What's in Bloom

One doesn’t usually think of September as a month with lots of color in the garden, but it is really surprising just how much color there actually is. I took a walk around my garden Saturday and this is what I saw.

Annuals are sure winners when it comes to color lasting the whole season. Calendula has been going strong for me since June.






The Amaranth is now taller than me and the sunflowers are being supported by the corn stalks. They both have been blooming since June.





Cosmos and Snapdragons are annuals that self seed and keep coming back for me every year. They start blooming by July and will continue to bloom until a hard frost kills them.



Cleome blends nicely with these Gladiolus and the Bee Balm that is blooming again.









This Purple Coneflower started to bloom at the beginning of July. It isn’t over yet. The delphiniums are repeat bloomers once I cut them back. Even the foxglove hasn’t quit yet.



The Stella 'd Oro Daylilies started blooming at the end of May and have not really quit blooming since then. Pretty darn good for a perennial!







The Butterfly Bush and Balloon Flower still have a few blooms left! And even this Clematis has bloomed again.









Fall bloomers include Goldenrod, Japanese Anemones, Black-eyed Susans, Asters and Chrysanthemums.



So keep looking at that garden in the fall. Yes it is harvest time, but take time to enjoy the roses too.



And even when the snow flies, there is always the blue of this bottle tree to make a gardener feel right at home.

Finding your Passion

Progress is being made on laying the newspapers and compost at the vacant lot across the street from me. I keep looking at all the trees around me when I am working, hoping that the area will receive 6 full hours of sun a day which is what most vegetables really need to thrive. Some pruning may be in order here.

On another note, it won’t be long before I hang up my hat at the Hoyt Library where I have spent the last 30 years of my life. This year we had a wonderful celebration for our 120 years as a federal depository library. As the documents librarian for the past 21 years I decided it was time to give this collection the special tribute it deserves. We had several government officials at the celebration and received some very nice tributes that now hang in the room where the collection is located. In a previous post I had a picture of two horses and a plow that I took to be my grandfather (well it could have been). That came from a Department of Agriculture document (none of these documents can be copyrighted so it is perfectly legitimate for me to post it). You never know what you might find in this wonderful collection, even some items of use to a gardener.



As I head into this next phase of my life I feel a great deal of gratitude for being able to do all the things I have done and excitement at the things I am going to be able to do. What a wonderful pleasure it has been being able to work in this lovely building with a great cadre of coworkers, some of whom have become dear friends. How fortunate I am to be able to look forward to working at the Master Gardener table at the Farmer’s Market and the Cooperative Extensions Service answering people’s questions about gardening. You can take the reference librarian out of the library, but you can’t take reference out of the librarian. I truly look forward to continuing to practice my passions in life and wish everyone the same pleasure.

Come and Come Again

There are some perennials I enjoy twice. After a first luscious bloom early in the season if I cut them back they will bloom again later in the year. The second bloom may not be as wonderful as the first bloom, but it is enough to make it worth the effort of cutting them back.

Here are some delphiniums currently in bloom after blooming profusely back in the early part of June. I cut the plants right back to the ground where new growth will come up, making the plant look fresh and new.



This Maltese Cross plant is giving a bright spot of orange in the garden even though this is August and it quit blooming profusely quite awhile ago.



This Salvia plant is reliable for repeat blooming through the summer.



And I realize that I don’t want the basil to bloom because I am harvesting the leaves, but by continually cutting the leaves these basil plants keep producing more leaves which means I will hopefully have enough pesto to last me through the winter.

Community Gardens

A couple of weeks ago we had a little excitement in the neighborhood. Several policemen showed up on the street where I live looking for a couple of fellows. I had no idea who or why they were being sought, but the policemen kept at it until they found their men. Later I found out that they had shot and killed a young man in a shopping center not too far from where I live. And then later I found out that the man who was killed was the cousin of a coworker.



I have been thinking about community gardens for awhile now, but this was the spur lit under me that I needed. Across the street from me a house was torn down in the spring. What remains is an empty lot owned by the Saginaw County Land Bank that is overgrown with weeds. So I decided to do something about it. I can rent the property for a dollar (big spender here) and I am still waiting to hear about liability insurance.



But that has not stopped me. I had a load of compost delivered from the city on Friday and spent Saturday using the newspaper and compost method of weed killing and laid the compost down. As you can see from the last picture there is still plenty of compost (and still plenty of property with weeds) left. Now I need to get more newspapers. Some of my neighbors are saving them for me. One of my neighbors helped with wetting the newspapers for awhile. Another helped me cut the lawn. Another told me to see him if I needed more compost as he works for the city and will ensure I get a good deal. I have talked to many people I have not talked to much before and it appears to me that just a small step on my part may lead to something good in my neighborhood.



At least I am praying it will. I will let the compost and newspapers sit for the fall and winter and hope that by spring I will be able to plant. And who knows. Maybe there are hidden talents in my neighborhood, ones that can help build raised beds, ones that will be willing to water, ones that will help with the harvest. Stay tuned to find out.

Tomatoes and Other Good Thing

It is the harvest season here in mid Michigan and I am eating out of my garden every day. My tomatoes turned red earlier than usual this year. I have come to expect red tomatoes in August, but usually not July. But I was out picking the Juliets last week and have been snacking on them ever since. Some tomatoes are slower to turn red, but that’s okay. Gives me something to look forward to.




I have a variety of beets this year along with pattypan squash, zucchini, cucumbers and of course the dill goes with the cucumbers. I’ve been eating cucumbers in dill and vinegar for breakfast. They are wonderful.




Soon I will be picking potatoes and corn. The corn has tassles and the potatoes are coming along. I can pick some, but I am waiting for most so they are a little bigger than they are now. I have some fingerlings growing in a grow pot on the deck. I enjoy vegetables on the deck. They are right there at suppertime!

Okay, since I now have some cilantro, tomatoes and garlic I guess it is time to make some black bean salad. I get my black beans from Hampshire Farms in Kingston, Michigan and since my own jalapenos haven’t done anything so far I bought some at the Saginaw Farmer’s Market. We don’t grow limes in Michigan so that and the canola oil are probably the only non-local items in this salad.




Here’s a tip to help you with your basil. When you cut a sprig, it will keep in a cup of room temperature water for quite some time. It may even sprout roots if you leave it long enough and you can have another plant.
Happy eating!

All Passion Spent

Yes, unfortunately the lavender has done its best for the year and now it is time to move on to something else in bloom in the garden. This lavender is so hardy and hard working for me. I have had it for many years and it keeps coming back and giving me that sweet fragrance and gorgeous long lasting blooms. But this too shall pass; the gardener’s constant is change.

I had two red tomatoes on the Roma tomato plant in a pot on the deck. Unfortunately they both had blossom end rot. So I am still waiting for my first tomatoes and making do with what I get from the farmer’s market. I bought a variety of them at the Frankenmuth market Saturday, along with more kohlrabi (I can never have enough and fortunately it lasts awhile), peaches and blueberries. I don’t have any peppers yet either so I bought some jalapenos to make my first batch of salsa for the year. Fortunately I do have onions, garlic and oregano of my own to use.

Thursday my friend, Janet, and I went to Tipton, Michigan to visit Hidden Lakes Garden which is run by Michigan State University. It is an inexpensive visit ($3.00) and well worth it. Of course if you are a member of the Horticultural Gardens at MSU which I am, it is free. It was a relaxing visit after a day at Lilith Fair which came to the Detroit area on Wednesday. What a wonderful concert! I got to hear Melissa McClelland from the Cayamo cruise I was on last February. Yes, I know I am digressing from the garden here, but what the heck. Good music, beautiful flowers, all is fair in the world of art which is what makes living worthwhile.



There are some grand old trees in Tipton; Janet and I are just there as accents in some of the following pictures. And Hosta Hill is gorgeous as usual. I would love to bring my mother here in spring when the myrtle is in bloom since myrtle is her favorite plant. There are many wildflowers in bloom and the meadows are full of coneflower and black-eyed susans, two wonderful plants the home gardener can use.






I haven’t a clue what this plant is but Janet wanted a picture of it and forgot her camera so here it is. Here are some other pictures from Tipton. Enjoy!

Harvest Time

Well, not really. But since I do have garlic and basil in my garden, and since these tomatoes were grown in mid Michigan, even though they didn’t come from my own backyard, I decided that I was going to have one of my favorite dishes this week and that is exactly what I did. I took a good piece of bread (I get mine from an organic farm in Kingston, Michigan called Hampshire Farms) toasted it, spread pesto on top and then added a slice of tomato. I swear this meal is better than eating candy.



The garlic is now curing in my shed. Hopefully this will work and I will have garlic I can use for many months to come. Unless I use it up making pesto which could easily happen. The nice thing about cutting the basil is that it continues to grow and give me more leaves. What more could a pesto lover ask for! I used my muffin tin to freeze the pesto in smaller portions; I got this tip from a friend of mine in Pittsburgh and it works quite well.



The stargazers are putting on quite a show right now. They will probably be gone by next week. The ever changing garden. First it is the spring bulbs, then the bleeding heart, irises, and now purple coneflower is blooming prolifically. It seems early this year to me, but then everything seems to come early anymore. Some folks may doubt the existence of global warming, but in 26 years of gardening, the trend is for my plants to bloom earlier than they used to bloom. At least according to my garden notebook they do.







And now for something new. I have been meaning to plant a hibiscus and finally got around to it this summer. This is Luna pink swirl which I got from Abele’s Greenhouse. All I can say is whatever took me so long? What a gorgeous bloom this plant has! I should have planted it years ago.



There is always something to look forward to in the garden. As one plant goes another plant comes along to take its place. I guess if I can change through the years (and I certainly have more wrinkles) I can’t expect the garden to stay the same. But it does give me the same pleasures every summer. Not to mention the necessary ingredients for pesto, i.e., basil and garlic.