Garden Journal

 

 
A record of plantings, both in pots and in beds, successes and failures,
weather patterns and miscellaneous garden notes.
 

2007

Weather Notes 2007 -

Although I didn't recall (and if it wasn't written down I wouldn't have remembered) this spring was much as 2006.  Everything is at least two weeks late coming into bloom/leaf.  The winter of 06/07 was horrendous for what we've come to expect as normal.  Again I have to wonder exactly what 'global warming' means because it certainly isn't warmer here.  We had many damaging wind storms, such that we lost two of the four Robinias which line the drive, and one other which Hydro condemned.  The Robinia by the garage lost a couple of big branches, and we had a HUGE pile of other branches blown down from the conifers plus many deciduous tree branches.  The snow turned to rain turned to ice caused much of the damage as the weight load was just too much.  The laurel hedge was bent totally over and had us wondering if we were going to lose large chunks of it, however it has recovered well.

As last year, much of April & May have been rainy & cloudy with only a few sunny reasonably warm days.  As I write on June 16th, we are still getting more rainy days than sunny which really puts a damper on the gardening.  The only benefit I can see to the awful winter weather is I've seen few to no slugs at all.  Weather predictions for the next 14 days are largely the same 'cloudy with showers' that we've been seeing.  Sigh.

We're now in mid-September and I'm catching up with this.  July & August continued to be cooler though somewhat more sunny than May/June.  With the exception of maybe two 2-3 day bursts of truly hot weather ( 80 degrees plus ) the rest was maybe mid 70's.  A very unspectacular summer all in all.  Major green tomatoes but not ONE SINGLE red tomato.  They've just never ripened!  Now we're at mid September and the weather has largely been an *Indian Summer* though it's way too late for the tomatoes.  At least it makes garden cleanup not such an onerous task with largely bright sunny days.

November 26th arrived with snow falling.  Over the following few days we had over two feet.  Life came to a standstill as this area simply isn't prepared for dealing with this amount of snow. Then we went from minus 2 + 3 degrees to 12 degrees plus by December 2nd melting the majority of the snow.  Now at December 9th once again snow is falling though lightly rather than the heavy fall we had earlier.

 

 

Planting Spring '07 - Planted one large pot with Ensete Ventricosum, 3 New Guinea Impatiens, a black Mondo Grass.  Ensete grew very well and is now housed in the garage.  We'll see if it winter's over.

 
 

2006

Planted the First Two Weeks of June
Spring is at least two weeks behind 2005 & so am I !


Canna Stutgardt - 2 well on their way & 2 smaller ones which have just broken ground in the area which appears a little empty.  Carex fretalis (Lemon-Lime Sorbet Sedge) with Ipomoea 'Margarita' plus Salvia officianalis 'Aurea' and Zinnia 'Profusion Apricot'.  Also added an almost dead Lantana camara 'Tropical Fruit'.  Also added a tiny volunteer yellow wave petunia from last year.  It's holding on so we'll see how it does.
Crotons - Kind of an experiment - placed on
front porch.  We'll see if they do alright.
Perhaps I can bring them in and do a 'houseplant thing' with them over winter.

Striptease Hosta with
Orange Begonia.  Also tucked in
a Heuchera after photo.
Sweet Basil
(Ocimum Basilicum)

Planted 3 of these so we'll see how bushy
I can get them to become.
Well would become bushier if I remembered to pinch them back!
Tattoo Hosta with
White Begonia & Colocasia Esculenta
Bulbs of Colocasia are planted in the back
of the pot - obviously not up yet!
Planted on June 11th so we'll see how long
they take to appear.
Purple/Pink/Green Coleus with Supertunia 'Vista Fuchsia' / Two Geraniums of presently unknown color / White Bacopa 'Snowstorn Giant Snowflake' / one Mauve Impatien & Ipomea 'Blackie'

The Geraniums may be 'Meri Melon' which - if so - are going to need to be replaced!
Two Lonicera 'Lemon Queen'
& two SuperElfin Impatiens 'Lipstick'

I'll put this pot under protection for the winter and see if I can get the Lonicera to
winter over.  Tag says its hardy to Zone 8
'07 Note - Wintered fine in both locations.  The one in the pot in the Gazebo has grown a great deal - likely due more root room.  The ones in the arbor boxes faired just fine but are not as large.
Zinnias - 'Magellan Coral' with Diascia 'Coral Belle' in front and a Colocasia Esculenta planted behind.
Weather Notes 2006 - As noted in 2005 - winter was dreadful and what one would feel was truly Spring very late arriving .  Rather than the sunny & warm April of last year - April & the majority of May continued to
be cold and rainy more often than not.  Everything seemed to be at least two weeks behind last year in leafing out or coming into bloom (referring to last years photos).  The first couple of weeks of June have been warmer with more sun but mostly *sunny with cloudy periods* as the weather folk like to refer to it.  Perhaps 3 days at best with sun, no clouds and 70 degree plus weather.  Also weather seems very erratic.  The forecast
changes from day to day - also annoying as one can't count on it or make plans accordingly.  The long
range forecast for this summer says we'll have lower than normal precipitation & higher than normal temps.  Hmmmm - I'll believe it when I experience it though Lord Knows we are due after this last dreadful winter.
Writing @ August 12th - Last two weeks of June was pretty crappy/chilly + wet.  July dawned much warmer and more pleasant.  By Mid-July we were into the 80's plus with warm sunny days.  However - sigh - that didn't last too awfully long.  The August long weekend was fairly sunny and warm but not the HOT weather we heard tell about by the weather predictors.  From then on in August - lots of sun mixed with cloud / temps in the mid 70's at best with cool nights / some rain but not a great deal.  Not terrible but neither the hot summer days and balmy warm nights one looks forward to all year long.  Don't really know about this *global warming thing* -- doesn't seem to me it's having much affect here.  :-))  Today - August 12th - I even put the thermostat up for a bit to take off the chill in the air!  Kinda sucks for summer to me but I guess some folks like it.
The Colocasia are fully up now and the Cannas are coming along with one stalk about to bloom.  However this is mid-August and I'd prefer to see them perform a little earlier thus next year I'll need to start them in the garden shed a lot earlier ( perhaps latter part of April ) so they are much farther along by the time they get outside.

 
2005
 

 
Planted May 2005

 
Mexican Pot (with stick in it) is
Astilbe "Rheinland" -  a strong melon color.
A perennial it will spread so can be planted
into garden and also divided if clump
becomes too large.  Loose well-drained soil.
Round pot is a mixture of 2 Supertunia "Lemon Plume" with 2 Iponmoea batatas "Margarita" (Sweet Potato Vine) & 2 Lobelia "Laguna Sky Blue" - all from Proven Winners.  All are full sun to part shade and none will overwinter unless kept above 30 degrees.
Blue pot is destined for the Pond area.  It contains 2 white Agapanthus (African Lily), a Heuchera (aka Coral Bells) "Velvet Night" and a Sedum "Angelina".  :-))  The Agapanthus & the Heuchera are perennials.  The Agapanthus bulbs will multiply thus established clumps can be divided.  I have two different packages of these, one saying full sun and another saying part sun!  Need to check that out.  Heuchera is full to part sun and hardy to zone 5 with Sedum the same and hardy to zone 3.

Hmmm - where is the picture? Front Balcony Pots - Large contains 2 Geraniums of an unidentified color, 2 Lantana - one "Sun Kiss" and one
"Professor Raoux", a Bacopa "Big
White Falls" and an Orange Purslane
all of which deal well with full sun.
The small pot contains Cuphea "Dynamite" (aka Cigar Plant) - an annual and likes full sun.  Good plant for hummers.
Two Zonal Geraniums - one "Jazz & one "Charmant" plus Heuchera "Dolce Key Lime Pie" plus Lysimachia congestiflora "Outback Sunset" plus Calbrachoa "Celebration Orange" and a Dracena that was here, left over from last year.  There may also be a Diascia "Flying Colors Apricot" in here???
This plastic pot with the Dracena was here - another left over from last year.  I've planted 3 Dahlias - 2 orange and 1 yellow - around it and will place it where the 'plastic effect' isn't too obvious.

Weather Notes for 2005 -- We arrived mid-April so can only recall from that point forward.  Last half of
April was lovely and sunny with 65-70 degree days.  Though I can't recall clearly now - given I planted all the
pots in the first two weeks of May - I'd say that period was fairly nice weather as well.  Believe June
deteriorated to cooler temps & rainy weather but shortly after July 1st weather improved again.
Latter half of July and most of Early August were lovely - warm and sunny though I believe the really warm
temps disappeared by August 15th or so.  By September 15th the worm had truly turned -- rain and more rain
with chilly weather.  Note to self --> clean up & tuck away right after September long weekend.
Miserable job if left longer and weather turns cold & ugly.  Fall/Winter were simply dreadful - unending rain
and very cold - much colder than is normal with several days as low as minus 5 degrees Celsius but only
a few days with a smattering of snow.  Worst winter I recall in many many years and first in many
we've not gone away somewhere warm so it made it even worse to bear!

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Last Updated 12/09/2007