From commentor Lapassionara:
I don’t know what the little white flowers [in the top photo] are, but they really cheered me up when they appeared.
I can’t take credit for the iris, as they were here when we moved in.
The other plants were planted by me after I spent days cleaning out the shrubbery beds. There are Virginia sweetspire…
Wild ginger…
Oakleaf hydrangea…
Then, in another part of the yard, clematis…
… And Black-eyed Susans, with Annabelle Hydrangeas in the background.
***********
Here north of Boston, we went from a moist English-style spring to very dry summer just about overnight. The unusually lush roses are gone, but the daylilies are suddenly bursting into bloom (too early! I want their bright colors in late July / early August!). My hopeful sweet-pea transplants have swooned; I’d like to believe they’ll come back in the fall, but I know the odds aren’t good. Most of the beds look like untended garbage, but at least they’re lush garbage…
On the other hand, 18 tomato plants are a lot easier to keep up with than 24-plus. It let me align the rows of rootpouches so they can all get a little more sun, too. So we’ve already harvested a handful of Chocolate Sprinkles, there are Cherokee Purple and Ramapo fruits starting to swell, and most of the vines are blossoming, so that’s something to look forward to every time I go out there.
I need more pictures, unless I’ve missed an email — if you sent me some that haven’t appeared, remind me!
What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?
JPL
Your garden is lovely.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
rikyrah
Beautiful pictures ❤️?
SectionH
Lapassionara: I love all your plant pix, grew almost all of them, but Oak Leaf Hydrangea? I love you. Awesome shrub.
The little white ones look like Star of Bethlehem – Ornithogalum umbellatum.
Mary G
Black eyed Susans are one of my favorite things, but they are all gorgeous.
OzarkHillbilly
Beautiful flowers, Lapassionara.
MomSense
Beautiful flowers!
Farouche
The little white flowers are Star of Bethlehem. Relatives of lily.
SectionH
Going to bed soon, but on my 70 sq ft of growing space, we’ve got spider mites for bad news, and something that crunches even worse on leaves also too. On fucking pelargoniums. WTAF?
The good news is the clivias in the big pot are beating whatever the shit infestation they had. The other clivia that’s on its own, which produced a runner new clivia, is Not happy now. I was really hoping to offer that offspring to Satby if she wanted it, but now we’ve got drama here. They cost $1 each, so I wasn’t being precisely generous, but the offer stands, if I can save the fucking plants.
We finally got the alstromeria to bloom, poor things. Otoh, we brought them from Econdido 7 years ago, and most ppl trash them yearly.
We nearly killed a bit of succulent plant we’d rescued, well never mind long story, that we’d rooted and nursed along, because Mr “idiot” S forgot to tell me he’d poisoned some soil… I’d pulled the poor thing out on the weird chance that it had been doing so well, what had changed? That’s when he twigged.. at least he was honest. And it’s doing fine in water.
Basically all I’m worrying about is getting Lady Bugs for our balcony. In massive numbers. I think our local Ace hardware store still has them. They’ll have plenty of bugs to eat.
JeanneT
Lovely happy garden!!
Here in Michigan I have big holes in my perennial beds from a mass die-off of my bee balm plants. I’ll be checking the nurseries for some potential replacements – but it’s a little late in the season to find good options. I’m hoping there will be some tall black eyed susans or daisies available.
raven
sweet
satby
Very lovely Lapassionara! Agree with @SectionH: the white ones up top are Star of Bethlehem, a favorite of mine. And you can dig them up and separate the bulb clump like daffodils and create more patches of you like. And I planted four Black Eyed Susan’s myself this year; two have started to bloom and the other two are doing well so I’m looking forward to that cheery display.
Edit: the linked article states that Star of Bethlehem may become invasive, but I can’t say I’ve seen it do that up here in cold country.
bemused
I started watering my many garden beds as soon as it was light enough to see where they were. It’s very dry here, fire danger warnings with no rain in forecast for another week. I’ll be watering daily which involves at least a minimum of 2 to 3 hours. I didn’t go crazy pandemic gardening to have them all dry up.
Saw a robin pecking at a large beautiful moth in our driveway, Polyphemus Moth and gingerly moved it somewhere more safe. I learned this moth only lives about 4 days so maybe the robin knows the moth’s lifespan was about over.
SectionH
@satby: I meant what I said about the clivia if I can save it.
satby
@SectionH: Oh how kind of you! I’ll root for you to save it ?.
Reading up on spider mites makes me suspect that one of my roses has them ? though I saw no signs of mites or webbing, just the damage. But I’ll start spraying anyway because something is eating the leaves.
satby
And in my own garden we’ve finally had a couple of good rainstorms to soak all the ground and the grass came out of dormancy. I only water the newer shrubs and flowers I’ve planted, seldom the well established ones and never the grass unless it’s really a long drought. Everything seems to be doing ok and the summer stuff is starting to bloom. High hopes that I get some flowers on the hydrangeas this year since it’s the second and third years of growth for them.
And I may have gotten carried away at this iris sale Friday night. Though my best score seems to have sold out, a new hybrid that was retailing for $42.00 marked down to $7.99. Already thinking about where to plant them ?.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@satby:
I love iris. It’s my favorite flower.
Lapassionara
Thanks for the info on Star of Bethlehem. I may try to have more of them. And good morning to all.
Our house sits on property that was part of a big lot for a large house. It was mostly woods before WWII. After the war, it was carved into smaller lots and cleared of trees. I think our house was one of the last ones built, 1951. Anyway, what was left after the trees were cut down were a variety of invasive weedy plants: nut sedge; wild violet; honeysuckle (both vine and shrub).
I have been slowly reclaiming the beds from the weeds, and from the euonymus vines planted by the previous owner. This is a constant battle, and I am glad that I have a small truck for hauling mulch, as I use a lot of it.
SectionH
@satby: Not kind, just one gardener to another. Srsly. I have a plant that needs a good home. And you really want one of those? Have it! That’s Gardener’s delight. I’ll keep you posted.
satby
@SectionH: Thank you! I still say that’s very kind ?
satby
@Lapassionara: I feel your pain on the invasive vines. I’m doing battle against one planted by the previous owner and allowed to run amok during the subsequent years. It’s beautiful in bloom, but it’s spread all over from the where it was (I assume) originally planted to beautify the far back fence. Beware Sweet Autumn Clemantis.
JR
@JeanneT: I had the same with dwarf irises by my driveway. The plot they were on eroded to the point where the rhizomes were completely above ground and they never recovered.
Lapassionara
@satby: Yikes! And then there’s wisteria. Not to mention blackberry. I guess I should be grateful that I only have to manage honeysuckle.
oldgold
What’s going on in my garden, this week?
Working like human being possessed to be ready for my traditional Fourth of July potato planting.
After the fireworks have abated, as midnight approaches, I plan to spade the spuds into West of Eden under the pale mystic light of the penumbral lunar eclipse.
Who knows, under these special spectral conditions, I might actually raise some taters this year.
debbie
@satby:
No such thing as too many irises!
Here, the hydrangeas are blooming better than they have in the past several years. Especially the blue and purple ones, my favorites. I cannot wait to hold the garden-show-in-my-head as I walk through the neighborhood this summer.
WaterGirl
@SectionH: I LOVE oak leaf hydrangeas. The oak leaf hydrangeas look like young ones to me – I want some desperately but have nowhere with enough open space.
WaterGirl
@satby: My neighbor had Sweet Autumn Clemantis planted literally at the fence. So pretty for about 45 minutes every fall, but totally trying to spread to my side.
The new neighbor cut it down, but it’s growing back up again. :-(
TerryC
I haven’t figured out how to share images here yet, but in my 19-acre garden of trees (being grown in the shape of a 27-hole disc golf course) this is the time of year I am looking for baby volunteer trees to flag for nurturing or moving. Ash, walnut, oak, catalpa, redbud, and hickory are the babies that stand out as identifiable right now.
My native plums and mulberries are starting to fruit as well. Pears, apples, and persimmons are already developing fruit, plus black raspberries are ripening. Mostly the fruit is for wildlife unless disc golfers happen by at the right time. Lots more wildlife since I started this six years ago.
satby
@WaterGirl: That link includes information on eradicating invasive vines of all kinds. It worked spectacularly for ridding me of the English ivy all over my house.
@TerryC: Send the pictures to Anne Laurie at the contact a front pages links, because I’m sure I’m not the only person who would love to see them ?
WaterGirl
@TerryC: You could send pictures to Anne Laurie that could be featured in a future Garden Chat!
Geminid
@TerryC: Sounds like great project and quite a bit of good work. Hope to see pics.
OzarkHillbilly
@TerryC: Send them to Anne.
TaMara (HFG)
Lovely photos. And jealous people (AL) are seeing tomatoes already. My tomato plants are doing amazing this summer, but we won’t see tomatoes here until early August. sigh.
A Ghost to Most
@TerryC:
Up for a Spirited Game? Try Ghost Town Disc Golf
A kindred soul.
Kristine
Lovely shrubs, Lapassionara. I do like that oak-leaf hydrangea.
I have wild ginger, too. I love those weird little flowers that bloom underneath the leaves.
The inch and a half of rain we got on Thursday here in NE Illinois livened up everything. Bee balm are starting to open, and the sem ash leaf spirea are forming brushes. Over in the shady side yard, the hosta are just starting to flower–most will be pale lavender, but the huge Blue Mammoths put forth white blooms that are really lovely. The pink and white astilbe are opening. I also have reds, but they always lag. I collected maybe 15 astilbe over the years. A few years ago, I split them and wound up with 45 plants that I planted along the outside edge of the deck and along the side fence. The environment ranges from dappled shade to full sun–I may do the full sun plants a favor at some point and move them. Astilbe fry fast.
I’ve got the usual little begonias in pots scattered through the greenery, and the gerbera daisy that I bought last year and nursed inside through the winter is blooming gangbusters–three flowers and four on the way. Lovely magenta shade.
I have some cinnamon ferns and buttered rum heuchera to plant in the shade yard, but I’ll need to bathe in Deep Woods Off before I dare make the attempt.
dr. luba
@satby: I don’t know what you call “cold country”, but I’m in the NW Detroit area, and have Star of Bethlehem in my yard, which I don’t recall planting . It multiplies really rapidly, and is invasive. It’s taken over two small beds where it grows, an has been popping up in other places.
And this year I had tons of foliage and very few flowers.
J R in WV
@oldgold:
I always heard that taters need to be in the ground before Saint Paddy’s Day in March. Maybe that’s your problem, planting on the 4th of July??
Isua
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Random lurker here, just wanted to say I just bought your book and am looking forward to it!