The Obsessive Neurotic Gardener

Monthly Archives: May 2013

The peony obsession continues – An angry update

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Woke up this morning at 5:30 to get some work done outside before the brutally hot weather took hold and wouldn’t you know it, the deer (or some creature) sampled one of my peony plants:  ï»¿

Are you f’n kidding me? They managed to navigate my elaborate container blocking scheme?

Luckily that is all they managed to get to but still, are they lingering in the shadows of the woods just waiting for those tasy buds to open up? Damn shady characters.

I will try to remain positive and enjoy the other 5/6 of what I have left (yes, I did the math):

And will not allow any more damage to my prized posessions. Out comes the big artillery:

Make my day punks.

A quick happy birthday to my beautiful bride. You WILL have freshly cut peonies by this evening.

I love you.

John 

The peony obsession continues

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I know I am obsessing too much over my peonies, but after losing them all last year to the deer, I am determined to see them bloom to their heart’s content:

We are so close to seeing it happen and I am going to make it a big friggin event:

Desperate times call for desperate measures, so if I have to block the deer in original and albeit stupid ways, I will:

That’s how much I care.

May I bombard you with peony pics the next few days.

John

The emergence of the irises

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 Today was the day of the irises:



Iris versicolor




Iris sibirica ‘Ruffled Velvet’




Iris sibirica ‘Ruffled Velvet’




Iris sibirica ‘Snow Queen’




Iris sibirica ‘Snow Queen’




Iris sibirica ‘Snow Queen’



Memorial Day 2013

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First stop, the Frenchtown American Legion’s Memorial Day Parade:

 Some additional pics of the beautiful Frenchtown, NJ:

 Off to the family picnic:

Through it all, I am most proud of the kids grasping the true meaning of the day.

To all who have served, we thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.

John 

Weigela ‘Wine and Roses’

Siberian Iris ‘Snow Queen’

Wordless Wednesday – Blooms

A little rain can’t stop me

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We had nothing but rain from Saturday night into late afternoon on Sunday, so the option to get out in the garden and get my “digging on” wasn’t going to fly. My soil is compacted enough so I didn’t need to make it any worse by stomping all over it while it was water logged. That is what we call a responsible gardener my friends.
But it was the weekend and I had some time on my hands so I NEEDED to do something plant related. So the focus was going to be on my deck and the containers that reside or will reside there. 
First task was to address the Weigela ‘Wine and Roses’ I had dumped into a container last Fall. The “dump” was the result of my latest plant relocation strategy (with the term “strategy” used loosely) which led to the Weigela not having a proper home. When all else fails, dump it into a container and hope for the best.
Well, that isn’t entirely true. 
First off, I did determine that the shrub could survive the Winter in a container, knowing that the rule of thumb is to subtract two zones off of one’s own plant zone (mine being zone 6) to see if a plant will survive. A little math of 6 – 2 = 4 tells me that this shrub would need to survive down to zone 4 and lo and behold, it does just that.
Secondly, as a design experiment I thought ‘Wine and Roses’ may look OK in a container with some trailing plants at its feet. 
I hit the deck with pruners in hand and went to work on the Weigela. There was some serious dieback on the shrub as all of the new growth was from the base of the plant. No problem, I’ll just cut off the dead wood … and boom:                       ï»¿

Not too bad, eh? The foliage color is terrific, similar to what I saw when I severely pruned back a W&R Weigela a few years back. However, the bloom count looks pretty low as you can see in the pic but that’s OK, I still view this a foliage first shrub.

I underplanted the Weigela with a few yellow/chartreuse Sweet Potato Vine plants so I hope once those take off, this little combo will look alright.

The only other unknown is whether or not the W&R will take on a pleasing shape in a container. It looks a little awkward right now but only time will tell.

The next item wasn’t a task, but an opportunity to enjoy the Salix (Dappled Willow) ‘Hakuro Nishiki’ I recently relocated after tossing a slowly dying Arborvitae. I friggin love this shrub and enjoy the foliage color when looking out the back door onto my deck:

Good times … assuming I can keep its size under control … but that is a story for another day.

The last task was to start planting some of the tomato/pepper/basil plants I bought last week. I am super fortunate to live right around the corner from Cross Country Nurseries which is a renowned seller of all things peppers/tomatoes/etc. I spent a good hour there last week roaming their greenhouses educating myself on their crazy amount of plant varieties. I vow to successfully grow tomatoes this year and now was the time to start that process and start it right.

As you know, I have a deer problem so keeping them away from any plant is a challenge. Growing tomatoes on the deck allows me to eliminate that issue. Now I just have to keep up with the watering and fertilization. Easier said than done.

I planted two cherry tomato plants – Sweet 100 and Isis Candy – and a pepper plant – Aji Habanero – in containers and now the fun begins:

I got so amped up, that I planted the rest of the tomatoes, peppers and basil in my raised garden bed, wet earth be damned:

So the herbs have been joined by tomatoes, peppers and basil. Sounds damn tasty to me! Now I just need to get on protecting them all from the deer and the jumpy f’n pesky and hungry rabbits.

Work is never done … but we love it, right?

Right?

Right?

John

Post rain photos

Astilbe ‘Amethyst’

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Here is an example of why I love gardening so much.
Back in late Fall of 2011, I purchased three Astilbe ‘Amethyst’ plants online at a ridiculous discount. They were something like $1.99 a plant and for that price, I’ll give anything a try.
So in late October, the three little plugs (as opposed to the Three Little Pigs, hmmmm I may have a children’s book idea here) went into the dirt and I basically forgot about them.
Fast forward to Spring 2012 and I was thrilled to see that they had all survived the Winter: ï»¿ï»¿
I have very little shade on my property so I cherish the opportunity to squeeze in some shade loving plants. I was super psyched to see that these puppies were good to go and I couldn’t wait to see how they would treat me in the near future.   
Within a few weeks, I was fortunate to get me some blooms and hot damn, I loved the color:

To get blooms that soon was a bonus as I had no expectations of having any until maybe the following year.

Then one day I stumbled across this view and realized how the ‘Amethyst’ blooms contrasted nicely with the blooms of Nepeta (Catmint) ‘Walker’s Low’:

That combo never crossed my mind but falls under the always growing category of “Awesome plant combinations I never intended”. Some times it is better to be lucky.

I never prune off the blooms on my Astilbes as they remain somewhat interesting from Summer into Fall and into Winter:

Let’s fast forward a bit more to say, last week. Here are those same three Astilbe ‘Amethyst’:

They have filled in beautifully and I couldn’t be more proud of my $1.99 decision. The foliage is tremendous and lush and that alone makes me a happy dude.

But wait, we have more.

There are tons of buds that have formed these past few days and soon enough, we will have a massive explosion of color:

Be sure to tune in and enjoy said explosion of color with me.

Have a great weekend!

John