Time To Get To Work

It has been a while since I have posted on this blog and it has been a while since I have been out in the garden! A combination of a sore knee and way too many responsibilities involving the holidays have kept me from even taking a peek at what is happening out there other than a quick glimpse as I hurry by on my way to doing what must be done at this time of year. Somehow I made it through the holidays (with the help of others) and now I am looking forward to taking advantage of this beautiful weather we are having and getting out and doing some sprucing up and a bit of winter planting (also with the help of others). As always we will have a number of visitors at the end of this month and I like the gardens in SJC to look good and it is a good excuse to add some winter annuals as long as the rains hold out. Although I am enjoying the sunny days, I know we are in need of the rain and I am hoping for a wet winter to flush out the soils and give the trees a good deep soaking, but maybe not until February?

Note: My sincere apologies to those of you that are suffering through blizzard conditions back east. We hope for the best for all of you that are being hit by this latest storm and I really didn't mean to rub it in!

A Little Down and Out

Just wanted to say so sorry for not keeping up with postings here. I've torn my meniscus in my knee and although it is not serious and should heal on its own, it is keeping me down much of the time and certainly out of the garden. Getting ready for the onslaught of family coming for the holidays takes up what little activity I can muster each day without irritating my joint so the garden is just coasting along under the supervision of my handy helpers. I did get some things done right before my injury and I hope to show them to you soon! Meanwhile I have to appreciate plants like this beautiful variegated flax that doesn't miss me in the least when I am not around.

Searching for Abutilon

Although I've been busy visiting nurseries trying to pick up some shrubs and perennials for spaces in need of reviving in SJC, I am not finding any abutilon.  They really are one of my favorite shrubs that, although considered a tropical plant, seem to bloom all fall and winter long and most of the spring. They are disease resistant and rarely are bothered by insects. Simple, easy and charming, no wonder the nurseries are sold out!

Varigated Succulents

I love green, all shades of green. I especially love it mixed with white. There is something so serene and yet uplifting about the soothing combination. Luckily I have the Moonlight Garden to allow me to surround myself in the peaceful mixture. It is not only the flowers that add to the color scheme, but variegated plants too. Here are two succulents that pick up on the theme with elegance and style.

The Raven

This is the time of year our garden sculpture by Gerard Basal Stripling looks especially apropos!

Pumping It Up

Although there are a lot of fall blooms in the Moonlight Garden right now, there is also a lot of bare dirt. With the holidays coming there are lots of guest showing up and it is nice to have everything looking good, even though late fall and early winter are not exactly peak bloom times. October it the best time for planting most plants in our area, so along with the cool season annuals that will hopefully bloom all winter, I am also putting in some perennials. Even though they are called perennial, many plants have a life span of a few years before they need to be replaced. That and hungry rabbits mean that some of my regular summer bloomers disappeared this year. I especially missed the pure white gaura that lends an airy feel to the beds for the warm months and was lucky enough to find some this trip.

Just One More

Boston Ivy

 Just a few more pops of fall color and then I am done.

Chrysanthemum

 After such a beautiful couple months of sunny days and warm weather, it is definitely starting to feel like autumn.

Chrysanthemum

Enough lollygagging around and time to get busy, or I will regret it next spring!

Autumn Details

Begonia

 Although I should be focusing on refurbishing the gardens this month, I get a bit distracted at the nurseries and bring home autumn colored potted plants to decorate the fringes of the house.

Ornamental grasses and Chrysanthemums

 Most of these plants will end up somewhere in the gardens after they finish this bloom, so it is all good.

Zinnia

 I am hoping against the odds that they will hang in there for five more weeks so that I don't have to replace them before the family starts rolling in for Thanksgiving.

Zinnia

I haven't even bought any pumpkins and gourds yet!

Sparklers

The Moonlight Garden is filled with white fall flowers right now. Chrysanthemums, Japanese anemones, reblooming iris, and azaleas are doing their best to put on a show, but there is still a lot of bare dirt waiting for some cool season annuals to fill in the details throughout the upcoming holiday season. 

I reeaalllyyy need to get busy!

Hydrangea Basics

Among the fall colors I have to include the drying hydrangeas. Many of them actually dry right on the plant without turning brown and can be cut and brought in the house. 

It seems like every year there is one question that people keep asking me about their gardens and this year is was about hydrangeas. Specifically hydrangeas that aren't blooming.  I just ask them a very simple question. Did you cut them back last winter while they were dormant? Inevitably they say yes, often proudly that they kept up with what they perceive to be annual maintenance.  But you can't cut back traditional hydrangeas in the winter without cutting off the next year's blooms. Hydrangeas bloom on last year's growth, so when they are bare and terrible looking in the winter, they are filled with flower buds and if you cut them back you are removing all the next year's flowers. The best time to cut back a hydrangea (although you never really need to) is right after they bloom in early summer when there is still time for them to grow and form buds the rest of the summer. I advise people to plant their hydrangeas where the dormant plant blends in with other plants and is not in a spot where bare sticks coming out of the ground for a few months in the winter will bother them. 

That being said, there are some new varieties on the market that bloom on old and new growth and will continue to bloom all summer even when you cut the dormant stems or flowers. They are the Endless Summer Collection and I have planted a few of them and am very happy with them. They happily bloom all summer even when I cut them to bring inside for arrangements.