Dooney'sWorld

Seize the light.

Do you recall that I mentioned that the tall white lilies were lying down in the grass?  They stayed down there for days, as if they were just done.  But then after one full day of sunshine they stood right up, and they have been predominantly upright ever since.  Well, maybe they got up to 120 degrees, maybe 150 in the morning, but they bend down to get the afternoon soon, when they are only at 90 to 100 degrees.  I am certain that I still need to move them. But they are standing.  

I am sure there is a lesson in that about seizing the bright things in life and just picking oneself up and making the most of whatever it is we have.

On another note, I got a couple of dozen roses from my darling step-son and his wife today.  Flowers always make me happy.  I had let the yellow roses dry out as they still had a heavenly aroma, but fresh flowers are even nicer.

The Shade garden is thriving in the rain

It seems that one of the most frequent topics of conversation among my friends of late is about how terribly our gardens are doing, and for once I am happy that I haven't been out in the yard digging up new beds and planting tons of new plants because it is mostly the new plants and the annuals that are suffering this year, as well as some of those sun-loving basics.   

Luckily much of my garden is in the shade and those shade loving plants are just in garden heaven.

I may behind on the weeding, and I am certainly behind on clearing out and planting new flower beds, not that the constant rain has helped with that.

Even my black mondo grass, which rarely blooms for me here, as it really just barely manages to survive in my zone, is blooming:

And the Hellebores that I temporarily planted in pots by my front door in April are still there and still holding their blooms.  I didn't realize that they would retain their flowers for so long, or perhaps that is also a benefit of the cool wet weather.  I'm not complaining, and I am glad they are happy, because the space where they are supposed to go remains a mess of wet soggy, slippery clay, on a slope no less, impossible for me to dig and amend until the ground gets a chance to dry out a little bit .

The only things not doing well in my garden so far (besides the roses) who are plagued by the various ills that accompany weather that is too dark and damp, are my tall white lilies, which  have beaten down to the grass with the heavy rainstorms.  Of course they were already leaning over to reach the sun.  I need to move them.  Their original location gets fewer hours of sunlight as the neighbor-we-don't-like has let his slope get a bit overgrown, blocking more of the already negligible sunlight.  I really don't the problem is just this weather or the increasing shade from the neighboring woods, but the Irises continue to do well in the same flower bed.

I do however have a new Lily blooming on the slope.  I did plant lilies there years ago, but never managed to keep the blooms on them, despite spraying with Deer Away.  This year I sprayed the last of my Bobbex on the one lily plant I saw that seems to have survived the continuous feasting and it is growing straight and tall and blooming lustily.   It is the first year in nearly 10 that I have seen this lily bloom. I am amazed that it has survived. This yellow Oriental lily is in an overgrown area that I want to fill in with flowers, and I am now thinking of moving the tall Asiatic lilies to this area.  I would think they would do just as well even though they are taller, 6 feet versus 4 1/2.  But I can see they get get sun over a broader swath of the day.  I am already thinking about what can go in the iris bed in their place.  

In the Garden.

I did get back into the garden yesterday afternoon after the rain.

I was slogging through the wet and overgrown front yard, pulling up weeds and attempting to plant a few things.  I had just won a battle with some large woody weed that had decided to entwine itself with one of the re-blooming yellow irises and was wet and covered with mud when Dave, the UPS man arrived with a package for G (my birthday present -- although now I have to wait a few weeks to see what it is).

Dave commented that it had rained 21 of the last 30 days and I added that I had just emptied the rain gauge again and had recorded 13.25 inches of rain since May 17.  A round of mumbling about the weeds overtaking everything ensued.  

In the middle of this photo is a shot of a lovely New Guinea impatien that has naturalized itself in my front yard.  I popped it in a few years ago, 5 or 6 I believe, when this little patch by the front door was mostly bare.  

You can see that it isn't bare anymore, but this impatien has come back every year.  It will bloom a little later in the summer, when it is a bit warmer and sunnier.

The front of my garden remains a little warmer than most of my yard.  I am properly on the colder end of zone 6, much of the county is zone 5 except for a narrow swath along the Hudson River, which happily includes my yard. A small section of the front yard is protected by the house from the North and West, and also from the harshest of winds coming up from the south west in the wintertime, and I have grown a few plants that are really hardy only to zone 7 here.  Unfortunately this area is also deeply shaded so I don't get many flowers, but there is still a wealth of color and texture from the many shade loving plants that are making it their home -- much better than the clay and moss I found when I moved here.

Things I wish I had in my garden

These Chinese dogwood trees have been blooming at the post office all week.  Every day, when I go to get our mail they take my breath away. 

Of course I love the flowers, but I also love the leaves and the shape of the small trees.  I can't believe I never noticed these before, or perhaps I have, but since I wasn't thinking about gardening they just slipped my mind.

I would love to have a couple; I'm not one to want one of much of anything when it comes to the garden.  I have no idea where I would put them though, really there is little room for trees unless I rip out part of the woodland overgrowth at the edges of the property.  But I want these to be somewhere where I see them daily, not on the fringes.

Perhaps, if I ever pull out the Cottonwood tree, which is in the island in the middle of our driveway, I can plant small trees around the island with a patio in the middle?  But the cottonwood is not about to go.  G is completely unwilling to have it taken down because it is the only large tree that provides shade in that half of the yard and in fact the cottonwood and a large Maple at one corner of the house are the only two trees that provide any shade to the house. 

The cottonwood is in a location where it does not impede any of my neighbor's views of the Hudson.  If it did, I would have to cut it down, or top it at 20 feet, according to the covenant which comes as part of residing in this neighborhood.    There is no other place I could plant a large tree, and I am not sure that it is important enough that I would pay the cost of bringing in a tree large enough to replace the shade of the cottonwood.  Perhaps a collection of small shrubs and decorative trees, perhaps an arbor as well, around a patio would be the perfect plan.  But I have to really track the sun's path.  I don't need another patio or deck with the hot afternoon sun beating down on it, and I am not sure the house alone will provide enough shade to offer the afternoon respite now afforded by the large tree.

No rush anyway.  My gardening plans tend to be of the very long term variety.

Poppies!

Three weeks ago, Sunday last, I was struck dumb at the glorious sight of a flower bed full of poppies in full bloom, glowing in the midday sun.  I was insanely jealous.  I wanted poppies, fields of poppies.  And the worst part of it was that MY poppies were not blooming.  Immediately I started fretting and berating myself at my lackadaisical gardening habits over the last few years, never mind that I had good reason.

Of course, reason eventually took hold.  I looked at my two remaining poppies (the rest were lured to their deaths by an early false-spring in January 3 years ago).  They were huge. Each one had one single flower stalk at that point.  I would have poppies, although perhaps only few.

But why?  The Rhinebeck poppies were in a narrow flower bed sandwiched between a parking lot and a brick wall painted deep dark red.  The flower bed was south facing and the concrete and brick would hold the suns warmth.  They were also probably put in by a landscaping service as there is something new in their place now.

And my poppies did bloom, as evidenced by the photo above.  And they each sent up more than one blossom, probably around a dozen or so each.  They did not bloom all at one time, but I have had several poppies in bloom constantly for the last 10 days or so.  When I replace the departed poppy plants, there will eventually be more, and more again as I move on with my gardening and landscaping plans.

I can be a glutton for pretty flowers.

The Azaleas are also in bloom now.  This one is called Yaku Princess.  It is right next to my front door so I get to enjoy it every day as I walk by, and it is directly in view of my kitchen window.

Beneath the azaleas I found this small lily of the valley, only one, and I searched my brain to figure out how it got there.

I tried planting lily of the valley years ago and they all died, of course the front yard was dark and dank then, all clay and moss; completely unwelcoming.  I knew even less about gardening.  I may have purchased this one on a whim at the botanical garden last year, thinking I could at least plant one thing and see if it took.  I'd say it did.  Perhaps there should be a few more.

Cotton, Cotton everywhere

Memorial Day is widely held to be the beginning of summer.

This year it was also the first day of Cottonwood Season.

Now there are piles of cotton everywhere: hanging in big tufts in the trees and scattered everywhere about the driveway and the walks, floating on the surface of the pool, pressed up against the grates of the condensing unit for the air conditioner.  The AirConditioning system always gets its annual service after Cottonwood Season.

Our one cottonwood tree is fairly old, over 30 years, and large pieces of it break off in every summer thunderstorm or in the occasional winter ice storm.  I used to worry that it would fall on the house, but no more, although it is still large, I don't think there is enough of it left to do major damage.  In fact I would be happy if enough of it fell down that we had to replace it. 

T he problem is what I would I plant in its place?  A big magnolia?  I would love a big old magnolia although it is possible it might be just as much a pain to clean up after.  I console myself by thinking the actual blossoms would be prettier and would make my heart sing.   Of course, I am not replacing the cotton wood yet and when it does go it will take a substantial portion of the shade in the front of my house. 

Still every year when the cotton falls I wish it were a different tree.

(magnolia image courtesy of White Flower Farm)

Happy Birthday to G

It is sunny today, for the first time in what seems like ages, although it has probably been only about 6 days, maybe a week since the last sunny day.  Although I like those partly cloudy days I had been hoping for more sun so that the pool would warm up.  Cloudy cool days and nights in the 30's do not make for a warm swimming pool.  This is especially true since have the solar heater turned off because it has a significant leak. 

I am happy it is sunny because I think it should be sunny for G's birthday.  Of course every day is someone's birthday, but I don't think it should be sunny every day.   So I suppose that is arrogant and inconsistent, that I want it to be sunny for my friends, but not for yours.  Actually I do think everyone should have a happy birthday, but I wouldn't want to live somewhere where every day was sunny. I would be incredibly happy if it were cool and cloudy on my birthday, but since my birthday is in July, that is not particularly likely to happen.

But back to the birthday.

 G  asked for this salad for his birthday lunch.  It is one of his favorite summer into fall salads.

The recipe is here: Fried Mozzarella with arugula and prosciutto.  This past Sunday we had this salad for the first time this season, with fresh mozzarella and fresh local arugula.  Of course there are no local peppers yet, and there are never local olives.  I didn't happen to have the ham on hand but the salad was wonderful anyway.   G asked if he could have it again for his birthday, so I made sure to get the ham, except that I got Spanish Serrano Ham, which we prefer to the prosciutto.

The sweet man I married said he would rather eat at home saying my cooking was better than most restaurant food.  I disagree, but still, I can't help but be flattered.

The yellow irises are also in bloom.  The first few opened next to the house and were promptly beaten down by a huge rainstorm Sunday night, about an inch and a half of rain fell  in an hour or two.  But those that were still just buds remained standing, and the purple irises remained standing as well, even though they were already blooming.  This makes me wonder now, was it the rain, or something else.  The yellow irises that were beaten down are near the earliest blooming of the purple irises.  Perhaps the purple blossoms were spent and limp, providing no resistance to the onslaught of water.

More from the Garden

I really haven't gotten out much this week (unless you count going to the grocery store as "going out", and I don't) so I have no alternative but to continue to make you suffer through garden photos.

That is the flower bed at the end of the driveway, called the "iris bed" because irises form the center of the bed. So far, it is my only flower bed as the rest of my front yard is in deep shade, where I can have lovely textures but very few flowers.  The sunny lawn beyond the flower bed is also home to the tile-field for our septic system, so not suitable for more flowers.   I try to have something blooming here all summer as it is my one bit of floral interest, at least until I get more beds dug; even then this will be the main flower bed at the front, welcoming, side of the house.  All the sun is on the river-side which is not visible until after one walks through the house or over the hill.

Primulas in bloom.  G chose these once on a trip to White Flower Farm in Connecticut (a little over an hour away).  I had tried planting primulas before but they never "took" until we planted these.  These two have since sent their offspring out to colonize the rest of the flower bed.

The ferns are also coming out in the little nook by the front door.

And these yellow tulips have appeared on the rise at the top of the hill.  This area was shaded by a shrub that was cut down last year, a bushy thorny thing that latched into one's clothes everytime one walked by. 

I know I never planted tulips here, or tossed them here after planting.  The front flower bed and the vegetable garden, where tulips are often planted are both below this rise although on opposite sides.  Last I heard tulips don't roll up hill, and I haven't planted yellow tulips in the past, although perhaps I should reconsider.  At a party last weekend several neighbors were complaining that their tulip  bulbs are all stolen by the squirrels and asked about my secret (soaking the bulbs in Ropel before planting).  I wonder if this is the flowering of some squirrel's forgotten cache?

Tulips for Spring

The tulips are a bonus this year.  These were all planted two or three years ago and I am amazed at the large, lush, vigorous, and sweetly scented flowers of the white tulips.    I will have to plan to include this variety in the landscape plans, not merely in the cutting garden.  There are few tulips that can manage three seasons of large blooms.

There were enough tulips for a large vase for the neighbor in celebration of a 50'th birthday, and a smaller vase for me.

Seduced by Hellebores and random mutterings about the yard

Last friday I wandered over to the garden center side of Adams, our local gourmet market/farm stand/nursery and I a large display of hellebores caught my eye.  Now I had been thinking about these shade loving plants for part of the garden, a part of the garden that is unfortunately not anywhere near to ready for planting.  But a mass of them, in various sizes, mostly in bloom, artfully displayed next to the check-out kiosk, was a serious hurdle to overcome and of course, I succumbed.  I only bought 2, and smaller ones at that, thinking that I could put them in one of the stone flower beds near the front door, particularly the smaller one which is is in pretty much total shade.

Now that bed has always been problematic because it gets very little, if any, direct light and half of the bed is under an overhang  and surrounded by the house on three sides so it only gets rain if it comes in pretty much directly and horizontally from the east, which is rare.

In the past that bed has been mostly devoted to annuals, namely impatiens, and it has done quite well.  But a couple of years ago, before the health saga began, I had temporarily stuck a few shade perennials in the front of that bed to overwinter when I couldn't get to their permanent location.  And they did quite well.  So now I am hoping to have a mix of perrenials and impatiens there.  But I never really planned that bed, I just stuck a couple of things in willy nilly and they have done well,  so I wasn't really sure what to expect. 

This is precisely why I prefer to plan my beds, so I am not caught by surprise, so I don't forget and plant something where I have planted something else, and most of all so I know what I am looking for because I am still relatively a novice gardener and I don't recognize most things unless I know what I am looking for.  

In short, I thought there was more room in that front flower bed than there actually may be.

This is that poor, sad little bed, with the three plants I knew were there, front front to back, a bergenia, a brunnera, and a daylilly.  the far corner where the daylilly resides is the only corner that gets sun and it is also the driest part of the bed, with more rock and sand, somehow a place that the small daylilly has decided is just perfect.

But wait there is something else. First of all, although you can only barely see it here, there is a small pink plant stake in front of the brunnera indicating that a fern is planted in that space.  The ferns haven't stuck their heads up yet, so I don't yet know if that is going to actually materialize, but there will probably not be enough room for the hellebore there, especially considering there is another little plant poking its head ups as well.  

A small yellow and green leafed plant is coming up, just beyond the bergenia, a plant I can't identify.

I don't know if it is actually a desirable plant or just a weed, although I tend to doubt it is a weed because I just don't get weeds in this bed.  In fact the only cleaning out I had to do was pulling up a bit of vinca that had crept up, over, and through the rocks, and a little bit of moss and leaves.    That doesn't mean there can't be a weed, but I think I can count the number of weeds I have pulled out of this bed on one hand and I have been cleaning it out for over 20 years.  

But what is it?  If you know you can let me know.  I will ask at knitting on Thursday as well as there are some much better gardeners than I.

Anyway, it is looking like there is not much room for a hellebore here, and if I add any more perennials to this bed, I should probably duplicate something that is already here, I really hate having just one of something, unless it is a really big something that is.

So I plopped the hellebores in the planters by the front door, where they can happily reside for another month before they need to be relocated so I can put the summer flowers in.  In the meantime I have two ideas for places they could go, one planting bed that has been in the plans for a couple of years, and another, one of several actually, on the north side of the house in the areas that need work after the building of the new deck.

I was thinking about one of these areas today as I was staining more of the siding around the deck. There is a small area between the stairs up to the deck and the lattice covering the underside of the deck.  It is a small area and I could easily frame it in and I need to plant something there to keep it looking neat and to keep the weeds out but it is an area that will get very little direct sun, so I need plants that don't need a lot of maintenance as that bed will be fairly difficult to get into once it is planted, except for watering of course.  The area I am thinking about is kind of hidden in the middle of this picture, between the railing and the lattice work below the deck.  This picture was taken before today's staining.  The T1-11 wall at the top of the stairs is now stained, with a thick oil-based semi-solid stain and I am now working inside the deck walls.  When I get all the T1-11 siding stained I will come back with primer and paint and paint the risers, rails, and vertical pieces, all smooth cedar, which will hold up much better with paint rather stain, but paint doesn't adhere well to the rough-sided stuff, which also happens to match the house.

As you can see, there is a lot of opportunity for landscaping work here.

I have time to think about it a bit before I get started.  Right now it is pleasantly cool and dry so I must continue working on the staining and painting.  It is a time consuming project and a bit of an expensive lesson in terms of the contractor not doing it, although I think at the time the contractor just wanted out of the job because he had already probably spent more than the contract due to innumerable mistakes on the part of his various crews and various changes of subcontractors.  It is true that the contract did not specify painting the cedar, siding, and lattice but it did say built according to the plans which did specify painting.  I agreed to accept the earlier plan though, which did not say the word paint on it, because the earlier plan showed the entire deck and included another 25 foot of deck which was on the original proposal and was not on the second plan, which was really only the detail of the more complicated portion of the deck.

I made the decision.  I accept the job.  I grumble to myself but I do enjoy sitting out in the nice spring air and painting.  I am sure I will have to replace some things sooner than I would have if I had stained and painted a year and a half ago, or even a year ago, but I made that choice as well.  

I was also noticing today that the section of siding at the top of the stairs is the thinner fir T1-11, not the thicker fir that I insisted on, and had to special order, that was used for the bulk of the job.  I think that by the time that was done we were on the third carpenter, and I was preoccupied with other things, so it just got by me.  It is already starting to warp, of course made worse by the fact that I hadn't stained it yet, but the other siding, the thicker T1-11, looks much better. Life is filled with learning experiences.

I still think wood is easier to come by than good husbands.