Must. Make. Post.

Nov3

The endless gloom of this year’s weather cycle has finally started to get to me. Even in a good year I’m not the most enthusiastic garden worker, but when the overcast and rainy days come one after another, and the ground is in a constant state of squish, I really don’t feel like much of anything. Good thing it’s finally the natural time of fading decay that others fondly refer to as autumn. I guess I can let it all slide without a guilty conscience and then hope that the winter winds do my cleanup for me 🙂

To be honest I did go along the street border and do a little cleaning up of dead things and overly lush grass growth. I feel like the dogwood seedlings have colored up exceptionally this autumn!

A lack of life giving sunshine and constant moisture must favor a colorful death process because whatever the endless rain hasn’t moulded up is showing a wonderful range of pinks and purples. Usually the hydrangeas go straight to brown, but this year even ‘Limelight’ has taken on a bright pink hue.

The colors of autumn with a promise of spring in the tight buds of next year’s dogwood blooms.

Frost has taken down the bright annuals out front, but asters, grasses and plenty of yellow foliage remain.

‘Golden Sunshine’ willow makes a nice yellow accent alongside the pinks and purples. It’s really enjoyed the rainy summer and one in the back yard has probably put on a good ten feet of growth this summer. All of the willows will be cut back to the ground this winter.

All the tropicals which earned a spot indoors have come into the garage, but my one potted candlestick bush (Senna alata) still gets dragged outside for warmer spells. It’s managed to put out a few weak flowers and of course I’m thrilled to get it this far. Maybe I can cut it back and overwinter the plant indoors, but I’ve killed enough plants over the years that I don’t have all that much hope of pulling that off.

Candlestick bush soaking up the last of the above freezing weather.

While we’re over by the garage I can’t help but think that the ‘Green Giant’ thuja is going to need some attention one of these winters. It’s a big tree and I’ve got it planted ten feet from the garage and maybe four feet from the walk. When I planted it ten years ago the plan was for a quick screen from the house next door, and it’s done a great job, but trimming is not something I want to deal with every year. Even with a ladder I can only safely reach about halfway up so I’m considering either leaving them go for the next five or ten years, or topping them and giving them one harsh trim and see what happens. A review of previous experience leans heavily towards doing nothing for the next ten years and then suddenly cutting them to the ground one morning when I need a spot to plant my latest, newest, most amazing plant. We’ll see.

I have to confess a love for arborvitaes. They’re common and maybe even overplanted, but I love them. Here are my ‘Green Giants’ growing just like they should, planted in a spot where perhaps they shouldn’t.

Following the confession of poor planting decisions here are a few autumn colors to distract.

The shredded umbrella plant (Syneilesis aconitifolia) coloring up for the fall.

Following this weekend’s rain I’m sure leaf cleanup will need to begin. I know I claimed to be considering waiting for the winter winds to take care of them all, but I’m far to greedy to give up the leaf mulch. A few rounds with the lawnmower should get me enough to mulch some of my most special plantings.

The compost pile is there to the right, the full wheelbarrow just ten feet to the left…. am I really that lazy that I couldn’t just make it all the way?

More fall color to distract.

Stewartia is always a star for fall color, especially when not coming off months of drought.

Not to change the subject too much, but just as my wonderful teepee of spanish flag vine (Mina aka Ipomoea lobata) was finally coming into bloom, the temperatures dropped just enough to frost the bulk of it, so here’s a single sad photo of all that’s left, rather than a ten foot high pyramid of celabratory oranges and reds. Fortunately some snapdragon vine (Asarina scandens) held up to the cold with their cool little purple flowers, and some chrysanthemum followed along behind, also pretending to be climbers. I may just skip the flag next year and go all snapdragon.

The last lingering flowers in the ‘vegetable’ patch.

Here’s one last treat.

Galanthus peshmenii, new this year and my first attempt at growing a fall blooming snowdrop outdoors.

So that’s it from this end of Pennsylvania. I saw a dash of sunshine just a few minutes ago but just the fact it’s stopped raining is a big step forward in my opinion. Let’s hope at least one day this weekend offers the garden and the gardener a chance to dry out and get something productive done. All the best!

September GBFD: beauty in the details

Sep25

It sounds a bit noble and refined to study the intricate details but in reality the big picture is just a little too ugly to show. Autumn rains have yet to pan out and the bulk of the garden has that end of summer- waiting to die- air to it, so with a garden full of drought stricken, end-of-their-rope plants, close-ups are clearly the way to go.

A wider view of the watered deck plantings. With only a few weeks left before frost I’m happy to see my newest banana nearly doubling in size since its August planting. I love watching those new leaves unfurl!

The closeups will hopefully be a celebration of the late summer contributions foliage makes to the garden. Yes, I know we’re into autumn now but Christina over at Creating my own garden of the Hesperides celebrates foliage day on the 22nd of each month, and since that date is still a summer number I’m going to use that excuse to hold onto summer for just a few days past the autumn equinox…. well maybe just until next week when the temperatures look as if they’ll drop.

Caladium ‘pink splash’ enjoying the unusually warm September weather. Just foliage color here and although my choice might be suspect it really is an easy plant. Best of all no dropped blossoms on the porch to clean up.

Most of the focus right now is on the tropical plants and annuals which are blissfully putting out new leaves regardless of the impending frost-doom. Let me give them their five minutes of fame before they get thrown in the dark garage for the winter again. I think I’ve shown the scented geranium ‘Lady Plymouth’ before, but with a pleasant scent and fine variegation it really doesn’t hurt to show it again. Plus, I am one of THOSE people who think variegation makes everything better, so here she is again 🙂

‘Lady Plymouth’ perlargonium brightening up the front entry with its finely cut, outlined foliage.

Matt over at Railway Parade House and Garden might give a little chuckle to see such a small specimen of eucalyptus, but here in Pennsylvania I’ve struggled to get it this far. Last year it was a small floppy mess, this year it’s a bigger floppy mess. Assuming I can bring it through another winter, my hope is it will show a little backbone and put on some height. The reddish highlights on the silvery coin shaped leaves are completely unique here and I love it for that… even if the color disappears against the gray decking and white railing.

Eucalyptus cinerea, the silver dollar gum. It has a nice eucalyptus scent when you get close enough.

Something else which is starting to grow on me are the cane begonias. They always look good, the foliage is cool, and for me they are completely foolproof to overwinter (in an above freezing spot with no water). All the leaves fall off and they look terrible but come springtime and April showers they leaf out as if only a week has passed. When I was younger and growing up on Long Island I couldn’t understand why the Coe’s of Planting Fields (now an arboretum) would devote an entire greenhouse to these boring plants. Twenty five years later I’ve finally figured it out.

‘Limon blush’ coleus with a silver splattered cane begonia. The silvering may be faded due to too much sun and the lateness of the season, but the flowers still keep coming on this tall (4+ feet) specimen.

I’ll finish up with a few more begonias. September is a few days away from becoming the area’s hottest September on record and practically rainless at just over 1/4 inch for the month, so again the potted plants are helping me keep my sanity.

Someday I hope to rediscover the tags which came with this plant, but for now the finely silvered foliage and discrete blooms earn it a home -even if I don’t have a name.

If I had more shade around here I would surely put these begonias to more use, but siting them is always an issue. This pink speckled one never even made it out of the pot ghetto this year. Every week it was another round of where-to-put-it and now I’ll just have to enjoy it as it is.

Another unfussy cane begonia. Most of it’s winter was spent bare root on a saucer in the back of the garage… which is not exactly what you’ll read in Fine Gardening but I like to test limits 🙂

Well that’s my take on September’s GBFD. It may not be the perfect illustration of the contributions of foliage in the garden but it does show the contributions foliage has made to my sanity lately. Give Christina’s blog a visit and see what others are doing in their own gardens with foliage this month. It’s always a good show!

The long road home

Oct3

The title of this post sounds a lot more deep and spiritual than it should. Don’t worry. Deep I am not, it’s just I really do tackle a long road home each afternoon. My commute takes about 50 minutes each way and fortunately this week it’s been a much more pleasant drive with the colors of fall lighting the way.

Red maples and birch coloring up across the mountains of Pennsylvania.

This fall the cool nights and warm days seem to have brought on some spectacular colors. I’m usually not a fan of these last death rattles which summer goes through, but even I have to admit it looks nice enough this year. Nice enough that I pulled over a few times today for a quick phone pic or two.

The death of summer and a cemetery just seem right together…. or is it my fall-hating showing through again?

A few spots up in the mountains are already hosting a rain of autumn leaves after every wind gust. The shower of autumn colors is nice enough in itself but I’m not looking forward to the gray of the next six months. There’s a lot to be said for evergreens.

Back at home again and the trees are starting here too. For a couple days the maple trees behind the house will be worth all the trouble their dark shade and greedy roots cause.

Time to think about the nice leaf mulch that the mower will pick up off the back lawn. It’s the perfect blanket for daffodil beds and tulip plantings and all the other late fall plantings which I still hope to accomplish before things cool off too much. That and a little rain too. Fall leaves look so much better on green grass rather than a parched bed of straw 🙂

Hunkering Down

Nov8

Last weekend was the finale of the fall color. By the end of this week most of the leaves will be down and the doors will be open for winter to make its arrival.

I’m not rushing it out but I think I have to call a time for the 2013 growing season. It’s lost its joie de vivre and from now on until snow flies it’s all downhill. So far so good though. I’ve been remarkably organized this fall and had most of the tropical were safely under cover a few days before the first frost. This year I’m putting some under lights, maybe it will help them look a little less pathetic come March. overwintering tropicals under lights

The rest will sit out winter in the back of our semi-heated garage. No watering, little light, but it should be enough to bring them through the winter. When I get the motivation I’ll move them back away from the door…. just like I’ll move all the other crap that tends to accumulate and fill the spot where my car should be. overwintering tropicals

Weekend plans include digging up dahlia and canna roots and finishing winter cleanup. So far it hasn’t felt like much work and maybe my early start and the late frost date worked in my favor, but usually things happen at a different pace. My usual method is wait until I’m in bed, see a freezing weather report, grab a flashlight, and then stumble through the dark in my pajamas, flashlight in mouth and a load of cold wet plants in my arms. Good times, good times.

The freeze-dash makes you grateful for hardy “tropicals” such as musa basjoo. This one is going on winter #3 here by the porch. I think the protection of the house helps bring it through the winter, although a little extra protection would probably give it a much stronger head start in the spring.Now that the summer garden is packed away and additional rain has finally made for good planting soil I’m thinking about bulbs. I bet I could hit a few clearance sales and add a couple more bulbs cheaply before the ground freezes. I bet I’d be real proud of myself come May….. I just have to remember the time change has me leaving for work and returning home in the dark, and that doesn’t make for good bulb planting. Oh well. I already know how this is going to turn out 😉

Tis the season for orange

Oct19

The view from the back deck is changing. As fall color moves down from the mountains into our valley, the woods and weedy edges of the yard are losing the tired green of a droughty fall and going gold.

Dry soil and warm night temperatures don’t make for good fall color but there’s still plenty to go around, and inspired by this last hurrah I trudged out to my trusty favorite nursery, Perennial Point, and cracked open the wallet for a mum, ‘redbor’ kale and some pansies. I’ve been trying to stick to a budget, and mums and pansies that may or may not survive the winter don’t fit well into the spending plan. Still it’s always nice to bring home even a small patch of instant color.

The budget is helped immensely by home-grown pumpkins and cornstalks, and a couple butternut squash fit in perfectly until I draft them for soup duty. The pansies in orange and purple are not what I’d pick in spring, but seemed a perfect fall theme. Orange is definitely the color of the season, and now that the front stoop has been re-decorated (by someone over the age of seven) I’m starting to notice orange all over the place.

The last of the Tropicana cannas are managing to get in a couple more blooms before frost cuts them down (any day now) tropicana canna with ninebark

These seed grown marigolds (I believe Sophia mix… although they don’t look too mixed) did well in spite of neglect, soccer balls, and drought, and I’m almost a little nervous about saying I really like them. Orange marigolds…. a color and plant frequently looked down upon by more refined gardeners…. perfect for my yard!

Another looked-down-upon plant which I love is ‘Tiger Eyes” sumac. The wild version of staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina) provides most of the color in the backyard but I try to keep those weeds back a ways. Here in the front, the slightly more refined chartreuse foliage of ‘Tiger Eyes’ is almost acceptable. I can easily ignore its suckering ways when it glows like this.

Here’s another one poking up by the house. Even I think it may be a little too wild for a foundation planting, but until something better comes along the sumac stays. It actually looks good right now with the blues of the spruce, catmint and fescue grass. Between that and the rusty chrysanthemums and orange amaranthus it almost looks like I planned it this way. If anyone asks I’ll say I did 😉

The rust colored mums stick with todays orange theme but it’s the purple ones I like best. There’s a little fading in the blooms to give some depth and even without pinching they keep to a low mound. I’m really appreciating the chrysanthemums in general this year and spring may bring some new additions. How can I not like a plant which never got a drop of watering or fertilizer and still puts on a perfect show? purple and orange mums

I’ll have to enjoy these last splashes of color as fall starts to fade. We’re on borrowed time as long as the frost stays up in the mountains, but our days are numbered. This weekend the smart gardener will bring his tender plants indoors. The other gardener will remember his plants just before bedtime and regret his procrastination as he fumbles with muddy plants, a flashlight, and cold fingers in the dark.

sorta like suburbia

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