It's Saturday morning. Although it may not be quite so humid as it has been, it will probably be a hot one. In the garden, things like cukes, squash, corn, and basil are loving this weather. This gardener, on the other hand, likes it sort of cool. Maybe by evening I will be motivated to get out to the family garden or the potager to see how it grows.

It has been dry here. Handsome Son will be returning from his vacation sometime Sunday, or maybe early Monday. Summer school, which I have been teaching, ends on July 3rd. Then on July 9, Handsome Son and his dad go on a fishing trip to northern Wisconsin's Iron Mountain area where his godparents live. So I will be sonless yet again.

My flower border seems to be in a bit of a lull, or perhaps the gardener is. The salvia 'Purple Rain', one of the little used, later-blooming salvias with furry, silvery green leaves and large purple flowers is blooming. For some reason, I have never propagated a lot of this, typically selling any extra I had. Coming into bloom is liatris. Sedums are thinking about it. Of course, I like sedums whether they are blooming or not.

The gooseneck loosestrife is charming. Although many gardeners mistakenly removed this "loosestrife" from their gardens when it appeared purple loosestrife would take over our wetlands. Gooseneck loosestrife is not of the same genus and can not cross pollinate with the invasive species. The gooseneck can be invasive in its own way, however, as it does not seem to spread easily from seed (if at all), I can deal with the roots.

This is the time of year when I see which things are poorly placed and begin to contemplate what I should do about that.

There are days when I want to remove the few choice plants from my long border and Round-up the rest so as to get rid of the grasses that think they can gain a foot hold there. Then I would spread a pre-emergent to keep seedling from recolonizing. At this particular moment, the idea has a LOT of appeal. After a couple doses of Round-up, I would use my Mantis, which Handsome Son overhauled this last winter, till it all up, and replant it the way it should be.

I would probably lose plants like the dark blue clematis intergrifolia that I just noticed this last week, fighting for its life, or accidentally slice up some of the surprise lilies or tulips which are dormant presently.

I think once school is finished this might be a worthy project, this massive large-scale killing of all but the best. It would clear the way for placing the 'Golden Shadows' cornus alternafolia. It would be the last straw for the hot pink spiderwort that although pretty when blooming, needs some sort of containment, at best. And the grass, might at last, give up.

My poorly-placed smokebush 'Nordine' growing on the north side of my strawberry bed pays for its keep with a showy display from June through November. I keep it within 4'-5' tall.

Many spaces of my yard are doing very well, despite the mix of fruit, foliage, and perennial items from the potager like this ginormous rhubarb, backed by my cherry-less espaliered cherry tree (which suffered a hard freeze to its hundreds of blooms this year) and a variegated red twig dogwood.

This front corner of my path is just the right mix of soothing and pleasant with an Annabelle hydrangea, hosta, a species evergreen azalea, hydrangea 'Quickfire' lily of the valley and variegated hosta.

Let the long border war begin.

Lily

I love how this lily fades to an ivory from a pale, clear yellow (no spots). I just had to share one more picture. I wish I knew its name. I went to the web page of the company that I bout it from just two years ago and it seems to not carry it any longer. So sad!

Garden Art: Limit One!

Okay, okay. I know they are cute, but only ONE! They are cheap, and commercial, no matter whether you are a cat person, bird person, or follow butterflies around.

You can only stick one of these commercially manufactured tin animals into your garden, I don't care how cute you think they are.

Your cats can't really read and the birds don't care. Same for turtle crossing signs -- they cross where they damn well please-- and the sign that says "Grow damn it!" Well, even if I talk to plants, I know they can't read!

One. Just one.

They're not potato chips!

It's a twelve step program, people.

Hens and Chicks Sempervivrens, Starting to Look Like "Manly" Plants

Last year, I had to chuckle when I checked one day to see what sorts of things people were regularly searching. A couple days in a row, someone was searching for manly plants.

Manly plants? It got me scratching my head as to what they were truly hoping to find. Mangrove? Oedipus Rex? Male ginkos? Plants male gardeners like? The male flower on akebia quinata? Truly! What did they intend to find?

Since then I have kept my eyes open for suspect "manly" plants. I always thought semps a bit otherworldly before this excursion into the dark side of horticulture.

Henceforth, however, sempervivrens = "manly" plants.

Enjoy!

Another Look at Dappled Willow - 'Hakuro Nishiki'

Catching the true colors of certain flowers with a camera can be difficult, particularly those of the blue shades. Similarly, to capture detail on white pastels can also be tough. To give you an idea, I am posting these two pictures of my dappled willow.

This is my original photo, but it fails to capture the "pinkiness".

Here, I have played with the gray scale to bring up the pink which is very evident to the human eye. Right now, it looks like the bush is in bloom when it is actually just the new foliage which pulls up more green as the new leaves start making chlorophyll. It is the show-stopper in my yard, even receiving envy from the resident neighborhood horticulturalist next door. With the show continuing upward to six weeks, it is worthy of a place in the well-pruned shrub border. Well-pruned being operative words.

Lilium

I had a tag that said he these first two are of the lilium 'Silk Road', but not sure, especially since most picture show it a a cream lily with a rose throat. The Next yellow with the orange throat I know I don't know. I think it was probably sold to me as "lilium, yellow, 36 in." The last with the black stems, is 'Elodie". Any flower with black stems is good in my book!



These are Asiatic lilies currently blooming in my garden. Note the predominantly upward facing flowers. Asiatics for the most part bloom before many of the other lilium species, particularly Orientals or the hybrids, like Longiflorum-asiatic, or Regals. Also they tend to be taller (with the exception of the Pixies) and have thicker stems which are more densely covered with leaves. The hold their buds in a tighter cluster, rather than more free-form with a bud at each of the upper leaf axials.

More as they come into bloom!

This is Not Garden Art

Okay people, stop this! This is not tree art. I'm telling you to stop, the Lorax would, too!

Score! Golden Shadows Pagoda Dogwood

I have been admiring this plant for a few years now. This last week, My Handsome Son agreed to be dragged along on a garden nursery road trip and in the scrath and dent area of a nearby nursery, we found the W A Stackman 'Golden Shadows' pagoda dogwood.

I have been admiring, but have not come across one in a nursery, nor would I have thought I would have found one at any price I would have felt I could have justified its purchase. Now here in front of me was a 'Golden Shadows', albeit tortured and maltreated, giving me a wink that I should take it home for a mere $32.

Handsome Son encouraged its adoption, I think to make up for his leaving on vacation within the week. So it came home with us. I weeded its pot, gave it some 10-10-10 and a generous drink. I clipped it chains to a obligatory bamboo stake and carefully removed dead twigs and opened up its structure with a few, very few clips of my pruners. I placed it in the shade of my smokebush 'Nordine' and there it remains while I contemplate where I can possibly plant it.

The perfect spot for it is already taken, by a regular and very beautiful pagoda dogwood - cornus alternifolia. Dr. Darrel Apps has one these regular types as well in his own yard just across the street from me, on the sunny side of the street. He has the southern exposure, I the northern angle under my huge white pine. All the difference in our two gardens on the same street come from this chance difference, and in the beautiful growth of my pagoda dogwood versus his.

My pagoda has flowered heavily, yet still has the graceful layering of branches that is this small tree's signature trait. Dr. Apps' has a much more upright structure.

In discussion of this gold variegated version of the pagoda dogwood, most other plant people I have talked with agree; this plant need careful siting in a dappled shade with plenty of moisture.

So my delightful problem, where to plant?

Pictures from the Family Garden

Sister-in-law and I are pleased at the progress of the family garden to-date. My brother says it appeals to both of our Germanic senses of order. My sister-in-law and I are marveling over the improved texture of our soil this year. Sister-in-Law is also impressed with her clay tile diamonds she may and had fired which we respray with white paint each year and inscribe varietal names with a paint pen each year. It's a cute touch that also makes it clear to anyone what they are looking at.

Waupaca Garden Walk and Art Stroll 2012: Views and Vignettes

Rather than give my play by play and commentary, I will just say that I went strolled and this is some of what I saw. For more detail on the gardens you can click here. It's a one day event, so this is all there is, unless the paper does a wrap-up. (Unlikely.)

I'm not going to get all catty and critique this event, at least not today. Just sit back and enjoy the finer, edited high points, without the stroll.

Colorado Potato Beetle on the Potatoes in the Family Garden

Like locusts, the Colorado Potato Beetle is again visiting our garden. We are in the heart of potato-producing country here in central Wisconsin. The beetles will come whether you like it or not.

Last year, I attempted organic method of hand picking them which I did every other day for a week, to the benefit of much of nothing. There numbers were horrific, my attempts meager in comparison.

Their ravaging of the top growth just as our spuds were starting to bulk up, resulted in meager yields. so off to the Internet to research the problem and a conversation about potato growing with my dad, a dairy farmer with a lot of potato growing on his past resume.

Some of what he told me I had not realized. In the village here, I have ample water available at a short distance and am not much bothered by the beetle; no potatoes are grown close by any longer. Some summers I see one or two beetles and it is a "big" infestation.

My dad related how potatoes were generally planted as a twice a season harvest. An early crop planted the minute the soil could be dug to take advantage of the early spring rains, the potatoes to be dug and eaten through the summer; and a second harvest planted to take advantage of the fall rains and eaten through the winter. This is not the way the big commercial guys do it. One season, one crop generally planted a week or so after Easter, probably a good three weeks later than my grandparents and their parents would plant potatoes here in Wisconsin.

I have know that there are potatoes in those hills a week or so after the plant blooms, even as a young child. There is nothing so delicious as freshly dug red potatoes boiled!

In my garden here, my blue potatoes have been in bloom for a week or two. This is a potato without a cultivar name that Jung's was selling early this spring. I'm not sure I will like the taste or how much of the blueness will remain through cooking. I'm not sure how the visual of blue potatoes will affect the process of tasting it. One thing I have noticed, however; is the beetles do not like the taste of the leaves and nary a one is lunching on those blue potatoes in the family garden.

The picture above is of the beetles on the Red Pontiac and Red Norlands, which my sister-in-law not realizing there could be two red potato varieties, unwittingly planted in the same row. In my research I came across the information that Superiors are not as much affected by the beetles and looking at them purely from a visual rather than scientific point of view, I would say they are half as tasty as the reds in our garden.

Now the potatoes in my own potager will be ready to be dug in just a week or so, while those in the family garden have not yet begun to bloom. If I had the beetle here, given the point in the production cycle it would not be as detrimental as in the family garden.

I have also researched what organic (although I hate that word as it is more a political affirmation of goodness than an actual approval of low toxicity of nasty petro-chemicals and hormone interruptors). One take-away was the beetle is increasingly resistant to any chemicals and the agri-chemical companies are constantly in a battle of one-up-manship with the beetle. The latest and greatest in the chemical arsenal in the battle with the beetle is Spinosad, which has the certified organic folks approval. It has been approved for use in the USA since 1997.

Reading the ingredients and warning, I'm not so sure it is a chemical I want to use, especially with my sister-in-law breast-feeding little guy number three. It affect the neural tube (spinal column, brain, nervous system in high animal speak; and is contact lethal to bees and lethal by ingestion to ducks and rats, although not other animals like trout. Any chemical that include warning about run-off into waterways and affects on aquatic life, though, hits me as a flag that this could be bad for an infant that a short while ago was living the aquatic life itself floating in the womb of my sister-in-law.

So no Spinosad, at least not this year.

So Sister-in-Law comes across this organic pest repellant that seems chemically very much like the stuff in home-made deer and rabbit repellants. It contains carrots, cayenne, canola oil, and the one chemical monopotassium sodium, which to me read as a salt. So yesterday when I went to till and hoe and battle the weeds and saw the beetle had returned, I sprayed all the potatoes with this organic pharma product. I'll be watching to see if the beetles take their garden of good eating roadshow elsewhere. I'll let you know.

Otherwise, it may be more of the, hopefully, tasty blue potatoes and Superiors, and early planting next year.

Road Trip!

But it is not my road trip.



My son is off on an eleven day vacation road trip, spending a day and a half with his dad in the Chicago area before driving to the East Coast with two of his buddies and one of their girlfriends (who I have also known since she was in the third grade.

They have planned the route, budgeted the money, rented a condo, and thought of all the little details like bottled water, GPS, weather reports, what to pack, and how to save money by packing a cooler.

It is the longest span of time he and I will have eve been separated.

I have been trying to plan activities to keep myself busy. I am teaching summer school. I have a couple movies to see, a book to read, some painting to finish. Faithful Companion, my boxer Cinnamon, has told me she is more than willing to step up the snuggling and greet me when I arrive home.

This fall when my Handsome Son spreads his wings and takes off to college I have been making a list of other activities to fill the spaces that he would normally fill. I haven't decided whether to follow the basketball team that will, I think, sorely be missing their "big man" in the middle, but not as much as I will miss his presence on the court. I guess I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

For now, as my dad put it last night, I am a "child orphan", something the spread of his kids over some 35-odd years denied him of the sudden bereft feeling.

I guess I have always been an all or nothing kind of girl.

He is like my sudden divine lightning in human form. He told me the condo is on the coast, if there is a storm and lightning strikes, he has promised me a piece of beach glass for "our" trips' rock collection.

All or nothing.

Visit to the Green Bay Botanical Garden: Garden Art

The Green Bay Botanical Garden is not a public garden much noted for its art and decorative elements. It relies on a strong layout and structural visual elements to gives its gardens cohesion, identity, and separation. This last, separation, is often not an element we think much about in our personal gardens as we tend not to have space which we can separate. In public gardens, however, separation is something either done well or so subtle that one garden blends into another without much thought.









This first is a Butterfly Garden for sedum rather than butterfly-attracting plants. I think it woul be cooler if it was a garden for butterflies shaped in the form of a butterfly.









This next was in the herb garden and is an estate in miniature. Other than train gardens this is about the most extensive I have seen, right down to fairy gardeners.









Every large garden needs a folly and this "ruin" is the Green Bay Botanical on what could have been a root cellar in early Wisconsin.









I like rusty metal in the garden, even more so when anatomically accurate as this rust metal ligularia appears to be.







Orange poppies backed up by a split rail fence is pretty overdone, but you can't knock that shot of color.















These weeping Norway spruce are being trained over a 14' gated arch. This is definitely not a project for the want it now gardeners out there. When done, its impact will pack quite a punch.














The ultimate in soothing; big blue hosta and a bird bath under the shade of the birch tree.