It's been a while since I've posted, but I've missed sharing some of my garden happenings this past summer. So I'm doing a series of catch-up posts to show you the highlights...
What might be the worst photo you see from me this summer...
I've got a problem. It's this hinoki cypress (fernspray cypress?) -- Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Filicoides'.
My garden -- like yours I have to assume -- is full of good and bad this year. Here's an example of good and bad in the same view:
Ah, I bet you think I'm talking about something in my garden -- will it survive the heat, or drought, or whatever. Alas, I wish I were talking about a plant.
We had a storm come through last night. I didn't hear it, but knew it this morning as I looked out the front window...
No, I didn't finally get around to cleaning the leaves out of the cactus bed -- it's the Opuntia that was being attacked, not doing the attacking! The attackers looked like this:
I grow a few clematis, and for the most part they make me happy -- when the deer don't prune them that is. The one that I grow on my mailbox has performed quite well for me, especially considering how shady it is here.
My first battle with the coconut didn't go too well, and since I was tired of having the partly-open thing on the kitchen counter, I got serious yesterday.
I mentioned a while back that my plumeria seemed to be having trouble, the tiny new leaves turning black and falling off. I've since learned that was most likely due to "black tip fungus", and have been debating what I should do about it.
A severe storm moved across eastern Missouri yesterday, further giving evidence that although the garden enjoyed a mild winter, summer has been payback.
I've had a few problems in the garden recently. I know we all do, as summertime is often rough on our plants, at least when compared to the version of the garden that lives in our heads. You know the one, where everything looks perfect with no work and no attention, when you never have to water or prune or weed or deal with herbivores.
I have a problem with drooping, floppy plants right now. Everything was fine until the rains started last weekend -- three weeks or more of dry weather makes you forget what "fun" midwest storms can be for a gardener. Everybody growing upright, a bit dry but otherwise happy. Until the rain.
When temperatures hit 95ºF (35ºC) for several days in a row, you find yourself having to water the potted plants and those just recently put into the ground pretty regularly.
I've seen a woodchuck on my driveway the last few days, walking around as if he didn't have a worry in the world. He even turned over my trashcan full of prunings to see if anything good was to be found in there. His goal is the mulberry pile on the driveway I think, created when I sweep up.
Around the St. Louis area, there's not a garden plant that seems as reliable, hardy, even indestructible as Yucca filamentosa. Slowly spreading, tolerating some shade, happily growing in our clay soils, never needing extra water, deer, rabbit, and woodchuck tolerant -- these plants always look good.
One of the first trees to come into flower in the St. Louis area each spring is the Bradford Pear. These trees with their full canopies of white blossoms make any neighborhood more cheerful at this time of year.
Something has been bothering me in the garden for a while, and last evening I finally did something about it. It seems to be such a little thing compared to some of the other garden tasks that need doing, but I couldn't get it out of my mind.
I have more questions, some of which I actually need answers to. Let's start with animals.
One of the disadvantages of having a garden full of wildlife is the "wild" part. They just don't seem to understand the limits that I have set for them.
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