When gardeners refer to August their descriptions are unlikely to be favorable. The “dog days”, and worse, characterize the most troublesome part of the growing season when the heat of summer has taken its toll. Spring is vibrant, full of yellows, reds, and blues, but August is dusty and brown at the edges, the gardener…
Month: August 2010
Older, but no wiser
The garden is a series of mysteries, and though it occurs to me that after gardening for forty years I should have learned a thing or two, I’m reminded constantly that I know very little. Every year, and each season has its oddities, and I suppose that this year has had a more generous number…
A garden project for mid-August
What was I thinking? In the heat of August I am accustomed mostly to doing nothing. Well, perhaps something, but very little other than pulling a few weeds as I wander about in the evenings, and this is followed by a long rest and several ice teas. A week ago I was home for a…
The swimming pond -Summer 2010
I’ve had several recent inquiries about my swimming pond, so I figure that it’s about time for an update. This is my favored spot in the garden, where I spend my most relaxed time, and (on rare occasions when I’m sociable) where my wife and I entertain friends and family. There are six ponds in the…
Color for the dog days
Who could argue that the dog days have arrived? The only contentious point could be that they began a month early this summer. If not for the wretched, weedy lawn the garden would show few signs of the stressful heat of the past months. Crapemyrtles, hydrangeas, and shrub roses show plentiful blooms, and now are…
A garden to be lived in
I have seen them in glossy magazines, and they’re quite remarkable, immaculate gardens, perfect in architecture and horticultural marvels, clipped hedges and colorful carpets of annual flowers. No doubt the landscape architect who creates such wonders would scoff at my poor ramshackle patch with one of this and a few of that, with a different…
Big is beautiful
No, not me, I’m big, but more bulldozer than beautiful, useful for digging holes and moving boulders. In my garden I’m a fool for any plant with large leaves, trees, shrubs, perennials, or tropicals, the bigger the better, I’ve got to have them. In garden design big leaves contrast nicely with just about any foliage in…
What’s bugging you?
I’ve talked recently to a number of gardeners who refuse to go outdoors unless the temperatures are below ninety degrees, and, of course there have been few of those over the summer months. I’m afraid that I can’t recommend a remedy for the summer heat, though dangling your toes in a cool garden pond generally…
What’s blooming in early August
I am not disappointed when the garden looks worn and haggard in early August, and with the number of scorching hot days this summer it is a wonder there are any blooms at all. My garden is not irrigated, and I have watered only once, during the dry spell with ghastly heat several weeks back. Surprisingly,…
Ramblin' through Dave's Garden 