It's Not Work, It's Gardening!: September 2016

This isn't right!

>> Friday, September 30, 2016 – deer

Yesterday I saw something that disturbed me: a very young fawn running around the front yard! It was probably a week old at most.

I was talking on the phone at the time and when I pulled out the camera it said "card not formatted" -- which is a problem I've been having lately -- so I had to navigate menus to format while talking and also following the fawn from window to window. Since mom was nowhere to be seen I assume the little one was in a panic, probably scared by the work crews.

Wednesday Vignette: Lucky!

>> Wednesday, September 28, 2016 – digging

I sometimes marvel at how much my garden (and life) are guided by chance -- luck even. A tree falls and somehow misses everything in the yard, a volunteer or two grow in just the right spot to make things amazing, and things like this:

The main electric cable needs to be replaced in your neighborhood but it's located on the other side of the street!

Cuckoo sees stars...

>> Tuesday, September 27, 2016 – birds

...and it wasn't because he was pining for some chocolatey breakfast cereal either. Walking through the maypop trellis yesterday I was startled by a flapping of wings.

A cuckoo! I've never seen a cuckoo before* but somehow knew immediately what it was. Why was it hanging out down in the corner here?

End of summer lushness

>> Monday, September 26, 2016 – castor bean, foliage

Perhaps it's because I haven't spent much time out in the garden this summer, or maybe it's just been perfect weather for tropicals in St. Louis, but I'm particularly pleased and impressed with things in the back yard this year.

Especially the tropicals and tropical-looking annuals (like castor bean). I know I've show them to you recently but I swear they've put on another foot (30cm) of height since then. I just have to show them again!

Surprising Turtles

>> Friday, September 23, 2016 – discovery, turtle

Yesterday a spider surprised me. Today, I surprised a pair of turtles.

They were doing private things.

Spider Surprise!

>> Thursday, September 22, 2016 – spiders, spiderweb

It's the time of year when the orb weavers and other big spiders are very visible in the garden. I've seen the large webs in many places for the last couple of weeks, and have run into those crazy strong support strands that somehow cross paths that span 7' (2m) or more.

I got a surprise when I opened the garage door after dark yesterday though!

Midweek Miscellany

>> Wednesday, September 21, 2016 – bamboo shoots, castor bean, cats, deer, foliage

Time again for collected snippets. It's not Autumn now, it's not! At least the weather agrees with me on that, as it will be 90ºF (32ºC) again today, and for the next few days. Humid too -- where's my dry September that I love so much?

Speaking of love, the deer are so comfortable in my garden, they must love it. I have mixed feelings about that as they walk around like they own the place.

Accidental vine duo is perfect

>> Tuesday, September 20, 2016 – blooms, foliage, vines

Time for an update on the maypop (Passiflora incarnata) vines that are beautifully taking over the "gate" pergola next to the house:

The point of this post though is that an happy accident has occurred...

Bamboo in pots, then not

>> Monday, September 19, 2016 – bamboo, bamboo division, bamboo rhizomes

When you grow a lot of bamboo like I do (30+ varieties) and most of them are running bamboos, the rhizome pruning that I do to control them results in lots of rhizomes to pot up. Especially if I get lazy for a while and some of the plants shoot in areas that they shouldn't.

The end result is that I have a lot of potted bamboos that I keep in a temporary nursery area. The thing about potted bamboos though...

Two beauties that share a problem

>> Friday, September 16, 2016 – foliage, papyrus

My planned post for today was thwarted by weather, with rain making it impossible to get the final "after" photo needed after a little digging project -- maybe my first of the year? Anyway, I instead noticed that a couple of potted plants have quietly become gorgeous, but they share a problem. First, the beautiful part...

...starting with this "umbrella palm" (Cyperus alternifolius) or at least that's what I think it is. I rescued it a few years back from a friend's compost pile and he didn't know the exact name.

So you like canna in your garden...

>> Wednesday, September 14, 2016 – canna

I love growing cannas. Their large, mostly upright leaves and bright, towering blooms have such a tropical feel. Here's a shot from a week or two ago that shows the red canna blooms rising above everything, with upright foliage (just below the deck in the photo), and more in the foreground:

In St. Louis cannas are borderline cold-hardy, which means that sometimes they can be left in the ground over the winter. My own experience says that this works best in warmer microclimates -- it won't work everywhere in the garden. Near the bakery in Maplewood there is a garden that seems to have just the right conditions for canna to thrive...

Even more mantis

>> Tuesday, September 13, 2016 – mantis

A higher percentage of my posts recently have been about mantises, but it's unavoidable. Those beneficial insects are my favorites, especially since I raise them from egg to adult in a way.

This is the time of year when they are most visible, on the move looking for mates and egg laying spots -- or at least that's what it seems like to me.

I'm amazed

>> Monday, September 12, 2016 – blooms, castor bean, foliage

There are a few things about this year's garden that have surprised or amazed me. For instance, the Pachypodium lamerei...

...has been flowering constantly for almost 60 days. I did not expect this!

Bulbine frutescens

>> Wednesday, September 7, 2016 – blooms

I picked up this "annual" last year (Bulbine frutescens) and it has quietly rewarded me greatly in its pot on the driveway.

All I know is it's almost bulletproof, producing blooms all summer as long as I water it and fertilize a bit. I love these flowers!

Fungus photos

>> Monday, September 5, 2016 – fungus

It's been a while since I've photographed any fungus, one of my favorite outdoor subjects. The other day though I noticed that some of the log sections on the driveway have moved from firewood candidate status into future compost and soil contributors.

Some beautiful shelf fungus, most probably Trametes versicolor, was covering at least one of the logs. The drooping bamboo overhead must have made conditions just right!

Finding Ferns

>> Friday, September 2, 2016 – discovery, ferns, foliage, seedlings

The area underneath my deck was once wasted space, nothing growing there. Over the past few years I've been converting it to a fern bed, and it's been doing well.

Yesterday I discovered something that's got me even more excited about this area. First though, let's take a look at the ferns here.

Late summer small observations

>> Thursday, September 1, 2016 – agave, bamboo, blooms

This has to be my favorite time of year in the garden. Everything is full-sized, the humidity drops and the breezes start blowing, the katydids and crickets all start singing -- just wonderful!

Here are just a few things that I've noticed the last couple of days, starting with bamboo canes. They're "canes" after they've been cut, and these have been left leaning for a while. I like them here as they really complement the background colors -- too bad they're blocking a path.

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