weather in the garden # 139

i've been hovering and not posting much - finally finished moving mulch/dirt last weekend - longest this have ever gone.

I know a lady in Pepperall who grows irises. I wonder where she gets her soil.

Gosh, Bill.....I'll bet the gardens look awesome....mine are very weedy even though I've been trying to do a little each day....weeds have the upper hand! Rosemary, son's farm is in the country, although the bears have been flocking to the cities all summer......Birds must have felt threatened to leave en masse like that......

74° partly cloudy No rain until Tues.

Another warm, sunny day in the 80s.....I can really get used to this.....unfortunately, heat is coming....my lucky grandkids are at the beach in RI for the next week!

76 going to the low 80s. sunny

69° The 'showers' indicater was on our weather prediction, but I don't know when.

May have some pop-up showers here as well, but most of today will be sunny & mid-80s!

78° supposed to go to 82°

We had showers yesterday but today the doublefile viburnums are "dogearred" already. 88 F but occasional clouds like another shower might come. And just after i soaked the poly rugs really well outside, too. Fortunately the rain would only help rinse them.

In between the rain it was possible to finish the Dappled willow bush planting and replant the surrounding salvias, lavender and agastashes. The different foliages look OK with coneflowers in spots and the goldenrod is about to burst into bloom, but I especially hope it flowers next spring. The bush was a four inch pot a few years ago, likely to grow between five and ten feet around as it fills in.

Another day is for adding more low green conifers behind the Shasta viburnum and preparing the soil by the house for the special Cedar tree --Aurea Glauca Robusta. Since it is coming from Oregon and thus needs acclimation, I plan to build a protected burlap house all around it for winter. The worry is whether the section creates a frost hollow, so I am building up the soil pretty high. That worked with the magnolia grandiflora nearby.

Rosemary, you are a great plant mother....I stick my plants in one of the gardens.....if it lives, fine, it's hardy here....if not, my bad luck.....of course, I don't spend too much on my plants. I did plant an alstromeria this year.....lovely mauve blooms....hope it survives....if not, I won't order it again. Showers last night cooled us off, not as hot or humid today......

How nice of you to say, Marilyn. A good plant mother wouldn't play favorites as much as I do, though, or expect most of them to tough it out or perish. Buying baby plants is a good idea always.

It cooled off a bit this evening, enough to get a few more dwarf conifers planted. I am hoping every one of them will help to block the winter winds and that the roots will hold the hill and keep moisture from running into our basement. Thank goodness there have not been any huge floods to test this.

67° hazy sun up to near 90 today.

At this hour it's up to 73, with the same high expected inland.

Hot, humid & hazy already......saw a flock of warblers, probably migrating......guess we should enjoy this weather while we can.....Rosemary, good plan with the evergreens....they should save on your heating bill!

Whew, the sun came with a vengeance! Only 83 but it feels very hot. This morning, the mulch marks a crazy quilt along the shady areas. Seems like there will never be a winter wind to worry about.

Tomorrow DH and I go to Martha's vineyard for two days. Kids can mind the fort. I looked hard and found probably the only B and B vacancy and it is almost next to the Polly Hill Arboretum. How's that for luck? Question is how many neat cultivars of shadbush or holly can be carried on the ferry. If all is good, I will start a thread for Polly Hill.

Awesome!

Or Kousa Dogwood. Or Stewartia (site of National Collection). Or Sapphireberry (which they pull out as weedy seedlings - oh, the horror).

Want me to post some images of "don't miss seeing this one" for you?

I will look at anything you think is worth seeing, VV! I will particularly have time in the morning before heading to the ferry. I wonder if it's worth it to find my Mass Horticultural society membership card since the admission to the arboretum is only $5. Packing should only be done by the organized person with time on their hands.

Have a super time! Great weather to be on an island....94 predicted for today......a little breeze right now is making things bearable....

Big bad thunderclap a few minute ago. Feels like it's about to rain.

Now there's the trouble with only participating here in the evenings - things with a short leash get missed.

When I'm next in front of home computer with folders full of images, I'll post a few here - whether RosemaryK gets to see them in a timely fashion or not.

Thunder here as well, but no rain.

Here are some nice plants found at the Polly Hill Arboretum...

Stewartia pseudocamellia

Oxydendrum arboreum 'Chameleon'

Cornus kousa allée

Magnolia macrophylla 'Julian Hill'

Disanthus cercidifolius

70° sun coming up temp to the lower 80s.

Oooooh....nice plants...love the autumn colors.....met friends for lunch yesterday....the one from Foxboro said she ran into bad storms on the way home...nothing in western CT....very dry....

Thunder here yesterday--no rain with it.

70° Cool predicted for this morning in the 70s.

Mostly cloudy here, low 80s, nice breeze.....

I'm back, and plugged in again! Love the fall beauty of VV's photos. The care given to the trees gave me a pang of nostalea for my grandparents' property where every tree was special. I will try to post the highlights I found before too long.

I was looking for the Disanthus, which VV has now posted in full glory, but without the red fall color there were too many other lovely distractions.

I came home with two West Tisbury hybrid azaleas, both quite petite. There were more cultivars there to purchase, but this is all we could carry. They are rabbit food, so until more developed, they will need a wire cage. Now I have a strong desire to go back in the autumn, but it is not a short trip considering parking, ferry and the circuitous bus routes on the Vineyard.

Anyone care to carpool so we can cost-share and drive a car over? If we say a group is coming, we might get one of the specialists to show us around.

And back to the weather, it was in the 90s there too the past few days. Fall is a lovely time to travel.

Tell them you are Holly Society of America members (which means you need to become one), and you will receive the Red Carpet Treatment...

Sounds like a lovely trip, but too long for me....Rain during the night, was raining heavily at 7:15 when I went out with the dog......When I went out at 7:30 to get the paper, it had stopped! Cool breeze blowing in the windows.....

VV, you should get the prize for promoting American Holly Society memberships! The Ilex opacas at Polly Hill were lovely, and there are some fine specimens here in Lexington which are in a few front yards.

They were very willing to spend time with us at Polly Hill. They offered to find the resident naturalist for us but we didn't have more than a few hours there to spend. Every tree and shrub was well labelled and we had a very helpful guide who winters with the Holden (sp?) Arboretum in Ohio. The plants were extremely healthy, beautiful specimens. I'd go back any time.

Thunderstorms started early this am, and it is still raining. We really needed it.

This message was edited Aug 21, 2015 9:05 AM

I'm but a young buck newcomer.

You should sometime meet and visit with Mr. Bill Cannon, whom I would call the best Ambassador of Ilex around. A resident of Brewster, MA (BROO - stah) he has an exceptional range of Holly species on his relatively modest property, and he has been proclaiming the value and joy of knowing and growing more holly for decades upon decades.

AND - you don't need a ferry ride to get to his place.

70s still rather humid.

Wow, it rained HARD for a few minutes and we both said, "just like the tropics!" It also rained that hard in Texas, but in Texas it would last for an hour.

Our town picked up .8" of rain.......showers forecast for tomorrow as well......

For VV, I remember posts of Mr. Cannon's amazing, outstanding hollies. My best results are from keeping the ilex opacas in pots that I can move around while they are little tiny babies, and then wait. If I treat them like they are camellias, they live through the winter. It is a zone colder here.

It is wet, cloudy and 68 outside. We got a good drenching yesterday and there are still occasional showers. Methinks this is not a winning day in any test of immunity to PI.

With your winters, I expect you need a substantial root system under them before putting them out on their own. I've killed my own fair share by planting one gallon and three gallon youngsters.

You'd think where they spring from the earth as seedlings, that they'd be able to go on and grow when you plant them on purpose...

Nature is funny. Perhaps in a more typical winter, they'd thrive as transplants. I planted six in pots over a year ago and put them in different places. The three that survive are going to get very good care this winter. Sadly, the males just don't seem to make it so far, but then, perhaps the wind will blow just right over the gorgeous pair about a quarter of a mile away, or there really is a gentleman lurking in the conservation lands...

Not a drop of rain here.....maybe Tuesday......ground is like concrete......