A Walk Around Garden of Aaron - Mid-April 2013

I took these photos yesterday in the garden. It is an exciting time with lots of flowers, new growth and bright prospects for the year ahead.

To give you an idea of what these plants have had to deal with so far this year, temps have fluctuated all over the map. A couple of weeks ago, highs were in the 40s. Yesterday, the high almost hit 90. Strong winds (25-40 mph yesterday) have been the norm. We've had a decent amount of rain in the form of strong thunderstorms and downpours, including one last night.

Just another Tennessee spring! :)

Generally speaking, the plants that I put in last autumn who had a chance to settle in over the winter seem much more confident and settled than the ones I just planted this spring, but many of the springtime transplants have done surprisingly well (much better than the previous two years). So either my technique is getting better, I bought healthier plants or I chose plants that are better suited for this environment and cited them better. I like to think it's a combination of all three factors! 

Hope you enjoy the pics:

This is Sweet Woodruff. If you remember from a month ago (mid-March), the plant was much smaller and really tattered looking. I solicited input on whether to prune out the old foliage. Some gardeners did, others did not. I decided to see what happened if I let the old foliage alone. Just a month later, the new foliage has pretty much obscured any sign of the old foliage, which I imagine has decayed and thereby hopefully helped to give some nutrients to the plant. I'm happy to see how quickly the fresh foliage dominated without any intervention on my part, because it makes me think Sweet Woodruff could make a good evergreen large-scale groundcover as long as I don't mind 1-2 months of not-so-pretty old foliage (which I don't mind at all). Cycle of life and all that. Sweet Woodruff also looks like it's getting ready to flower soon, which should be exciting. I've heard the flowers are fragrant and attract beneficial insects!!

Beautiful new foliage emerging on the Vitex agnus-castus, situated in a windy full-sun spot. 

Some large shrubs that were here when we arrived. I'm not really sure what these are. Euonymous maybe? Although the color is a little garish, I have to say that these are real workhorses. I didn't water them much last summer in the awful 100+ heat and drought and they seem to have leafed out stronger than ever this year.  They're semi-evergreen in Middle Tennesee. Their leaves turn purple, but they don't really drop their foliage into the new leaves are almost ready to appear.

A cheerful gathering of little violas

It's definitely the time for Ajuga to shine! This variegated one is spreading amid a group of Sweet Alyssum seedlings. This is my first year seeing Ajuga send up flower stalks. I like the flowers, but have not noticed any bees or other beneficials visiting them.

Ajuga genevensis in bloom, full sun, Western exposure, growing amidst Love-in-a-Mist and Sweet Alyssum seedlings

Another Ajuga genevensis, this one with Northern / NW exposure. So far, Ajuga seems to be able to suceed with any exposure, but it will be interesting to see how the ones with Western and NW exposure (all of which I planted last autumn) handle the Tennessee summer

A large clump of Ajuga Black Scallop covered in flower spikes (Eastern exposure)

This is some sort of unidentified dogwood that I added last autumn. Really kicking myself for losing the tag. Anyway, I tried to site it in a spot where it's a little protected from the wind. Right now it gets morning shade and afternoon sun. Will probably get more afternoon shade once a large Natchez crape myrtle nearby finishes leafing out.

I've got a lot of these seedlings coming up in my landscape beds. At first I thought they might be some Tithonias that I planted last year, but which did not come up then. But I think there may be too many seedlings for that to be the case. Are they weeds? They don't look like weeds when they're small, but they look progressively weedier as the seedlings get bigger.

This is supposed to be my small veggie garden bed. It may not have enough sun to really grow good crops but I wanted to site it as far as possible from the grass, which is getting sprayed with herbicides this year (due to HOA rules). I've sowed spinach and beets, but clearly there are some other "crops" coming up. Definitely a few self-sowed cosmos, but not sure yet what a lot of the other seedlings are. Time will tell...

I'm fairly certain this is a spinach seedling. I planted Corvair this year from High Mowing Organic Seeds. 

I'm also fairly certain these are the Bull's Blood beets seedlings, also from  High Mowing.  One of the advantages of planting red-leafed plants is that I think it's easier to differentiate them from weeds. There don't seem to be as many red-leafed weeds, at least around here...

This is an ornamental sage - Salvia x sylvestris "Blue Hill".  I planted it right next to Salvia x sylvestris "May Night. Both of them are growing well, but only Blue Hill has started flowering already. Both seem to be very low maintenance so far too. The old foliage looked tattered over the winter, but as with the Sweet Woodruff, I didn't do anything to it and the new foliage quickly emerged and took over this spring.

This is new foliage emerging on the native Pachysandra procumbens. Hopefully it will get enough afternoon shade to do OK in this Eastern exposure spot.

One of our new Appalachian Eastern Redbuds. Not only are these beautiful trees, but they seem to do a great job of feeding the bees.

Another of the Appalachian Eastern Redbuds. We had four installed altogether. The leaves are just starting to emerge, which I'm guessing means that the bloom will probably be finished in about another week. The bloom season is not terribly long (maybe 2 weeks?) but the bright red buds add some color for 1-2 weeks before the flowers open.

"Blue Bird" Rose of Sharon - purchased last autumn from Gardens in the Wood of Grassy Creek - is just starting to leaf out. Looks strong and healthy! This plant is in full Western sun exposure.

I'm absolutely agog over the beautiful foliage on this "Snowflake" Oakleaf Hydrangea!

It is in Eastern exposure with morning sun and afternoon shade

Malva "Zebrina" hasn't grown much since I planted it a couple of weeks ago, but it is hanging tough in a sunny and very windy spot.

Here's one of the two native Coral Honeysuckles that I planted last year flanking the front porch steps. They have both really taken off this year. As you can see, this one is waving tendrils in all directions. I managed to curl a couple of them onto the railing, but I think I'll need to try to use some velcro ties to attach some more stems to the railing. Lots of buds and blooms on the plants this year, but I have not yet seen any hummingbirds or butterflies on the tubular flowers. Maybe the hummers only notice once the plant starts to climb more vertically?

I'm not 100% sure, but I think this is Liatris (Gayfeather). I thought that both the plants I planted last year had died, but it looks like they're back?! (Or am I misidentifying this plant?)

This is Helianthus "Lemon Queen" perennial sunflower. I just planted this maybe a week ago (or less) from Gardens in the Wood of Grassy Creek and it looks like it is really settling in nicely and sending up new growth. 

Hardy Blue Plumbago looked deader than a door nail as recently as 12 days ago. But now finally the new foliage is emerging. Guess I can cut back the old dead stems from last year. Or like with the Sweet Woodruff, I could leave them to see how long it will take them to decay and/or be obscured naturally.

Fothergilla gardenii is full of blooms. It's definitely a pretty plant when in bloom, although I'm a little disappointed that I have not seen it attract more bees. Also, even though many websites describe Fothergilla as being very fragrant, I've only noticed a very faint sweet scent. Maybe Fothergillas need to settle in more and grow bigger before they start pumping out more fragrance?

This is Arizona Apricot Gaillardia. Like the Malva (and the Vitex) it is in a very sunny spot. I think it is supposed to like full sun, so why does it seem so weak? I'm guessing it is not happy with the whipping it's getting from the wind. Hopefully it will recover, but this is one of the few plants I added this spring where I'd say the prospects do not look good.

Here's a dwarf gaura that I added last spring. Can't remember the name. Maybe "Passionate Blush"?  It barely bloomed or grew last year when it was completely overwhelmed and shadowed by a thick clump of 4-5 feet tall cosmos. I'm hoping to give it a little more space this year to do its own thing. I think it's already bigger and healthier looking this year than it ever was last year.

Dianthus "Firewitch" has gotten even bushier than last time I posted about it two weeks ago. And now it is just starting to flower. I think it will put on a real show this year!

This is Creeping Raspberry. It was tiny and looked mostly-dead when it arrived from Bluestone last year in one of those annoying coir pots. I really like the idea of the coir pots - less plastic is a good thing - but they just don't seem to decompose and thus I think they prevent the seedlings from growing as well as they otherwise would and/or contribute to root rot. Nonetheless, Creeping Raspberry is supposed to be a pretty strong plant, so I'm figuring that if any plant roots can bust through that coir, this one can. (I also tried making some cuts and tears in the coir to give the roots a better chance at finding a way out.) Anyway, it's still very small, but it does seem to be growing and creating a nice dense little clump of leaves around its base. 

Here's one more Creeping Raspberry plant. I love the crinkled, textured and fuzzy foliage! 

A large clump of Purple Coneflower. Do you think I need to divide these soon? If so, is it better to do that in autumn or very early spring? And is there any special technique? I'm pretty much a novice on plant division...

The Natchez crape myrtles are starting to leaf out. I can't wait for these to put on all their leaves and grow another 1-2 feet bigger this year. We have a number of them around our patio and they give a decent amount of privacy when they have their leaves. Not so much during their deciduous phase. 

New foliage on another Crape Myrtle. I added this one last November. It's a dwarf white Crape called "Petite Snow" that is only supposed to get 5-feet high and 4-feet wide. 

The Aquilegia "Winky Rose" is looking incredibly healthy and bushy. It's sent up dozens of buds and the first flowers have just started opening. Aquilegia is supposed to attract hummingbirds. Didn't see any last year on the plant, but with this many buds, maybe it will draw some hummers this year?

I think this is a form of Euonymous, a.k.a. Burning Bush. But I've never seen the 'wings' that are supposed to be on Winged Burning Bush, so maybe it's a different variety? Not sure, because it was here when we moved in. Either way, Burning Bush is supposed to be invasive, and I wouldn't plant it, but I've ripped out so many other plants (hollies, boxwoods, other euonymous, the usual suspects) that I'm loathe to removing something else until I know exactly what I would want to put in its place. Still, I'll keep a close eye out for berries (haven't seen any in the previous two years) and if I do see some, I may remove the plant mid-season.  FYI, looks like a sterile Burning Bush has been developed in a lab and may someday give gardeners and landscapers a chance to have the benefits of Burning Bush without the invasiveness.

This is the "Dream Catcher" version of Beauty Bush. Like the Malva, Gaillardia and Vitex, it's planted  in a full sun, windy spot. I think I may have goofed when I sited this one last autumn. From further research, it seems that the species Beauty Bush (Kolkwitzia amabilis) is happy in full sun, but that (like many variegated plants) this "Dream Catcher" version may need partial shade.  It doesn't look as though it's about to croak, but the leaves do look sort of twisted, as if they're trying to conserve moisture. With a long stretch of cool weather forecast, I'm tempted to transplant "Dream Catcher" to a shadier spot. But the problem is that I'm not sure where to put it. I think I'll let it stay where it is for now. If it survives the summer, I'll probably be doing some landscaping in late autumn and can try to move it then.

Finally, one of the happiest developments of 2013 so far has been the extent to which all three Aronia (Chokeberry) plants have leafed out, budded out and (in the case of the Aronia arbutifolia "Brilliantissima" shown here) already started flowering. For such a tiny tree, I'm astounded that it has decided to put out this many blooms. It's not exactly covered in pollinators, but I have seen it being worked by tiny bees. Or maybe they are tiny wasps or flies? Not sure. Either way, it's definitely drawing some pollinators in and will hopefully have a (tiny) crop of berries later in the year that I'm sure the birds will strip in about 2 seconds. In fact, I may strip the crop myself this year before it ripens, because I wouldn't want a big bird to damage the still-small plant trying to get the berries off. Interestingly, the other two Aronia, which are a different species (Aronia melanocarpa) have concentrated on putting out more foliage and fewer buds. They also have not yet started flowering. All three tree saplings are in Eastern exposure with morning sun and afternoon shade. I'm hoping that all three will put on some significant growth/height this year - they're all still quite petite - but regardless I'm thrilled with the way they made it through a tough first year last year after a spring planting and record summer heat. Very, very impressed so far with the toughness - and beauty - of the Aronias.

Hallelujah! The Rains Have Come!

The rains have come at last. The temperatures have fallen to manageable levels. In fact, the high temperature was only 74F (23.3C) on Thursday! Incredible. Our neighborhood actually missed out on some of the rain that fell in the region - particularly to the South in Alabama - but I still think we must have ended up getting close to 2 inches of rain this past week.

The rain and cooler temperatures have had a miraculously restorative effect on the garden just when I was close to giving up hope.

Remember the twisted pineapple sage and the withered zinnia that were already looking drought-ravaged back in late June before the record heat wave?

Here's how they have bounced back with the cooler, wetter weather:

Pineapple sage, back from the dead

Zinnia, twisted no more

The rest of the garden is looking good too. Here are some of the plants that caught my eye in the front Eastern bed:

Ajuga may have been hanging tough in the heat, but it seems to be loving this wetter weather. It is even threatening to overgrow its plant tag!

The heat and the drought scorched the older leaves on this Aronia arbutifolia (red chokeberry) seedling, but the new leaves look green and healthy.

I was worried about clematis integrifolia (a bush-type clematis) after the older stems flopped over and the leaves curled up. But as you can see, fresh new foliage has emerged from the center of the clump. A hopeful sign!

Over in the vegetable garden...

I still haven't gotten any beans off these Emerite pole beans yet, but the new leaves look gorgeous and untouched (so far) by any of the pests that chewed holes in the older leaves. I haven't sprayed at all. Maybe the predator insects have the upper hand now?

I should be harvesting okra by now, not staring down at tiny seedlings, but at least a couple of these Emerald okra seedlings are looking healthy and starting to put on a little bit of growth.

This hardy hibiscus plant is squeezed into the vegetable garden alongside cucumbers and tomatoes. I think it's going to bloom in the next day or two. The beautiful blossoms only last one day. I'll try to take a photo for you when it happens.

And two final shots from the back (Western) beds:

Cosmos had been looking tired in the heat. Some of the plants had actually turned brown and died, others were just resting and biding their time. Now that the rains have come, this one is back in bloom.

This is the gaura I didn't trim. I'm glad that I procrastinated so that I could get this photo of the stems laden with water droplets just moments after a strong rain shower.

I am so happy to have rain. I hope that all the other gardeners and farmers struggling with drought this year will soon receive the blessing of sweet, cool rain dousing their troubles and washing away their worries.

104, 108, 106, 104, 99, 99

Those aren't lottery numbers, they're the high temperatures recorded in my neck of the woods over the past six days.

At Nashville airport, it actually hit 109 degrees (42.8 celsius) on June 29, setting an all-time high temperature record.

That's right, the highest temperature ever recorded in Nashville since modern record-keeping began back in 1871, over 140 years ago.

Oh and did I mention we have had basically no rain for over a month?

What does that do to a garden? It ain't pretty, folks. I'll spare you pics of the worst of the carnage today and just say that I'm fighting to keep most plants alive.

At the same time, I'm perversely interested to see what will survive. Especially in an age of scarce resources, I believe that coddle our gardens far too much. I think I want a garden that can prosper - or at least survive - with little intervention or assistance.

Is that too much to ask?

In any case, I have not been living up to that ideal, but I have taken feeble steps in that direction by refraining from watering every day and limiting my watering to every other day.

(The exception is the vegetable garden. It's not fair to ask vegetables that were bred to be edible, not drought-resistant, to survive on their own. It would be like throwing a toy poodle into the Amazon jungle. So the cucumbers, the beans and the stubbornly small okra seedlings get some daily water. The tomatoes though, which are well-established, only get a deep watering every other day.)

So how are some of the previous garden superstars doing in this infernal weather? Not so well...

Remember the Rozanne perennial geraniums covered in blooms back in early June? This is the same plant now:

Perennial geranium 'Rozanne', nary a bloom in sight

I had thought perennial geraniums like Rozanne were drought-tolerant, but as with my last post, I find that when I go back to look at the Bluestone Perennials plant description, I must have actually focused on heat tolerance rather than drought tolerance.

That's a big difference. Rozanne might do great in steamy tropical wet Florida -- or even in a normal Tennessee summer punctuated by regular downpours -- but it doesn't seem to have much tolerance when the rains fail.

In any case, I tried cutting back the dead growth on my three Rozannes. (I was guided in part by this article that suggests a big cutback can promote rebloom, though I'd be happy with just having them survive to bloom next year.) As a relatively novice gardener, I'm not sure if that was a good idea or not. Would more experienced gardeners like to chime in? Do you typically cut back drought-stressed perennials.

The trimmed Rozannes look better...for now. But we'll see how they fare through July and August...

Rozanne geranium after a major haircut

Since I was in a trimming mood, I also cut back two of the three gauras. Again, I was guided by an article that said: "If the plants are looking tired prune again in summer to encourage a further flush of flowers."

But what is the best way to trim a wild and sprawling gaura that has ceased flowering?

How do you tame a plant like a gaura? (Apologies to Sound of Music.)

I tried two methods of pruning with these two plants:

1) For the plant on the right, I grabbed bundles of the long floppy stems and cut them back close to where the leafy bottom part of the gaura begins, maybe 8-inches off the ground.

2) Cutting bundles of stems is hard work, so for the plant on the left, I tried to cut back even further. I mostly chopped this plant back to its woody stems. One cut to a woody stem severs all the floppy ones above it, so fewer total cuts are needed. But I'm a bit concerned that I may have cut back the plant too severely.

There were a lot of dead leaves at the base of both plants, particularly the one on the left. I'm not sure if this is typical (it's only my 2nd year growing gaura and I know they are supposed to be short-lived plants), but I suspect that it's at least partly the result of the heat and the drought.

Well, here is a photo showing one trimmed and one soon-to-be trimmed gaura:

Short-haired gaura vs. Long-haired guara :)

With the trimming done, I took a walk around and visited some other plants, like this heat-and-drought stressed lily. I can't remember the name of these lilies we planted last year, but all three of them did come back and they were looking pretty good until about two or three weeks ago when they started yellowing at the base. Not all the flowers have opened and the ones that did open weren't looking all that happy. So I cut some of the flowers and brought them inside where we could enjoy the beautiful fragrance. The ones that are inside in the a/c and sitting in a vase of water look much happier now!

Lily struggling in the heat.

A cool and comfortable lily blooming widely and fragrantly in the air-conditioned house

As we established in a post about 10 days ago, the zinnias are looking extremely drought-stricken. But I've been watering them faithfully every couple of days and most of them seem to be (barely) hanging in there. The ones that are left are visited regularly by gold finches and butterflies. Many of the butterflies are little brown skippers, but there are other beautiful visitors including this one:

Black and blue butterfly (swallowtail?) on zinnia

Same butterfly, same plant, different flower, different angle

Finally, let's take a walk around to the North side of the house. It's a bit cooler and shadier over here, which means that while several of the Natchez crape myrtles sitting in direct sun on the west side of the house have stopped flowering and are sulking with drooping leaves, the ones on the North side of the house are looking much fresher and just starting to cover themselves with flowers. It's a welcome sight from an aesthetic standpoint, and I'm guessing that the bees are happy as well.

Lavender crape myrtle blossoms

Smaller reddish-pink crape myrtle has grown a lot and has many more flowers this year compared to last year. I'm not sure if it will stay shrub-sized or grow into a small tree. This one is more susceptible to powdery mildew than either the Natchez or lavender crape myrtles, but so far it has fought off the mildew on its own to produce a multitude of flowers

Close up on reddish-pink crape myrtle flowers that harmonize nicely with the brick wall background

That's all for now. Weather.com is calling for a 95% chance of rain in the next six hours. Accuweather says 90% probability of rain. I hope they are right!

Conversation starter --- Do you pamper your garden with life-sustaining water in times of drought or do you practice tough love and create your own little Darwinian survival-of-the-toughest situation?