Japanese anemone and Joe Pye weed

I mentioned in an earlier post that my best gardener friend, Linda, gave me three plants from her garden and I'm happy to report that they're all doing famously. I'm especially impressed with the Japanese anemone (shown at right and below with hosta), which is blooming(!) despite having little foliage and enduring a bit of a drought while I was away on vacation. I really thought it was a goner, but naturally I watered it anyway and, voila! Back to life. Never despair when you see leaves wilting badly after some hot sunny weather; most plants can bounce back pretty well with just a few leaves lost in the process. Any plant that can't endure a little neglect will never last in my garden. (Did I mention I toyed with the name "The Lazy Gardener" for this blog?). I'm going to post a picture of the anemone in bloom, because I think it's going to turn out to be a favourite of mine. It's spunky, (another polite term for 'invasive'), but according to on-line sources it's easy to keep in check. At this time of year when a lot of flowers are past their flowering periods, it's satisfying to have a bed of jolly blooms that doesn't need much encouragement.

Joe Pye Weed (see below) is another late summer blooming perennial that I've been wanting to plant in my garden. It's very tall (up to six feet!) and takes up quite a bit of space but the flowers are lovely and it's actually not so weedy despite its name (and who could resist a plant with such a name?). I will post a photo drawn from the web since I don't have any in my garden. I guess it'll have to wait until next year unless I happen to discover a neglected orphan at a garden center waiting for a good home; or another gardening friend happens to want to donate one!

The View from my Hammock

I've had it mind for a good while to post a photo of the view from my hammock, which you can see below right (click on it to enlarge). My hammock is tied to the chestnut tree that resides in a corner of my garden and the view from it is comprised of the beautiful leaves of that tree that make up the canopy as you sway and stare sweetly upward. Although I rarely indulge myself by lying in that hammock, it's important that it is there, inviting me to remember the lightness of being that I have when I take the time to visit that corner. More often than not I stand hesitatingly on the deck, considering whether I "have the time" to spend 15 minutes in contemplation and relaxation swaying in the breeze and finally I turn regretfully away. The time for swaying in hammocks is drawing to a close for this year, but I intend to grab 15 minutes very soon before I have to take down the hammock and put it away until spring.

Today is the first fall-like day after that horrible heat wave of last week and it brings relief because I can spend time outside without dropping of heat exhaustion; but it also gives me a pang knowing the garden is going to be dying back soon and the growing season will be over. Before that happens though, there are all the fall chores to do: cutting back all the dead foliage, raking leaves to save for the composter, taking in the birdbath and other garden ornaments, putting away the hammock, drying some of the herbs that will not go to waste (for once!), putting away the hoses, etc, etc. But let's not despair because it's only September 5th and there is still plenty of time before the first frost for beauty to continue its reign in the garden.

Vacation Musings

One thing I love about traveling is noticing how gardens vary from one part of the world to another. Of course this has a lot to do with growing zones; but just as no two gardeners will create the same garden in the same region, there must be differences that arise from culture, traditions of that particular region, local gardening trends, etc.. I find it fascinating and, though the contrasts are not glaring from Nova Scotia to Quebec, there are some worth noting.
Walking through Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, yesterday, my husband and I were struck by the number of a particular kind of hydrangea that we saw in front of many of the colourfully painted, cedar-sided houses just outside the "downtown core" (okay, the main street!). After doing a little on-line research, I discovered that it is called "peegee hydrangea" and is a tree-type. The ones we saw had off-white clusters with pink tinges extravagantly covering the whole tree. The picture is one I took myself and is quite typical of the ones we saw.

Another plant I noticed in a couple of gardens was a rhododendron or possibly an azalea (hmmm...I should know the difference! Hold the phone...). What struck me was the size of these plants! I saw more than one that would have been more at home in the tropics, it was so enormous. Also, it had buds on it, and I thought these were spring-flowering plants. The photo I took is below, right. The plant is so large that there is sizeable maple seedling growing up through it that probably has gone unnoticed until recently.

Right, I'm back-- and now I know that Rhododendron is the genus name (spelled with a capital "R") and azaleas are a species of that genus (lower-case "a"). I always wondered about that. I also learned that there are indeed late-summer flowering types, although most seem to bloom in spring. There you are! You're welcome! They prefer acidic soil and semi-shade, too, FYI. I found a terrific site in case you're interested in growing these finicky babies in your garden. http://landscaping.about.com/cs/treesshrubs/a/rhodo_azaleas_2.htm

I'm going to end this for now, but I'm posting a picture of a garden bed I saw beside Notre-Dame in Paris. It's quite a different style than you'd find here, but beautiful. The bed is mostly low-growing annuals (verbena, perhaps?), but here and there a tulip pops up. If it had only been one or two tulips in someone's private garden bed I would have said that they were just strays forgotten by a squirrel or missed by the gardener, but these seemed to be deliberately planted that way. In Canadian gardens tulips are invariably planted "en masse" for the head-turning effect that produces, but why not try this sometime? Pick the right colours and it could be just as alluring and just think of all the gardeners who would stand staring quizzically at your front garden, wondering "Was this an accident? Do I like it?" Food for thought...this is how trends start!

More Rose Ruminations and Conundrums

HI, All,

I got a question via FB about roses so I thought I'd put my answer (such as it is!) here on the blog so if anyone else finds it helpful to their gardening journey, all the better! Here's my friend's note:

"...Wilderness is winning in my backyard, but on the plus side, I do have some new growth on two rosebushes that I thought were completely dead! Oh - the lone rosebush in my front yard is about 8 feet tall with no blooms whatsoever - is there anything I can do about that? I'm going to cut it in half, just so it doesn't look so ridiculously floppy, but I'm happy to get some advice on that one..."

I have a few rose bushes in my yard, some that bloom no matter what and others that bloom reluctantly. I do find I have some success with the following policies:

1) I always prune the bushes fairly hard in the spring, down to an outward-facing bud about 8 inches to a foot from the ground on each main branch and I cut out the weaker looking branches plus any dead wood. Always prune on an angle so the rain can drip to the ground and doesn't pool where the stump is and cause rot.

2) Also in the spring I add a shovelful of compost or composted manure around the drip-line of the rose bush and sort of gently scrape it into the top inch or so of the earth. Also, I've started spreading a cup or so of epsom salts around each bush with the compost. This is supposed to stimulate blooming as well and it seems to be helping my more reluctant bloomers.

3) Roses are sun-worshippers so if your rose isn't blooming it may not be getting enough sun. Don't hesitate to move it to a different spot, preferably in spring. I can do another post this fall on transplanting, since fall is another good time to transplant most perennials. Also, water roses liberally at the roots, avoiding the leaves so you don't encourage blackspot and mildew.

4) Your eight-foot rose bush, has it ever bloomed? What kind of blooms does it have and when? It definitely may need some major pruning, but at this point in the year you might be better off going gently on it and doing the major job in the spring. Do cut out any dead branches, dead-head any spent blooms and thin out the inner branches and shape it gently all around.

That's all I have time for now, but I'll write more soon! Roses are touchy creatures but their blooms and scent (if any!) are worth the trouble. I'll talk later about dealing with the insects that seem to love them as much as we do.

Happy Gardening!