I don’t recall if the clump of ‘Chocolate’ Joe Pye weed (Ageratina altissima ‘Chocolate’, formerly Eupatorium rugosum, below) just off the driveway is the original or a seedling. Long ago a single plant was added, somewhere in the garden, and after many seedlings have come and gone only this one remains. Most sprouted in inappropriate…
Bluebeards and Beautyberries
I recall the first time seeing a mass planting of bluebeards (Caryopteris), and later viewing a grouping of purple beautyberries (Callicarpa) bordering a pond covered by bright red leaves fallen from a nearby swamp maple (Acer rubrum). My memory is often hazy, and my attention span so short that too many events pass without registering…
A good Samaritan
In May, I was quite pleased to finally have flowers on the ‘Samaritan’ Chinese dogwood (Cornus kousa ‘Samaritan’ below). The dogwood, with excellent green and white variegation, is planted along stone steps that descend from one patio to another between two small ponds in the upper garden. The tree is prominently viewed from the kitchen…
My wiggly little friends
An acquaintance mentions that every time he kicks a leaf in this garden, an earthworm wriggles into view. Never, it seems, are these skinny, undernourished worms, but ones that have obviously lived the good life. We have a bit of a thing going in the garden this year with snakes, and I’ve warned my wife not…
Flowers in September
With minimal effort, the gardener in the mid Atlantic is able to have one thing or the other flowering in the garden every day, even through winter, which is not so difficult with a few well chosen shrubs and a small assortment of early flowering bulbs. Along with a few orchids and forced stems of…
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…
A late summer project
Though a few blooms might momentarily persuade the gardener otherwise, the ravages of the summer sun have robbed the glow from the garden’s high season. There is no mistaking the garden in September from its peak in May, despite flowers as lovely as spring’s finest (‘Cherry Dazzle’ crapemyrtle, below). In this dry season the huge…
Bluebeards
A mass planting of bluebeard (Caryopteris) in late summer can be a wondrous sight. Certainly, more than a few gardeners have been inspired by a grouping of the blue flowered shrubs to attempt to duplicate the effect. For better or worse, all I’ve managed is a few scattered shrubs along the garden’s stone paths, which…
After a damp start, this dry late summer continues. Still, the dryness has not been so severe and extended so long that it is much of a problem, except that the gardener anxious to begin planting in early September must be a bit cautious. In recent days I’ve planted a handful of new toad lily…
A year ago, Yellow waxy bells (Kirengeshoma palmata, below) wilted in a brief late summer drought, and as gardeners do when a plant suddenly collapses, I worried that it would not revive in the spring. This is a shrubby perennial that is best placed in damp ground with a bit of shade, but I suspect…
Readers of this page will find it unsurprising that my wife and I will occasionally disagree about one thing or the other in the garden. In this instance (and in others), I believe it is quite clear that she is misinformed and that I am correct. Perhaps she is only obstinate, knows that I am…
Evidently, I’ve failed. In recent years a a nice patch of butterfly weeds (Asclepias tuberosa, above) has flourished on the dry slope on the back side of the koi pond. Here, it grows and flowers splendidly, but the purpose for planting this patch was to attract butterflies, and there are none. In fact, there’s also hardly even…
Ramblin' through Dave's Garden 