Ruminastions

How did I get here?
This is not my beautiful garden.
These are not my beautiful nasturtiums.
Letting the days go by, into silent autumn
(with apologies to the Talking Heads)

This is ostensibly a Seed GROW post, but it's also a Sundries Sunday post so be ready for random ramblin' ruminastions!

Well, my 'Spitfire' nasturtiums definitely look the worse for wear, especially after last night's low near 40! There isn't enough sun in this location; I've been needing to move a huge arborvitae. The hops is more or less gone, too, but look at the eeny beeny morning glory that popped up!

There are one or two more growing higher on the trellis.

The nasturtiums I planted to grow up my corn are doing somewhat better. To all the hatas who tried to tell me I wouldn't get corn with only one plant, neener neener! I got two corn cobs, but neener neener on me, they were both covered with corn smut, which was so gross I tossed them before even taking a photo. I suspect it self-pollinated (with the seeds above falling on the tassels below). Everything in my garden has to fend for itself, lol.

Pretty turtlehead I received in spring from my friend Joey.

There's something about the forming seedhead of the cup plant I really like.

On July 4 I direct-sowed some zinnia and sunflower seeds. Two months later things are blooming.

I didn't used to like zinnias, but holla!

Ready to bloom any minute now...

...There we go! I can't help but smile when I look at sunflowers.

My tomato crop was suboptimal this year, but I did discover an awesome plant tie: hair clips! Just make sure the ends don't pinch the stem. (These 'Great White' are high enough up to have (knock wood, toi toi toi) escaped the rascally raccoons so far.)

The obedient plant is kickin' ass and takin' names. Most of all mine for not dividing or staking it!

That's my girl!

This corner of my huge front bed is the first thing I planted when I moved into the house. It is now one hot mess, with weeds encroaching the bed. The other side is even worse but I couldn't bear to show it!

When the foliage of the goldenrod (I believe Solidago canadensis) came up, I thought it was native asters. It's not that I don't like goldenrod, it's just that there used to by be native asters in that space as well. The queen of the prairie is about to bloom, way later than the one in a sunny location out front.

I couldn't get the contrast of Big Bluestem grass against the buckthorn in the background to work, so I did an inverse and messed with hue saturation. HA!

Poison ivy growing up a stem of echinacea that the groundhog broke the top off of. Ah, nature. I have tons of small patches of PI like this and huge spreads. I've been hesitant to use Roundup because I often see American toads in this area and their skin is particularly sensitive to absorbing chemicals. Later in fall I'll paint it on.

We were talking on my facebook page about how some gardeners (volunteer at recent workday, left) seem to have a magic anti-dirt shield and others (me, right) very decidedly do not. Lisa pointed out in the comments that the woman to the left is holding pruners and so was likely standing while working. Which is a great observation and interpretation except that there happens to be very little to prune in that garden; mostly everyone was weeding and spreading mulch that day... and everyone finished clean, except me (though I was doing some more rigorous weed removal, lol!).

I got this sweet autumn clematis (Clematis terniflora) from my mom two years ago and this is the first time it's bloomed for me. I winter-sowed two native versions of this plant, virgin's bower (Clematis virginia), and will be interested how long it takes them to bloom. (Where to plant them is a whole 'nother kettle o' fish.)

Large milkweed bugs on (surprisingly enough) my milkweed seedpods.

A while ago I won some cool stuff, including a $20 gift certificate to Lowe's, from Lisa. Even though I had every intention of spending the money on bird seed, I couldn't resist these $3.33 gallon shrubs: two false cypress, two different cultivars of chokeberry, a spirea, and a red-flowered potentilla. No, I have no clue where they'll go.

My elephant's ears 'Illustris' really came into their own this year; they about quadrupled in size. They're gonna need a new pot before they come back in for the winter. Eep.

I've shown Pinky a few times. These are Siegfried (left) and Gertrude. G is named partly after Ms. Jekyll (I chuckle to myself as she hated fuchsia) and partly after my grandmother.

I wonder if I can get Siegi and Gerti to balance on a tight rope like these two? I adore everything about this photo of the Flamingo Trailer Court on Middlebelt Rd. in Farmington Hills, MI.


I'm growing Nasturtium 'Spitfire' for the GROW project. Thanks to Renee's Garden for the seeds.

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What's pink or green or silver all over?

About a month ago my friend Amy and I checked out Fabulous Flamingos: A Whimsical Garden Display at Matthaei Botanical Gardens. As you probably recall, I'm crazy about pink flamingos (or maybe just crazy), so this was a delight to see. (For proof, here's Pinky, one of my own flamingos.)

The flamingos were decorated by community members, students, and Matthaei staff. You could vote for your favorite, and this creative dragon was mine. It's made of the handyman's secret weapon (duct tape, holla Lisa!) and I liked its smile. Maybe the red protrusion is a flame, but I like to think of it as a tongue!

There were a lot of flamingos to admire.

In all kinds of decorations.


Yes, I'll be making Pinky ear muffs this winter!

Many creations were well matched to their surroundings.


I love the pink flame. Rawwwwr!




I'm rough and tumble from previous fights. I keel you.

♫ One of these things is not like the others... Does provide a kind of shared context for the dragons, though!

Of course we walked the rest of the grounds, too. I love the Alexandra Hicks Herb Garden.

Such a peaceful setting, and people do sit down there.

Delphinium, ahhhh. A plant that hates my garden, so I'm reduced to stalking it elsewhere.

You just know I'm gonna say it: Noogie! I mean, seriously.

I love Nicotiana, especially 'Lime Green.'

The edges of these stringy-petaled Echinacea pallida almost look like they were cut with tiny pinking shears. (Hands up anyone who is amazed I know what pinking shears are.)

Of course we had to go in the conservatory as well. I just love pitcher plants. I think this will enlarge if you click it.

Loved the sentiment on this t-shirt hanging outside the gift shop (or perhaps that's shoppe), but was of course too cheap to buy it!

I hope none of you have suffered stress-related injuries from the shock of my recent frequent updates!

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August Blooms

I was just thinking it's been a while since we've walked around my garden together and it's even time for the August Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!

I have to start with this retro green and rusted lawn chair, which I found curbside. I struggled with at least five contortions before fitting it into my non-hatchback Focus. At one point it fell out of the trunk and was dragging on the road (I am not exaggerating)... and it hit my foot on one lift. But I'm stubborn and just knew it would make the perfect plant stand for my pot of elephant ears, ferns, and coleus.

I grew potatoes for the first time this year. I decided to use a storage tub (with holes drilled in the bottom), so I could fill it with composty goodness. You know they're ready to harvest when the foliage dies. I started them from seed potatoes, and they were ridiculously easy to grow and they tasted so good. And digging for the taters was fun — there's just something about sticking your arms elbow deep into a nice soil-compost mix and rooting around... aaaahhh!

Here's my second harvest of 'Bintje' potatoes. Nom nom nom!

I'd more or less given up getting eggplants this year, when I saw a tiny 2-inch fruit on August 8. Holla! I thought it was solely because, as Lisa put it, they were "abused as a seedling" (I left them in those small cell packs way too long before transplanting), but it turns out several others have reported their eggplants are late this year too (Ha! it's not all my fault!). We had a really heavy rainstorm and on August 14, the eggplant had tripled in size.

Tomatoes are looking a little small compared to everyone else's, but I don't have too much sun and the soil is bad here, despite improvements, so I'm glad to get even a few tomatoes per plant. They're all heirlooms and each plant is a different variety. I have another two tomatoes in the ground out of view, plus five more in containers. I just realized this whole shot, with my home-made compost bin and rain barrels, plus the random stuff I have set around to squelch weeds, makes this an excellent #uglygardens vignette.

I've saved my first tomato seeds of the season. Easy-to-follow tomato seed saving instructions, with photos, are here. This is my second year saving tomato seeds. I first used paper towels to dry the seeds in the final step, but the seeds really stuck to that. I then tried plain white paper and that worked a lot better. This year I found Colleen's instructions and I got some paper plates, which was genius. No sticking at all and much faster drying times.

The other thing I did differently this year was to wait for mold to form in the initial seed soaking. This fermentation step isn't necessary in terms of seed viability or vitality, but it makes the seed coating (gooey tomato gel) come off the seeds much more easily. Last year I skipped that step and rinsed and rinsed and rinsed and rinsed in a sieve. That worked, too, but was a lot more work.

My cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum*) is only 5 feet tall, though they can get to 10 feet in optimal sun. I wrote a bit more about it here.

Look who I found on the cup plant blossom — the soldier beetle is not only a pollinator, but it eats aphids. I love beneficial insects. Plus, it's just so cute!

Despite my laziness in not having planted this nodding wild onion (Allium cernuum) since my friend gave it to me in {looks around furtively} early June, it's blooming and doing well!

I love the almost-ready-to-bloom buds of rough blazing star, Liatris aspera.

Love the turkey-foot shaped seed head of big bluestem grass, Andropogon gerardii.

I have several clumps of tall coreopsis (Coreopsis tripteris), this one along the neighbor's fence.

Butterfly bush is bright and cheerful.

One of my many cultivar Viburnums. I love the berries. I do have a native arrowwood Viburnum, too. :)

I adore the buds of Japanese anemone. (All together now: "Noogie!")

Some of my Japanese anemone have already starting blooming.

The berries on this purple beautyberry shrub will turn bright, vivid, holla! violet in another month or so.

The front bed taken from the driveway, looking south. (Pinky says hi.)

The front bed along the house, taken from the porch facing south.

The front bed on the other side of the walkway, taken from the front porch looking west. (Say hi to Bizi** so she can ignore you!)

One of my favorite garden spots. I love the rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium) paired with the Russian sage.

And that combo close up.

Mexican hat.

The sunflowers I sowed on July 4 are about a foot tall and look like they're getting buds!

The Mexican petunia Sweetbay sent back in May finally has a bloom!!

My first-ever rose 'Golden Wings' is blooming again since I pruned the dogwood, which was blocking her sun, waaaaay back.

Even though I cut my sneezeweed back over a foot in early July, it's blooming now. 'Mardi Gras' has long since finished, and now it's time for 'Moerheim Beauty'...

...and the native yellow Helenium autumnale. It's tall and makes a great screen for one of my rain barrels. (See how you can't see it?)

I just love it close up.

Bees love my dahlia 'Bonne Esperance.'

I'd say my one (and only) 'Uchiki Kuri' squash is ready.

The ironweed (Vernonia missurica) outside my front door is a good six feet tall. I've read it likes it wet, though I never water mine. I also read it can spread, but mine hasn't (though it is true I collect its seeds).

I love its vibrant purple flowers.

And that's about it for today. It's too humid and there are too many mosquitos. Let's go in and have some zucchini bread and lemonade.

* I'm marking native plants in this post by also giving their Latin name. (No Latin name = not a native plant.)

** Bizi is Fiona's nickname; Jimi is James' nickname. People often mention "all your cats" and as much as I'd love to be a crazy cat lady, I have just those two. It hit me that perhaps the nicknames were interpreted as individuals, esp. as Bizi isn't so obviously derived from Fiona.

Thanks to Carol of May Dreams Gardens for hosting Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.

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