Meadow Meanderings

We planted the meadow seeds and plugs this morning while it was cool and windy. I took some photos later this afternoon while it was less windy.

The whole hillside was mowed in late August by the landscaper and we mow along the fence once a month during the growing season.  This is looking south where there is a drop off before the Japanese Maple and then the meadow opens on a hillside with more soil.

This is the meadow looking north toward the Japanese Maple and the cliffs beyond the fence.

Here the mugwort has been controlled by pulling according to the condo owners.  Next door neighbors/gardeners to the north use Round-up and a week whacker to control mugwort.

Here beyond our fence, we have planted six laurels and weed whack and mulch around them. We haven't done anything with the mugwort specifically, but we have mowed this area once a month for four years.  We will need to watch the mugwort and be more aggressive with cutting it at the crown with a knife (recommended by Kathy Connolly) if need be.

I'll be glad to have some more grasses from the plugs and seeds.  We need more structure in the meadow--and I love their seed heads this time of year.  I scattered the grass seed a little earlier than the recommended November 15th so I hope it remains dormant--and uneaten by birds and chipmunks or voles.  The Wavy Hair Grass is a bunching sod grass that tolerates almost sterile soil.  It doesn't form sod and reseeds itself in natural stands. The link takes you to the GoBotany web site sponsored by the New England Wildlife Society for some information and photos.

Another area we will need to watch--and probably attack in some way--is the crown vetch happily growing at the beginning of the ledge top just south of our laurels. Last year it was a stand of clover. Next year will mugwort take it over? Which dreaded weed is worse?

Enough of that! I thought meadows were supposed to be easy! I walked around the house to the front bed where the sun was shining and the mums and Sedum 'Autumn Joy' dazzled my eye in the landscaped and mulched beds.  

Will I be able to have the successful meadow steward's attitude of moving from control of nature to negotiating with nature?  I might just leave it to the famous gardener who made this statement, Piet Oudolf, designer of the Highline Trail in NYC.  Next book to get at the library is Planting: A New Perspective by Kingsbury and Oudolf.

Clean Up, Clean Up, Everybody Clean Up!

I stopped at a friend's house last week and found her dragging many bags of plant material out of her gardens.  I did the same in my gardens and they look refreshed as the leaves fall from the trees after several days of rain.  A night with freezing temperatures took most of the color away, but I did cover the planters with cloth to protect their blooms.  My front planter looks better than it has all year! Since it is dark now (at 6:24 p.m.), I'll take a photo tomorrow of the Mexican Heather in sunlight--if we have any!

I just checked my phone for any photos of "Garden Moments" I might have missed and found some! These are from a late September trip to Nantucket to celebrate our September birthdays.

At Bartlett's Farm, we saw some great fall borders.

And in town, the window boxes were still full of color.

So, I cleaned my garden borders and my camera of photos, but I can't put the garden tools away yet.

I have some bags of manure to spread on the perennials and I have some "plugs" to plant by November 1 and seeds to scatter by November 15.  And I thought I had closed down shop for the year!

I attended a seminar on "Meadows, Large or Small" at the CT Forest and Park Association Saturday. The speaker, Kathy Connolly, of SpeakingofLandscapes.com had some plugs of native meadow grasses and native meadow plants.  I bought Swamp Milkweed and New England Aster and she gave us Little Blue Stem and 'Blue Heron' Blue Fescue grasses. She also gave us a container of seeds of Pilgrim Coastal Hairgrass.  More on this in another post on another day.

As the Sun Sets

As the sun slides behind the ridge just before sunset, I went out on the deck to see the last of the 

fall colors for today. Each day this week, the display will get more rich with oranges and reds and yellows as autumn progresses along Bear Swamp Road.

Looking down from the deck, I could see the bare bones of the garden again. We had taken out 5 or 6 wheelbarrows full of garden material on Thursday, a sunny day with temperatures in the sixties.  It was perfect weather for the job. In the sunshine, the bees and butterflies still visited the last of the the blooms on the cat mint and the butterfly bush. I spotted my first Monarch butterfly of the season--and maybe the last.  But alas, I did not have my camera handy!  I left many blooms on the butterfly bush (upper right) should the Monarchs return.

We put away the garden bench and the cement stepping stones cast from giant hosta leaves.  So many of them have broken over the years, but four are still in one piece. I layered them in a box between newspapers to preserve them for one more year?  We moved the lavender in two round pots to an area that gets sun all morning--but not under the deck as I did last year.  They didn't get enough precipitation and were spindly in the spring. It's only now that they look full and healthy.  The  cast bronze bird bath will stay out for the birds through the winter.  The hose (lower right) is still out for watering since we are still under the average precipitation amounts--and I have pots to water!

A few blooms are left in the front border off the deck.  The lamb's ear is furry and the bell flower has some white blooms yet.  The hanging basket has some pink blooms still protected from frosts under the deck structure.  The licorice plant and the coleus (bottom right) are in a planter under the deck.  I cut the peonies down (center) even though the leaves were a beautiful copper color.  You can see from the color and texture of the mulch how dry it is even though we have had some good rains this past week.

On the far side of the deck looking down, you can see the fairy garden. I haven't cut back the limelight hydrangea. It curves over the upper part of the fairy garden like an umbrella.  The Lamium and the lady's mantle are still hardy-looking even though we have had two frosts. You can see the small round plants that will bloom with blue forget-me-not blossoms in the spring. The cinnamon fern is turning quickly even though it is under the deck.  I need to pack away the fairy furniture and take the fairy statue in for the winter sometime this coming week.  I do not like the thought of doing that for a variety of reasons, most related to the end of the growing season and the magic of the summer garden.

Alas!

End of Summer Moments

I sat on my garden bench and waited for the butterflies one afternoon late in September.  No monarchs this year as in previous years, but the skippers were back. Their wings were tattered and torn--so their summer was hard also.  The garden has suffered through bravely, but has not been glorious as in previous years.

I was able to gather some late summer blooms for a bouquet: 

Russian sage, asters, sedum, butterfly wings and hydrangea.

They were plentiful and I was able to supply the blooms 

for table arrangements for a reception at the clubhouse.

And then early October means planting mums.  

This year I have a new helper, my granddaughter.

She loves flowers and dirt.  

Look at her smile when she scoops up a shovel full of that glorious stuff!

Next spring should be full of wonder-ful garden moments

as my little gardener helps and learns about gardening.

Getty Museum Gardens, Los Angeles

We traveled to the west coast last weekend for a family wedding. It was a very scenic venue for the ceremony and reception on a palisade overlooking the beach at Malibu.

We had time to visit the Getty Museum and see Van Gogh's Irises

as well as the surrounding gardens which are truly amazing!

The bouganvillea on the steel pergola resembling trees 

are a striking contrast to the travertine of the buildings.

The stream gardens leading to the pergolas

reflect light and shadow through the branches of the 

London plane trees.

The bowl of the garden continues the play of light and shadow 

on the upper sides

but opens into full sun at the center of the bottom.

When we visited the water was turned off due to drought.

Those are azalea in the floating maze.

Despite the drought, the Brugmansia

or Golden Angels' Trumpets

were in full bloom.

And mixed with exotics are the stuff of everyday gardens:

morning glory on stakes.

And as we walked up the other side of the bowl, we

again entered a play of shadow and light along the paths.

And roses were trained in tree-shaped pergolas also.

The moon was visible above the bowl 

and the Research Building.

The plant material was as sculptural as 

the architecture

 and the Henry Moore Draped Reclining Mother and Child.

The wedding was just magical.

Love those LA gardens!

Mid-August Dog Days

It hasn't seemed like the "dog days" as the temperatures have been cool and the skies sunny, but the garden shows the progression toward autumn anyway.  There hasn't been much rain and the gardeners have the "blahs" also despite the incredible weather for August.

The last of the 'Happy Returns' day lilies.

And the last of my other day lily varieties.

The Helenium or Sneezeweed now dominates the going-to-Fall garden.

Look at all that pollen!

The Buddleia or butterfly bush has its second bloom.

The Heliopsis or perennial sunflower also has a second bloom.

Never as bountiful as the first but fine for the bees.

Irena's indoor hibiscus plant is finally blooming.

First one!  I've been plant-sitting all summer and waiting for this moment.

Mary Ellen's perennial hibiscus is still blooming dinner plate-sized flowers.

And many more buds are visible but the leaves are like lace (being eaten by some bug).

But a real sign of Fall is the first asters...

It's coming, ready or not!

Deadheading Day Lilies and Daisies

August begins tomorrow, and this week I've been busy deadheading daisies and day lilies.  The rest of the garden has the look and scent of autumn as spring bloomers die back and leaves turn to brown tissue.  Even the leaves of the lilies are tissue brown at the crown on ground level as the blooms explode daily high above. The daisies have new buds down the stem 12 inches or so and the leaves look green and supple.  The dead flower heads darken and dull the "fresh as a daisy" effect of the clumps.  To face the heat and humidity of August, we want to be as cool as possible!  So, it's important to get out there and deadhead those old blooms.

The deadheaded blooms on the day lilies leave a small scar on the stems which will be covered up by the new buds one day soon.  And in a week or two with the heat of August, the whole stem will need to be cut back as the blooms cease and the season for day lilies passes.

I worked at deadheading in my garden, my two neighbors' gardens, my daughter's border, the community clubhouse and the town gazebo with a fellow garden club member. It has been cool in the evenings and early mornings.  A hint of autumn that the flowers must sense also even though we face the two hottest weeks of summer as early August approaches.  Not a time to plant or prune!

The hydrangea blooms are spotty this year. Some hydrangea bushes with little sun have not bloomed at all this summer.  My 'Endless Summer' looks fine, but it has a whole day of sun to bring on the blooms.  My neighbor's in full sun has the most gorgeous color but only one bloom.  This one bloom of hers makes my multiple blooms pale in comparison. They were pictured here on the blog earlier in the season.

'

My blooms ( a dozen)

Bonnie's single bloom

My 'Limelight' hydrangea looks great and is blooming right on time as it blooms later in the season than the blue hydrangeas.

But the "Queen" of my garden right now is a Cleome that has self-seeded and grown right through the slats of my iron garden bench.  It's color is so deep compared to the others that are struggling closer to the house in the shade.  It still had a visitor (lower right) after 7 p.m. this evening.

Each plant has its time to shine!

And a gardener can sometimes help it along with some TLC like deadheading.

And other times, we just have to enjoy Mother Nature as she is.