Early July update

Jul11

I would have thought that by now my latest project would be complete. I’m in the process of widening the flower bed that runs along the street, and even though it’s been humid, hot and rainy I still won’t admit it might have been a better idea to wait until fall. So I’ll try to distract everyone from that thought with some pictures.

The phlox are here! This picture is a week old, but it’s one of my newest colors so of course I’m excited about it. The full name is phlox paniculata “Nicky” and it’s dark dark dark. I had to prop it up a bit, but since this is year one I’m willing to give it another growing season before calling it a flopper.

You’ll see more phlox soon since they’re a favorite, but first here’s an underrated summer bloomer, hosta “blue cadet”. I only have a few hostas, but I’d rate this one highly. It’s old but always respectable and easy in sun or shade. I like it here under the porch plantings and it does a good job of shading all the spring bulbs and hiding their dying foliage. Note the edge on that lawn! You don’t see that too often in my yard. In the backyard the addition of bird netting has saved some blueberries for the slower berry lovers. This morning’s pickings were enough for a whole blueberry pancake! Who knows, maybe in another year or two we’ll be able to put together a couple muffins.

I guess I can put in a couple front border pictures. Here’s the newly dug section. The cannas are sprouting in the heat and the sedum doesn’t seem to care about being moved and divided on a 92F afternoon.I made it almost to the halfway point. The grass is getting turned under and I’m putting in whatever annuals are still homeless. A few perennials are moving around too but it’s mostly iris clumps getting ripped out and divided and sedums finding a new spot.At the rate I’m moving I should get to this end around Sept. 25th. Then I’ll probably want to spread mulch over it all…. and weed first since by then I’m sure they will be all over. Oh well, maybe someday I’ll get my act together.

Projects are always fun but the zucchini are blooming and that can mean only one thing. All work will stop as we try and get rid of the extras. I always plant four hills and I always end up with about four times what I need. Who would ever trust that the little seeds I put in the ground would ever amount to anything? But they do and now I’ll pay the price. For this one hill I can count at least four and they’ll be ready in another day or two…. so get the recipes ready.

Garden Dolphin

Jun28

Ok, so it’s kind of a dumb title but the name delphinium derives from the latin word for dolphin. Something about the inner parts of a delphinium flower reminded someone somewhere of the shape of a dolphin. Good enough for me, but last night’s deluge drowned all my little dolphins. The rain was too much and nearly every single bloom is bent over or snapped off. Fortunately I can remember them through last weeks pictures.

This is the sole survivor of a packet of “New Millenium” seed. They sprouted well but a week of neglect in July left only this one. Several more weeks of neglect stunted the seedling but then for some reason a late fall planting in garden soil and a winter rest inspired it to send up a bloom stalk. My vote is nay on the fuzzy brown/black center but others are in favor.

I’m much in favor of the dark center of this violet(?) bloom….. (sorry but my color vocabulary doesn’t go much further than blue and purple). Note the permanent crook in the stem that comes from waiting too long on staking.

This is another which was inspired to bloom well this summer. It’s possible the cool weather has had a lot to do with this.

These blooms are nothing compared to the flower show this plant is capable of. Growing delphiniums is a borderline activity anywhere temperatures routinely go into the hot and humid range, and if you’re the type of person who enjoys spending the summer poolside or shaded under the porch (or hidden away under central air) well then you’ve probably got the beautiful summers that delphinium hate.

This amazing plant was obviously not the product of my upbringing. Purchased this April for maybe $4 it’s worth every cent. Unfortunately I can’t find any good pictures from when it was opened, just this starting view. If you’re selecting a delphinium in the spring, look for one with a strong single stem, not multiple growing points. One with a flower stalk showing if possible.

One day I might give these plants what they really need. In my zone (6-ish) that means morning sun, rich soil with no root competition, regular watering, and any soil amendment you can spare. They are heavy feeders and if you noticed the yellowish leaves on my plants you’ll know I don’t fertilize them like I should. Maybe somewhere deep down inside I know delphinium season always ends badly, and this year is no exception. Summer storms and snapped stems let me cut what I never would have thought of cutting and bringing indoors. The kids have something nice to look at today while they eat their breakfast.

Mid June Color

Jun20

I’ve been feeling a little insecure about the garden. It looks ok in spots, but there’s just not much that I consider worth posting. I’m trying, and I think I’m making a little headway in weeding and planting, but it’s still a mess. Apparently that leaves me with two choices, either put off posting or post the ugly. I’m going with the second. Maybe if I had more skills I could do a couple flower closeups, but my photography just isn’t there so as a result you’re left with weedy, unmulched, undeadheaded garden scenes….. Enjoy!

Here’s “William Baffin” (I believe), a climbing rose that hasn’t yet begun to climb. It has started suckering though, and I was surprised and pleased to see the suckers blooming as well, and in the same color! The variegated grass in back is Arundo Donax “variegata”, an awesome bold grass that should reach at least 10 feet by frost. Because of the size it’s not for everyone and before you get too attached I want you to know it doesn’t keep this color all season. It tends to “green-out” once heat and drought kick in.

“Blue Hill” salvia. Nothing fancy about this one. I call it a parking lot plant since it shows up all over the place, but my snobbery hasn’t pulled it out yet. Looks like my snobbery also has yet to pull out the horseweed and old iris stalks that frame this picture. (but give me credit for cropping out the dead dogwood which is right next to this)

Another parking lot plant, I think it might be a “red carpet” rose, blooming away. I tried not to show too much of the suffering yucca transplant growing to the front but couldn’t get it all out. This is an old planting in the newly expanded front bed and hopefully one day I’ll be confident enough to show it off. I’m back and forth on the colors here and can’t seem to work out what’s nicest in front of the brick. So far red, yellows and gray are showing up most but I’m still not sure it’s a good look.

This is where I’m focusing right now. The bed along the street needs a once over to get rid of old iris stalks, rip out overcrowded perennials, plant a couple annual patches, and hopefully get a layer of mulch….. oh and also widen the bed another foot or two 🙂

It’s hard to see in the grainy photo, but there’s about a billion fennel seedlings that need to come up. They’re nice and airy and I like a couple but enough is enough.

Plant of the Year 2013

Jun13

So what if it’s just June, I’m calling verbascum bombyciferum my plant of the year. This means nothing as far as fancy decals or mass marketing campaigns go but it means I’m smitten with this plant. It’s tall, it’s pet-able, it’s cheery yellow, it grows like it doesn’t care, and it’s always good looking.

Verbascum haters will point out it’s a biennial and will die after blooming but I say “be gone” and enjoy it for what it is….. and I could list a bunch of perennials that never made it past year two for me and had much less interest. They were started from seed last year and suffered the entire summer in a four pack. While their brethren died from drought and neglect these two managed to root into the soil and survive. Around September I desperately ripped up the plants, pulled them out of the four pack and shoved them into a poorly prepared garden bed. They survived an autumn of stomping and whacking courtesy of the children and still came through for me. What’s not to love about that?

I think my abuse was rooted in the doubt of their identity, I thought again these would grow up to be the common roadside mullein… which has happened three times already…. but apparently fourth time’s the charm. You can bet I’ll be starting a more respected batch of seedlings this summer. I’m hoping to top six feet with a better, less weedy and neglected upbringing.

I’m already looking forward to my seedlings and their fat fuzzy rosettes of pale grey winter foliage… kind of like a lambs ear on steroids…. now if I could only get rid of the rich purple weed that’s invaded the bed behind them. Campanula glomerata, the clustered bellflower. Nice but it really spreads.

Camassia

May16

The garden here always goes through a bit of a slump once the tulips begin to fade. The iris haven’t kicked in yet and most of the late spring flowers aren’t doing a whole lot. Bleeding hearts, columbine, and oriental poppies would all probably help out, but camassia is what looks the best right now. I have two types, Camassia ‘Caerulea’ and ‘Blue Danube’. One is supposed to have a rich lavender color and the other a dark blue…. but I can’t tell a difference between them. One might be a few inches shorter but that could be soil or location or whatever.The yellow iris behind is ‘Elsa Sass’, a historic iris from 1939. It blooms early for me, but maybe that’s from being close to the house.

Camassias are a bulb native to Northwestern North America and while I grow them in regular garden soil, they’re supposed to tolerate wet soils and clay soils. Apparently they’re edible too, but I’ll pass for now. This is the other clump, Camassia ‘Caerulea’. I like both types well enough, blue is always welcome and they’ve never required any special care, but for me they don’t seem to bloom very long. Just over a week seems about average, I’d much rather they held out for at least two.

Finally…. mulch is down

May7

It might take normal people a weekend to get their mulch spread, but I went for the one week plan. The biggest time drain was sprinkling the mulch down in between emerging clumps and working the wheel barrow back into a bed that was filled with soft sprouts. On top of that I was trying to stretch every mulch dollar by walking the fine line between too thin and too thick and trying to figure out just where exactly my limited mulch supply would go. Oh, and did I mention the allergies and sinus infection?

The newly renovated front bed got a nice top coat, showing off the mix of tulips I put in last fall. This is what a weak moment during Van Egelen’s fall clearance sale will get you. It’s the Scheeper’s mix, made up of all Scheeper hybrids. Not sure if the color is a good choice for in front of the orange brick….. but oh well, colors don’t clash in May 🙂

The mulch looks so neat and tidy, and it does look better than before when dirt was splashing everywhere and weeds were popping up by the thousands. Look how it sets off this “Isla Gold” Tansy.

The tansy is one of my favorites right now. I’ll be the first to admit I’m going through an I-need-everything-with yellow-foliage phase, but the lacy foliage, the fresh color, and the fact it keeps this color all season are just a couple reasons for my smitten-ness. Did I mention it even has little buttons of yellow blooms in late summer? I bet it would look great then with a blue salvia.

Right now I could pair it with polemonium reptans which is in bloom.

The polemonium comes from my parent’s house. The original planting was there when they first purchased the house over 40 years ago and has been going strong ever since, without dividing or anything. You could trim it back after blooming if you want but I never get around to it.

Probably about half the beds are now covered, but in order to complete the job I’m guessing it will take another load. Together the two loads will run about $660. That really kills my garden budget for the year, but mulch costs are easy to pass by the boss. I sometimes think that if our yard was just mulch beds, lawn expanses and a few rounded yews she’d be happy.

It’s May and tulips and daffodils are blooming all over the place. There’s more to do than time to do it but I need to post a few tulip pictures. They really rule the yard right now, and here’s a well mulched batch of “apricot impression” and some mixed lily flowered tulips. After the tulips fade this bed will hit a lull for a couple weeks, and I’m working on that, but usually hostas take over and a couple coleus find their way in. So it all works out well enough.

There are more tulip pictures. A lot more. I’ll be catching up on those next.

sorta like suburbia

more than you ever wanted to know about my garden

Category Archives: perennials