Just can't resist

I haven't been posting many photos of my yard and garden this year, but sometimes one just can't help oneself.

Last summer, my SO and I attempted to shape the purple leaf smokebush. It doesn't get quite enough sun, so looks rather rangy late in the season. Our efforts paid off. This baby looks almost perfect. We will have to keep up the good work.

The Golden Spirit smokebush isn't smoking much yet, but it looks wonderfully lush. It is in a sunnier location than its cousin, so hopefully will not get so gangly.

I know I have already posted a pic of the Lemony Lace elderberry, but I just can't get over how great it looks this year. It's framed by mugo pine and cotoneaster. Some of my neighbors are probably shaking their heads, imagining my shrubbery as the perfect place for a creep to hide. Quite frankly, if someone manages to get into this shrubbery, I doubt he will be able to get out without a lot of thrashing around.

I forgot I had tucked a couple of extra black hollyhock plants next to the climbing rose. One is languishing - not enough sun - the other surprised me with these blooms, earlier than the ones in the garden proper. The rose is not very prolific this year, probably due to that harsh winter we had.

I'm still struggling a bit with my hip. My GP sent me to an osteo surgeon who had only one solution to offer: replacement. Talk about a one-trick pony! Most days I can walk without much pain, so I'm holding off. I'm following Pete Egoscue's skeletal alignment exercises and self-administering trigger point therapy, practicing some yoga poses and physical therapy exercises I've picked up over the years. So far, so good, although there are days when I wonder if I'm being too stubborn.

Fruitless

Ideally, instead of dropping big bucks each winter for birdseed, I'd rather provide our feathered friends with food from my yard. Alas, this rarely works out. This year, thanks to a late frost, not even the Viburnum Prunifolium has fruit. The Wentworth Highbush Cranberry is not much better, despite blooming later.

I've complained repeatedly on this blog (and to anyone foolish enough to ask) about how the other viburnums, Blue Muffin and Chicago Lustre, don't put out much fruit, either. I sure would like to know the secret to producing even an average crop, let alone a bin buster.

The summer birds are happy to help themselves to the people food. This year I frequently witnessed robins literally diving into the raspberry patch. Fortunately, they shared the bounty with us lowly humans. There are just a few late berries left.

Robins and bluebirds like pokeberry, which pops up here and there around the yard. It won't be long before these green berries turn purple. They won't last into winter.

I believe this is the fruit of the bittersweet nightshade. It grows sparsely on the back fence. Some birds like it, notably European imports, which is also the provenance of this alien invasive. Its days are numbered.

At least the cotoneaster can be counted on, year after year. Rarely does it fail to produce a heavy crop, for birds and bunnies.

It looks like I will be dragging home bags of peanuts and sunflower seeds again this year. But first, I need to figure out who the vandal is.

I suspect a raccoon. *sigh*

Berry good

Even though I feed the wild birds in the winter, I still like to provide them with as much natural food as possible. Hence, the berries. Next year I hope to plant winterberry under the arborvitae and add a Prairie Fire crabapple tree to the backyard, to augment what I have so far.

Several years ago, I attended an Acres presentation on bower birds. Something the speaker said has stuck with me (along with the slo-mo video of birds mating): many birds seem to favor food that is the same color as they are. I don't know how accurate this is, but I know cardinals and robins like red.



Aronia arbutifolia 'Brilliant', aka chokeberry, grows on the south side of the backyard.

Cotoneaster grows on the east side of the house.



These plants are brambly, affording rabbits with good hiding places. They like the berries, too.



The Lonicera sempervirens, aka honeysuckle vines, grow on the north side of the backyard. Not red-red like above, but close.



What birds eat this deep purple pokeberry?



According to Greensboro Birds, grackles, blue jays, and bluebirds, among others.

The leaves of the Viburnum prunifolium, aka Blackhaw viburnum, are turning purple along with the fruit.



The first year this shrub fruited, the birds ignored it until late winter, when there wasn't much else to eat.



But now these berries disappear along with the others.

When I purchased viburnums for my backyard habitat, the nurseryman knew what I wanted the shrubs for. And yet, he sold me one that simply does not fruit despite its beautiful flowers (Viburnum sargentii 'Onondaga'), and one that needs to be cross pollinated (Viburnum Dentatum 'Blue Muffin'). I added a 'Chicago Luster' to do the cross pollinating, so I'm hoping for a good result fruitwise, maybe even next year.

Signs of September

The impatiens on the front porch finally look lush.



The red sedum is starting to blush.



The berries on the cotoneasters are fat and juicy.



Nothing says autumn like chrysanthemums!



The late blooming hostas are blooming lately.



Pokeberries!



Starting to put the garden to bed for the winter.



Fall planting of snap peas.



The marigolds have recovered from August.



Serrano peppers looking hot!



Sky candy.



The coneflowers have gone to seed.



What does September look like where you are?

C is for Concrete

Tomorrow (!!!) the concrete guys are going to start their thing. I plan to be far away while they work. Watching them tear out and crush the deck sounds too painful. Then there will be much backhoe work. Finally comes the concrete. Theoretically, all this will take two, maybe three days. It's hard to believe the time has finally arrived. Let the remodeling begin!

I meant to move the columbine and blue hosta out of harm's way last weekend, but it was too freakin' hot. I took a half-day of vacation this morning to attend to that task. Still worked up a healthy sweat, even though it was only 70 degrees.

A couple of these kept me company while I worked.



I don't know my butterflies or I would supply you with a name. Several of these were hanging around the butterfly bush, but this one picked the Queen Anne's lace for a resting spot.

Apparently, I don't know my insects in general - the name of this bug is a mystery as well, but it likes the hardy asters.



The detail on this volunteer hollyhock is just stunning.



Oop - another sign that fall is coming - the chrysanthemum is blooming. I love this color.



The cotoneasters look kind of peaked this year, but have produced a bumper crop of fruit. The birds will enjoy these... if the rabbits don't eat them first.



And here are my late summer blooming hostas. I planted them last year, to augment the other hostas that are all done now.



See the little yellow flag in the lower left hand corner? The utility people were out today, marking where the electricity and gas lines cross my yard. I took some "before" pictures of the back of the house, but I'll save those for tomorrow, when I should have some "in progress" pictures for you to compare and contrast.

I (heart) Compost

Earlier this spring, I spread a little love around my yard in the form of compost. The shrubs and perenniels are responding favorably. Compost is such a gentle but potent way to feed the soil which feeds the plants.

Another photo of the onondaga viburnum...



... which doesn't do justice to the contrasting colors of the unopened buds and the creamy flowers.

The chives are almost the same shade of lavendar...



... as the spring phlox that reappear in my yard each year.



There are a lot of mushrooms as well.



I presume the spores piggy back on the mulch.



And I presume these are not edible.

The cotoneaster is recovering from the whacking I gave it earlier this spring.



It is just starting to bloom, as are the columbine...



... and the peony.



The iris is in full swing.



No, this is not poison ivy, but virginia creeper. It got a foothold several years ago and I just let it go, to see what would happen.



Unfortunately, what is going to happen is that it will get whacked when the Florida room is replaced. Not to worry, though, as there is more growing in the back garden.