Monthly Archives: August 2012
When last we spoke of my beloved (sarcasm should be applied here) Boltonia, I had cut them back by half in the middle of June.
As you know or … as you will now know … each and every year these perennials topple over for me once they are in full bloom in late August. And each and every year I forget to cut them back in early summer prior to their blooming in order to manage their size.
But this year was different … and the early results are encouraging (although not all districts are reporting their results yet).
Here they were in mid-June untouched:
And then cut back by half:
As of this past weekend, here is how they look upon beginning to bloom:
And as of this evening with even more blooms:
I would say they are at about three feet tall right now and were closer to four to five feet tall at this time in previous years. So far so good in terms of staying upright and they have even survived some major winds and rain the past week or so.
Of course, Boltonias bloom like mad and they are only about half way there in terms of reaching their full blooming potential … but I wanted to bask in the positivity for a while.
Hopefully the good news will roll into September.
John
Quite a variety of action with my viburnums this evening:
Berries galore on ‘Emerald Lustre’:
Some autumn color on ‘Aurora’:
And a sneeky bloom out of nowhere on ‘Shoshoni’:
And this is why I love gardening.
No shortage of surprises and changes from day to day.
John
Back in the middle of June, I had written about my pruning experiment with my three Sneezeweed plants. I was closely following the advice of the legendary “plantswoman” Tracy DiSabato-Aust by pruning back in June for size control.
Today, I will give you an update on all three plants as I know you all have been anxiously awaiting the results.
Sneezeweed #1 – cut back by 1/2 in June as seen below: 
And how it looks today:
Blooming has clearly been delayed and so far so good on how it is holding up and not flopping.
Of course, the real test is once the blooms explode in the next few weeks.
**Quick note: Please ignore the ugly legs on this one; they are actually covered by another plant but you cannot tell by this photo. Pinky swear.
Sneezeweed #2 – This one was pruned back in June naturally by some creature one night, so I left it alone as is. Ultimately, it was at the same size as #1 after it was pruned:
And how friggin wonderful it looks today:
This one clearly bloomed earlier than #1 and immediately collapsed under all of it’s bloomage. On the surface, this makes no sense when compared to #1.
But after some detective work, the roots of this one were inundated with water and it was more exposed to the huge rains and winds we’ve had the past few weeks.
This one will be relocated in the near future.
Sneezeweed #3 – This one was left untouched back in June with the thought being it would be sufficiently supported by its neighboring plants:
So far so good, as the blooms have appeared and it is still standing at attention:
As the blooms continue to multiply we’ll see if it still remains upright. Fingers are double crossed.
I’ll hold off on the final analysis for a few more weeks as this situation is still fluid.
Until then …
It was a clear and cool evening here in Jersey for the first time in a long time and I ventured out with camera in hand.
Here is what I observed:
This one almost slipped by without me noticing, but luckily she contrasted well with the purple leaves of the Ninebark. Good looking katydid, eh?:
Um, is autumn really that close? Apparently that is the message the Itea ‘Henry’s Garnet’ is sending:
Not many have managed to slip by the deer, but the dark purple berries on the Viburnum ‘Emerald Lustre’ are incredibly vivid this time of year:
One of my favorite Coleus but unfortunately, I do not know the cultivar name. Just one of these in a container on the deck makes such a bold statement:
The Zinnia ‘Queen Red Lime’ keep pumping out new flowers and I am forever indebted:
Even after the blooms are spent and the petals have fallen to the ground, these Clethra ‘Ruby Spice’ still look damn good:
Enjoy the upcoming week my friends.
John
It is that time of year.
The time when the ornamental grasses take a giant leap forward, shake their ample booty and become THE focus in the garden.
Well, they do in my garden at least.
Here is just a sampling of these emerging superstars:
Panicum (Switch Grass) ‘Northwind’ when the blooms first appeared:
And now after said blooms transformed into a pinkish hue (love the blue/green blades as well):
Next, we have Panicum (Switch Grass) ‘Rotstrahlbusch’ (yes, I have memorized that spelling):
Miscanthus ‘Variegatus’ behind the same “Rots”:
Miscanthus ‘Morning Light’ not yet showing signs of bloom but still stunning in its own way:
Misanthus purpurascens (Flame Grass) with blooms just popping out in front of the giant Miscanthus ‘Gracillimus’:
Every night, I stare at these Calamagrostis (Feather Reed Grass) ‘Karl Foerster’ blooms from my deck as they are backlit by the sun. Good times:
And finally, Chasmanthium latifolium (Northern Sea Oats) are at their peak, as we speak:
More grass love to come in a future post as they continue to transform with the arrival of autumn.
John
During the last week of June, I severely cut back three groups of perennials as a means to “clean them up”, as all three had bloomed their asses off and were now looking tired and spent.
I knew they would bounce back rather quickly with nice clean foliage and some new blooms and I’m here today to show you that they came through with flying colors.
#1 – Tradescantia (Spiderwort) ‘Sweet Kate’:
After the the big cut back:
And how they looked about two weeks later:
And five weeks later … :
… with some periodic re-bloom to boot:
#2 – Geranium ‘Brookside’:
The day of their haircut:
And as of this evening:
#3 – Nepeta (Catmint) ‘Walker’s Low’:
Sheared back:
And now sporting cleaner foliage and some blooms (not to mention the bees are back in droves):
While cutting back your perennials seems like a frightening proposition at first, I would actually be more frightened to leave them untouched. Trust me, it gets ugly.
If you chop them back (assuming you did your research and you know which ones are “choppable”), in two to three weeks time they will look better than they did right before they were snipped.
Remember, “Just prune it”.
John
**Disclaimer – What you are about to read is truly groundbreaking in the arena of reality television. These concepts will soon be formally presented to a number of TV networks so don’t even think of stealing them. Thank you.**
In my recent post on the “art of weeding”, I discussed how important it is to fill your thoughts while weeding for hours on end. It is a survival mechanism and allows the time to fly by while you are painfully pulling ugly plants out of the dirt.
While recently on a weed eradicating expedition of epic proportions, I started analyzing why there is such a lack of quality gardening programming on television. There isn’t one “must-see” show on TV and I will scream to holy hell if I have to watch another garden makeover show starring photogenic wanna be actors. There is an absolute lack of quality gardening shows on HGTV (please remove the upper case “G”) and it is time to make a stink over it.
Funny thing is, as the hours dragged on and my hands became more and more mangled, I started to think more about TV and plants but in an admittedly less “intelligent” manner. I’ll blame it on excessive fatigue.
Since we are all friends here, I can admit to you all that I watch some seriously awful reality TV. And you know what? There is no gardening representation on any of these shows.
You say “that’s a good thing”.
I say “you haven’t thought it through enough”.
There are some seriously awesome opportunities to fill this void and I will do just that for you today.
Here are four shows that I guarantee would be successful if managed properly:
1)The Gardener/Gardenerette
The show would be modeled after “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette”. On that show, men or women vie for the heart of the bachelor/bachelorette through cheesy cocktail parties, bizarre group dates, one on one dates that defy reality (like personal fireworks over a river in Paris) and numerous trips all over the globe. At the end of each episode, the bachelor/bachelorette hands out a rose to those “competitors” they want to stick around longer:
It is all in the name of love (or so we are told) with one winner emerging who usually proposes in a garish ceremony that defies description. It is fantastically awful and I can’t get enough of it.
For “The Gardener” or “The Gardenerette”, I envision the same sort of set-up where the contestants are given gardening tasks to complete and they are judged on their work. Or beautiful gardens are visited and we can watch and see if the potential couple are in agreement on what they like (“Seriously, can hydrangeas be any more boring? He’s outta here”
The show could have a romantic angle or the true focus could be on the gardening aspect. Maybe a super wealthy individual seeking a gardener for their large estate would work? We’ll really need to test this with audiences first.
Some of the gardening tasks I’ve mulled over:
Sample task 1 – Plant a butterfly garden in 4 hours. This includes working on a budget, shopping at the nursery, plant installment and design capability. I could see someone emerge as the winner if they snip off all of the flowers at planting time knowing that would ensure better long term plant success. Someone not afraid of commitment.
Sample task 2 – Clean up an old overgrown garden filled with nasty weeds and potentially nasty creatures. Who will take the plunge all in the name of garden love?
Sample task 3 – Who can prepare the best dinner using only plants found in the wild. We’ll need a doctor on stand-by for this one.
I’m still working through the details on this show and whether or not it has a romantic angle. Either way, I smell a future hit.
2)Garden Swap
This show would mirror the show “Wife Swap” where two families swap wives/moms for a period of time. The interest lies in how the families adjust with the new arrangement and of course the two families chosen are drastically different:
Yes, that is Gary Busey above who actually participated in the show.
In my version of Garden Swap, two avid gardeners swap gardens and each has to maintain the others while relocated. To make it interesting, the garden styles of each participant are completely opposite of the others.
Scenario 1 – A vegetable gardener who cares little about appearance vs a high maintenance gardener who allows a weed to emerge.
Scenario 2 – A Miracle-Gro loving gardener vs.one who shuns all fertilizers.
Scenario 3 – A tropical gardener vs. someone who gardens in the cold of the northern hemisphere.
Not only would there be drama and some awesome bickering and fighting, but lessons would be learned so each episode could be wrapped up in a nice package at the end.
Hear that ABC Family?
3)Only Homegrown
This show would be very similar to the show “Survivor” where contestants attempt to survive on a deserted island with no modern amenities:
In my version of the show, participants are not allowed to leave their property for a period of time and they can only survive on the food they’ve grown themselves. Who ever lasts the longest wins.
There would have to be some prep work ahead of time by each contestant to ensure there is food available at the time the contest begins so that will have to be ironed out.
But the point of the show would obviously be “Who needs to buy processed foods and garbage when you can get everything you need in your own backyard?”.
I smell an Emmy on this one. You hear that Fox?
4)Garden Makeovers Revealed
Maybe my personal fave. This is less of a reality show and more of an investigative report. We will visit families who were given garden makeovers from other shows to expose what happened after the cameras were gone.
Were the families given proper advice on how to maintain their new landscape?
How did things look when the 25 mums planted didn’t survive the winter?
How was it working with the host and the crew?
Did the hunky host make a pass at the unsuspecting wife?
Did that same hunky host know a thing about soil PH?
This will be some hard hitting reporting and I already can hear the dramatic score to accompany it.
So what do you think? Would you watch any of these? Am I a genius or a disturbed individual with too much time on my hands?
Thanks for making it all the way through this nonsense if you’ve read this far.
John