It is a wonderful relief to leaf through gardening magazines and realise that there are so many things I don’t want. No, it’s stronger than that. There are things that, even if they arrived free, shining, and with a five-year guarantee, would still be put straight in the boot of the car and driven to the nearest Oxfam shop. Gadgets and me don’t have a long history. I expect them to go wrong and, obligingly, they do.
Multi-task tools seem to be the worst. Does it really make life easier to have one stick and three interchangeable heads, each of which do different things? I don’t think so. If I want a rake, I like to reach out my hand and pick it up. I don’t want to scrabble around with levers and locks, fiddle with clip-on-clip-off devices to build my own rake from what had previously been a hoe.
The tools you really need in a garden are so few, so well defined. . . . The basic kit is the same one that John Evelyn described in the seventh-century: spade, fork, trowel, line, hoe, rake, something to cut with. For him that would be a beautifully made pruning knife. For us, it’s a pair of secateurs. Now that was a breakthrough.
Do I want a gas-driven weed wizard, with a butane gas cylinder fastened to a long handle? Fire up the flame. Burn off the weed. No, I don’t. The thought makes me feel sick. Not because I have sympathy for the weed (I’m battling against them all the time) but because the method speaks of industrial estates, ugliness, harsh environments, techniques from a factory world that have nothing to do with the world I am trying to pull together round me in my garden.
And why go to such a lot of trouble for a weed? With a decent knife, you can quickly hook even long-rooted perennials such as dandelions and docks out of paths or paving. You haven’t consume any energy, except your own. [Passage from Pavord’s essay “Wizard Tools”]
♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ ♢
6 July (Wednesday). First day back after trip to Cleveland (where K. performed with her oboist partner) and three weeks in England. Great trip but it’s good to be back. Flowers look lush, a lot of rain while we were gone (perhaps 8"). We had 2" last night (plus lightning and wind). Unfortunately, the garden walkways are overgrown with weeds and did not look good for the wedding this past weekend. As I began to clean up the walkways, Wayne shows up to start construction of the gazebo. We begin the project by taking out some of the yews, docks, Joe Pye Weeds, etc. It was slow going, but we got the gazebo area cleared by noon.
7 July. Arrived at 7:15; Wayne already unloading his van. We worked about 45 minutes, leveling ground, before it started to rain. Wayne and Butch left for the day, and it continued to drizzle for about two hours, but it was very light and most of the time I could work without a rain coat. I focused on the north side of the garden. Cut back most of the asters in the “K” bed, which should delay their bloom cycle and open up the area so it’s easier to see the balloon flowers and the lovely yellow daylilies I moved in that bed last summer. The dahlias in the low “J” bed look good, several already blooming–though not the Bishops. I trimmed hedges, gathered Japanese beetles (mostly on swamp milkweed) into yogurt container with soapy water, hoed several gravel walkways, and collected some apple tree branches for building a plant support, similar to what I saw in the Sizergh gardens in England a couple of weeks ago.
11 July. Sunny day, temp in upper 80s, very humid; heat index close to 100. Even at 8:00 am, with temp just at 80, humidity was 82%, and I was sweating profusely. It was tough working in the sun while hoeing/raking NE quadrant walkway, but I managed to remove a lot of purslane and chickweed. Did miscellaneous weeding and trimming in several beds. Also discovered my office chair in shed has three twisted casters. Spent an hour at Home Depot and Ace looking for spherical casters to replace these broken ones. I have no idea how the old casters become so warped. Eventually ordered replacements on-line, hoping they will fit. I also glued the back of one of the new garden benches. Both benches should be repainted this winter.
14 July: 11:00 am; 84F; 52% humidity; sunny. Feels much more comfortable than yesterday. This morning, I walked through the garden, noting the following:
• The new elderberry in A2 looks okay; it had blown over while I was gone, and I had to tie it back to the fence again. The old elderberry has purple fruit setting. Looks good.
• The dwarf hollyhock is blooming again and the hollyhock I just planted is about to bloom; the mallow have self-seeded, including one across the path in A1, at the front of the border.
• A lot of Sweet Annie along the walkway. I’ll let some of it stay but trim it back and see how that works. Love the smell.
• The yarrow look good—but still no signs of bloom. Comfrey also looks good; has bloomed; should cut it back some. Both buddleia I planted are blooming, blue blossoms.
• Field Station bed: the corydalis looks great; not many blooms, but full bush, lovely leaves. Amazing. Pearly everlasting doing well, white blooms just emerging. It’s bushier and shorter than what we usually see in North Woods. Wild Strawberries are going wild, sending out many runners. Bed should be covered with wild strawberries in two years. [It only took one year.]
• The asclepias has nice orange blossoms. In that raised bed, I cut back the hyssop, dianthus, and gallardia. The white obedient plant was in the shade of other plants and has weak stems. Two vigorous goldenrod (one in full bloom) are now tied back. I’ll try to build wooden frames as supports. A non-Field Station golden rod in the Field Station bed; I’ll leave it there for now and move it after it has stopped blooming.
• The clematis in A1 looked terrible in June, but it now has new growth under its small black trellis. The heuchera and cranesbill I transplanted under the flowering crab all look good. They apparently appreciate the extra shade.
• Agapanthus is alive but quite small. The crocosima, however, look healthy and vigorous, though so far no evidence of any blooms. A bunch of cleome self-seeded in the area and I’m leaving most of them to fill that space with their white and pink blossoms. All the cleome I transplanted under the espalier apple are growing and one is now blooming.
• The purple coneflowers, now at their best, look great throughout the garden. The sunflowers in A2 look good, including the annuals I planted this spring. Buds beginning to appear.
• A lovely new coreopsis in B1 at the end of the bed is in full bloom; I don’t recall how it got there or where it came from.
• Daylilies in peak bloom. I took a bunch of photos on Tuesday and again this morning. I’m trying to match the flowers’ photos with their names. A slow process.
• Need to cut back the yellow yarrow at the corner of “C”; the flowers are turning brown. The nepeta I cut back are all quickly bouncing back. The ballerina achillea I trimmed in June is already blooming again.
• Gold Breeze maidenhair grass with its variegated leaf pattern looks great. Now that the daffodils are died back, it’s much easier to see the grass. Once it becomes a bit larger, it will really add a welcome summer structure to that corner of the bed.
• The three ficus in pots look good. The old ficus I brought from Texas in the back of our VW Rabbit in 1978 is covered with new leaves.
• The astilbe in “D” look okay, some blooms, but not as large and healthy as I would like. They should have had plenty of rain. Need to add compost to them.
• The obedient plant clump that I transplanted in”D” did survive and is blooming. New position helps to balance the bed; good replacement for the tansy which was there last spring (but too large for that location). A tall leopard lily is about to bloom; I didn’t recall it from last year—but it may have bloomed while I was at the Field Station.
• All the Joe Pye throughout the garden look great, their blooms just opening up. Many small Joe Pye have appeared along the edges of the gravel walkways. Have pulled up several dozen.
• The Johnson Blue cranesbill have done well; their blue blooms go very well with the silver-gray artemisia in front of them in “D”.
• The three small clumps of blue-eyed grass look good; the flowers were lovely but did not last very long.
• The big lamb’s ear looks great; should plant more of that along the borders. Its color and texture should work well with many different plants.
• Monarda in “D” is in full bloom. So are all the obedient plants, which attract a black wasp, preferring the obedient plants over all other choices.
• In “D” are two daylilies in full bloom: one large yellow; the other a large orange. No variegation or stripes in their blooms: just large, solid colors. They are doing much better than last year. Pennesetum Fountain Grass in that bed is also thriving.
• A few Verbena B’s somehow appeared next to the garden hose. I have no idea how they got there.
• Raised beds: the east one looks a bit rough and wild—except for the small bluestem in the back. The west bed is covered with yellow/dark red coreopsis blooms, but the plants are too floppy, weighed down by their multiple blooms. I’m not sure how to proceed with either bed. Also in the west bed are tobacco plants in bloom (light purple and white blooms) and mallow (with lovely purple & white blooms). Their appearance is too wild for that location, but at least there are plenty of blooms. Low “E” bed looks good. Zinnias in full bloom, white cosmos in middle with multiple blooms, and we now have the small red dahlia blooms.
23 July (Saturday). Spent the day at the Chicago Botanical Garden, an incredible garden: so diverse, beautifully laid out and cared for, so many different gardening styles, plants informatively labeled. Amazing and inspiring. The one problem is that it was very, very hot and humid, heat index over 100. Even when sitting in the shade, I was sweating, so I kept moving and drank a lot of water and Coke. My favorites? Walled English gardens, the lake and countryside in Capability Brown style, the Japanese gardens, the test plots, the vegetable garden.
29 July. Sunny, temp in low 80s, relatively low humidity. Most of the morning spent weeding gravel pathways, an endless job. But I also planted two short purple coneflowers in the “G” bed along the walkway and a combo of two Laura phlox with two Russian sage in the “H” bed along the walkway–filling in gaps left by dying back of C. montana, Asian lilies, and daffodils. Fortunately the two hibiscus are in full foliage and full bloom with their dramatic red blossoms. They look great from the patio, but we needed action at lower, more intimate levels.
♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ ♢
A Sample of Anna Pavord’s July Garden Tasks
• Cut down flowered stems of aquilegia and sweet rocket before they spread seed all over the garden.
• Continue to deadhead roses.
• Gather fresh seed from astrantia, campanula, foxglove, hollyhock, honesty, hellebore and polemonium.
• Pinch out the tips of home-grown wall flowers to make plants bushy and compact.
• Thin kohlrabi plants so that they are not less than 6 inches (15 centimetres) apart.
• Thin young beetroot. Baby beets are delicious steamed whole with butter and a scattering of grated orange peel.
• Lift garlic as soon as the leaves begin to wither and allow the bulbs to ripen on netting outside as you would onions. They can then be cleaned off and hung up in bunches.
♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ ♢
4 August. Was in Kansas for three days, so today was first day gardening since Sunday. After short visit to Coe garden spent the rest of the day at the Wickiup garden. Dug 3 hills of fingerling potatoes and 3 hills of Red Pontiac. Potatoes look good, 12-15 potatoes in each hill. Harvested 6 zucchini of moderate size. The bushes are hurting, under attack from squash bugs, but the plants are still producing, the yellow “Golden Glory” doing better than the greens. Something (deer? rabbit?) had eaten leaves from half of mature strawberry plants by reaching under the net. I picked a basket of pole beans–but left basket in garden. I’ll drive back out and get it early tomorrow morning. I harvested 3 cantaloupe–2 partially nibbled on but both salvageable, enough fruit to fill a two-quart container. MVM and I finished the watermelon I harvested on Saturday. Although it was beginning to rot on one end, it proved to be an excellent watermelon–just right. Best watermelon I’ve ever grown. I brought home 2 more this evening. The black diamond was probably picked too soon. We’ll wait until we eat the cantaloupe and then cut up the watermelon. Also brought home 125 tomatoes.
11 August: 10:10 am; 74F; light rain—which was needed. Last rain was a week ago. I had my cataract surgery Monday morning, so I can’t drive and I’m not functioning at full speed. One issue, of course, is eyesight: I’m wearing glasses with a lens only for the left eye. The right eye—the one operated on—is blurry but my vision has improved so I can read the computer screen without my glasses—and my eyes are beginning to learn how to coordinate with each other. Yesterday morning, however, I had to work without my glasses when I was cleaning the gravel walkway. With my glasses on, it appeared as if the left side of the walkway was much higher and closer to me than the right, very disconcerting. This morning, before it started to rain, I worked on the gravel walkway around the fountain, but I was on my knees, and that eliminated the problem .
12 August: 3:20 pm; 82F; 77% humidity. Huge rain last night, over 5” in the Alum Garden rain gauge. The rain garden was flooded. I could hear water draining into the storm sewer, but it was evident it would take a long time for the water level to drop significantly, and nearly all the rain garden plants were standing in water. I got out the sump pump and ran it for an hour, lowering the water level to below the top of the mulch. While It was draining, I pulled up a lot of weeds and baby Queen Anne’s lace. Unfortunately in the process, I brushed against the tall cardinal flower spike (which still has a nice array of red blossoms) and it keeled over. I have it partially held up with a small plant support, but the flower spike is now at a 45 degree angle. I do hope the cardinal flower proves winter hardy in that spot. I would love to see a large patch of cardinal flowers in the rain garden. The rest of the morning was committed to trimming bushes and pulling weeds, primarily in the “G” bed along the north channel. After working on the “I” bed gravel walkway, I purchased a raspberry tea from the Road Ranger and came into the shed to type garden journal notes. This morning I brought from home a small electric fan, which is blowing on me as I type. Feels good. Dark clouds in the west; it looks and feels like it could rain again—something we don’t need.
13 August: 4:10 pm; 85F; 48% humidity, very slight breeze. Temp is higher than yesterday, but it feels cooler because of the lower humidity. I started working about 1:30. Initial task was sinking one of my Dad’s old hedge posts into the ground next to the tall Joe Pye along the gazebo path. Didn’t get it very deep, but I will secure it tomorrow with a shorter steel post that I trust will be unobtrusive. I would guess Dad brought that hedge post (over 7’ tall) when they visited about 1980. Would like to know how old it was when he brought it. Has been lying in our back yard for at least 35 years. It has an gnarled but attractive, weathered character. I will dig a deeper and more permanent hole for it in the spring and provide similar posts for several other Joe Pye Weeds—which look quite stunning at the moment, their large flower heads in full bloom. Impressive plants.
I did some cleaning of the wood chip path in “H” and trimmed the rugosa rose. Then spent an hour cleaning up one small section of the “G” bed between gravel path and drainage canal. The tansy had fallen over and did not look very good. Plus the vetch had really grown wild. So I cut back all of the tansy and dug out as much of the vetch as I could, knowing it will return. An incredible root system. I also pulled a lot of horsetail. I planted a small Joe Pye weed in that spot last year. It has one good stalk and a few smaller ones, but it’s not yet established itself as a real presence. May take a couple of years. Fortunately there are some ox-eye daisies in the area that look okay. And I discovered the clematis planted there this spring is still alive, despite it being completely buried by other vegetation. There is also a single daylily I planted this spring. Once I get the area mulched it won’t look too bad.
One observation. I’m really struck by how the black-eyed susans have emerged and established a structural presence in the garden. Following the purple coneflowers, they are now the primary source of energy and vibrancy in the garden. Lovely swatches of them in the “F” bed and attractive pockets in “C”, “D”, “G”, “I”, and “M”.
26 August: 3:10 pm; 78F, 59% humidity; overcast; slight breeze. Just spent two hours having lunch and walking around the garden with Dana and Mary [two professional gardeners/landscapers who have served as consultants for the garden since the summer of 2014]. It was wonderful to have their input and observations. Overall, they were complimentary—which was welcome. We talked about a variety of issues, including the following:
• For the corner areas in “G” and “H” in front of the pergola, they recommended Japanese silver grass. [Following this meeting, I planted Japanese silver grass at each of the four corners on the east and west ends of the grass quad; Cara Briggs Farmer then designed steel plants supports for each corner. Unfortunately, none of the grass survived the winter, and so I replanted the four corners with an ornamental bluestem, which should prove hardier.]
• On the Joe Pye Weed, Mary recommended cutting back some clumps to 2-3’ when the blooms begin to fade; they will bush out and may rebloom if trimmed back in time. This would eliminate needing to tie up floppy heads. The Joe Pye appear to be the Monarchs’ favorite flower at this time of the year.
• They identified two grasses they had given me that were planted last year in “H”: Shenandoah Switchgrass and Penstemon Bunnytail.
• They identified the short flowers with the yellow blooms in the planter in the “E” bed. They are snapdragons–an identification that I immediately recognized once they said it.
30 August: 9:45 am, 79F, 81% humidity; overcast; virtually no breeze. Because of the humidity, very muggy. Just finished a garden walkaround. Here is some of what I noticed:
• Elderberry: the birds have eaten about half of the berries; the remainder will be gone within a week.
• Two blue buddleia. Both have been blooming all summer, and slowly the bushes are getting larger. My next worry is whether these bushes–only rated for a zone 6 winter–will survive an Iowa January.
• Crocosima. A couple have bloomed, blooms lasting 7-10 days; another has buds about to open. Now the same worry as with the buddleia: will they reappear in the spring. [They did, 100% survival.]
• Velvet ‘n lace dianthus is still blooming; cutting it back really revived it.
• Asclepias—though stuck in the corner, and somewhat buried by its taller neighbors (e.g., the volunteer Joe Pye Weed that appeared this spring), is still blooming.
• Pearly Everlasting: looked great until it began to bloom and then quickly shriveled up, looking like it was dying. I cut it back to the base and now new growth has appeared.
• Blanket flowers at both ends of the garden are continuing to bloom.
• White obedient plant (Physostegia virginiana) in A1 got buried by its more aggressive goldenrod on both sides of it; the stems are weak and not very inspiring, but it’s still blooming.
• The goldenrod I separated from the thyme in the Field Station bed and moved to A1 lost all its old foliage, and I thought it might not have survived the transplant, but now I see that new green leaves are appearing further down on the stalk.
• The Heucherella ‘sweet tea’ that I replanted under the flowering crab in A1 is doing well; this appears to be the right mix of sun and shade. The cranesbill there are also looking much better than they did when they were in sunnier (and perhaps drier) locations.
• The two oregano both had wonderful blooms, looking like two heathers (one with small white blooms, the other lavender). I hated to lose the blooms, but I finally cut them back because they were flopping over onto the walkway.
• Boltonia snowback at the east end of A1 is straight and tall, small white blooms just beginning to open. The boltonia in the small raised E bed are floppier, probably because they are next to the garden wall and get less sun, but they are also beginning to bloom.
• A small coreopsis in B1 is full of yellow blooms; I think it’s a Zagreb, but I am curious why it’s blooming while the other Zagreb have very few blossoms.
• The stonecrop in “C” and “L” all look very fresh; lovely flower heads just beginning to open.
• Only one daylily in the garden is now blooming–a single Purple d’oro.
• The peacock orchids are blooming in both the “C” and “L” beds. Next spring I should plant a couple of hundred of those throughout the garden; they have such unique, attractive blooms and they appear when so many other flowers–such as the daylilies–are no longer at their best. They frequently catch visitors’ attention. This fall I will dig up the bulbs and try to save them. [I did dig them up and discovered that each bulb produced a bunch of baby bulbs. This spring several hundred were planted in groups all over the garden. The first bloom opened on July 28.]
• Catmint along walkway I have trimmed twice this summer; needs to be trimmed one more time. The catmint in “C” behind dianthus looks very nice; well-mounded. [This summer I moved the catmint behind the dianthus; its nice, well-mounded phase turned out to be short-lived.]
• Gold Breeze Miscanthus sinensis in “C” looks wonderful; variegation is quite striking, and is one plant that visitors frequently compliment.
• Hostas with wonderful white blooms behind garden benches at SW and SE corners.
• The obedient plants in “D” are a primary flower attraction at this time.
• Stachys byzantia Helene Van Stein lambs ear: need to put in more of those; no blooms, but foliage is very tight, very few ugly leaves, looks good from spring through fall. [Shortly after writing this note, I found this lambs ear on sale at Pecks and added three more to the borders.]
• Johnsons Blue cranesbill planted this year: not blooming, but plants look green and healthy.
• Aromatic asters: floppy; they probably should have been cut back early in the summer; they have not yet started to bloom.
• Raised beds both look a bit wild. Coreopsis tinctoria and nicotiana still in blooming in E1; London Pride has re-emerged in E2—smaller bloom heads but still providing welcome red accent points; the little bluestem is healthy though floppy. White cosmos in E3 has done well, but currently only has a couple of blooms; several of the plants, however, look quite healthy and should rebloom. Zinnias look good. I did some deadheading of many of these E flowers yesterday.
• In the “F” bed the Sioux Blue grass is doing very well but its side leaves are floppy and spreading out quite far, reaching the baptisia. The baptisia needs to be trimmed back earlier in the summer so only its central shoots remain into the fall; unfortunately the strawberry foxglove is now completely in the shade of the baptisia and the Sioux Blue.
• The two shasta daisies in the “F” bed only have one surviving bloom.
• Riding Hood Lavender Beardtongue penstemon is a small, underappreciated with lovely, delicate blooms.
• Mel’s Blue Aster: first blue bloom to appear; will have more shortly; interesting how Mel is much later to bloom than the other two Stokes asters..
• Black-eyed susans are still blooming—though past their prime; nice batches in both the “F” and “H” beds.
• The variegated phlox in the “F” bed is still blooming; the Karl Foerster grass that surrounds the phlox looks great.
• The Verbena bonariensis in the barrel is doing well, and I’m thrilled by how the verbena looks behind the bench in the ne corner; the blue flower heads, though small, manage to show up well from a distance.
• The hyssop and the hydrangea in “G” make a nice pair with their blooms. Hydrangea blooms are well past their prime, but many with a lovely pink blush after their white faze.
• Rugosa rose has a handful of blooms; has been blooming most of the summer; I’ve trimmed back the “H” rugosa but not the “G” one.
• The new purple coneflowers I bought at Home Depot are doing well at the front of Bed G, continuing to bloom two weeks after purchase. Add some good color that shows up from a distance.
• Husker Reds: when I trimmed some of the floppy seed heads in July, I should have cut them further down. Nice new foliage is emerging at the base.
• Pink Beauty Potentilla has some blooms and has been blooming for over a month. Might try trimming it back early in the spring; try to keep it a tight mound.
• The two big purple-leaved hibiscus appear to have some new buds coming on; they were fantastic around Aug. 1.
• Red October Andropogon Big Blue at the north corner of “H” looks very good; goes well with the Joe Pye.
• Mexican Torch in “I” duplicating what it did last year. Over 6’ tall; dramatic red blossoms. The Mexican Torch in “K” has not grown as tall and currently has no blooms. Not sure what is the reason for the difference.
• The mums planted in the fall of ’14 are enormous, particularly the east one. Rich, green, full foliage.
• Russian sage at front of border is doing well; not as tight as I would like, but I noticed that at the Chicago Botanical Garden they use Russian sage at front of borders and they were also quite floppy.
• Route 66 coreopsis doing well, full of blooms, but it has flopped forward and could use a small plant support
• The Hellenium in the “I” bed all are doing well, though the ‘sombrero’ is a bit floppy; they are all much bigger than last year.
• May Night Salvia, after a severe pruning in the middle of the summer, now has a few new blooms, but not nearly as attractive as it was in late spring, early summer.
• Crystal Blue lobelia: most of the blooms are now gone from plants in both beds; perhaps they will rebloom in September [they didn’t]. Last year the one in the rock garden bloomed non-stop. I wonder why the difference. Still no blooms from the snow in summer.
• Kevin dahlia: several enormous yellow blooms: no disappointment there.
• Balloon Flowers have become top heavy and floppy. Next year I should experiment with mid-level plant supports placed so they can grow through them in the spring. [Good idea but I didn’t follow through].
• The big Silver Feather Miscanthus in the “K” bed looks great, about 6’ tall; the Graziella also looks good but not as large.
♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ ♢
A Sample of Pavord’s August Garden Tasks
• Horsetail is particularly difficult to eradicate, but research suggests that it absorbs weedkiller more effectively if light trampled before spraying. [I have not yet used any herbicide in the Alum Garden but with horsetail, I’m tempted.]
• Shear alchemilla down to the ground to prevent plants from seeding; mounds of fresh new leaves will see you through nicely until autumn.
• Thin out some of the old wood on rampant honeysuckles.
• Do not cut back stems of lilies after flowering. Like daffodils, lilies suck back the goodness of the stem into the bulb to build themselves up for next season.
• There is still time to sneak in a last sowing of carrots which will provide fresh roots in autumn.
• Clear away peas and beans that have finished cropping. Compost the haulms.
• Take cuttings of rosemary, thyme and sage, pulling off shoots about 6 inches long with a good heel and lining them out 2-3 inches deep in fine, sandy soil. Firm down the soil around the cuttings and keep watered.
♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ ♢
1 Sept: 9:55 am; 68F; 71% humidity; sunny with a nice breeze. While weeding in the gravel walkways, I watched 3 pairs of goldfinches dance around the branches on the flowering crab in the NW corner. They chirped at one another like a call-and-response song. . . . [on the walkways] I learned to use the large hoe and rake rather than the hand hoe. I still have plenty of chances to prefect my technique. -Katie [the student, assistant gardener for the 2016-17 academic year]
2 Sept: 11:50 a.m; 78F; 57% humidity; sunshine; beautiful day. Worked in garden for three hours, first time since my cataract surgery on Wednesday. Tried to take it easy but made stupid mistake clearing out area next to compost bin so we could store the chipper/shredder. That work created a lot of dust and pollen in air; lucky I didn’t get anything in my left eye. Not done with the area, but I progressed far enough to know it will work and got the chipper/shredder moved out of the way. Probably wait two weeks before running the machine since it generates a lot of dust, and I really don’t want any complications with my eyes.
7 Sept: 11:45 am; 8%F; 70% humidity. Sultry morning; rained earlier but some animal had knocked over the rain gauge. I would guess rained less than quarter of inch. Did some weeding along edge of rain garden; cut off top of cardinal flower since bloom was finished. The blue lobelia in the rain garden still blooming. Also the ironweed planted this spring has some nice little blooms. Moved the ladder next to the biggest wisteria and tried to convince two stems to wind their way along the top of the pergola—but it’s getting late in the year. Not sure how well they will survive the winter. In the “J” bed, one of the big Kevin Floodlights was on the ground. Inserted a small ring support to help keep it up. Might survive: the stem is not broken. Did some deadheading of the dahlias. One other task: made more zinc labels, including one for the Big Bluestem planted on each side of the NE quad bench. Those bluestem look good—and they should have a wonderful fall color. This afternoon leaving for a two-day trip to western Iowa; won’t be back at the garden until Saturday.
12 Sept: 1:50am; 86F; 45% humidity. Hot and sweaty afternoon. I worked on the bluestem fence and some weeds around the area. Need to tackle the weeds more relentlessly. Fence was easy enough but we’ll see if it’s sufficiently sturdy to hold the bluestem in place. Saw 4 monarchs fluttering by and it made my day. –Katie
14 Sept. Another beautiful day; temp in the 70s. Weeded wood chip path in the “H” bed, mostly pulling up grass, horsetail, and Queen Anne’s lace. Katie came at 11:00 and I showed her how to hoe and rake gravel walkways. We discussed ideas for getting students into garden (e.g., organizing a social event) and inviting submissions (photos, poetry, etc) for website. Talked about the tufa pots–which appealed to Katie because she does ceramics (art minor). We cleaned out green house so I have room to put in PVC supports to help hold up greenhouse roof, which collapsed last winter because of the snow and ice. A good, productive hour.
23 Sept: 3.2" rain last night; flooding predicted for C.R. because of heavy rains in northern Iowa. The rain garden was flooded. Although water was running through drainage tile into storm sewer (as it was designed to do), I ran sump pump for an hour to speed up the process, eliminate any standing water. I then returned to PVC frame for greenhouse. Need to buy more connector pieces; this project becoming more expensive than I had initially estimated. Did some cleaning up of the west end of the “F” bed. Cut back a lot of the baptisia. I love that plant but it does command a lot of space. Before it emerges next spring, I should give it a steel plant support. Some Joe Pye should also have plant supports. Many plants beaten down by the rain, including many of the asters. They need to be cut back in June so they don’t get so tall.
29 Sept: 4:10 pm; 75F; 39% humidity; slight breeze; very comfortable. Garden looks pretty good for the end of September. On Monday I sent an email message to faculty and staff, inviting them to visit the garden and including a list of over 80 species of flowers still in bloom. Hard to believe it’s that many—and I forgot to include several that should have been in the list (such as the peacock orchid). Most of the blooms are loners, late season appearances on plants more radiant earlier in the year. But the asters are in full display—and very popular with the Monarchs and other butterflies.
The Dan Lehn memorial service is tomorrow afternoon and there will be a reception in the Alumni House after the service, so I’m trying to get the beds and walkways cleaned up. I’ve decided to leave the SW walkway rather wild, with a lot of Sweet Annie growing on the verge. In the morning, that area is shaded and with so many large bushes and plants, it has a “secret garden” feel to it—an ambiance quite different from the rest of the garden. It feels private and secluded—ironically more so than the east end flower beds—which were intended to be hideaways. I suspect the difference is because of the lighting and the shadows. Intriguing the A1/A2 area feels so private considering it’s right next to the patio. Might also be a psychological difference for me because it’s close to the shed. Katie and I are usually the only people that walk through that part of the garden.
This afternoon I spent most of my time cleaning up weeds and trimming dried up flower heads in the “D” bed. I did move the Geranium renardi (Tschelda cranesbill) from “D” to “A1”. The roots appeared to be well developed, but the leaves and stems above ground looked anemic and tired—and they have looked that way for several months. I can’t recall if it bloomed earlier this spring. I thought it might like an area with looser soil and less direct sunlight in the afternoon. That A1 area gets a lot of shade from the flowering crab. In digging the new hole, I killed 5 grubs. I wonder how many thousands of grubs live in the garden. One other job I did today was walk around the garden and make a list of the flowers that need zinc signs. Some I need to research, making sure I have accurate genus/species names. Here are some on my list—virtually all planted since May (one exception would be the astilbe): Purple love grass; pink and snowbank boltonia; walker’s low catmint, Oregon Trail foam flower; pearly everlasting, Zagreb coreopsis, several astilbe (little visions, milk& honey, raspberry, amber moon, purple candles), Bristol Fairy baby breath, Hakone A. (never can remember how to spell it), several Heuchera I bought at Frontier (all planted under the pergola), the Shenandoah Switch Grass and the Penstemon we got from Dana last summer, toad lilies, a sneezeweed, a carpet bugle, pink cotton candy betony, a couple of sedums (Dazzleberry & T Rex), a lady’s mantle, hot lips turtlehead, Vernonia ironweed.
♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ ♢
Despite television’s desire to turn everything–archaeology, cooking, gardening–into races against time, the point of gardening is that you don’t have to do it against the clock. It should be a release from and a panacea for all those things in life that do require endless clock-watching.
The fuchsia, of course, is naturalized in Ireland. It isn’t a native wild flower, any more than the crocosmia is. To some xenophobic naturalists, this matters. I don’t think it does. We’ve developed a taste for sun-dried tomatoes and lemon grass. Why shouldn’t butterflies be allowed a sip of buddleia and bumblebees their fuchsias?
Don’t fuss too much about colour combinations. . . . The core concern of gardening in the wild style is to choose plants that will appreciate and thrive in the particular habitat you are providing. Adopt nature’s own magnificent unconcern about the supposed solecism of yellow getting into bed with magenta. [Three paragraphs from Pavord’s essay “Close to the Hedge”]