Going, Going…Gone? October 13, 2009

 

The last few days of the 2009 growing season are really eeking away. The weather has been chilly and generally damp since September and I was certain we’d get an early frost.  Our expected frost date in this area is October 15th.  We’re just about there, and truth be told, I’m ready for it.  My garden was just plain disappointing this season.  I’m not beating myself up about it.  I’m just ready to put it to bed and forget all the heartbreak.   Usually I scurry around putting blankets on things I want to protect from the first frost and squeeze out a week or two more of growing, but this year I’m unexpectedly anxious to get to ripping out the annuals and cutting back the perennials so I can focus on planning for next year. 

Click “more” to see a series of photos that show the progression of my garden’s growth this season. 

 

Foray into Fall September 24, 2009

Plant List: Solidago rugosa, Brassica oleracea, Chrysanthemum ‘Bold Gretchen’, Lysimachia nummularia ‘Aurea’

 

By far, autumn holds my favorite color combinations of all the seasons. And Cucurbits, be it jack-o-lanterns, birdhouse gourds, or some tasty sweet winter squash, are dear old friends that bring me new surprises each year with their textures, shapes and hues. As someone who loves textural and earthy designs, fall was made to be my playground. Putting together a container planting for this season is always a treat. This year I have the most amazing pumpkin-hued mums to use, grown by my friend, Emma. They are the come-hither of the container at the moment, but once that Solidago (golden rod) opens up its arching yellow blossoms, there’s no way passersby can resist stopping to take it all in. The smoky purples of the ornamental cabbage adds a nice heft to the design, both in tone and texture. That Lysimachia  (creeping jenny) that’s trailing from the pot has been an all-purpose all-season “spiller”, having started in my spring design as a relatively small bunch of transplants. What a great versatile plant, though best contained as it is here since it’s a noxious weed if left loose!

 

 

When I was shopping for my two ornamental cabbage plants, I found these two designs at the garden center to be inspirational. As another harbinger of fall, the Cucurbit display is once again out at Longwood Gardens. I need to trek back over to get more photos, but this one particular decorative gourd really got my attention so I took a quick snapshot. Isn’t it awesome? I love warty and green (or blue) Cucurbits!

 

Plug and Play September 17, 2009

 

Working in my ornamental beds lately has been an interesting learning experience.  Having pretty much given up hope on having a “good” display this year with all the weather assaults and pests taking their toll, I decided to just play around and take what learning I could from it. 

 

 

Conveniently the Caryopteris and the Calendula have decided to embrace in a show of vibrant orange and blue.  Meanwhile, the succulents in my garden have been amazing.  I never thought they would do this well, especially in such a rainy year.  I intend to add many many more containers of them in my garden(s) in the future.

 

 

I ripped out a dying Salvia and wacked back some other plants that were brown and ugly, creating a huge hole in the middle of my bed.  Being September and all, I decided two mums would be appropriate temporary fillers as well as a few Coleus that I think can take the site now that there are plenty of other plants to offer some respite from the sun.  I like the way the burgundy of the coleus plays off the purple of the mums (even though they are blooming very strangely only on one side) and accents the straw tones of the fall color of the bunny tail grass border.  It somehow feels nostalgic to me to look at this combination, though I can’t articulate why.   And in the front of the garden, to fill a hole left by Zinnia flop, I added a Solidago just about to burst into bloom.

 

Starting September September 4, 2009

 

September hit with a chilly thud.  Last week we were in the upper 90s and the humidity could be wrung from your clothes.  A classic summer storm rolled through on the weekend, dumping more than an inch and a half of ran, and suddenly autumn was here, just as I turned my calendar page to September.   This past week has been a dream – chilly mornings in the 50s and pleasantly warm afternoons in the 70s with the bluest skies and gentlest breezes imaginable.  I’m relishing every single second of it and making up for the neglect my garden suffered in the heat of August with long evening hours spent among my plants. 

 

 

As the picture of the front of my garden shows, it still remains a bit sparse, but a few blushing beauties have really taken center stage in these twilight days of the growing season.  The love in a puff vine (Cardiospermum halicacabum) sulked in the cool damp weather of July, but quickly shot up its post once the heat of August came around.  I love the texture it adds to the garden and, of course, the “balloons” are adorable.  I’ve also found that long snippets of the vine with the balloons on it make for a great whimsical addition to cut flower arrangements.

 

 

Ah, the dahlias.  I wrote about them before and the same sentiments continue to make them a highlight of my garden and my arrangements.  Just look at those intricate blooms and stunning colors.  Particularly, the one pictured on the left above is knocking my socks off.  It has more than a dozen blooms on one plant at the present.  The color is a striking cross between pink and orange.  When back lit by the evening sun, it looks like it is on fire.   As if it wasn’t amazing enough on its own, this dahlia got serendipitously planted with clumps of Artemisia and Iresine (you can just see them in the left corner of the photo), creating one of the most dynamic and powerful color and texture combos I’ve come across to date.   I only wish I knew what cultivar this is; the tuber was one of the unidentified “freebies” I got this past spring.  Any dahlia aficionados reading this know what it is?  I found out that it’s ‘Snoho Dorris’!  I’m now also coveting another variety called ‘Show N Tell’. 

 

 

Adding to the late summer sizzle are the Caryopteris x clandonensis ‘Longwood Blue’  and a mix of Zinnia elegans.  I love the fresh blue of the caryopteris when most flowers are starting to look worn out after a long season.   The zinnias are now producing as they should have been two months ago.  Hopefully frost will be late this year so I can get the most out of this lovely mix of colors. 

 

Dahlia Deliverance August 30, 2009

 

My garden has been noticeably waning in the damp humid and hot weather of August.  The lack of sun is certainly taking its toll on the flowers.  The zinnias, my workhorses for color both in and out of the garden, have never taken off this year.  What blooms I’m getting from them are nice, and I like the new seed mix I selected (Cool Crayon Colors from Renee’s), but the plants are short and are producing new blooms very slowly compared to last year when it was hot, sunny and dry all August.    The same can be said for just about every other bloom in my garden, save for the dahlias.

 

August Anguish, But… August 17, 2009

 

It’s not news here on this blog that this summer has been a tough one for my garden.  August continues to hold its moments of anguish, particularly as I watch giant holes emerge in my ornamental beds where plants had to be removed because they fell over or browned out.    Yep, rough season. 

 

 

But, all that aside, there are also moments of beauty as the blooms continue to march along in their summertime progression in the ornamental beds.   The dahlias are putting on a lovely display in the back corner finally.  The balloon flower is unquenchable in its zest for producing new blue bursts.  The zinnas, while still sluggish, are delicious shades of pinks and purples.  The Red Dawn trees in the back are rocketing for the sky, well over seven feet tall now.  The sedums along the hill are blooming, as are a few of the succulents in my little desert container.   The jewels of opar remind me of sparklers on the Fourth of July.   The jupiter’s beard has the wildest seedheads  that add bold texture to the garden.   The iresine has finally developed its mature bright pink veins. 

 

 

What to Plant When… August 3, 2009

my garden right now

 

…your garden’s gone to hell in a soggy hand basket?  Good question.   Around here things have been a tad stormy – winds howling at near 40 mph and an inch of rain getting dumped in a matter of minutes – in recent weeks.  Needless to say, this does not make gardening very fun, particularly when it is coupled with the uncanny start to our season when it was rainy and cool clear through to early July and then a powerful punch of heat and humidity rolled through just before these most recent summer storms.   In the beginning, my plants were weak and spindly from lack of sunlight and too much moisture.  Now, with the winds and downpours, my plants are splayed out on the garden floor or have succumbed to powdery mildew and late blight.   Seriously, folks, this is not a pretty picture.  Faced with this reality, I needed to come up with “Plan B” or, at the very least, a respectable exit strategy. 

 

my garden last year in mid-August (just two weeks later in the season than the picture above)

 

In the ornamental beds, I decided just to clean up the mess as best I could, letting the nasty holes emerge as they would and hopefully later fill in naturally with whatever makes it in one piece through the summer (at this point, the only real troopers are my Metasequoia trees).   I ripped out the Monarda at last, along with much of the Calendula, a big chunk of Achillea, and one of the two Agastache I had at the back of the bed.  I don’t plan on putting in any new plant material as the season is disheartening and too far along to merit any more investment this year.  I spent a great deal of time tying up the Scabiosa, Zinnia, Echinacea, and remaining Achillea.  Also, I’m trying to come up with a quick and effective means of “fencing in” my boarder of bunny tail grass, which keeps flopping all over the path for several days after each storm.

 

 

July Blooms July 22, 2009

I returned home from the trip to England to find my garden had practically exploded in growth and blooms.  An experienced gardener knows that lots of growth in the garden is not always a good thing.  It took several hours of weeding, cutting back, tieing up, and deadheading to get the beds back in shape, but the plentitude of flowers made all the effort worthwhile. 

 

 

New on the scene were blue Echinops, maroon Scabiosa, and bright bold Zinnias.  Oddly enough, the Echinops seems to be suffering from some disease as several main stems were copper colored and essentially dead, though the blue globes on top were still quite lovely.  I cut these out and hope the overall plant’s health will improve.

 

 

Desperately in need of deadheading and perhaps too far gone to be rejuvinated, though I’m hopeful they’ll put on fresh blooms, are the snapdragons and sweet williams.  The Monarda is suffering from powdery mildew so I’ll probably just rip it out and let the lavenders and yarrow around it fill in the hole.

 

 

Also on their way out are the sweet peas, though they still look lovely from afar.  They were wonderful this year and I’m amazed they made it to the end of July.   The nigella went nuts while I was away, coming into bloom all at once and quickly moving on to forming seed pods.  I have two kinds – ‘The Bride’ and ‘Mulberry Rose’ – with the former still being mostly in bloom.  The texture is great for both the garden and bouquets. 

 

 

And finally, the unexpected arrival of larkspur (‘Earl Grey’) blooms in July.  This is a cool season flower that I had direct seeded very early this spring.  It was exceedingly slow to germinate (probably too wet), and I’d pretty much given up on it.  The plan was to return from my trip and plant something new in this space.  Lo and behold, it is now in full bloom and what a lovely gray-violet color it is!   Intermingled with it are clumps of ‘Frosted Explosion’ grass, which has made a nice little romantic and textural combo that I’d use again in an annual bed.   And next to both of them is the delicate panicales of Talinum ‘Limon’, now producing tall spike that are great for cutting.

June Wrap Up July 4, 2009

 

The garden is growing gold these days, trucking along at full speed.  I’m very nervous to be leaving it for the next two weeks as I tour English gardens and visit with some impressive horticulturists and designers in the U.K.    Seeing as how my packing is yet to be done, I’ll jump right into the details of what was blooming and producing in the garden this past week.    Notice above how the zinnias are starting to pop up at the front and the Metasequoias on the far right are getting very bushy.  I’m thinking about pruning them, though I love their texture and fresh green growth so much that I’m not sure I can bring myself to do it.

 

 

The succulent container is absolutely stunning as all the plants have become very well established and are taking on their more intense color now that they are in the sun and the weather is quite hot.  The reds and blues make me smile every time I walk by, as do the tiny off-sets the thimble cacti have started to produce.    I’m relieved the 21 days (!) of rain we had in June didn’t swamp the entire container and leave me with a bunch of rotted out plants.

 

 

Speaking of beautiful containers, my main focal container is continuing to look spectacular.  The hydrangeas are holding up like real champs, despite being in full sun and crammed in with loads of other plants.   The coleus is shooting up through the middle and adding yet another layer of texture and some yellow-green highlights to match those of the creeping jenny below.  I have been fertilizing my container with a cocktail of compost tea and fish emulsion once a week.    Same goes for the varigated lime sitting below the big container.  It has been growing like a weed and adding a nice accent to my container collection.

 

 

New to bloom in my ornamental beds this past week were the punchy Allium ‘Drumstick’ and clear blue Platycodon grandiflorus (ballon flower).  Last year the ballon flowers were very short so I was unable to use any in cut flower arrangements.  Now that these perennials have gotten established, they’ve stretched to a lovely height of three feet with straight strong stems.  I promptly cut the two you see above and am currently testing their vase life – three days and counting. 

 

 

Another new bloom in the garden is the patch of nigella.  This is a pleasant surprise.  I had direct seeded nearly six feet of a row in the very early spring only to have very slow germination and spotty with what did sprout.  The seedlings failed to put on any growth for nearly 3 months.    Since these are a spring cut, I pretty much gave up on them and was just thinking the other week that I should rip them out and put in more zinnias and cosmos.  Well, ta-da!  They’ve burst into bloom and are the most stunning cut I’ve grown to date, adding to the bunches of sweet williams, snap dragons, and dill flowers I’ve been harvesting by the armfuls.   What I love best about the nigella is that I can harvest a stem that has a bloom or two open on it but several others that aren’t and the stem will continue to bloom in the vase, adding an element of surprise as it fills out the arrangment with additional fresh flowers. 

 

 

Just look at that bucket of flowers!  I’m still in awe every time I harvest a big bunch… it’s really that easy to grow amazing flowers like this to have tucked into vases around the house!  My clients are really loving them too.   I made a delivery the other day and couldn’t help getting a big smile across myself as I saw how much delight they invoked.   Another gratifying harvest as of late has been the tea herbs; lots of yarrow, anise hyssop, chamomile and lavender still being pumped out of my tea garden bed. 

 

Good Fellas June 30, 2009

 

When summer hits its stride, so do the garden pests.   I’ve had a few grand battles with some particularly pesky pests in the past.  However, I wasn’t always the most proactive player in the pest management game.  I really only took notice after these “rat bastards” – as I so kindly refer to them  – did some serious damage to one plant or another.    I recently had a chance to work with the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) division at Longwood and quickly became hyper-aware of all insect activity thanks to daily scouting trips around the gardens and routine research on the topic.  

 

 
Lo and behold, once my eyes were opened, my garden quickly reveled myriad insects, many of which are good guys!  I never knew I had so many beneficial insects fighting my war against pests for me.    As I noted earlier, the lady bugs were feasting on black aphids in my flower beds in late May and early June.   And the bees of course have been doing their very important business of pollinating since the first colorful flower emerged in spring. 

 

 
I couldn’t really capture the  itty bitty parasitic wasps laying their eggs inside the eggs of an asparagus beetle’s, but trust me, that was super cool!   I actually saved the leaf the eggs were on in a small vile and hatched them out in safety.  I released the new generation on my stand of mustards and beans as these little wasps reportedly do big time damage to Mexican bean beetle, my arch nemesis. 

 

 
But the real hero in my garden this year is without a doubt the army of assassin bugs (a.k.a. wheel bugs).  Early this spring I noticed a clutch of eggs on one of my wooden poles that I was tempted to squash since I didn’t know what they were.  Boy, am I glad I didn’t!  Out hatched hundreds of bright red and black assassin bugs, all of which quickly disappeared.  I was forlorn as I knew they are a great predatory insect.  Well, thankfully they just were hiding for a bit while they went through a couple nymphal stages (I’ve found lots of empty skins they shed on the underside of many of my ornamental plants). 

 

 

About two weeks ago, they all suddenly re-emerged on my Echniops, at least triple the size they had been when they hatched.  I immediately offered them a re-location package they couldn’t refused and carefully (they do bite!) dumped at least 20 on my ground cherries, eggplants, and tomatillos in the vegetable garden.  These plants were plagued with flea beetle and Colorado potato beetle.  I had my doubts that they’d do much good… assassin bugs are general predators so it wasn’t clear from my research if they’d be all that committed to cleaning up one pest in particular.  Well, folks, the proof is in the photo!    The Colorado potato beetle grubs were a hot ticket item on the menu and I am now grub free!  I also saw them piercing the flea beetle with their tenacious mouthparts, but when they weren’t encumbered by the weight of a big ol’ grub, the assassin bugs moved too quickly to take a clear photo of the feasting.   The flea beetle population has plummeted.   I can’t believe I’m saying this…but, I hope the Mexican bean beetle and harlequin bugs get here soon so my brigade of good fellas has something new to eat!