Inside Out

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

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...

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

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

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

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?

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

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!

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

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

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.