The last post was about thistles, since I had been hard at work in the garden getting rid of as many as I possibly could manage, but there are lovely garden flowers that have thistle characteristics without their tendency to elbow everything else out. Long ago, when planting my first garden on Glen Echo (isn't that a lovely name for a street? Too bad it was located right next to a raucous, busy … [Read more...] about Globe Thistles And Other Nice Looking Xeriscape Plants
July
Canadian Thistles, Are They The Bane Of Your Garden?
I don't know anyone who says they like this plant. We all call it a weed, and doggedly work to eradicate it from our yards. That has been one of my occupations of late, and I find there is something of an art to ridding the garden of Cirsium arvense, as horticultural Latin nomenclature labels it. What makes Cirsium arvense so difficult- that it tempts even a saint to utter unrepeatable words? … [Read more...] about Canadian Thistles, Are They The Bane Of Your Garden?
My Ohio Garden Resumes The Usual Summer Program
Fennel takes drought wellAfter the very remarkable weather we've had this summer, from damaging storms through wearying drought, the recent spate of rainstorms has brought something of normalcy to this Central Ohio garden. In fact, it is almost something of an ideal for this time of year, with cooler mornings, bright sunshine, blue skies- sometimes of brilliant intensity and sometimes a … [Read more...] about My Ohio Garden Resumes The Usual Summer Program
Mid July Chores
It finally heated up and this is what we expect in July: hot muggy weather.It is time to keep up with the weeds, hoeing them out in the morning means that the hot sun is killing the weeds and not you. Afternoons are made for sipping lemonade in the shade of a tree. Look for bargains beginning in the garden sections of the stores.Keep your tomatoes and other veggies watered, either in the morning … [Read more...] about Mid July Chores
Color Harmony: July Pink
I usually attach a color idea of orange and yellow to July, maybe because of the bright light, or the fact that many flowers in those hues are in full bloom in this month. But pink is still a garden color that while warming towards salmon in many of July's bloom choices helps to cool things down a bit. Even "hot" pinks when combined with blue fescue grass or the white of lilies or baby's breath is … [Read more...] about Color Harmony: July Pink
Arrange the July garden around lilies
Every month has it's supreme leading lady flower of the garden; June has the Rose, but July has the Lily. Especially now that the "Orienpets" have been created. They were the belle of several beds at the Inniswood Gardens Metro Park, and I would love to have some in my garden next year. "Orania" was the one I was most taken with because of her blonde and blush coloring, but there were others that … [Read more...] about Arrange the July garden around lilies
Fourth of July, High Point of Summer
For me, the Fourth is the watershed of summer....everything builds to this place of heat, picnics, and fireworks, and is downhill from there on through to the last gasp of summer, Labor Day. Maybe because the mystery is gone by the fourth of July. I know whether my seedlings thrived, what the insect populations are likely to be, I've already harvested the cool crops and the tomatoes are at their … [Read more...] about Fourth of July, High Point of Summer
A Japanese Beetle Plague
Japanese beetles have struck my garden again. Out mowing, I noticed the Stella cherry tree was bronze with skeletonized leaves. Coming closer it was filled with the terrible metallic armored beetles munching away. It gives me the willies to mow underneath these infested trees because a rain of beetles comes down on me when I brush by the branches. As I moved about the yard... it was the … [Read more...] about A Japanese Beetle Plague
Mowing and Weeding
Sorry the pictures aren't up yet, I've kept too busy to blog properly, although I have tried to keep the facebook going.Mowing and weeding are all we are doing right now. Ohio has turned into a rain forest, it seems, the perennials are lush and the grass abundant. Unfortunately, the fields have flooded and the crops are under stress, portions have already died off from being drowned out. The bugs, … [Read more...] about Mowing and Weeding
Rural Observations
This week I traveled from mid-Ohio to mid-Indiana, and there is quite a bit of rural landscape to be enjoyed along such a route. I keep track of how the farm crops are doing since I live in the midst of corn and soybean country here. As might be expected, even with the rain we had, the corn was "pineappled". The plants leaves spike up like pineapple tops when the ground is dry and they are … [Read more...] about Rural Observations
July ’07 State of the Garden
Lavender WalkI have been gardening, not blogging, and this was one of my resolutions for 2007. So far so good. It has been hot here, but we received some rain earlier this month; a huge downpour on the Fourth, which as a lady at Curve's said "We will take what ever comes and not complain." Bravely said, since they marched in the local parade.Not I, though...no, I was busy grilling fresh, … [Read more...] about July ’07 State of the Garden
July Problems
With all the rain, and believe me I am so grateful that I don't live in the areas prone to flooding, which have been under watch while more rain just keeps coming my ground is soggy. Truth be told, everything is damp and clammy. And the creepy crawlies are emerging.Earwigs... those horrors of the night... and of every damp cranny and folded clothing.Japanese beetles have invaded this part of Ohio … [Read more...] about July Problems