bulletin from georgia

after the last two weeks of copious rains, and much serious flooding
both in atlanta and north georgia, the sun is finally shining. i have a
renewed gratitude for the south's gorgeous weather... almost always
fall perfection. 80' today and cooling breezes, deep blue skies.
enticement to be part of it all draws me outside. the weeks of misty
mornings and hours of afternoon rains have dulled my senses. i used the
time indoors to make pickles...semi-sweet, spicy, curry-HOT, and pickled tiny okra.
the dill didnt make it, due to erratic weather, so no kosher dills this year.

today is devoted to tending the bonsai, and preparing them for winter.
i stopped fertilizing early this month, except continued foliar-feeding with
liquid seaweed. their energy needs directed inward towards healthy roots,
and not to tender new growth. their dwarfed leaves are beginning to show
color, just like their woodland neighbors. i am lucky to have a small forest
on the benches and the porch!

down here, most little trees can live on the ground, deeply leaf- mulched,
under the benches. up north, this is sometimes possible, but heavy snow
or ice can break branches that have been ramified for years. i have seen
several ways of protection in ohio including lathe-house, and garage.
although i run a cool greenhouse ( just above 40') in the winter, they are
trees and do much better outdoors, here.

as i ride to town, it is a treat to see all the fall grasses with their varied tops and
seedheads lit up by the afternoon sun. most folks look to the autumn wildflowers,
and the vivid leaf color come october, but the many wild grasses, tall and short,
with multi-colored seedheads in hues of bright tan, golden and even fuzzy purple
are impressive. less showy, perhaps, but their subtle blend of colors is
very pleasing to the eye.

sunshine, pickles, bonsai and wild grasses. an eclectic bunch, but these are
just fleeting thoughts in the fullness of the season.
this morning i wrote a haiku that expresses my autumn impressions:

-this day-

golden sunflowers

all the guilded falling leaves

golden autumn light


enjoy this golden season, wherever you may be!

vty, j-lea

State of the Nation's Gardens

We knew the weather went awry this year...here is the good and the bad on expected autumn goodies.

clipped from buzz.yahoo.com The good/bad news: The same wet East Coast weather that ended up sweetening apples and brightening foliage has also rotted pumpkin vines. Scary prospects are also in store for the gourd harvest because of Southeast and Midwest rains. So, the autumn scenery will be spectacular, the apples fat and juicy, but some Halloween households may have less Jack O’Lanterns and fewer Thanksgiving pies.

Questions From The Gallery

All most bloggers read their statistics through blog counters. One of the interesting things for me are the the ways people find themselves on the pages, through search engine questions. Just for fun I'll put the latest ones here... and hopefully in giving an answer or two, someone benefits from my obsession with the blog traffic stats.

• How to clean garden vegetables? I just use one of those nifty veggie brushes for most of them, if you don't eat/cook them up right away you can wipe them off with a paper towel. Otherwise, rinse under clean water.
  
• How to treat wet clay soil? Not at all. Don't touch it. but once it dries out to crumbly textures you can do many things:). Read my 5 Tips for Clay
• Should I put peat moss in garden in the fall? anytime is a good time, but fall is a great time to put peat moss into your soil! I ♥ Peat Moss
• In the fall when should one cut back bee balm and black eyed susans? Sure, if you wish to clean up the garden beds, go ahead and cut them down. I like to leave the little black seedheads of the Black-eyed Susans for winter interest, but that's just me
• Why has my kolkwitzia gone brown? Oooo, good question. I've had some trouble on a cotoneaster, and the winter honeysuckle. Sounds like something at the root, given how wet and cool conditions were this year it might be a bacterial blight. Might be borers. check for further signs and cut back to the ground. If it dried out, it's a goner.
• Clay soil, add coffee grounds? Yes, please. Just dig them right into the soil.
• What month should you start building a garden? Now is a nice time, there is no time like the present...with good weather, soft soil, and winter freeze to condition the soil. If you plant new things in it, get them in now and consider mulching to prevent "heave".
• Old Man's Cave craft show? I'll have to look that one up... Old Man's Cave site doesn't mention anything. There is a "Lancaster Eagle-Gazette Fall Craft Show" which is on the way to Old's Man's Cave for many ( from Columbus). Oct 31
  

one more..."pruning yugo pine" You mean "mugo" dahling, I'm pretty sure. But I might have spelled it wrong, which is why mean old google sent you here, or the confusion I once had in spelling it "mugho"...however it is I think the page you want is When to prune a Mugo Pine

In which I tell you how I fail

Not here. I'm not going to rewrite the whole thing. but if you are interested in my tales from the garden you might like "Garden:Fail".

... Because I'm not perfect;)

I have also written a few things on autumn clematis and "What to do when your garden gets away from you". I'll write some more stuff for here in the coming weeks.

Celebrate Fall Color

From Happy Thoughts

Ron Wolford published a great web resource for all you fall color aficionados out there. He twittered about it and I followed. Turns out to be an informative and colorful piece of work;)

"The Miracle of Fall"

You can follow him, too, @ urbangarden. He is twittering all sorts of fall foliage links, etc.

The site has a fall lineup of trees with their respective foliage colors in a handy table. Shrubs, too. Other plants can have surprising fall color, as well. With a bit of planning , you might be fortunate enough to just look out your window for a great fall show. Check out some Ohio foliage highlights.

Outdoor Cleanup

That is the autumn clematis picture collage I made for the plant profile page- the vine is still blooming, but pretty much blown, now. The fuzzy little seedheads are appearing and giving the whole arbor a hazy look. I will post the article this week. Right now I am featuring an article on some of my favorite varieties of tulips. I probably have as many again to write about in a later post.

We are beginning our outdoor cleanup. The leaves are still all on the trees, but the grass needed mowing, weeding needed to be stepped up, and it is time to put away some of the less used outdoor furniture, so there won't be such a rush when the fall rains come. Some rain is predicted throughout the next week.

I haven't been driving around the area as much, so when I went out on errands last week it seemed like a wand of time had waved over the fields. I felt very much in the spirit of old Rip van Winkle, to awaken to fields turned overnight to fall tints. The corn, last remembered to be vigorously green and lush had turned to its tawny, tawdry, autumnal stature. The green rows of soybeans now took on their burnished golden colors of harvest time. The trees, too, hinted of fall colors in bits and spurts of gold and red among the verdure of summer's growth. Where does the time go? Is it really so close to Autumn frosts and winter fires?

I stuck the edger in the ground in hopes that one of us would start the fall edging of the grass verges. The old fashioned sort that looks like a half-moon, this was handed down to me by my dad. The one that once was mine had long ago succumbed to over arduous use by teenage boys who dislike such garden tasks and think that jumping on the tool somehow gets the job done faster. Doesn't do that, but will eventually bend and break the tool. Even the strong ash handled ones. I keep retraining a new teen helper, and now hope that we all will keep my dad's old tools, and the new replacements I bought, in good order. Here's to that hope, keeping my fingers crossed.

I have written a number of new articles for my garden website, more to get the information up than to be seasonally pertinent. I have one on Autumn clematis, some on foundation plants, and expanded on the flowering kale post that I had here.

My goal is to get as many of the profiles of my favored or useful plants online, as possible. I always wanted something like that when first gardening: buy a plant and then have a handy guide to its planting preferences.

It was early to do it, but moved my planter containers into the green house. I want to save some of the plant material for next year, and so often I wait and they get blasted by frosts. There must be some garden form of the saying "stitch in time", but I don't know what that is.

Mosquito Begone

In Simple Mom's blog advice and common sense tips for avoiding those pesky bites:
"Several gardeners assured me that planting marigolds, scented geraniums (rub the leaves on your skin too), rosemary, catnip, peppermint, spearmint, daisies, verbena, spike lavender (not the sweet French variety), basil, thyme, garlic, allspice, cedar, and lemon grass around the yard naturally repels insects. Decorating with eucalyptus is also rumored to be helpful. You can make your own insect-repelling sachets by drying the flowers and leaves from the above plants and placing them into small, hand-sewn cotton bags."


It is also important to reduce their breeding grounds of stagnant water. Read on for some of her tips:

clipped from thesimplemom.wordpress.com Mosquitoes identify their targets by sight, heat and smell. Avoid physically active movement (exercise, ball games, yard work, etc.) during peak mosquito hours to keep them from noticing you from a distance. Peak mosquito times tend to be right around dusk and dawn. Reduce outside lights in the evening hours (use yellow bulbs, if possible). Mosquitoes are attracted to perspiration, heat, carbon dioxide, and lactic acid. All of these are produced after exercising, so avoid outdoor exercise during peak mosquito hours (at dawn and dusk). Our bodies also release lactic acid after eating certain foods, so avoiding outdoor dining during those hours is helpful, as well. Commonly believed mosquito-attracting foods include bananas (or other potassium-rich food items), and salty foods.

Tree news

Today is the day my trees are getting trimmed. The men with the heavy equipment have been at work for the last hour or so. I requested for the mulch from the branches to be dumped in an area where I can utilize it for "under" mulch next year. And in researching something I came across a video that helped me learn the proper description for parts of the tree planting procedure.
This Old House tree-planting video described the depth of planting a tree and looking for what is called the "root flare". It clearly is pointed out in the video. I usually, in the act of releasing the roots from wrapping around the plant, would scrape away some of the excess soil from this root flare, but never described it for readers. I think it is a helpful thing to know.

The other thing, that for me is instinctive, but which Roger Cook shows and describes as the "money side" of the tree presented to the view considered most desirable. "Every tree has a face" -the best side of the tree.

Technorati Tags: planting a tree, garden video

What To Do Now: September

No it isn't a "Honey-do" list, but just some reminders before the season gets away from you! As it often does for me....

This is a great month for planting things- the still warm weather means that plants can get settled in, and the autumn rains are coming which should give everything good rooting conditions.

Time to get peonies in the ground, a reminder also included in the September garden tips. Most trees and perennials may be planted now.

See the picture of that lily I snapped this summer? I would like to plant some bulbs of that.

Garden tools are often on sale. I like picking up those that need replacement or hose attachments now. I'm going to have to do that this year- as "how do they manage to do that?" my 'garden helpers' somehow broke the last of the sprinkler attachments. Must have banged it against a rock...hard. -perhaps many times- I wonder if that qualifies as a stress reliever? Like in some movie where they were shooting old toilets with a shotgun...anyone remember that movie?

Of course,spring blooming bulbs... that is the big thing now. Don't expect there to be good supplies or sales late in the season this year. The bright part of this story is that it is so much more pleasant to plant them in golden autumnal days than in the dreary cold, wet November ones. I can say that from experience :)

September Poems

Something of what we see daily here has been caught in a poem.

September
by Helen Hunt Jackson



The golden-rod is yellow;
The corn is turning brown;
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down.

The gentian's bluest fringes
Are curling in the sun;
In dusty pods the milkweed
Its hidden silk has spun.

The sedges flaunt their harvest
In every meadow nook;
And asters by the brook-side
Make asters in the brook.

From dewy lanes at morning
The grapes' sweet odors rise;
At noon the roads all flutter
With yellow butterflies.

By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summers's best of weather,
And autumn's best of cheer.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

asters
Originally uploaded by theeye formerly LN♥

Asters
by Dora Read Goodale

The Autumn wood the aster knows,
The empty nest, the wind that grieves,
The sunlight breaking thro' the shade,
The squirrel chattering overhead,
The timid rabbits lighter tread
Among the rustling leaves.

Highbanks Photos

Highbanks is an interesting park located in Delaware county north of Columbus, and is part of the Metro parks system. One of its highlights is the Indian earthworks that are on a high bluff overlooking the river. Two Adena mounds are also located within the park. Those look like simple small mounds, but the earthwork on the bluff is a circular ridge that sparks imaginary speculations as you walk along the trail.

This park is full of wildflowers, the largest number of which seem to bloom in the spring, but I took some shots of a few of the ones (some blooming, some berried)showing color in this late season. When I used to cross country ski we would go to this park - fun times :)

Click on the picture to bring it to full size. It might take a bit of time to load, especially if you have dialup.



TC, I believe the white flower is Eupatorium rugosum or white snakeroot which is described as growing on " shaded upland sites " which this was.

What looks quite pink in the picture is actually purple, Joe Pye or iron weed -a deep purple in nature (not digitally-although I should have adjusted the color). The blue flowers might be Campanula americana, but I am very unsure of that ID.

The common goldenrod arches in one of the photos and thistles, including what seems to be the Cirsium vulgare , abound in the meadow areas. Teasels, too, but I didn't take any pictures of them.

The red berries are Jack-in-a-Pulpit. The white berries I come to find out are white baneberry, aka "doll's eyes", Actaea pachypoda. My husband wondered if they could be eaten... but with a name like baneberry, I would think not.

The yellow spike could be Solidago uliginosa, swamp goldenrod, but again not confident in the identification. And there were what I think are Helianthus divaricatus, woodland sunflowers, in the clearings. I have another picture of them which I might post- it was a pretty sight, breaking the sometimes monotonous green and dull browns of the late summer woods.

Hope you enjoyed walking through with me.

One last picture. This one is of the shale creeks that are so common in this part of Ohio. Just like the ones we played in in Glen Echo and Whetstone, isn't it, Joanne?

Photos for Fun

A few pictures from the past weeks adventures.
We went to Highbanks Park, which once we visited often. It had been a long time, so we decided to take a hike :) and were glad we did. This picture is of a large Sycamore that caught the light.

Another picture shows a common wildflower blooming at this time of year...



The Ohio Historical Center had an interesting display on landscaping in Ohio from times past. There were diaries, collage displays, and a display of old garden books. Of course, I spent lots of time here while the rest of the family moved on, and then had to catch up to them.



We won't find these prices again any time soon!

Have a Great Labor Day Weekend

The official last day of summer- enjoy it :) Remember no more white shoes, and even summer whites are out of sync. whatever happened to all those old unspoken rules, anyway?

DH just cleaned out the chimney in preparation for chilly nights when we will have to fire up the wood stove- may it delay its inevitable coming. We have our wood supply-check. We have our chimney cleaned out-check. Good to go.

=====
The stores do not have much in the way of bulbs this year, compared to other years. That is the mantra of retail nowadays: reduced inventory. Andersons usually has three aisles worth- only noticed one and there were those unnamed "mixes" of tulips. Last year I purchased boxes of tulips at Sam's club. Less than stellar bloom this spring- but they were ok. Going to search around....

I Appreciate Followers

Yes, I do! To any who have joined the blog whether through googlefriends or by using the feed...thank you so much. One does not write in a vacuum, and doesn't love it any more than mother nature :) I recently checked in on the facebook page for the site and ::frown:: no activity...which really isn't anyone's fault but my own. It takes me awhile to get up to speed on these things.

This month is getting so busy. I wish I could just slow things down for a couple weeks. There are bunches of pictures from all summer... places that I wanted to write about and all that... I'm just so slow about it because I get distracted reading interesting, but irrelevant things, taking advantage of a sunny day to just sit and think, and getting almost nothing done. Do you have times like that?

It would be ideal if all the undone things would just take a hike!

Anyway...just wanted to let people know I appreciate their time and supportiveness... and any and all encouraging words:)

State of the Garden September

Didn't I just give you all an update? Well, I walked you through, but there are other elements to what is happening here. Like trimming and pruning old big trees. I didn't tell you about that, did I?
Coming to this garden most of the great old trees were gone. This area is known for its savannahs of Burr oak and Hickory. What did the people who owned this place previously plant and retain? Can you guess? Silver maples. Read and weep. I don't hate them, but they are low on my list of what I desire to have in an ideal landscape.

However we work with the hand we are dealt. I have a number of old silver maples on the lot and my husband (...now that he occasionally has been mowing with the tractor- it is quite amazing what you notice perched way up on the tractor seat) noticed a large division forming in a forked trunk. For years he has been concerned about the old maple that is planted much to close to the house, but which I appreciate for its cooling effect. After the past years storms, which damaged homes and trees in our area, we decided it was time for a professional opinion.

Good at researching and asking around, my husband found an arborist, who I was pleasantly impressed with. He suggested trimming out lightly and using a wire brace for the tree mainly in question, and simply getting rid of dead wood and lightly pruning back some of the overhanging branches of the big old tree close to the house.

I think we will be getting the work done this fall.

We talked over my neighbors butcher job of her large maple ( he had been consulted on that, but I guess his advice wasn't aggressive enough). Heading back a large tree to mere stumps of its branches seems just a sin. It was in need of help, but that severe of a pruning all at once seems like a death knoll.

===========================
I am getting ready to move some shasta daisies that were much too large for their place, one of the 'Dreamcatcher' beauty bush that I had in a holding garden will join them. That is on the schedule for later today.

The unseasonably cool weather has been wonderful for working in the garden. I am feeling like I am making progress in cleaning it up- it had gotten pretty weedy and everything was splayed out in a most unattractive way. Judicious pruning is helping immensely.

My vegetable garden was a bust for the summer. The tomatoes are in terrible shape. Rescued a few, and found some nice peppers which I brought into the house last night. I need to weed out those gardens better- haven't kept on top of it as I should have. The tomatoes over in the garden that I was going to change into a cutting garden, but didn't because I had some extra tomato plants is growing the healthiest looking tomato plants, but I need to check and see if there are any actual fruits under all those leaves. Didn't stake those up, but they are doing so much better than the ones I did. They are in a part sun/part shade which delays fruiting (and which is why I was changing back to the former veggie garden space in the full sun "field" part of the yard.)

Ok that is it for now... I am envious of Bren's produce poundage which keeps climbing every time she posts it on twitter. She is cooking up a storm and takes pictures that belong in a food magazine.

September Forecasting

Whether by pure speculation or by scientific means we all wish to forecast the weather for purposes of being prepared. "Forewarned is forearmed" as it is said.

I like to check in the the Farmers Almanac, and sometimes I remember to check their accuracy later and sometimes I don't. I suppose you could say that means I don't take it seriously enough, but that is likely the effect of modern life which makes such things peripheral, when it used to be a matter of much more import.

I should also take this time to alert you that I will be on short hiatus during late September to the first week in October.


September 17, 19, 20—Ember Days

Folklore has it that the weather on each of these three days foretells the weather for three successive months; that is, Wednesday, September 17, forecasts the weather for October; Friday, September 19, for November; and Saturday, September 20, for December.

The forecast from the Old Farmers Almanac for Sept. in our area (lower Great Lakes) is:
September 2009
Avg. Temperature: 62° (1° below avg.)
Precipitation: 2" (1.5" below avg.)
Sep. 1-3: Scattered t-storms, hot
Sep. 4-9: Sunny, cool
Sep. 10-16: Scattered t-storms, warm
Sep. 17-24: Showers, then sunny, cool
Sep. 25-27: T-storms, then sunny
Sep. 28-30: Showers, chilly

Well, We shall see.

===updated to add====

...and for those wondering about the winter ahead, CNN quotes the Farmers Almanac as saying:
"Old Man Winter is really going to hammer folks in the Midwest and upper Great Lakes region with very cold and very snowy conditions."

Experiment Over

I tried out the new gizmo for commenting, but decided it wasn't working for now. It seemed too complicated and either it is the season or the gizmo that may explain fewer comments, especially from some of my old favorites. The gizmo is easier to fix... so it is now back to the regular Blogger comment system. You are welcome to comment on that!

...because your part in this blog is a big part of what it is about ....