Do our gardens reflect us?

I'm firmly of the opinion, that yes, if we ARE gardeners, then our gardens echo us, our interests, plant passions, and style, whether it's naturalistic or formal.

As a wildlife gardener, I feel at home with plantings that mimic natural landscapes, include a diversity of plants (often native, but not always), and provide microhabitats for all sorts of critters.

But I also love vegetable and herb gardens and their promise of productivity as well as beauty.

Eclectic and whimsical landscapes are also fun; they always seem to reflect the gardener, whether s/he is someone that I ever meet or not. Artists have especially interesting landscapes, if they're interested in using plants as part of their palette.

What's missing in so many commercial and public landscapes is any sort of expression of what the landscape is about; there's no sense of place or personality, but simply an assortment of extremely tough plants arranged in unimaginative designs.

Hooray for gardeners like this one, who have taken a conventional landscape and made it their own!

Click on the photo and take a closer look: notice the carved wooden black bear to the right of the fountain.

It's Raining Again.

The rain held off till 3.00 though there wasn't a lot of sun. I worked up at the scree garden again, scraping moss off the paving slabs and getting rid of the weeds that are growing between the slabs. When it's all clear the paved area needs pressure washing, if we can fix the pressure washer, and a lot of re-pointing. When my knees started to protest I worked on one of the walls. Already it is time to start cutting back the valerian that has finished flowering and a few weeds had crept in as well. Luckily with all this rain the soil is very soft and it's easy to pull out the weeds. This strange little butterfly sitting on the buddlia is a Large Skipper.

When I cleared some of the moss on the wall I found this little toad sheltering between the stones. I'm not sure why but I find blue/green toads and brick red toads in the garden. They are all the same species, it must be either to do with their diet or the soil they hide in.

Once the rain arrived the cats and I moved indoors. The cats were busy cosying up to the rayburn and I fixed the painted wood above the microwave. We had a lovely piece of local lamb slow roasted with garlic and rosemary, for our supper.

Leather Bandage

Leather Bandage

Shutter-Stutter Painting

Johannes Wohnseifer

mabu

mabu

ad for Procter & Gamble's Rejoice conditioner

ad for Procter & Gamble's Rejoice conditioner

Leather Bandage

Leather Bandage

Shutter-Stutter Painting

Johannes Wohnseifer

mabu

mabu

ad for Procter & Gamble's Rejoice conditioner

ad for Procter & Gamble's Rejoice conditioner

Fall vegetable gardening and seeds

I have a lot of seeds already. Really. This is just one very small bit of my overall collection.


I determinedly tried to give away as many as I could in programs and events last spring, but of course, this just allowed me freedom to order more.

I actually was dog-earing pages in my Territorial Seeds 'winter' catalog yesterday. Hmmm. And my friend CEN gave me a bunch when she moved to a (much) colder climate, so really, I don't need many more for this fall season.

But the allure of another perfect winter lettuce variety, tender collard cultivar, a delicious young spinach, and maybe even a tasty beet or two is certainly alluring, especially when woodchucks are eating the squash in the satellite garden, and they're suffering from powdery mildew, in any case.

And what about the kitchen garden next to the Discovery Center (the visitor center for the botanical garden where I work) and the participants in fall vegetable gardening programs, and the folks with donated Earth Boxes through our Upstate Locavores network program. All will need fall vegetable seeds. Or so I'm thinking. It's a good thing that seeds are a wonderfully inexpensive indulgence.

A Garden Day.

After telling us that we were due for a hot summer the met office now says that August will be WET. Surprise, surprise. When I woke this morning there was a bright blue sky quickly followed by grey clouds. The forecast was for sunny spells and showers so I decided that I would try and have a gardening day in between the showers. During the wet spells I got on with the housework and painted a piece of wood to go across the microwave niche to match the kitchen tiling. From lunchtime there has been no rain though there have been cooler spells. I managed to do as much weeding as my knee would allow and also fitted in an hour of reading at the end of the day. While I was deadheading the hanging baskets I found this Silver Y moth sheltering from the rain.
Up in the scree garden the cabbage white butterflies are about. They only seem to like the nasturtiums which are self seeded escapees from the time when I planted lots of them to provide colour in the scree garden while the planned plants were very small.

This is the first view of the garden as you approach through my neighbour's fields.

Some more of the different varieties of crocosmia are coming into flower. One clump has disappeared altogether, one more of last winter's casualties. The solanum crispum on the end of the house is definitely dead and so is the phlomis italaica which admittedly was a tender shrub.

It was so good to see blue skies again.

I suddenly noticed that the rowan tree behind the outbuildings is full of berries. Is that a sign of a hard winter to come ? Plenty of food for the birds anyway. It is so peaceful at home with none of the youngsters around. Scout camp week has always been my 'holiday' when I can relax in peace and quiet. It's my reward for the years when I went to camp and spent the whole time working in the 'kitchen'. I did use to enjoy the evening camp fire with lots of singing. Because Lithuanians, besides drinking and talking and eating like to sing, it's in our blood.

WATER STOPPING WATER

WATER STOPPING WATER

Public landscapes

I'm really tired of cookie-cutter commercial and public landscapes. It's SO refreshing to bumble on a business with an interesting landscape or a public area that's actually creative and reflective of the surrounding region.

This legal office in Portland, Oregon had a lovely landscape.

I've found that there's a bit of synergy that can work in a community. If one business starts to do something different, then their neighbor catches on, just like in residential communities (which can be equally unimaginative).

How about this oil change place in Asheville, North Carolina?
(click on the photo for a larger version)

Up and down this busy street, there are now pockets of truly nice plants, in front of offices, furniture stores, quick check places, etc.

Parking lots don't have to be a monoculture.

A new bank in my town features an elaborate new landscape of lawn, crepe myrtles, Japanese hollies in rows, and purple-leaved heucheras in full-sun (hmmm). It's a contrast, to be sure, to the nicely developing and diverse 'Gateway Park' put in by the city several years ago. I guess I should be glad that our small city requires landscaping at all, since it does result in green, but I just wish that landscapers (and developers) would be a bit more creative in their approach.

I think that landscaping creates a mood that creates a better environment for businesses of all kinds, from banks to groceries to doctors' offices. I know that I, for one, enjoy visiting my current dentist with his dental cubicles looking out into gardens and bird feeders a lot more than previous dentists that I've had.

A recent visit to a medical specialist found his office surrounded by lovely plants (several substantial white oaks, very nice shrub plantings, and a recently installed pond that he put in himself). What's not to like about that?

Recent travels have found me noticing out-of-the ordinary parking areas and streetscapes, container plantings, and office entrances. Why shouldn't this be more the norm?

Too Much Rain.

It's been pouring with rain all day. The met office gave out a severe weather warning this morning and overnight there was a tornado in Stornaway and a waterspout seen this morning in the Bristol Channel. (Couldn't find any pictures to post of the waterspout.) So I've been forced to do housework all day long. Peter had to go to Exeter for a work interview which is all a bit stressful. I decided to tackle the tidying of the kitchen In our family there is always lots of stuff lurking in every corner. Five people's stuff totals a lot of clutter and mess. Every work top or cupboard top collects piles of important but unidentified objects which might come in handy one day. I started my work by writing a list on the whiteboard of each area to be tidied. Then I could have the satisfaction of crossing the jobs off. I didn't quite make it through today's list but as there is nothing on tv tonight perhaps I'll get a bit more done. I did get to de-clutter the mantelpiece and even polished it with some bees-wax polish. How very domesticated of me ! I also hoovered the stone wall which tends to accumulate cobwebs and lots of dust. As nothing else has happened today I'll give a run down of the things in the picture. First there's the obvious LOTR interest, that's me. The banner was a 50th birthday present from our close friends and the flag was a present from me to me. The card is one I drew for Peter from Alan Lee's designs. The bronze is one of my mother's and the painting came from her house as did the dutch inkwell. The antique candlesticks were a wedding present from a lovely couple . She was a concert pianist and he was an architect. They lived in a beautiful house in Chichester with at least 3 baby grand pianos. The boggart money box is Romas' and is full of coppers. The blue glass vase and the flowery jug came from car boot sales and the old blue jug probably came from my mother's house. I love the shape of jugs and have quite a few around the place. The small brown thing is a carving of a scarab beetle brought back from a holiday in Egypt by our friends' daughter. Removed in the de-cluttering process were: photos of Vytas' graduation, models of Minas Tirith, The Argonath, a witch king, Pippin on a pony, a big fat elephant money box assorted sewing needles and a craft knife. Just shows how cluttered our place is.

Dog vomit slime mold

Fresh hardwood mulch is a great substrate for this amazing-looking slime mold. Remarkable in all of its stages, it progresses from a gelatinous yellow stage to darkening crusty stages, all rather alarming in appearance.

We had at least 20 different individuals in various stages of maturity on fresh mulch last weekend.

Sometimes called dog vomit fungus, it's a slime mold (Fuligo septica). This informative article in the Chicago Tribune describes its biology nicely.

An ancient organism, it's not a plant, animal, bacteria, or fungus, but it's well-adapted to doing what it evolved to do: break down organic matter.

Just The Old Folk At Home.

It has been another quiet day today. I took Linas into town this morning to catch the train back to Plymouth. His tenancy runs out in the middle of August when he will be home for good. No job and although he has been accepted to do a Masters from January the £3000 fees would not be covered by a student loan. Lots of rain again today. I feel so sorry for those people who have come down to the West Country for their holidays. When we were driving north up to Bristol on Saturday the southbound side of the motorway was almost solid with caravans and holiday makers. At one point the traffic was stationary for several miles. At least when I drive up to Hampshire very early Sunday morning the roads will be clear. I did some shopping while I was in town including some cheap (99p) reading glasses to leave scattered in all the places I might need them. I also bought a pair of extra strong glasses for close work such as my jewellery making. The one disadvantage of having my eyes done is that I have lost my very clear close up vision. I did know this would be the case and my family always laughed when I peered over the top of my glasses to see things close up. Playing the piano is still a little strange as the reading glasses make the music nice and clear but if I shift my eyes to look at the keys there is a bit of a wobble. I shouldn't be looking at my hands anyway. I get a lot of pleasure out of playing the piano but I'm not very good so I'm trying to do some sight reading every day to keep my brain and hands working. I also intend to learn a few more pieces by heart instead of just bits and pieces. The road at the top of the drive almost looks like a private garden now that my neighbour has driven his mower over the grass and the himalayan balsam is flowering.
Looking the other way down towards Bowden Corner. I though about going for a longer walk this afternoon but rain clouds were threatening and I didn't fancy getting caught in a heavy shower. I read a bit outside and did a little gardening before the rain started. The swallows have another brood of youngsters in the swimming pool house (pool is now the scree garden). I tried to take some pictures of the parents feeding the young but the light levels were too low to get a clear picture. The adult birds were not too happy with me sitting there with my camera and darted around outside waiting for me to go. Last night I was sitting at the pc when I heard lots of bird noises close by. Went into the kitchen to find 2 swallows swooping around watched by 3 sets of feline eyes. I didn't dare leave the room to get my camera so I turned off the room lights and waited for the birds to fly out through the front door, which they did. We are very disappointed that for the first time in 15 years we have not seen any house martins. We have always had several nests under the eaves by the bedroom windows but this year there have been no birds at all. Checking out the wildlife forums other people have noticed a drop in numbers though some people are still seeing them.

Vodka SAMURAI by Arthur Schreiber

Vodka SAMURAI by Arthur Schreiber

A Quiet Day At Home.

The weather today has alternated between torrential downpours and blazing hot sunshine. I've spent my day tidying, cleaning and doing some work in the garden.
Later in the afternoon I took some time out to just sit in the sun and read a book by the scree garden.

The buddlia and lavender are attracting many bees and some butterflies. I was intrigued by a number of these large bees ? which were nearly 2 cms long. Their eyes give them away as flies. I've looked them up in my handy wildlife book and I think they are a bumble bee mimic, Volucella bombylans.