldy honeydew, plus the idea that the ‘mist’ you feel is insect excretions does not make for a pleasant garden stroll, so the trees were cut and the stones were powerwashed.  Also for good measure I capped the end of the wall with a few pavers so there’s another flat spot for more containers of succulents.  I was getting a little anxious over a topsy-turvy collection of pots along the top of the wall so the pavers are my solution for a more level collection, but a whole wall capped in pavers is a lot.  In a moment of inspiration -fueled by rabbits decimating my ground level planting of hens and chicks- I wondered if I could just dump plants on top of the wall and perhaps hope for an elevated safe space where they could grow in spite of having no soil.  I don’t think it’s the craziest idea.  Hens and Chicks are also referred to as houseleeks, roof foil, thunderplant, homewort, and the scientific name of Sepervivum tectorum roughly translates to ‘always-living’ and ‘of roofs’ so I think throwing them on a stone wall is perfectly fine for a plant which is already accustomed to being thrown on roofs.  Watch them die now, that would be just my luck, and as far as the rabbits go?  I already saw one perched on top of the wall nibbling around, so my plan may still have a few gaps, but at least in theory my stone wall is protected from lightning strike and perhaps evil in general as per the sempervivum entry in wikipedia.

A freshly washed and planted stone wall with orange butterfly weed in the meadow and stone steps in the distance.  Looks classy until you realize the dish garden at the front filled with succulents is actually our old satellite dish.  

Don’t get the wrong impression.  A cleaned up wall and some weed control on the berm can barely keep up with the eternal pull of chaos, and there are still a plethora of weeds and borderline decisions to cope with.  It’s turned hot and the next few days will force a decision on (1)water it and keep things going for the summer or (2)let the heat fry things and then just rip it all out for the ‘spare’ look.  So far I’ve been watering.

Never fear, there are still plenty of weeds such as milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) keeping things on the wild side.  I’ve begun to look forward to their flowering and fragrance, even if my milkweed doesn’t bring all the monarchs to my yard.  

The forecast shows a few thunderstoms on the 7-day and that’s hopeful, because I did plant a few more annuals this year as per a graduate’s request for pink/pale yellow/ and purple, and annuals are not as forgiving as the perennials.

Annual pink thunbergia (blackeyed susan vine), actual black eyed susans (rudbeckia) and some red hot pokers (kniphofia) in a bed which was weeded but could use it again.

So next week’s weather will determine how the rest of summer goes.  It’s pretty hot right now (96F/35C) and humid but as long as a little water comes their way things should be fine.  It’s not like I’m growing delphimiums and meconopsis and other cool weather things, this garden is set to thrive or just endure a hot summer and not faint as soon as the gardener cracks a sweat… which he did already this morning, just on a walk about with the dogs…

More red hot pokers (Kniphofia).  An appropriate plant for the day.

Hmmm.  This is the miserable kind of heat where it’s fun to go to daylily farms and see how they and their growers are surviving.  Of course they’re full sun plants so that’s even better but for now I shall not burden you with the glories which are begining to open in the daylily farm… which by the way is still operating far far far in the red without a single actual sale…

Another hot color for a hot day, Heliopsis ‘Bleeding Hearts’ is easy and long blooming.

But before I visit any daylily farms I have bus-full of other visits to make.  This summer and actually next weekend specifically I’m joining up with the Garden Blogger’s Fling aka ‘The Fling‘ taking place in and around Buffalo NY this year.  “THE FLING is an annual meetup of garden bloggers, Instagrammers, YouTubers, podcasters, and other online self-publishers since 2008″ and it’s a networking meetup which sounds quite official for someone who’s not a networker and can barely get a post up once a month, but I’m going anyway.  There are a ton of gardens to visit and it’s just a four hour drive away and a few of my garden friends and future friends are also going to be there so I’m excited.  Back in 2017 I almost went to the DC/VA fling, back when it was mostly just bloggers wanting to meet in person and hang out in too many gardens together, but was too scared to ask the boss for time off from an 8 and 10 yr old… but now?  Our new graduate and even older graduate might not even know I’m gone.

If will be fun.  I just have to watch myself because thinking back a year and reflecting upon other awkward moments which live forever in my head but barely register to others, there’s this interaction:  I was talking plants for 30 minutes with a new friend and they asked what other hobbies I had.  It caught me off guard.  To what ends could this possibly go, so I panicked and said none.  Hmmm.  Silence and what looked like escape glances.  I spent the next two hours driving home and reminding myself that I have a family who I love, a job which brings something new each day, and books and outdoor adventures and weird curiosities… all those things which escaped me at the moment.  This time I’ll be prepared.  I’ll be a networking machine just as long as no one expects me to remember their name or the names of anyone I’ve know for less than two years because that’s kind of a challenge as well, so wish me luck!  And stay cool, it’s miserable out here.