Rabbit training, an ugly spirea and beautiful devastation

Won't you join me in my latest stroll around the gardens?  

It's taken a lot of patience, scientific study, field observation and pure will, but I've finally managed to train the rabbits to only eat weeds. What a time saver. I'd be thrilled to share the secrets to my success with you. Just send a SASE and a check for $99.99 and you can share in the latest gardening breakthrough:     

Just wanted to prove that I am capable of taking a non close-up photo in the garden:

Note to self: Kale (Lacinato Hybrid) has a fantastic foliage color and while it tastes fantastic, it would be a phenawesome (I've copyrighted this word by the way) landscape plant as well:

Good looking Spirea right there:

Reason #187 to love a Viburnum: The berries extend the interest throughout the summer:

I bought this Salix (Dappled willow) 'Hakuro Nishiki' back in the spring and it has friggin EXPLODED in size. I am absolutely in lust with this shrub and would buy a bunch more if the deer wouldn't destroy it. Luckily, this one is tucked safely away:

Can never get enough:

Isn't that a cool pattern in the leaf? It's like that all over both of my Hibiscus plants. Everyone should be as lucky as me to be able to witness such fine artwork. What a joy and pleasure defoliated leaves are:  

And finally, this Tsuga canadensis (Canadian Hemlock) 'Moon Frost' has become a favorite already with it's white growing tips. Just enough to make this stand out from other evergreens. I can't wait to see how this develops over the years:

John

Newly blooming this week

I am taking a short hiatus from the "Prune in June" series to simply enjoy what is newly blooming in the garden this week. 

I won't lie to you, there is some serious ugly out in the garden as well. But I'm pretending I never saw it. We'll address that at a later date when I'm no longer in denial. 

For today, let's pretend everything looks perfect. Thank you for your support.

Here's what going on:

Physostegia (Obedient plant) 'cultivar unknown' has just started to bloom and I am a huge fan. As promised, the deer have stayed away and they have survived after soaking in water for days at a time. They are allowed to stay for the long haul:         

The seed heads on Chasmanthium latifolium (Northern Sea Oats) are just starting to appear. While the seedlings of this ornamental grass are popping up all over my gardens, it's still worth it when the seed heads are back lit later in the season:  

Perovskia atriplicifolia (Russian Sage) is just starting to bloom a bit and the anticipation of it being in full bloom is killing me:  

For now, it is the ultimate "see through" plant; seen here with Echinacea (Purple Coneflower) in the background:

Speaking of purple coneflowers, here are some more; true sign summer has arrived:

Even popping up mysteriously underneath Weigela 'Wine and Roses':

Echinacea 'Fragrant Angel', nice to see you back again:

I'm going to call Pycnanthemum incanum (Mountain Mint) one of my most underrated perennials. This native plant is the ultimate companion plant as it lends an "airiness" to the garden and pulls in all sorts of awesome creatures from butterflies to wasps:

While not yet in bloom, I am still celebrating the buds that have appeared on Daylily 'Little Grapette'. I've been religiously spraying these with Liquid Fence to fend off the deer and so far so good:

I love these blooms but have only managed to see maybe two to three of these the past two years thanks to the friggin deer. After a few divisions along the way, I've got ten of these puppies ready to go. Ain't the bloom nice?:

Good times.

John

When your friend's garden is better than yours

A big shout out to J and N and their phenomenal garden. My jealousy hasn't waned from Friday night. 

The burgers were pretty good too.

And you may have the greatest dog on the planet (OK, maybe 2nd).

Enjoy the photos of their awesome landscape:    

"Prune in June" - Sedum 'Autumn Fire'

I am keeping it simple today with the next installment of "Prune in June", as we'll take a look at Sedum 'Autumn Fire': 

Pretty nice, eh?

Please notice we are talking 'Autumn Fire' and not the more common 'Autumn Joy'. After years of struggling with AJ and its tendency to sprawl when in bloom, I made the move to 'Autumn Fire':

To date, AF has performed up to its reputation as a better "upright" sedum than AJ. The foliage remains tighter  and seems to be a bit more robust than AJ. Of course, my AF are still relatively young so the jury may still be out.

Which brings me to current day. While Tracy DiSabato-Aust discusses how to pinch/prune 'Autumn Joy' in "The Well Tended Perennial Garden", I figured I would apply that same reasoning to my 'Autumn Fire'. Pinching, rather than cutting back, seems to be the preferred option so count me in on that choice.

Here is an AF before pinching:

And here is the same plant "post pinch":

I have two others I decided not to touch for now (or maybe I will pinch one at a later date):

I would expect the pinched AF to produce more blooms but at a smaller size, and would also expect a more compact plant. We'll see.

This is damn fun isn't it?

John

Wordless Wednesday