Aging well

Somewhere I read that one secret to aging well is to have something to look forward to. This past year I created Project 2025, all the things I wanted to accomplish in the yard, and those have come to fruition one way or another. A list for Project 2026 is already started, with 14 items (so far). Sometimes I wonder why I just didn't turn the whole yard into lawn - it would be much easier to take care of - but then how would I keep busy and active? Successful old age is not for couch potatoes.

I have tried several times and in several places to get some butterflyweed established, without luck. And yet here is a volunteer plant growing amongst the aromatic aster. No butterflies, though.

The ironweed on the south side of the house is starting to bloom, as well as the rudbeckia. Ironweed likes it wet, so maybe I will plant some by the rain garden next year.

This is a typical daily harvest from my food plants, just enough for me. One problem with growing yer own is it almost always tastes better than purchased, even from farmers markets.

Otherwise, not a lot going on around here. It's still hot and humid, with enough rain to keep the grass growing. I am looking forward to autumn already.

What's it good for? Queen of the prairie

The first time I saw Queen of the prairie (Filipendula rubra), I was in love. Although it tolerates clay soil, it likes to keep its feet wet, so it seemed like an unlikely candidate for my yard. Now that I have a rain garden, though, it's been added to the fringe. However, it may be a useless beauty unless you are interested in some of its medicinal uses. (I'm not.) I noticed a few pollinators on it.

I installed only one plant, but the clump it eventually forms may become quite large (4 feet across). Also, it spreads by seeds, which I hope does not become a problem. We'll see. Meanwhile, I will enjoy it - pretty in pink.

Elsewhere in the yard:

The strawberry patch looks very healthy. I've been able to pick a few berries from it every few days. Very tasty!

My granddaughter and I painted some small rocks to look like strawberries, to fool the birds. The faux berries need to be sprayed with fixative before I set them out. So far, the birds have left the harvest alone.

I keep trying to get a good pic of the "meadow". This one has the plants labeled, so if you enlarge it, you can at least tell what is there. Like many things, the meadow looks better in real life.

Up close and personal.

I don't think this Canada hemlock is going to make it. It looks peaked compared to its brethren. If it goes, a gold mop will replace it.

The latest addition to my flamingo collection. This one is supposed to glow, but it is either a dud or else just does not get enough sun. I'll move it and see if it does better elsewhere.

Another useless beauty, but I love the bright orange.

The first harvest from the green bean plants!

What's it good for? Ragwort

When the landscaper selected Golden ragwort (Packera aurea) as one of the primary plants for the front yard, waxing rapturously about what it looks like in bloom, I shrugged because I had never heard of it. He is right about the blooming, but before and after, the stems look kind of weedy. In previous years, I cut back the stems, but this year let them go. Then I observed one use for this plant: food for goldfinch.

The plant is a natural for my yard, as it tolerates wet soil and both sun and partial shade. It spreads by rhizomes and by seed, already showing up in other parts of the yard with no assistance from me. When not distracting me with its yellow flowers (which attract pollinators), it makes a great ground cover. And the foliage is one of the few larval food sources for the northern metalmark butterfly (which I've never seen around these parts). So I guess I'll keep it.

(Most of my ragwort information is from this site.)

Meanwhile, around the yard....

The ninebark is blooming, something I had not really considered when selecting it, as I was primarily concerned with the foliage. A nice surprise, though.

I do believe this miniature forest is volunteer asparagus, something I have never observed before. I love asparagus, but let the patch go except for a few hardy plants. Now it looks like I will have plenty in the future. My neighbor says it is good frozen, which is something to consider.

All four of the green bean seeds germinated, but two of them never formed primary leaves. I will replant them and have a staggered harvest, completely by accident.

Every year I say I am going to remove the climbing rose, but then it blooms. Red is my favorite color.

The hairy beardtongue is the primary bloomer in the front yard now. Ordinarily, it would be attracting fat bees, but the weather has been so erratic lately that there are few insects out and about, even on sunny days.

It hardly feels like summer, as highs have been stuck in the 60's. But Monday and Tuesday promise to be HOT. The neighbors had their pool filled with water today, so it must be true.

Cool and rainy, just how autumn should be

I won't let anyone complain about the cooler temps or wet weather, since it is a vast improvement over the dry 80-degree days that immediately preceeded this change. I still have a tendency to overdress, but I have started to change over the bedding from summer mode to winter mode - first the fleece blanket, next the flannel sheets, then the wool duvet. Aaah!

Speaking of autumn changes, the red, white, and blue flamingos have given way to the Halloween ones. I wish these glowed in the dark. Maybe I can paint them with some luminescent acrylic? My son and his girl friend are on the lookout for some winter flamingos. Otherwise, the yard will be sans flamingos until spring.

This sad bean is the total harvest from my experiment of growing bush beans in a container. One of my mistakes was not using a deep enough container. Another mistake was leaving the container where critters could reach it. I'm not sure if the culprit was a rabbit or a raccoon. Next year, I will do better. (My son's comment was, "Charlie Brown would be proud.")

This critter on my doorstep is a giant crane fly. I don't believe I've ever seen one in my yard before.

The carpet of sunflowers surprised me by blooming. I haven't noticed too many pollinators enjoying the late display. We are past our usual frost date, so I'm sure these are destined for an early death.

The goldenrod is at its peak. If you look closely, you will notice the plant tags in front of and between each goldenrod plant. Those are where the new aster plants are. May they and the goldenrod co-exist in peace.

While I hope my tulip tree survives the winter, I have a plan B in place: two red maple trees to take its place. I might even plant a third one on the other side of the yard. As far as I am concerned, one can never have too many trees. Yes, they drop their leaves in the fall. But look who benefits! (I credit my leaf mulch for bringing back fireflies to my backyard.)

(I don't know the original source of this poster)

Usually, I mow around the trees, breaking up the leaves but leaving them to nourish the trees. Or else the mower blows them onto the mulched beds. Either way, they decompose naturally.

Speaking of mulched beds, one of my dogs has taken to digging in the mulch and eating something - grubs? cicada larvae? I wanted to cover the mulch with bits of fencing (poultry wire and hardware cloth) to deter him, but I couldn't find much. Then I remembered that it was already in use as a dog-deterrent - it makes up a haphazard fence around the rain garden while those plants get established. Apparently, when one has dogs, one never has enough fencing.

Around the yard

The weather is going to turn hot, hot, HOT for a few days. Even with AC, I get to feeling logy when it sizzles outside. I'm just glad it doesn't last long. Why do people move south when they retire? Beats me.

I think I did a blog post once bemoaning the views from my windows and deck and in general around the yard. While those views aren't necessarily a lot better, I find there are some that provide simple joy. Not something one would see in BH&G, but then the yard is for ME, not a general audience.

It also occurred to me that I usually take photos of plants and flowers head on, face to face. That strategy shows the plant but not the plant in its environs.

The tao of some views is more difficult to capture than others.

Anyway, back to the head on photos. I've come to the conclusion that one difference between tiger lilies and daylilies is the tiger lilies look down while the daylilies look up. Maybe they are looking at each other?

The hollyhocks are for dyeing with, but I wasn't sure about how to harvest the blossoms. Turns out that is not a problem, as the blossoms curl up and fall off. I just need to pick them up every day or two and put them on a screen in the garage to dry.

My container experiments this year are growing crocosmia and penstemon in pots. The crososmia grow from corms, so once they started to send up shoots, they took off.

The penstemon is a perennial, so this is its first year sleep. I had an extra hibiscus, so that has gone into a pot, too. I'll move the pots into the garage for the winter.

The pole beans are starting to blossom.

The dill is blooming, too. Looks like fireworks.

I couldn't decide which 'Luna Red' hibiscus photo to use, so I'm posting both of them. The blossom is almost bigger than the plant, which is about 15 inches tall.

I started the hibiscus plants from seed this past spring, so was not expecting to see any blooms this year. I am happy to be wrong!

This Japanese beetle is on an aster, although its favorite garden plant is the hollyhocks. What a pest!

Last night I mowed and tonight I watered selectively, so now I can hunker down for the weekend and let the heat pass on by. Stay cool!

Odds and ends

While I have been moving away from growing food, there are still a few food plants in my yard and garden. Despite my attack on the asparagus, it continues to produce, so I am enjoying that, tossed with a little olive oil and roasted in a hot oven for about ten minutes (the asparagus, not me). Then there is the rhubarb patch, which provides pie for me and mordant for dyeing yarn. And there are some pole beans, just about ready to bloom.

I keep contemplating eliminating the "orchard" but it is low on the priority list. The birds usually get the sweet cherries, but leave these North Star tart ones for me. Another pie producing plant. (Can you tell I like pie?)

Instead of dumping out the "mother plant" I use each year to create more coleus for the front porch, I pruned it up a bit and added it to the tableau.

Coleus are such a nice foliage plant and tolerant of shade that I decided to plant some under the purple-leaf smokebush. It is late in the season for purchasing annuals, so there wasn't much selection. 'Pineapple' was close enough. No pic yet.

The common milkweed in the yard is going to town. The neighbor's privet was providing an almost cloying aroma last week, now it is the milkweed, which fortunately is a tiny bit more subtle. I've seen a few random butterflies recently, but no monarchs.

The blossoms of this Hydrangea arborscens, a.k.a. smooth hydrangea, are not very showy. The plant also has a tendency to die back to the ground during the winter. My 'Limelight' takes a heavy pruning and keeps on producing, so I'm assuming once this baby is established, it will fulfill its potential.

And an early appearance by a coneflower.

I am STILL installing transplants, but the end is in sight. Last year I planted some butterfly weed next to the silvergrass; one clump survived, so I tried again, plus added some coneflower and rudbekia. I also put an ornamental fence around the grouping, in hopes of deterring the dogs. I've also been planting a variety of natives in raised beds, theoretically so they can get bigger and stronger before going in their final resting places; they just aren't quite ready to complete.

And I have been weeding, weeding, weeding. More rain is in the forecast, plus higher temps, so I am "making hay while the sun shines". Ooh! I just saw a monarch. Huzzah!

Must be September

The harvest from the vegetable garden is winding down. It was a good year for potatoes, not so much for onions (my fault, I fear, for mishandling the plants last spring), definitely not for tomatoes. There are always lessons learned: One plant provides plenty of zucchini, sweet corn needs to be harvested in a timely manner unless you like the flavor of starch over sugar, you can never have too much horse manure.

September harvest (and the last zucchini)

Another lesson: if there is a way, rabbits and woodchucks have the will. Despite the fortification of wood picket, hardware cloth, and poultry netting, there were occasional incursions by critters. Periodic inspections helped, but invariably damage occurred, even late in the season. I learned that woodchucks climb bean poles...

No beans for you!

... and favor broccoli over cabbage...

Yes to broccoli, no to cabbage

... but no one likes kale enough to justify eight plants.

Not even rabbits or woodchucks like kale

I tried pointing the finger of blame at rabbits, but they don't care for sweet potatoes, nor will they climb onto the cage supposedly protecting the plants, caving it in and nibbling the protruding leaves.

It wasn't me! (This time.)

Fortunately, the enjoyment of late summer flowers balances the frustrations of vegetable gardening. This 'Wild Romance' Aster is a long time survivor. Some years the only thing that saved it was a nearby metal plant marker.

Aster 'Wild Romance', with bee

I've become intrigued by a photo of 'Autumn Joy' Sedum grown as a low hedge that I noticed in Tracy DiSabato-Aust's book, The Well-Tended Perennial Garden. My cluster gets a bit leggy from not enough sun, but if I move it and pinch it back, perhaps I too can have a sorta hedge of it along the front of the house.

Sedum 'Autumn Joy' starting to blush

I mistakenly thought this Catmint was 'Walker's Low' and could not understand why each plant became so HUGE and spread so FAR. While fooling around in that bed, I found the plant tag. Now that I know its true growth habit, I have just the spot for it, around the garden shed.

Catmint 'Six Hills'

As usual, there are lots of plans for next year. I'm antsy to try them out, but FIRST. There is work to do, like weeding the area under the Hydrangea so next spring it can be populated with Bishop's Weed, aka Goutweed. Bishop's Weed can be a bit out of control, but this corner is somewhat isolated and I'm counting on Bishop's Weed's shade loving nature to help keep it in check.

Hydrangea 'Limelight', weeded

I don't quite know what to do about this problem, though. The deck builders did not follow directions to stay within the footprint of the patio slab and extended the deck over the bed with Joe Pye, Cardinal Flower, and Swamp Milkweed. I wrote those plants off, prematurely it seems. It doesn't bother me that they poke up between the boards, so maybe I will just leave them be.

Joe Pye and Cardinal Flower

My granddaughter's interest in photography is rather erratic, so I can't count on her providing me with regular pics of the yard, or much of anything else, for that matter. But then, she is not quite five and still exploring all there is to do and see in the world.

Photo op

Oh, to be young again. (NOT!)