More Fall Garden

Posted on October 26, 2021 by jmarkowski Posted in Uncategorized .

I waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

And then finally, at 5:00 pm EST today, we had our first break from the rain.

I dashed from out of my home office (where I’ve been working since March ’20 and it’s not really an office but a desk in what used to be a playroom), grabbed my camera and snapped the following pics, fearful if I didn’t capture this moment in time, I’d regret it when it all disappeared the next day. We’re at peak autumn color right now her in New Jersey, which means we’ll now be heading in the wrong direction.

I’ll savor these shots until Spring Fever hits on January 2nd.

As great as all the yellow/gold hues look, this section desperately needs some red/orange foliage as a contrast. Dammit.

I just looked back on all of my old posts and I referenced my love of Panicum ‘Northwind” 218 times. Here’s #219.

Fluffy, airy, grassy, poofy, puffy, yummy.

This is my view outside the window of my office. I’ve lovingly ogled this Molinia ‘Skyracer’ throughout all of the seasons and at this moment, the orange stems are stunning, especially when backlit by the morning sun.

Where there’s room, there’s a grass. This Indian Grass blooms are gigantic and I’m so here for it.

Great colors, great textures but need more varying heights. Dammit.

Clethra has fantastic fall color, even if it is fleeting.

Speaking of Fall, if you take a gander at the latest issue of Fine Gardening magazine and turn to page 30 …

And page 31 …

You might recognize a certain someone.

The Fall Garden

Posted on October 12, 2021 by jmarkowski Posted in Uncategorized .

My garden is a Fall garden. As much as I try to jam in annuals and spring/summer blooming perennials, it truly shines and stands out as the temps drop in September/October. The character is off the charts. It evokes more emotion than winter/spring/summer combined. Now if I could only tap a “pause” button …

Long Time No See

Posted on June 22, 2021 by jmarkowski Posted in Uncategorized .

How long has it been?

The correct answer is “too long”.

Sorry.

I dipped my toes back into the blogging pond last summer only to disappear again and for that I apologize. I’ll go ahead and make the assumption that you missed me. Or maybe not. Out of sight out of mind, amirite?

Oh, do we not say “amirite” any longer? My bad.

Am I right?

I come armed with no promises upon this return. No big future plans or announcements or any sort of promotion of work outside of here. I missed this place and missed you all and wanted to say hi and share some gardening pics.

How’ve you all been?

How’s your garden looking and how’s it treating you?

Do we still read blogs or is it only You Tube now?

You’ll be happy to know I’m still struggling to keep up with the mess I’ve created in my yard over the years and have sworn it all off more than once over the past few months only to return with vigor and a massive dent in my bank account.

Truth is, I still ADORE it. I continue to cherish the struggle and the ups and downs. I may ache more the next day (FYI, turning 49 tomorrow, HBD to me) and I may continue to make the same mistakes (of which you won’t see) but damn it’s still rewarding.

Having said that, here’s some pics of what I got going on.

Now that the cicadas have calmed down and lowered the volume a few decibels, maybe I’ll share some videos here.

Shit, there it is, a promise I promised not to promise.

I better go before I ramble and do it again.

Still gardening

Posted on August 3, 2020 by jmarkowski Posted in Uncategorized .

Hi, it’s me.

I can’t promise that I’ll be here long or when I’ll be back again, but man, it’s good to be back.

I’ve missed posting here and the interactions that came with those posts. Unfortunately, life got in the way. I’m a coach with my daughter’s travel softball team and that consumed my spring and summer the past few years. We started up again at the end of June and we finish our season in two weeks.

And then we’re done for good. It’s been a fun run packed with dad/daughter memories I’ll cherish for a lifetime but we’re both ready to move on. She to high school (and whatever that entails) and me to not coaching.

My son will be starting at the University of Pittsburgh in January (again, whatever that entails), majoring in Communications with a lean towards Sports Journalism. The college decision process was a wild ride and I’m thrilled he ended up in a city we all fell in love with last summer.

And the truth is, the reason I stopped posting here was that I caught a new bug: writing fiction, specifically thriller/mystery. I released my first novel in March and just finished the next one, hoping to release it in October.

I’ve loved the process from day one and in a way, treated it like I did with gardening. I have multiple spreadsheets to help me plan and stay on track and obsess over every little plot/character detail. We’ll see where it goes from here.

As for gardening, I’ve been knee deep in the dirt since the Pandemic started. I’ve never worked harder, sweated more, had more available time and complained louder about lower back pain. But it’s been awesome. I’ve had to make up for two years of neglect and while there’s still a ways to go to get it to where I want it (of course we never get it where we want it), I’m thrilled with the results to date. I’ve sold myself on a two-year plan so ideally, by next summer, I want to sit back, relish in my work and do little more than tweak at that point (Did you buy that last sentence? I didn’t).

So here is the fruit (Are the fruits? Should’ve used a better metaphor) of my labor as of yesterday. Yes, I’m still hiding the ugly but promise to share some killer before and after galleries once the after looks like a solid after.

Until next time …

I’m back

Posted on April 12, 2019 by jmarkowski Posted in Uncategorized .

What is up? How have you all been? Did you survive the never ending winter? Have you been back in the dirt?

Yes, I know it’s been a while since we last spoke. I hope you missed me, even just a little bit? If not, I totally get it. I wouldn’t have missed me and I’m a huge fan of me.

What have I been up to the last three months? Thanks so much for asking.

Writing a novel

Yes, I plotted out a story one night for fun and never looked back. The book is dark, it’s kind of violent, it’s twisted, it’s sweet and it has no gardening references. I just reached the 85,000 word mark and I can safely say that the true first draft is complete.

But here’s the thing: I have no idea if it’s decent or really sucks. Seriously. I have no right to believe I can snap my fingers and write a thriller. But I did just that. And I loved every single second of it. I got such a thrill from outlining, writing, editing, giving up, starting again, getting educated on how to write dialogue, dumping many ideas and coming up with new plot twists. The process was and is super enjoyable.

I now have the draft in the hands of a few others and I wait for their feedback. I received incredible direction from my wife and an old friend from high school after they read an early copy. I did my best to absorb that feedback and I can admit that they were 100% accurate in their assessments. A thicker skin is developing and I’m proud of that.

I’m sure this project will carry on for many more months and I’ll dance between “it’s the first one so it won’t be very good but you’ll learn a lot” and “you have to believe it’s great in order to finish it and hit the ‘publish’ button.”

I promise I won’t bore you with any more details the next few months.

Spring Training

Yes, we went to Port St. Lucie, FL again to watch our beloved New York Mets. Here are a few pics from a few weeks back.

College search

I just returned from a week’s worth of college visits in the southeast. My son is a junior in high school and we’re knee deep in the college prep era. We visited five schools starting with James Madison University and ending with North Carolina State University. It was an insane amount of driving as we ventured as far south as the University of Florida. But it was oh so worth it. A road trip loaded with memories, laughs, fast food and deep life discussions.

And FYI, college is expensive as hell, in case you hadn’t heard.

Life

I’m a coach for my daughter’s travel softball team.

That same daughter is very involved in lots of other things.

Work.

Date nights where we can fit them in.

Which brings me to the reason you’re all here in the first place.

The garden.

I have no clue how I’m going to keep up with it this year. I’m overwhelmed and it’s only early spring. I have no delusions of grandeur thinking I can wake up early each morning or work late into the night in order to pull it off. We have multiple softball games every weekend now through the middle of July. Damn kids and their stuff.

Where this blog goes from here I have no idea. I stopped projecting a long time ago. I could end it all together or post three times a week moving forward. The second I make one declaration, I usually do the opposite. So only time will tell.

I did manage to get outside for a bit earlier in the week. And I limited my scope as much as possible. The only way to attack it is to do it in small chunks. Tackle one small section and enjoy that small section when it is done. It’s working, so far.

There is still little going on, but enough to stoke the gardening fire.

I’ll take it.

2019 Gardening Resolutions

Posted on December 31, 2018 by jmarkowski Posted in Uncategorized .

Please don’t look back on any of my prior year’s gardening resolutions because chances are I’ll be repeating myself here and more than likely, never followed any of the previous resolutions.

Let’s start fresh okay?

As I look back on 2018, I can safely say it was the most underwhelming gardening year for me since I started this blog back in 2010. I can easily blame it on lack of available time but that doesn’t capture the full truth. The truth is I lost my mojo somewhere in the spring and never really gained it back at any point.

But I’m not here today to dwell on that. You’ve heard enough from me on that with prior posts. Today we simply look ahead. Today I implore my future 2019 self to at least attempt to keep these resolutions in mind as the months progress. If I can follow even 33.333% of what I’m about to propose, it can be called progress.

I like progress.

So without further ado, here’s what I hope to accomplish in 2019.

Cherish those plants that thrive in spring

No plant better fits into this category than Lady’s Mantle. Nothing shines more than this perennial on a wet spring morning and nothing fades to crap more in the heat of summer.

Make sure you sit and stare at her more John when she is flourishing.

Expect the worst

I can fight the deer to the best of my ability but at some point they’ll get me. So what, it is what it is. Don’t stress it and just move on.

Chances this resolution is followed: 8%

Get creative

It’s comical how many of the same photos of the same plants I have from year to year. I’m sure you all know it too. It’s the reality of having a gardening blog.

But when I look back, I really enjoy those pics that were at least an attempt at presenting the garden from a different perspective. Yes this is my dumb sneaker, but I can’t lie, I like the pic and the faded color of spring bulbs and spring foliage in the background.

Don’t sweat it

Are you sensing a theme here? A lot of RELAX JOHN.

If the flower color clashes, so be it. I should be happy that they are blooming at all and that the deer haven’t ended the display.

Remember to give up on certain plants

… because that’s exactly when they thrive.

It’s psychological warfare out in the garden and the moment I leave a plant for dead, that is when it bounces back. I’m not above announcing the giving up out loud. I know those bastards are listening.

So I’ll be holding an official You’re done party for this Sambucus nigra in spring. And watch, it will grow taller than two feet.

Get over it

Accept the winter damage and move on.

Add more non-plants

It’s amazing how the space will be transformed. I’ve only been telling myself this for two decades now.

One year it will sink in. Why not 2019?

Look closer

You’ll never know what you’ll find.

Take a few steps back

Embrace the open spots.

Show your warts.

Accept feedback.

Stop hiding the not so pretty.

Stop being boring

C’mon John, you’re better than that.

Bare garden = weeds out the ^&%$^^

If you’re going to clear a new area for planting, plant immediately before the weeds have a chance to take over.

It happens year after year and then most of my time is spent eradicating said weeds.

It’s time to learn my lesson.

No more surgeries

Only during December through February if necessary.

I wasted my September through October this year.

Gardening burnout

Posted on November 28, 2018 by jmarkowski Posted in My garden .

True confession: I haven’t done one thing in my garden since September 17th. I didn’t plant a single bulb. I didn’t pull one weed. I didn’t snip, clip or tug.

Nothing.

I could easily blame it on my septoplasty surgery on September 18th, and while that is partially true, it isn’t the full story.

I wore the hell out.

I tired of it all.

I didn’t fight to find as much as a minute of gardening time.

This is typical this time of year for us hardcore gardeners. We’ve spent months on end in the dirt, digging and pulling and tweaking. We’ve spent hours planning. We’ve spent more time than that self-loathing because of our gardening failures.

Oh, maybe that’s just me.

We get tired and we wear ourselves out.

But I feel like I’m beyond the normal burnout. I’m physically worn out but even more than that, I’m mentally drained. I’m tired of fighting the deer. I’m tired of the soil never draining. I’m tired of all that I’ve built the past 13 years.

Looking back even further, I didn’t place one online order last fall/winter. I only purchased a handful of plants in total in 2018 and I made only a few trips to my local garden centers.

I’ve threatened to stop this blog a few times since it was introduced back in February of 2010. Each time I took it all back within days. It’s actually comical if you locate those old posts in the archives.

I’m not looking to bring this blog to a close. I’m not even looking to make any major changes. I just needed to voice the fact that I’ve been burned out. When I do that I typically get a jolt of energy.

So I’m selfishly using this post to pump myself up. I’m banking on this to get me back into the plant catalogs and back to shopping once again (cha-ching). And more than anything else, I want to jump back into my favorite gardening task of all: planning.

And I’m going to do that by showing you (and me) all the progress I’ve made over the years. A reminder of where it all started not so long ago. A peek back to the blank canvas and where things have progressed to in the garden’s current state.

So my apologies for my narcissism. My apologies for the following self-congratulations.

I need it and I hope you understand that.

Thank you.

I searched through all of the photo I’ve ever taken and found that I’ve only once snapped a pic of the garden bed directly toward the front of my house. It’s the one below, taken on a cold winter’s day back in 2010.

While the “after” photo that follows it isn’t from the same angle, you can see how things have changed in this spot.

This series is looking from my driveway into the backyard. What was once a stone-filled driveway and a whole lot of nothing, is now a paved basketball court and lots of mature plants.

A super narrow bed was expanded numerous times over the years and filled with lots and lots of perennials.

The wooden planter and raised bed have since fallen apart and none of the plants in the first photo are with us any longer. But hot damn, what an improvement. Even in the quality of the photography. Ha.

That same area of the garden from a different angle. A River Birch was added and lots of perennials and grasses.

Shield your eyes with the blurry first pic. My apologies for the dizzying experience but I needed to give you the first so you can soak in the beauty of the second shot.

The only plants to survive the years are the red Heuchera along the front of the bed. And I’m happy to report that my photo cropping skills have improved over the years. Check out my camera-wielding arm in the shadows.

Another blurry pic, this time of my front walkway. That is followed by the new and improved from both spring and fall. Go me!

I’m most proud of the fact that I never moved the Thuja (Arborvitae) ‘Rheingold’ and the Clethra (Summersweet) ‘Hummingbird’ over the years and I’m happy to see how well they’ve matured; even if they still can’t hide all the piping, the hose and the filthy foundation.

I apparently had no issue taking photos during the height of sunlight in the garden. Another lesson learned over the years. Here’s to more garden bed expansion.

Add more grasses and all will be fine.

Fill it with nothing but plants and there will be no opportunity for weeds to emerge. Oh yeah, and arborvitaes are ugly and do not mature well.

Thankful

Posted on November 20, 2018 by jmarkowski Posted in Family .

I hope those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving have a fantastic time with family and friends this upcoming weekend.

Here’s what I’m thankful for:

A supposedly repaired septum that will allow me to finally smell the flowers this spring. I still can’t smell two months post-surgery but I’m doing my best to remain patient.

A healthy and thriving family. And I know that can change in an instant so I’m not taking a thing for granted.

Rediscovering writing all these years after I had forgotten about it. Life’s funny that way. Keep those eyes open my friends.

Starting my first fiction book. Yeah you read that right.

A nightmare for gardening conditions. It wouldn’t be fun if it were easy and predictable.

A dog that we rescued three years ago who has done a better job of rescuing all of us. She’s odd, she’s nuts and kind of the cutest thing ever.

Joe Pye Weed.

Black coffee.

My children who have turned out to be good people. Anything beyond that is gravy.

Hallmark Holiday Movies. The perfect mix of bad writing, predictable story lines but a welcomed escape from the day to day.

Ornamental grasses in fall.

Readers of this blog. The fact that you keep coming back is a blessing even if I’m not entirely sure why you do. It must be my charming personality or the killer garden pics or the ornamental grasses. It’s the ornamental grasses.

My wife. There ain’t a more authentic, genuine, empathetic, beautiful and funny woman on this planet. I’m also proud to call her editor. Editor for my writing and editor for my questionable daily decision making process.

Cursing around the kids. I’m glad they’re now old enough to experience my ability to treat it like an art form.

Netflix.

Baseball discussions around the dinner table.

Amsonia in spring, winter and fall.

Winter. Oh I hate everything that it stands for, but I appreciate the gardening hiatus it provides. A chance to start anew when it’s done. If it were to complete by January 15th each year that would be great.

Podcasts. Driving in the car and being stuck in traffic never felt better. A proclamation: I will have my own by the end of 2019. Topic still TBD. Any and all input is appreciated and encouraged.

A sister who has also found the love of writing. Check her out here.

A book that has found legs and is still exceeding my sales expectations. Even if the journey to selling has been interesting.

The discovery of meditation even if I’m way late to the party.

Being 46. I like this age.

The November garden

Posted on November 6, 2018 by jmarkowski Posted in Fall color, Ornamental grass .

A few standouts in the November garden right now.

Pennisetum (Fountain Grass) ‘Foxtrot’

This one came out of nowhere this year and kicked some serious garden booty. It bloomed beautifully and quickly reached four to five feet in height after only a year or two in my garden.

I’ll put together a post dedicated to this grass in the upcoming weeks with photos depicting it in all seasons.

Right now, it is shining with fall color.