End of July but it feels like August

The hot weather finally reached us, but it really wasn't all that unusual other than 90-degree days usually arrive in August, not July. When I was a kid in a previous century, we did not have air conditioning, just fans to sit in front of and hum into. I remember laying on my bed, reading, sweat running into my training bra, but not really feeling uncomfortable. Usually I spent my afternoons at the pool or the library or in the lower level of our split level, watching Cubs games. Now, hot and humid weather leaves me almost comatose. I am so soft.

I've concluded that the unidentified bird I posted a pic of a couple of weeks ago is a juvenile starling. Same general body shape but a bit slimmer, dusky colored instead of black, dark beak instead of yellow, but just as much of an a$$hole as the adults.

As I had hoped, goldfinch have made an appearance in the yard, sometimes at the monarda, sometimes in the sunflower patch. More house finches hang around as well. There are still too many sparrows, though; four immature ones chased away a swallowtail butterfly the other day. Jerks.

My next door neighbor had a tree removed from her backyard, one that hung over her house and lost a branch last summer, damaging the roof and taking out the electricity. Friday night we had a windy storm that dropped a lot of branches in the neighborhood - in fact, I could barely get out of the addition Saturday morning - and I'm guessing she is glad that tree is gone.

Saturday I attended a natural dyeing workshop where most of the dye materials came from the garden by the parking lot. The hibiscus was particularly impressive. And it dyes yarn an impressive color as well.

I talked to the native plant guy who installed my landscape last year. The missing plants will be replaced, per the warranty. He also did not like how the hairy beardtongue (Penstemon hirsutus) looked, flopping over in search of the sun that is blocked by the Japanese maple. So he wants to replace that with something more shade tolerant. I'll move the hairy beardtongue somewhere else - don't want to discard perfectly good plants. All gratis.

A blossom finally appeared on the Buddleia 'Purple Haze'. A couple of aster flowers have popped (too early!) The three clumps of nodding onion out front are at their peak.

After previously complaining about the lack of bugs in my yard, I am disconcerted to find something is biting me out there, something invisible that does not leave a mark. At least there is a chorus of cicadas to remind us that tomorrow August starts.

Enjoy the sounds of summer... while they last.

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!

Record keeping

Diana created a post at the Garden Bloggers Fling blog asking (and answering) why gardeners blog. My personal reason is primarily to keep track of what I do in the yard and garden. Unfortunately, sometimes I miss posting a purchase. This year I am going to try to fix that by posting purchases as they arrive.

First up are some seeds from Stokes. All I was really interested in were the 'Luna Red' hibiscus seeds. I used to have some of this in my yard but somewhere along the way, it disappeared. Hibiscus blooms may be used for dyeing, so I decided to bring it back. Individual plants are rather expensive (and I want four), so I am turning to seeds. I tried this last year with seeds from a different source, but they never germinated. These seeds are supposedly scarified, though, so they should germinate sooner. Fingers crossed.

Since I was ordering one thing from Stokes, I decided to order a second thing: Profusion zinnias. Last year I tried some plants (from Lowes?) but they did not do much. I planted them at the corner of the house where the purple smoke bush reigns, a spot I have had repeated trouble populating (although the hyacinth do well there). I saw how well Profusion zinnias grow in full sun, in a downtown park, and decided to try them again but somewhere else in the yard. And from seed.

The weather has been crazy lately, with multiple "January thaws". The problem with this is Big Foot, a.k.a. Clio, my lab-pit mix, churns up the lawn when she and Watson have the zoomies. Right now I am attempting to ameliorate that by not letting the both of them out at the same time on days when the top layer of the ground is thawed and/or mushy. They don't understand, of course, but it seems to be helping, or at least keeping things from getting worse.

Devil's Plague

That is another name for Queen Anne's lace, and I heartily agree. Woe to the gardener who lets it get a foothold. I spent a good part of Sunday trying to dig it out of the birds-bees-butterfly garden, but changed tactics after a little research. QAL is a biennial, so some recommend simply snipping off the flowers to prevent it from going to seed and spreading its evil everywhere. So that's what I did. I am sure I will have to repeat this task regularly until frost; all living creatures want to multiply.

While QAL reseeds itself, further research revealed that Canada thistle, while producing seed, actually spreads best via its pernicious root system. One newly discovered method of controlling it is by spreading Pseudomonas syringae pv. Tagetis, aka PST, a naturally occurring bacterium that appears to attack the thistle. Periodically, I have noticed sickly looking thistle plants. These are likely suffering from PST. We are encouraged to harvest these sicklies, throw them in the blender with water, add a surfactant, then spray thistles with it. Best done in June, it takes around a month to work. I don't mind resorting to Roundup when it comes to thistle, but often the thistle is growing cheek to jowl with my garden plants. Roundup does not know the difference, so PST is an alternative I may try.

A solution for controlling thistle was suggested by a co-worker: if the stalks are hollow, cut them off, then pour Roundup into the hollow stem. That way the poison goes to the roots of the bad weeds without risk of spraying the good plants. I have tried this before, but I'm not sure it was specifically Canada thistle. Must investigate.

Meanwhile, here is something I have been waiting for all summer:



Yes, zucchini. By August I should be thoroughly sick of it, but store-bought is just not the same.

Some people fry up the blossoms.



But then you would get less zucchini. Hmmm. Maybe I'll try that in August.

I just can't get enough of these daylilies.



Each one is just so luscious!

The coneflowers are coming on.



These are a favorite of gold finches. They impatiently visit the blooms daily, checking for ripe seeds.

Rudbeckia and bee balm.



The bees like bee balm, but not as much as they like mint. Oddly enough, mint does not produce viable seed. Like Canada thistle, it spreads by its roots. It too is running wild in my garden.

One of my experiments this year is growing lettuce in containers.



It's doing quite well, as it gets only afternoon sun. I placed it on the chair to keep it out of the reach of curious rabbits.

The first hibiscus:



Hummingbirds like these, along with mint, honeysuckle vine, crocosmia, and Rose of Sharon.



Sunday I watched one such hummer as he worked the 3B garden like a politician working a crowd, visiting each interest group in turn. Said hummer was NOT happy to see me, however.

Speaking of birds, there is quite the breakfast buffet every morning in the mulberry tree STILL, mostly robins and bluebirds. Also, I saw a monarch butterfly Sunday. Now that I have some milkweed started in the 3B garden, maybe they will actually lay some eggs.

This is a brass manifold I purchased from Lee Valley this year, as part of an irrigation system I never set up.



The rain has been sporadic, a half inch here and there, so I water a fair amount. With this manifold, I can dribble the tulip tree AND water the Topsy Turvys at the same time. Saves me a little time. Next year, when the garden beds are better defined, I definitely will have to set up the irrigation system and save myself a LOT of time.

Can Autumn Be Far Behind?

The hardy aster is actually blooming.



This, despite the fact the hibiscus just got started...



... and the buds on the Rose of Sharon are still rolled tight.

I'm still picking bagworms off the arborvitae, but I am definitely winning that war. Hopefully, the one plant most afflicted will survive.

I'm also having to water more and more. We really, really, really need a good soaking rain.

Just So I Will Know Next Year

When most perennials and shrubs are bursting with life in the spring, there are always a worrisome few that are late to get started. I'm not talking about late bloomers. I'm talking late-to-show-any-signs-of-life-after-a-long-cold-winter. So here is proof that some of those ten o'clock flowers are still alive.

It is difficult to see in this shot, but the hibiscus survived.



It's surrounded by the Queen Anne's lace I let into the garden last year. (Big mistake.)

And the trumpet vine.



I planted this four years ago and it has yet to bloom. I think it doesn't get enough sun, but now that the silver maples are gone, maybe that will change.

In the foreground is the Rose of Sharon.



A neighbor a couple of blocks away has a larger specimen, and it is just as late as mine.

Now, onto the current bloomers.

Not a good shot, but this is thyme that is planted in the pot with a miniature apple tree.



It is just starting to bloom. We moved the apple trees to the north side of the backyard, so that they will be close to the other potted plants, just to make watering easier.

This is not a good shot, either, but it is yarrow that is starting to bloom.



I hope its neighboring bee balm holds off until I can get it moved. Tonight I pulled "weeds" where I want the bee balm to go, so maybe tomorrow I will move it. I read that bee balm is relatively shade tolerant, so it is going next to the fence and hopefully will block some of the invading catnip and nettles.

I have two peonies of one variety and one of another, so while the former are past their glory, the latter is just coming on.



This one is also more white than pink.

Some blossoms are easy to miss. These are on my asplenifolia.



They will turn into little orange berries that the sparrows love.

And the burning bush blooms as well.



I can't recall if there is resulting fruit. Probably. Mother Nature would not waste a perfectly good flower, would she?

Well, maybe she would, if it is true that the white onondaga blooms are sterile.



These photos show better the different stages of the blooms, from closed red to open pink to white border.



This is the best year ever for the onandago.

And for the "Blue Muffin" arrowwood viburnum as well.



This will be the first year I will get to see the blue muffin effect that earns this shrub its name. (Knock on wood!)

Now, what is this nestled amongst the bee balm?



Might be Keys of Heaven. I planted some but I don't think I have ever seen it bloom. I'll have to try not to disturb it when I move the bee balm.

And the columbine is still with us.



Tonight the weather is threatening. We really need a good soaking rain. Maybe if I wash my car....