Lessons Learned

This has definitely been the most uninspired summer of gardening ever! My dry soil couldn't get any drier, but I definitely learned what plants are the toughest! Hands down, Wild Petunia wins! Well, a caveat, the newly planted Millenium Allium and the Crazy Blue Russian Sage have also done really well. So, I'm trying some more sage, a Russian Sage, and a Spire Sage.  I'm also trying a Super Blue Lavender, a Hidcote Blue Lavender and a Phenomenal Lavender for drought tolerant plants, and I may try a couple of other plants, Darts Gold Ninebark, and some Geum, if I can find them this Fall at the garden center.  I also planted a Lemon Meringue Baptisia in a challenging spot near the Maple tree.

It has been a tough summer of watering, but we really made sure all of our trees were taken care of first, so hopefully they will continue to thrive.

The green beans are still doing well, but I'm not sure we'll see a cucumber.  I also learned that Japanese beetles like pole beans.  They have desiccated my new Cherry Tree, (now under cover) the cone flowers, and the evening primrose.

On the upside I have playful hummers, and I've raised 54 monarch butterflies!  Good Luck flutterflies!

Greenie

cherry under attack,  even the marigolds are getting chewed.

second blooming for butterfly weed!

allium millenium

naughty beetles

hanging in there!

lovely sage

tasty Italian beans

basil, my new crop of choice!

What a (little) Relief

 We are actually getting some rainfall this morning!  It is light but persistent, and hopefully it will continue through the day.  Again it has been a few weeks since any measurable rainfall, and watering has become an every other day event.  I pulled out my tomatoes, we did have one red one that we ate, and it was pretty good.  The plants had no more blossoms and looked very unhappy.  I pulled out the snow peas, they just couldn't handle the heat, and replanted bush beans.  I also planted beans where our onions were planted.  I've put basil in the pots that the beans were in and they are doing well.  The beans handle the heat well, didn't like the pots, I think I over watered them.    I've noticed something eating them, possibly grasshoppers.  We have a lot of them in the yard.  

The perennials are doing better with watering except a lot of the phlox which may be struggling with the heat.  I've been planting more sage, and will also try some lavender.  The millenium allium plants are also doing great, I added a few more to the sweet cherry tree circle.  I just need to decide what will go in on the rock edge along with the prairie smoke that needs to be thinned out.  

My milkweed is struggling and it may be due to me just digging too much with replanting etc.  The Monarchs started out slow this summer, but now I'm in the process of releasing 30 butterflies, plus I have more caterpillars munching away on plants.  I just have to collect more plants from somewhere else that hasn't been sprayed with chemicals.  This rain should also help boost the milkweed plants in my yard.  Greenie

chrysali

cucumber flowers!

liking the crazy blue russian sage

hanging in there for the bees!

nodding onion

second coming of beans

amsonia, a garden possibility

denver heliopsis, biennial?

swallow tail on the trail, heat exhaustion?

cherry juice!

More Monarchs arriving.

 I've had a few more Monarchs arrive in the yard and collected several eggs today.  The milkweed is scarce and not too healthy.  I've pruned a few back to hopefully provide newer leaves for the butterflies in the next month or two.

I'm still on the path of more shade and maybe more shrubs.  I wish I was feeling more love for the garden but most of the time I only see work to be done! I need to come up with a manageable plan, that includes the limitations of the Maple tree's roots, and then put that plan into action.  

pale pole beans-fertilize?

needs some work, cranesbill?

sturdy little coneflower, Kismet!

The first time the bunnies decided to go after the bush beans, which are doing well!

I don't want to plant too much if the drought and high heat continues.

We are going into another heatwave this weekend, but nothing compared to what has been happening in the Northwest, Oregon, Washington, B.C.  Still it is hard on the garden and hard on the farmers.  

Greenie

What will July bring? No fire please, and less work please.

 We received 1/2" of rain on June 20th.  It always amazes me how much better the plants look after a rainfall, even a small one, compared to being watered by me!

The garden is doing a bit better, but I'm definitely going to be adding more shade to the yard.  Right now I'm considering a smaller honey locust.  I like the ferny look, plus we get a lot of wind through the back yard, so less possible tree damage.  It will give more shade to the back of the house, it does well in dry conditions, no messy seeds, or disease, or pests- so "they" say. Plus it grows fast!

This is the Sunburst honeylocust.  

Today I saw a monarch butterfly!

Greenie

Losing one's mojo

 I wasn't too surprised that I had only one post last year, but disappointed, since the yard looked beautiful.  We had lots of steady rain!  I just lost my mojo last Spring, I couldn't do any drawing for about three months, and the garden was a good place to be, but sometimes a bit redundant.

A new Spring/Summer of 2021!  The current Pandemic is winding down here in the states, it is raging still in other parts of the world.  I'm cautiously optimistic.  Thankfully, we have a new president, Joe Biden with VP Kamala Harris, people who actually care about the country.  Time for a deep breath.  Covid has taught me to be more aware of my breathing!

So it seems we are headed towards the depths of climate change.  We have had extreme high temperatures and no rain for several weeks.  Before that we dropped to new lows in temperatures.  Minnesota has always been prone to flip flops in weather, so maybe our new normal will be just more of the same, keeping us on our toes!

Fortunately, other than all the vegetable garden plantings, and a new cherry tree, Sweet Cherry Pie, I haven't planted too many new perennials.  Well, a few hosta, an astilbe, and a ligularia.  I've got a lot of bare areas, some near the new cherry tree, some at the back of the southwest garden.  It will all have to wait until late summer, or near Fall.  I need a break from watering!  Even with all the perennials, and natives, the garden looks so sad.

The absence of Monarchs is also very sad.  I have seen one in the yard, and a total of three in the neighborhood.  I've looked for eggs several times with no luck, but I have seen some evidence of milkweed getting eaten. 

I had a funny aha moment when looking at the photo that was my inspiration for path gardening.  I realized it was made up entirely of shrubs and small trees!   No perennial plants!  That observation and our heat and drought got me to thinking that adding more shrubs and trees may be a good idea!

wild geranium

massive amounts of maple seeds

allium-when things were still green!

red squirrel, love him.

 

 

 

 

we have gotten lots of asparagus this year, so not all bad!

 

Finding Humor, Keeping Hope, A Covid Sort of Spring, A Purposeful Pandemic...

Wow, what a difference a month makes.  A world turned sideways for us humans, but nature has had to deal with us turning it sideways for some time now.  If we think of the world as one giant living organism, it makes sense that it is starting to see us humans as a threat, and is trying to get us to work as part of a united organism, not as a separate and more important entity.  Unfortunately, we humans have short memories, we haven't been too good at passing on the lessons we have learned about our affect on our world when we treat it like a dispensary and a toilet. 

onion area

chives!

Glory of the Snow

After a mild winter, especially compared to 2018/2019 our Spring is arriving in a calm tempered manner, our flooding fears are diminishing throughout the state, and Spring perennials are gradually showing themselves.  Fred and Ethel have returned, but are not frequenting the pond as much as usual.  I have already planted onion sets, and the garlic planted last Fall is already up a few inches.  I'm waiting for a warm up before planting the snow peas.  Even though they are a cool weather plant, they always do better sprouting with a bit of warmth.

Fred and Ethel

hens and chicks

Conk in yard!

 

 

Greenie

Free Water and Bumper Crops!

We are in the middle of continual rains and the jungle is emerging!  The snow peas are doing great, the beans, basil, onions, dostal squash, tomatoes and radishes- a new one this year- are growing great!
I did lose some perennials from a tough winter, but most have been replaced, and a good sprinkling of crimson clover to fill in spots.  I'm in the progress of finishing up the landscape behind the house with wild petunia, a few more salvia and mulch.  

I had 30 Monarch chrysalis' with half out and gone.  It always makes me smile to see them fly away.  I usually have them crawl onto my finger and hold them up to survey their surroundings.  I've noticed a couple of things; they usually do a little shiver of their wings and turn their heads to look around before taking off.
The bee population is looking better, but the majority of bees are still the tiny bees, not the mason or honey bee size, I'm hoping to get more visuals on bees once it dries out a bit.

butterfly video, cardinal singing in background, crazy person speaking to butterfly

ponds

wine cups(native), prairie phlox(native)coreopsis(native), rose sensation salvia, butterfly weed(native), gaillardia (native)

behind house weed removal, keep the milkweed, now mulch!

Greenie