Coronation Calamity

Yesterday I decided to dig up and divide the beautiful Coronation Gold yarrow by the driveway. I've been planning all summer to do that, and plant one division by the garage door next to the turquoise pot, and replant the other division back in the driveway strip. 

Here was the plan.

Alas, the Coronation Gold move turned into a Coronation catastrophe. 

It had gotten so big and it flopped over but I loved its big presence in front of the fence. After the bright yellow flowers went by the tawny flowers kept their structural form and looked great. It filled the tight space.

But as I dug it up I realized the reason it was so big and floppy was that there were four emitters under it and a large irrigation conduit line too. 

I knew there was some irrigation there and never gave it any supplemental watering. 

But that yarrow was getting way too much water for its needs.

The emitters were totally entwined in big woody stems, and the plant had grown on both sides under the conduit line, not to mention out under the fence too.

The roots were tough and thick and I could not lift the plant without bringing up the irrigation and snapping off the quarter inch emitter lines. Or digging out under the fence.

So I chopped it to smithereens and disposed of the poor hacked thing.

I now wish I left it alone and just pruned it in stages and more agresssively next spring, using ring supports to hold it up. It really was beautiful with all that water.

I will get a new Coronation Gold yarrow plant in spring and put that by the garage, I do still want that look. 

But guess what -- when I dug out the area to prepare to plant there, I found two irrigation lines in the exact spot where the yarrow will go.

There are no emitters in that area, just the big lines going somewhere. So the new yarrow will be much drier, although the roots will still be sitting on and entwining those lines I guess.

So this turned into a bit of a calamity.

I'll plant the new yarrow as planned, but the driveway strip now needs a re-do. It will no longer be anchored by a big full sunny looking plant.

Since the strip was all dug up, I planted the last remaining Radio Red Salvia greggii that was still sitting in a pot. I put it where the four emitters are, where the yarrow had been. Salvia is a plant that likes dry, but not as much as the yarrow, and it actually looks and flowers better with some water.

Even with irrigation, this strip is hot and sun filled.

I put the stone owls back where I had them previously, but need to move them, I'm not quite there with the placement yet. The littlest one lost both eyes and just looks like a random small rock, so I didn't use that. The second largest has also lost an eye -- I need to hide her, placed partly behind a plant.

On the left next to the gate, not seen yet, is the brand new Rocky Mountain penstemon, which should give some height if it lives. On the right of the salvia I transplanted a non flowering sedum I had been keeping in a pot. Next spring I'll see if I can get the blanketflower seeds going and put some in among these plants -- that will add height and color.

None of this looks like much, and once again I need to find a solution to drape over the metal edging. The veronicas aren't doing it. Maybe some Angelina sedums?

It needs more visual weight than what I have there now.

Venosa Violacae

It has a beautiful jewel like flower but the Venosa violacae clematis I planted years ago on the iron tower has never performed. It has always been spindly, thin, and produces just a few flowers briefly.

This spring it looked the best it ever has, but that was still a small and short show. Nice enough mingled with the rosy Jupiter's Beard, but there were only a few isolated flowers and it was over soon. The foliage declined and then this September the plant dried up. No foliage left at all, just dry brittle stems.

Time for it to go. 

In spring I am going to take it out and replace it with a Jackmanii Superba clematis. Bigger flowers, a lot of presence, a redder purple, it is not as refined as what was there, but I need some oomph.

Here's the thing -- I tried a Jackmanii clematis on the fence by our garage when we first moved in, but it too was disappointing. I think it got too much shade and I was still learning how to water here. It was tall and had flowers only at the top. They did not show well against the rough brown coyote fence.

This was it in 2019.

I moved it to the guest room window garden under the rose and that too was shady and it didn't take.

So, my third attempt: I will clear out the root area to give it more room than Venosa violacae had and I'll keep it better watered and fertilized. It will get more sun there but shade in the afternoon.

It will never be the huge vine I had in Connecticut. IF I can even get it to grow.

But I need something with more presence against that stucco wall and surrounded by the Jupiter's Beard and shrubby peony next to the tower.

The Venosa violacae clematis was never going to be that impactful, even though it was pretty enough at times.

I'll try this old standby clematis - big flowers, long bloom season and bright color. 

(I might get some flowers, a shortened bloom time, and some purple punch from it. We'll see in three years.)

This is a mock up →

Coffee in the Garden

When I sit in the garden at Andrea's sipping coffee and visiting, I don't really look at individual plants, I just feel composed and comfortable surrounded by plants and pots and seeing the whole. 

When I have coffee in my own garden each morning I look at each plant, each gap, the status of things yet to grow full, the adjustments to make, the tasks to plan.

There are times when that kind of constant assessment is necessary, but when I am in my yard on a quiet cool morning I just want to sense the whole. I wish I could.

I'm often pleased with what I observe in my garden, it's not all anxiety producing or disappointing. But even the pleasurable views and lovely sights are focused on individual plants.

I guess it's the difference between her mature, settled garden and my garden becoming what I want. Will maturity change how I experience it?

Marrubium Among the Rocks

Phillip Oliver

This blogger did a nice write up of marrubium -- silver edged horehoundand. The photo is from the site. 

I tried growing this ground cover several times and it didn't take, but that was poor siting I think. The several I planted out in the front triangle never grew and are mostly gone now.

But I think I might try again by planting a few tucked into and spilling over the stones of the moss rock border. What a nice silver blue that will add to the Coral Reef sedums there and Angelina sedums I plan to add.

The Turkish speedwell and creeping sedums I put there this summer are struggling, although one or two survive.

Silver edged horehound wants very dry, gravelly conditions more suited to rock gardens and is only 8 to 10 inches wide. I had it in irrigated garden sites and was trying to get a spreading patch going.

I thought it was a bigger plant because I had seen large sweeps of it, but individually, a single mound tucked into the rock border should stay small.

So next spring I might get some and try adding just a few individually among the rocks. 

I love the foliage.

Front Portal Fixes

I did nothing this spring with the front of the house. 

No petunias in the urn, no geraniums in the low trough. I couldn't get to the nurseries to buy them and couldn't do simple planting while I was laid up with my foot.
 

And I just didn't want to fuss with anything in the front yard. It looks spare and bare, but that's okay for this year.

Now, at the end of summer I am mobile and I am fussing with what isn't working under the pine in front. So . . .

1. I put the metal roadrunner we got in Tucson under the pines -- something to look at out the slider door.

It isn't necessary to have anything there, but it is a focal point when looking out the front slider.

It's quite small in this spot, but the eye is drawn to its odd presence. No worries about pine needles or leaves filling a birdbath or swamping a plant or a container there.

And no expense to find a piece of garden decor or sculpture. This little bird just blends in and it was something I already had and that I treasure from our trip. Meep meep.

2. I took out all the failed ajuga at the corner. It came back a little this June, but was patchy and never bloomed. All spring it was a flat brown mat. There is irrigation and it did spread at one time, but it needs much more water than it gets.

I need to stop thinking about something colorful or flowery or upright to look at. So I planted Angelina sedum where the ajuga was, to bridge the awkwardly foreshortened metal edging near the pillar. The bright golden color is all I need, and it should spread out nicely.

This is a mock up of what I hope it spreads into. I left the little gaura there, which isn't doing anything and remains a four inch stub, but I'll hold off taking it out for now.

Angelina sedum is dry loving but still needs irrigation and hose water, not what the ajugas need, though.

My Angelina sedum in Connecticut spread like crazy from one cutting. I never liked the yellow flowers and they needed to be cut back which was tedious for how much I had, but they were easy to grow and made a nice colorful mat that looked good when it turned bronzy in winter.

These modifications are subtle, nothing showy or big, nothing that says "garden". Just some softening of the edges and dry needle carpet at the front portal.

Finally Some Rain

We were gone for a week in California and while we were away it rained! After a whole summer with only half an inch total, we got a third of an inch of rain. It was much appreciated, since I had not arranged to have the big pot of bush clematis watered or the rose on the patio either. 
 

And how glorious to come home to this sight:

Even the birdbath had a little bit of clean water in it. The plants that are not near emitters got watered and while much of the garden still looks stressed from our hot dry summer, this bit of rain while we were gone was so helpful.

Late August Blooms

Just as we leave tomorrow for a week in California -- my first trip since January -- some things are blooming in the garden, despite the constant hot afternoons and the lack of any rain.

The Sapphire Indigo bush clematis has rallied remarkably since I fertilized it weeks ago and put the taller tuteur in the pot for more structure. It has deep purple blooms all over, about to open fully. 

The spindly Mexican sage is also getting ready to open up with bright scarlet flowers. It's still a small little plant and only now blooming late in the season, but it's coming along.

I won't get to see either of these bloomers. We'll be gone a week, there is no rain forecast and they'll have to get through six hot sunny afternoons. 

There's irrigation near the sage, but it doesn't do much. 

The other pretty bloomer now late in August is the Rose of Sharon. It's much better looking than last year. 

Still not densely flowered, but nice enough.

I don't have anyone coming to water the pots. I'll bring inside the smaller containers I want to keep, but the few potted annuals I have will get tossed. 

It's late in the year and I won't replace them. The tickseed in the white bowl will go, and I'll plant a nice big blue lobelia there next year, or maybe zinnias, or both.

But Angelina sedums awaiting planting and the potted red salvia and other things will spend the week in the bathtub. The two biggest pots, the bush clematis and the pink knockout rose, will be unwatered. I'll soak both the morning we leave.

And maybe it will rain while we are gone? 😎

The Far Back Fence

I removed the struggling Major Wheeler honeysuckle from the back fence. 

I cut the woody twining stems off the trellis, but did not dig up the rootball. I'll do that in the winter when the ground is softer and the sumac below it is bare.

It was lovely at first but it was in much too deep shade all day and the blooms and vigor declined. There were only a few flowers this year at the very top and it looked like nothing.

But I did love the flowers when it was doing well. How I would love to grow Major Wheeler somewhere else. But where? It needs sun to flower well, but can take some shade.

I originally put it below the railroad ties at the back fence because it was advertised to grow in some shade, but it turns out it needs more sun than it was getting.

And I originally wanted it to be a bright focal point at the far end of the yard. The Gro-Low sumac there is doing well and has spread out but it adds to the dark void of that narrow view as the eye is drawn down the yard past the deck to the shadows.

The sumac fills the space at a low level against the fence, and the neighbor's crabapple adds height above the fence. But the vine at the top of the trellis was doing nothing.

The wood trellis actually looks nice on its own with nothing growing on it.

So I won't try to plant anything else on it. I'll leave it bare, but I did arrange a few of the nearby arching sumac branches onto the lower half of it. The sumac's stems are long and almost vine-like because it grows in shade, but it does look healthy enough and it transitions from low shrub up into the trellis.

I also put the empty turquoise blue pot at the base of the trellis. It's too much of a bright accent by itself, but tucked into the sumac's surrounding branches, it's fine. It's something. I won't plant anything in it.

The emitter that watered the honeysuckle will have to be crimped off next winter. There is one under the sumac which will remain. 

The sumac branches placed on the trellis look a little awkward now, I hope they'll fill out and grow more gracefully into place as they get a little more sun at that level. Or I can move them back down to arch over the shrub.

Now the view across the deck and into the far end of the yard is quiet, just greenery and fence. The composition actually features the neighbor's tree in the distance over the fence. 

It's enough.