A Good Start

Despite trouble posting pictures, which as extinguished my interest in blogging temporarily, I've gotten a lot done in the garden.

Finally took out the Japanese honeysuckle, ready for a rose and a clematis
Refreshed the front of the side front garden, pulling out lots of day lilies and Goldsturm rudbeckia, adding soil conditioner and transplanting the Tomato Soup echinacea
Finally rooted out the last of the barberry
Moved the trellis from the side of the house to the mailbox, and planted morning glories and scarlet runner beans along one side; waiting to see if the cardinal climber vine from last summer starts to pop up in its former location
Best of all, and hardest of all, laid out the new sunny garden in front down from where the dogwood used to be and the butterfly bush is now

Here's a look before the plants went in:


It was incredibly hard to do this the hard way, which is what I chose. I edged the whole thing (8' x 8' plus the existing bed for the butterfly bush), then sliced it into sections and lifted up the sod with a straight-edged spade. When Adrian Higgins refers to "skimming off the sod," he is deluding you. It was backbreaking. Nevertheless...

This new bed is meant to be sunny, high, and wild, attracting butterflies and hummingbirds, and mostly made up of native plants. The color scheme is blue, pink and yellow with just a touch of white. Planted to date are:
Boltonia asteroides 'Snowbank'
Salvia gregii 'ultra violet'
Lavandula media 'grosso'
Helianthis 'Lemon Queen'
Aster laevis 'Blue Bird'
Agastache 'Blue Fortune'
Schizachyrium scoparium 'The blues'
Pennisetum alopecuroides (fountain grass)
Eupatorium purpureum subsp. Maculatum 'Gateway'
tulipa 'General de Wet'
Muscari

(The latter two, by the way, did indeed make a pretty pair, the orange softened by the blue and they bloomed at the same time by some miracle.)

Becky kindly picked up a lot of these at Colesville for me. I was worried about the Joe Pye weed, which was nothing but a dead stick, so I sank the pot into the ground in case I had to return it. But patience is rewarded - it's now got about an inch of new growth. Hard to believe it will grow to six feet, but stranger things have happened.

Last blooms

Physostegia virginica (false dragonhead), beloved by bees

 

Perovskia (Russian sage)

 

A few zinnias that survived the drought

 

Volunteer morning glory

 

Pansies

 

Woodland aster under the maple tree

 

My new favorite sedum, also beloved by bees

 

Who knows what will be left when we return in a week?

Signs of fall

Chrysanthemum and gourds from the farmer's market, black candles from Waterford.

 

The last of the basil cut before frost.

 

Incredible mushrooms from Cub Creek Farms: hen of the woods, aka Maitake.

 

Hen of the woods in the pan

 

What I've learned about dahlias

1. They are beautiful on their own or as cut flowers, and definitely worth growing. Maybe try them in the cutting garden, too.

2. They need to be staked.

3. Although they make a great show together (see earlier posting from Scotland), I think I might prefer them mixed in the border.

4. You can't always trust the stated color to be what you get - either that, or the dahlias I got were mislabeled. Here's the pale pink 'Good Earth' in my garden this month - yowza!

 

Dayenu

If this were the only bloom all summer from this tuberous begonia, it would be enough.

What's in bloom today

Columbines came out this week, mostly dark blue and purple, but a few white ones, too. I try to scatter the seed of the whites, but they must be less vigorous. Tiarella and sweet woodruff make a soft white edge to the oak tree garden. The Japanese roof iris from Mom is in bloom under the oak tree and just starting in the white garden. The anemones I planted under the oak leaf hydrangea finally came up, looking a bit bare and surprised. Who knows where the Star of Bethlehem came from? Mom guesses the birds brought it. Dianthus may be a garden mistake just because of where it's located. And I love the Solomon's Seal, not so sure the purple Heuchera next to it really works.

Japanese roof iris

Blue columbines

Tiarella and sweet woodruff

Anemone blanda

Star of Bethlehem

Dianthus

Solomon's Seal

And here is a better photo of the white columbine - I think turning off the flash is the trick for not getting those washed-out pictures.