Buttercup Turnera September 19, 2014

 Turnera will get shrubby and grow about three feet tall if placed in the right spot.  My turnera is not optimally placed, and it is sprawling and gangly.  I have it in part sun.  They are sun lovers.  But I had some empty space, and I saw it in a nursery and bought it.  There is a bright yellow variety which I have grown before, but this creamy color with the brown eye is my favorite.  The flowers open up in the morning and close up about noon.  Turnera re-seeds, and I hope to get lots of volunteers next year that I can transplant all around the Star Garden in sunnier spots.

 Above and below, I took pictures of my turnera this morning.  It is a cloudy day, and the flowers have not fully opened.  The petals look so pretty.

Cone Flower September 14, 2014

I've never had much luck growing echinacea.  I think it is because they have a tap root.  Voles love plants with tap roots - they are very delicious.  For this reason, I haven't been able to keep these lovely perennials growing year after year.  But 2014 has been a good year.  They are easy to sow from seed.  I found some young plants (they do not typically bloom the first season) in the Star Garden, and I remembered that I got some free seeds at the March Mart and sowed them in that spot.  I had completely forgotten.  The ones is my garden are the common wild variety, but there are some beautiful varieties for sale in nurseries these days.  I refrain from spending money on them because of my vole problem.

Scarlet Wave Canna September 14, 2014

Cannas are lovely and useful in the garden.  Useful because they provide vertical interest in the garden with little or no care.    Lovely because the buds and flowers are magnificent and dramatic.  Scarlet Wave is planted at the entrance to the Orchard.

Spring Rain Lilies September 14, 2014

Candida rain lilies bloom in the spring and the fall.  The spring display is more floriferous than the autumn display in my opinion.  I have spread my rain lily bulbs all over the farm (they multiply rapidly) - I have them growing alongside the Vegetable Garden, the Infinity Garden, the front flower beds, the Rose Garden, and most recently the Star Garden and the back beds.

Salvia Leucantha September 14, 2014

This is a fall bloomer with silvery foliage.  It will die back to the roots in the winter and spring forth in the spring.  I have always grown it for the long purple spikes.  Now, Indigo Spires has been introduced, and its long purple spikes bloom all through the summer and the fall.  For this reason, it is superior to Salvia Leucantha in my opinion.  But I have lots of room, so I don't have to choose!  I can grow both.  

Lion's Tail September 14, 2014

I bought 4 tiny plants at the Burton herb festival.  Lion's Tail has mild narcotic effects when smoked, which is what qualifies it as an herb. It is described as an evergreen shrub which surprises me.  I've never grown Lion's Tail before, but I envisioned it as a deciduous perennial.  I'm interested to see it go through winter.  I bought 4 tiny plants, and they are about four - five feet tall now.  A very pretty ornamental plant.

 

Weekend at the Farm Sep 13 - 14, 2014

This is Kinkaku Ginger.  Very sweet smell.  The flowers are exquisite.

Blake's baby shower on Saturday.  She was so happy, and she looked so beautiful.  Went to Burton that evening.  It rained five inches the day before, so everything was moist and green.  Blake called, and Mr H's dad died early Sunday morning.

• Sifted through the soil in the Ballerina rose box and gathered some Rolf Fiedler Ipheion bulbs.  They are tiny little things.  I dug shallow trenches and planted them along the edges of the beds in front of the La Marne rose hedge and along the path toward the boardwalk.
• Dug up two clumps of Root Beer Plant and planted one clump in the bed where I have Sarah's Eve Sweetspire (not doing well at all) and one clump in one of the beds along the path to the Rose Garden.  It spreads, but it does not seem to be nearly as aggressive as the Mexicali Rose.
• Debra gave me six seedlings of white Turk's Cap.  I planted two of them near the Valerian in the Infinity Garden, two of them in the bed near the pool, one near the Barbados Cherry in the Infinity Garden, and one someplace that I can't remember.  It'll turn up. 
• Trimmed the Hyacinth Bean Vine.  I have 4 birdhouse Gourds on the vine in the Vegetable Garden.  They've gotten pretty good-sized.  Usually by now some critter has pulled them down and torn them apart.  I never pulled down the Scarlet Runner Beans in the Vegetable Garden, and now that the weather is perking up, so are they.  I have new buds and some blooms on them.  
• Fall perennials are blooming right now.  All the salvias are in bloom - leucantha, Indigo Spires, and Autumn Sage.  The Lion's Mane is blooming with lots of buds still to open, Hurricane Lily, Gingers, Rain Lilies, Lantana, roses, and so much more!
• Gathered Candida rain lily bulbs that were washed into the driveway after the heavy rain.  I planted some of them in the Star Garden and some of them in the back bed.
• Pulled up overgrown zinnias and hauled them off.  Pulled lots of weeds and cleaned out debris from lots of flower beds.  Hauled it all to a place next to the Vegetable Garden that I use for just such a purpose.  My husband hates when I dump stuff there.  But I don't have the energy to push a wheelbarrow all the way to some central location for burning. That would be expending vital energy on tasks that are not priority for me!
• Cleaned up in the Infinity Garden - cut back the Tardive Hydrangea.  It looked so scraggly.  Cut away mint and Stevia growing into the path.  Cut away dead flower branches of Feverfew.  Staked my Spicebush that had fallen over.  Trimmed the elderberry plants.
• Pulled weeds in the Orchard, thinned zinnia seedlings, and spread grass clippings in various places throughout the Orchard that were in the most need of mulch.
• My small Senna tree next to the pool fell over in the rain.  It broke off right at the base, looked pretty rotten, actually.  My husband hauled it off, and I moved a seedling that was growing nearby into its spot.  Too bad.  The mother tree was covered in buds.  Would have been an amazing fall scene.  Senna is a fall bloomer.  It has a good show in the spring too, but fall is better, I think.
•  Planted a packet of Edamame seeds in the Orchard. 
•  Planted a packet of Blue Lake 274 Green Bean seeds in the Vegetable Garden.
•  Raked pine needles and mulched some of the roses.
•  Pruned roses.
•  Staked the Lion's Mane that fell over during the heavy rain.
• Planted Caldwell Pink in the Rose Garden where Grandma's Yellow Rose was planted.  Grandma's Yellow Rose was never a very pretty rose shrub. 
• Spent quite a bit of time cleaning out the long bed behind the house.  I pulled up and cut back white Four O'Clocks that were taking over, and I yanked up Tuber Vervaine.
• Tucked a few succulents into a pot in the Infinity Garden.  Sedum makinoi 'Ogon' and Sedum Sunsparkler 'Lime Zinger'.
• I was cutting back salvia, and a bee stung me on the back of the neck..  It was one of those huge black and yellow ones.  I must have really offended it because I spent all summer brushing past those big bumble bees as I walked along the paths, and they never stung me.  They always seemed like very passive fellows, but apparently they have limits to their patience.  Stung a little, but so far, no big deal.  The swelling and itching usually starts the next day.  But it was enough to make me surrender for the day and go inside.  Anyway it was already 6:30 and time to start making dinner.