Wandering

Since we got that rain recently and temperatures have been well below normal, the garden has been awakening, changing. It's usually a bit sleepy during this part of summer (except for the heat lovers), but there's so much going on. (Maybe it's just my attitude that makes it feel different?)

In any case, I just want to show you lots of random stuff from my walk around the garden this morning. I didn't cover every corner, but there's plenty going on everywhere! There are also a few other tidbits, not from my garden...

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Starting with the surprise lilies above. I saw this last night in front of a restaurant in Grand Center (near the new KDHX building):

I know that these things multiply and are as tough as anything, but I've never seen them crammed in like this!

Wonderful! (There was barely any light here -- I'm shocked these phone photos turned out so well!)


Did I ever tell you about the log section that I scavenged early last summer?

It's quite large and has spent the last year in my garage drying out and waiting for me to do something with it. My recent trip to Portland inspired and motivated me -- I'll post about the resulting project soon!


Speaking of Portland (Oregon):

What's up with all of the squared root masses downtown? Does making the holes in the sidewalk larger by a few inches actually help the plants at all?  (This is actually quite cool -- it's like a tiny bit of the notion that in the future we might be able to "grow" our houses.)


Why didn't I learn about Clematis 'roguchi' years ago?

Blooms all summer long -- I made the right choice of a companion vine for the honeysuckle growing on the basketball pole (can it be called that when a basketball hasn't touched it for almost 20 years?) which only flowers for a few weeks in May. Love this clematis!


I pruned my common milkweed to remove the seed pods and to hopefully force new growth.

It might be working, but the milky sap residue has a gruesome look to it I think.


Pruning my rose mallow to remove the seed heads (I know they're so attractive later in the year, but I still have dozens of seedlings popping up! Let me know if you want one!)...

...gives the sawflies an entry point. I'm not overly concerned, as I now know that I need thousands of caterpillars in my garden -- more on that in a future post.


Remember the Euphorbia that the rabbits devoured?

They ate the new growth too -- this is the second resprouting. I probably need to dig this up and move it somewhere less rabbity.


The Hakone grass that they also snipped is finally coming back:

This spot under the maple is so difficult to keep moist and fertilized (the greedy tree!) and this is not a fast grass anyway, so I'm not overly surprised that it's been over a month for this much regrowth.


The globe thistle is winding down:

Bees are no longer visiting (at least not in the numbers they were two weeks ago) so these are now just an army of potential seedlings. I will leave them for a while longer, but then I'm going to remove all of the seed heads and thin out this patch a bit. (If you want any of these, please let me know!)


Now, some things that I'm excited about seeing:

Lions tail blooms are coming!

Hairy mountain mint has great little blooms! (I think I planted this where it doesn't get quite enough sun though...)



I was wondering why my "Queen of the Prairie" plants weren't putting on any new growth after being potted up and babied. Then all of the new shoots started emerging from the soil:

One stem is now at least a half dozen in each pot! So happy to see this!


Also excited to see new growth on this partially winter-damaged cactus:

This is one of my seed-grown babies, so I really want to see it succeed!



So many seeds (I think) on the papyrus...

...makes the stems bend, unable to support the weight:

These kinked stems need to be removed as they ruin the look of the plant.

There are plenty more emerging to take its place though!


Hey, that stick looks too ornate!

Fat caterpillar eating my groundcover artemisia, I wonder if that's why it's being slow to establish?

Pretty, but I hope a wren finds you before you make it back to the plant. (I like to give the caterpillars and birds both a chance!)


Do you have any idea how much pokeweed is growing in my garden this year?

It's great for filling in big holes in beds, and those fruit clusters are so pretty! They quickly take over though, forming big taproots. I saw a deer eating pokeweed leaves this morning -- thanks for the help in controlling these!


I can never remember the name of this plant, producing slender, curving blooms:

So pretty without being visually aggressive. Beautiful foliage too, which I'll have to show you sometime...  (It's Pinellia pedatisecta -- I just looked it up)


Finally, more helpful pruning by wildlife:

I think a rabbit climbed my deck stairs and snipped off this sweet potato vine. Woodchucks would have eaten all of the leaves and left the stem alone, and if a deer climbed up here, well, I'm sure most of these pots would be broken.

So that's a random look around. What's happening in your garden right now?


(This was supposed to be a short, throwaway post. I should have known that wandering around aimlessly with the camera would defeat that goal!)

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