Archive for July, 2007
Hanna over at This Garden is Illegal made me do it. More random things!!!
This is the new social networking disease (SND)! This time, they are all garden-related and brief. If you want more long-winded random things, visit here and here, where you can also read the rules.
YOU are now officially tagged. (I can see you!) Please add your random things and your link in the comments section at the top of this posting. I am going off to get my shots.
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Number of rose bushes: 24. Don’t be impressed. My life is not a rose garden. Some are quite small and some are not doing very well.
- Number of pairs of garden gloves: 7. My all-purpose favorites are Foxgloves, of which I have three pair—two lavender pairs and one brown pair.
- Wintertime garden plans: Topiaries, cultivating my office light garden, more research on Colonial gardens.
- Currently reading: Harry Potter. Who isn’t?
- Gave up on: Blueberries. I had three varieties and none did well. I tore them out after three years.
- Favorite garden art: Foo dogs purchased at the New York Botanical Garden Antique Garden Furniture show.
- Always wanted to visit, but never have: White Flower Farm.
Robin
One of the least-trafficked areas of the Chicago Botanic Garden the day I was there were the greenhouses.
Frankly, I found them a welcome relief from the wretched heat and crowds. The air was reasonably cool and there were only a few people to stumble past. And what a fabulous place to hang out…if only they had some benches in the greenhouse. NO BENCHES. NO PLACE TO SIT AND ENJOY the plants. Is that right?
Anyway…
I MOST loved the topiaries. I think I am in love all over again with topiaries.There were these two charming, dancing topiary bunnies–the very best kind of bunnies, I think.
Topiary Bunnies, Chicago Botanic Garden
And right inside the door of one of the greenhouses–the desert greenhouse, I think–was this crazy topiary armadillo, covered with hens and chickens and some other small succulents. Again, the very best type of armadillo. I actually laughed out loud when I saw it!
Topiary Armadillo with Hens and Chickens, Chicago Botanic Garden
There were beautiful, mature palms and even more topiaries. (Someone really loves topiaries.)
Greenhouse at the Chicago Botanic Garden
Greenhouse at the Chicago Botanic Garden
I particularly appreciated the floor at one end of one of the greenhouses–slabs of concrete and grass in a checkerboard pattern that reminded me of that huge chessboard in one of the Harry Potter books. (Can you tell I’m reading Harry Potter?)
(Oooh. I am either cranky tonight or, perhaps, I have just saved some of the less-than-perfect photos for my last post about Chicago.)
Although the Memphis Botanical Garden doesn’t hold a candle to the Chicago Botanic Garden, I did rather like its Japanese garden better. It’s not nearly as expansive. But it does incorporate more color, including the red half-moon bridge, some fabulous yellow sedge and flowers. The Japanese garden in Chicago is so very green, green, green. Unrelieved green. And more green. No flowers in sight…More green…No flowers…More green…(You get the idea.)
Weights on tree limbs in the Japanese Garden create the effect of age
What I did appreciate were the plaques strategically positioned around the garden explaining the Japanese garden philosophy in convenient, easy-to-digest chunks. For example, Japanese gardens strive for an “idealized” notion of beauty, not really a natural landscape. One plaque explained the Japanese veneration for age, even aged trees. They will prune out branches of pines for a more skeletal appearance and weigh some them down to create an architectural illusion of the weight of time. Zig-zag paths are supposed to confuse unlucky spirits and keep them from following you. And the wide roofs of the pagoda-type house ornaments are for collecting the snowflakes, which are prized for their variety and beauty.
Japanese Garden, Chicago Botanic Garden
The rose garden at the Chicago Botanic Garden was HUGE. And disappointing. What is it about roses that gardeners cannot seem to mix other plants with them? Do roses really have to be stand-alone plants? There were wide swaths of roses. Unrelieved roses next to more roses. There were only a few boxwoods as a backdrop. And a weak effort to use catmint. What is it that gardeners think catmint and roses are nicely complimentary? I have mixed them and they don’t really complement each other at all.
There was, however, a fabulous shady arbor at the back of the rose garden. I longed to take a nap there.
Arbor Behind the Rose Garden, Chicago Botanic Garden
I also visited the Dwarf Conifer Garden. Sadly, this seemed a bit of neglected space up the side of a hill. In fact, it was here that I saw the ONLY weeds–and even a feasting bunnie rabbit–in the whole 300+ acres.
Dwarf Conifer Garden, Chicago Botanic Garden - Not the best-maintained part of the gardens there
Okay, that’s it. No more about the Chicago Botanic Garden. Tomorrow–Mount Vernon. I visited there yesterday, where they had a huge thunderstorm. Still, I risked my life and limb to get some photos. Tune in and see…
Ciao!
Robin
To continue with my visit to the Chicago Botanic Garden…With so much to see and only a few short hours, I decided to set some priorities. Since I’m in the throes of my own vegetable garden maintenance, I first headed over to see how the professionals fashion and keep up a vegetable garden in the summer heat.
It seemed that everyone else had the same idea, because the place was packed with people ogling tomatoes, leering at berries and salivating over apples.
The entrance takes you over a foot bridge and past a bed of miniature sunflowers that were in their glory. I couldn’t help myself snapping photos of other people’s children who were entranced by the sunny flowers.
Cute Kid (not mine) at the Entrance to the Vegetable and Fruit Garden, Chicago Botanic Garden
Just beyond the entrance and to the right is one of the most clever combinations of flowers and vegetables that I have ever seen. The fascinating mixture of cabbages, primroses and golden coin (I think) topped a concrete retaining wall that surrounded espaliered apple trees.
Cabbages and Flowers in the Vegetable and Fruit Garden, Chicago Botanic Garden
Mixing vegetables and flowers isn’t at all a new idea. Our Colonial ancestors mixed all sorts of plants into a pleasing and workable jumble. But this combination was, I think, absolutely artful.
Espaliered Apple Trees, Vegetable and Fruit Garden, Chicago Botanic Garden
Whoever planned the vegetable garden at the Chicago Botanic Garden has a real fondness for orderly fruit. There are rows and rows of espaliered apples, espaliered pears and colonnaded apples. They even have whipped rangy raspberry and blackberry plants into submission into orderly rows, climbing obediently up trellises. I envision a jack-booted gardener with a crop patrolling up and down to ensure no one gets out of line.
Collonaded Apple Trees, Vegetable and Fruit Garden, Chicago Botanic Garden
The rest of the vegetable garden is also highly organized and beautiful, if not as inspiring as those cabbages and fruit tree contortionists.
Cold Frames, Vegetable and Fruit Garden, Chicago Botanic Garden
There were beds of basil, which beautifully illustrated the wide variety of plants in the basil world. Tomatoes were grown on iron trellises typically used for vining flowers. And here and there, flowers were mixed in to provide some continuity between the beds and some color. There was a lovely cold frame area connected to a very small, and probably inadequate greenhouse.
Basil Bed, Vegetable and Fruit Garden, Chicago Botanic Garden
Finally, I was most amused with a sign announcing an “under construction” exhibit—FOR WEEDS! Hah! My weed exhibit is flourishing. At least in this area I excel beyond the Chicago Botanic Garden!
There is more to report in the next couple of days. I have also posted a series of photos on the Chicago Botanic Garden in my photo album, where you can see other places I have visited.
Ciao!
Robin
I’ve been visiting gardens and nature places for a while now as part of my business travel policy of making time to see places of interest besides conference rooms.
As a bona fide control freak, I find I am less unhinged by the inevitable travails of travel if there is something on the other end of the path traveled besides work. And, at least in the spring and summer, what better destination than a walk in a beautiful garden, eh?
Chicago Botanic Garden
So since I was headed to Chicago for a meeting, I blocked out Sunday afternoon to visit the Chicago Botanic Garden.
Trust me. It is no small undertaking to try to see the Chicago Botanic Garden in a single afternoon. With 385 acres of displays, 2.3 million plants and stunning garden architecture and about 6 million other garden lovers visiting at the same time, there’s a lot to see.
As with nearly all of the botanical gardens I have visited, the Chicago Botanic Garden is arranged in a meandering path of interconnected theme gardens. It’s quite a lengthy and diverse list:
-Aquatic Garden
-Bonsai Collection
-Bulb Garden
-Circle Garden
-Dwarf Conifer Garden
-Enabling Garden
-English Oak Meadow
-English Walled Garden
-Evening Island
-Fruit and Vegetable Garden
-Greenhouses
-Heritage Garden
-Japanese Garden
-Lakeside Gardens
-Landscape Garden
-McDonald Woods
-Model Railroad Garden
-Native Plant Garden
-Prairie
-River Valley
-Rose Garden
-Sensory Garden
-Shade Evaluation Garden
-Spider Island
-Sun Evaluation Garden
-Water Gardens
-Waterfall Garden
Whew.
The thing that was really missing, however, was a NAP GARDEN. After walking for hours and hours, I longed for a shady lawn where I could stretch out and close my eyes. Looking around at the other garden peepers, I wasn’t alone. But although there were some beautiful lawns, it was clear that they were designed as throughways and byways—not for napping.
Chicago Botanic Garden
Since I’m still catching up with work, I’ll be splitting my post on the gardens for the next couple of days with some photos and brief observations. I consider visiting professional gardens an educational experience. The plant pros have the luxury and the budget to experiment and find the optimum plant varieties for their locations, toy with various combinations of plants to achieve the maximum effect and work with architectural pros to design the most pleasing of hardscape to support the plants. There is much to be learned from all that hard work and experience.
Yes, I learn a good deal from reading all the great garden blogs as well as from reading the gardening magazines that fill my mailbox. But there is something even more effective about actually SEEING for yourself the effects of different plant combinations in a garden setting. And looking at a photo of a flower isn’t nearly as informative as seeing the actual beast. I mean, how many times have we been disappointed with our orders from nurseries with fancy catalogs?
So visit again soon and I’ll share some photos and naïve observations about things I learned at the Chicago Botanic Garden. And if you have posted your own garden or nature travel blog posts, will you let me know about it by leaving a comment?
Ciao!
Robin
It seems that many of the bloggers I’ve been reading have shared my pain with the summer drought…In fact, everyone is commenting on the weather.
I know. I know. It’s the nature of gardeners to be worried about the weather. But I have to confess. I am more than a little interested in the climactic events in our world.
When I see a mackerel sky, backlit in oranges and yellows by the sun, I always wonder “Why?” I know the old sailors’ adage, “Mackerel sky. Not long wet and not long dry.” But I don’t know why that’s the case.
And when I see a weather map in the local paper with those spiky little lines ominously headed my way, I don’t know whether to be worried or overjoyed.
Given my curiosity about our natural world, I really need to learn more about the weather. In fact, I have long contemplated putting in my own little weather station.
No. I am not kidding you. And no, I do not think this is an abnormal interest.
I knew a fellow a while back who was miraculously elected to public office. I say “miraculously” because he was singularly unremarkable. Even his friends had to contemplate whether or not they wanted to vote for the guy. So, naturally, I was curious to what he attributed his electoral success.
“It was the Weather Channel,” he told me.
The Weather Channel?
He told me that with his limited campaign funds, largely weaseled out of his parents (he didn’t tell me that part), he dumped ALL of his campaign advertising dollars into the Weather Channel. It seems that people who are interested in watching the weather on television also make their voting decisions by watching Weather Channel television ads.
Apparently, there are a LOT of weather geeks out there.
The reason I bring it up today is that there was an article in the Washington Post on Thursday that featured a number a weather geeks. You can read the whole article, “Eyes on the Skies: Backyard Weather Watchers, Tracking Raindrops and Wind Gusts” by searching for it on the Washington Post website.
But since I DETEST websites that require you to provide your name and contact information before sharing what they have to offer, I will tell you, more or less, what the article had to say.
1) There are a LOT of weather geeks. (Already proven by the above, I think.)
2) Sometimes, chance encounters, such as meeting the esteemed Willard Scott, inspire the interest. Sometimes it’s just in the DNA.
3) You can spend a LOT of money on a home weather station. The Post reported one fellow with more than $1,000 of weather equipment mounted on top of his garage.
4) If you are hot on the weather, you can join the American Meteorological Society. (There is a society for EVERYTHING. I happen to know this because I do research for bunches of them.) There is also a system of observer networks located regionally.
You don’t have to spend a ton of money to have your own personal weather station. In its sidebar, “Five Basic Weather Widgets,” the Post tells you that the basic tools are:
1) A thermometer (duh). The Post advocates one of those digital thermometers with sensors you can place outdoors and monitor that goes indoors. And who are you to argue with the Post, eh? The weather geek quoted liberally in the article says the Radio Shack EMR662, for $29.99, has a range of 100 feet and is a good one. You can also go upscale with a thermometer that has a radiation shield for $65 from Davis Instruments.
Personally, I have one that I bought from Wal-Mart for a song. Sure, the time/date feature never did work, but the temp is more or less on target.
2) Rain gauge (duh, again). Mostly, the key is location, location, location. Put it away from the house and trees. (Duh.) You can go digital here too, but that seems to be overkill for what it does. Just talk outside and look at it already.
Personally, I have a small rain gauge with little frogs on it. Even the local weather guesser quoted in the article has a small decorative one that she says works just fine and dandy.
3) Barometer. Now this I don’t have. I desperately want a barometer. A barometer seems a very desirable thing to have. I LONG for a barometer. I want to boast to people I am a barometer owner and watcher. A barometer is on my Christmas wish list. What does a barometer do? No idea. When I get one and read the instructions, I will report in.
4) Weather radio. Now THIS, I DO NOT agree with. These are annoying little electronic contraptions that squawk any time they get the idea that something weather-related is happening and talk to you WHETHER YOU WANT IT TO OR NOT. I do not like intrusions. I do not want an electronic report bleeping at me that there is a rise in air temperature.
5) Journal. This is a handy place to keep good records of precipitation, temperature, wind direction, humidity, air pressure and such.
Get real. This is geekery beyond what I can support or even humor. Yes, I know that some bloggers notate the temperature for the day. That is okay. But to go into more detail is too far close to the edge for comfort. I’m thinking that some Obsessive Compulsive Disorder medication might be in order. Like for that goofy food blogger I was reading for a while who posted EVERY SINGLE DAY what she had for dinner the night before. It was like peeking into a psychologist’s notes to see what that girl was thinking about.
So go forth, my friends. I wish you fair weather. And reliable instruments.
Ciao,
Robin
Before I fall asleep from sheer exhaustion, I thought I would offer a few updates on the garden and general Bumblebee environs.
It appears that we will soon have quite a few musk melons for our after-dinner treat. I have absolutely no clever ideas how to eat a melon except perhaps mixed with other fruit and with some whipped cream. Surely, there must be some recipes somewhere for all these melons?
Melon soufflé? (Ick). Melon pie? (Double ick.) Melon crepes? (Gimme a break.) Melon cookies? (Not.)
What the heck do you do with a melon besides, well, eat the melon?
Musk Melons
Although we continue to harvest copious quantities of cucumbers, they are actually inedible because they are terribly bitter. I am growing compost food.
A Google search tells me that cucumbers “under stress” will taste bitter, although they can recover with time and care.
Stress can be caused by poor nutrition or drought. I’m voting for drought.
Although I have been watering nearly every singe day, my own personal belief is that water from a hose isn’t nearly as good as half as much water from the sky. And unfortunately, we have only had about 1/2″ of rain in about the past 6-7 weeks.
In fact, the garden is altogether looking a bit stressed because I’m spending nearly all my time garden time hand watering and not enough time doing other things such as cleaning up and dead-heading.
Sigh…
Also, the moles have moved in. In my master gardener class, I remember that they talked about how mulched pathways were a fine habitat for moles. Well, I am here to tell you that this does, indeed, appear to be the case. We have lovely mulched paths throughout the Colonial theme garden. But walking through the paths is now like walking on marshmallows, the paths are so very aerated and squishy from the mole work. The other day, I even TRIPPED on a mole hill!
It’s quite a quandary since I don’t want to introduce chemicals to deter the moles where I grow my food.
Sigh (again)…
On another note…If it seems that I have been absurdly home-based lately, never fear. I head to Chicago this weekend where I will visit the botanical gardens. On August 8, I will head to Denver where I will visit the botanical gardens there. And then I will soon after visit Lake Toxaway in North Carolina, where the vegetation is just aching to be photographed. Naturally, I will submit all my travel reports to Bumblebee Blog.
Oh…and my friend Angela and I are headed to Las Vegas in September, compliments of the Venetian. They seem to have gotten it into their heads that I will spend money there, so they are giving me a suite for three nights and a bunch of tokens to waste in the slot machines. Truly, they want their $2,000 that I won on a fluke a few months ago while there on business.
Angela is really the gambler and plays in regular poker tournaments. She is also quite adventurous. During her last visit to Vegas with a guy-pal, she not only played poker, she accompanied him to a girlie show and went to some seedy venue where she got to shoot a Tommy gun. I am hoping for a bit more high-brow entertainment. Firearms and fake boobs don’t appeal to me.
I wonder if Angela would go hiking? Or on one of those night time tours of the desert using night vision goggles? Angela?
And, by the way, I take my 16-year-old son to get his drivers license tomorrow. Life will never be the same.
Until next time…
Robin
Living out here in the country, I feel a yearning to learn the names of things, the nature of things and understand the cycles of life around us. I want to be a naturalist! (Not a naturist.)
I suppose before there were Barnes & Nobles with nifty identifying books and prior to when Al Gore invented the Internet, we had to rely on our parents, grandparents and teachers to tell us the names of things. Now, Google can help us put names the creatures in the world around us.
That is, if you believe everything you read on the Internet.
Giving a name to an animal, a bug or a plant is the beginning of knowing the nature of that animal, bug or plant. When you can name it, you can refer to IT, add to your library of information about IT. It provides a pinpoint reference for what IT is. You can explain IT to others and feel on a first-name familiarity with IT. IT becomes a part of you.
At least, that’s what I think.
In the seven years we’ve lived here on this property (about 21 or so acres), I’ve made some on-again, off-again efforts at putting names to things. Now, with my nifty new camera by my side, I can photograph IT and then do research to identify IT that doesn’t have to rely on my aging memory.
And with this nifty new blog, I can check to make sure that I’m not off track about what IT is. I can ask people like Ruthie to help! Or maybe even Julie, the uber-naturalist, would drop by and straighten me out!
Out here in the country, the farmers give their own names to things. For example, Farmer Rudy, who tends our hay field, calls some of the vines in our trees monkey vines. Now, a quick Google search tells me that there are, indeed, some plants called monkey vines. But the vines he’s referring to have little or nothing to do with the monkey vines mentioned on Google.
So just what ARE those darned monkey vines?
Similarly, the locals call these beautiful, wild flowers that twine up high through the trees trumpet flowers, no doubt because of their trumpet-like shape.
Mystery Flower Identified - Trumpet Vine (Thanks Carol and Ruthie for the ID!)
But IS this a trumpet flower? We have dozens of them, providing bright spots of color in the foliage in the hot months of August.
Now, I’ve already threatened to have my own little butterfly gallery. So here are two more candidates.
Mystery butterfly #1
I’m pretty sure this is a butterfly and not a moth because of the knobby ends on his antennae. He’s a small, light green fellow. There are many of his mates that hang out with him at our butterfly bush–an aptly named bush if I ever met one.
Cabbage White Butterfly (Thanks Ruthie for the ID)
Similarly, this little white butterfly sporting the black spot is plentiful here at the Bumblebee Garden. I consider myself fortunate to have captured his image because they are usually flitting around rapidly, seldom landing for very long.
Cabbage White Butterfly
Not, I actually DO know the names of some things here at the Bumblebee Garden.
For example, I know that the box turtles around here are generally Eastern box turtles.
Eastern Box Turtle
One of the things I love about living out here is how people have respect for turtles. After a rain, it is not unusual to see dozens of turtles slowly crossing the road. People invariably drive around them. And it is not a rare scene to see someone stop a car and gently move a turtle off to the side. In fact, I have NEVER seen a squished box turtle. And there is PLENTY of other road kill around here.
Finally, I definitely know about these wild creatures.
Papillons
They may look like tender fluffs of fur, but these animals are FIERCE. I just have to say the word “deer” in a normal tone of voice and they are on TRIPLE HIGH ALERT, darting from window to window, ready to stalk and chase down the offending creature. When I open the door, they RACE out and chase down the deer–at least until they hit the edge of the woods. They do not do woods.
They also know “squirrel,” “bird” and anything that begins with “Is that a…”
So there you go.
Anyone who wants to help advance my naturalist education, chime right in and give me the name for IT!
Robin
I need a plant detective…
In trying to mend my lackadaisical garden record keeping ways, I am staring a list of the plants in the garden, along with their general requirements and propagation methods. Unfortunately, though, my inconsistent habit of keeping the garden center tags is catching up with me. Plus, pass-along plants don’t generally come with tags. So I need some help.
I have two plants that I cannot find names for. Can someone please post a comment and enlighten me?
Mystery Plant #1
This is a plant that I bought at the garden center and planted last year. It is in front of the house, which is mostly north-facing, so it gets only a bit of sun during the day.
Although it started out as small starters in 3″ pots, it quickly bushed out into a nice, spreading plant, but without becoming out of control. It is about 6″ high and has a nice clumping habit.
It has tiny, variegated leaves with spiky edges. In the spring, it sports tiny yellow clusters of flowers just above the foliage. And this is a nice feature: It stays green all winter long here in zone 7.
Does anyone know the name of this useful little plant?
Mystery Plant #2
The second mystery plant was recently given to me by our family friend Lucia.
First, you should know that Lucia loves all plants. She does not discriminate between those that are weeds and those that are finely-bred and valuable specimens. She also NEVER EVER knows the name of a plant or its origin. She passes along a plant with the generic endorsement, “It is boo-ti-ful. You will love it.”
As a result, I always fret about her gifts and whether they will turn into monsters.
She also has the tendency to tell me WHERE to plant something. And if she doesn’t like how I plant it, she digs it up and re-plants it. Sometimes, she comes over our house and I don’t know she’s here until I hear the waterhose turn on. She’s outside in my garden!
Despite all that, she is a good-hearted person and we couldn’t get along without her here. I don’t have the heart (nerve) to tell her to stop telling me what to do.
Nuff said about Lucia…
Mystery plant #2 is one of her recent gifts. It is a small plant that she says will spread. (Oh, goodie.) She also says that it likes shade and will grow to be about 1′ high.
The leaves are rather pretty–green with veins of red underneath and showing on top. The stems also are green and red.
The plant looks a bit fragile and spindly to me right now, but she says that it will fill out as it gets established. I have planted several of them in a shade garden I’m starting near the driveway turnaround.
Do I WANT this plant to get established? What the heck is it?
On the Subject of Record Keeping
Many of the garden bloggers that I’m reading reference reference going back to their blog postings to see when plants bloomed or harvests occurred in previous years. So it seems that many are also using their blogs as their record keeping tool for the garden. I haven’t seen anything particularly formalized in this respect, although I have seen one garden blogger (can’t find her now) who actually keeps a TO DO list, complete with crossed-out chores, on her home page!
I began this garden year keeping a spiral notebook of each day: what was planted, what chores were completed, etc. That lasted about 10 minutes. So I’m looking for a better method.
For example, a client of mine recently bought a house with a beautiful yard and garden already in place. The owner had lovingly made a drawing of the whole yard with landscaper-like notes. And, GET THIS, he also had an Excel spreadsheet cross-referencing all of the plants in the drawing, along with when they were planted, requirements, propagation methods and other information.
I think that I don’t want to go the Excel spreadsheet route, but I am interested in something a bit more formalized that what I’ve been doing. (Which would be nothing.) I would be fascinated to hear how you keep your own garden records.
Help anyone?
Robin
A garden is continually changing…
Plants grow, flourish, produce their fruit and then find their magical ways to create a new plant.
The spinach bid adieu long ago. Our lettuce also has finally gone to seed. This is, perhaps, one of the saddest passings in our garden, since a green salad is nearly always on the dinner menu. One of the great joys of a garden is going out and picking what is fresh and ripe, rinsing it off and eating it within minutes of the harvest.
Lettuce going to seed
But to take its place, our cucumbers are thriving. Cucumber salad. Cucumbers in neufchatel cheese. Oriental cucumbers. Chopped cucumbers in veggie wraps. Homemade bread and butter pickles.
Yes, you can perhaps have too many cucumbers. And zucchini.
Cucumber vines
A closer look at the flowers in the garden also reveals a bounty of bugs. Some good. Some bad.
A constant are the bees–at least so far. I do worry about the mass bee deaths that are occurring. So far, we still see bees, particularly the big fat bumblebees.
Bumblebee
My favorites are the butterflies. I haven’t made a conscious effort to attract butterflies. It just happened. They love any and all flowers. But especially, they love the butterfly bush.
I wish I had the skills to capture what happens near the end of the day. Although all day long the butterfly bush is FILLED with butterflies, around 5 p.m., there seems to be some sort of butterfly meeting. They all converge in a frenzy of activity. Perhaps they are trying to get that last bit of nectar before it gets too late and everyone has to go to bed. Really, though, I don’t know why. But I wish that I had the ability to capture the mass and movement of butterflies. I’ll have to figure that out.
Butterfly - Red Admiral (vanessa atalanta)
Until I do, though, there will be plenty for me to do cataloging and identifying the wide variety of butterflies that visit our garden.
Butterfly — Anise Swallowtail?
Can anyone tell I have a new camera? After seeing all the fabulous photography in some of the garden blogs I visit, I decided I need to be a better photographer.
Good grief. Another thing to do! Ben is already laughing at all my “pet projects!”
Robin
Today’s is a look at the good, the bad and the ugly at a Bumblebee Garden.
It started over at Colleen’s In the Garden Online. Colleen was bold enough to expose the dark side of her garden–the less-than-magazine-picture-perfect shots that every gardener has and doesn’t want others to know about.
I wholeheartedly applaud the motivation behind this thread of discussion. With all our pictorials of bountiful harvests, perfect specimens, rampant foliage and peaceful garden retreats, garden bloggers may sometimes tend to err much the way that the glossy garden magazines have erred–by presenting an ideal that no novice–or even experienced gardener without help–can maintain.
So here goes with my own version of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
Weedy corner in the Colonial theme garden
It seems that every year since I began the Colonial theme garden I have had one weedy corner. I tell myself that it’s my tribute to the true laws of mother nature. I rationalize that it’s an acknowledgement of the untamability of our natural environment.
In reality, I usually just don’t know what I’m doing. Take this weedy corner, for example. Last year I planted an obedient plant here. I don’t recall that it did particularly well. I have never before seen an obedient plant, so I don’t remember what it looks like. So when plants started doing what plants do, I didn’t know what was weed and what was obedient plant. I still don’t.
Yes, I know I can go and look it up. And truly, it’s on my list. But I never remember when I actually have the time.
Out of control roses
Not too far from the weedy corner is a pair of out of control climbing roses.They look shabby 11 months out of the year. Weeds grow under them that I cannot get to because the bush is so thick. I could whack at them every week and they would only grow more robust from the abuse. I should take them out, but that would require a crane.
Weed pile with broken down garden cart
I saved the worst for last. I have a 3′-high weed pile. This is where I have thrown weeds that I didn’t want to compost or the profuse quantity of sticks and stickers that just couldn’t be mulched without gumming up my machine. As a result, I have an ugly and, sadly, growing collection of discarded weeds.
The broken down garden cart adds to the scene. I bought it on sale at K-Mart for $40. Stupid. It didn’t last any time before the tires went kaplooey. I haven’t figured out how to have it fixed because I dislike the cart anyway. It has a bar that sticks out under the handle that always manages to jab me in the leg.
Really need to put all this into the pickup truck and take it to the landfill. But the pickup truck is broken down–again.
Now that I’ve exposed the ugly parts. Here is a quick look at some of the Bumblebee Garden that I don’t believe I’ve shared before.
Purple border
I have a lovely little purple border with these fabulous cock’s comb flowers. A friend gave me one of these flower last year and I saved the seeds, sprouting them in my light garden. I had dozens of these, which I dotted around the garden. That’s a volunteer elephant ear that’s coming up underneath the cock’s comb. I forgot that I had put it there last year. They aren’t supposed to overwinter outdoors here in zone 7, but no one told this elephant ear.
Container garden arrangements
I love mixing up different plants in containers. This arrangement of tiny petunias, salvia and dusty miller has been a repeat show stopper on the back deck.
Sky pencil holly arrangement
Similarly, the sky pencil holly arrangement, modeled on one that I saw at the Dixon Gallery and Garden in Memphis, is a bounty of color.
Okay, I have done my duty by showing the dark side of a Bumblebee Garden. And I hope I have somewhat redeemed myself by showing that I’m not a total garden loser.
Like most gardeners, I don’t have any garden help. I mow my own lawn. I do my own weeding. My own planting and such. My husband helps out with some push mowing at the wild edges about once a week or so. My teenage son will occasionally help me with some tote-and-haul work. He is also a good helper during my shopping sprees at the garden center. Otherwise, the garden is mostly mine.
It’s not all pretty. But I hope that the pretty parts distract from the scraggly corners.
Robin
