It was a weekend full of birthdays and we are still recovering from all of the festivities. In fact, I’m too tired to even put it into words. Hopefully the photos tell the story:
Monthly Archives: July 2011
A strange feeling overtakes me when I get a lot of props from the readers of this blog. The more you say “beautiful photo John” or “your gardens are gorgeous” or “you may be the coolest individual alive John” I get an overwhelming feeling of guilt. While I appreciate all the great feedback, I feel the need to offset the great photos with some of the not so great looking ones. It’s a sort of cosmic balance that serves as a reminder that for every beautiful blooming perennial, there is another one that didn’t survive the winter or fried in the heat of summer or slowly succumbed to powdery mildew.
A lot of beginning gardeners I talk to who read gardening blogs or read gardening magazines get very frustrated when they cannot successfully grow plants and make them look like they do in print. They immediately call themselves a “brown thumb” and give up. Well I’m here today to tell you it’s OK. I’ve been an obsessed gardener for close to fifteen years now and I still suck at it. Seriously, I still make the same mistakes or ignore the same good advice year after year. The reality is that the idea of “low maintenance” doesn’t really exist. You have to be willing to put in some time and effort. It takes time, patience and a lot of trial and error. But that is what makes it so enjoyable. You will never be an expert and have your entire lifetime to learn.
Taking photos and putting them in a blog is a great way to fool an audience. At the right angle, your blooms can look just right and you can crop out the dying branches or weeds. It’s easy as hell to make yourself believe you are a kick ass gardener. Today, I’ll first show you the “nice” photo of a plant and then follow it up with a “reality check” photo. And it’s all because I am such a caring and empathetic individual:
Wonderful blooms on a Geranium ‘Brookside’:
What it looks like after the blooms quickly fade:
What it can look like if you’re not lazy like me and cut it back immediately after bloom:
Nepeta (Catmint) blooms are a thing of beauty and draw in so many bees and butterflies:
Just realize you need to cut it back at some point or else they will look all ratty and crap as they do now because I ignored my own advice:
Phlox ‘David’ is an all time fave for me:
And without fail, the foliage declines at the same time the blooms appear and I want to throw the f’er to the curb:
Astilbes are a great combo of blooms and foliage in shade:
Just remember it loves and needs consistent water or it will quickly fry:
Daylilly blooms are always phenomenal:
Just get ready to deadleaf the foliage on a daily basis or it will completely detract from the blooms:
Northern Sea Oats are reliable as can be and the seedheads add an incredible level of interest summer into fall and even into winter:
Oh yeah, they also reseed like crazy and can take over a garden bed in the spring. Glad I remembered to cut off the seedheads before the winter set in:
That initial flush of bloom on Daylily ‘Happy Returns’ is impressive:
Speaking of impressive, how impressive is this ugliness, post bloom?:
Ahhh, I feel much better now. The secret is out of the bag and I can go about my business without any additional guilt.
Have a great weekend and garden your ass off without fear!
John
I friggin love blueberries.
I eat them like they are M&M’s.
There is absolutely nothing better than downing these by the handful this time of year. The problem is, I have been tremendously unsuccessful at trying to grow them myself – be it in the ground or in a container – and do not have the time to put in the effort to amend my soil as needed. So I rely on my local orchards for my blueberry fix.
My favorite local joint for fresh off the branch/vine fruit is Solebury Orchards in Solebury, PA. It is a quick trip over the bridge from New Jersey and it isn’t like some of the other chain-like orchards in the area. We visited over the 4th of July weekend in hunt of the blueberry:
As we entered the blueberry locale, I vowed to make it down each and every row so I could locate every perfectly ripe, blueberry:
The truth is, it seemed a bit early for a lot of the fruit so we had to choose wisely and really search the shrubs like true blueberry detectives:
While my daughter wouldn’t eat a blueberry if her life depended on it, my son seems to be a fan:
The grounds at Solebury Orchards are rustic and charming and a place you want to hang for a while:
The kids are obsessed with the cider doughnuts that are sold in the store right behind them and were barely patient enough to pose for this shot:
The only disappointment was that we were not allowed to pick any raspberries but we’ll be back soon to devour those as well:
We had two cartons full by the time we left and admittedly, some of the blueberries were not really ripe enough. That didn’t stop me from eating them:
Best of all, my wife (the Chef D’excellence that she is) made lemon blueberry pancakes the next morning and they were ridiculously good:
One of these years, I’ll put in the time and effort to grow my own blueberries, but for now, I’ll hit up Solebury Orchards and let them do all the hard work.
Cheers!
John
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| Phlox Paniculata ‘David’ |
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| Hemerocallis (Daylilly) ‘Joan Senior’ |
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| Eupatorium (Joe Pye Weed) ‘Gateway’ |
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| Echinacea (Coneflower) ‘Fragrant Angel’ |
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| Clethra (Summersweet) ‘Hummingbird’ |
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| Chasmanthium Latifolium (Northern Sea Oats) |
I’m staring at my gnarly, permanently dirty fingers as I type this and it is a great reminder of this past weekend. Most human beings wouldn’t tell you that they had a great time weeding for hours on end during their 4th of July weekend, but I am fully aware that I am the exception.
While my wife and I yanked out weeds that could feed an entire family, the kids played outside and braved the heat. We were all together, albeit in a sort of dysfunctional way.
It’s amazing how a small pool can occupy children for hours but more amazingly, that my two kids could survive each other’s company for that long. Every once in a while I joined them in the pool just to pretend to be a good and sensitive dad:
My daughter did request numerous bug removals from the pool and I couldn’t resist her newly toothless grin:
Even after pool time, the kids played together which only increased our ability to tackle more and more weeds:
I considered posting a bunch of our weed removal photos, even a few “before and afters”, but upon further review, they were really boring looking. Just know that my wife and I were cramping up in bed each night and that it looks damn good in most of the garden beds … for now.
Instead of weed photos, here are some photos of one of my perennial beds that is now coming to life:
It wouldn’t have been a summer weekend without a few hot air balloons overhead:
It also wouldn’t have been a summer weekend without a walk across the bridge into Pennsylvania to our favorite ice cream joint:
By the time Monday night arrived we were spent, so we just rested our weary legs and watched the fireworks from our back deck and gasped at the beautiful color of the sky:
Hope you had a great weekend as well.
John