The Obsessive Neurotic Gardener

Best garden day of the year

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I love early spring when the garden first comes alive and winter moves in to the rear-view mirror.
I love late spring when blooms are in abundance and the weather is super comfortable. 
But my “garden lust” kicks into high gear the last week of July … I’m not kidding … it is that specific. I can almost identify the exact day each year when it all comes together deliciously.
And last night was that night.
Here in New Jersey, we have had a scorching hot summer with little rain. It’s been a challenge to keep all of the plants watered and looking presentable. There have been times where I wanted to give up and throw in the trowel. 
But this past week, we have been inundated with rain and ironically, it has taken a few days for the plants to bounce back from the powerful winds and pounding rain. But once they did bounce back, things were in fine working order. 
All was good as I dashed outside with the camera late yesterday afternoon. 
  • The grasses are all at a substantial size 
  • The fall blooming perennials are just starting to reveal their buds 
  • The summer blooming perennials keep on keeping on 
  • The deciduous shrubs are still holding on to their foliage color before the inevitable late summer decline. 

Put that all together and you’ve got fantastic garden vignettes looking all healthy and lush and crap. Yeah buddy!
           
Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’ and Ninebark ‘Summer Wine’

Penstemon ‘Husker’s Red’, Pennisetum ‘Karley Rose’, Panicum ‘Rotstrahlbusch’ and Miscanthus ‘Variegatus’.

Viburnum ‘Emerald Lustre’, Itea ‘Henry’s Garnet’, Amsonia tabernaemontana, Miscanthus ‘Variegatus’ and assorted others   

Panicum ‘Northwind’, Itea ‘Henry’s Garnet’, Amsonia tabernaemontana, Northern Sea Oats, Viburnum ‘Emerald Lustre’ and Miscanthus ‘Variegatus’

More of the same 
Miscanthus ‘Morning Light’, Joe Pye Weed ‘Gateway’ and Panicum ‘Northwind’
Joe Pye Weed ‘Gateway’ and Miscanthus ‘Morning Light’
Viburnum ‘Aurora’, Miscanthus ‘Gracillimus’ and Althea ‘Lavender Chiffon’ 

Purple Coneflowers, Achillea ‘Moonwalker’ and Sedum (cultivar unknown)

Weigela ‘Wine and Roses’, Purple Coneflowers and Russian Sage

Panicum ‘Rotstrahlbusch’, Dwarf Alberta Spruce, Achillea ‘Moonwalker’, Sorghastrum ‘Sioux Blue’, Weigela ‘Wine and Roses’, Purple Coneflowers and Russian Sage

Good times indeed.

John

What’s blooming this week

Wordless Wednesday

“Old me” vs “New me”

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My struggles to maintain my sanity while gardening are well documented and something I have to consciously  work on. Yes, gardening is supposed to be a relaxing and therapeutic escape but I tend to take it way too seriously and with too much intensity. Strange, but true.
So in an effort to stay calm and “go with the flow”, I’ve developed a new psychological tool that I am considering pursuing a copyright on. I’m calling it the “Old me vs New me 5000” (no significance to the number, just sounds more prominent). And here is how it works.
I’ll take a look at an old garden photo and first write how the “old me” would describe it. Then after that, I’ll write how the new and improved “new me” sees that same photo. Hopefully putting it in to words will have the impact I am expecting. 

It might not stick, but hell it’s worth a shot, right?

Here we go with the inaugural effort:
              

Old me: “I wait all spring and summer for the purple coneflower blooms and they last like a friggin day or two.”
New me: “Isn’t the life cycle of a flower fascinating and just like life itself.”

Old me: “Why would I take this photo knowing it was super humid and foggy out in the middle of the day.”
New me: “This shot captures the exact mood at the time it was taken.”

Old me: “The deer ate every last peony bloom so I will know climb into the fetal position for the next week.”
New me: “Without the blooms, you really get to focus on the beautiful glossy foliage of the peony. What a wonderful treat.”

Old me: “Poison ivy right in the middle of my Russian Sage. I’m going to burn the f’er down right now.”
New me: “Some times nature hands us a difficult situation and reminds us that we are not in control.”  

There you have it. I feel better already but also realize I will need to continue with this therapy in order to truly change.

What do you think?

John

Recap of our vacation to Chester, CT

Posted on by Posted in Family .
We just returned from our annual trip to the family “Cottage” in Chester, Connecticut and once again, it was nothing but good times. 
The kids spent most of their days swimming in the lake:   

  

I was ordered to join them … :

To throw them around non-stop:

And then this old man would collapse and beg them to just swim around:

The lake lends itself to so many amazing photo opportunities and hopefully this amateur photographer captured them OK:   

We spent one day at the beach in Rhode Island just to mix it up a bit:

East Beach was our kind of beach; just a natural oasis with nothing built up around it:

We made sure to partake in the the legendary Del’s frozen lemonade while in RI:

And on the trek back to CT, we made a few stops along the way for more pictures:

My personal fave, making the kids suffer in the bright sun:

 We spent another morning at the aquarium in Mystic, CT:

We met up with family and kicked it old school with roasted marshmallows and … :

Sparklers baby:

My son turned 10 (you friggin kidding me?) while we were away and we celebrated it well:

But when all was said and done, the best part was spending a week with my three favorite people in the world:

It kind of sucks to be back, but I can now get back to the garden and believe me, it needs me desperately.

John

Color contrast and an ornamental grass vignette

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Two quick ones today:
Loving the color contrast between Ninebark ‘Diablo’ and Hydrangea ‘Endless Summer’:

And confirming my ornamental grass obsession.

1)Miscanthus ‘Purpurascens’ peaking out from behind the hydrangea.
2)Calamagrostis ‘El Dorado’ in bloom in back right.
3)Miscanthus ‘Gracillimus’ the monster in the back left:

Ciao

John

“Prune in June’ – Joe Pye Weed – update

Posted on by Posted in How-to, Perennials, Pruning .

Couldn’t resist a quick update on my original post on pruning Joe Pye Weed.

When I pinched the growing tips back, I had mentioned that Tracy Disabato-Aust had stated that it would result in “5 breaks emerging from the stem” and guess what? Here they are:

The non pinched stems are just about ready to bloom so more to come on this front in an upcoming post.

Good times.

John

“Prune in June” – Cleaning up

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It might be July, but you’ll have to trust me that I accomplished the following tasks while it was still June.
So no deep pruning discussions today, just some simple cutting back to clean up some spent blooms/foliage with the hope that the foliage will bounce back all nice and neat and maybe a second set of blooms in late summer.
First off, Nepeta (Catmint) ‘Walker’s Low’. Here at its peak:   

And then looking a little spent:

So, whack, all have been cut back:

More to come in a future post to show you how well they have bounced back:

On to Tradescantia (Spiderwort) ‘Sweet Kate’. Looking good and healthy in the spring:

In bloom and still holding up:

Out come the shears and they’ve been cut to the ground. Didn’t take long to see immediate foliage regrowth:

Finally, Geranium ‘Brookside’ looking good a few weeks ago:

And then looking severely spent today:

Thwack! Now we wait for the inevitable nice foliage mound to come back:

As with previous “Prune in June” posts, I’ll post additional photos as these perennials reinvent themselves over the next few weeks.

Cheers!

John

I’ve got my mojo back

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Was three days a long enough of a hiatus in order to get back my blogging mojo? 
Truth be told, it was closer to seven days; I was down on gardening/blogging right after my post last Thursday and wrote my temporary sabbatical post on Sunday.    
Well, a lot has changed over the past week and I’m back and ready to kick some ass again. 
I should clarify that last statement; a lot has changed “inside my head” and as bizarre a place that might be, I thought it might be interesting to share those changes in thought with you (guess the “obsessive” and “neurotic” monikers were dead on after all, eh?):
  • My mother-in-law came to visit from Oregon this past week and she is a big gardening fan so I may have put a bit of unnecessary pressure on myself to impress. My photography has improved over the past few years which really means I have learned how to hide a lot of my garden flaws from readers of this blog. But now I was going to be exposed. Once she arrived, I think I heard her mutter the word “lush” as she toured the gardens and from that point on, all the pressure was off. Ahhhhhh …
  • We have had nothing but 95 degree weather or warmer for the past week so I’ve had to spend all of my gardening time watering and trying to keep the plants alive and thriving. No time for hardcore weeding or digging out new beds or planning of any sorts. It’s amazing how that gives you a better appreciation of what you have rather than what “could be”.
  • I’ve upped my exercise/running routine and there is nothing that clears the mind and puts you in a solid mental state like a hard run in 90 degree weather. Guess I should also be thankful that I didn’t die from heat exhaustion.
  • My issue was never with blogging, but more with all of the time I was consumed with analyzing reader traffic and how I could improve the look and feel of my site. F that, I’m going to keep writing and taking photos and let the chips fall as they may. This is just too much fun and a much needed escape from my corporate job. 
  • Maybe this is obvious to every other gardener alive, but I really need to remind myself that “Rome wasn’t built in a day”. I have a large property and still somewhat of a blank canvas. That is a blessing and not a curse. So I need to stop and smell the roses more often (Well maybe not roses, I’ve done nothing but kill roses in the past … but you get the point).
  • Finally, I’m going to compare gardening to baseball once again. Both past times are a grind and marathon like, where you have to just try and survive some days (especially in the dead of summer). But each day brings you a mini adventure or a new sub-plot and the fun is in how you make it through that.   

So yes, I’m back with a refreshed perspective on things and we’ll see where that takes us.  


Here are some recent pics from out in the garden and we’ll all talk again real soon, aight?:          
                              

My attempt at a shade container using the thriller, filler, spiller idea
The Monarda (Bee Balm) plants are thriving even with these hot temps

I have managed to fend off the rabbits/deer to actually see some ‘Little Grapette’ daylily blooms

Clethra (summersweet) ‘Hummingbird’ is in full bloom 
The backlit blooms of Calamagrostis (Feather reed grass) rocking out
A few Asclepias (Swamp Milkweed) ‘Ice Ballet’ have emerged out of nowhere and are blooming
Mountain mint (will spare you the Latin name this time) is in full bloom and buzzing with bees 
Who needs blooms when you have texture like this with Amsonia (Eastern Bluestar)
Chasmanthium latifolium (Northern Sea Oats) with Mountain Mint in the back 
Phenomenal color on the Carex ‘Cappuccino’  
‘Fragrant Angel’ coneflower and yes it has the fragrance of an angel (huh?) 
Fave new plant for lighting up in shade – Northern Sea Oats ‘River Mist’

Dreaming smaller – an ONG blog update

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No photos today.

No talk of pruning.

No witty banter.

You still with me? Good deal.

A few months ago I made a declaration that I was going to transform my yard into a sea of beautiful plantings and would throw a bash to celebrate my “grand re-opening”. You can read that post here. I even promised that it would be “epic”. I gave myself about a year and a half to pull it off since this was going to be massive and time consuming.

Well guess what? Shit ain’t happening. Not by a long shot. 

Deep down, I think I knew I would never meet such a lofty goal, but hoped this blog would force me to work my arse off in order to actually pull it off. The pressure to perform would be enough of a driving force to keep me going throughout the spring, summer and fall.

Turns out is was more of an “epic fail” than anything “epic”.

Why did my big plan not come to fruition? The answer is obvious; good old fashioned lack of time.

With a full time (and then some) job, two young children involved in a variety of activities and a wife that I adore, there just isn’t the necessary amount of time to undertake such a project. And truthfully, that is a good thing. As a husband and father, I would be doing something seriously wrong if I had all that time on my hands.

Which brings me to my real point of discussion for today … this blog.

I’ve been writing the ONG for about two and a half years now, and it has been a blast. I’ve met a number of people both virtually and in person as a result of my garden writing and each and every one has been phenomenal.

I’ve learned a ton about how to write.

I’ve also learned how not to write.

I’ve gained knowledge on how to address plant issues or critter issues.

I’ve even learned how to attain better SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

I’ve taught myself a lot about photography and the use of light, shutter speed, etc.

But I’ve also allowed myself to become caught up in it all a bit too much.

I can only write, take photos and research my analytics before or after work each day or between baseball practice and dance practice on the weekends. That is a lot to cram in during my “down” time.

As a result, I don’t do a good job of responding to reader comments or reading other blogs or catching up on my favorite garden forums.

But worst of all, I find that I tune out my kids and wife too much in order to get it all done. I spend too much time analyzing my blog traffic when I should be playing with the kids or helping my wife research our future vacations. OK, it may not be as extreme as I’m making it out to be, but you get the point.

I’m not ready to give it all up. I enjoy the crafting of a post and the creativity that goes into it. I just need to dial it back a bit. A better balance if you will. After all, gardening is supposed to be a nice relaxing escape and I need to remind myself of that more often.

I can barely keep up with the weeds let alone promise to create some sort of masterpiece I’ve dreamed up in my head.

Thanks for listening and I’ll be back again … “somewhat” soon.

John