Sunny Sunday in the Garden!

Finally. A full day to work in my own gardens! And the weather was PERFECT! Cool and clear in the morning and sunny and warm in the afternoon. I was in the garden by 9 and came in about half an hour ago – giving me almost 11 hours to start the fall clean up and move things around some more! Yesterday, I got a head start and moved and leveled the veggie boxes in their new location close in the front walk garden.

This morning, I moved the soil from the old location and to re-fill the boxes, adding a few buckets of chicken manure for good measure. Then, I set two concrete squares into the configuration so Elmer and the herb pot would each have a level “summer home.” I had a few pots of ornamental allium looking for a home, so I stuck them in as a border. I’m happy with the result. I think it will be much handier to have the veggies closer to the house, and in a location where they’ll get more sun. Monty the wonder dog says he approves, too.

My next project was to dig up the peony bed. My neighbor wanted to give me some of the plants from her garden that had originally come from her mother’s garden. And, the only place I could think to put them was in the peony bed. I left the peonies and dug everything else – lamb’s ear, artemesia silver mound, pasque flower, knautia Macedonia, geranium sanguinium – out. I then found them homes in other gardens and then went next door to dig out the sedum, roses, and peonies. (Night time photo, sorry.)

There’s still a bit left to do, but I’m happy with today’s progress.

I’m Just a Girl who can’t say No . . . to Plants

I need one of those cardboard signs that says “Will Work for Plants.” Seriously. Maybe I could add it to my Garden Emergency Kit. I buy plants, don’t get me wrong, and swap them, too. But just as frequently, I work for them.

Most recently, I’ve been weeding for a neighbor whose garden fell into some disrepair when she became ill earlier this year. In return, she said I could divide what I liked for my own garden. Quite a generous offer considering the beautiful plants she has. One autumn, I helped another friend re-do a garden, which also had fallen into disrepair, and took home several lovely peonies for an afternoon’s labor. And, the summer a friend had surgery, I weeded her tomato garden (12 x 20 in case you think I’m being wimpy) and got some great hostas and salvia.

My favorite “work for plants” project this year has been working with the Shady Sisters – my friends in Wayzata who are selling plants from their lovely and well established gardens. I’m learning a lot working with them and becoming more confident in my abilities.

I like working for plants. Typically, the person I’m helping, knows quite a bit about how the plants have performed, which helps me place them in my garden. And, sometimes, I get plants that are unfamiliar to me – blue ice sedum, cerastium, red geranium, and turtlehead to name a few. It’s a fun way to expand my plant repertoire.

So. If you’ve got a garden project and need some help, you know where I am. I’ll bring my tools and my sign.

Peony Fun Facts

Yesterday, on a day when I posted about my peony bed overhaul, I was asked to bring a bouquet of peonies to church. I thought that would be a neat trick since we’d had two days of rain and most of the peonies were already spent. “That’s fine,” Sally said. “We want to have the bouquet show all phases, if we can.” So, early yesterday morning, I went out and cut buds, new blossoms, full bloom, past bloom, and empty calyx.

We put the bouquet on the table in the middle of the worship space and then Sally asked people what they saw. Depending on where they were sitting, they a bud or a bloom, or an empty calyx in both pink and white.

I learned some things about peonies yesterday that I never had known before, so I’m going to share them here. Maybe you knew these facts already, maybe not!

• Peonies have been cultivated in China for 2000 years—for their flowers and tuberous roots.
  
• They’ve been cultivated in home gardens for 600 years.
  
• Clumps of peonies can last for 50 years.
  
• The peony is among the most requested image for tattoos (along with koi fish)!
  
• Peonies are the symbol of wealth, luck, and happiness.
  
• Ants are attracted to peony buds for the sweet nectar and are not required for plant growth.
  

People told stories about having gotten divisions of peonies from their grandparents, parents, or friends. They also talked about rescuing peonies from yards not cared for. I left feeling a little more motivated to clean up the peony bed (and plant the peonies I got from my sister last week).

Peony Bed Needs an Overhaul

I’m so thrilled that my fragrant garden came together exactly as I imagined, because my Peony Bed did not. I was playing with color and texture, trying to keep everything in this bed with round flowers. It’s not a complete disaster, but it does need a serious overhaul.

What’s Working? The peonies work. Thank goodness. Or, I'd need to re-name the bed, too! Most of them bloomed this year. (I planted them late in September, 2008 and had hoped they would bloom last year, but they didn’t.) The Knautia Macedonia is definitely a keeper. I saw this in someone’s garden last year and fell instantly in love with the raspberry colored, scabiosa-like blossoms. And I think the Artemesia, Silver Mound is working. The low silvery mounds echo the shape of the Knautia and provide a different texture than the foliage of the Peonies and Knautia.

What’s Not? The old-fashioned lace cap hydrangea. Blech. What was I thinking? (I was thinking the shape of the flower would echo the Knautia and the Peonies.) But, the woody stems don’t work in this herbaceous bed. Lamb’s ear. The ones I planted in another sunny garden stayed small and lovely. The ones in the Peony Bed are taking over. Yuck.

So. I think the lesson I learned here is to keep it simple. I may add some hosta lancifolia after I get rid of the hydrangea and the lamb’s ear, but will place the clumps and leave them for a day or two in their intended locations before planting them permanently.