Impulse buy

Yesterday I visited a marvelous downtown garden belonging to Carl and Ann Little, showcased by the Native Plant Society and the ridiculously named but valuable Tri-County City Soil and Water Conservation something or other. The Littles have turned their medium-sized city lot (they're on William Street backing up to Maury) into a beautifully diverse garden filled with trees, shrubs, perennials, a vegetable garden, a delicious compost pile, and a beautiful water feature. Not a blade of grass to be seen! It was a beautiful and inspiring garden, and they graciously welcomed everyone to stop by whenever we like to visit it again. I might just do that!

Their garden is filled with lots of native plants, too, some of which were being sold by the Tri-County people. On a whim I bought three bearberries, an evergreen ground cover that I thought could do well in the white garden, edging the side in front of the shed.



Well, on looking it up I discovered that it is Arctostaphylos uva-ursi and considered "Difficult to transplant. Does best in acidic, poor, infertile, sandy soils." And "does not like excessive summer heat." And its common name comes from its attraction to bears, though I doubt any will find their way to Ferry Farm.

Hmmm.

But the Missouri Botanical Garden also says "An excellent, albeit slow-growing, evergreen ground cover which provides year round interest. Can provide good erosion protection for slopes and hillsides. Good with Azaleas. Green leaves and red berries are often used for Christmas decorations." I'll give it a try and see what happens.

Aster

 

The aster at the end of the driveway attracts bees by the dozens. Every time I take a look, it's buzzing with activity. Went out late this afternoon to get a shot in the sun and saw this charming little butterfly there, too.

Colors

Late summer colors can be harsh, but the blooms can be so lush. Here is the crape myrtle, one of the series developed at the National Arboretum. Maybe Choctaw?  
 
At the end of the driveway is a wild aster with starry white flowers in the fall. This year, another plant joined it, and I decided to wait and see what would result. It seems to be some kind of goldenrod, tall and flowing.


 

Here's a close-up of one bloom. This is an example of my tendency to just let things grow and see what they turn out to be - I'm not a good planner when it comes to the garden. I would actually like to see both these plants in the sunny garden, where they would add scale. Maybe I'll move them... but probably not.

 

The morning glory on the shed continues to be delightful, with occasional blooms of Heavenly Blue, purple and now white.

Off to Quebec tomorrow for hiking and perhaps some early fall color!

The August Garden

On the last day of August, I'm cheered to see what really is in bloom right now. The drought and heat were so enervating that I just gave up on the garden for a while. But today, having just cut the grass for the second time all month, I realized there are quite a few things happening after all.

 
I should grub out these self-seeded morning glories, but then they curl charmingly around the fence and I'm glad I haven't.

 
This is one of those quietly satisfying plantings (though not the best picture of it). Instead of plopping some geraniums in this pot, which lives on the steps at the end of the driveway, I planted some modest bacopa. It is restrained yet endearing, with its tiny white flowers that just keep on blooming.

 
Garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) are a sign that summer is fading. They self-sow everywhere, and again, I should really grub them out, but I like them so much. Here they are adding an architectural element to the front garden. Okay, I really will try to weed them more mindfully once they stop blooming.

 This little stand of Boltonia asteroides is in the front garden, offering a tiny cloud of airy white flowers at this time of year. It would undoubtedly be more abundant if it got more sun, but it persists here happily enough.

Tony Wrenn wrote about British soldiers, aka naked ladies, resurrection lilies, and spider lilies (Lycoris squamigera), in the Free Lance-Star recently. And lo and behold, they are rising up in my garden now, too. I never planted them, they were either planted by the previous owners or just blew in on the wind. See a favorite picture of them from several years ago in my very first post here. I like the tidy little row that popped up in stairstep order in the front garden.

 
For some reason, I haven't had the enormous, fragrant nicotianas self-sowing around the compost pile this year. But here's one peering from under the aucuba in back. Perhaps it will bloom before frost.

 
It takes only a drop of rain for mushrooms to show up. These orange ones are everywhere in the lawn right now.