For a couple of years now I've contemplated a fairly drastic change in the garden, but I could just never bring myself to make it happen. Until this past July that is, when one day I decided enough was enough and I got to work.
I've been contemplating a drastic chop of one of my bamboos for several months. Since cutting a large, established plant to the ground is an emotionally difficult thing to do -- probably physically difficult too actually -- I debated for a long while.
As you probably have noticed, I've been going long stretches this summer without posting -- sometimes only one post a week (or less)! Mainly this is due to a busy schedule that leaves little time for gardening, but it's also due to the weather, as it's just been a very hot summer. Until now that is.
I had forgotten that I drastically pruned another ficus last year, and thought I'd show that too.
My friend Loree over at Danger Garden does a lot of walking, driving, traveling. Well, a lot compared to me. During these excursions she keeps a look out for interesting gardens and landscapes. Some are noteworthy because they are cool or beautiful, but others fall into the "what were they thinking?" category.
For weeks the front walkway has been a problem. Rains and vigorous growth had made this more of an obstacle course than a place to walk. The last straw was seeing the FedEx guy stop and walk across the lawn instead of using the pathway -- that's what I had been doing the last few days too!
As I mentioned recently, I've had some time to spend in the garden finally, and this post is a look at some of what I accomplished. It may not be the most inspiring of posts, but it makes me good to share my progress.
Is Friday becoming my day to scoop up the tidbits of the past week and press them into a coherent ball, a snowball of garden and plant observations? It seems that way.
It's the time of year that I have mixed feelings about: bamboo chopping time. It's a happy time because it means that spring is here and the bamboos are pushing out new growth, but it's also a sad time as it means that all of that lovely foliage will be gone for a few weeks or more.
The title of this post is a bit misleading, as I don't see the subject as really a "problem" -- not a big one at least. It's my beautiful Fargesia 'Rufa' clumping bamboo:
Last week I talked about the cactus that always seem to grow during the winter, regardless of how much light or water they get. Although I'm happy to see something growing at all during winter, my excitement is balanced by worry -- that winter growth won't be as "strong" as it will be once the plant moves back outside in the spring.
My garage floor was covered by a significant pile of sturdy leaves yesterday:
If you may remember, this year I let the common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) grow a bit wild. This plant spreads by rhizomes to form colonies, and I let it for the most part, removing only those stems that came up in the middle of the path.
I've been wondering if I've made a mistake this year with one of my bamboos. This Pleioblastus shibuyanus 'Tsuboi' was looking like a nice little clump last year...
Although Spring is such a wonderful time in the garden, it's also my least-favorite when it comes to the plant that I'm most taken with: bamboo. I have many shrubby and ground-cover bamboos in my yard and although some of them stay mostly green through the winter months, the leaves that looked quite good during the cold, snowy days look tattered and tired when side-by-side with fresh growth.
A few days ago I showed you the front walkway, pointing out how difficult it was becoming to navigate, primarily because of the red whisker clammyweed (Polanisia dodecandra) that is getting leggy and leaning out, taking more space than it should.
If you've been reading my blog for at least a few months, you'll know that this past winter was very tough on most of my bamboos. Although the important in-ground ones leafed back out (whew!) there were several killed culms throughout the garden. In fact, at least four of my less cold-hardy plantings were "top killed", meaning everything above ground died.
Sorry about missing a post yesterday, but I used the time to work in the garden rather than write about it. One of the things I did was pull out most of the plants that had overwintered in the garage. It was a disappointing year in that regard, at least at first glance.
That's what the plants on my growing table have been saying to me lately. Especially the grasses, which - as usual - have taken over and are hogging all of the light.
First, I want to apologize for disappearing briefly. Having missed a couple of days of posts due to a crazy work week which included some travel, I'm back and eager to talk about plants and the garden again. With temperatures expected to get into the 60's F for a few days later this week, I should actually have the motivation to get out into the yard to take some photos too.
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