A Gardening Year

The adventures and misadventures of an heirloom gardener

Saturday, September 03, 2005

What's Blooming Now

Labor Day weekend is when I usually stop deadheading and let everything go to seed. And right on time, the asters are budded. A few of the buds are just beginning to open. Almost everything else is winding down with the exception of the morning glories and four o'clocks which are still going strong.

The big news right now is that I have lupines blooming for the first time. I can't locate the seed packet right now, but they are from a batch of seeds that I bought two years ago for a wildflower garden that didn't get planted until this year. They are some kind of wild lupine:



The ugly plants in the background are violets. Their foliage is dying back now, but it will be very pretty next spring.

Also blooming is the Great Lobelia that appeared I think two years ago. It has gone from a single plant to a nice clump:

Not a very good picture, but it is almost hidden in a clump of cosmos. I had to hold them out of the way with one hand while manipulating the camera with my other hand.

When I was planting the Heavenly Blue morning glories this spring, I deliberately planted some at the base of the shepard's crook from which a birdfeeder hangs. This is the effect I was going for:

I think that worked out quite nicely. It's amazing that they do so well. You can see how shady that garden is.

Also in this picture you can just see a corner of the house across the street from me. It was owned by a landscaper who installed elaborate gardens in the front and back yards. The house changed hands this week. The young couple who bought it have been spent the weekend ripping out all of the plantings. At first I was horrified, but then I realized that I did the same thing when I moved into my house. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, they replace them with.

6 Comments:

At 5:40 AM, Blogger kerry said...

I really like the morning glory vines on the hook. I have some I plant at the base of a telephone pole. They don't climb much but I do get a nice clump around the bottom of the pole.

 
At 9:37 AM, Blogger OldRoses said...

Kerry, I've seen that "morning glory clump" look on telephone poles and street signs. I always wondered how people got that effect!

 
At 8:49 PM, Blogger Kasmira said...

I love the idea of morning glories on a shepherd's crook. I don't have any crooks anymore. DH ran over the first one and the raccoons destroyed the second (getting at the birdfeeder hanging from it). If I still had one, I would take a page from your book.

 
At 8:39 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

That lobelia....very nice!!! And I do like the hook idea for the morning glory--that is a way to handle another vine. I am always looking for another place to put a plant.

 
At 12:14 AM, Blogger OldRoses said...

Kasmira, no raccoons in my yard, my problem are the squirrels. They are chewing the protective coating off of the squirrel guard on the birdfeeder so it is steadily rusting away. Smart little buggers, aren't they?

Judith, glad to help out! I've gotten a lot of mileage out of that hook. First it held a hummingbird feeder, then windchimes and now a birdfeeder I bought specifically to attract woodpeckers. I never had any hummers but I do have two kinds of woodpeckers.

 
At 5:13 PM, Blogger Sylvana said...

I'm still horrified! I had practically nothing when I moved in, and what little I did have here, I pretty much left alone and just added to. I do confess to mowing down a row of badly planted peony instead of trying to move them. But I eventually did move them when they just would NOT go away. Glad I did.

 

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