I recall the first time seeing a mass planting of bluebeards (Caryopteris), and later viewing a grouping of purple beautyberries (Callicarpa) bordering a pond covered by bright red leaves fallen from a nearby swamp maple (Acer rubrum). My memory is often hazy, and my attention span so short that too many events pass without registering…
Month: September 2015
A good Samaritan
In May, I was quite pleased to finally have flowers on the ‘Samaritan’ Chinese dogwood (Cornus kousa ‘Samaritan’ below). The dogwood, with excellent green and white variegation, is planted along stone steps that descend from one patio to another between two small ponds in the upper garden. The tree is prominently viewed from the kitchen…
My wiggly little friends
An acquaintance mentions that every time he kicks a leaf in this garden, an earthworm wriggles into view. Never, it seems, are these skinny, undernourished worms, but ones that have obviously lived the good life. We have a bit of a thing going in the garden this year with snakes, and I’ve warned my wife not…
Flowers in September
With minimal effort, the gardener in the mid Atlantic is able to have one thing or the other flowering in the garden every day, even through winter, which is not so difficult with a few well chosen shrubs and a small assortment of early flowering bulbs. Along with a few orchids and forced stems of…
I hate nature
A territorial dispute threatens harmony in the garden. No, the conflict is not with the neighbors, who have been eternally understanding while our garden harbors wildlife that regularly raids their veggie patch. I wonder if they quietly curse us (me), but a few years ago the kind fellow next door reacted to a persistent groundhog…
A late summer project
Though a few blooms might momentarily persuade the gardener otherwise, the ravages of the summer sun have robbed the glow from the garden’s high season. There is no mistaking the garden in September from its peak in May, despite flowers as lovely as spring’s finest (‘Cherry Dazzle’ crapemyrtle, below). In this dry season the huge…
Bluebeards
A mass planting of bluebeard (Caryopteris) in late summer can be a wondrous sight. Certainly, more than a few gardeners have been inspired by a grouping of the blue flowered shrubs to attempt to duplicate the effect. For better or worse, all I’ve managed is a few scattered shrubs along the garden’s stone paths, which…
After a damp start, this dry late summer continues. Still, the dryness has not been so severe and extended so long that it is much of a problem, except that the gardener anxious to begin planting in early September must be a bit cautious. In recent days I’ve planted a handful of new toad lily…
A year ago, Yellow waxy bells (Kirengeshoma palmata, below) wilted in a brief late summer drought, and as gardeners do when a plant suddenly collapses, I worried that it would not revive in the spring. This is a shrubby perennial that is best placed in damp ground with a bit of shade, but I suspect…
Ramblin' through Dave's Garden 