Blog Action Day on the Environment

Long time readers of this blog will know a few things about this garden:

1. We harvest rainwater.



2. We use mulch.

In Spring



Late Summer



And Fall



3. We compost.



4. Our garden is friendly to wildlife.

Skunks



Jackrabbits



A Turtle



A Daylily-Loving Frog



A Gorilla (Just Kidding)



And many, many others including squirrels, snakes, hawks, songbirds and other wild birds (bluejays, cardinals, mourning doves, downy woodpeckers), and that's not even mentioning the insects, both harmful and beneficial. So anyway, I think we've got this aspect of the environment covered quite well.

5. We've tried to eliminate most of our lawn. (This is a work in progress). Here we show a section of lawn replaced with eco-grass.

Eco-grass Earlier this Year (Looks Better Now in Cooler Weather)


Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without permission.

So, when it came to Blog Action Day on the Environment, I really didn't have to look beyond my own blog for inspiration on what to write about. However, I did look at some resources offered on the Blog Action Day site. Here is some more information from treehuggers and concerned scientists that you might want to check out:

1. How to Green Your Gardening


2. Lush Yards with Less Water


3. Backyard Biodiversity


4. Make the Most of Your Mulch

Canadian Thanksgiving

In the garden I really have trouble with this time of year, when everything is so obviously shutting down and preparing for winter. Canadian Thanksgiving weekend has long been touted as the ultimate time for fall colour in our area. I think that is changing, and it's certainly not true this year. This year there is still an awful lot of green, and we haven't packed away the shorts and sandals yet.

The Last Echinacea



Although it is unseasonably warm right now (the high temperatures and humidity would not be out of place in July), it doesn't take much to remind one that we are not in the midst of the long hot days of summer.

Under the Deborah Maple



We should be enjoying crisp fall days, wearing sweaters and crunching leaves underfoot. Instead, stepping outside is uncomfortably like stepping into a sauna bath, though the evening light still fades at 7:00, and some leaves are still turning their autumn colours and falling to the ground.

Bloodgood Japanese Maple Leaves



Bleah!

But to say that it is all ugly would be misleading. Last year I bought a little caryopteris bush, and though it doesn't seem to have grown much this year (which is not surprising, since it the label says it stays compact), it does -- finally -- have a couple of blooms.

Caryopteris incana 'Jason'



And the hosta 'Red October' is living up to its name, blooming still when other hostas' flower stalks are crisp and brown and curling into themselves.

'Red October' Hosta



And some of the colour in the garden is definitely what you would expect of autumn.

Dying Heuchera Leaf



Climbing Vine on the Fence



Cutleaf Sumac


Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without permission.

It would just be nice to wear long sleeves for a change, you know?

(I know. It will happen soon enough. Last year we had a snowstorm on October 12.)

Daylily Foliage

This post is inspired by Kim's Not in My Garden post. She says that she admires some blogs that show daylilies in the garden, but you won't find daylilies in hers because "daylily foliage leaves [her] cold."

First off, let me say that this is not a response in the sense of an argument or debate, where one-upmanship or formal objection is involved. Not at all. In fact, mainly I am writing this to express my surprise (think, incomprehension) at a point of view so different from my own, and yet equally valid. I guess it's sort of like dog people and cat people. Both can connect as pet owners, and yet there are fundamental differences.

I Am a Cat Person



Not to stretch the metaphor to the breaking point, it's time I got on with what I really meant to say. Which was, how can one talk about daylily foliage as if it mattered? With daylilies, it's all about the flowers. I mean, I could say -- quite truthfully -- that tulip foliage leaves me cold. But why on earth would that stop me from growing them when the flowers are so beautiful?

A Few Tulips in the Back Garden



Masses of Tulips in the Front Garden



As I said, the point of view is so foreign to me that I had to wrap my brain around it and actually start looking at my garden as if daylily foliage did matter. And all of a sudden I saw things a bit differently.

For example, my earliest plantings (before I became completely obsessed) seem to recognize daylilies as whole plants, and my instincts led me to create mass plantings, or treat a daylily as a specimen among hosta and heuchera and other interesting plants. In particular, I placed daylilies en masse under trees or beside rocks (or both), so that the foliage "worked" to some degree as foliage.

"Specimen" Daylily Spilling Over 'Tequila Sunrise' Coreopsis



Mass Planted Daylilies under the Camperdown Elm



Now that I'm completely obsessed, however, and any available space is space for new daylilies, I realize that aesthetically it's not working as well any more. I have plenty of planting space in my front garden, but not a lot of trees and rocks left to work with. It's all a big open bed. So much room for my daylily plants! But... what to do to make them work?

I Am Not Confident That This Is Working


Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without permission.

The daylilies are fine in the full sun of the south-facing front. It's terribly difficult, however, to find sun-tolerant hosta and heuchera to break up the clumps of grassy leaves that daylilies present to the world for all but their relatively brief bloom time. And anyway, there is not a lot of height variation available in that mix (the three H's of gardening: hosta, heuchera, and hemerocallis).

So next year, I plan to embark on a bit of redesign.

My challenge is to create an aesthetic environment where daylilies work -- foliage and all -- within the overall presentation, rather than simply taking up space. Since there are no rocks and trees available to add variety, any suggestions for zone 5 sun-tolerant plants or small shrubs of varying heights and interesting* foliage would be gratefully accepted.

* Define interesting? Well, it could be variegation, deep lobes or no lobes, dark or bright colour, glossy or soft texture -- anything that contrasts with the smooth, spiky green leaves of daylilies.

Autumn is Taking Hold

Well, the temperature is finally such that we can overseed our eco-grass. It performed well, staying dark green right through the heat of July and August without any extra watering whatsoever. We will wait until spring, though, to try it in other areas.

So what does autumn mean for the rest of the garden? Some plants really like the cooler weather. In the planters my zonal geraniums have started blooming again, but the coleus and a few other sensitive plants have not survived the cold nights. In the garden some late-blooming plants have done okay. I just didn't get out and photograph them while they were at their best. You'll have to trust me that this sunflower looked fine while its head still pointed upwards.

Not-Too-Sunny Sunflower



My precious single stalk of Postman's Pride sedum is blooming nicely, as are the turtleheads I planted from another person's garden last year.

Postman's Pride Sedum



Turtleheads



As I predicted, I can count on 'Rozanne' hardy geranium to bloom from July to October, so it is still doing quite nicely.

Rozanne Hardy Geranium



And, in spite of looking pretty rough in the high heat, enough ruffled pansies survived that I still have some blooms in the pot I planted them in.

Spring Pansy Survivors



Oh, and if anybody out there was wondering how my seedlings have been doing, I took this photo to show that enough of the strong ones survived to give me a nice healthy crop next year. I'm really not sure what I'm going to do with them all. I should probably plant them out into separate plastic pots to overwinter them. I will transplant the largest ones directly into the ground, and put some of them in the cold frame for the winter. The rest I'm not sure what I will do, because if I bring them inside the cat will eat them for sure!

Daylily Seedlings



Last but not least I must thank quu for alerting to me to Hosta Virus X. As she warned, it seems at least some of my new purchases may be harbouring the virus. Here is a leaf of 'August Moon' that seems to be showing symptoms.

'August Moon' Has Hosta Virus X?


Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without permission.

I'm not certain, but here is what I'm thinking. 'August Moon' is a light-coloured hosta, but this plant has darker "inkbleed" markings following the veins. If you read up on the virus, lighter plants with the virus will show dark markings (dark plants will show light markings). Inkbleed distribution of markings is also a classic symptom.

I will certainly destroy this hosta just to be on the safe side, but the conservative measures state that any hostas in the same batch as one showing infection should be assumed to have the infection too. I don't know if I want to go as far as destroying the whole set of hostas I just bought at the end of August. (Then again, the list of hostas that were on sale at the nursery was suspiciously similar to the list of hostas most susceptible to Hosta Virus X. Coincidence? Maybe. Would you be suspicious? This nursery specializes in hostas. The only place I know of that sells more varieties than they do is Floral and Hardy Gardens, Betty and Marv's mail order nursery specializing in daylilies, hosta, and heuchera.)

What would you do? Destroy an entire batch of new purchases, or "wait and see"?

Planting, Mostly Hostas

I’ve done a lot of planting in the last 48 hours. Mostly hostas:

• August Moon (x2)
• So Sweet
• Paradise Power
• Night Before Christmas
• Bitsy Gold
• Stiletto
• Blue Cadet

I also moved ‘Sun Power’ and ‘Red October’ from the side garden to the front.

Patriot, Red October, and Blue Cadet
(The Military Collection?)



Stiletto, Blue Mouse Ears, and Bitsy Gold
(The Miniature Collection)



Stiletto Close Up




Then there’s the cranesbill that I finally planted, plus a new one I got this weekend:

• Mourning Widow Cranesbill (Geranium phaeum ‘Samobor’) NEW
• Spotted Cranesbill (Geranium maculatum ‘Elizabeth Ann’)
• Meadow Cranesbill (Geranium pratense ‘Mrs. Kendall Clark’)

I also moved ‘Hokus Pokus’ from the back to the side garden. There wasn’t much of it left after I cut it back, but I’ve planted it in a more shaded place now, so I hope it will do better.

I got three new heuchera on the weekend (well, technically one is a heucherella, which upset me a bit when I discovered it -- I usually avoid heucherellas because they are more delicate than heuchera and don’t have a good survival rate in my garden). Anyway, the heucherella is ‘Burnished Bronze’. The two new heuchera are ‘Dolce Licorice’ and ‘Purple Petticoats’. They are dark ones that I planted in the front garden where I don’t have a lot of shade. While we are on the subject of heuchera, I moved ‘Beauty Colour’ from the side garden to the back.

By now you will have noticed that this post is not really for my readers. It is for myself, so that I can keep track of my planting marathon and remember what I’ve done. I don't have photos of all these plants, so I will fill in with other photos of hostas and heuchera.

Hosta and Heuchera



Fairy Girl Between Two Heuchera



Just An Ordinary White-Margined Hosta
(Hosta fortunei 'Albo-marginata')



Paradise Power (An Improved Version of 'Sun Power')



'Sun Power' Hosta and 'Purple Petticoats' Heuchera



Finally, I planted five Woolly Thyme plants on the back slope where they do amazingly well and form a lovely carpet-like covering that spreads over the mulch. I also planted a Beard-Tongue (Penstemon digitalis ‘Husker Red’) and all my remaining unplanted daylilies in the front garden. Meanwhile, as I was planting, my wonderful husband was remulching the many areas that needed it after all that planting.

Black Mulch in the Side Garden



New Mulch in the Northeast Corner


Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without permission.


Now it's all done and I can go on my vacation without worrying about the relatives from Germany who will be taking a little tour of our garden (escorted by my mother-in-law) while we are away.

Towards the End of August

Well, there are still a few things blooming in the garden. The last of the daylilies are putting on a healthy show.

Daring Deception



The Last of 'My Hope'



Those who love long hot summers will no doubt feel disappointed at the cooler weather, but I have been spending long hours in the garden dividing irises and daylilies, moving hostas and heucheras to try to get more variety in the front garden (unfortunately there is not quite enough shade for what I have available for moving, so it looks like I will have to pick up a few sun-tolerant ones).

Fragrant Hosta Flowers



Plantaginea hosta is fairly sun-tolerant, and blooms with lovely fragrant flowers. The ones I have in the side garden by the lattice wall are nice and healthy.

Grasshopper



So many of my plants are being torn apart or eaten by pests, some of them cuter than others. Chipmunks are of course very cute. Grasshoppers, not so much.

Long Garden View



I am lucky, however, that in general, the big picture is not at all spoiled by these small annoyances. And speaking of small, my clematis with small flowers ('Mrs. Robert Brydon') is blooming. It is beloved of bees. There were half a dozen buzzing around it in just one limited area.

Clematis jouiana 'Mrs. Robert Brydon'



Bee on Clematis



Question: Am I the only one who cannot pass the soft branches of a small pine tree without brushing my hand across the needles? Does anyone else feel the compulsion to touch pine trees? Maybe I'm just weird that way.

Soft, Fuzzy Pine



And finally, as I said earlier, 'Rozanne' hardy geranium blooms from July into autumn, and it's one of the main bloomers in the garden now. I managed to catch it in the perfect light to practise my "artistic" photography skills.

'Rozanne' Hardy Geranium in the Sun


Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without permission.

And with that image, I will close off the post.

Hanna's Copyright Post

Before I do anything else, I want to give a shout out to Hanna at This Garden is Illegal for this post on copyright. Although it's specific to the United States, there are many useful resources in the article. Thanks, Hanna!

[This was meant to be a longer post, but I guess I never got around to finishing it. But there's a good reason for that. The most perfect gardening weather came along and I was spending all my time in the garden.]

In My Garden Today

Four 'Light Years Away' blooming on one scape. As I've said before, a high bud count can be good and bad. This almost looks like a bride's bouquet. Tomorrow, though, it's all going to be one big squishy mess.

Four 'Light Years Away'



Three late-blooming daylilies in close proximity. I've already shown 'Darkside' and 'Kwanso' together. Now add 'Royal Palace Prince' to the mix.

Three Different Daylilies



And a green worm gorging on some parsley.

Green Worm and Garden Ornament


Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without permission.

Royal Palace Prince

Today the daylily 'Royal Palace Prince' had its first bloom this year.


Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without permission.

That means that the daylily whose small flower bloomed on July 26 was 'Mariska'.

Early August in the Garden

Since I last wrote, the weather has turned hot and humid. But it doesn't stop the daylilies from blooming. There are almost none left to see that haven't been seen already though. Here is the one bud of 'Highland Lord' (a new purchase) that finally bloomed.

'Highland Lord'



It is supposed to be a glorious full double, but this flower looks like it is struggling a bit. We'll have to see how it does next year. One new purchase that did bloom nicely though is 'Darkside'. I have planted it near 'Kwanso' in the garden and the colours look great together.

'Darkside' and 'Kwanso'



And here is 'Joan Senior' blooming in a wild part of the garden.

Joan Senior


Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without permission.

There isn't really that much going on right now. Everything is in a holding pattern, waiting for some cooler weather to come along.

Tra-la-la Trahlyta (and True Blue Heart)

We did indeed pay another visit to Betty and her garden today. We exchanged 'Apollo's Chariot' for 'Executive Decision'. I had also pre-ordered the 'Blue Mouse Ears' hosta and 'Postman's Pride' Sedum. Unfortunately I only got one stalk of the sedum -- I guess Betty is a little bit short of it. I feel like I must baby it and guard it carefully until it proliferates. I should try and find another source for it, but I've never seen it anywhere else.

Of course we could not leave without shopping for daylilies again. This time I discovered how to figure out the price of the daylily before taking it to the cash, so I was able to pick up a couple of reasonably priced ones.

'Trahlyta' has been on my wish list for a while. I'm glad I found it. This photo was taken at the end of the day when heat had taken its toll on the flower. Earlier in the day the colour was not so muddy.

Trahlyta



And I found this 'True Blue Heart'. I guess there are trends in daylilies, and lavender-blue eyes were a desirable trait for a while. Still desirable to me! I really like this one.


Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without permission.

It's supposed to have lavender petals rather than cream, but still. I love the eye.