Summer Views from 2016 Quick Garden Tour and Update

I don't intend to recap every single thing that happened to my yard this year, but I will post a collection of photos in case I want to look back at them during the winter, or have them to compare to future photos. Here are some of the major events:

1. My epic battle with the rabbits continued for months, and I'm trying to make peace with the fact that they will eat some of my plants, and that's okay. (trying to convince myself).

2. My hardy pampas grass grew to record heights, I can't wait to cut it down this winter and get the official measurement.

3. My emerald green arborvitae in the back yard got a weird disease and partially died, had black fronds, then grew back, and actually put on some good growth.

4. I had 2 out of 15 or so Surprise Lillies bloom this year, which was a surprise indeed, I heard they don't like being transplanted.

5. I had a short Japanese beetle scare a few months ago and had to spray my birch trees. The spray seemed to take care of them, I only had to use 1 bottle. 

6. My mail order purple coneflower 'Magnus' came back to life and actually flowered!

Front yard Summer 2016

Emerald green fighting off a disease, it seems to be winning. The mail order phlox around the base is taking well and should be nice in the Spring.

Late summer back bed, not much blooming but things are definitely getting bigger. I'm liking the idea of a back bed that is more filled in with plants touching or overlapping and blooming at different times.

Back bed island earlier this summer. Birch trees put on a lot of healthy growth, can't wait for them to do it again next year, they are super healthy in spite of a Japanese beetle scare a few months ago.

Back bed late summer 2016 - Purple Dome is about to flower, blue fescue is looking good against the pink rock.

Early summer view of the utility box bed, Shasta daisy did great this summer, but the Russian sage is getting a little unruly, I cut a bunch out and replaced it with my first try at Gaura 'Dark Pink' which I'm hoping is hardy in this zone. I moved the PowWow Wildberry cone flower to the back because it's really too short to hide the boxes anyway.

Trying to Stay Green During December Heat Wave

We had a couple days of upper 60's weekend, so I got a little bit of yard work done around the utility box bed. I also snapped a few photos of my yard status showing how it's trying to stay green as long as possible into the winter. It darn well should because I paid for extra treatments from the fertilizer company. I'm wishing I did some autumn mulching in places, but overall not too bad.

Can you tell which yard is mine?

This was the first year where the utility box bed in the front grew in all the way. In fact, the Russian sage went a little crazy - I'm glad it was considered a smaller version of Russian sage 'Little Spire' because I can't imagine how out of hand it would have been if it was a fuller version.

The Karl Foerster grass grew in nicely - very early riser in Spring and looked nice all year long. The only problem was that I didn't plan the mulch bed wide enough to acomodate the grass hanging over the edge a bit. I'm torn because I don't want to expand the mulch too much because it looks weird in winter to have this giant bare spot - but in the summer I don't like trying to mow under an ornamental grass and I don't want it to look crowded.

I'm also hoping my cone flower self-seed and multiply because the little pop of color is definitely nice so it's not JUST Russian sage getting all the attention.

Special shout out to Shasta daisy keeping dark green leaves this far into December. I got them over the 4th of July from my parents and it looks like they rooted in really well. My neighbors said I could go ahead and landscape their side of the box too. I know the Shasta daisy will spread but hopefully they don't mind - right now they just have a little tiny strip of mulch on their side.

Finally, and I know I've talked about it before, but I've got some serious white fungus on the grass in my side yard. In fact, when my roommate Kenny walked along the side yard I could see a little cloud of white powder get kicked up at his feet. Wooooow. I might have to re-seed that whole side yard come Spring.

White powder mildew on grass in both side yards now

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - October 2015

I've still got some color on this gorgeous Fall day! The weather has been dry and sunny, not as wet as last year. That means more watering to be done for the trees and relatively new lawn, and nice clear nights for stargazing.

It's the day after Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, so I thought I'd submit my day-late post since I have the day off on this beautiful Friday.

Let's see what we have today... My hardy pampas grass in the corner of the yard is doing great in its first full growing season. It put up one massive stalk with a wonderful feathery plume on top, and there are 2 more much shorter stalks going up. One of the smaller ones bloomed just the other day. It's odd to see one 9 foot and two 4 foot stalks, but I guess it just couldn't muster the energy to make these as tall as the first.

Smaller bloom on Erianthus ravennae 'Hardy Pampas Grass', see taller one here

Next, the all-star of my Fall garden has been the New England aster 'Purple Dome' - the flowers are maturing and drying up a bit, but from a distance the purple color is still a nice touch. I noticed the pollinators started arriving once the flowers had matured a bit rather than right when they opened.

Aster novae-angliae 'Purple Dome'

Other honorable mentions to go Armeria maritima 'Dusseldorf Pride' for blooming for a second time in their first year (I just put them in this Spring). And Salvia sylvestris 'Little Night' that has been sputtering out but still holding color after dead-heading a few rounds of earlier blooms.

Finally, my Russian sage 'Little Spire' is doing a great job hiding the utility box in the front yard, but also provides a great hiding place for rabbits - so I have mixed feelings at this point. At least the purple flowers add some color to what is becoming a big messy brush patch.

Russian sage 'Little Spire' getting a little brushy

It's also worth mentioning that my linden tree out front still has a good amount of yellow leaves on it. This time last year it was completely bare. After 1.5 years of no growth, I'm hoping to see some action this Spring since it will have had plenty of time to get its roots in order.

What's Wrong With My Cone Flower?

I have two kinds of cone flower by my front yard utility boxes, one is thriving and the other is on the struggle bus. My 'Prairie Splendor' is doing something weird, it looks like some of the flowers are blooming without pedals and the stems are dark. In contrast, my 'PowWow Wild Berry' keeps pushing out more and more lovely magenta flowers.

I noticed white fuzzy caterpillars on my 'Prairie Splendor' - that could be part of the problem. I also read that this kind likes dry to medium soil so it could be affected by our record-setting rainfall. Not sure!

Echinacea purpurea 'Prairie Splendor' not looking so splendid

This one flower turned out right, but what's wrong with the rest of them?

My utility box bed is looking much better this year. The Russian sage is doing great. I'm wishing I had a taller variety of cone flower to cover these two cylindrical utility boxes.

Echinacea prpureua 'PowWow Wild Berry'

Echinacea prpureua 'PowWow Wild Berry'

Perovskia atriplicifolia 'Little Spire' Russian sage

Self-Seeding Russian Sage Perovskia atriplicifolia 'Little Spire'

Russian Sage seedling - Perovskia atriplicifolia 'Little Spire'

I left my 'Little Spire' Russian sage standing late into the winter, and I didn't think much of it - then I cut them to the ground in early early spring. Now, my Russian sage has been growing up from the ground this spring and are back to the size they were when I put them in. I hope they get a little taller, I'd like them to be 3 feet tall to hide the huge green power box a little more.

In addition to my Russian sage new growth, I noticed what I thought were weeds scattered around this power box bed. Upon closer inspection, the leaves looked similar to the Russian sage, and my fingers smelled minty after pulling a few. When I went back a few days later, I saw what was clearly Russian sage babies growing all over the place! Free plant babies!

Perovskia atriplicifolia 'Little Spire'

My power box bed looks backwards because I have tall grass behind the power box, so it's not hiding anything it looks like I'm accenting the lovely green utility box. I hope the Russian sage grows in like crazy and hides the whole lot! That's Karl Foerster and two types of cone flower on either side.

I read online that Russian sage likes to self-seed if you leave the dried stalks standing past their prime. However, now I'm wondering if 'Little Spire' from seed is 'Little Spire' at all - isn't the seed the product of sexual recombination? So aren't these new sprouts different from the parent?