Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Tuesday August 23- the last flower

Daylilies bloom in July. We all know that. Each plant produces flowers that last only one say- hence the name. A mature plant will produce anywhere from 20-30 flowers to 150. Most daylilies finished blooming weeks ago.
There are several varieties that are late bloomers. (as oppose to rebloomers which is something else)

Here is Bright eyed Doll. Its last flower bloomed yesterday. When you notice a particular plant, here near the end of the daylily season, you have the countdown to the last flower. This plant gave us that wonderful picture posted on July 25 of the two flowers together. That picture was actually taken on July 19. That meant it bloomed for over a month. I had moved it to its present location a year ago. I look forward to its display for next year.



Here is Sandra Elizabeth, who is still putting up multiple flowers. I think it will bloom into September, which is getting closer all the time.



Finally here is Delmar, which is all the more appreciated since it is one of a select company.



It remains dry, but I am enjoying my early morning and late evening watering sessions. More on that later.

Philip

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Sunday, August 21- State Fair thoughts

We went to the State Fair Wednesday. It was a sunny day, and from 3-4 weeks ago, we knew it could have been hotter. At the same time staying on our feet for most of 4+ hours was exhausting. We missed the exotic chicken and rabbit displays. We saw the wonderful quilts that get produced almost at the rate of the eggplants at the local farmer’s market. (That’s a lot these days.) There was the ugliest cake contest, which seemed to be dominated by children. Maybe it was a contest only open to children.
Speaking of contests there were the big pumpkin contests we all know about. One of the lesser-known contests was the long green bean contest.
The Iowa Fair is know for its butter cow. Here she is.
I actually liked the pop can cow.

I really do have lots to write about. In this attempted new format I am having trouble matching pictures with my thoughts. I will work on that. How do you have pictures for a post on watering? Sometimes I think too much.
Philip

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Thursday, August 18- one and done

The cactus flowers lasted just the one day. This had me think about the many flowers that last for just one day. Of course, there is the entire flower grouping named after this feature, the daylily. Given the number of buds that come with a particular plant that doesn't really count. Then of course sometimes the weather has something to do with this phenomena. If it is hot, and/or bright and sunny, a flower will be done quicker.
At the other end of the spectrum there are the spring flowers, like daffodils, that will last for 7-10 days with that cool spring weather.
For your picture there was this waterlily. They have done well this hot summer. I would like some other colors however.

We went to the State Fair yesterday. There was salad on a stick.
Philip

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Wednesday, August 17, 2011- Synchronicity

The cactus was blooming when I went outside yesterday morning at 5:45. It was still sort of dark, but the white blooms were quite striking. It was worth the wait.
Actually, when I looked at them 30 minutes later the pinkish hue was visible. I have sometimes commented about that wonderful time in the early morning, when it is still dark enough, that color has not yet some out yet. As the daylight increases, at some magic moment the color turns on.
I think I mentioned yesterday that I had obtained these cactus plants from the neighbor across the street. When I had told her a few days ago that my cactus had buds, she mentioned that hers did too.
Yesterday morning, as I admired my first ever blooms, I looked across the street and hers had also bloomed yesterday morning, for the first time this year.





Monday, August 15, 2011

Monday, August 15- Anticipation

I talked yesterday about surprises. Well this will be a surprise, in that it has never bloomed for me before. Yet it has been coming and coming for the last ten days or so.
I have this little family of barrel cacti, obtained from a neighbor across the street maybe 4-5 years ago. They were all tiny offshoots. If you keep them alive they will grow.
They had never bloomed for me. They had all made offshoots, but no flowers.
About two weeks ago I noticed something fuzzy, in several places on one of the plants. Then it got bigger, and started making sort of a point. Then I noticed the same fuzzy places on a second plant.
Well sure enough they are buds. And they are growing. Here is the sequence. You can join my anticipation. Maybe you will see the flower tomorrow.

This first picture is the group of 4, a week ago.


These next 3 pictures are taken that same day. The first picture shows the offsets, in a nice ring all around the plant.


This next picture shows the little fuzzy things I first noticed.


In this picture, again from that day last week, you can see the buds getting organized and shooting out from the plant.


This was taken yesterday.


This was taken this afternoon. The colors are starting to show through on the bud. The wait will not be much longer.


There you have it. It is anticipation. It will be an anticipated surprise.
Philip

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Sunday, August 14,2011- Surprises

One thing I love about gardening is surprises. If everything was always the same how could you like that? In the winter things are always the same. White White White. In August things are always hot hot hot.

When it finally gets to be spring you have an endless sequences of firsts. There is the first snowdrop or the first crocus. In April I will wander around the yard until I find something new that day.
Some plants tantalize you with buds that just grow and grow over a long time.
When that first daffodil blooms you have been waiting for it for some time. When it blooms it is wonderful, but it is not a real surprise. You sort of knew it was going to bloom one of those days.

But there are real garden surprises that pop out of the ground or foliage where you had not noticed them until- bam- there they are in flower. It was not there yesterday. You had not even known it was in bud.

Now maybe it is because you are not paying attention. Nevertheless I had one of those moments this last week. I hang orchids in the trees. They really like it in the open air, particularly after being cooped up all winter. I had one orchid that had been forming a bud for weeks. I kept my eye on that one. Its bud is still there and growing.

What I had not even noticed was an orchid neighbor. Its bud had crept down the leaf and I did not even know it was there. Then all of a sudden- there was this long stem of these wonderful flowers.
I don’t know its names. It has bloomed in previous years in the summer. I had forgotten to keep an eye on it. But my, how it picked me up.
Here it is.






I hope you are following the blog. I am trying to post something new every day or so. For that reason there are no voting at the moment. Check the blog every few days. Post a comment if something strikes you fancy. Tell about a favorite surprise in your garden.

In the last voting the water lily got 23 votes, the hibiscus got 12, the castor bean seeds 11, and one vote for the daylilies.

If you read about colored polls two days ago, you should just wait until next weekend. I bought 15 new polls, and at this point they are primed. I got some good colors.

Philip

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Saturday, August 13- Colored poles

6-8-10 years ago (you know how time gets fuzzy?) we went to a show by a glassmaker named Dale Chihuly. It was at the garden conservatory in Garfield Park, in Chicago. It was amazing. There were colored glass of all kinds, sprinkled in with plants and water. I particularly liked the colored spires, in with the tall cactus.

Here is a picture of some of his glass from the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis.

I was inspired by the idea of colored glass in the garden. I checked my budget and went and got some inexpensive plastic PCV pipe. I added some spray paint and sprinkled the results around the garden. So far I have only used bright neon orange. Having written this and liked the placement of the two bright newly placed ones on the Fairview shelf, I am off in search of more pipe, and some good colors.
Here is the shelf with color.

Here is a old picture of the garden with some newly painted polls. I use them for plant hangers, hung horizontally. I do think there is a market for brightly colored plant stakes. Most stakes are green, to blend in and not detract from the plant being staked. I like the vision of the winter landscape with colored spires.

This is what you can do in August.
Philip

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Thursday, August 11- Pinwheels

When you have an empty bed one option is to fill it with pinwheels. You will instantly be a hit with the under 5 crowd, who might not really be all that interested in hosta.


They are particularly good in the Spring. Here are pictures from a few years ago.




The major drawback is that sometimes it is hard to have enough of them. I recommend 25 for a start.
It is interesting to hear the garden theories as people come through the garden and observe the pinwheels. My favorite was that pinwheels are put in the garden to keep away the bunnies. When asked I always explain, with a twinkle in my eye, that it is important to place them on an exact north south axis.
Tomorrow I will tell you about the colored polls.
Philip

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Wednesday, August 10- The Empty space

There is so much written about beautiful plants in the garden. Empty dirt just doesn’t get respect.
Look at these pictures. I wanted some space to plant a daylily. The daylily currently is not getting enough sun. So I cleared out the space a few days ago.


There it is- all potential. I could put almost anything there. I know I will put a daylily there. But what else? Should I plant 25 mixed crocuses? How about leaving room for moss roses? There are so many choices.
Maybe I will just let it sit there empty for a few weeks, giving it an occasional turning, perhaps adding some nutritional thing or another.
Here is another advantage. An empty dirt area is rather easy to weed.
So give dirt a chance. Make a fuss over it. That extra attention will be helpful in the long run.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Tuesday, August 9,2011- Windows open

We opened our windows last night for the first time in what seemed like a month. The cool front came through yesterday afternoon, with a welcome .25 inches of rain. Even when we left the office at 5:30 you could feel a little bit of cool in the air. While we were driving home in the old car, which turned 100,000 this year, the dashboard told us it was 79 degrees.
When we went to sleep we enjoyed the nighttime noises. You don’t hear them with the windows closed. There was the buzz of the cicadas as background noise, with maybe a cricket or two mixed in.
This morning I awakened to the sounds of the 4:30 train across town. There were the repeated whistles, and then that bumping sound when the train cars push into each other. It was clearly time to get up and going.

I am refreshed. This is good. I suppose I should not look at the newspaper. The ideas are tumbling onto this paper. I will put more down tomorrow.
Philip, writing in the dark.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

August 7,2011- August is the difficult month

Welcome

I think I have had some writer’s block. Part of that is because there are just not so many wonderful pictures this time of year. I will tell you a few of my thoughts about August.

When you get to August, it seems like the garden season is almost over.
There are a few daylilies that are still blooming. One appreciates those late bloomers.
It is still awful hot…and muggy. But right there in the ten day forecast in Iowa there are temperatures in the 50’s for the evening lows. Who could imagine a week ago that we might need to find the jackets for our early morning walks?
The bitterly hot weather has left parts of the garden not looking so good. There are hosta with toasted or slug eaten leaves, or even worse.
Did I mention that the morning is getting shorter? Well it is really happening. With the heat this last month I have gardened mostly in the morning before either work or the heat of the day. The days when I would go outside at 5:15 are over. I suppose I could just go in later to work. I won’t even think about that.

But there is still plenty of gardening time left. Annuals that are planted now will still have several months before the first frost. It is time to move things around, in that gardening version of musical chairs. There are areas that are now too shady or too sunny. The shady things have to trade places with the sunny places. That is easier said than done. Which do move first?
So I am preparing beds to welcome new occupants, like the landlords in Iowa City with new students. One bed is going to have little bearded iris. They really should be separated.

But there are still some good pictures.

The water lilies have done well in the heat. I liked this particular picture.

Here is the dinner plate flower from the dwarf hibiscus, called Luna Pink Swirl. For August you really should have hibiscus. The challenge is finding them a good companion, since they really come up very late. Maybe daffodils would work.

I have grown castor bean plants for some time. While they are annuals, they produce their own seed, and will do well till frost. Here is a picture of their seedpods. My daughter Maggie made me a T-shirt with a picture like this from a few years ago. I have not seen another one like it. The seed that is setting this early will mature by frost. It can be collected and then you have lots of seed for the next spring.

Finally here is the double daylily Savannah Knockout. When I saw this picture I recalled that mutant daylily from the last post. I realized that what was happening was that the flower was mutating toward being a true double. Little did I know.

That’s it for this week. Please watch for a change in format for next week. I am thinking about trying a post every 1-2 days. Maybe I will just turn this into a little garden diary for the weeks.

In the voting for the last post
Bright eyed doll 15
Rain with daylily 12
Elise the lily 6
Pizzazz 4

That’s it for today.
I must go pull some weeds.
Philip