I Went To A Garden Party

I should say I went to a Garden Club Party (the fun group) at a gorgeous property that looks more like an arboretum than a backyard garden.  It is over three acres, and I know we did not see more than half of the woodland garden.  This property is owned by a real plantswoman who is a student of horticulture and has tended this expansive vista for almost forty years.

I dug plants here more than a month ago for a plant sale benefiting our local historical house, and today she opened her home for an end of the year festivity.  We all signed up to make an appetizer or dessert and had our last meeting of the season on the patio taking in the breathtaking views.  It has rained for the last few days, including during the morning and afternoon, but it seemed to have stopped just for our occasion.

Again, this is a property that requires a lot of work, daily work, until the snow falls.  The deer had broken through the protective fence and had a feast on some of the decorative containers, and I'm complaining about rabbits! 

This group is diverse, with different ages, backgrounds, small gardens, large gardens, no gardens anymore, and balcony gardens in the condo they have moved to as they aged.  Real gardeners live on through others efforts!

Wasn't it Ricky Nelson who sang, "I Went To A Garden Party," except he meant Madison Square Garden, not our type of garden!

Jack And The Beanstalk's Garden

It isn't often that I worry about plants getting too big.  I usually worry about them growing and thriving in the heat with a lack of moisture,  This year has been unusual with rain a few days each week.  I haven't had to water the lawn or my beds, but I find that the baskets and containers dry out because of the flower coverage that acts like an umbrella.  The plantings under my trees have also required water because of that umbrella effect.

I have had to move my rooster container to the back of the garden because the Rozanne geranium grew twice the size it has been for the last three years.  It was covering the cascading petunias causing them to not flower.  I hope they will be revived.  My large patio containers had to be moved out of the shade created by my Autumn Clematis which has already covered the top of the pergola (something it usually doesn't do until August).

My Persicaria is eight feet tall this year, and I have secured it with some thin garden wire, also wired my Miscanthus Udine so it doesn't flop with the excessive rain.  The containers by the back arbor and path also had to be relocated in order to receive more sun.  The lilies, clematis, phlox and daylilies are so large this year they have overshadowed the Costco containers, so I moved them to the front of the arbor.

It's an unusual season, slugs are out in full force, mildew is settling in, the rabbits are finding lots of juicy stems, but the "garden police" are out there keeping order!

Around The Garden

I think I am a day late this week, missed Fertilizer Friday, and it is supposed to rain again today.  It was very humid yesterday, close to 90 degrees, not a day to be working outside.

There is a lot blooming, so I'll just stay in the back garden today.

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!