A Day of Digging Daylilies

Beautiful day today, very cool, in the 60s and breezy.  Sunny.  Last night the low temperature got down to 37 degrees.

The hydrangeas that I transplanted to the new driveway garden look awful, all wilted and limp as hydrangeas get when they are under stress.  I hope I didn't kill them.  They are well watered, but it has been very sunny and quite breezy, so that stresses them.

I spent all day digging up daylilies.  Just cutting down all the overgrown foliage was difficult, then I dug up as many as I could for Gail to take.  There are multiple clumps in each bucket, so about two dozen daylilies in all, and some can be divided further when she plants them.

I kept just three clumps of the frangrant yellow ones in front of the paperbark maple.

I cleared away most that were crowded under the doublefile viburnum, but there are still three there between the hemlock and viburnum, and they'll get overtaken so they'll have to come out in a year.

I ended up leaving most of the daylilies in Meadow's Edge.  Too hard to get them out right now with everything else so overgrown.  But I cut them back and the garden looks neater.

I'll leave a few under the maple, and then take out more next spring.  They just are not the right plant to weave in and out in a curve through the garden.  Too big, too messy, and they don't do well crowded in with other plants.

For the same effect of a mound of cascading strappy foliage, I really like Carex 'Ice Dancer' much better.  I'll get more of that going throughout the garden.  The carex has no bloom, but the daylilies do not bloom well in early summer when the deer get them, then bloom kind of sporadically in later summer. 

The white stripes on the carex leaves looks bright in shade:

And not as bright in full sun:

Now I just have to get all those buckets of daylilies down to Gail, or have her come up and get them!

After the Rain

Sun today after so much rain.  It was cool, in the 60s and windy, and everything sparkled in the sun.

I got so much done outside, although the ground was soggy.  I weeded everywhere (so easy in the wet) and clipped down the tired perennials in the Birch Garden.  

I planted the three new lobelias in Meadow's Edge.  Then I planted up the new driveway garden:

I put in 8 new small plugs of rhus armoatica, to spread and fill in.  I moved the 'Golden Peep' dwarf forsythia that was languishing under the redbud by the guest room window. 

Then I moved the 'Tardiva' hydrangeas from the west side to this garden, lined up to make a hedge going up the driveway.  I hate transplanting --- would rather plant small container plants!  Digging up these hydrangeas was easy enough, but they are big, I didn't get much dirt around the rootball, and it is a struggle.  I hope they will be ok.

I also transplanted some white wood asters from the meadow, as well as a purple aster.

The idea of this strip will be a woodland kind of look: a broad swath of low sumac groundcover shrubs, the witch hazels and hydrangeas, and scatterings of asters.  It's a start.

Wettest Ever

More rain over the past three days.  As of today we have had 54 inches of rain all year, including the snowy winter months (converted to rainfall).  If we get no more than just normal rain between now and the end of the year, it will be the wettest year on record.

It's too wet to get the bulbs planted or the daylilies dug or any of the shrubs moved that need to be transplanted.  But nice sunshine is coming after tomorrow.  Finally.

Next Year's Tulips

Rain all yesterday but it broke and today is partly sunny and in the 60s.  More rain coming in the next days, though.

I planted two big pots of tulips for next spring.  No tulips in the ground any more!  I planted these pretty deeply, then covered them with 4 inches (probably could use more) of potting soil.

In each pot I put 6 Spring Green (white with green markings) in the center and 12 Groenland (pink with strong green markings) around the edges.  I never saw any of the dozen Groenland I planted in the front walk last year, they were 100% eaten before they ever came up.

I set out the Ajuga Chocolate Chip to spread in the new area along the patio walk and at the edges of the new bluestone steps off the patio.

Still have to:

1. move amsonias from under the doublefile to the patio wall
2. move Tardiva hydrangeas to the new driveway bed
3. plant the rhus aromatica plugs I just got in the new driveway bed
4. plant snowdrop bulbs under the Japanese maple
5. plant three lobelias just received (red ones, Ruby Slippers is delayed til spring)
6. plant all the alliums* I got by the patio wall

* Got Gladiator, Stratos and Mt. Everest alliums from Whiteflower Farm.  Graceful is coming next week from Bluestone Perennials.  I didn't realize I had ordered so many!

'Gladiator' 3 to 4 feet tall, sweet scent

'Stratos' 3 1/2 feet tall

'Mt. Everest' 3 feet tall

'Graceful' small, 16 inches tall

Big Empty Bed

Humid, summery, gray and foggy most of the mornings lately.

We just got back from a wonderful weekend in Denver with Greg --- what a great time!

I started planting the area that the Manns created along the edge of the driveway.  It's a big strip bed and the pots show where the transplanted 'Tardiva' hydrangeas will go.

I dug up and moved two of the larger rhus aromatica plants (Low Gro sumacs).  One looks good, the other is clearly distressed, very brown and wilting!  Yikes.  I do have more small rhus plants on order.

this one transplanted okay

this one looks crispy and wilted

I planted the rooted stem that Cyndy from Gardening Asylum gave me.  She dug it out of her garden before she moved, stuck it in some gravel, and it took!  This will be a doublefile viburnum, V. plicatum tomentosum 'Mariesii'.

Still going strong in the very end of September: the plumbago towers. Wow.

Also very nice at this time of year: the hydrangea blooms.

And the grasses --- this is miscanthus 'Zebrina by the garage door.

New Garden

Very cool, it has been in the 40s overnight for several days and in the low 60s in the daytime.

Yesterday I went with Pam to Julie Kamis's house off Dug Road in S. Glastonbury, and had a wonderful tour of her 10 acre farm and house, as well as the neighbor's garden.  What a place!  No pictures, it felt awkward to be fussing with the camera while the conversation was going on.  Her house (a Colonial reproduction) is straight out of Deerfield in every detail.  Exquisite.  The barns too  --- a dog kennel (clean as a tabletop), a 6 stall English horse barn, paddocks, it was all beautifully laid out and immaculately kept.  What a place.

And she took us to the neighbor's gorgeous garden, built in the woods in Japanese style with a rustic teahouse and a burbling stream and pond.  A ravine in the woods themselves, lit by dappled sunlight, was so beautiful.

Money.  Lots of it.  It can create a wonderland.  But Julie is so unaffected and engaging, and she has such a passion for her home, her dogs and horse, it was all so appealing even if way out of my financial range.  Wish I had taken pictures.

Sharon and David Mann came Friday and again yesterday to cut the new expanded gardens.  Sod cutters --- what a time saver!

Before . . . .

. . . . .cutting the new shape

Before . . . .

. . . . . not entirely happy with the shallow layout, but they work

Now to plant up the new spaces and get it all finished!

Clean Up & Fall Planting

Humid and unsettled today.  In the low 80s.

I cleaned up all the raggy geraniums along the walk, and spent a lot of time tidying up all the daylilies.  Pruned back the mums which are getting very full and overtaking the nearby plants like the St. Johnswort and New Jersey Tea plants.

I trimmed the hydrangea next to the walk so that the fothergilla below gets some light, and the tirmmings made a nice bouquet.

I planted several more cardinal flowers in Meadow's Edge.  These are 'Fan Scarlet' or 'Dark Scarlet' I think.

I planted the Bluebird clematis in front of the garage.  I will need to do something about securing the little trellis.

If it does well it will overgrow this small structure.  I'll need to figure how to attach wires for it to scramble along past the trellis.

I love how the Hakonechloa Beni Kaze looks in pots on the front steps.  These are really looking nice this year.

Early Fall

Meadow's Edge

Birch Garden

Foggy morning

Unbelievable

It's been raining for three days, heavily.  It started Tuesday with 1.75 inches and when it wasn't raining hard it was drizzling all day.  Last night it poured, and added another 4.6 inches overnight!  That's almost 6 1/2 inches now.

It's still raining this morning.

Further north and to the west they have gotten 9 to 12 inches from this storm, on top of the flooding from storm Irene 10 days ago.  Vermont and upstate NY are in terrible shape.

Meanwhile Texas burns with its worst drought on record and wildfires.

Ready to Plant at Pam's

Warm and humid today, in the low 80s.  Sun in the morning, but high overcast in the afternoon.

I have all the plants ready to take over to Pam's to plant up her patio area.

 

I dug up yellowroot and potted them in the containers sitting on the wall.  I also dug up two 'Bridal Veil' astilbes, and two bergenias.  She has hostas and heucheras that can be retained.

I bought a chamaecyparis 'Drath', a "Green Mountain' boxwod in a nice pyramid shape, and two golden Hakonechloas.  For flowers, I bought a fall anemone 'September Charm' and a clematis 'Jackmanii superba'.  The clematis is said to do well in partial shade, which will be the case on her wood fence.  It should flower profusely all summer. (I also got a bubbler urn fountain for under the deck!)

After Labor Day I'll go over to plant.

Today I pruned the katsura tree to remove the one remaining upright side stem that the deer left.  It just looked awkward.  The tree is now much smaller and will have a single stem, but it looks ok.

The turtle head is blooming, but so hard to see at the back of Meadow's Edge.  It's not tall enough, and the flowers are subtle.

 

The Lespedeza, Bush clover, is blooming.  The effect is very subtle and washed out from afar, but the tiny blooms are pretty very close up.

The deer have eaten all the blooms off the mountain hydrangea by the driveway.  Only a few remain at the bottom, and the buds are the most incredible mix of colors.