Garden Bloggers Bloom Day -- August 2010

It's the 15th of the month, and you know what that means . . . . Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. The premise is to post photos of what’s blooming in the garden on this particular day. May Dreams Gardens hosts, and provides a list of participating garden blogs.

The extreme heat and strong storms last week took a toll on the gardens, but the hardy (and a few delicate) plants are still standing and blooming. I think we're still a couple weeks early on the bloom schedule because a few of the things that are blooming are "fall" plants. Here’s what’s blooming in Auntie K’s Garden today:

The fall blooming anemone I purchased two years ago (as a tiny start) is blooming this year. It's still small, but eventually will fill the space with beautiful foliage and lovely pink blossoms.







The sedum have started blooming, too.







And one of the New England Asters has started budding.









Natives are still going strong: Purple Coneflower, White Coneflower, Ratibida, Anise Hyssop.








Knautia Macedonia (pictured), Stella D'Oro, and Lychnis Chalcedonia (not pictured) are having a second bloom.





The beautiful Leopard Lily, alternately called Blackberry Lily, (Belamcanda chinensis) has started to go crazy in the sunny boulevard garden.

The volunteer sunflowers and cosmos are both still going strong, too.

Note to Self

Typically when I say this phrase, it’s because I want to remind myself of something I don’t want to repeat, like “Note to self, don’t plant all 6 zucchinis that come in the 6 pack.” (Why do they even sell zucchinis in 6 packs?) Or, “Note to self, sitting at a Little League double header in the midday sun with no sunscreen is a bad idea.”

But, I was talking with a colleague the other day, and she was taking notes about what she wanted to repeat in her veggie garden next year! And, she’s keeping notes now instead of at the end of the season, which is when I typically take stock of what went well and what didn’t go so well in my own gardens.

So, I decided to give it a try. I found a notebook, plopped myself in the Adirondack chair, and took some notes about what I wanted to repeat (and not repeat) next year. Here are a few things on the list:

• Plant more tomatoes—and plant them in the rose garden. I planted tomatoes in pots this year to give the spot in the veggie garden a rest and they are bearing, but not abundantly. The potted tomatoes are in the rose garden now, and they like it.
  
  
• Plant squash and cucumbers. I love cucumbers and squash and didn’t plant either this year. What was I thinking?!
  
  
• Plant more monarda and ratibida. I saw a stand of monarda earlier this year in a variety of colors and heights and really want to give something like that a whirl. And, I fell in love with the tall delicate ratibida this year and want to put it in a couple more gardens.
  
  
• Build a screen for the front walk garden. The front walk curves around the side of the house and the garden ends at the curve. But, you can see all the way to the compost bin and a decorative screen would prevent that and keep the focus on the garden.
  

Does anybody else keep a notebook during the growing season about what they want to repeat next year? If so, what's on your list?

Images of Grass and the Prairie

I’ve been thinking about grass and grasses this summer—lawns and prairies—ornamentals and natives. I’m not a huge fan of lawns. They’re a lot of work. And, there’s a lot of pressure to match your neighbor’s lawn height. People have told me that gardening is more work than a lawn, but when I see people on their hands and knees digging dandelions and pulling quack grass and crab grass and pieces of clover and violets, I think they’re wrong. In a garden, once pulled the weeds, you’re done! In a lawn, you still have to get out the mower.

When we planted the community garden, the city had not yet cut the grass on the knoll and it was between knee and thigh high. As I carried plants (and later buckets of water) from my car to the garden, I imagined pioneers in long pants and dresses walking along side covered wagons in grass of a similar height.

The view from my office overlooks a highway embankment and ramp. The embankment is covered with various grasses and prairie plants (monarda, ratibida, rudbeckia, oxeye daisies, bergamot, and knapweed). The colors and textures are mesmerizing some afternoons. The grass and plants are waist tall in places on the embankment. The same plants and grasses fill the fields on the way to the community garden by the office. The aroma from the grasses and wildflowers is intoxicating. I couldn’t imagine being a pioneer walking through grasses and flowers this tall. It would be almost like swimming in Jello – lots of effort.

A friend and her daughter just returned from DeSmet, South Dakota, where they were visiting the home of Laura Ingalls Wilder—complete with stay in a covered wagon. In one photo, the daughter is standing in a field of waist high wildflowers in period dress. It’s exactly what I had imagined.

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day -- July 15

Last month, one of the garden blogs I follow mentioned Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. I was too late to participate last month, but can this month (and every 15th of the month during the growing season). The premise is to post photos of what’s blooming in the garden on this particular day. May Dreams Garden hosts, and provides a list of participating garden blogs.

Here’s what’s blooming in Auntie K’s Garden today: One of my favorite monarda—Grand Marshall.






The lovely and buttery Julia Child Rose




These Lace Cap Hydrangea weren’t there when the house was built in 1916, but my understanding is that they went in shortly after that. They’ve come up every year since and try to creep into the path. I try to keep them in check. There are a few blooms left on the coreopsis, too.



The volunteers in the garden this year include both this lovely cosmos (near the lamb’s ear) and the sunflower (courtesy of squirrels or birds from the feeders).



Most of the natives have started to pop, too: Purple Coneflower, White Swan Coneflower





Rudbeckia, Purple Garden Phlox, Russian Sage




And, my new favorite Ratibida with the Anise Hyssop.

Gee, That’s Fun to Say!

My neighbor, Karen, and I were walking to the coffee shop the other morning. We needed a little caffeine boost before we started a mega-weeding project for another of our neighbors. On the way, we passed some moss roses, or portulaca. Karen told me a story about how her nephew REALLY likes to say “portulaca” because it’s so fun! I thought that was a good story and told her that I had been saying the word ratibida almost all day on Tuesday after having purchased one that morning. I couldn’t get the word (or the plant) out of my head! It was fun to say!

After our weeding project, I thought about the other botanical names that are fun to say. My list includes some plants and some plant families. Here goes: Ranunculus, Agapanthus, Taxus, Buxus, Oleander, Tiarella, Rhododendron, Plumbago, Polemonium, Anemone, Brassicaceae, and Solanaceae.

I found a web site that not only shows you the phonetic pronunciation for botanical names, it pronounces them for you when you click on a name! How cool is that?!
Note: The site includes pronunciations for plants only – not plant families.

Do you have a plant name that’s fun to say?! Post a comment and let me know!