Category Archives: Gardening

The Lenten Rose is usually either the latest or earliest bloomer in the garden – and sometimes it is both. The last few times I’ve been in Boston, they have been holding onto their blooms, even during the wintry conditions that recent snowstorms have brought. I distinctly remember seeing their nodding heads on a dark night in an Uber ride with Andy. They were ghostly then, and oddly reassuring in their seasonal defiance.

During our recent gathering with the kids, I found this stand of them on Braddock Park, blooming away as if it were spring again. Such resilience is admirable, especially when so much of winter is yet to come.

Our own Lenten rose has never done an end-of-the-season show. Our winters are much too harsh, often much too early, for the plant to be tricked into such a quirk. They will slumber under the last of the snow melts away in March or April, then gently rise, somewhat torn and tattered until I clean them up and make some judicious pruning decisions. They are the first sign that spring is returning, and so seeing them at any time of the year reminds me of hope.

Here we are in mid-November, and this little patch of succulent ground cover is still showing off a freshness of bright green that is positively spring-like in hue and attitude. How admirable to keep going at this late stage of the game, and what a lovely reminder that we should always see things through to the very end. The Virgo in me generally tends to complete any and all assignments, and I’m always impressed by those sports players who, despite the inevitability of a loss or second place finish, still see it through to the end instead of giving up. There is something powerful and profoundly poignant about finishing the course even when all is already lost. It speaks to honor and integrity, and it speaks volumes. 

Mornings are cool and wet now, often hazy with fog and dew. Any day now there will be a frost on the blades of grass. If it’s hard enough they will buckle and crumple. Fall gives its glory and takes it away overnight. Until that happens, though, the garden will throw out a few morning glory flowers, even if it’s overcast, and on those days they may last a little longer. 

This morning’s post is not about the flowers however, it’s about the unheralded leaves. These heart-shaped beauties go unnoticed or unremarked upon because the glory has always honored the blooms. Yet look at what we’ve been missing – leaves that are perfectly-shaped hearts – little valentines in mottled green, delicately lining the vines like some love-festooned garland. Seeing the garden in a new way, and discovering unnoticed bits of magic now that the bombast of summer has gone away, is a practice of the garden that never grows old or tiresome. It elicits a child-like wonder in me, and when you still have the capacity to be astounded all over again at the ripe age of 47, then there’s still hope for you, in a literal sense. Hope is there… for you… in the cool foggy mist of a morning when love appears tangled in a pretty vine. 

Recalling the early exuberance of summer, the garden has deigned to throw us a throwback in the form of these pretty blooms. One is a shasta daisy (if they still go by that moniker) and the other is a new Coreopsis that I thought died but came back to enchant. They are a reminder that there are still surprises left in the garden if you take the time to look. Usually by mid-September I pause in my daily walkabouts – either because of weather or general disappointment with the way the garden falls to shambles as it prepares for the winter slumber.

I need to get out there again, so I don’t miss these late-season blooms. For the shasta daisy, this is an unexpected second act, a smaller (in this case just a single blossom) cycle of blooming that comes with cooler nights and a better supply of rain. Not only is the amount of blooming less, the flowers themselves are smaller, and somehow more precious because of it. 

They also imbue the spent garden with a freshness and vibrancy that is hard to come by at such a late date. While the grasses have gone to seed and flopped over, and the cup plants have turned their stalks into curly walking sticks, and the ostrich ferns have long since browned and withered, these blooms appear and suddenly the garden is new again. A brief and welcome respite before the first hard frost comes to take it all away. 

Summer saves some of its sunniest surprises for the very end, such as these coreopsis blooms. Earlier in the season I’d planted a coreopsis – a tall variety native to this country – hoping it would be an easy fill for a tricky spot that wasn’t easily-accessible by hose. Then this summer hit – a summer with heat and sun and unrelenting rain-free glory – and even this hardy coreopsis saw fit to droop and wilt and, I assumed, expire. Its leaves fell off, and the spindly stems soon disappeared behind the ever-robust and pushy Northern sea oats. I forgot all about its promised yellow blooms. 

A few days ago, after a few storms had taken the killer heat away, I saw this pair of bright yellow blooms from across the yard. The coreopsis had survived after all, and was giving us this final show before the clock ticked to fall. Best of all, there were a few more buds – a promise that there was more beauty yet to unfold. 

On one of my weekly pilgrimages to Faddegon’s (it’s my happy, peaceful place at all times of the year, and is the only space I can visit some beloved Australian tree ferns, as I cannot for the life of me keep them alive in my home) I came upon these little coneflowers, bursting forth with cheery blooms and mirroring a sun-filled sky. They are still going strong even at this late summer date, and if I had any more room in the garden, I’d be planting them, but that sort of space-planning will have to take place next year. We are getting ready to put the gardens to sleep for another winter, and save for a few spring bulbs, our planting cycle is pretty much complete. 

Hybridizers have been working wonders with the Echinacea species, and these varieties are a pretty example of that. There are some that even come with a sweet fragrance – something I never thought I’d sniff when all we had was the fragrance-free ‘Magnus’ variety of my youth. The world has come a long way, and once in a while it’s for the better.

Despite its exquisite beauty and elegant grace, the appearance of the Japanese anemone blooms is always a sad sign that the end of summer is near. These blooms show up just as the garden is winding down for the season finale. While the cup plants are still going strong, their branches have been bent and twisted from storms and rain. Most of the ferns have turned the corner to their desiccation and browning. The hydrangeas are still making a fine show of it, as is our lone Rose of Sharon plant. Mostly, though, the garden has begun its preparations for the long slumber ahead. 

These Japanese anemones lend a last bit of freshness to the garden at a time when it’s badly needed. It gives a little extra jolt of inspiration and energy for all the tasks about to come into play – planting bulbs, protecting plants for winter, and the general upkeep that fills the last few weeks of summer. 

A visitor all abuzz lands on the central crown of a Helianthus flower, soaking in the sun and the pollen and nectar. It is the epitome of a summer scene, repeated countless times in our backyard as our cup plants and perennial sunflowers draw in the birds and bees and butterflies, all happily going about their pollinating business. 

These flowers are keeping the summer garden going strong, but I sense they are cresting, and the gradual decline in blooms and exuberance is about to begin, signaling the slow slide to fall. We’re not quite ready for that, as it’s been such a glorious summer, but we are also powerless against time. Our only recourse is to soak in every moment and be as present as possible when the sun is shining and the bees are buzzing. 

Enjoy your weekend, friend. 

The ubiquitous Rose-of-Sharon has been bursting into its mid-late-summer bloom all over town this past week. I’d resisted planting this because it is absolutely everywhere, but like the hosta and the hydrangea, it’s everywhere for a reason, and its blooming power and timing is key to such popularity. I’ve also found that anything coming into bloom at this late stage carries an excitement that would be lost in early June, when everything in the world seems to bloom. 

Along with those reasons, the flowers are quite beautiful, especially when viewed close-up. When you only have one bush in your yard, the mainstream white-washing of it goes by the wayside, and you are left only with its merits, and the reasons it was so popular in the first place. 

These last few weeks of heat have been hellacious for our hydrangeas, especially the pair in our front yard, which receive the bulk of the day’s sun, including mid-day when it’s at its strongest. I’ve been doing my best to water the ferns in the back, so these don’t get as much care in the heat, and they have finally shown me the results of such apathy. 

We haven’t had a stretch of sun and heat like this for a while, and I think the hydrangeas just aren’t used to it. They prefer something on the shady side as a general rule anyway, unless they can be given regular and consistent water, which has been sorely lacking (due to my own failings). 

An interesting note about hydrangeas – if you get to watering them early in the morning, it helps to soak their leaves and flowerheads too, as the plant takes in water through both. (A trick for cut hydrangeas that show signs of wilting – submerge them fully in a bucket of water, re-cut the stems, and wait for the magic to begin again). 

By this point in time, the hosta has been celebrated here enough, dispelling any notion of being ignored or under-appreciated as referenced in my lazy blog post title. Hey, this website has been around for almost twenty years, you try thinking of something new and exciting that hasn’t been said before. I’ll wait. 

Sorry, it’s Tuesday, and Tuesdays bring out the worst in me. They are so much worse than Mondays. On Monday we all expect things to suck, so when they are even semi-bearable they never seem quite as bad. We forget about Tuesdays, and how awful they can be, so they feel so much worse. I digress, and quite a bit, as we are supposed to be honoring the hosta. 

A number of our hostas were eaten in the early spring by our over-zealous rabbits just as they were poking through the spring soil, and at the worst possible time. (I’m told this is the stage that humans can consume their tender shoots too, but I would never do that to such a beautiful plant.) The bunnies took no heed of that kind of restraint, and promptly tore through several clumps before the poor plants could even get going. 

The hostas rebounded slightly, throwing out a few new spikes of leaves to unfurl, though many were marred by the rabbit’s bites. Slugs have also proven to be a problem in this hot and humid year, and I haven’t gotten around to buying a six-pack of beer to lure and bloat them with beer bellies. It’s simply been too hot, and sometimes you have to let nature take her course, trusting that she will protect what needs true protection. 

Gardening remains a ruthless game. The hosta knows this, and will not ask for more. 

Suzie gave us a big rectangular planter, designed for tomatoes, a few years back. We’d used it for tomatoes, and they did all right, but I wanted to try sugar snap peas, as the support cages seemed ideal for their tendrils and vines. I put in a six-pack of them early in spring, and after making some decent headway, they were promptly eaten t the dirt by our resident baby rabbits. 

Undeterred, they put out new growth immediately afterward, and I actually managed to get a single early pea pod – all sweetness and freshness and green goodness – before they were entirely felled by a midnight rabbit attack. 

Discouraged by this, I sowed a pack of cucumber seeds with a dash of annoyance, not really caring whether they made it. They broke through the dirt, took over where the peas left off, and just as I was beginning to get excited for cucumbers, the rabbit feasted on every single vine. 

Completely over it, I rolled the planter to the side of the patio and didn’t bother with Plan C. I forgot about it until I noticed a little green growth a few days later. There was one vine in the middle that sprang to life, deep inside the cage and perhaps out of reach of rabbit bites, and this vine rose and rose until a few bright yellow flowers hosted a couple of bees. It’s far too soon to count our cucumbers before they’ve even begun to hang, and chances are the rabbit will find a way in any night to eat it all up before any fruit forms, but I’m holding onto hope again, because that’s what summer is for. 

Summer is personified by the morning glory – echoes of sky and sunsets may be found in the shading of its blooms, open mostly in the morning and giving name to its fleeting magnificence. Those blooms have been hybridized to encompass all sorts of shades, though my heart will always below to the big, basic sky blue of the common variety. These smaller versions pack a more powerful color-punch, however, so they get much of the glory these days. 

I don’t plant them anymore as they tend to be weedy and prolific re-seeders, but I’ll usually let a few get by so we can see what the flowers look like. They also come into bloom when the rest of the garden is beginning its first exhale from the charge of summer, and will see it through to the fall.