Summer Garden

July is the reward for the work of April, May and June. Hot days make gardening slow work. I tend to follow the shade around the garden. It’s a time when I really appreciate the reliable perennials.

The tall lilies ‘American Dream’ (at top) purchased in 2003 from White Flower Farm bloom every year and only require dead heading. They will be cut to the ground after the first hard frost.

Lavender ‘Grosso’ is planted close to a path. It releases its pungent scent as you bursh against it. It gets cut back once in a while when I get around to it. It’s been there for 7 years.

Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ planted in 2005 sends up its red blooms every year without much fuss – unlike its canna bed-mates that need to be dug up every fall and replanted in spring.

Sweet smelling alyssum and snapdragons self sow in the same area every year. The liatris (Liatris spicata 'Purple Spikes’) is beginning to bloom and only requires deadheading. It has been divided and added to other parts of the garden since 2001.

What are your reliable favorites?

June Garden Progress

The garden is starting to look good. I have finally spread about half of the mulch that we got at the end of April. A lot of snapdragons and other re-seeding annuals have been pulled or transplanted. The snaps that survived the winter are in full bloom.

Evening Primrose (Oenothera speciosa ‘Siskiyou’) , in all its glory, blooms and oversteps its bounds as usual.

All the pots are planted. I used mostly coleus and fuchsia cuttings from last year’s plants and canna tubers that didn’t fit in the garden.

All seeds are up. Lettuce in the fish box has been cut a couple of times.

Beans are growing.

The tomato is growing but doesn’t have any flowers. It’s a little behind the rest of the neighborhood. The tomato is called ‘Dan’s Favorite’. It thought it sounded interesting. It was labeled “mid-season slicing tomato”. I really don’t know what that means. I’ll have to wait for a taste test to see if ‘Dan’s Favorite’ is also mine.

The first Heavenly Angels Poppy opened. There are many walnut sized buds promising a colorful show.

So far it’s been a busy week. The forecast predicts rain today. I am looking forward to it. So is the garden.

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Seedlings

Each spring I'm excited to watch the re-seeding garden come to life. It’s fun to see the garden rearrange itself.

BUT, this year seedlings are everywhere. I’ve been pulling, hoeing, potting and moving seedlings all week. I certainly have a bumper crop.

The snapdragons are the most prolific. (Top photo with Johnny-jump-up.)

The cleome has been productive too. The cosmos and annual poppy join them in their reproductive party. I’ve left most of the poppies because they don’t transplant well. They bloom early so I’ll get them out of the way once they’ve finished blooming. I may be hopping over poppies for a month.

No one needs this many cleomes!

I love the white/green summer look of snow-on-the-mountain (with more snaps, cleome and a few sweet alyssum) – again too many. One nasturtium returned (lower left of center of picture below).

Some of the snapdragons from last year survived the winter and are ready to set buds (upper left of picture below). Under all the snapdragon seedlings are portulaca. I’ll try to pull the snaps and save the portulaca. That may take a bit of finesse.

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I should have a riot of color this summer. And it’s all free! (Note: Labor doesn't count.)

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Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - October 2009

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I’ll share a few October blooms with you and peek into other gardens through Carol’s May Dreams Gardens. Thank you, Carol, for hosting this monthly event.

The snapdragons and alyssum (above) fill in between Dusty Miller and herbs.

An electric blue Lobelia volunteer at the end of a window box of parsley

Rose colored mum – another volunteer



Mom’s mum - transplanted from her garden years ago

Dead Nettle (Lamium)

Purple Cleome

White cosmos

Pink Cosmos

Nasturtium

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"Just before the death of flowers,And before they are buried in snow,There comes a festival seasonWhen nature is all aglow."- Author Unknown

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Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - November 2008

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(Christmas cactus – earliest of my cacti to bloom, white with a pink tint. )

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In the comments on my October Bloom Day post, HappyMouffetard said, “Welcome to GBBD. It's addictive, and makes you look at your garden with fresh eyes each month.”

She is right. It creates “stop and smell the roses moment.” It is addictive. Another great idea from Carol at May Dreams Gardens. I'm glad I got these pictures taken before the last two days of rain.

(Can you guess the blooms I would not have noticed if it wasn’t for GBBD? HINT: most of them.)

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Deep pink mum – a potted Easter gift - planted in ‘06 and moved in ‘07.

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Yellow mum volunteer – 2nd year.


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Calendula – re-seeds every year. Another reminder of my Grandmother’s garden.

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Sweet alyssum – continues its perfume in the autumn sun.



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Dusty Miller – flower bud removed. Proof in the picture.

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Rose – climber ‘Don Juan’ – the last rose of summer.




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Lamium – Dead Nettle under the locust tree – either ‘Elizabeth de Haas’ or ‘Purple Dragon’

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Nicotiana – another re-seeding annual

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Snap Dragon – stands bravely against the frost.

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Red Azalea – silly shrub thinks it’s spring.

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Also not pictured:
Sedum seiboldii – October Daphne – at the end of it’s color.
Lavender ‘Grosso’ – a few fall blooms.

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July Garden

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I’ll be at Musikfest most of this week doing garden maintenance and just having fun. Since I won’t have much time in my garden, I thought I would it would be fun to compare a section of my garden over the last 3 years.

First, let me explain. I have a new camera this year. The 2008 pictures are not as good as 2006 or 2007. But I’ll keep practicing. The biggest problem with this camera – there is no view finder. Taking pictures outdoors with only a LCD screen is difficult (like aiming a gun when you can't see the target.) All I can see on the screen is a reflection of myself. Great for putting on lipstick but not taking pictures. OK, enough excuses.

This is the way the cottage garden looked in 2006 before our tall pussy willow fell in a storm on Memorial Day weekend 2007. That dramatically changed the garden from shade to sun. Actually, much better for a cottage garden.

In the second set of photos, you can see the pussy willow in the center of the picture (left photo 2007). The right photo (2008) shows the pussy willow has about doubled in size this year. The new growth is coming out of the near side of the stump.

The pink mum (Chrysanthemum ‘Clara Curtis’) blooms almost all summer front and center on both pictures. Yellow Cosmos in the left 2007 photo will be replaced with pink tones (Burpee Sensation Mix) in 2008. I planted the seeds in May and they are now forming buds.

Snapdragons, cleome, snow on the mountain, coleus, sweet alyssum all have returned this year.

As the pussy willow continues to grow, it will again change the light in this garden. I’ll have all winter to decide if I want to do something differently next year.

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Snapdragon

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As a child, I picked snapdragon flowers and gently squeezed the sides to open and close the “mouth”. Several years ago I bought some snapdragon plants for my garden.

This year I have a bumper crop. I left the seed heads on the dried stalk over the winter. I cut back any dead stalks in spring. A few plants survived the winter and seedlings were everywhere in May. I moved a quite a few. I even potted a bunch for friends.

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And wow! Talk about prolific. These beauties take up a large space in my cottage garden. I think it was a good investment years ago. Almost as good as a perennial.

Do you have any favorites that re-seed and grow year after year?
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Neglected Garden

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The last two weeks have been very hectic. I haven’t had much time in the garden. And, the weather has been oppressively hot and humid – heat index in the 100’s. I thought I’d share a few plants living in my garden. They seem to thrive without any help from me.
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Astilbe – nurtured for years and now on its own
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Snapdragons – re-seeded from plants I bought several years ago.

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Mock Orange – came with the house but barely alive. Sweet smell and memories.

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Red Hot Poker – a gift from a friend I’ve lost contact with.

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Asparagus – gift from a neighbor delivered by birds or wind.

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Busy Garden Days

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This week is crazy. There are seeds to plant, pots to fill, annuals to put out, weeds to pull, community gardens Blumenplatz and Burnside to plant. And, we’re going to our first Iron Pigs AAA baseball game tonight.

I got to run away from it all yesterday and visited Felicita Gardens in Harrisburg. I’ll post some impressions on Saturday.

The spring garden is exciting. The lilacs and azaleas are at their peak. The re-seeding garden is full of forget-me-nots, cleome, snapdragons, sweet alyssum, red poppies and portulaca. It’s exciting to see what has seeded from last year’s plants.

It’s not so exciting to plan removing and moving the seedlings. Gravity makes the seedlings end up in the path or too near the edge of the garden. I’ll need to move some and remove others. The removing is easy. I can remove a lot of plants in the wrong place with my hoe. The moving takes a little time. The seedlings are too small to move now but, in a week or so, I’ll start my annual – dig them out here and put them over there. Then I can mulch the area and wait for blooms.

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Longwood - Service Area

http://www.longwoodgardens.org/

As part of our Longwood Gardens tour, we visited the service area directly behind the Main Conservatory. (Yes, we went beyond the sign.) 30,000 square feet of state-of-the-art production greenhouses produce plants used in the exquisite displays.

Huge fans keep the greenhouses cool in summer. Cool air is pulled in from the wooded area behind the greenhouses through the tan, corrugated screen shown here behind the coleus. Miles of pipes, automatic temperature and water controls, gizmos and gadgets make it a gardener’s dream. According to Longwood’s publication, “Each greenhouse is equipped with its own computerized system that automatically controls temperature, bench and perimeter heat, snow melters, and devices for cooling and shading.”

“In the mid 1950s, Longwood began a breeding program to develop new cultivars. Today, outstanding cultivars are continually being selected and regularly introduced.” More than 100 cultvars have been introduced by Longwood Gardens Research Staff – everything from Acer platanoides ‘Stand Fast’ to Wisteria frutescens ‘Longwood Purple’.

The huge greenhouses were almost pristine inside. Believe me, there was no soil or plant litter on the floor.

The greenhouses also serve as a holding area for replacement plants for the display gardens. Tables were filled with red, pink, salmon poinsettias, bright red and white cyclamen, dusty miller.

As we walked through, an intern from Ohio expertly transplanted snapdragon seedlings Antirrhinum majus ‘Appleblossom’. (Picture in bloom http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=3485053 ) They should make a beautiful display.

A long row of Velvet Groundsel - Roldana petasitis lined one of the service halls. It is considered a “pest plant” in New Zealand. (Here is a picture in bloom http://shadoadmin.arc.govt.nz/plants/plantdetails.cfm?plantcode=senpetmin.arc.govt.nz/plants/plantdetails.cfm?plantcode=senpet )

It would be fun to return to Longwood in another season to look for the plants we saw in the greenhouses.