The garden’s milkweeds (Asclepias incarnata, below) are annually infested by aphids as the flowers near their peak. Within days, assassin bugs arrive, and while the aphids are not eliminated, their numbers are greatly reduced. The milkweeds suffer slight damage but return the next spring without fail. This year, the aphids are no-shows. It appears that…

Barbara and I would ask our young sons, ‘how big are you?” Time and again, the answer was proudly “So Big”, and of course now they are long out of the house and married (and rather large as people go). I am quite pleased, though I did almost nothing except plant the castor bean (Ricinus…

I am not one to readily give up on a plant. The back side of a decades old blue, globose spruce (Picea pungens ‘Glauca Globosa’) has gone bare alongside a conical common boxwood (Buxus sempervirens). The boxwood has long encroached on the narrow path, and the spruce spreads several feet over the small, circular patio…

Yes, I’ve whined about the lack of rainfall, though today I happily report that a storm came through late in the afternoon. But, then I watched as others brushed past with no more than a few droplets of moisture, so there’s reason to complain. Still, the garden lives on, and without my pulling hoses around….

I am an optimistic gardener, expecting the best even when my neglect should bring trouble. My too often sporadic efforts at deer control occasionally yield beneficial results. A spurt of summer growth on the Batwing Japanese maple (Acer pictum ‘Usugumo’, below) was quickly nibbled prior to the semi regular repellent treatment. I don’t recall if…

The parcity of flowers on the congested clump of Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ should be no surprise, but with diminishing flowers in recent years, I did nothing. Now, there are two flowers and two buds. No more, from many dozens of plants. Clearly, the time to split the clump is overdue. Of course, many chores in the…

I watch my online radar as summer storms brew, then split to bypass the garden by the tiniest fraction. I can hear the rumble of thunder, but if there’s any rain, it’s a few drops, enough to tease but barely enough to keep the dust down. All the worse, acquaintances remark that they’re being deluged….

While this garden was not initially intended as a haven for wildlife and pollinators, it has developed into an ideal habitat for both. Rabbits and squirrels are seen daily, with evidence that deer are regular visitors despite my spraying a repellent to protect vulnerable plants. Scratches on the lid of the koi food pail tell…

My two weeks of summer business travel annually coincide with the peak flowering of three Bottlebrush buckeyes (Aesculus parviflora, below). Two in part sun in the rear garden flower first, but both were barely cracking bud when I left the second week of July. The third, the oldest and by far the largest, is more…

With the recent addition of two Japanese maples I’m thinking this might be the end. Several remain in pots on the patios, but without a spot to plant them I suppose they could stay in the containers for a few years. Even with the extremely dry spring and early summer, and my lack of attention,…