Seemingly, I am incapable of recalling the dates of most events in my life without an unforgettable reference point. I’m quite certain I would not remember when I was married if it was not the year after I began to work full time after college (Egads! In the same place since 1976. It seems like…
Category: water gardens
Glimpses from the garden
While traveling to visit nurseries in Oregon, I offer random glimpses of the garden. With any good luck, I’ll find a treasure or two to add to the garden.
Where the wild things are
Perhaps the wildness of this garden has gone a step too far. Yes, Japanese beetle populations are mostly held in check by birds, and mosquitoes are minimized in the rear garden by dragonflies that perch on tall irises and sweetflags bordering the koi pond. The gardener will argue against the spraying of poisons, figuring that nature will find…
The spring garden tour
Collector’s gardens are frowned upon by designers, most likely because the parts are of greater importance than the sum, and that is true to some degree in this garden. Sacrifices, most very minor (I think), have been made to cram in another Japanese maple, or any of a dozen (or more) other small collections. Hopefully,…
The same, but different
A lack of space has dictated that no significant changes have been made to the garden in recent years. While hardly noticeable, dozens of low growing perennials have been planted to cover open ground beneath trees and shrubs to help prevent weeds that require too much time to keep up with. This has been moderately…
The garden’s ponds in early autumn
I don’t write often about the garden’s ponds because nothing particularly exciting happens from month to month. Typically, there are a few dozen new hatchling fish in spring, irises and pickerel weeds that appear and begin to spread by late spring, and then sometime in autumn the ponds must be covered with nets so they…
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…
Rain, rain, rain
Parts of this country have been deluged by rain in recent weeks, so a gardener must be pardoned for even the mildest complaint about too much rain. One storm after another has turned the rear garden into a swamp, which in recent years it has become for too many months of the year, but rarely…
When good sense is ignored
I have some good sense, but at least as far as the garden’s concerned, it’s displayed only on rare occasions. In an effort to cram as many delights as possible into the garden, sensible design is occasionally overlooked (or disregarded). I see no reason to excuse or apologize. I will gladly sacrifice proper design to…
A month of irises
Several clumps of Japanese iris (Iris ensata, above) surrounding the koi pond have been invaded by yellow flag (Iris pseudacorus, below). These are pried from the tangle of roots with great difficulty, and with only limited success. Yellow flag works splendidly to populate the gravel bog filtration area of the pond, but if left alone…
In the mud and the muck
The spot of damp ground where ‘Arnold Promise’ witch hazel died a slow death is a work in progress. Beautyberry (Callicarpa dichotoma ‘Duet’), black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa), and sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus, below) will fill this void, but today the shrubs still have a few years to go before I’ll be satisfied with this space. In damp…
The koi pond in May
Along one side of the koi pond a gravel bog filter (below) is planted with tall, variegated sweetflag (Acorus calamus), yellow flag iris (Iris pseudacorus), pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata), and water lilies (Nymphaea). Pockets between boulders at the pond’s edge are planted with Japanese irises (Iris ensata), though a few clumps have been infiltrated by the…
Ramblin' through Dave's Garden 