The Obsessive Neurotic Gardener

Monthly Archives: May 2023

Garden tour

Posted on by Posted in Spring, Uncategorized .

It’s a joy to watch all of the perennials, grasses and shrubs start to fill in and truly bring the garden alive but all I can focus on is that bare section at the front of the this garden bed. I need to get my arse to the nursery and buy me some annuals to fill in ASAP.

I’ve soured some on the Weigela ‘Wine and Roses’ flowers over the years, as they feel, I don’t know, kind of obnoxious in their abundance. But, there are two hummingbirds who have lingered here for days now and I have the ideal view of them as I watch through the window and forget that I’m on a conference call for work.

After visiting Chanticleer Gardens last summer, I vowed to add more Thalictrum (Meadow Rue) for pops of height and I did just that this week. That stem color is unbeatable.

And the flowers aren’t too shabby either.

My garden is loaded with Amsonia (if somethings works, keep doing that) and most are in bloom right now. I need to find something to plant in front of these to hide the lower sections and preferably something that will be a killer companion when these shine all yellow in the fall. Hmm.

Allium still holding on.

Baptisia are nearing full bloom and again, as is a common theme today, I know I desperately need to cover up their bare ugly legs here.

So much better when you can’t see the bottom.

Interesting observation here. The flowers in the foreground are from a baptisia that reseeded and those in the background are from the original plant. Definitely prefer the darker shade and foliage of the original.

Gardening, as we all know, is full of surprises, both positive and negative. The white irises below were a surprise, having emerged within a massive grouping of Joe Pye Weed that has yet to fully emerge. I had planted these more than 10 years ago and haven’t seen any blooms from them in years. Nice.

A report from the fraudulent Markowski garden

Posted on by Posted in Comedy .

We here at WNJHHN (New Jersey Hard Hitting News) take pride in covering the news stories YOU want to know about. The stories YOU need to know about. So we went under cover, posing as a Meter Reader, to explore the Markowski garden and frankly, it was worse than expected. Here are our findings:

John Markowski, commonly known around these parts as, The Obsessive Neurotic Gardener or ONG for short (we’ll save our findings on whether or not he violated copyright law by using that acronym in a future exposition), claims to be an experienced and well thought out gardener. His blog posts would lead you to believe that his garden is lush, well designed and free from the struggles the typical gardener faces on a daily basis like critter destruction and weeds. As you’ll see, that is a farce.

The man claimed to be above using a Spirea in his garden. It was too commonly used by landscapers and not all that “dynamic” (his words) yet what do we have here:

Did you run out and purchase some Phlox plants when Mr. Markowski led you to believe that they were “ignored by the deer”? Would you want a refund if you knew this is how ALL of his Phlox look right now? We’re not above initiating a class action lawsuit on behalf of all you loyal readers.

For years, ONG has waxed poetic about how his Baptisia plants, we believe the term is “reseeded” leading to many more plants in his garden. These so called “free plants” were reviled as a money saver and an opportunity to fill your garden up with “sparkling blue flowers that will take your breath away and bring in the bees”. Did you know that these “free” plants look like this?

Not what you expected, right? Could the stems look any weaker? For those of you who followed this dangerous advice, are you spending all weekend digging out the tough to extract seedlings? Could your time have been better spent doing other garden chores? Did we mention lawsuit?

Ask John if you can see all of the other buds on this peony plant. Spoiler: the other two you see hidden in this pic have already faded so there aren’t any. Think you’ll see a follow-up on this? You won’t.

Does this look like the garden of a self-proclaimed expert? Do we need to count the visible weeds? This is only one example we documented. Trust us, this is the norm and not the exception.

And finally, an image that we think encapsulates the fraud that is John Markowski’s garden. If we had to rename his garden, “Standing water with grass clippings” is about as good as it gets.

So there you have it. We’ve got more but we’ll withhold for our upcoming documentary. Just remember, if you feel you’ve been wronged (and you have), please contact WNJHHN and we”ll get you started on well-deserved compensation.

She’s starting to fill in

Posted on by Posted in Spring .

Less and less bare earth makes me more and more happy.

The Bluebells are in full bloom and a blue sight for sore eyes along my front walkway. Question for you all: Do you recall where all your plants originally came from? There was a time when I could, but this old man’s memory has taken a hit. I have no recollection of ever planting these bulbs and where they came from. May need to scour my old posts to get the answer.

‘Espresso’ geraniums are all flowering with those pink flowers shining against the chocolate background.

Speaking of ye old cranesbill, the wild geraniums with their first flowers and the promise of many more to come.

The Golden Ragwort plants are all blooming. They’re nice and all but did they ever take over a few years back. F’n bullies. They grow on top of and underneath everything. I’ve been trying to eradicate most of them but left a few in strategic places for the flowers in early spring. That shortsighted strategy unfortunately resulted in more unwanted plants. I may dig ’em all up and use as a section of large filler in the waterlogged area of the garden where nothing survives.

The first to emerge, allium flower.

The Baptisia have popped through the soil and before long, I’ll have massive quantities of those killer blooms. I do have a few that seeded and showed up in unwanted places and realize these gals have a very deep taproot so it won’t be easy to move them. But I’ll try.

The Ninebark ‘Amber Jubilee’ (no, she wasn’t named after a stripper, at least as far as I know) shines with killer new orange foliage. The white flowers in late spring are ‘eh’ but the dynamic leaf color changes in spring/summer/fall are worth the price of admission.

The willow leaved sunflowers are heaven on earth. Close to ten feet tall with ooodles of blooms in the late summer but almost as important, the foliage provides great cover against weeds in early spring. This makes me very happy.

Another great weed cover is bee balm. I have it everywhere and you’ll get no complaints from this guy. If any of the plants get attacked with powdery mildew in summer, you know what I do? Nothing. I don’t care. They did what they needed to do. That’s called progress for a once obsessive and neurotic gardener.

Speaking of weed cover, daylillies do the same but I so don’t like them. I may painstakingly cut off the flowers all spring/summer and just allow the foliage to act as filler. I can’t toss them but those blooms are so ugly and yucky and boring and mushy and …

A few weeks back I wrote a post about Britt-Marie (Ligularia) and how the foliage never delivered the promised dark purple color. Well, this isn’t too shabby and I’ll be paying close attention to see how this changes as the weather warms up.