Why Not.

Aug29

You wouldn’t be wrong to assume that because things are quiet here on this blog that I’ve been dull-eyed lazy and nothing at all has been accomplished here all summer. My YouTube brush with fame did kind of go to my head, but when the movie deals still didn’t come through eventually I came back down to earth and sort of got back to work. Life as a daylily farmer is a gritty life and this farmer here had a whole farm to rebuild, so from my hair and makeup days…. or maybe just a shower… it was back to the dirty, sweaty, buggy grind of digging and then sitting around wondering what I’d done. That happens more than I care to admit and it becomes somewhat obvious when you look around the place. I’m a grown man with little to no adult supervision, so when a few rocks sit around for a few days obviously that’s reason enough to build a rock garden even if the world would be better served with a nicely washed car or a painted basement.

When the daylily farm was dug up I asked them to save any cool rocks they came across. Naturally the middle of the front lawn was a good place to throw them.

There was a little concern about the rocks on the lawn. Concern and suspicion which I guess is justified, and when I said they’re for a rock garden that didn’t exactly smooth things over. A plan was requested. I just nodded because she knows as well as I do that there’s never really a plan, it’s usually more of a rock on a slope which starts sliding and dislodging more rocks and before you know it there’s a landslide. So I went and ordered plants instead.

An online order of mixed hens and chicks (sepervivum) from Petal Pusher Nursery might have been one of the top five highlights of the summer. They’re awesome. They deserve their own garden.

So 36 sepervivum, four rocks and then the township finally dumped some topsoil to rebuild the farm. It was more than enough for the farm plus something, so clearly that something was another reason to build a rock garden.

Cut a circle, lift the sod along the edges, bury the lawn and crabgrass with topsoil… move all the rocks again because they probably shouldn’t be in the way like that…

A funny thing which happened a few weeks before this was that a friend said to me “at least you’re not into rock gardening” while we were touring her garden. Apparently rock gardeners are not just a little nuts but a lot and are some of the worst plant growers and killers and collectors out there but I digress, and just laughed off her comment since I knew plenty of people who were far crazier yet don’t even have a rockery, and I for one also was lacking.

Dirt mounded, rocks in position, a few random ‘not rockgarden’ plants in there just because.

Just for transparency, I may have been collecting rock garden plants for a while but just killing most of them because the other beds here are just too rough and tumble, and poorly drained, to please most of the tiny things which shine in a rockery. Actually, not to spotlight my own stupidity again, but one of the plants I’ve been really successful in killing have been the same hens and chicks which I built this garden around. Friends have gifted me them. They die. I give spares to someone else. They thrive. Whatever, maybe fifth time is the charm and they’ll explode into growth and reach even higher levels of amazing!

The topsoil has been covered in about two to three inches of sand, in this case a coarse concrete sand, which will hopefully drain well enough to keep things happy.

Just like every other new garden bed here, it’s somewhat disturbing how fast it fills up. The sempervivums are tiny compared to the size of the bed and didn’t take up much room at all, but every walk around the yard had me returning with yet another little thing in hand which was supposed to be for the rock garden that I didn’t have. Also there were a few little things in pots which I grew ‘just in case’ or brought home on a ‘maybe’… I always say better safe than sorry.

Happily planted. Everything doubled in size when watered, except for the dianthus which was immediately mowed down to numbs by the rabbits. It had been safe covered in weeds elsewhere, here out in the open it must look more like a buffet offering.

And then my friends intervened. Off to Longwood we went to check out the finally re-opened waterlily garden.

One of the newly replanted areas near the fountains has been filled with hydrangeas and white annuals. Quite a statement.

The waterlilies were amazing. This has always been my favorite part of the gardens and I’m happy to see its return as a focal point of the conservatory rebuild.

The color borders are always fun even on a hot day and it makes me realize that annuals are worth the work.

The rose garden might be my new second favorite part of the gardens. It’s interesting and more subtle than the masses of color in other parts of the garden. Less grand, but I like it!

Okay back to the home garden. The crowning glory of the new rock garden arrived in the mail and for about $150 and a little assembly I have this pretentious armillary with Atlas holding up the globe. Atlas is a little flat, but I won’t complain. I love it out there but don’t love that his price appears to have gone up at least $40 since the summer… even though it’s made in Massachusetts… but apparently the metal was not…

The finished rock garden on a smoky summer morning. I still need to set the time, and Atlas could really use a more formal pedestal but that may be a next year thing.

So for now the rock garden is as complete as anything in this garden. Several plants will become too large for the space but I can easily put off that tomorrow problem, and tomorrow may come faster than you’d think since last weekend’s trip to the NA Rock Garden Society’s Adirondack chapter plant sale may have added even more plants to the garden. There’s even a daphne. I’m overly excited about that one and I hope it settles in since I can already picture a super fancy and refined mound of shrub that covers itself in bloom and drifts fragrance across the garden.

Other parts of the garden. The waste area looking more refined this year although the 7 foot shrub behind the fire pit is actually just pokeweed (Phytolacca americana ‘Sunny Side Up’), but the privet cuttings are beginning to make an enclosing hedge and that should fancy things up.

While I dream of lazy days surrounded by fragrance here’s some other summertime summaries before summer officially ends. The waste area is becoming daylily beds, the deck has become a tropical oasis, and the potager is still in need of first aid. Houseplants have all multiplied. Someday I hope to add more and perhaps share pictures but I think you know how that will go.

It has not been the year of the potager. The beds need organic material and fertile goodness and my autumn covering of chopped leaves just isn’t enough. Fortunately a sunflower fell over onto everything and has covered many a sin.

Actually, speaking of going I don’t know where 90% of the summer went. I need a do-over but that’s unlikely especially when a week of September cool at the end of August hits and reminds you that this is in fact a temperate climate and there’s a new season on the way. Maybe this holiday weekend will be the turning point. Two big projects await and even if they didn’t happen in the last three weeks, maybe the next two days will be what was needed?

Red lobelia and a project on the horizon. Maybe this will be the weekend the kid’s old plastic playhouse finally metamorphisizes into its destiny as “Begonia House”.

Don’t let my gloom of undone projects and a fading summer get you down, there’s still a weekend in the garden on the way and whether it’s productive or not it should still be better than a week at work and I’m looking forward to it. We could use rain, we could use less bugs, we could use lower prices but sometimes you get what you get and sometimes you get a new rock garden and a visit from Atlas.

Enjoy!

A Clean Slate

Jul23

Well here’s a first. I had photos and a post started, with the usual apologies about the delay and how the pictures were already outdated, and promises to do better next time, and how this would still be the year things turn around completely and I bringing timely posts and amazing content, and then I deleted it. Not through some silly mistake, but because things changed here so much that none of it mattered anymore, and all that anticipation for the daylily farm season became pointless. I liked my daylily farm. It was fun. You may have already noticed the past tense.

I shouldn’t like all the soft colors and fancy ruffles on this Brookside Beauty seedling but I do.

So let me start the story by saying the farm was amazing a week ago with overcrowded plants blooming at their peak with more buds than ever before. It was a garden filled to capacity and I was almost willing to say it looked perfect… except what gardener ever thinks their garden looks perfect… but it was closer than I usually get so things were quite pleasing. I could almost finish the entire morning coffee in the daylily farm alone, and outside the dog becoming bored stuck in one place so long it was the place to be.

I’m starting to like the browns and smoky colors as well. They’re not as showy but…

I even reached the point were I said I really have to do something here, they’re getting crowded and it’s time for a few to move on. Some pictures were taken. A marketing and sales plan was put together. The daylily farm was about to become a cash cow I’m sure 😉

Another pale, yet simpler bloom, ‘Bus Stop’ calms the morning sun on a day which breaks humid and hot.

‘Lake Lurie’ has a paler eye zone and guess what? I’m really starting to like these as well

Here’s one last picture of the daylily farm. I took it with the intentions of posting a sale for anyone local who was interested in helping me clear the fields. Notice the backhoe near the street.

One last farm picture. Peak bloom. The grim reaper sits at the street, slightly hidden by the golden ninebark.

That photo became the before picture for when I needed to show the township just how much was lost. A sewer issue for the house next door warranted a hole near the street for repairs. They told me what needed to be done and I said no problem. “We’ll fix it back as good or better” was the promise, and there was the possibility they’d go as far as five feet in from the street and I might possibly lose the yellow ninebark which blocks some of the excavator from sight in the before picture.

Destruction. The whole daylily farm is bulldozed as well as the lawn and some of the front border.

I was home at the time and had checked in after they dug down to the sewer line. I saw the ninebark go and was a little sad but that’s fine, I was warned. Of course the air conditioning broke that same day so when the repairman came by and we walked out there to check on the unit I almost went into shock when I saw how far things went. Some of the line was damaged during digging, some of the hole collapsed in from under the street, the holes go down at least ten feet and we needed a bigger hole and that’s a lot of dirt and it had to go somewhere. The destroyed daylilies were one thing but snowdrops were also in the area, and it’s not promising to imagine a tiny bulb an inch or two down in the soil being able to stand its ground against a four ton excavator. The daylilies I can replace but the snowdrops not so much. Of course there were a few real expensive ones planted on the edges of the farm beds and around the weeping spruce.

Welcome to Garret Hill Daylilies, a real daylily farm. Where better to go when you’ve lost nearly 100 large, blooming clumps!?

Fortunately the trials of this garden are all manageable. Things could be much worse and most importantly my mom was able to visit just the week before when everything was much cheerier. I’ve already started the repairs, and no, they’re not doing them I am because I want it just so and their version of landscaped might not match mine. I can’t really fault them. Things happen, they could have let me know when they were coming so far onto my property, but when you’re ten feet down in a hole which could collapse around you I understand that’s a little more important. We’re still working out the details of what will make it right again.

The dust is still settling and I’ve already picked up three new clumps to ease the pain! Money can’t buy happiness but it can buy daylilies at least and that’s a start.

So I visited my local daylily farm, Garret Hill Daylilies in Honesdale Pa and started the unnecessary task of finding replacements. Yes I need replacements and they have so many cool varieties available but who among you thought I wouldn’t have a few backups around my own garden? I do and they need moving and more room but I think the healing process should include daylily farms and even more new daylilies 🙂

This one could be divided and for some reason I really like the wide open flowers even if I can’t remember the name at this moment.

The one downside is I’m repairing the damage and creating nearly the same garden as I had before and that’s totally not how I like to roll. Deja vu should be a mysterious feeling, not the realization that I did this all two years ago when my own sewer line was dug for different reasons. I’m building back better which is good, but I wouldn’t be doing this if I had the choice.

Daylilies in with the tomatoes? A good excuse to not plant as many vegetables, but these guys really deserve more room and their own space.

So that’s where I’m at. I get new plants and just have to ignore bulldozer tracks, crushed plants, deer visits, lanternfly plagues, gnat swarms, too much lawn mowing, too much container plant watering, and all the other surprises which a gardener deals with each year. It’s what we sign up for so please don’t feel bad for me, I’m really not upset about it anymore and the only thing still annoying me is the mud and waiting for mulch to arrive.

Hope your July is far less dramatic and you’re enjoying summer as much as I am! …hmmm, reading that back it sounds mildly sarcastic, but summer really is pretty excellent even when you’re losing shoes in the mud and the sweat is running down your face. There’s always the pool and a drink followed by lightning bugs and a fragrant night blooming daylily and you can’t get that in November. Have a great week 🙂

Inching to Summer

Jun7

Well these pictures are only about a week old, so I think that’s an improvement in blog efficiency? They’re just a couple of updates on the garden and I guess the biggest ones are that the gardener hasn’t been too lazy, and the iris were nice, and I felt the pressure to take a few pictures before they were all gone. Honestly though, I can barely remember back this far. These spring days are busy, and so much is focused on what’s next it’s hard to live in the moment let alone remember the past, but I believe this was one of those days when clouds rolled in but not too many, the lawn was longer but not too long, the weeds were growing but not too grown, and I was tired but not too tired to take one more tour around the garden with a camera. So let me start in the most urgent area, my NEED for more chive colors! Chives as you know are an herb nearly everyone can stomach, with a mild onion taste which steps in when parsley is busy elsewhere. I could go on now and possibly bring in all kinds of lore and growing information together and try to make this blog a useful resource… but that’s a lot of work, and I’m pretty sure you could prompt AI to write up as long a discourse on chives as you’d like so here I am empowering you. Copy and past “write a three page paper on the history use, and cultivation of chives” into the prompt at ChatGPT and there you go. Before you know it you’ll be thanking ChatGPT for an interesting read and then asking what it’s doing later and if it has time to chat some more. I guess I should say my goodbyes now and thank you for following this blog for as long as you have.

Pink ‘Forescate’, white ‘Album’, and the typical mauve of chives (Allium schoenoprasum) in the potager. I think they’re amazing.

Before moving on to the last of the iris, let me also mention the fun fact that your innocent looking chives is a widespread species, native to scattered spots in North America, across Europe and Northern Asia, all the way to Korea and Japan, and as such shows plenty of variation, and as such should be in my garden as a strong purple as well as the colors already here. Maybe someday.

Neglected iris (‘Tiffany’, 1935ish) blooming as if they were pampered in a more appropriate spot. Older, ‘historic’ bearded iris are much more forgiving than their ruffly modern cousins, although ‘Tiffany’ here isn’t exactly a plain Jane.

Perhaps it’s obvious, but when we jump right from chives to bearded iris you can see there’s not much planning or organization or connection in the writing of this blog, and to most everyone out there it’s obvious this is an entirely human production and 0% AI, but I guess just like I assume everyone knows I’m not endorsed by the multi-colored chives association when I go on about chives, I also assume you can see there’s no AI contribution to this blog. You knew that of course but I’m rambling tonight so when that happens I tend to re-state the obvious. No AI writing and all the weeds and mess in the photos are real as well. Wow is an AI blog sounding better and better with every keystroke!

Iris ‘Ominous Stranger’ is cool but as a 1992 “historic” it puts this gardener into the historic category. Hmmm. Anyway, let me point out the from-a-bag clematis behind it. Second year from one of those cheap bags which show up in the early spring and are dead by planting season, this ‘Nelly Moser’ survived!

I guess I’m replaceable. Probably not replaceable, but invisible is just as final when this blog is lost in a horde of AI generated articles and banter… all the AI stuff which will soon overwhelm a person’s search results. Come to think of it it’s not unlike the early days of the internet when people were generating tons of cool bits of information, but then slowly it shifted to everyone selling something and the info became a generic lure to one shopping site or another. Oh. Iris. I like the historic ones. They’re hardy and fragrant, and each year I claim I’ll take better care of them and then I don’t.

A weedy patch of ‘Darius’ an 1873 era historic iris.

This might be the year. I want to put a bunch on the berm, so we will see.

‘Color Carnival’, 1949 persists in terrible and wet spots where it can but would rather not. A modern iris planted here would not have been as accommodating and would have become stinky mush years ago.

Honestly iris are some of the most amazing flowers. It’s hard to find an ugly one and I think you can only do it when some of the oddly colored or over-ruffled ones edge into an area which isn’t your taste. A few non-bearded iris which are flowering now (and to my taste) are the yellow flags and their relatives.

Iris ‘Berlin Tiger’ is easy and unique. Maybe not bed of geraniums impressive, but when you get all caught up in the pattern it’s amazing.

Okay, I have to move this iris thing along and won’t mention much on foliage. There’s ‘Gerald Darby’ who emerges in spring with a strong purple color on the foliage which looks great for a couple weeks. The foliage fades to green, but the simple blooms are also nice, and like ‘Berlin Tiger’ he’s easy to grow. A few others have yellow emerging foliage or variegated, or… the iris family is big, there’s plenty to grow. Trust me, you’ll run out of space before you run out of plants to try.

An inter-species cross, ‘Holden’s Child’ has smaller blooms but a long season.

Peonies are starting and I don’t grow many. Peonies, iris, roses, clematis… some of the most beautiful flowers, are all coming on now and you need to be careful before the whole garden is filled with May and June color and there’s nothing left for July. Worse things could happen. You could spend the rest of the summer at the beach if you overdo June, and that’s not bad either.

Peony ‘Do Tell’ was there and I bought it. Now it’s stuffed in where it has to fight off golden hops each summer and that’s probably not ideal. Try to avoid buying every amazing peony you find just like I avoid buying every amazing snowdrop I find. well…. forget that, you do you.

Sorry, as usual I’m going on too much. Let me wrap it up with some wider scenes since the abundant rain has everything lush and excellent, and the gardener has had some success keeping things in order this spring.

The street border is possibly going to get a firm thinning once the Amsonia is done blooming. The Amsonia will be cut back to about 1-2 feet and behave much better than if left alone. Also this will eliminate all the seeds which will otherwise overrun this corner.

Success in May and early June isn’t much of a flex in my opinion, since nearly everything still looks fresh and new right now, but I will take my wins as they come. Last year I was still moving dirt and sowing lawn at this time, so anything looks better than that.

This end of the front border is now anchored by my beloved weeping white spruce (Pinus glauca ‘Pendula’). Someday I should dig up a few baby pictures from when it landed on my doorstep as a tiny mail ordered graft. The golden ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Luteus’?) behind the spruce also came here as a twig in a box.

The almost a climber rose ‘Westerland’ is also in the far end of the front border. I love the color but might have to move it to a viewed-from-afar location so I don’t feel as ashamed of the foliage issues later in the year.

One last overview. It appears the potager is becoming the new tropical garden. The banana is out for the year and off to a great start. A brugmansia and cannas have been planted as well, it should be fun.

That’s it on the “wide views” so not as may as I thought, but there’s other fun afoot such as all the other summer stuff which needs to go in on the deck and into pots. Many people take care of this by June first…. I always have some stupid idea slowing me down, like how should I re-invent this wheel?

A friend gifted me a Brazilian plume (Justicia carnea) last year and I love it. The mother plant froze last winter but not before I took a few cuttings (which, just for reference root very easily).

Fortunately the endless rain has kept my neglected pots watered and my optimism alive. Few annuals are going in this year… assuming things don’t hit some major end-of-spring sale temptation… and the bulk of things are out of the winter garden and back for another year. There are still a few new treasures picked up here and there, but overall I have no guilty splurges to confess. Maybe one amazing Brugmansia and a palm that’s taller than me but I’ll only feel guilty if I return to the store today to pick up a second palm. It was $15. It’s taller than I am. It’s like a tropical resort is coming together on my back deck and you know how much a resort trip would cost, so clearly this is a money saving option thank you.

The pot ghetto next to the garage. Let me point out the two flats of dahlia seedlings lower left. ‘Bishop’s Children’ seed from the Mid Atlantic HPS seed exchange and I may fill the potager with dahlias this weekend.

I should get to work and not go palm shopping. We will see, but in the meantime I hope you enjoy an excellent weekend.

Love and Hate

Jul25

We went on a little trip a few days ago and were gone for barely two days and the garden fell apart. It was mostly the fault of the weather as temperatures sat in the mid 90’s each day (35C) but it didn’t reflect well on my plantings and I was generally disgusted to see them all go to pieces in such a short time. This post would have had a much more one-sided title had I put it together that next day, but fortunately things move slowly here and I’ve had a few days to reflect and recover before putting things into words (and pictures). Plus it rained. A summer rain storm can change everything, and between that and some directed culling and chopping and fertilizing, there’s a slight air of positive vibes drifting through the yard again.

Pots of succulents can withstand quite some abuse, so are perfect for the roadtripping gardener. Tools scattered about can also make things look busier than they really are… until someone asks when the last time they were used was…

As usual much of the problem is the gardener’s fault. Normally drip lines on a timer nurse nearly all the potted plantings throughout the summer, but “I think I’ll just rip them all out since I should probably re-think the layout” happened when the deck was worked on, and re-thinking doesn’t really get water to plants as well as a drip line does. So once the gardener chose to continue gardening for the year, the first thing on the list was watering containers. It should have been repair the drip lines, but it wasn’t, and it also wasn’t the second thing. The second thing was to either cleanup, repot, or toss any of the succulents which weren’t already out on the summering wall. I’d been holding quite a few back because they weren’t quite display-ready, but after seeing how they were the only things not complaining about summer I decided to reward them with a little attention. It worked, and things look better, and best of all anything which looked sad or filled with complaints was tossed. My theory on the last succulent pots was the same as what normal people apply to their wardrobe. Anything you don’t use or love or haven’t worn yet this season goes on to the ‘goodwill pile’ and gets recycled as compost 🙂

The sloppy little stone wall is again topped with various potted succulents and somehow I’m short on pots again. That could be an easy fix but the gardener is not allowed to visit the terracotta isle any more.

Purging the pots was a relief, and then trimming the box hedge and mowing the lawn were also excellent jobs for improving the gardener’s outlook. The lawn doesn’t really need mowing, but the weeds in it do, and trimmed up they look so much better.

Then I looked at the flower beds and purged them as well. Mid summer should be a lush highlight for the garden, but the heat has taken a toll and in the mood I was in there was no room for tired plants. So now I have empty spots and need mulch, but who doesn’t like spreading mulch in the middle of summer? Fortunately that same day we also opened the envelope containing the bill for the boy’s first year of college, and seeing that ‘realigned’ how much of the budget was going into mulch purchases!

Tulips (and plenty of weeds) finally came out of this bed early in the month and all the leftover cuttings and roots and tubers from the garage went in. There is a new crape myrtle, and it’s so full of buds I don’t even care if it’s hardy or not!

Summary so far: Most of the garden has been composted, but at least it looks neat. A good rain has helped.

A few of the ‘toothy’ daylily seedlings which have been added to the garden. They’re interesting and I think I like them, but I’m more of a craftsman style, and less Louis XVI.

The gardener should stop complaining. Flowers abound, the pool is perfect, the agapanthus are starting, and nearly every evening is filled with fireflies.

A few seeds were collected off the hardy agapanthus a few weeks before they were bulldozed into oblivion and now two years later we again have blooms. I’m quite happy with them.

Maybe now we will finally get to the stupid drip irrigation. It’s not hard at all to set up, but the gardener hates crouching under the deck to run the lines, and he knows he has to do a nice job this time since everything else looks halfway decent and a bunch of lines thrown around would not show well.

Have a great week and I hope your summer garden is doing well. If not I suggest a purge, a little mulch, and maybe a new succulent and things may improve immeasurably 🙂

A Little Weird

Mar13

It’s barely past the first week of March and spring is in full force and normally I’d be exploding with snowdrop excitement but I think all the rain has literally put a damper on it. Snowdrops which should be perfect are waterlogged and beaten, and the warm rain has them opening when they shouldn’t. There were maybe two beautiful days mixed in there, but both coincided with late days at work, and now with a few more approaching I of course have to stay late again. Let me reiterate my plea for millions in snowdrop-admiring grant money if there is such a thing, or perhaps just throw money at me to stay home and garden… although if you can just add a few dollars for a retirement plan and health insurance that would be nice as well.

The un-droplike galanthus ‘Octopussy’. Better care would likely produce a neater, more robust plant but regardless, I still like the weird, green-tipped blooms.

So just keep me in mind if you have a few million laying around without a purpose. My snowdrops could have used the cover of some fancy glass cloches in all the rain, but instead there I was buying pizza and wings for not only my own kids but random friends and girlfriends who showed up, and that really doesn’t help the plant budget.

Returning for another year, the weird ‘spiky’ snowdrop, galanthus ‘Narwhal’ is even more unusual in that he hasn’t died in solidarity with most of the other weirder types. Even with ‘Polar Bear’ planted nearby he’s unafraid and throwing caution to the wind.

I suppose I’ll get over the rained out season. Eventually. In the meantime I’m excited by the possibility the drops might get some attention in the way of care and tending this spring, rather than the usual good intentions and aimless shuffling and looking. If the soil dries someday (although I see another inch of rain in the forecast) things will be up for division and replanting, and I’ve already top-dressed a few singletons with compost this past weekend before the latest deluge rolled in.

Another good grower for me is galanthus ‘Starling’ which is on the milder side of weird yet still odd to consider as a snowdrop. The large flowers make a nice show as they’re held out horizontally at first and then begin to hang as the bloom ages. I hope it continues to do well here.

The weekend’s deluge lasted all Saturday afternoon. Fortunately I took these photos Friday so had that at least to tide me over.

Not really weird, but galanthus ‘Flocon de Neige’ always looks a bit weird under my care. Well grown plants can be one of the most beautiful snowdrops, but mine always look a bit ‘peaked’, so I’m still working on that.

As I worked through the pictures I guess there are quite a few in bloom and it must just be that I’m more accustomed to them bursting out of the cold ground and looking perfect in the sun rather than a trudging tired from weeks of deciding if it’s time to grow, and then finally making a go of it in the gloom. Like myself I think they prefer sun, even if it’s a cold winter sun which barely melts the frost.

Nearly a traditional snowdrop, galanthus ‘Angelique’ is all white elegance with its extended inner petals.

Okay, so time to stop the complaints. Sunday morning the sun was out for about 20 minutes so I jumped out to enjoy it and then eventually tried to tackle a few things which were do-able in the muck.

‘Galadriel’ is late enough to still be perfect in spite of the weather. She’s one of my favorites and the tall flowers show an elegant line of green on the inners when fully open.

I decided moving trees and shrubs was a priority. Six Serbian spruce were moved from the potager to the other side of the berm slope, and perhaps someday a full wall of evergreens will block the industrial park. A few other shrubs were moved around the yard and some final pruning happened before the snow started falling too furiously.

‘S Arnott’ is still looking nice yet a little tousled from the weather while the double ‘Flore pleno’ behind him is still going strong. I mention this only to fuel the fight between myself and my friend Kathy as to which is the better landscape drop.

Luckily I sat down right as the bulk of the snow started falling. It’s much easier to shake off snow rather than clean another seat off for the next rest break, so that worked out well. Also what worked out well was doing this in the backyard rather than the front since yet again I was the only one out there gardening in the snow and I can be much less self-conscious about it when fewer people can see me.

About a week ago, after announcing the arrival of spring, several of the hardiest plants came out again after spending winter inside the garage.

While I sat out there in the snow waiting for someone to yell at me to get back inside the house what’s wrong with you you’re sitting out in a snowstorm I considered the plants which I had already taken out of the garage and placed outside for the year.

As the snowdrops fade the hellebores step up. These seedlings should really be looked over and thinned out, but I can’t help but find good in each bloom…

The thinking only lasted about ten minutes before the work involved in dragging things like geraniums and dracaenea and amaryllis back helped make up my mind. I chose the ‘easy come, easy go’ option. They’re near the foundation, the lows should only drop to 30-31F and as you know I have too many plants. Fortunately a brief review the next day didn’t show any damage so I guess I’m relieved?

The sun finally made an appearance after the first snow squall rolled through.

So that’s about where we’re at. Spring was here, it rained, it rained, it snowed, it got cold, and now for the next few days it’s quite warm. The first daffodils opened, a nice one called ‘Snow Baby’, but this early one also doesn’t like warmth and will likely fade quickly while other sturdier types take over. That should happen tomorrow. The first ‘Tete-a-Tete’ is hours from opening and by the end of the week there should be masses of corydalis, bunches of hellebores, and a good amount of daffodils taking over. I’m sure I’ll be out there.

Narcissus ‘Snow Baby’ aka ‘Ice Baby’ with an appropriate background. The pale yellow will fade to white within another day or two.

This rapid progression sometimes bothers me since the crocus will likely start and end within a week, but the pace brings something new on every day and that’s kinda fun as well. It’s just weird starting a post with a cold drizzle, witnessing a blustery snowstorm, and then finishing with warm sunny days.

The spring snowflakes (Leucojum vernum) always follow on the heels of the snowdrop season, and perhaps next spring I’ll be quick enough to get some good pictures of the newer plantings.

I actually planted pansies today. An excuse presented itself and before I could overthink the idea I found myself at a nursery filled with fresh pansies and perennials and (still tiny) annuals. They were closing soon, I buy more when I’m rushed 😉

Enjoy the rest of the week, and I hope you’re also seeing some sun, warmer weather, and signs of spring!

And Then it Was Over

Mar9

So it’s raining again and it’s been raining and there’s more rain in the forecast. It’s warm, well maybe not brutally warm but at least unusually warm for March, and things are sprouting all over. Snowdrops are in bloom and won’t last long with all this going on, and the Galanthus Gala is over for another year. Just so you’re prepared, this promises to be a lukewarm post, kind of like going back to work after New Year’s and Christmas have passed and you’re completely in holiday mode yet it’s over and you’re back to waking to the alarm clock rather than to excitement for the day. I’ll try to rekindle the excitement just for this post, and perhaps tomorrow will be a drier, cheerier, snowdrop-filled day!

‘Augustus’ in the bright, deliciously warm sunshine of Paula Squitiere’s garden. Almost too sunny for photos, but too much sun is absolutely not a complaint!

Great highs are often followed by a lull and I believe it’s hitting me. I had an excellent time, and to make it even more excellent we rolled together Snowdropping ’24 wand Gala ’24 all into a single two day event of snowdrop-overload. Sadly I don’t have any decent pictures of the morning and the hours spent touring my friend Paula’s garden, or the visit to the still dormant (yet showing great promise) Bondville Mill Park, but I did click a few photos at the afternoon destination. I hope you don’t mind me re-living the day 😉

The Cyclamen coum were at their absolute peak when we visited the greenhouses of John Lonsdale’s Edgewood Gardens.

I’ve been to Edgewood Gardens a few times before but there’s always something new, and for this visit it was the Cyclamen coum and hellebores, both at their peak. They were amazing. If the seedlings weren’t already all destined for the Gala sales tables I could have really done some damage to my wallet, so as a plan B, I convinced myself that I could replicate this at my own place by sowing plenty of seed this summer and waiting a couple years and…. well I can at least imagine being able to replicate 🙂

Dr Lonsdale on the right, Timothy Calkins to the left. John is no doubt extolling the virtues of his newly named Cylamen coum ‘Sophie’ strain, it’s the pool of heavy-blooming, dark purple plants at the corner of the bench.

Another vision which I will not even imagine replicating were the clumps of Christmas rose (Helleborus niger) which were in peak flower throughout the gardens. Some had already been blooming for months, but the main show had come on in the last few weeks. Of course they were all of a large-flowered strain, some fading to pink tones, some variegated, and even a double, and all amazing. They were thriving and most had seeded in on their own and of course I didn’t bring up that I’ve killed these plants three times already and the fourth was likely thinking about dying as well… but with eternal optimism I know there will be a fifth try. How could I not be with visions like this!?

Helleborus niger scattered about in the beds of Edgewood Gardens.

Besides dozens and dozens of H. niger there were many other species and crosses of Hellebore. One which I have yet to try killing is the H. thibetanus which has also clumped up and sown around. Unlike many of the other evergreen hellebores, H. thibetanus is one which goes fully dormant for the summer and seems to be a little more critical of growing conditions not entirely to its liking. Maybe if I can ever stop killing off the cute little H. niger seedlings I’ll give this trickier one a try.

More H. niger with H. thibetanus behind. They were quite nice…

Oh and other hellebores. Fancier species and hybrids fill the lower slope but even the commoners which fill the upper portion of the hillside were nothing to complain about. Hmmm. There’s a slope behind our house going down to the industrial park. Native plants might be ideal, but thousands of hellebores? That might also be a nice option.

Hundreds of self-sown hellebore at Edgewood Gardens. With other treasures galore these plants are a little more prolific than one might like, but in bloom it’s an excellent sight.

Besides the show stoppers there were thousands of other things coming along such as peonies, trillium, trout lilies, hepaticas, snowdrops, winter aconite, corydalis… even the paths were peppered with treasures.

This bunch of full-bloom troutlily surely ended up in every visitor’s camera roll. It was perfect. Erythronium caucasicum for those who need to know these things.

So Friday was a great pre-game. A day filled with thousands of snowdrops, multiple gardens, beautiful weather, and then an evening of great food, friends, and the first Gala talk (an online presentation) covering the work of Nancy Goodwin and her amazing Montrose Gardens. I was now all set to tackle the Galanthus Gala the next morning.

As the crowds gather outside, David Culp and Andy Schenk work out last minute strategy. Hellebores fill the sales tables and Gerald Simcoe’s Gala display graces the center of the space.

This year I offered to carry a box and thereby managed to sneak in past the crowds. Quite a slick move if you ask me but once my box carrying skills were revealed I ended up with a bunch of other tasks which almost interfered with my scoping out the sales tables before the opening bell rung. It was worth it though. When the doors opened and the crowd swarmed in I had the chance to see the excitement first hand. Excitement and also a good bit of crazy in some of those eyes. You would be wise not to put yourself between some of the more determined shoppers and the target of their obsessions, and as always it’s a relief to know that in some crowds I can still come off as somewhat not-completely plant obsessed.

About 45 minutes in and the rush has subsided enough to get a picture.

The rest of the day was filled with additional talks, more plant browsing, meeting up with friends, more plant browsing, braving the rain, more plant browsing….

Matthew Bricker and his table-full of perfectly blooming snowdrops. The plants look fresh, Matthew looks fresh and then the crowds came. By the end of the day a total of four pots remained, and I was still considering taking ‘Sentinel’ home and making it three.

In all it was a great trip and event and of course I’ll be there again next year, and maybe then I’ll make a stronger effort to be more social, since for some reason I felt a little talked-out by lunchtime. Maybe carrying a jar of Nutella to boost my energy throughout the day is a good plan since being talked-out is no excuse on a once a year chance to swim through the biggest pool of snowdrop nuts in the US, and a full year is a long time to wait when an opportunity is lost.

Thanks of course to all the organizers and planners who put so much time and effort into getting this together each year. I can only imagine since to me it always seems to go off without a hitch and I’m sure in reality there are quite a few bumps along the way. All the best until next year!

A Breakthrough

Jan22

Today was the last day of the Ten Days of Plantness and I’m thrilled to announce that it was a success. One new plant for each day between Jan 12th and the 21st, and let me tell you it wasn’t as easy at it sounds but you’re welcome. I say you’re welcome because a successful ten days means that spring will begin to arrive now rather than after 6 more weeks of winter… or at least I think that’s what we decided on… my friend Kimberley and I are still working out the specifics of this newly minted holiday and perfection doesn’t come all at once you know…

The kitchen countertop is filled with the Ten Plants of Plantness. A new philodendron, roses in a bouquet, an African violet, cyclamen, primula, orchids, a kalanchoe, and an unexpected bromeliad.

You would think finding ten new plants in January would be a breeze, but for some reason it became stressful as marts were empty of plants and grocery stores were sparse, and of course I’m cheap… and a little picky… but good fortune prevailed and the two primula and two mini orchids of the early days were joined by a white cyclamen, orange kalanchoe, a little philodendron, a purple and white African violet, a clearance bromeliad, and a somewhat borderline cheat of a plant -a small bouquet of pink roses. Normally I wouldn’t have come close to buying any of this but for Plantness? I made the effort.

So fingers crossed a few of these politely die within the next few weeks, because anyone who knows me knows I have enough plants, but in the meantime I’m quite pleased with all the color in the kitchen contrasted by the snow outside. Breakfast with the flowers has been great, and to celebrate the tenth day properly a cake was even baked.

I don’t think anyone will doubt that I made this myself. Normally a child will help, but not this weekend and I was left to my own and this is what you get. A reduced calorie chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting, but the only calorie reduction was the frosting which slipped off the side.

So obviously it’s a holiday if there’s cake, right? But that’s not the breakthrough mentioned in the title. The breakthrough is an actual breaking through of the house foundation into the basement of the new addition. You would be surprised by how easy it is to pop a hole through your walls with just a grinder and a sledgehammer but there’s much to be said for structurally sound foundation walls, so I wouldn’t really recommend it unless you’re completely bored and on the hunt for new projects. Myself of course, has found a new project, and I can finally bring water to the plants overwintering in here without climbing in through the window.

Maybe once things are cleaned up I can bring a few of the new plants down here 🙂

The new opening from the basement into the basement of the addition. As you can see, just like many things here it’s a work in progress.

Maybe a day on the couch would have been a better way to spend the afternoon, but when you’re talking with your contractor and he says he has some time well you can finish eating your cake later.

Have a great week and enjoy your early spring?

Oh No, Snow!

Jan6

Finally the news services have a cookbook story to run, with traditional tips on how to drive in snow, how to shop for snow, what to do when you’re trapped indoors, and maybe even a little about how much snow we will actually get. I may be showing my age, but I don’t think it sounds like as much as they’re making it out to be but I guess that’s boring and boring doesn’t trend. Better to make it into a catastrophe, a weather system gone wild, unsafe weather to fear or the tip of a weather conspiracy which big media is hiding from you but some random TikTok has exposed. Or it’s just going to snow. In winter. Like it always used to do but we are quick to forget.

Another interesting winter thing, Pachysandra procumbens is the North American version of the common Japanese pachysandra. A friend gave me this nicely marked form and I only paid attention to it this winter because another friend showed off his even better colored version.

I like snow, so I’m thrilled there’s going to be some and I have every intention of shoveling it and walking through it and embracing it. Nothing changes the garden as abruptly as a good snowfall and outside of a few brave snowdrops there’s been nothing new to see in the garden for weeks, so a change like this will be nice… until it melts… quickly… since it’s supposed to be nearly 50F the day after and then we’ll be back to winter-drab. But we’re already heading into January, and the longer range forecast shows nothing in the way of real cold so I believe we’ll see more snowdrops, the first winter aconites, and witch hazel blooming before the end of the month. It’s still winter but not like it used to be. Mid January will be here and the ground isn’t even frozen.

Galanthus ‘Faringdon Double’ has been the latest snowdrop to join the parade of winter bloomers. It’s been a sturdy grower for me, and I don’t think a few inches of snow will bother him at all.

Sure, maybe February will be cold, but I don’t think it will be. 2023 was the warmest year globally on record, -although someone argued that they didn’t swim much last summer so that must mean it maybe wasn’t-, but I’m going to argue that I have flowers coming up weeks earlier than normal and that’s more like last year than it is like anything else I’ve seen before, so let me continue to enjoy winter flowers.

Even though I do miss snow. At least we’ll have a day or two of it, so be safe and all the best for the weekend!

A Boring November

Dec3

Must. make. post….

For a brief moment in time I had fallen under the impression that my autumn-hating self had made a turn for the better, and that the new me could embrace falling temperatures and a dialing back of the gardening year, but the last few weeks have proven that impression to be false. I’m apathetic and bored with the garden, bored with the to-do list, and bored with the plants. Even the onset of the Holiday season hasn’t snapped me out of it, although the annual visit to Longwood Gardens did at least motivate me to pull out the Christmas decorations and get a little into the mood here.

A ‘retro’ themed Longwood Gardens was as festive as ever with holiday song, lights, and decorations galore.

As usual it was a fun trip, and we had a groundbreaking addition this year as the boy wanted to take his girlfriend along for the visit. She was a delight of course, but who are these people I live with these days… people who have jobs and drive and have girlfriends? I wonder where my worm collecting and sandbox playing garden helpers have disappeared to.

Christmas decorations in the Music Room. The girl liked all the retro colors and style and I can see all the old becoming new again just as it often does.

Back at home I did at least manage to finish up the bulk of the garden cleanup and bring in the last of the tender things, just in time for our four cold days which actually managed to put a little frost into the soil and a skim of ice on the mountain lakes. Immediately the conversation turned to the impending winter and all the joys of snow and cold. Rumor around here is we are to expect a “bad” winter with a bunch of cold and snow all courtesy of an El Niño weather pattern, which to me sounds exciting but I wonder if it really stands a chance. Perhaps we do have the conditions for a nice Nor’easter pulling in all kinds of snowy moisture from the coast but I’m not sure I can completely put my trust in what “everyone” is saying. From what I gather 2023 is on track to be the warmest year ever recorded and I’m just not ready to put warmest year and bad winter together as a forecast… so as always we will wait and see what the actual local weather does.

Ready for winter with just a few still-too-nice to be cut down perennials and a few growing evergreens. The ‘Gold Cone’ juniper to the left is getting a bit sloppy as it approaches maturity and I’m debating taking an axe to it. The kids wanted it for Christmas though, so once the lights are off…

We will also have to wait and see what the gardener here does. I’m ready to leave this season of brown behind and move on to white. It can be snow or snowdrops, both will make me equally happy although I don’t know if my knee is ready for a season on the slopes yet… although kneeling is a critical part of snowdrop season as well…

I begged and borrowed my way to enough leaves to blanket the potager beds with a cover of mulch. Tulips have been planted in several and with or without snow it should be a nice April show.

I just checked the 10 day forecast. Only four days below freezing and an inch of rain next Sunday. Those lows are well onto the warm side of average in a month when we should be below freezing each night, and those lows are not exactly the weather we will need for a white Christmas.

Many plants will enjoy another mild winter. Lycoris houdyshellii on the left and L. radiata on the right will suffer foliage damage if it gets too cold for too long. Based on a twenty year average they shouldn’t survive here, but on a five year? …so far so good.

I apologize for a somewhat gloomy post on a gloomy late autumn day, but if you need a flashback to cheerier times give Cathy a visit at Words and Herbs for her week of flowers. It’s what I should be looking at rather than whining about weather and moping about the season. Perhaps I’ll visit now. Enjoy 🙂

A Test

Oct29

I ran a little test here over the last few weeks, but before getting into that let’s just enjoy the 28 minutes of sun which coincided with the weekend and matched the glow of the final color on the dogwoods (Cornus florida).

hydrangea paniculata limelight fall color

The neighborhood dogwood trees are down to their final autumnal glow after first russeting up in September.

Actually (and as usual) these photos are from earlier in the week when nicer weather prevailed and we were able to enjoy some sunny and perhaps too-warm weather for the few minutes when I wasn’t stuck at work. It’s only now that I’m getting around to celebrating the glowing colors of this past week as I sit inside again, not due to work but due to the typical weekend rainy weather which is feeding the swap again with even more moisture. Whatever though, the plants carry on and I don’t remember the Hydrangea paniculatas ever showing so much pink before… and I’m contemplating maybe adding one more, something which is nice and late and intentionally turns pink each year. The ‘Vanilla Strawberry’ I gave to my mother in law could be a match, but it’s a little earlier than I’d like and because of that might go brown before the season wraps up.

Hydrangea by the street, also brighter than ever.

Speaking of the season wrapping up I just looked at the ten day, and it looks like frost might finally be on the way. We’ve had a mild October again, but it looks like November will come in with a light frost at least, and clear the way for tulip planting and final cleanups.

Aster laevis ‘Raydon’s Favorite?’ (Smooth Aster) is my best aster. It tolerates drought, blooms late, blooms long, and requires no work other than a chopping in half in June. It’s a star of the late autumn border.

Frost won’t be the worst thing. The garden starts to look uncomfortable once the leaves start falling and everything goes to sleep, but the marigolds are still going strong. A good frost moves everything along and puts the lingering things out of their misery while reminding the gardener that there’s a due date approaching for his project, and things need to wrap up before a solid freeze locks everything down.

I still haven’t found the perfect spot for this salvia, possibly a form of Salvia splendens van houttei, but it seems to enjoy a bit of shade to grow best around here. Cuttings have been taken again regardless and it always makes a nice show under the lights… even if it looks a bit cramped in there.

I guess this gardener is ok with an early November first frost. Tender things are mostly indoors and now just a few heavy pots remain to be considered. Having a few extra weeks to bring in pots two or three at a time is so much less stressful than running around the night before an early frost and making the hard decisions all at once.

The delphinum is a lingerer. From a decrepit, summer-weary husk a few perfect flowers are up and open. Had the gardener trimmed it down a few weeks ago, the husk might have been cheerier, but I’ll take this.

The downside to a lingering autumn is that the number of plants saved goes up with each frost-free week. Oh well. Have faith in me that I’m quite capable of killing things off with neglect during the winter 😉

The lingering autumn and on and off gloomy skies have the evening primrose (Oenothera biennis) open all day. It’s a lovely weed which fits in well with the verbena.

Besides the annual ‘to save or not to save’ questions there’s also the ever-too-long ongoing dirt moving projects. I’ve reached the point where backyard fill has reached the meadow, and I’m into the phase where fill is being graded down to the level of the meadow, and basically that means I’ve filled in as much as I wanted to and there’s an end in sight for this back part of the yard.

There’s almost enough level ground so that I can run a grass path from the house all the way back to the berm. That was an important thing back in the day, but as I look at it now I’m not sure why… maybe it was more work than it was worth…

If the back part of the yard is leveled and almost done, does that mean the hill of construction fill in the middle of the yard is gone? Haha, of course not! There’s still a nice bit sitting in the middle of the yard, just waiting for a poor soul to dig it all up and wheelbarrow it to other far reaches of the garden. The last few tons of dirt and rock are destined for the side of the yard, to level out along the fence and around the coldframe area, and hopefully provide a nice spot for the homeless camellia seedlings.

There’s only a little bit of the mountain left. We are almost at the two year mark for when the digging first began, and I am hoping for less strenuous days ahead.

So besides impending frost and ongoing earthmoving there’s still the small matter of a test. I really did have a point in that title and it refers to new lighting ambitions for the always expanding winter garden. We are going LED and moving on from the fluorescent shop lights which have served their time.

The product. Four foot LED shoplights from Harbor Freight. On sale for $43 but I see they’re up to $54 again, and that’s not in the budget for additional sets….

It seems like everyone has an opinion on using LED lights for raising plants, and I blame the basement growers of ‘medicinal’ crops for all this info and interest. There’s the science of specific wavelengths for the efficiency of photosynthesis but then there’s an avalanche of weakly proven theories on what’s best for what kind of growth and how ideal certain setups are and and and…. I tried to follow along but after numerous attempts came to the conclusion that LED lights specifically for plants were far outside my budget, plus many were a pinkish sort of light, and even with the current mania for Barbie and pink, I was not down with that. I finally stumbled across someone with some growing experience who stated that general LEDs, although they don’t emit light at the wavelengths specifically matching the preferred wavelengths for chlorophyll peak efficiency, emit light which is good enough for the range, and with that in mind just get something bright enough. So that’s what I did. The price and brightness were there but my confidence wasn’t, so I decided that a simple test might be a good idea before full commitment.

Corn, arugula, and calendula seedlings grown under LED (left) and fluorescent (right). If anything the LED seedlings look better, if not at least they’re on par with results from the old system.

The test was a few pots with corn, arugula, and calendula seedlings sown and grown completely under the two light sources. It was an experimental setup which would make a real scientist cringe, but conditions were mostly similar for both lights and they were just a few feet apart in my garage workshop but not close enough to overlap. Without making too much of the results it looks like the LED worked just fine in growing the seedlings. The corn was indifferent but the arugula and calendula actually seemed to grow faster and more strongly than the Fluorescent plants. I’d show the calendula but of course a slug found the pot and trimmed them back to the size of the other pot before said slug was dispatched. I guess I shall consider that when analyzing my experimental error.

Snowdrops? Yes! It’s that time of year again and Galanthus bursanus is leading the way. Please ignore the slug damage, I first blamed rabbits but when all the rest of the blooms disappeared with near surgical precision I think the bunnies are innocent for once and slugs are the true culprits.

That’s the first of what will surely become too many photos of snowdrops, but I’m sure you knew that. There should be more, but in addition to slugs hitchhiking their way into the winter garden they’ve been extremely active in the garden and have mowed down more than their share of the earliest of the autumn flowering snowdrops. Snowdrops in the fall is a new thing for me, I never thought is could be an option this far North, but with every winter less enthusiastic than the last it’s becoming a possibility. I just have to figure out how to grow them. They survive, but there’s still something (other than slug attacks) which doesn’t let them grow as well as the others already here. Don’t you worry though, rather than discouraged I’m even more enthusiastic about them and just keep trying them in new spots until they find something to their liking!

Hopefully we all find something to our liking. Have a great week!

sorta like suburbia

more than you ever wanted to know about my garden

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