After a hot weekend, more pleasant weather has settled in and the long-term forecast shows consistent temperatures in the 70s. That is music to my ears, I just hope it lasts. We have been busy with the usual garden chores. Michael has been more adventurous than I and he created a small set of steps leading up to our shady path. He said he had been wanting to do that for a long time but didn’t because of it making it difficult to move the lawnmower up to the top level. Well, we now have a battery-powered mower, a very lightweight, tiny thing which makes both of us happy.
The steps are almost finished, just some more gravel needed to top them –
Our new battery-powered lawnmower looks like a toy –
In the garden –
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| Autumn Fern (Dryopteris erythrosora) is just spectacular right now. My favorite fern. |
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| Aruncus ‘Horatio’ has doubled in size this year and threatens to overshadow the shade garden. |
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| Baptisia ‘Solar Flare’ blooms after ‘Purple Smoke’ |
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| Jasmine ‘Fiona Sunrise’ should be happier now that we removed half of the ornamental grape that was threatening to take over. |
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| And it is blooming! |
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| Direvilla ‘Firefly’ – I replaced a flowering quince with this shrub last year and I absolutely love it. And so do the bees. That is what attracted me to it in the first place – it was covered with bee activity as the nursery. |
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| Clematis ‘Josephine’ wins the prize for longest blooming clematis. It is still going strong. |
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| Clematis ‘Samritan Jo’ |
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| The hydrangeas are just beginning. ‘Twist-n-Shout’ is one of the first to bloom |
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| Creeping Honeysuckle (Lonicera crassifolia) – Why did it take me so long to discover this plant? I have to thank my friend Linda Rectanus for sharing this with me. |
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| Rose ‘Red Eden’ has never looked this good. Of course it would as it has been threatened with eviction. This is a smaller sized climber and I wish I had known that when I planted it on the arbor over our garbage bins. I wish for something larger but this is difficult to ignore. |
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| Rose ‘Swany’ is huge. I will get a photo of the entire thing later. |
Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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