This Summer 2023 Garden Kalendar is composed of edited excerpts from my daily, hand-written garden journal entries from June 1 to September 30 in 2022--accompanied by a few brief commentaries on those passages. The journal records my work in four gardens:
• The Alumni House Garden at Coe;
• A half-acre vegetable garden on a small farm adjacent to the Wickiup Hill Outdoor Learning Center near Toddville (a garden typically identified as the Wickiup garden);
• The gardens and landscape at Buffalo United Methodist Church, a small church not far from Mount Mercy College;
• The gardens at my home on Elmhurst Drive in Cedar Rapids.
This Kalendar constitutes about 50% of my journal entries in the third quarter of 2022. A map of the Alumni House Garden map is posted on the website’s “map” page. As for the italicized quotations occasionally inserted between journal entries, they come from Camille T. Dungy’s memoir Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’ Garden, a garden book I was reading while editing this Kalendar text. Because of the length of this document, the complete Summer 2023 Kalendar is posted as a pdf. ~Bob
Whether a plot in a yard or pots in a window, every politically engaged person should have a garden. By politically engaged, I mean everyone with a vested interest in the direction the people on this planet take in relationship to others. We should all take some time to plant life in the soil.
Even when such planting isn’t easy. ~Camille T. Dungy
Excerpts from 2023 Garden Journal
1 July 2022. My first task this morning was visiting the Mercy Hospital Pulmonology Clinic. The nurse informed me that their tests had not detected any possible causes for my shortness of breath. She suggested a couple exercises that might help improve my breathing, but she really offered no substantive options for improvement. Since I’ve lived with the condition for over two years, I suppose I’ll just continue plugging along.
After the hospital trip, I went to the Wickiup garden for a couple hours and returned for another four hours in the afternoon–though the second trip involved a stop at Theisen’s to purchase ten bags of humus/manure and a new wheelbarrow. As soon as I unloaded the new wheelbarrow at Wickiup, I discovered it’s a dramatic improvement over the old red wheelbarrow that I inherited from Culver’s: light-weight, easy to guide, rolls smoothly, better ground clearance, handles much larger loads. Its first task was moving hay from a large hay bale into the garden to use as mulch. I love the odor of the freshly baled hay. I learned from Marty that these bales weigh about 1500 lbs, and one bale would sell for $50-75, depending on demand, quality of hay, etc.
4 July. I had intended to sit on the deck while composing this evening’s journal entry, but due to the uncomfortable heat and humidity I have moved into the air conditioned sun room and am observing the back yard garden through the room’s large glass doors. A few observations:
• The Patio Bed. The area in front of our sliding door is dominated by the Asclepias tuberosa, a beautiful 2' tall mound of orange blooms. The blue Platycodon grandiflorus blooms are just opening up; the white shasta daisies are fully open. The chicory are vigorously blooming, but they need to be dug up: they are too tall for the bed. On the west side of the maple stump are many tall weeds that need removal, but fortunately the coneflowers, astilbe, and hostas are holding their own and are all in bloom. The ribbon grass (Phalaris arundinacea var. picta, a cultivar of reed canary grass) looks the best since it was first planted in that spot 30 years ago. Now that the maple trees are gone, it thrives in the full sun. I had thought about trying to confine the Phalaris or removing it, but now I’m inclined to leave it since this variegated grass provides an attractive mass with multi-season interest. [I’ve discovered the key to the Phalaris is mowing it early in the summer; it soon bounces back with improved color variegation and continues to look quite fresh into the fall.]
• The East Long Bed. The bed is dominated by the Baptisia along the back of the bed, the daffodil foliage (turning brown but not yet ready to be removed), and the relentless wormwood, which I’m constantly pulling up, a practice that seems to stimulate even more growth. Several coreopsis have bloomed–though one at the north end of the bed didn’t survive the winter. Several delphinium have bloomed, but they are all top heavy and leaning over; they need either plant supports or to be gathered into a larger mass. The hyssop I planted last summer, though not yet blooming, are attractive with their lovely light-green foliage. The allium are just getting ready to bloom. One primrose has a large yellow bloom, a stunning flower that it only lasts for a day.
• West Long Bed. As with the east-side bed, still a lot of dying daffodil foliage–and also a lot of gooseneck, much of it now in bloom. The dark leaf elderberry’s primary trunk has died, but it has one side branch that is growing. Although there is no evidence that any of last year’s zinnias managed to self-seed, the wildflower mix has produced many lovely small flowers, several of which I can’t identify. The tall veronica is in full bloom, with its gorgeous little magenta flowers. Like the Phalaris, the two veronica are thrilled with the demise of the big sugar maple and the daylong sunshine. The dwarf lilac only had one bloom this spring, but perhaps it needs more time to become a vigorous bloomer. The nearby azalea had a lovely array of blooms lasting about two weeks.
• SE Triangle Bed: Everything looks good though the bed could use more plants. At the moment the bed is dominated by the tall metal sunflower purchased in the antique store in Barnes, Kansas. There are also a couple of real sunflowers that have popped up, apparently the progeny of the huge sunflower in this bed last year. The burgundy penstemon look great, and the two weigela just finished a long bloom cycle. The millennium allium are preparing to bloom. Although not thriving, a few of the astilbe transplants have survived and produced a few blooms.
• NW Triangle Bed. This is the garden’s cleanest, best-mannered bed. The bee balm is in bloom, also the daylilies and the 7' tall rudbeckia. The ornamental grasses look marvelous. Something has been eating the leaves of the two large columbine, but their yellow blooms were stunning, lasting over a month.
• Two Long Oval Beds. One notable success has been the red yarrow, great mounds of foliage with long-lasting blooms, but after the big rain they were sprawled all over and have not bounced back; they need to be cut back. [After the pruning, they recovered beautifully and entered a second bloom cycle, less prolific than the first round but still with many blooms lasting into October.] As for the lavender, a mixed bag: some are in excellent condition with uniform foliage and blooms; others have died or are partially dead. [Of the three varieties of lavender planted in the spring of 2021, the Phenomenal Lavender from Richters has been the star performer: thick foliage, long-lasting blooms, undeterred by summer drought or Iowa winters. Very impressive.] The two sedums have both produced tall flower stalks with lovely, distinctive blooms. We cleaned out the weeds and grass about two weeks ago from both beds and they are now quite spiffy.
• Old Maple Bed. It looks rather wild; a healthy assortment of wild flowers; it needs some serious weeding.
• Stumpery. It needs serious weeding and some taller flowers (asters, phlox, goldenrod) should be removed–but that means moving some of the stumps so I can reach the plants’ roots. The comfrey has done well, but I’ve not yet harvested any leaves for the compost tea.
• Red Raspberry Bed. The bed is in good shape, reasonably clear of weeds; we have new cane in all areas. Just a few berries left to harvest.
• Black Raspberry Bed. Many new plants that have produced a few berries; the bed needs serious weeding. The rose of sharon at the south end of the bed has really grown, but it’s engulfed in weeds. I need to find a new home for this beautiful plant though I’m undecided where to put it.
• Astilbe/Peony Bed: These astilbe are still in bloom, along with many fleabane and a couple dandelions; the whole bed needs weeding, as does the nearby raised bed with the hostas.
We may have been trained to revile these plants, but dandelions help our yard in many ways. They find bare spots in the hard ground where grass roots can’t penetrate and, opportunists that they are, and hard workers, they dig in, sending taproots as deep as three feet. Breaking up nonproductive dirt,
they start to create healthy, receptive soil.