Coffee for Roses by C.L. Fornari is subtitled . . . and 70 Other Misleading Myths About Backyard Gardening (St. Lynn’s Press $17.95.) Fornari covers a lot of ground in this book that gives more than it promises. I had to laugh when I opened the book to the first myth,“A perennial garden is less work than an annual planting because the plants come up every year.” That was a myth that I believed in when I planted…
On this Garden Blogger's Bloom Day there are great clumps of bloomers and I can see a busy fall season of digging and dividing. Here the Thomas Affleck rose and Henryii lilies are lush and full of pollinators. You can also see a cloud of meadow rue flowers. I just love this section of the garden right next to the house. This Bloom Day the Black Beauty lilies and the crimson bee balm make a great combo -…
The view from the bedroom window on July 1, 2014 shows a hot and humid landscape, but there is a breeze. It's been hot, humid and rainy. The rains are usually torrential - July 4 - 2 inches; July 7 - 2 inches; July 15 - 3 inches during the night. Thelast week of July was chilly, with night temperatures in the 50's. Breezy during the day. A total of another 2-1/2 inches rain on the July 27-28.…
I have wildflowers in the fields around our house. Other flowers have joined them unexpectedly. These wildflowers showed up mysteriously en masse this year. I believe they are panicled asters. They are tall with 'willow-like' leaves, numerous rays and they bloom in August through October. Lots of these pretty flowers in the field and along the roadside. Goldenrod, solidago. Maybe this is Solidago juncea which has tiny leaflets in the axils of the slim toothless of the upper…
Beans are among the most common vegetable crops. Because they are so common, perhaps we don’t think about the great variety of beans that we can grow and enjoy. Beyond string beans we have shelly beans, long beans, lima beans, garbanzo beans, soy beans, butter beans, and tepary beans. Within each of those bean families are dozens of varieties. There are green beans, yellow wax beans, purple podded beans and splotch podded beans with names like ‘Tongues…
When I planted my herb garden I was not in search of pollinators. However, I have found that several of my herbs are pollinator magnets. You may have to take my word for the presence of several bees in the thyme. There are so many, and they move so fast, along with a few tiny butterflies/moths that I just point the camera and hope that I captured one or two. This thyme grows at the edge of the…
Garden Flowers. Gardeners who want a flower garden usually want that flower garden to be in bloom all season long. There are different ways to do this. One way is to have different flower beds for different seasons. I have never been willing to try and to put spring bulbs into a flower bed that will have other flowers blooming throughout later seasons. I plant my bouquet of daffodils in a section of grass. When they have bloomed…
On this First of the Month I am going to show you some long views. My camera isn't really ideal for long views but you might get a different idea of the garden, and the text is still a bloom record. I confess the weeds are not as visible in a long view. This is the bee balm in the Herb Bed right in front of the house. We can watch the hummingbirds, butterflies and bees from out…
I haven't made too much progress with my Henry garden, but Lilium henryi blooms in the Herb Bed in front of the house where I can see it morning, noon and night. I love the recurved petals, the golden hue and the extravagant filaments and anthers. So elegant. Both these lilies came from Old House Gardens and have done beautifully for several years now. Only the lilies in the Herb Bed bloom because the deer get to the…
Fantin-Latour was so famous for his paintings of roses that they named a rose after him. Ignace Henri Theodore Fantin-Latour was born in 1836 and died in 1904. He is known for his flower paintings, but he also did many portraits. Though many of his friends were Impressionists, he held to a more conservative style. Fantin-Latour, the rose, grows in my garden, not in an ideal spot, but he endures and blooms beautifully in late June. I saw…