The Bad-Tempered Gardener

The Bad-Tempered Gardener by Anne Wareham and Charles Hawes

The intriguing title caught my eye in Amy Stewart‘s post on Garden Rant.

Sometimes I feel like that. How about you?

Here’s a taste of Anne Warham’s writing (and a hint to why we love gardening) in ”Why I Hate Gardening” Article in UK’s The Telegraph

This sample is enough to make me want to read the book.
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I will be away for a couple weeks again. I’ll be checking on this blog and the other garden blogs from time to time. I hope you are all reaping from a bountiful garden.

Everything ends with flowers.
- Helene Cixous

(Fragrant Phlox ‘David’)

Pinkfusion

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Somehow this year my garden got the pinks. As I worked in the garden this week, I noticed there is a heck of a lot of pink out there.

The coleus cuttings turned out to be many shades of pink and pink accents. A neighbor gave me a left-over flat of pink impatiens so I paired them with the pink coleus.

In pots

and in the ground.

Other annuals - pink cosmos and cleome .

Even the pot of zinnias Giant Flowered Mix and California Giant is predominately pink.

The perennials I’ve planted over the years are many shades of pink. A lot of them were gifts from friendly gardeners.

Saucer sized hardy hibiscus (from a neighbor)

Cone flowers (from a neighborhood school plant sale)

Garden phlox (from a friend)

Mum Clara Curtis (actually bought this one myself).

Crepe Myrtle (from another neighbor).

Pink everywhere. A happy accident.

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Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - September 2009

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I almost forgot about Bloom Day. What happened to the first 14 days of September? I ran out this morning and snapped a few pictures of the blooms in my garden.

Carol at May Dreams Gardens hosts this colorful day on the 15th of each month. See the links to what’s blooming in other gardens here. Thank you Carol!

Sedum Autumn Joy. A common fall plant but a reliable performer in the hot sunny, spot with a ground cover sedum.

One of my favorites, Japanese anemone. I also have a pink one but the rabbits chopped off the bloom stalks before they got a chance to bloom.
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The mum Clara Curtis has a long bloom time. It started blooming in August and will go until frost. Here with the ever present coleus.
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I don’t grow tansy for the blooms. The fernlike foliage and medicinal aroma make it a keeper in my garden.
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Phlox David is looking a little raggedy but still producing blooms (when I remember to deadhead).

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The annuals cleome, nasturtium and zinnia add color to the garden.

Fall is a wonderful time in the garden. Now if I could only get September to slow down a bit.

Powdery Mildew

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According to our local paper, we have had “roughly 40 days” of rain since the beginning of April or about 12 inches. The gardens are green and lush.

Penn State Extension’s “Plant Disease Facts”, lists conditions that favor powdery mildew:

- High relative humidity at night
- Low relative humidity during the day
- 70-80 F temperatures

That sounds like our weather forecast.

Aptly named, powdery mildew looks like someone with a diaper emergency tripped and dumped baby powder all over the leaves. I usually don’t see much of it in this area until the steamy nights of August.

The phlox in the pictures is a prime example. Mildew also infects the leaves of cone flowers and zinnias. It usually doesn’t kill the plant but it makes the leaves unattractive. The lower leaves will will eventually curl up and turn brown.

The best control is to buy disease resistant plants. Being disease resistant doesn’t mean the plant will never get mildew but that plants are less susceptible to the fungus. Spacing and pruning plants for maximum air flow can help. Cleanup and discard plant debris in the fall.

A little gardening trick is to plant a shorter plant that doesn’t get mildewed in front of the mildew-prone plant to hide the unsightly leaves.

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(More information on powdery mildew and mildew resistant plants from Clemson University Extension.)

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Scented Garden

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You may have noticed that the three plants in the last “NEED” post are scented plants.

I have been working on a scented garden for six or seven years. The garden is about 10 feet wide by 35 feet long. The Daphne and Casablanca Lily will add their aroma to that garden. (The tuberose will perfume our deck.)

(Picture May 2006)

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I’ve noticed that a lot of flowers in this garden are white. I like the white theme. It’s very restful. I don’t know if this is botanically correct but it seems to me that there are more fragrant white flowers than any other color. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

White blooms:

Sweet woodruff with the tiny white flowers serves as groundcover

White Lilacs bloom in May

Garden Phlox David tall white beauty adds to the summer aroma.

On a summer evening, Nicotiana Fragrant Cloud sends a slight perfume to only the most discerning noses.

The twinkling flowers of Sweet Autumn Clematis lightly scent the air in fall.

Sweet alyssum gives off a heavenly fragrance all summer long.

Other colors: In early spring hyacinths bloom. In April Sweet Shrub’s heady aroma fills this garden and beyond. Summer scent of Lavender Grosso brushes against strollers on the path.

Daphne will add some bones to the garden and add to the spring fragrance. Casablanca Lily will enhance the late summer perfume.

I can’t wait to sit in this garden with a cup of coffee and inhale.

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(Note: Bat white-nose syndrome has been found in Pennsylvania caves. See February 27, 2008 post.)

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Phlox

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Here’s a plant I get excited about every year.

The tall garden Phlox paniculata started blooming about a week ago. They bloom all summer. I cut the spent flowers of from time to time and they happily send out more shoots with flowers.

Phlox ‘David’ – Perennial Plant Association’s 2002 Perennial Plant of the Year. ‘David’ is my very favorite. Planted in the scented garden, ‘David’ releases a pleasant fragrance. Sitting on the garden bench with sweet ‘David’ nearby is heavenly.

'David’ is mildew resistant but not mildew proof. All the phlox in my garden are mildew resistant but the lower leaves usually show a little mildew later in the summer. I should dig and separate the plants to assure better air flow. But, I probably won’t. They are so pretty in a clump. After a week, I don’t notice the mildew – sort of like the dust on the coffee table.

Phlox ‘Katherine’ planted in 2004 in my “Mother’s Garden” section may be a little more mildew resistant than ‘David’. I don’t think the perfume is quite as strong. I had a little trouble getting this one established. I bought 3 from Bluestone Perennials lost 2 and bought 3 more. Now that they are established, they are growing well. I don’t think I paid enough attention at the beginning and didn’t keep them watered.

I don’t know the variety of the deep pink phlox. This sturdy plant was a gift from my friend Myra’s garden. It was a great addition to my garden and probably the most mildew resistant of all my phlox. It does very well in the hot summer sun.

Phlox takes almost no care once established. It reminds me of the energizer rabbit - it keeps blooming and blooming.
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