Beautiful August

The rains we've had have sure made a difference. Everything is just soaking it up and looking beautiful.  Here is a shot of the deck planter and the coleus plant that was pretty puny when I put it out in June.  I think I'll try to pull out some other "before" and "after" photos in the next couple of posts.  I am always amazed at the change.

It has been way too long...

I've just not gotten around to writing in the blog in the last month or so.  Here it is, July 5th, and I haven't updated since June 9th.  The likely most explosive and changing month in the year, and I haven't written anything about what's happening.  This has been the time when things have solidified, become relaxed, opened up into summer.  The spring was tenuous this year, and we never really got to the point where things grew like they trusted that it would last.  Then the heat came.  Big heat.  and no rain for a couple of weeks.  It is now high summer, and we are almost in drought conditions.  We need to water every day, and every two or three out in the vegetable garden to protect the investment in plants and to preserve the hope that we'll have fresh tomatoes in August. 

This was the 4th of July weekend, and we had three days of both of us home to really work out the neglected parts that had been ignored as we prepared for the Torch Convention.  I had ordered 8 cubic yards of bark mulch last week, and so there was that to disperse.  And the watering, and the weeding, and the edging, and the creation of a completely new chipped area behind the apple trees.

The raspberries needed to be weeded, preparing for the harvest in the next couple of weeks.  And the area around the pond needed weeding and tending, to make it pretty for the rest of the summer season.  The lilac was totally overgrown, creating a problem for both Lee and me when we mowed the space between our yards.  And there were spent spring blossoms everywhere, as well as yellowed tulip and daffodil foliage.  Lots of sprouted tree seedlings, and other weeds everywhere.  And it was time to do a major weeding in the vege garden and then lay down the straw mulch for summer.  Had to water first, then weed, then remove the walking boards that kept me from tramping down the roto-tilled earth, then finally, spreading the straw.  Again this year I believe I have been careful about not letting too many sunflowers grow, but time will tell.

The deck has finally been cleared of all of the nursery functions, and the only non-ornamental plant left there is a single remaining Christmas Amaryllis.  The leaves keep living on, and I keep watering it.  Soon I must stop, let them die, and hope for a beautiful show next Christmas when I start watering again in October.  Most of the plants around the deck are doing OK, but progress is slow this year.  A nice surprise jumped up in the last week or so, I planted them years ago, and never know where they will come, never can count on them, but there they are.   

Ice is not Nice

My retirement party was Saturday evening, and my Dad and my sisters and their husbands drove to Appleton to share the lovely party with me.  The weather was mild that afternoon, but there were threats of freezing rain and I was afraid that they would have a bad drive home.  As we left the party, the parking lot was slippery and covered with ice.  Didn't look good.  The Green Bay group decided to head for home right away, and it was tough going but they made it home safely.

Nancy and David came back to our house, and we checked weat her.com and tried out the new 511 phone line for travel and road information.  It seemed as though things were likely to degenerate overnight, and so they set out for Chicago, leaving around 7:45 PM.  We heard from them around 10:00 as they were passing through Milwaukee area, and things were wet but not slippery.  They got home safely about 11:30.  

The next morning was proof of the wisdom of both groups, as we awoke to about 1/2 inch of ice covering just about everything.  It is beautiful, but persistent.  Certainly did in the skiing weekend at Bubolz. 

The tips of the Willow and the Ash trees along the creek were covered with ice at sunset on Sunday.  They were beautiful, with the half moon overhead.  And the sheen of the ice on the smooth yards full of snow is also pretty, though it does make everything harder to do.  Seems like it must be the heart of winter in Wisconsin. 

What a time to retire....

Another Summer Past

Oh Well....

Frost happens. I thought, hoped, that maybe we could get through this week without a big frost, but it was not to be. I suppose that an average date of October 15th requires that some years it is earlier, some later.

And even if the frost didn't come, the growing season would certainly end some time around now, as the hours of daylight dwindle. But it is hard.

On the other hand, it is good to begin the cleanup that is inevitable. We cut down the Viburnum bush at the corner of the deck that was imposing itself upon the Forsythia. They have both been hearty, but the viburnum has really been going overtime, and it is time to rejuvenate it.

And then cut down the cannas and the cleomes and the elephant ears in the deck planters. I dug up the geraniums that might be able to survive through to the spring in paper bags in the basement.

The basil, coleus, four o'clocks, zinnias, and other tender annuals became compost fodder. We had two frosts, one Thursday night, one Friday. The Mandeville survived Thursday, and I foolishly hoped it would make it through Friday as well. But it didn't. My decision about whether to bring it in for the winter has been pre-empted. It is now a stump, and maybe I'll bring in the stump to see if it sprouts. My money is on "no".

There is much more space now on the deck. The grill can be lighted without fear of singeing a leaf of some nearby plant. We carted off many of the clay pots to the garage for storage. Put away the spray bottles of insecticide and fertilizer. The final hauling of chairs, table, planters, etc. may be a few weeks away, but winter is at hand.

We also spent a few hours cutting back overgrown and unwelcome woody inhabitants of the creekside and yard. Willows that were dead, Dogwoods overgrown, Buckthorn and Box Elder. A limb here and there from other trees and shrubs. We have plenty for the Town to pick up this week the last time they will do it this year.

But some things are at their most beautiful. The "tricorn" garden really doesn't come into its own until fall. The Duarf Euonymous 'Burning Bush' shrub begins to develop its flaming presentation, the grasses are fully grown, and in a good year they are in bloom. (I'm still hoping they will bloom this year. The tips of the stalks are swelling, indicating flowers inside.) The sedum is blooming and fully structured. This is the picture I see in my mind all year, even if it doesn't really exist for more than a month or two at the end of the season.

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.