November 2016 - The Obsessive Neurotic Gardener

In and around the November garden

Posted on November 22, 2016 by jmarkowski Posted in Bulbs, Fall color, My garden, Ornamental grass, Plant shopping .

What have I been up to of late?

Glad you asked.

I finally got around to installing my Screech Owl house. Fine, I didn’t physically install it so much as I was an active gofer for my handy brother-in-law who fortunately lives two houses away.

You all know me too well.

The owl house was installed during the day on Saturday at a temperature close to 70 degrees and got its first test that night when we had gusting winds and almost 2 inches of snow.

Yay, November.

Who can resist a good late season plant sale? How about this monster bargain:

50 cents x 3 is so worth the risk of getting these through the winter. They are all Carex buchananii ‘Red Rooster’.

I consider it research for my ornamental grasses book.

A tax write-off.

Wish me luck.

Some times you just have a feeling.

Some times your gut tells you to just do it.

Some times you need it.

As silly as that all sounds, it all added up to me attempting to grow tulips successfully for the first time ever (not including in containers).

There is a deeper meaning at play here and one I’ll never talk about.

I need this to work and I’m confident that it will.

Tulips don’t dig the wet winter soil and that has been my problem for decades.

Until 2017 that is.

We now wait until spring where my blind faith will hopefully pay huge dividends.

Beyond all that, I’ve been doing my best to soak in what is left in terms of color out in the garden.

Spirea nipponica ‘Snowmound’

Heuchera

Rhamnus frangula ‘Fine Line’

Pycnanthemum incanum (Hoary mountain mint)

And you know, ornamental grasses.

Fall color on Viburnum carlesii ‘Aurora’

Posted on November 16, 2016 by jmarkowski Posted in Fall color, Shrubs .

Quick one today.

The fall color on my Viburnum carlesii ‘Aurora’ has been incredible for over a month now.

It gets better and better each year.

I wrote a post about this gem a few years back – Viburnum carlesii ‘Aurora’ – and continue to recommend it as a must have shrub based on the fall foliage alone.

It started changing color back in early September and is one of the few plants with its leaves still in place today.

Time to divide

Posted on November 14, 2016 by jmarkowski Posted in Ornamental grass .

Look real close at the photo below.

A colossal embarrassment.

This ornamental grass – Miscanthus ‘Gracillimus’ has begged for division for like three years now. And I’ve done nothing but ignore the request.

Why?

It is a monster and the effort required to attack it has been intimidating.
The effort requires time and time is in short supply these days.
It is easily hidden from view so the pressure to do something about it has been lacking.
Blog fodder – content for another post which you are enjoying right now.

But I am better than this.

It is 80% dead at this point and that is unacceptable for a so-called obsessive and neurotic gardener. Especially one who does nothing but wax poetic about the wonders of the ornamental grass.

So I’m calling myself out and asking you to do the same. Call me out on it from time to time. A nudge here and a nudge there.

Inexcusable John.

Cut back on the photos and maybe do some work John.

You must lack the physical strength to pull it off John.

Task #1 for next spring has already been determined.

Fothergilla Mt Airy

Posted on November 11, 2016 by jmarkowski Posted in Deer, Shrubs .

If I had to choose the most disappointing plant in my garden right now, it would be Fothergilla Mt Airy. I have had two of these shrubs in the ground for four years now and while their features in isolation are killer, they haven’t matured to a level I would have expected by now.

Issue #1 – While I see them marketed as “deer resistant”, both of mine are consistently nibbled throughout the seasons. They’ve never been hit hard, but the nibbling has prevented them from growing much taller than 30 inches tall.

Issue #2 – While I’m sure this is related to issue #1, I’ve had very sporadic blooming in spring. To the point that I barely even notice the white bottlebrush blooms. It’s a shame because the blooms are beautiful and fragrant (which of course is a relative term to this sufferer of a deviated septum).

Both of my Fothergilla Mt Airy are situated in a partially shaded location and I’m contemplating moving one in spring to a more full sun area that would also be (fingers crossed) protected from the deer.

It’s all about experimentation with gardening, but I’ve got all winter to plan the move.

Here is the foliage color somewhere around the end of September.

Fantastic but damn if it couldn’t have an even bigger impact at 4 to 5 feet tall and wide.

Here are two photos of Fothergilla Mt Airy current day. The foliage color is a more consistent orange but still a presence.

Late April/early May is when I’ve seen the first signs of bloom. The photos below, taken over the course of the past few springs, only show you the good. The bare branches have been successfully removed from sight.

Still, nice enough.

I have no intention of giving up on Fothergilla Mt Airy and hope to create a full blown post dedicated to this native shrub next year.

As always, your feedback and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Trying to stay positive

Posted on November 9, 2016 by jmarkowski Posted in My garden .

Today is a depressing day.

The vitriol on Facebook is a disgrace. From both sides.

I’m not comfortable or thrilled with the direction we are heading but the people have spoken.

I can only hope this is rock bottom and we some how trend up from here.

As a white middle class male it is ignorant of me to speak on anyone’s behalf. I’ve been the privileged one from day one. But I can only hope the rhetoric is just that, rhetoric.

Equality is all that matters.

Now we wait and see and fight where necessary but also do our best to keep an open mind across the board and keep constructive dialogue alive as much as humanly possible.

Pie in the sky? Maybe. But what are our other options?

Soap box over.

The weather was the perfect metaphor today. Rainy and cold but if you looked beyond that, you can discover beauty.

At least that is what I’m rolling with for today.

I require your advice

Posted on November 3, 2016 by jmarkowski Posted in Blog stuff .

I may or may not have mentioned to you all that I am in the early stages of piecing together book ideas. These ideas range from straight forward gardening to a mash-up of gardening/personal anecdotes.

I don’t know why it took me so long to realize what the first (yeah I said “first”) book should cover but I think I’ve determined the topic.

Care to guess?

I know you know it.

It’s a part of almost every post that I write, especially from early summer and into the fall and winter.

Yep, you nailed it.

ORNAMENTAL GRASSES.

Was there ever any other choice? Of course not.

Deep down I’ve always known but it wasn’t until I started taking photos before I left for work recently that it all came together.

I do this every single day.

Stare out at my grasses and thank my lucky stars that they exist.

I photograph them as if they were my kids.

We chat and I praise them when deserved and scold them when they aren’t putting in a full effort.

A big ups to whomever invented them or should I say, introduced them to the world as a garden option.

My garden would be next to nothing without them. They are the backbone and they helped me form my identity as a gardener.

The number of questions I receive in regards to grasses via email, in the hallway at work or at the holidays is phenomenal and I’m always thrilled to chat. And if I may forego my humble nature for a moment here, the “you da grass man” comments are another reason why I believe a book is the calling. One recent comment that a put a big ass smile on my face:

Hi John, late post here just to compliment you on your beautiful photos. Since following your blog, I find myself craving more grasses in our landscape and I’m gradually winning my husband and fellow gardener over to my side since they are relatively deer proof.

Swoon.

On to the book.

I have a general feel for the direction and for the content but I’ll keep that as a surprise for now. I have a lot of research to complete and a lot of experts to track down and a lot of gardens to visit. It may sound a bit overwhelming but I got this.

And remember that each of you promised to buy ten copies when it is released.

You’re so awesome.

Seriously, I would pay you handsomely for your feedback on what you would want from a book centered around ornamental grasses.

What intrigues you?

What doesn’t?

Is design as important as understanding all that exists in the grass world?

Do you desire maintenance advice?

Does the history of grasses, both in the US and across the globe tickle your fancy?

Human interest or get to the point already John?

A comment to this post would be great or an email (ongardener@yahoo.com) would work as well.

I’ll be flexing my writing muscle heavily this winter and your feedback would be an incredible means for better understanding what the people want, what the people demand.

While I hopefully still have your attention (and thank you for that by the way) I’m going to self promote just a smidge more.

You may have noticed a while back that I returned to the Obsessive Neurotic Gardener blog name. I struggled with the desire to remain focused on gardening versus the desire to write about other stuff.

Once I discovered the medium that is Medium.com it all became obvious. Keep this blog as ONG and use Medium as an outlet for my other writing desires. One helps feed the other.

So far so good and I’m loving the path I’ve chosen.

If it wouldn’t be a bother, I’d love for you to check out the stories below that I’ve written over at Medium.

Late night walks with Mia

Rick Springfield analysis

Writing formula

How I don’t write

Time to move on

While I think the style of writing is still all me, I’ve discovered that I love to write about writing more than I ever imagined.

And 80’s icons …

And my wacky ass dog …