Growing Wild

The weather has been either sunny, dry and pleasant or gloomy, dry and overcast. There have been some great late afternoons when the skies are a lovely blue, the breeze is gentle and the temperatures are perfect, with a sharp, clear light.

But no rain.

I moved everything around. The table and chairs are now on the patio and the set works better there.

The space is cramped. It fits and there is no real problem -- four people can sit at the table well enough, but there is not a lot of room around it.

The teak rockers are now on the front porch. We cleaned them and applied teak oil to them and they look okay, although not great. As I noted in an earlier post, the front porch is not really for sitting anyway. I just didn't know what else to do with the rockers after I took them off the patio.

The gravel garden now has a glider bench that I like a lot, and I returned the folding Mayan chairs to this space. They need a good cleaning and re-staining which is on my list of fall chores.

The compost row has been overtaken this year with wild growth. Jim is no longer bagging grass clippings, so there are no piles of heavy material to suppress the weeds, and the decaying vegetation that was there has been fertile ground for tall weeds to take over.

It's been interesting to note what has shown up in the tangle of weeds where the compost pile had been. Earlier in the summer I found lobelia cardinalis that had escaped the garden, and a crocosmia too. Both were bright red pops of color blooming in the mess.

Now I am finding Karl Foerster grass growing well where I had tossed a discarded clump last year. It's a great plant, but it didn't belong in a mixed border the way I was using it. In the wild, on its own, it looks perfect.

And a flowering tobacco has grown, blooming like the ones I have in the garden, and making the old compost pile fragrant at night.

I fuss with my plants all season and I move furniture around and I am always not quite satisfied with what I have created -- and then the wild compost pile does its thing all by itself and looks great.

What I Learned This Summer

I absorbed a few lessons this year that I simply must remember in future:

Wear polarized sunglasses.
In the height of summer when the garden is washed out and tired and dry and limp, polarized lenses make the colors pop and everything look rich. I like my garden so much better when I am wearing Raybans.

Water often.
Water when it is very dry, but water when it is just a little dry too. My mistake in past years was to let things carry on by themselves with just a little help from the sprinklers. Everything looks better when very well watered with hose and watering can as well as sprinklers, and it takes more than you would think.

"Drought tolerant" doesn't mean what you think it does. It means a plant will typically not die when it gets very dry -- it will survive and come back when conditions are better. But it does not mean the plant will look good at all. It tolerates dry weather but does not perform well.

I also learned that a plant tolerating dry conditions is not producing enough nectar for pollinators. The plant is alive and there may be flowers, and it will come back when it gets more moisture, but there is not enough hydration to help the wildlife.

Fertilize a lot.
Same thing as with the watering. Pots and annuals need much more feeding than I had realized. Fertilize often.

Make summer easier.
I found the terra cotta fountain Hope gave me has to be near a water source even though it is self contained and solar powered.  It can't be out in the gravel garden where I originally had it. It needs to be right near a hose where I can clean it out often and refill it easily. I moved it to the deck and I like listening to the bubbling while I am on the porch even though I find I am getting up to use the bathroom often.

I learned the hard way that containers out in the garden or along the front walk, and pots lining the gravel garden are hard to keep watered. Just put any pots on the deck near the hose and be done with it. Make summer easier.

Stake adequately.
I need to invest in lots of larger, sturdier stakes that can stand up to the tension of the small bungee cords which I found work well to bind up floppy perennials. The little bamboo skewers I have been using are far too rinkydink.

I learned What Not to Grow:

Morning glories. I discovered I do not like them. They climbed the arched gate to the gravel garden but were unattractively wild and splayed about and the thin twining stems turned brown and ratty looking. The flowers --- meh.

'Beach Party' sedum. Advertised as a compact sedum that doesn't flop like 'Autumn Joy', but I learned it was an odd brown colored thing with no shape or size. Maybe it just didn't like my garden. Meanwhile after I took out 'Autumn Joy' it reappeared in another part of the garden.

Vegetables in containers. My deck container farm was great, but I found I had too many peppers, way too much basil, wildly prolific parsley, less mint than mojitos required, and not enough lettuce. Carrots were paltry and tasteless. Farming in tight spaces is all about appropriate quantities, and I misjudged.

And What to Grow Again:
White flowering tobacco.
Nicotiana alata bloomed all summer and still looks fresh even as the iteas behind are fading. It's tall enough to be seen from a distance and it's a clear, delicate white. Grow more of that again.

Dahlias.
They are simply flower machines all summer. I don't like the tall giants with blooms that look like frisbees. But there are many that are small bushy things like the dark red 'Black Beauty' that I have grown before, and the orange-pink-apricot pom poms that were new to me this year. I grew both from seed and I'd grow them again.

I learned that nasturtiums can be transplanted, but will look awful all season if you do that. Transplanting doesn't just set them back, it affects their habit the whole season. Put the seeds in the ground where they are going to stay. Don't start them indoors or move them. Wait. They'll look much better all summer if unmoved.

I learned I will have to net the blueberries. There was one year that I had unmolested access to the whole crop, without losing a single berry to bird thieves -- but that did not repeat this summer. They have found them and they leave me none.

I am going to have to build a hoop system to put netting over, something like this maybe.

You can't just drape netting over blueberry shrubs, it gets tangled. So I'll try to create a portable frame system to cage the bushes, just for the time they are producing and then I can remove it. I predict a failed science project next year and new "lessons learned" from that.

I learned a lot this summer. I'll learn even more next year and the year after that.

Hummzinger

September seems to be more summery than July and August were. Hot days (80s and 90s), a lot of humidity, and warm nights so far.

It rained a half inch in a brief downpour on Sunday, the only time in ages I had anyone over for a cook out, and the rain came just as we sat down (inside) to eat!

This summer I have been having issues with the hummingbird feeder.

The little tube feeder that I always liked has attracted too many yellowjackets and it drips. Bugs and drips were never such a problem in past years, but this summer the hummers are tormented by aggressive wasps at the feeding hole and there is always a drop of sugar water hanging off it.

So a new hummingbird feeder (researched for wasp deterrence, ant avoidance, and ease of cleaning) is now up, hanging where the old one was.

It's a "Hummzinger" model. It has an ant moat in the center, upward facing deep ports that wasps can't get into and a plastic weather shield over it.

I watched this morning and the hummingbirds have found it and accepted it.

The yellowjackets still fly around the area -- they know sugar water is there -- but they are no longer all over the feeder driving the birds batty. There are no drips or stray sugar beads to attract any insects.

I liked how unobtrusive my old tube feeder was, nestled in by the clematis at the patio. The new Hummzinger one is plasticky and large and garish, but I think the hummingbirds will be happier.

I dunno about the big clear plastic umbrella thingy overhanging the feeder. That may have to go.

A hummingbird buzzed me and hovered in my face this afternoon, looking directly at me while I sat on the patio. Was it in thanks for eliminating their tormentors, or in anger for taking away the old familiar feeder?

I probably should have waited til next spring to change things up, but the insect pests were such an annoyance.

The hummingbirds will be gone soon, headed south. I hope they go away happy that I tried to make their summer a little easier, and not mad at me for making changes so late in the season!

Come Sit for a Bit

My estate is grand enough that I have multiple places to park myself for a rest and a view.

There is my new bench which I bought for decorative purposes to visually break up the long row of the berm. But I find I sit on it in the mornings, sometimes for a long time when the morning is cool and there is a breeze. It provides a view back up the yard that I don't normally see from the house or from the patio. It is shady in the morning and is just a delightful spot to rest.

Next year: this is a keeper. I want the bench here in the same spot next year.

Then there is the front porch, where I put the folding Mayan chairs this year. I only sit here once in a while. It's nice, but sitting on the front porch looking down the street is odd. We are at the end of the cul de sac, and I feel like I am monitoring the drivers and walkers and dog-exercisers as they come down the road. It's weird. Waving and eye contact is awkward.

Next year: remove the chairs. Put some flower stands and pots there and leave it as a decorative area. 

It doesn't function as a sitting porch.

There is also the gravel garden, which I can't figure out how to use. I put the patio table and chairs in it this year, and it looked nice, but eh. We tried three times this summer to entertain here, but it has to be timed right so the sun is behind the tall trees to the west. Otherwise, it's too sunny and hot and the umbrella doesn't shade enough area. The air conditioners roar nearby. The steel legs of the chairs sink into the gravel. It didn't really work.

Snacks and drinks are around the corner, up the deck, and too far away. I had to shepherd people out here to sit, and it didn't work easily as a place to sit and entertain.  I didn't use it during the day either.

Next year: go back to having the Mayan chairs here.
It works better as an occasional sitting area. 

I actually really liked the way the Mayan chairs looked in the gravel garden in prior years, so I'll be putting them back here. Maybe get a hammock too? Yeah.

These chairs work better here than on the front porch. 

Then there is the patio, where I spend my time surveying the place from the rockers. This is shaded now in the late afternoon and I rock here with a glass of wine. The hummingbird feeder is nearby.

Next year: Change this up. Put the patio table and chairs here.
It will be much more convenient from the kitchen, and it's near the grill.

I actually had the table and chairs here at first when the patio was brand new -- isn't this photo from early spring 2007 amazing?

The set barely fit, but the table I have now is smaller.

I also had the table and chairs up on the deck for a couple years, but it was always really cramped there and I could never get late afternoon shade. It just didn't fit. But I did like having a place to eat lunch and have drinks with friends right outside the kitchen / porch door.

The table and chairs belong near the kitchen and house, but this upper deck area was too small.

Having the table and chairs on the patio will be more convenient. Definitely doing that next year.

Oh, and there is the little cement bench under the birch tree. I do sit here, it's a good place to stop and catch my breath amid chores. It faces the Birch Garden and is in shade in the morning. This stays.

I supervise the butterflies from my spot on this low bench.

It's Labor Day -- the end of summer and I'm getting tired of the plants and flowers and weeds and successes and failures growing in the garden now (it happens). So instead I'm mentally moving furniture around outside and it seems to be much more rewarding at the moment.

A Little Stress

Hot and muggy yesterday, up to the mid 90s, and then a little cooler and fresher today after a brief thunderstorm rolled through last night. There was no rain from the storm though, just rumbles and flashes.

After drowning in two and a half inches of rain on August 13, it's now been over two weeks without any rain (I think a quarter inch fell the day we left for Denver, but that's hardly enough).

Some things look stressed.

The 'White Chiffon' Rose of Sharon looks really stressed. Leaves are turning yellow and it's not very leafy any more. I can see through it as I sit on the porch.  It is flowering but not as much as in other years and the blooms are shattering on the ground.

There has been vole activity all along the east foundation, and one tunnel leads directly into the rootball of the Rose of Sharon. Could that be part of the problem or is it just the long dry stretches with too little water?

The 'Edo Shibori' bush clover also looks bad. It is starting to flower now all along the bouncing stems, but the whole plant has flopped and splayed open down the middle. It's just messy looking. In other years it has been fuller and more arching.

'Forest Pansy' redbud looks stressed, but then this one is a constant concern -- it struggled in winter, never bloomed in spring, and leafed out late. But it did leaf out and it did look good in the cooler parts of summer. Now it looks limp, although it is one of the trees I do spend time watering deeply when I can.

The dogwoods look limp now too. The Cornus florida flowering dogwood in front and both Cornus mas corneliancherry dogwoods all have curled leaves, which is typical at the end of the season, but it seems very pronounced now. Is it the heat? The dry stretch? Is it normal?

Does it help if I worry?

Aesculus pavia, red buckeye, always yellows and drops its leaves early. Late summer is not unusual for this little tree to look raggedy and go bare. I did water this heavily this summer, as it crisped badly  in late summer last year. Even with the extra water it wants to close up shop in August.

It does seem unusual for the iteas in the Birch Garden to be reddening up already. They are bronzy now, and will be deep garnet red in October, if they hang on that long. I think the cool nights all summer this year and the dry conditions have stressed them into early color.

But some things actually look really good, with no signs of stress. The 'Robustissima' anemone, for example.

And the sweet autumn clematis continues to be spectacular, looking up at it from below, or looking out at it standing on the deck. Lovely from all angles.

And the 'Yellow Gleam' nasturtiums, after bunching around the foot of the twig towers all summer, have now made a shapely climb up the structure.

It's been a stressful summer for some of my plants. Too many chilly summer nights and too little rain. Then too much.

There's been a little stress in the household too -- Jim came home from Denver with a cold. It's almost a guarantee that airplane travel will sicken us.

Since retirement we are not around people enough, and with no grandchildren to share germs, we've lost immunity to anything.

Snork.

Sweet Surprise

Look what happened while we were away out west:

The sweet autumn clematis burst into bloom.

What a sight to welcome us home, and what a heady scent as I walk out onto the deck each day.

I had stayed away from planting this vigorous vine, worried about having a monster on my hands. I relented in 2012 and put one in by the deck stairs. It has behaved beautifully. It drapes lushly and stays compact.

I don't know if it's a matter of a few more years before it eats the deck and comes for me on the porch, but so far it is a safe size and shapely. I cut it to the ground each winter, so that will control it, I hope.

It was so nice to come home from our trip and see this fully blooming and inhale the sweet scent.

(By the way, the photo below was from last year, but it is one of the most frequently re-posted shots of mine on Pinterest. It's everywhere now. I should have watermarked it. . . . )

My Private Haven

This time a year ago the porch was torn up and in the middle of remodeling. Now, a year later, I find I am spending my entire summer on the porch. It was the best money we ever spent on the house.

The footprint didn't change, so it remains a narrow 7 by 14 foot area tucked in the back corner of the house. The windows are much deeper now, allowing me to look out, and the materials are much nicer than the cement floor and vinyl siding that were here before. It's not a big enough porch for entertaining many people, but it is perfect for me.

I have my coffee here in a pool of sunshine on cool summer mornings. I read here, nap here, drink a glass of wine here. I survey the gardens, look out on my deck full of containers, and supervise Jim grilling on the patio, all from inside my new porch.

When the weather is bad, I close the windows and sit out here and watch it rain. When it is hot and humid I come out here to escape the stuffy frigid air conditioning inside.

I check out the hummingbirds feeding at the feeder on the patio. They don't even know I am watching from inside my screened hideaway.

I write my journal posts on my laptop, sitting on the porch, and I spend too much time surfing around on the web. A lot of garden planning gets done here.

I thought I would spend evenings on the porch -- there is a lamp and soft wall lighting -- but I don't.

Why didn't we fix this space up years ago? For the first nine years we lived here the porch was simply  a passageway from the kitchen to the outside, a closet, a storage area for pots, an uninviting area to pass through.

Now I live here.

A New Tower

It was supposed to be a deep teal color, but it's blue.

That's okay, I like it.

Uncharacteristically for me, I have put a colored structure in the garden and I don't hate it.

I am trying to solve several problems here. . . .

One: this part of Meadow's Edge is mostly shady, especially in the afternoon, and the new clematis I ordered wants some shade, otherwise its pretty silvered blooms wash out. It can go on this pyramid.

Two: this spot near the big maple is flat and empty. I have groundcovers there -- epimediums and low spreading sedums and fleeceflower, but nothing with any height.  A large bulky shrub or big perennial simply won't grow in the maple's root system.

Three: This whole garden bed recedes into the background and my eye is drawn to the weedy meadow behind it. A bit of color and structure in the front brings it forward.

And four: My "allee' from the driveway looking to the back yard is nice in fall when the big maple in the distance is fiery red and draws your eye right down the walk and across the lawn. But in summer it's all greenery and it recedes. The blue tower makes a nice focal point.

I like the problems this tower solves, I like the color, and the size and visual weight are just right.

It's a keeper.