Do you recall that about ten days ago I wrote a note to a nearby gardener to congratulate him on what lovely gardens he had? Well, today Elegante Mother and I got to walk through those gardens.
My gardening friend called when he received my note. He invited us to come see them first hand, so this morning I called to be sure that it was convenient. The day has been gorgeous, one of those beautiful, warm days with intense blue skies, and it was perfect for strolling through the gardens. We went to visit at 1:30, and were there for 90 minutes.
My note to my Gardening Friend (GF) came about because I had watched him create a shade garden under some pine trees over the last decade or more. I wasn’t prepared to find that in addition to that splendid garden, he also had 90 varieties of roses, two kinds of raspberries (BIG beds), rhubarb, and tomatoes. And about a million other plants.
I didn’t know that you could grow holly here! Or bamboo!
I saw plants I recognized, and plants I’d never seen. I saw plants that looked familiar, but the names wouldn’t come to me. I discovered that there is a variety of lily in the valley that blooms pink, and found out that I’m not the only one who has trouble with beetles eating the leaves of the hollyhocks!
GF is 84. This is the first year that he’s hired a lawn service, and had them edge the garden for him. I was astonished at the amount of land he has under cultivation that was 99% weed free. It seems we like the same plants and shrubs, but he’s much more focused on his gardening than I am.
I asked if he gardened every day, and he shrugged a shoulder and said he got out when he felt up to it. He must put in 8 hours a day 7 days a week! His gardens are fabulous! We’ve been invited back to see them at their peak.
I can’t begin to tell you the names of all the plants, but the variety was incredible, and GF mixes shrubs nicely with perennials and annuals.
I didn’t expect to have such a pleasant afternoon as a result of writing that note, but I sure did!

It was a glorious day for yard work. It’s been chilly for this time of year, but mostly clear. I’ve been looking out the north windows in the kitchen, looking over the herb garden. There’s a little pocket yard there and it looks like it hasn’t been mowed for two months or so. *G* It’s amazing what a little rain can do for grass!
We expect to have scattered showers from tonight thru Monday, so I started my day by assembling a brand new weed eater, and trimming around the herb garden and the North yard. In about half an hour, I’m going to try to mow the rest of the grass. It was too wet this morning to even consider mowing. If I wait to mow until next week, the grass will be too wet and ten feet high!
Dear Husband has purchased cedar timbers to re-frame part of the herb garden. It’s an ongoing chore. He replaced about five of them two years ago, and six more are disintegrating and have to be replaced. I’m not sure when he hopes to do the work, but I vote for this fall! I saw dozens of things I could work on, near him, while he worked in the garden. It would be really pleasant to share a few afternoons outside.
About two weeks ago I worked like a demon, cutting back offending volunteer trees and shrubs at the front and south side of the house. I want to make a pathway for the meter readers through the front garden, so things aren’t trampled. I need to get stepping stones to finish the job. I pruned back the junipers and shrubs, and cleared a path. Now I want to set stones as a walk way, and then heavily mulch around them. This is the perfect weather to get it all done.
The need to weed is abating. I’m looking at the gardens and thinking about structure and spring blooms, and spreading compost and mulch. We’ll let the season ease out with mums, Victoria Blue salvia, Homestead Purple verbena, rudbeckia and Bluebeard, and work on design for next year. Oh….and it’s time to rip out the poison ivy in the front garden! Little kids will think I’m the Halloween mummy if they see me dressed up to ivy hunt!

I love to collect dried plants for fall decorations. I’ve been keeping my eye on several plants that are growing along the edge of the road, or the bean fields. I need to wait a bit to go harvest them.
There’s a stand of milk weed at the edge of the field to the east of us. Once the pods split open, the plant can be cut and dried. They provide wonderful interest for a dried arrangement. My mother and I have spray painted milk weed pods gold to use in Christmas arrangements and package decorations, but they are beautiful in their natural colors.
Teasle is an invasive weed that gows in great clumps in our area. It has a wonderful, prickly head at the top of a tall stalk. You can make very dramatic arrangements with them. If you can harvest enough, you could bundle them together, rather the way you would make a bundle of corn stalks. (Check out the teasle in the basket at this site.) But, you have to be sure to use heavy leather gloves when you work with them, because sharp spines cover their stems.
There’s a plant that we used to call “Indian Tobacco,” when I was a child. It’s real name is “Curly Dock.” When it dries, it has a deep brown, seedy look, that contrasts the form of the other weeds, and adds more color to the arrangement.
I tend to suppliment what I find along the road with dried botannicals from places like Michael’s and Hobby Lobby. One of my favorites is the dried lily pod.
You can see a wreath that uses the dark brown pods at this site.
It’s almost time to harvest. I have several five gallon buckets in the garage, and as I harvest, I’ll stand the plants in the buckets to finish drying. Before Thanksgiving, I’ll create bouquets, tie them with twine, and then add raffia or a wide ribbon. Mother Nature sure gives us some lovely decorations.

I think it’s safe to say that Fall is upon us. We haven’t had the scent of burning leaves, or the crispness of an early morning yet, but you can see the changes just starting in the plants.
Our road has fields of soybeans on either side of it to the east. About a week ago, I noticed the very first signs of change of color in the field. It was subtle, but yesterday it had become more pronounced. Those particular fields must have had enough rain to make it through the summer. The plants were vigorous, so I think this is most likely not a response to drought, but rather, the end of the growing cycle. The field is mottled with dark green, and shades of lemon yellow to tan sprinkled throughout.
We have a tree that lines several of our streets. I don’t know what tree it is, but it looks like it could be related to aspens. These trees are beginning to drop their leaves. Last week the dead leaves were dancing across the road as the wind from the coming cool front moved in. Tomorrow, they’ll be glued to the ground from the rain.
We have black walnut trees that line the eastern edge of the property. The walnuts have begun to drop. I suppose you really need to wear a helmet to walk near them! *G* The leaves have been on the ground for several weeks. They are the first sign of impending weather changes, to me.
It’s raining today. Should I count that as another sign? We haven’t had the burning drought we had last year, but I suspect we are behind in precipitation. EVERYTHING says “AAAAhhhhhhhh” when we get the least bit of rain.
I’m ready for cooler weather, but I can’t help wondering where the entire year has gone. Elegante Mother is correct when she says that the older you get, the faster the time flies.

I used a watering wand in the herb garden tonight. It’s time consuming to do the job right, but it gives me the time to see things up close.
The volunteer day lilies are blooming. When I looked out the window this evening five small birds were resting on one of the stalks, waiting for their turn at the bird feeder.
In early May, I severely trimmed one half of my sage plants. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to prune them that early, so I stopped halfway through. It’s been interesting to see the results. The unpruned half is quite large, and bloomed early in June. The leaves are a rather sickly yellowish green, with spots that could be insect damage. The pruned half is more compact (and pleasing to the eye), the leaves are healthy, and the color is the true sage green. SO…a note for my garden journal: prune the sage!
I have one cherry tomato plant and one miniature yellow pear tomato plant in the herb garden. I’ve had the first fruit of each, and I’m eager for the rest to ripen. There’s nothing like a homegrown tomato!
At the north end of the herb garden I’ve planted several lavender plants. Imagine my surprise when garlic appeared next to them. I thought I had harvested all the garlic last year, but I have a good stand of it. The garlic has gone to bloom. It won’t be long before I can try, once more, to dig it out.
The yarrow blooms have all begun to turn brown. I never remember to deadhead to keep the plant blooming through the summer. The clematis that climbs the trellis just behind the yarrow may be dying. I’ve talked with the county extension master gardener without getting a definitive answer on what’s happening. From what I’ve read, this could be a fungus, and the solution is to cut the infected canes at the ground. Unfortunately, I think all of the canes are infected. I’ll cut them back to the ground this fall, but I don’t expect to see new growth next spring. Too bad….it’s been a lovely plant.
The mat of thyme is growing back nicely. The lemon balm is very fragrant, as is the scented geranium. The new apricot-colored small rose is not doing as well as I had hoped. The Scottish spearmint needs to have the flowers pinched off, to reshape the plant. The silver and gold thyme at the south end of that section have grown nicely this year.
The winter savory is beautiful! The plants are nicely shaped and healthy. I’m SO glad Nan questioned my instructions to dig it up last year! Thank you, sis!
The oregano got leggy, and I let her have her way with it again this year. This time she surprised me by trimming it back less than last year! *G* I know….I’m never satisfied! If you haven’t seen my sister’s blog entries about her garden efforts this year, be sure to go visit and see what she’s been up to.
The chives are healthy, as usual, the basil seems to be going great guns. The Italian parsley tried to set blooms, and I trimmed the bloom stalks back. The rosemary plants are still tiny. I don’t know why. The dill needs to be ripped out. It’s going to seed, and we don’t need any more volunteers. The purple coneflower is thick, and lovely. I hope the stand of yellow coneflower in the front gardens will be as vigorous.
And that’s the herb garden news that’s fit to print.

…to the quality of work I was doing in May and June that the gardens have survived so well with so little attention since June 10th. Before I hurt my knee the gardens had never looked better. In all fairness, the gardens are at their best in May and early June, but the weeding, mulching, fertilizing, and planting of new plants was coming along very nicely. My sister, Nan, helped that plan along by getting the last of the plants that I had purchased in May into the ground for me. The perennials have a nice start, and thanks to heavy mulch, there isn’t a horrible amount of weeding to be done.
Today, was the first time I have been able to get into the gardens to weed. I worked around the edges of the garden at the front side walk, pulling out crab grass, trimming back iris and coreopsis, and pulling elm tree seedlings. I tried kneeling on my left knee with my right leg extended to the side, but that was uncomfortable, so I tested my weight on the outside edge of my right knee cap. With a foam kneeler, some Advil, and very judicious movement of my weight, it worked. I weeded for an hour or so in the morning, and another thirty minutes this evening.
I wear latex gloves when I weed. I took a plastic grocery bag out and used it as a barrier over my arm to pull a poison ivy plant that had taken hold in my favorite iris. I’ll have to be cautious for the rest of the year, because it’s likely that the iris leaves have traces of the oil from the poison ivy.
It seems that we are expecting rain off and on this week. The lawn has been grinning at us and waving. Soon we’ll loose small children in it. Dear Husband has used his spare time this week to cut down the trees that fell over last week, so the mowing has gone wanting. I asked my stepson to fill in with an hour of mowing today, and I used the walk behind mower to trim the north lawn around the herb garden. I still need to use the string trimmer, but things are looking MUCH neater. It’s satisfying to see these chores done.

We live on top of the mother lode of CLAY!
It’s a lovely dark soil when it’s moist, but when the heat of midsummer comes along, it becomes a grayish cement!
I was moaning about the clay across the front of the house, and complaining that I needed to amend the soil so I could plant the perennials this week. A good friend told me that his mother swears by “Clay Breaker,” and I said, “What’s that?”
Well….there are several varieties of this product, and it seems they are all produced and sold in either England or Australia. I checked at Google and the first two pages of listings were all from those two countries. Luckily, one of the entries talked about how to improve clay soil. Rather than searching for the clay breaking products, it told how to use sand, organic matter and lime or gypsum to improve the soil.
Dear Husband and Second Son spread sand, gypsum and compost for me last week. We had a good rain over the weekend, which made the soil easier to work. The next step is to incorporate all this into the top 8-12 inches of soil.
Sharp sand will improve the drainage and aeration characteristics of the soil, and encourage strong root formation. A good “grit” sand will have a reasonable amount of tiny pebbles in the 3-6mm range. These are sometimes called a “concreting” or “Horticultural” sand. It is NOT the soft, fine sand that builders use.
Organic matter also aids drainage and aeration, but it will also add to the fertility of the soil. Well-rotted compost, spent mushroom compost or well-rotted leaf litter are excellent choices. You do not want to use green organic matter, or partially rotted compost as it will feed from the soil to aid decomposition, rather than feeding the soil.
Both lime and gypsum (calcium sulfate) work to aggregate the clay particles in clay, to make it more permeable. Gypsum accomplishes this without raising the soil pH.
My information, and a great deal more, can be found at this site: Improving Clay Soil FAQ.
If you’ve been battling clay soil in your gardens, this site has loads of information about easy ways to improve the soil. When it comes down to it, grit sand and well-rotted compost in large quantities are the cheapest way to improve the soil. Good luck!

I’m NOT a failure. I discovered today that I have NOT been a failure for the past SEVENTEEN YEARS!
When we first moved here, and I started the gardens, I tried to grow morning glories, so that they would grow up over wild shrubs and give us more color during the summer. I scarred or cracked the shell of the seed. I soaked them overnight. I tried strewing seed in November so that they would start naturally in the spring. Nothing I did seemed to work.
I assumed that I had done something wrong. Not once in all that time have I been able to get morning glories to grow in my gardens.
Well, this year, I bought two pots of them, already started. One was a smaller plant, the other was a 6 or 8″ pot that had several plants started. I took them out to the east driveway garden and planted them. Both had something to climb, and lots of mulch around them. I watered them every other day.
Today, as I drove by on the way to the garage, I looked over at the garden and something was missing. The supports were all there. The mulch was there…..
But, where there SHOULD have been two healthy growing morning glories…..NOTHING!
Some wretched furry creature has eaten seventeen years of morning glories right to the ground! Some miserable varmint had himself a great salad last night! There’s NOTHING left….of about six plants.
I need to think about this. I wonder if there’s anyway to get around the darned critter? At least now I know that I am not a failure as a gardener!

Well, the landscaper showed up this morning and took out the stump of the viburnum.
I was at the salon, and my mother called to say that the landscapers had arrived and were busy taking out the stump. They were originally supposed to have done it last Tuesday. It was rescheduled to Friday. No one showed up.
I talked with the landscaper’s wife and told her that I didn’t want them to work on the stump unless I was around. So much for communication.
So, when I got home, they were about two-thirds of the way done. I watched as they took out the rest. Unfortunately, I had to point out an arm of it they had missed, and you know that if I was able to see that one arm, there are others just below the surface that I missed.
I plan to add LOT of compost to the area, working it into the soil. Once the area has been cleared, I’ll plant new perennials and then mulch everything. Can you envision Bluebeard, Russian Sage, Sunrise Coneflower, and Homestead Purple Verbena leading from the brick walls out to the edge of the garden?
The last thing the landscaper did before he and his crew left was to plant the new redbud. We agreed on how far forward of the house the tree should go. We have the species that has just one trunk, rather than the kind that grows multiple trunks. It’s just a baby tree. It will be a long time before it fills out and shades the area again.
I’ve wanted a redbud for a very long time. Cop Car tried to help me out by transplanting several of the seedlings from her lawn, but we lost them over the winter. We’ll have to hope that this one lasts.

..should be the word of the day.
This morning, around 6:30, the herb garden looked mysterious and very verdant, much as I think a secret garden might look. The shadows, dissipating as the light grew, outlined the leaves, and heightened the darker colors in the garden. The lighter lamb’s ears glowed against the darker background.
Its cold and rainy in Chicagoland. We are not likely to see any sunshine today. But, the view out our windows is amazing. Everything has been responding to the cool, wet Spring weather. The chives are almost ready to bloom. The herb garden has gone from slowly waking up to looking almost mature in the past week.
The green leaves of the day lilies seem to be jumping out of the ground in their haste to grow. We won’t see blooms until June, but the greens are full and tall. Almost everything has come back in the herb garden except two pods of thyme that I’ll have to replace. I’ve never seen it die back like this, and I can only assume the mild winter, coupled with the drought, finally did it in.
Two of the iris are open! “Infinite Grace” and “Rare Wine” are the two along the brick wall of the garage that are the first to open. Most of the rest of the iris are showing buds, even the one which I know will be last to bloom.
The stump of the viburnum has STILL not been pulled. I think I am going to ask them to wait until next week, because I feel that it is important I be here when they pull the stump, and then plant the redbud. I’ve been told that the root system is as deep and wide as the tree or shrub was tall, so there’s a whopper of a root to pull out. I’m concerned about the extent of the damage to the existing garden, and I don’t see how they can avoid damaging the lawn, after all this rain.
Dear Husband gave the lawn it’s first rough cut about a week or ten days ago. He’s going to need to hire a fleet of mowers, the way the grass is growing! We can hear the grass calling to him at night….and the dandelions have a nasty laugh, rather like Peter Lorre in the “Maltese Falcon.” (Heh heh heh)
To recap, the gardens are astonishing this year, there’s a lot of work left to do, and DH gets to mow. Don’t you LOVE SPRING??