Let's Talk About Bugs!

Earlier today, Linda was telling me about the flying ant swarm in her garden last week. Just after telling her that I have never experienced a swarm other than bees and didn`t think I would much like having an ant swarm, I stepped outside. The air was thick with tiny little flies. The garden was so full of them, that I had to be careful about breathing and was brushing off my clothes and shaking out my hair before coming back into the house. They seem to be gone now and it looks like no damage was done. Although we have a week or so each year where these little flies are prevalent in the garden, I have never seen it like this. Eventhough they were easily visible everywhere in the air and at dusk even became a glowing green colour, I couldn`t capture them swarming mid-air. This group resting on the Calla at the front deck was the best I could do. It is not supposed to rain tomorrow so I hope they are not back because they definitely kept me in the house today.

Bright Delight - Dahlia 'Art Deco'

I wasn't even sure that I really wanted a dahlia when I picked up Art Deco on clearance for $1 in early June of 2008.  The poor thing needed to be saved.  Since then it has multiplied nicely and next year we will have enough to fill the top of our rock wall out front.  It's quite short - about one and a half feet - and looks wonderful with yellow daisies.  The blooms are 3-4" and the petals are pale orange on the top side and dark red on the bottom.  The difference in colour from sun to shade is interesting.

The Next Dahlia - 'Gerrie Hoek'

Further to our Dahlia story, I would like to introduce 'Gerrie Hoek', an heirloom (1942) Dahlia. She was described in the catalogue as a pure pink waterlily flower form. She has, however, a yellow glow emanating from her centre. Although apparent when she is opening, the glow really comes alive when she is mature. She was the first I planted this year and the first to bud up. Flowers are 5" and the plant grows to 4' in my garden. Despite her flower size, I would describe her as delicate. I think she needs something white to bloom with. My initial thought is Gooseneck Loosestrife but since I have never seen that blooming other than in a photograph, I want to talk to Linda, who has, before I decide. I considered planting something yellow with her but I am afraid that will detract from the effect of her glow in the garden. Even alone, she is stunning.

Plant Pair - Catmint & Dropmore

Plants: Catmint, also known as Nepeta, unknown variety in the herbaceous perennial group. Growth habit: Mounding to about 1 ft. high. Dropmore Honeysuckle, Lonicera x brownii 'Dropmore Scarlet'. Growth habit: climbing vine to 20 ft.

Conditions: Catmint is drought hardy and can grow in most soil conditions, Dropmore Honeysuckle prefers average to evenly moist soil and will not tolerate standing water. Both are full sun but will do well in part shade which is where I am growing them together.

The down side: Although Catmint is considered aromatic, I find that it is only so if you rub or step on the leaves. Dropmore Honeysuckle has no scent so this pair does not provide a fragrant spot in the garden.

Why I like them: Catmint has grey-green foliage and a serated edged leaf with a lacey appearance. The lavender/blue flowers bloom on spikes. The Dropmore has wide, smooth edged leaves that appear a light, bright green and darken with age. So when neither are blooming, which is only in early Spring, the foliage keeps them interesting. The flowers of the Dropmore, although called Scarlet, are more orange in appearance and bring out the lavender flowers of the Catmint in a way you don't notice them on their own. The Dropmore will climb to 20 ft. but it will also crawl along the ground, or in my case, rock edges and fill in open spaces for quite a distance. It will also tolerate regular pruning to keep it smaller which is how I grow it. It is given a space here and anything beyond, I regularly chop off but it never misses a beat. Dropmore can get leggy at the bottom of the plant, particularly when it climbs. Catmint is just the right height to cover this. Both bloom from early Summer through to frost so I am never without blooms in this spot eventhough the Catmint blooms come in waves throughout the season.

Plant Pair - Laura and Nora

It was undoubtedly one of my best planting decisions when I put Nora Leigh next to Laura.
Plants:  Both are phlox paniculata, 'Laura' (on the left) and 'Nora Leigh'.  Commonly called tall phlox or garden phlox, these both grow to about 3 feet.  Each stalk wears a big bunch of small flat blooms on top, like a shower cap.
Conditions:  Tall phlox thrives in full sun but will grow in partial shade.  I've grown it in average garden soil and it does fine for me.
The down side:  Powdery mildew, but it doesn't affect either of these as much as some others.
Why I like them:  Where do I start?  The heavenly scent overcomes me whenever I walk out back in August - I have 13 varieties.  The masses of bright colours bloom over a long period.  These two in particular provide a nice contrast side-by-side.  Some phlox are like chameleon, changing colour depending on time of day and temperature.  Laura changes from bright fushia to mauve to dark purple.  Nora Leigh's blooms are a little smaller but she makes up for it with striking green and cream foliage.

Slug Solution that Works

In follow up to my previous post about Slugs:
I am happy to report that Kelly and I have been using the ammonia solution with success.  The formula is:  7 parts water to 1 part ammonia.  I read about this in a gardening magazine at some point.

Kelly is spraying early morning; I'm spraying less regularly in the evening.  The solution melts slugs on contact - I'll refrain from posting a picture of this!  It also seems to be a good deterrent.  I can see that if we start early next year, we'll be able to keep the population down right from the start.  I'm hoping it'll make a difference with other bugs as well.

Our Dahlia Story

Linda and I have had Dahlia in our gardens for awhile but this year, we stepped it up a notch. It started with my bright idea mid-winter to order 49 varieties of Dahlia, three tubers each. All I can say is that winters here are a long time to go without gardening and some decisions are made under the influence of cabin fever! It really got interesting in Spring when Saskatchewan had its' first rainy season that seemed to never stop.

For reasons I will detail in a future post, I cannot dig my soil when it is wet. The result is concrete chunks that nothing could grow in. Amending my soil when wet is equally disasterous. Coupled with my short season, this meant that most of my new dahlia were going to wither without ever being given a chance. It would have been tragic if Linda and Judy had not jumped in to save the day.

I planted Dahlia on every day I could until it was clear it was getting too late in my season. About this time, I was invited to visit Linda and accepted. I then took one of each unplanted variety to my friend Judy's in the city. She planted them in her garden while I was gone. I took one of each variety and popped them into pots in my garden and left them in my husband's care. I took the last of each variety in my suitcase to Linda. She and Kelly planted them in her garden while I was visiting. My hope is that at least one of each variety will survive in one of these places and we will all exchange next Fall or the following Spring, eventually leaving each of us with all varieties. Or, at least, all the varieties we each decide we want to grow.

It is late for Dahlia to be starting but in our gardens, this year, they are. A few are blooming, many are budding up and all three of us are hopeful for late frost. The result is that Dahlia seem to be all we talk about lately. New flower forms, sizes and colours have generated a fresh excitement for my garden in the last few weeks.

I will start with Dahlia 'Hot Lips' which is the collarette above. It opens deep, deep red and fades to an orange-red that is not as dark but is twice as bright. Height was listed as 3.5' but it is much closer to 4' in my garden. Flowers seem to range between 3.5" and 4". I want to say it is one of my favourites but I am already in danger of making them all favourites.

One of the things I have noticed about the few Dahlia that have opened so far is that they do change colour very quickly after opening. Each individual flower lasts a long time but they do not seem to open true to the mature flower colour. Of course, what I notice in this odd weather year may not be the same as what I notice next year. This is what gardening is all about for me. The discovery. I am looking forward to more and more Dahlia discoveries. Since they will not all bloom for me this year before frost, that excitement will carry over into next season. I am already anticipating it!

Gladiolus Thrips II - Corm Storage

Further to my earlier post on Gladiolus thrips, here is my latest update. This is a new bud on my 'Hunting Song' which were right beside the infected 'Velvet Eye' of the last post. I have been spraying them down twice a day but I got to them too late at the start. This is obviously better than the 'Velvet Eye' opened so I am trying to be happy about that. I have removed the foliage on all other Gladiolus in that front house garden but I left this single patch of 'Hunting Song' because I am anxious to see them. I received some great advice for treating the infected Gladiolus for storage and Spring planting from one of my bulb suppliers and here is what she said....

"Store them over winter in a cold dark location but not freezing. Before storing them for the winter we recommend you soak them in a mixture of 1 ½ tbsp of Lysol and 1 gallon of water for a half hour at least, let them dry and then store. When you remove them from storage and go to plant them next spring do the same thing but after soaking, plant them while they are still wet. I have read that they can be soaked for up to 6 hours but we don’t find that to be any more successful…"

This is exactly what I am going to do. Then, next Spring, I am going to plant all the Gladiolus that were infected this year on their own, away from the Sun Gardens. Even the damaged flowers of this year made me see that they are worth one more try so I am going to put some effort into it. Wish me luck.

Time to Divide

I'm pretty sure the rule is:

• early blooming - divide in fall
• late blooming - divide in spring

I'm not sure where that leaves those things that bloom in the middle of the summer!  I have read that hosta can be divided fall or spring but not sure about the rest.  Besides, I'm not much good for following rules so we move and divide as the mood hits us.  I don't remember having any casualties but I'm sure it was a real struggle for a few of those plants.

Daylily Division

This is the year I discovered the daylily. I have always known about daylily having several 'Stella D'Oro' that I was not impressed with and had seen many, many varieties that I felt were equally unimpressive. It started with Linda's 'Frans Hals' and progressed to Alison's Red and my unknown above. Somehow, these bright colours from the Fall palette have converted me to a daylily lover. This week, I came upon an article in a recent issue of Canadian Gardening on the daylily and learned two very interesting facts. One of which turned out to be critical for the survival of my daylily since my new found fondness has got me determined to divide them this year so they will spread throughout the Sun Gardens next year.

Fact one is that some daylily are nocturnal, opening in late afternoon and remaining open until the next morning. This would be more interesting were I planning an evening wedding in my garden but is still a fun fact I am glad they included. Unfortunately, there were no nocturnal varieties listed.

Fact two is much more helpful for my garden because I tend to divide when I find time rather than following the old adage that I can never remember about spring blooming and fall blooming division times. According to the grower (who, from the photographs, clearly knows what he is doing with daylily), you have to divide Daylily at least one month prior to the first hard frost in your location. This is so they can have enough time to build up their sugars before they go into full dormancy. This is a critical fact in my garden because frost comes early and I work right up to it.

I am so glad I found this article now. For me, this means I need to start daylily dividing today. The fact that Canadian Gardening saved all the daylily I have out in my garden, more than justifies my regular over-spending at the magazine stand :)

Mmmm, Smell that Smell

It's taken me 6 years of gardening to get that heady scent of Oriental lilies and phlox permeating my backyard.  Danielle dislikes the lily fragrance a lot, but I love it.  And now I have so many blooms that I don't have to stick my nose right into the flowers to get a whiff.

As much as I love the smell, my preference for Oriental over Asiatic lilies comes from a different source.  For the past 4 years, we've been fighting red lily beetles.  They start in the spring and the only way to fight them is to pick them off by hand and crush them.  If we don't stay on top of them, they multiply fast.  It's the larvae that does the most damage.  The thing is that they seem to prefer Asiatic lilies to Oriental ones.  Oh, the Orientals get attacked, but not nearly as bad as this.

Obviously we're not as careful about picking off the beetles once the lilies are done blooming!  While lily stalks should be left standing once done blooming, I really hate to have this mess in my garden.

Even though there is a greater variety of Asiatic lilies, and in brighter colours, I may just satisfy my lily fetish with new Oriental hybrids in the future.

Can't you smell that smell?

Contrary to what people who introduced us thought would happen, Linda and I agree on almost everything. Where we disagree though, we tend to be at totally opposite ends of the spectrum. Enter the Lily. Linda prefers Oriental to Asiatic and this year, mentioned to me that she is considering sticking to only Oriental for future additions to her garden. Linda does have Lily problems in her garden that I do not have to contend with in mine so I will leave it to her to outline her preference. I however, prefer Asiatic and when these Stargazer Orientals started blooming, I began to consider only adding Asiatic to my garden in future. This Spring, I received 25 Stargazer Oriental Lily. I gave a couple away to another gardening friend and planted the rest all in the same garden, in three patches, to both sides of the path. They are blooming now and look awesome. The buds start green, turn bright white and open to this blinding pink. I can see them from the front deck which is an added bonus for anything blooming in the lower level of that garden. I can't say enough about how bright and cheery they are in the garden. Lots of people tell me that Stargazer are not spectacular for Oriental Lily but they look pretty darn beautiful to me. The problem is the smell. I find the smell very disagreeable and if I am standing in it too long, it can even give me an upset stomach. I had a friend in my garden last week that mentioned that same thing as we walked through this spot. She agreed that the smell is both strong and sickening. Since she mentioned it before she knew how I felt about Oriental Lily scent, I know I am not alone. The Asiatics typically do not smell and if they do, it is not the same cloying kind of scent that I find so overwhelming with the Orientals. I am keeping these Stargazer and they can stay right where they are as long as they don't get to the point where I can smell them on the front deck. If that happens, they will need to be moved further from the house so it is a good thing they are so bright. As I suggested to Linda, she will just have to be my Oriental Lily expert and I will try to do that for her with Asiatics. As soon as I buy another book ;)

Gladiolus Thrips

This is, so far, the best flower on my patch of Gladiolus 'Velvet Eye' in my Front House Garden. In that garden there are two variety of Gladiolus but only the 'Velvet Eye' is open. The other, 'Hunting Song', so far has nice looking bud stalks that I hope to preserve now that I know there is a problem. This is my first year with Gladiolus and my first year with thrips. When I was researching the problem, I found there were surprisingly few images of the damage, which meant a lot of reading to identify the problem. I have been working on it all day. So I decided to share my photographs of my thrip infested 'Velvet Eye' in a set on flickr and share my experience with these little garden pests here.

 

It all started when I noticed the glads in the front house garden seemed to have rusty looking red streaks along the edges of the stalks which spread through the whole stalk within a week or so. The bud stalks looked good when they first appeared and we have had an abnormally wet year here which does encourage mould, mildew and fungal type problems in the garden so I didn't think too much about it. Although I have never grown glads before, I could tell there was a big difference in my glads in that front garden versus my glads in the sun gardens. Then, before the buds even started to open, I could see that they were drying out and turning brown on the edges. I started watching them closer and more often but all I saw was papery dryed out buds opening to papery dried out flowers. Very disappointing. Last night we had a storm that lasted through until morning so after deadheading in the garden, I got on the computer and started looking for my glad problem. I first searched for rust on glads but quickly found out that gladiolus rust is yellow. Moving on, I searched for dry buds before opening and found thrips. I read everything from articles at University websites to garden advice columns and UK Greenhouse organic pest control solutions. I found out that thrips are either the worst spreading problem that is impossible to control or they are innocuous and can be ignored as healthy plants will recover from them and a spray hose will get rid of them. Yikes! What a lot to wade through. Drawing from the answers that appeared most commonly or from what I would consider the most reputable sources, what I have decided in the end is that me and my glads will survive the thrips. Here are a few interesting tidbits I discovered in my reading:

• thrips are only a problem if you want pretty flowers (which I do)
• I can treat the corms before winter storing a couple of different organic ways (one of which I will try but not recommend here until I find it successful) which will eliminate the problem in the corms
• thrips cannot survive in the soil over Northern winters so that will eliminate the problem in my garden
• thrips prefer purple or dark pink gladiolus flowers
• thrips are very, very tiny so that is why I could not see them until I knew where and how to look

To find the adult thrips, peel back the leaf sheath along the edge of a new bud stalk. You will see little black and brown specs that move. Get rid of them all along the sheath if you want pretty flowers. As far as I can tell though, you will see thrip damage long before you find thrips and thrips seem to be the only cause of a dried out flower bud that will not open other than lack of water. We have not had a lack of water problem.

 

To save the 'Hunting Song' beside these 'Velvet Eye', I am going to spray the thrips out of the bud sheaths morning and evening. I am not going to worry about the non-blooming stalks. The thrips can have them this year. I am not entirely certain glads are worth the effort but I kill enough plants accidentally without tossing those that can be saved. So I will try to save them but if they do not give me a spectacular display next year, Linda may have to find a new space for a whole bunch more glads. I want pretty flowers but I am only willing to work so hard for them.

Blast from the Past

What fun looking through old garden photographs turned out to be! This is the Nursery Entry in 2005 which would have been the second year for the Nursery. If you stand in this spot today, all you would see is Lamium and Phlox. There is Golden Creeping Jenny there still but unless the Lamium has been recently pulled, you wouldn't see it. It has been a couple of weeks since I pulled Lamium here, opting instead to spend my garden time planting. I know the Creeping Jenny will survive and plan to move more of it in the next couple of weeks so will unearth it again then. The Allium above is the same patch that I took to Linda this year so it made it through the aggressive progression of the Lamium as well. The Nursery is an overgrown mass of plants today and is not recognizable in any of the 2005 photographs. Although I miss having it so neat and orderly, I would not trade that for all the plants I have harvested from the overgrowth and I will spend a good part of this Fall moving more. As an added bonus, my trip down memory lane produced white Columbine and pink Honeysuckle that I had completely forgotten. I am not sure where the white Columbine went but the photo prompted me to go and pull Lamium all around the spot it was originally growing. I was rewarded with three seedlings, one of which is large enough to possibly bloom next year. The white Columbine has a fringed leaf unlike any of my others so I am certain the seedlings are white. It was nice to have garden surprises this late in the season when I had thought the only surprises left were discovering what the new dahlia look like when they open. I wonder what I will find when I open the 2006 folder.

Stretching the Boundaries

In response to Danielle's post 'Outside my Zone':
Isn't it great to accomplish something that 'they' said couldn't be done?  To push the limits?  Kelly has actually tried to overwinter both a palm and a banana plant in our garden - with no success.  However I don't think he's completely given up on the idea.  This year I had a wonderful surprise.  The agapanthus that I planted in 2006 decided it was time to bloom!  The same year we also planted triteleia which has been blooming faithfully ever since.  Both of these are zone 7.  The packages said lift in fall and we didn't, so I threw away the tags over that winter.

Outside My Zone

When I first started gardening, I made what I think is the most common mistake of a new gardener. I believed that if my local greenhouses were selling a plant as a perennial, that it was perennial in this zone. Fortunately, it did not take me long to figure this out because I had a gardening mentor in my friend Judy and although I didn't always listen, she always had good advice. When I didn't listen, she would say, 'It never hurts to try' and when I failed, she would never say, 'I told you so'. Judy knew that when I wasn't listening, it was because I was so taken with a plant that only Mother Nature was going to stop me. As a fellow gardener, she understood. All those early mistakes put me in a place where I would not even think about planting any perennial outside my zone for several years. Slowly, I started to warm up to zone 4 perennials and now have several in my zone 3 garden. Some do just OK, like the Coral Bells 'Key Lime Pie'. Some never manage to gain a foothold like the Hydrangea 'Endless Summer' that started as a pair and have been killed off to a small piece of root I will mail to Linda and hope she can save. Others, however, like all of the lily, survive spectacularly well to reward me with a stunning display. There is a little extra mulching to do each Fall but mulching is probably the simplest chore in my garden. I read there is a little more work in the Spring to remove the extra mulch on zone 4 Iris. I don't do that for the lily but this year I added Iris outside my zone so I will have to start that next Spring if I want to see blooms. Each year, my bravery seems to grow in terms of what I will try. I do dig up and pass on when these experimental plants do not perform well for me. Mother Nature does always win and I find most often, it is not worth the fight. I would encourage other gardeners to try anything once. You never know what will establish and one zone opens up whole new plant possibilities. Just remember these two things: we all kill plants sometimes and it never hurts to try.

Reminder for Danielle

This will remind you of what my backyard was like with no garden.

More About Garden Planning

A follow-up to Danielle's note on planning because I love planning too!  I recently read a book by Janice Wells and she says this:

"I find designing a dream garden is a lot of fun.  Even if I never stick to it, I'll feel a bit more relaxed because I feel organized and in control, plus there's a comfort in knowing I'm a wonderful gardener on paper."

She goes on to say:

"Making a long-term plan for your garden, but not feeling compelled to follow it, is more serious advice than it sounds.  A garden is a work in progress.  Understanding that I can change my mind a dozen times doesn't contradict the fact that having a plan takes away indecision."

I agree with her philosophy 100%.  Here is a garden plan for the backyard that I created 5 years ago:

Not one of those shrubs pictured are anywhere close to this garden - and most I don't even own.  However, the shape is dead on.  We created a 2' grid in the yard with string and sticks, then used old hose to mark the edge of the new garden, hammered into the hard clay ground.  My husband dug all that hard clay down 2' deep, filled it with a load of garden soil and here's what it looks like now.  It's so much better than my plan but couldn't have happened without it.

The Planning Process

This is my Combine Garden. I don't actually know if the piece of equipment that sits along the back of the garden is a combine or not but even if I were to find out now that it wasn't, I doubt I could kick the habit of thinking of it as the Combine Garden. It sits at the entry to Sleepy Hollow Road and there is a direct view of it from the little house. Although I did not originally plant this garden, I did drop seeds this Spring. When I did that, I forgot how much Yarrow was growing here and unfortunately, the Yarrow overpowered most of the seeds. This, coupled with all of the hollyhock seeding to the front of the bed, has got me thinking it is time to make changes here this year. The view from the other side of the bed shows just how unruly it really is. Today was sweltering hot and late in the day, a summer rainstorm blew through. The result was that I was inside with these thoughts and thus began the planning process. I love to plan my gardens. I can spend hours making lists, sketches and maps full of little labeled circles. It is, however, rare that I follow any of my plans. My planting technique tends to be more haphazard. The maps I keep usually are the ones I make after the planting is done. That never stops me from enjoying the planning process though so here is the plan for my new Combine Garden for 2011. Work begins this fall.

Step 1: Collect seed from  Marigolds, Bachelor's Buttons, Hollyhock and Sunflower 

Step 2: Shear down the Yarrow when done flowering to prevent it from seeding.

Step 3: Relocate at least half of the Yarrow, all of the Daylily and the Asiatic Lily.

Step 4: Remove weeds and dig grass out from back of bed around equipment and roses.

Step 5: Tie the wild rose stalks to help them climb the bush edge.

Step 6: Dig compost into the soil.

Step 7: Rake and mulch the bed.

Final Step: Drop seed this Fall and next Spring then wait to enjoy!

My new plan calls for this garden to become all direct sown or self-seeding plants with the exception of the Yarrow and the wild roses that stay. This garden is in full sun all day plus, it is quite a distance from the house. It needs plants that can handle our hot afternoon summer sun and do not require huge amounts of extra water. Calendula, Rudbeckia, Sunflower and Poppy are on the top of my list but that may all change when the seed catalogues arrive in the Fall. I will be sure to share the result next Summer so we can see how far I stray from the original plan by the time it is done.

Possible Pair?

I'm thinking of moving these two lilies together for next year.  What do you think?
They are both oriental x trumpet - the first is Red Hot, the second is Touching, and they are both blooming now.

Foolproof

I have narrow strip of ground through my Goutweed border that Goutweed will not grow in. My neighbour has been trying to get rid of Goutweed for years with no luck. My foolproof method? With 11 dogs and 6 cats, this happens a hundred times a day!

To Mow or Not to Mow

Only my husband would suggest that a garden under the trees is easier to maintain than mowing the area.  (Perhaps because the maintenance shifts from him to me?)  We have a 12' wide strip of grass on the west side of our driveway, about 80' long.  Kelly has been meticulously trying to get grass to grow there for 4 years now.  It used to be like a woods, with lots of roots to trip over.  When he decided to level our front yard, he cut up every piece of weedy sod and moved it under the trees on the west side.  This year it's finally starting to look closer to what a lawn should.

Apparently this year it's also become a bit difficult to mow around the few hostas and shrubs that he planted there.  So now the Plan is to get rid of the grass and have a mulch-covered area with lots of shade plants and a pathway running down the middle.

This is not an easy feat, as you will know if you have ever tried to dig a hole under large mature trees. I tried once and made it 6 inches before calling for help.  So it means the planting will happen by trial and error.  Lots of holes will be started and not as many finished and filled.  (A lot of hard work for Kelly!)

Another challenge will be to get rid of the grass.  The Plan calls for covering it with tarps until it dies.  I’m still a little uncertain about this strategy.  The other challenges in that area will be shade, dry soil and caterpillars.  For now I'm convinced enough to start drawing up a planting Plan.

Blind to Green

Having recently been in Linda's garden and then being back in mine, I have been thinking a lot about the differences. Linda and I have been talking about them a lot too. Mostly about the bugs and the weeds. Her bugs. My weeds. I have come to the conclusion that what saves me from my overwhelming organic battle with weeds in the garden and on the property in general, is my voluntary blindness to green. In fact, it took me a long time to appreciate foliage plants like Coral Bells and Hosta. My favourites are still those that have striking differences like 'Loyalist' with its' twisty petals and bright green strokes that almost glow neon in the sunlight. In my garden setting, the foliage groupings also need to obviously contrast to catch my eye. Combinations like Coral Bells 'Key Lime Pie' and Hosta 'Halcyon' will get my attention but others like sedum and summer phlox will all blend together in my view unless they are blooming. I think it is self-defense that my visual range does not seem to distinguish between medium green after medium green. It means that I don't see most of the weeds until something is blooming near them. An added bonus side effect of this odd visual tick is that things like the wild cucumber vine (above) can get very big before they surprise me. Linda would have pulled this out at the two leaf stage because it would have jumped out of her gardenscape at her like a sore thumb. I love wild cucumber vine. It climbs anything including phlox above and often ends up looking like little leaf steps. Although the white blooms are insignificant, it gets big, prickly seed pods that look like little, round cucumbers and make delightful popping sounds in the fall when they drop seed. Like most wild things, they do not like to be moved. Dropping seed is often a better way to get them in specific spots but many wild things also do not like to be placed. I have tried to drop wild cucumber seed more than once here and it has never taken. Happily, it still pops up here and there in my garden on its' own. 

Slugs, Slime and Solutions

This year the slugs are everywhere in our garden.  I'm not seeing so many of the big fat orange ones, but hundreds of little small grey ones that love dahlia.  There are lots of things in my garden that eat leaves and flowers but slugs leave behind a distinctive silvery trail of slime that shimmers in the early morning sun.  This is the first year we've had problems with slugs and dahlia - maybe because we have so many dahlia this year.  And we've discovered that Stoke's aster is their all-time favourite dish on our garden.

The best thing I've used is Corry's Slug & Snail Death.  My sister left me an opened box when she moved to Bermuda.  When I circled the emerging dahlia with it, they actually grew instead of being chewed to nubs. Unfortunately I ran out and can't find any in the stores (yet).

I've tried other slug baits and they don't seem to do much and leave a mess in your garden. I even tried sprinkling slugs with salt. That works but assumes you can find every slug in your garden! My husband's solution is to pick them off using a little twig. It solves the immediate problem but is just plain, well, yucky.

Here are 3 different solutions that I've read about and plan to try:

1. ashes
2. crushed egg shells
3. diluted ammonia (1 part ammonia with 7 parts water)

Perhaps some of these will deter the snails and caterpillars too.

Gardening by Spreadsheet

Surely Danielle and I are the only gardeners who think that creating a spreadsheet to keep track of our plants is fun.  We're definitely both collectors and organizers, and that seems to be how we garden too.

I fear I may have started it.  When Danielle was coming to visit in July, she sent me a list of all the dahlia tubers she was bringing to me along with the link to Sids Dahlia (sidsdahlias.com).  Now Sid has a great listing on his website and I copied and pasted it into a spreadsheet - complete with tiny thumbnails.  It seemed the easiest way to figure out where I was going to plant my new 27 tubers.

While Danielle was here visiting, we started a list of all the plant divisions she was going to take back home with her.  Since she also needed a lot of info so that she could plan her planting, a spreadsheet seemed in order.  We meticulously updated it every evening with details about zone and size and sun requirements.  It was a bonus for me because, with over a hundred perennials listed, it's a good start on my complete list - a winter project.

Since returning home, Danielle has been updating her spreadsheet with all her plants and also cataloguing her plants by picture files on Flickr.  Sounds like a great idea and I've been waiting for her to get hers done and work out the kinks before I start mine.  It'll be fun to bring my garden alive in the winter while sorting through all the pictures - but maybe it won't wait till winter.

Seed Sowing Success

On May 22, I raked the Combine Garden and threw down several varieties of seed. It should have happened much earlier than that but this year, we went from frost, into a rainy season that lasted through most of June. It was a season of guerilla planting that demanded I be at my most creative. Some days I would run out in the rain, plant and run back in to dry off, leaving all the tubers and roots inside to sort. Some days I would work outside all day in a steady drizzle, weeding when I couldn't dig. In the end I was doing two things I would never recommend: planting in ground with bagged soil and potting up over 50 variety of dahlia. It was an unusual year requiring equally unusual tactics. In addition to sowing late, I had forgotten how much Yarrow was in that garden. Having only recently discovered it was my garden and not being the person who planted it, I am forgiving myself for the memory lapse. Despite the terrible odds my best intentions produced for the poor little seeds, 10 weeks later I am rewarded with the first blooms. Bachelor's Buttons 'Black Ball' (above) are blooming right beside Marigold 'Citrus Mix' containing this Lemon Yellow and this Orange. This is one of the true joys of gardening. Just when Mother Nature convinces me I should give up hope, a new colour shows up across the yard. This Fall, the Yarrow is being brutally thinned so the Bachelor's Buttons can self-seed happily.