2024 Garden Calendar Photos (1 December 2023)
My first step in assembling the 2024 Garden Calendar was to go through my photos for the past twelve months and sort out photos that I thought might be possible calendar candidates. In 2023 I shot about 800 photos of the garden, trying to create a reasonably accurate record of how the garden evolved during the year. I want the photos included in the Garden Walk slideshows to be clear, accurate portraits with some aesthetic appeal. I know my camera skills are quite limited, and I must hope that I will be lucky enough to end up with a few photos that are worthy options for the end-of-year calendar. The photos in this slideshow are the ones that earlier today I selected for further consideration. Of these 52 photos, I'll need to choose 15: one for the calendar's cover, one for each of the 12 months, and two for the back pages with the 2025 calendar and information on the camera and the garden's website. ~Bob
My first step in assembling the 2024 Garden Calendar was to go through my photos for the past twelve months and sort out photos that I thought might be possible calendar candidates. In 2023 I shot about 800 photos of the garden, trying to create a reasonably accurate record of how the garden evolved during the year. I want the photos included in the Garden Walk slideshows to be clear, accurate portraits with some aesthetic appeal. I know my camera skills are quite limited, and I must hope that I will be lucky enough to end up with a few photos that are worthy options for the end-of-year calendar. The photos in this slideshow are the ones that earlier today I selected for further consideration. Of these 52 photos, I'll need to choose 15: one for the calendar's cover, one for each of the 12 months, and two for the back pages with the 2025 calendar and information on the camera and the garden's website. ~Bob
October Garden Photos
These photos were taken on October 27, 2023. The garden had experienced some moderate freezing weather earlier in the month, but the garden's walls does provide some protection from those temperatures around 32 degrees. Many of the late autumn flowers were still in bloom and there were many attractive combinations of fall-colored foliage throughout the garden. This is also the peak season for most of the ornamental grasses, including several varieties of Miscanthus and Panicum virgatum (switch grass). ~Bob
These photos were taken on October 27, 2023. The garden had experienced some moderate freezing weather earlier in the month, but the garden's walls does provide some protection from those temperatures around 32 degrees. Many of the late autumn flowers were still in bloom and there were many attractive combinations of fall-colored foliage throughout the garden. This is also the peak season for most of the ornamental grasses, including several varieties of Miscanthus and Panicum virgatum (switch grass). ~Bob
September 2023 Garden Photos
A Garden Walk on August 2, 2023
After I downloaded my August 2 flower photos onto the website, I opened my garden journal to see what I wrote about that day in the garden. I spent both morning and afternoon working in the garden, but there is not a single mention of any flowers. All my August 2 toil focused on mowing the garden’s central lawn and removing weeds (including a lot of crabgrass) from the garden walkways and two lawn sections. Several hours were involved cleaning up the borders separating the grass from the walkways. In the summer months, I spend far more time weeding, hoeing, and raking the gravel walkways than any other gardening task. It never ceases to amaze me how so many plants prefer the gravel’s gray, hard-packed clay to the perennial flower bed’s black, nutrient-rich soil. I admire these plants austere toughness, but all of the photos in this slideshow portray the fashionable pretty faces in the flower beds. ~Bob
After I downloaded my August 2 flower photos onto the website, I opened my garden journal to see what I wrote about that day in the garden. I spent both morning and afternoon working in the garden, but there is not a single mention of any flowers. All my August 2 toil focused on mowing the garden’s central lawn and removing weeds (including a lot of crabgrass) from the garden walkways and two lawn sections. Several hours were involved cleaning up the borders separating the grass from the walkways. In the summer months, I spend far more time weeding, hoeing, and raking the gravel walkways than any other gardening task. It never ceases to amaze me how so many plants prefer the gravel’s gray, hard-packed clay to the perennial flower bed’s black, nutrient-rich soil. I admire these plants austere toughness, but all of the photos in this slideshow portray the fashionable pretty faces in the flower beds. ~Bob
Coe Garden Photos: End of June and Beginning of July, 2023
Here are a few observations on plants featured in this collection of garden photos taken over a three-week period from June 15 to July 3.
African Daisies (Osteospermum): These daisies were started from seed early in the spring; they had an excellent rate of germination and a dozen were arrange in two planters close to the “J” bed bench. They initially produced an impressive display of white blooms with dark purple centers, but by July they became severely distressed, with fewer and smaller blooms. At the end of July, I replaced them with dwarf Joe Pye weeds.
Bee Balm (Monarda): Among the first flowers I planted in the garden in the summer of 2014 was a Jacob Cline Bee Balm. Nine years later, it has judiciously expanded its territory, requiring no special attention or care.
Fernleaf and Plains Coreopsis. The garden has several different perennial fernleaf coreopsis (also known as tickseed), but the most prolific bloomers are the Midwest native annuals, producing hundreds of small blooms throughout the summer in the “E” and “J” beds.
Coneflowers: The hot, dry summer put a serious strain on the purple coneflowers in the “K” bed, but a couple of years ago a group of coneflowers moved themselves into the nearby “L” bed and they seem quite content in their new location. Nearly all the garden’s coneflowers are the result of self-seeding; every year coneflowers appear in new locations.
Cleome hassleriana: For several years we have had cleome (popularly known as spider flowers or grandfather’s whiskers) successfully self-seed in the “J” bed, accompanying the sequence of plains coreopsis, dahlias, and cosmos that also reside in this bed. In the summer of 2022, there was only one tiny cleome to appear, but this summer they returned, producing several large plants with white blossoms, excellent companions for the white and pink flowering cosmos (all started from seed and transplanted from the greenhouse).
Compass Plant (Silphium laciniatum): Three compass plants started from seed were planted in 2015 next to a false indigo at the back of the “I” bed. Unfortunately these Midwest natives experienced a series of disasters, and in three consecutive summers they were eaten to the ground by either rabbits or ground hogs. Finally, in the summer of 2021, one of the plants produced its first set of blooms, and this year one of the two surviving plants had a flower stalk over 12' tall with a long season of sunflower blooms.
Dahlias: This was the best year ever for dahlias in the garden; they were potted in the greenhouse early in the spring and had good foliage before being transplanted in the middle of May; we had a steady supply of blooms from early July until the end of October.
Gooseneck Loosestrife (Lysimachia clethroides): I have a love-hate relationship with these loosestrife: they reliably produce spikes of lovely, long-lasting white blooms that are quite impressive in mass, but the bloody roots are darn near impossible to control or eradicate, relentless in their efforts to take over their neighborhoods. But I do love their flowers.
Hollyhock: All these cottage-garden classics appear to be perennials, and they can be found in several different flower beds, all the result of self-seeding. While the tall flower stalks can be rather unattractive, it’s hard not to love their blooms, which continue to appear throughout the summer.
Johnson’s Blue Cranesbill: This is not my favorite perennial geranium (the plants become too tall and floppy if not cut back after blooming), but they do produce gorgeous blue flowers early in the summer.
Maltese Cross (Lychnis chalcedonica): The individual red flowers on a Maltese Cross are not large but they show up beautifully, even when seen from the opposite side of the garden. A group of these Lychnis had been doing well in a raised “E” bed for several years, but none of them survived last year’s winter; fortunately I had started several new plants from seed and the replacements were installed the middle of June.
Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa): The garden has two varieties of A. tuberosa, one with yellow flowers and several with orange flowers. While Monarch caterpillars typically prefer the wild native milkweed located in the “D” and “M1" beds, this summer all the caterpillars I saw were on a volunteer A. tuberosa with orange flowers in the “J” bed area.
Purple Toadflax: This flower was an unexpected surprise. Three years ago a faculty member gave me several plants, including a small green slip of a plant that she could not identify. I planted it in a shady corner of the “K” bed, close to the NW bench, and then promptly forgot about it. Last year, while cleaning up the bed, I discovered the plant was still alive and was a bit larger than when originally planted. This year, rediscovering the plant again, I found it had these delightful little blue flowers, enabling me to determine it was a purple toadflax (Linaria purpurea).
Rose Campion (Lychnis coronaria): There has always been a loosely organized colony of rose campion growing in the east corner of the “I” bed, randomly spread among sunflowers, tall stonecrop, and hyssop. I never gave them much attention. The individual plants don’t last long, but they know how to self-seed, and they have now expanded their territory, becoming the dominant plants in the area. Their gray foliage remains quite attractive through the seasons, and they produce a steady supply of lovely white blooms, which acquire a pinkish tint as they mature.
Stachys officinalis (or Betonica officinalis). Common names of this mint growing along the walkway in the “L” bed include betony, hedgenettle, and bishopwort. It’s in the mint family Lamiaceae and a relative of the lamb’s ear growing in the “D” and “K” beds. It has a long heritage as an important herb in folk medicine. According to Wikipedia, an Anglo Saxon Herbal recommended its use to prevent "frightful nocturnal goblins and terrible sights and dreams." Betony was an ingredient of "pistoja powder" for treating arthritis and gout, reputed to be effective against snake and dog bites, and to be a cure for drunkenness. Supposedly you could "Eat betony or the powder thereof and you cannot be drunken that day." In Gerard’s Herbal he claimed that "It maketh a man to pisse well.” ~Bob
Here are a few observations on plants featured in this collection of garden photos taken over a three-week period from June 15 to July 3.
African Daisies (Osteospermum): These daisies were started from seed early in the spring; they had an excellent rate of germination and a dozen were arrange in two planters close to the “J” bed bench. They initially produced an impressive display of white blooms with dark purple centers, but by July they became severely distressed, with fewer and smaller blooms. At the end of July, I replaced them with dwarf Joe Pye weeds.
Bee Balm (Monarda): Among the first flowers I planted in the garden in the summer of 2014 was a Jacob Cline Bee Balm. Nine years later, it has judiciously expanded its territory, requiring no special attention or care.
Fernleaf and Plains Coreopsis. The garden has several different perennial fernleaf coreopsis (also known as tickseed), but the most prolific bloomers are the Midwest native annuals, producing hundreds of small blooms throughout the summer in the “E” and “J” beds.
Coneflowers: The hot, dry summer put a serious strain on the purple coneflowers in the “K” bed, but a couple of years ago a group of coneflowers moved themselves into the nearby “L” bed and they seem quite content in their new location. Nearly all the garden’s coneflowers are the result of self-seeding; every year coneflowers appear in new locations.
Cleome hassleriana: For several years we have had cleome (popularly known as spider flowers or grandfather’s whiskers) successfully self-seed in the “J” bed, accompanying the sequence of plains coreopsis, dahlias, and cosmos that also reside in this bed. In the summer of 2022, there was only one tiny cleome to appear, but this summer they returned, producing several large plants with white blossoms, excellent companions for the white and pink flowering cosmos (all started from seed and transplanted from the greenhouse).
Compass Plant (Silphium laciniatum): Three compass plants started from seed were planted in 2015 next to a false indigo at the back of the “I” bed. Unfortunately these Midwest natives experienced a series of disasters, and in three consecutive summers they were eaten to the ground by either rabbits or ground hogs. Finally, in the summer of 2021, one of the plants produced its first set of blooms, and this year one of the two surviving plants had a flower stalk over 12' tall with a long season of sunflower blooms.
Dahlias: This was the best year ever for dahlias in the garden; they were potted in the greenhouse early in the spring and had good foliage before being transplanted in the middle of May; we had a steady supply of blooms from early July until the end of October.
Gooseneck Loosestrife (Lysimachia clethroides): I have a love-hate relationship with these loosestrife: they reliably produce spikes of lovely, long-lasting white blooms that are quite impressive in mass, but the bloody roots are darn near impossible to control or eradicate, relentless in their efforts to take over their neighborhoods. But I do love their flowers.
Hollyhock: All these cottage-garden classics appear to be perennials, and they can be found in several different flower beds, all the result of self-seeding. While the tall flower stalks can be rather unattractive, it’s hard not to love their blooms, which continue to appear throughout the summer.
Johnson’s Blue Cranesbill: This is not my favorite perennial geranium (the plants become too tall and floppy if not cut back after blooming), but they do produce gorgeous blue flowers early in the summer.
Maltese Cross (Lychnis chalcedonica): The individual red flowers on a Maltese Cross are not large but they show up beautifully, even when seen from the opposite side of the garden. A group of these Lychnis had been doing well in a raised “E” bed for several years, but none of them survived last year’s winter; fortunately I had started several new plants from seed and the replacements were installed the middle of June.
Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa): The garden has two varieties of A. tuberosa, one with yellow flowers and several with orange flowers. While Monarch caterpillars typically prefer the wild native milkweed located in the “D” and “M1" beds, this summer all the caterpillars I saw were on a volunteer A. tuberosa with orange flowers in the “J” bed area.
Purple Toadflax: This flower was an unexpected surprise. Three years ago a faculty member gave me several plants, including a small green slip of a plant that she could not identify. I planted it in a shady corner of the “K” bed, close to the NW bench, and then promptly forgot about it. Last year, while cleaning up the bed, I discovered the plant was still alive and was a bit larger than when originally planted. This year, rediscovering the plant again, I found it had these delightful little blue flowers, enabling me to determine it was a purple toadflax (Linaria purpurea).
Rose Campion (Lychnis coronaria): There has always been a loosely organized colony of rose campion growing in the east corner of the “I” bed, randomly spread among sunflowers, tall stonecrop, and hyssop. I never gave them much attention. The individual plants don’t last long, but they know how to self-seed, and they have now expanded their territory, becoming the dominant plants in the area. Their gray foliage remains quite attractive through the seasons, and they produce a steady supply of lovely white blooms, which acquire a pinkish tint as they mature.
Stachys officinalis (or Betonica officinalis). Common names of this mint growing along the walkway in the “L” bed include betony, hedgenettle, and bishopwort. It’s in the mint family Lamiaceae and a relative of the lamb’s ear growing in the “D” and “K” beds. It has a long heritage as an important herb in folk medicine. According to Wikipedia, an Anglo Saxon Herbal recommended its use to prevent "frightful nocturnal goblins and terrible sights and dreams." Betony was an ingredient of "pistoja powder" for treating arthritis and gout, reputed to be effective against snake and dog bites, and to be a cure for drunkenness. Supposedly you could "Eat betony or the powder thereof and you cannot be drunken that day." In Gerard’s Herbal he claimed that "It maketh a man to pisse well.” ~Bob
Garden Photos: Three Days in May 2023
Plants featured in this slideshow:
Allium Baptisia Brunnera Clematis Columbine Cranesbill Cushion Spurge Daffodils Dianthus
Flowering Crab Trees Grape Hyacinths Joe Pye Weed Ox-eye Daisies Peonies Creeping Phlox Pincushion Scabiosa Strawberries Tulips
Plants featured in this slideshow:
Allium Baptisia Brunnera Clematis Columbine Cranesbill Cushion Spurge Daffodils Dianthus
Flowering Crab Trees Grape Hyacinths Joe Pye Weed Ox-eye Daisies Peonies Creeping Phlox Pincushion Scabiosa Strawberries Tulips
April 2023 Garden Photos
The photos in this slide show were shot on April 2, 11, and 19. The photos of the crocus, snowdrops, reticulated iris, and winter aconites were taken on the morning of the 2nd; the photos of the daffodils, hellebores, hyacinths, leucojum, hellebores, sedums, anemones, and peonies are from the middle of the month. Three months later (the last week in July) I uploaded these photos on my computer, selected and edited the photos for inclusion in this slideshow, and once I finish composing this paragraph, they will be posted to the website. Among the many emotions and thoughts I experienced while looking through these photos, I was immediately struck that by July, with only a few exceptions, all these flowers have disappeared, without a trace. The peonies, sedums, prairie smoke, and hellebores still have a distinctive presence above ground, but all the others–all the crocus and tulips and snowdrops and anemones and hyacinths–are gone. The only way to find them is to start digging into the flower beds, where their bulbs and tubers are patiently waiting, biding their time. For the grape hyacinths, the re-activation will be evident in August when they begin sending up green foliage, eight months before their bloom cycle. The remainder of the early spring bloomers will stagger their initial appearances through the fall and winter months. The cycles of growth, disappearance, and rebirth--all these scenery changes--create such a remarkable theatre in the garden. And most of it occurs without needing me to do anything. I think of Wordsworth planting those daffodils in Dora's field near a small church in Cumbria. And now, 175 years later, the daffodils keep coming back, spring after spring. ~Bob
The photos in this slide show were shot on April 2, 11, and 19. The photos of the crocus, snowdrops, reticulated iris, and winter aconites were taken on the morning of the 2nd; the photos of the daffodils, hellebores, hyacinths, leucojum, hellebores, sedums, anemones, and peonies are from the middle of the month. Three months later (the last week in July) I uploaded these photos on my computer, selected and edited the photos for inclusion in this slideshow, and once I finish composing this paragraph, they will be posted to the website. Among the many emotions and thoughts I experienced while looking through these photos, I was immediately struck that by July, with only a few exceptions, all these flowers have disappeared, without a trace. The peonies, sedums, prairie smoke, and hellebores still have a distinctive presence above ground, but all the others–all the crocus and tulips and snowdrops and anemones and hyacinths–are gone. The only way to find them is to start digging into the flower beds, where their bulbs and tubers are patiently waiting, biding their time. For the grape hyacinths, the re-activation will be evident in August when they begin sending up green foliage, eight months before their bloom cycle. The remainder of the early spring bloomers will stagger their initial appearances through the fall and winter months. The cycles of growth, disappearance, and rebirth--all these scenery changes--create such a remarkable theatre in the garden. And most of it occurs without needing me to do anything. I think of Wordsworth planting those daffodils in Dora's field near a small church in Cumbria. And now, 175 years later, the daffodils keep coming back, spring after spring. ~Bob
Garden Walks in March, 2023
This small sample of March photos comes from several early morning visits to the garden. These photos were taken while I would be working on some project, saw a plant I wanted to photography, took a couple photos, and then returned to my original task. There was never an attempt to obtain a coherent or comprehensive portrait of the garden. In many instances the photos reveal a world that looks rather inhospitable, a brown and gray landscape of cold earth, old leaves, broken sticks. While I occasionally stopped to take a photo of a lingering seedhead of a plant in the aster family (such as the coneflowers), I was struck by the number of instances when I was attracted to plants in an early stage of emergence. The photos emphasize those moments of fresh arrival, the new versions of these perennials breaking through the soil, expanding their presence above ground-level: yellow aconites, tulips, hellebores, crocus, sedums. In contrast to these late-comers are the snowdrops. I rarely catch them emerging. One morning they are invisible, the next morning they appear with a new flower ready and waiting for the spring’s first pollinators. Their fearless speed is part of their magic that helps make them so special–and so beloved. Also included in this slideshow are photos of one of the garden’s three rosemary plants in bloom in the greenhouse.
This small sample of March photos comes from several early morning visits to the garden. These photos were taken while I would be working on some project, saw a plant I wanted to photography, took a couple photos, and then returned to my original task. There was never an attempt to obtain a coherent or comprehensive portrait of the garden. In many instances the photos reveal a world that looks rather inhospitable, a brown and gray landscape of cold earth, old leaves, broken sticks. While I occasionally stopped to take a photo of a lingering seedhead of a plant in the aster family (such as the coneflowers), I was struck by the number of instances when I was attracted to plants in an early stage of emergence. The photos emphasize those moments of fresh arrival, the new versions of these perennials breaking through the soil, expanding their presence above ground-level: yellow aconites, tulips, hellebores, crocus, sedums. In contrast to these late-comers are the snowdrops. I rarely catch them emerging. One morning they are invisible, the next morning they appear with a new flower ready and waiting for the spring’s first pollinators. Their fearless speed is part of their magic that helps make them so special–and so beloved. Also included in this slideshow are photos of one of the garden’s three rosemary plants in bloom in the greenhouse.
Garden Walk: 13 February 2023
This was a beautiful day for an afternoon stroll around the garden. There were a few snowdrops on display, the first flowers of the new year. These small white flowers initially look so delicate, but they are super tough and easily handle temperatures well below freezing. Here are a few other special rewards for this late winter venture into the garden:
(1) My primary goal for the trip was to observe the afternoon sunlight showing through the miscanthus seedheads. Because of the garden’s structure and the locations where the miscanthus grasses are positioned, there are not many minutes in the day when the light is at a favorable angle for viewing these seedheads. Today’s sun, shortly before disappearing over the western horizon, was just right.
(2) Besides the miscanthus, other seedheads that garnered attention during my walk included hyssop, hydrangea, river oats, tall stonecrop, coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, perennial sunflowers, and aromatic asters.
(3) In addition to the dark green of the yews, there were a few small patches of green sprinkled throughout the garden: hollyhocks, penstemon, crocus, hellebores, lamb’s ears, Angelina sedum, & emerging tulips.
(4) And there is always the lichen. Today I took several photos of the lichen covering the park benches in the SW & NW corners. My plan is to return next February to take photos of the same areas and determine if there is evidence of any increase or decrease in the lichens’ presence.
~Bob
This was a beautiful day for an afternoon stroll around the garden. There were a few snowdrops on display, the first flowers of the new year. These small white flowers initially look so delicate, but they are super tough and easily handle temperatures well below freezing. Here are a few other special rewards for this late winter venture into the garden:
(1) My primary goal for the trip was to observe the afternoon sunlight showing through the miscanthus seedheads. Because of the garden’s structure and the locations where the miscanthus grasses are positioned, there are not many minutes in the day when the light is at a favorable angle for viewing these seedheads. Today’s sun, shortly before disappearing over the western horizon, was just right.
(2) Besides the miscanthus, other seedheads that garnered attention during my walk included hyssop, hydrangea, river oats, tall stonecrop, coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, perennial sunflowers, and aromatic asters.
(3) In addition to the dark green of the yews, there were a few small patches of green sprinkled throughout the garden: hollyhocks, penstemon, crocus, hellebores, lamb’s ears, Angelina sedum, & emerging tulips.
(4) And there is always the lichen. Today I took several photos of the lichen covering the park benches in the SW & NW corners. My plan is to return next February to take photos of the same areas and determine if there is evidence of any increase or decrease in the lichens’ presence.
~Bob
Garden Walks in January 2023
These photos were taken on several days the first week in January and a final set of photos on 30 January. They show the garden without any snow at the beginning of the year and after a significant snowfall by the end of the month. As I look back at these January photos, I find myself particularly attracted to those photos that emphasize the shadows cast on the snow by the shadows of plants and various garden objects/sculptures. I also love the diverse seedheads, particularly the tight spheres of the perennial sunflowers. Although the garden is dominated by the browns and grays, it is striking how many colorful bits of foliage can be found when one pays close attention. Even in the midst of winter, the garden is full of evidence of plants already prepared for spring. ~Bob
These photos were taken on several days the first week in January and a final set of photos on 30 January. They show the garden without any snow at the beginning of the year and after a significant snowfall by the end of the month. As I look back at these January photos, I find myself particularly attracted to those photos that emphasize the shadows cast on the snow by the shadows of plants and various garden objects/sculptures. I also love the diverse seedheads, particularly the tight spheres of the perennial sunflowers. Although the garden is dominated by the browns and grays, it is striking how many colorful bits of foliage can be found when one pays close attention. Even in the midst of winter, the garden is full of evidence of plants already prepared for spring. ~Bob