Mild?

I've been hearing that this winter in the Midwest (remember that I'm in St. Louis) has a high probability of being a mild one. As a zone 6 bamboo grower I hope for a mild winter every year, as it's important for the plants to keep their green leaves in order to have any chance of a "size up" next year -- meaning larger, taller culms emerging in spring.

The last two winters were tough on bamboo here. Two winters ago was the worst, when all of my plants defoliated -- you can see the results in the image above. At -8ºF (-22ºC) I was literally one or two degrees away from "topkill", where even the culms are killed -- probably the worst-case scenario for bamboo lovers. The winter before that (which would have been 2012-2013) was quite mild though -- is this what I should expect for 2015-2016?

Leaves freshen things up!

The leaves are falling in my garden, which makes me happy in some ways and sad in others. Rather than lament the end of the growing season, I'm going to look at the leaf carpet as just another aspect of the garden.

Like a good snowfall, the leaves give me a fresh way of looking at everything.

Wednesday Vignette: reminders in terracotta

This summer I traded some muscle power for clay pots -- terracotta of many different sizes.

There are two or three dozen of them, in different shapes and sizes. Nothing fancy, but to me there is no plant pot more perfect than a small one made of terracotta so I'll almost never pass up the chance to own more.

Autumn randomness

Favorite views

I'm on the road today, but thought I would show you some of my favorite views of my garden before autumn eats it.

Not really a tour, but you'll see the same plants from different angles which may help orient you.

Alocasia seed pod or goofy halloween face?

I'm quite happy with the Alocasias this year:

There are two main plants there, although both have multiple pups now. So full, so perfect in this corner! I made a discovery the other morning, perfect for the season...

Little late season surprises

I've started bringing some potted plants indoors, and since I haven't really looked closely at some of these for a month or two (or all summer really), there are some surprises.

The first hasn't been outdoors at all yet but since it's already on the overwintering table (where I can baby it) this is a good time to show it to you: it's the Tetrapanax that Loree sent me earlier this summer!

Snake! Wait, snake? (and other questions)

I noticed something momentarily exciting yesterday:

What certainly must be a snake climbing high up in my pine tree! I haven't seen a snake in the garden for a few years, and they're one of the things that I've been trying to attract -- any reptiles really. So this sighting was exciting!

It starts with a dragonfly

A dragonfly is to thank for today's post. Strangely enough you won't be seeing any dragonfly images though, but what was to be a moment's stop at the edge of the pond after bringing some perilla cuttings to the compost pile became a half hour of exploration of the garden.

All thanks to a dragonfly that was laying eggs around the pond. She wasn't laying in the water though like this previous one was -- she was targeting areas above the waterline. By the time I got my camera and came back she was gone, but I knew where she appeared to deposit some eggs.

On a whim: Chalily

On Saturday morning I found myself just a short distance from a local specialty nursery that I've not written about before. Although I had some projects waiting for me back home (always) and it was quite a chilly morning, the sun was shining and I decided to stop in.

The place is Chalily pond & garden, and they specialize in xeric plants.

Critters and Cubes

It was an exciting day for me yesterday for two reasons: I found a critter in the garden that I've never seen up-close before, and I finished a few more of my "cube" creations. I'll start the post with critters...

...beginning with perennial favorite Carolina mantis. This one has been hanging out in my potted walking stick bamboo (Chimonobambusa tumidissinoda) for a couple of weeks. I love when insects like this stay in the same place for weeks -- they almost become friends and I look for them every time I walk the garden. (If you imagine the multitude of bamboo leaf branches are the mantis legs, it becomes much more of a monster!)

Repelling mosquitos

Do you live where there are no mosquitos? If so, I envy you. Mosquitos are probably the least-favorite garden pests not because they bother plants, but because they are so irritating to gardeners themselves. This summer I got a chance to review a few products intended to keep these pesky insects away from we who enjoy being outdoors...

...and one that is made to soothe when repelling isn't completely effective. Even though I received these samples early in the season I wanted to give them a thorough workout over the whole summer, hence this review so late in the year.

Fall bulbs: this is Allium year for me

Three or four years ago I planted several types of fall bulbs in the then-new planting beds along the driveway. Tulips, daffodils, crocus, and a few alliums. The tulips were only added because they were on clearance because I knew the deer would eat them -- the others should be avoided by the deer.

My favorite by far were the alliums, and even though I had planted only purple types, labeled as A. aflatunense and 'Purple Sensation' -- which is a cultivar of A. aflatunense it turns out -- (as seen in this photo), I had one tall white allium grow too (photo here). I loved these, and decided this summer that I'd be adding more alliums to my garden this year.

Autumn Morning

I started out this morning intending to just take a few photos of the Persicaria bloomss that were just being hit by the right type of morning light...

...but I ended up snapping photos for about 30 minutes. There was so much to discover on this crisp autumn morning!

Getting started...

I got started on several larger projects over the past four days or so, and none of them is finished enough to really give you a good look at them.

So today just a couple of peeks at what's going on.

An excavation of sorts

Although it's still quite summery here in St. Louis, I can't repeat my mistakes of previous years and keep all of my non-hardy plant overwintering tasks until the last possible moment. So I started yesterday by doing some excavation in a large pot.

Not much to see yet, although I've already taken out 6" (15cm) of soil. The scoop is no longer useful, as the rest of the work requires a gentle touch and therefore fingers alone.

One plant I miss: Hyacinth bean

I was looking back at photos of my October garden from previous years so I could do a comparison with its current state, and found a post from about this time in 2011 that made me realize how much I miss growing this plant: Hyacinth bean.

The original post is here, but I'll include a few of those photos now in case you're not in a clicking mood.

A good bit of work

Do you want to see something shocking? I suppose it doesn't really matter if you do or not, as you've probably already seen it -- you saw the image before you started reading:

That's a photo of my veggie beds. What, you don't see any tomatoes, kale, lettuce, or anything else that appears to be even remotely edible? You won't, because not only have these beds been fallow for the summer, but there's a curtain of weeds growing in front of them. Time to fix that!

Tuesday? Miscellany

My work schedule has shifted somewhat recently, so I'm a bit out of sorts. It feels much like Monday this morning, so I figured I'd just share some recent unconnected photos. (Or are they connected?)

I'll start with a guilty pleasure of mine: flicking stink bugs off the window screens. I am a person who pretty much enjoys all creatures and leaves them alone, but in this case I can't help but interfere a bit. I love the feel of launching them, the gentle drumming sound the screen makes, the way it takes them a meter or so before they realize what's happening and start flying. So much fun!

Catching Snacking Cardinals

I looked out the bedroom window the other day and noticed the Texas greeneyes (Berlandiera texana I believe) was moving around a bit.

Upon inspection with the binoculars, I saw that it was a Northern Cardinal that was shaking the plant around (I knew it wasn't deer, but it could have been a woodchuck).

More new plants for Fall

I still have lots of potted plants on the driveway that need to get into the ground, and those new plants that I posted about the other day are still unplanted too, but that didn't stop me from getting more new plants the other day.

I have a couple of beds in which I envision putting specific plants, so I've been doing some shopping. Looking for large-leaved plants for shade, my first find was at Sugar Creek Gardens -- a reliable source for unusual or "rare" (for St. Louis) plants -- and is the wonderful Astilboides tabularis.

Such a little thing

Something has been bothering me in the garden for a while, and last evening I finally did something about it. It seems to be such a little thing compared to some of the other garden tasks that need doing, but I couldn't get it out of my mind.

What was annoying me? The dead culms of my black bamboo, Phyllostachys nigra. It was topkilled two winters ago and I left the full, dead culms in place for an entire year before I trimmed them into the state you see here. They didn't get cut down completely because I like both the architectural element they add to the garden and the reminder of this plant's potential (after a couple of mild winters).