Garden Happenings

A few notes from my garden to keep in mind for next year:

• The basil from the Maplewood Garden Club plant sale has been great in the front. Oregano and rosemary also did fine there, but I used them farrrrr less frequently.
• The back plot needs more plants with height. The foxglove is good but short when not blooming.
• Begonias did great in the back plot and the lungwort has been a terrific performer.
• The front needs larger plants. I love the brachyscome and portulaca, but they're very small. 
• The verbena, of which I think I planted 5-7, did a great job filling in and bloomed all summer, so that's a winner if you can do enough of them to get a mass effect. But again, very short plants.

Anenome has still not bloomed, though buds have long been present

Basil, portulaca

Brachyscome, portulaca

The crepe myrtle is blooming

Lavender, artemesia, brachyscome

The mini-lilac is blooming again! Did not see that coming.

This is not from my garden - it is a fungus in the reservation. But isn't it pretty?

Garden happenings

Despite earlier attack by what might have been a deer, the echinacea is now blooming beautifully.

And this is a balloon flower, which also got chomped on a while back but has likewise recovered. It is pretty but it looks way too much like the perennial geraniums that cover a lot of the bottom of the hill. Side note: this is one of the many species that did not appear on the list of things Birch Hill was going to plant, but here they are! 

Below some views of the front yard.

Verbena in front.

Again verbena. Portulaca on left. Lavendar and peony as you move back.

Artemesia, brachyscome, basil. The basil has been great. Lots of pesto!

Brachyscome and portulaca.

Portulaca.

Remember the late-blooming rhododendrons? Well hold onto your hat when you look at THIS: the magnolia tree is now blooming. IN JULY. It's the end of the world as we know it.

Forgive the photo taken through the window screen.

Garden happenings

Cute chipmunks. I don't see them as a problem at all - they do make a few holes in the lawn but they don't dig up the garden (or yard) the way those wretched squirrels do.

This a photo of a chipmunk (bottom left) but note the allium on the right, not yet opened on May 17, in contrast to the photo below from today.

The begonias are filling out nicely and have not been attacked by deer. Yet.

Now to the front - the basil has caught its breath after swooning when first planted, and now it's looking robust. Portulaca behind it starting to bloom.

Brachyscome

Barry from Birch Hill Landscaping informed me that the one plant that didn't return last year was an anenome and he'd replace it. That was 15 days ago. Still waiting. Thanks a bunch Barry.

Fine-looking property, isn't it!

Hens and chicks seem to be doing great, and expanding.

I think this is a Siberian iris. It looks great.

Left to right: lavender, artemesia, brachyscome

Peony on the verge of blooming

Only one of the poppies (foreground) has a bud on it. I'm hoping the others might bloom next year. They do have some yellow leaves toward their base so I guess I should look into it. The baptisia, in the background, looks great.

The rhododendrons are in full bloom and gorgeous.

Rosemary and oregano, leftish, are doing fine. Begonia to right.

The sage (left) and parsley (right) seedlings are still wee, but making progress.

Verbena

Annuals as far as the eye can see

I bought more annuals, having felt that I was in need of portulaca and basil. I got them at the Maplewood Garden Club's annual sale, which was fine - nice people, of course, and decent selection, and for a good cause, but I do prefer a big nursery like Williams.

I should probably be buying more perennials for the front but I will always need herbs, and I have a love of portulaca and brachyscome and (even though I did not actually purchase it) lantana, so it's hard to resist.

So everything is in the ground now save that I ordered three digitalis grandiflora (yellow foxglove) for the back plot that haven't arrived yet.

This is one of the plots in the back and I am realizing as I look at the photo of it that it looks bad. Left to right: struggling azalea in a shade I don't like, tiny new hydrangea that you can't really see, big hydrangea that has had a weak show of flowers the past two years, and bleeding heart, which is probably the only winner here. Still, at some point we'll redo the patio so there's no point in fixing this spot now.

I don't ever take pics of the azaleas in the back but they are very nice when viewed from the solarium. (These pics, of course, are from outside)

Here's the stuff I added in front. The brachyscome (foreground) I planted last week; the spiky thing is actually crocuses. Then I added basil and portulaca and you can't really see that I put the begonias left over from the back in that spot too, around the phlox. Side note: the Spanish bluebells in the back have been great long-lasting performers this year.

More portulaca, to the right of the steps as you're facing the front door. I'm hoping they'll grow to peek out from under the bushes.

Portulaca behind the verbena that I wish was lantana.

Meet the new plants

On May 4 I took the afternoon off and went to Williams Nursery, and managed to show some restraint, spending only half as much as last year. And I got almost all of it in the ground in one afternoon, and it was such a pleasure! Here's the new lay of the land (pictures from today, as it has been raining since I planted everything):

Rosemary - Spice Island
Oregano - Italian

Brachyscome - Radiant Magenta

Hens and Chicks - Sempervivum "Black," and Sempervivum tectorum "Sunset"
I was kind of tickled about getting these to put around the rocks in our front landscaping.

Verbena hybrid ("Superbena") - Sparkling Ruby
Goshdarnit, I cannot believe this as I'm looking at the tag....I thought I was buying lantana. What the heck? How dare they put some freaking "superbena" next to the lantana and make me all confused?! I WANTED LANTANA!! But I guess these look nice.

Oriental poppy - Papaver orientale "Princess Victoria Louise"

I have been trying to grow pink poppies from seed for two years, and I gave up. OR SO I THOUGHT: does this not look like a poppy I might have planted last year?! Maybe I did get one! It is in an odd spot; I shall move it at some point. Perhaps next to the ones I just bought.

Begonia - Bada Boom Rose Bicolor
These were for a border for the back plot, where I put ageratum last year. But foolishly, I didn't give a thought to deer resistance, of which they have none. I'll have to give them a spray, and myself a slap upside the head.