Summer Heats Up

Jul10

Our cool, extended spring is only a memory today as another hot and humid day gets added to the list of hot and humid days. Southerners will laugh at our complaints over what we call humidity and the Southwest will laugh at what we call hot, but we’re a little delicate here in the Northeast and if you can just give us our moment…

Lilium canadense in bloom. A North American native which used to be more common, back when deer were fewer and lily beetles were still across the sea.

The Canada lilies are having their moment. They’re shorter than in previous years but they’re also sturdier, and I think the leaner living of a dry spring has really paid off, since the flowering is just as heavy and even more prolific than last year. They’re officially my favorite lily, and I may need to start a few more seedlings, preferably in some dark red shades!

Morning shade and a downspout keeps this bed damp enough to please the lilies. I watered as well since I think they’re worth it.

The heat is one thing but it’s the dry weather that slowly wears me down. I find watering to be a tediously boring job and the blackflies buzzing around my head and diving into my ears and nostrils immediately defeats the zen of sprinkling water.

It’s daylily season as well. Daylilies lack the distinction of snowdrops so I just can’t tell which are which. This one I just call “the yellow spider” although I’m sure if pressed I could dig a label up somewhere.

The baked flower beds go a long way in making me feel guilty. Hardened soil is no fun to weed… so I don’t… and I can only tell the wilted flowers relief is coming so many times before I even stop believing. Fortunately the wilder parts of the garden are still doing fine. The meadow is actually fairly green thanks to the shade cast by the aspen sprouts which have now become small saplings, and that’s a fair tradeoff for all the sun they steal from what should be a full-sun meadow.

Butterfly weed and rudbeckia have taken over for the fading daisies.

Even though the meadow looks halfway decent I might go ahead and give it an early mowing this year. My wife will be thrilled, she hates it this year just as much as she does every year but her happiness aside what I really want are the seedheads. The berm could use some better grass and more daisy seeds, and if I bag the mowings they’ll be perfect for spreading around.

Digitalis ferruginea gigantea… I think… all my different foxgloves seem to look alike, but this one stands out as excellent, and it shrugs off drought, and I wonder how a few seeds of this would do on the berm.

The mowing of the meadow may still be weeks off. Summer weather has a way of dragging things out and in all honesty weeding and mulching should happen first. Maybe I’ll just rip a bunch of stuff out just so I don’t have to see it wilting, and then sit around all summer considering what new things could go there in the fall. I could do a good part of my considering from either the pool or the porch, so that’s another plus.

One of the new kniphofia I planted last summer. wilted or not I love it, and it has me wondering if I can divide it this fall and have an even bigger patch next year!

Don’t let my complaining fool you, it’s not all bad. I haven’t had to mow the lawn in weeks and last weekend the remains of the sand pile has finally left the driveway. Some progress has been made and maybe it’s about time I formally introduce the new potager. It’s very neat and tidy and my wife just loves it, but I’m missing some of the weedy overload of the old beds. July has just started and August is yet to come so it’s still early, and August has a way of encouraging weedy overload and tropical storms, so all is not lost.

Have a great weekend!

Curb Un-Appeal

Jun27

A few weeks ago I was next door talking to my neighbor. The iris were in bloom and he’s got a few clumps of a rich purple iris in his front yard (‘Lent A Williamson’ is the ID I gave them although I’m sure he doesn’t care) which were putting on an excellent display. A car slowly pulled by and after a polite wave the driver opened the window to say “I love your iris, I drive this way just to see them”. I bit my tongue. After a couple seconds passed, my neighbor realized the compliment was directed towards him, and said thanks. He looked at me. It just about killed me, I have iris too.

The house from the street. I believe one of the first rules of curb appeal is to compliment, not block, the house. Also large thistles should not become focal points.

We got a good laugh about it once she left. I do like to show off my most exciting plants, but I realize they’re not to everyone’s taste, and the “overflowing” look of the plantings is focused more on the plants than the setting of the house. Even the 12 year old said she doesn’t like it when it all gets so big, but when I mentioned moving out she gave me her pre-teen eye-roll of disgust… which I’m sure will only develop more as she finishes up middle school.

More thistles around the corner. Cirsium eriophorum is the European woolly thistle, and I just came up with the brilliant idea of pulling a few coneflowers out from along the street and planting the newest batch of seedlings there.

Before selling our previous house I spent a few weeks ripping things out and simplifying plantings. If I ever cared to impress the neighbors or list this property I’d surely repeat the process here. Lots of mulch, a clear view of the house, and sheared foundation shrubbery would put an appropriately sterile stamp of conformity onto the real estate head shot, and I’m sure it would scare fewer people away.

Look at that mullein, it’s a keeper! Eight feet tall and counting, the blooms are opening nice and large and I’m hoping it keeps going all summer. The mullein, along with poorly trimmed and poorly placed trees and shrubbery, all add to the screen that blocks the curb view of our house.

Just to be clear there is no talk of moving. We have to stay at least 30 more years in order to reach the point of break-even on all the lumber purchased for the potager re-do. For the accountants out there we finally went over the hump and added about $6.75 to the plus column for the salads we’ve picked in the last few days, and $6 worth of cauliflower as well. Those were some exciting first harvests, so obviously we’re not going to dwell on the $89 which went into the liability column for a new hose and additional lumber.

Delphinium in bloom are often enough of a distraction to keep people from noticing the bags of drying colchicum and narcissus bulbs lined out along the front porch. **please note the snow shovel was just put there recently and hasn’t been sitting there since last winter**

So even if you can look past the unpruned, questionable design, and overlook the stray bags of bulbs and garden tools, there’s still always that massive pile of sand blocking the driveway. “You’re always busy doing something” was the polite way another neighbor dealt with that topic.

The common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) by the front door is in full bloom. I’ll cut it back by half once it’s done flowering, not just to keep it neat, but also to invite the Monarchs to lay their eggs on the new growth that sprouts up.

A myopic view of things lets me enjoy things anyway, and in my opinion when everything else is going to heck there’s always plenty of little things to be thrilled with. Like milkweeds. They’re much more interesting than people give them credit for, and far more useful in the garden than just caterpillar fodder. This week I have a new one in bloom… finally… after years of trying seeds and nursing seedlings.

Asclesias purpurascens, the descriptively named ‘purple milkweed’. This one’s been tricky for me and maybe that’s just because it refuses to put up with the abuse and neglect which I leave it to. I love the dark color though, and did water a little after seeing its leaves curling up from the dry.

I hope the purple milkweed continues to grow in spite of this shift to drier summer weather. There was brief consideration given to trying it out in a new spot but after reading online that it can be hard to get established it’s staying put. I’ve killed it in other spots already so why rush.

The first of the Verbena bonariensis filling in. The verbena is a great drought tolerant filler for years like this, and I might transplant a few out for color in August.

There are plenty of other things to do rather than kill off new milkweeds. I spent Friday night weeding and “editing” the front border and was planning on finishing today but surprisingly enough there’s been some rain and it’s now too humid and sticky to work. The rain only took the edge off the dry soil and refueled the gnats but it was a good excuse to go for icecream instead. I don’t think that’s a bad tradeoff.

Have a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday: I hate gardening

Jul27

All the phlox are fried in the potager. The grass is NOT green.

The hellebores WERE lush after a cool spring.

But I did get to see the last of lily ‘Pizzaz’ in bloom

…and drip irrigation kept the containers watered.

Stop it with the autumn talk

Sep11

Many people enjoy and claim they welcome the coming of autumn. I want to make it clear that I do not, and although the last few days have been a little too hot and dry for my taste, I would much prefer the relief of a summertime cloudburst rather than any farewell to summer eulogy. So I guess what I want is just a few more days of denial before I’m forced to admit the season is breaking down.

The tomatoes of summer are still going strong even with their new neighbors the fall chrysanthemums.

After a promising start to the summer August went dry and for the past forty days we’ve barely cracked the 1/4 inch mark for rainfall. With high temperatures, thin soil, drying winds, and full sun the life was sucked out of a garden which had been almost carefree at the start of the summer. With a nice rain today we’ll see how fast things bounce back. My guess is it will be a much faster turnaround than the last two summers when things REALLY dried out to a crisp.

One patch of watered soil ready for fall planting. Hopefully cool weather will soon allow for a few broccoli and cauliflower transplants.

In spite of the heat a few things still look nice. The tropical garden got a few minutes with the hose, and that seems to have been enough to keep it from death. I love the colors right now with the purple verbena bonariensis, dark red dahlias, and peach colored salvia splendens filling the bed.

A little orange from ‘Tropicanna’ canna goes a long way in brightening up the late summer salvia, verbena and dahlias.

With the grass dried up to a crispy beige the stronger reds, oranges, and purples really stand out. I don’t think a bed full of lavenders, whites, and pale pinks would be as eye catching…. which I’m going to say is a good thing, since in this world of gray and tan I can use as much eye catching and hold-on-to-life color as I can get!

End of summer color from dahlia ‘Mathew Alan’. As usual the dahlias could use some dead heading.

Even up front a little bold color is a nice thing. The border along the house foundation has a few spots of color from the ‘Masquerade’ peppers I planted out this spring. The true type has purple peppers changing to yellow, orange, and red while a few oddball plants started right off with pale yellow and are now going through the same sunset effect.

‘Masquerade’ peppers from seed with all the fescue clumps I divided up this spring. I finally like this bed… but we’ll see how I can mess it up next year 🙂

Along the street is another story. Even with a few emergency waterings things look end of summer tired.

To water or not to water, that is the question. Obviously I chose the latter, but the ‘Karl Forster’ feather reed grass, sedums, and perovskia are still holding on.

I did give the ‘Limelight’ hydrangea a little soaking, but a few water lovers such as the ‘Golden sunshine’ willow will need a good bit of water before they look anything close to happy again.

I think this border will need a little trimming out of dead things once the rains soak in. No big deal though, a little fall cleanup will carry it on through the next few months.

There are still a few bright spots. Even in the harsh midday sun kniphofia ‘Ember Glow’ looks nice. It could be a little taller but the size actually works well with the peppers and coleus (please ignore the dead rudbeckias and dying zinnias).

Red hot poker (Kniphofia) with peppers and a surprisingly sun and drought resistant coleus. I wasn’t sure if the poker would ever bloom this year but I guess it’s a later cultivar.

Until the garden bounces back the best thing to do is spend more time in the shade, seated with cold beverage in hand. I can ignore the weeds and dead lawn quite successfully on the back deck.

This is a late summer view, not autumn. I’ll keep that delusion up until the first frosts threaten!

Even with a good soaking the lawnmower will still likely be on vacation for another week or two. I’m ok with that. I hope the soil takes in the rain, the plants come back, and I can finally use something other than a pickaxe to dig a hole. Maybe then I’ll start thinking about things like fall while I’m taking care of a little late summer transplanting and bulb planting 🙂

The beat goes on

Sep28

From seven in the morning to about four in the afternoon all we hear is the thump thump thump of bulldozers…. six days a week. Oh, and the dust too.

I have to admit I find the earthmoving, rock crushing, and site grading to be fascinating. I think it’s me who actually comes closest to being a kid in this family… and then my daughter throws a fit to prove me wrong 🙂

Of course things could be worse, but the steady beat of the steel bulldozer treads has been relentless all summer and I hope it’s finished soon. Also I hope it’s not replaced by something more annoying!

The above picture is of the dried up vegetable beds with construction in the back, and as you might be able to see I’ve given up on the garden and it’s slowly dying without water. Earlier in the week when it was cooler I was inspired and planted out a small bed of lettuce transplants, dutifully watering them in, but today as the temperatures climbed to 87F (30C) with bone dry soil, I’ve given up in disgust.

When all else fails I take a look at my cyclamen hederifolium seedlings. How can you stay grumpy with leaves like this sprouting up?

The fall rains will come some day and I’ll complain about the damp I’m sure, but right now I could go for a nice soaking. I want the rain so I can get transplanting, there’s just no joy in it when the soil is so dry you need a pickaxe. Fortunately I at least got the compost pile turned, and although it’s also a dry fungal mess there was some good stuff at the bottom. In another week or two my new bulbs will appreciate that!

Fall is in the air

Sep10

The last couple days have been cooler, less humid and just plain pleasant to be outside in. I’m not saying it’s fall weather, but it’s pretty close, and based on the dry, sad state of many plants in my garden I might say they’re ready for this summer to be over. The front border has been on an IV drip of water and this life support intervention has kept it looking decent. Having done a mid summer bed expansion here, and having added many annuals and tropicals, it kind of needs it in order to not become a dusty wasteland…. what a lovely contrast to the lawn which has not benefitted from any watering.

The pink in front is a sedum which has been doing very well the last few years. I always hated this color growing up, but this might be an improved version of regular sedum spectabile. It was given to me without a name, but after surviving a transplant and division during 90 degree heat I guess I owe it a place. Next year I’m hoping for an even fuller plant.

From the other direction more of the elephant ear, coleus, and cannas are visible. The ‘hot biscuits’ amaranthus is blooming now and I like the brown seedheads…. it kind of gives a grainy farmland look here in suburbia. tropicals in a mixed flower border

My birdseed sunflowers are all doing well in spite of the lack of water and lack of attention. The only drawback is their lack of pollen, and you can see the centers of the flowers are black, not pollen-yellow. Pollen free is great for cut flowers but the bees are not thrilled. A few come by for nectar, which I guess is enough to get them pollinated, but they’re not the busy centers of activity that the rest of the flowers are.

I’m just glad they’re hanging in there. Sunflowers must be quite drought tolerant for an annual since this is how the rest of the bed looks…. I’ve given up on keeping it watered.

In the backyard, the dahlias are still getting water and even with me cutting nearly every bloom, they’re still giving a nice spot of color in front of the dead lawn. mixed dahlias for cutting

While it was still hot and humid I got around to mowing down the meadow. I traded in my electric chopper for the day and borrowed my brother in law’s heftier gas powered lawnmower. It made quick work of the crispy dried grass and wildflowers. Typically I try to cut back the meadow earlier in the year, but with the hot, dry weather I really didn’t feel like doing anything at all, so it was only now that I found the motivation. Because of my lack of enthusiasm everything got cut, there was no mowing around butterfly weed or native grasses, it all got the same treatment. It was a good thing I finally got it done, because for some reason the colchicums have heard the call of autumn and begun to sprout. How they come up through the dry, hard-packed, rock-like soil is anyone’s guess, and what triggers them to wake up is beyond me, but there they are. Fresh blooms in a sea of dry crispiness.

I wish there was some similar promise in this end of the yard. The Annabelle hydrangeas were fantastic in the spring but now are just dying sticks. They’ll recover if rain comes soon, but for now everything just skips over our little spot, or never even reaches the ground.

It could easily be worse, there are still a few green weeds in there, but Pennsylvania usually doesn’t go this long without rain. On top of that it doesn’t help that most everywhere else on the east coast is at above average rainfall… but I have faith. Right now Thursday is showing 100% chance of rain, and maybe this cooler weather is signaling a change in the weather.

sorta like suburbia

more than you ever wanted to know about my garden

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