Winding up the Month of June

The GGW contest for rose photos has announced the winners, and they are truly beautiful shots of a flower that is so beloved that there are millions of photographs taken of it, in all its glory and variation. Sample a few.

No, I didn't win anything... but I gained more than enough from the inspiration provided. Thanks to Debra Lee Baldwin for all her hard work.

As June ends so does the rose season. It is time for me to fertilize the hardworking plants. There were more disease problems, but less Japanese beetles (so far!).

Harvest time has started, and I cut the broccoli heads. The first thing I made was a chicken broccoli bake- I'll include the recipe of sorts at the end of this post. I hoed the vegetable garden and we weeded both the back garden and the garage one- which was supposed to turn into a cutting garden, but I needed extra space for the tomato and pepper plants. Now I am ready to put in more plantings. I have a decorative squash and I believe there is time to plant, yet. Also, I think I will put in some beans, although it has been many a year since I grew them. This year just seems good for beans, since it is so hot and all.

The Shirley poppies have put on a lovely show, and the heat is now making them look a little ragged, they will soon be pulled out. The star of this years garden is the Annabelle hydrangea. The blooms are as obscenely large and voluptuous as they can possibly be. The Mae West of the garden.

I've been busy writing articles for my garden website, which is something that I've had on the back burner for some time. I hope I have structured the site right for all the individual plants I want to write about.

So that, and mowing, is the summary of the month. What is new in your garden? Or what do you have planned for July?

chicken broccoli bake

6-7 pieces cooked chicken breast (I used mesquite-flavor frozen ones)
one family size can Cream of chicken soup
a cup of sour cream
shredded Asiago cheese, about a 1/3 cup
Parmesan cheese
slices of cheddar
Panko bread crumbs
two heads of broccoli cut in stems and steamed

Line a roasting pan with the broccoli; make sauce of chicken soup, sour cream, and Asiago cheese. Spoon half over broccoli; layer slices of cheddar and then layer cut pieces of chicken breast, top with more sauce, sprinkle generously with Parmesan; Sprinkle with fresh cracked black pepper Pour Panko over top and bake at 350 degrees til all is baked through.

If you want this to be heart healthy you need to make some substitutions. It tastes good, but salt and dairy create a very rich dish. For more flavor I would have added lemon juice, if I had it on hand at the time. Mix it into the sauce.

Technorati Tags: roses in June, chicken broccoli bake

Heirloom Roses in June

The Whetstone Park of Roses is a very large rose display. As a park, it is one I have visited all throughout my 56 year lifespan, so I have seen it change and noted the development of it. I don't think I have ever seen it look better than it does now.

The heirloom rose display is among the newer portions, although it has been in place for a number of years now. Located at the endpoint on a rise, it is the last feature as one moves through the wide paths of the park, the pinnacle, as it were. It peaks in early June, while the hybrid teas that make up the larger share of the central area are at their height, now, in the middle of June.

Because most old roses bloom only once, and many have smaller blooms than the hybrids, you might ask why grow them except for curiosity sake, but these oldtimers have a number of attractive assets.

One, they are survivors. Many of them have the shrub qualities and sturdiness of constitution that has given them longevity in the old gardens where they were rediscovered and collected.

Another reason is their magnificent scents, like many old fashioned varieties of flowers the fragrance has not been bred out of them, and they are redolent of nuances such as the descriptions indicate: myrrh, fruity, meadowsweet, vanilla, tea, musk, wine, pear-drops, and more. Who isn't seduced by such aromas?

A third quality is their floriferousness when they do bloom. Cascades of flowers cover the graceful boughs and bend them with color and scent. Bursting with a generosity of bloom is a common characteristic of many of the old roses.

Like many, I am enthralled with the charms of the old roses. They evoke feelings and thoughts of rich sentiment and fantastical imaginations; what is Titania's Bower without the rose and the honeysuckle? It is that heady combination of June scent, and almost wild abundance of growth that sets the stage for summer. You almost find yourself in such dreams in an old fashioned heirloom rose garden.
Be sure to see Gardens in Ohio and A Botanical Wedding.

Went to the Rose Garden

Just a note:
Took a short trip to the Rose garden in town before making the rounds of graduation parties. It was a lovely time in the rose garden, but my camera lost battery power way too soon. I bought an extra on the way home and will take a second trip later this week.

The roses were in full bloom, it was a sight! I was more interested in getting pictures of the heirloom roses but it was already past their season. I did get a few close ups of specific blooms, and hope to make a post with a photo collage.

I also saw a baby bird thinking about fledging from its nest high up in an old black walnut tree. I'm afraid that by the time I return with my camera it will have "flown the nest".

I love that park, and remembered being there for summer dances ...oh about forty years ago. They have put in some new features since I was last there, but on the whole one of the beautiful things about this park is how mature it is. The design and the basic trees create an impressive public flower garden.
It is on my list of top ten places to go if you are a gardener visiting central Ohio.

Post on the promised topic is coming this week :) That picture was from last years collection of photos from the Park of Roses, Columbus.

Diatoms

I happened upon a most amazing picture. Who knew that diatoms were such a lovely lot?

Organic gardeners know that diatomaceous earth is useful for insect control, but I was surprised at its uses. There are food grade and pool grade, the latter being poisonous, but the food grade is good for worming, and to get rid fo fleas. I didn't know that! Precautions of not being downwind of it, as it is drying to the eyes is something to remember.
Diatomaceous earth consists of the remains of microscopic one-celled plants (phytoplankton) called diatoms. They are fossilized remains of these tiny things from long ago oceans and lakes. These deposits are mined from underwater beds or from ancient dried lake bottoms thousands of years old. diatomaceous earth has an unlimited shelf life provided you keep it dry. - Info from Wolfcreek Ranch

***
"[FOOD GRADE] is not the same thing as the DE used in swimming pool filters. Pool grade DE is Diatomaceous Earth produced for pool filters and it is treated with heat, causing the formerly amorphous silicon dioxide to assume crystalline form. Pool grade DE should never be used for pest control. Swimming pool DE ranges from 60% to 70% free silica!" ~Golden Harvest Organics

Shirley Poppies, Papaver rhoeas

These are flowers to illustrate fairy tales, and so easy that a child can grow them successfully. In fact, once you plant them, they may just grow on their own happily ever after. They are one of my favorite reseeding annuals.

The petals of the Shirley poppy are described as tissue paper or tissue silk, and for such a sturdy plant everything about them seems impossibly delicate. From the fairy-winged flowers to the wire thin stems rising from a basal nest of mid-green hairy leaves, they flutter and wave in the wind,and sometimes sparkle with raindrops clinging to their translucent surface. Nothing is prettier than a horde of these poppies gathered in spaces throughout the garden arrayed in their best gowns of sparkling, luscious colors for a dance in June.

They are somewhat ephemeral, though. Liking cooler temperatures, they tend to melt during the hottest part of the summer. But that isn't surprising for something that seems so delicate in appearance. Shirley poppies have a wide variety of colors in their hybridized selections. My favorites are the pastels, with lavenders, pale rose, white, and pinks, often picoteed around the edge of the petals with rose red or in soft bicolors. The Shirley poppy selections can range in color from cool whites, pinks, rose, and lavenders to cheerful yellow, orange, and scarlet, and can be doubles. I had originally planted one collection called "Fairy Wings" which I had ordered through Thompson & Morgan, no longer available; "Angel Choir" is probably the closest choice. I notice Swallowtail Seeds has a mix looking similar to "Angel Choir".

A Few Interesting Things

Originally the Shirley poppy, Papaver rhoeas, was found in corn fields of Europe, the one made famous in Flanders and worn on Memorial Day.

In Flanders Fields....
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
~Written by John McCrae~

Shirley poppies are perfect additions to a Cottage Garden. They can be used as cut flowers if you singe the cut stem with a flame to seal it.

Growing Poppies From Seed

To plant Shirley poppies, simply sow lightly and thinly on top of the soil. Press into the ground to make good contact. They benefit from freezing, which is why it is recommended that you plant them in the fall, but that is not necessary.Poppies need sunshine, but other than that are happy to tuck themselves in many places in the garden. They don't like to be transplanted, but I have experimented with moving a few that were "weeded out" - so I'll let you know how that turns out.

Poppies are mildly poisonous, having alkaloids in all parts of the plant. Never had a problem with any of my animals or kids trying any out. It is the Opium poppy, not papaver rhoeas, that is grown for medicine, narcotics, and poppyseeds for food use. That is a different variety than the Shirley poppy.

Technorati Tags: Shirley+poppies, summer blooms

Endless Summer Hydrangea

I put in an Endless Summer hydrangea in my front door garden two years ago. It came through this winter quite well and promptly started filling out with shoots and the richly green, heart shaped leaves that are characteristic of hydrangeas. Last year the blooms were not a very deep blue because I don't do anything to change the neutral soil and somewhat alkaline water. Last year took frequent watering to keep the still new plant from wilting, the Annabelle hydrangea never sulks the way the blue and variegated types do for me.

Those are Frances Williams hostas unfolding in front.

Technorati Tags: Endless Summer hydrangea, Frances Williams hosta

Old Rose

The upper set are all of Blanc Double de Coubert
rose. Middle picture is of Charles de Mills Rose, lower left is the Eglantine type, and lower right is the Thérèse Bugnet rose.
Technorati Tags: heirloom roses,

Molly Fisk on Asparagus

I thought my friend Johanna and some of you might enjoy listening to Molly Fisk's thoughts on asparagus. It is an MP3 podcast. Or you can read the essay, here.


I know we are past asparagus season, and well into the heat that makes lettuces bolt. Hopefully you have some Swiss chard which is delicious well into the heat of summer before it, too, will bolt with seed stalks, although I always remember the leaves being good additions to quiche dishes through most of the season.

Today a newbie mower cracked the septic tank cover. Don't ask. Newbie mowers do things that you don't imagine will happen to either the garden or the mower itself. The mower seems to have survived. However it gave me a chance to field a DIY idea I had to my husband. Why not make a movable deck that covers that area? Big enough for a wooden picnic table right next to a garden space and not too far from the house and from his office space. He liked the idea.

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Too Funny Not To Blog

I just went through an online set of blogging articles that were to teach me things like the importance of titles, etc. I don't pay enough attention! Anyway, my twitter feed picks up both the posts I blog from the garden journal and from my Godblog. On the Godblog my headline read: "Tillers Death: The Aftermath" with this link, http://tinyurl.com/o3h22s . So a gardening tweeter, Amy, innocently thinks, and then tweets me:"@truegrit I have been in the sun too long. I thought it was about working a rototiller too hard."
I can see that! It would have been a great garden story... and one that I did have in the past... we have worked mowers, tillers, and weedwhackers to their demise on this place.

LOL! I laughed for sure, but wonder how she felt when she saw it was not a funny day in the life post, but about a rather somber subject. My bad on that one. And I just read recently that to be a good tweeter you should remain on a particular topic for the sake of your following niche. For me, though, the tweeting is like the old blogging. I just kind of go with what interests me.

Anyway, Amy Gisak blog @Living in Season.
Follow her- she is a great tweetperson.

... and sorry about that, Amy.

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A White Garden or Moon Garden

Making an all white garden used to be quite a popular undertaking. Although the idea probably started, in modern gardening times anyway, with Gertrude Jekyll in her book, Colour Schemes for the Flower Garden, it was Vita Sackville-West who created the most famous white garden at Sissinghurst Castle. This garden was "designed to be at its best in early July and especially in the evenings or when illuminated by a full moon", and provides a template for making a "moon garden" where the the white blooms reflect the maximum amount of light on a night lit by a full moon. Mysterious and romantic.

The same powerful aesthetic of limiting foliage and flowers to white with gray may be used in making a Serenity Garden.

How to start? Sackville-West began her musings this way,

I am trying to make a grey, green, and white garden. This is an experiment which I ardently hope may be successful, though I doubt it. One's best ideas seldom play up in practice to one's expectations, especially in gardening, where everything looks so well on paper and in the catalogues, but fails so lamentably in fulfilment after you have tucked your plans into the soil. Still, one hopes.

My grey, green and white garden will have the advantage of a high yew hedge behind it, a wall along one side, a strip of box edging along another side, and a path of old brick along the forth side. It is, in fact, nothing more than a fairly large bed, which has now been divided into halves by a short path of grey flagstones terminating in a rough wooden seat. When you sit on the seat, you will be turning your backs to the yew hedge, and from there I hope you will survey a low sea of grey clumps of foliage, pierced here and there with tall white flowers. I visualize the white trumpets of dozens of Regale lilies, grown three years ago from seed, coming up through the grey of southernwood and artemisia and cotton-lavender, with grey-and-white edging plants such as Dianthus Mrs. Sinkins and the silvery mats of Stachys Lanata, more familiar and so much nicer under its English names of Rabbits' Ears or Saviour's Flannel. There will be white pansies, and white peonies, and white irises with their grey leaves... at least, I hope there will be all these things. I don't want to boost in advance about my grey, green and white garden.

I remember reading in one of her books that her practice was to take a sample of a plant in bloom and go around the garden matching up the pairings in a visual way. That might be a better method than the imagination as the above quote points out.

White garden, Sissinghurst


Originally uploaded by jillyjally

The attraction of a moon garden, with the plants chosen for their luminosity, evening scent and bloom, could be the desire for a garden at its best during the cooler temperatures or for viewing after a busy day in the workforce or office, usually spent far away from the garden when it is often at it's best. Nighttime gardens shine when that gardener is at home and most in need of the rejuvenation that nature can give. Some people just like the romance and mystery of such a place. Evening and night can bring the most unusual moths, and they can be every bit as fascinating as their daytime cousins, the butterflies.

To begin the plan, I would gather notes on what white flowering plants and gray foliages are at their best and blooming together. Perhaps creating the core to be at its height in one month, then add to it to provide more interest during other seasons. It really depends on how much space the gardener is willing to devote to it. The art of creating an all season garden or a garden at it's height in one single part of the growing season combines knowledge of the plants growth habits and also their combination of bloom times.

My first garden came with a small border, long neglected, of primarily white flowering choices. After reading Vita Sackville-West's book I suspected that it had been a long ago attempt at an all-white garden. By the time I moved there the neighborhood had been run-down and a few people, like me, were trying to revive it. The survivors in my garden included Annabelle hydrangea, a white climbing rose, which my aunt insisted was a 'Dr. Van Fleet'; and she may have been right. White peonies and white everlasting pea were in that small bed and upon the wire fence, too. that became the basis of my city garden, which started in the back yard... and eventually took over the entire small property at that time. Little is left now, as I revisited the old neighborhood recently. Such is the way of gardens, but I digress...


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May Colors

Here are some color scheme ideas for the late May bloom period in Ohio and similar zone 5a climates. The photos may be seen larger if you click on them.

too * * * * HOT

summer is well upon us here in georgia. the temperatures have already been
called "unseasonably"warm by the tv weathermen. it is already up into the 90's,
much more like our mid-july dog days....
although the nights are still pleasantly cool,
the fresh morning flowers are limp in the afternoon sun, despite all my
watering. like the summer squash plants in the garden, their leaves remain
withered until sunset, but refresh themselves each new day. i know it is just
self protection, but the pots around the kitchen steps lose their bright beauty
in the mid-afternoon, sun or shade. all my careful color harmonies fade away
as temperatures rise.

this is the only time of year that i wonder why i live in the south. my gardening
experience in ohio was useless here in the powerful heat of summertime. it took
a few years, and some kindly old neighbors to point out the folly of a july garden.
down here we have three growing seasons. for the best flowers and lovely shrubs,
it's usually before the middle of june. the vegetable garden must wait awhile....

most old-timers aren't masochistic enough to try and work a summer garden.
the really productive vegetable gardens are begun in the last weeks of august,
with plenty of mulch and watering. the almanac says we have until mid-october,
the potential date of the "first frost", although it is more often in november that
the tender tomatoes suffer.
after the first brief cold snap, the warm days and cool nights of " indian summer"
( anyone know why it's called that?) can continue well into
the midwest's winter season.

and then there are these mild winters, when the cole crops flourish, and the tender
salad greens live happily under their floating row covers. the catalog claims that they
protect down to 28 degrees, but i have eaten january salad from undercover during
our ice storms and occasional snows, with temps in low twenties. in the earliest
warmth of a spring breeze in march, we begin all over again.

this reversal of growing seasons was strange at first, but in the blazing heat of the
high barometric pressure( our "Bermuda High") and the ever-unrelenting drought
- global warming?- and all the sticky days of still humid air, without a breeze in sight.
i quickly got a good education in southern gardening. now i spend summers like most
of my neighbors, sitting on the porch, under a ceiling fan, drinking copious amounts
of ice tea, and complaining about the heat. while northern gardeners toil away, i am
gladly waiting for fall to begin my "dirty" work....

vty, j-lea

Roses in June

Thank you, whoever ordered A Year of Roses! It reminded me to take time soon to visit Whetstone Park of Roses, soon. Last year I went at a time when the heirloom roses were over and I would really like some pictures of them. I grow a few here, but I have them scattered about and would rather create more of a feature of them. Each year I try to grow them from cuttings like my mother did so successfully, but haven't yet gotten the knack.

I'm going to try to use the greenhouse for that this year. I am especially longing for Blanc Double de Coubert Rose, since I put it next to a Spruce tree which now threatens to engulf it, and it is further insulted by the farmers herbicide sprays. But today, during a morning walk, it's scent wafted out far to the road where I was taking a morning constitutional... and I thought again of how much I would like more of this old fashioned rose.

I wanted to get pictures of the parks collection because I am very interested in the heirloom varieties and want to write an article on them. I once had some of the Bourbon roses, but they all met their demise in the colder winters. When the books say "hardy" it is all very relative!

Be sure to see Gardens in Ohio and A Botanical Wedding.

The Two of Us

Here is a pic of us during our Atlanta reunion. "Johanna-lea" and I didn't make it to the Botanical Garden, but her description of it made me put it on a list for a future trip.

Here in Ohio we just went through a spate of strong thunderstorms and it is now very humid (that cold front didn't give us the pleasant weather promised!). So now I've got Georgia on my mind;) Hot and sticky!

Hoed out some of the garden before the storms, the weeds grew like weeds heh-heh. Got the kids to mow the lawns(I run the big tractor mower- they do the small ones.)

Summer has set in.

I'm also seeing some dead starlings, etc. I don't know if this is from the cats or whether West Nile is raising it's ugly head again. I hear about the Swine flu (Ohio doctors are finding the Health Dept is not reporting all the cases because it saves money on testing -according to latest news story), but nothing yet on the West Nile virus. It took a toll on the bird population- especially Blue Jays. This year was the first I had seen them in awhile. That was late winter spring- none are resident here now.

Some Flowers from the June Garden

Above is a picture of the Niobe clematis as it was just coming into bloom. Before the mowing enthusiasts.



Not everyone likes the magenta color of the Hansa rose, but it is hardy as all get-out and smells very sweet. It also has beautiful rosehips.


These sweet little campanulas are thriving tucked under the rock.

True Confessions: Gardening Can Frustrate You

We like to talk about how much fun gardening is, because the giant portion of the experience of gardening is full of pleasure and satisfaction, but I had a couple days that remind me how frustrating it can be.

First, is the frenetic mowers. They want to get it done, those nice flat sheets of green; but sometimes , especially in weedy parts of the garden the wild look and the mowing deck create the clash of titans... and the poor little plants are no match for the forces of mother nature and the will of man. My Niobe clematis was mowed off at ground level with a mass of withered leaf, stem and bloom to tell the tale.

Then, as I inspected plants I saw what a heyday aphids and other insects are having with the spring growth. Something is eating the rose foliage, and I am not sure if the late cold snaps or insects have created some damage that I am seeing.... while the weeds are growing like nobody's business (especially in these economic times). I got a little dismayed to put it mildly.

The rain bypassed us, so my pots were drying out and some of the Nicotiana I put in the ground was quite sad.

And Then I read Doug Green's "Relax for Crying Out Loud" via JWLWJW (who is giving lessons on how to put old logs to good use). Doug says "I’m almost equally pleased to tell you that the more you kill, the easier it becomes". I'm not quite there yet, but I think the advice to not sweat the small stuff- or even so much of the big stuff if it is out of your control is advice well taken.

But I did think a moment of truth was in order to say that, yes, sometimes the garden is stressful and no, it is not always peaceful.

Still, gardening is one of my favorite things in life.