jmarkowski, Author at The Obsessive Neurotic Gardener

Those damn kids

Posted on June 13, 2011 by jmarkowski Posted in Uncategorized .

**WARNING** WHINING ALERT TO FOLLOW

I need more time in the day. I would absolutely pay top dollar for it. Maybe it’s not more time really; maybe it’s more light at night, like let it stay light until about 10:00 PM or so. That would totally work.

Without a doubt, I’ve spent the least amount of time out in the garden this year when compared to the past ten years or so. And you know whose to blame for this? Those damn kids of mine. Yep, if you notice more weeds than usual in any of my photos, it’s their fault. They have the nerve to get involved in such things as baseball or dance or, get this, ask me to play with them. Seriously, you want to play Trouble again? Isn’t that popper thing broken yet? What, you want to me to pitch to you? Selfish things they are.

Saturday’s are spent watching my son throw out a kid at first base. Or watching my daughter perfect her dance moves for her upcoming recital. What kind of fun is that? That kind of stuff doesn’t warm my heart or make me want to hit the pause button so the kids don’t get any older. Nope, not at all.

Each weekend, I only manage to get outdoors some time late Sunday afternoon to check out what’s been going down in my plant world. Here’s what I found this week:

Miscanthus ‘Morning Light’ still grabs my attention as I step out to my car each morning:

It doesn’t wow you, but Achillea (Yarrow) is such a consistent performer and requires absolutely no care at all. You need some of these to offset the more high maintenance plants:

Pycnanthemum (Mountain Mint) is a native plant I picked up at a local plant sale two years ago. I stuck it in a hidden location and it didn’t do much year one. It has now exploded and the plan is to relocate now to a more prominent location. More to come:

I friggin love the foliage on Hibiscus ‘Kopper King’ and may even cut off the flowers as they emerge this year. The deer and/or rabbits have had their way with it but now that “Project Liquid Fence” has been launched, all things look grand:

Hydrangea ‘Endless Summer’ looking good and the blooms are imminent:

The first Echinacea (Purple Coneflower) bloom of the year is here with many more to follow (albeit much shorter this year thanks again to the work of the f’n rabbits):

Geranium ‘Brookside’ is in full bloom … and I’m still not sure that I care all that much. You be the judge:

The Coleus ‘Alabama Sunset’ looks tremendous so far getting about half a day of sun:

Happy wife alert: I got rid of the hated Arborvitae that was sitting in this container and replaced it with this Miscanthus ‘Super Stripe’. Upon seeing the change, my wife commented “I love striped grasses”. I rule and that is how I roll:

Ciao my friends!

Enjoying the subtle changes in the garden

Posted on June 10, 2011 by jmarkowski Posted in Uncategorized .

As I took a quick walk around the yard early this morning, battling the lingering fog, I noticed there hasn’t been a lot of dramatic change of late in the garden. There has been a quiet lull since the mid spring bloomers put on their show and the hot and humid weather seemed to slow down the foliage growth on most plants.

Upon closer inspection though, I noticed some of the more subtle changes which serve as a reminder that our gardens never truly stop evolving.

My absolute favorite ornamental grass, Calamagrostis (Feather Reed Grass) ‘Karl Foerster’ has begun to form it’s blooms and they add such a nice texture to the appearance of the grass:

Another Feather Reed Grass, ‘El Dorado’, has also commenced the bloom parade:

Calamagrostis is a “cool season” grass meaning it starts to grow in early spring when the temps are cooler but then slows down as the temps rise into the summer. Once the growth slows down, they begin to bloom and those blooms persist all the way into winter. You can be sure you will see numerous photos of this gem over the coming months.

I have only one spot in my yard that gets any kind of afternoon shade. That is in the bed directly in the front of my house. All of the other areas are treated as “full sun”. I have always loved Astilbes so I’ve managed to tuck a few in that front bed. With all the rain we had in the spring, they are thriving:

Astilbe ‘Deutschland’

Great combo of flowers and foliage, as long as you don’t let them dry out. I like the fact that they do not overwhelm you when in bloom but lend more of a graceful presence to the overall garden scheme (Did I just say that?).

The Amsonia (Bluestar) just finished blooming within the past week or so but honestly, I like these better post-bloom. The airy/wispy foliage is the real winner and for whatever reason, it looks it’s best right after blooming. I have not witnessed it’s stellar fall color yet, so I am looking forward to it this year:

Have a great weekend!

John

We’ve got a hot one

Posted on June 9, 2011 by jmarkowski Posted in Uncategorized .

It is way too hot and humid to write much today. I’ve been psychologically sweating even when indoors. Here in NJ, schools are closing early due to the extreme heat (near 100 degrees).

I’ll be spending the evening at my son’s baseball playoff game trying to make sure he stays cool. If they win tonight they advance to the championship game on Saturday so lots of pressure on him tonight (I kid).

Everything is drooping outdoors even after all of the watering I’ve done the past few days. We’re expecting rain into the weekend so all will be good soon enough.

I’ll leave you with a few photos I’ve taken this past week:

My frustration with the daylilly

Posted on June 8, 2011 by jmarkowski Posted in Comedy, Perennials .

Most gardeners have a difficult time just throwing a plant away or heaving it onto the compost pile. We tend to move them around to different locations to see if that will change our mind or we shove it in a container and hide it where it can then languish in purgatory. But we will not destroy it.

Which brings me to the ubiquitous daylily; ‘Happy Returns’ will be used as an example in today’s discussion.

In early spring, the daylily foliage will emerge and it looks fresh and clean at a time of year when we are desperate for anything “green”:

When the first buds appear, there is a sense of excitement, but also a reminder that they will need some serious attention in the not so distant future:

Yes, the blooms are nice and all:

And when that initial flush of bloom hits it does make an impact:

But then obsessive me, gets all worked up trying to stay on top of the deadheading not only for reblooming purposes, but to keep the plant looking neat. It can be difficult trying to determine which is a spent bloom (the blooms last only a day):

And which is a soon to be bloom:

The truth is, I never keep up with the deadheading like I think I will and in the blink of an eye, they start to look ratty:

By the time August hits, I give up entirely and just cut them down heavily just to get some decent clean foliage regrowth. Of course then I figure, I’ll dispose of them next spring since they look OK into the Fall. And then Spring hits and the foliage looks great … well, you know that story already.

I do like the less common varieties as they do come in such a huge variety of colors and sizes. And they do not look as ugly at the end of their blooming period. But the deer do love them so more often than not I don’t even get to see them blooming at their peak.

You feelin my frustration too, dawg?

Itea virginica ‘Henry’s Garnet’

Posted on June 7, 2011 by jmarkowski Posted in Shrubs .

“A shrub native to the swamps and low lying wet woods of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.”

Yes please, I’ll take three. Some times it is that simple.

The brief description above is describing Itea virginica (Virginia Sweetspire) ‘Henry’s Garnet (and I’m sure it is a good description of other shrubs, but I digress):

This deciduous shrub fits my growing conditions perfectly and when that happens, I bow at the altar of said shrub. Some more details on my buddy:

Survives zone 5-9
Prefers full sun to partial shade – I can vouch that it works well in both
Reaches a maximum height of about 4′ and a spread of about 6′
Prefers wet soil but will work in soil with average moisture
For me, it has bloomed from the end of May until the middle to end of June
The blooms are white, 3-6 ” cylindrical racemes that allegedly are fragrant but I’ve yet to notice that
The foliage is a dark green that is a bit slow to leaf out in spring so no need to panic
The fall color is fantastical and the reason for the cultivar name
This cultivar was discovered at Swarthmore College in the early 80’s most likely while the founder was listening to Duran Duran on his Walkman (OK, I made that last part up.)

Some personal photos I’ve taken over the past two years:

An explosion of bloom, taken about a week ago:

A closer shot of the bottle brush like blooms:

The foliage starting to change color in late Summer:

I like the combination of the Itea’s fall foliage color with yellow or chartreuse foliage. That is Acorus Gramineus ‘Oborozuki’ (Variegated Sweet Flag) in the photo below:

But most importantly, the amazing fall foliage color (taken in late November):

I have three of these shrubs and each has been provided with ample room to sucker and form colonies at their will. I won’t prune them a bit.

If you do not have the room for these, there is a dwarf version ‘Little Henry’ that is easily available. I’m thinking about test driving one of them myself.

John

Iris sibirica (Siberian Iris) ‘Snow Queen’

Posted on June 6, 2011 by jmarkowski Posted in Perennials .

I am here today to sing the praises of the Siberian Iris, specifically, the cultivar ‘Snow Queen’:

Oh, you want to know why? You can’t just simply trust my judgement? I thought we were all tighter than that. OK, fine, I’ll tell you why:

Deer resistance – this has become priority #1 for me of late
Ability to withstand wet soil – if you’ve read this blog before, you know my issue with wet feet
Multitude of blooms – a relatively short window of bloom, but it is a nice explosion for 2 weeks
Multi-seasonal interest – these look good almost all year, in and out of bloom
Solid design element – the upright, deep green and grassy foliage plays well with other contrasting foliage types

Most often, I’ll purchase a plant if it fits even 2-3 of the criteria above, but when you find one that hits all five, you do a little dance and enjoy the crap out of it.

Some other details on this great performer:

Survives in zones 3-9
Works well in full sun to partial shade (I’ve tried them in both and found they perform fine in both)
They get to be about 36′ high and only need to be about 18″ apart
They apparently work in almost any soil but I can only attest to clay
I’ve read online that they can rebloom but I’ve never experienced it
They divide rather easily, as do all siberian irises although I haven’t divided this cultivar yet

Here are some photos of ‘Snow Queen’ that will take you through the life cycle, season by season:

First emerging in the early spring:

In bud, near the middle of May:

First bloom of the year (note the golden yellow color):

In full bloom in late May:

The last bloom hanging on for dear life yesterday:

The strapping foliage still providing interesting vertical lines in Fall:

Call me crazy, but I even like the dead foliage color in Winter:

I am anxious to try other Siberian iris cultivars (I also have ‘Ruffled Velvet’ which hasn’t performed as well) as long as I can find room for them all.

As always, I would love to get your thoughts on other Siberian or even non Siberian irises you have had success with or any tips that have been successful for you.

Thanks for stopping by!

The ugly underbelly of my garden

Posted on June 3, 2011 by jmarkowski Posted in My garden .

My last post was one of newly emerging flowers and interesting foliage. Today’s post is the complete opposite of that.

We’re talking ugly my friends.

The garden gods absolutely have a sense of humor. Just when you start to think that everything looks so perfect and you start to pat yourself on the back, BOOM, they throw some “nasty” your way.

But that’s OK, I’ve matured over time and will stay far from the ledge. I chalk it up to a learning experience and it makes for an interesting blog topic, so it’s all good. It’s not like I threw a shovel like a javelin or kicked the wheelbarrow over. Who would be so juvenile and do that? Onward:

Let’s get the deer destruction out of the way first. I’ve railed enough on them in the past. I finally sprayed the most vulnerable plants with Liquid Fence a few days ago and we’ll see if it works.

A before and after shot of a container I have planted with Purple Leaf Sand Cherry and Sweet Potato Vine:

Some times the deer actually help out as they “deer prune”, which means they nibble at plants I needed to prune to control their ultimate size. This is exactly what they did to the Boltonia below. Of course, there will be a time when the pruning stops so they can properly bloom. The deer will then be severely punished if they set foot near these perennials:

I was thrilled to see that the Hibiscus ‘Kopper King’ had finally emerged, but the deer were apparently thrilled as well:

This Heuchera ‘Blackout’ is covered with some white/gray substance and I cannot identify what it is. It isn’t bleaching from the sun and I don’t think it is botrytis based on the color of the spots. I’ll have to let it play out:

I planted another Heuchera a few weeks ago and it looked great for a while but now it is “crisping up”, as you can see in the “before” and “after” photos below. The culprit – I haven’t kept up with the watering during our recent heat wave.

We just had a week of 90 degree weather and heavy humidity and that is a recipe for powdery mildew. This fungal disease typically hits plants in shade while it is humid and is most common amongst plants that do not have enough space between them so there is minimal air circulation. My Hypericum ‘Albury Purple’ got hit:

As did a few of the Hydrangea ‘Endless Summer’:

In the past, I’ve been good at keeping the proper amount of space between plants so they “can breathe” but with the heavy foliage growth this year, I’m realizing I failed quite a bit. Oh well, lesson learned.

Here is another problem that I can’t clearly identify. Doesn’t look like like powdery mildew or leaf spot so I’ll have to give it time to figure out what is wrong with the Lobelia Siphilitica (Blue Cardinal Flower):

Um, I should probably get to weeding this bed soon:

A plea for help. What kind of weed is this? It is EVERYWHERE this year and I need to understand why it is thriving:

And last but not least, this Arborvitae ‘Emerald’ is clearly leaning after getting the snot beat out of it by the winter winds. There is another one of these on the other side of the steps. I can’t just remove it and to dig it up and replant it would be a gargantuan task that I am not up for right now. But the leaning SOB is friggin killing me!

Thanks for making it through and I would love any feedback you have on any of my misfortunes.

John

Checking out the progress in the garden

Posted on June 1, 2011 by jmarkowski Posted in My garden .

With the busy Memorial Day weekend, there wasn’t a lot of time to get up close and personal and catch up with my plant family. I had a chance to reconnect this morning and here is what I found:

All of the Itea ‘Henry’s Garnet’ are in full bloom:

The Spirea ‘Snow Storm’ bloom has peaked and has started the inevitable decline:

To say the Physocarpus (Ninebark) ‘Summer Wine’ is “in bloom” is a slight understatement:

All of the Spirea ‘Goldmound’ look better than they ever have before. Must be my mad skills or maybe it just took time to get established. Yeah, it’s the latter.

I feel like I owe all of you an apology. I did an entire post dedicated to Sedum ‘Red Carpet’ indicating how much I liked the fact that the red foliage stood out and worked well with yellow foliage. Well, the “red” foliage has disappeared and has been replaced with a greenish/red color. The before and after below:

I love my Yucca ‘Golden Sword’ but don’t think I’m a big fan of the bloom. We’ll see soon enough:

The first bloom on the Geranium ‘Brookside’, the hot mess is not far behind:

My vow to stay on top of all pruning duties is off to a good start. I cut back the Iberis (Candytuft) immediately after blooming like a good gardener should:

The foliage on the Eupatorium (Joe Pye Weed) ‘Chocolate’ looks magically delicious:

Digging the catkins on the Betula Nigra (River Birch) trees:

And finally, the blooms of the Campanula ‘Joan Elliot’ and Peony ‘Bowl of Beauty’ keep on keeping on:

Ciao!

John

Memorial Day

Posted on May 31, 2011 by jmarkowski Posted in Family, Local .

I am not a parade kind of guy.

I don’t really get the fun in waving to some Girl Scout troops I don’t know or watching some people ride comfortably in a classic car while I stand in the heat next to some crabby kid who just accidentally let go of his helium balloon.

Yet, we agreed to attend a Memorial Day parade yesterday and the thought of standing outside in 95 degree heat (not an exaggeration) with two young children sounded sweaty and exhausting at best. Couldn’t we just watch one on TV in air conditioning? I’ve been told “it’s not the same” so we gave it a go. You know what? It was a good time, with a great vibe and admittedly, it tugged a bit on the old heart strings:

The parade was in Bucks County, PA, specifically in:

There were plenty of vehicles carrying our brave and heroic men and women:

Some animals were thrown in for shits (literally) and giggles:

Some dudes dressed up in old time garb and fired off shots that terrified every child under the age of 10 (and all of the parents would like to thank them for that):

A little not so subtle marketing:

Some serious weaponry (I had the kids in close touch while this dude walked by):

There was an overwhelming feeling of patriotism and just good old fashioned fun even though we all baked like mad in the sun (yes they were all covered in sun screen):

But honestly, the best part of the day may have been the walk to and from the parade. We parked a distance from the parade route and walked along the towpath of the Delaware River canal:

We had never been on this part of the canal and it was beautiful and loaded with wildlife:

We saw a few snakes in the water, a beaver busy at work on a dam and plenty of ducks, which the kids absolutely loved:

Unlike the towpath in our parts up in NJ, there were a bunch of homes right on the canal that were phenomenal:

It seemed like one big party could be had just hanging around the canal and maybe one day we’ll make our way there.

I also spotted some awesome entrances to some of the properties:

The funniest part of the walk was our interaction with all of the geese. They were the most brazen geese I’ve ever seen and were overly aggressive. While the kids panicked as the geese hissed at us, I found it hilarious as they chased after us even after we had passed by with no intention of ever messing with them:

Even the young guys and gals were ready to mix it up and I’ll share that video with you in the near future:

All in all, a great Memorial Day and one not to be forgotten.

Now back to the grind.

John

Awkward, but I love ya

Posted on May 27, 2011 by jmarkowski Posted in My garden .

Not all babies are cute.

They’re really not.

But if that child is your own, you love them to death and believe they are the most beautiful thing on the planet.

As the child gets older, he or she (mostly he) will go through a number of awkward phases where again, you’ll see them as handsome and attractive, but to everyone else, they will be “kinda funny looking.” Trust me, this is coming from the King of Awkwardness at age 13. Braces, legs too long for my frame, head to big and just plain old socially inept. Of course, I eventually got straightened out, the women fell at my feet and I became a dashing young man (if you believe that, you don’t know me very well).

My point for today – as I ogled all of the blooms on my peonies, irises, ninebarks, campanulas, etc, I also took notice of the true anchors of my landscape – the ornamental grasses. While the blooms are the cool, good looking kids, the OG’s of May 27th represent the pubescent boy. Little odd, but you can see the potential of what is to come.

So today, I honor the ornamental grasses and want to let them know they will always be wonderful to me no matter what stage they are in with their development. Your time to shine is not that far off, but I still dig you even today: