Around The Garden

I can't believe another week has gone by.  I am noticing many changes in our weather even though it has been very warm.  The leaves are whirling with many already on the ground, my faux pumpkin blew down the alley (not heavy like a real one) forecasting a changing temperature over the next few days.  Our highs are predicted to be in the sixtys rather than eighties.

The Sweet Autumn Clematis is lovely on the pergola and has not even fully opened yet.  The wind has blown many of the petals all over the patio.  I watch this grow over the summer with not a bloom on it, it shades the patio, and when it blooms it is well worth the wait.  I am going to cut it down in the fall this year just to get all of this off the pergola.  We'll see if it survives, have cut other type 3's down in the fall and they have been fine.

With the first frost the coleus will be gone.  Coleus has been one of my best performers this year becoming  wilted with the high heat but always bouncing back with a little water.

Inky Fingers intertwined with Bronze Sweet Potato Vine amongst the boxwoods, always does well in this environment.

This is a section of the alley garden that shows most of the plants growing there, just repeating as you travel the approximately thirty foot length. 

This is Agastache Blue Fortune, very fragrant and usually covered with bees.  It is not a problem in the alley but I would not recommend it for anywhere where you pass by often.  Next to it is Sedum Autumn Fire, supposedly a replacement plant for Autumn Joy.  However, it's color is not as vibrant, flower heads not as big, but it does not flop and stands through the winter.

Perilla is a wonderful plant to fill in the border.  It is an annual in my area and related to the coleus.  It can get to be about four feet high and has a stronger stem and leaf structure than coleus.

Diamond Frost Euphorbia pairs very well with roses and allysum.  It is fairly cold hardy but will succumb to frost.  It has been recommended to plant with pointsettas but you will have to pot it up and bring it inside if you are in an early frost area.

After Becky Shasta was done blooming and cut down the Plumbago took over and I did add some marigolds.  I am redoing this garden, less Beckys and more phlox and daylilies.

Purple Dome Aster is just beginning to bloom.  The rabbits really did a job on this in the spring and I thought it would never bounce back.  It has really filled out because the rabbit pruning.

I have already cut many flower heads of Limelight Hydrangea and have more to cut over the weekend for drying.  I will leave some to winter over and turn a light tan in the winter.

I will also be cutting some of the plums of Miscanthus Udine for indoor decorating.  They turn a beautiful pink as the weather cools.  This is not a grass that I would recommend be left standing for the winter, however, it is very difficult to cut it down when it looks so beautiful.  Last year I left it and it was a major chore to cut down when flattened by the snow.

Panicum Northwind is a great grass to leave standing over the winter.  It will turn a light tan and even with snow will pop back up when it melts.  It is usually about March when you will notice it is not as upright, but this is okay, it's almost spring.

Variegated Solomon's Seal is a plant that has held up through the seasons and the heat.  It is a fast multiplier and loves a shady or partly shady area.

There is a great deal of work to be done in the garden this time of year.  When I wait too long it is miserable trying to work outside trimming and cutting.  I am trying to keep ahead of this, knowing that if I don't pull some things out early it will be difficult to do this in a few weeks.

A New Beginning

I went to my "Fun" Garden Club meeting this week and it was great to see everyone after a very long hot summer.  It's funny, no one talked about gardening, but our mission was to tell something about ourselves that no one knew and to give a little gardening or household tip if we wished.

Fall by my back garden shed

The lunch was wonderful, chicken salad with grapes, homemade rolls, salad and fruit salad, with little chocolate somethings for dessert.  We all love the lunches but what is most appetizing is the company and conversation, about our summer trips, gardening successes and failures and looking through the book of planned adventures for our group.

We have a very mixed group, young, middle-aged, older and oldest.  It makes for a delightful experience when someone shares that they used to be a flight attendant when they wore those sleek little military type caps with the wings on the front, when they could not be married and they had to be under a certain weight.

My other friend who also belongs to the serious group brought a picture of herself showing an activity that no one knew she was a sculler on a boat with many others from her college, another has written a children's book awaiting to see if it has been accepted.  We found out someone else from our group has a small floral design business and another is a super organizer with demos of her methods.

Oh, it is so great to be back with all of these interesting people!

The Four Seasons

One of my favorite movies of all time is The Four Seasons with Alan Alda and Carol Burnett,  The concertos by Vivaldi were mesmerizing as they wove through the story of these couples lives, and whenever I hear them I think of not only the movie but of all the seasons of the year.

My favorite season is spring with fall running a close second.  I am sure you can guess which are my least favorites, summer and winter, funny because as a child summer and winter were my favorites.  Oh, but that must have been before I became a gardener!

Could this be the last rose of summer, I hope not!  This double Knockout has put forth one beautiful rose after not blooming much all summer.

I am really liking the look of this Chocolate Chip Ajuga that I put between the cracks of the new bluestone walk under my arbor in the back garden.  Right now, it seems like a very controlled ajuga and you can walk on it without any damage.

I wish I had paid a little more attention to Boltonia Pink Beauty by caging it in last spring rather than letting it flop until the summer.  It is really stunning under the dogwood but not as pretty as it could have been.

One lone white campanula amongst the allysum

This was a $1.97 mum from Home Depot last year that I wintered over in the veggie garden and then transplanted into the border.  It is now about two feet tall and two feet wide.  I did pinch it back all summer, but I just don't have room in my summer garden for mums.  I might have to do them in pots for the summer.

This is Festive Ursula in the blue resin pots back by the arbor.  I am sure it is an early mum, but I just liked the color.  This one I might winter over in the veggie garden.

Helga is one of my favorite mums beginning to bloom by the garden shed.  Even though it is classified as an early mum, it lasts a long time and is not susceptible to insects or slugs as are some of the white mums.

I began cutting my Limelight today for drying, strip off as many leaves as you can because they do not dry well.

When they are stripped of leaves, you can put them in a tall bucket or vase to dry - no water, usually takes no more than a few days.

The Unique Hydrangea is handled in the same manner, leaves stripped and put in a vase or bucket to dry.  They are more pendulous than Limelight

Unique Hydrangea with Limelight Hydrangea

And Cut Some More!

My geraniums have had a hard time this year, just when they would begin setting buds or break into flower the rain and heat would hit.  When cutting geraniums don't just snap off the flower heads - prune all the way down to where the flower stem joins a main stem.  You will set flowers faster, and don't forget to feed them.  Geraniums are cold tolerant so will last into fall and past a light freeze.

Heuchera Villosa Purpurea is my favorite, not the showiest leaves but more floriforous than any of the others.  Keep trimming off the dried blooms and it will keep going all summer into fall.

Heuchera Southern Comfort has performed well in its first year.  Home Depot has had lots of this one at a reasonable price.

Flowers of Southern Comfort Heuchera

Cutting the daylilies back after blooming will give you a fresh green groundcover for the remainder of the summer into fall, no brown leaves.

Sedum Autumn Joy will flop with too much moisture.  You can cut it back in the spring but the flower heads will be small.  It is too heavy to tie up now, but it can be put in a circular open cage in the spring.  I don't like using too many supports, but I will definitely do this for an upright sedum.  Sedum Autumn Fire is similar to Autumn Joy, stays upright but the flower heads are not as impressive.

Amaranthus Love Lies Bleeding can be pruned so that it forms many pendulous flowers.  Mine has never looked like it should because I planted it too close to the miscanthus.

I cut the Unique Hydrangeas down to about two feet high in the spring and they still grow to about seven feet tall.

The Unique Hydrangea flowers are beginning to turn to that rosy pink that I love, so I will be cutting them this weekend.  You can leave them on the shrub, however, they do not hold up as well as Limelight over the winter months.

Keep Cutting!

As I walk through the garden each morning, I snip a little here and a little there.  It has really paid off in this very hot summer with continued blooms from my top performing plants.

Phlox Blue Paradise has been a real winner this summer.  I just keep cutting the spent blooms and it puts out more beautiful blooms.

Phlox Eva Cullum has never been a favorite because it is more prone to mildew.  However, this year it has outdone itself, less mildew and more blooms.  It doesn't seem to make sense with all of the heat and rain!

This is Phlox Laura.  I put it in last year and it really did not bloom very much, but it has been a strong performer this year showing no mildew so far.

Henryi is a Type 2 Clematis (just trim a little each spring to cut out dead vines).  However, this year after blooming I cut it to the ground to revitalize it after becoming very woody.  It has grown to about six feet tall and is reblooming.  So don't be afraid to cut back overgrown or woody clematis in the Type 1 and Type 2 categories.

This is my daughters Autumn Clematis which is a Type 3.  It is cut back each year to the ground and this is the growth it puts out.  I see many that are not cut back and just put forth top bloom above lots of old wood.

I cut my Heliopsis Lemon Queen down by half after its first growth spurt usually when it is about a foot tall to control the height.  As you can see, it is still about seven feet along a narrow walkway - not the best placement but nowhere else to place it!

Mango Meadowbrite Echinacea has been my best performing coneflower this year.  If you cut off the dead blooms it will continue to flower up until frost.  It is a more delicate looking coneflower but it seems to have more blooming stamina than many of the stronger looking coneflowers.

Rozanne Geranium went a little crazy this summer and crawled over everything in this bed, so I went a little crazy and cut it to the ground.  I am not sure it will rebloom this fall, but it is rejuvenating and looks a lot more normal.

Since this is getting a little lengthy, I will keep cutting around the garden moving into the front garden on my next post.