Garden Journal

Hm. I didn’t *plan* for the dragon’s blood sedum to be growing through the creeping charlie like that, but I have to say, it’s a perfectly fine effect. If they’re happy, I’m happy. Achillea / yarrow, with hosta and allium summer beauty behind, both still opening. I haven’t grown achillea before, because I’ve mostly seen […]

The garden I’m docent-ing    had this narrow trellis, just inside the fence, which supported a massive wisteria. We’ve been struggling with the lack of privacy in our backyard — as you can see in pictures 2-4, it’s overlooked by an apartment building immediately next door, as well as a set of new townhouses that

I went out to water last night, around 8:30 p.m., and was surrounded by lots of fireflies the whole time (and no mosquitoes!), which was magical. I was singing as I watered, Bill Staines’s lovely “Prairie Song,” and feeling both slightly goofy but also very happy. And then a young woman walked by with her

I tried to add lilies to my garden this year — I’d had a few Stargazer and Starfighter before, but wanted more, so I added a half-dozen in front, and the same in the side and the back — or I meant to! But it turns out the bunnies LOVE my lilies. This is the

Oakleaf hydrangea, foxglove, Rozanne geranium. And a bench that could use a coat of paint, but let’s claim that’s intentionally picturesque, shall we?

I love my Jackmanii clematis, but I do occasionally think that it would cheerfully smother me if it had the chance…

Turning off internet again for the day. Plan: write for an hour, finish assembling sandbox and fill with sand, divide some perennials (I know it’s the wrong time of year, but it’s cool and overcast today, and my Walker’s Low should’ve been divided in the spring; it’s making the path hard to walk on) and

  That’s *one* Rozanne geranium. Splendid!   It’s clematis time: I’m afraid I can’t remember what this is called; I like it best in its early stage, as shown here, when it’s a pink; it fades to a very pale purple as it finishes opening. Jackmanii has burst into profuse bloom, twining with the white rose, Darlow’s Enigma,

One of my better decisions. When the garage floor needed to be re-paved, I asked the contractors to leave two rectangular holes in the apron. They looked at me a bit askance, but did as I asked. Three years later, my Blaze climbing roses are doing splendidly. I don’t think I have room to build