Last year I planted a wildflower Garden on a Whim from seed around the big tree in the center of my front yard. This year, it has come back beautifully, more colorful and overflowing with flowers than I ever could have hoped. It's the epitome of the cottage garden look that I love and have been working towards in my gardens. I simply couldn't be happier with it!
Related posts:
Wildflower Garden Update
Wildflower Garden Update 2
More Wildflower Delights
The wildflower "Garden on a Whim" that I recently planted around the tree in my front yard is doing very well. Here's a photo update to show the progress since I planted the seeds at the end of June:
I've cut back on the watering to about every other day, giving it a longer, deeper soak each time now that the seedlings are more substantial. I must confess that with this garden -- because of the large amount of territory it covers -- I've succumbed to the ease and speed of hose watering, as opposed to my preferred old-fashioned watering method using a trusty antique watering can.
I'm very anxious to watch this new garden as it comes in and to see if we will be fortunate enough to get any flowers this year. Here's hoping!
I put together a garden journal at the beginning of the season that's a three-ring binder with dividers, lined paper, and plastic sleeves:
Earlier in the season, I kept a diary of daily garden activities, including tasks, projects and planting dates. But once the project portion of the season was over and I was primarily watering, weeding and deadheading, I stopped making daily entries. Too time-consuming, repetitive, and not helpful for future years. The journal also has plant lists by garden area, a "To Get" list, a plant wish list for the future and a list of future projects.
I've kept all my plant tags inside a plastic sleeve in the journal. I gathered what remained from last year and also made a 2007 collection. This alone is a great improvement over prior years.
I also use the plastic sleeves to collect articles and photos to capture ideas, inspiration, and plant sample photos.
I had imagined myself sitting out in the yard to write in and review the journal, but I haven't done very much of that. I also thought I'd print out photos of the garden and include those, but I quickly realized that would be way too cumbersome and time-consuming with the high number of photos I've taken. And I can view them on my computer just as easily.
So I'm thinking about what to do for my garden records next year. The options include continuing with a low-tech binder again, using a printed journal book, creating my own computer documents, moving to an online journal, purchasing gardening software, or using this blog as my journal.
Lee Valley offers A Gardener's Journal that is a ten-year chronicle of your garden. For a shorter-term view, still handwritten, there's The New Three-Year Garden Journal. Crane & Co. offers a beautiful Garden Journal with refills available; you can insert your own photo for the cover.
HomesteadGarden.com offers Printable Garden Journal Pages. If I go the binder route again next year, I would definitely use some of these pages.
On their web page, HMK Consultants offers articles on keeping a garden journal and creating a homemade garden journal.
Garden journaling software is also a possibility -- like Garden Tracker, which offers worksheets, reports, database, and creation of markers and seed packets.
Dave's Garden offers online garden journals. There are currently 4,501 journals on the site, so it's obviously a helpful and worthwhile resource for many people.
Of course, I could always use this blog as my online journal, which I already do in a way. I'm sure it will be helpful to review this year's posts in the future. I just don't think I want to keep all my information on the site, and I know a lot of it wouldn't be of interest to anyone but me.
The bottom line: I'll probably go high-tech next year. The handwritten journals are lovely, but I would need something more rough-and-tumble where I can scribble and customize to suit. I'll create a folder on the computer with spreadsheet(s) for planting & bloom dates, and Word documents for diary entries and lists. I'll include some of the printable garden journal pages and selected photos. I don't know that I'll ever print anything out -- the computer access should be fine. But I'll still need to have a place to collect plant tags.... Anyway, I've got some time to decide. Over the winter I'm looking forward to focusing on planning & design, and that's when I'll take my garden journal to the next level.
This is kind of a quiet time for garden projects, with daily activities revolving around watering, weeding and deadheading. I'm not going to be making any major additions or changes in August. I've read in a few places that this is a good time for taking stock of how things are going in the garden, so I'm going to do a series with an overview and evaluation of each garden area. That includes the right front border, left front border, side border, both front entrances, the rose garden, the "garden-to-be" and all the containers.
I'll start with the rose garden, which was a new project this year. It started out a big mess at the beginning of the season with a tangle of leaves and debris plus three small, scraggly rose plants. I totally re-worked it, moving in the trellis from another area, shaping and edging the border, and implementing a pink, white & green color scheme.
The garden components include: roses (don't know the type), clematis 'Freckles' (perennial), cosmos 'Sonata Mix' (plants) and 'Sensation Mix' (from seed), dwarf lobelia, and hypoestes 'Pink Splash Select.'
When I first introduced this garden, back on June 12, I think it actually looked better than it does now. The rose "bushes" (they're very scraggly, I know) were fuller with foliage and the white lobelia was healthier and all in bloom. Here's the current status:
(Note: When I photograph this garden the house siding gets very distorted, and straightening it out in Photoshop causes problems in the detail here which don't show up in the photo itself. Sorry.)
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Here's a close-up of the right side. This is where the one nice patch of lobelia is, so I consider this the "good side."
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Here's a close-up of the middle. I really like the pink and green foliage of the hypoestes and it has filled in very nicely. When I planted it I followed what I had recently learned about not planting things in straight rows, and that turned out well. Overall, I'm extremely pleased with that choice of plants for this garden -- following the color scheme via foliage alone, with a full & healthy performance.
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Here's a close-up of the left side. As you can see, the lobelia in front petered out too early or just never lived up to expectations. I'm frustrated because I planted it with the space between plants that the tag recommended and watered it faithfully, but it never filled in. Had I known, I would have bought twice as much and planted it much closer together. (That's a recommendation I've read for cottage gardening -- plant everything closer than recommended -- that I'll follow in the future.) This was supposed to be a ground cover that filled up the entire front space of the garden. What came in had beautiful, delicate white blossoms -- a photo at its peak is included in this post. I love the look of it! But it also got brown and looked spent way too early. I did trim it back about 1/3 at its worst and some of it has started to come back a bit. But overall I'm just not happy with the performance of this plant. The problem could have been a sun, soil or water issue. Or maybe it performed the way it should but the specs simply don't meet my needs.
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When I picked out the plants for this garden (all that was there originally were the roses), the hypoestes was to grow taller than the lobelia according to the plant tag information, so I put it in the middle of the border in planning a "layered height" look. But the hypoestes kept clinging to ground level. Just within the past week, it's finally gone vertical! This tallest portion (in the center of the photo) is about 10" high. I'm excited about this turn of events and can't wait to see what August brings.
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The new cosmos, planted from seed (introduced here and updated here), have now outpaced the cosmo plants I put in earlier in the season. The tallest is about 15". No sign of buds yet on the new additions, but that's OK. I just love everything about cosmos and couldn't be happier to have them in this garden. They're all pink and white, so they fit the color scheme beautifully. I'm eager for them to fill in and expand so I can take more cuttings for bouquets without compromising the look of the garden.
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The clematis has scrambled up to the highest point of the trellis and now I'm trying to help it go across. I've resigned myself to the fact that I won't see any blooms on it this year. The photo on the plant tag is stunning, so if the blooms look anything like it whenever they do appear, they'll be well worth the wait.
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And, last but not least, the roses.... I did spray, fertilize and prune this year (for the first time since I got the roses four or five years ago), but the results have not been spectacular. By the time I've removed the diseased (spotted) leaves and non-performing branches, there's barely anything left. So I have to learn more about rose care and see what I can do to improve next year. However, the roses are still turning out beautiful white blooms as they have done all season. So in terms of flowering, I really couldn't ask for more!
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FUTURE PLANS: Continue to try and improve the health of the rose bushes; enjoy the cosmos and roses (in the garden and in cutting arrangements); do what I can to ensure that the clematis keeps growing and blooms next year; hope the hypoestes returns (it's a tender perennial or annual); use something other than dwarf lobelia as a ground cover next year. I love the concept and look of the pink-white-green color combination, so I'll keep that as my over-riding design scheme. And I think I'd like to add a couple more small rose plants to complement the existing white roses and help this border live up to its "Rose Garden" name.
One of the most delightful benefits of gardening is fresh flower cuttings throughout the season. When you can't be out among the flowers, you can have them indoors with you. Unless you have a carefully planned garden design that adheres to its blooming schedule without fail, creating flower arrangements with fresh cuttings from the garden is often catch-as-catch-can. Sometimes the types and quantities of flowers are limited. I have learned by trial and error that with a little creativity and a collection of containers to choose from, you can still put together a variety of arrangements with different styles to suit any mood or decor.
STEP 1: Gather cuttings from the garden. Whatever is in bloom will do just fine!
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STEP 2: Spread the individual cuttings out so you can see what you have to work with. (Clockwise from right: hydrangeas, hosta stem with bud, roses, violas, vinca foliage, cosmos.)
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STEP 3: Review your selection of containers. Their styles will lend ideas, themes and moods: casual, sleek, modern, feminine.
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STEP 4: Choose containers that suit the flowers you have to work with, then select specific flowers or combinations to suit the containers you've chosen. It's a give-and-take, create-as-you-go process. Some flower combinations blend harmoniously, while others are unexpected juxtapositions of color or texture. There is also great beauty in a single flower artfully placed. (And the single-flower arrangement concept is a great option when time is tight or pickings are slim.) Arrange the flowers in keeping with each container's style and size.
This hydrangea group includes all single-flower arrangements with very different styles: fun/unique (the "poufy" bowl), feminine/romantic (the small Victorian decorated pitcher), and simple/traditional (the matching white teapots).
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The minimalist clear glass vase containing the hydrangea blossom and hosta stem with bud is dramatic, sleek and elegant.
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This down-to-earth clear glass container lets the playful, colorful combination of yellow violas and pink cosmos stand out. The color of the violas is picked up in the centers of the cosmo flowers.
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The combination of violas (with leaves and extra stems remaining) and vinca foliage in an antique mason jar creates a wildflower style bouquet with a casual, country feel.
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The simple pairing of two small, delicate white roses in this tiny paint-splashed modern vase results in a high-style, contemporary look.
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STEP 5: The really fun part is to find a home for each of your new creations!
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As I expand my gardens (and resources for cuttings), I also want to expand my knowledge and understanding of floral arranging. Here are a few sites that I'll be studying in order to develop my skills:
One final note: I've decided that just as an avid reader can't have too many books and a music-lover can't have too many CDs or audio files, a gardener simply can't have too many vases! The more containers you have to choose from, the more arrangements -- and the more different styles of arrangements -- you can create and enjoy.
Here's a nifty idea that I noticed as kind of a "one-stop-shopping" item at Esbenshade's Garden Center this week:
Most container gardening focuses on varying heights for dimension and drama. But I love this arrangement of low-profile plants that looks like a plant collage. (I didn't take down the names of the plants, but the tags show Saxifraga positioned at 6:00 and Arabis positioned at 5:00.) Now I'm keeping my eyes peeled for a large, shallow container so I can create my own plant collage.
Did someone ask for some garden whimsy? Uh, that would be me. Well, I just did a fun and easy project that definitely added a touch of whimsy to my yard.
I went to the annual parking lot sale at Esbenshade's Garden Center in Lititz (PA) yesterday. Among the great deals I got was a group of five herbs for $.50 each. I remembered that I had a small collection of tinware that hadn't seen the light of day since I changed the colors of my kitchen. So today I put two and two (or really five and five) together.
Here is the tinware collection that I pulled out of the basement:
And here are the herbs I got at the parking lot sale:
(L-R) 'Blue Lagoon' rosemary, curry, woolly thyme, French tarragon, mint
Twenty minutes and half a bag of potting soil later -- voila! A small mint garden with a real spirit of whimsy:
Note: I didn't want to drill holes in the tinware for drainage, so I'll have to be careful not to over-water these plants.
The online world has been mocking my humble backyard shed lately with abundant visions of much more aesthically pleasing structures. First came my discovery of The Garden Shed Hall of Fame, a site featuring before & after transformations and envy-inducing examples of all-around great sheds. Then on this week's Green Thumb Sunday, I was subjected to a ridiculously charming photo of a Dream Potting Shed over at Through My Garden Gate. As if that wasn't enough, while visiting a favorite design site, shelterrific, I happened upon a link to Design Public for this post featuring the latest in shed designs.
So, in the spirit of community, I'll share a few awe-inspiring photos of my own dream shed... NOT!
OK, it's not too bad. It looks better than when I moved in, when it was barn red with several coats of paint in advanced stages of peeling. It does fade into the greenery better now and is less conspicuous. It's fully functional, and for that I'm grateful. But my "fresh" paint job was about eight years ago now, and all signs point to the need for another paint job soon:
The roof also needs repair, and the walls are not in the best of shape. So maybe it's time for a complete re-do. My inadvertent online research is encouraging me to dream, and DREAM BIG! I'm thinking windows, electricity, running water, potting table and equipment, perhaps a small greenhouse, maybe even a comfy chair. The wish list begins....
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