Reminiscing About September 2013

Looking through my posts, I realized that I hadn’t really posted many pictures of my garden since September. I’m ready to make up for that...kind of. Turns out I didn’t really take many photos in September. I was on vacation in Maine for almost two full weeks, so I’ll blame it on that.

The Flower Garden in September

I really wish I knew the name of that one pink rose bush that blooms non-stop all year long. I inherited it from the previous owner. It is the best rose I have – hardly ever shows any signs of disease or insects, and blooms off and on from spring through fall. The yellow annual Melampodium always looks its best around this time of the year.

The Morning Glory vine on the trellis attracts the bees and the hummingbird.

The Black and Blue Salvia is one of my favorite colors. I just love the flowers with the dark stems. Unfortunately, it doesn’t get shown off very well where I have it. I planted it two years ago and am contemplating seeing if it will survive a move to a better spot.

I find it very ironic that the name of this flower is Obedient Plant. It is definitely not very obedient. It likes to try to take over the garden. Some people refer to it as the Turtlehead flower. It does add a lot of much needed color in the late spring and fall, though, and the hummingbird seems to like it.

Well, there’s one of the neighbors orange and white cats again...this time in the back of the flower garden sunning him or herself.

The Kitchen Garden in September

After being very neglected in August, I spent a great deal of time Labor Day weekend and the following weekend trying to get the Kitchen Garden in better order. It looked much better managed in September than it did in August.

 

In September, I planted more arugula seeds so I would have a fall harvest and I was enjoying string beans, lima beans, and hot peppers from the Kitchen Garden. The tomatoes were finally starting to ripen, after a very rainy summer. Unfortunately, the tomatoes sometimes split on the bottom. These were Brandy Boy Hybrid.

I had lots of parsley and used it often. The orange cosmos were still blooming.

I was also eating lots of sweet basil and sorrel in September. The garlic chives were blooming. I love how they look, but I hate how they re-seed everywhere. I need to get in the habit of cutting off the flowers before they drop too much seed. They like to re-seed not only in the raised bed, but also on the gravel path. Try weeding tons of tiny garlic chives from a gravel path and see how much fun it is.

This hyacinth bean vine popped up in the bed with the basil. Must have blown there from last year, since I hadn’t planted any this year and had never planted any in that u-shaped bed before. I’m not complaining, though. I absolutely love the pinkish flowers and the bright purplish/magenta beans of the hyacinth bean vine.

I was happy to see that this Crape Myrtle was surviving in the back corner of the Kitchen Garden. I believe it is the Pink Velour variety. I had planted this in memory of my old cat, Monty, a few years ago. It seems to always be just out of reach of the sprinkler, but yet it has grown. I’ll be glad when it’s big enough to cover the gap in the neighbor’s fence so I don’t have to see his abandoned boat peaking out at me.

This Euonymus Green Spire and Panicum Shenandoah grass are along the border of the Kitchen Garden up against the neighbor’s fence and to the left of the garden bench. I also have one each to the right of the garden bench. When I planted the two Panicum, they were tiny little things that I had ordered from Bluestone Perennials. It has taken a couple of years, but they are finally a decent size.

And my last picture of my Kitchen Garden is of this really creepy-looking spider that I almost walked face-first into. He had a huge web that went from the butterfly bush in the flower garden to the tripod trellis my green beans were on in the Kitchen Garden. I’m sure glad I saw him before he ended up in my eye or my hair. Ew.

My Carnivorous and Bog Plants in September

My two containers of carnivorous and bog plants seemed to be at their happiest in September. Somehow I missed getting a picture of the White Tresses in bloom. They had looked so pretty.

The venus flytraps were smiling bright and showing their sharp “teeth” on this sunny September day. 

I had picked up this Sundew at Longwood Gardens’ gift shop earlier in the year and it was quite happy hanging out in my bog container. It was busy trapping tiny bugs with those sticky little hairs.

The Rose Gentian (a bog plant, but not carnivorous) bloomed like crazy this year, but I somehow missed taking pictures of it at its best. You can see all of the buds, though.

Here’s a Purple Pitcher plant just waiting for an unsuspecting fly to buzz into its water-filled cup.

Dana’s Delight Pitcher, poised for action. 

White Pitchers, with some succulents in the pots in the background.

I sure do love my Pitcher plants. Their just so cool.

So, there you have it. That was September in a nutshell. Better late than never, I guess.

Baby, It’s Cold Outside

BRRRRRRR!!!!!!!! It is seriously frigid today. The temp was 14 degrees this morning with windchills below zero. Tonight it’s going down to 4 degrees...yes, 4. Craaaaazzzzzzzzy.

This is what it looked like out the back window this morning.

Look at all that snow. I don’t think the neighbor’s cat will be sitting on the garden bench today.

I caught this fat robin sitting on the fence on the side of the house by the neighbor’s chimney.

And more fat robins on the front porch! What the heck are they doing here this time of the year?! They were busy snatching berries from the neighbor’s holly tree and finding shelter on our porch in between snacks. I counted six very fat robins. I took these pictures looking out the front window.

Both of my cats were watching the robins very intently.

Poor birds must have been really cold and hungry out there.

What will I be doing tonight while it’s 4 degrees outside? I’ll be cozying up to a fire in the fireplace while looking at garden catalogs and watching old movies.

Garden Visit: Maine Coastal Botanical Gardens

Way back in September, my mom, younger sister and I went to Maine. It was a belated retirement/birthday gift for my mom. We saw and did some amazing things: We ate fresh lobster at Thurston’s Lobster Pound (the best thing I think I have ever eaten – sorry, Mr. Lobster), saw lots of lighthouses, visited the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Community (the last living Shaker community), witnessed the beauty that is Acadia National Park, visited with relatives we had never met before on lovely Deer Isle, drank at some wineries and brewpubs, explored the Farnsworth Museum, did a tour of the Olsen House (where Andrew Wyeth painted some amazing works of art, including the famous “Christina’s World”), and more. One of the highlights for me was the immense and gorgeous Maine Coastal Botanical Gardens. I took almost 200 photos there. It was hard to whittle it down for this blog post.

Here is a map to give a sense of the layout of the gardens. It is so large that there are shuttles that can take you to the main areas of the garden if needed. We didn’t see the ENTIRE property, however, we did manage to see most.

The main area you see when you first leave the Visitor Center and enter the garden is the Great Lawn and Ledge Garden. The grounds were covered in an early morning mist when we first arrived, however, the sun came out and burned the fog away.

The pond is the main focus of the Garden of the Five Senses.

This labyrinth is in the Garden of the Five Senses. The idea is to take off your shoes and walk on the path through the stone labyrinth.

These living walls were really cool. They are outside the Pavilion and I think they are considered part of the Garden of the Five Senses.

I believe this was the Slater Forest Pond.

This Benthamidia Japonica “Square Dance” Dogwood is in the Cleaver Event Lawn and Garden. I love how the leaves are edged in pink and it has these colorful, martian-like pods. At least I assume those are some sort of pods, or maybe it’s a fruit.

 

To the right of the Great Lawn and Ledge Garden is the Burpee Kitchen Garden. They had lots of pumpkins decorating the entrance and white pumpkins in the fountain in the distance.

Look at the two large pots with the plants with the big leaves in the right of this picture. Close-ups are below it.

I found myself fascinated by this scary-looking plant they had in the big pots. Look at those spikes! Outrageous!

Check out the weird flower. It’s called Solanum Quitoense (Naranjilla).

Originally I thought it might be Cucumis Dipsaceus Wooly Bear (Hedgehog Gourd), based on the sign below, but when I googled it the images that came up didn’t look right. It’s another really cool looking plant, though. I didn’t see it in the pot or else I would’ve taken a picture of it.

The Spouting Whales are rocks that mist water from “spouts” in the center of each rock.

Just before you enter the children’s garden is the Maze Lawn.

I love children’s gardens. They are usually incredibly creative and make me wish I was a kid again. The Bibby and Harold Alfond Children’s Garden is a really neat section of the garden. This marks the entrance to the greenhouse and Mr. McGregor’s Garden (from the Peter Rabbit stories).

I love the over-sized sculptures that make you feel like you are Peter Rabbit’s size.

This is a cute area with a real chicken coup and a clothes line. There was a little girl who was playing at hanging up the wash earlier.

This is a cute little house with a table inside where kids could play. They call it the Coloring Cottage because they have supplies for coloring in there. Check out the green roof.

Another structure with a green roof, plus a windmill. They have Jack’s Beanstalk growing up the windmill.

They had lots of fall scarecrows around that I think kids had helped to make. Check out the adorable kitty fence in the foreground.

There is a structure that makes you feel what it would be like to live in a bird’s nest. These carved goldfinches were near it.

Near the children’s garden is this area that reminded me a bit of a Japanese garden.

There was a colorful boat-load of pumpkins to help celebrate the fall season.

Along an edge of the pond was a small bog garden. I couldn’t resist taking a shot of the carnivorous pitcher plant, even though I have one of my own at home.

This is part of the Haney Hillside Garden. That’s Amsonia Hubrichtii Blue Star Amsonia in the foreground. I love the two-toned color and the wispyness of it.

This is Moss Landing.

These are steps in the Vayo Meditation Garden.

Obviously I was attempting an artistic shot here with the trees reflected in the water basin in the meditation garden. It certainly was a meditative area.

I love Japanese lanterns like this. I really want to find a spot for something like it in my garden.

The last part of the garden that we visited was the Fairy House Village. There are some stone creations in the trees, along with fairy houses that people have built using materials they found there in the forest. It has a magical feel to it. You really feel like there could be fairies amongst the trees.

Here is one of the fairy houses that someone built.

It was fun walking through this area looking for the little houses. Here is one that someone put together inside a hole in one of the stone structures.

So those were the highlights of the Maine Coastal Botanical Gardens. Pretty gosh-darn impressive!!!! The closest garden I can think of to this would be the Oregon Garden in Silverton, OR. That was along the same par in size and quality. If you missed it, you can check out my post on that from 2011.

Funerals and Flowers

Long time, no post, yet again. The past month and a half has been full of busy times and some unfortunate events. Now that things have calmed down, at least for now, I hope to have some time to catch up on my blog.

The week after Thanksgiving was a sad one with two funerals. Being a gardener, I can’t help but take notice of the flowers at funerals. As I stood in line at the one visitation/viewing I thought, “Why do funeral flowers always look like funeral flowers?” It seems like there are always certain kinds of flowers in funeral arrangements – carnations, lilies, and roses seem to be the most common. As I stood there looking at them, I got to thinking about all of the events in our lives where we see flowers. They are used to commemorate the happiest...and the saddest...moments in our lives. Happy times such as weddings, funerals, christenings, birthdays, Valentine’s Day, corsages for proms, as well as sadder times, like to show care and concern to those who are ill at home or in the hospital, or to put on a grave. Why are flowers consistently present at these significant times in our lives? I think it is because no matter what is happening, flowers bring happiness and hope.

Flowers can hold special meaning. It could be that a certain flower reminds you of a certain person. When I see daisies or lily-of-the valley, I can’t help but think of my mom because those are two of her favorite flowers. She had lily-of-the-valley in her wedding bouquet. According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac website, lily-of-the-valley means sweetness. How appropriate for my mom, who is by far one of the sweetest people I know. :o) It makes sense that we would want our favorite flowers, or flowers that remind us of special people or places, there to help us mark the significant moments in our lives.

Sometimes flowers remind us of our childhood or specific times in our lives. When I see English Bluebells I am transported back in time to the glorious fields of bluebells that I saw while in England. Daffodils remind me of the abandoned farm and garden that was in the field behind the house where I grew up. There was an area with a small pond and bridge that would light up in yellow each spring. (That special place is where the name of my blog comes from.) On the other side of the bridge there was a wash of blue Scilla Siberica Spring Beauty. Maybe that’s why I love that color blue so much.

At both of the funerals I was at that week, someone had lost a father. I couldn’t help but think of my own dad that week, who died many, many years ago. My dad taught me how to plant my first seed, and while my passion for gardening was slow to germinate, it eventually blossomed into an addiction that I know will last the rest of my life. My dad spent most of the last year of his life at Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia. At the time, I only lived a few blocks away. When I would go to visit him, I would stop at a local florist and pick out flowers for a bouquet. I always made sure they included his favorite flower, carnations. I personally never liked carnations because they are so over-used in arrangements, but I have to admit that they are very fragrant and last a long time. He particularly liked red carnations. One of the last memories I have of my dad is him scorning me for spending my money on flowers, but then when he thought I wasn’t looking, he buried his nose in the bouquet and took a big breath in. I will never forget that moment. He would sometimes comment on how my flowers always smelled the prettiest. I think it was the carnations that did it.

When my dad died,  I took a lily from the funeral flowers. I pressed it between the pages of a book. I still have that flower and still have my memories.

What would all of the significant moments in our lives be without flowers?