Thursday, January 31, 2008
Bluebells... The Sweet Invader
The problem with bluebells in a woodland garden is that when they die down in late spring, their tall, lanky foliage just flops all over everything, and can soon smother out smaller neighbors. The woody roots tangle themselves through and around the other plants, so they are hard to remove; often pieces break off and just regrow. Also the dying foliage itself is hardly the perfect accent to a garden in its prime blooming season.
Bluebells are certainly a wildflower that tugs at my heartstrings; I can remember hillside after hillside of them blooming every spring when I was young, their dainty pastel flowers waving in the warm breezes of April... those hillsides now are covered with houses, the bluebells gone.
Well, not completely gone... they are currently occupied in taking over one of my azalea beds.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Bargain Basement Garden Sophistication
Therefore, meet the three foot tall Pan that greets visitors just as they enter our garden; what you don't see is that he has a small defect behind his left ankle, where, when it was made, a bubble got trapped in the mold. Because of this, the price... ten dollars, bought at the end of the season clearance sale.
The Pan looks just fine to me, as do all the rest of my bargain baby garden ornaments... besides, I happen to know that Vita Sackville-West of Sissinghurst Garden fame, was actually as tight as a drum.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
An Appreciation Of Weigelas
If I had a bigger garden, I'd plant more weigelas; I'd have rows and mounds and groves of them, blooming in white, red, and pink... everywhere you'd turn in May, the cardinal shrubs would be cascading with flowers... if I had a bigger garden.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Roller Coaster Weather
It seems to me that since we have four seasons to the year, each three months long, that there is plenty of time and opportunity for each type of weather to occur in its own proper season; it all doesn't need to try crowding into January.
Thursday it got down to -15 at night; today it is to be in the upper 50's with thunderstorms; by tomorrow night it's going to be back down below zero, with twenty below zero wind chills and snow... that's about 125 degrees of turnaround in five days. I don't think it's asking too much to expect a little order and decorum in our weather... hmmmm?
Talk about frost-heaving in the garden; I think I just saw a primrose sailing over a five foot tall viburnum this morning.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Garden Microclimates... Pluses And Minuses
I hadn't planned on expanding our one acre garden, but I've made an exception for the rhododendrons; last fall I moved the deer fence along the east boundary to allow me to plant rhododendrons on a steep slope protected somewhat from the winter afternoon sun. In addition to being on a slope, there is a four foot tall yew hedge along the lip of the ravine giving this area some extra afternoon shade. I will, of course, also therefore have some winter wind protection, too. The slope is so steep that I'm going to build terraced beds with square-cut timbers.
After this, I'm absolutely done expanding the garden... really.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Overgrown Garden Pathways
While I made some good progress this last year in cleaning up and clearing up some of my overgrown garden paths, there are a number that probably won't be changed... and that's not all bad.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Stumping The Garden Expert...
When taking guests on tours of our garden, there's nothing like a round of "Guess The Genus". I've stumped more than one experienced gardener with this one... if you guessed the genus rheum, a decorative rhubarb, give yourself five points!
In the second picture, it's just unfolding its leaves. It gets to be borderline huge, looking almost like a gunnera.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Planting Shrubs And Trees: Quit While You're Ahead...
You know how it goes; first you plant a couple of Japanese maples next to each other; one a deep red, and the other a bright, almost brick red... very nice. Then in front of those you plant a bright pink azalea... even nicer. Then in the middle you plant a chartreuse arborvitae... eeek!
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
What Doesn't Grow In My Garden...
Whatever the reason; whether it's something in the sun, the soil, the water, or the attitude, I've just about given up on aquilegias... and let's not even talk about daisies!
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
The History And Mystery Of Night...
During my life there have been so many little questions about this complicated and mysterious world we live in that have come up and that I've puzzled over; as time goes by, these questions have tended to accumulate, to the point where I go about with a wrinkled brow and a permanently perplexed expression on my face. Therefore it is no small relief to have one of these questions, minor though it may be, answered. Specifically, I've wondered for a long time, why, as the sun goes down, we speak of darkness "falling" over the land, or we speak of "nightfall".
It turns out that in times long past, they thought that darkness at night was caused, not just by the sun going down, but by mists and vapors coalescing out of the sky and falling to the ground... that is, night "fell" to earth. This belief was bolstered by the obvious fogs that can occur in wet places when the air cools after dark, and by observation of the darkening that can occur even during the day by smoke and fog.
So, one more little mystery is solved for me... now if I can just figure out this: if you drilled a hole all the way through the earth, and pumped all the air out of the tunnel to get rid of air resistance... if you then jumped in, would you fall all the way to the other side of the earth, so in the last half of your journey, you'd be "falling" upwards?
Monday, January 21, 2008
A Gift Of The Heart In Our Garden
Quite a number of plants in our garden arrived here as gifts; few of these have the impact of the two long hedges of Weigela Red Prince that run uphill on either side of long perennial borders, leading to the large angel under a red cedar tree.
The shrubs were a gift from my father-in-law, now gone from us, who was a man of great grace and kindness. I think he would like how they look in May...
Sunday, January 20, 2008
And Hostas...
Yet More Hostas...
Even More Hostas...
More Hostas
Too Harsh On Hostas?
Anyway, the hostas can probably stick up for themselves; a couple of them are big enough to be considered somewhat intimidating.
