Fall Projects

It's funny that just two weeks ago I couldn't get any energy or enthusiasm about working in the garden. It was the end of the dog days and both the garden and I had a bad case of the blahs. It's amazing what two weeks of cooler weather can do! Now I have fall projects and am excited to get started!

One: To improve the xeri-garden I started this spring. I've already admitted to you that I didn't let the soil settle before I planted this garden, with the result that now it's settled several inches and I need to add more soil. This week I bought most of the components for Mitchell's square foot garden, so I bought double and will use many gallons of this mix to add to the xeri-garden. I have also done some thinking about plants and have purchased several to finish filling out the box. A recent heavy rain and wind smashed one of the agastache 'Ada' plants, so I also need to do some trimming to get it back into better shape to withstand the winter.

Two: Plant fall asters and other perennials. I picked up five cerise asters to put in the back garden for some additional fall color. There are already some white ones starting to bloom, and some lavender and pink coming along so these will help bridge the bloom gap before the chrysanthemums open.

Three: "Fix" the nandina hedge's "bed". This one takes some 'splaining. Our neighbors at the back are nice people, but their yard is a bit junky for our taste. Fortunately, they have a euonomis hedge about 30 feet long that provides a nice backdrop for my garden across about two-thirds of our lot. It is taller than it needs to be, but I keep our side sheared pretty well, and have used it in my color planning. The hybiscus look great against it all summer as the the fall mums. Two falls ago I took all the little volunteer nandinas we had and started a nandina hedge to fill in the remaining one-third of the lot line. Unfortunately, I laid out the bed by eye, but while sitting on the ground. I used plastic edging pieces to enclose it and when I finished I discovered that it is nearly an s-curve - not at all straight. It is makes life difficult when I am cutting the grass and basically looks stupid! So, my plan is to put in steel edging and square up the bed. Some of the nandinas are now waist-high, so by this time next fall I will actually have a decent hedge back there and I want it to look less amateur.

Four: Irrigation. This is a tough problem. We desperately need to run some sort of irrigation to several parts of the yard, especially those with a lot of shade. I would like to add to our shade gardens, but none of them gets sufficient water to grow the things I would like to add. In all of them the plants have to compete too much with the trees that are creating the shade and there is no natural source of water. Whatever we do will be a big project, so I hope to do a couple of stop-gap things for the winter and then plan out something more permanent. Fortunately, most irrigation systems today can be installed "by the homeowner" and no longer require hiring a lot of expensive work done. I may need to get a plumber to run another outside faucet, but I hope that is all.

I cannot tell a lie. I wrote this two weeks ago and intended to give you some photos, but have just not had the time or energy. Am posting so that I can move on!

Betsy's Garden - Revisited

Early this summer I took you to see Betsy's garden - a wonderful round veggie garden that's pretty much right in the middle of her front yard in a very yuppy west end neighborhood - one where I have not seen any other veggies growing and certainly not in the front yard. Thought you might like to see an update.

Here's what it looks like now. That's okra in the center which is filled with pretty yellow flowers as it continues to provide okra. [We have had two dinners from it this week! - yum!] All around the outside are pepper plants of all sorts - bells of several colors, jalapenos, and dozens that are completely unknown to me. There are some annual flowers mixed in, altho the veggies have pretty much taken over the flowers. In all it's just a riot of happy, healthy plants. Close up it looks like this:

I don't know if she plans to do it again next year, or if she is planning to put in more normal front yard landscaping, but it has been fun watching it grown this summer. Kudos to Betsy for trying something new!

So... Neon is Joyful, too!

Fall is such an interesting time in the garden. It's a time when we say goodbye to our special flower friends, but we also look forward to the new blooms that only come at the end of the year. I have spent a bit of time recently deadheading - cutting back the stalks of shasta daisies, yarrow, monarda and other summer perennials.

While I miss the lushness of the mid-summer garden, there is something special about the transition that is going on now. It's nice to see the last day lilies, the last garden phlox and another flush of blooms on the clematis - even the new ones I planted this spring. But at the same time, there are the transitional flowers - especially the sedum and the very first blooms of the asters. One special plant that bloomed for the first time this year is a perennial begonia. My friend Muzzy gave it to me a couple of years ago, but it doesn't really like our conditions. It would prefer a wetter shade than I can give it, so while it has come up every year, this is the first time it has bloomed. When I transplanted a nandina this spring, apparently I brought a rhizome of the begonia with me and it liked the spot. It started blooming about two weeks ago and has stayed pretty without any additional rain.

I have bought several new asters that I plan to plant this weekend. They will provide both instant color and a bigger drift for next year. These are pink/cerise and will go nicely with the white and lavendar that I already have. I hope to show you the asters in a week or two when they are in full splendor. The chrysanthemums are really not ready to bloom yet. I don't expect them to open until early or maybe mid-October. I did update the planter in the front yard with forced chrysanthemums to replace the summer annuals. [Note in the picture how much the dogwood has grown this summer. It got a small amount of mildew on one side, but seems not to be affected by it. There is a smaller tree that was heavily damaged by mildew, so I am going to take it out in an attempt to stop the spread of it.]

In a recent post I mentioned my sedum 'Autumn Joy' and how much I like it. Well, it turns out that it isn't 'Autumn Joy" at all. It's 'Neon'. While shopping yesterday I found plants marked 'Autumn Joy' that were quite different from mine. They are less brightly colored, and not flat - which mine definitely are. I looked around and found "mine" and they are clearly 'Neon'. I don't love them a bit less, but now I want some "real" 'Autumn Joy' to add to my sedum collection. One of the reasons that I like this flower so much is its source.

Many years ago I went to the bank one day and the teller had a vase filled with sedum on her counter. I complimented her on the flower and she insisted I take one and root it at home. She was a lady whom I judged to be in her late '60's or '70's, so I took it to not offend her. I stuck it in a vase and soon it had roots, so I planted it. I now have three decent-sized clumps that grew from that single little flower. I did not know her name but wrote down the plant name she gave me. I won't be able to go back and tell her that she was incorrect, but I can love it under the right name now.

Pass along plants are the very best!

Transition Time

It's been that time in the late summer when I just cannot get excited about the garden. When we returned from vacation it was the hazy, hot and humid part of the Central Virginia summer and I just could not drag myself out to do anything. Fortunately, we have had a very wet summer and it has grown beautifully, so didn't need much from me except some spot watering - mostly the pots - and some weeding. I have managed a couple of early mornings at that, altho there is plenty left to do!

But there is something about the first of September and Labor Day that changes everything. Mitchell has said for years that fall may begin on the 21st, but the weather changes on Labor Day. More and more I think he's right. The last week has been in the low to mid-80's, which is a few degrees cooler than average, but we should remain in the mid-80's thru the end of the month, and the humidity has dropped noticibly in the past couple of days.

All of a sudden I'm starting to get in the mood to work outside again, and I find all sorts of signs of the fall plants getting ready to make their appearances. So, here's what's happening:

Sedum: There are two of the "tall" varieties blooming right now. 'Autumn Joy' (right) is one of the most familiar and found in many gardens. I transplanted mine to the xeri-garden I created this spring, so altho it is just starting to pink-up, it is not standing up. Normally, it would be 12 - 15 inches tall, but it is still lying down from the transplant. Next year, it will be fine, but this is a floppy year for it. As you can see, it's mostly still green, but there are a few pink petals already.

I discovered 'Madrona' (at the top) a few years ago and love it. The flower heads are a bit more rounded than 'Autumn Joy' which is rather flat, and it is currently a lovely pale rose color. As it matures it will darken and finally become a deep, dark rose that will eventually dry on the plant if I leave it that long. It provides good fall food for the birds, too.

The third sedum is 'Dragon's Blood' which is sort of tall and sort of creeping. Technically it's a "spreading" sedum, but its growth habit is very different from others. The plant has a basal growth habit like 'Madrona' and 'Autumn Joy', but the stems lie down and only the flower sits up. It makes a sort of circular mat overall. This one started blooming about a month ago, and is in its second flush of blooms. You can see how the new blooms are bright pink, while the older ones have already darkened.

We also have three creeping varieties of sedum, but only one is doing well right now. The 'Sea Stars' have struggled for years. They do not like wet feet, and since they are way less than an inch tall, that's tough when we have heavy rain. I have tried to move them to higher ground but, with basically a clay soil type, they are still struggling.

I have replaced most of my 'Sea Stars' with either 'John Creech' or 'Angelina' - both of which were gifts from Garland. When she moved to North Carolina three years ago, I got some 'John Creech' (right) that piggybacked with the many perennials that she gave me. I really love the way it grows in whorls around a main stem, and it makes a great groundcover than can take being walked on. I have put it among stepping stones and it is beautiful. We lost a big patch of it while we were gone in August - so it either got way too dry, or more likely way too wet. The 'Angelina' was a gift this spring, and is a lovely new addition. It is a bit taller and looks a bit like an evergreen with tiny needles, and has a golden cast to the leaves. It didn't bloom this year, but it's still getting over the transplant, too. On the left you can see 'Angelina' in front of 'Sea Stars'.

I have read that there are more than 400 varieties of sedum, so I hope to explore a few more of them someday. I love the ones I have and they help bridge the gap from summer flowers to fall flowers. And, of course, so many of them are pink!

Xeri-garden: I could not have asked for a better result the first year of this garden - I love it. The agastache 'Ada' is magnificent, and it is not quite its full height this year! It is filled with bees and butterflies all day long and looks great against the fence. The evening primrose 'Shimmer' has started blooming again this week, and overall, the whole bed has filled in well. The white salvia has bloomed all summer long, and so has the catmint. There are disappointments, of course. I lost two of the three creeping thymes and the sedum are still lying down, but there is so much promise for next year. I need to do some work on it this fall once everything dies back, tho.

The biggest mistake I made was in rushing to plant. I did not wait long enough for the soil to settle. [If you recall, I put the dirt in and planted the same day.] I should have let the soil sit for at least a week to compact. Unfortunately, it compacted after I planted, so now it has settled about six inches and I need to add soil to the entire bed. I am out of home-grown soil, so will need to buy a couple of bags of top soil and then add a couple of bags of organic matter. Then I will need to top dress around all the plants. Fortunately, most perennials will do okay with this treatment. Worst case, I will have to replant everything this fall. Either way, I should have a good result for next year.

This bed has been a great addition to the yard, tho. You see it as you come in the driveway and when you walk out either the side or back door, so we can enjoy it from many places.

And, a surprise: This is what gardening is all about. Many years ago I fell in love with alstroemeria. They are the backbone of flower arrangements all year long, and actually come from Africa [or so I have been told]. You often see the variety 'Laura' for sale, but few others. I have 'Laura' which is a good solid yellow with darker markings, as well as 'Merry Christmas' which is green with red markings [duh!], but have looked pretty much in vain for other varieties for my garden. Two summers ago I discovered a pot of "Oxana Princess Lilies" at the big blue box store. Clearly they were alstromeria - Alstroemeria hybrid 'Staprioxa' to be exact - so I snarfed them up and planted them. And, they immediately died.

Well, all but one. This morning I discovered one little stem of the most gorgeous deep pink flowers. They live a long time indoors, so I believe that as soon as the sun is off of it, I shall cut it and bring it in to enjoy. Here it is for you to enjoy, too.