The UnBecoming (of a) Garden

When I announced to my landlord that we would be leaving, he could barely contain his joy. It was not so much in regard to our departure as it was the opportunity to share the news with the landlady. The rent shall be raised! Hallelujah! Praise be to God! And that garden, enough! Her disdain for the garden means that this garden plot will be no more, as he wasted no breath to tell me that as soon as we depart, the garden will be filled with concrete.

So the plants you see here, and so many others, will not make it without me, unless someone comes to rescue them this week. Transplant is usually no big deal around here at this time of the year, but the weather is about to turn significantly colder at night, freezing these out and making it harder to identify what is what. That said, the ground is unlikely to freeze and most should be just fine.

Russian sage is a a tricky transplant, although I succeeded well enough last year. It's fuzzy calyx never loses color, the wispy leaves, pungent odor, drought tolerance and also a bee's delight, are plenty of reasons to plant it.

Gaura, still blooming, is also drought tolerant (I have a lot of those). A great plant.

An aside, the petunias started flowering again this October. 

They are unlikely to survive the coming freeze.

Asters, so many asters. Why do without them in autumn? This one doesn't self seed,  is easy to keep in check and is loved by flying insects.

The climbing hydrangea will be coming with me, eventually. 

I cut it back hard a few mornings back and will suffer the cold this week to prune its roots. Along with the climber rose 'New Dawn' and my grandmother's tea, it will rest in a trench covered with wood chips at a friend's in Williamsburg until I can take them to Minnesota.


Plants I have available:

Dwarf spirea (pink flowers, chartreuse foliage)
Everblooming shrub rose (magenta flower)
New England and NY Asters, (blue-purple flowers)
Yarrow (yellow flowers)
Tradescantia (blue-purple flowers)
Snakeroot (white flowers)
Daylily (orange, orange-burgundy)
Geranium (the real one, pink and blue flowers)
Phlox (pink and white flowers)
Sedum (different kinds, large, small, pink flowers)
Primrose (yellow flowers)
Coneflower (pink, maybe white)
Heuchera (copper and mahogany leaves, white flowers)
Dicentra Eximia (pink flowers, lacy blue green leaves)
Goldenrod (non-spreading variety, yellow flowers)
Chrysanthemum (Korean type, apricot flowers)
Sage (deep blue-purple flowers)
Culinary sage (pale purple flowers)
Hosta
Liriope (Purple flowers, blue berries)
and many others.

If you are interested, email me: nycgarden@gmail.com. You may have to do this on your own, but I will tag the ones I plan to keep if I cannot be present to help out.

The Cosmos

It took me over a week to pull the Democrat primary fliers off of the borage. This is my confession. Had I made time for maintenance, I would have noticed that the cosmos seeds had finally grown into their own and that the borage has come down. The dayflower may not have taken over quite as much as the chartreuse potato vine, and the pots, yes the potted plants would be just a little less, shall we say, tan. Of course there is little I could have done with the advance of shade on the front yard and the plants there are keen on a solution, and even less I could have done about the spraying of herbicide under the yew tree, terminating my mayapples, lilies, monkshood, phlox, and yes, poke and smartweed. If I were a more attentive gardener, the lord may have not concocted such a browning scheme. Shall I say a few hail Marys now?

And the Solidago has fallen over, making it less appealing to me, as to the bumble bees that fly right on by.

The Russian Sage has bloomed for months; a proud, successful transplant of a well-dug-in, tap-rooted perennial. White Gaura is its friendly neighbor.

Appealing about this sage is its pubescent, lavender-colored calyces that outlast the pale blue flowers, extending the appearance of bloom far longer than the flowers alone.

The bumble bees also find it quite appealing.

But not, to these bees, as appealing as the large Heuchera, with it's small, white flowers nodding behind the autumn marooning Primrose leaves.

 Around it, a swarm of bumbles.

What's New and Blue

Dicentra eximia, one of my favorite plants, spontaneously regenerated elsewhere in the garden this year. Last year's healthy bleeding heart was danced on while we were in Minnesota, and died. I'm glad its offspring are here (like the end of Charlotte's Web).

The planting around the stump is full indeed.

Geranium 'Johnson's Blue'? Barely.

But these bachelor buttons? Now that is blue.

Tidying

It's a comfort to spend 20 minutes tying up the rain-heavy perennials, tidying, putting things back in their place. Things have grown a little unruly in recent weeks, and I'm busy, but I plan to be more present than I have been in the coming weeks.

April's May

Tradescantia, or Spiderwort, named so to honor the English naturalists John Tradescant the Elder and the Younger. Who knew? I prefer the moniker Spiderwort, most likely named because its leaves resemble the legs of spiders. I did not plant this Americas native* in our front yard garden, but there it is. A little weedy; meaning it pops up here or there. It does not like the heat of a summer sidewalk, preferring a partly sunny, moist woodland edge.

Aphids on a gloriously green, 'New Dawn' rose. Hey, birds, come on back!

The geranium and the carpenter bee. A myth or maybe a children's tale?

*Americas native -there are several Tradescantia native to both North and South America. Mine, while unknown, is likely a cultivated native of the northeastern American continent -such as Tradescantia virginiana.

Trimming Your Aster

I learned awhile back about clipping asters from a neighbor who's own always seemed to be completely under her control. I wouldn't have ever known if I hadn't spied her cutting them. 

Each year the time to consider clipping might be different. This year, it's quite early. I've clipped my taller asters, those above 16 inches, back to about 13-14 inches. No matter the height, consider reducing clipping back by 15-20 percent. Doing this will promote more flowering, as clipping can with so many plants, because you cut the dominant growth tips (apical meristem), allowing many side stems to grow. Aside from bushier plants with more flowering buds, it also keeps the plants a bit shorter, and less likely to flop as far when heavy with flowers in the fall.

You can be graceful or rough about the clipping. I tend toward the middle.

All the asters that are quick to get tall get this treatment. This includes the New England asters, the perennial sunflowers, and even goldenrod -Solidago.

This aster, at 8 inches tall, isn't grown enough for clipping. Maybe in late May or early June. Here in New York City, I wouldn't clip after late June. At that late date, you will weaken the plant, invite disease, and limit formation of flowering buds. So to be safe, clip early when the plant reaches 16 inches or more.

Chive about to bloom, a flame.

The continuation of cat deterrence. I moved the daylilies to the back, along with some asters. Both are tough and spreading, helping to keep the cats from pooping back there. When the siding guys come (it's been years in the making), I think these plants can get stepped on a lot and will still bounce back. In front -the other perennials and the mesh. Now it's clear to me -everything's the same green. Time for flowers, no?

These two herbs have never survived a winter in my garden -until this winter. Snow cover, snow cover, snow cover saved last year's (now this year's) parsley and rosemary.

Every plant suffers some underneath the dry shade of the yew tree. But the monkshood, Aconitum, is just loving it, growing bigger every year. The phlox and lilies don't complain much either. I think I'm finally getting this side yard figured out.

Early Morning Asclepias

My single milkweed, butterfly weed, or Asclepias tuberosa, has grown to new heights this year. Last year it remained about 6 inches tall. This year, it tops the fence -probably due to all the competition and I am glad to see it could handle it. It is surrounded by yarrow millefolium (the white field yarrow), ordinary garden yarrow (yellow, with fuzzy gray leaves), and Allium sphaerocephalon.

So far, no butterflies.

This is the yellow lily, flying above a cloud of aster leaves, backed by a chorus of phlox.

Thank you swivel screen.

Love A Rainy Night

ooh ooh.

The plants have been growing like mad this year, rainy nights or not. The beans, this is them two days ago. Today, they're 8 inches tall.

The tomatoes put on another few inches last night. All, but for the orange mystery tomato given to me by a neighbor -those seem to be short and stocky (lower left). Even the borage added a few more inches.

We pulled some old iron pot stands out of storage.

The painting of the house has begun this morning. Turns out, the man with the paint brush told me, that he's only painting one side of the house -the side that faces our side garden. Apparently, the only reason he is painting the building at all is because the landlady has some leftover paint from his painting of her building. So one side will be painted. He seems reluctant to mess with our plants, and I understand that.

Allium sphaerocephalon and some lilies. Alliums should've been staked long ago.

Bees love the borage.

Sidalcea malviflora (yes, the partygirl).

Morning coffee and deadheading.

Picket Fences

It's that kind of year, where I tell everyone who stops how early things are blooming this year. Whether it's really early or not, I do not know -just seems early to me. The Allium sphaerocephalon I remember as July, but then last year it was cool and wet.

Same goes for the Russian sage, Perovskia atriplicifolia. Surely this is blooming early in my garden? Isn't this July/August? Too floppy either way, the New Dawn over hanging it.

Ahh, the picket fence I made out of 7 pieces of scrap wood. Cut those pickets myself don't you know. This is to keep flying garbage pails out of the garden, after a lost lily and broken asters convinced me it was necessary.

Speaking of lilies, the oranges are blooming in every location now, although these are a little larger and less recurved than those on the other side of the front garden.

What's Still Blooming

The geranium is still blooming, along with the heuchera or coral bells.

Rosa 'New Dawn' is still blooming, although a little more raggedy than a week ago.

Sidalcea has been blooming for about a week now.

Gaura is beginning to take off.

These lilies are waning.

But these are coming on strong.

Cram Is My Middle Name

Overflowing front yard.

Where the work is. The side yard has a lot still going on. On the bottom left and right we have seedlings from seeds we sowed about two weeks ago. I've been weeding that area weekly. Above are two rectangular boxes that will be for bush beans -our most productive crop. Right now, one is filled with mixed greens. Above that are the irises, moved a month and a half ago, all flowers rotted before bloom. To the right of those, the evening primrose I pulled from a field in Maine 5 years ago. They will bloom on time, this weekend. Climbing hydrangea on the fence line.

On the far left are one of three boxes for tomatoes where the yew tree had been. Pots of herbs, including sage, mint, chives, oregano, thyme, and eventually parsley and basil. Birdhouse given to us by my brother in law two years ago, painted yesterday by my wife, will go on the old telephone pole you see dead center top. Two small-leafed blue hostas upper right, along with some phlox from the front yard, two lilies, aconitum, st. john's wort slowly reviving itself, a seedling sedum, coneflower, gaura, lily turf, and Johnson's blue geranium. Whew!

To the left of the birdhouse: one aster, three ferns, dicentra eximia, daylilies, tickseed, another johnson's blue geranium, and some phlox from the front yard. The two pink flowering plants are the dames rocket I don't mention (deadheading, deadheading). Alyssum seeds were strewn between the path stones. Of course, patio in center. Cram is my middle name.

Sickness Is Boredom

I've been sick with a cold and sinus infection for about 6 days now. Friday's visit to the doctor granted me the antibiotics I need to get this behind me. My job ensures that the sickness will linger, because I cannot take off to recuperate. It's finals, students are streaming in like fast- moving zombies. Working with students is a little like having 50 kids -you keep hearing your name called out while you are busy with something or someone else. They hover until you focus on their problem. You're doing the same thing all day, and it beings to seem incomprehensible that students are unprepared. I do not gripe at any teacher who needs their summers off. You need it to restore your balance after having so much need directed toward you. I wish I had the same opportunity, though, my chair just informed me that I will have to work until August 12.

I was supposed to travel out to my mom's today for mother's day. Instead, I'm staying in, getting that last bit of respite before I have to go back to work tomorrow. It will be 10 hours with the students tomorrow and Wednesday. Worse yet, we will have double the need both days because a student worker inadvertently signed up two students for every machine. We're in for it. The chaos will, I hope, not stress me out to the point of sickness re-constituting itself. Two weeks to go. Two weeks to go.

It seems a nice day out today, despite the wind. After some chicken soup (thankyou Betsy), I will step out and look at the garden. I need to get out of the house, off the couch. Sickness is boredom of the mind and body -even food becomes tasteless.

The growing conditions have been such that everything has been getting rather out of hand. I will need to get my hand back in there, with the pruner, with the twine.

All too many plants and way out of control. Spiderwort, two types of lilies, phlox, three kinds of aster, rudbeckia, sidalcea, and daylilies in this image. Asters will need to be roped-in and cut back. Lilies will need to be straightened up. When summer heat and humidity comes, this population density may turn into disease and decline.

I hacked the knockout rose hard, but it is hard to knock out. Coming back with vengeance.

'New Dawn' is beginning to bloom.

This year it is a monster, way too heavy for its skimpy trellis.

The honeysuckle is blooming, way on top of the rose. It lived here before the rose was plunked down, and has managed to hang on above the rose. I'd move it if I could get to it.

Grandma's tea is blooming more than ever, longer-lived flowers for these cooler days.

Please help me ID this probable weed. I imagine it gets little white and yellow ray flowers. I let it get huge this year, sucker that I am waiting to find out what it is. Gray-green stems, no prickers, upright habit.

Sad-sackery. The tomato seedlings got neglected due to my sickness. I went out today and there they were -all wilty. Watered them and put them in front of the pinks.

The yarrow is about to pop and, as always, is taking up more and more space. Needs to be tied up.

Cool Mornings

geranium

This morning its quite lovely in the garden. Cooler air, the plants flush from all the rains. The asters are at least 2 feet tall, and the buds are growing on the lilies. Like clockwork, the evening primrose is holding off till its time -I think it flowers by day length. The allium buds are set, geraniums in full bloom, grandma's tea is blooming more than ever, and New Dawn is about to explode.

I'm up early today -well, early for me. My wife is moving sculpture up to Rochester, NY. It was a fiasco trying to get a vehicle that would fit her odd shaped objects and fit into our budget (its the mileage charges!). We ended up renting two vehicles because the first couldn't hold her things without severe damage to the car and her sculptures. I was all over town yesterday, finally finding a rental place with an available mini van at that moment.

We have been looking into buying a used mini van, but our savings are just not enough to find a van that is decent enough to trust taking on these regional art deliveries, not to mention our Minnesota trip twice a year. My mother is moving to Florida in the last week of May -all the more reason to seek out a vehicle. But the truth is that renting a car is still much cheaper when we factor in repairs, insurance, and the cost of the vehicle, inspection, registration. It's simply the convenience of having the van available when we have to move art that is compelling us to look. Practicality has reigned as well, having to chuck my wish for a 60mpg vehicle, and a new one -can't do that.

Everything I have looked at from Craigslist has been a bomb, or a cheat, in our price range. The city really is the worst place to look for a variety of reasons. So, I will march on looking for a vehicle -because in two months we'll have to pick up the artwork from Rochester.

Grandma's tea.

The iris never like being transplanted in the spring, which I did because we re-arranged the space along with the patio. This rotting flower is the result of that and the rains. Better luck next year.

This morning I weeded the seedling bed, removed the mesh too. The cat's will shit and the squirrels will dig, so they're on their own now. At this stage, its easy to tell the weed sprout from the cultivated sprout because I am really familiar with the weed colonies in this spot.

The dame's rocket in front of the ever spreading mint (in its pot!). Wait -don't shoot! That's what I say before I photo the dame's rocket and put it on the blog. I'm taking the middle ground until our two plants croak -religious deadheading of the flowers. It has become "naturalized" in the lower Hudson Valley, and has been banned in CT and MA. Still, J&L has two for sale in gallon pots -and the question always is: "are these phlox?" To which I say -"four petals hesperis, 5 petals phlox, spring blooming hesperis, summer blooming phlox." And then -"you probably shouldn't buy these, but may I interest you in some pink phlox?"

Tradescantia, or spiderwort, likes the cool, wet days. In summer heat, it fries -yet comes back aggressively every year in my garden. I end up pulling it (but it breaks at the ground -must dig it up!).

The herb pot. Chives, oregano, thyme, and the cup of tomatoes I got from a neighbor.

The flowering chives.

Up close.

Tree Day Brings All Kinds of Excitement

I was taking some garden pictures, a neighbor passed and stopped to talk about his squirrels digging in his vegetable patch. Then this truck pulled up -knowing instantly what was about to happen. The ensuing traffic jam and noise, brought everyone out of their homes like those scenes in movies when the giant alien ship descends over the city. What's happening? Trees, my friends, trees.

I was right about the Zelkova serrata. We got three of them -an allee or avenue I suppose. This was all going to happen quite fast -first the placement. Notice telephone poles -lower right.

The hubbub brought the neighbors out past their stoops. Soon they were collecting on my corner -the center of all garden variety chatter in the quadrant (what I call our isolated 4 blocks).

It certainly brought out my landlord, to the right, concerned mostly about the day he will break that third tree with his old telephone poles. I insisted that it was not me who asked for these trees (to stem quiet neighbor speculation), although I was visibly excited by their arrival.

First, break up the sidewalk. I was happy to see that they were using two full squares, about 4 x 8 feet for the tree pits. Especially after seeing the presentation on this at the BBG a month ago. Our soil underneath the concrete sidewalk was relatively soft and dark -I was surprised. My landlord was upset about the cracking of the sidewalk (which was already cracked), but I suppose about the lifting and cracking to come as well. If you are getting sidewalk trees and/or redoing your sidewalk, see Dr. Bassuk's presentation.

The crowd cleared as the trucks moved on. The trees are tall, which pleases me as I am not much for low-limbed trees on the sidewalks. They appeared in good health, with no scars on the trunks. The tops were rather tangled though and stuck in their roped position. I'll need a ladder to untangle them.

I was concerned that they would leave the metal cage on - but they clipped the upper portion, leaving the lower portion intact. Burlap and twine was cut, lower portion intact.

Then the compost truck came, filling all the holes with about two cubic yards of soil and adding some rather stenchy cedar bark to top the pits off.

Tree on the right.

Tree on the left fears the telephone pole truck. Notice older Zelkova across the street, left side. Omitted: tree in the middle.

Shade cast next morning on the already late day shade location of the front yard.

Shade cast on the early morning shade part of the front yard garden.

Most of my perennials in the front yard are adapted to a long day of sun. Some will be thankful for the growing amount of shade over the coming years. Some will need to be moved to a sunnier locale after 5 - 7 years. The Zelkovas planted across the street have been around for about 10 years. They have reached nearly 18 feet tall and about as wide. They cast a medium dense shadow. They have a very wide v-shaped underside, having good reach all the way to the houses nearby. My garden now has a new directive. But the neighborhood too.

The beautification the trees bring gets neighbors talking about "eyesores." There's one I hear much about, as if I have any say in the matter (poles). In fact, so many neighbors came out yesterday that even the density of stray cats and who feeds them was discussed. With that, we may approach a compromise attempt to limit their numbers. One of the tree planting supervisors mentioned a group that may help spay and neuter with neighborhood participation after he saw 9 stray cats in a neighbor's driveway. We're looking into it.

Poor Man's Patio Part 2

This is poor man's patio, one week later. I went to my corner hardware store and bought their cheapest ($4.99) bucket of gray, unsanded indoor/outdoor grout. In a bucket, I mixed some sand with the grout (which is basically portland cement). Then I shoved the mixture into all the gaps around the stones, pushing it into all the open spaces formed from a week of settling sand.

I wet the mixture with my watering can and got sloppy smoothing the wet cement with my broom. A day later, sufficiently cured, I rewet the surface to begin cleaning the grout residue from the surface of the slate. I wouldn't advise anyone to make a patio this way, but it works -in a devil may care sort of way. As I said in patio part 1 -if I were doing this right, I'd prepare a proper bed of gravel underneath the patio and then use crusher fines directly beneath the slate and in between the stones. But this is a cheapo patio.

A week back I planted the perennials around the patio. This weekend I applied a layer of cedar mulch. I did this primarily because this is what is advised given the amount of heavy metals in my soil. It so happens that in building my patio I turned a lot of the old soil over and onto the surface. The soil dust blows around, settling on my herbs or in my lungs. It can get pretty dry in my yard, as I rarely water. So the mulch keeps the dust down, or that's the theory anyhow.

All the perennials, no matter their location, are quite far along this season. The ferns I transplanted from the front yard were mere bumps a week ago -now fronds.

Dicentra eximia, a native of N. American eastern forests, exploded after replanting.

Brunnera macrophylla, or false forget-me-not or Siberian bugloss, variegated. This was barely hanging on underneath the old vegetable planters. It'll probably come back quite vigorously next year.

The potted chives are sending up its flowering stems.

The thyme is alive and well, if coming up much later than its neighboring oregano.

Spring Cleaning

The warmish weather this weekend got me fired up for cleaning out the garden. I usually leave all the dead perennial branches over the winter, then wait for the first signs of life, usually crocus, to go out and cut them down. In that time, many of the blowing leaves get caught up at the crowns of the shrubs and perennials. Although many argue the points of cleaning up before winter or after, I choose to leave these and have had little problems for it.

Because we can have a late winter cold blast, I take my chances clearing out the leafy protection the new shoots enjoy. That said, those young shoots are pretty hardy and the chances of a prolonged deep freeze are unlikely. My plot here benefits from strong all day sun (equal to October 10th or so), a protective wall to the north and a warmed sidewalk to the south. All the more amazing that my crocus are just up now, where usually they come up somewhere in February.

The only real danger comes in cleaning out too late. I am always eager to get out there as soon as it warms enough to see green shoots popping through the leaves, but life gets in the way sometimes and I get out there later than I would like. If the bulb greens and new leaves of perennials are putting on lots of new growth, I may damage them with my rake (or my hand) as I clear the leaves. I can only avoid this by getting in to clean as soon as possible.

The hardy Aconitum -last to go in fall and first up in spring.

Surprised to see these daylilies coming on strong

I cleaned out two full size trash bags, which is hard to believe. Twigs, stems, leaves and lots of trash. All in all, it was a good 3 hours of work. I left the rose pruning to "some other time." I also got to chat with some neighbors, all of whom I haven't seen since I was last in the garden.

December Bloom

These asters are just opening up.

Last of the Sheffield.

Still going strong, the Salvia elegans.

No bloom but just as cool, the milkweed silk and seeds ready to see the breeze.

Of course, the late and long blooming other asters.

The hard to put down Sedum, keeps reblooming since August.

And the effervescent max sunflower, blooming much later in the side yard than in the front.

Come Again

I took this nice weather morning to plant these bulbs that I received, wow, over a month ago. All from Scheepers. In the back, Crocus tommasinanius and Crocus T. 'Lilac Beauty'. Twenty five for $4.75, I think that's a great price for the small pleasures of late winter. Scheepers' website mentions that squirrels don't eat these. Of course, I've had more trouble with my own shovel destroying the crocus, but I think I found evidence of the anti-squirrel qualities of these. I planted them in soil around the stepping stones in the side yard. The next day I went out and saw that the soil was spread all over the stones and what did I see, but one crocus bulb sitting on top, un-gnawed. I think sir squirrel moved on to other more tempting treats.

The front two are species lilies, 'Citronella' and 'Davidii', 5 bulbs each for $9.75 and honestly, I wish I could have given two of each away -no room! The white bulbs on the left are onion, Allium atropurpureum. I really don't like those giant globe allium, so I go for the varieties that have more open habits or the humble umbel forms.

I was planting the bulbs, moving iris and other perennials for the side yard flower garden, come vegetable garden, come again flower garden. Since that corner is kind of messy with the cat feeding and bottle depositing and otherwise garbage-y quality, not to mention the telephone poles that come and go, I put some max sunflowers in the corner to go with the mess. Today, when I am doing this other work, a neighbor says hello and then says 'finally cutting back those flowers, eh.' To which I respond, 'do you not like them?' And so on from there...

I will never cut down a flower in bloom. Just won't, unless, of course, it's for the vase. I certainly wasn't doing what my friendly neighbor was suggesting, and certainly not in November when every day with blooms is an anchorage to warm and temperate times. But I get it, neighbors want plants to stay within their frames- behind the fence, WHAP!! cracks the whip. So I bend, cranking back the poor stems of Helianthus maximilianii with a twine contraption, forcing them into the shade of the Yew tree they so desperately reach from to catch the last bits of low sun, their penchant tropism. Oh ye heliotrope, bend not to your need and will, but to the wants of your animal neighbors! Such as it is, such as it is.

Not Defeated By The Rains

The 'Sheffield Pink' Chrysanthemums showing all their diversity of color.

Brooding, but beautiful, under the rain drops.