Excellent news. Buds are forming on the variegated leaf, red flowered ‘Cherokee Sunset’ dogwood (Cornus florida ‘Cherokee Sunset’, below). For whatever reason, there have been no flowers on the dogwood in recent years. I’ve been resigned that perhaps there would never be flowers again, so this is a pleasant surprise. Also unusual is that the…
Month: August 2017
The perplexing yellow toad lily
While toad lilies (Tricyrtis) grow like weeds in this garden, with numerous seedlings and some requiring transplanting to avoid overcrowding, I am continually disappointed that yellow flowered cultivars have not survived more than a year, and occasionally weakly into a second. Certainly, this is not for lack of trying. While yellow flowered toad lilies are…
Greener than usual
Heck, here it is late August and the grass is green. Not that I care much if the lawn turns brown for a month, but this never happens, or at least rarely, and there’s no secret why the lawn and garden are much greener than usual at this time. Rain, lots of it, and milder…
Thankful for diversions from real life
There are, of course, goings on of much greater consequence than reporting on the status of toad lilies, or to update that mild August temperatures have encouraged more and earlier blooms on Encore azaleas. I view these matters with great concern, but also must escape for hours to the garden where invading nutgrass is the…
Hard to figure
I figure that I’m of average intelligence, though certainly my wife will have a thing or two to say about this, but often it seems there are fewer answered than unanswered questions here in the garden. Why is it, I wonder, that a year ago there were many dozens of Tiger swallowtails, and this year…
Remarkably, very little to complain about
Always, the gardener can find something, or many somethings to complain about. Certainly, there are a few perfect weeks, but then there’s every other day. If not the weather, which is only occasionally ideal, there are weeds, bugs, rabbits, deer, and snakes to disturb the paradise. Being of sturdy constitution, the gardener makes the best…
Too far astray
I’ve been informed by higher-ups in this household that two yellow leafed bluebeards (Caryopteris × clandonensis ‘Worcester Gold’) have strayed too far onto the driveway. Something must be done, immediately. My wife says four feet, and even our small cars can’t get past without scraping the shrubs, or the Japanese maple on the far side….
Fool’s gold
Yesterday, an hour was spent pruning the vigorous Winter jasmine that borders the koi pond. I cannot recall why this was planted in such proximity to the waterfall, which it frequently grows to obscure, but often this seems to have been a mistake. Branches of yellow blooms cascading into the water seems such a grand…
First flowers
Abundant rainfall through July has kept the garden from fading as it does typically through the heat of midsummer. Possibly, favorable conditions have also encouraged earlier flowering of several late summer bloomers. Gordlinia (x Gordlinia grandiflora, above) was planted to ease the pain of losing a Franklinia (Franklinia alatamaha, below), an uncommon treasure that declined…
Ramblin' through Dave's Garden 