Grand Finale

This new month brings an end to lily flowers but what a finish it is.  Three Simplon Liliy bulbs were purchased in 2009.  Three had become two and each remaining plant now has two strong stems indicating that division is needed this fall.  Various sources describe a maximum height of 1 M for this variety.  Ours are nearly 2 M tall and the four stems carry fifty buds.  The brown pollen bearing anthers are removed when the flowers first open.  Mother liked her Easter Lilies pure white so this activity provides quiet moment of remembrance while enveloped in a sweet cloud of scent.  That provides a special start to another day in the garden.

 
Stargazer was our first lily.  We did not know that protection from late spring frost was a requirement if a lily was to survive here.  Our learning curve is slow so in time three plants became one sad runt.  The poor excuse of a bulb was moved to the edge of the garden but it was not forgotten.  Last fall one respectable bulb was potted up and placed in the lily sod house.  It escaped the rodent attack.  This old friend has made quite a comeback.  It will now receive proper care.  With any luck, we may find some new bulbs when we prepare this one for winter.

These Hotline lilies opened pure white with tiny red spots.  Like the trillium, the white matures to a lovely pink.  These are in there first year here.  They are a definite keeper.

Plans are developing for fall management of our lily bulbs.  Despite the problems with the rodents, we are going to give the lily sod house another run.  The interior base wall will be edged with dimension lumber.  A clean sharp edge will provide no cover for nesting mothers.  We have a granular repellent that will be kept fresh around the emerging stems.  Spring traps will also be in place.  Daily vigilance will prompt further action at the first sign of trouble.  This lily season may be ending but we are already preparing for next year.

A Garden By The Road

It has been more than one year since we started a new garden next to the road.  Our existing gardens exceed our ability to adequately care for them so the question " Why more?"  looms over the project.  We really need to do this one right.  Grass clippings were piled deeply here to kill pasture weeds that tend to persist no matter what.  Rotting for a year seems to have eliminated the weeds.  Bark mulch has replaced the grass clippings and we are ready to begin planting.  Siberian iris and Clara Curtis chrysanthemums will be moved next to the wall.

Our land came with very little road frontage.  We only own from the fence line in the weeds to the far edge of the stone wall.  Our only use of this area was in and out of the driveway.  Only a small area adjacent to the road was mowed so that we could see if it was clear to pull out onto the road.  The new owners of the farmhouse took pride in their home and kept their acres mowed.  Their tidy area next to our wild mess prompted them to ask about a fence.  I promised to clean up my mess and to replace it with a short stone wall and a long garden.  The wall is in place although I have talked about making it longer.  The garden is beginning to take shape.

Autumn Joy sedums alternated with Blue Flag continue the line of the stone wall.  Both of these plants are tenacious.  They will be able to cope with pasture grass's incursions into their area.  This spring I harvested two sedums from the garden at the house.  Both were sliced in half with a Bowie knife.  The four new plants found their present location and were placed with the flat side facing in.  That proved unnecessary as the sedums quickly restored their round shape.  As fast as new land can be made ready, the sedums can be redivided.  Blue Flag will also produce more plant material than I can use.  These two plants will soon grow together forming a continuous wall of green.  That should look better than any fence.

Starting a new garden is exciting.  Here the soil is deep and fine relatively free of stones.  Its ability to retain moisture carried the plants through the drought.  Working here will be quite different from tilling the gravel that underlays the main garden.  We received some overnight rain.  This could be a perfect time to move plants to their new home.