Rain And More Rain

Rain makes everything grow giant, it makes plants fall over that would normally be upright through the season.  Rain is not always friendly to our gardens, mold, certain insects, damaged flowers.  Whatever, we have had lots of rain, and I look out at the garden and see weeping everything.  The larger roses are bent to the ground and everything else is green, green, green.

My Huchera Villosa Purpurea are huge, Lirope Spicata taller than ever, Boxwood Chicagoland lush and bigger than ever.  Endless Summer Hydrangeas are full size and my hostas August Moon and Halcyon beyond expectations.  I am not going to complain about rain, but enough is enough for now!

Peter, Peter, You Naughty Rabbit

Many of us are saying these words right now.  Beatrix Potter knew, as Peter was her pet rabbit before she wrote all of those charming stories about ducks, squirrels, geese and rabbits.

Rabbits are very timid animals, they like to live in burrows digging intricate tunnels called warrens that interconnect to nurseries called stops.  Rabbits have very good hearing and ears that turn in every direction, with great eyesight and a sense of impending danger.  They do not drink water like other animals, but they split plants and suck out moisture.  They do chew plants, bark, vegetables, etc., and regrow their teeth if whittled down on the bark of bushes or trees.

Rabbits can have up to eighteen babies at a time and reproduce many times throughout the year.  I learned today that the babies are vorciferous and will eat anything even though the smell is bad.  I was told that the taste needs to be also bad to discourage the babies.

I am using a product that seems to keep the rabbits controlled, but I noticed my new baby has eaten everthing down to the ground, asters, roses, hosta, phlox, etc.  So, in addition to my granular, I bought a taste bad spray for the babies!

I don't see any rabbits running in a zig zag, standing like a statue, or thumping their back feet when I appear in the garden (all things they are supposed to do when danger is near).  They are obviously not afraid of me!

P.S. I have included some photos of plants the rabbits don't seem to like yet!

Around The Garden

I can't believe it has been another week in the garden.  There have been lots of changes and not all for the better.  We had a huge storm early Wednesday morning and many of my plantings suffered damage from the heavy downpours.  I will be cutting all of my Carex back on the north side of the house because most of it got flattened.  The Persicaria on the south side also lost several large stems, bent to the ground.

The Centranthus in my alley garden is leaning heavily, but I hate to trim it back since it was in full flower.  I am thinking if I don't the cars will be rolling over it.  My shorter plantings seem to have come through the deluge much better.

Pretty Much Picasso

The vote is not in yet, but I am not sure Picasso would like his name on a flower that does not deserve the kudos that he normally expects.

This new introduction from Proven Winners has the color attributes that you would Ooh and Ah over but so far I am not seeing the performance.  I have placed it in three different planters around my garden and even though it is growing well, I am not sure what this flower really looks like.  It doesn't seem to open fully and some flowers split when trying to open. 

None of my specimens looks like the photo put out by Proven Winners, and one gardener per Garden Rant asked them if they photoshopped it.  Proven Winners denied that it was anything but the real thing.  It is touted as a vigorous grower supertunia but it won't matter if it does not have a distinguished flower.  The colors are wonderful, magenta with a lime green border - so the jury is still out.

What do you think?

Life In The Slow Lane

I don't mean to imply that it is a negative to live life in the slow lane, but it is certainly a change of pace for a Chicago girl to go to Wisconsin for Memorial Day weekend.  We usually go to our Lake Geneva home with my daughter and her family, mostly because my husband and son-in-law like to play golf while we sit around and wait for them to come home!  The children love it up there because my granddaughter rides horses and begs to go riding each and every visit.

I do have a garden in Wisconsin, but it is very waterwise with dianthus firewitch, coneflowers, daylilies, sedum, salvia, coreopsis, lavender and my lovely Knockout roses (which get eaten each year by the Japanese Beetles).  I will put in some Gaillardia Arizona Sun which seem to hold up throughout the summer without a lot of watering.  I know mulching will be part of our weekend as it was pretty sparse the last time we visited.  Also, they had tied up that fallen arborvitae, but it is not a permanent solution.

I have a beautiful Chanticleer Pear by the deck which seems to be the perfect spot for a smaller tree between two townhouses. 

We will probably go to Wall Mart, Home Depot and Target as these are the go to places in Lake Geneva.  The town is bustling and difficult even to get to on route 50 - we take a back road and avoid all of that confusion.  If you remember what I have mentioned before, it is music, motorcycles and cars all weekend.

The best thing about it is that no matter how old you are, you are always young when you visit Lake Geneva, Wisconsin!