Still not safe for elms

Ever since I planted a Triumph Elm (Ulmus 'Morton Glossy') in my backyard in 2016, I have been a fan. It's a gorgeous shade tree that grows relatively quickly and is resistant to the evil Dutch elm disease. Alas, that does not mean it is impervious to other ills.

According to a recent article in the Purdue University Landscape Report, the elm zigzag sawfly (EZS), Aproceros leucopoda, a non-native insect, has recently been detected in several midwestern states, although not Indiana (yet). Initially, the EZS larvae chew zigzag patterns into elm leaves, thus the common name of the insect; however, as it grows larger, it skeletonizes the leaves. While most trees will survive defoliation, years of feeding by EZS will weaken a tree and increase its susceptibility to other pests and disease.

If you suspect this pest is on your tree, at least in Indiana, please contact the Purdue Plant and Pest Diagnostic Lab for identification. There is still much to learn about EZS.

As if that were not enough, there has also been an uptick in reports of black spot of elm. It favors cool, wet conditions, so maybe our recent hot dry weather will discourage it.

On a happier note, the asters and goldenrod are not discouraged this year. Both are covered in pollinators of various sizes and types. I'm always happy to see that.

Halloween is coming. I'm not big on holiday decorations, but a few lights here, a seasonal flamingo there, is right up my alley.

Previously, our first frost date was October 6. That came and went with temps in the 70's. Today it is cooler, but still no frost in the forecast. I am SO done with summer. Bring on the hot cider!

Mums the word

In the past, I have purchased "hardy" mums and planted them in the ground, but they were not all that hardy when it comes to Indiana winters and rarely survived. This year I purchased a few to contrast with the aromatic aster. Next year I will plant something like yellow Profusion zinnias, which are shorter than most zinnias. There will be all-season color PLUS contrasting yellow come fall.

Last Monday I saw a bald eagle soaring over the neighborhood. That was a lovely sight. Several crows complained nearby but didn't get too close.

We still have not had a hard frost (or even a soft one) yet. There are lots of green tomatoes on the plants, but the cool nighttime temps have left them and the sweet potato vines looking a bit grumpy. Not too many leaves have fallen yet; the city leaf pickup dates have had to be shifted to accommodate climate change. And so it goes.

Memory lapse

It's bacon-lettuce-tomato season, with fresh tomatoes from the garden. I sent my son a pic of a sliced tomato, and he asked about the variety. Um, good question. Usually, I blog about plant varieties when I purchase them, but not this time. Since I bought them from a local nursery, there is no email confirming my order. I did manage to find one plant tag - 'Early Doll' - but it was on the ground and not in the pot, so while I know one variety, I'm not sure which plant it goes with. Very unlike me.

I don't want to repeat that mistake, so here is a photo of the asters I plan to plant with the goldenrod on the north side of the house. The variety is Aster 'Eventide'. The tag also says "Michaelmas Daisy". Not sure what that is about. They are from Bluestone Perennials.

It's been a bit dry around here lately, but the temps have moderated. I haven't run the furnace, even though the house is a bit chilly in the morning. I also haven't started switching the bedding to winter mode yet, which I do in stages, as the forecast is predicting some 80 degree weather later in the week.

Not so hot

I'm hoping last week was our last hot spell for the season. The forecast looks promising in an early-fall kind of way. This wonky weather has left me feeling off balance, like I can't count on things moving forward in a logical meteorological way. A single outfit doesn't last the day.

A little catch-up: a better photo of the goldenrod and a pic of the lavender colored aster that I think is smooth aster, a.k.a. aster laevis.

I had the landscape guys cut down a volunteer redbud that grew too close to the house, but it's ba-a-a-ack. I plan to try to prune it to a (mostly) single leader, to see if that helps keep it from becoming a nuisance.

Art fairs seem to be the hot thing right now. Some of them are meh, but my SO and I attended a couple of small ones yesterday. I could not resist purchasing this little fellow.

The seller couldn't tell me its name, but I think it is a Crassula 'Buddha Temple' succulent. Apparently, they require very little care, which is my kind of houseplant.

Have a carefree week.

Water! Water!

We are having another HOT spell, and dry. One of the ninebark shrubs looked *really* thirsty, so I heavily watered all three of them, plus the Canadian hemlock, tulip tree, Japanese maple, and container plants. I'll repeat that protocol tomorrow. I don't water the lawn, though, and it is looking rather dormant.

The tall goldenrod on the south side of the house is blooming. I searched my emails and this blog for references to goldenrod and can't find any indication that I planted this variety. It is a welcome sight, nonetheless.

And some asters have survived. I believe this is New York aster, and there is some other variety of aster nearby, with lavender blossoms.

I have spotted a monarch butterfly or two recently, but that is about it. Maybe next year I will (deliberately) plant some milkweed, or the milkweed that is in the yard will spread.

Non-natives killing the earth? Mea culpa

A columnist on the Washington Post claims that non-natives are "killing the earth". I can think of many other things that are more culpable than non-natives when it comes to ecology, so I was happy to find a post on the Garden Rant blog that rebuts the writer's broad condemnation.

There are all kinds of opinion wars about gardening. I recall being chastised for planting butterfly bush instead of butterflyweed because the former does not provide habitat for butterflies, only nectar. But don't they need nectar, too? And, so far, I have not had much luck with butterflyweed in my yard.

I tried growing a (native) oak leaf hydrangea, but the rabbits ate it. The 'Limelight' hydrangea thrives here, despite being native to China and Japan. What to do? I planted the 'Limelight'.

The "foreign" goutweed growing under the hydrangea is another issue. I wanted a groundcover that could withstand trampling. It can be invasive, but so far, the dogs are keeping it in check. Also, I cut back the seed heads.

At least I am not growing purple loosestrife, like a certain master gardener I know.

Let's leave that topic and look at some bugs!

I don't know what that bumble bee is doing in the video, but he looks busy.

Rethinking bird feeders

The recent newsletter from Riverview Native Nursery pointed to several articles about the pros and cons (mostly cons) of using bird feeders. (The articles may be found here and here.) This information has provided food for thought regarding my backyard habits.

In the past, I rarely fed wild birds through the summer. Instead, I would wait until after Thanksgiving to put the feeders out, figuring that those that were going to migrate had left by then and those that remained behind could use some help. It turns out this is not wrong.

The other thing I have tried to do is provide plants that provide bird food: serviceberry, oak tree, coneflower, monarda, viburnum, winterberry, crabapple, hawthorn, honeysuckle vine, hosta, and (especially this year) sunflowers.

What changed me into feeding during the spring and summer was the sparrows eating the leaf buds from the Japanese maple, preventing it from fully leafing out. I started putting out millet for them, and it escalated from there.

The result is I have a ton of sparrows and a ton of starlings, but practically no other birds. I enjoy watching the behavior of all kinds of birds, but this monoculture has been disappointing and disturbing. The bird feed industry also encourages year-round feeding by providing products such as cylinders of nesting foods. I put the cylinder inside a cage so that starlings could not get at it, but the juvenile sparrows just sat inside that cage, gorging themselves on easy pickings.

So now I plan to segue into feeding them only during the winter and early spring months. Some exceptions: mealworms for the bluebirds and wrens; millet in the spring for the sparrows, at least until the Japanese maple leafs out; oriole nectar in April and May; and hummingbird nectar in June. I hope that will lead to a more balanced avian population in my backyard. (It will also save me money!) The bird baths will stay, of course.

Yesterday we got a goodly amount of rain, and more is promised. The hot weather has abated and we are having rather mild temps for August. We'll see whether that holds through the month.

We spent some time in Chesterton yesterday and (among other places) visited the Chesterton Feed and Garden Center. It has quite the varied and extensive product line. I picked up a doohicky that will help with the watering of the tulip tree. I can attach a hose to it, and it will spray the whole root zone under the tree.

My attempt to grow bush beans in a rather shallow container did not work, so I purchased this milk crate liner so that next year I can provide more depth for the roots. (I already have a couple of milk crates.) We'll see how that works out.

Here are the aster blossoms I mentioned last week. The plants, Symphyotrichum oblongifolium 'October Skies', are like small shrubs. I expect them to provide some much needed color for the front yard.

In the bed on the south side that the rudbekia and ironweed have apparently taken over, there is a patch of something. I couldn't identify it as either friend or foe, so I let it grow. It is now over six feet tall and showing its true colors: I think it is goldenrod, a welcome newbie. I don't think I planted it, but it can definitely stay. And we'll see how it fares against the thug plants.

Have a surprising week.

I'm back

My SO and I spent the past week in the Hudson Valley, our first major vacation since the pandemic. We thought about flying, but since we can't get a direct flight from here to there, I worried about getting stranded somewhere along the way. So we drove. And drove and drove and drove. There is a LOT of golden rod between, but not too much of anything else. On the way home, we saw the trees were just beginning to turn. In a couple of weeks, those hills will be ablaze with glory.

Now it is back to mowing and watering and weeding. While we were gone, about 1.25" of rain fell, so none of the new plants suffered. But the sickly Canadian hemlocks are definitely done. The landscaper is going to replace them.

One of the aromatic asters, the one that gets the most sunshine, is blooming its little heart out. I sniffed the blossoms, thinking that is how it got its name. Nope. The common name comes from the balsam-like fragrance it gives off when you crush the rigid stems.

I was beginning to wonder if the Clematis Paniculata was going to bloom at all this year, but it was just taking its sweet time. All the blossoms are at the top where I would need a ladder to get a decent photograph. Some pollinators are enjoying it.

The sweet potato vine 'Marguerite' I planted in containers in the backyard really took off for an end of summer burst of color, overwhelming the geranium. Next year I plan to plant it in hanging baskets along the fence. That should be quite a show.

I am very tired of watering all my new plants, but if I hadn't been watering, I wouldn't have seen these two guys munching on the butterflyweed. This photo is from a week ago, and there is no sign of the caterpillars anywhere now. A younger caterpillar I spotted yesterday is already gone, too. Monarch eggs and larvae are mostly a food source for other creatures.

Have a munchie good week.

Bad news

The larger and one of the smaller Canadian hemlocks are not looking good. The needles are turning brown and dropping. When the landscape designer selected this evergreen for my yard, I questioned his choice. From my research (and I researched almost all his selections), it sounded like trouble. The plants are "guaranteed" for a year, so I sent him an email. No response yet.

Last week I mentioned abandoning my camera phone for my old Olympus. And yes, the latter takes much better photos. However, it doesn't want to talk to my laptop anymore. I had to dig out an older laptop, then "sneaker net" the photos between the two, using a thumb drive.

August didn't feel like August and now September doesn't feel like September. It's uncomfortably hot out. The pets sit by the patio door, but if I open it, they don't venture out. Apparently, watching the yard is all they want to do.

Have a seasonable week.

High floppability

The natives planted along the fence on the south side of the house are blooming... and flopping. I like them tall but not when they lean across the path I take with the lawn mower. The ironweed plants have inverted tomato cages to keep them somewhat upright, but the coneflower and rudbeckia need some help. There is a new edition of Tracy DiSabato-Aust's book The Well-Tended Perennial Garden; I have an older copy, maybe should check out what's new. Perhaps the pruning techniques will help. If not, a fence of some sort, one that won't obstruct?

I took advantage of the lovely weather this week to finish edging around the shrubs and the hawthorn tree out front. While I was at it, I removed the protective hardware cloth, snipped suckers, pulled weeds, etc. I also propped up the false indigo just in time for the lawn treatment guys. Then there was the pruning of redbuds and viburnum. My SO helped with the latter, thank goodness; my shoulders won't let me operate the lopper.

The mid-to-late summer perennials are going at it. I *love* the cup plant patch, as do the finches. The plants are at least ten feet tall.

In front of the cup plant is a clump of silvergrass with the additions of coneflower, rudbeckia, daylily, and aster.

Volunteer sunflowers mingle with rattlesnake master and big bluestem.

Besides volunteer sunflowers, there are some volunteer morning glories growing in containers. Some vines that I thought were morning glories are something else, bindweed or something like it, so those have been eliminated. I'm trying to help the actual morning glories with a trellis; it's too short, but that isn't stopping them.

Does anyone know what is wrong with this clump of aster? I think the browning of the lower leaves can occur when there is too little rain, but we have had plenty of that.

Another problem we have had plenty of are Japanese beetles. I plant hollyhocks as a trap crop, but this year the little buggers have ignored the hollyhocks in favor of coneflowers and zinnias. Boo.

I hear cicadas, have found one husk and seen one flying around, but we must not be Brood X country. My son lived in Bloomington IN during the last emergence and says they were quite the nuisance down there. What's been your experience?

Despite the weather

There has been a feeding frenzy at the bird feeders recently, mostly sparrows. I began to wonder if we are in for a rough winter, but the forecast is for mild and dry instead of cold and wet. We shall see.

We had a light frost the other night, nothing that would finish off the zinnias. I've been throwing a sheet over the coleus on the front porch when warned, but I dug up a new mother plant for next year's cuttings, just in case.

Now that the fence work is complete, I transplanted the bee balm to the south side of the house, after moving some of the remaining asters from the house side to the fence side of the same area. I'm a little confused about the aster varieties I have. What I moved looks like New England asters but are shorter. A volunteer aster has popped up in the yard as well, something I thought at first was more fleabane (which is done), then classified as a low growing aster, but then changed my mind again when I realized the plants were not low growing but floppy. Some day I may get all the asters sorted out, but not today.

I repeatedly try to capture the reddish hue of the Big Blue Stem in fall, but my pix never do it justice. This is the one that is most upright; next year I will try to prop up the others, as they look great in front of the fence.

A shrub I pretty much ignore is the coralberry. This year I made a point of checking on it periodically, because I wanted to actually see the berries. My efforts have been rewarded. I thought this shrub would get a LOT bigger, like eight feet across. This is its third season, so maybe I am being impatient.

The spicebush witch hazel is another shrub I tend to ignore, even though it looks lovely in front of the viburnum. I've yet to notice any berries on it, or blossoms either. This is its third year as well, and like the coralberry, it seems puny compared to what it should become.

Virginia creeper is one of my fall favorites, although sometimes it grows where I don't want it to, like behind the vinyl siding on my house. I'm still thinking of trying it in a container on the pergola, though. Tell me if I am nuts.

Rhubarb always surprises me with its fall color. Although I don't grow food anymore (something I have been debating lately as I never made it to a farmers market this summer and the grocery store zucchini tastes horrible), I keep my rhubarb patch for pie and dye.

I should be finishing up a few things in the front yard, but instead have been fixing up the raised beds I plan to keep, moving dirt from the defunct beds and mulching with newspaper and shredded cypress. The bee/wasp nest is still active, but once they settle down, I'll complete the transplanting of coneflower.

While searching through my blog for references to this or that, I've come to realize that there are a LOT of plants that I loved but that disappeared and were consequently forgotten. I'm making a list of ones I'd like to re-introduce to the yard, plus some new ones. This, despite my vow to downsize the garden.

August is almost over already

Yikes! It has been over a month since I posted here. I am obviously not spending much time outside in the yard, but when I do, I enjoy it despite my hip. How that the weather is cooling a bit, I hope to get some of the mess cleaned up before long. Meanwhile, here are some flowers to enjoy.

Rudbeckia subtomentosa

'Wild Romance' aster

Aster laevis

'Purple Dome' aster

Cosmos sulphureus

Coreopsis Tinctoria

'Limelight' hydrangea

'Royal Standard' hosta