Still Blooming Heading toward the end of summer when not many things are blooming whether because of high temperature, humidity, pouring rain or drought, there are still some diehard flowers that never disappoint me. Garden Phlox, Black-eyed Susan, Echinacea and Alyssum just to name a few. There are also some low growing shrubs and lovely weeds, yes weeds – that is what they are categorized. … Continue reading Dependable Summer Plants (continued)
Spicebush Swallowtail Courtship Some butterflies have shown up at last. Not as many as I would like to see though. There were dozens of Eastern Tiger Swallowtails in past years, but only two or three of them this year. I’ve seen some Swallowtail caterpillars but they disappeared a couple of days after. I think the birds have been doing their job too well. A team of … Continue reading Love Is In The Air
And They Don’t Require Much Care The heat and humidity are here. In mid-summer heat I do my garden chores from shade to shade, trying to stay away from the sun. The lovely times in the garden in mid summer are the morning and early evening. The cool of the morning makes the mixed flower scents very pronounced, especially the Garden phlox and jasmine. It’s very soothing. … Continue reading Dependable Summer Plants
Still Standing Fall is officially here, not just the date but temperature and the color of leaves. The ground is practically covered with leaves and the branches are becoming more bare everyday. We start grinding up the leaves for mulching and composting when we have days off. I don’t cut back much of anything except for the Butterfly bushes (Buddleja davidii). This lovely, fragrant and … Continue reading Before The Frost
Still Some Colors After uneven temperatures and one rainstorm after another, most of the flowers in our garden have just given up or rotted away. Only a few of them have kept blooming. As the years pass, more and more we see pounding rainfall in autumn that frequently strips the trees of what should be their proudly worn, colorful fall coat. Flowers, being the weaker … Continue reading October Garden
A Tough Native (or phloxing around for fun) Heat and rainstorm can’t do very much damage to this native perennial. Once they’re established I merely prune them in spring so they won’t grow too tall and ‘dead-head’ them once the flower’s spent. I started growing Garden Phlox (Phlox paniculata) with just a couple of them. Within a few years they proliferated all over the garden. … Continue reading Garden Phlox
Tough Guys All, They Stand Up to the Heat It’s been around 90 degrees and no rain in sight. I have to water the vegetable garden daily but only once or twice a week for the rest of the garden. The flower plot along the driveway doesn’t get any water at all. I let mother nature take care of them. Most of them are self-sown … Continue reading Summer Garden
Petals and Wings 