I figured out what it is! Summer Snapdragon!

I figured out what it is! The beautiful little plant I bought on clearance at the nursery late this spring and put in next to my WB rose - it has done MARVELOUSLY and it is so stunningly interesting. The foliage is beautiful, it's a ncie height and very hardy, it thrives there. But the flowers are the most amazing; they are a brilliant purple and they have a little hollow of speckled veiny light color inside, very much like a miniature snapdragon. Which stands to reason given a variant of their common name - Summer Snapdragon! The real name is Angelonia angustifolia and the one I have looks exactly, I mean exactly, like this picture here. I got it cheap and it wasn't marked or tagged or anything. What fun to figure out what it is! It doesn't seem very common, I don't see much reference to it out there, but what do I know. Maybe it's just not so common here. I did find out the plant is sterile, it doesn't produce seeds. In many zones you grow it as a perennial and can dig and divide it to grow more, but here it won't survive our harsh winters so it is an annual at best. The only way to make more is by tip cuttings. Sooooo I definitely need to get on that tomorrow! I would be so sad if I couldn't find any more next year. I'd have these all over my garden.

New Bulbs, trying cuttings!

Well I managed to get to the nursery with Iris today (running into my next door neighbors that I share a raspberry patch with btw, who are superb gardeners and even better neighbors!) I picked up some rooting hormone and some small 3" peat pots, so we'll see if I can figure out taking cuttings. The plant I most want to save is the beautiful unknown clearance special by the Will Baffin, angelicum or something. Gorgeous plant. It's already looking frost nipped so I need to act fast, tomorrow!

I got the rest of my bulbs too - I ended up with:

7 scarlet gem (yellow outer, red trumpet) daffodils, med height, early bloom, 6" deep.
5 fondant (lovely porcelain pink) hyacinths, low-med height, med bloom, heavy fragrance, 6" deep.
5 crystal palace (deep purple) double hyacinths, low-med height, med bloom, heavy fragrance, 6" deep.

I'll pull together all my bulbs and make a plan up tonight. Maybe I can finally get started putting them in tomorrow!

Chomp

Real quick, since it's 1:30 in the morning and all.

Something has nibbled at 2 of the developing bds on my YS rose. Just chewed an edge off the closed bud. I *think* it looks like caterpillar damage, but I'm totally not sure. This weekend I have to go check the plants really carefully for insects.

Pruning

I spent some time out with the roses tonight, cleaning them up. Still issues with fungus, and I'm not sure what's going on. At least it seems more or less contained, and I'm absolutely going to stay on top of it! If I lose that rose garden to fungus I'm going to have a fit.

So far: The Nearly Wild, as usual, has it the worst. Whether this is the cultivar being more susceptible or its position between the other two roses or a combination, I have no clue. Systemic anti-fungal seems to have no effect. It now suffers from BOTH black spot and powdery mildew. (Although, come to think of it, a lot of the yard has powdery mildew this year... even the perennial garden has big patches of it. Must be the drought followed by a wet September.) It has spread the black spot just over to a few leaves of the Champlain, much to my horror. The Yellow Submarine and Will Baffin are untouched, and the Little Mischeif has come back mightily with very healthy new growth and no signs of active infection.

Tonight I made free and easy with the pruning shears. It killed me to do so, the Neary Wild is a quarter of the size it was when we bought it. But, I am telling myself that it is for its own good - I HAVE to remove the infected leaves or the entire plant will die. Plus, winter is not far off anyway, and the roses will need cutting back if they don't die back on their own; so this is just getting a jumpstart on winterizing. At the very worst, if I lose the Nearly Wild due to the cut back, I will have saved the other roses from a spreading infection.

I removed any leaves (or whole branches) I could see with any signs at all of black spot or powdery mildew, on all three roses that were / had been affected. I practiced good rose hygeine and carefully put each pruned sick bit into a bucket without letting any fall on the ground, then took them all to the firepit and burned them. I cleaned and disinfected my shears with soap, hot water, and rubbing alcohol when I was done. Finally I pulled out all the asters in the garden (they were planted too low in the ground and also susceptible to powdery mildew) and pruned back the mums to have only new healthy growth.

Hopefully that will be the end of it!

The Maples and honey locust are all turning lovely colors, and the gingko across the street has already lost most its leaves! The birches are just starting to go golden. Everything else struggles to maintain a green look, but with high temps in the low '50's they won't hold it for long!

Looking ahead: Winter and Spring Bulbs

Well, we're winding down from summer here. I'm sad about that, but if I am honest I have no energy for the garden right now. It's all I can do to pull a few weeds in very visible spots and let the rest go!

The veggie garden is almost all petered out. I picked the second acorn squash today - we have two that look normal but are a little on the thin side, and smaller than ones you'd find in the store. We'll see how they taste! Still growing is one random one that looks more like a pumpkin. It's round, and mottled green and orange instead of the dark green of regular acorn squash with a creamy earth spot. I guess we'll see how it turns out. Note not to leave the squash too long next year - although I think it's still early for harvest, I found the remains of one squash eaten almost entirely. Nothing but some strands and seeds still atatched to the vine!

There's nothing left really in the garden - a few late blooming strawberries (the sweetest of the season, like candy!) and the big basil bush needs to be picked. I have a handful of green tomatoes but don't think they'll ripen. That's it.

The roses carry on, looking healthy except for that Nearly Wild that still struggles with blackspot despite all my efforts. The Little Mischeif has come back with a roar and is full of brilliant tiny green leaves. The other three are full into producing new growth (before winter? What gives?) and are covered in the dark red new sprigs. The Yellow Submarine is still blooming with big, very showy blooms. They start out lemon yellow and slowly fade to cream with dark red spots. GORGEOUS from bud to the end of the bloom.

Next to them the calendula - my God the calendula!! I will have to remember that as an easy spot of color (and medicine) next year. They've been blooming constantly, without fail rain or shine, since June I believe? And they are thick and heavy with so many huge brilliant blooms hanging all over, in colors from sunshine yellow to deep dark orange, double petaled, a few single petaled with dark eyes, succulent looking foliage... they even make the weedy quackgrass behind them look like it is part of the planned garden artwork. They're simply stunning and all for a 59 cent packet of seeds and some half hearted care.

We have to seed the lawn this month. We're still waiting to be able to afford it as things have been tight, but the bare patches are chafing me. I want to overseed it, and mulch it for winter, maybe compost and aerate it... get it back in decent condition after this drought year.

Finally my bulbs, they are on my list to plant this week. Here's my plan. I have:

100 Crocus, multi colored (short, very early, 4" depth)
These little beauties, only about 4" tall max, are VERY early color in springtime, often blooming even through the snow. They'll be nice early Spring color, which I am missing by then!

18 Tulips, "Triumph" mixed colors (tall, mid spring, 6" depth)
Tulips are one of my favorite flowers, and these should start blooming as we get into real Springtime. They're bright warm colors too.


15 Anemone, De Caen mixed (medium height, late spring, 4" depth)
The anemones are beautiful, make good cut flowers, and add a TON of color to the garden. But I'm not convinced they're really hardy in this climate. I think I might choose to winter the bulbs in packing in the garage, and plant them as soon as the ground thaws in Spring for summer bloom times.

I also want to pick up some hyacinths (mdium height, mid season, 6" depth) - I have my eye on some Paul Hermanns or some Peter Stuyvesants. Pretty colors and heady fragrance, they'd be especially nice behind the impatiens and behind the hostas along the laundry room window. Once they're blooming opening the window will fill the house with their scent, like the lilacs later on!
Paul Hermanns
Peter Stuyvesants

I want to plant the hyacinths and Tulips along the garage behind the impatiens and along the laundry window. Mixed together probably. On top of them I could plant some crocus or anemone, but I'm not sure. I want some anemone and a few tulips in the corner of the front garden by the hose, where the path meets the lawn. I want crocus at either edge and down the front of the impatien bed. I want to tuck a few crocus in around the birch trees. I want a few crocus and a few anemone around the columbine at the edge of the front garden, and more crocus around the side door to the garage. Lastly I might tuck a few crocus along the North side of the fence, actually in the edge of the lawn. If I'm feeling really adventurous I might put a few under the maple tree, where the ugly bush is in the South front yard, or in the empty divet by the veggie garden.
The more I read the more I want to try forcing a few hyacinths indoors too. We'll see how well that works!

Just checking in, finally!

Half a month since I've updated here, mainly because I haven't had the ability to get out in the garden much. We've all been sick and it's that end of summer kind of time, when the garden mostly settles down for autumn anyway. Here's some highlight notes from what I can remember.

We had a couple storms go through and drop 3 - 4" of rain within a day or two and really soak everything. Weeds abound :) I have started mowing the lawn myself since Pete didn't have time to do it frequently enough and I've set the blade really high. The combination of all this means the lawn has VASTLY improved. There are still some brown patches by the fir in back but overall it looks and feels great with a lot more grass and a lot fewer weeds. We still need to aerate and seed it, but when we have money that will come.

I can't remember if I posted it before but I pruned the birch trees back to my head height around the bottom and they very much appreciate the attention! They look great. Also the lillies underneath are so excited to get a little sun that they've been blooming ever since!

The raspberries are producing well right now, not that we'd ever know it. I haven't tasted a single ripe one. Every day after school there's about 5 kids all clustered on OUR side of the berries, of course, devouring them. They pulled and ate every one of my carrots too. Hmm.

I purchased a large assortment of early spring bulbs to throw some color into my late winter landscape. Most of what I have is crocus, but I believe I also purchased some daffodils and hyacinth. Could be wrong, I'll have to check! I want to put some around the edges of the pathway garden in front, the corners of the hosta garden, around the lillies in back, and maybe a few inside the fenced yard. I'm not 100% sure yet. I plan on mixing them up, you know planting them on top of each other. We'll see how it works!

The roses are doing really well also. The Little Mischief has come back with some tender attention and pruning and is looking fantastic. Of course now the Nearly Wild is once again beset by black spot, and I'm not sure how to control it. I remove any infected leaves as soon as I see evidence of damage, and I've given it a heavy dose of systemic anti-fungal... ??? All else failing I may have to replace that rose next spring. The others are putting out lots of new growth even now and a few blooms and look very healthy!

The new snowberries on the North side are also well established now and growing just great. I am anxious to see how they'll manage the winter, but they look very hardy and very happy in their spot.

Next to the snowberries, where I have an empty patch near where the fence meets the house, I want to plant this: Japanese painted ferns against the grass, bluebells behind that, and yellow foxglove behind those. Should be gorgeous!

In a perfect world next year I want Hollyhock around my garage side door too, but I know they are very tempting to bugs. We will see.

I think that's it for now... I'll update again as we get to feeling better and I can get into prepping everything for the snow!