Glory in the Morning

Finally, at the very end of the summer, the 'heavenly blue' morning glories that I planted to grow up and around the mailbox have begun to bloom. They are just now beginning, and they have many many buds of flowers yet to come. If we are lucky and avoid a frost they could keep going for another couple of weeks. Would have been nice if they had started in August. I've noticed morning glories coming into bloom for the first time all around the city - have no idea why they are so late this year.

It still seems like Summer

The weather is still lovely, and although it does cool off at night, the days have been in the upper 70s for the last week. Makes it difficult to contemplate fall chores like cutting things down, planting bulbs, etc. And many flowers are still pretty, like the lovely turtlehead Chelone obliqua at right. Not dramatic from any distance, but very nice close up. A prairie native, and very hearty and dependable.

We've gotten about 2/3 of the pile of wood chips dispensed around the yard, and built two new beds - one in front between the tricorn garden and the birch garden. The other between the first berm and the creek. Bill intends to plant a mass of tulips in one of them, probably the one in front.

Haven't been home much in the last two weeks to do anything ambitious. I did cut down the compass plant and alot of the purple coneflowers near the gazebo. And many of the spent daisies and monarda along the creek. We need to severely prune the lilac bush and I think we'll also cut back the viburnum at the corner of the deck all the way to the ground.

This may well be the last year that I allow many of the New England asters that have sprung up pretty much everywhere to stay. They are pretty from a distance for a week or two at this time of year, but even now they are scraggly close up. And there are way too many of them. Along with echinacea they just take over too much space. Also the lambs ears - Stachys, which will just spread forever if allowed. They are also popping up all over the place from seeds. RoundUp does a nice job on clumps of them, killing them off at the edges. I will be ruthless next year - though it is always easier said in the fall than done in the spring.

Plants on the deck that will be coming in for the winter got their third spraying of malathion today, after a, ,, busy day of shopping, Octoberfest, taking a book up to Dad in Green Bay and then finally being able to do a little work here by 3:30 or so. They are still going strong out there, but I worry about a snap frost. It is the time of year where that is a distinct possibility, and it gets dark so early that I often have very little daylight after work to get much done. I did get everything moved up to the deck, which is very crowded now. And transplanted some of the cacti and succulents that were overgrown in their community planters.

Work Cut Out for Us

Bill ordered 8 more yards of bark mulch last week, and it was delivered on Friday. Despite the anticipated wet weekend, we will try to get as much as possible rolled out to the locations needing it. We expanded the perimeter of several of the gardens, and created a new bed in the front corner. Plus there are many bare spots around that ne ed a shovelful or more to cover the bare dirt.

But it is going to take awhile to dispense with 8 yards, and I just hope we can finish the pile before the snow flies. With any luck we won't have to do chips next spring.

Summer Fruits

Sunflowers and tomatoes. This is September

September Must Come

There is an amazing transition right after Labor Day. It seems as though Summer has a firm hold, and the weather is still hot and dry. But the Tuesday after Labor Day it is Fall - no matter what it might feel like. Kids are around in the morning finding their new bus stops, and everyone gets "back to work," leaving the leisure of the summer behind.

The garden is tired, and mostly spent - though the glory of Fall is yet to be seen. T he tomatoes are ripe on the vine and abundant, the potatoes are ready to be dug, the peppers are heavy on their plants, and the sorry eggplant has yet to produce its second fruit. Sunflowers fill the garden, even though this year I swore they would not.

We are planning how to expand the beds, and when to purchase the mulch to do it with. We want to make the pond larger and deeper, but I still haven't figured out how to do that and preserve the ligularia and the lilies that are on the southeast side where the expansion would be most likely.

Next weekend I must think about taking things inside for the winter. That means the first of probably two or three sprayings of insecticide. I really don't want whiteflies in the house this winter, and I struggle with whether that means spraying heavily or just letting things die outside. And also with whether to try to take in whole plants or just cuttings. The hardest choice will be with the Rex Begonias. For several years I have dug them and put them in pots and kept them through the winter in the light gardens downstairs. This year I took a few leaf cuttings a couple of weeks ago from which I hope to grow new young plants. But I know that I will have to confront the choice of letting the beautiful adult plants on the front porch either die in the frost or be dug and brought inside. I think I will likely dig at least some of them. Maybe this year I'll cut them back heavily when I bring them in.

Other choices: do I bring in the geranium that has been the sentinel plant in front of the garage for many years or let it finally slip away? I really don't like it's color there, but it is so hardy and dependable it is hard to let go of. Also, the two hibiscus that I bought this year were pretty lame. But I cut them both back heavily and the new growth that came was shiny and beautiful. If they can be brought in and protected from the whiteflies that seem to inevitably attach them in late February or March they would be lovely next year.

But the job of keeping things alive and thriving over the winter is not trivial. We'll see.

Pictures for this week are about the light and the structure of the garden.