Sometimes orchids are so lush, I feel like I should add a NSFW warning. But, then again, it’s Sunday!
From ace botanical photographer Ema:
From this spring’s NYBG Orchid Show by Lily Kwong.
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Due warning: If nobody sends me photos, you’ll all be getting media links about re-wilding your lawn next week.
What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?
Jeffg166
The remnants of Ophelia are beating everything down in the garden.
I did manage to get out to clean some beds of old dying plants to throw seeds in for next spring. The coreopsis and arugula are doing well. The foxgloves and poppies aren’t very impressive so far.
Steeplejack
Not much Ophelia action here in my corner of NoVA, six miles west of the Potomac on the line between Arlington and Fairfax counties. It rained off and on yesterday, often steadily, but there wasn’t a lot of wind and no huge storm. But then I’m also 50 miles west of the Chesapeake Bay. Delmarva got hit pretty hard.
satby
Great photos Ema! They’re all beautiful, but my favorite is the bicolor in the 4th picture. I’m such a sucker for bicolors and orange 😆
OzarkHillbilly
I missed the orchid show at the MO Botanical Garden this year, so thank you Ema.
Everything is either turning or getting ready to here in the hills and hollers. The dogwoods are turning, a very light berry crop this year and the turkeys won’t be happy about that. Most of the understory trees are turning. My zinnias and cosmos are nearing the end, I’m doing a lot of seed saving now.
My maters are still producing but everything has been so dry these past few weeks I’m having to arm wrestle the squirrels Just to get a few for us.
satby
It’s nice now but rain is predicted tonight and off and on until Wednesday. So today I’ll finish laying my cardboard on the hell garden bed in back (2 layers over the worst weedy areas), hope it gets good and soaked by the rain, and then do a deep mulch cover of 3-4 inches.
Later this month the latest batch of daffodil bulbs will arrive and will need to be planted, after I dig up the fading gladiola bulbs. Almost all my canna lillies are still in bloom, the hydrangeas are at peak color, and the begonias are still going strong. Fall is glorious!
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: I counted about 7-8 good sized green tomatoes that I hope get closer to ripening, and a few small ones that won’t before frost when I was pruning back the vines to force growth to what fruit had set. The cherries and grape tomatoes are done. I probably didn’t get much of a potato crop, the vines died back early and they’re coplanted with the tomatoes so I didn’t want to dig them up then. I assume they rotted, and I’ll never do that again 😂
Spanky
Still getting soaked by Ophelia here. Nothing looks ready to turn in Southern MD, not even the walnuts, but everything has got that worn out ĺook of late summer. We evidently didn’t get the memo about the equinox.
Betty Cracker
My husband is the gardener in the family, but I am in charge of two plants on the front porch, one of which is a white Phalaenopsis orchid. I repotted it several weeks ago, and it seems to be doing well — has put on new leaves since then.
I am hoping it blooms this fall, but even if it doesn’t, it’s pretty without flowers. I think the conditions on the porch are ideal for it — it gets gentle morning sunlight that is filtered through trees, and there’s plenty of humidity.
Lapassionara
I had a tree fall across my side fence into the back yard just before the July 4th. The fence fell on my azalea bed, but the azaleas seem to have survived, if bruised. This affected the amount of sunlight they were getting, so they may have to be moved next spring. I’m currently fighting the vinca minor and winter creeping euonymus that plagues my planting beds. These are not photogenic activities, alas. And I know if I wilded my lawn, I would get mostly violets, nutsedge, and honeysuckle.
eclare
Those orchids are absolutely gorgeous, thank you.
satby
@Lapassionara: I was just reading about invasive species and both vinca minor and euonymus are listed. My primary invasive here is Tree of Heaven, but the sweet autumn clemantis is giving it real competition. As is wild grape, which hides poison ivy. Sometimes I wish I had a flamethrower.
Mousebumples
We’re enjoying our late season raspberries. Not much in way of flowering plants, but I might be able to dig up old photos from the archive.
@AL – is your email an underscore (in place of the space in your name) or something else?
Have what I think is a self/bird seeded mulberry bush in the front garden. Debating if I should move and replant or straight up toss it. I think it’s native, but it sounds like the berries can be a mess.
Mousebumples
@satby: re invasive species, the previous homeowners had planted barberry in the gardens. Ugh. Pulled that out when I was replacing the landscaping stones with mulch.
Steeplejack
@Mousebumples:
Per “Contact Us,” it’s a hyphen, so Anne-Laurie at balloon-juice dot com.
delphinium
Lovely photos Ema!
Currently chilly and overcast here-plan to do some yard clean up before it rains later today.
PAM Dirac
In Frederick, MD Ophelia has been almost entirely a rain event. A few gusts yesterday in the 12-14 mph range, but almost everything under 10 mph. Over 2″ of rain since Friday night. I harvested ~125 lbs of syrah on Friday, but decided to take a chance and let the mourvedre hang. The weather is cool enough (highs in the upper 60s, lows in the low 50s) that I hope the rots won’t take over, but we will see.
kalakal
Right now the garden looks a wreck. Had the fences replaced last week*, really needed doing and an awful lot of flattening took place. They did a very good job and did their best to avoid damage but still a few casualties. Cleared out tons of stuff which was good and have a zillion plants in temp pots to go back. The old fence was really only held up by leaning on trees and a lot of rampant pothos. I’m going to take some time over the replanting as I want to make a few changes. At the moment it is not a pretty sight
*Have to have a 6ft fence for swimming pool liability reasons
O. Felix Culpa
@satby:
I followed up on your comment from last week about pruning the tomatoes. Due to the wicked heat this summer, my plants didn’t fruit until a few weeks ago, so I’m encouraging them to ripen QUICKLY. We should have more time in ABQ for that to happen, than in your northern climes. :)
On a semi-related note, what was the name of the product you used to fend off root damage in the pipes? Thanks
ETA: Love the orchid pix!
satby
@O. Felix Culpa: I used this as a guide and have had decent luck with both the Roebic and Zep products. As the plumber explained it, it kept the roots mostly out and the ones that got in were thin and weak, but it’s still best to do a maintanence rod-out every so often (yearly for me, maples on each side of the line).
Mousebumples
@Steeplejack: haha, thanks. I should have thought of that. 😊
O. Felix Culpa
@satby:
Thanks! We had the pipes scoped as part of the home inspection before we bought the house, and at that point they looked pretty clear. I want to be proactive in prevention and maintenance, though. Otherwise some nasty surprises can ensue.
oldgold
I did a bit of yard work yesterday. Pulled the very last remaining blades of blue grass on West of Eden from the driveway cracks. The only damn place the blue grass ever flourished and, of course, the only damn place I did not want it to grow. In this regard, it is similar to the the hair that in the spring time of my dotage has decided to take up permanent residency on the bridge of my nose. So now, as a consequence of octogenarian vanity, I dab Rogaine on my noggin and Roundup on my snout.
The theme of today’s Gardening Chat reminds me of a question persistently posed to me as I started transitioning West of Eden to glechoma hederacea (Proliferating Charles), “OG, are you serious or kidding?”
WaterGirl
@Mousebumples:
Miss Bianca
So deeply gorgeous. I am finding flower photos very soothing to my spirits these days.
The extent of my gardening news is that I have several green tomatoes from the next door neighbor’s garden rapidly ripening on the range top. : )
ema
Thank you all!
Mousebumples
@WaterGirl: Gracias. 😊 I felt like you’d mentioned it before… But I couldn’t remember. 😜
stinger
What wonderful photos, especially on an overcast morning. Thanks, ema!
Jess
Haha! Totally! Love orchids, and love the picts. Thanks for brightening up a gloomy Sunday (I’m in central Mass).
moonbat
Thank you, Ema for these gorgeous photos! I’m sharing this post with my niece who is mad about orchids. I can never keep the poor things alive long enough to be rewarded with blooms like this.
munira
Gorgeous
wjca
Nero Wolfe lives!
StringOnAStick
Harvested 2 bushels of excellent organic nectarines from our tree yesterday, an equal amount were substandard or bird pecked. Looks like a LOT of nectarine jam is in the near future.
Fall arrived loudly with a 35 degree morning on Monday and the flame maples and burning bushes are catching fire all over town here. The only unpleasant thing yesterday was the coming atmospheric river pulling smoke North from northern California, so air quality is too poor to do much of anything outside, so I took the bushel of apples from a neighbor and canned 31 pints of chutney and 24 of apple butter. I found an excellent recipe for nectarine jam and since you keep the skins on, the colour is gorgeous. We’re starting a kitchen remodel in 7 days so the clock is ticking to get all this wrapped up!
callmeishmael
I apologize if this has already been mentioned. Long time gardening commenter Mary Green, of San Clemente, CA, passed away in March of this year. Mary suffered from Rheumatoid Arthritis and when I knew her she heroically resisted the advance of the disease. RIP, Mary.