The Obsessive Neurotic Gardener

Monthly Archives: April 2017

Book and Plant Giveaway

Posted on by Posted in Giveaways, My book .

Want to win a copy of my new book, “Perennials Through the Seasons”?

I know, deep breaths, it’s a bit overwhelming.

But what if I up the ante? What if I throw in 5 plants from my absolute favorite online purveyor of plants, Santa Rosa Gardens?

I know, dreams do come true.

So in addition to my awe inspiring book (which I will sign and personally inscribe), the winners (2 in total) will also receive the following 5 plants, all of which inspired the book:

Veronica ‘Royal Candles’

Eupatorium ‘Baby Joe’

Helenium Mariachi ‘Fuego’

Monarda Bee-You ‘Bee-Free’

Echinacea Big Sky ‘Sunrise’ 

I highly suggest clicking on each of the plant names above to see photos of these beauties.

All that’s required to enter the giveaway is to leave a comment on this post.

If for some reason you have an issue leaving a comment, please send me an email at ongardener@yahoo.com. There have been issues for some of you lately and I’m still working with WordPress to address the issue.

The contest will run through Monday May 1, 9:00 PM EST. Winners, chosen at random, will be announced at that time.

Contestants must live within the continental U.S.

Good luck.

 

Post-book writing bliss

Posted on by Posted in Spring .

These past few days have been slow. Slow in a delicious way.

I’ve never felt more relief than after clicking that “publish” button. The book was out in the universe and I couldn’t stop it or change it.

**Take a quick glance to your right and you’ll see the book is for sale at Amazon.**

No more tweaking. No more anxiety. No more over thinking. It was done and now it was time to take a breath and reunite with the family and come out of the foxhole.

Time to coach softball.

Time to talk advanced baseball metrics with my son.

Time to see my wife and relieve her of editing duties (which she killed by the way).

Promotion of the book could wait. That’s for another day/week/month/year/lifetime.

And wouldn’t you know it, one of the first places I turned for some calmness was the garden. It felt different than it had the past few weeks. My pace through the garden was slower and devoid of plant facts and anecdotes and book material. I just enjoyed growth and flowers and even those adorable little weeds.

Pops of color from the bulbs never looked better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even a sole bloom that seemed to have come out of nowhere just felt right.

 

The promise of more to come.

 

Some of the perennials have started to bloom.

 

 

And one shrub has the entire street asking “What is that near perfect smell emanating from your lovely spring garden, John”?

 

Foliage growth from the perennials continue and even a few of the grasses have awoken.

 

 

 

In my state of bliss, I even managed to cut down all of the ornamental grasses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My book – “Perennials Through The Seasons” – is out

Posted on by Posted in My book, My garden, Perennials .

After weeks of editing it is finally here.

The first edition of the book was 188 pages (8.5″ x 11″ paper) but I soon realized that at that length, it would be too expensive to print. As painful and excruciating as it was, I ultimately cut it down to under 100 pages.

Who knew that the actual writing of the book would end up being the easiest part of this project?

But it is done. And I am super excited.

A quick synopsis of the book:

There are 20 chapters, each a different perennial that resides in my garden today. The chapters commence with a personal story that is tied to that particular plant. It then takes you through a photographic journey, spring through winter of that perennial with 1,000+ photos in all. While the flowering of each perennial is happily celebrated, I also include other aspects that too often go underappreciated: new spring foliage, spent blooms, seed heads and fall color.

For all of you who have been loyal readers over the years, please know that this is all new material and not a copy of old blog posts.

You can purchase the book here through Amazon.

Thank you all for your support over the years as this book wouldn’t have been written without you.

I am forever grateful.

Volume 2 will be out later this year.

The first tour of my garden in 2017

Posted on by Posted in Spring .

Daffodils in bloom

Some of the Narcissus (Daffodils) are in bloom now, no doubt pushed by the 80 degree temps we had here in New Jersey yesterday.

 

 

 

 

 

Flowers soon to arrive

Viburnum carlesii.

 

 

The tiny Muscari.

 

Golden ragwort (Packera aurea).

 

Daffodils that will hide the recently cut down ornamental grass.

 

More daffodils, ‘Kokopelli’, on the way.

 

New foliage growth, almost as exciting as the flowers

This is Sorbaria sorbifolia ‘Sem’ or False Spirea. Say that 5 times fast.

 

I get a lot of anxiety in early spring, fearful of what plants didn’t survive the winter. While this pic of Hydrangea ‘Little Lime’ may mean little to you, it means the world to me. I’m so thankful to have her back for another year considering I recklessly moved her around three times last summer.

 

This is the plant I’m most excited to watch progress this year. It’s Filipendula rubra (Queen of the Prairie). This will be its third year in my garden and I hope it can reach upwards of 6 feet in height with plenty of pale pink flowers in summer.

 

This is Diervilla sessilifolia (Southern Bush Honeysuckle) with its variegated foliage emerging over a mass of Bee Balm rosettes. This combo should be killer by early summer.

 

Photos that make me think

Baptisia is here, yeah. So are the weeds, boo.

 

I like to sing the praises of Bee Balm (Monarda) and its agressive nature, but this spring they have marched into enemy territory. Enemy territory being other perennials. Here it is challenging Heuchera (Coral Bells). I think we know who will win.

 

I am way excited to see that tulips have, knock on wood, survived the winter and appear ready to bloom. Even better is the fact that this small ornamental grass will strategically cover the decaying tulip foliage as it gets larger with the warmer temps. Hopefully by allowing the tulip foliage to decay, it will energize the bulbs and provide a repeat display of flowering next spring.

 

I’m totally cool with the Leucojum aestivum (Summer Snowflake) expanding its colony even if it’s underneath this evergreen shrub. I say “evergreen shrub” because I can’t recall the name even after a search through my garden archives.

 

Finally, and I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I can’t bring myself to cut down this pairing. I’ve loved it all fall and winter and can’t end it quite yet. It is Little Bluestem grass, with its stellar orange hue, and Mountain Mint with its still upright seed heads.

I’m going to enjoy it for a few more days before cutting them both to the ground.

Task oriented

Posted on by Posted in Pruning, Spring .

Task 1 : Cut down the Redtwig Dogwood

As hard as it is to say goodbye to those killer red stems, it’s time to move on now that spring has arrived.

I cut the stems of this shrub to the ground each spring and without fail, it grows back rapidly through spring and summer. This keeps the shrub’s size within bounds since I have it in a tight spot along the foundation of the front of my house.

This is what it typically looks like by summer.

The severe pruning also aids in providing the reddest of stems that upcoming fall/winter.

That task was completed today.

 

Task #2: Prune out the oldest stems on the Ninebark

This is another pruning task I conquer each spring. I cut roughly 2/3 of the old stems on this Ninebark ‘Diablo’ to the ground with the goal of limiting the ultimate size of this rapidly growing shrub.

You can easily identify the older branches by their lighter color and heavier peeling bark.

Another task completed today.

BEFORE

AFTER

Again, I do this so this Ninebark doesn’t outgrow the somewhat limited space I’ve provided for it along my foundation. By pruning it in this manner, it doesn’t get too monstrous and looks like this by the time it stops growing in summer.

 

Task #3: Clean up the dead foliage around the perennials

A lot of hand pruning and pulling but it’s all worth it after seeing all of that delicious green new growth.

 

Task #4: Cut down the ornamental grasses

For today, I stuck with the grasses that could easily be handled by hand pruners. That consisted mostly of Karl Foerster grasses.

 

Task #5: Observe

Observe the bulbs developing in a see of Bee Balm rosettes.

Observe the Golden Ragwort quickly throwing out growth and hopefully flowers in the next few weeks.