Today, the garden suffers the typical traumas from the stresses of summer heat, but also from inches of rain in recent weeks. Variegated sedums (below) along a dry, rocky ledge (but backfilled by rich clay) flourished in the heat of July, but a few inches of rain turned much of the foliage to black. Fortunately,…

A bit of a decline in the late summer garden is expected, but I think most of this is the gardeners’ weariness battling the heat and short periods of drought. There is not a dramatic change in September except that cooler temperatures arrive and I roam the garden more, not only lounging in the shade….

September, thankfully, promises fewer extremes, in temperature and rainfall. Undoubtedly, the change of season will deliver milder weather, though the heat of summer might sneak in for a few days. Hopefully, not longer. Today there is a gentle rainfall while I write under the cover of the summerhouse. This is not the deluge of tropical…

Ground hard as a brick a week ago has turned to mud, but no way I’m complaining despite having to spend considerable labor cutting and cleaning up tree limbs that litter the side garden following each thunderstorm. I routinely scan the forest canopy for limbs dangling, ready to fall, so that my eventual demise does…

I must sleep on it for a night, or a month or two before planting a small area inside granite pavers just dug into the lawn. I understand that I am prone to jumping in with a barrel full of inspiration, but with a slight possibility of moving too fast. My wife is no help….

Spotting of foliage of the red horse chestnut seems unavoidable by midsummer. Probably, a regimen of fungicides would prevent this annual plague, but instead I must recall its most glorious spring days and know that the disfiguring spots will not deter their return. Certainly, the severe spotting might persuade against planting the horse chestnut, but…

This Seven Son tree’s (Heptacodium miconioides) meager blooms are excused by it’s small size (planted a year ago), but the still sprawling shrub has made considerable summer progress. Three branches have turned upright, as hoped when I wondered how a tree could be formed from only horizontal stems. Today, I see the path, and with…

Inches of rain have fallen over this past week, so of course I can now cease whining about this summer’s dryness. I will not jump into complaints about the garden’s wetness, at least not yet. A before and after might reveal stark differences between the stress of summer heat and dryness, and the relief following…

Sightings of hummingbirds are more frequent this summer, though I cannot tell if one makes multiple appearances or if their numbers are greatly increased. I see slight differences in size, I think, so I presume there are more than one, and from only occasional sightings in prior years hummingbirds are now seen on the patio…

Yellow wax bells (Kirengshoma palmata, below) should not be at the top of a gardeners’ must-have list, I think, but in early spring I scoured online plant listings to find this pleasant but unremarkable summer bloomer with large, maple-like foliage. Finally, I found a single source, and purchased three. One planted years ago survives, but…

Gusts from an incoming thunderstorm have dislodged many of the large, seed bearing fruits of the Bigleaf magnolia (Magnolia macrophylla, below), I suspect before the seed has ripened. It is not unusual for many of the heavy fruit to be torn from the tree in summer storms, and occasionally branch tips are severed to ride…

A ‘Golden Showers’ Pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternifolia ‘Golden Showers’, below) is off to a good start despite its miniscule size upon delivery and extreme heat that set in shortly after it was planted. Certainly, I do not have the patience for a tree this small, but the yellow, variegated leaf dogwood is jammed into a…