My Flower Garden in September 2015

After months of living in a Philadelphia Flower Show bubble, I am finally coming up for air. I will post my reflections on my first year working as a PHS employee at the show, but in the meantime, I will try to catch up a bit on reflections of my garden from last year. September in the flower garden, for instance...

My flower garden is at it’s best in spring and summer, but not so much as fall approaches. However, here are some of the highlights.

I love anemone. Given that, you would think I would have tons of it in my garden, yet I don’t. I never seem to be able to find the room for more. This one is Anemone tomentosa Robustissima. I love the dark, almost black, stems with the pink flowers and fluffy-looking, yellow centers. Unfortunately, this anemone is fairly hidden in a corner of what I call my “secret garden,” so it is not often seen.  

Purple Morning Glory vines cover the arbor in late summer. The hummingbirds enjoy the flowers before they migrate away.

The pink roses in the flower garden were still hanging in there off and on until winter came. Same with the bright red Cardinal Climber vine, another hummingbird favorite.

A new addition to the late summer / early fall garden in 2015 was Ironweed. I wish I could remember if this was Vernonia noveboracensis or Vernonia gigantea, though. I can't seem to find the tag. Nevertheless, Ironweed is a native plant and a favorite of our valuable pollinators. I planted it specifically for all of my bumble bee and butterfly friends who visit my garden on a regular basis spring through fall.

Blooming in September near the Ironweed was Phlox paniculata 'David's Lavender' (which actually looks more pink here), and light pink Obedient Plant (Physostegia virginiana).

The white Phlox paniculata David was still blooming, as well, in September.

I don’t buy a lot of annuals for the flower garden, but when I do, they have to be long-lasting, solid performers. These two fit the bill – Melampodium Million Gold with its yellow flowers and Colorblaze Lime Time Coleus. I plant Melampodium every year. It starts out slow, but by late summer it looks full and fantastic. The key is to make sure it gets enough water. This is my first year planting the Lime Time Coleus and it flourished in this hot, sunny spot. I love the combination of these two plants together. Don’t be surprised if you see this combination pop up again in my garden.

Next to this planting was lavender and another small annual with lavender, aster-like flowers called 'Toucan Tango' Brachyscome. Toucan Tango flowered all season, however it never got very full-looking. I had temporarily moved my strainer of succulents to this pot in the garden and ended up liking it there.

Sedums are a staple of the fall garden. I have a few varieties that I planted years ago and can’t recall all of the names.

Sedums are a favorite of the bumble bees in September.

Blue Plumbago (Ceratostigma plumbaginoides) is a reliable ground cover that gets pretty blue flowers in the late summer and fall.

 

Winding down in September is this white hydrangea that borders the kitchen garden. It has arching branches. I inherited this from the previous owner, but it seems to be some sort of Hydrangea paniculata. The flowers turn pinkish before they brown up for the winter.

Another highlight of the late summer garden is...hey, wait a minute, that's not a plant, it’s a cat. Yes, another one of my neighbor’s cats. This one is Puss. Puss loves to find different areas of the garden to nap.

Mr. Thaddeous Gnome was still tending to his sheep under the Christmas Ferns in the flower garden in September. I took some of the rotting wood with moss from my cedar trash bin and put it on Thaddeous’ roof. Never met a gnome named Thaddeous? Well there’s a first time for everything.

Not actually IN the flower garden, but near it, were my bog pots. The carnivorous Pitcher Plants (Sarracenia leucophylla) always seem happiest in September. They are still thriving when the air gets crisp and I have to bring in the pots to protect the Venus Flytraps that also call these pots home.

Many, many birds inhabit my garden. These doves decided perching on the bird feeder was a good idea during a rain shower. I personally can’t see how that was a good idea.

In order to watch the birds of the garden more closely, I moved some of the feeders to be next to the screened-in back porch. Hummingbirds and goldfinches came to visit, but only after they realized that me and my two kitties were no threat to them in our screened room. I look forward to seeing these feathery friends again this year.

The Flower Garden in August

Woah, August, really??? I sure am behind with my garden updates. Although I have to say, it is kind of fun looking back at August in November, when the garden is winding down. Seriously, look at what it looked like...

It looks nothing like that now! The two white hydrangeas would be better off not right next to each other, but I sure do love them in the summer. I thought my Black Eyed Susans had died last year from a disease, but they came back. They have been a staple in my flower garden since the very first year I planted the garden.

The one white hydrangea starts to take on pinkish hues here and there as summer progresses towards fall. That’s a Christmas Fern with it.

I really liked how the annual Limelight Coleus looked with the darker, maroon-ish leaves of the Weigela and the dark green leaves of the pink rose bush. I may have to plant more of these coleuses next year. You can see the lavender and white David Phlox in the background, as well as Purple Coneflowers.

This sweet, little, lavender-colored annual bloomed all spring and summer. The flowers almost look like asters. I don’t buy a lot of annuals, but when I do, they have to be long performers like this one. This little guy may be a new must-buy each spring.

Speaking of must-haves, Cardinal Climber vine will definitely make a showing in my garden again. A friend recommended I plant this annual in order to attract more hummingbirds. My male and female hummingbirds loved the red flowers of this vine that bloomed all summer. I am hoping it reseeds, but if it doesn’t I will be sure to plant it again.

I also saw the hummingbirds at the lavender Obedient Plants in August.

While on the subject of pollinators, August was definitely a good month for bees. They adore the Joe Pye Weed. Look at those fat, fuzzy bumbles! I just love them.

The Joe Pye Weed is in the back of my flower garden and tolerates a certain amount of shade there.

A lush, pale pink bloom of Abraham Darby, a David Austin rose, in the sunshine.

These blue Plumbago flowers make for a nice ground cover in summer.

The variegated Liriope blooms this time of the year in the gnome garden. Don’t be messin’ with those gnomes, they’re trouble.

Closer to the house, by the screened-in back porch, is where I have a lot of herbs. Two different thymes, rosemary, sage, and oregano are always within easy reach when doing some summer cooking with herbs.

The white Ladies Tresses were blooming in my bog container by the steps of the back porch in August.

The trough container that I made in the early spring was doing extremely well as summer went on.

The sedum was especially colorful in this container later in August. Look at the awesome magenta color. It was screaming “look at me!”

It was a warm, dry summer, so seeing the garden hoses out, like in the photo below, was a common sight. You would think I would have a better way of watering than dragging a hose or sprinkler around.

So that was August in the flower garden. Let’s see if I can get August photos of the kitchen garden posted before December!!!!

Creatures of the Garden

As we transition to fall, I find myself reflecting back on the summer. The garden is always full of life in the summer. Insects, birds, and the neighbor’s cats, plus some evening visitors like bats, possums and raccoons. I managed to capture a few on candid camera.

Some of my favorite summertime garden visitors are the hummingbirds. I had at least one male and one female that I would see constantly in the garden, flying from flower to flower. They especially loved the red Cardinal Climber and red Texas Sage this year. They never seemed to visit the hummingbird feeder that was in the flower garden, so I decided to move it close to the back porch where there are less flowers and where I could see them better if they decided to visit. It worked! They would visit several times a day. It took them a little while to get used to me and my two cats on the back porch, but they warmed up to us. I spent a lot of time sitting out there with my zoom lens on my camera and finally got an ok shot of the male hummingbird.

Butterflies are a constant presence in the garden during summer days. Usually it’s Cabbage Whites and Tiger Swallowtails. I sometimes get others, such as Skippers, Eastern Black Swallowtails, Monarchs, and recently a Fritillary. I found myself wishing this particular Tiger Swallowtail could tell me his story. He looked like he had been through the ringer with frayed wing edges and that big missing piece.

The past couple of years I have found Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillars on my Parsley. Parsley is a host plant for these swallowtails. The butterflies lay their eggs on the plants, then the caterpillars eat and eat until they are ready to make chrysalises and become butterflies themselves. I had at least two of the caterpillars this year. It has gotten to the point that I don’t cut parsley to use it until I look under the leaves for eggs first! I have definitely found them.

Bees are my friends. I found myself going out into the garden every day just to check on my bees. I get a lot of native bumble bees. This year I actually saw some honey bees, which is not as common.

Another buzzing visitor this year was Digger Wasps. I don’t recall having seen them before. I think it might mean I have grubs, which I actually already knew. Females burrow into the ground looking for white grubs, stings them, and lays eggs on the them. The larvae pupates and overwinters in a cocoon within the host’s body. Gross, huh?

I see praying mantises every year, however, this year they have been particularly plentiful. I often see them near the back door, so I think they must live in the mint or other herb beds that I have there.

They are so alien-like. Such fascinating creatures.

I get many different birds in the garden. My favorite birds are the goldfinches. They are happiest when the purple coneflowers are loosing their petals. That is when the finches get the seeds. This year I tried hanging a finch sock near the back porch to see if I could watch the finches like I get to watch the hummingbirds. It worked! I get to see lots of finches up close now, as long as I sit still and as long as the cats behave and don’t try to jump at the screen. I get lots of females, but have only seen two males this year.

If you look carefully, you will spot a bluejay in the next photo. There were more bluejays than usual this summer. For awhile each morning I would witness two bluejay parents teaching their fledglings to fly. They would go from tree to shrub to tree, following each other. They were a noisy bunch.

Hard to see in this shot, but there is the bluejay on the left by the bird feeder and one of the neighbor’s cats, Tiger, on the right. My neighbor has at least four cats that visit the garden, three of them more regularly. It is rare for me to be out there and NOT see a cat. The three regular visitors are all orange and white.

Here Tiger has spotted one of the Tiger Swallowtails. Hmmmm, maybe that is how the one lost part of his wing.

Puss loves to nap in the garden. I have to be careful because there have been times when I have almost stepped on her or almost weeded her! Somehow she finds the gravel path comfortable. Not sure what that is all about.

There are many other creatures of the garden, these are just the ones that I happened to have gotten close enough to take pictures of! I love that my garden is welcoming to other creatures. After all, it is just as much for them as it is for me.

2015 Philadelphia Honey Festival

The Philadelphia Beekeepers Guild held the first Philadelphia Honey Festival in 2010. It was to celebrate the placing of a historic marker honoring Lorenzo L. Langstroth, who was born in Philadelphia. Langstroth is famous for inventing the first movable frame bee hive based on the principle of “bee space.” According to their website, the mission of the Philadelphia Honey Festival is “to raise awareness about the importance of honey bees to our environment, our food supply and our economy, and to promote urban beekeeping and gardening.” I had never been to the honey fest before, so decided to check it out this year and see what it was all about.

The honey festival runs for three days at three different locations: Wagner Free Institute of Science, Wyck Historic House/Garden/Farm, and historic Bartram’s Garden. I attended the events at Bartram’s Garden. Here are some fun highlights.

The events included a fall native plant sale, honey related vendors, children’s costume making and bee parade, free Schuylkill River kayak paddling, a honey cooking contest, a bee-bearding demo, open hive talks, and a demonstration of honey extraction.

The open hive demo was in the meadow at Bartram’s Garden, where they have community bee hives. These hives are attended to by various people who live in the area. This is an example of a Langstroth bee hive. This is the most widely used hive design today. (These aren’t the greatest photos because they were taken zoomed in using my phone.)

Another type of bee hive is a top-bar hive. Some members of the Philadelphia Beekeepers Guild showed us what this style of hive looks like. Unfortunately, this particular hive had not been properly taken care of and was falling apart when they tried to pull out the frames.

There is a really great view of center city Philadelphia from the meadow at Bartram’s Garden.

I always wondered how you get honey out of bee hive frames. Now I know after attending the honey extraction demo! The frame is removed from the bee hive and the outer layer of wax that the bees made is scraped off the honeycombs with a knife.

After the wax is removed, you see glorious, liquid honey.

The frames are then placed in a honey extractor, which is basically a stainless steel tank with a spigot valve at the bottom and a crank at the top.

You crank the handle as fast as you can and it rotates the bee hive frames so that the honey comes out of the honeycombs.

When you turn the valve open, out pours magical, golden honey.

Next time you get honey, think about what an amazing thing it is and the many bees that worked hard to make it.

The Philadelphia Honey Festival happens in September every year. Check it out next year!