Cold weather be damned:
And you stay the hell away:
Monthly Archives: March 2013
You can only take so many photos of the bulbs emerging in spring (Or can you? I may hold the world record at this point).
You can only take so many photos of snow covered grasses (Insert sarcasm here).
You can only take so many photos of the 986 robins that are overtaking the yard (Even I’m worn out at this point).
So what is a desperate gardener/wanna-be photographer to do?
Besides get a second hobby, why not take photos of seedlings started indoors? (I will self-pat on the back for finally accomplishing the task this year). I mean c’mon, is there anything more exciting and captivating? We are talking edge of the seat entertainment here.
We’ve got kale, spinach, lettuce and peas going on:
Have you ever seen anything so amazing? Pretty incredible right?
More snow in the forecast for us the next day or so and I couldn’t be more psyched. 
And yes, I’m still stalking the robins:
Most years, our St. Patrick’s Day celebration consists of green bagels for breakfast, maybe a little bit of Irish Soda Bread and a Guinness or five for Dad. There ain’t an ounce of Irish in any of us, but we still enjoyed the day in our own way.
Fast forward to last year when my exuberant daughter declared that if you leave your boots outside on St. Pattie’s Day Eve, they will be filled with candy and the leprechaun’s will then enter the house and wreak major havoc. This was news to us old folk but we decided to play along. That is the kind of effect my daughter has on us. Her enthusiasm and zest for life is contagious and you can’t help but join in. Corned beef and cabbage alone won’t cut it.
So the boots went out Saturday night and sure enough, they were filled with Skittles, Twix and all sorts of other similarly healthy snacks come this morning. Girlfriend was right.
As we then made our way through the house it was quite obvious that the lepechauns were good and liquored up late last evening. They toilet papered the entire house: 
Danced on the kitchen table with their green painted tiny shoes and even painted a rainbow for kicks:
I can’t even describe some of the other stuff those heathens were responsible for. Let’s just say one disgusting joke involved a sock puppet, a toilet and a plunger. Need I say more?
After we all recovered from the inhumanity, we calmed things down a bit by resorting back to one of our safe go-to St. Pat’s breakfast of green bagels:
We could feel the sense of normalcy return and all was good.
Later on, while the kids were bouncing off the walls on a sugar high and my wife was making sure the f’n leprechauns didn’t steal any valuables, I ventured outside to my happy place. Those little green bastards can TP my house, turn my milk green or even swing from the chandeliers, but they better not have touched any of my plants.
All looked OK upon further inspection, except it was damn frigid outisde and there was still a decent amount of snow lingering around. Enough already!
I did observe that some of the daffodil blooms are further along than others: 
And I jumped for joy when I saw that the bulbs I planted on a whim back in the fall, in a super soggy part of the garden, made it through:
But then again, look whose bulbs I planted in that spot
Martha knows best.
Quick aside – There is no better comedy on the radio today than Martha Stewat taking callers questions over the phone on her radio show. Her inability to relate to the “common folk” or to even try to put herself in their shoes is hilarious. I honestly believe she thinks every single one of us has a few maids and laborers at our beck and call or have access to French batards we can have flown in overnight. Genius radio. Oh yeah, she also clearly eats while she is taking these calls. Total Gangster.
And we’re back.
A few additional observations from my walk in the garden today:
This is one of maybe five buds that has survived the deer on my Viburnum ‘Aurora’ (Maybe I should call Martha for advice):
The Dappled Willow (Salix) has managed to hide from the deer to date (and of course I just jinxed myself):
I think the Rosemary has managed to make it through the winter; a bit beaten up but still alive and kicking:
Welcome back Geranium ‘Karmina’. We expect big things in year two:
Two weeks ago the grasses were cut down and now they are covered in snow. C’mon man:
We are looking at continued cold here this week but as far as I know, the leprechauns are headed back to wherever it is they came from.
John 
A little over two years ago I vowed, on this blog, to get rid of all my Geranium Brookside.
At that point, they had resided in my garden for a few years and I wasn’t the least bit impressed. Even in full bloom, they looked messy and out of control; and not in a cottage garden like good way.
Needless to say, I didn’t have the cajones to ditch them. Instead, I followed my mantra of “If at first they don’t succeed, just move ’em somewhere else”. And two years later, I’m glad I didn’t heave them on to the compost pile. I’m still not necessarily sold on them, but let’s say they are trending in a more positive light.
I was further inspired to keep the faith last year, when I read the results from the Fine Gardening geranium trials at the Chicago Botanic Garden. They received a 4 star rating with outstanding flower production. OK, maybe I need to stay patient and let this all play out.
So let’s look back on last year.
I really like how Geranium Brookside looks in its early stages in mid spring. Nice compact foliage:
And here they are in full bloom:
Not too bad, especially now that they are in a location where they can spread their wings a bit and spill over on to other plants. A much better fit.
I even noticed more bee traffic in this new locale:
They still look a bit ragged when their initial bloom is complete:
So cutting back hard after that bloom period is an absolute must. And to their credit, they bounce back nicely in only a few weeks:
And fit in quietly amongst all the other perennials, shrubs and grasses:
I will tell you, contrary to what I’ve read online, I have never witnessed any reblooming after the heavy shearing. But I am also holding out hope that this will happen one of these years.
The fall color on Geranium Brookside is pretty solid, but does vary quite a bit year to year. Here is how they looked last year:
And soon after, they fell apart, but that’s OK, we’ve all moved on by that point:
And there you have it. Decent but not overwhelmingly eye catching.
I will leave them in their current location again this year and monitor the results … because that is how this guy rolls.
Before I go, here are some quick bits of info on Geranium Brookside:
- The bloom color is best described as lavender and the blooms have a white “eye”
- For me, the blooming begins in late spring and in fact, these were in full bloom for me on May 30th last year (thanks trusty spreadsheet).
- Work in both full sun and part shade
- To date, these geraniums have been both deer and rabbit resistant and that cannot be underestimated.
- The mature size is about 2′ x 2′
- Survives in zones 4-8
Anyone else have experiences they are willing to share on this plant?
Do tell.
John
When I am designing a garden (and I use that term loosely; althought it does sound all sorts of professional, so let me role play for a minute) I find the biggest challenge to be how to best account for plant “change”. And when I say “change”, I mean how to take advantage of plants at different stages of their growth, be it in their prime while blooming or taking advantage of their fall foliage color.
Designing also incorporates hiding plants when they are not at their best (think deciduous shrub in the early spring or bulbs after they have bloomed). This little “dance” where you account for change can be maddening but challenging and fun at the same time. It’s what keeps me up at night and puts the “obsessive” and “neurotic” in this blog title.
This all came to mind this weekend as I witnessed the bulbs first emerging out of the soil. The bulbs can hide things now but will need to be hidden in the not so distant future.
A case in point:
Here are daffodil bulbs first emerging in front of an ornamental grass that was cut to the ground in late winter: 
And the bulbs further along in growth and beginning to truly shield the dormant ornamental grass:
Eventually, the daffodils are in full bloom and the ornamental grass is pushed out of mind:
Another example is here where the daffodils are hiding a hydrangea that has only begun to leaf out:
When I walk up my front walkway, I don’t even notice the hydrangea:
Eventually, those bulbs are a distant memory as the sedums take center stage and hide the hole left by the now dead and gone daffodils:
And that once dormant grass is now the show-stopper:
As mentioned earlier, change in the garden can also be seen when comparing how plants look as they are in their growing stage.
The photo below shows a catmint (in front) and an astilbe (in back) in spring after they just started growing: 
A pretty cool color combo with nice contrast for a week or two.
But soon after, by early summer, the true combo appears when both are in full bloom:
After the blooms on the Catmint are spent, they are cut back by a 1/3 and the spent blooms on the Astilbe remain, still attractive and ornamental.
Even one plant can impress like mad as they change throughout the season. Take the red sedum below.
They offer much welcomed color in winter:
And look fantastic in late spring, albeit in a different color shade and much fuller:
Times they are a changin … and let’s celebrate the hell out of it.
John
Last weekend started the spring clean-up and this weekend was more of the same. The difference was, the temps were in the upper 50’s this weekend and it felt more like 70 degrees after the cold winter that just passed (fingers double crossed).
One of my favorite spring tasks is to cut down the sedums. It signifies the end of winter by removing the spent flowers that persisted since the fall and exposes the new spring growth. Boo ya!
So out with the “old”: 
And in with the friggin “new”:
Now that the old flower stems of the sedum are removed, it is time for the daffodils that sit behind the sedums to take center stage and put on their spring show:
We have a ways to go with the daffodils, but promise is in the air.
The next task was to move on to the Amsonia. As you may have heard me mention in the past, these are one of my absolute favorite plants for spring, fall and summer interest and the deer have left them alone for years now.
So again, out with the “old”:
And barely in with the “new”:
To get outside with the pruners and actually physically do something was incredibly invigorating. I spent some time confirming that the bee balms and geraniums have returned yet again this spring and I’m ready to kick some ass from this day out.
One final confirmation that spring has returned; I spotted this creature roaming about the yard with baseball bat in hand:
All is good y’all.
John
As promised yesterday, today’s post is all about the plants/flowers from the Philadelphia Flower Show.
Sure, I was impressed by all the glitz and glamour and the display gardens, but when it comes down to it, give me the plants and I’m a happy man.
Here are some of the individual plants that caught my eye: 
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| Some day I’ll give Clematis a try |
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| Iris ‘Violet Beauty’ color is off the charts |
And some of the combos or vignettes that stood out:
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| Heuchera ‘Blackout’ (which I own) and white rose. Must replicate |
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| Astilbe love |
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| Who needs flowers? |
Now the challenge is to look at my own barren landscape and not get too depressed after ogling all of the blooms at the Flower Show.
John 
I drove into the City of Brotherly Love last evening for my annual sojourn to the Philadelphia Flower Show. This is the trip that unofficially kicks off the gardening season for me (never mind the fact that we are due for a major snowstorm over the next few days) and the scent alone upon entering the showroom floor is enough to put me into a plant frenzy.
The theme for this year’s show is Great Britain and I’ll agree with the official logo of the show; it was damn “Brilliant”. The centerpiece of it all is a giant replica of good ol “Big Ben” that was bloody brilliant (imagine a British accent for full effect): 
Of course, it didn’t take me long to take my eyes off of Ben and focus on what I really came for … the plants/flowers. It all started with what was planted at the base of Big Ben:
I thought about jumping into the roses head first and just lounging out there for a few hours but that probably would have been frowned upon by all of the other onlookers, so I remained calm and moved on.
At last count, I took over 267 photos and it has taken some time to sort through them all. The challenge, as always, is to take the photos without any of those damn “people” in them. I have found it is a lot easier to go later in the evening when the crowds are much smaller. I have also found it helps to be 6 foot 4 inches tall, so I’ve got that going for me.
I don’t want to put you all in sensory overload, so I will be breaking up my FlowerShow pics over the course of 2, maybe 3 days. For today, I’ll share my photos of the various exhibits/displays and tomorrow, I’ll focus solely on the plants. You good with that? Brilliant.
Here we go: 
And before I leave you, I wanted to share with you the song montage that plays at the top of each hour on the Big Ben video screen. The highlight for me has to be the quick Adam Ant tune; he was a staple for me as I grew up watching MTV in the early 80’s. Enjoy:
Until tomorrow …