Category: Garden

Once upon a time I would have said I was not a pink kind of girl.  I thought I had "outgrown" that kind of thing.

I was wrong.

Pinks and Purples are definitely my thing.

From purple cauliflower:

To the varying shades of pink lilac and white in my garden:

It is obvious that I am definitely a "pink kind of girl".  My husband is grateful that I don’t really like pink and purple decor in the house though.  My pinks are frivolous pinks, more for exuberant accents than for everyday practicality.

It always amazes me how life rolls around at its normal pace, seemingly under control, and then one small thing goes awry and it is as if a house of cards has tumbled down.

I am almost caught up.

But I did find time to spend in the yard Friday morning; it desperately needed help.  Friday afternoon’s thunderstorms and rain probably did more good than I.

After weeks of rain and cool temperatures — in the 70s mostly.  It turned hot just before we left for Knoxville, that triple summer threat, Hazy, Hot, and Humid.  Not a drop of rain in the sky.  Thunderstorms scattered all around us, but none ventured near this piece of property, as if we were protected by a giant, invisible, umbrella.  I would have liked the rain.  I knew there was a reason we don’t normally travel much in the summer, aside from enjoying being home this time of year.

The garden missed me.  Well, that is not exactly true; the vegetable garden missed me.  The new flower beds were fine.

The new stone bed under the kitchen window is blooming and looking wonderful.  Ignore the weeds outside the bed.  I have to dig up the entire expanse of packed clay that passes for the north end of my front yard. 

The planters also did fine:

This is the first planter you see coming down the driveway.

But in the vegetable garden things looked a little worse for wear.  The tomatoes were lying on the ground, limp and nearly lifeless — not something I had expected.  I guess that they had not had enough time to get fully settled in yet.  I had planted them late, the first week of June.  It had just been too cold before that.  The eggplants did not look happy either, but they were better than the tomatoes.  The peppers were mostly OK and the kohlrabi seemed to have doubled in size in 4 days.

The little Thai eggplant and Turkish eggplants I had sown directly in the ground from seed died.  I knew I should have started them indoors first. I wonder if it is too late to try again.  I might as well plant more.  Even if they don’t produce, I can watch them grow.

After watering and a day of heavy rain, about half the tomatoes resurrected themselves,  I lost one pepper and 3 eggplants.  It still surprises me, as these are plants I think of as hot weather plants — but I suppose a sudden change is a shock to newly planted seedlings.

Oddly enough the fuchsias, which had been doing badly in the location I had kept them in for years, looked much better after the hot dry spell.  Throughout May they had been lush and gorgeous and then in early June they started dying back, dropping branches and looking very sad.  When I returned they were sending up new leaves and growth, whereas I had expected them to finish the dying process in my absence.  I suppose this means the front yard has gotten too shady for the fuchsias, and too damp.  Time to rearrange things a little bit. They will probably do well on the north side of the house, once the deck is finished; but where to put them in the meantime?

Meanwhile the ferns, which have seeded themselves from a very small patch, have taken over the southwest corner of the front yard by the front door:

You can hardly see the small stone flowerbed I rebuilt last year.  You certainly can’t see the impatiens that are planted therein.  I am going to have to come up with something taller, but still tolerant of fairly dense shade for that spot.

Despite my best intentions, I have once again strayed…..

I am trying to plan the gardens and do things in an organized fashion.  When every flower is a hard-won labor of love involving the excavation of clay and rock and the recreation of garden soil, a flower is not something we take for granted around here, although perhaps, someday, someone will.

And yet…..

Put me in a greenhouse and I am seduced by flowers.  Apparently, even the grocery store is not free from temptation.  The above rose was purchased at the local supermarket Thursday.  Perhaps I was giddy at the prospect of finally moving forward on the deck.  There will be a place for it once the new deck is finished.  Wednesday night the town planning board gave us the variance, no all that is lacking is the building permit.  A finished deck is on the horizon, and so too, new flower beds.

If only I get around to digging and building them.

At least this can live in the former vegetable garden until then.

When I was a child my grandmother grew Moon-flower vines along the wall of her garage.  One year she gave me some seeds which I planted in a pot in my bedroom.  It grew vigorously.  It grew so fast that sometimes I would dream that I would wake up and find it strangling me.

There are times living in the wet Northeast that I feel the same way about my yard.  Everything is tall and lush and green here.  I love it.  The trees were my first love when I moved up here.  But sometimes I miss the open space of Texas and the ability to see for miles without vines and trees choking off the view. 

This week I feel like the greenery and the vines and the woods around our house are taking over the property, stealthily gaining ground each night, soon to surround us and overgrow the house.  Weeks of rain followed by a few days of heat have produced excessive growth.  I am behind on everything simply because there has been inadequate opportunity to get outside.

I have been able to spend some time in the former vegetable garden getting it cleared out.  It too is wildly overgrown and I regret that I did not get more of it torn up earlier in the season.  The whole thing still has to be rebuilt; the raised beds are falling apart and there are areas I want to expand.  A good bit of digging and carpentry work awaits.  But there are areas I can plant in the meantime.  After two days of labor I got about a 5 foot by 15 foot area cleared, including digging out what seemed like miles of wild raspberry roots and I have managed to get the peppers and kohlrabi out as well as 6 rather large heirloom dahlias I got from the gardens at the Morse estate.   The Dahlias are destined to go in the new sunny flower bed next to the new deck, sadly still on hold while the town figures out where we stand in reference to new zoning laws that were passed this past winter and spring.  The vegetable garden will be a perfect holding place from them, visible from our bedroom window.

By the time I have come inside the past two days I have been having trouble standing up straight and my hands have been protesting mightily.  My thumb and index finger joints are swollen and sore.  But generally the aches and pains feel good, like I have accomplished something significant.  I feel a certain pride at having beaten back the teeming hordes of invasive plants, and a sense of accomplishment at having imposed a bit of order on even a small piece of the world.

Needless to say my state of mind at the end of the day has been more vegetative than productive.  I did manage to enlarge the pattern for the ribbon organza coat, but I have not cut the fabric for the next muslin yet.  This is probably a good thing as I just decided that I should cut it about 2 inches longer.  The first muslin was the perfect length unhemmed, which of course means that I need to add a hem allowance.

Having finished one successful summer skirt, I also have visions of skirts dancing in my head.  They shall have to dance a little longer however, as the brain has been too numb to do the math and we leave bright and early tomorrow morning for Knoxville. 

The tulip fest continues.  The peony flowered tulips are now open in all their glory.

And especially Black Hero, which has really captured my imagination this year.  I always have a black tulip, usually the classic and classically shaped Queen of the Night, but Black Hero has proved to be long lived and spectacular.

I must have a vase of tulip goodness in my sewing/knitting room at all times, inspiring me with their vivid colors, beguiling me with their scent:

Now this is my kind of patchwork!

Too bad it is still to early to plant them.  Like fabrics I love though, I just have to grab ’em when I see ’em.

I admit that I am no minimalist where tulips are concerned.  There have been years when I have planted hundreds, carefully planning my choices so as to have several weeks worth of extravagant tulip displays in the house. Luckily since most of the vegetable garden cannot be planted until late May there is adequate time for a generous tulip crop.

This year’s planting was more modest, but we are certainly far from tulip free: 

from classic:

to gaudy extravagance: 

I love them all.

Even the smaller flowers emerging from older bulbs that managed to miss being evicted from the garden beds are beautiful:

And last, but far from least, are the tulips planted in the front of the house in the new Iris bed.   Spring Green and Black Hereo form one of my favorite color combinations.  I did not intend to pick these as they are seen every day from the front of the house and the driveway, but since a large part of this flower bed is currently obscured from view by the temporary location of the spa and various trucks and heavy equipment, it seemed only fitting that  a few should be enjoyed indoors.

I spent most of the day in the garden and a glorious day it was. As usual I hoped to get more done than was actually accomplished but I tend to always think I can do more than I actually seem able to.

I cleaned up the new stone bed under the kitchen window and topdressed with compost.  It is looking lovely now.  The coral bells are beautiful, the hyacinths are blooming and the daylillies are coming up as are the daffodils. 

Daffodils weren’t in the original plan but I had a few extra bulbs and space so I took advantable of the opportunity.    They had some beautiful and lush snapdragons at Adams when we went shopping on Saturday so i  bought them and planted them, knowing full well that it is too early.  That corner of the house is about 1 zone warmer than the rest of the property, but it is still likely that they won’t make it.  Still, for a few dollars I hope to get some pleasure out of having them there.

Then I cleaned up the iris bed and planted a border of pansies around the tulips.  Both tulips and pansies will come out later in the spring to be replaced with summer annuals.

The last of the Irises.