Each Little World

Going forward

If you noticed the headline on yesterday's post you will have figured out that I republished my very first blog post to acknowledge my 15th anniversary of blogging. I started my blog after a 30-year career in journalism that ended as my liberal local newspaper left print behind and went digital. They needed to seriously reduce the staff and my job was eliminated as they reconfigured the newsroom.

Most of the people who left were like me: long-time journalists who were nearing retirement. None of us was ready to leave and we definitely were not ready to see our daily paper fade into the ether. 

All this is to say that I taught myself to blog to show that this old dog could learn new tricks. If you go back to my early posts you will see that they read like newspaper or even magazine articles; long, literary and covering a variety of subjects. Over the years I've pretty much concentrated on gardening as that has consumed more and more of my mental and physical energy.

I used to check my stats but haven't done it for years. Mark, however, took a look. He said that in fifteen years I've put up 3,005 posts or 200 times per year or every 2 days; however one wants to break it down. I've averaged 222 page views per day or 404 per post. You've commented 16,328 times or 5.5 per post. Not exactly an influencer or as influential as a number of you whose excellent blogs have resulted in books, lectures and more.

These days I'm self-publishing my own garden books but I was on the lecture circuit for years; going back to the early 1990s using slides. I've got a library of over 7,000 slides that are all archivally filed, labeled and cross-referenced and I'm on my 26th volume of hand-written garden journals.

All of which is to say that I'm 76 years old. If I want to read more, draw more, make more books, see friends more — do anything more often — then blogging needs to happen less frequently. How much less?? I'm not sure; but definitely on a more random schedule when I have something to share. I know many of you only at a distance. But I've met a surprising number of you in person because you brought a tour here (Daniel Mount), were visiting Madison (Flingers, Kris in Kansas City) or you live here and read my newspaper columns long before I stared blogging. 

I may be ready to blog less but I'm not ready to give up all these blog-related relationships. My e-mail is listed on the blog so we should all be able to keep in touch easily. I will try to see if I can find a system that works for you to sign up for notifications when I post. And you can also do what I do on many blogs I read, just periodically stop by to see what's happening and leave a comment. I will still be here and I know you want to see how our road construction project finally turns out!

Let me close by saying that the idea of blogging less makes me feel panicky. For 45 years the first thing I've done almost every day is sit down at a computer of some kind and start writing essays, op-eds, editorials, lifestyle stories, columns and blog posts. It is going to be a hard habit to break. 

The first image is a snap of all of us who left the newsroom in 2008. Some of us, me included (in the blue sweater center left), are automatically smiling when faced with a camera. But you can see on some faces what a very bittersweet moment it was. 

The third photo shows Wisconsin native Daniel Mount leading a group of PNW gardeners on a tour of Midwest gardens and prairies. 

The fourth photo was taken the day Daniel Mount's tour group visited our garden. Blogging has resulted in me becoming interested in photography and in preserving the history of our garden, in words and pictures.

The last photo shows the crew putting in the new storm sewer in front of our property. They've now started to prepare the roadbed for paving, but that's still a ways away.

August 24, 2008

For the mind, by nature stagey, welds its frame

Tomb-like around each little world of a day;

We jump from picture to picture and cannot follow

The living curve that is breathlessly the same.

— Louis Mac Niece / 1907-1963

What little world?

EACH LITTLE WORLD that collides with mine:

The world of interiors and exteriors; bibliophiles; china and dishing; Domino theory; feasts and fests; food; flowers and gardens; material possessions and textile obsessions; worldly goods and bads.

Your worlds and mine.

Let the collision begin.

The above quoted text is the 2nd stanza of Louis Mac Neice's poem, "August," as it appears in A Little Treasury of Modern Poetry.

For the mind, by nature stagey, welds its frame

Tomb-like around each little world of a day;

We jump from picture to picture and cannot follow

The living curve that is breathlessly the same.

— Louis Mac Niece / 1907-1963

What little world?

EACH LITTLE WORLD that collides with mine:

The world of interiors and exteriors; bibliophiles; china and dishing; Domino theory; feasts and fests; food; flowers and gardens; material possessions and textile obsessions; worldly goods and bads.

Your worlds and mine.

Let the collision begin.

The above quoted text is the 2nd stanza of Louis Mac Neice's poem, "August," as it appears in A Little Treasury of Modern Poetry.

Says who?

I bought one plant of Heuchera x villosa 'Brownies' in 2008. It grew so well for me that I began to divide it and spread it around. It never frost-heaved, had pests or seemed to need any additional moisture. Eventually I created a couple of large sweeps of 'Brownies' in spots where I needed a no-maintenance ground cover that didn't really call attention to itself. 

I went online the other day to confirm its identify and discovered my experience with 'Brownies' is not the same as that observed at the Mt. Cuba Trial Garden. 

"Unfortunately, the floral display was unimpressive due to the floppiness of the tall, white inflorescences," was their opinion on their website. They felt its strength was all in its foliage. i love the very tall wands of white flowers 'Brownies' produces right now when many Heucheras are winding down flower production. They are among the longest flower stems of any Heuchera I grow; easily two feet long.

Recently it rained for six hours; mostly nice and gentle with only a couple of strong downpours. The last couple of days it's been very windy and gusty. All of which is to say the long flower wands on my 'Brownies' are still upright, despite our weather and the experience of Mt. Cuba. Plants clearly don't pay attention to experts or the written word.

Have you seen this?

Okay, maybe you have but this plant — Bergenia 'Ripple Effect' — is totally new to me. B. 'Ripple Effect' is a hybrid between B. ciliata and B. procumbis out of Issima nursery. I've been growing the straight B. ciliata for years along with B. cordifolia and B. 'Bressingham Ruby' from the famed Bressingham family in the UK. Ciliata has fuzzy foliage while the the other two have smooth shiny leaves that color up in autumn and don't go dormant. Bergenia 'Ripple Effect' goes dormant.

Bergenia 'Ripple Effect' has glossy green leaves that are rounded with serrated wavy edges. But get this, the leaves are huge; easily one foot in size. The entire plant will supposedly make a 3' spread and is suggested to be used as a dramatic ground cover. That's what I'm doing. I've put a pair under my Weeping Purple Beech which should be exceedingly dramatic if they're as happy in that location as the Beech.

I found this at my local nursery (K and A Greenhouse) at their late summer sale. I immediately grabbed one; went back a week later for a second. Drove out yesterday for a few things and got two more. All are planted and caged which is why I photographed this one before it went into the ground; the cages lack a certain charm in photos. The rabbits chomped off a leaf on the first one immediately. I think they will be safe to uncage one they start to increase. 

Now I just have to decide if my 'Ripple Effect' Hosta would like to join these guys or if it will sulk at being overshadowed by such foliage giants.

IVOM: Flowers for Rich

I put together these two bouquets last week for a memorial celebration. Since they were for someone who was a big fan of Piet Oudolf and the Lurie Garden, that made it easy for me to know what kind of display would have appealed to him. I went to the Lurie Garden website to see their summer plant list and discovered I am growing a huge number of things on their list. 

This first vase was suggested by an image one of my sister-in-laws texted me and is more contemporary than I often do. I really like the simplicity of it and have to remember the less is more concept in the future. This has Alliums 'Millennium' and 'Summer Beauty', Seslaria 'Autumnalis' (autumn moor grass) and foliage of Heuchera 'Palace Purple'. I used the foliage of Byzantine Gladiolus for some dramatic contrast. The vase is quite tall and is by Midwestern potter Dolorus Fortuna.

This antique Chinese vase is short and squat and made a nice unmatched pair with the other one. More Alliums, Calamintha nepeta ssp. nepeta, Thalictrum buds, a few stems of flowers from Heuchera and Hosta 'Halcyon', a large branch of Astilbe 'Chocolate Shogun' foliage and a dark Begonia leaf.

This list of blooms pretty much comprises what is in flower for August GBBD, other than some Agastaches and Phlox.

Finding their happy place

As I was walking about the front garden yesterday morning I noticed this clump of Cyclamen that had self-seeded into the gravel path right up against the stone wall. I remember seeing them before and just deciding to leave them alone. Any time I've tried to remove Cyclamen seedlings to replant, I've usually lost them. Maybe letting them alone long enough to bulk up is the answer. 

Seeing the Cyclamen in the path made me wonder how the plants in the nearby bed were faring. Only the original plant is visible and it looks good. Critters, heat and drought mostly likely have done a number on a couple of different varieties that were nearby. They had been doing pretty well but our increasingly hot summers are not helping.

Furter along the path I saw self-seeded ferns, Geranium phaeum and another tiny Cyclamen. 

The first two plants have the same patterning and are likely C. purpurescens. The next one doesn't look quite the same and I'm not sure of exactly which one it is. The last one is the reverse of the first two and is likely C. hederifolium.

I've had enough problems with critters digging these out that I've given up adding any new varieties despite the beauty of the foliage. 

Still perfect

It seems like everywhere I look in my garden I see unfinished areas. It's been so hot that I haven't been able to make myself deal with most of them. Instead, I am luxuriating in the one area of my garden that is picture and pollinator perfect.

It took a number of years and a lot of loss and learning but I finally came up with plants that can take sun, poor soil, snow, winter road salt, massive summer road construction and never slow down.

Geranium wallichianum 'Crystal Lake' is a sprawler that needs companions to thread itself through. Beautiful markings and a color that is bright without overwhelming everyone else. 

'Crystal Lake' is growing with Alliums and Calamintha and hasn't overtaken either plant. 

This little bed has clumps of Penstemon 'Dark Towers'  at the back corners and blue Hostas (probably 'Halcyon') at the front corners. In between are three clumps of Allium 'Millennium' which is much pinker than A. 'Summer Beauty' which is also in bloom elsewhere in the garden. Calamintha nepeta ssp. nepeta fills the rest of the space. This garden always looks like a slight breeze is blowing but it's the movement of all the bees that create that impression. 

We're not losing our gutter here, so the big machines never get too close. They have never even broken a stem in this plot. 

They still do get close. Here they're digging trenches for storm sewer pipes and moving the dirt into the nearby dump truck. Note the workman down in the hole. (Double click the photo to enlarge it.)

You get a sense of the size of the bucket with Jake, one of the crew who's about 6'3" tall, standing next to it. Jake is covered with tattoos that he's had done by artists around the world. A very friendly guy. 

IVOM

Sometimes one flower is enough. Though I usually steer clear of big fancy daylilies, I couldn't resist 'NIght Embers.'

Success

I won this Eucomis last summer as a door prize at a garden event. At the end of the season I put it in our unheated garage and ignored it. It looked so sad in the spring I didn't really think it was alive. But I removed the flower stalk and foliage, watered it and put it outside where it immediately started to send up beautiful new foliage. I underplanted it with a native Carex and set it in a heavy ceramic pot to raise it about critter height. Alas some big critter came along and knocked it over more than once. 

You can see its damaged leaves. I finally moved it to a new location where no one has bothered it. It also had some damage from a being outside on a couple of nights that were colder than predicted. But it just kept going.

I think this may be the variety 'Sparkling Burgundy' based on the initial foliage color and the flowers. I don't really care what variety it is. I'm just happy it survived and is blooming. This is one plant that is definitely easy enough to overwinter that I will keep doing it. 

Everything old

. . . is new again. 

Way back when — March 2002 to be exact — I ordered a pair of Taxus bacccata aka Irish yews at $8.00 each from the original Heronswood Nursery. You can imagine how small these shrubs were when they arrived in the mail. Twenty years later they are larger but not the 8' tall drama queens I was expecting them to turn into.

Not long after my Heronswood yews were planted Mark came home from working at the Olbrich Botanical Gardens annual plant sale with his own Irish yew. He didn't know we already had a pair of them. His was a named cultivar — Taxus bacccata 'Bean Pole'  —  and was already a couple of feet hight. BUT he paid $70.00 for it! I was appalled. Twenty years later it's obvious his was the smarter purchase. 

So imagine my surprise and delight when I unexpectedly found a lone Taxus baccata 'Green Column' at our local K and A Greenhouse at the end of June. I paid $81.99 and didn't blink. In fact, it seemed like a steal to get a plant the size of the one Mark bought 20 years later and it only cost $12.00 more. It was orignally discovered at Jeddeloh Nursery in Germany. I also happen to have a Jeddeloh Hemlock. 

Each year my original pair of Heronswood yews lose a lot of their growth to winter burn. So I moved one of the original pair to the back garden where it gets eastern sun. It came through the winter in better shape than this one on the north side of the house. 

This one is currently looking so good I can't decide if I should just leave it alone or move it as well. Yews can generally take sun or shade and Mark's specimen is on the north side of the house in a lot of shade. It's also protected from winter damage by a huge old Arborvitae next to it. This one is in more southern light coming over the house and is much more exposed in the winter. Since I don't have twenty more years to watch this slowly grow it probably means I should indeed move it.