No, not me. I don’t dance, or at least rarely. I wobbled back and forth long in the past to satisfy my future wife a time or two, and I suppose there were brief parents of the groom dances at our sons’ weddings. But, rather than discussing my lack of social skills, today’s dance topic…

The yellow-leafed fleece vine (Fallopia baldschuanica ‘Lemony Lace’, below) is less vigorous in growth this year for reasons not obvious to me. In recent years the vine has spanned the length of two sides of the summerhouse roof but this year it’s only halfway across. (I must note that the summerhouse is not extravagant. It…

The logistics to remove jewelweeds (Impatiens capensis) that grow up through the wide spreading paperbush on the back slope of the koi pond are difficult. Jewelweed is easily pulled, but you must be able to reach it. This paperbush is one of several that have spread to twenty feet or more, and while jewelweeds closer…

The bigleaf magnolia (Magnolia macrophylla, below) refuses to die, though it toppled over roots and all in a late June storm. I’ve removed the bulk of the large tree, but the roots and a section of the lower trunk remain as a feature of the garden since too much work would be required to dispose…

Several Joe Pye weeds (Eutrochium spp., below) pruned by deer months ago are flowering weeks later as others have faded by early September. The remaining flowers attract swallowtails and bumblebees, though in smaller numbers than early August when many were flowering. With fading flowers of mountain mints (Pycnanthemum muticum) visited only by bumblebees and carpenter…

A few stray flowers remain on blackberry lilies (Iris domestica, aka Belamcanda chinensis, below), but most have moved on to seed production with some seeds already ripe. Several times, I’ve harvested seeds to start in the greenhouse in late winter, though I think that direct sowing is similarly successful. This year, I plan to leave…

Today, I wake to cool breezes and clear, blue skies. Overnight temperatures fall into the fifties, not the stuffy seventies more typical for August. We’re in desperate need of rain, but otherwise, how could late summer be any better? The garden shows signs of dryness, but while I’ve had to water the containers a time…

I have a problem. Many, I think, but today’s issue is the constant desire to add plants and the lack of space available in this thirty-six-year-old garden. Several weeks ago I removed an American persimmon with pendulous branching (Diospyros virginiana). It was okay, but it didn’t fruit without a nearby male for pollination and there…

Surviving the reflected heat of the driveway must be a challenge, but the yellow-leafed ‘Worcester Gold’ bluebeard (Caryopteris x clandonensis ‘Worcester Gold’, below) thrives despite this unfortunate placement bordering the asphalt. In fact, this could be good fortune as other bluebeards have been overwhelmed by neighbors or shuffled about in search of a small spot…

I have habitually referred to the Gordlinia (x Gordlinia grandiflora, below) as a shrubby tree with its dense growth and comparative lack of height. No longer. While still multi-branched, I see that I must now accept that it has achieved tree status as it has grown to ten feet or slightly taller. The gordlinia still…

Thank goodness that July has passed. I’ve seen no dependable measure of the rainfall through its first three weeks, but here, the quantity must be a foot or more with several storms quickly dropping a few inches. Happily, late in the month into the first half of August, it’s become drier. Today, I watch the…

I’m guessing that there are fewer Verbena bonariensis (below) in the area just upslope from the greenhouse. I try to isolate the verbena in this area since it spreads readily by seed, and there are slightly fewer since I removed many seedlings so they would not impede growth of long-established toad lilies (Tricyrtis) that performed…