Each Little World

Looking back at the gardening year: 2023

It was a very mixed year in terms of garden successes; a better year in terms of learning more about gardening in this changing climate. More importantly, acknowledging my bad habits online and in the garden.

I ordered a lot of plants online last winter. Come spring, it was clear that I had too many things to deal with at one time as we had frost for ages. That meant I had plants everywhere indoors and was wheeling big planters in and out of the garage day after day as night approached and bringing them out again in the morning. And that's after having potted them up in the garage and basement rather than outdoors on my work table. These up and down Spring temperatures seem to be one of our new norms.

I continued to add more shrubs, native and non, as a way to reduce maintenance, but keep the garden looking good. Last year's drought and extremely high temps reminded me that new plantings need an incredible amount of attention (and water) to survive the trauma of planting. I lost two expensive evergreens in short order and a third by late summer. Even old reliables suffered with the weather.

I may be the gardener and thus responsible, but I am going to blame my losses and other problems on our weather/climate issues. This year it was still too hot and dry to plant much in the autumn which historically has been an optimum planting time. I was still dragging hoses and watering cans around until it got cold enough that we had to turn off the outside faucets. 

I overwintered a Eucomis that I received as a door prize at a garden party in 2021 and fell in love with it. I want to try a couple more this year. I won't reorder any Calla lily which left me unenthused. In 2022 I planted a dozen Byzantine gladioli in two pots and swooned over them all season. So last year I planted 3 dozen in 5 pots and felt oppressed with watering and deadheading them. It was definitely a lesson in "less is more."

When I order plants online in the winter, I always know where I am going to put them so it feels like I have a plan. I am now going to admit that it is a dream and not a plan, given how many plants don't go where I intended. There's no room for them, they don't look good with their neighbors or they aren't getting all they require to succeed, like sun or moisture. Less ordering and more thinking needed. 

Now it's time for me to come up with a serious list of what needs attention in the garden and what plants or shrubs might I plan on getting, preferably locally. In the winter I am mentally gardening like a 35 year old. I need to remember that come spring, I am more than twice that age with a very large garden. Time to get real. 

Holiday greenery

I spent the afternoon of December 8 in the garden as it was unseasonably warm. It was a lovely day to work outside if you didn't assume climate change was responsible for the temperatures in the low 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

I wandered the garden with my clippers cutting evergreens to fan out around the big Mark Skudlarek plate by the front door. There's a long rolled-up tube of chicken wire curving behind the plate to hold the stems of the greenery.

Many of the evergreens in our garden are now mature enough that I had no qualms about cutting a few small branches off of any one of them. I ended up with the most mixed display I've ever had, using clippings from seven different evergreens. 

The mix includes Arborvitae, both Canadian and Japanese Hemlocks, blue Juniper, Scots pine, Russian cypress and an unknown lacy yellow Chamaecyparis. I put the Canadian Hemlock branches in with their silvery blue undersides showing for more contrast. 

I love how the blue tones echo the color of the plate.

I added a string of battery powered mini lights and then decided it needed something more. I tried a few still bright Allium seed heads.

But that bright pink seemed a bit much. So I calmed it down with a few bigger and much less colorful Allium seed heads and am generally pleased with the result. 

The only downside is that I learned via a discussion on the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society FB page that the professionals said not to do any trimming while it is this warm. They noted the trees and shrubs are not dormant and the fresh cuts could prove harmful.

I love the education I get on that Wisconsin site, but I sure wish the subject had come up before I went clipping here and there. 

White Sound

When rain

whispers

it is snow.

 

— Julie O'Callaghan

Saturday night's light rain turned into snow sometime during the night. I sat on the couch admiring the garden Sunday morning and casually shot this photo with my phone through the window; thus the strange bit of reflected light. By late morning it had started to lightly rain again and most of the snow is gone this morning.

The strange weather continues with temps hovering around 40°F during the daytime hours this week; until Friday when the forecast says we'll hit somewhere in the 50°F's.

Over the weekend I told a gardening friend that I will no longer blame myself when plants in my garden die. From week to week for the last year we've had little of what used to be our "normal" weather. It's becoming extremely difficult knowing what to plant and what kind of weather to protect the plants from. At least my Amaryllis is putting on a gorgeous show to keep my spirits up.

Wordy Wednesday

It's been a sunny and chilly week here and that pattern continues in our 10-day weather forecast. It rained a bit Monday night and turned into wet snow by morning but it quickly melted away. My rain gauge is plastic so it's been put away for winter and I am left guessing about how much moisture the garden actually got.

This weather is typical for this time of year, so I am not complaining after the summer and fall we've experienced with its clear signs of climate change. The Weeping Beech is one of the few trees in the garden still holding its foliage. The color has gone from deep gold when I took the photo last week to a rusty orange. 

Mark recently decided what types of photography most interests him and what cameras he wants to use longterm. Thus he sold off a number of cameras, lenses, film developing equipment and more. That was after doing a major clear out of his bookshelves. I caught the bug from him and took two loads of books to our local library sale and a big donation of all kinds of items to St. Vinnie's.

It's a drop in the bucket when we look at all the books and art we own, but it felt freeing and a good way to prepare for a few months mostly spent indoors.

We're going to relatives on the other side of town for Thanksgiving. It's an easy drive and we were assigned an easy dish to bring. So it will be a relaxed holiday. Hope yours is as well. 

Rain!

It rained just about three inches in the first three days this week. That total is three times the amount of rain we received in the prior three weeks of September. That seems to be our new normal: Rain that rarely makes it through the leaves to the ground and then a sudden catch-up. Not the best pattern for the garden or the gardener. 

The big question is how many days can I go without watering again, given that we're going into October with sun and temps in the high 70s° and low 80s°. 

Keeping cool

I grew up in houses with no AC. Of course, we never had weather as hot as it is now getting. Luckily our house today had AC already in place when we bought it. Before then, I made do with more traditional methods of keeping cool. 

I bought this rather large fan when visiting my sister who lived in San Francisco. It didn't fit in my suitcase so it sat on the empty seat next me to me on the plane ride home. Those were the days. 

This one is from Africa though I no longer remember which country or tribal group. 

This is another large fan but I have the same style and pattern in a small size as well. 

Too bad I'm not into the Barbie hoopla as this would be perfect for a pink party. 

I have folding paper and fabric fans and tiny Chinese paper fans encased in metal that open up and the metal pieces are a sturdy handle. Fans like these were available everywhere when I first moved to Madison. Over the years I've downsized my collection but I still have enough fans that I've put them out for guests to use at summer parties.

The sky was dark when I began writing with thunder rolling through. But the sun has come out and another chance for rain has passed us by.

In pots on Monday

. . . and every day.

I saved two fancy-leaved Begonias that I bought last summer indoors over the winter. I ordered some annual Begonias to complement them and potted them all up by the front door. Alas, the bright Begonias in the back pot are not doing much while the ones in the other pot have overtaken the original Begonia.

I added a pot of an unknown Heuchera and a Japanese painted fern to support the big pots. At some point I put a vase of the clippings from my shredded umbrella leaf in the rear and potted up a crown of my favorite fern on its way to a new location. 

Before the recent rain, I potted up all my unplanted mail order plants, including Clematis 'Lime Close' and a big Epimedium, as a way to keep track of them and water them more easily. The garden is full of yellow flags marking things that have been newly planted and need water.

Turns out the watering is drawing thirsty critters who are digging the little plants out and flipping their roots up into the air. Luckily I've discovered most of that activity before I'd lost more than one plant.

I put my Cilantro, Basil, Oregano, Parsley and Mint in this wide pot and raised it up so the rabbits couldn't reach things as easily. Everything has been growing like crazy since this photo was taken. Rosemary is planted with the pot of Calla lilies above. Other than the mint, those herbs are all annuals here. 

I spent time last week weeding the Carexes that cover the slopes in the back garden and removing a few where a shrub was encroaching on them. I want to replant them elsewhere and so popped them in pots, along with a few Bergenia that a critter flipped out and another mail-order plant awaiting its home. 

I decided to plant a few Calla lilies this year as I am always taken with them when I see them as cut flowers. Turns out I like them less as a plant. 

I might like the Calla Lilies if they looked more like the photo on the bulb package. And if all of the bulbs had sprouted. Luckily they weren't expensive and growing them was one more garden learning experience. 

Weather report

Went out late this morning — a little after 7 a.m. — to get some watering started. Since the temp is only supposed to get into the low 80s° today, I thought I would also plant a few things that have been sitting in pots for weeks. Managed to get a Heuchera and an autumn fern in the ground before I had to come in. It's only 10 a.m as I write and the temperature is already at 87°F with humidity in the 70% range. 

Despite endless watering the plants in the entire front garden are coated with grit and dust from the street construction. It was lovely having a four-day holiday weekend with no noise or dust. I watered out there in particular hoping to clean the leaves as well as give all those plants a drink. 

This is what the deck looked like the last time it rained. It wasn't heavy enough or long enough to get any water through the tree leaves and into the ground. We've had rain forecast for days and days and it just passes us by. We're currently 6 inches below normal. 

I know it's summer and supposed to be hot. But I am quickly wiped out with the kind of high temperatures we've been having. I've spent way more time watering than planting, weeding or fine tuning the garden so far. OK, rant over. Maybe today's predicted rain will materialize.

The strange spring continues

Thanks for all your comments on my recent blog posts. I had my second cataract surgery last week. Everything went well, but I haven't quite got back into my normal routines, including replying to your comments and keeping up with your blogs.

I'm currently doing drops of multiple medicines in each eye four times a day and taping a big plastic patch over my latest eye at night. It seems like when I am not doing that, I'm watering the garden.

We only had 1.26" of rain in May and a mere .35" so far this month. Storms just keep slipping by — which is what I expect will happen with tonight's predicted rain. We've had temps into the 90°s and down into the 40°s in recent days. My Epimediums are getting crispy and my lovely Eucomis froze. 

More strangeness in this strange spring. Hosta 'Sagae' (above) has leaves growing adjacent to the flower bud at the top of the stem. Don't think I've ever seen this before. Hosta 'Inniswood' in the background.

Despite the erratic weather the garden is looking quite good. I'm not allowed to lift over 20 pounds or bend my head lower than my heart, which means I can't do much in the garden. Certainly not putting in shrubs and hauling my pair of Haws 2 Imperial gallon watering cans around. Can't wait until I get past those restrictions at the end of this week and can resume normal gardening activities. 

IVOM: Frosty spring bouquets

We woke up Saturday morning to a rain/snow mix and very chilly temps. The on again/off again overnight frosts finally had me covering a few things Saturday and Sunday nights. But mostly I've decided to just let nature take its course. I'll learn which of my early plants can sail through unscathed and which plants are not going to survive the climate changes in my area. 

Mostly I cut flowers for bouquets as we were having company for dinner Friday night, friends for a casual Saturday afternoon in front of the fire after they visited Mark's photo show and a few garden gals for cookies and conversation Sunday afternoon. 

My daffs, Hellebores and some Fritillaries are the only flowers that are prolific enough that I felt free to cut them. This group is from last Thursday.

I grabbed the first Muscari and a bud from Paeonia mairei for a vase above the kitchen sink. I think the Peony buds may have fatally frozen and are not going to open. I wanted to see if the warmth inside the house would do anything. So far it has not. 

A big bunch of Hellebores with an early Trillium sessile in a Richard Jones vase. The painting is by local artist, Chuck Bauer.

More daffs and frits. I love the pale yellow trumpets on these daffodils which fade to creamy white. I just keep adding and subtracting to this vase to keep it fresh as it's right where we sit and read.

Our neighbor's Forsythia often sends a stem or two through the fence — perfect for clipping. The big Fritillaria radeanna have been through a number of frosts and they still look quite good. I will definitely be adding more of them to the garden.