Old Country Gardens

Holy Cow!

2010-07-20T10:54:00.005-04:00

This spring my friend Beth gave me some beans in trade for a cow...

Actually, Beth gave me two bean plants. She explained to me that these beans have been handed down generation after generation and came from Thomas Jefferson's garden. I'm pretty sure they are Hyacinth beans.

I have two groups of potted herbs on my back patio, so I planted the beans in a large container and placed it among those pots. Once I realized the beans were climbers, I took one of my copper stick-figure-folk and stuck it in the pot as a support.

This subject is hard to photograph. It would be better with a plain backdrop but I can't move the pot around and the thin lines of the copper pipe are hard to pick up with the camera.

Hopefully you can see the structure here and how the beans began to grow up the copper pipe.

I decided my stick-figure-folk needed a head (I named him "Tom") so I added a nice shiny copper toilet float on top.

Uh oh, those beans really started to grow and before I knew it they were encircling poor Tom's neck!

Something had to be done quickly, so I thought it would be nice to have Tom hold up an umbrella that the beans could still grow upon. Luckily I have a number of pieces of copper pipe left over from an old flower show exhibit.

Here you can see the collection of pots, the stick-figure and the long section of pipe. Ahhh, now I felt my beans had just what they needed.

This last photo was shot this morning. At the top of the long pipe I spread out some more copper tubing to simulate the spokes of an umbrella. Unfortunately I noticed that the beans are already as high as the gutter of the house and I don't think this is nearly enough of a growing frame for them!

Looks like a trip to Home Depot is on my "to-do" list. I'm going to have to get some more copper fittings and get creative. I think I'll buy a bundle of refrigerator copper tubing and create a larger umbrella structure up top.

Anybody have a better idea? I'm listening but hurry up, at this rate there's going to be a giant climbing down this structure by the end of the week!

Fe-fi-fo-fum,
Melanie

Bridge Gardens, Peconic Land Trust

2010-07-18T09:20:00.005-04:00

This past Thursday I had the distinct pleasure of joining my fellow garden club members in a delightful tour of Bridge Gardens. Bridge Gardens is on the south Fork of Long Island in the town of Bridgehampton and is part of the Peconic Land Trust organization.

If you are vacationing on Long Island or lucky enough to live here, and if you are into herb gardening, I highly recommend a trip to see this place. There are lots of other things to see there too such as the perennial border pictured above but the herb garden is superb!

A number of topiaries can be found (hmmm, my spell check likes topiary and topiary's but not topiaries?) dotting the landscape. Some of them jump out at you like this trio of swans, others are more subtle.

There's a small water garden which had a nice reflection for me to play with.

As I said before, the herb garden is incredible. There was so much to see, touch, smell and photograph here. I think our club spent 45 minutes checking everything out.

There are four corners and a center planting. One corner had cooking herbs, one was medicinal herbs, one was textile/household herbs and the last was ??? (I'll guess ornamental herbs?). There were Boxwood borders, Lavender borders and Berberis borders. The Berberis (Barberry) was such a beautiful shrub and I never thought of using it this way. One warning though, it does have sharp thorns!

The brick walkway had no weeds growing in it, Rebecca and I wondered how they managed that but never got around to asking.

I took a number of close up shots such as this one of Saponaria (bouncing bet - used to make a type of soap) but I'm going to post those on my Melanie's Perennials blog. I usually try to limit my posts to 5 photos so that people who still don't have high speed internet can also view them but there's just too much to share this time.

I thought the use of pots around the garden was charming and had to take a photo of the simple cinder block used to raise the pot higher. In my own garden I've been raising pots up like this and it makes such a difference!

There's a number of pieces of artwork and sculptures around the gardens. Many of them elegant, other's are quite whimsical.

Hidden in the back (I still can't believe I found it) was a piece of artwork that's right up my alley. A lovely shopping cart with a burlap border and planted with some yummy edibles. Now you know I'm going to need one of these. In my case I think I'd plant it with kitchen herbs so I can wheel it right over to the barbeque when grilling dinner :-)

Off to spend the day trying to water the gardens. While I love swiming in my pool every day, I do wish we had a bit more rain.

Enjoy!

Who knew?

2010-07-13T15:27:00.002-04:00

Wonder of wonders, the ultimate "duh" moment came yesterday when I learned the reason my laptop wouldn't connect to the internet because the wireless switch on the front of it was turned off... Oh well, I might be a great gardener but computer guru I am not!

I have so many photos to share and things to say that I'm totally backlogged...need an internet version of bran ;-)

Hope you enjoy this series of photos, I'll keep you guessing at the plant this bloom is on (until the last shot).

I had such fun taking these photos, aren't they beautiful?

The color range surprised me, while I expected lots of pinks, the yellows were totally unexpected. This one has a wonderful darker center.

From this angle you can see the pollen. Something for the bees to come buzzing around for! I never thought to look for seeds on these flowers later on but I just might remember to do that this year.

While having fun and cropping this photo I immediately thought of Kathleen McElwain. If you haven't seen some of her artwork, you should treat yourself and take a look! Just click on her name and it will take you to her site.

Last but not lease, a lighter pink. Have you guessed yet what these blooms are on? They're from my darling hens & chicks (Sempervivum)!

Gosh Darned Computer *&^%^%

2010-07-11T14:30:00.000-04:00

Hi all,

Been experiencing problems for days now with my laptop. Unfortunately I'm not a computer wiz and am waiting for a family member to come rescue me!

Please be patient, I have so many photos I want to share with all of you :-)

Melanie

Gianna's Garden

2010-06-26T19:21:00.004-04:00

If there's anybody on this planet that's more talented then my friend Gianna at designing container arrangements, I have yet to meet them. Gianna is the Queen, hands down, best container designer ever.

Anybody who lives on Long Island is lucky, you can go to Main Street Nursery in Huntington village and pick her brain any time.

I'm even luckier, Gianna (and her equally talented husband Rich) live up the street from me.

These first two shots are a patio garden on the roof of their garage. You can't imagine how delightful it is to sit up here with a cool drink and just soak in the amazing colors and forms all around you.

Today I stopped up there to congratulate their daughter on her graduation from High School. Like an idiot I forgot my camera so had to resort to my phone camera. On a recent trip to Chicago I raved about my phone camera and I still love it but I've decided I still prefer my point and shoot (press "here" dummy) camera better. The big difference is I can manipulate the point and shoot photos better.

While I'm familiar with most of the plant material (I'm just more of a perennial gardener), I'm not going to reference the various plants here. The composition of colors, textures and massed containers are all so amazing to me.

This container is my utmost favorite and I can't believe how lousy the photos came out. I will most definitely get back there with my other camera. Hopefully we have an overcast day real soon.

The amount of stunning pots filled with tropicals is mind boggling!

There's even a little fish barrel complete with fish. If I remember correctly from last year, the driftwood is to protect the fish from local predatory birds or raccoons.

Last shot for today. I took quite a few more and will post some different ones on my other blog Melanie's Perennials so if you like what you see, stop there for yet more!

All that Fluff...

2010-06-14T09:00:00.005-04:00

I'm always touting foliage, foliage color and foliage shape. Of course the truth is it's the flower that most often takes our breath away. Blooms come in all kinds of shapes, sizes, colors and textures. When choosing a plant for a particular spot, the texture of the bloom can be very important.

In this shade planting I rely on the Hosta foliage to carry me through the season. Just look at how nicely the soft blooms on the Astilbe and the Alchemilla (Ladie's mantle) compliment the more structured foliage shapes.

Every year I moan over the fact that I don't get a good shot of Astilbe. I've got to admit that I'm pretty happy with this one even though I don't know the name of this specific variety. If I had to guess, I'd say it's 'Deutschland' but I'm really not sure.

Soft, fluffy blooms are hard to photograph. Out in the very front of my gardens is a nice big clump of Thalictrum flavum subsp. glaucum (wow, try to say that three times in a row). I've had this plant for many years, it gives me a few seedlings here and there. When I'm done typing this post I'm going to do a "plant profile" on this beauty on my Melanies Perennials blog.

Right next to the Thalictrum is a large clump of Filipendula. Another wonderful fluffy bloom, just about to burst open and such great foliage too! Last year I went crazy photographing this plant, if you type in "filipendula" in the search line at the top of this blog it will take you to that post.

Here's a pale pink variety of Filipendula further along in bloom, doesn't it look like cotton candy?

Spirea blooms and Heuchera blooms, more fluff-n-stuff... The bees were all over the Spirea but I just couldn't get a clear shot. We've got overcast skies right now so I'm heading back out there to take some more photos...

Step by Step

2010-06-09T07:12:00.003-04:00

This past weekend I had the opportunity to watch my neighbors working on a great garden project. Cynthia is one of those fearless do-it-yourself ladies, ready to tackle anything. Well, this time she's decided to tackle quite a big project, a concrete walkway.

I've seen these molds for sale in the past and always thought about buying one. Thinking and doing though are different things. With Cynthia, thinking is doing and she jumped right in to the concrete making business.

As I watched her and her husband Rich mix the cement and fill the mold I thought it looked easy. To be truthful though there's still quite a bit of work involved. The site they were placing this walkway on had to be level, cleared and had landscape fabric spread on it. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of that stage.

While I was there, they were making additional stones to use to widen a part of the walkway. Cynthia explained that it only took minutes for the cement to set, at that time you can wiggle the mold and pull it free.

24 hours later the cement is hard enough that you can walk on it without making a mark.

Here you can see how you simply fit the mold into the previous piece and continue to add cement. One 50 lb. bag of cement basically fills one mold.

Now this is the photo you've been waiting for, here's what I could see when peeking over the garden gate. How cool is this walkway! I can't wait to see the finished project.

This part of the walkway was set into place. The pieces photographed above were going to be set individually along the edges to flesh out the whole design.

All told, Cynthia said they used about 50 bags of cement. The cost for them was about $150 plus the cost of the mold. What a fantastic do-it-yourself project!

Today's Blooms

2010-06-03T08:50:00.004-04:00

With a enveloping fog upon us, I had to take advantage this morning and shoot some photos.

You've all seen Claus the garden gnome before, doesn't he look especially happy now that the Oenothera 'Cold Crick' is in bloom all around his head?

The Digitalis lutea is hard for me to capture with my simple point and shoot camera. It's a true perennial foxglove. Interestingly, it only blooms on one side of the bloom stalk, the blooms all facing the side where the sun is strongest.

The biennial Digitalis (foxgloves) are also in bloom all over the place. Mixed throughout them are lots of Silene (catch-fly) and Lycnhis (rose campion) blooms.

The dwarf Aruncus athusifolious (smack dab in the center here) is another plant that is hard to show off in a photograph. I just love this plant, there must be over a dozen throughout my garden and I could easily plant a dozen more.

Astrantias are just starting to bloom. I've bought a number of different varieties and they've also sent out a few seedlings so I no longer know which are named cultivars and which are not.

One plant that is rarely photographed in bloom is Alchemilla mollis. The ladies mantle is better known for it's lovely dew studded foliage but right now it's covered with clouds of simple yet elegant chartreuse blooms.

Here you can see the Alchemilla combined with a dusky Sedum and backed up by my beloved Hakonchloa 'All Gold'.

Fading into a dusty rose color are the blooms on the Physocarpus 'Diablo'. The flowers aren't very long lived but then again, I never selected this shrub for it's blooms. The foliage is the true star here along with lovely bark in the winter.

Right next to the Physocarpus is my one and only Rose, 'Westerland'. This rose has been such a beauty for me but last year I totally ruined it by cutting it back too hard too late in the season. It barely limped along and although it's not back to prime condition, I am so happy to see it blooming again.

Lots to do in the garden today...hope you are enjoying your gardens too!

Melanie

Succulents Don't Suck...(revisted)

2010-05-28T10:22:00.003-04:00

This weekend (and much of the future season) I'll be playing with my succulents. I can't help it, they just call to me.

Earlier this morning I posted on my Melanie's Perennials blog, it too was about succulents and some of the plans I have with them.

There are so many different varieties of Sempervivum and Sedums. I don't claim to be an expert on them, I'm not even super careful about keeping their names. If I have a name, I put it in the pot. If I don't, I still grow them and love them. Many varieties were sold to me without names. They are as beautiful as the named varieties so I really just don't care.

This one I've had for 4 or 5 years now. It's been divided each and every year and makes these soft little tufts. The name on the pot was TBA, probably just stood for "to be advised".

One of the reasons I love these plants so much is because they are so forgiving of harsh conditions and so darn easy to grow! This Sedum acre is in a small, cracked plastic pot. It's grown out of the pot and along the ground, rooting in tiny cracks in the concrete.

Here's the same plant, it just crept it's way along the concrete and wound around a nearby planter. You would never know that there's no soil under here.

Every now and then an escapee finds a foothold. This is a tiny Sedum, I'm pretty sure it's name is Sedum dasyphyllum. I have no problem with it having caught hold in the cracks here, in fact I'm going to encourage it to grow!

Pots of these babies are for sale, there's not than many potted up yet and each and every one is different. The watering can is not for sale, I just adore it and can't part with it!

This afternoon friends are coming over with their children. If you do any gardening with kids you have to try these Hens & Chicks. Kids love them! I've done programs at schools and brought in pots of Sempervivum (Hens & chicks). They are so touchable, not thorny or prickly but soft and fuzzy.

The kids especially love the cobwebbed ones and love the fact that they can take them in their fingers and tease the plants apart. The whole idea of the mother plant (the hen) and her little babies (the chicks) appeals to them.

Here's a close up shot, these are just about to send out little babies and we'll be making three different pots from this one piece.

Here's one that was divided out a week ago. You can see how I left room for it to fatten up and for any babies that pop out to find a place to root.

I always add in a few non-succulent plants. This is a Saxifraga 'Cloth of Gold' that I bought yesterday. I haven't had luck with them in the past but this is a new variety for me. It's going to be paired with a beautiful blue foliaged Allium (you can see it in the top photo in the right side of the hypertufa trough).

Off to play,
Melanie

Symphytum - Comfrey

2010-05-25T07:45:00.003-04:00

I try to do a perennial spotlight every few weeks. Yesterday I wrote one for my Melanie's Perennials blog, it featured some of the hardy Geraniums in bloom right now.

Another perennial that is deserving of the spotlight is Symphytum which is commonly known as Comfrey or Borage. Any book on herbs contains a page on this hardy perennial. Throughout history it has been used for many different ailments, unfortunately it has come to light that internal use of this plant causes liver cancer.

While I grow quite a few herbs in my garden, I rarely use them in any way other than ones specifically grown for flavoring foods (fennel, basil, mint, rosemary and so on). I have no problem keeping this lovely plant in my garden.

The tallest of the three comfrey's growing in my garden is this purplish/blue one.

I would love to have the full botanical name for this plant but I never purchased it with a tag. My friend Kim and I each rescued a small piece that had been planted at a local historical house. I am just crazy about it and look forward to seeing how it grows in future years.

Another Symphytum in my garden is this pale white/pink variety. I actually purchased this one at a local nursery but none of the pots had labels in them. I have it planted in full sun and part shade, it appears happy in either condition and has been blooming for almost a month now.

In one of my front gardens we had a telephone pole that had broken. The phone company simply cut it off at ground level and put in a new pole. I was worried that nothing would grow near the rotting base of the old pole so planted Symphytum in that spot.

I had read that Symphtum is an invasive plant but so far I have yet to experience any type of invasiveness from any of these varieties. Maybe that one reference was wrong?

This pink blooming one is the only one I have the full name for, it's Symphytum 'Langham's Pink'.

The leaves on Symphytum are rough to the touch and have been used (and still are used) to make a poultice to help knit broken bones. Another use I've read about is to add them to your compost pile to speed up decomposition or to make compost tea with them. I have tried the tea, it stinks to high heaven so I haven't tried it again. If any of you make compost tea with this plant I'd love to know about it.

Over the years I've seen another Symphytum for sale, it's name is 'Goldsmith' and it has foliage that is marbled with yellow & green. Although I did buy this and plant it in my garden in semi-shade it is not here now. I would try it again if I saw it for sale but put it in a sunnier location.

Searching on-line I found some great information at Wikipedia The article states that comfrey grows back quickly after being cut back. This is something I have had first hand experience with, I've cut mine back hard after flowering, put the foliage on the compost heap and had a new flush of growth and bloom.

One thing I haven't tried yet is to divide any of my comfrey. Let me know if you have!

Melanie

Size Counts!

2010-05-24T11:23:00.004-04:00

What an incendiary title but oh so true. When planning your garden, size most certainly does count. There's a wealth of dwarf perennial plants and giant perennial plants too but most often it's the trees and shrubs that gardeners miscalculate when it comes to size and space.

This is Lilac 'Miss Kim', saddled with the horrendous botanical name of Syringa pubescens subsp. patula 'Miss Kim'. You can see how I broke my own rule and just stuck with the nickname this time :-)

My 'Miss Kim' Lilac and my Physocarpus 'Diablo' (Ninebark) are both in bloom today. 'Miss Kim is just finishing up while 'Diablo' has just begun to burst into bloom. Both are specatular shrubs and wonderful additions to the home landscape.

There's just one problem with these two shrubs. I totally miscalculated the size they would reach upon maturity. 'Diablo' is lucky, it's in a spot where although larger than I expected, I can forgive it's vigorous growth and just hack it back when needed (as soon as it's done blooming it's in for a serious haircut).

Unfortunately for 'Miss Kim', she has to go. Here you can see the bed where they are, Physocarpus 'Diablo' to the far left, Lilac 'Miss Kim' front and center, totally obliviating the entrance to the garden!

Last year I took a similar photo, maybe you can see that on one side of the lilac is a charming mailbox. That mailbox is totally hidden from view now. I also have to add that I've cut this Lilac back quite a bit in the past two years.

Way back in 2005 I took a photo of the garden as it had just been replanted. My design was a square garden with a circular path in the center. It's my favorite plan, one I hope to recreate in future locations.

When looking for photos this morning to see the progression of size, I finally made my mind up. This week the Lilac will go, I'll cut it back hard and if somebody comes here in the next week and is willing to dig it up and transport it, they will be welcome to it. First come first serve!

Heartbreaking Beauty

2010-05-17T21:04:00.003-04:00

Yes, that title is correct, "Heartbreaking Beauty" not "Breathtaking Beauty".

Today was a tough day in the garden, it's that time of spring where the plantings all begin to meld and you realize that all of your creative designs have come together. Unfortunately for me today it was also a day where many of my hearts desires have come crashing around me.

While my garden did little to ease my mind, it did keep my hands busy as I puttered around and took photos.

I've worked for years on this corner of my garden, it took my breath away to see how everything finally came together.

Here's a shot just a few feet closer, you can see Claus, my garden gnome where he is quite happily surrounded by an explosion of hardy Geranium and Symphytum blooms.

Up closer still, you can see the Geranium cantabrigiense 'Karmina' just beginning to go wild, behind it is an iris that has long ago lost it's name but certainly not it's beauty. The backdrop of blue is Centaurea montana (also known as Bachelor's Buttons).

The opposite corner of this bed is almost as much of a work of art. Hosta 'Sagae' dominates in the center (only planted there last year) along with the fantastic gold of the Hakonecloa 'All Gold'.

These two plants will put on this show from now until autumn. Romantic woes aside, who could ask for more?

Misty rain

2010-05-13T07:53:00.003-04:00

Ahhh, there's nothing like a long misty rain to rejuvenate the garden. Much as I dislike being cold and wet, I know just how much the garden appreciates this weather.

A big bonus to misty rain is that it's a great photo opportunity!

In this opening shot you're looking at my variegated Ginko, the variegation is just starting to appear on the leaves.

The succulents are wonderful rain drop catchers. They look as if they're studded with jewels. I am so enamored with these babies, I hardly want to work any where else in the garden right now.

Up close and personal, see how the fine little hairs (officially called cilia) catch the mist? These little babies are not sharp like cactus, they are soft to the touch and while I wear gloves out in the garden, when I play with my succulents, I need to feel them with my bare skin.

The Hosta are starting to put on their show, when they first emerge the colors can be quite muted but give them a little time and they really start to shine!

Of course the all time favorite for catching mist, rain or dew is Alchemilla mollis (Ladies Mantle). I love this plant so much but have given up potting it up for people as I just can't get it to sell. (If you want some, I'll dig it out of the garden for you.)

One last peek, in this combination photo you can see how different foliage catches water. On the far left is Nepeta musinii (cat mint) which has some water on it, mostly around the edges of the leaves. In the middle is Oreganum aureum (Golden Oregano) which doesn't look wet at all. On the right side is the star of this photo, Sedum 'Lynda Windsor' with her smoky colors and huge diamond-like drops of moisture.

It's still chilly here but the sun is shining now so I'm off to play with my hens and chicks. Hope you are all reveling in your late spring gardens!

How nice to see you!

2010-05-08T20:07:00.003-04:00

Today Old Country Gardens was officially open for business. The weather was a bit challenging, morning spits of showers, late afternoon was gale like winds but hey, nothing stops gardeners!

It was so nice to see so many long time gardening friends. Today was "men's day", it seems like the guys were out and they were shopping for Hosta and Daylilies!

Vinnie drove over in a truck that makes my heart go pitter patter and loaded the bed up with daylilies... what a guy!

Visitors had to take a whiff of the honeysuckle and just missing at the right corner was a huge lilac bush in full bloom. Wish I had smell-o-vision here for all of you.

I only had a minute to sit but had to sit in that swing and look up at the sky, wasn't it beautiful!

The Vibernum plicatum that I received years ago from my friend Kim has grown to the size of a small tree. It was just a cutting she had layered in her garden and fit easily into my SUV back then.

Some winters the Lysimachia 'Jenny' doesn't return but this year it seems to have loved all the snow cover we had. This photo was actually taken in Kim's garden the other day but mine looks just as nice and across the street my friend Cynthia has a wealth of this lovely plant too.

Right now I'm physically exhausted, this is the first time this season that I spent all day outside. Luckily everybody helps me, Mom does just about everything. One of the men who came to shop dug his own Hostas out of the ground.

The good news? Yes, it was benign and despite some setbacks being in the garden and seeing all my friends again is the best therapy of all.

The Mystery Plant

2010-05-04T07:37:00.002-04:00

Last weekend while in Chicago I came upon a mystery plant. Now I do have to admit that I don't grow every perennial out there but in most cases I can identify the ones I see while on tour.

This plant intrigued me, needless to say I'd love to try a piece someday.

The flowers remind me a little of Columbines.

The foliage underneath the blooms though doesn't resemble Columbine foliage at all.

There are mass plantings of this lovely plant at Millenium Park in Chicago. I'm guessing that it's a perennial since it was surrounded by other perennials. In this one area it was mixed with Stachys monnieri.

Anybody have any idea what this is?

Chicago Blues

2010-04-28T13:07:00.012-04:00

This weekend I had the most glorious time in Chicago. Although the mother nature did her best to challenge us with her temper tantrums, she couldn't put a damper in our visit.

Over the four days I walked every inch and mile that I could, taking photos like crazy. The spring plantings were a gardeners dream come true.

Chicago is famous for it's Blues scene, well, I found quite a few different blues there. To begin with, that's me in front of the Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park. As you can see the sky was as blue as could be.

Plantings were everywhere, containers covered the sidewalks. I took so many container photos that I'm going to dedicate a separate post for them on my Melanie's Perennials blog. I just love the blues of the Hyacinths and Pansies against the gold of the Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea' (creeping jenny).

Here's a close up of those amazing blue Hyacinths, I found them all over the city!

Mertensia virginica (Virginia blue bells) is a plant that's relatively new to me although not new to the plant world. Obviously somebody in the parks dept in Chicago has realized just how well this plant works in the landscape.

Here you can see the Mertensia combined with white Tulips, Narcissus, and backed with an amazing Cercis canadensis (Red Bud) tree.

Unfortunately it's hard to get quality shots when the sun is shining so brightly but I couldn't resist trying to photograph this unusual pairing of Muscari (Grape hyacinth) and an unknown Euphorbia. One thing I wished for was to find plant labels with the names of these beauties but no labels were to be found.

Lots of blues planted in this windowbox and just in case that's not enough blue, there's the reflection of the sky up above.

Myosotis (Forget-me-not) is a biennial. Some people call them short lived perennials but I think they only live 2 years, a biennial in my book. A nice cool combination with yellow daffodils.

At the Lincoln Park Conservatory they had forced into bloom all kinds of plant material. The combination of Lilium and Tradescantia andersonia was breathtaking.

Also at the conservatory I spied this planting of Campanula poscharskyana just cascading out of a window planter. What a charming use of this hardy perennial.

Hope you liked my version of the Chicago Blues, it was all music to me :-)

Melanie

Speed Bumps in the road

2010-04-16T10:56:00.002-04:00

Plans were to open the garden to the public this Saturday, April 17th. Every now and then though you come across a speed bump in the road and need to slow down.

This past Wednesday I had a lump removed from my breast, it was more involved than I realized (or maybe more than I wanted to realize). Gardening is on a slow down for the time being. I can get out there and take lots and lots of photos (and be assured that I will do just that). I just can't dig or lift for a while so we are pushing the opening date of Melanie's Perennials to May 1st.

Hope to see you then!

Melanie

Sky High

2010-04-14T06:47:00.004-04:00

Early spring isn't the easiest time to shoot photos in the garden. The soil is still bare, leaf and winter debris still covers many spots. So, for inspiration one needs to get down on hands and knees and look across the ground or even upwards towards the sky.

The emerging tips of the Polygonatum variegatum (Variegated Solomon's Seal) poke upright unerringly bending towards the sun. We'll be potting up lots of these lovelies for our friends.

Hellebores are at their peak, if I was staying at this house I'd be buying more and more of these lovely perennials. Incredibly easy to maintain, stunning flowers, no diseases that I'm aware of, unedible to deer and other wildlife and beautiful foliage...who could ask for more?

This is my favorite shot from yesterday's photo shoot, and yes, I had to lie on the ground to take it. The Epemediums are just beginning to put on a show, one of their nicknames is "Turk's Cap".

Another Hellebore, this one is in such a tough location... barren soil, massive tree roots from a large Maple, no water during dry season and yet it's still blooming away.

Four or Five years ago a gardening friend gave me a few Hellebore seedlings which I put out back by the shed. This is the most beautiful one, thank you Mary Kay!

One more Epemedium here. In the next week or two I will have several more varieties open. Eventually I'll dedicate a post to this plant, it's well worth adding to your garden.

The Pulmonarias are also starting to shine, I'll be posting about them on Melanie's Perennials later this morning.

Hypertufa day

2010-04-11T20:38:00.006-04:00

Last Thursday was Hypertufa Day for a few women from the Nathan Hale Garden Club in Huntington, New York.

We gathered at Kim's house where her wonderful husband Paul had put together all the ingredients we needed to try our hand at making hypertufa.

Hypertufa is a product that looks like cement but weighs less. A woman can actually manage to lift containers made out of hypertufa. It's a mix of Portland Cement, Peat Moss, Perlite and fiberglass fibers.

Some other products needed are a spray-on oil so the molds slip off easily.

Gloves are a must to protect your hands and a breathing mask and goggles are also important!

This is the fiberglass being added to the mix. In a future post I'll give you the exact recipe.

Once water was added we had a nice crumbly product to work with.

Each of us chose a different kind of container to use as our mold. Nothing too large, we're saving that for the next time!

Simply press the mixture firmly against all the walls of your mold, making sure there are no trapped air pockets and that the thickness is the same all the way around.

Smooth off the top since that will be the top of your container once it is taken out of the mold.

Kim and I both chose to make ours out of 3 litter soda bottles (almost impossible to find). Kim formed hers by hand like you see here. I chose to use a beer can in the center as a second mold. We'll see which works out better.

Don't forget to poke some holes in the bottom for drainage.

Then, wrap your mold in a plastic bag and tie it shut. You need to wait for 48 hours before taking it out of the bag and slipping the mold off. Then leave your container out in the rain and elements for about 2 months in order to cure before planting in it.

Lots more photos to follow, Kim and I are putting together a whole power point program on this fun project.

Spring sprang a leak

2010-03-31T10:55:00.003-04:00

This opening shot is not quite as sharp as I hoped but it still gets my message across. Yes, spring has arrived here at Old Country Gardens. The rains have also arrived (or maybe they just never left?) and it will be some time yet before the soil is dry enough to walk upon.

Between work, travel and weather I missed most of the earliest blooms. Galianthus (snow drops), Crocus and Hamamelis (Witch Hazel) have all finished up their show. No worries though, there's so much more to come!

The Hellebores have really been gearing up to what appears to be a banner bloom season. As you can see here, to appreciate their lovely face you need to turn the blooms upward. One way to get around this is to plant them on an embankment or in a raised garden.

Today I photographed a number of Hellebore blooms and will post specifically about them on my other blog Melanie's Perennials.

While there is growth everywhere I turn, I wouldn't say that most of it is photo worthy yet. Lush and delicious looking are the glaucous stalks on the Egyptian Onions. I'm still searching for a recipe that will utilize these yummy babies.

The Pieris japonicas (Japanese Andromedas) are also starting to bloom. They have the most heavenly scent but I think a bit more heat is required before I will be able to smell them.

Try planting one near a window in your house so on warm spring days you can open the window and let in the perfumed air.

As the title of this post says, spring sprang a leak. Not detered by all the water though is this darling little rosette of Sedum poking out of an old watering can. I'm just tickled pink when I find things like this.

With warmer temperatures and a few dry days on the way, I hope to get out and snap a few more photos on Friday or Easter Sunday.

Stay tuned, I won't be far away...
Melanie

Blooms!!!

2010-03-16T18:04:00.004-04:00

Rushing off to work every morning only to arrive at home in the dark makes it hard to focus on the garden. Today as I stepped out of the store I was delighted to find myself standing outside in the most glorious spring conditions.

Driving my short trip home I noticed clumps of Crocus and even a few early Daffodils in bloom. I couldn't wait to get to my own little piece of heaven to see what was here.

Sure enough, driving slow as can be down my driveway I saw that spring has arrived here at Old Country Garden too!

The leaves are still down thick, heavily matted from the deep snows that covered them only two short weeks ago. Galianthus (snow drops) Crocus and other early spring bloomers don't seem to mind, they just muscled their way through to poke up and greet the warm sunshine.

In the grand scheme of things, these blooms are tiny little jewels scattered across a very large landscape. Still, the joy they bring when I see them is worth their weight in gold.

The Hellebores have been just as busy pushing up their spectacular buds, this winter must have been perfect for them because I'm seeing more buds than ever.

Even the Sempervivum (Hen's & Chicks) are happy to soak up the cool sunshine.

Thursday we are expecting 60 degree temperatures and I'm off from work. How muddy do you think I'll be able to get?

Can't wait to see :-)
Melanie

Orchids in my window

2010-02-21T15:27:00.004-05:00

House plants have never been my strength. Strange as it might seem, I have problems forgetting to water them or take care of them. So 6 years ago when Eve gave me an Orchid I thought "oh no, another plant I'm going to slowly torture to death". Imagine my surprise when this plant not only thrived but continue to bloom for me year after year!

The type of Orchids I've been growing are Phalaenopsis. As house plants I find them ideal, they don't require high concentrations of light, and if you forget to water them every now and then they don't seem to mind. In fact, if I understand it correctly, too much water is how most people kill their Orchids.
About a month ago my daughter Emily and I were at the local supermarket where they had a table full of Orchids. Emily liked the hot pink varieties but I just had to have this darling little chartreuse one. The sale price of $14.99 put it right in the same category as a nice cut flower arrangement. How many cut flower arrangements would still be going strong a month later?

Last spring when my Mom drove up from Florida she brought a few of her Orchids with her. They've been in my den window since then, blooming more often than not. My only complaint is that they are all white (hear that Mom :-) Guess I need to shop for some other colors...

While I'm far from an expert on Orchids I'll share what's worked for me. In the summer I water them every 10 days or so, once the heat is on in the house I step that up to once a week watering. That might not be needed in your home but the heat here rises right up the wall under the windowsill so I find they dry out faster in winter.

Once the blooms are finished (thankfully they are extremely long lasting) I don't cut back the stem unless it turns a dried brown and appears dead. Even then I often only trim the stem back a few inches. So far I've always had a new node push out from lower on the stem and before I know it, there's more blooms for me to enjoy.

I've never fertilized these plants, it's the one thing I think they would like that I haven't provided. If you grow orchids and have some tips on fertilizers, please leave me a comment.

Still not sure you want to try them? Get a copy of Judy White's "Bloom-Again Orchids" published by Timberpress. I've found it to be a wonderfull book filled with luscious photos. In fact, it has inspired me to try to add a few new varieties and now I also have two miniature Oncidium Twinkle orchids that are just delightful!

As soon as we have another day with temperatures well above freezing I think I'll bring home one of those pink ones for Emily. Shush, don't tell her, it's a secret!

The Exercise of Writing

2010-01-20T16:37:00.003-05:00

Writing has become like exercise to me. So many times we tell ourselves we should exercise, we need to exercise, we must exercise. Yet each day goes by and we find another reason not to exercise, too busy, too tired, don't feel like getting sweaty, what ever it is, there's a reason not to do it.

The funny thing is I exercise every day, it's just I've had the hardest time getting back in the saddle here to write.

As motivation I made myself go through some photos taken this past season so I would remember the passion I have while I'm out in the garden. The first one that caught my eye was this shot of my delicious peas growing up the blooming Physocarpus 'Diablo'. What a wonderful moment that was when I saw the stakes I had cut for the peas also began to grow and bloom. Yummy too!

Part of my block comes from the realization that this year I will be dismantling the garden. Oh, I tell everybody it doesn't bother me and in a general way, it doesn't. I look forward to the future, to creating a new garden somewhere else. But this garden is such a part of me that it's easier to forget the whole thing, immerse myself in my new job and life and try to ignore that twinge that comes when I think about my garden.

Talking with a dear gardening friend we decided the right bed to remove from this property is the long border at the right here. Ouch!

This garden has been my pride and joy, just chock full of all kinds of wonderful perennials that thrive here in my zone 6b garden on Long Island.

As I wrote up above, I exercise every day. I have no problem taking the time to work out my body, I just need to begin to work out my brain and fingers again.

Instead of buying new work out clothes, I bought a new external hard drive and backed up all my photos. I also moved my desk to the other side of my room so that I have a different view out the window. Only trees out there now, quite naked to the eye but I know that in a few months I will start to see the lush growth begin in my shade gardens.

While the temperatures are just too cold to go out there and do much of anything, I can see from my windows that the Sempervivums (hens & chicks) are still there. They looks small and chilled but ready to plump up once the warm temperatures return.

Surprisingly, the few troughs I kept for myself look amazing well! Maybe I'll finally get out there in the next day or two and photograph them for you.

In the mean time, keep up your exercise, both that of your body and your mind. I'll try to hold up my end of the deal too~

Melanie

December Dreams

2009-12-02T07:48:00.004-05:00

Sitting here at my computer, I get a wonderful satisfaction looking at old photos taken on garden tours. At times I shake my head to wake up from dreams of tours yet to come. Many of these places are close enough that a tour would only take half a day. Other places require a bit more planning, some require serious travel.

Planting Fields Arboretum is an easy half day tour for me, only 1/2 hour from my house. It is by far the place I've visited most. (Photo credit goes to my daughter Emily who took this shot when she was 12.)

Even closer than Planting Fields Arboretum are the trial gardens at SUNY Farmingdale, our local State University. Only a 15 minute ride, I could shoot a hundred photos there in an hour or two. Best of all, there's always something new to capture my attention.

Old Westbury Gardens was the first formal Gardens that I remember visiting as a child and we visited it often. Funny thing though, I couldn't find any digital images of this wonderful place and I realize it's been a number of years since I've visited there. This is something that needs to be addressed in 2010!

Now if you want a real treat, something totally unexpected, you need to tour the Shakespeare Garden in Central Park. Central Park is the most amazing place, smack dab in the middle of New York City. When you're walking through this delightful garden you'll never realize you are surrounded by skyscrapers.

Just a little bit north of Central Park (still in New York City) is the Bronx Zoo where you will find not only a vast collection of animals but some truly beautiful plantings. I was in heaven when I came upon stands of Podophyllum (May Apples).

Just across the highway from the Zoo is the famous New York Botanical Gardens and just a bit further is Wave Hill, another to-die-for garden visit. The Bronx is just chock full of garden places to tour.

Day trips taken a bit further afield include Stonecrop Gardens up state in Cold Spring, New York. The potager there had me on my knees, it was a dream come true.

Still within a day's travel is Chanticleer Gardens, just outside Philadelphia. Another place that you could totally lose yourself in as you wander around and drool over some of the latest plant material.

This photo is blurry and yet I still love it. My daughter Emily took it while riding a tour bus through Washington DC during the Cherry Blossom bloom season. I'd love to plan a trip there and see the US National Arboretum. What do you think, would you come with me?

Finally, furthest from home are the heart wrenching swamplands in Florida. Every year I make a trek down there to visit my mom. Every year she takes me to one or two of the wildlife sanctuarys where I feel like I've been transported back in time.

Mom called me yesterday and offered me plane tickets as my Christmas present. You can bet I said yes, so it looks like this January I'll be photographing the swamps and wildlife in Florida again. Maybe, just maybe I'll have a new camera by then. It's a great goal to shoot for...

Time to stop dreaming and get ready for work,
Melanie

Easy Come...Easy Go....

2009-11-30T12:11:00.004-05:00

Easy come, easy go...when the title of this post popped into my head it was strictly plant related. Then, while typing it in I realized that it could be applied to so many things in my life right now.

Some plants are easy to find, easy to care for but also, easy to go. These photos were taken in 2006 and some of these plants are no longer in my garden. In the opening shot you see the purple foliage Physocarpus 'Diablo', it is now a monster, much larger than I planned for but such a wonderful shrub that it's still in this spot. To the right is Baptisia 'Screaming Yellow' another favorite that's still here. But what's that in the foreground? Alliums that declined year after year and I know for sure that not one bloomed this year. How'd that happen?

Stachys monnieri is one the top 10 perennials in my garden. I have a wonderful pink variety I bought many years ago in a little pot at Franks Nursery. It's been divided and replanted all over my property so when I saw the purple variety, 'Hummelo' I thought it was a must have.

Unfortunately 'Hummelo' petered out almost instantly. Now I don't know if it's something that was wrong with the single plant I bought. If I remember correctly, my friend Kim bought it at the same time and hers is still growing fantastically. What ever it was though, 'Hummelo' is no longer in my garden but I would definitely try it again.

This photo isn't the best, I don't even know what the plant in the center is... I'm guessing it's Gaura. I've tried Gaura at least 4 times, never had it return. Perhaps it likes alkaline soil, my soil here is quite acidic. Have any of you had luck with this plant coming back? Any tips?

Of course there's the annuals and tender plants that I love one year and yet never seem to get again in future years. In 2006 my garden was on tour and over 600 people came through here in one week. I added 5 or 6 pots of Dahlia 'Bishop of Llandorf' which might not excite Dahlia collectors but excited me just fine with it's dark purple foliage. Hmmm, now I'm not even sure about the name...maybe it was Earl of something?

Still, as exciting as this Dahlia was, I did not dig the roots and never bought another one. Wonder of wonders...

Last but not least, it's not just plants that fit the easy come, easy go catagory. Gazing balls were a passion of mine but no matter how carefully I place them, something, wind, downed branches, Calie-the-wonderdoodle, something came and broke them.

Looking out my bedroom window right now I see what looks like a gazing ball in this same spot. Get closer though and you'll find it's a bowling ball. Bowling Balls are much hardier in my zone 6 garden, and that's a fact!

Today was my first day off in a week and my "to do" list is as long as my arm. Right at the top of it was "blog". It's wonderful to find the time to be here!

Melanie

The Master Gardeners

2009-11-18T18:04:00.005-05:00

This morning I drove out to Holtsville to give a lecture to Long Island's Master Gardeners. They are a large, active group of avid gardeners, it was a true pleasure to spend my morning with them.

The program they had hired me for was my "Perennials for Long Island Gardens". This program features plants that do well in our area (and in similar zones). I love doing this program but for the first time I can say that I was a bit disappointed in myself.

You see, I don't own a digital projector and the Master Gardeners don't have one either so I had to go back to doing an old fashioned slide program. Suddenly I felt like I was driving a horse and buggy!

These images are the actual slides that I scanned a few years ago, that's why they have the black border around them. The first shot is a tropical Hibiscus, they are not hardy here. The second photo though shows a totally hardy, perennial Hibiscus 'Kopper King'.

Since I haven't taken slides in a number of years, the program is missing the latest and greatest, basically some true stars in my garden. Maybe they aren't new plants but if I only started growing them here in the last five years, I only have them captured in digital images.

This Iris cristata luckily is in both slide format and digital format. This image is actually a scanned slide that I cropped and clarified a bit.

What I really love about going digital is being able to add the plant names to the image. Even though these are scanned slides shot many years ago, I was able to use my picasa program and write across the image.

If you've sat through a garden lecture you know how many times people ask to have a botanical name repeated or spelled. With digital lectures these types of questions are avoided and leave more time for questions on division or plant habits.

One plant though I love to see in the slides is this Edelweiss that I grew for a few years here. I know I've said it before but some day soon I'm going to grow this beauty again. You can bet I'll be shooting lots and lots of digital images of it too!

So priority number one for the new year will be buying a digital projector. Priority number two? A better camera of course!

Oh Deer!

2009-11-09T08:48:00.003-05:00

Well, my weekend adventure to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania was a success! The 6.5 hour drive there was through some of the most beautiful countryside I've ever seen. There was still plenty of autumn foliage covering the rolling hillsides. Rural scenes filled with wonderful barns, cattle, pastures and wheat colored corn fields.

The members of the garden clubs there have to be the most generous, wonderful people anywhere. It's a good thing I drove or I wouldn't have been able to get all my goodies back home. Of all the gifts I was showered with, I had to show you the most adorable trough ever, given to me by Len Lehman. It's made from a 3 gallon soda bottle!

Bonnie posted a great question this weekend. You asked what to do with your succulents in your troughs. Leave them! Over the past years I have always left my troughs planted up and have had no problems at all with them. If you are really worried, you can put them against your house foundation, in a sheltered spot (watch the overhang though so they aren't directly under the drip line).

A great cheap insulation is to fill a few leaf bags and just pack those around your containers.

This morning I went out to photograph my troughs. They look wonderful which is more than I can say for all the plants that were taken out by the frost that must have come down on Friday night. Guess I deserved that since I was bragging so much to the PA folks about not having gotten a frost yet :D

The Salvia lyrata 'Purple Knockout' is still going strong in this trough. It's a bit more aggressive than it's neighbors so I ran inside to grab a pair of scissors.

Here it is all nice and cleaned up. My photos all came out a bit blurry this morning. I think the camera kept fogging up because of the temperature change from the inside to the chilly outside. This afternoon when I get home from work I'll try to remember to take a few photos when it's warmer. Depends on how much light is left that late in the day.

Oh, I almost forgot, the title "Oh Deer"... my biggest worry was about driving home from Pittsburgh in the dark and hitting a deer. Well, I guess I don't have to worry about that anymore.

First I hit a skunk...PHEW the stink lasted for an hour. I didn't hit the deer until I was only 20 miles from New York City. Don't know who hit it first but it bounced out from right under the car in front of me and before I could react...BABUMPbumpbump. Luckily most of it went under the car, can't say that though for the antlers and head which came right up my hood and slid right up my windshield EWWWWWWW. Needless to say I spent $$ yesterday at the auto parts store and bought the industrial car wash and window cleaner and spent a good hour yesterday cleaning yuck off my car. Since I can't find any damage I consider myself a very lucky lady (at least I'm luckier than that deer).

I took a few more images, I'll post those on Melanie's Perennials. Maybe I'll see you there!

Melanie

Those #$#@! Plant collectors!

2009-11-06T07:14:00.003-05:00

As I just posted on my other blog, Melanie's Perennials, I'm off this morning to Pittsburgh PA.

Tomorrow I will be speaking to a group of gardening clubs, all made up of plant collectors. There will be Hosta collectors there, I love Hosta!

There will also be Iris collectors there, I love Iris!

Of course there will be Daylily collectors there, thank goodness I love daylilies!

And, last but not least, there will be Daffodil collectors there, I love Daffodils! Are you noticing a common theme here? Yes, I must admit I'm a plant-a-holic and most definitely have collectoritis. Truth be told, I don't collect Daffodils or Iris although I do have a healthy amount of them scattered throughout my gardens. Never say never though...

Besides these plant types, I collect hardy Geraniums, Sedums, Succulents, Astilbe, and so much more. I've learned not to tell people that I'll never collect a specific plant type, years ago I used to tell people that I didn't care much for Astilbe, now I'm adding them like crazy to my garden.

I'm so looking forward to spending two days with plant-a-holics. It turns out that I just LOVE my new job at J. Crew, but I can't say I spend even one minute there thinking about my garden.

See ya in PA!
Melanie

Inside Out

2009-10-27T11:36:00.002-04:00

Here I sit, inside on my last "free day". Tomorrow I begin working (a "real" job) and had hoped to be able to spend some time today outdoors. Unfortunately Mother Nature knows best, I really have quite a few things to work on here with my lap-top. Still, I couldn't resist taking a few shots at the amazing leaf display going on outside my windows.

Looking out my front door you can see the sugar Maple is dropping leaves like crazy. Now I'm wishing we didn't spend all day Sunday raking under this tree.

Out back (looking from my second story bedroom) you can see another spectacular sugar Maple. This one is in my neighbors yard but much of it hangs over this property and of course plenty of leaves land in my hosta bed back there.

Note to self, time to put away the yard furniture! Unfortunately in another week or two that much hated white vinyl fence will be back in full view...yuck!

Looking out my living room picture window you can see the front lawn again. The leaves are falling so fast as I type this that I expect the tree to be bare by the end of the day tomorrow. That's a good thing as they are coming to mow the lawn one last time on Thursday and after that all the yard clean up will be on my shoulders.

Hey silly dog, get out of the rain! Calie the wonder-doodle doesn't mind rain too much. Surely though it must be hard to see with all that hair in her eyes? Uh oh, might be time for a haircut...

So what will I do on this last day off? I'm going to put some time aside to finish up one of the books I'm reading. 'Bloom Again Orchids' by Judy White, published by Timber Press has been gracing my nightstand for the past two weeks. The photos alone are enough to give me sweet dreams as I slip off to sleep at night.

Orchids are the only houseplant that I'm willing to deal with. They are so incredibly easy to grow and the flowers are stunning. Later this week I'll post a book review here and then it's on to the next gardening book. If I can't be outside during the day I can still read about it and post here!

No rainy day blues for me,
Melanie

Autumn foliage

2009-10-25T20:04:00.004-04:00

What's this? Two posts in one week! Bear with me folks, I'm trying hard to get back in the saddle again.

Today I spent the most glorious day outside, at least 8 hours raking leaves, cutting back dead foliage and picking up branches that were downed during yesterdays storm.

The Hakonechloa grass out at the beginning of my driveway still looks fabulous although most of the Hosta and other perennials out there are just about done for.

This time of year the foliage on the hardy Geranium's really starts to color-up. I love the burgundy tinges on this Geranium cantabrigiense 'Biokova'.

The Hostas are putting on their very last show, within days I expect them to give up the ghost and flop to the ground. Until then though I expect to enjoy every second of their beauty.

One of my favorite plants for fall foliage is my beloved Polygonatum (Solomon's seal). The creamy yellow color is just delicious.

Here's a quick peek at the house. The lawn looks pretty clean after all that raking although I know by Tuesday it will be covered again.

Last week I applied for a job on Tuesday, had an interview on Wednesday and was hired on Thursday. Wowza was that fast! Anyway, this week (Wednesday) I begin working a "real job" again. Luckily I'll be at J.Crew at our local mall, my favorite clothing store! Guess that's why I applied there ;-) I have to admit I'm a bit addicted to wearing the latest fashions.

Off to curl up under the down blankets with Dan Brown's newest book, 'The Lost Symbol'. Won't be much extra time once Wednesday comes around.

Cheers!
Melanie

The first day...

2009-10-22T10:38:00.003-04:00

Well, autumn has truly arrived here at Old Country Gardens. It's brought a whole new life to me, today is the first day!

Emily and I have been living here on our own for three weeks now, still quite a bit of learning to do. Yesterday I went on a job interview with J.Crew in our local mall, looking for something to do for the holidays and get my feet back into the "working world". Guess what? I start today!

The sugar maple in front of my house is just a riot of color, what a great sight to see out my bedroom window.

The pass-along Chrysanthemums from my friend Gianna are blooming madly right now. I need to plant them in a spot that really shows off their autumn beauty.

Great foliage still going strong on some plants. Stachys byzantine 'Helen Von Stein' with it's big gray felty leaves looks fantastic next to the heavenly golden foliage on the Platycodon (balloon flowers).

Took a few more shots today, hope to post them to my Melanie's Perennials blog later tonight after I get home from WORK! Wooohoooo, hope my feet hold up :-)

Wish me luck!
Melanie

Living Life on the Edge

2009-09-28T20:14:00.003-04:00

Not too much gardening going on right now, been insanely busy with Board of Education duties. The other day though I took a few more butterfly images. Was totally mesmerized by this butterfly dancing oh so close to the spiderweb.

I kept watching carefully because I couldn't tell if it's feet were actually stuck there.

Now I'm thinking I should have poked it a bit with my finger to make sure that it was truly free but I'm pretty sure I remember seeing it fly about.

Also living life on the edge is Calie-the-wonderdoodle-dog who obviously has no problem sleeping in what ever position is most comfortable!

Elizabeth's Garden

2009-09-23T09:33:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I visited my friend Elizabeth. She has been the shoulder I turn to the most at this time of my life, both of us going through a divorce, both of us leaning on the other.

We had decided to go for a serious work-out-walk but first I wanted to take a few photos of her garden.

Elizabeth is an incredible visionary when it comes to design. I am so jealous of her!

The pool area she has created is so amazingly beautiful, it's hard to believe that just a few short years ago this area was just lawn and overgrown trees.

The concept of growing something between the stepping stones is one that Elizabeth uses often. In fact, the way she's done this (and other things) has almost instantly given the garden the feeling of timelessness, as if it's been there forever.

The plant material here is Mazus reptans and it must be stunning when in bloom.

Cimicifuga was cascading out over the stone wall in one corner.

Begonia grandis 'Alba' (white hardy begonias) have charmingly seeded themselves into the crevices of the stone walls. You can bet I'll be moving a few of my hardy begonias to my walled gardens this week in hopes that they too seed like this.

My absolute favorite spot in Elizabeth's garden was a massive intermingling of a dusty pink shrub rose and huge, lush Hydrangeas. I'm going to guess the Hydrangeas are tardivas but I'm not a Hydrangea expert.

Although I shot a number of photos in this area, not one of them did justice to this wonderfully romantic combination.

Elizabeth has done an awesome job of incorporating shrubs and perennials. If I'm in the mood, I'll post again soon with more shots of her shrubs.

Off to see what's going on outside today,
Melanie

Dividing Hellebores

2009-09-20T20:16:00.003-04:00

Holy cannoli, check out the size of this Hellebore! It's been in the garden about 5 years now. Although the books say that Hellebores will grow fine in bare or average soil, I planted this one in a spot that had just been amended with composted manure. It quickly grew into a monster sized plant.

Here's a side shot, you can see that it is in a full sized wheelbarrow. I have to tell you that I almost flipped myself upside down when I tried to lift it out of the ground. Note to self, trying to lift something the same size as myself is not a good idea.

I really had no idea how to divide this thing but when it comes to perennials I've become quite adventurous. So I simply grabbed my super-de-duper unbelievably sharp, root knife and started sawing away. You can see the center line where I simply when down between the emerging leaves.

I didn't cut them down too small because I really don't know how Hellebores react to being divided. All the pieces were replanted in well amended soil.

One division though was saved and I potted this one up in a big fat pot. I plan on leaving it in the pot all winter to see what happens.

So far it's been 24 hours since I cut this clump into pieces and the foliage hasn't wilted. I've got my fingers crossed that I didn't kill this beautiful plant. Tomorrow I need to remember to water all the divisions well since the ground here is bone dry and there's no rain in the weekly forecast.

Wish me luck!
Melanie

All for naught?

2009-09-18T08:08:00.003-04:00

Recently I was asked to make a container for somebody. The container was to have a $50 value and would be raffled off at a luncheon. I do so love to put together things like this and was quite excited about the task.

Unfortunately I did not have an empty container to use so I ran to Home Depot and picked a simple plastic pot for $9.99. After all, if I spent more than $50 on the container, potting soil and plant material I wouldn't be making much of a profit.

While at Home Depot, I also bought a Chrysanthemum since the only request I had about the pot was that it be "seasonal". I knew I wanted to put the Phormium in the container (the tall spiky plant that wholesales for $23 a pot but I have lots of it and thought it would be exciting for the winner) and I started gathering other things that I hoped would combine well.

The variegated Liriope, Lamiastrum and Sedum were all here in my sales area and all looking wonderful right now. Before planting the container I arranged them on the ground to see how I wanted them to end up. I knew the value was well over $50 but what the heck, my creative juices were at work.

I don't usually work in my driveway at the back of my car but I was worried that the planted container would be too heavy for me to carry. It was a good thing I thought of that! (oof)

After filling the bottom with potting soil I started adding the plant material. The Phormium went in first and got a small haircut (I trimmed out any stray leaves). By the time I had added most of the rest of the plants I realized that the Sedum wouldn't fit in and also didn't add much to the arrangement so at the end it was left out.

Just as I predicted, this pot was at the uppermost limit of my lifting capabilities. It was one heck of a "heave-HO" to get it in the car but I was so happy with what it looked like. Off to drop it off, I had to bring a wagon with me so I could just drop it down into the wagon and pull it in to the luncheon.

I decided to stay until after the raffle just in case the winner didn't have the strength to lift it into her car. Sure enough the winner was in her late 70's or even early 80's. An older man had come to pick her and her friend up. He assured me he could handle the pot until he tried to lift it. It didn't even budge off the wagon. Ah ha, I knew I'd be needed to help them get it in the car.

As we got to their car I realized a big problem, they had an old sedan and although the pot was brand spanking new and perfectly clean, they refused to place it on the back seat. With another heave-ho we got it in the trunk. As I walked off I heard them say that once they got home they were going to take each plant out of the container and split them up between the two women. The winner only cared that she got the $4.99 Chrysanthemum. CRUNCH, the trunk was closed down on top of everything. Was it all for naught?

This morning when I sat at my computer I planned on putting a post on my blooming Cimicifugas on this blog and a post on the container on my Melanie's Perennials blog. Unfortunately I mixed things up and reversed the two subjects so if you want to see the lovely Cimicifugas in bloom here, you have to click on Melanie's Perennials.

Off to split Hosta...

Fun with old slides

2009-09-16T16:36:00.003-04:00

Today is cool and rainy. Since I had several meetings to attend during the day and yet another meeting this evening, there was no chance I was going to go out and get muddy in the middle of the afternoon.

Sitting here at my computer, going through my photo files, I decided to have some fun. With my last post I discovered that I could crop some old slides that I had scanned a few years ago. Here's some images I doctored a bit.

The first was a shot that I took to demonstrate the power of foliage and foliage combinations. Who needs flowers when you have this group?

What I loved about my old Nikon camera was the ability to manually focus where ever I want. I do realize that there are digital cameras with that capability too, just not in my budget right now.

My macro lens did a nice job getting me a close up of Corydalis lutea and the miniature Iris cristata 'Alba'.

Believe it or not, I grew Edelweiss (Leontopodium alpinium) in my garden for three years. I really, REALLY need to grow this plant once more in my life time. It was so cool!

Being able to crop and focus on a specific subject in the photo was fun. The original slide with these simple planted shoes never really had the right interest. Now I would definitely use it in a program about garden shoes (of which I have enough images to make a whole program!).

Last but not least (for those of you who are counting, I tend to put 5 photos in each post because that's the limit on one download) I added a cropped shot I took with my digital camera. At times (most of the time) the digital image still gives me more to work with. But, it's nice to know that I can sit here during the blah winter months ahead and have some fun cropping, editing and adding my old slides to new programs.

Now once I upload this post, I'll be coming back to see how the images actually look over the internet. What do you think?

Pay Day!

2009-09-15T08:08:00.003-04:00

This afternoon I will be lecturing in Douglaston, New York (Long Island) on Garden Junque. This is such a fun program. Over the years I've collected a number of images of things that people use to accent their garden.

This bicycle is one that I just have to have in my own garden some day. It makes me smile from ear to ear every time I look at it!

A giant caterpillar, photographed at New York botanical gardens. Such a simple structure to make and plant, shouldn't we all have one of these?

Not all the photos are funny or crazy. The program is filled with lots of great tips on seating, walkways, arbors, gazebos and so on. For instance, while you might think the little girl in the flowered sundress is the accent in this garden, the real subject of the photo was the table in the backdrop. The home owner here took a large clay pot, turned it upside down and painted it. On top of the base she placed the large saucer that would normally be at the bottom of the pot and on top of that base was a glass circle (the type you put on an indoors accent table). What a charming seating area!

I wish I could crop the photo to show you the table up close but these are scanned slides so I'm limited in what I can do with them.

Hey! Never say never. I just tried to crop that photo and check this out, it worked! How cool is that. Ok, time to start my dance. I can't help but dance around the house when I know there's a paycheck coming in.

September blooms

2009-09-13T17:42:00.002-04:00

Summer came to a screeching halt about a week ago here on Long Island. Hints of autumn can be found in the garden. It's one of my favorite times to be outside (ok, I always like to be outside...)

Here you can see how lovely the blooms on Sedum 'Lynda Windsor' fade to a brick red color. I love the combination of them and the silvery blue foliage of the Rue.

One thing I never noticed in the past was how lovely the foliage colors up on the Oenothera 'Cold Crick'. Brilliant fall colored foliage on any good perennial is such a nice bonus.

Even some of the Monarda are starting to exhibit a reddish blush on the foliage. I know I should cut those dead heads off but they too can add to the fall scene.

The Liriope are really putting on a show this year. People never want to buy them in the spring but right now they look so nice and neat, much better than many of the tired plants in the garden.

Ajuga is definitely happy with the cooler temperatures. These voluteers popped up and have really depened in color now. I sure do love those plant volunteers.

This afternoon I was in such a weeding frenzy. It was more like weeding in beserker mode. Suddenly I noticed an excrutiating pain in my foot. Boy am I tired of getting stung. This time it was on my foot and I couldn't walk back to the house to get any antihistimines for a few minutes. I really want to get to the track and walk 5 or 6 miles tonight, hope I can get my sneaker on.

This week I plan on dividing up a ton of hosta. I'll try to remember to take lots of photos. I did manage to take a nice shot of a Platycodon (balloon flower) tap root. It was just posted on my Melanie's Perennials blog.

Off to see if that sneaker works.

Dahlias

2009-09-11T07:05:00.004-04:00

This week I took a two day Horticulture course given by the Federated Garden Clubs of New York State. A number of different speakers were brought in to give us informative programs on various types of horticulture. There was such a broad spectrum of topics that any gardener would have found something of interest here.

Our first teacher was Steve Nowotarski and the topic was Dahlias. Steve and I have crossed paths many times over the past years, mostly at flower shows and various garden club meetings. We have a good enough relationship that we can tease each other constantly about the pluses/minuses of Dahlia collection vs Daylily collecting. As an afterthought I realize we probably confuse the heck out of the people who don't know what we are talking about :-)

While I'm not going to go into the various different forms and terminology we learned about Dahlias, I am going to post a few photos that I took after the class. Steve told us about one of the Dahlia trial gardens on Long Island at Eisenhower Park. Three fellow students and I decided to go there after yesterday's final exam and see the plant material up close.

There were Dahlias in a multitude of forms, sizes and colors to see. This time of year they are reaching their peak. I highly recommend that you search online and see if there is a trial garden near you.

The bloom colors were so beautiful, I only wish the foliage had a little less mildew. Unfortunately, this summer has been brutal on our plants with unusually cool temperatures, extreme water conditions (from flooding conditions to bone dry and back to flood) so there was a hint of mildew to see on the foliage. Of course, I can hear Steve telling me that the daylily foliage doesn't look so hot right now either, hmmmm, guess he's right.

This one was extremely pleasing to me. I loved the simple form and the pinwheel effect of the inside petaloids.

Here's a not-so-artistic shot of a corner of the trial garden. If you'd like to read more information on Dahlias, Steve has a great website at www.containerdahlias.com My one wish was that I had the chance to take photos of some of Steve's containers. He's a real master when it comes to filling them with Dahlias and other plant material.

What I really liked the most about Steve's program is that his gardens are totally organic. He's a big fan of aerated compost tea (something I need to learn more about).

There were a number of trial gardens at Eisenhower Park. Besides the Dahlia one, there was a Rose Garden (very small), a Butterfly garden (at peak), an Herb garden and an All America Selections Garden (featuring new annuals). I'll post about one of the other ones on my Melanie's Perennials blog in a little while.

It's raining outside now, guess I might as well attack the dustballs rolling around the house.

Cynthia's Garden

2009-09-05T19:33:00.005-04:00

Cynthia is my neighbor directly across the street. She and her husband Rich moved in last year and I have been in heaven since then. I finally have a neighbor who understands the need to garden. Many a Saturday I have looked across the street to see Cynthia out there in a slicker during a downpour, swatting gnats while wiping sweat from her brow, or hauling around huge loads of compost. It sure makes me feel better since I'm usually doing the exact same thing!

No pictures of Cynthias garden would be complete without "the crew". On the right is Riley, in the middle is Boomer and on the left is a frequent family visitor.

Cynthia's gardens are all new and I'm always amazed at the wide range of plant material she boldly introduces to this piece of land that has not seen TLC in any recent time.

How cool is this Amaranthus bloom? I much prefer the nickname of "Love Lies-a-Bleeding". It's the perfect nickname.

Needless to say I was so taken by the Love-lies-a-bleeding that I had to take a photo of the blooms on the other side too.

In all the years I've been gardening (way more than I can count) I have never tried Colocasia esculanta (another cool nickname: Elephant Ears). This year Cynthia gave me two of them but hers appear to be much happier than mine.

I was so hoping that the sunshine coming through the leaf would translate well. It's as good as I had hoped for. What a wonderful spot to sit and sip your morning coffee.

Here's another pretty combination. Cynthia has Angelonia (the annual that I posted about earlier this week on Melanie's Perennials but didn't know the name) paired with this cream/yellow annual.

How do you like that, I'm stumped again with an annual name. It's a good thing one of my blogs is named Melanie's PERENNIALS :-) I thought this was Nemesia but after googling some images I think I'd better start to brush up on my annual names!

Cynthia, I'm so glad you're my neighbor. Thanks for the tour!

Praying Mantis in the garden

2009-09-03T07:28:00.003-04:00

Early this past spring I found a number of praying mantis egg cases while doing garden clean-up. During the month of May I did a dozen programs on healthy gardening at our local elementary schools. Part of the program was to bring them egg cases which they kept in tanks in their classrooms until the young praying mantis hatched.

My only concern was that I would not have any praying mantis in my own garden but I kept assuring myself that I couldn't have found all the egg cases and surely there would be mantis young hatching here too.

Yesterday I was thrilled to find this Mantis in the flower bed around my pool. It had perched itself in an ideal spot, right next to a large blooming clump of Sedum. Normally I would feel bad that it was catching bees there but since I'm still itching like crazy from the sting I got on Tuesday, I'm not so upset. Of course I'm joking, I realize how much we need our pollinating insects. Still, I also love watching these cool praying mantis.

I do hope to find one in the front borders too but since that's where I got stung I'm working very slowly out there.

Last night I decided that I would definitely open for sales this Saturday. Guess I'll be working like crazy out there all day today and tomorrow!

Tricyrtis - Toad Lily

2009-09-01T20:33:00.004-04:00

Finding good fall perennials require a bit of hunting. So many gardeners stop shopping for plants once summer heat hits but that's one way to assure yourself of having a boring fall garden.

Luckily, a few years ago I began to add Tricyrtis to my garden. Tricyrtis has one of those nicknames you'd rather not hear, it's Toad Lily. I think the name has something to do with the spots.

Anyway, I have a large clump of Tricyrtis blooming in my back shade bed right now.

Here you can see the whole clump. I've planted Tricyrtis in other spots and they've done ok but if you plant them next to something more aggressive, they seem to lose ground. Aparantly this one is in the perfect spot because it's quite happy there.

It took about a dozen trys to get a close up shot of the unusual bloom. Hopefully you get the picture. I do think I'd like to try a few more of these now that I've figured out what they like. Rich compost, shade and not too dry is my guess.

Do any of you grow Tricyrtis?

A charming scene

2009-08-30T21:12:00.002-04:00

As I had hoped, this morning started out nice and cloudy, perfect picture taking weather. So, I grabbed my camera and out the door I went. My first stop was a little village just west of us, Cold Spring Harbor. I did manage to find a few good plant subjects there and you can see some of them on my Melanie's Perennials blog.

These shots came from another little village, Northport, which is just east of us. If you have a small town near you, this is the time to go and check out all the annual planters.

Backing up, you can see the corner that inspired me. The shop is Hengstenberg's Florist and the brick planters along the sidewalk are delightful.

Here you can see the wonderful colors of the Tropical Hibiscus and the lavender Cleome.

I didn't push aside any foliage to look for plant tags. This is not the old fashioned Cleome I'm used to growing. It's much more compact and the blooms are smaller. I really liked the way it was used in this planting. It also dropped it's bloom petals all over which is a plus for me as they looked like lavender snow.

Here's a shot of the whole planter. Isn't it wonderful? I had hoped to come around the front and shoot more photos but the sun came out full force and the few shots I took after this point are washed out with terrible shadows.

I plan on being on the hunt all week in hopes of getting more late summer images. The weather forecast is delightful for humans with temperatures in the low 70's and lots of sun. Not necessarily the best photography weather but I will still try my best.

What's New?

2009-08-29T21:45:00.003-04:00

What's new here at Old Country Gardens? Well, I've got BIG NEWS!

Not only are my Egyptian onions sprouting, I've been working like crazy the last few days on my very own website.

It's hard for me to believe, I can be such a techno-dummy but on Thursday I bought the rights to a website and by that same night I had it up and running.

It's truly a work in progress, if you want to see my beginning efforts, simply go to
www.melaniesperennials.com

There are hyperlinks on the first page of the site to both of my blogs. Lots of surprised planned for the near future too.

Tomorrow looks like a good day for photos, I can't wait!

See ya!
Melanie

What's in bloom today?

2009-08-27T09:06:00.003-04:00

So what's blooming in the garden today? Well, the biggest bloom by far is this one. What is it? It's a pumpkin and it's about to take over all of South Huntington!

Yellow is the predominant color in the late summer garden. The Ligularia 'Britt Marie Crawford' is just covered with bright yellow blooms today. If I have the time later, I will get tidy it up and remove one or two of the sunburned leaves.

People pooh-pooh the black eyed Susan (Rudbeckia fulgida) plants but nothing beats them at this time of year. They've been blooming for at least 5 or 6 weeks now and show no sign of slowing down.

The solid green Liriope has sent up it's lavender colored spikes. I really like this plant as an edge to the garden bed.

Finally, not a bloom but how can you not fall in love with the amazing colors on the Coleus. The annuals are really starting to shine, it makes me wish I had planted more of them.

Off to do some weeding and take more photos.

Melanie

Got tomatoes?

2009-08-25T09:23:00.003-04:00

Late summer usually means a bumper crop of tomatoes. Here at Old Country Gardens I only have two tomato plants this year (shhh, don't tell everybody). I'm growing two heirloom varieties, one has yellow cherry tomatoes and the other are these red plum San Marzano Lampada tomatoes.

When the plum tomatoes first ripened I was a bit disappointed with their flavor. You see, I was cutting them up and putting them in my salads and they just didn't have the taste that I was looking for. Of course that means that they produced a gazillion tomatoes and now what was I supposed to do with them?

This weekend I decided to figure out a way to use my plum tomatoes. I know they're good for sauces because they're meaty with very little juice inside. Instead of sauce though I decided to use them in a tomato salad.

First I cut them into bite sized pieces. This is when you are happy they aren't juicy, they hardly make a mess when cutting them up.

Next I added basil that also came from the garden. When cutting my herbs, I simply stack a bunch of leaves and use a pair of kitchen scissors to cut small pieces.

Can you tell I like lots of basil? At this point you could also add some onions, or garlic if you would like.

Drizzle some good olive oil over the top, add salt and pepper to taste and stir all the ingredients. Let the tomatoes sit for a few hours for the best flavor. If I'm serving them outdoors I like them at room temperature but you can put them in the fridge to chill them too. Make them the day before a party to save yourself some work and don't forget to add a few basil leaves as garnish.

You could eat this with some plain italian bread. Or get a bit fancy, brush the bread slices with garlic flavored olive oil and grill them for a minutes.

Last night I made chicken salad, added these tomatoes to it and rolled them in soft tortilla shells for chicken & tomato wraps. Delicious!

Tickled Pink

2009-08-24T08:27:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago I bought a beautiful piece of artwork. I rarely buy anything that would be hung on the walls but saw a piece I just had to have!

Those of you who know me know that I love purple cone flowers. One of my rants though is that in my eye they are pink and the cone is orange, so where's the purple?

At the top here you can see the original water color I purchased from Kathleen McElwain. Kathleen is a wonderful artist who paints many of her watercolors while riding a bus in Austin Texas.

Now here's the kicker, Kathleen subscribes to my blogs and this lovely watercolor was based on one of my photos. How cool is that!!!

This is the actual photo that I had posted on one of my blogs, Kathleen subscribes to both of them so I don't know where it was originally.

By reading her blog, I see that you can also commission Kathleen to paint for you. What a great idea for holiday gifts.

You can see Kathleen's artwork at her Etsy site just by clicking "Buspaintings". I think I need to go through my photos and see if there's something else I'd like painted before I decide on a frame and location for the coneflower piece I already have.

Thanks Kathleen!
Melanie

Late summer bloomers

2009-08-22T08:11:00.004-04:00

Late summer is a difficult time for the garden. Many plants have finished blooming, others show signs of stress depending on what kind of summer has just passed.

Still, if you plan your garden well, there are all kinds of perennials that shine at this time. I have a few types of Eupatorium, this one is Eupatorium dubium 'Phantom' which was planted in the spring of 2008. The description states that it will only grow 4' tall but in it's second year now it's easily broken 5'. Then again, many perennials this year are taller than usual because of the extreme weather we've had.

One of the stars of the garden right now is this sweet little Sedum 'Lynda Windsor'. I've been a big fan of this Sedum from day one although very few people comment on it when they see it here. It has never reverted (that is, never lost it's dark purple foliage), stays small and compact and as you can see, the flower color is a perfect compliment to the foliage color. Combined with Origanum aureum (golden oregano) it's just stunning!

I don't remember planning this combination but I must say it's pretty fantastic. The extremely late daylily 'Royal Jestor' and the beginning blooms of Begonia grandis (hardy begonia). I'm in the mood to do a write up on this fantastic begonia and will post it today on my other blog, Melanie's Perennials. Just click on the blog name here if you want to visit there.

Here's a close-up of 'Royal Jestor'. A real beauty in my opinion.

The Ligularias are beginning to bloom, this one is 'Britt Marie Crawford'. At this time of year the foliage loses some of it's purple highlights but it still has quite a bit to offer as a showcase plant.

The Agastaches are still blooming. I think they might have been the "bloomingest" perennials in the garden this summer. I'm madly in love with them and will keep my eye on the perennial market in the future to find any new introductions.

Of course the Helenium 'Mardi Gras' is blooming like crazy. If I took the time to get out there and dead head it I would get an even longer season but right now any time I spend outside should be on weeding (check out the right edge of this photo...WEEDS!).

Hopefully I'll get some weeding done this weekend, unfortunately I tried to weed for a few hours yesterday but was almost immediately attacked by giant sized mosquitos. Might have to break down and use an insect repellant for now.

Off to post to my other blog and then outside in the garden (if the rains subside).

Melanie

Herbalicious

2009-08-20T08:00:00.002-04:00

Heat and Humidity, it must be August. So what's a gardener to do when the mercury rises and all you want to do is stay by the pool?

Let's play with Herbs!

I grow a large number of herbs here at Old Country Gardens, some are perennials, others are purchased every spring. This summer though I learned a few new things about my herbs. First of all, they are just as happy (if not more happy) growing in pots.

In fact, as potted plants they are easy to maintain, rarely needing extra care. Just a simple pinch here and there and watering if we haven't had a recent rain. Better yet, put them in reach of your sprinkler system and you hardly have to do anything at all.

In this photo you are looking at a Thymus citriodorus (variegated lemon thyme), Mentha (basic garden mint that was here when we moved in) and Mentha suaveolens 'Variegata' (pineapple mint or also known as apple mint).

Just as an aside, I do not call them by their botanical names in the garden, I'm just including those here for readers in other countries that are looking for the same plants.

My mouth starts watering when I look at this photo. There are two different basils featured here (Ocimum basilicum in botanical terms) with the solid green leaf and the variegated Ocimum citriodorum 'Pesto Perpetuo' (let's just say citrus basil).

The citrus basil is a new variety and is patented so propagation is prohibited but what I've recently discovered is that most herbs have been around forever and of course, nobody holds a patent on them. This means that you can propigate most of your herbs till the cows come home and that's exactly what I'm going to do here.

It turns out that many herbs are quite easy to propigate with simple cuttings.

In this smaller pot are three plants, Cymbopogon (Lemongrass), Ocimum 'African Blue' (African Blue Basil) and Oreganum vulgare (true Oregano). Yum, all three are excellent for those fun summer dishes.

Here's a close up of the African Blue basil, a favorite of mine. I do admit that I let it go to flower as those blooms are just so lovely.

So tell me, what herbs are growing in your garden?

Container season

2009-08-12T10:15:00.003-04:00

Heat and Humidity, that's August around here. Actually, this year the heat has been pretty mild but that darn humidity...

This time of year I find very little energy for the garden. Thank goodness for containers, they really start to steal the show now.

Not having huge funds to blow on container plants, I tried to use plants already available to me. Almost all of my containers have Hosta in them and I'm totally sold now on using them forever more as container plants. A single flat of Impatiens gave me enough fillers to add to all the containers and I still had enough left to plant a few in the front shade bed.

A single Hosta, one impatiens and a small slip of ivy is all it took to fill this upside down birdbath base. I love how the petals of the impatiens fall into the empty container resting below. Another good idea is to put a simple water feature underneath to catch the petals.

More simple containers, mostly with Hosta. The hosta in the garden have been inundated with slugs this year but the ones in the containers show pristine foliage.

Last week I left my camera at a friends house. It was like I lost my arm, I couldn't take photos for a week! We have perfect cloud cover today so hopefully I'll get to stop at a few places and take pictures of some of the great containers I've seen in my neighborhood.

Melanie

Focus

2009-08-02T21:47:00.002-04:00

From the title of today's post you might think I'm going to write about photography. Nope, not at all where my mind is right now. Instead, my mind is all over the place, way too many things going on and not enough brain cells to dedicate to a single task.

So, I have been trying to focus, focus on what is most important at this moment. Unfortunately, that focus does not include much creative genius for blogging. I know I've been slow here the last few weeks, hopefully once life settles down a bit I will get back to things full steam ahead.

Isn't this daylily just stunning? It's 'Blowing Bubbles' by Joel Thomas Polston of Dayton Ohio. I'm not usually a fan of the round ruffled daylilies but this one opens perfectly like this with every bloom.

We've had so much rain and humidity the past week. It was a surprise when the sun peeped out this evening for an hour or two. Almost immediately the butterflies came to the Buddlea (butterfly bush).

I might have to vote the Agastache as the bloomingest summer perennial. It has just been fantastic for so long now. Next year I need to make sure I get more of these beauties. What you can't tell from the photo is how delicious the foliage smells. Yum!

Ah ha, more my type of daylily here with the oldie but most beautiful 'Asiatic Pheasant' which is mid-late bloomer in my garden.

One more shot for you shade lovers. I don't remember planning this combination of white Stokesia (stokes aster) with the Brunera 'Jack Frost' but wowza! What a perfect pairing.

Ok, now I feel a bit better although this post isn't up to par with my usual prose.

Melanie

The Visit

2009-07-30T07:01:00.003-04:00

On the right is Felder Rushing, on the left is Darrell Trout and in the center is my mom.

On Monday I had the wonderful pleasure of opening my garden to these two garden dignitaries. Unfortunately one thing I didn't do was take the time to shoot some decent photographs.

Both Felder and Darrell are garden writers. Darrell's been here before, he wrote a lovely article about my garden back in 2006.

As they arrived and drove down my driveway, I had to stop and stare at the truck Felder was driving. It was the most amazing truck I'd ever seen, a well worn Ford 150 complete with hood ornament and Hula girl affixed to the front dash. The most amazing part though was the garden in the back bed, I had never imagined anything like it.

There were wonderful twisty bottle trees, succulents galore, and all kind of lovely little doo-dads.

This is what a young sprout of a bottle tree looks like, pretty cool huh? I'm going to have to watch my garden carefully and see if any of these are sprouting around here.

Holding the succulents in one area was a little golf cart tire. Bet there's going to be a run on golf cart repair shops now, I want one of these!

Rather than post the whole thing here, I'm going to put the photos of what they saw in the garden on my other blog, Melanie's Perennials.

We're being socked here with high humidity, it makes it hard to want to get out there and do anything in the garden.

Melanie

All Out!

2009-07-23T11:28:00.004-04:00

This morning my daughters left with their dad for a three day trip to Maryland where they will be attending a family wedding.

Mom and I (and of course Calie-the-wonderdoodle-dog) are here and going to go ALL OUT during the next few days.

We've got a garbage dumpster in the driveway with lots of space to fill. The basement and attic are in desperate need of a cleaning and thankfully it's not too hot or the attic would not be a good place to be. I'll still only be able to stay up there a short time and will remember to drink lots of water.

Sunday we are planning a huge garage sale to hopefully unload lots of these goodies before throwing them in the garbage (or if in good condition, donate them to a church).

Gail, you asked if our house will be sold. That is still up in the air and certainly a possibility but I sure would like to finish out the next two years of Emily's high school education here.

In between inside cleaning we will also be going ALL OUT in the garden! On Monday I will have the unbelievable pleasure of showing my garden to two very well known garden writers. This might be my last hurrah for a time and I plan on enjoying every moment.

Darrell Trout has been here before and besides his many great books, he has also written quite a nice piece about my garden for Newsday a few years ago. Traveling with Darrell will be Felder Rushing who is a writer I've hoped to meet for many years.

Needless to say we'll be weeding like lunatics here.

While I've got my fingers crossed that the daylilies will still be looking good on Monday, I know that many other perennials here will be strutting their stuff.

Both Darrell and Felder are into "Garden Junque" and I've got lots of that for them to see. Actually, many pieces here were rescues from Darrell's last garden on Shelter Island. I hope he likes what I've done with them.

Now I need to remember to plant those bowling shoes too...

If I don't post in the next few days you'll all know what I'm doing. Going ALL OUT!!!

Landscape scenes

2009-07-22T06:51:00.004-04:00

Taking photos of individual blooms is easy. You look through the view finder, check the surroundings and shoot.

If I wanted this photo of the hardy Geranium 'Nimbus' and the Coreopsis 'Zagreb' to be perfect, I would have had to take a little pair of scissors first and clip the dead heads off the Coreopsis. Still, it only took a moment for me to set this photo up and take it.

Stepping back a little further, you can focus on a small planting area. Still, not too difficult although there's more to look at inside your frame. Taking this photo out near the street I had to crouch down slightly so you didn't see the blacktop just at the top of the photo. Of course, there's also photo shop to help you crop out some things.

The more plant material (subject) you mix into the photo, the more difficult it seems to be to get a pleasing shot. Yesterday I tried to shoot a few landscape shots in the garden. This spot looked lovely but the camera wasn't as kind as I had hoped (or was it the photographer?).

I like the way this one came out with the misty air showing. Again, if I wanted this to be better I would have pulled my car out of the driveway (can you see it?). There wasn't any sense though in doing this because there's also a big black garbage dumpster in the driveway but hopefully I hid it well with the plant material.

Of course landscape shots wouldn't be complete without one that includes my little bicycle. Now you can see it with the charming basket that Bonnie found for me.

The back bed around the pool is such a riot of color that I can't make myself leave that area. It should be at peak for another week or two. The main focus of this bed is daylilies, if I had the luxury of redesigning it now I'd add some more mid and late summer blooms so it continued to put on a show for the whole summer. I have very few early spring blooming plants here as I really want it to shine during swimming season.

Here's one of the views from the top of the pool patio looking down. Hmm, I wonder why there's only one single Liatris stalk there, must let that baby increase! The Platycodon (balloon flowers) have been wonderful this season, today I'll try to remember to deadhead these a bit. It only takes a few minutes and keeps them blooming for so much longer.

Hope you liked my landscape shots.
Melanie

Bird Food

2009-07-21T07:36:00.004-04:00

Mid July into August is when the cone flowers really start to shine. The Echinacea (Purple cone flowers) are the first, they're going quite strong now. If I find the time to get out there and cut off some of the older blooms, they'll send out new blooms all the way until the end of summer.

If you only have room for one kind of cone flower, this is the one I'd recommend. It brings flocks of bright yellow goldfinch to the garden, an amazing sight and sound!

The Liatris are revving up too now. According to many gardening books their nickname is "Kansas gay feather" but I rarely hear them actually called that around here. I don't know why I didn't take a photo of one in full bloom, guess it's something to do today.

My garden used to be filled with purple Liatris but one day I had a white one seed into the garden and now it's seeded all over.

Isn't it beautiful! The gold finch love the Liatris too, they cling sideways on the stalks and pick out the seeds (you have to let them turn brown and go to seed first). On a warm sunny afternoon you can go out and find Liatris stalks covered with fat happy bumblebees. That's another picture I'd like to get one day this week. Not today though since we are getting some needed rain.

Tall plants are so cool, I have quite a few different varieties in the garden. This is Rudbeckia maxima, it's at least 6' (2 meters) tall. Birds try to land on it for the seed and it's quite comical to see them suddenly bow down under the weight of a tiny bird.

Here's a corner of the bed behind my swimming pool. Right now it's a riot of color, just my kind of garden! You can see the Rudbeckia maxima in the top left corner. The grass that's just coming into bloom is Molina 'Skyracer', another excellent tall plant accent, quite different from any other grasses here.

The other day I was in the pool just on the other side of this bed. As I was swimming laps I realized that there were goldfinch in the bed just feet away from me. I felt like a submarine as I slowly cruised back and forth with just my head sticking out of the water.

At first I thought that I should get my camera and keep it perched on the pool edge but then I thought maybe that might not be a good idea.

Somehow I can just invision Calie the wonder-doodle-dog kicking that camera into the pool. She just goes wild when somebody is swimming, she begs for us to splash her and then tries to catch the water droplets in the air. What a crazy dog!

Stay Tuned!

2009-07-20T08:03:00.002-04:00

Nope, I didn't run off to the Caribbean or on a European jaunt. Just busy, busy, busy! We've got a dumpster in the driveway and are trying to remove 25 years worth of accumulated "treasures" from this old house.

This afternoon I will be at SUNY Farmingdale, hopefully enrolling in my new life as a college student! I'll be sure to bring my camera and I'll try to get some more wonderful photos. I'm in a photo taking mood today.

Till later,
Melanie

Final Days

2009-07-18T09:14:00.004-04:00

Just a short post for today. We are winding down the sales season here at Old Country Gardens. Today we'll be open for business or even just for walking around. The colors in the garden are to-die-for, eye candy where ever you turn.

Next Sunday July 26th, will be our last sales day, it will be combined with a huge garage sale out by the curb. Our 15 year old Emily will be running the sale, all proceeds will go towards buying her a new laptop which she will need for her junior year at high school.

Thanks to so many of you I've learned so much this first year of garden sales and I'm filled with so many new ideas for the future!

With love,
Melanie

Picnic in a delightful garden

2009-07-16T07:23:00.003-04:00

This past Tuesday I had the pleasure of joining the women from my local garden club at a picnic lunch. Over the past few years we've been changing the location of this luncheon, this year we met at the home of Betty & John in Cold Spring Harbor.

Betty is an extremely active member of our club. Her husband John could easily be nominated as the most helpful husband. He is always there with a pick-up truck to help us move things or more invaluable, he uses his incredible talent as a master carpenter to build all kinds of wonderful things.

John's talents are immediately visible as you pull up to their beautiful home, my eye was instantly caught by the clever plant stands placed around the garden.

Betty & John have deep shade and dappled light throughout their garden. Their choice of plant material is key, everything is so lush and restful. I admit I had to stop and drool over John's arbor, it's a garden accent that has been on my wish-list for many years.

If I had to chose one favorite accent piece though, it would be this bridge used to dress up a very shady corner (almost impossible to photograph). I was so happy to be able to see this garden, they had a plant combination here that I've never seen before and can't wait to copy!

The weather was absolutely perfect for a picnic, sunny and high 70's but not the best conditions for photography as the dappled sunlight created quite a few shadows. This photo does not do justice to the wonderful interplay between the Fallopia japonica and Lysamachia clethroides (Gooseneck loosestrife).

It was the second time in two days that I had fallen in love with a plant combination including Fallopia. This spurred an instant question...Why don't I grow that plant?

If you have problems with squirrels getting into your birdfeeder, just ask John how to stop them. He built a baffle, a shield with plexiglass all around the base of the feeder and the squirrels now have to wait on the ground for the spilled seed.

Another accent that has been on my wish list for years is a tool shed that looks like an outhouse. John's outhouse looks so realistic that Betty told me a worker one day asked if he could use it :-)

Not everything was built by John, as I wrote earlier, there were wonderful specimans of plant material. I liked the way this variegated hosta spilled down over this small boulder.

The dreaded Houttunia!!! But wait, it was growing delightfully through a skirt of pacysandra. how clever, I don't ever think I saw such a nice way to grow Houttunia.

To finish things off, here's a close-up of one of the beautiful Rudbeckia blooms in the front yard.

Many thanks to Betty & John for hosting us in such a regal manner this Tuesday.

Melanie

The Garden Blues

2009-07-14T06:28:00.004-04:00

My favorite color is blue but it's a color that we rarely consider in our garden. So many plants that are billed as "blue" are really lavenders or purples.

An instant way to add blue to the garden is to add some magnificent containers. I took these photographs on Sunday but would not purchase these containers at the the store I saw them. The prices were totally ridiculous, running from $299 to $799 per container.

Perhaps those high prices were the reason that there was still so much stock in the container section of this nursery? Luckily I stopped at another nursery on the way home and found very similar containers for a fraction of the price. I plan on going back there and will try to remember to take some pictures.

I did see this blue container there, peeking out through a skirt of Hydrangeas. Lovely! Better yet is the tropical feeling Hosta planted in the container. Hosta make excellent container plants.

There definitely are some true blue perennials in the garden, I snap them up whenever I can. This is a Playtocodon, a balloon flower and it's a double variety.

Hardy Geranium 'Rozanne' is blue although my camera has changed the color to a lavender. It's been blooming for two months now and I'm extremely happy I finally bought it this spring.

Hydrangeas come in different colors. Many times you will buy one that is one color only to find it change color completely in your garden. I have one variety that was pink in the pot, turned chartreuse the next year and settled down as a deep blue.

The color of your Hydrangea blooms is dependent upon the type of soil you have. Here on Long Island we have acidic soil which tends to turn most Hydrangeas different shade of blue. Sometimes though if you plant your Hydrangeas close to the foundation of your house you can get them to stay pink, another trick is to add lime to the soil. As for me, I prefer the blue ones anyway so don't do anything special to change the color.

On Sunday I went to Plant Field Arboretum. I have to say I was a bit disappointed, most of the gardens were not at their best, either before bloom or in most cases after bloom. It was a whole different scenario here in my own garden which is just bursting with color right now.

This photo shows a Lace cap Hydrangea combined with Fallopia japonica. It was a stunning combination!

Here at Old Country Gardens a much simpler combination of Platycodon and Daylilies but still just as beautiful.

Do you have blue in your garden?

Daylily Show!

2009-07-11T21:34:00.003-04:00

As predicted there were tons of daylily stars in the garden today. This is Tom Polstons 'Hawaiian Coral' which is quickly becoming a favorite of mine.

Sunday July 11th is the Long Island Daylily Society's annual flower show where you can see hundreds and hundreds of daylilies on display.

While I won't be entering individual daylily scapes, I am registered to enter in two design catagories. The first is a mass design with the theme "Monet". The second is a table setting and that theme is "Water Lilies", a theme that I find hard to be creative with. To me, daylilies and water lilies are such different creatures that my brain doesn't want to try to fit one into the other's catagory.

This is daylily 'Zip Boom Bah' and the color in this photo is quite accurate.

Most people don't realize how much work is involved in putting on any type of flower show. I have not had the spare time to devote to the daylily club in the past few years but I will be working at the show. From 8:30 to 10:30 am I will enter my designs and then work the classification table with my long time friend Gene. When the judges are on the show floor at 11:00, I'm free to leave. At that time I'll be heading over to Martin Viette's to take a peek and see what treasures I might find there.

Once I've scoured the sales areas at Martin Viette's it's back to Planting Fields for me. If I remember, I'll pack a picnic lunch and spend an hour or two walking the amazing grounds. The weather is supposed to be lovely by afternoon but I will wish for a few passing clouds so I can take lots and lots of photos.

Today was perfect picture weather. I took 150 photos in the garden and many of them are wonderful. As soon as I finish this post I'll put a few up on my othe blog Melanie's Perennials. This photo shows a double Platycodon (Balloon flower) that has been hard for me to grow but well worth the effort.

The flower show at Planting Fields is open to the public at 1:30 pm. Once you park in the main parking lot you'll have to walk to the Hort Center, it's a bit of a walk but a lovely one. Maybe I'll see you there!

Melanie

A Hummingbird in the garden!

2009-07-10T22:03:00.005-04:00

Wednesday morning I was standing in the corner of my unfinished kitchen garden trying to take a photo of the incredibly tall Monarda and Echinaceas when I heard a strange sound. It was a vrrrmmmm noise and it passed so close to my ear that I thought my hair moved.

To my utter delight, I saw my first ever (in my own garden) hummingbird! It was the most magical moment and I just stood there forever watching it flit back and forth.

Thursday morning Don went out there with my camera. Sure enough, the hummingbird was back and this is as good a photo as anybody could hope for.

There are two new varieties of Monarda blooming in the front yard and I think they might actually not be red! Hooray!!! One is more pinkish and the other (not yet photographed) is lavender!

Hopefully lots of people will get to see them in their glory tomorrow. Today three delightful visitors came to see the daylilies, tomorrow the garden will be spectacular. It appears that I will be selling quite a few more plant material than I originally planned so stop by, you never know what kind of bargain you'll get.

Tonight I spent two hours walking the track at the highschool and never got to live-head the daylilies. That means I'll be out there super early tomorrow morning.

Melanie

The right angle

2009-07-08T21:48:00.003-04:00

When taking photos of blooms in your gardens, there are many different angles from which you can shoot. The most common angle is head on, an "in your face" kind of shot.

This daylily is 'Lounge Lizard' by Curt Hanson of Ohio. I am just head over heels in love with this plant, it's got all the bells and whistles, great blooms, scapes and bud count. The silver edge is just icing on the cake.

The full frontal shot though can miss quite a few details. See here, taken from the side you will see the amazing curls of the sepals. This is so incredibly cool!

Most unusual for me is to zoom in so tight that I crop out parts of the flower but I was in the mood to experiment. I have to admit, I thought I'd hate this technique but instead, I'm crazy about it. I like this photo so much that I might try printing it out to put in a frame.

One last photo, this is a follow up to yesterday's post about the right light. This afternoon I just happened to notice the sun coming through the Begonia grandis (Hardy Begonia). Isn't it beautiful?

Tomorrow my Mom is coming in from Florida. She is the worlds best weeder and I just can't wait to see her whip my garden back into shape.

The right light

2009-07-07T21:34:00.005-04:00

The past few days have been increasingly frustrating for me when it comes to taking photos in my garden. It prompted me to post about garden photography. I'm not by any means a professional photographer but my photos have been chosen to grace the front cover and inside of chapter of a gardening book a few years ago and they've been posted here for a few years now.

First of all, I use a simple point and shoot digital camera. It's not even a newer model but it has an excellent zoom lens which was my first criteria. So fair warning, my tips are not applicable to the super deluxe cameras that are out on the market.

Lighting is a big key factor in garden photography. The absolute best light is a good cloud cover. Full sun or early morning sun is very hard for me to work with.

The opening shot was taken in full late afternoon sun which can sometimes be used to your advantage. The flower is Campanula punctata which is just a pale creamy pink on the outside. What's cool about this shot is that the bloom is almost translucent and the spotting you see is actually on the inside of the bloom.

Here's the same flower taken on a cloudy day (see the sky?) and from underneath so you can see the spots. By the way, those power lines just totally ruin the photo. Never forget to look around inside your frame and make sure that there aren't other distractions in the background.

Working in the shade can bring another set of problems. I took quite a few photos of my Hydrangea blooms in hopes of getting one with enough clarity to crop and zoom. This isn't close to what I'd like to have but good enough to share.

Blues and sometimes magenta pinks are just impossible to capture. In the days of film, it was very hard to be able to capture the blues and I'm still having the same problem with digital cameras. In real life these blooms don't look like they have some terrible fungus growing on them. Yuck!

Here I was able to capture the color pretty well but unfortunately the strong dappled lighting coming through the trees creates shadows that distract you from the true beauty of these Hydrangeas.

By the way, forget the roses, give me Hydrangeas any day. My next garden is going to be chock full of these luscious, romantic blooms.

Last week I was complaining about the never ending rainy season we were having. One advantage though was the hundreds and hundreds of photos I was able to take.

So cross your fingers for me, I'd love just a half hour of cloud cover in the morning so I can take some more pictures to share with you.

Melanie

The Promise

2009-07-04T20:27:00.004-04:00

This evening was the first time this season that I went around and live-headed my daylilies. Live-head, a term that many people have never heard.

When a gardener dead-heads a plant, they are removing a spent bloom. Some plants don't require this but others, like daylilies, show much better if the the spent bloom is removed.

Nothing looks prettier than a daylily clump loaded with crisp clear blooms like on this antique variety 'Try It'.

What you'll rarely find though is a photo of the ugly drippy mess that awaits you the next morning.

Yuck, nothing is worse than removing gooey, wet daylily blooms that stain your fingers and shorts with purple and red.

Rather than wait for the morning, I love walking around in the evening and removing the still live bloom. It gives me a chance to see each and every daylily up close. 'Dark Monkey' here was facing away from the front of the bed but when I had it in my hand I just had to rub my fingers over the velvety interior.

At first it's disconcerting to see your garden go from full glory to bare nakedness but wait, look closer and you'll see it. It's the promise, the knowing that tomorrow you will once again have a garden full of jewels.

Different cultivars show their promise differently. The long, curly spidery forms that I adore look more like banana peppers with little puckered kisses on the end.

Some varieties are brazen in their promise, sticking out their tongues in advance, hoping for that instant moment of romance in the garden, the brush of pollen against their waiting pistils.

Tonight I spent a long time looking through the lens of my camera, searching for the promise of what is to come. It was the most amazing feeling, I could have taken hundreds of photos of blooms that are just waiting for their moment of glory.

At the end of it all, the buckets of blooms are spilled upon the compost heap, and that too is a promise of riches to come.

Tomorrow will be beautiful, I promise.

Melanie

Flowers for Lauren

2009-07-03T08:59:00.002-04:00

Today is my daughter Lauren's 20th birthday. I rarely post about my girls but yesterday I posted about Emily so of course I have to write about Lauren today.

Lauren has been a constant companion with me on numerous garden tours. We've been at conventions and tours in Detroit, Philadelphia, central Florida, Boston and many other locations and Lauren won't let me forget we already have a date for a tour in Louisiana in 2011.

Last night Lauren requested lots and lots of flowers for her birthday. Not the standard arrangements that are created by professional florists but my arrangements which tend to look like my garden, a mass compendium of plant material.

When she wakes up she'll find three arrangements waiting for her. One is large and two are mid-sized.

Of course they aren't out on the brick patio but in various parts of the house. Today's lighting though wasn't conducive to indoor photography (not much better outside either).

There will also be small single specimens for her to place where ever she wants. How many of you are cringing right now?

Yes, the noxious, notorious Houttyunia cordata is in these arrangments. Fair warning here, if you see a lovely colored foliage plant with the nickname 'Chameleon Plant' do NOT buy this plant. Unfortunately, I inherited a piece but luckily I have it contained in one portion of the garden.

The good news is Houttyunia's a beautiful addition to a cut flower arrangement. I try to pull out the whole stem with as much root as possible and just chop off the root before putting it in the vase.

Do you cut flowers from your garden?

When 1 plus 1 equals 1

2009-07-02T08:11:00.004-04:00

A number of years ago my young daughter Emily wanted to hybridize her own daylily. Daylilies are extremely easy to hybridize and she had seen me do so for many years. Her goal was to make one and name it "Mac & Cheese" so she chose two parents that she thought would create her perfect daylily.

This is 'Nutmeg Elf', a little orange daylily that blooms like crazy. It was the pod parent, meaning that it was the Mommy.

This is 'Itsy Bitsy Spider' which was the pollen parent (the Daddy). Both of these daylilies are small, of narrow form, have tall scapes, excellent branching and lots and lots of blooms.

This is one of the resultant children from that cross. Since it's been a number of years (my guess is 5 or 6) since Emily has crossed these two daylilies, the seedlings are large clumps now.

Although I will never register any of these seedlings, I also won't get rid of them. They are excellent landscape daylilies, bringing lots of color and joy to my garden.

Somewhere in my external hard drive I have a photo of Emily making the actual cross. When I have time I'll have to go hunting for it so I can post it here too.

Melanie

The Front Walkway

2009-06-30T07:59:00.002-04:00

Two years ago we had our front walkway, stoop and patio replaced. We were thrilled with the job done by the masons. I immediately planted up one section with shrubs but left the large portion open because of drainage problems we had with a basement window well.

I tried to find a photo of the area but of course I never took one because it was horrendous. Two years of no plantings and just weeds, made it the ugliest spot in our garden and of course, it was right next to our front door!

Any photo I took in the area I cropped so that you couldn't see the mess but if you peek at the right here, you'll see a little.

This weekend we finally decided we couldn't take it any more and attacked the spot. I really didn't want to spend any money on the area, we already had a Pieris japonica in a pot for a year that I wanted planted there.

The Cotoneaster at the bottom of the photo was there too, we just needed something else to fill in and give us year round foliage.

In the very back of my garden, in total shade were five Korean boxwoods (Buxus microphylla var. Koreana). These had been little slips given to me by a woman in my garden club. Over the years they grew to a nice size but they were in a spot where nobody could see them.

They turned out to be just right in this little front garden.

Now I have to bite the bullet and take out the Echinacea that seeded itself next to the Japanese Maple.

We are also going to mulch well with shredded leaves so we don't have to weed this garden. In the fall I'll add some early spring blooming bulbs.

How nice to have a neat, clean garden in this spot.

SUNY Farmingdale - The Rockery

2009-06-27T22:00:00.005-04:00

This past Thursday was not the first time I've visited the Horticulture gardens at SUNY Farmingdale. I've been there well over a dozen times so it was most surprising to me to find myself in love with an area that didn't excite me too much on previous visits.

The difference wasn't in the garden itself, the difference was me, my taste and desires in gardening right now.

The Rockery (as Dr. Iverson called it) begins at first with a small rock courtyard showcasing a few shade plants that have charmingly worked their way into the cracks and crevices of the stone walls and floor.

A few steps later though you come across the most wonderful, secret, shaded grotto just filled with a treasure trove of shade plants.

The predominant color here is green and yet it was as exciting to me as the long perennial border and the riot of color in the summer garden.

The day was damp and cool (what else has been new this season) and the plants were in prime condition.

I didn't think to take an overview of the whole area but it wasn't much larger than what you see here in this photo.
The contrast of the Hakonachloa (forest grass) against the gravel was magnificent.

There were lots of large rocks that you would swear were put there by Mother Nature and not by the diligent staff and students at the university. More plants were showcased in the cracks and crevices. I just loved seeing the Asarum europeam (European Ginger) in the garden. It's become a big favorite of mine.

Look! I did find a flower, although the garden would have been awesome even without this little beauty.

The perfect garden needs the perfect ending. How's this as the path to take you up and out of the rockery and back to the "real world".

SUNY Farmingdale

2009-06-24T15:29:00.004-04:00

Today I met a few women from my garden club and we were treated to a tour of the horticultural learning gardens at SUNY Farmingdale University.

This first shot was taken at the entrance gate.

Although we were there for a short time, I think I'll break down the visit into three posts. This first post is just to share some of the awesome images I brought home with me.

The plant material was grown to perfection, even with the never ending rain we've been getting this season. I love this combination of the dwarf Aruncus athusifolius and the Pulmonaria 'Mrs Moon'.

I didn't take a photo of the name tag for this so I'm not sure if it's a Heliopsis or a Helianthus (I always get them mixed up). Behind it is Physocarpus (Nine bark).

Another combination that blew me away is Astilbe 'Deutschland' and the variegated Symphytum 'Axminster Gold'.

Sheer luck! How's this for a shot of a butterfly on Stachys bloom? I can't believe it came out this clear as it was in constant motion.

Centaurea macrocephala is something I've tried by mail order but I need to get myself a large one of these so I get to see it grow in my garden.

Papyrus in the entrance garden. This garden is planned to peak in late summer, I hope to get back and see it then.

Clematis and a Rose, sheer heaven.

Finally, the blue on this little bulb Brodiaea laxa 'Queen Fabiola' is just Fabulous! I think I'll be looking for this beauty for my own garden.

The next post will be either about the structure in the garden or the shade rockery. Both were just awesome.

Crabby Claws

2009-06-22T21:00:00.003-04:00

Iris ensata, Japanese Iris are blooming in my garden right now. I used to have more varieties, now there are 4 or 5 different ones. A few years ago I didn't remember to remove the seed pods from one of them and it went to seed. There are two seedlings out there, one I forgot photograph because the other one is really strange.

What kind of form is this?

Here's what a Japanese Iris should look like, aren't they beautiful? Nice and graceful, amazing buds even before the flower unfolds.

The pale blooms on 'Gracius' are just as stunning even if they are a bit less lush.

I love the stripes and color breaks in this one.

So what do you make of this? Should it stay or go? I think it's really weird and don't particularly like it but maybe there's an unusual form classification in the Iris world? If so, I think I'll call it 'Crabby Claws'.

In your eye!

2009-06-20T20:08:00.004-04:00

Tonight I'm sitting here at my laptop with a very achy back. I was cropping and editing some photos I took today when I zoomed in on this shot of a Astrantia (masterwort) blooming in my garden. I had such fun cropping and zooming that I decided to play with a few more images. So here's some up close and personal shots of things in my garden.

The white Astilbe in my shade bed is pristine white. I grow two white varieties, this one has dark green foliage and I wonder if it's Astilbe 'Deutschland'.

Geranium 'Jolly Bee' against the Hosta 'Aristrocrat'. What a combination!

Plain and simple, Coreopsis 'Zagreb' is so easy to grow and I love it so much better than 'Moonbeam' that flops all over the place.

Spirea 'Little Princess' has a new leaf on life. It clashed something awful with another plant growing next to it so I took it out and moved it to the woods where it promptly died. There was a small rooted branch left in the old spot and now there's a perfect shrub there again. The clashing plant up and died a year later so I'm happy to have this beauty back again.

Just can't get enough of the shade loving Japanese fern (Athyrium niponicum 'Pictum')

Thalictrum glaucum blooms are as tall as me but with all the rain we've been getting their flopping all over the place. Tonight I finally tied them up and had to shoot this closeup.

Yet another Filipendula bloomign in the garden. This one has a finer cut leaf and a deeper colored bloom. I have to hunt around for the cultivar name.

And last but not least, daylily 'Itsy Bitsy Spider' blooming it's first bloom and if you take a look at those amazing buds you'll know it's going to bloom like crazy!

Once upon a time...

2009-06-18T09:36:00.004-04:00

Once upon a time there was a bicycle. It was a happy bicycle, it lived in a beautiful neighborhood on the north shore of Long Island. One day the bicycle owners decided they no longer wanted this bicycle and put it out at the curb for the garbage men to collect.

Luckily a woman spotted the bicycle before the garbage truck arrived. She remembered her friend wanted an old bicycle for the garden and this bicycle looked like it might be perfect. She was a good friend, she loaded the bicycle in her car and brought it to her friends house.

The bicycle was placed in a lovely section of the garden. It's new owner place a nice straw basket on the handlebars and a birdhouse on the back carrier.

Within days a little wren came and made a nest in the birdhouse. Soon the bicycle was home to a clutch of baby birds. It was happy.

This is what a baby wren looks like (the one on the right :-)) the first day it left the birdhouse. This particular birdhouse has been an excellent shelter, raising many, many wren babies.

Many years later the bicycle was still in the garden, still holding up the birdhouse. The straw basket had rotted away and unfortunately there was only a metal basket to place on the handlebars.

Along came another friend. One of the best parts of gardening are the amazing friends one makes with other gardeners. This friend had found a straw bicycle basket waiting at the curb for the garbage truck. She knew it would be perfect for the bicycle. She was a good friend, she picked up the basket and brought it over to the bicycle's home.

The bicycle's owner went out to put the new basket on the bicycle. She brought along a shovel because there was a large poke weed right in front of the bicycle that was driving her crazy. As she got near the bicycle she heard that sound, cheep cheep cheep, the birdhouse was filled with wren babies. She decided that the poke weed and the basket could wait for a week or two until the babies could fly.

Two days later the owner went out to check on the baby wrens. Horror of horrors, the bird house was not there!!! Carefully creeping around the garden bed the owner saw the birdhouse was laying upside down on the ground. Worst of all, three huge squirrels were trying to get in the birdhouse while a tiny wren was frantically dive bombing all three squirrels.

The bicycle was sad. The owner was mad! She started to flap her arms and loud sounds came from her as she chased those nasty squirrels across the neighbors yard. (Upon reflection, she hopes that nobody actually witnessed her loss of composure.)

She carefully lifted the birdhouse from the ground. As she slowly turned it upright, the baby wrens started cheeping up a storm! Hooray!!! They were alive and well!

Only minutes had passed when the owner saw the wren arrive with a juicy green inch worm. Breakfast time for the baby birds.

The wrens were happy. The bicycle was happy. The owner was happy. The pokeweed was happy too.

The end.

Centaurea nigra - Where did you come from?

2009-06-15T18:16:00.002-04:00

In yesterday's blog I wrote about a perennial that has stolen my heart. There were two perennials that were amazing in the garden. This is the second one.

The strange thing is that although I always tell people to catalog their purchases with lots and lots of digital images, I can't find a single image of this beauty. In fact, I don't remember buying it but it's such a large healthy clump that it certainly isn't a volunteer.

I grow other Centaureas so I know what plant family I'm dealing with. Doing a little googling I'm pretty sure this is Centaurea nigra. Now I just wish I could remember where I bought it because I just have to get me some more! (Kim, do you think I got it at Agway? Did you get one??)

Melanie

Filipendula 'Kakome'

2009-06-14T21:45:00.004-04:00

Oh no, I think I've fallen head over heels, madly in love with a plant in my garden.

Our lousy cool wet morning slowly turned into a beautiful day. As the weather improved, we started having visitors come to see our open garden. It wasn't until the mid afternoon that I really noticed this plant and then I just couldn't stop visiting it!

One of the first blogs I wrote was about this plant. It was a mystery plant to me, I bought it at a local nursery at the insistence of a gardening friend. Luckily she remembered the name, Filipendula 'Kakome'. (That post is the second to last post under the label "Plant Profile")

When I first planted this in my garden I had no idea what kind of conditions it would need. I planted it in extremely dry shade. Since it's a semi-shade, moisture lover, I'm thrilled that it survived in my garden. While I noticed it before, it wasn't until I moved a piece into a sunnier spot near our sprinkler that I saw what this baby could do. This photo is of the piece that's still in the dry shade area.

Here's a photo from the back side of the sun border with the Filipendula in the lower left corner.

Tonight as I downloaded my photos on to the computer I realized that I took nine different shots of this bloom. I guess I was totally smitten ;-

It looks like cotton candy with little pearl tufts rising above it. Sigh... what a dream flower...

Oh yes, there was another new flower that blew me away today so stay tuned, I'll post about it tomorrow.

Melanie

And the winner is...

2009-06-13T21:06:00.003-04:00

Well how's this? I spent the last three days with the wonderful women in my local garden club. First we set up our flower show, then we exhibited in our flower show, I sold plants at our flower show and today at the end we broke down the flower show.

Talk about exhaustion!

The good news? I took home a nice amount of first place ribbons including my first ever "Growers Choice" award and the "Horticultural Excellence award" for one of my trough gardens (I entered three in the show, all three won first place in different classes).

This photo shows me at my sales booth, we should have taken it after I first set up and the booth was loaded down with plant material. The good news though was that at the end of the show I had very little plant material left!

Tomorrow we are hosting an open garden here. Cross your fingers and wish me better weather. I've been soaked through at my sales booth for three days in a row.

Melanie

I got mail!

2009-06-11T20:14:00.005-04:00

Yesterday when I went out to the mailbox, I found a surprise. There was a small package waiting for me. I knew immediately that my shipment from Squaw Mountain Gardens had arrived.

You can see how small the package is by looking at the standard sized scissor next to it.

Now I wasn't expecting a huge package by any means, Squaw Mountain Gardens specializes in Sempervivums, Sedums and so on.

Opening the package I was in for another surprise. The box was filled with little paper bags. I had never seen plants shipped this way.

Looking inside the paper bags I found the Sempervivum (hens & chicks) that I had ordered. In all cases there was more than one plant in the bag, sometimes there were quite a few in there!

I suddenly realized that a strong gust of wind could take those bags and scatter the Semps all over the patio. It was time for action and I quickly made up a bunch of pots for those new babies.

Planting instructions were in the box and they were wonderfully clear.

I simply pressed the rosettes against the soil, I didn't bury them. This part literally took a few minutes in total. Not one little chick was allowed to escape. There's a tiny one here near the bottom lip of the pot.

Don't forget the name tags! Some of the varieties I ordered because I couldn't resist the name such as this cultivar 'Legolas'.

Apparently when I was looking at the photos on the website I must have been taken by the cobweb varieties because almost all the ones I ordered were webbed.

Here they are all potted up. I can tell you that I am absolutely thrilled with the shipment and would highly recommend this company for those of you looking for new Sempervivums for your trough gardens.

Melanie

Aruncus - the perfect perennial

2009-06-10T07:03:00.006-04:00

The most well behaved plant in my garden has to be Aruncus aethusifolius. The plant catalog at my desk here describes it perfectly: "10" compact mounds of dense, finely cut foliage, miniature spires of creamy white".

It forms a perfectly round mound, looking as if a garden gnome came upon it in the middle of the night and trimmed it.

Right now (June 10th) it is in full bloom. The blooms last a pretty long time, I'll be watching carefully this year to see how long they are here. Gradually they fade to a tan color and I just leave them on the plant since they remain nice and neat.

I also love the fact they they will scatter a few seeds this way although I never get as many seedlings as I'd like to get.

Last year I added two more types of Aruncus to my garden. This photo shows Aruncus 'Misty Lace' which is described as a " 2' X 2', compact and heat tolerant, deep green Astilbe-like foliage topped with delicate pure white plumes.

Sure enough it too is behaving as perfecly as it's little sister. It's just a bit larger than the athusifolius variety and has even more blooms.

I have this one in part shade, it gets lots of direct morning sun but no afternoon sun and it is as happy as can be.

Here's another angle, I love how it looks against the deep purple foliage of the Ligularia 'Britt Marie Crawford'.

The last variety of Aruncus in my garden is Aruncus dioicus which is the large version. 4-6' tall giant cream plumes in July, foliage looks like a giant Astilbe is just about the perfect description. What the catalog doesn't tell you is how wonderful this looks in the landscape.

For many years I walked past the pots of this giant Aruncus at nursery centers. It looks awful in pots. The blooms sprawled all over and seemed dingy in color. In the garden though it's a whole different story. The creamy white is just dreamy and the soft arching blooms are so much better than I ever imagined.

Sitting here typing on my laptop I can look out my dining room window and see it in full bloom. It looks magnificent and I hope it too gives me some seedlings like the athusifolius variety has done.

Magical Peas

2009-06-08T13:35:00.002-04:00

Peas peas, heavenly peas. I love to eat raw peas and pea pods. Last year was the first year in many that I decided to try to grow a few vegetables. I had huge success with the peas in containers, enough so that I could munch a nice big handful each day while working in the garden.

This year I planted two varieties. Burpee Snowbird and Burpee Sugarsnap Peas. The pea you see here is the Snowbird which is just covered with blooms and pods.

See the pretty white flowers? Yesterday I stuck my nose up against them and inhaled. Yummmmm, they smelled delicious!

Now for the magic part. Here's how I grew my seeds this year. My potager is still under construction so I planted the pea seeds in large black plastic containers. I made my own pea supports with long branches I cut from my Physocarpus 'Diablo' (purple nine bark).

Take a good look here, do you see what I see? The Physocarpus has leafed out! How cool is this?

Now for the ultimate, not only did the cut Physocarpus branches leaf out, they are currently blooming. I can't tell you how happy this makes me (well, ok, I just told you ;-)

Happy happy me,
Melanie

An Aerial View

2009-06-07T21:42:00.004-04:00

Once or twice a year I remember to go upstairs and take photos from our bedroom windows. I love to look at these photos years later and see the progression of the gardens.

This is the view from my front bedroom window. I can see straight up the driveway. The funny thing is I rarely look out my bedroom window, I guess I'm outside more than I'm inside!

My daughter Emily has a better view, she can't see all the way out to the street but she has a more sideways view of the front perennial borders that flank the driveway.

My bedroom has windows that look out the back of the house too. Here's the newly opened swimming pool. Still too cold to swim in but who cares, at least it looks lovely!

At the front of the swimming pool is my little rock garden. If I could change one hardscape location here in my yard it would be the pool and patio area. It's just so big, rectangular and of course, smack dab in the middle of the yard.

I zoomed in on the back shade border with my adorable shed and my neighbors hideous white vinyl fence.

One last look at the opposite corner where I make my black gold (compost of course!).

If you look carefully you can see Calie-the-wonder-doodle taking one of her many laps around the pool patio.

This evening I took lots and lots of photos. The next week is chock full of gardening plans. My local garden club is hosting a flower show this Friday and Saturday at the Historic Kissam House in Huntington Village. I've got a ton of things to get ready but at least I've got lots of photos and ideas to share with you when I find a moment or two.

Shave and a haircut...

2009-06-03T07:23:00.003-04:00

Today's Perennial Spotlight is focused upon a charming little creeper, Cymbalaria muralis which is known locally as Kenilworth Ivy.

These sweet little plant was given to me many years ago by a neighbor, just a little slip that I had in a pot near my garage. A piece escaped from the pot and rooted by the door. When I was looking for plants that would grow in my rock wall, I removed a piece and tucked it into a crevice out back.
Over the past four years the Cymbalaria worked it's way around the corner of the raised bed. It doesn't like the sunny spots, just the most shaded corner of the wall so I really didn't have to do anything to contain it.

Yesterday I decided that it needed a haircut. It looks so lush and healthy here but it was hiding some of the elements of the rock wall that I really like.

See, now you can see the boulder that we worked into the plan.

It was really simple to cut back the Cymbalaria, I just used a basic pair of scissors. The whole area took less than an hour and I also added lots of compost and top dressing to the bed at the same time.

Rather than cut too much, I left some areas with little tufts of Cymbalaria. I know that it will grow back again soon. Look at what I found underneath, a nice little Sempervivum rosette that will now get some much needed afternoon sun.

I think I'll pot up some Cymbalaria and add it to the sales table. Don't you think it's sweet?