Mum's The Word

There are many alternatives to the yearly display of mums in our containers and in the landscape.  My husband feels they are a waste of money because they bloom for such a short time and rarely come back (in our zone) the following year.  If you do put them into the landscape and they do return they must be pinched in a semi-circle shape several times up until July to get that mounding shape you see in the nursery.

Each year I say I am not going to buy many mums, and each year I see a variety that I cannot pass up.  I never realized until a couple of years ago when I began to research certain varieties that there are certain bloom times.  There are early season varieties, middle and late, so if you are going to spend the money it is worthwhile to span the fall season.  I see many people walking out with plants in total bloom and know that they will not be pretty for very long.  Select your mums when the buds are still tight with just a few opening up so you can see the color.

Helga is an early mum in a creamy white.  The insects seem to leave this one alone and it blooms for a long period of time.  I also have had luck with Helga returning for a couple of years.

The pale colors and dark tones look lovely up close, but if you want your mums to pop out of the landscape from any distance, choose the bright yellows and oranges.  I love white mums or creamy colors, but some of the pure whites attract slugs at night.

I have begun to use some perennials in my containers in the fall.  Sedums, like Vera Jameson look wonderful hanging over the edges of a containers, ajugas, cabbages, sedge grasses, some bright orange pansies all look great and all can be transplanted to the garden late in the season.  I have my Vera Jameson from last year hanging over my vegetable garden.

Upright White Peacock Cabbage

Yellow Stemmed Swiss Chard

In the landscape, cabbages will hold up until December and some of the pansies are guaranteed to come back in the spring.  http://www.plugconnection.com/downloads/mums-f2008.pdf  This is a link that will give you an extensive list of mums, their chacteristics and bloom times.

If you must have mums, and I will probably give in and buy a few, bring your list with you of the bloom times so you can have them throughout the fall season.

Looking Forward

I really am looking forward to fall and redoing some areas of the garden.  My daylilies came today from R.Seawright in Massachusetts, Sandra Elizabeth a late daylily and Eileen Clymer an early daylily.  They even threw in a free Don Stevens a middle season daylily.  I have ordered from this company many times and their daylilies are top notch, like they had been in your garden for years and just divided.

Eileen Clymer

Don Stevens

Sandra Elizabeth

Tomorrow I will unband them and soak them in a bucket of water for most of the day.  All of the foliage is cut when daylilies are shipped but they soon sprout new leaves and look very healthy even the first season.

I am in the process of moving the iris, Caesar's Brother and other varieties that have not done well either because of too much shade or being crowded out by Becky.  Geranium Magnificum also has to be moved since it has not bloomed in the seven years we have been here. 

 Caesar's Brother got very big but very few flowers this year

These are a beautiful yellow and white iris that did not bloom this year because they were covered by the huge Becky Shasta Daisies.

Chicago Weathermaster will also be moved as they became quickly overshadowed by Heliopsis Lemon Queen.  They need to have a little more time to show off those wonderful blooms.  Now, I just have to find a place for them. 

I have cut back Henryi Clematis this summer because it was so woody and overgrown.  It is coming back slowly and very tender - so, I hope it grows enough this summer to bloom next spring.  It is a type 2 which normally does not get cut back but just trimmed, however, there was so much dead that I felt this was the only way to go. 

Betty Corning Clematis will also be moved because I just don't feel it gets enough sun under my neighbor's lilac bush on the south side of my garden.  Again, I am not sure where I am going to fit it in!

I totally dislike moving plants, it is like uprooting someone and expecting them to adapt to a whole new environment and be beautiful.  Sometimes it works out the plant is happy and I am happy.

And The Heat Goes On

I didn't have to water yesterday because we had another round of heavy storms that did a job on my large dahlias and my miscanthus on the south side of my home.  Weeping, weeping, weeping - need to get more of my ties out and stakes.  It is going to be very stormy, warm and humid again today in the 90's.  I feel like I am preaching to the choir because many of you are experiencing the same or worse!

I had better research more tropical plants, and I do like tropicals, but I never thought I would be thinking of them as a major part of my gardening.  Take a look at the dahlias that I planted in the veggie garden - lush and large because they have a deep reservoir of water to draw on.  The ones in the baskets and hayracks look pitiful.

Both of these dahlias are in the veggie garden.  The rest that I pulled out of the hayracks still look pretty bad!

Daylilies have weathered it all, rain, heat, humidity.  I have ordered some early and late ones to plant for next year.  I am also going to order more oriental lilies as they bloomed beautifully not even noticing the extreme weather.  I will not do hibiscus (annual) next year, very expensive, but did not perform bloom wise in this heat. Next year may be different but I am going to be more global in my plantings so that I don't have a garden of drooping plants.

This is Sandra Elizabeth a late daylily about 30" tall with a 6" flower.  I have ordered more of these to plant for next year.

Caladiums on North Side

Lemon Twist Coleus

My double and single Knockouts have not appreciated this weather, but the Rainbow Knockout is going strong, another reason to plant this wonderful rose. 

Rainbow Knockout

I need to get back to my garden clubs, we need to discuss this summer and our successes and failures.

The Last Dance

Can you believe it will be the last time to do certain activities in the garden?  Evergreens should have been trimmed before the end of July because they put out new growth that can be nipped with the first frost.  Frost, what does that mean?  The average first frost for Illinois is the third week of October.

I still have some boxwoods that I am going to take a chance and trim this week because if this weather keeps up we won't have frost until January!  Do not feed any evergreens or shrubs in August in zone 5 or colder - stimulating growth can cause dieback when it turns colder.

Some pretty things to look at as we talk about the end of summer annuals.  This is an unnamed coleus and feathery sweet potato vine.  I wish I had planted this in one of my containers but this was designed for my daughter-in-law for two carefree metal urns by the back door.  They have done great all summer.

My daughter-in-law's front planters are very large 24" cast iron on pedestals, so if your remember the spring plantings, there were lots of plants!

I will feed my roses for the last time within the first two weeks of August.  My Rainbow Knockouts usually bloom until early November.  I do trim all of my roses lightly just to neaten them up, never having a problem with late fall growth.

Annuals still need to be fed every two weeks with a high bloom formula until they succumb to the frost - impatiens, coleus, sweet potato vine, fuchsias and all types of begonias will be the first to go with zinnia, marigolds and dahlias to follow.  Petunias, allysum and geraniums are the last to give up the ghost as they can take some cool temperatures. 

This is Red Velvet Coleus and Yellow Saffron Suberbells and they have not succumbed to our constant heat this summer.

This is Gay's Delight Coleus and it will not hold up to a frost, but in the meantime a great color in the garden.
I will need to bring my tropicals in when the nights begin to drop into the 40's.  I can't believe I am actually saying that temperature.

The red grasses will take over for fall, petunias will hold up to a light frost, sweet potato and coleus will not take a frost, but we will insert some cabbages and decorative pumpkins.

We can make this work into the next season!

A Bountiful Harvest In a Small Garden

After an early morning heavy rainstorm, I went out to the garden to check the veggies.  Oh, I had two tomatoes, two cucumbers and a few more peppers last week, so I wasn't expecting much.  Voila!  I ventured around the back of the garden and found many more tomatoes than I had seen previously, pulled some carrots (small but we did have them for dinner) cut the basil and picked some more of those pretty hot peppers.

When you pick tomatoes choose various stages of ripeness so that you don't end up with more ripe tomatoes than you can use in a given time frame.  However, this doesn't always work if you have planted tons of tomatoes.  Good luck, I have been there with making every tomato recipe I could find, giving them away to the point where friends and family said they couldn't use anymore!

Keep the basil flowers deadheaded or the plant will go into decline.  I cut quite a bit today and I can't use it right away, so it becomes a decorative arrangement plunged into a pitcher of water.  It will hold for a couple of days until I can make my pesto recipe.  This is a recipe given to me by my daughter-in-law because the children would not eat my pesto but went back for seconds with hers.  Mine was the James Beard adult recipe, a little too strong not only for children but for some adults.

1/4 cup of pine nuts

1 large bunch of fresh basil, no stems

1/2 cup of parmesan cheese shredded

1 clove of garlic

1/2 cup of olive oil

Process in blender or food precessor, store in refrigerator or freeze