Early July Update

'What was Paradise? but a garden, full of pleasure, and nothing there but delights.'  -  William Lawson, 1617.

Not too much happening around the homestead. All the plants are busy soaking up sunlight and heat building up their energy to produce their goodies.

Deck Side Garden - too much grass in it

I on the other hand have been busy helping these same plants along by deadheading, feeding and pulling weeds. And grass! Two of my beds have grass growing right up through the plants, which is extremely frustrating because I can’t get them out by their roots without damaging the plants themselves. I’m sure a solution will come about, I’ll just have to bide my time and hope I recognize it when it does.

As I dig deeper into my ‘to do’ list in a desperate attempt to get anything on it done and crossed off, a laughable endeavor to say the least, I keep finding new things to add to it.

One item that is currently on the list that seems like it should be the most pressing task is to get the irrigation system in. But honestly, after getting my watering done sufficiently well by dragging a hose around for the last six years, even that task is not really pressing. It’ll get done eventually.

Another item that really must get done this year is to find the time to dig up all of the bulbs so they can be divided. It’s a bit embarrassing that this will be the first year I’ve done this. Everything I read says to do it every 2-3 years so after 5-6 years I rather imagine they really need it. I pulled up some Grape Hyacinth a week ago and I could not believe how many bulblets there were, many still attached to the Mom. Of course the other part of getting this task done is to find room after I dig them up. Which brings me to my next tast: making new beds.

Deck Side Garden - before and after expansion

The expansion for my Deck Side bed is finally finished, for now. It would be no surprise for me to want to expand it yet again sometime in the future. But right now there are no plans. After the expanded area sits over winter it should be ready for new plants. I’ve got a bunch of new plants from cuttings that need somewhere to go but they’ll have to wait for this area until Spring. Can I keep them alive that long? I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

birdhouse welcome

I finished the birdhouse-on-a-stick thingy and it needs to be put into one of the front yard beds.

There is another trellis to be built for the newly planted beans along the back fence. This should be fairly simple to build out of a pile of tree limbs I’ve been collecting.

An idea I’ve been kicking around for sometime is to make some solar powered light to spread around the yard and pathways. Really simple and cheap is the way to go here. My non-gardening partner and I have been discussing attaching rope lights around the deck too. A couple more things to add to my list.

A couple of ideas for what to put in the B1 expansion at the west gate is an old-fashioned Weigela or the lilac taking up space in one of the raised vegetable beds. I’ve tried the newer varieties of Weigela and have lost them all, so maybe the old-fashioned type will do better. Which ever one I decide to plant here, I’m sure I’ll change my mind before something finally goes in.

The Butterfly Bush is finally getting flower buds and the Hydrangea has bloomed. First time ever.

As this all of this wasn’t enough, tiny grasshoppers are beginning to show up so I need to be ready with some organic means of kicking them out should they start getting out of control.

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Wayside Nursery order

Received my order from Wayside today. Wayside uses packing peanuts. I don't know what to think of them. They're bothersome when unpacking and they too easily blow around if you do pack them away securely. I don't really want to throw them away, I might use them when packing things to send to someone in the future. I would prefer the air filled plastic pillows over the peanuts. But by far the best is the plastic 'coffins' that Springhill Nursery uses. They provide the best protection by far.

Weigela My Monet

This dwarf variegated Weigela is more compact than the typical Weigela. The ad claims tighter habit, more robust growth, larger blooms. Part shade to full sun so I placed under my Dogwood tree.
It grows to just 12”-18” high and wide and forms a plump, tight little footstool-shaped plant, magnificently blushed with pink in leaf and bloom. The new spring foliage is bright pink, maturing to green edged in white, and the abundant rosy purple-pink blossoms are far larger and more abundant than on other varieties.
My Monet™ is a superb performer, well-branched and impervious to rough weather. It will be a dependable and lovely presence in the garden or container for many years to come.
Sounds like one of those shrubs that you just ‘set and forget’. We’ll see.
My Monet™ is a dwarf sport of 'Tango,' bred by Bert VerHoef.

Phlox Blue Paradise

This one comes from renowned Dutch landscape designer Piet Oudolf as a new variety in 2004. It is mildew resistant and the flowers open a pale blue with white eyes, then take on purplish shades during the heat of midday, then regain their original indigo coloring in the evening. They attract butterflies and hummingbirds and their spicy vanilla-clove perfume is perfectly enchanting in bouquets. The blooms come on in July through August and, depending on which article you read, the plant reaches from 22”-40” high and 18”-30” wide. That’s quite a range of height and width. Mine will go into a raised bed so I expect it to reach its maximum height and width.
It is considered a Tall Summer Phlox.
The bloom size is ½” and the hardiness zones run from 4-8, although one site said the zones are 3-9.

Clematis Franziska Marie

Clematis maestro Raymond Evison named this lovely cultivar after his youngest daughter. It's a lovely double with 4–6” blooms of lavender blue, and has the great virtue of blooming on both old and new wood, which means a lot of flowers over the entire season. This should make it easy to prune. There are three different pruning classes which can be bothersome unless yu are careful to keep them straight as to which clematis to prune when.

For beautiful colors, extravagance of blooms, and graceful habit, nothing compares with Clematis, the queen of the flowering vines. Whether used on posts or fences, clambering through shrubs and trees, or following wire frames in borders, they will enrich the landscape. Give them good soil, reasonable moisture, and shade at their roots.

This one will bloom from June–September to a height of 6’.

I place stones around their root zone until groundcover can get established.

I really didn’t plan on buying plants with such renown names attached to them, but they are all beautiful and I hope I can do them all justice.

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