Ledge and Gardens

Wordless Thursday!

High 90 F
Low  61 F

Bloom Day - July 15, 2008

High 87 F
Low  57 F (I think the weather station went haywire)

Phlox and bee balm
July Bloom Day, organized by Carol over at May Dreams (Thank you Carol), is THE bloom day of the year here in New England at Ledge and Gardens.  I have lots in bloom but not enough energy to post  a lengthy report so I am picking a few favorites for today's post.   I have spent a bit of time in the garden between the weekend and tonight.  It is so satisfying to tweak and groom the gardens.  It has been quite dry here for the past two weeks with no appreciable rain.  Carol, send us some moisture! You have got to love the coneflowers for their insouciant attitude toward dry weather and hot sun. I like this 'Magic Dawn' daylily with the mauve tips.  It really is a parade of daylilies right now and they are also fairly indifferent to the dry weather.   This pink lily is fat, luscious and sturdy in the pool border.  These flowers have also lasted a surprisingly long time.  They started blooming over a week ago and there are still buds to open. The containers by the pool contain this tall dahlia, 'Poeme' which is too tall to get in the same shot as the fillers and spillers but it is really the thriller and I like it better with each passing day.  The crocosmia is blooming in fiery glory while the Oregano 'Kent Belle' is seductively sedate.  Thank you for visiting on bloom day. I will stop by and see your blooms for sure if you leave me a word or two!

Orange is good!

High 82 F
Low 64 F

The veggie garden is bearing fruit.  I picked this cabbage today and made a cole slaw to take to dinner this evening at my sister's house.  It was delicious!  The cucumbers are showing and the flowers are filled with bees.   The beans are also flowering.  They are the purple beans which change to green when they are cooked. They are easier to see on the vines for picking purposes but aren't the flowers a pretty color?  The pepper plants are fruiting as are the tomatoes.  I planted many different kinds of tomatoes. This one is 'Green Zebra' and since it never turns red I am wondering how  I will know when it is ripe.  Anyone have any thoughts on this?  The best observations today had to have been this tomato and also this one which is 'Red Lightening'.  I have not had color on tomatoes this early in many years.    I feel as though I have won a prize! 

Sublime scents!

High 82 F
Low  67 F

Last week, before the fourth of July, I was wandering the ocean area of the Ocean State and stopped to see Kris and the gang at Blithewold.  This time, only Kris was there working hard on a very warm day.  When I found her she was in the midst of the greenhouse gardens watering.  It was hot and windy, two conditions which add to the dryness but the view she has from her outdoor office is truly enviable.  The poppies were still beautiful if a bit bedraggled as they reach the end of their party. This is the clematis 'Roguchi' which I was happy to see looking so floriferous as I had just purchased one on the Longwood trip.  The gardens look beautiful as always.  The staff at Blithewold has very high standards.  This little pond garden is charming and the annual beds are always a learning landscape. This new path is inviting drawing one through and into the new children's garden.  You can see the pretty blue benches in the back of this garden.   They sit in the shade of the bamboo grove which has a path right through the middle.  I love emerging into the bright sunlight from the dappled grove. The best part of my visit was actually getting to chat with Kris for a few moments.  She showed me around and we talked plants for a while.  I loved the row of sweet peas and even more so as Kris picked a bouquet for me to take home.  She has the hands of an artist and gardener and wears her hat quite well.  Long after this visit, the scent of sweet peas will remind me of our walk and talk in her garden and the still life on this potting bench.  Thanks Kris!

Through the garden gate!

High 87 F
Low 67 F

It seems as though I have been posting about everything but my garden which is at its' best, in some spots, right now.   I do have to qualify that!  Some spots! The fourth of July weekend is the penultimate point of summer for me as the days are incredibly and inescapably starting to shorten.  The newness of spring is long past and the impending 'dog days' are coming due.  That said, the delphiniums by the pool are making their summer debut. They are standing sentinel poolside watching for wayward swimmers while keeping their shoulders high and their purple eyes wide open in spite of some hail last week.  I did tie these up but we all know that doesn't always work, don't we!  Just luck this time.  Gardening is subject to such variables that nothing is certain. I am grateful for these!  Looking back through the gate to the Florida bed, the Clematis v. 'Etoille violette' on the right side of the fence is twining its' way through the New Dawn roses which are now past their prime and on the other side, 'Julia Correvan' winds its' way skyward.  I like the changes in the garden.  Would I covet the rose and clematis blooms as much if they were there all the time?  Would you?

4th of July-Main Street, Bristol, RI

Digging takes to the airwaves!

High 85 F
Low  65 F

Many of you may know that I am a co-host on a gardening talk show which airs every Sunday in the Boston/Providence area.  The show can be heard live Sunday mornings from six to ten a.m. at www.garden-guys.com and there are podcasts available if you click on the gray letters 'Click here for radio show info' and then scroll down and click on the ipod.  This past Sunday we had a very special guest caller, Pam Penick from Digging.  Pam  had listened to past shows via the podcasts and mentioned it in a comment line so I suggested she give us a call.  That she did, and she shared her thoughts on gardening and we discussed some of the plants which grow as well in Austin, TX as in New England.  Given the distance and climate differences, not to mention soil etc., I always find it amazing that we seem to have more plants in common than one would expect.  It was a great disappointment to me to have had my travel plans thwarted in mid stream while trying to get to Austin those few months ago.  I really was looking forward to meeting all of the bloggers who attended the 'Spring Fling' in Austin, TX so it was a great thrill to speak with Pam on the radio.  She is as eloquent in person as she is with her writing.  Should you wish to hear our conversation, just choose the June 29th, third hour podcast.  Her interview is about an inch across the scale.   Gardening is a regional activity and answering questions on air is great fun and often a challenge.  The Garden Guys, Sam and Jim, are both very knowledgeable in all phases of gardening in this region and they are a joy to work beside.  Sam and I trade off weekends while Jim is on every weekend.    The radio show is a call in show with a variety of questions from the listeners and I find it a great way to share the joy of gardening.  If you can't be in the garden, you can be talking about the garden!  We do try to provide interesting information as well as an entertaining format and it is definitely a regional show but should you wish to share your thoughts on gardening it would be an honor to hear from any of you.  You can contact me by email which is on my 'About' page if you are interested in calling the show and telling us in New England what is going on in your garden. 

Green is serene

High  Too early to tell 
Low  63 F

Green is always a good topic for conversation in the garden blog world and Emma, over at IndyBlogs, has suggested green for a post.  In the midst of the July borders, where color is the highlight, green is the  soothing backdrop.  It is interesting to note how many heart shaped leaves there are in the garden.  The Dutchman's Pipe, a vine which seems to be taking over the fence and border (don't plant it!), has a flat, dull surface but it is now a green wall providing privacy on the wire fence in the corner of the pool garden. I believe that this is Aristolochia tomentosa and, be forewarned, it travels everywhere.  If it were not for its' invasive nature, I would  be a bit more of a fan! The vegetable garden has is predominantly green right now with bits of bright calendula adding contrast.   Who doesn't love the promising green of tomatoes growing lushly in their wire cages?  Zeus is looking quite 'manly' with his crown of sempervivum sporting a tumescent flower stalk which is predominantly green. I didn't actually think of this effect when I planted him but it makes me chuckle every time I see him.    The evergreens such as this Pinus strobus 'Soft Touch' and the Larix decidua 'Pendula' are sporting their new shades of green of the emerging new growth.  The hostas are a wealth of green shades and I never tire of the streaks and stripes on their leaves. Forsythia are a welcome sight in springtime but their yellow glory fades as the season progresses.  This forsythia, however, Forsythia 'Fiesta', is one well worth having in the mixed border for its' cheerful variegation, cherry red stems,  and demur habit.  The bleeding hearts have long faded but their foliage still remains and holds the dew drops nicely.  The gold leaf Catalpa tree which is cut back to the main trunk every spring generates a sumptuously tropical looking green/gold leaf. It is a punctuation in the back border where green predominates.  On the first of July, the borders are reaching a peak of color but green, green can be subtly exciting  don't you think?      

Lushness at Longwood!

High 86 F
Low  62 F

For anyone who hasn't visited Longwood Gardens I would highly recommend a visit.  Longwood is a great family destination with masses of bedded annuals, walking paths, formal gardens, fountains, and now, even tree houses. The tree houses are a recent addition and kids and adults alike were clamoring up the stairs for the birds' nest views each afforded.  Longwood currently occupies 1050 acres in Kennett Square, PA which is about thirty miles from Philadelphia.  I am not in love with the mass bedding of annuals but most of the general public seems to love the impact of hundreds of colorful annuals.  I do find the shape of these rose arbors satisfying and that the roses were in full bloom just made them more so.  There are interesting containers along many of the pathways.

One of the largest draws at the garden is the conservatory which covers 4.5 acres with twenty different gardens inside. I think it would be of even more interest when the weather is cool and dismal in the winter.   There is an explosion of color inside with the lawns, plantings, and pools but at this time of year, I find the outside gardens, such as the waterlily courtyard, more inviting.  The vegetable gardens are also of great interest not only for the varieties of vegetables grown and the layout, but for the trellising structures used for the peas, green beans, and the tomatoes.  There are bamboo tee pees for the kids and a sitting area complete with chairs and table.  The vegetables look luscious and some are ready to pick. I wonder who gets to eat these?  There is no classic perennial border at Longwood.  There is this modernistic garden of pathways and perennials but no voluptuous English border.  I find that a bit interesting and wonder about this omission.  I would love to see a curving perennial border in one of the garden areas.  There is certainly enough room and it is to be expected don't you think?

Longwood Gardens is a place which is dedicated to education and the enjoyment of horticulture.  It is meticulously maintained and those who work there should be applauded! 

Borders at Meadowbrook

High 76 F
Low  56 F

I posted the other day about Meadowbrook Farms in PA.  This small garden has many rooms plus a beautiful perennial border and a gift shop.  In addition to the dipping pool that I showed there is this great pool.  That is one of my beautiful sisters posing in the background. I think she is considering a plunge! This is the view looking back across the pool.  All the gardens are on an axis related to each other.   There is statuary everywhere but it is well used as intriguing accents and is not bothersome as some statuary can be in a garden.  This piece is in the garden by the gift shop.  What do you call this kind of buddha? 

Double border along walkway
I had to show the perennial borders because as perennial borders go,

these, one in the sun and one in the shade, are beautiful and there really isn't a perennial border at Longwood, a disappointment, or at Winterthur which is a more naturalistic landscape. The shade border winds around the outside of the sunny perennial border and is a welcome relief from the bright sun.  Pictures always come out better in the shade don't they.  There is also a vegetable garden which is gated and fenced.  There is no escape from critters even in the upscale neighborhoods of Meadowbrook, PA. I like this fence as it is fairly unobtrusive and there are some nice ornamentals in front of the fence.  The gift shop entry has a colorful grouping of plants and there are fun things to buy in the gift shop. This little guy went home with one of my friends.  A monster with a frog friend!  Gotta love it!  This is it from Meadowbrook.  I took over one hundred pictures here so you have only seen a few.