Muggy Monday

I think this might be my favorite of all the dianthus (although each strain has qualities that make it special. Joe, I promise, I'm gonna get my nose down into them in the next day or so now that so many of them are coming on strong, in order to report on fragrances, if any!). There's just something about the maroon fringing and red patterns, and those tiny white stamens. Plus it seems to be one of the hardest to photograph, so maybe I like the challenge.

It stayed rather warm in the overnight and I slept on the couch in front of a fan not far from the computer...Badum curling up nearby, but discouraged from his usual cuddling nature by the heat.

By 8:00 a.m., it was already in the low eighties, so that first cup of coffee was a bit hurried so I could make sure everyone was well hydrated out there by the fence.

This morning, before I could do that, I also spread out some of my favorite fertilizer, the delightfully named Cock-A-Doodle-Doo (amusingly enough, I always think it ends with Poo, leading me to regularly be corrected by nursery staff), which is, essentially, chicken sh*t in pellet form. I suppose I ought to have worked some of this into the garden soil earlier in the season, but it took me a while to track it down.

I'd only ever seen it in milk carton-sized packages, so you can imagine my surprise when the nursery only had the big bag of the stuff. It was on sale, though, so certainly more economical than the smaller containers, which I'd probably have needed a bunch of, anyway.

Anyway, every part of the front gardens got a decent top coat of the pellets, and then a nice solid watering to help them start to break down into the soil. When I get around to weeding again (after the heat breaks, I imagine...), I'll work it in. With so many seedlings coming up though, it will be careful work when I can devote the quality time to the task.

The blue/ purple Siberian iris was seriously nibbled a couple of weeks back, and I hadn't expected there'd be more to that story this season, since irises (except the new reblooming hybrids I've only read about in catalogs) are generally a one-and-done flower. However, it seems the nibbling stopped short of whatever it was the plant needed to thrust up this single flower, which appeared this morning.

This photo will enlarge, if you're inclined to click it. This clump of pink dianthus is blooming quite merrily, as you can see. Also of note here is the agastache seedling beside/behind the marigolds to the lower left, which is all that remains of a once large plant, a sideshoot rescued when the larger plant died off.

The grasses are all shooting up nicely, as the tulips' foliage continues to fade out. This is the downside of tulips: you have to leave the foliage once the flowers have faded, as the leaves are the plant's solar panels, collecting the sun's energy and storing it in the bulb for next year's show. The trick is to plant them near things that distract the eye or grow tall to conceal the fading foliage.

At the feet of the dianthus, to the right (and also one dead center on its own), you'll find a tiny forest of allyssum seedlings about to begin blooming.

Here's one of the chrys anthe mum's, which I've been regularly pinching out the center leaves of, to encourage branching and more flowers for the garden's final autumn moments. There's a little marigold foliage coming into the image from the right...but let me call your attention to the branchy little seedling right beside the mum. That's a cosmos seedling, but it's not anywhere near the seashell cosmos seeds I put out.

I suspect that this is a seedling self-sown in last year's garden, which hitched a ride with the mum during the move. I'll be keeping an eye on it to see if proof for my suspicions develops.

Meanwhile, here's the better foliage of the golden sage plant I promised. I'm a fan of the texture and the variegated patterns on the leaves of this plant, and in the past I've had them grow into little shrubs, if offered some mulch as winter protection. Plus, it's a tasty herb with chicken on the grill or sautee pan.

This pair of blackbirds flew in while I was filling the bird bath. I think that was their original destination until they spotted me.

They landed on the fence, and the female hopped from one side of the flag post to the other, a steady stream of chatter going between them, warbling noises that were liquid and musical and sounded like real talking.

After a few moments of this, they must have decided to visit another birdbath in the nieghborhood, or at least wait for me to leave, as they flew off right after I took this photo. I tried identifying them from my bird guide, but that suggests that they were Brewer's Blackbirds, which are actually found in the Great Plains states...or so the book tells me. (Patrick, do these look like birds you knew back home?) Weather patterns being what they are lately, I suppose it's not impossible for a pair of them to have found the coast...it just seems more likely they are something more local, misidentified.

IDing is often a tricky business. I only got this brief look at them, which can make matching the memory against images in the book a little tricky. Birds fascinate me so that I have to actually remind myself while gazing at them to make note of particular characteristics so I'll remember them later. The photo helps, but I wish the male (to the left) was a little clearer.

Is it any wonder why I let my mind wander into the garden these days...or that I tried to save money by growing so many things from seed this year? I hadn't been to the gas station in about a week...and while I've heard the news of the latest price hikes on radio and television, this was a still a bit painful.

The President doesn't think it's a problem, so I guess I'll just suck it up. But don't you wish he had to pump his own gas and buy groceries, too?

Fortunately, the garden at work had much to soothe me with, as the afternoon heat began to fade a bit. These yellow daylilies always put on a nice show--they are a different variety from the yellow ones currently in bloom at home.

These old fashioned English roses are just amazing to me. I think they are David Austin hybrids. (I've just requested a catalog so I can drool at my leisure.) Not only are the flowers visually magnificent (and they come more or less all summer long), but their fragrances are absolutely delicious and intoxicating. It's nice to know there are still many roses being bred with concern for form and fragrance.

Someday, when I'm done moving around and finally got my bit of earth, I shall have several of these, to ogle and coddle(though they seem pretty hardy, based on the minimal care they get at the restaurant garden)...probably one of each of these, to start. Then just the ones that are named for various characters from Shakespeares works, although that'd limit me to only about fourteen. Do check out Heavenly Rosalind.


Really, though, the best news of the day came when I realized that the first of the great (by which I mean quite large, easily bigger than my fist) dark purple irises had begun to bloom. There's a number of other flower stalks with deep purple/black buds to follow, but today there was just this one, perfect specimen.

I did get my nose right in there, and didn't notice any particular fragrance, just that quiet green smell that so many plants have.

It sure was catching the light well, though I think it was less blue in reality than appears here, owing to the angle of the late afternoon sun. The truer colors come in the places where the petals are lit from behind, I think. I'll take more photos as their blooming continues.

It's cooled off this evening again, down to a comfortable 66 degrees. The fans are still pleasant, though...and tomorrow they promise we'll finally pass the 90 degree mark, a rarity around here.

Sun Day

Despite last night's cooldown, it was hot from the get-go this morning, as we hit 81 around 9:00 a.m. I got right out to the watering before that, to make sure all my green friends were prepared for the day ahead.

This patch of dianthus is one of those flowers where it's hard to capture the flower color correctly, depending on the light conditions. It's actually, to my eye, just a little more toward the orange than the pink side of the spectrum, as reds go...but I'm having a heck of a time getting it right. Ah, well...lovely just the same.

I was happily surprised to see that this cleome seedling has developed so quickly. I think it's benefitting from its location along the route of the soaker hose, not to mention the hot golden rays of the sun.

Here's a pair of seashell cosmos seedlings at the feet of a clump of veronica (left). I'll need to transplant them so they're a little further apart, since they both look like good healthy plants.

Now, in the fish pond, you may have noticed we have a potted iris. You'd probably just have noticed the sword-like leaves coming up out of the water, really, but you might have guessed iris.

Anyway...the thing hasn't bloomed for us for about five or six years, as it seemed to have gotten pot-bound...and also didn't have a good strong sun location to thrive in.

When it bloomed last, it looked something like this, so you might imagine how psyched I was to see a pair of buds on the plant last week.

I didn't mention it here, because I figured it'd be a great Purple Flower Surprise to spring on you (get it? 'spring on you'...heh) when the time came.

Except, that time came this morning, and as you can see, the result was something different than anticipated, though clearly, there was still a surprise.

I'm not entirely sure what happened here. Plants rarely just change their mind about what they're going to look like, after all. (Do they?) The results of my online searching have suggested that both are most likely Louisiana irises.

I wonder if maybe we got two different kinds of roots at the nursery and when I divided the overgrown plant a couple years back, I gave more room in the pot to a root which hadn't been blooming before. Which makes me wonder if we'll still see the blue/purple one.

Anyway, lovely, isn't it?

Here's a look what everyone else at our house was doing as I headed out for an afternoon at work.

No, it wasn't exactly my first choice for a location on a Sunday afternoon, but there were things to be done and also, air conditioning!

The clematis vines on the lamp post really are an eager bunch. I wouldn't want to try to untangle them at this point, that's for sure. And they are covered in flower buds, which should be fun to watch over the next week or so.

It being June and busting out all over and such, there are plenty of things to see getting ready to show off just about now, like this foxglove flower spire, which is climbing and beginning to reveal its flower buds. It looks like there'll be several other flower stalks rising from this same patch. Yay!

In another part of the border, the sweet William is showing its spikey little flower heads now. Have you noticed there don't seem to be many plants named after guys? I mean, there's this William guy, and of course, Narcissus...and maybe Stephanotus (am I spelling that right?) but who else? I'm not thinking of any others off the top of my head just now. The rest, I'm pretty sure, are all girls' names. Doesn't seem quite fair, does it?

In other news, look at this sunflower seedling. Remember when they were crowding my bedroom window, what seems like forever ago? This one is also very close to the underground route of the soaker hose, and clearly thriving for the regular moisture to its roots.


Not far away, it gives me great pleasure to point out that this carnation plant, which managed to avoid being nibbled by my long-eared friend, has some lovely flower buds bobbing on curling stems. The plant that did get nibbled, though, also seems to be giving it another go, since I also see some lower flower buds appearing there, too!

And here's another look at that new arrival, the verbena bonari ensis, and it's flower buds. I love these long, thin jagged leaves. And there really aren't enough plants with square stems.


Meanwhile, summer seems to have arrived on Not Wisteria Lane. You can tell because these siberian irises down the street are now suddenly blooming. But there are other signs, too.

Now that everyone's windows are open to catch the breeze, it's become clear that almost everyone on the street watches "Jeopardy", since you can hear the Ding tone that signals a correct answer in super-quadraphonic sound when you're out in the garden after 7:30 p.m.

Also, the hard-of-hearing lady two houses down and over, watched Airport '75 last night. I know because I was able to sit inside our own house and listen to all my favorite Karen Black and Helen Reddy scenes quite clearly. ; )

Oh, and the most important sign of the change of the seasons: the Ice Cream Man is COMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm always eager to have a new photo of me, but am rarely happy with my results.

Tonight I was playing around with the bug-repellent tiki torches as a light source, and I thought this didn't suck.

Hi everybody!!

I was still dripping a little from a brief visit to the hot tub, which, surprisingly, did help me cool off a little.

Great cloud formations at sunset this evening. This one caught my eye. It almost looked like there was (Great Hera!!)an Invisible Jet swooping down out of the sky.

Although I began this entry well before midnight, it's now 12:28 and the temperature is still 74 degrees, so the sea breezes seem to have abandoned us. It looks like there's a slight chance of a storm overnight, which could be kind of fun.

Meanwhile, I think I need another ice cream sandwich.

Casa Blanca Morning

 

We enjoyed a cool night last, and so I slept without a fan on. This meant that I knew before I open my eyes how right the forecast for high humidity would be for today. I was happy to get out to the garden with my first precious cup of coffee and discover there was a lovely breeze to provide some relief. But as the morning has continued, you can tell it won't be much help in a little while.

My favorite of all the lilies, the oriental Casa Blanca began blooming this morning, a lovely thing to behold, despite some damage due to the much-discussed lily leaf beetles. The striped stamens are especially something on this one. As much as I understand the need to trim them off to prevent pollen stains when cutting for arrangements, it'd be a sad thing to emasculate this massive beauty.

With such a hot day on tap, I doubled the watering this morning (Rain in the forecast? Don't make me laugh. They say maybe next week.) and also took care of some much-needed dead-heading duties. Having started so early, there was plenty of time, too, for just stopping and looking, really the best part of being a gardener, if you can make yourself stand still for a moment or two. It was a nice morning for sitting and listening to the birds waking up (even they seem slow to start on this humid day).

Eartlier this week, I started loosening the sod for a new bed in the back garden. This will be where I move all the rootbound irises from various gardens around the house, as I divide them, in hopes of seeing some blooms next spring. But that's definitely not hot weather work, so I'll let the sun dry to soil there a bit, which will make the task a little simpler when I do get back to it.

Heat Wave

First yellow African marigold begins. 

We've been having a bit of a heatwave here. Certainly nothing as dire as they suffer with in Boston and other mainland environs, but climbing toward a hot 80 degrees as I write this. The ocean breezes do tend to keep us a little cooler here on the Cape, though certainly you mostly have to be AT the beach to enjoy those seabreezes first-hand.

This morning I heard my first locust buzz of the season, so you know it'll be a scorcher. Being careful to water each morning, as the sun begins to climb into the sky, and everyone in the gardens seems happy with that plan. Most of the tomato plants are looking pretty terrific, in fact, its difficult to keep up with supporting them, they're growing so quickly. There are tiny tomatoes all over the place, and some tiny bean pods in the Three Sisters garden, as well.

Every day there are new blossoms to enjoy, sometimes things that hadn't bloomed before. Our great drifts of oregano have, now that they are flowering, revealed themselves to be two different cultivars, one purple, the other white. Morning glories are climbing faster daily, and have begin to sport tiny flower buds.

Ah, there's always so much to see. And of course, research to be done away from the garden, too. One reading this should never forget, I don't always know what I'm talking about. There are SO many species of beetles to sift through, and so far no sign of either the Red Menace or the more recent questionable long-horned bug. And then there's the flowers. The recent stalk of tiny pink flowers that reminded me of catch-fly...I'm now wondering if that isn't some wild blazing star (since that name keeps repeating in my head as I watch it bloom).

Now that I have the latest Harry Potter book under my belt, I'm enjoying Sara Stein's next book, "Planting Noah's Garden", which is fun because she takes all those ideas and principles from the earlier book, and shows us some practical applications of them.

And meanwhile, the days of July race by, as they always do.
 

Orange asiatic lily.