Monthly Archives: June 2010

Name that bug; win a new car!

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That is a complete lie. Ms. N and I both have this bug in our gardens and have no idea what it is. Friend? Foe? She found the insects on her hydrangea. I found them buzzing around the bottom leaves of the hollyhocks (which are being overtaken by weevils and rust, blast it!).  Note to self: find a good insect identifier on the Internets.

The weather was hot and intermittently rainy this past weekend. What a great time to visit nurseries! Oy, a big mistake. I was doing so well until the last stop and then purchased several new plants. All perennials were 25% off though! I have this same problem during cold months here, but it involves yarn instead of plants. This was the haul:

  • Autumn Bride Coral Bell (Heuchera villosa) which I grabbed accidentally when reaching for the Key Lime
  • Little Lantern Ligularia
  • Joystick Red Thrift, Sea Pink (Armeria pseudarmeria)
  • Alexander Loosestrife (Lysimachia punctata)
  • Golden Male Fern (Dryopteris affinis)
  • Limerock Ruby Coreopsis
  • Thriller Lady’s  Mantle (Alchemilla mollis)

I did purchase a Jack Frost (Brunnera macrophylla) for Mom G’s garden. She had her eye on them during our 2010 Nursery Crawl, but the price tag kept her from purchasing one. Also, I found a fantastic nursery when I begin to tackle integrating flowering shrubs into the Lot.

The beans and cucumbers in our veggie beds are doing well. The beans have unfurled their arms and are beginning to climb up the twine strung between the top of the support and the soil level of the bed. The  cucumber are also ready to climb. I began work on a type of cradle I found a sketch of in Patricia Lanza’s Lasagna Gardening. I am reusing lengths of twine that were binding together bales of hay. To secure the ropes together, I looked up some knots and decided on the Sheetbend knot I found here. Hopefully I can finish the cradle this week and post a photo.

As a last note, the June 2010 issue of Wired has a fantastic article about gardening. Don’t Call It Gardening – The Wired Guide to Domestic Terraforming by Dominique Browning almost caused me to shoot cereal out of my nose this morning. It is definitely worth a read, especially for those gardeners that have a hefty does of Geek in their blood.

A Wild Weekend

birds, pruning
Purple Knockout Salvia
Purple Knockout Salvia

With the Heritage Hill Garden Tour on Saturday, I wasn’t able to play in the dirt until Sunday. Most of the day was spent deadheading and pruning. We had a stellar Spring season and a beautiful beginning to Summer. The plants on the Lot are still about two weeks ahead of last year’s dates. In Ms. A’s full sun beds, the plants are even further ahead.

Already, most herbs on the Lot are wildly overgrown. Last year many of our herbs grew ill because of the ridiculously wet Spring and dense growth of the plants. The Catnip was lost to powdery mildew. (I know, who could possibly kill Catnip?!) This year the growing season doesn’t seem nearly as wet, but I’ve tried to pay special attention to allowing enough air to circulate between and through the plants. The Chocolate Mint, Salad Burnet, and Winter Savory were thinned by trimming out the oldest (largest) stalks near the base of the plant. The Tarragon was cut back by 1/3, leaving about a foot and a half of height. The Sage, Lemon Thyme and Oregano are on the radar for tomorrow. I’d like to look up each one on the Lot for specific care instructions.

Deadheading befell the Foamflower (long overdue because the seed heads are pretty), Beardtongue, Roses, Early Sunrise Coreopsis, Dahlia and some more Jupiter’s Beard. I also went through three hanging baskets and containers deadheading annuals. Tomorrow some Lilies and Blanket Flower will be losing some spent blossoms.

In full bloom after this weekend are the Bridal Veil Astilbe, Purple Knockout Salvia, White/Dark Bee Delphinium, Hollyhocks, Moonbeam Coreopsis, Tequila Sunrise Coreopsis, Snapdragons, and Chameleon Plant. The Hostas, Nicotiana, Key West Astilbe and Gayfeather are all well on their way to producing blooms.

The most exciting news this past weekend was an unexpected visitor to the Lot. My Other Half and I were chatting in the backyard, me pruning and he keeping our four-legged garden helpers out of trouble and vegetable beds, when we heard this low buzzing/humming type of noise. When we looked over at the back bed, sure enough there was a ruby throated hummingbird dancing around the Jupiter’ Beard! It’s hard to withhold a squeal of delight when you see something that cool. We make efforts to lure this beneficial-to-the-garden type of wildlife to the Lot. As soon as the little guy buzzed away, my Other Half took off for the kitchen to whip of a batch of Mom G’s hummingbird feed. The feeder is now filled and ready for any additional visits. Next up will be a minature terry cloth robe and pillow mint.

Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day – June 2010

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Yay! Here are a few pics I snapped for the very first Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day being celebrated at this address. We were out of town for the weekend, but that didn’t stop the Lot. We were treated to some new arrivals upon our return.

blanket flower and lavender
Lavender Munstead and Blanket Flower
Lillies and Dappled Willow
Lillies and Dappled Willow
Coreopsis Early Sunrise
Coreopsis Early Sunrise

Also blooming this month and not pictured are the Lamb’s Ear, multiple roses, Camelot Lavender Foxglove, Chocolate Chip Bugleweed, Husker Red Beardtongue, Edelweiss, a shorter golden daylily, spiderwort, Arctic Glow Globe Thistle and Mystica Beardtongue. I just learned from the Bloom Day post at May Dreams Gardens that the common lily blooming along the west side of our house right now is a “ditch lilly” or Hemerocallis fulva.

For my own notes, the Moonbeam and Tequila Sunrise Coreopsis have a blossom or two. So does the White/Dark Bee Delphinium and the Purple Knockout Salvia. Just getting ready to open are both the Bridal Veil and Key West Astilbe. I just deadheaded the Jupiter’s Beard last night and the Valerian this evening, so we’ll see if they will have another round of blooms.