Just Photos 2011

Ajuga 'Catlins Giant',
Buxus 'Green Velvet'
Helianthus annual

Hell Strip

Salvia sylvestris 'May Night

Linum and Salvia

Hell Strip

Mullien-borrowed from the roadside

Potatoes, Nepeta "Walkers Low",

and Panicum virgatum "Dallas Blue"

Geranium "Johnsons Blue"

Geranium and Heuchera "Caramel"

Digitalis

Viburnum dentatum "Blue Muffin"

That's Cool! Garden version.

Definition of COOL

1

: moderately cold : lacking in warmth

2

a : marked by steady dispassionate calmness and self-control cool and calculating administrator — Current Biography> b : lacking ardor or friendliness cool impersonal manner> c of jazz : marked by restrained emotion and the frequent use of counterpoint d : free from tensions or violence cool now>

3

—used as an intensive cool million dollars>

4

: marked by deliberate effrontery or lack of due respect or discretion cool reply>

5

: facilitating or suggesting relief from heat cool dress>

6

a of a color : producing an impression of being cool; specifically : of a hue in the range violet through blue to green b of a musical tone : relatively lacking in timbre or resonance

7

slang a : very good : excellent; also : all right b : fashionable, hip <

 I think the slang version fits here: very good, excellent, all right, fashionable, and hip

 You know you are a gardener if you think these things are cool: not necessarily in order

 That's cool when.....
A plant you know was dead shows up the following spring alive and well, maybe even flowering.
A bird shows up in your feeder or landscape that you have never seen before.  ..that's cool.
When a seed you planted in the fall for summer actually germs and flowers the next growing season. ..that's ....
When a plant your neighbor has that you want a start off of but you're afraid to ask, bumps into you and asks you a plant question which leads you to ask can I have a start of that? Yes.. that's cool.
When you can go to the local municipal recycle center and get free unadulterated compost. That's cool.
When your mother comes to visit twice a year and wants to buy you plants for you birthday or whatever reason.  . that's....
When a bi-annual blooms from seed a year later, that's cool.
When people drive by and complement you on your landscape and garden.  that's cool. (prideful I suppose)
When people comment on a blog post. that's just nice.


One last one:
When you go to a nursery and you find your favorite plant (at least this week anyway) at a tremendous discount......that's too cool for school......this happened to me last week...

Chamaecyparis nootkatensis

I went to Wichita with my wife to a school function of hers. As she spent half the day there, I went and toured the nurseries. Went to an open house for a new big box home improvement center and cleaned up on #1 perennials $3, 4" perennials $1.20, #1 endless summer hydrangea $14, and bales of peat moss. That's cool...
Visit number two sent me to the next big box store to "look" around. To my astonishment they had my favorite evergreen tree (Alaskan Weeping Cedar) at a huge discount: $44.00/#10 gallon/8'. #1 Perennials 3/$10. That's awesome!
Visit number three sent me to a high-end nursery where you can find the unusual/non-commodity type of plants. Found a larger version of my Alaskan Cedar priced At $298. Purchased a few seldom found perennials, #1 14.98. That's cool on the plant but not cool on the price. But I understand local owners need to make more profit.
That's coo..ok I guess. 




So Whats Cool for You?

Potato Twin Towers

A recent seasonal garden magazine I was reading at a big box tire repair waiting room showed a article on potato towers.  The particular gardener planted the potatoes then circled them with a concrete reinforcing wire circular cage and added straw and compost as the plant grew vertically. For aesthetics they covered the outside with reed covering. It gave me the concept to change it up a little. I had some tomato cages made out of galvanized hog panel. One of then was taller and wider than the other three so I cut that one in half.

Bed laid out with flags where potatoes are planted - compost added as mulch and also amended with such.

Panel was added on left to grow tomatoes vertically, I had to move one row of potatoes to the right. The flags mark the potatoes.

I'm sure some of you that do not grow veggies think this is a little "clunky or junky" but when the veggies are done I can remove everything for aesthetics. Unfortunately this is the only part of the gardens that gets full sun.

Here is a shot from last week with the cages added and recycled cedar shakes taken from a roofing project down the street.

Chipper mulch and compost added as plants grow. Tomatoes left of cages.

A look inside. I will continue to add mulch, compost as the plants "climb" up the cages. Not sure how tall I will go. Nothing better than potatoes straight out of the garden and onto the dinner table. Filet Mignon. How are your potatoes doing?

Early Monarch Visit

I've been following the presence of a lonely monarch butterfly the last few days. The butterfly seems to  be moving from flower to flower trying to find its place in the garden. Even though its preference plants are not available the butterfly has chosen to go to whats available, mainly Dianthus. 

I'm curious if we see any eggs in the future on the swampweed. I'll keep everyone posted.

Wordless Wednesday Hot Pink

Dianthus 'Firewitch'

Iberis - Candytuft grown from seed

Cooperia - Rain Lilly growing through a rock.

Wordless Wednesday - Holy Week

Tulips at Botanica-Wichita, Ks.

Can anyone see the praying hands?

Foilage Follow Up

Dianthus 'Firewitch'

 

Had to have a excuse to go out in the garden this morning. Thanks Pam @ penick.net for providing me with inspiration to  go! Spring is awesome, even if it got 36 degrees last night. Morning light is so impressive!

Picea pungens 'golbosa' 

Globe Blue Spruce - Love the 

'candles'

Miscanthus 'goldbar' making a peak with Festuca and Stipa

Cedurus atlantica - Blue Atlas Cedar
Nice contrast with the limestone. A very popular ornamental conifer here.

Gotta have fuzz in the garden. Stachys-Lambs ear.

Gotta have a little spice. Foeniculum vulgare - Bronze Fennel

Beginning to look like a gray garden. Salvia daghestanica - Dwarf silver-leafed sage - enjoy the almost white foilage. Still hasn't bloomed in three years. Maybe this year. Does well in all kinds of soils.

Sambucus nigra - Black Lace Elderberry. Wow what a great contrast plant. The texture isn't bad either, sometimes it's hard to fit in because it's so bold.

Not sure whats going on with the blogger formatting here but these last two images are two Japanese Maples - Acer palmatum 'Bloodgood' and 'Disectum'  Both trees do well in full sun.

Finally what would a foilage followup be without a little 'Guacamole', Hosta that is.