A sunny, cool Sunday

Thunderstorms and rain last night, and we got 7 tenths of an inch.  It was a gentle soaker.  Today is sparkling and sunny and quite cool, in the 70s.

I put the plastic mesh deer guards around the yard trees today, but still need to get to the trunks out in the meadow.  This time I just used a narrow cut of mesh, rolled it, and clipped it with little orchid clips. Easy, and easy to remove.

All the newer trees in the yard are now protected.

The gardens look great. Tardiva hydrangeas are blooming, and the canna really makes a statement.

Those orange Gleam nasturtiums have been going all summer.  I just can't believe it.  Usually they look tired by mid summer, but these have gone on and on.

The rose of Sharon has been blooming for weeks now.  Such a lovely pure white.

And more white, as the Immortality iris is in its final re-bloom now in the Birch Garden. It's a crystalline sugar white.

And look, a pink fall crocus -- colchicum -- is blooming very shyly, deep in the Birch Garden under the caryopteris.

And the tall sedum is blooming, with a tiny white moth visitor.

Mornings have been so foggy and damp the past few days, but by noon it burns off and the days have been sunny and summery, in the 80s.

I got a beautiful abelia grandiflora 'Francis Mason' from Kevin Wilcox.  I think I will put it under the smokebush, at the rise of the little berm by the pavers.  It will go where the thyme has petered out and hopefully cascade over the sharp slope of the berm.

This glossy abelia is more chartreuse colored than 'Edward Goucher' which is still doing well in the center front of the Bird Garden.

I like the lighter colored leaves contrasting with the dark smokebush.  In its pot the leaves have bleached a little, but in the ground they should deepen, and I hope they are as glossy and shiny as Edward Goucher.  It will be interesting to see the differences.

I like this solution for the browned out area where the thyme was.

I Take It Back

I take back yesterday's complaint about gray and dry conditions.

It rained.

Almost an inch (eight tenths overnight).

Boy, was I a whiner yesterday.

I take it all back.

A Gray Dry Day

How can we have predictions of rain all week, showers 90 percent likely and thunderstorms coming, and a lowering, threatening, gloomy gray sky, but get no precipitation?  The worst of both possibilities --- gloomy without the rain, and dry without any sunniness.

Today is dark and awful looking, but rain storms have passed us by.  The clethra is crispy and curled up and the yellowroot in some places is brown and curled too, despite my having watered thoroughly quite a few times this summer.  Any pulling of weeds produces a dry puff and the gardens are hardpacked and bone dry.

Everything has that tired, grim look, under a dark gray sky.

Just a quarter inch of rain in the last 15 days, although at the airport a few miles away they got over half an inch just two days ago (huh? we got absolutely nothing).

It is not drought, not like the midwest in any way.  Not at all.  But it is dry.  And it is gray, and no rain is coming.

And I have a garden tour (Lee and his wife) on Thursday.

Some Pictures I Like

Late summer.

Made Some Moves

It was 50 degrees this morning when I woke up!  Cold.  It's been sunny and dry, so once the sun is up it gets warm.

I moved some things around today.

The Aruncus dioicus, goatsbeard, has not done well out by the creek bed.  It has been there a couple seasons, and does not grow.  Leaves are scorched.  So I dug it up and moved it to the back of the Birch Garden.

The back of the Birch Garden is never seen, unless you walk around behind.  It's kind of an empty spot and has always been a problem to fill.  I'll see if the goatsbeard will grow there, in a little more shade perhaps.

We'll see.  If not, it will come out and something else can fill the area behind this garden.

Then, in the vacated area by the creek bed I put in a dwarf Alberta spruce that had been sitting in a large pot on the deck.  Pam gave me this, and I didn't know where to put another dwarf Alberta.  I think this spot is perfect.

I have always struggled with how the Meadow's Edge Garden and creek bed blend into the wild meadow beyond.  I think the dense, landscapey solid form of the spruce makes a definite statement, especially with the hardscape of the bed and bridge --- this is the end of the tended garden.  The wild is beyond.

I am not a fan of dwarf Alberta spruces, but I have them along the foundation, as everyone does.  They hide the utilities along the west side of the house.

This use of the little cone out in the far garden actually pleases me.  The contrast of the dense dark shape punctuates the small leaves of the jumble of meadow plants.  It looks intentional.

I actually like the foundation spruces better too.  They are filling in, and once again they offer wonderful contrast in shape and density to the small jumbled leaves around them.  Dwarf Alberta spruces look good as a foil to other plants, but they look lumpy and uninteresting by themselves.

Ordered Plants

Cool at night, good sleeping weather in the low 60s.  The days are still warm and humid, but with a taste of fall coming.

I ordered plants today from High Country Gardens.  First off, the Kintzley's Ghost honeysuckle to put on the metal obelisks in front of the meters.

Also:
White daffodils for the top of the driveway.

Early spring --- White Tete a Tete 'Toto' (miniature, 8" tall)

Mid spring --- Jamestown (1 to 1.5 feet tall)

Late spring --- plenos odorous (fragrant, a foot tall)

Very late spring --- poeticus recurvus (A foot tall, spicy fragrance)
also called Pheasant's Eye

And more:
A blue salvia.  I have such trouble with black & blue sage (Salvia guaranitica), so I'll try Salvia reptans and see how that does.  I'll keep it in a pot for the first year to get to know it.  It looks to be bushy with grassy foliage.  Photos show deep blue flowers.

And I ordered three more little Gro Low sumacs to keep adding to the groundcover mass in the Drive By garden.

Back From Denver

We got back from our weekend in Denver and the garden looks fine. In fact, everything seems to have put on a late summer growth spurt. It all looked wet and lush.

The weekend was spectacular. No travel problems at all, the Inn was a charmer, although the room was uncomfortable. Our time with Greg and Sass was great. The Denver Botanic Garden was a treat. I was surprised, though, how much of it was devoted to water gardens, Monet reproductions, and water lily ponds. In a dry climate!

 

We spent a morning touring the garden, and Greg was so patient to walk around with me, asking about all the plants.  I found a honeysuckle that I simply must have -- Lonicera reticulata Kintzley's Ghost -- and wrote about it on my main blog.

This is where we ate breakfast each morning in Denver.

And this is the reason we made the trip. First time to see him since Christmas, and first time to meet the new person in his life!

Unexpected Rain

An inch of rain fell last night as thunderstorms rolled through at 4 in the morning.

Forecasts have predicted scattered showers for days, but we have not seen any materialize, and this storm, with a full inch of rain, was unexpected.  Wow.

Out Planting on a Summer Day

The intense humidity of the past couple days broke and today was a little better.  A sunny summer day in the 80s, but before the heat hit, I was out planting the new shrubs I bought.

I put in the new ninebark from Warner's at the back edge of the Drive By garden.  I actually took out the struggling Picea omorika I had planted in 2011, and put the ninebark in its place.

The little Serbian spruce looked good all last year but when the heat hit in July it started dropping needles and continued to lose them, even when well watered.

Last year, when it looked good

When I dug it up, there was no root growth at all.  The clumps of dirt clinging to the original rootball were heavy.  Very heavy, sodden and clumpy.  It did not look like the spruce had sent out any root growth from the ball that had been in the container.  No growth all year.

So now there is a dark leaved Physocarpus 'Summer Wine' there.  It is supposed to be smaller and compact, compared to the typical ninebark.  And more upright, all good attributes for the back edge of this garden.

photo from Missouri Botanical Garden

I also planted the new buddleia I got from Natureworks.  It is Buddleia Flutterby Grande Sweet Marmalade.  What a mouthful.  Very blue-green grayish foliage and little orange flowers.  Interesting.  The light color of the foliage is nice between the red leaved Rosa glauca and the new dark red ninebark.

photo from Natureworks

It was pretty uncomfortable by the time I got done before lunch, but it felt good to have these new plants in the ground, watered in, and mulched.  Can't wait to see what they look like next year.