Holly and Ivy

I don't actually have any ivy, but I do have several holly plants.  It's worth growing just to be able to have fresh holly for Christmas decorating.

It looks fresh for a couple of weeks - doesn't change at all!

When I went out to cut holly I noticed how beautiful the garden is.  Without the distraction of all the colors, what you notice is the forms of the plants.  When planning your landscape, don't think only about the seasons when you spend time outside.  Even though you won't be walking around the yard much in winter, it can provide pleasure every day when you look out the window.  Plan for intriguing views all year long.  Plants that are overlooked in summer can be standouts during different seasons.

Topiaries look more dramatic in winter than in summer.

My favorite topiary looks like it has a hat on each of its heads.

Be sure to leave seed heads for birds to eat.
                                                                                                                                                                                                    

The bark of river birch is hardly noticeable in summer, but looks stunning in winter.

                              The garden has a different kind of beauty at night.

Plant stand covered with a gumdrop of snow.

These Alberta spruce look like ghosts.

I don't think we'll be sitting around the fire pit for a while.

This may seem strange for a gardener, but I love my vintage aluminum Christmas tree!

I wish everyone a Happy New Year!

Gardening in Wisconsin

It's not easy gardening in Wisconsin. We get temperatures that fluctuate almost 100 degrees every year.  Here are some shots I took in the last seven weeks.

On November 1, we ate the last of the watermelon from our garden.

 On November 8, we were raking leaves.

By December 22, we were digging out of the snow.

It's currently 4 degrees.  It was near 100 in August.  It's amazing that most plants come back year after year.  It's even more amazing that those of us who enjoy gardening keep at it year after year! We get high humidity, too much rain, not enough rain, we never know when the last hard frost will come in spring or hit early in fall. We have Japanese beetles, mosquitoes, powdery mildew, iris borer, rust disease, and blossom end rot.  Then there's our heavy clay soil.  I guess all the adversity makes makes having a beautiful garden even more rewarding.  

There are two main seasons in my world - the Christmas season and the gardening season.  As soon as we've packed away the last of the decorations, I start planning for what changes I'm going to make to the garden next spring. It's not quite time for that yet though.  Next month....

Summer's Over

It finally happened.  We got a frost hard enough to do in the annuals.  For me, this is the official end of summer.  This solitary clematis bloom surprised me.  The rest of the flowers look more like this.

After frost

Before frost

Before frost

After frost

Snapdragons are always there for you!

Before frost/After frost

If you read my summer posts, you know that we were up to our eyeballs in little orange tomatoes.

Even frost can't rid of them!

This is a busy time of year for gardeners.  Time to stop admiring the garden and get out and work in it.  I've learned to split the chores of cutting back perennials and shrubs between fall and spring. I used to save all of it for spring, and them kick myself in April when I was overwhelmed with everything I had to do.

If you need help with your fall garden chores in the Waukesha County area, contact me at:
petalpowergardening@gmail.com or 262-893-7249.

Fall Color

I seemed like summer might just keep going on and on, so it was a rude awakening when the weatherman said that there is a chance of frost tonight.  I went out to enjoy the garden before it changes.  I picked the remaining tomatoes, peppers, and basil.  I found some kohlrabies that were still in the ground and pitched a few before I decided to see if they were still edible.  To my surprise, they were just as good as they were in July! 

There is still so much color in the garden, not all of it from flowers.  Some plants that fade into the background in summer now have their turn to shine.

This highbush cranberry is beautiful all summer, but in early fall it turns yellow and develops dark berries, and then turns this gorgeous red.  The grass above is 8 feet tall and  makes a stunning privacy screen.




 The tiny apples on this crabapple tree were barely visible until the leaves dropped. 

I would never skip planting nasturtiaums.  They're at their height right now when most other annuals are looking ragged.

If you don't plant a few packs of zinnia seeds every year - WHY NOT?  They come in a huge variety of colors and heights.  They've been blooming for over two months now.  They last a week as bouquets in the house and I've never had any kind of critter bother them.

Here's another fall favorite I would never be without.  Asters look a little like a weed during summer when they're not blooming, but just plant something else in front of them and wait until fall.  Then they'll redeem themselves and you'll be glad you put up with the foliage for the past few months.

Snapdragons are another plant I would never be without.  They bloom from mid-summer until frost.  While they are an annual, they reseed so freely that the one flat I bought 15 years ago, continues to grace my garden year after year with the most beautiful colors I've ever seen. 

                                                                                

 Not all the fall beauty is flowers.  This river birch is more striking in fall and winter than it is in summer when the trunks are obscured by leaves. 

Enjoy your fall garden while you can.  It's almost time to clear out perennials you don't want to leave standing and pull up annuals that got zapped by frost.  If you need help with that, call or e-mail me at:  petalpowergardening@gmail.com  or   262-893-7249.

67 Degrees

67 degrees - what a perfect temperature for gardening! The mosquitoes and the Japanese beetles are gone, along with the heat and humidity.  This is good time to plant perennials, trees, and shrubs.  There's still plenty of time for them to put down roots before the ground freezes, and the cooler weather means less transplant shock. 

One of the things I always do in fall is take note of what was successful this year and what wasn't so I can make plans for next year.  A garden is never finished.  It evloves.  That's the fun of gardening.  The orange poppies we planted a few years ago have gotten out of hand.  Out they go!  And now that the summer-blooming perennials are done, there are some gaping holes.  I'll have to add some fall-blooming plants in those spots next spring that can take over when the lilies, phlox, and bee balm are done. I've learned that this stuff needs to be written down.   I tell myself that I'll remember that I want to plant purple asters next to the driveway next spring and swap out the red rose in the front yard for a white one, but by May it's all forgotten and I'll be making the same mental notes next fall.  Now I keep a notebook for jotting down those observations. 

One of the things that I'll be adding to that notebook - don't plant 6 of those little orange tomatoes ever again!  We're drowning in little orange tomatoes.  I've given them to neighbors, friends, relatives, and taken them in to work.  One plant would have been plenty.  The watermelon and cantaloupe were disappointing.  If anyone has had success with them in southern Wisconsin, I'd love to hear about it.

Don't give up on your pots and window boxes in fall.  Many annuals perk up when the weather cools down.  Trailing plants might need a trim, but if you keep up on feeding and watering, your pots might look better now than they did a month ago.

 

Late August Gardening

Late summer is a great time to be a gardener -no pain, all gain (well, almost).  There aren't many chores out there ,but plenty to enjoy.  Not too many new weeds, but lots of butterflies.  I don't worry much about watering any more either - mostly because I'm so tired of it.  It's the time of summer when you can reap the rewards of all your work.

Sometimes there's a little too much to reap.  We were gone for a week and came home to this.

 

Fortunately, I have a great recipe for zucchini soup.  I love going out in my yard and picking dinner.

Tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, garlic, and basil, sauteed in garlic olive oil are fabulous over quinoa. These little orange tomatoes are extremely prolific.  All my other tomatoes have blossom end rot, but these little guys are unaffected.

 

The butterflies are all over the campanula and the phlox.

 

 

The hummingbirds love the buffet in our garden and I could have gotten a photo this afternoon if I had been carrying my camera.  There was one feeding on the hibiscus a couple feet from me, and he didn't care at all that I was right there. 

 

If you want late summer beauty in your garden, try shrub roses, sea holly, late-blooming daylilies, sunflowers, mystery lilies, and zinnias.

 

 

 

Looks like we'll be enjoying watermelon and cantaloupe soon.  It's my first time growing these.  I keep hearing that we don't have a long enough growing season.  We'll see.  I'll report on how it goes.