Soooo Hot!

(Photo: 'Heat of Summer' Bouquet/MyShadyGarden

It is a sultry afternoon and this transplanted Northwood’s girl can’t take the heat.  Mid-90’s and humid!  I’m melting.  This morning before the heat really took hold, I had to make sure the birdbaths were full, all my pots were watered and special plants taken care of.

Mid–summer.  The work of planting is done, the flowers have grown, and besides weeding and watering, much of the hard work is done.  I admit to using Preen – it prevents seeds from germinating.  Well worth the trouble and expense since I don’t particularly care for weeding – heck I really don’t like it.  I know it isn’t the most “green” thing to do, but it sure does save time.   Some weeding is still necessary, but I prefer my air-conditioned living room!

I broke into a total sweat just trying to water my Nikko Blue Hydrangeas.  As their name implies – they like being hydrated.  It is such a sad sight to see those lovely mopheads droop – I put the slow soaker on and they managed to perk up.   A sick friend received a bouquet of the blue and pink blooms along with some pink astillbe as accents.  They are special flowers and should cheer her up – at least offer a nice thing to look at while recovering.  Blue and pink are soft and soothing colors…

I picked myself a “Heat of Summer” bouquet.  Pink coneflowers, white Shasta daisies, yellow heliopsis and purple phlox.   You may wonder how does a shade gardener have these blooms?  Well we lost a boulevard tree about 8 – 9 years ago and I have a horseshoe shaped bed at the edge of our lot which gets full sun.

The thinking behind the bed was to create an appealing view instead of having to look at the intersection.  It also helped us to claim our rightful lot.  You see we have a pie-shaped lot and most of the walkers in our neighborhood cut across the ‘tip of the pie’ on our lawn to get to the other sidewalk.  They marched right in front of our living room window!  A definite invasion of privacy.  I wanted to shout, “You’re talking a walk for exercise – no shortcuts!” But that would not have been as effective as this garden bed.

As the edges of the bed approach the sidewalk, we have very prickly Seafoam juniper shrubs and Carefree Wonder roses (with thorns) – that say very subtly (or not) – stay back on sidewalk.  Besides having burning bush shrubs that block the view of the intersection – we planted all the sunny prairie flowers that do not require much care.  It has to be a long dry spell before a hose ever reaches out there.

(Photo: Cup Plant/MyShadyGarden)

I have a new flower growing in the bed this year.  It is the Cup Plant (Silphium perfoliatum), part of the aster family and an Illinois native.  Its leaves join together around the central stem to form a cup that can hold water, hence the name.  I am told that goldfinches adore the seeds of this plant and drink water from the cups!  They have just now started to bloom.  This plant makes a statement and needs a lot of space.  It currently looms a stately 8’ tall!

And so, while I prefer shade especially in the heat of summer, the sunny horseshoe bed provides us with the colorful prairie plants of our Chicago climate, a wonderful view, and defines the boundaries of our lot!

Kindred Souls

(Photo: Ivy Geranium/MyShadyGarden)

It has been a lovely day in Middleton, WI where I am visiting my mother.  This morning she gave me a tour of the garden by her front door.  I took some time to admire the Jackmanii clematis in its full glory, Stellla d’Oro daylilies glowing a bright gold, and the new Weeping Alaskan Arborvitae evergreen and so on.

Her enthusiasm for gardening has been instilled in me and we can spend quite a bit of time discussing various flowers and the merits of adding this or that plant to a garden bed.  However, this morning she told me about other kindred garden loving souls.

While watering her very lovely ivy geranium hanging basket about a month ago, a bird flew away.  Upon closer inspection, my mom saw that a little bird made a nest in and amongst the ivy geranium.

(Photo: Birds Nesting/MyShadyGarden)

Now a month later with the fledglings one week old, they are properly behaved rather quiet little birdies.  My mom thinks they like the hanging basket because it is like a cradle (very much like the limbs on a tree I suppose). She sings ‘Rock a Bye Baby’ with a smile on her face as she waters very gently – she can’t let her hanging pot just dry up, but is taking care not to disturb the little brood.

These well behaved polite little birds put up with my mom lifting the basket off the hook and bringing it down so the grand kids can see them.  Four little birds, with one bird a lot more precocious that the others – undoubtedly the one who gets fed first and who will probably be the first to leave the next.  Not unlike some human families you might know.

Not being an expert, we are guessing these are wrens, but that is just a guess.  Anyone know?  Mama bird flies away when she sees my mom approach rather than put up with any kind of a dousing.  But remember mama bird chose the accommodations and always does return.  We garden loving humans sure enjoy watching these kindred souls grow…

Friendship Plants – Your Garden Legacy

(Photo: Bette’s Peony/MyShadyGarden)

I think one of the best things that results from gardening is the friendships you make.  You find others who are as into gardening as you are.  They may or may not be your age, but it doesn’t matter.

When I started my garden, I had very little in the way of desirable plants and was new to the neighborhood.  To do a garden overhaul, I needed to buy quite a lot of perennials.  I started one bed at a time (sometimes to the frustration of a neighbor who couldn’t wait for “her” side of the house to be done).

Being new to my community, I didn’t know of many folks that I could trade with and admittedly I was kind of young to be into gardening given that I was working and had small children.

Garden Warfare Part 2 – Little Critters You Are Next!

Besides bunnies, slugs and tiny white caterpillars are at the top of my hit list.  And I have some effective control methods that I will share with you.

Slugs

The slimy, sneaky critters hide on the underside of leaves.  They eat into some of my hosta as well as other tender leafed plants.  How do I thwart them?

(Photo: The Weapons/MyShadyGarden)

Sluggo!  Sounds appropriate right?  Actually it is very effective and it is biodegradable and environmentally friendly.  It works using iron phosphate with bait additives.  It comes in a granular form that you shake around the plants you want to protect.

I spread this around when the plants are looking good and fully leafed out – late May and early June for the Chicagoland area.  Sluggo attracts snails and slugs and after ingesting it they begin to die within 3 to 6 days.  By the way, that is a long time for the slugs to continue to munch on your garden.  So I would advise you to spread it out early.

Sluggo controls snails and slugs yet is non-toxic to wildlife and pets and is OMRI (Organic Materials Review Institute) approved.  I personally avoid the heavy duty chemicals wherever I can because it is important to be a good steward of the earth.

Tiny Caterpillars – Creepy Crawleys

I have a lovely area of Lysmachia – a chartreuse ground cover also called the Yellow Loosestrife that brightens up some areas in my garden.  Much to my dismay I saw tiny, almost translucent caterpillars were munching their way through the ground cover.

This happened to me last year and I didn’t catch it until it was too late.  Almost the whole bed was a mass of bare stems that look unsightly for the remainder of the summer.   I don’t even know what these caterpillars are, but I know I don’t want them.

So yesterday and the day before I sprayed insecticidal soap on them.  Insecticidal soap coats the insects so that they suffocate.  But it is not harmful to the environment and you can actually make it yourself or buy it ready-made.  I have a small bottle of concentrated soap that I bought for around $6 and am able to make many gallons of the stuff very inexpensively.

I used this great new applicator tool that I picked up at the Chicago Garden Show in March at Navy Pier.  It is called Giro’s Sprayer.  It is an adjustable brass sprayer that gives you a range from a fine mist to a coarse stream of liquid and screws onto most water or soda plastic bottles.

It is versatile –especially if you need to switch solutions.  Just put the cap on the bottle that you haven’t used up, and fill your new plastic bottle with solution you need to use.  I am always sure to draw up some cleansing water before I put the applicator in the new solutions.

If you know what the tiny caterpillar is, please let me know.  And I am always interested in knowing about effective organic ways of controlling pests in the garden.  Please share your ‘secrets’ with me here.

It’s Garden Warfare: Lessons in Effective Rabbit Control

Well it’s time to break out the proverbial combat boots and protect what is mine!  Did you hear that all you bunnies?  I am in possession of an organically safe weapon that thwarts bunnies from treating my garden like a salad bar.  And I will share that secret weapon with you because you have your own garden to defend.

Garden Enemy #1 – Bunnies

Over the years I have lost many an expensive plant and spent lots of time shoring up the damage from these four legged garden pests.   Number one on my hit list is bunnies!  Unlike most people, I don’t think little bunnies are cute – I want to send in the coyotes!

(Photo: Elroy - My Cairn Terrier/MyShadyGarden)

(Or maybe not since I have Elroy, a little Cairn terrier who I love dearly.  Coyotes would think him to be equally as tasty as a rabbit – maybe even a bit more since he has some marbling).

The Weapon of Choice

I discovered a very effective bunny deterrent a couple of years ago.  This after weeks of watching my garden get destroyed and trying various things.  And this deterrent works for deer as well.  The product is aptly named Liquid Fence Deer and Rabbit Repellant.  I like it so well I buy it in the large size.

The main ingredient is putrescent egg solids – and putrid smelling it is.  Now when you spray it, go to the farthest area you want to protect and work your way toward your door.  You do not want to backtrack where you sprayed because it is so stinky.  The good thing is that when it dries, humans don’t smell it.  But the bunnies and deer do.  It is biodegradable, environmentally safe, and even safe enough to use on your edible plants.

I use the spray because it can be used on plants 24” and taller.  This is important for taller vegetation such as shrubs or young trees.  Or when you need to protect your garden pots.  I had watched in amazement as a bunny stood on its hind legs and munched on the plants in my pots.  The nerve!  We sent Elroy out to get ‘em – though he wasn’t quite fast enough.

Our Compost Pile

Ever since we’ve owned a home, we have composted.  This is not a high maintenance compost pile or a fancy plastic barrel with compost in it.  This is a round bin of hardware cloth compost cage wired together in a corner of our garden.  You can easily make it yourself with a trip to your local hardware store.

We use it primarily for kitchen scrap – coffee grounds, orange peels, corn husks, watermelon rinds – you get the picture.  We started composting because we knew it was green, but our true motivation at the time was to save money.  In the Chicago area, there is a yard waste disposal charge.  Right now I think it is up to $2.10/20 gal bag.  So as many leaves as we could get, we would squish into the wire bin.  And miraculously in the spring, the big pile would shrink down to only 1/3 of the capacity. 

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Plant Tag and Seed Storage

Plant Tag Container/MyShadyGarden

When I purchase a new plant, I am usually up to speed on the name and growing conditions that are required for best performance by reading the plant tag.  But after a year goes by, I find that I do forget things.  Maybe it is age…?  But I have decided to help myself by keeping those plant tags – and I don’t mean on the bushes or planted in the ground next to the perennial.

Instead I have a Tupperware container with a lid that I keep in the garage.  As I make a purchase, I place the tags in the container.  I also put my leftover seeds in there as well.  Otherwise mice have a way of getting into them and eating them up.  Not the most sophisticated garden file organization system, but it is easy and it works!