Bits #1... it takes literally weeks and weeks for the Heptacodium miconioides (Seven Sons) buds to begin opening and that process has begun... if not a sure sign of fall, it is at least a sure sign of September...
The shrubs (trained as trees) are pretty enough at this stage, but of course the real show comes once the rose colored calyxes have formed a cloud of color later in autumn. There is textural interest in the form of exfoliating bark as well...
Pieces #1: An architectural wonder 20" in height in the Floribunda or Japanese flowering crab apple... not sure what to do with it as it is populated with hornets of some sort...
Bits #2: My wife is enjoying a get away in the north woods this weekend...what's the old saying?... When the cat's away, the mice (mouse) will... cut glass, would you believe... this is the beginning of the Tiffany 16" banded daffodil shade which I've spent hours on already... (lots of small pieces)... try to look past the poster tack shadows to see the depth I'm trying to capture in the daffodil trumpets. This is accomplished by using mottled glass created through a chemical process in specific types of art glass where the rates of crystal growth and heat treatment have been controlled creating ring shaped areas of opacity... It's interesting that Tiffany came up with this process in the early 1900's as a part of his getting away from having to paint details on glass... the process was lost for years until rediscovered in the 1960's. (Still to come... I need to do a photoshoot for my recently completed butterfly shade (Les Papillons) and post pictures)
Pieces #2... a piece of great news for us at any rate... we got 1.2" of highly desired rain today... needless to say, I am very thankful!
Bits #3... You may recall that we removed five very large siberian elms from the area pictured above in late winter. I still have not decided totally what is to become of this area, but I am fairly certain that I don't want it densely planted. At the far end is a Bottlebrush Buckeye which given time will take up a lot of space. I've added four magnolias in addition to the Quercus dentata and also its rarer form called 'Pinnatifida'. The light green grass is actually annual rye which I mowed today... I am undecided whether I'll sod this area or perhaps go with a no-mow grass. I like the look of the annual rye when about 6-8" tall and I need to decide if that's what the no-mow will do for me. I may just plant annual rye each year. Additionally, I want to add a stone wall but have decided to hold off for this fall and create another rock garden instead... location uncertain at this point, although I have come across some decent rocks for the project.
Bits #4... the ongoing process of doing away with annual plantings... there isn't a lot of color here anymore... most of the marigolds failed while we were on our road trip... too dry I suspect. I do have a number of sunpatiens which are looking pretty good... especially the "compact Blush Pink" pictured here...
I am less satisfied with the 'Vigorous' selections... perhaps I didn't feed enough as they are no where near as large as advertised... especially the red ones. The vincas from the 'Cora' series that made it past destruction by earwigs are also doing quite well.
Pieces #3... As far as I'm concerned, the hands down best annual this year is the Calliope Dark Red geraniums. I say this keeping in mind that I'm on a mission of finding low maintenance annuals. In addition to having them in pots, I have an area where they are planted directly in the ground and I'm pleased with that situation as well... next year, these may be the only flowering annual that I plant... I like the look with the blue of the house as well...
Note that I said "flowering annual"! Below is a dusty miller that has come back for me for three years... I propose that combining these with the geraniums would be extremely effective...
Bits #5... how about those dahlias... I planted lots of them and some are bigger than good sized shrubs reaching 9' in height... but there is a problem which is affecting them as well as my larger flowered altheas. It's green bugs that look like aphids with legs... we called them rose bugs when I was growing up. If I don't come up with a solution real soon, the 35 clumps of dahlias are all going into the compost pile... here is an example of what they do.... any ideas on dealing with it? I need a quick fix... yuch... they are gross and the majority of the blooms look like this in short order...
On a happier note, most of the conifers are looking pretty good... see ya, Larry
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