Each Little World

Pond re-design: Getting started on the big pond

The big pond was pretty sad looking this spring, which made it easier to say goodbye. 

Once the Upper Pool was redone, Mark began by emptying the big pond. He used a diverter valve (white section) on the pond pump to send the water off to the side, instead of up to the top pool as we'd been doing for 24 years. 

The water could then be sent wherever in the garden we wanted it via this 75' long blue hose. 

Once most of the water was gone, it revealed all the oxygenator plants, potted water lilies and goop. We were able to give lilies and oxygenators to friends with water gardens. 

Once the pond was empty of water, the faithful pump was pulled. It could move 5,400 gallons of water per hour.

At this point Mark was working in waders or Wellies in the pond trying to get everything out that was revealed as the water disappeared. 

Mark pulled out all kinds of edge rocks and small stones that he wanted to reuse and made piles of them outside the pond edges. He piled muck on the top "shelf" of the pond interior so he could begin to cut out the rubber layer. The rubber and the carpet layer underneath it took a tremendous amount of time and effort to cut through and remove. 

This top of this wall ended just under the surface of the pond water, separating the main pond from the bog. The wall let water into the bog and kept the soil from washing into the pond. These two rocks were standing in the water. 

This shows the limestone wall around the pond. Some rubber has been removed and the carpet layer has been revealed. 

Now the carpet layer is gone in part of the pond and Mark is piling dried out debris in the deepest level of the pond — 3 feet below ground level. 

This is the sand layer hard-packed after being under 7,500 gallons of water for 24 years. The lowest layer is full of organic debris. The area at the bottom of the photo is the former "Pebble Beach" which was just slightly under water at the end with the round stone. 

Mark added the carpet layer when we built the pond as extra protection so tree roots would not puncture the rubber liner. It was clear that all kinds of big roots had been stopped just as he hoped. You can see some rubber still in place under the walls and big bog rocks.  

Emptying the pond was the first step of this project. It was much harder and took longer than I think Mark had hoped. But all through the summer he wore protective clothing and boots, drank lots of water and was as mindful and careful as I hoped he'd be. 

Next up: Filling it in. 

Something soothing

At this point in the growing season, I see bright colors everywhere I look: Asters, Dahlias, Zinnias, sunflowers and goldenrod. Not in my garden. With a summer that has been both hot and dry, I want a visual break; a sip of something soothing to cool everything down. The following are a few favorites that provide that experience in my garden.

Astrantia major  'Vanilla Gorilla' tends to throw out a number of solid green reversions in midsummer. As long as I cut them off, the plant quickly perks up with new variegated leaves. It is a different shade of green than every other plant I grow. 

Hedra helix 'Glacier' needs light to full shade which makes it a treasure in my shady garden. I've been growing this since 2017 and have not lost any of it to polar vortex weather. So far it has not spread more than I want it to nor have I seen any kind of flowers or seeds on it. 

I discovered a small clump of unhappy Brunnera 'Dawson's White' and moved it to a sunnier and more moist spot where it has quickly started to spring back to life

The pond re-design necessitated pulling out a big sweep of Carex siderosticha variegata. I moved it to the slope that I am reclaiming from dying grass and weeds. I love this Carex but don't see it for sale anymore. 

I am absolutely in love with the way Carex pennsylvanica flows down this slope like a waterfall.

Hope your garden is helping you to stay cool.

Wordless Wednesday

In a vase on Monday: This and that

As often as I spend time and effort putting flower arrangements together, I spend an equal amount of time creating something on the fly. These bouquets are all the result of storm damage, or damage from a careless gardener. One of my tall lilies came down during a windy night and brought a few stems of Thalictrum with it. The lily was past its prime, but the Thalictrum still had enough life left that I couldn't just compost it. 

I broke off this little Coleus stem when I was moving the big pot it's in. As I was taking it indoors, I passed Clematis 'Guernsey Cream' which has gone to seed. I love its wiry golden pods that look like jewels. They definitely added a glalm note to the Coleus. 

The seedpods were recently replaced by a broken stem of unknown Sedum. 

I picked this Sedum up at the grocery store and did not notice it was missing an id tag. It appears to be similar to the classic 'Autumn Joy' variety, but is a wonderful combination of delicate pink buds opening to pale yellow flowers. If you know the name of this variety, please put it in the comments. 

Wet and wild

Saturday night's storm dumped 1.36" of rain on us in about half an hour. The garden was absolutely gleaming the next morning.

Pennsylvania sedge (foreground) and Adiantum x tracyi growing in the moss. 

. . .

Monday, 6:30 a.m.: Just woke up to booming thunder, followed by rain. So I guess we won't be getting the last load of quartzite chips put into the pond this morning. Looks like this storm is going to be over us for a while, so I'm going to settle in with a cup of coffee and a garden book.

Garden quirks of 2021

We began the 2021 gardening season with frost right up until the end of May, followed by temperatures hitting 90°F. in early June. So plants growing like crazy and blooming ahead of schedule should come as no surprise to this gardener. But I admit that I am a bit taken aback.

. . .

The flowers on my Kirengeshoma palmata began opening yesterday, July 21st. Last year they started to bloom exactly a month later on Aug. 21st and on Aug. 14th the year before that. 

I planted Angelica gigas last year, having bought a small plant at Flower Factory's end of season/retirement sale. I let it self seed as it is a biennial. It came up this spring in the same location and nowhere else that I've noticed. It looks like it is about to bloom again this year. I am so unfamiliar with this plant that I don't know if these are flower buds or even if it typically behaves this way. 

A few of my Epimediums, like E. 'Domino', are having growth spurts and even flowering in July. This one is ten years old and suddenly has leaves floating at 24" above the ground. See that stem rising above the rock?

This one and a few others are also sending out large and oddly misshapen leaves like those round ones that are reminiscent of the foliage of native wild ginger, Asarum canadensis. When a variegated stem pops up all green, I know to cut it off. But I am unsure whether I should remove these stems with odd leaves or just ignore them. 

It's always new and different and a learning experience in the garden. 

GBBD: 7.15.2021

Some plants seem a little behind this year while others are a couple of weeks ahead of their typical bloom date. By midsummer, much of my garden is green but there are a few things in bloom like Astilbe taquetii 'Superba' with Hemerocallis 'Lady Inora'.

I am an obsessive Thalictrum lover and added two more of the tall summer bloomers this year.  

Thalictrum rochebruneanum 'Lavdender Mist' (above and the two photos below) with Vernonicastrum virginicum 'Fascination'.

T. 'Lavender Mist' has the largest flowers of all the ones I'm growing which makes them visible at a bit of a distance. 

Astrantia 'Star of Fire' and a flowering wand of an unknown Heuchera.

Ligularia stenocephala 'The Rocket' with the end of the orange-flowered Lilium canadense.

My Lilium leichtlini keep disappearing on me. I'm down to one plant from the 10 I planted in 2014.

Learning to love orange

Back in the 1960s, I loved wearing bright colors like hot pink and orange. I remember I had an orange wool dress with white trim and a dress whose fabric was printed with big orange flowers.

But orange in my garden? I've mostly steered clear of that color other than Asiatic and species lilies. But suddenly I am noticing that I have orange in a number of long-time favorite plants and I seem to be adding more and more of that color. 

Hecherella 'Hopscotch' is a villosa hybrid which means it copes with hot, humid summer weather. i love the fact that it really holds its color all season.

I have Heucheras all over the garden. They've been moved and divided so many times that I can rarely identify them anymore. I believe this one is H. 'Pinot Grigot', planted to echo the Berberis thunbergii 'Admiration' on the far side of the Peony. Most of the orange flowers and foliaged plants are around the Tea House to complement its color.

'Amber Jubilee' Ninebark (Physocarpus) has orangish, bronze new foliage. My shrub would like more sun so its color is not as intense as it might be. The shade has also kept it a size to easily fit into the garden. I am always pruning it for shape and that produces the nice bronze color, though it means I never get flowers.  This is what it looks like at the moment; not quite as bright as when the first leaves appear.

I've been growing Spirea japonica 'Magic Carpet' for years. I love that I can cut it to the ground to keep it the size and shape I want. It also makes great cut foliage for flower arrangements.

I added Hydrangea serrata 'Mountain Madness' this year, specifically for its orange new foliage that fades to yellow through the season. The lace cap flowers are a very delicate peachy pink. I fell in love with it from the moment it arrived from Issima Nursery.

I've been growing Penthorum seloides aka Starfruit at the edge of the pond for years. But I'm not sure if it will survive without its roots actually growing down into the water. There is one small clump remaining after all the re-design work Mark has been doing on the pond edge; we'll see if it stays the course.

I don't think you can garden in the Midwest without growing daylilies. Many people like the really large-flowered varieties. I like the little dwarf types like Hemerocallis 'Petite Sioux'.

Hemerocallis 'Lady Inora' is bigger than 'Petite Sioux' but I believe she still falls into the dwarf category.

I've always wanted to have poppies in the garden. Last year I put in Papever atlanticum, a Spanish poppy that is a very bright orange.

The only orange grouping not near the Tea House is this trio by the red front door. Bowman's Root (left), Berberis thunbergii 'Orange Rocket' and Japanese Blood Grass 'Red Baron' are at their most dramatic peak in the fall rather than the spring.

Simple effects

On a recent visit to Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, my eye was captured by a number of displays where the design concept was extremely simple. Perhaps more importantly, they were ideas they would be easy to replicate in any home garden. You know it is a good idea if they are doing it in a public garden.

A redbud underplanted with Epimediums. This must be beautiful in spring when both are in flower ahead of the appearance of their foliage. 

Boxwood balls interplanted with the herb dill.

I love the contrast of the airiness of the dill with the down to earth solidity of the boxwood. Despite the height of the dill, it does not obscure the view of the sculpture at the center of this garden. 

I fell prey to temptation on an early nursery visit, seduced by the dramatic foliage of the Coleus plants. But I never really figured out how or where to put them once I got them home.

This struck me as a perfect solution. You can admire all the various colors and patterns of the Coleus and add or subtract pots as necessary. It's an idea that would work with any number of annual plants. And it brings color and life to a major walkway that does not have available planting space.

IVOM: Late August blooms

I decided to clip a few flowers to save them from the hot and windy weather we've been having. A storm was forecast so I went out as the sky got darker. Alas, the storm passed us by again. So no rain, but at least we can enjoy a bit of beauty in the house.

Our gardening neighbor grows a Kiwi vine on the fence between our gardens. It crawls over onto our side in the most wonderful way. But I tend to clip the long tendrils that want to rise up into the adjacent trees. I decided it was time to bring one of them indoors to showcase. 

I added a lichen covered branch and a wand of hips from Rosa glauca.

The Kiwi leaves started to fade quickly, but they were fun while they lasted.

The Lohan has been patiently waiting for a new bouquet.

Fennel flower heads, Kirengeshoma palmata Koreana group, Hakoenechloa grass and a large quilted leaf of Hosta 'Inniswood.'

Though I've done a lot of watering, a month without rain has caused much of the foliage in the garden to burn and begin to brown. 

A quick arrangement for the table of Calamintha nepeta ssp. nepeta, the flowers of garlic chives and a few Hosta blooms. 

Still no rain but at least the temperatures have moderated, so I am out to the garden again to plant some of the things that are lined up on the deck awaiting their new homes.