Winter Stillness

On a weirdly warm New Year's Day, there's a stillness over the garden.  No loud colors, no scent, just simple shapes, the slanting light, and lots of tan and green.

I hadn't noticed how much saxifrage 'Whitehill' had filled in the gap between two pieces of tufa this year.  It's always done so well for us that I kind of take it for granted.

Saxifrage longifolia has also thrived on tufa in a trough.  I'm waiting for the neighboring ramonda to grow up and push back.

Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Lemon Twist' is getting kind of big to remain in the trough after 6+ years, a common problem with even slow-growing dwarf selections.  I love it this time of year for the light it brings so it will stay another year, at least.

Arum italicum always looks fresh in the winter.  Thanks goodness for this plant.

Dwarf nandina from a friend.  I transplanted it mid-November so fingers crossed it makes it through the winter.

Heuchera villosa always looks good.

My friend sent an image of her gorgeous winter arrangement in one of my troughs.

Thanks Hilary!

They're Under There Somewhere

I'm still not sure what a bomb cyclone is, but we got about 6" of snow today.

I'm happy to have the insulating snow cover on the troughs as we head into a series of nights around zero.

Mid-September Good Things

Summer seems to have moved on without the normal 6 weeks of heat with no rain.  It's been dry, but not terribly so, and relatively cool.  The garden and I are both relived that August is in the rearview mirror.

Above is a late hyacinth bean flowering on the fence.  I look forward to the burgundy bean pods every year, and diligently collect the huge seed for the next spring.

Ilex verticillata 'Red Sprite' is having a great year, despite being grown in a hypertufa planter.

 The kirengeshoma is opening on schedule.  Although the flowers don't last long, I love their puffy firmness.  They remind me of those orange circus peanut candies we had as kids.

Hardy begonia livens up the shady side of the garage.

Thanks to Matt Mattus's suggestion on his blog, I started using organza drawstring bags to protect the dahlia buds from the earwigs.  As ridiculous as it looks, the bags guarantee that I have pristine dahlias to cut for the kitchen table, and less kids freaking out about earwigs at the dinner table.

It's cooled off enough that I've been making hyptertufa troughs for the last three weeks.  These are only some of the planters curing under the deck.  I'll start opening them next week and will deliver the sold ones in October.

Be sure to let me know if you're in the north Jersey area and are interested in a trough.

Tiny Jewels Part 3

The trough above has been gorgeous for a couple weeks now.

On the front is saxifraga 'Whitehill' (r) and dianthus 'Inshriach Dazzler' (l)

On the side is erigeron scopuliunus. It's been more mat than flower this year.

On the front corner is saponaria x oliviana.

Next to that is silene uniflora.

Another trough has edraianthus graminifolius.  

dianthus ssp.

antennaria dioica rubra 

helianthemum 'Raspberry Ripple'

silene caroliniana

genista ssp. 'Boz Dag'

androsace sarmentosa

saponaria pumilo

helianthemum 'Wisley Primrose'

sisyrinchium angustifolium (blue-eyed grass)

dianthus myrtinevius

dianthus 'Tatra Fragrance'

erigeron leoimerus

With the cool, rainy weather, it's been a great spring to be a rock gardener.

More to come...

Stubborn Garage Gardening

I was looking forward to working in the garden and on planting my troughs on Saturday.  I had a bunch of new plants from Wrightman's Alpines that I was dying to get planted.  The weather did not cooperate.  It rained all day and was in the low 50s...not a gardening day by any normal definition.  Being of the stubborn sort, I moved into the garage with my trough planting.  Above is one my hypertufa troughs (30 x 16 x 12"H) on a dolly, partially filled with a mix of Turface MVP, fine granite, and some topsoil.  The mix is richer on the bottom of the trough and leaner (very little topsoil) nearer the plants.

Once I had the rocks arranged (and split thanks to my new carbide stone chisel), I started placing plants.

Yes, I know it looks like too many rocks.  It's not.  These tiny plants like the cool root run of crevices.

I removed most of the bark or whatever it is that these plants were grown in at the nursery.  This material is too rich for long-term cultivation of these plants.  Working their nearly-bare roots down into the crevices between the rocks, I added more grit, tamping it with a chopstick.

A top dressing of pea gravel and the trough was ready to roll out into the rain.

I promise I'll post a photo of the trough that doesn't look like it was taken in a cave.

Spring in the Troughs

Spring is starting with a bang in the group of troughs on the desk.  It's so nice to see some color after a long, mean March. (Yellow and purple = Minnesota Viking team colors, I know).

The purple is aubrieta x cultorum 'Joy'

What a sight for sore eyes.

The yellow in front of the pine is alyssum montanum 'Tekara'.

It hurts my retinas.

This shy little pasqueflower is pulsatilla pratenis 'Bohemia'.

Old reliable arabis alp. caucasica 'Snowball'.

And finally, though not in the troughs, is the annual blink-and-you-missed-it blooming of the bloodroot in the backyard.

January Gardening

We got 6" of snow yesterday, along with cold temps, ... cold at least for us anyway.

The troughs are under blankets of snow today.

Buckets protect some of the evergreens and a few temperamental alpines.

Just after dawn this morning.  

The tender crew looks out the window and dreams of warmer days, just like me.