Still plugging away in the garden.
Still not ready to share the results.
In the interim, here are some photos I’ve taken the past week.
Hope you enjoy.
More Monarchs this year than ever before. Here on Joe Pye Weed.
Enjoying the Allium.
Spread your wings little guys and gals.
Swamp Milkweed attracts them all.
I thought I was photographing a Monarch Caterpillar only. Turns out a Praying Mantis had captured it. I can’t lie, I maneuvered the caterpillar loose. I did not let nature take its course.
For the past week or so I’ve dedicated myself to getting the garden to a much better place. I’ve spent hours upon hours weeding, moving plants to new locations, adding new plants and even adding a fire pit to the mix. I’ve started some mornings at 6:00 am and ended some evenings at 10:00 pm.
I’ve never sweat more in my life and it’s freaking awesome. This is what I love to do. There’s almost a pleasure in letting the garden go for a long stretch (which I did) only to come back and straighten it all up. It’s work, but it’s truly a labor of love.
I’m nowhere near close to finishing it (and yes I know “finishing” is a relative term) and I also ain’t stopping any time soon. In due time I will share it all with you. I promise.
For now, here are just a few small things I’ve done.
I literally felt my anxiety lessen when I finally took care of this mess. For two years, these white and purple coneflowers have co-existed and I hated every second of it. I planted the white in this location but the purple showed up unexpectedly.
No more.
This section has become a purple/pink fun time.
And now the white coneflowers share a space with a white blooming Clethra.
Much, much better.
Sticking with the coneflower theme. These yellow coneflowers have never really fit in this spot. It gets too much shade so they fall over desperately seeking the sun. Plus color-wise, it’s a bit of a mess.
A few minutes later and they’re in a full sun spot and it feels like they should’ve been here all along.
That’s all I have for you today. Hopefully the next collection of changes I’ll show you will be even better.
But you’ll have to wait until early next week. More work to be done.
One last thing.
I held my first ever book signing last Saturday at Triumph’s Brewing Company in New Hope, Pa. It was a blast even if it felt a bit odd signing books for total strangers.
I hope to do a few more this summer (update coming soon) and if you’re in the area, I’d love to meet you all.
One more last thing. Again. If you did read the book, I’d love for you to leave a review on Amazon and it must be honest. I promise you not only can I take it, but I also need it.
As always, thank you.
And just like that, we are back from vacation and slowly adjusting back to east coast time. It was a great trip with memories that will stick in Markowski lore, plus the realization that we like California … like a lot. Just knowing I could grown my own avocados is enough to push us all there at some point in the future.
The weather wasn’t so bad either.
Returning home to the garden after a long absence is always a bag of mixed emotions. It’s exciting to see progress and exciting to see what is newly blooming. At the same time, the weeds could dramatically expand without fear of eradication and I know that will set me back in my journey to create the perfect garden.
That last statement was sarcastic, FYI.
But what was more surprising than anything else was one emotion that stood above all else. One emotion I never anticipated upon our return. An emotion I don’t typically associate with the garden. But it was and is still here days later.
BOREDOM.
I need a change. Scratch that, I need many changes.
I need new and different. I’m bored with all that I’ve created and madly attempted to curate all these years.
I don’t like the feeling but I can’t deny it.
I have no time to implement these changes. And it wouldn’t be wise to start moving plants around during the dog days of summer. They wouldn’t be happy.
So I’m taking deep breaths and assessing the potential changes. I’m aware (finally) that my plant palette is somewhat limited based on my conditions, but oddly enough, I’m not looking to add new plants as much as I’m desiring a new look with my existing plants.
So maybe it’s a series of tweaks that I desire more than anything else. When I say that out loud it doesn’t feel as intimidating. It says “a little at a time”. It doesn’t erase all the blood and sweat I’ve poured in all these years.
A SERIES OF TWEAKS
I like that. I’m going to roll with it. I think I addressed my issue on the fly as I wrote this post.
Thanks for listening.
A new garden post will be coming soon.
We’ve been on an 8-day vacation in Southern California and while I’m not ready to return home any time soon, I do look forward to seeing where things stand in my garden.
Until then, please enjoy these vacation pics.
The latest and greatest in the garden.
The basketball hoop couldn’t have been sited more perfectly. Not only does it bring height to the garden. Not only does it act as much needed hardscape in a sea of green. Not only does it bring more visitors into the garden.
But it also forces me to clean up a weed-filled section of the garden that will now be home to stone. I also feel like this section of the garden has now been perfectly divided and provided me with a chance to do some serious design.
It may be time to figure out how to divide all of my Nepata (Catmint). This is how most of them look right now. They’ll look better after I cut back the spent blooms, but long term I need to take care of this.
Have any of you ever divided Nepeta?
The good news: I’ve never had this many blooms on my Hydrangea ‘Lady in Red’.
The bad news: that was the view from the back of the shrub against the foundation of the house. Here is how it looks in the front. Damn deer nipping away all fall and spring.
Shhhhh … don’t jinx it. I’m about to get an actual bloom on my Cimicifuga (Bugbane).
Many blooms coming on the Purple Prairie Clover
The seedheads on the Baptisia still make this perennial a showstopper.
I’ve written about my attempts to remove Canada Thistle many times before and I’ve attempted to capture it all on video before but never followed through.
That changes today.
The video below captures step one in my attempted eradication of this terrifying and invasive weed.
I will win.
The video below makes me happy. It’s a part of the garden I’m very proud of and one that has filled in nicely over time.
After watching this life-changing video, check out the photos below which identify all of the plants that were part of the mini-tour. I’ve even linked the pics to sites where you can read more about each.
You are so welcome.
This is how they looked only a little over one year ago. How quickly they fill in.
In September
In October
Back in the fall, I wrote a post about receiving a bunch of free bulbs from renowned bulb purveyor, John Scheepers. While most of the bulbs were a success this spring, one stands out above all the others IMHO. That would be Brodiaea laxa ‘Silver Queen’.
These star-shaped flowers have been blooming non-stop for me since early June and they’re showing no signs of slowing down any time soon even as we head into the brutal heat of July.
I planted them back in October in a mostly sunny location (they prefer full sun) and found a spot where the soil actually drains well. That’s hard to find in my garden but I knew these would struggle to survive if I didn’t.
I can say with 100% certainty, they have thrived in year one.
I’m loving the combo of the silver hue of the flowers and the grass-like foliage. They give off an airy quality that plays well with others perennials. They look fantastic both up close and from a further distance away.
Here’s hoping they make it through the fall/winter okay as they are apparently not super hardy. I’ll do my best to treat them with kid gloves.
If they do survive, here’s hoping they increase in numbers as advertised. These bulbs up themselves in volume through corm offsets.
And fortunately, I’ve given them plenty of room to expand.
I like plant expansion.
I like it a lot.
You’ve created a monster.
Your feedback has me invigorated.
I’m loving taking videos of the garden. It gives me a new perspective which I never anticipated. It allows me to take a step back and evaluate the garden through a, ahem, different lens.
For today, here’s a look at my back deck. The views out into the garden and the containers that reside here. As you’ll see, I could really use your expert opinions on how to improve these pots o’ plants.
There may even be some actual tomatoes.
So I’ve heard.
Enjoy.
I’ve underused annuals in my garden forever.
Part of it comes from my love of perennials where I get to watch the plants grow and develop over the years. I feel a connection and I like how the narrative is created over time. Each perennial has a story and that story changes from season to season.
Not so much with annuals.
Part of it also comes from a sort of snobbery. Annuals are for the weak. Annuals are too easy. You don’t have to work for their flowers; they just bloom all summer without fail.
But deep down, I understand the value of the annual. I get that they can be great space fillers. I get that that they can provide color all season and when planted in conjunction with perennials, can ensure there is always something going on. They can provide abundance and abundance is good.
So over the past few years I’ve incorporated more and more annuals into my garden. And I’ll be the first to admit, I’m kind of bad at it. But I’m trying.
When I did my video garden tour in the last post, some of you commented on my weak showing when it came to the annual plantings. And you couldn’t have been more spot on. Even I noticed it as I filmed the tour.
So I did something about it. Well something small about it, as a starting point.
Check out the video below and you’ll see how I hopefully transformed one section of the garden by following the rule of abundance or massing of like plants.
In this case it was with Globe Amaranth. I took 5 plants that were planted way too formally and in too perfect of a straight line.
And planned to add them to another existing planting of five.
So out they went in no time …
… and were easily added to their fellow planting across the front walk.
This time I did all I could to fight against my need for order and planted them in a more asymmetrical pattern.
The Globe Amaranth are mixed in among Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania Sedge) where I hope they create a contrasting vignette that only gets better as the blooms continue to emerge all summer and into the fall.
I’ll be sure to update you on this planting as we move into July and August.
Step one in my annuals transformation is complete.