Each Little World

IVOM: The goodbye bouquet

Last Wednesday, before the weather changed, I clipped a crazy assortment of foliage and flowers and made a giant bouquet. Partly it was a test to see what plants have the potential to last in an arrangement, but mostly it was just fun to grab a bit of everything. 

Toad lilies and Aconitum are the main flowers here, along with fading Agastache 'Blue Fortune' and Eupatorium 'Chocolate.'

I've never cut a stem of Podophyllum 'Spotty Dotty' for a vase as they make too important a statement in the garden to do that. But they were about to bite the bullet anyway, so I did it. And now I know it works well in a display. Here with Arum italicum and the underside of a yellowing Hosta leaf.

The view from the other side shows the beautiful red backs of the hardy Begonia foliage and the sori on the ferns.

I couldn't resist trying a big Rodgersia leaf which didn't last too long. Not surprising given how far gone it was when I cut it. The stems on Anemone 'September Charm' were so long they just wanted to keep flopping. So I let them.

When I brought the display into the house, Mark insisted on taking a photo with me to indicate what a large bouquet it was. I look like a woman who has spent a week fighting a cold and had to cancel her haircut appointment so she wouldn't pass on her germs. 

Just enough rain . . .

to give the garden a drink and provide some art in the driveway.

From one extreme to the other

Yesterday was a gorgeous sunny autumn day, so I took advantage of the weather and got the last spring bulbs planted. We met with our arborist about getting the big Honey Locust over the house pruned. And Mark cleaned the garage — after doing the same in the basement the day before. The high hit 79°.

The weather had the Crocus pulchellus in full bloom. It was a thrill to walk up the steps to the Tea House and see how they're finally spreading around. 

The rain forecast this week is mostly missing us. But I'm sure the overnight lows into the 20°s this weekend are not going to pass us by. So I walked around the garden in late afternoon clipping all sorts of foliage and a few flowers to make a goodbye to the garden bouquet. I'm definitely not ready to say hello to the next season.

Mushroom mania

Fall always brings mushrooms here and there in the garden. Sometimes just a stem or two and sometimes big clumps. 

I love the way these appear to be looking back at the photographer.

I don't remember "puffballs" in the garden in past years. When I first saw it, I almost kicked it thinking it was a rock.

A few days later I delicately brushed the dirt off of it. A couple of days after that I brought a ruler out to measure how big it was getting.

When we came home from Milwaukee, it was bigger still but it had split open. It looks like it did that on its own as the cracks are very smooth and don't have any evidence of critter damage. Wish I'd had a chance to see it one more time before this happened.

GBBD:10.15.2023

Mark and I took a mini vacation to Milwaukee from Thursday to Saturday which led me to forget the date until late yesterday afternoon. It was chilly, very rainy and windy in Milwaukee and the state of the garden and the rain gauge suggest the weather was the same here. We haven't had a killing frost but the weather hasn't quite moved the late bloomers into the mass of flowers the buds are suggesting. Despite the rather sad look of the garden we got almost 2 and 1/2" of rain and more is forecast for midweek. 

The Aconitum were giants this year with some towering over my head. They all came down in the storms but are still flowering. 

The 'Chocolate' Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium rugosa 'Chocolate) also got beaten down and is resting on top of a newly planted Fillipendula 'Red Umbrella'.

Anemone japonica 'September Charm' is a gorgeous charmer but quite rampant. Hoping I won't regret planting her. The weather also took a toll on her. 

Anemone japonica 'Whirlwind' got moved this summer which really cut back on flowers and stem height.

Tricyrtis formosana is a low grower with arching stems. The flower buds are nicely vertical on this variety for a great display. Unlike the T. hirta varieties, this one is very hairy.

The rabbits ignored T. formosana this year . . . 

but not T. hirta. I have a number of this variety with different foliage but somewhat similar flowers. This clump, in deep shade, is loaded with flowers, has mid-green foliage and was blowing in the continuing wind.

The same plant has brighter foliage in the sun. Last year this plant made such a huge, tall clump I broke it up and moved it around. It was so big it blocked the view of the shorter plants growing behind it.

I grow T. hirta 'Lightning Strike' for its striped foliage.

T. hirta 'Tojen' has large flowers that are strikingly different than its relatives. It has alway been a floppy plant in my garden, so I re-planted it next to the Stripe Bark Maple hoping that will help to hold it upright.

In recent years there have been a number of new T. hirta introductions with gold-edge foliage and different color combos in the flowers. None of them have done well in my garden.  They've just stayed small and languished which suggests I should try  moving them before I decide to kiss them goodbye. 

An autumn vignette

A friend who stopped by to see the garden last weekend took this photo. I think it perfectly captures the moment: Flowers still opening, foliage turning color and fading away.

GARY TIPLER

IVOM: Compositions for company

Mark's book group met at our house last night. These guys start their meetings with pie and ice cream before they dig into the book they've just read, so I got a treat as well.

I decided the meeting was a good excuse for me to cut some flowers for indoors. The overnight lows are creeping downward and I want a chance to enjoy anything that is flowering before they get hit by frost. 

I brought in this Begonia boliviensis 'San Francisco' to see if it's anything I can overwinter. I cut it back a bit and did an early Halloween display with the prunings. I love its long drooping stems dripping with these big bright blooms.

My Monkshoods are dramatically tall this year and have just started to open in the last couple of days. I thought it needed a spray of equally dramatic foliage. This leaf is from Begonia 'Cotes de Cotillion' that I overwintered and am going to try doing it again. Currently it is an immense plant that make a gorgeous statement by our front door. 

These flowers are typically a very dark blue, so we'll see if that still happens once they're cut. They look a little pale to me. I love to watch the blooms open down the stem starting at the top.

The bench by our front door has a small orange pumpkin on each seat. But it's this big blue/gray/greeny squash that is my Farmer's Market prize. I love these subtle colors which perfectly echo the ceramics.

Autumn energy

After a summer of feeling overwhemled by heat, drought and age, I got out there Sunday morning and dug out a pair of dying 23-year-old 'Crimson Pygmy' barberries. One left to deal with down the road. Thanks to my garden guru, Jutta, for turning me on to the Rootslayer shovel which made the job much easier. (Actually took three different shovels to get them out.)

I'm glad to be rid of these invasive plants but even happier at the empty space. It is one more location where plantings have grown up and hidden the rocks that we love and worked so hard to add to the garden. I've got some ideas about what to plant next but I definitely want to make sure the rocks will remain visible. 

Not IVOM . . .

but a grouping around a plate by the front door instead. The weather and the squirrels have small Oak tree branches hitting the driveway daily. As I was picking them up I was struck by the warm beauty of the leaves. I put them into the roll of chicken wire that I sculpted around the back of this big ceramic plate. 

I added a few dried flowerheads of Oakleaf Hydrangea along with Allium and Thalictrum seedheads.

Though I usually appreciate asymmetrical design, every time I glanced at this display it bothered me. But the driveway was bare. Then Mark and I went for a walk on the new paved path on our street and I found a few more stems to add.

I'm much happier with the way this looks now. Of course, I'm not sure how long the Oak leaves will stay so colorful and fresh but it's fun for now. 

The full view of the display space next to our red front door. This area is a tiny wind tunnel and is always fulll of leaves, thus the bamboo broom.