Tuesday View: The Front Border 8.28.17

Aug30

Monday was the first day back to school for the kids and that officially means late summer. A few haters will point out that it actually means autumn, but no. Summer won’t give up so easily and I won’t give up on summer… even if there was a slight nip in the air this morning 😦

The front border doesn’t look autumnal at all, and this week as we join the vacationing Cathy at Words and Herbs for the Tuesday view it’s all about sunflowers!

The front border this Tuesday.

The sunflowers seem to know there’s still plenty of time to flower and set seed before the axe falls. They’re really nice right now and between the bright flowers they already hold enough partly-ripe seedheads to bring in a steady stream of goldfinches.

This is my current computer screen background. Sunflowers and ‘Australia’ canna, all looking even better with the beige stalks of ‘Karl Foerster’ feather reed grass as a screen.

As usual I’m not looking forward to fall. I’ll stay in denial for weeks and then sometime in early October bite the bullet and make the transition from late summer to fall. Even my blog categories show this bias and I had to laugh a few weeks ago when I noticed all the other seasons are broken down into ‘early spring’, ‘spring’, and ‘late spring’, but fall is just ‘fall’. I guess that helps get through it just a little bit faster.

Halfway down the border, Molina ‘skyracer’ is one sign of late summer. It’s a great plant for the edge of the border where its height doesn’t block anything yet breaks up the monotony of shorter plantings. A ‘see through’ is what people call it.

Besides grasses going to seed there are some other sure signs that summer is ripening. The neat little lumpy sedums are blooming.

I think this is sedum ‘brilliant’, given to me by a friend years ago and carelessly unlabeled because I was sure I’d remember the variety. From the minute the buds swell in the spring to the minute I cut down the dried stalks so the swelling buds can grow it’s an attractive thing.

But the annuals won’t give up for at least another month. Even the zinnias which have been going since May are still looking good.

A painted lady butterfly getting her fill off the ground cover zinnias. This might be ‘Zahara something’ but as usual…

I’ll leave you with yet another photo of the end of the border. These ‘Cannova Rose’ cannas with the purple Verbena bonariensis have me convinced I’m the most amazing garden designer who ever planted a canna or paired a color. Be prepared to see this photo one more time when the yellowing kochia plant does its burning bush routine.

Coleus, ‘Cannova Rose’ canna, Verbena, kochia, and a few orange ‘Zahara’ zinnias. Not bad for a bunch of leftover cuttings, tubers, and self sown seedlings… and a six-pack of zinnias 😉

Do give Cathy a visit to see how other views are developing this Tuesday, and it’s not too late to join with your own! You probably have a good four weeks before autumn really insists on arriving, and only until that happens will it officially be too late. Obviously when autumn does get here no-one is going to want to see pictures of fall foliage and asters, so what’s the point of starting then, might as well wait until you can post snowy photos 🙂

Have a great late summer week!

2017 Summer Bucket List: The Fountains of Longwood Gardens

Aug28

The buzz had been building for 2 years as the fountains of Longwood Gardens underwent a massive, 90 million renovation behind the curtain of construction walls and ‘do not enter’ signs. You kind of got used to it. For years the fountain area had been my least liked section of Longwood and as far as I was concerned it was only an area to walk around and avoid while you explored other more exciting sections. Sometimes a fountain went off. Ok nice. I almost felt a little sorry for Pierre du Pont if this was all his obsessive passion for fountains could put together. Plus I hated all the rows of pathetic Norway Maples which lined the area. Like I said, it wasn’t a favorite.

Holy crap has that changed. The restored fountains were reopened this past May and if you happen to have the chance to see them I think you’ll agree they’re friggin’ awesome! The grounds have been rebuilt into something which could compete with an European palatial spread, but the fountains are something all to themselves and have to be experienced in person.

Looking in to the heart of the five acre main fountain gardens. The sounds of water surround you.

Before I get too in to it I just want to mention my kids came along, and a 9 and 11 year old who are more interested in gymnastics and tag were not the best visiting companions, but I decided to take one for the team and hope a little of the experience sinks in. They love the Christmas show… but strolling and looking at plants… not so much.

The Orangery in its summer finery. Throughout the greenhouses things are always perfect regardless of the season, and I question the soul of anyone who isn’t a little amazed the first time they enter.

We stopped for ice-cream first. It’s a two hour drive for us so that’s the least I could do for my surprisingly well behaved travel companions, and as they finished that off and played in the children’s section (which I’m glad to see they haven’t yet outgrown) and then toured the indoor gardens, it was at least an hour before I got the first “I’m bored”.

An awesome canna inside the Orangery. I loved it and I wanted it, but unfortunately couldn’t find the name. Perhaps it’s one of the many cannas which have been raised and hybridized in one of Longwood’s many research and breeding programs.

We tried to move quick. Maybe getting there at 3 O’clock was indeed a little early considering all the kids wanted was a light show… but the plants, the plants 😉

There’s water all over. This was just one of the many fountains of the children’s garden.

The water garden was an interesting diversion. This is always my favorite spot and I was glad the kids seemed somewhat interested in the water lilies and massive Victoria Lilies which fill the pools.

The giant pads were approaching five and six feet in diameter, and have a reputation of being able to support babies and small children with their buoyant structure.

I of course always have to touch the nasty spines even though I’m well aware of how sharp they are. The undersides of the pads and outer coverings of the flower buds are all well defended with this barrier.

It’s thought the raised lips of the pads prevents them from growing on top of one another, and the two notches on the rim allow rainwater to escape.

While I was trying to explain just how awesome these plants were, the kids were absolutely distracted by the small mosquito fish which filled each pond section. For the next 20 minutes all they wanted to do was catch one…. or two… or a bigger one… or one more… or just one more…

Got one.

Fortunately the Longwood employees were very pleasant about the kids harassing their mosquito fish. They explained how the fish control the mosquito larva and added a few things about nearby plants as well, but overall just let the kids enjoy a little wet fun. I’m sure this will be the memory they keep from this area even though I tried my darnedest to explain the Longwood history of hybridizing these Victoria lilies and their fragrant, night blooming, beetle pollinated, flowers and… well this is where they caught fish.

The giant victorias are nice enough, but these day and night blooming tropical waterlilies aren’t too shabby either, and their bright colors and fancy foliage could keep you here hours just exploring the variety.

I made another attempt to visit every single highlight of the gardens but was quickly derailed by another “I’m bored”. The gardening bug definitely either skips a generation or is a recessive gene since my two are nearly completely empty of any chlorophyll. We sat for a while playing with cameras and looking at pictures and then headed over for dinner instead.

Round about 6pm the gardens started to fill up. It was a ‘pop up’ Luminaries weekend, and thousands of candles were laid out across the lawns and lined up along pathways, and one by one the individual candles were being lit.

As dusk began to fall the luminaries were being lit throughout the gardens. Our visit just happened to coincide with a surprise luminary weekend where thousands of luminaries ‘pop up’ throughout the gardens. While the boy focused on trying to blow out a candle without being caught, we did manage to see at least a few of the best garden areas. A favorite is the long border which shades from white to yellow to gold…

One of my favorite rudbeckias, ‘prairie sun’.

…to red to pinks…

Pink zinnias, canna, and crape myrtle.

…to purples to blues…

Cleome, ageratum, dahlias, and I think vitex. The dark purple bushes in the back are a very cool non-hardy euphorbia which I always look for but never find on sale.

and the crowds continued to drift in…

Blankets and chairs setting up for the show, even though it was still at least an hour to go.

Once the sun set and the lights came on things really started to get amazing.

Food stands, wine and beer stands, fancy dining… Longwood at night has become quite the date night location.

We headed out one more time to see the lanterns at full effect.

One of the main lawns covered with a spiral of luminaries. Getting lost amongst the lanterns is the perfect excuse to hold hands 😉

I hope my random point and shoot photography gives you some idea of how cool Longwood is at night. People whisper. It’s really captivating.

Candlelight from the luminaries, soft lighting for the plants, and in many spots the sweet fragrance of night scented flowers such as these angel trumpets (Brugmansia).

There really were a lot of candles. I think the gardens would be nice enough on any night, but I’m glad we had the chance to see the luminaries as well. Rumor has it quite a few other people also got the chance to see the show. I noticed on their website that most nights ended up being sold out…. so even on a regular weekend make sure you have your tickets purchased before you head down.

I think of Luminaries as a Southern Christmastime tradition, but here in the North I’ve got to say summer nights work out much better.

Once we got through the luminaries it was finally time for the 9:15 fountain show. The show was epic with music, lights, sounds, and fountains spouting everywhere. From what I hear the highest can shoot up to 175 feet (53m) into the air and when you’re watching or wandering through the show, it absolutely surrounds you.

My daughter’s favorite…. pink. She insisted on many photos to catch the pinkness.

We settled into the upper area where the largest fountains are located and it was amazing to be surrounded by all the noise and water. Even with the highlights right there in front of you, you still had to keep looking around to catch the parts of the show up closer to the main viewing area. There were spouting columns of flames after all!

Lights, fountains, and FLAMES!

The fountains were impressive enough during the day, but the show at night was truly epic. Who would have thought that water shot into the air could be so entertaining… well, who other than Pierre du Pont I guess 🙂

It was really cool.

Seven hours later we were finally on the road back home. I barely got to see half the things I wanted to but it was still a great visit and the kids are already talking about a Christmas return. I can do that, and hopefully we can make it there the day after Thanksgiving again since it worked out great crowd-wise and traffic-wise last year. The fountain shows go on until September 30th and then I think it’s all about chrysanthemums then for the fall season. The chrysanthemum show is supposed to be exceptional as well, full of horticultural wonders and floral amazement, and it’s also still on my bucket list to visit that as well… but I think I’ll do that one on my own 😉

Tuesday View: The Front Border 7.25.17

Jul26

As we join Cathy at Words and Herbs for this week’s Tuesday View, we see it’s rained again… and continues to rain. Non gardeners are complaining, but just look at that green lushness!

Pink coneflowers (echinacea) and the mauve cloud of Russian sage (perovskia) bring the most flower color, but the first sunflowers are opening and that should bring big changes!

I kind of forgot how things get a little out of control in this border during the summer. The annuals start to pick up steam and I do prefer plants which you don’t always have to bend over to examine, so things are stacked in favor of disorder.

The far end of the border is taking on the colors of ‘Limelight’ hydrangea and variegated giant reed grass (Arundo donax). Both are 6 feet and climbing 🙂

I like it well enough and hope it keeps getting better. There are problems of course but for the most part the rain keeps washing them away (except for the slugs of course), and when the sun comes out I swear things have grown by another inch.

There’s always hope after the rain.

I’m just sitting back and enjoying it. Over the weekend I sat in a nice clean garage and watched the latest downpour coming down on the driveway. That was pretty much it and it reminded me of all the reasons summer is awesome.

Have a great week!

Come Visit

Jul23

You may have heard that I mulched the garden. It was brutal mid-summer work and would have been much better suited for more civilized spring or fall temperatures, but it’s done. The schedule said now or never so I reluctantly chose now, and with the job done I’m way more pleased with myself than I should be. With that in mind I’m taking a cue from bloggers such as Kathy at Cold Climate Gardening and Christina at Creating My Own Garden of the Hesperides and doing a walk-through post to finally give an accurate view of the garden. I hope it doesn’t take away any of the mystery which sticking to closeups has provided, since in my opinion the “big picture” can tend to sum things up more than it should, so lets hope your reaction isn’t “oh, I thought it was bigger”…

Welcome. Look at that mulch… ok, enough of that… the other first thing you’re likely to notice is the thicket of a garden out front. It’s colorful but I don’t know if it does much for the house’s curb appeal.

Before getting too into the tour, I feel like there’s always something distracting going on at our house. Tools, buckets, hoses, construction debris, and unfinished projects may appear at any point so consider this your fair warning.

The garage cleanup is wrapping up this weekend. Much of it just moved around but the new paint and big boy steps towards neatness are gradually making this into a space which doesn’t scare visitors or embarrass homeowners.

Surprisingly enough there were no run-ins with the law these past few days. With the garage cleanup underway I was nearly positive there would be a visit from the EPA concerning the destruction on such a massive scale of vast areas of spider habitat. There were also no emergency room visits. I thought for sure when I broke that 6 foot bathroom mirror there would be some bad luck involved but so far just the usual. Let’s get going though. Here’s the foundation border as you proceed around the house.

During last year’s dry spell I officially gave up on this bed, but recovery has been swift. Although it’s still a little “wooly” for a foundation planting I do think it’s coming along, even if sunflowers and 9 foot tall mullein don’t exactly go with the spiral-cut arborvitae.

The front street border shows up enough on Tuesdays so here’s just the very end looking over at the neighbors. I snuck a few white ‘Annabelle’ hydrangea into her mulch beds but the blue ones are all her. Amazing what ample rain can do for a hydrangea.

At the end of the front yard looking toward the neighbor. The golden juniper is about where my property ends.

I don’t know when I last showed the south side of the house. It used to be covered by overgrown yew but two years ago I cut them back to the base and since then they’ve come back fine, but in the meantime I’ve filled up the dry, rooty space in front of them with all the odds and ends of my seed starting experiments. In case it’s not obvious I call this my rock garden despite the fact there are no rocks and it’s mulched with shredded bark.

The rock garden along the south side of the house. I should probably add rocks, that would seem appropriate… then of course I’d need to make it bigger as well 🙂

As we enter the back yard we pass last year’s Tuesday View, the tropical garden.

Warm weather is finally bringing on the tropics. Unfortunately I’ve again allowed random things to take over, but sunflowers and squash seedling are always fun and they make a nice distraction from the poor drainage and rotted dahlias which should have filled the space…

Rounding the corner the backyard comes into view. Look at that green grass!

Potager (aka vegetable garden) around to the left, meadow behind the swings, deck and house to the right.

A quick glance to the right at the new lawn which replaced my most hated failure of a flower bed. I’m so much happier with this area now, even though the world really doesn’t need more lawn to mow.

The plan called for finishing off the deck in May, but the planner got distracted by the garden and ended up ripping everything out of here and planting grass instead. This area has no name but please don’t let all the rocks confuse you into referring to this bed as the rock garden.

Here’s a closer look at the ‘potager’.

Whoops. Wrong year. I was wondering why several phlox ended up not returning this spring until I remembered how the garden looked last summer.

Here’s the view almost exactly a year later.

Don’t judge my love for little hedges, it’s the only thing keeping this area neat, and I actually sort of enjoy trimming them.

The potager is officially the part of the garden which requires the most work and unfortunately I don’t provide it. Chaos develops… well I guess chaos never “develops” it just degenerates… but something happens, and the flowers generally do their own thing and if we’re lucky a vegetable finds its way out every now and then.

I have no problem supporting my local farmer after seeing how much work it takes to bring a broccoli from seed to soup. Two things of note though are the marigolds (I needed lots of marigolds this year) and yellowing potato tops near the front mean something edible finally cometh.

I promise to limit my comments on the precious phlox. They’re a favorite even though several clumps went to phlox heaven last summer.

Who says phlox seedlings are bad? I got lucky and there are several nice ones here to replace the casualties. ‘Cabot Pink’ is front and center and a sprig of ‘Salmon Beauty’ is off to the right, but the rest are volunteers which (should) be moved to new locations this fall.

A few more phlox as we move on over to the meadow garden.

Some more phlox and seedlings. Athough the colors are more average I can tell the pink in the center is a ‘Blushing Shortwood’ seedling since it shares the same rounded flowers and slightly reflexed petals.

The meadow garden is beginning to look a little unkempt as the grasses continue to grow rather than politely drying up in the summer heat. For now I’m hoping the golden rudbeckia flowers are enough of a distraction for minds which crave neatness all over.

I’m in the process of editing out the aspen suckers which are coming up throughout the meadow. An aspen grove is the last thing my garden needs, but once I get distracted with these new ideas…

Moving past the swings and looking back, the neat hedge really does a lot to tame the messiness. In complete disregard for plant health and proper timing I finished off the new swingset bed with a section of hedge transplanted from the back of the potager. Just to be clear, sweltering 90F days in July are not recommended for transplanting boxwood, but I guess we’ll score one more for stupid ignorance.

This is so neat and trim it’s almost sickening.

Although it’s nice to have a spare boxwood hedge growing around, this one only covered about half the section. As luck would have it though, there was also a tray of rooted cuttings to fall back on. To be clear on this as well, it’s generally not a good idea to root cuttings you don’t need and then throw them under the deck for at least five years while you wait for something to happen… and that ‘something’ also happens on a 90F sweltering July day… but as usual we just carry on and ignore what should have been.

Fortunately boxwood is pretty hardy stuff and survived all this abuse with only minimal damage, and you can at least say the cuttings are very well rooted… which wasn’t much of a plus as I ripped apart the nursery tray trying to get them out.

Lets wrap things up though. I feel this year there’s been a near heroic effort to keep weeds at bay at this end of the yard, especially since I just can’t figure out what to plant here. The soil gets too soggy in the rain to grow iris well, delicate flowers are destroyed during kickball games, and overly lush plants are often bushwhacked when looking for lost tennis balls.

From a distance, with a neat edge on the bed, at just the right angle… many of this bed’s flaws become easier to ignore.

Lets also ignore the beds around the back porch. They still need some ‘vision’ but for now as long as the most rampant weeds are kept at bay and the Virginia creeper is regularly beat back off the porch it’s a generally non-offensive area.

Still a work in progress going around to the north side of the house.

We end our tour by coming around the garage and passing the ‘pot ghetto’ where all the least fortunate plants-in-waiting bide their time until the gardener makes up his mind on a location. The gardener is not sure what the holdup is since all the other perfectly placed plantings really haven’t stood the test of time, but he likes to think someday inspiration will strike. Studies show that inspiration usually strikes the day before a two week road trip, but until that happens the plants wait.

Shameful.

So that brings us back around to the front of the garage again. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that nothing has changed in terms of garage cleanup since we started, but it being a day of rest I think that can be overlooked into tomorrow. For now I want to thank you for coming along and feel free to stop by if you’re in the area. Just be ready. If you think this post went on for way too long imagine what the real on-site experience is like!

Have a great week.

Tuesday View: The Front Border 7.18.17

Jul18

A Tuesday greeting from humid and damp Pennsylvania. I love it. The garden has never been so lush and vibrant, and until the mold and fungus kick in I’ll enjoy every minute of it, even the downpours. Here’s the view this Tuesday.

The pink coneflowers and lavender perovskia are really kicking in now.

In all honesty this is actually a Monday afternoon view since the lawn was freshly cut that afternoon and strong storms were on the way, but close enough, right?

The view from the street. I started out trying to keep it shorter and neater here but the perovskia and coneflowers seeded in and I’m pretty sure nothing I could think up would look better.

This is the time of year when this border really hits its stride. For the next few weeks it should be just full of color… maybe too much color, but if you think back to our bleak months of winter I think you’ll be able to ignore much in the way of poor design and less than perfect color combinations!

A closeup of the middle. I see plenty, but the yellow of my absolutely favorite new plant ‘Axeminster Gold’ Comfrey is all I want to talk about.

The variegated comfrey has been something I NEEDED for a few years and finally got a hold of this spring. It’s everything I like in a plant, big, bright, and variegated, and although it will likely scorch in this normally dry, full sun spot any other year, this season it’s doing just great. If you need any other reason to grow this plant check out Nancy Ondra’s Hayefield blog for one of her posts on this plant. I make no secret out of the fact it was her photos which ignited my plant lust for this goodie, and honestly it’s been at least a year since I last plugged her awesome blog or books or just plain good person-ness so I think it’s about time I mention her again.

What? More yellow? You bet! The tidy little grass is miscanthus ‘Gold Bar’.. which (after three years) is much shorter than its predicted 4-5 foot height, and some Agastache ‘Golden Jubilee’ which comes nice and true from seed, as these have.

I’ll finish up with the far end of the border which is looking much nicer this year than normal. Part of that has been the rain, but the other factor is I’ve been making a point out of starting at this end and working my way over to the mailbox rather than the other way around. With my attention span it really makes a difference which end you start from 🙂

I don’t think anyone will be copying this mess, the only colors missing are a true red and blue, but it sure is “interesting”. Please take note first of the amazingly neat mulch and second of the hydrangea peeking out from the center. It’s a clearance ‘Vanilla Strawberry’ from last autumn, and although it starts white I’m hoping it develops a nice strawberry blush soon after. We will see.

So that’s where we’re at for this Tuesday View. If you’d like, give Cathy at Words and Herbs a visit to see how everyone else is doing this week, it’s a great way to keep tabs as the season changes, and even better if you join in with your own view… plus you can’t go wrong on any visit to Cathy’s!

Have a great week, and wish me luck. I started tidying up a few shelves in the garage on Friday and the weekend turned into a full blown garage cleaning, rearranging, repairing, and repaint-a-thon. I’m not even halfway done. It was needed.

Wordless Wednesday: Five Days of Torture

Jul13

Deck Season

Jul11

I’m about done with this gardening thing, it’s just so much work!

The deck awaits. Cool drinks, evening sunsets, it all sounds so much better than slaving away in the garden.

We have yet to hit our traditional summertime combo of brutally high temperatures and endless rainless weeks, and for once it seems our climate has decided to make it easy on the garden and gardener. The garden has been enjoying excellent growing weather and perfect transplanting conditions, and I think I’ve done more this year than ever to shape up the yard. The deck has been no exception. Overwintered tropicals came out of their garage storage earlier than ever and containers were put together way before the usual Memorial Day rush. I like the way it came out this year (which was not the case last summer).

My biggest splurge this year, a blue sky vine (Thunbergia grandiflora) which I snapped up the minute I saw it. I was hoping it would take over this whole corner of the deck but for now it’s more intent on sending out more and more of its beautiful flowers. At least the self-sown petunias on the left make a nice color compliment.

In my opinion the whole point of annuals is you can try something completely different each year, enjoy an entire season of noncommittal color, and then count on winter to completely clean the slate for next season. For the most part I started with a clean slate, but this year I tried to bring in a few new things rather than just sit in the rut I felt like I’d been settling in to.

Calibrachoas will always earn a spot in the deck containers because of their unending bloom. As long as the tobacco budworms hold off on their late season attack and I get a little fertilizer on them, they’ll keep going like this for weeks!

My ‘ outside the box’ move didn’t last much longer than putting down the traditional purple fountain grasses and substituting with a couple new coleus. Lots more foliage this year rather than flowers, but for the most part, since I overwinter so many plants, I’m bound to always be stuck in at least some part of the box.

If there was a color theme this year it was orange and purple… sort of… I’m never much good at sticking to a theme, plus I’m always far too easy on the self-sown annuals which show up, such as the pink petunias and red snapdragons in the back.

Cannas and coleus are back this year and doing great. The coleus were all new purchases made to replace those I was too lazy to bring in last fall. Lesson learned with that but now I’ll have to make all new decisions on which ones to take in when frost threatens. Experience shows it will be all of them 🙂

The far corner of the deck. The cannas are just starting, coleus are already too big, the Virginia creeper is creeping over from the other wall, and who would have thought I’d like white salvia?

Since May the plan has been to re-do some of the unfinished ends of the deck. You know how the goes. As of July 11th there’s been no action, which isn’t world ending, but it does mean I haven’t yet hooked up the drip lines which should go to each planted container. The regular rains have been my savior but as things grow that won’t last. I need to get things going!

A little bit of a mess here but the succulents and cacti are enjoying the regular rain. Usually they get nothing but disrespect from me and are lucky to get a haphazard splash from the hose once a month… I wonder if I need a new cactus… I’ve been good all spring 🙂

By all estimates I have about another week left in me before I throw in the towel on whatever projects didn’t get done this year. All work and no play is making me an extremely dull gardener and summer is too short for dullness.

Gotta go, weeds await!

Around Back

Jul3

It’s been a wonderful spring with reliable rain, even temperatures, and no extreme weather. This is enough to spoil a gardener and make him forget the usual drought and plague which usual hit about this time of year. Delphinium would be my poster child for weather gone wrong, and in a normal year would lay in a storm beaten heap well before the end of June.

The delphinium this year have been exceptional. Even though this photo is a few days old they’re still gracing this corner of the porch with two foot long trusses of (still upright) bloom.

So I couldn’t help but gloat a little over the delphinium, but the real point to this post is to show a little of the backyard and hopefully impress someone with how busy I’ve been. There’s a whole other garden back there and sometimes my limited attention span never makes it past the Tuesday view of the front street border 😉

First stop is the tropical garden alongside the South side of the house. Our neighbor has stopped commenting about the “black, dead eyes’ which she sees every time she looks out the kitchen window. I’m guessing she’s either finally lost her soul to the Queen of the Prairie statue or she’s too distracted by the overwhelming awesomeness of the ‘Black Forest’ rose.

Once into the back yard the most prominent feature is the kid’s play set. It may look romantically functional in photos, but in reality it’s become too weak and shaky, and not quite what 9 and 11 year olds look for in outdoor entertainment.

Nine years of noble service but at this point I’m worried a kid will come crashing down through a weak floorboard.

An executive decision was made to retire the play set.

The end of an era. I remember opening the carton on the day we bought it and thinking, mmmm all cedar… some day this is going to make a cozy bonfire… I guess that day has finally come.

Between ripping down the old set and figuring out what to do with the site, several weeks passed. Another executive decision determined that the budding gymnast needed a bar to do acrobatics off of, so off to the internet. In the meantime summer came.

The stewartia tree is fantastic this year and surprisingly enough the native bumblebees are as thrilled with this Japanese (or Korean, or Chinese… not really sure) tree’s flowers as I am. You can see a bumblebee butt sticking out of the middle flower.

While working out the swing project (which as expected became much more complicated than it should have been) I also tried to triage the vegetable garden and back flower beds. For as wet and cool as the spring was, the phlox came up terrible this year. Spider mites, stunted plants, missing clumps… I blame miserable soil prep and last summer’s drought, but who knows. I did finally fertilize, and things appear to be turning, but as I realize once again how great they should be, I kind of regret not taking better care of them.

Phlox ‘blue spot’ is one which did get a little extra care. I couldn’t ignore this one, I just moved it onto the list of favorite phlox… which isn’t as impressive as you’d think since it includes almost all the phlox I have!

Even though the phlox patch (aka vegetable garden, aka potager) is really just an overdone example of gardening gone wrong, it only takes one amazing flower to make it all right. Some Regal lily (Lilium regale) seedlings from a few years back are big enough to flower and I love them. The flowers are nice enough in themselves but in addition to color, they perfume the entire potager with a heavy scent of summer which reminds me of gardenias and the tropics. Too much for an enclosed place, but in the late afternoon, out in the garden, perfect.

Regal Lily in full bloom. I would qualify them as ‘easy’ from seed, just as easy as all the other “volunteers” which fill the bed. A less generous eye would say lily in a weed-patch but as long as the weeds flower…

While the garden slowly comes together, the new swing set also rises. An idea comes to mind, no real reason why it shouldn’t work, new parts, wrong parts, returned parts, and a whole lot of sweaty digging while the price tag goes up and up.

An industrial swing which can even handle the occasional daring adults. Once it all came together it wasn’t that bad, the real work was removing the gravel, filling with dirt and sod dug from elsewhere, and of course digging a new planting bed 🙂

As the old swing went down, the annual ‘cut that damn grass it looks horrible and it’s full of ticks and don’t you care about the children’ discussion took place. In an attempt to distract naysayers and define the area I nearly killed myself moving a few mini boulders over to define the edge of the meadow. I like it and of course think it looks even better, but as for other opinions… I’ll let you know as soon as we’re back on speaking terms.

End of June meadow. Daisies ending, rudbeckia and butterfly weed coming on strong, but I’m not sure if the aspen saplings will stay or go.

To be honest bugs do abound in the meadow. There are fireflies, butterflies, crickets and bees galore, as well as visitors of the cottontail type.

Eastern cottontail rabbit. They do damage, but over the season it’s still much less than a single deer or woodchuck could do in one night. I have a soft spot for the bunnies, and have been known to carry on conversations with them, so I guess their company is worth the beheaded broccoli and mowed down lettuce.

While I was trying to figure out how the old swing set could so quickly collapse and be outgrown, it’s beginning to sink in that it’s the actual years which are ticking away. It’s already been nine years since we moved to this house.

A backyard view. Nine years ago only lawn spread across the yard and up to the house.

But you really can’t do anything other than enjoy the ride. We now have a cute little swing set for relaxing afternoon entertainment and it will hopefully provide many years of fun.

It took them all of ten minutes to figure out how much more fun jumping is compared to more sedate back and forth swinging. As of tonight no bones have been broken so let’s hope that luck holds.

The pond is next. It’s been a ball-trapping, mud-slopping, weed-filled pit for more years than I care to admit, and is absolutely overdue for a detox. Every year I say the same, but I hope that once the potager is weeded, and the new swingset bed planted, and a truckload of bark mulch spread, and daffodils dug, and out-of-control compost pile reclaimed… I think then I’ll start on the pond. Maybe.

Have a great week!

Wordless Wednesday: On Holiday!

Jun29

Tuesday View: The Front Border 5.9.17

May11

As usual the Tuesday view has become a Wednesday view and although I’m sure there are a bunch of excuses I could work in, I don’t think anyone is really bothered enough to complain. So lets get right in to it! The view has gone green now that the daffodils have faded but there are still the new tulips showing off towards the middle.

Lush grass and growing perennials. It’s been a decent spring now that the thunderstorms, snow, hail and tornadoes of April have eased off. We didn’t even get a late frost…. yet.

This is the time of year when most of the garden takes a little spring breather, though it’s really more a winding up as the stems and shoots of summer’s flowers expand and grow and get ready to put out the next wave of color. I already overdid the tulips last post so let’s look at a few foliage highlights a’la Christina’s monthly focus on foliage… because you know I’m sure to miss it later in the month when GB Foliage Day comes up!

My second favorite iris, the yellow variegated Iris pallida ‘aureo-variegata’. To do well here this one needs dividing and replanting every three or four years. This one is far past four years and nearly swamped by fennel seedlings and a weedy sedum.

Yellows are my favorite foliage effect and sometimes it takes a lot for me to hold back. In the back of my mind I realize a garden can only hold so many yellow “accents” before it looks like some ’80’s neon flashback but they’re sooooo tempting. This spring I’ve only added two new yellows, a variegated comfrey and a yellow spiderwort, and the restraint this took has me almost at the breaking point. The struggle is real.

Bright yellow with orange tips on the healthier shoots. I think it’s time to spread more of sedum ‘Angelina’ around the edges of the bed, and fortunately it’s as easy as pulling a handful, throwing it into a shallow hole and scraping a little dirt on top.

Here’s a more permanent bit of foliage as well. After two years of growth my newest little conifers from Conifer Kingdom are finally beginning to look like something. They’re destined to be trees but to look at them you’d never guess it. There are still a few more springs before I have to worry about the poorly chosen spots I put them in, but it will come. My kids were never supposed to grow up either and here they are staying after school, taking tests, having drama, and acting all smart when I just wish they’d still need to hold my hand crossing the parking lot.

Picea glauca ‘Pendula’. Still needs a little staking before it commits to growing up and not flopping.

My little blue spruce is a thing which an overly protective parent will be able to hover over for years. Optimistically I’d say it’s nearly tripled in size in the last two years… to be honest it still hasn’t broken the 6 inch barrier so it has a way yet to go. I put it right at the edge for now since an overly lush pansy would probably swamp it at this point.

Picea pungens ‘Walnut Glen’. A blue spruce which stays on the dwarf side and develops (you guessed it) a yellow tint on top of the blue needles.

So I have the twenty year plan down but nothing for this summer. Typical lazy planning, but this spring the annuals from seed and overwintered coleus cutting compulsion just hasn’t kicked in and I’ve got nothing else in the works. Figures this would also be the year there’s a whole new strip of bed to fill and this unfilled bed would be the focus of Cathy’s weekly Tuesday view. Things could get ugly but I have faith. Like manna from heaven I spotted tiny patches of rudbeckia seedlings in one spot and a shimmer of Verbena bonariensis seedlings in another. Purple and yellow are a start and of course I do like my yellows 🙂

sorta like suburbia

more than you ever wanted to know about my garden

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