A Wandering Look

Around



At Lilies



Yarrow, Spirea and Lilies



Shrooms



Rudbeckia



Roses



Roadside vegetables looking good



The Show Stopper Eremurus



Taking on its namesake, Foxtail Lily



Miscanthus and Ox-Eye Daisy



Hollyhocks and friends



Closeup of the Foxtail



Frances do you recognise this Daylily?



The current view from my front porch
.


A wall gains footing



And grows



And grows



Despite the rain that now misses us.
The monsoon has ended.



And there is more opportunity to wander.

Things Fall Out Of The Ground

Random lilies are popping up all around. Were they planted or did they self sow? Much of what grows here is a mystery as to source. The shrubs are a bit easier to recall. A few form suckering clumps and there can be a few random seedlings. These are easy to place to a source.



Some sources of shrubs can be far from the mountain. Client #1 has been on a thinning binge in her garden. She likes the just planted look and does not like plants that touch or merge. Even different forms of Hosta must show a separation between plants.

So I was in there thinning and discovered that the Aesculus parviflora, Bottlebrush Buckeye, had tons of rooted branches that had been covered in mulch over the years. They needed to come out. It was in full bloom and looking fabulous. I'm sure I could find a nice home for some of the rooted stem cuttings.



This native Buckeye is a fairly large multi-stemmed shrub with palmately compound leaves that turn golden yellow in the fall. The mid-summer bloom is very showy.



So I planted six of them. Four went along my lower property line as the beginning of a property and garden definition screening. Three of those are in the shade and one in full sun. Another went smack dab in front of the cozy cabin in the middle of the future planting bed. If it is happy there it could fill 80% of this bed in time. You can see it just to the right and behind the rock.

I wanted some height and substance there to help connect the cabin to the ground. Some choice small conifers in the foreground for winter interest and a few select perennials will help fill out the bed.



Many things in the garden are ephemeral and could be used as filler while the permanent shrubs grow and claim space. Like this pole bean who is being stingy with setting beans. Next year I may forgo the pretty flowers and aim for a large yield.



The wildflowers have no trouble filling space temporarily and I get better and better at distinguishing who is who at younger stages.



Occasionally even a bulb has been known to fall out of the ground when planting something new. Sometimes you can tell what a simple naked bulb is by its shape and color.



There can be advantages to being a peasant gardener.

Sunset Series

It got to late to start a post on another subject,



Aesculus parviflora.



I zoomed through the sky



And could not decide



Which it should be.

New Well Cleanup Therapy

I'll start with something pretty because there is not a whole lot of that in the following tale. This is about beginnings, about what could be if I plant well.



A rough re-grading around the new well head was done and the Mugo Pine replanted. I was a little concerned that the pine may have to go elsewhere, that there would not be enough room anymore. The pine is a good six plus feet away. Even at maturity that should leave plenty of room to access the well head.

The pine was not something I wanted to leave out of the ground for any length of time, but that is all I can do for now. The water and electric lines for the pump need to be connected and trenched from here. I hope they can finish the work without mangling the Mugo.



The front half of the well head bed got a little stomped in the process. That was tidied. All the small Sedum 'Lidakense' clumps that had been dug were replanted in a more forward location. My blogger icon got knocked down. I stacked him back up again, but I don't know how much longer he will be around. I want something more substantial one day.



Big clumps of daylilies and Dwarf Crested Iris wait in the shade of the trees. And drat, there was a fat Foxglove tucked into the woods that I forgot about that still needs to be replanted. It can can be replanted elsewhere. Who knows when they will be back to finish the well.



My own private lava flow. All kind slime poured down the drainage during the drilling of the well. This looks like it could have cement like tendencies.



With the repair work done that could be done and more destruction to follow, garden therapy that looks to the future is the perfect way to move into a another realm of mind. It just so happened I had buckets filled with plants from a visit to Fairegarden the previous day.

Frances loaded me up with:
Baptisia
Anemone
New England Aster
White Astilbe
Dianthus
Sedum cuttings
Daylily and
Louisiana Iris

(Also gifts from the gravel)
Verbena bonariensis
Penstemon 'Husker Red' and
Muhly Grass

She wonders why I kept saying no to more plants, no more, none of that.

I like to make an attempt to plant the right plant in the right place the first time. My baby garden needless to say is not a prepped, civilized, suburban yard. It is a wild forest. Knowing the basic flow of the land, future paths and intended garden spaces I can make informed choices about where to plant things.

I just have to clear a hole in the wild first. Here are a couple of the six Babtisia that were planted on the sunny slope behind the roadside vegetable garden.



Then if I can get to it, I need to mulch with wood chips to keep the wild at bay and give the new plants a fighting chance at some sunlight. Things can be swallowed up quickly this time of year.

These white astilbe will light the entrance to a path through the forest trees.



The new kind New England Aster were planted on the telephone pole slope. Their cheery purple and rosy pink will combine nicely with the yellow of Stella D'Oro and the red and pink of the Knockout Roses. Not. I think Stella will need to be moved on day. Once the aster blooms and set seed, they can be spread to the upper sunny utility meadow or wander where they will.



The daylilies joined another group on the slope below the garden access road. This slope has the beginnings of mulch and the thick clumps of grass that was seeded to help hold the hill is being pulled as I go.



The Louisiana Iris 'Black Gamecock', I think she said, joined the previous yellow ones Frances had sent me in the mail. The women is very generous.



Dianthus and sedum went on the dry sunny hillside below the cabin and wall #1 where another grouping of dianthus can be seen as the grey haze in the background.



Madame Stappers was feeling lonely and needed some summer time company. The anemones were planted next to her the following day.



It felt good to plant all these gifts and continue to make progress on the baby garden because more destruction is coming.

The water and electric lines for the well pump have to be trenched on the left side of the drive all the way down there. The main electric line will also have to be trenched from the pole down to the cabin.



It's a long way up to the road side of that tree line on the right.



But the vegetable garden was spared and I am grateful for that.



It is the garden that gives me the most pleasure right now because it is the most organized and has the most controlled surround of colorful wildness.

The Life I lead

Of a gardener
Is naturally filled

Each moment of sunlight
Productive
If only in observation



I finish as the sun slips away
The timing is perfect

Faire Heat

I had read a headline online, "Record Heat Grips Southern States" and heard some grumbling from Florida, but that was not going to deter me from leaving the cool mountain highlands for a trip down to the low valleys of Tennessee. I put on shorts for the first time of the season, packed a cooler with liquids and made good on a rendezvous with the sweet and generous Frances of Fairegarden, Tennessee.

It was indeed sunny and warm. Not the best light for picture taking of gardens or of a welcoming front entrance. Not that I entered this way as a guest. Instead I was taken round back and through the corridor of the "revenge on the tall people" and the gardener's rear entrance.



Of course I had to admire the stacked rock facade. Just look at all those uniform flat rocks. Straight edged rocks, what a concept.



The heat was on and the garden was bursting with life. When I first stepped out of my truck, I was greeted by the sweet fragrance of dozens of blooming lilies.



This deep port red one in the black garden caught my eye.



What is this? A purple aster blooming in the summer. Frances told me it was a New England Aster and it would re-bloom in the fall. Some of that would be nice in the sunny utility meadows. It does not look like any of our fall blooming blue asters or what I call the New England Aster here. Aster confusion is typical.



A nice cool spot in the shade of the tall pines with 'Annabelle' hydrangeas in full bloom.



Even the juxtaposition of the fiery daylilies against the cool white couldn't break up the shady cool and calm feeling in this corner.



At the end of a day that passed rather quickly, we gabbed quite a bit about many important things, we posed and hoped for the best. I had gotten a bit sweaty gathering and unloading a few things.


(Photo by the Financier)

Back home on the cool mountain top, a well had apparently been drilled as deep as it needed to go. The next disturbing process is to run the water and electric lines all the way down to the cabin.



Buckets filled with all kind of choice plants were also brought back to the cool high mountains. Fairegarden is a true smorgasbord and the head gardener generous to a fault.



More on them later, since I spent the day planting most of them and starting the repair and cleanup of the flower bed the new well took out.

Time Heals All Wounds

When I arrived on this mountain top in June of 2007, I did not even know this rickety old fence was there. It was buried in a tangle of blackberries, vetch and Clematis virginiana. I attacked the mess with a machete and sprayed the regrowth with an herbicide. Then I covered the ground with a thick layer of wood chips and contemplated what to plant in the front bed that would grace my entry.

Two years later with no budget, a climate zone with a real winter and plenty of other things to do, this bed is getting closer to a completed thought.



The Miscanthus sinensis is multiplying. It has been divided so many times I doubt I have seen it reach its full height.



The Chicory, Chicorum intybus, a totally common roadside weed has grown big and is blooming. I thought a common roadside weed would be perfect for this bed.



The other side of my driveway is where I do my share cropping. The land will not be mine and the wildflower meadow was staying. Too sharp of a contrast between the two sides in the landscape design would be unsettling.

One day I would like to get a new split rail fence. Something just a tad more milled that could be fastened without old shoe strings and loose baling wire. I think that would give a nice civilizing effect to the intended wildness.



All was moving along smoothly in a garden area that was not subject to any disturbance from cabin construction.

Until today.



My well is not going to be anywhere near where we wanted it to go.



Suffice it to say there are lots of regulations involving setbacks and a well drilling rig that needs to find level in order to drill.

Half of one flower bed was dug up and set off to the side.



The roadside vegetable garden was spared at least.



That is where the well drilling inspector man drew the backup drilling site in case the settled upon choice would not work. It did not work because that part of the driveway was to narrow and to steep for the rig to set up.

In a few days I can replant the flower bed around the new well head. I would not be able to salvage this year's vegetables from that kind of disturbance.

Long Gone

It seems like ages ago that a bare brown mountain top was covered with daffodils. It is a new time. Life has moved on.



A temporary floral display occupies the front bed out by the scenic highway. The final design for this bed does include the Eremurus. Much of the rest is filler while I slowly grow and divide a main element, Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light'.

One of the other main players, Chicories are huge and just now blooming. They haven't been up to being photographed because they are morning bloomers, closing by mid-day and because the monsoon thunderstorms have been attempting to crush them to the ground. I can grow me some gigantic weeds. They are huge. Today I staked them up before their tremendous size caused the stems to break.

An unknown native sedge and an Iron Weed, Vernonia noveboracensis will add to the final scene, while Ox-Eye Daisies, Leucanthemum vulgare wander this bed with some editing.

At best even my final design destination is temporary, so long as I keep any intruders at bay.



The growing rock walls have begun to take on a life of their own. I have been so busy building them, I am not sure I have been sufficiently in awe of the huge physical impact they have.

Not a one of them is completely finished. I still want to do proper cap stones on the first wall, the one below and in front of the columns. I can also see a huge difference in quality between it and the second unfinished wall behind the columns. Maybe I need to tear down the first one and start over.



But I have moved on to two other walls needed for the sewer line. These are the current priority project.



They are almost half way done.



I look at these walls and cement columns and imagine them when the cozy cabin has decomposed and is long gone. How would they be interpreted by a distant observer? I know this space will be used as an open air patio. Would it be obvious a thousand years from now?



A destination is envisioned for a front flower bed. I gently steer it there.



A monolithic stone formation writhes itself free of the soil's grip. It uses me as the midwife as it is born into life. It's power has already grown stronger than me and now I stand in awe.



The wall is not near done with me. Another wing is waiting to be born along the left side of the path up to the garden access drive. A form of symmetry, a sense of balance is called for in a monumental earth work. I am its servant.



Next year, the Eremurus will be even bigger I hope. The temporary flowers will be gone and a waving bed of variegated Miscanthus grass with sky blue Chicory flowers drifting over head will be the prelude to a roadside vegetable garden surrounded by a magic carpet of wildflowers.



And most likely I will be working on a dry stack stone wall.

Growing

It has turned warm and I have been hot. This happens when I go down to town to work for the clients. It is now the oddest sensation. I have acclimated to northern yankee blood at this elevation. I used to freeze when the temperature would dip below 70. Now I bake when the temperature goes above 75.

The warm has kicked the roadside vegetable garden into visible growth and the beginnings of heavy production.



The yellow squash and the one zucchini that some how became four because I couldn't bare to throw away good plants are making squash.



The corn is up and putting on some size. Tomatoes are setting. Pole beans are blooming. Potatoes are doing their thing under ground. Magda squash, I think are fruiting and Hubbard squash is vining. Carrot tops are growing big. The peppers wait for extended warmth I guess. They are always the last to to get going.



We have been eating lettuce, sugar snap peas and a few other salad greens. We're having turnips for lunch tomorrow. I should check on the beets.

All is not well in the roadside vegetable garden though. The radish always turn bad fast and it seems you only manage to get a few to eat. I think I am tired of wasting space on them. The spinach has been troublesome two years in a row now. I get poor germination and then they just disappear. Some critter must like them. I'm lucky to get just a couple of plants. The cantaloupe also have a failure to thrive. Between the slugs, rolly pollies, grasshoppers and initial cool temperatures they sulk or get eaten up.

The third seeding of cucumbers is finally making it past the seedling stage. I put styrofoam cups around them to keep the grasshoppers, slugs and rolly pollies away. The grasshoppers have been a true menace this year.

I tried using diatomaceous earth for insect control, but the monsoon kept washing it away. I resorted to slug bait and that helped, but it too would dissolve in the wet soil and mega downpours from thunderstorms. At some point I may need to invest in row covers and check out the biocontrol, Semaspore Bait (Nosema locustae) for the locust.

We won't be lacking for produce though, even with these irritants.



Down at the cozy cabin two more walls grow from the earth. A determined 80 year old building contractor wants to build him a wall. Tomorrow I will be there to tote the blocks closer to their final resting place.

It's not bad looking and will blend in if not fade away pretty well.



The greater expanse and visual exposure of the dry stack stone walls will over power it I hope. What you see of the block wall now is just the beginning. It will rise to six blocks high next to the cabin.

I work on the lower stone wall, not wanting to rush it even though it is needed to help hold the footing for the wall above. The section of the slope with the dry stacked stone wall is the area that needed the most fill.



A summer garden grows over the mountain top. A self seeded native Hydrangea arborescens blooms in the sunny utility meadow.



Yarrow, Achillea millefolium makes a nice stand in one location. More often it scatters itself about in small clusters.



A late iris blooms. I'm too lazy at the moment to try and determine its type and or name. It's pretty. That is all that matters to Bulbarella.



Rambling shrub roses dot the wild cultivated garden.



Mostly in pinks and reds.



The lilies are here. There is a stinking suspicion that they have reverted to some standard color from the pretty picture in the catalog. Where did that blah washed out pink thing come from?



This one is very red.



And so was tonight's sunset.



From atop a cool mountain where it isn't quite as hot.

The Object Is

1. Connect the sewer line to the turd box.
2. Have steps come from the back stoop to the driveway side of the cabin without having to step over the sewer line.
3. Have access down to the basement patio where beverages and light refreshments can be served or maybe even a candle light supper.
4. Provide for drainage around and away from the cabin.

Sounds simple enough.



5. Make it pretty.



The store bought block wall adds another architectural element to the dry stack stone walls and the cement columns. My design senses are supposed to be offended I think, but these blocks look like they will blend just fine. Maybe I am just too tired to care. I just want to build the walls and be done with it.



A terrace will be created by the lower dry stack stone wall and this will make a planting bed that can be used to further screen the store bought block wall.

The first course of stone and gravel has been laid for the lower wall. The interior of these walls are first filled with medium sized stone and then the gravel is packed in around them. This will keep me busy for a few days.



I'll have plenty of time to ponder what to plant in this new bed. It is on the north side of the house, but still gets a fair amount of filtered and dappled light.



For now I can enjoy the Eremurus, blooming out by the road.

Me And My Walls

If this was the trench for the main sewer line coming out of the cozy cabin, my life would be so easy. But it's not. That is the trench for a drain line that will collect water that falls off of the roof and a bit off the drive and take it down the hill.



The main sewer line has to go into the turd box at the end farthest from the cabin, the blue circle thing in the left foreground. It turns out my turd box was not to high after all. There is enough of a drop to have gravity slide things on in there. The problem was my sewer line would be suspended in the air for a good part of the run to the turd box. Not good at all.



The solution is a store bought, dry stack, block retaining wall that will allow me to raise the grade of the soil and bury my sewer line like a normal sewer line. It's just on this slope one wall wasn't enough. In order to be able to get down to the basement patio from the back kitchen door a bit more terracing will be needed.

The footings for two retaining walls and the trench for one drain line are being cut into the slope.



I am practiced at this now. The drain line is in and buried below the footings of both walls. The packed gravel base for the lower wall is done. Landscape fabric covers the slope to prevent soil from moving into the wall.

The lower, shorter in length wall will be another dry stacked wall of the native rock podge stones found and gathered on site.



The upper wall will be the store bought block with a rough textured face and in a color close to the dirt and the native stones. It will run all the way to the inlet of the turd box and step down from six blocks high at the back steps to three at the far end.

I bet the store bought block wall will go up pretty fast. I won't have to play with the blocks and make them fit like an intricate zen puzzle. They just stack a set way.



But the lower dry stack wall made from the rock podge of stones found on site needs to reach a certain height first so that I can safely compact the base for the footing of the store bought block wall. I will need to fetch plenty more stone from hither and yon.



And when all them new walls is done, I can bury my sewer line for its journey to the turd box and build the steps off the back stoop and whatever kind stairs and steps that will be needed to get to the basement patio.

This new wing of walls will be balanced out on the front of the cabin. I decided a while back I will be needing another retaining wall for what will be the garden bed off of the front porch. I may need to start digging more holes so I can find more rocks.

Maybe one day we will be ready for the plumbing, mechanical and recheck of the electrical inspection that will allow the process of insulation and dry wall to commence. Of course now that both porch roofs are done I can continue with the siding. It would be nice to get that done. Then I could paint the cozy cabin.

Summer Blooms Begin

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day is here once again. It keeps sneaking up on me, but then my life is not very regimented by the calender or the day of the week. I just barely manage to exist within the confines of hours.

The lull after the main rhododendron show is ending as a new wave of summer bloom gathers momentum.

This dwarf azalea of unknownness might be off on its bloom time or it might not. I saw another dwarf, double pink azalea with a few blooms. In a garden that often has one of everything you can't really know. The bloom times of the azaleas, rhododendrons and kalmias are spread over a significant time frame. The native rhododendrons still have not bloomed.

Like I have been doing with the larger shrubs, I unbury these tiny azaleas when I find them. That extra bit of sunlight during the summer and less smothering competition is sure to help their vigor and survival.



A new iris is blooming. It was suggested this could be a Japanese Roof Iris, Iris tectorum. I think it may be the Japanese Water Iris, Iris ensata. And another iris variety is loaded with buds and set to bloom. Even the one of every kind iris have bloom times spread over a significant time frame.



The first of the wild summer bloomers, the Ox-Eye Daisy, Leucanthemum vulgare that line my driveway are showing their cheery faces.



In several beds are the Campanula medium, Canterbury Bells, a biennial grown from seed that is now on its own. I'm sorry but waiting two years for a flower that blooms once is not on my top ten list. Seed yourself from now on or be gone.



They are making a nice temporary filler in the front bed. If you click on the picture to enlarge it you can see two of the Miscanthus grass I recently divided and transplanted on both sides of the Hollyhock, another biennial, and the Campanula. The idea is to fill this front bed with Miscanthus and Chicory as the main players with a few supporting actors like Echinops bannaticus 'Blue Glow' and the Eremurus which has come back twice as big as last year. One pot of Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light' is now eight plants.



The roadside vegetable garden is getting its summer surround of wildflower color. More and more cars are driving very very slowly as they pass by.



The Eremurus, Foxtail Lily just thrill me. There was some concern they might not like it here or would do alternate year blooming. But they have doubled in size and sent up more flower spikes than last year.



Those are the blooms I managed to capture in pixels for June's Bloom Day. There are more things blooming of course. There are quite a few roses scattered hither and yon. The first of the Asiatic lilies and daylilies have begun. I've just been busy being pulled in several different directions.

So if you still need a bloom fix head over to the big time dealer, Carol of May Dreams Gardens. She can hook you up.

Postcards From Montana

The resident gardeners have returned from their trip out west.





Dodecatheon, Shooting Star



Xerophyllum tenax, Bear Grass



Bison bison, Buffalo





Photos by JRC NC

The Changing Sky

At the end of a long sunny day the sky turned dark. A thunderstorm and rain was on the horizon.



That was just fine with me. I had divided and transplanted some Miscanthus in my front bed this morning and a little rain would do it some good, even though the soil was plenty moist.



And the front porch roof was finally done. Sorta. The ridgecaps and flashing were on, but I was short four screws. Typical. The glue had held perfectly. Let it rain on my porch roof.



But the thunderstorm missed and the sun came out.



The monsoon is easing a bit.

Sticky Glue

Bit by bit things planted a while back and maybe even recently are being mulched with wood chips. Oenothera berlandieri 'Siskiyou' and Clematis stans look so much happier this way. They actually show up better once I weed around them and mulch.

Each bit of gardening I get done and each plant that survives another winter sinks my own roots deeper into place.



A recent arrival from Frances at Faire Garden is this yellow Louisiana Iris. It has bloomed its first year. Now it must survive the next winter.



The long drawn out process of the front porch roof may be coming to an end. Please!

When I started screwing the ridge caps on, the screws did not contact the wood framing and were showing under the roof. If only we had used 2 x 6's instead of 2 x4's for the ridge line framing. So I had to go back and cut pieces of 2 x 2 and add them to the framing. Cut, sand, prime and paint.

These little additions are in a mighty awkward spot to attach them with nails or screws, so I had to use glue. Glue that said do not use on treated surfaces, like paint. Great. Do not use if rain is expected within 24 hours. We're having a monsoon for heaven's sake. Under the metal roof they were not directly rained on at least. It was above 57 degrees, the glues minimum operating temperature and this was one of the few glues that had instant grab and did not require clamping the pieces together.

Pray for the glue. When I go to screw the ridge caps on tomorrow, I will find out if these hold as a screw is being drilled into them from above.



The lupines were even showier their second year in the ground.



There will be plenty of seed to gather or ignore. I am finding in other gardens that they manage to seed themselves. A little help just increases their numbers faster. Perhaps the lupine would be an easier for me, Lurie Garden river of blue.



Bit by bit a garden grows. A cabin slowly, oh so slowly, inches towards completion.



With each passing day.

Garfield Park Conservatory

The Final Fling

Just a short walk from the hotel we got on the green line to Harlem. Who knew there was a Harlem in Chicago or even where Harlem was? The green line was supposed to drop us off right at the conservatory. That was all we needed to know and with a little help from the amused young lady in the booth, how to pay for the ride in their automated ticket machines.



We got off the train at Garfield Park and headed into the big green park space on the left instead of the cityscape and buildings on the right looking for glass houses.

Could this be the conservatory? I've never seen one with a gold dome and brick walls. Maybe it is the entrance building.



Wow what an entrance. But it was under construction and not open. The name said it was the Field House. Maybe the glass houses are behind it. Nope. Not a glass house to be seen as far as the eye can see. A map? Nope. Aha a sign that says conservatory. Pointing the way we had just come. Well the Field House was worth the detour. There sure aren't any buildings like this in the parks on Maui.



Now at our destination, I admired the fountain at the front entry. I liked the juxtaposition of the formal rectangular stone basin filled with the more natural stone in the pond. It did have one major defect. The water jets made it sound like a hot tub - not my idea of a soothing garden sound. I suppose on a cold winter day in Chicago that might be a pleasing sound.



Three large Hibiscus kauaiensis were one of the first things I saw coming into the conservatory. Twenty years in Hawaii and I doubt I ever saw one of these endangered hibiscus. A little search reveals no such hibiscus exits. It must be Hibiscus kokio subsp. kokio.

I was growing and propagating Hibiscus kokio subsp. saintjohnianus for a while before I left.



Nice bromeliads.



The Garfield Park Conservatory like Lincoln Park had a house dedicated solely to ferns and cycads, the forest primeval.



And ponds filled with water lilies .



Still waters reflect glass roofs even though they are shallow.



And then there was Chihuly. Now that is mighty impressive and such a fitting work for the water garden.





After the wet came the desert house, filled with succulents in a huge array of shapes, sizes and styles.



This Sanchezia nobilis in the children's garden house had leaves and flowers fully twice the size of the Sanchezia speciosa I used to grow.



This was another mighty fine conservatory impeccably maintained and with an interesting and diverse collection. I am just glad I can walk through these things without feeling like I am being stabbed in the heart.



But wait there is more. Step out through a side door and you enter the Monet garden.

Is this what a peony is really supposed to look like? I'm not sure I am liking the fried egg look, but damn that is a lot of flowers on that peony.



The perennial beds were laid out in a formal style and included espaliered fruit trees and wisteria trained as standards. You can see Diane, a local Chicago garden blogger, of The Garden of Live Flowers. She accompanied my friend Ani from Michigan and me on several of the tours. It was nice to be able to rely on a local when needed.



The glass house makes for an interesting background for roses and Chionanthus.



Very strange cabbage.



And out the back door was another garden in the New American style of landscaping.



Full, full sun on flat, flat ground. I don't have any of that.



It doesn't mean I can't borrow some concepts. I liked the blue glass that was sprinkled in the gravel path too.



I didn't see it until I turned to go back in, but this back wall of the conservatory was really cool. Nice wall color.



The Garfield Park Conservatory is an incredible asset to Chicago. Truly an enjoyable horticultural treasure.

Now it is time to go. This was the final garden tour of Chicago Spring Fling. Back to the green line.



Thank you to each and every one of the Chicago Garden bloggers who organized and set up such a fantastic weekend of enjoyable company and wonderful gardens to visit. You did a great job.

The Missing Sky

The monsoon does not make for the most colorful of sunsets. A few have slipped in on mostly sunny days if the torrential afternoon downpours from thunderstorms have passed in time.



From some space and time distortion,



The sun has slid so far north without a daily visual for verification that it has moved completely out of the view and behind the trees on the other side.



The trees themselves are closing in the narrow gap from what must be a spring of mega wet growth.



A monsoon sunset offers only a faint pink glow.

Kalmia

Since my return from Chicago, it hasn't felt like there has been a moment of puttering aimlessly or a chance to just stroll the gardens with no purpose except to stroll. There has been much work to do for a growing list of clients, wood chips to spread, a vegetable garden to tend, bits of plumbing work being done, trim boards for beneath the front porch roof being painted (the screws were showing on my ridge caps) and lots and lots of editing. Garden tours can turn into hard core editing from the first moment.

I say it hasn't felt like there has been any puttering. The truth is there is always plenty. I spend an inordinate amount of time in the vegetable garden puttering. It gives me comfort.

These pictures were taken a couple of days ago at the end of a rainy misty day when it was a bit wet for heavy editing. Still, sometimes it might be nice if you could be a statue for a day.



The iris are finishing up. This new one was planted recently. I'll go for the Dutch iris 'Oriental Beauty'. The flower is nice, but the plant itself was a bit floppy and all the bloom stalks laid down on the ground. If I remember before it is too late, the yellow Louisiana Iris from Faire Garden were blooming and ready for their closeup.



One of the last of the bearded iris. The black iris was a no show this year.



The rhododendrons were done by the time I got back. The Mountain Laurels, Kalmia latifolia were stepping in to the void.



As is usual, there are several different colors to be found in the ridge top garden.





The peonies had a bad year. This is one of the few that reached its full splendor.



Early in the season the emerging peony stems were assaulted by caterpillars that burrowed into them and caused the tops to break off. Most of the bloom was lost. By the time it was noticed most of the damage had been done. Squishing the caterpillars was only revenge.



Next year we will have to keep a better watch on them.

More Fling

*With Flingers*

Some blog readers may be tired of posts on Chicago Spring Fling already. I would imagine that each of us may have unique readers who may not visit other garden blogs and they might appreciate the chance to see more of Chicago's charms.

Our second day of Fling began with a truly scrumptious lunch buffet at Andie's restaurant. We had skipped the morning tour of the Bayless garden. After lunch the bloggers wait for the tour bus to pick us up for the next stop on the itinerary.



A visit to the home of Carolyn Gail, one of the CSF organizers and fellow garden blogger at Sweet Home And Garden Chicago. We had come to her home in a historic Chicago neighborhood,



In search of the perfect pink peony.



In a small urban garden a formal statue can give the feeling of a grand estate.



Here Carol of May Dreams Gardens poses for the camera, smiling a joyful smile.



I loved her pond. It was simple and to the point in a square wood frame, yet still provided a nice focal point and great interest with the large koi and single waterlily. It looked eminently doable, more so than the expensive elaborate rock waterfall and pond affairs that look so enticing.



Another wonderful idea of Carolyn Gail's were these faux stained glass windows. After the bloggers left, her windows must have been covered in sticky fingerprints because no one could believe they were fake.



The next stop of the day was the Ginkgo Organic Gardens, an all volunteer community garden that donates all of its produce to a local food bank that caters to low income HIV positive people in the community.



There was a pesky rabbit living in the garden hence the cages around the raised beds. This is one of 68 community gardens assisted by a non-profit land trust in Chicago. NeighborSpace secures the land permanently and helps with bureaucratic issues like insurance and access to water among other things. They don't do rabbits it seems.



While not the prettiest of gardens, this garden impressed me the most. I even thought the space could have been better utilized. There was room for more raised beds. What impressed me so were the volunteers who for a chance to garden, socialize and get some fresh air would dedicate themselves to helping feed the less fortunate. Bad blogger did not get the names of the two young men who talked to us about this garden, but they were maybe thirty somethings, not retired folks with plenty of time on their hands. That was impressive.



Next up was the Lincoln Park Conservatory, a glass house filled with tropicals. Been there done that. I used to live in a perfect greenhouse climate.



The collection was quite impressive and well maintained and if I lived in Chicago I would be sure to visit the conservatories often or get a job in one.



One room was filled with orchids and bromeliads.



There is a picture of this orchid on Tropical Embellishments.



The Lincoln Park Zoo was right next door so we wandered in and kept going until it was time to head back to the tour bus. We saw the rear end of snoozing lions and this masked bear from South America.



The gorillas and chimps were inside even though it was a nice day out. He looks kind of sad and it was a little distressing to see him watching hundreds of people file past and look at him on display. Then I thought of the perhaps millions of essentially house bound humans confined to smaller spaces and without even a garden to go outside to. Maybe he doesn't have it all that bad.



This segment of the Chicago Spring Fling ends with the pink flamingos.



Uh oh. Now I am imagining a flock of pink flamingos in the roadside vegetable garden. At what point will I get to charge a dollar a car to passing tourists?

How A Garden Grows

The official drought better be over. The current monsoon has created a dense lushness. The trees look fuller. The wild under growth part of the wild cultivated garden is extra robust. The editing process is an ongoing ritual.

In the long run though, scenes like this are part luck and big heaping of deliberate patience.



The preference for my own baby garden is to spend a lot less time editing. The forest and its smaller inhabitants are a mighty foe. They assert their dominance. Also my baby garden is not starting from a place of suburban bulldozed subdivisions with a blank slate. The forest is here. It must be lived with.

I was very happy to see when I returned home my editing weapon of choice. A full load of fresh wood chips had been dumped on my driveway. Let the smothering mulch be spread.



After a long weekend touring fabulous gardens in Chicago, the one place here giving me a great degree of satisfaction was the vegetable garden. Looking around at the ornamental parts of the garden caused a sense of dread. It is going to take a lot of work to make a fabulous garden in the wild forest.



The vegetables had grown in the week I was gone. That was nice. At least those that hadn't been eaten by the slugs and the grasshopper plague. What was really giving me that sense of satisfaction though was the order and feeling of control I found in the vegetable garden. It is a garden I am in charge of, not the wild forest.

The wood chip mulch is what allows me to shift the balance of power.



There has even been another expansion in the vegetable garden. The next section east was sprayed a couple of weeks ago to kill what was growing there for a strawberry patch next spring. The decomposition of the wood chips between now and then should make for a nice planting soil come spring. If I can wait that long. Maybe I'll need more corn or potatoes and can borrow this space for the summer.



As I wander the wild cultivated garden there is no shortage of plants I see that would be perfectly at home in a more civilized place. A large drift of this native Goat's Beard, Aruncus dioicus would be fabulous.



This un-named, unknown, slightly buried shrub rose is different. Maybe I'll weed around it, mulch it and visit it where it lives. I don't really want a lot of roses in the civilized garden.



Sort of civilized anyway. I have the beginnings of my salvia for a huge swath that can flow down the hillside in a more naturalistic planting design like I just saw at the Lurie Garden in Chicago. That is pretty much what I already had in mind.



The thing is with the wood chip mulch I will have a much better chance of deciding who will be living on my hillside. The editing will be reduced by as much as 90%. I am seeing in my older mulched beds that some of the wild things will germinate on top as the mulch ages. Still, it seems to be restricted at this point to only a few species, far fewer than the whole gang of wild things that are possible.



The wood chip mulch can be refreshed over time. I just need to place a standing order with the tree trimmers that when they are in the area and need to dump a load of chips, I'm their man. In Hawaii I'd pay $85 bucks for a full load of chips. Here they are free.



So I can keep planting things like my first ever Japanese Maple in the baby garden that will be modestly civilized and mulch things when I have the chips.

I need an edge in this forest garden or I could spend my entire waking life weeding.



Sometimes I just want to wander around with the Spots taking pictures and enjoying things.

Around Millennium Park

A sculpture by Alexander Calder one block from the hotel we stayed at for Chicago Spring Fling which was within easy walking distance of Millennium Park.



Heading towards the park, the road dead ended right in front of the Art Institute of Chicago. Lucky us there was free admission after 5pm on the day we arrived.



The Lurie Garden speaks for itself.



A full plant list and tons of background information can be found at the link above if needed.



With a 10 million dollar endowment it is easier to have a focused and directed effort in a garden that is reminiscent of our own sunny utility easements.



What we can do here though is add salvias and baptisias.



A bit more amsonia would be good too.



Actually I think the key is just a whole lot more of everything coupled with dedicated weeding. Maybe one of those lottery tickets will pan out and I could spend the rest of my life weeding peacefully.



The Cloud Gate is another major draw in Millennium Park.



Your intrepid garden blogger and fellow traveler Aparina pose for a reflective portrait.



How cool is that. This sculpture totally draws the viewer in and becomes an interactive experience.



The garden at the Art Institute of Chicago was open on our second pass through this area and we wandered through for a look.



Black iris.



Sculpture placed in a large bed in the New American style of planting design.



And all that is just some of we saw in a couple of hours one afternoon in the big city.

Flame Azalea

The native Rhododendron calendulaceum is coming in to full bloom upon my arrival back to Monsoon World. Rain, rain and more rain continues. The main rhododendron show has finished. Now the native Kalmia latifolia and the native Rhododendron maximum will have their turn.



Hughes satellite internet is being particularly ornery about uploading photos and I have quite a few to share of the gardens in Chicago.



The Flame Azalea is filler during an intense green lull before the summer bloom kicks in and while Hughes begrudgingly allows photo uploads after several tries for each picture.

Up north I had high speed wireless on a lap top computer. Now it is back to the internet wilderness.

The Chicago Botanic Garden

is a true jewel of an institution. With more landscaped grounds than any person could possibly see in a day and the ever changing nature of a living display, this is a place that should be visited often by those who can. It was the first official stop of the garden bloggers Chicago Spring Fling.

A drift of bloom in the Heritage Garden's Asteraceae bed.



A field of poppies. Somewhere over there should be the Emerald City.



A bonsai collection was in the court yard of the Regenstein Center, the gardens education building.



A roaring well landscaped water fall separated the conifer collection and the Japanese garden.



I did enjoy the Japanese garden. My own new garden at home seems to be leaning naturally in this style direction some what. The high maintenance pruning and shaping of the trees and shrubs will never happen with me, but there are design elements worth mimicking.



A gate and wall frame the view into a garden.



The view into this garden from another vantage point. This garden was for viewing only and could not be entered.



The larger Japanese gardens were three islands connected by bridges.






Front garden at the Shoin Building, a recreation of a 17th-century samurai’s retreat.



The woodland gardens planted throughout were reminiscent of the high mountain forests of NC. Many of the same plant species we have here were growing as the understory plantings.



Though they were mass planted and heavily edited for better effect.



A veritable river of hosta flowed through one bed.



In sunnier locations, similar mass plantings created the same kind of plant drama. Amsonia blooms with a white crabapple (I think).



Alliums bloom before the daylilies and after the daffodils. Now where have I seen this planting strategy before?



The entrance to the fruit and vegetable gardens shows what the home gardener can do with edibles when they have too much time on their hands or a well paid staff.



For most of us though this portrait of the gardener, "The Sower" is more realistic. We tend to work alone and are lucky to be able to afford clothes.



People gawk at the roadside vegetable garden and Uncle Ernie enough as it is. They don't need to see anymore.

The Chicago Botanic Garden however is worth another look should the opportunity ever come again.

Buzz

Back home after a ten and a half hour drive from Michigan today,



My body is still buzzing a bit from the road trip. Things have grown and there is much to do. Tomorrow will be a fine day for that.

Zoom Zoom

It is time to go home. Thank you Aparina. Thank you Chicago.