Black Gums in Fall

Ancient Nyssa sylvaticas in Elizabeth Park.

New Black gum in my front yard.

Ladies in Red

Cool today, in the 50s.

Sprinkled elemental sulfur around the sourwood and the blueberries, and lime at the base of the new redbud.

I discovered that the Lady in Red salvia that I had planted out in Meadow's Edge last year seeded itself.  It doesn't winter over, but there under the fading perennials and flopping zinnias were some seedlings, quite small this late in the season, but a few were even blooming.

I potted them up, and will keep them, along with the two potted ones I had all summer, on the porch.  Let's see if they winter over there in the protected space.  I do like them, and last spring I had to go to several nurseries before I found two to buy.

I now have 15 pots of Lady in Red!  I f they all survive, I will be able to mass them along the patio wall near the hummingbird feeder.  The two I had were nice, but hardly a visual impact.  15 of them, or even half a dozen if that's all that survives, will look great massed together.

I finally did something with the strip of garden I cut along the west walk --- I had been debating all summer what to put there as the final "frame" as your eye travels from the driveway down the walk to the back yard and garden.  I had considered all kinds of trees for vertical impact.

In the end, I moved the new Tardiva hydrangea to the "frame" spot and I will let it grow tall, maybe not as a standard, but I'll try to prune it to be narrow.  The dusty rose blooms in fall will complement the rusty hue of the Stewartia monadelpha preceding it.

Hardly visible in this photo, the Tardiva is right in front of the irises and should rise up above them.  Then, to fill in the arc of this garden strip, I moved the baptisia that Becky gave me from her garden (it's been moved about 4 times already now).  That will fill in that whole space with nice clean foliage all summer.  Haven't seen it bloom yet, I hope it's a pretty blue.

I moved a couple geums to the front of Meadow's Edge with the others.  Hello, who is this?

I'm anxiously waiting for the Sheffield Pink mums to burst out.  Buds are everywhere, and the plants really filled in to form big green mounds.

After looking wiped out in late summer, the Whirling Butterflies Gaura looks great again.  These are in pots, and I am going to see if they winter over on the porch as well.

I Have Returned

I'm back from Switzerland and Italy and when we got back I found that the long summer drought had been broken.  Smashed, with almost 4 inches of drenching rain in the days just before we returned.  And then it rained off and on in the week since our return.

The grass is lushly green, everything survived.  There were high winds while we were away: the weather station recorded a max. wind gust of 57 mph!!  The leaves of the smaller more drought stricken trees are all blown down.  The maples on the back hill were so gorgeous at this time last year, but this year they are denuded.  No color out there this year, : (

The sourwood is denuded on half its canopy, although the flower sprays held on.

But all in all the gardens look good.

The Montauk daisies are in full bloom, the only contrast to the reds and rusts in the Birch garden right now.  The two clumps that are in Meadow's Edge are not blooming... too shady?

The Sheffield Pink mums have not yet bloomed, but there are tight buds everywhere.

Deer damage is evident on the ceanothus, New Jersey Tea plants.  Two of the three are chomped.  And one of the Sheffield Pink mums had been oddly pruned:

 
While I was gone the bulbs I ordered came.  Today was sunny and breezy and finally dry, so I planted them:

100 Galanthus (Snowdrops) under the Crimson Queen Japanese maple in front.

50 Colchicums 'Speciosus Albus' (White fall crocuses) in front near the steps.

12 Tulips 'Groenland' along the front walk.  They are pink with green striations.

I finally like the sedums 'Frosty Morn' that were planted along the front walk.  Last year they were so floppy and a funny dusty color, that I ripped out most, and ended up putting them in Meadow's Edge.  The couple that remained in the front walk are light and pretty and fluffy and adding some brightness this year.  They look much better.

Summer storms

All summer long the storms that come through from the west simply split over the Litchfield hills and deliver nothing here.  Severe storms to the south, rain and thunder to the north, but nothing but complete sunshine in a little wedge over us.

The map shows today, September 13.  Over three weeks now with no rain.

The state has had rain, but not here.  The reservoirs are not bone dry, there has been rain all around us.  But not a drop over us in north central Conn.

Once Again

Cloudy, cool, 60s.

Once again the rain that was forecast for today went to the south of us and to the north, but broke up over us.  No rain for 21 days, since August 22, except for the hundredths of an inch this past week.

Yesterday was abundantly sunny, just like 9/11 nine years ago.  I watered and watered out on the back hill, but I'm only getting a few inches of soil wet around the smaller trees.  The natural silver maples are completely limp and the ash tree by the road is also flagging.  Leaves on all the young oaks, including the new one I planted at the top of the sandy hill, are brown leaved now.  I could go on, but at this point in the season I'm pretty much giving up.

I changed the batteries and scent lures in 7 of the deer zappers and put them back out in the meadow and in the gardens.  I need more batteries for the remaining zappers and will put those out.

I cut back the amaryllis today and brought them into the garage to go dormant till Thanksgiving.

Ellen Sousa

Sunny in the morning, clouded up later, cool, in the 60s.

Yesterday Ellen Sousa came early in the morning to photograph the garden.  She was delightful, and after she spent about half an hour on her own getting shots, we visited over coffee and talked about our gardens.  A very nice visit.  She was very complimentary of my gardens, offered some suggestions about linking them together, and assured me she's going to use at least one photo in her book.

Her website at Turkey Hill Brook Farm

Her blog.

Hundredths of Inches

It's a good thing my weather station measures in hundredths of an inch.  Storms rolled through this morning and we got .009 inches.  Nine one hundredths, enough to wet the mulch.

That's all.  It rained only once in all of August.  Now, 8 days into September it rains less than a tenth of an inch.

After the brief storm, it became sunny, windy and warm, in the 80s.

And the worst of it is: the only rain in 17 days, and it occurred exactly when Ellen Sousa was supposed to be here to photograph the garden.  And the storm lasted for exactly the time she would have been here... 7:30 to 8:00 a.m., with only four minutes of rain in that.

She canceled, of course.  She'll be here tomorrow morning.

Earl was a disappointment

Yesterday: Hurricane Earl passed by.  Today: humidity broke, it's very breezy and cool, high 70s and low 80s but very comfortable.

Earl was a bust.  I didn't want any wind, and it was predicted to slide by to our east without any gale force winds over us.  But I expected rain.... we need it so badly.  Believe it or not, it rained in Hartford, and it rained east of the river, but we got nothing.  Nada, zip, not a drop!  The edge of the circular storm was literally less than 10 miles from us.

We had not even a breath of air, no breeze, no sprinkles.

Today it's clear and sunny and I watered everything I could get on the back hill, and in the yard.  Last rain was an inch and a half 13 days ago, on August 22.

Earl

Hot, in the mid 90s, very humid, sticky and icky.  Hurricane Earl is coming up the coast, the first hurricane to hit New England since Bob in 1991 (the year we left for the ranch just ahead of Bradley airport closing).

Earl will miss us, but head right over Boston and the Cape.  We should get rain from the edge as it goes by us tomorrow afternoon and evening.  Badly needed rain!

Everything is again so parched and stressed.  The climbing hydrangea is a real mess.

In other news, Ellen Sousa from Turkey Hill Brook Farm e-mailed me that she would like to photograph my yard for a book she is writing on creating wildlife habitats in the suburbs.  She loved my photos from Wordless Weds. last week on Evening Shadows, Morning Mists, and left very nice comments.  I am pretty flattered!  She is coming next week, in the early morning.

Two Weeks Left

Hot again, for the last several days.  In the 90s, intense sun, too humid to do anything.  We need water again, especially in the heat.  Last rain was the inch and a half we got over a week ago.

Officially we have two weeks left of this season.  It's September 1, and on the 15th we leave for Europe for two weeks, back on October 1.  Where did it go?  Much of it just disappeared into the oppressive heat which came so early in April and never let me really enjoy being outside.  And the total lack of rain made every day a worry about how things were surviving.  Nothing ever really looked great except for a few instances once in a while.

Here's my list of what needs to be done before we leave.  Two weeks to get it done.

• get the plastic mesh deer protectors on all the back hill trees.  Put one on the new black gum in front as well
• put little cones of mesh protectors around the Arbor Day saplings and transplanted sassafras on the berm
• fix the east side faucet
• spray rabbit repellent just before we go