Work Day
It's been quite a while since I had a work day in the garden. With the high temperatures and lack of rain in July there weren't many weeds growing (or anything else growing for that matter). We just returned from our final trip of the summer and Kaboom! There were weeds everywhere and quite a mess to clean up. Yesterday I went to it and cleaned everything up. The cucumbers and yellow squash needed to be pulled out of the vegetable garden. Their leaves had turned brown and yellow and the plants were a wilted mess. The zucchini, eggplant and hot peppers are still going strong though. The tomatoes are still there, though I still have yet to taste one. The woodchuck gets them every darn time. It doesn't seem to like the cherry tomatoes, so I have plenty of those.
I cleaned out the weeds in the perennial garden. Here's what's blooming right now.
Yesterday, I also pruned the shrubs. A job I detest but it makes such a big difference afterward. Forsythia, hollies and boxwood all needed a trim. I noticed that the row of red twig dogwood that was planted in the spring has handled the full sun with soggy conditions quite well.
This is a real success story since last year I managed to kill five 'Emerald Green' Arborvitae that I planted in the same spot. I was looking for something to create a partial privacy barrier because we have a public path on one side of the house. I guess I finally got tired of my dogs yelping at dog walkers along the path. The problem with the location though is there is underground water creating bog like conditions. I didn't know that when I planted the arborvitae. Those trees are not happy in wet conditions and it didn't take long for them to die. I did my research to find a better fit for the location - full sun and wet ground. Red twig dogwoods are often found at the edge of ponds and lakes and so this was the winner. I look forward to seeing the red branches all winter after the leaves fall off the shrubs. Next spring I will be on the hunt to find a small perennial or ground cover for an under planting.
Before we left on our final trip of the summer, I planted out this corner of the yard. Most of us have that area in the yard that you just never get to fixing up and this is the area for me.
It only gets about an hour of dappled sun during the day. I had a hydrangea here for years and have planted hostas here, but a vole has been sucking the hostas underground one by one this summer. There are only two left now and they look war ravaged after being partially sucked underground.
When I planted the hostas in the spring, I also planted a couple of autumn ferns. I have never planted ferns before this year and I am becoming quite enamored with them. They take high heat and drought really well.
Thank goodness voles don't like ferns. I decided to give up on growing hostas here and purchased more autumn ferns at an end of the season sale last month. I also got a great deal on two Japanese maples. The tips are brown on the maples. Probably because I am over watering it. I have this problem with new plants. I tend to over nuture them. I also read that newly planted maples have this issue from root immaturity, so it could just be that.
Next weekend there will be a work day in the garden as well. I have ALOT of iris that is needs to be divided and moved to sunnier locations in the garden. If you transplant iris, August is the month to do it and I'm running out of time, so next weekend it will be all about the iris.
I cleaned out the weeds in the perennial garden. Here's what's blooming right now.
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| Green headed coneflower against the back of the picket fence. |
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| Tithonia just started to bloom about a week ago. I suspect it took this long because I have it in part sun instead of full. Note to self for next year, sow the seeds in a full sun location! |
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| You can't find tithonia for sale potted around here and the seeds are even hard to find in local nurseries. I buy the seeds from online nurseries. They are very easy to grow and look a lot like zinnias. I like them more than zinnias though because unlike zinnias the wildlife won't touch them. |
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| 'Caribbean Breeze' Rose has been a stunner since May. Many roses are hard to grow in the South because of the high humidity but this one has kept its leaves free of black spot and has bloomed for months. |
This is a real success story since last year I managed to kill five 'Emerald Green' Arborvitae that I planted in the same spot. I was looking for something to create a partial privacy barrier because we have a public path on one side of the house. I guess I finally got tired of my dogs yelping at dog walkers along the path. The problem with the location though is there is underground water creating bog like conditions. I didn't know that when I planted the arborvitae. Those trees are not happy in wet conditions and it didn't take long for them to die. I did my research to find a better fit for the location - full sun and wet ground. Red twig dogwoods are often found at the edge of ponds and lakes and so this was the winner. I look forward to seeing the red branches all winter after the leaves fall off the shrubs. Next spring I will be on the hunt to find a small perennial or ground cover for an under planting.
Before we left on our final trip of the summer, I planted out this corner of the yard. Most of us have that area in the yard that you just never get to fixing up and this is the area for me.
It only gets about an hour of dappled sun during the day. I had a hydrangea here for years and have planted hostas here, but a vole has been sucking the hostas underground one by one this summer. There are only two left now and they look war ravaged after being partially sucked underground.
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| 'Blue Angel' |
When I planted the hostas in the spring, I also planted a couple of autumn ferns. I have never planted ferns before this year and I am becoming quite enamored with them. They take high heat and drought really well.
Thank goodness voles don't like ferns. I decided to give up on growing hostas here and purchased more autumn ferns at an end of the season sale last month. I also got a great deal on two Japanese maples. The tips are brown on the maples. Probably because I am over watering it. I have this problem with new plants. I tend to over nuture them. I also read that newly planted maples have this issue from root immaturity, so it could just be that.
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| 'Garnet Tower' |
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