Read 'Garden Profile: July 25, 2010' at http://www.KarensGardenTips.com.

We are back to high temperatures; everyday is well over 90 (as high as 99) with high humidity and evening showers. I think the plants went on vacation and I don’t blame them. I have stuck to morning and evening to complete gardening chores and have stayed out of the heat as much as possible. The head gardener, on the other hand, seems to thrive in the heat and works all day in the sun, this week weaving the canes of climbing roses into the arbors.

The roses were very bushy and looked like they needed a hair cut badly; I wish I had a “before” picture so everyone could see how much the trim job improved things. Believe me, this trim tidy look is all head gardener’s doing. He stood on a ladder for several hours weaving the canes into the arbor The canes of this rose (‘Awakening’) are very flexible and the thorns are hooked backward so no ties or cutting was necessary.

Several roses are ending their second bloom and others are beginning their third. One of the prettiest roses in the rose garden right now is the polyantha ‘Leonie Lamesch’. The bush is not the best looking, in fact, it seems to struggles through the winter and takes some time to recover in the spring.

The flowers, however, are very unusual in color; each one is a mix of various shades of copper, orange, and red with the darker colors on the tips of the petals. The colors fade as the flowers mature so that by the time the flower is done it is white with touches of crimson on the edges of the petals. Quite beautiful.

The second beautiful rose right now is David Austen’s ‘Ambridge Rose’. I am a great admirer of David Austen roses but will only grow those that are disease resistant and relatively small, leaving me few choices. But ‘Ambridge’ is a beauty with a lovely apricot-pink color and a sweet myrrh-like fragrance. It repeats quickly and is self-cleaning.

Outside the rose garden we have a hillside of shrubs and trees. The abelias are beginning to bloom there making a nice setting for the rose garden.

Although the flowers appear as a pale pink haze at a distance they reveal an interesting character when viewed close up.

The outstanding plant in the formal garden this week is the garden phlox, Phlox paniculata ‘Laura’ with its purple color and white eye. It has had a hard time in this location for the past two years because of encroaching iris, rue, banana and fennel but I made a commitment to let it have its space this year and it has responded well.

In the yellow border the earlier of my two goldenrods is just beginning to bloom and showing a bit of green that makes it especially pretty.  Orange celosia peaks around it on the left.

I am very fond of plants with colorful or foliage that can provide interest all growing season while the other plants come and go. I have two different barberries in the parterre near a border that goes from red to orange and then yellow.

The red barberry goes well with annuals of various colors like this orange portulaca.

And it looks just as well as a background for red portulaca,

In part of a pastel parterre I combined pink portulaca and red leaf celosia.
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In another parterre white variegated plants euphorbia, euonymus, and lirope are companions for lamb’s ear and white gomphrena.

The sunflower vine in the pot in the center of the formal garden is finally taking hold and one plant has two flowers on it. I started these from seed and so they are very late but I still have hope that they will climb up the supports and cover the trellis with flowers.

The butterflies are coming in droves. Black swallowtails have joined the yellow swallowtails that have been frequent visitors in past weeks.

August is our usual month for seeing monarchs and the first one came this week. He seems to be unconcerned with the bee that got to the flower first.

The bees seem to be more attracted to the Joe Pye weed and a constant hum emanates from the part of the garden where it grows.

I did a little survey of volunteers this week. Some are very successful and I welcome them into my garden, like this celosia that grew in a pot last year and apparently reseeded. The plumes are not as big and showy as last year but en masse they provide a splash of color.

The vinca appears to have come true from seed with the same bright color and growing habits.

I was grateful for the portulaca that appeared in this pot. The pot has a tiny interior and so hold very little soil and moisture, making it difficult to grow most plants in it but the portulaca seems to do well.

This portulaca in the dwarf conifer bed was a surprise and looks out of place so I shall probably transplant it elsewhere.

The head gardener is taking care of this sweetgum sapling so he can plant in a wet area of the garden. It probably came into our garden in the mulch.

These cherry tomatoes are early and very tasty. I am always glad to see some volunteers cherry tomatoes because they usually produce tomatoes over a very long season.  i never plant any and rely on volunteers.

Some of my volunteers have not been so successful. This vine sprung up in an area where I grew Armenian cucumbers and cantaloupe. The vine looks like a cucumber…

but the fruit is neither cucumber nor melon. It doesn’t look like or taste like either. I ate a large one at lunch yesterday and almost gave up because it was so hard to chew; not fibrous, just tough, like an unripe melon.

This squash is a dud too. The fruits are dreadful and don’t even look good. Some years I get tons of excellent summer squash  and zucchini from volunteers but not this year.

The biggest culinary success by a long shot was our basil. Using 100 leaves the head gardener made pesto.

It’s hard to believe he used to use a mortar and pestle to grind up the ingredients.

The pesto takes less time to make now than cooking the pasta.

Yum… can’t beat this for a delicious treat from the garden!

Read 'Garden Journal: July 18, 2010' at http://www.KarensGardenTips.com.

For weeks I complained about the lack of rain and finally it rained; now I am complaining about too much rain. The soil is soupy, there is standing water in low areas, the grass is developing brown spots, the squash are drowning, and pests are multiplying like wild fire. I can’t believe we are having this much rain in mid July, a time that is traditionally fairly dry. The bright side is that the temperatures have been tolerable and there has been plenty of sunshine as the rain has come in torrential showers, especially in the evenings (how the blackspot fungus must be rejoicing!).

Speaking of black spot; we have two different kinds of climbing roses growing side by side on an arbor. One of them, ‘New Dawn’ is an Earthkind rose which means that after the first year you don’t have to do much for it. Since it is disease resistant it needs no spraying and we never spray it. Here are the leaves:

Did you notice that there is not a single spot of black spot? Not a single spot! Now take a look at ‘Bantry Bay’. We spray it ever 10 days; it grows in the same soil as ‘New Dawn’, gets the same amount of water, same fertilizer, same deadheading.  I hate to think what the Green Rose leaves would look like if we didn’t spray.

To be entirely fair, although ‘Bantry Bay’ gets black spot, it doesn’t seem to slow it down any.  It is a vigorous grower, marching up the arbor a head of the others by a long shot. And while it is on her way up the arbor it manages to bloom without stopping, a unusual characteristic for a climbing rose. So, I guess it is well worth the spray job and tolerating the disfigured leaves.

The two stars of the rose garden this week are both green. The first one, the ‘ Green Rose’ has flowers that don’t look like roses or even flowers, for that matter. That’s why I grow it, can’t resist an odd looking flower like this.

The bush is not so great looking this year. It is a China rose and a bit on the tender side in a cold winter so it took a beating this past year.

The other green rose is ‘Greensleeves’, a floribunda rose, producing its flowers in clusters.

The flowers open a pale peach but turn to chartreuse green as they mature on the bush. Flower arrangers love them for the green color but I find that the dirty looking mature stamens are a big negative. Also, the Japanese beetles love the flowers and ruin a large number of the flowers before they turn green. Still, I rather like this one and would be sad to see it die.

The Kordes rose ‘Dortmund’ is a big guy and is not reblooming but is producing huge hips on the branches I could not reach to deadhead. This rose is in a European group equivalent to our Earthkind roses and needs no pampering. I walk on by it when spraying and have never seen any significant fungus on it. A very good rose!

We have an ugly corner in the rose garden that contains the air conditioning units a numerous pipes. We try to hide the pipes with a big rose bush but thought that a vine might be nice there too. The head gardener got busy last fall and made a large arbor to go up against the wall of the house and over the bathroom window.

I started moonvines from seed and they are just beginning to take hold and climb up the arbor. Once they get going they will proceed quickly and make a good showing but they have been taking their time getting established this year. I think I will start them many weeks earlier than I did this year so that they will make it to the top and bloom before frost.

The cardinal vines seeds are started at the same time as the moonvines and have been growing well. They are at the top of their support, another project completed recently by the headgardener (he does a lot of welding!). Two seedlings were planted in each pot and they have both done well but their delicate nature makes them somewhat inconspicuous thus far.

I started the sunflower vine seeds later than the other two and they are consequently less mature than the other two but finally taking grip this week. Their support is like the ones the cardinal vines are growing on but much, much larger. Verbena “Homestead Purple grows around them.

The star of the formal garden is the black eyed Susan, Rudbeckia “Goldsturm’.

Its golden yellow color is perfect with the daylily “Stella D’oro.

The shasta daisy ‘Becky’ echos the shape of rudbeckia and picks up the color in its center.

I also like it with the pink cone flowers although golden yellow and dusty pink are not really a combination favor otherwise.

The pink coneflower is a knockout, however, with the opening flowers of Joe Pye weed ‘Little Joe’

I had some fun with the pink coneflower this week. I had to cut some back so I picked up a stem with three flowers and marched around the garden trying it with various other flowers to see what nice combinations I might put together for next year with all the extra pink coneflowers I seem to have. One of my favorite combos was with globe thistle.

Another como I liked was with liatris. Both are floppy in my formal garden this year so I don’t know that I would want to put them together; but they look nice.

The color combination of the coneflower and verbena was eye catching but the difference in height made this one unrealistic.

The yellow swallowtails have moved on to the lantana this week. The black ones are gone (sigh).

A lone common buckeye found the yellow scabiosa clump and was quite obliging while I snapped his picture.

The magnolia ‘Little Gem’ is doing a rebloom. I especially love the brown undersides of the leaves.

The rose colored crepe myrtle didn’t last very long this year but added a lot of color to the rose garden where it is planted outside the surrounding ligustrum hedge.

The flower trusses are heavy and full but unfortunately already producing fruit.

Yup, we harvested eggplant this week and I made eggplant parmasan. There are plenty more coming along so I will probably make lots more.

The acorn squash have been rolling in also. I am not used to having them so early but now that we have begun grilling them I welcome them.

Some are not as ripe as I would normally like but some animal, probably squirrels, have been dinning on them lately so I have been harvesting them as soon as I think they are edible.

The summer squash are coming in my the armloads with no end in sight.

But the zucchini, growing in the next row over, are being destroyed by squash vine borers.

I saw damaged leaves on the beans;

Sure enough, those wretched Mexican bean beetles have arrived.

Meanwhile the pepper plants are being routinely chomped by the deeer.

We have put up tripods of metal stakes around them hoping that this will cause them to move out of the area without any more damage.

I am also saving cat hair every time I groom my Siamese cats, Horace and Clodia; it is going to be a long time until I have enough hair to do anything significant but meanwhile I will have the best groomed cats in town.   Last year I got so desperate when the deer were eating the roses that I spread used kitty litter around the perimeter of the rose garden. Somehow I can’t quite bring myself to put kitty litter in the vegetable garden so I hope the tripods or hair will work. There is no sure way of ridding a garden of deer so I have to do the best I can and live with the results.

Read 'Garden Journal: July 11 2010' at http://www.KarensGardenTips.com.

And the heat goes….and on…and no rain. We had to increase the irrigation system to include the areas where hand watering was not sufficient. Most of the perennials struggle to survive but the annuals love the heat and grow like weeds. That’s a very good thing because as the perennials fade I am planting more and more annuals to fill in the spaces. Of course, that means more attention to watering and a lot more hand watering. Showers are expected so hopefully we will get some. There is nothing like a good rain; the plants respond differently to a natural rain than to any kind of watering but I have never figured out why. Perhaps they like a cool shower without the sun beating down on them. I don’t blame them one bit!

I can complain about the lack of rain but not about the irrigation system. I guess we have been over zealous because I found this guy in the back lawn.

You never know what your neighbor’s irrigation system will do for you. We recently had a couple of arborvitae on our property line die recently for no apparent reason.

A few yards down from the arborvitae some dune grass we planted on a slope with terrible soil started growing well and looking good so we watched; the neighbor’s irrigation system spills over a little onto our property and it seems to be just enough to kill our arborvitae but make our dune grass flourish.

While cleaning up the daylily debris in the allee I noticed that the crapemyrtles there are exfoliating. I have always enjoyed the pretty patterns on the trunk and branches of these trees but never seen them in the process of exfoliating.

The grasses are beginning to come into their own. The dwarf fountain grass Pennisetum “Hameln’ is pushing up its fuzzy looking flowering stalks.

Northern seas oats, Chasmanthium latifolium, profited from the early spring rains and is larger than ever before. I have had to ripe out handfuls of it and wish it were in the middle of the border it is so large this year. For the first time I have hung a handful of stems to dry them for fall use in dried arrangements.

The stars of the formal garden are the true lilies. The stargazer lilies (blooming with a single volunteer of cleome) are still going strong and continue to scent most of the garden with their heady fragrance.

The oriental hybrid lilies are well over 6’ tall and are covered with buds as well as a few flowers. They have huge strong looking stems but the plants are so top heavy they lean like the tower of Pisa. Next year I will make sure they have some support.

The flowers are quite unusual looking. They hang in a way that reminds me of the roof of a Chinese pagoda; the outside of the petals is white, the inside deep red. It is a beauty and fragrant too!

The daylilies in the formal garden are later than those in the allee, which are all finished. The formal garden is a little lower than the allee and perhaps cold air drainage causes the different bloom times for some of the daylilies. The old favorite ‘Hyperion’ can be counted on for a very long bloom growing here with variegated miscanthus grass;  nice echo of yellow in the grass stems.

This unnamed daylily makes a nice companion for red barberry.

The orange and red tones of ‘Fire King’ are looking nice with the last blooms of butterfly weed.

And this golden arborvitae really sets of the lemon yellow of the daylily I brought from my previous garden.

Elsewhere in the formal garden the liatris finds a good companion with the pink phlox.

The hollyhock that I had to cut back last week has responded with more flowers and bigger ones on the one stalk that I left.   I feel like Jack with this hollyhock instead of a beanstalk.

A single dill flower has come into bloom on new growth after I cut the dill back severely.

One of the dianthus plants has bloomed; I love the mini carnation-like flowers but find the blue green foliage a big asset all season long.

All over the formal garden the butterflies come to rest. Most of them are yellow swallowtails.

We have an occasional black one visit too.

Two roses are making a grand show in the rose garden. The flowers of ‘The Alexander Rose’ remind me of dogwoods. Most David Austen roses are large and full, looking like old garden roses, but have a tendency to develop black spot. This one is very different on all counts.

The floribunda rose ‘Evelyn Fision’ is producing a profusion of blooms in a gorgeous color of red.

My new acquisition, the floribunda ‘Easy Does It’, is blooming for the first time in situ.

The blend of colors in the flowers as they open are what grabbed me.

In addition to summer squash and cucumbers, we harvested some acorn squash.

We enjoyed the acorn squash by grilling them with just a brushing of oil, adding a honey glaze after turning them.

The eggplant are getting long and should be ready soonmanthium.

Italian dinners are coming up!

Read 'Garden Journal: July 4, 2010' at http://www.KarensGardenTips.com.

We finally got a reprieve in regard to the weather and have enjoyed several days of cool temperatures. I have even had to wear a heavy shirt out into the garden in the mornings until 9 when the sun reaches the gardens and begins the daily warm up. Still no rain, however, so the irrigation system goes on regularly and everything seems to be thriving so far. This next week is expected to be another heat wave with temperatures in the 90s so I am hunkering down and getting outside to work early in the morning.Overall, the gardens are looking pretty good as one perennial fades and another comes into bloom.

The daylily display is winding down but those that are still blooming are putting on a nice show.

Some late bloomers have finally made a showing and are quite striking. This is ‘Exotic Love’ and it certainly lives up to the first part of its name, but I am not quite sure why ‘Love’ is there. It’s not my idea of love.

Another late-comer is ‘Fire King’ seen here with its neighbor, parancanda.

The parancanda has almost the exact same colors.

‘Chicago Apache’ is another bright red latecomer and is paired here with the annual melapodium, one of the toughest, carefree, and best annuals I have ever grown.

These two red daylilies and their companions grow in the hot border where they are right at home with other red, orange, and yellow flowered plants.

The white border is dominated by the daisy ‘Becky’.

‘Becky’ is a tall, long blooming perennial that spreads quickly and forms a large clump in a single season. When not in bloom its gloosy dark green foliage makes it a welcome member of the border.

The back of the border is seeing some action this week with the perennial hibiscus blooming.

The flowers are huge and last only a day so should be deadheaded regularly to keep this giant going.

The hollyhocks have been chopped down except for this one. Rust became a problem for some and others fell toppled over onto their neighbors so something had to change.

Many of the fallen hollyhock are looking ratty because of Japanese Beetle to their leaves.

The stargazer lilies have just begun to bloom. Their heady fragrance is overwhelming when I weed near them.

The rose garden is looking good with its new edging. The edging sets off the boxwoods and grass paths giving structure to the garden even when the roses are not blooming.

But some of the roses are beginning to put forth their second bloom. ‘ Pope JohnPaul II’ is the most floriferous and, in fact, is a show stopper.

The flowers are classic hybrid teas and make good cut flowers.

‘Rose de Rescht’ is an old garden rose that bears its flowers on very short stems so they are not good for cutting. The bush is never covered with flowers but pugs along with nice foliage and form all summer.

The flowers are an intense magenta color, full of petals, and about 2’ across.

Three bushes in one area are blooming together in a gorgeous symphony of color.

‘Lillian Austen’ is the prettiest rose in my garden in regard to color. It starts out rich coral pink with a yellow center; the yellow fades and the coral pink matures to rose pink with a hint of cream at the center. The back of the petals is a little darker and each petal is slightly ruffled. And the flowers are fragrant. Wow! I m blown away every time this bush comes into bloom.

‘Hawkeye Belle’ is a Buck rose and like my other Buck rose, ‘Barn Dance”, was bred in Iowa for cold tolerance but loves the conditions in my garden and is thriving. Naturally, they both come through the winter vigorous and ready to grow; and they just keep on growing and producing flowers all summer in spite of the heat and humidity. Here’s ‘Hawkeye Belle’ (‘Barn Dance is having ‘a bad hair day’ because of Japanese beetles.)

The vegetable garden is beginning to produce on a regular basis.

The invasion of the summer squash has begun in earnest. We are eating them and giving them away and still have plenty on the plants.

The cukes are moving a long much more slowly and a volunteer is providing what we have.

The cucumbers of this plant are short and stocky and don’t seem to have a lot of seeds.

When young, the cukes are have fuzz on one end. I don’t remember any cucumber like this from last year and so wonder if this is an accidental hybrid.

A couple of our onions are blooming.

The onions themselves are ping pong ball size but growing quickly this past week and we have started harvesting them as the need arises.

One of the lettuces in the musclum has bolted; the others are holding steady, neither dying, bolting, or growing.

Baby eggplants are forming.

And we have a lot of small green tomatoes at last.

I always hope to have tomatoes from the garden to eat by the fourth of July but I guess I have to accept disappointment this year. Now that I have green ones on the vine I can dream.

Read 'Garden Journal: June 27 2010' at http://www.KarensGardenTips.com.

<I am not the only one decrying miseries of the heat and humidity this week; the plants are right with me. To make matters worse, there has been no rain so 95 degrees with high humidity has been a hardship for most of them.

We have pumped up the irrigation and I do a lot of hand watering so we haven’t had any fatalities yet and the lawn is still hanging in there.

The daylilies have been great fun this week in spite of the heat. Most bloomed at least once or twice;either their last bloom or their first. Most of them, however, are tapering off and everyday I cut down more stalks as the last flower on them fades.

The new ones worthy of note include these:

‘Bold Tiger’ with its red eye and orange petals lives up to its name.

Much less flashy but perhaps more interesting is a flower of ‘Lady Neva’ with its unusual form and large size (7”).

‘Blood Spot’ has a smaller flower (4.5”) but an intense red color that looks fabulous in a hot border.

‘Big Kiss’ a called a double but it looks like more than that.

‘Panda Bear’s pale yellow petals with wine colored edging and eye make it a standout and especially appealing with several blooming at the same time.

A day lily flower lasts only one day. Others may replace it the next day so since stems carry multiple buds any given stem may appear to bloom for several days. All those faded flowers could create an ugly sight.

Some day lilies are self cleaning (drop their faded flowers neatly) but most of mine do not so I deadhead them everyday. The deadheading also encourages the plant to put its energy into the developing flowers rather than producing seeds. One round gives me a bucket full of faded flowers.

A deer beat me to this one.

Since the end of the day lily bloom was in sight, I decided to work on planning the daylily beds for next year taking into consideration color. I want to plant together cultivars that complement each other rather than fight or create confusion. With this aim in mind, I cut a flower from each cultivar and but them in vases by color groups.

By moving the flowers around I could find some nice combinations.  Many day lilies looked terrific with dark purple ones but they are the least vigorous in my garden and even old clumps are small so I can’t plan to have many of them quickly.  Here are some combinations i liked:   ‘Double Dribble’ and ‘Blood Spot’.

‘Today’s Charm’ and an unknown day lily with an peach blush.

This week was also mulch time and a good thing too with all the drought. An truck load was delivered to the driveway and the head gardener had to buggy-lug it all over the garden area.

This was a good time for mulching as the mulch was dry and light so using with a 10 pronged pitchfork to load it in and out of the wheelbarrel worked well.

The formal garden had some new blooms. The Russian sage is in its full glory.

Globe thistle blooms near it, contrasting it in form.

Pink garden phlox grows in front of a stand of Russian sage and behind the foliage of tall Siberian iris.

This dwarf beebalm is a gem that has been almost gobbled up by its neighbors.

The white speedwell (Veronica alpina ‘ alba’’) that I cut back a few weeks ago has rebloomed better than ever. This was a Loews purchase that has really been a gem. It’s first year I forgot about it until fall when I pulled ‘White Fairy” rose off of it. It looked very small and sad but has come back for two years now, growing each time and putting on a show all summer as long as I cut it back after flowering.

The crazy daisies are blooming their silly heads off and require deadheading everyday to keep the clump looking tidy and fresh. That celosia next to it is a volunteer I couldn’t bear to pull out,

The tall spikes of liatris add color to the white border.

In the hot border the crocosmia is gaining steam just as the lily ‘Gran Paradiso’ is on its last flower. Too bad, they make a great combination.

Meanwhile the volunteer sunflower has found a companion in the orange lily (Lilium davidii) that seems to be lounging on it gracefully.

The candy lily (Pardancanda ‘Norrisii’) is finally looking like it might be an asset in the hot border. I bought it at the local farmers’ market two years ago but it has languished until now.

The vegetable garden continues to do well and we have harvested some sumer squash.  I suateed them with onion and garlic and served them with couscous and grilled chicken.  Yummm.

The eggplants have thrived in the heat and are big tough looking plants.

Most of them have produced flowers that  are very reminiscent of those of its nightshade, one of its relatives.

We continue to enjoy our blueberry crop and are eyeing another harvest of summer squash in a day or so. Heat ain’t all bad!

Read 'Garden Journal: June 20, 2010' at http://www.KarensGardenTips.com.

After torrential rains, the weather finally changed and heat and humidity came rolling in with the sun. Temperatures in the high 80’s are expected to lead to 90s in the next week. Great! Many plants will languish and shut down in the heat; others may succumb. The irrigation system is back on and we will probably crank it up and water some of the gardens to cool the plants off. Hopefully, however, the squash, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants will love it and produce lots of flowers, although the bees will probably stay home to avoid the heat.

This was truly the week of the daylilies! The ones from last week continued and almost all the other kinds started producing flowers.  Last year I decided to revamp the allee where most of the daylilies were growing because the crape myrtle trees had grown from mere whips to substantial trees producing a great amount of shade, too much for most of the daylilies. I gave many away, saving several clumps of all the varieties but reducing the overall number. And then I made the mistake of visiting a daylily nursery and bought more.

One of the stand outs is ‘Double Dribble’, a double coral pink.

‘Mad Max’, a tall spider type.

‘Today’s Charm’, a pale pink with a pink halo.

‘Rags to Riches’ is not only double and ruffled but has striking orange on orange coloration.

‘Mask of Time’ sports a huge plum eye on rose petals.

‘Joan Senior’ is very close to pure white; there is no truly white daylily.

‘Ed Murry’ has a texture like velvet.

‘Raspberry Wine’ has a delicious red color that you can almost taste.

In the bog garden the Venus flytraps are blooming, a first for us, and we are hoping that it will self seed and we will have more.

Also in the bog, the sundews are putting out flowers on thin stems. They are annuals but readily self seed.

In the formal garden the crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ are beginning to bloom.

These are just in time to pick up the color of the Asiatic lily ‘Gran Paradiso’ growing next to it. I like the contrast of textures of the two blooms.

The yarrow is winding down in front of the species lily with its recurved flower petals and long anthers.

Yellow pokers are a strong vertical elements against the tall yellow daylilies in the background.  The pink coneflowers are a god example of an unwanted volunteer.  sorry, it’s got to go.

A few stems of obedient plant have poked their head above the gooseneck lysamachia. The original obedient plants grew with abandon and took over most of the bed the first year I had them pushing me to pull them all out. A few survived and appear here and there. I like them in small numbers and let them alone, hoping they will form small and manageable clumps. Here, the aggressively spreading gooseneck lysamachia will give it a run for its money.

The garden phlox ‘David’ is complemented this week by the Shasta daisy ‘Becky’.

The coneflowers continue with their oddball flowers. I am especially fond of these green ones.

The pink coneflowers nearby form a background for the beebalm.

The rose garden is quiet but that does mean there is no work to be done there. We have a regular spraying program and we had to proceed. The high temperatures create a problem because the protective clothing I have to wear makes the job even hotter. We decided to tackle the spraying in the evening after dinner and it worked out well. I used to spray with a tank on my back but have so many roses it took many refills and 3 hours so I was always worn out, hot, and had a sore back. The head gardener decided to mechanize the process and now he drives a 16 gallon tank full of spray while I apply it.

It only takes a couple of tablespoons of fungicide to do over 50 roses. I use a systemic fungicide to discourage the development of mildew and blackspot and I don’t usually use pesticides, although I have some for emergencies. Yes, I have insect damage but I am OK with it as I don’t like the side effects of insecticides namely killing earthworms and anything that eats them.

The spraying is easy now because the fungicide is pumped out and all I have to do is move the wand to get dripping wet coverage on both sides of the leaves.

This time we had to spray the hollyhocks too as rust is beginning to develop because of all the rain and dampness we have had.  The tiny dots are the rust; small now but in time could cover the leave.

The vegetables are looking good. The tomatoes are beginning to fill the cages.

And one tomato plant is producing the first flowers.

The banana peppers are ready to harvest.

We have been enjoying musclun from the garden for a couple of weeks but the hot weather will probably put an end to fresh greens from the garden until fall when I can get another crop.

The blueberries I have been watching for many weeks finally produced enough berries to pick for some delectable treat.

Picking them is trickier than it looks as the berries don’t ripen in a row and sometimes look ripe on one side but are still red on the other. You can see it once the berries are in the bowl.

I made blueberry pancakes for breakfast.

Yum…

Read 'Garden Journal: June 13, 2010' at http://www.KarensGardenTips.com.

High temperatures and humidity, with occasional torrential rains set the stage for the gardens this week. The rain was wonderful for the vegetable but was a negative for the roses or at least for their spraying schedule. We have to spray in the morning when the hot weather descends on us because of the protective clothing I have to wear when spraying. On the other hand, we can’t spray early if dew or rain has left the roses wet. Tough choice. No doubt about it, the fungi did well this week. Well, at least the slime molds. We had several different ones making an appearance in various parts of the garden. The first was a white one in the formal garden growing around the base of a Siberian iris.

Another white one appeared in the rose garden, far from the first one

An orange one also appeared in the rose garden.

And out side the rose garden, another white graced the lawn. Oddly enough no mushrooms appeared. Some years we have been overrun with them.

The rose garden itself is quiet. I have been deadheading as the flowers fade and very few bushes are blooming which is probably a good thing as I spotted the first Japanese beetle in a blossom of Rose de la Rescht, an old garden rose.

On the Saturday road trip with the local rose society I could not resist buying a new rose to fill a hole that developed in the rose garden when I had to remove a rose that developed rose rosette I choose a peach-orange blend floribunda, ‘Easy Does It’.

I love the colors but also the ruffled edges of the petals.

The action this week is with the daylilies along the allee.

Three years ago I put in the daylily bed on the outside edges of the allee when a friend of a friend eliminated all her daylilies and I was the lucky recipient. One of the most beautiful is this golden yellow very double ruffled one.

Growing in shade created by the crepe myrtles planted down the sides of the allee are these vivid red ones.

Last year I took out some of the daylilies that had become too aggressive and I replaced them with clumps that I bought from a couple of local daylily farms. They seem to be later than the ones already in the allee but no less beautiful. Here is ‘Strawberry Candy’

In the formal garden, the white border took top billing.

The species lilies joined the other lilies in bloom elsewhere in the formal garden.

Their back-swept petals and brown freckles give them a special homey look.

The crazy daisies are in full bloom and flooping on other plants. They don’t last long but the clump is very attractive while in bloom.

The flowers have a special appeal with their shaggy petals; they remind me of English sheep dogs.

The yellow border continues to show color with torch lilies, coreopsis ‘Moonbeam’, and berberis providing lemon yellow and balloon flower adding a touch of blue.

Balloon flowers are gorgeous even without the lemon yellow.

Last year I started Chinese lanterns and planted them in the formal garden in the fall out of desperation for a place to put them. Now they are growing large and flopping on the nearby plants and I wonder what I was thinking when I planted them there.

Then I found the lanterns, green right now, and I know exactly why I gave them such a choice spot. I almost wish I could keep the lanterns green.

The coneflowers continue to thrive and some odd ball ones are coming into bloom. This guy is definitely and oddity.

This coneflower is actually very pretty with its tubular petals.

A butterfly found this normal pink one irresistible.

The white coneflowers look especially nice with the blue spiderwort.

Most of the spiderwort clumps have grown too tall and they are beginning to fall on the nearby plants so will have to be cut back this week.

Astilbe chenensis var. pumila has come into bloom in the secret garden. It is my toughest astilbe and thrives in dry soil and the shade created by taller plants that fall over on it. You would never know that these plants were covered by a fall blooming anemone only hours ago.

As I walked around my garden this week I was struck by the large number of volunteer plants I found. This snapdragon came from nowhere; I haven’t planted any in this area for 2 years.

I grow celosias every year so this volunteer is not a big surprise; but I am glad to see that it has a bright desirable color.

This tomato plant growing with a patio rose is a bit too much. I get tomato volunteers every year and they are always cherry tomatoes so I never buy plants and just depend on the volunteers. I have several more growing next to the compost heap but I expect them since I have them there every year and count on them reseeding. But this one????

On the other hand, the tomatoes growing in the vegetable garden are doing well and beginning to fill their cages.

The wax beans have been nipped by rabbits but seem to be recovering.

The hills of squash and cucumbers make my heart sing.

The flowers of the squash are quite striking against the lush foliage made lush by the recent rains.

One volunteer acorn squash has produced a fruit. It has a long way to go but hopefully is a sign of good things to come.

Not to be outdone, the banana peppers are producing a couple of fruit.

One bell pepper plant has a tiny pepper developing.

The head gardener has just about completed the sundial, it just needs the feathers welded on the arrow. It is quite handsome and adds a lot to the iris bed where it sits in full sun.

It shows Eastern Standard, Eastern Daylight, and Local Mean Time by setting the dial to the time you want. It was 1:45 when I took this picture and that is what the sundial shows.

I think I will enjoy this garden ornament; it is attractive and very interesting when you think about it telling time. Did you know that a sundial reads early sometimes and late other times because of the earths elliptical orbit and tilted axis in relation to the plane of its orbit around the sun? Kind of interesting…

Read 'Garden Journal: June 6, 2010' at http://www.KarensGardenTips.com.

Many hot and sunny days have pushed the plants to grow and flower but some are looking floppier than in other years. This was a productive week of work as I planted most of my annuals and started many seeds and cuttings to use later in the summer when everything seems to bog down and look ratty due to the persistent heat and humidity.

Hydrangeas all over the town are blooming. I have very little shade and this oak leaf hydrangea occupies some of it and actually needs more light.

My shady areas are growing as the new trees we planted three years ago have taken off and produced modest canopies and so I bought two hydrangeas that have yet to be planted.

My other purchase was this ‘August Beauty’ gardenia. This one has 2½” flowers that look like the florist gardenias and have a wonderful fragrance. It is hardy in zones 7-9 so I will have to find a protected place for it, perhaps near a bench so I can enjoy it close up.

My red astilbes have open up. They grow in a very sunny area but have done well there, however, because of copious amount of water. The water was so excessive it killed the Kleims gardenia and the Daphne odora in the same area.

The bog garden boasts a single orchid spray growing in front of a Japanese iris that provides a nice backdrop for the delicate flowers.

The daylily display has begun.  I revamped the daylilly beds last year and now have over 50 cultivars, these being the first to bloom.

These yellow ones bloom about a week to ten days before any others in my garden, but at the same time as the ones along the roadside.  They were a hand me down plant so I have no idea what kind they are but they bloom well and are well behaved.

The crepe myrtles above and behind them burst into bloom with their white clusters of flowers right after the yellow daylilies appeared.

The stewartia trees are also blooming. They are great trees, offereing something in every season. They are colorful in the fall, have interesting and beautiful bark all winter into spring, and in summer they produce flowers.

The flowers are fairly large and are thought to resemble camellias, hence their Latin species name pseudocamellia.

In the formal garden the coneflowers are making their debut next to “Lovely Fairy’ rose. I have so many pink ones that I am going to have to start eliminating them.

I bought ‘Magnus’ three years ago and always put the dead headed flowers on the ground so have many new plants that are of inferior bloom.

The white coneflowers are not as abundant or stocky as my other coneflowers. I throw the dead headed flowers back into the garden as I do with the pink ones but so far have not generated any new plants.  Here they are growing in our bird area with grasses, golden rod and brown-eyed Susans.

This orange-yellow coneflower is much shorter than the pin or white ones and has a slightly different growth habit. It is a great addition to the hot border.

The hot border got a lot hotter this week.

The Asiatic lily ‘Grand Paradiso’ is a knock out with the orange pokers and butterfly weed.

The flowers are large and intense scarlet-red.

The flowers of the species lily, Lilium davidii, are rich-orange with abundant dark spots and hang demurely from the tall stems, with their petals recurved.

In the white border the phlox ‘David’ is displaying its billowing blooms with  Cornus ‘Elegantissima’ in the background and ‘White Fairy’ in the foreground..

‘David’ is one of the more mildew resistant varieties, an important consideration in my hot and humid climate.

The gooseneck lysamachia has attained that ‘look’ I love so much. Here it appears in front of one plant of cleome that is a volunteer from last year’s planting.

At its feet, is stokesia. This plant is very floppy this year and can hardly been seen amid the other plants.

I cut back the lavender this year hoping it would bush out. It seems to have survived but is not back to normal and probably will die out. I love the look and smell of the lavender but have found that it only lasts in my zone 7 garden for 3-4 years before it succumbs.

The hollyhock are doing better as the days go on. We spray it against rust when we spray our roses and so far we have seen no rust on them. These plants were all started from seed last year.

Since hollyhock reseed, I probably don’t have to start new ones but since I had seed left over from last year I decided to give them a try. Here they are…not a lot of them but I’ll put the ones I get in the garden this fall.

I also started some cardinal vine seeds several weeks ago and they are almost ready to plant in the pots with the iron frames made by the head gardener.

I sowed basil seed directly into the pot outside my kitchen door and it is doing well. I have a terrible fault of not being able to thin the seedlings as I should so none of them does as well as they should.

This was the week of tea for the roses. I put 12 cups of alfalfa pellets in a 32 gallon garbage can of water for 5 days, stirring it everyday with a sick.

Scum develops on the surface that has a considerable barnyard smell.

When you stir it, the surface looks even worse.

Each rose plant gets a gallon and loves it!

The vegetable garden was also the site of much activity. The head gardener made tomato cages from the mesh used in reinforced concrete.  The white things in each cage are gallon milk cartons with tops cut off, placed there so I can water and fertilize each plant individually throughout the season.

Lengths of mesh were cut and then fastened using the projecting wires of the mesh.  Plastic wire ties were used to attach the cages to upright 3/4″ pipe pounded into the ground so that the cages would not topple over as the plants grew on them.

The mesh was also set up as a support for pole beans.

The horseradish just grows on its own as I keep a watchful eye on it to make sure it does not take over more room than it deserves.  These really belong to the head gardener who appreciates their robust nature more than I do.

A check on the blueberries reveals potential but still no ripe berries.  So far the birds and other wildlife have not bothered the bushes so we are still hoping for a good crop.

Meanwhile, the market is selling blueberries for $1.00/pint. I will try to holdout for my own.

Read 'Garden Journal: May 30, 2010' at http://www.KarensGardenTips.com.

After days of clouds and rain the sun finally came out bringing warm to hot temperatures and lots of flowers in all parts of the garden. This was a week of taking cuttings and planting seeds for mid- to late summer blooms as well as biennials for next year; and evenings were spent trying to get in all the annuals planted that will add color through out the gardening season. The daffodil greens have suddenly fallen and look terrible but at least I know that they will soon be history and I will be able to plant on top of them.

The yellow border in the formal garden continues to be the focus with more plants blooming there than in the pastel, white or hot border.

The daylilies are coming along well and  ‘Happy Returns’ joined ‘Stella D’oro in bloom.  The tradescantia growing  behind it creates and pleasing yellow blue combination.

The Asiatic lilies ‘London’ are also complemented by the blue tradescantia.

The tradescantia grow very tall in may garden. They eventually will topple over and I will have to cut them back but they will regrow and bloom again.

I have clumps of tradescantia growing through out the formal garden that create rhythm and unity in the garden. Most of the clumps are this vivid blue.

One plant, however, is lavender and is also considerably shorter than the others.

Another blue flower, the geranium ‘Johnson Blue’, forms a large spray over nearby plants. It only blooms for a few weeks in the spring but picks up the blue of the tradescantia that bloom elsewhere.

The yellow pokers are putting on a display like never before.

The pokers are a lovely buttery color and provide a unique texture in the garden.

The yellow flowered creopsis ‘Zagreb’ grows at the feet of the yarrow “Cornation Gold’ complementing the golden golden color of the yarrow.

The butterflyweed showed color last week but now has really come into its own.

It carries out the color combination introduced by the gaillardia nearby.

The last remaining yellow Johnny-jump-ups  around the large container in the center of the formal garden are about to go and be replaced by annual ageratum to complement the blue verbena “Homestead purple’ in the container.

Elsewhere in the formal garden blue Johnny jump ups are also on their last legs but are so pretty with the bright pink rose in which they bloom that I can’t bear to pull them up. The rose supports them on their weak legs so their floppiness is tolerable; besides, they will be replaced by the rose as it grows larger during the summer so pulling them out can be put off a little longer.

I have pulled bucketsfull of Lysamachia clethroides out of the garden leaving only one clump that I know about. It can be a terrible pest but the curve of the inflorescence is irresistible and I can not be without this plant. It is just beginning to bloom and will not last long but it is worth it.

The fennel is growing rapidly and I have already cut it back twice; their textures is a nice contrast to the large heavy leaves of the banana.

I grew hollyhock from seed last year and planted them in the garden last fall. I spray them every time I spay my roses to beat down the rust problem that killed my first hollyhock stand 2 years ago and these are thriving.

The yuccas have sent up their giant stalks and are beginning to bloom. Here it stands like a centennial near the rose ‘Olive’ that climbs over the arbor leading to the pool garden.

In the pool garden the two Japanese iris plants that I transplanted there last fall are both blooming.

The flowers of this plant are not abundant but are quite large compared to the other Japanese iris I have. Perhaps once they nestle into their site they will produce more flowers.

The Japanese iris in the bog garden, on the other hand, has sent up an abundance of flowers.

This specimen was purchased in Atlanta at an end of the season sale and was planted in the bog garden 2 years ago. Japanese iris like moisture especially when flowering and it has done extremely well here. The flowers  of all Japanese iris are more open and flat than German or Siberian iris.

The shade under the dogwood tree in the secret garden is home to these lovely pink astilbes.

Heuchera ‘Dolce Peach Melba’  is also blooming there. I grow the heuchera for the foliage but I like the stems of flowers it produces and pick them for pressing in my numerous phone books.

Over the weekend I made a birthday card for a dear friend using the heuchera with leaves from the Japanese maple that is also in the secret garden and the pansies that grew in the formal garden.

I found two plants at the local Loews that I could not resist. Eurphobia ‘Silver Swan’ will go in one of the white parterres. I have a big weakness for variegated plants and especially like euphorbias, so this would a double treat.

The speedwell, Veronica ‘Giles Van Hees’ will be planted in a parterre that is opposite the pastel border where it will provide verticle interest as well as soft pink color and interesting texture.

The vegetable garden has yielded its first crop, three bunches of radishes like this one.

We planted the pole beans, wax bush beans, zucchini, summer squash, acorn squash, eggplant, bell peppers, banana peppers, and eggplant and set up the tomato cages. It will be a while until we see the fruits of these labors but meantime the onions and lettuce will keep us munching.

Read 'Garden Journal: May 23, 2010' at http://www.KarensGardenTips.com.

Rain, rain, rain, and still more rain; that is what this week has been about. We can always use the rain, of course, so I am not really complaining, but the plants need sun too and that has been lacking. True, there has been a little sun, and some cloudy times too. In fact the cloudy periods have given me a chance to get a lot of planting done so the annuals, vegetables and containers have been given much needed attention. Temperatures have been mild to warm and my seeds have germinated well but none are ready for transplanting. In contrast to the gray weather, the hot border of the formal garden is warm and glowing with color. Yellows dominate in this corner by the birdhouse with dusty meadow rue standing tall in the background with yarrow (left), Asiatic hybrid lily (far right)  and rue (forward right) forming the foreground.

I grow  rue for the blue-green foliage but the flowers add quite a bit of color this time of year as other plants get started.

The meadow rue, Thalictrum glaucum,  bears fluffy heads of pale yellow on top of blue-green foliage, and stands at least 5’ tall. Both flowers and foliage are pretty in flower arrangements too.

The hybrid Asiatic lily is the cultivar ‘London’ with just a hint of spots.

Unfortunately, the deer like the lilies too. Why don’t they eat those lovely blue Johnny Jump Ups…they are about to be pulled up anyway.

The yarrow is Achillea ‘Moonshine’ noted for its blue gray foliage frosted with silver highlights. The sulfur yellow color of the flowers combines well with other colors especially blue.

Two other yarrows grow at the opposite end of the hot border.  The yellow yarrow,  ‘Coronation Gold’ , stands 3+’ tall   next to a rosy colored yarrow I bought at the local Home Depot, name unknown.

‘Cornation Gold’  has lovely grayish -green fernlike foliage very similar to that of ‘Moonshine but its flowers that are definitely more golden yellow.

The red yarrow  is a soft rosy red and is very well behaved.

The yellow pokers are budding up. These bloom on and off all season and the plant is not as aggressive or large as the more traditional ones I have elsewhere in garden.

The daylily Stella D’Oro is beginning to bloom. Everyone else in the neighborhood has blooming ‘Happy Returns’ but my ‘Happy Returns’ is always a week or more later.

The Bishop’s weed has lived up to its name this past year and I have had to pull it out by the handfuls. Still, it is very pretty and adds soft yellow to this border with its variegated leaves.

The flowers are similar to those of Queen Anne’s lace; they are light and airy and I think of them as a filler flower while they bloom.

In the parterre just across a grassy path from the hot border is this variegated iris, Iris pallida ‘Aure Variegata’. When it blooms the flower is a rather non-descript pale blue but the yellow variegated foliage carries the yellow of the hot border to the parterre.

Another bright and cheerful yellow flower is the sundew.

Houtonia ‘Chameleon’ grows in and about the sundews. Some of the houtonia is yellow variegated with a red tinge.

As the houtonia spreads many non variegated plants show up; they are the ones that bloom with a simple white flower that is appreciated this time of year.

The orange tones of butterflyweed are just beginning to show.

I had a hard time getting this plant established in this garden because it was too wet. I finally found the right amount of water to suit butterflyweed as well as some of the other plants around it and it puts on a good show for me that will last quite a while and end with the picturesque pods that I like so much.

The orange-yellow combination comes out most vividly with Gaillardia ‘Goblin’ that I grew from seed last year.

In the white border a variegated Japanese iris is blooming. The flowers of this variety are relatively small compared to some of the other Japanese iris I have but they make a nice show and I bought the plant for the white and green foliage so the flowers are a bonus.

Euphorbia ‘Sea Foam’ is an odd looking plant but makes a nice contrast with the Lamb’s ear next to it.

The magnolias ‘Little Gem’ are putting on a modest display with buds that are as beautiful as the open flowers.

A white veronica blooms in the white border in front of Cornus alba  ‘Elegantissima’ with lilies in between.

This veronica, Veronica alpina ‘Alba’, has done very well in my garden, blooming for many weeks if I deadhead it faithfully.

Between the formal garden and the iris garden is an arbor covered with the rose ‘Olive”. We know virtually nothing about ‘Olive” as we bought it from a local grower and can not find it in the American Rose Society listings. Last year it looked as though it was dying but this year it is vigorous and gorgeous.

The last of the iris here are blooming; the yellows are among the last to say good bye.

But this heavily veined one suddenly appeared and is doing well in this last gasp of German iris display.

Clematis ‘Jackmani’ is slow to start but sure puts out a ton of flowers on the fence behind the iris.

The wet conditions in the bog garden favor the blossoms of Louisiana iris like this well known ‘Gamecock’.

The flowers of ‘Gamecock’ are truly magnificent.

Many vegetables were planted this week like these tomatoes. We are trying to restrain ourselves this year and have just 14 plants.

I harvested 8 radishes but have eaten all but three and they now belong to the head gardener. Hopefully, more are coming along with lettuce and beets. If only the sun would come out for a few days!