Spectacular September

We had rain and a lot of wind two days ago, with a soaker of over an inch to make everything look good.  Now the sun is out, it is cool, and September continues to be spectacular.

The wind knocked over the Karl Foerster grasses that I had moved from Meadow's Edge to the back of that garden.

They are tall, they had shallow roots, and I couldn't dig among the roots of the river birch, so they were barely planted, mounded up with some compost, and left to their own devices.  The wind got them.  But I jimmied them back up, and we'll see if the roots take.

Same with the new red oaks I planted.  They are tall and skinny and whippy, and got uprooted in the wind, but after the storm I tamped the rootball back down firmly into the wet soil.  Now I need the roots to grow and stabilize these whips.

I took out the kiwi vines today.  The male plants never grew by the patio wall (too shady, too wet, too something.)  The females grew wonderfully by the deck, but they do not get as much leaf tip coloring as the males, and were just uninteresting.

Green enough, nice enough, an occasional pink tipped leaf in spring, a few grape sized kiwi fruits, but I decided to remove them and put in a big dramatic (rampant??) sweet autumn clematis.  Fragrant, showy, it will cover the whole deck railing and then some.

It's another white flowered plant, and I have so many.  In fact it is right by the white flowered Rose of Sharon which has been blooming nonstop for a month or more now.  But they are tiny star-like flowers, very different in texture from the Rose of Sharon, and the pink turtlehead is a nice offset, blooming at the same time.

I also planted the Opuntia prickly pear cactus in the gravel today.

The poor thing is all keeled over. It was too wet in the pot when I bought it, and quite waterlogged.  Hopefully in the gravel (and I added leveling sand and cactus planting mix) it will set upright a bit.

September has been just delightful so far, and I putter and sit and enjoy the gorgeous weather. Even the two days of rain and wind were good, as we needed the rain.

A potted mum by the patio --- lovely!

I Bought a Tree

So far September has been cool and sunny and spectacular.  Day after day of pleasant, beautiful weather, in the 70s.

At Kevin's nursery I found a red buckeye -- Aesculus pavia -- and I bought it.  It's already coloring for fall.

I had seen a beautiful one on a garden tour in Amenia, and Margaret Roach had one too.  It was early May and both specimens I saw were in bloom. Nice.

I knew I had to have one! But I could not find one in any nurseries, not even at Garden in the Woods, where they had interesting woodland natives.  But here was a good sized one at Kevin's and it was affordable and a size I could plant myself.  Perfect.

But where to put it?

At first I thought out by the line of bottlebrush buckeyes, in the distance, off center to the line of shrubs.  It would be in the distance, and it would "coordinate" with the other buckeyes.

But I'm not sure.  I don't really want another tree in the middle of lawn, and I am iffy about using it with the other buckeyes.  Too much yellow in fall perhaps? And out there it adds to the sense of trees circling the perimeter of the property.

So now I am thinking to put it by the gravel garden, and complete the "allee" from the driveway looking back to the maple in the back yard, completing the row with the paperbark maple, the stewartia, then the red buckeye further down.  See it?

In fall there would be rusty orange from the paperbark, brilliant red (the stewartia), and a pop of bright yellow opening out into the yard.

But it would be rather intensely planted in that whole area. All the trees and shrubs there would become one big mass as they gain size.  Crowded?  Or beautifully shady and artistically overhanging the walk as they get tall?

Should I put it beyond the end of the gravel, next to the hydrangea, which will grow up quite large under and around it? I'll have to keep the buckeye limbed up to pass under it and to get it above the hydrangea. That grassy strip between the hydrangea and the path needs to go in any event.

Or put it on the other side of the entrance into the gravel garden, and keep it within the strip along the walk? I'll still need to keep it limbed up.

What to do?

A Sunny Porch

It's been very cool at night, in the 40s.  Then dry and sunny for the past couple days, in the 70s with a cool breeze. Perfect days.

You know what I really like?  The porch.  Since I made it over into a plant "conservatory" (well, sort of) it looks really good.  On sunny mornings it just lights up, and at certain angles it catches the plants and it all glows green.

Yesterday I planted three end of season 5 gallon trees that I got at Lowe's for $20 each.

I put a northern red oak out in the meadow on the east side, to block the view of the two houses below us.  And I put one at the east edge of the yard where the little Bosnian pine had been. Then I planted a red maple out in the meadow at the foot of the back hill.  I love planting trees.  Some day these will be big shady trees, especially the two red oaks!

Today I tackled moving the Karl Foerster grasses in Meadow's Edge garden.  Much better now.

Before

After

Now I can see the lovely Ogon spirea, and it is a cleaner, neater look.  But there's a gap between the low fleeceflower groundcover and the taller shrubs at the back.  And when the camassias are done blooming next spring there is floppy foliage in that gap that needs something around it.

I'll need to put something about two feet tall in there.  What to put there??

I moved the grasses to the back of Meadow's Edge.  You can just see them at the far side.  I am hoping the late afternoon sun will catch the plumes there.

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.