Instrument of Grace

A New Visitor

I've been feeling a bit poorly the last few days, so I haven't been out in the garden. Yesterday, when Garden Man got home from work, I stepped out front to check on my recent purchases which will be part of our fall perennial border re-work.  One of the plants I purchased was Asclepias incarnata in hopes of drawing Monarchs.

Much to my surprise, I found this fellow happily munching away.

Needless to say, I'm a bit excited. I'd never seen a Monarch caterpillar before, and now I have one in my garden. Never mind the plant is still in a pot, it's already hosting. I've read the caterpillars are mature at 2 inches, and this one is just a hair shy of that length. I checked him this morning, and he's still munching, although more slowly than yesterday. It won't be long before he pupates, something I hope I get to witness, too. If not, just having had him here will have been enough.

Party Place

I'm late (again) in responding to a post over on Garden Rant about party places.  I understand Susan's lament that she parties way above the garden on her deck, because my party place is also above the garden. It's only a few steps, but I can live with those few steps when the screening keeps the mosquitoes at bay.

I would love a space down in the middle of the garden that I could use all summer long, but about June, the mosquitoes drive us indoors unless we want to slather ourselves with poison. I'll do it when I want to work in the garden and can come wash the bug spray off, but I don't want to be partying smelling of eau de Off.

For that reason, I'll gladly take my screened in party space a few steps above the garden. Besides, it gives you the feeling you are IN the trees, even though it's only a few steps above ground. And it has a great view. It is my happy place (when I'm not in the garden).

I apologize for the wonkiness of the photo - I created the pan by merging some photos together. There's a bit of distortion, but I think you can get the idea.  Most of the garden is out the back wall and to the right, so that's why the sofa is situated the way it is.  We have coffee out here, we eat meals out here, and we CERTAINLY entertain out here. Mosquito free.

Oh, Garden Man?  About that patio I've been hinting about?  It would be the PERFECT landing place coming out of the porch.

I'm late (for a very important date)

This month has been a whirlwind, and I'm late! I did take photos for bloom day, but I didn't get around to making a blog entry. So, while I'm late, I will adhere to the "better late than never" tenet and go ahead and make the post. 

Thank you to lovely Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting bloom day. I urge you to participate, and make sure you check out all the lovely gardens each month by viewing the comments to her post.

August 15, 2008. I think the thing that strikes me most strongly about this month is how MUCH is still blooming. I didn't think I'd have so much blooming, and I do. I must confess many of the blooms are due to a recent purchase I made in preparation for reworking our perennial border this fall. But I also still have a lot of long time residents still in flower. I hope you enjoy the tour.

This is Gartenmeister fuchsia. I grow it, along with coleus and other things, in pots by my front door. The area gets a bit of dappled sun during the day and a bit of sun in the afternoon, and these little things just bloom their heads off. They have been in flower since May.

This is Sedum spurium 'Fuldaglut,' and it is a recent purchase. I just loved the red and green on the foliage and the pretty pink flowers. I needed some low-growers for the front of the border, and I think this little beauty will fit the bill nicely.

This is Eupatorium fistulosum 'Bartered Bride'.  You can't see it's majesty here, but just let me say it's a regal Joe Pye weed for the back of the border. I think when it's out of its tiny pot and into some good soil, it will be upwards of 5 feet tall, maybe more. The bees love it. 

This is Boltonia asteriodes 'Pink Beauty,' also a recent purchase. It will be one of the back of the border plants, and I couldn't resist its sweet, daisy face flowers. It just says "good morning" to me every time I see it. 

I have several of these calibrachoas, and I always love having them in my garden. These are in the ground, and I also have some peachy colored ones in my deck pots. These reliable little plants just bloom and bloom all summer long.

Several years ago, a neighbor introduced me to dragon wing begonias, another plant which just blooms all summer long and looks great no matter the weather.  I find those traits to be pretty irresistable.

I have another eupatorium to share, it's Eupatorium dubium 'Little Joe.' It's just over knee high and has lovely foliage and full bloom. 

I have several low-growing veronicas, and I've been wanting a taller one. I found one recently, and it will be included in our border re-do in a few weeks. Let me introduce Veronica 'Lilac Fantasy.'  I think it will fit in very nicely in the middle of the border.

I have a number of Dahlias blooming, and no one could be more surprised about that than me. I've never had luck with them. They either succumb to a fungal disease right after coming up or are totally eaten up by something before they bloom.  This year, I planted several kinds, mostly the roots but one type was in pots and not labeled. The unknown one has dark foliage and pink flowers.  Here for your viewing pleasure, I present the unidentified one with Fantastico in the background, Fantastico with a friend, Roodkapje with a friend and Rembrandt.  Although I don't have a photo, I also have Yellow Sneezy blooming.

Only by planting in a pot was I able to have an oriental lily still blooming. I took advantage of a sale at Brent and Becky's Bulbs when I bought my Yellow Sneezy dahlia and this lovely Sorbonne lily, so they were planted a bit late and hence the late bloom. Don't you think Sorbonne is lovely?

Another recent acquisition is this stunning Crocosmia 'Bright Eyes.' I didn't notice until I stared looking at the photo that there was a Hairstreak butterfly hiding there.

As part of my participation in the Great Sunflower Project, I'm watching for bees on Helianthus annus. I haven't seen a lot of bees on the flowers yet, but the butterflies LOVE it. Here's one now.

Here are some other things I also have blooming:

unidentified garden phlox

passalong Knautia - I love its lovely maroon color

Agastache rugosa 'Golden Jubilee'

Mondarda didyma 'Coral Reef'

Heliopsis 'Summer Nights'

Echinacea 'Coconut Lime'

Echinacea purpurea 'Pink Double Delight'

Echinacea var 'Tiki Torch'

Rudbeckia fuldiga 'Goldsturm'

Salvia farinacea 'Victoria Blue'

and some unidentified dianthus that have rebloomed after being sheared.

I also have an unidentified Solidago, with rounded leaves, that is about to burst into bloom. It's so lovely.

That's a LOT of bloom for hot, dry August but I'm not complaining! I hope you enjoyed the garden tour and will stop back by next month on the 15th.

Not So Great Gardening News - In VA

This morning's Washington Post has an article beginning on page 1 of the Metro section. The title of the article is "In Fairfax, Gardeners Fear Uprooting of a Culture."  The article covers some proposed rule changes for Fairfax County's community gardens.  The "authorities who manage the county's community gardens" are made out to be the bad guys in the article, and I have to admit I am pretty willing to go along with that slant.

One gardener, Chris Erickson, has cancer, and her 30 x 30 garden plot has helped get her through treatment while nurturing her soul. But Ms. Erickson has violated the no woody plant rule by planting roses.  Not only are roses not allowed; grapes, raspberries, blueberries and trees are also banned.  I can understand banning trees that shade another plot, but what about dwarfed, espaliered trees that don't shade adjoining plots?  They are a no-no, too. Ms. Erickson has planted dwarfed and espaliered pear, apple, cherry, nectarine and peach trees, so she's really on the wrong side of the rules. But her garden plot sounds absolutely fabulous - exactly what a garden should be and what I wish mine were.

Of course, the Fairfax gardeners are up in arms, forcing the new parks chief into public relations mode.  The county will now appoint a committee, which will include gardeners, to review the "proposed" rules.  Some other adjoining counties with community plots plow the plots at the end of each growing season. But we live in the Baltimore/Washington area. Most years we have a long growing season. Crops like parsnips are much better after frost. I've harvested parsley from my garden after brushing the snow off, so when would be the right time to declare the season over?

The new parks chief John W. Dargle, Jr., had this to say, " I have sensitivity both to the gardeners, because I am an avid gardener, and a sensitivity to staff expertise."  I'd like to know just what expertise the staff has. It might be considerable, or it might be predominantly bureaucratic, and that worries me. Bureaucrats should not regulate gardens; gardeners should regulate gardens.

I agree community gardens should be governed by rules, but those rules should be made by, or heavily influenced by, real gardeners. There are successful examples of self-regulating community gardens which could serve as models. I fervently hope community gardeners in Fairfax County, like Ms. Erickson, will not be forced to dismantle their gardens, many of which are obviously labors of love, that have sustained them through illness and FED them, for goodness sake, while providing a place for non gardeners to visit and even use as a setting for wedding photos.  A garden that feeds the tummy and the soul at the same time sounds like the perfect kind of garden to me. The kind of garden that provides beauty for the eyes as well as food for the table is the kind of garden so many of us strive for and is at least my idea of what EVERY garden should be. I hope the folks in Fairfax County figure that out.

A Subtle Shift

We've worked on this somewhat hellish half acre for five years. We aren't as young as we used to be, but we've made great progress. Still, we have a long way to go.  Every day, we "walk the garden" to see what's changed. We sit on our lovely screened porch, my happy place, and look out over the yard. But yesterday, something changed. It was a little thing, a subtle thing, but it made such a large difference.

On Saturday, I took a trip to Behnke's nursery and garden center to see if I could locate some perennials I wanted. We plan to rework our perennial border this fall, and I wanted some more plants. I found some I was looking for, substitutes for others, and on some, I came up empty handed. After lunch, I hit the jackpot at River Hill Garden Center with several half price plants. I'm still missing a few I want, but I'll just plant pots where I plan for them to go. Certainly I'll locate them in the spring. But I digress (again - seems like I do it all the time).

While I was at Behnke's, I noticed they had all their furniture and accessories priced at 40% off.  I sat down in a chair I liked, and found it comfortable. When I inquired if there were more, I was told there was one more. Perfect. I needed a pair. I took the availability of two as a sign and bought them. Yesterday, Garden Man assembled them and plunked them down in the garden. They aren't where they will end up, they were just plopped. But what a difference! I had no idea the introduction of two chairs into the garden would make such a difference.

I used to stand at the glass doors or on the screened porch and look down on the garden and enjoy the view. Now, when I look down, the garden says "Come. Come out here. Come sit."  And now that I have chairs, I'll probably do just that. While it's lovely to look down upon a garden, I think it might be much better to sit in the middle of it.

Oh, no - not the bumblebees, too

It appears the bumblebees may be in decline along with the honeybees.  Today's Washington Post had an article by Adrian Higgins on the subject. 

I don't see many bumbles. The bees I always thought were bumbles have turned out to be Eastern Carpenter Bees.  Turns out, I didn't know how to tell the difference until this year. I did see some bumbles last week on my Salvia farinacea 'Victoria Blue'.   Here's a photo.

It's Victoria Blue salvia in the article's photo, not penstemon as the caption says.

I've been keeping a sharp eye out for honeybees, and now I'm going to be looking for bumblebees as well.  What's been your experience with bumblebees this year, or even over the last few?  Are you seeing fewer?

Little Glovies - Apologies to Malvina Reynolds

Today, Garden Rant had a post about gloves. They are giving away some women's Ethel gardening gloves to the commenters who post the best comments. I don't need any new gardening gloves, but that doesn't mean I don't want any. I have an embarrassingly large number of gardening gloves, each with a different use.  I have some nubby rubber ones for dealing with mud and yukky substances. I have nitrile ones for planting and other chores. There are cloth and stretchy ones for pruning, and leather ones for heavy work, like helping Garden Man haul, chop or stack wood. I even have a pair devoted exclusively to pulling poison ivy. Here are a few of my glovies - yes there are more, but I won't tell you how many. And if you'll notice, they are ALL dirty, except the lime green ones. Those are for pruning, and I wash them every now and again.

And with my most humble apologies to Malvina Reynolds .  . . .

Little glovies, in the garden tote,
Little glovies made out of different stuff,
Little glovies, little glovies, little glovies, none the same.
There's a green pair, and a pink pair, and a blue pair, and yellow pair.
And they're all made out of different stuff, and none of them are the same.

And the glovies, in the garden tote
Get used for all different kinds of things,
Where my hands need little glovies, little glovies, none the same.
Some for pruning, some for raking, some for planting, some for chopping wood,
And they're all made out of different stuff, and none of them are the same.

I could go on, but what's the point?  How many pairs to YOU have?

Thursday In Disguise

There are a number of daylilies in my garden, and while I may have a hosta and grasses habit, Garden Man has a daylily habit.  How can I resist that pleading face as he approaches me, pot in hand, at the local native plant sales?  It's like a little boy bringing home a stray animal and asking if he can keep it. 

My favorite daylily, name long forgotten, came from a very nice lady at the Beltsville (Maryland) Garden Club annual plant sale many years ago.  I bought three fans which never did very well at our old house. I guess they got too much shade. Once we moved to our "new" house five years ago, those three fans took off.  I have 6 large clumps in my perennial border, some orphans in the front bed, and there are adoptees living in the western part of the county, Alexandria VA and Florida. 

I have always described the flower as a pinky peach, and you can see a photo here.

I've noticed lately the orphans in the front bed have flowers that are not at all what I would describe pinky peach.  They are more of a dark melon color with not much pink.  Some in the bed are lighter than others, and I don't know what has caused that. They are all from the same clump.

On Monday, the early morning sun lit one of the orphans up, and I couldn't resist a photo.  I hope you like it.

Wednesday - Grasses

I have had a serious hosta habit for a while, and I've had to work very hard to keep from buying more until we have a place to put them. In the meantime, my Hosta undulata 'Univittata' is making babies faster than a passel of rabbits.  What is a passel, you ask?  It's a southern term, and it means a LOT. 

So, I'm not buying hosta, which has allowed my ardor to cool a bit. But I'm developing desires elsewhere - for grasses.  I suppose it all started a few years ago when they installed a small remembrance garden at work, and the garden was bordered on one side by this lovely grass-like stuff.  A bit of research showed it was Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Forster.'   Not long after that, five of those lovely things made their way into my garden. 

All was quiet for a few years, if you don't count the Ophiopogon japonicus 'Nana' (dwarf mondo grass) and Ophiopogon planiscapus (black mondo grass).  Yes, I bought a flat of the dwarf, but the other was shoved into my garden by a former neighbor and good friend. I'd admired hers, and she wasn't at all happy with its haphazard spreading.  She literally pulled it up and then stuck it in the ground in my garden. It's doing pretty nicely, too. They are tough plants.

Last year, I bought a single Stipa tenuissima (Mexican Feather Grass) for a pot grouping.  The owner of the nursery casually mentioned I should plant it in the ground in the fall and it would survive the winter.  That's not what the tag said, but she was right. I love this grass with its soft foliage that sways in the slightest breeze. I also love its airy look.  There are more in my future, I'm sure of it.

Then, this year, something happened.  I noticed my landscape plan (which I follow loosely) said I should have three things called Pennisetum orientale.  I didn't have them, so I went and got them. Once they were planted, I fell in love with their cute little selves.  I know three will not be enough. 

And then my sweet mail carrier gave me some Miscanthus sinensis 'Zebrinus' (Zebra Grass). It's spectacular, and growing like a weed, er, grass.  It's taller than I am and I know when it finds its proper place in the garden, it will be one of the standouts.  I think one of these will be enough.

Yes, I think I'm beginning to have a thing for grasses.  Here's a photo of my Calamagrostis acutiflora 'Karl Forster.' What's not to love?

Tuesday Blues

I wanted to share some photos I've taken over the last couple of days, so I'll try to post one every day.

This spring, I cut my Buddleia davidii 'Petite Plum' way back. The name may SAY petite, but this is no petite shrub. I didn't cut it back far enough, as I've discovered. It's now over eight feet, which makes it a bit hard to deadhead. And the tag said it gets to 4-5 feet. Good thing the branches are very supple so I can bend them down to where I can reach. I've been diligent about deadheading it because it will keep blooming if I do, and I love the flowers.  Although the blooms that come from the side stems aren't as long as the first ones, they are still quite pretty, and there are more of them.

Here's a closeup of one of the blooms with a background of Coreopsis verticillata 'Zagreb.'