Instrument of Grace

Saturday Morning in the Garden

Today was a day I could just take it easy and enjoy the garden. My only real chores were to water the front border well, because we've had no rain, and pick what needed picking in the kitchen garden.

I got outside before 0800, and it was a bit overcast. Even though it's July here in the Mid Atlantic, it was quite pleasant out, with a bit of a breeze and low humidity. I watered the long perennial border and got lost in my thoughts. I enjoyed what was blooming and made mental notes about things I needed to do in the future. The morning was perfect.

After I watered the perennial border, I headed out back to inspect the kitchen garden. The largest little bell is the size of a golf ball and there are a lot more just a bit smaller. Some of the large grape tomatoes are beginning to ripen, and the large tomatoes continue to swell. I can almost taste a tomato sandwich. Today's take from the kitchen garden was one zucchini, two yellow squash and a handful of beans. Looks like we'll be eating yellow squash several times in the next couple of days, and I think I have enough zucchini for a loaf of zucchini bread. Bread Boy (Garden Punk) will be in heaven.

Once I finished picking, I headed back outside with my camera. My garden feeds my tummy with produce and my mind with solitude and time to think. It feeds my soul with its beauty, and I wanted to share a little of that beauty with you.

While they aren't perfectly snow white, the Shasta Daisies add a needed bit of calm to the garden. Mine are almost in full bloom, and their cheerful faces almost seem to reach out in welcome to anyone who happens past.

We moved the Liatris in our border re-do last fall, and it rewarded us by doubling in size. It's a pollinator magnet in its full glory right now.

When I bought this Heliopsis last year, I don't remember what the description said. All I remember is I was totally seduced by what the words said. While I tend to gravitate toward pinks, purples and blues, this flower has totally captured my heart with its bold color, dark stems and dark edged leaves.

And while the flowers constantly speak to me, some with soft whispers, some with demands of "Look at ME!" what I most want to see in my garden are the welcome visitors who pollinate or accessorize. Today, I saw a Honeybee and watched her as she moved from flower to flower. With all the difficulties Honeybees are having at the moment, I am always delighted to see one because I know there continues to be a surviving colony nearby.

And that gives me another gift from my garden - hope. Hope for the Honeybees, hope for tomorrow, hope for all of us.

Today's Take

Today's take was 2 yellow squash, 1 cucumber and a good handful of green beans. I wish I'd weighed and kept track of my harvest this year like Daphne of Daphne's Dandelions does. I'll be doing that next year. I'd really like to know just what my garden produces.

I noticed the baby bell peppers are getting close to golf-ball size and there are some teeny fruits on the eggplants. There are a lot of baby green beans, so I'll be harvesting those for a while. I grow the Greensleeves variety of bush bean, and they've always done really well for me. I also am still picking a bit of chard, probably because our weather has been relatively mild.

We've been having temps in the mid 80's with almost no humidity. That's definitely not July weather in the Mid-Atlantic, but I'll take it! It's been just gorgeous, and my only complaint is that we could use some rain. I hope your summer is going well and your garden is growing.

Yellow Squash

Sorrygardener, this is for you!

Garden Man threw one of the zucchini in there, but it was good anyway. Real good. We waited on you, Sorrygardener, but you didn't show up. Next time?

GGW Picture This Photo Contest

Gardening Gone Wild's monthly photo contest, Picture This, has flowering trees for this month's subject. I have no thought of winning, but I wanted to show this photo because it's one of my favorites. I took this photo off my deck a few years ago. It was an early, foggy morning, and the dogwood appeard ghostly through the mists. We have a number of volunteer dogwoods, and they always delight us each spring with their masses of white flowers.

Please visit GGW and see all the lovely photos and maybe even enter one of your own.

Another Day, Another Squash

I harvested two yellow squash yesterday, and to my surprise, there was another ready today. We will be eating them for dinner tomorrow night, and I know they will be good. We've already eaten some we grew this year, and they are way better than what you can get at the store.

This photo was taken before I picked the two yesterday. After I picked the one today, I looked again, and believe there may even be one ready tomorrow.  Take that, zucchini!  I've harvested 5 yellow squash from this plant, and I've harvested only one zucchini so far. The yellow guy is the champ in my garden this year.

Yesterday, I mentioned the Sorbonne oriental lily was perfuming the yard. I love oriental lilies because they give such a huge reward for almost no work. They are very cost effective, and many of them multiply like crazy. This is Sorbonne, and she is lovely, don't you think? She's growing in a pot in a less than sunny location, but she's still covered with blooms (which the deer haven't found yet).

Maybe you need some of these in your garden. And don't forget to stop by for dinner tomorrow night. We're having that yellow squash.

Changes

There have been a lot of changes here at IoG lately, some good and some not so good. Much of what's been going on has kept me from posting, and I'm trying to find a way to continue with my writing and photography to help keep me sane.

Garden Man's dad, the Old Man From The South, passed away recently after a long, valiant battle with pancreatic cancer. None of us thought he'd live almost three years after his diagnosis. Even though we knew a long time ago that we'd be losing him, it didn't make the loss any easier to bear or the grief any less. We have been doing a lot of to-ing and fro-ing between here and points much further south, and we're not yet done.

I have known for a long time I'd have to go back to work full time at some point in the future. I didn't know how quickly that point would arrive, so quickly it left me no time to plan. I got the call on a Friday afternoon that I'd be starting the following Monday. It's a new job with a promotion, which is nice and self-confidence boosting. The downside is that I've probably said goodbye to 8 hour days for a while. Add on 2+ hours of commuting each day, and my days are looking pretty long. When I get home, I say a silent prayer of thanks that Garden Man has dinner going.

Because the change came so quickly, we've been trying to take advantage of every spare second to get many of the things on "our list" taken care of which has left no time to photograph, write or read. We did get the garage cleaned and the last of the shed things moved to the shed. The ceiling fan is finally in the guest room (we've lived in this house almost 6 years) and we have new light fixtures in the upstairs hall and foyer. The new shelves in the family room are "dressed," and I went through my wardrobe and have several large bags for charity. I've also gone through a lot of other stuff, and the living room is beginning to look like Fibber McGee's closet. We were planning a yard sale for a few weeks ago, but Dad's passing has put that on hold until the fall. The living room is now the staging area, and I have to go on record with this:  The management of IoG cannot be responsible for your safety if you enter the space formerly known as The Living Room. You enter at your own risk. Beware of falling objects and unstable mountains.

I do have some good news in all this sadness and upheaval; I say upheaval because what's going on has really been a huge change for us. We harvested our first two cucumbers yesterday and we harvested two yellow squash and our first zucchini today. We'd already harvested a couple of yellow squash, so these weren't the first. I also have a lot of teeny baby green beans I'm urging to grow so I can pick them. And I have baby peppers and a lot of green tomatoes. The yellow squash and zucchini plants are monsters, and they've completely taken over the onions, lettuce, delicata squash and some green beans. I'll forgive them if they keep producing. Their behavior has caused me to rethink (again) the kitchen garden. We expanded it this year, but I need more space. Garden Man, be ready. I want to feel that wonderful feeling I get when I pick something, and then come in and prepare it for a meal, and I want to feel it every day. Like I said, I need more space. I just wish I had more sun.

There's a lot blooming, and the Sorbonne Oriental lilies are perfuming much of the yard. I'm delighted my Liatris has decided to double in size this year since I've moved it. The Rock Fairies (actually, just Adele) visited me today with a 5 gallon bucket of rocks from her PA farm. The rocks are now part of the ever growing edging of the back border. I can't believe I'm so excited about a bucket of rocks, but I am. Every one was beautiful, and there was a limestone one in there!

I saw a lot of bees/pollinators today. I usually see Eastern Carpenter Bees, but today I saw Bumblebees and some new ones I've never seen before. One is small, mostly green and may be a kind of wasp. The other has huge eyes and is colored like a yellow jacket but is also very small. And they both fly FAST.

Here are some photos to tide you over to the next post. This is one of many Bumblebees enjoying the Drumstick Allium and Liatris.

This unknown looks more like a wasp than a bee. Today was the first time I've ever seen it. It's mostly green with pointy-oval green eyes. It's pretty small and moves very quickly. It was moving between the Liatris, Drumstick Allium and Heliopsis 'Summer Nights.'

Here's another new-to-me pollinator. It's even smaller than the green pollinator and moves like a flash. It has huge eyes and was moving between the same flowers. Could it be a hoverfly?

If you know what these unknown-to-me pollinators are, I'd love to know. Now, it's back to the chores so I'll have time during the week for some more posts.

Tarnished Tiara

Golden Tiara Hosta, that is. Something is definitely wrong with this little Hosta, and I have no idea what.

I rescued several pots of this Hosta about 4 or 5 years ago from a big box store well known in these parts for having no idea about how to care for plants. These little guys and some Gold Standard were sitting out on hot pavement with no shade in sight. No water in sight, either. I got the pots for one dollar each, and I brought them home and put them in the ground. They looked puny for the rest of the summer, but the next year, they came up looking great. That year all was good.

In year two, every one of the Golden Tiara came up with misshaped and spotted leaves. They stayed that way until late summer when they put up perfect leaves. To further compound the mystery, the Gold Standard planted right alongside never exhibited a problem. Every year, these Golden Tiara come up all ugly and stay that way until late summer. They appear to be prospering otherwise, because they have multiplied quite well.

I thought it might be fungus, but nothing nearby seems to be damaged. I dug them up and looked for root damage, but the roots were healthy. Last year, I dug one clump up and divided it. I carefully cleaned the dirt off every clump and dipped the plants in a mild bleach solution and then rinsed them. I planted them out back in the Azalea Bed and waited to see what happened. This year, they came up all ugly again.

Here's a closeup.

The holes in the leaves are from slugs and some hail we had. You can see some perfect leaves emerging at the bottom center. I'm pretty fed up with this plant and am considering ripping it out and putting it in the trash.

Any ideas about what the problem could be?

House Wren

Hey! What's all that racket going on out there? Will you please hold it down? I have a whole nest full of sleeping babies.

What's that? US? All that racket is US? Oh. Nevermind.

We usually have both Carolina Wrens and House Wrens nesting here in the spring. Although I've seen a Carolina Wren this year, none nested under our screened porch as they often do. I've also not heard their tea-kettle tea-kettle tea-kettle calls. But I've seen and heard a lot from our House Wrens. They are noisy, scoldy birds, and it always amazes me so much sound can come out of such a tiny body. Ours aren't the least bit afraid of us, either. I can be working in the garden, and they will be just a few feet away gathering nesting material or perching and giving me what for. They may be noisy, but they are so cute and I love them.

More Wide Views - Front Left Bed

I've noticed by reading other blogs how much I enjoy wider views of the writer's garden. I've also noticed comments on other blogs saying how much other readers enjoy wider views. I took a look around my blog and realized I didn't have very many wider views, and I realized I specialized in flower closeups. Now, there's nothing wrong with closeups, but I'll bet you have no idea what my gardens really look like.

I intend to start remedying that sad situation right now. After all, this is a garden blog not a flower blog. You will get gardens!

I've started by adding a Garden Plot photo album on the right sidebar. I will add to that album in the future so you can get a more complete picture of the gardens I write about. I'll also write more about individual "plots" instead of focusing on just a couple of plants. And yes, I'll show you my horrible design mistakes. Believe me, there are plenty, but every now and then I get it right.

I thought I'd start the "wider views" with a view of the contained garden to the left of my front door. It's surrounded by house and sidewalk, and it's somewhat of a challenge. It's in shade all day, and it's moist shade. So, what's challenging about moist shade, you ask? Well, there is the issue of not enough foundation, or backbone, to the garden. We plan to remedy that issue next spring. We also have a formerly beautiful pink dogwood that's been in decline for a number of years. The cicadas in 2004 and the drought in 2005 really did a number on it and stressed it, and then it got borers. Unfortunately, I didn't notice the borers until it was too late. We've been treating it and hoping for the best because we love the tree. Sadly, it's looking pretty ragged. We're giving it one more year. If it starts to recover, we'll add a couple of evergreens, probably Prunus laurocerasus 'Otto Luyken.' If it doesn't recover, we'll replace it and add the laurels.

Here's the current view. That's Schizophragma hydrangeoides 'Moonlight' growing on the wall, and it's a robust climber. The rhododendrons are Rhododendron yakushimanum 'Yaku Princess.' They are very slow growing and should reach a height of about 3 feet. They have pink buds that open white. The upright shrub by the pillar is Ilex crenata 'Sky Pencil' which has been bothered by mites. This one is doing OK, but its twin on the other side of the door is really struggling. I know these shrubs can do well in my yard because I have one on the side of the house that went from this size to over 7 feet tall in 3 years. This one has grown about 3 inches in the same amount of time.

The large hosta is Gold Standard. I don't know the name of the smaller hosta. I got it from a neighbor, and it's grown very robustly. I plan to divide it next spring and move some to the Azalea Bed where I have a collection of small hostas. The pot contains Gartenmeister Bonstedt fuchsia and coleus. And for ornaments, I have a strategically placed hose reel (center) and some unplanted babies (far left). I love the honeybee stepping stones I got at Surreybrooke Nursery. Five make a perfect path from the walkway to the hose bib. The sleeping cherub was a gift from my dear friend K. 

Here's a closeup of the hosta. I hope you've enjoyed a slightly wider perspective on one of my garden beds.

GBBD June 2009

A big thank you to Carol of May Dreams Gardens for hosting Garden Blogger's Bloom Day.

I've missed bloom day. It's been happening, but I haven't been participating. I either haven't had anything blooming, haven't been able to get good photographs, or have gotten home after dark so there were no photographs. But today, I'm home and I was able to take a few photos. Although there are only a few photos here, there is a lot blooming in my garden.

In my front porch pots, I have a mix of coleus and Fuchsia triphylla 'Gartenmeister Bonstedt.' While I tend to play with the combo, the fuchsia is always there. Its blooms brighten up the shady area, and it blooms all summer long.

Last fall, when we redid the perennial border, I added three Geranium 'Tiny Monster.' I didn't know at the time just what a monster it would be, but you would think the name would have given me a clue. I have three lovely, well behaved Geranium (cultivar unknonium) in the Azalea Bed. Silly me for thinking Tiny Monster would have the same growth habit. It isn't covered with flowers when it blooms, it has them sprinkled here and there. It sprawls, it insinuates, it intertwines. BUT, it also blooms and blooms and blooms. It's been blooming for more than 6 weeks, and it doesn't show any sign of stopping. For that, I can forgive its untidy habit, but it might get a haircut here pretty soon. I love the color of the flowers.

When I first started my little garden at our old home, around 1991, one of the first plants I bought was a yellow yarrow. I wasn't into plant identification at the time, other than common names, so I didn't keep the tag or remember the plant information. That yarrow, with its yellow flowers, bloomed like crazy every spring, and every year the clump got larger and larger. I divided it into three clumps, and each of them increased, even though we had heavy, clay soil. I brought one of the clumps with me when we moved to this house in 2003. The soil was better, but the yarrow sulked. It put out a few blooms each year, but the clump shrank down to just a few leaves. While all the other plants we brought, other than the catmint, were growing like weeds, the yarrow failed to thrive. Then, this last fall, we redid the perennial border and I bought a new yarrow. The threat of competition must have done it, because this year the yarrow is spectacular. The blooms are waist high and there are a lot of them. I'm happy because I've always loved that plant. Oh, I'm sure I'll love the new one, too, but we go way back, me and the old one.

I also have a lot of other things blooming, including the plants listed below.

• Aruncus dioicus 'Kneiffi'
• Astilbe - variety unknown
• Begonia x hybrida 'Dragon Wing Red'
• Calamagrostis acutiflora 'Karl Forster' - Feather Reed Grass
• Calibrachoa x hybrid 'Cherry Red'
• Campanula persicifolia 'Telham Beauty'
• Campanula poscharskyana 'Blue Waterfall'
• Cucumis sativus - two varieties (cucumber)
• Curcurbita - yellow straight neck and zucchini
• Hemerocallis 'Happy Returns'
• Ilex verticillata, cultivar unknown - Winterberry holly
• Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea' - Golden Creeping Jenny
• Nepeta faassenii 'Walkers Low'
• Oenothera macrocarpa - Ozark Sundrops, Garden Man's favorite
• Pennisetum orientale
• Salvia farinacea 'Victoria Blue'
• Salvia nemorosa 'Caradonna'
• Schizophragma hydrangeoides 'Moonlight' - False Climbing Hydrangea
• Solanum lycopersicum - Yellow Pear, Red Grape and Brandywine
• Spiraea japonica 'Lime Mound'
• Sutera cordata 'Snowstorm Pink' (deck pot)
• Tiarella 'Spring Symphony'
• Veronica longifolia 'Lilac Fantasy'
• Veronica spicata 'Royal Candles'
• Veronica spicata 'Red Fox' 

Thanks for visiting my garden today. Please sit here in the shade and have a cool glass of ice tea before you go (and since I'm a southerner, there's no "d" in ice tea! Please visit the other gardeners participating in Bloom Day, and make sure you visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens.