Garden Siren Call

  At left are the flowers on our deck in 2023; at right is the rock garden.      For several years I have blogged on what plants and flowers went into some of the 13 gardens and planting areas we have on an acreage in Scott County, Iowa.     This year that blog is months late, but I figure, "better late than never." I have been gardening since I was about eight years old, and the efforts continue to this day. I am trying to add more perennials to the gardens. Here we go: Perennials :       The star of this class is a Pugster Blue butterfly bush I found locally, after searching for two years. It's still alive, thank goodness, and I'm just very pleased we have it in a prime spot out front.     I also bought two more coneflowers, or Echinacea, in white and wild berry pink. Stonecrop, a sedum, in pink (Plum Dazzled) and green (Lime Zinger) are in the rock garden, pictured above at right. The rock garden also gained "Chick Charms," ...

The sansevieria at top is divided. The photo from it on the porch is before it was divided.        My father, Emery Cox Jr., passed away in 1989. It was a shock, of course, and we received many plants at his visitation and funeral.     One of the green gifts was a  sansevieria, also called a Snake Plant or "Mother-in-Law's Tongue." I took this and planted it in a pot. You can see from the photo that it has grown like Topsy over the years.     I knew I had to divide it this year, so a few weeks ago, my husband Steve and I wrestled the giant sansevieria on the porch over to the driveway.     It really didn't take long: I picked out part of the huge plant, and placed the other in one of those heavy paper yard bags, Boom! All done!      Sansevieria is actually native to the African country of Madagascar. It's in the genus of Dracaena.     My plant does bloom, because it is located in a bright but indirect light...

  This is how the culvert looks now. Here's how it looked before.      Last week, my husband brought up a topic I had forgotten.       "Have you weeded the culvert?" Steve asked. I replied that I ran my small weed wacker in that area of the yard. But pulling weeds? No.     "Could you?" he asked, hopefully. Well, sure. That's what I do, after all, pull weeds all over our big yard.    This project actually went pretty smoothly. In about two hours I'd pulled all the weeds, cleaned off and replaced rocks, and got rid of the debris.      What is a culvert? According to The  Constructor.org , a culvert is made up of various materials, such as aluminum, steel or concrete, and generally runs underneath or near a road to provide a place for drainage, or to run cables.       The culvert near our house was put in place several years ago by Scott County, Iowa.       Before this so...

The 2023 Gardener's Supply catalog        This avid gardener likes to look at magazines and catalogs, especially when spring rolls around.     Years ago I stumbled over an organization called Gardener's Supply Co. This Vermont-based business, run by its employees, was launched in 1983 by William Raap. According to its website , the original mail-order company sought ideas and solutions from around the world to make gardening a little easier.     I discovered it maybe 20 years ago. When I first called to order a product the salesperson said something like this: "Now we have you!" I was taken aback but the tubtrug I ordered -- an orange one -- was the first of many purchases.     I bought six tubtrugs (large, colorful tubs with handles, to easily hold most anything). I use three tubs and I got one for each of the three daughters in the Baker family.     Another time I ordered colorful, light hoses that are both functional an...

  This photo was taken at the height of summer: There is the hibiscus tree, center rear, orange lantana in front, marigolds and the like.      I love to garden and to nurture plants (hence, this blog). Today's effort includes a list of what was purchased  and planted in 2022.     We finish putting the 13 or so gardens to bed this week. It's a fall ritual but I do better when the annuals are very dead, and more easily removed from the ground.       This spell of warmish October weather has been a Godsend.     By the way, I continue to pull weeds as I see them, but I kind of doubt this practice makes fewer weeds in the springtime. Just saying! There seem to be plenty of weeds at all times of the growing season.     I also pull weeds with a purpose, and that means I'm on the third self-weeder of the season. Yep, weeders #1 and #2 cracked under pressure as I went after weed roots under the many cobblestones that surr...

      That's the daylily bed, which is also the weediest part of our yard. I do retain the annual grass in the middle.      Our gardens, spread over about an acre of land, include weeds much of the year.     But I've heard the old saying, "pull a weed in October and that's one less to pull in May."     Uh, really?     One spot is especially questionable. Like many gardeners, we spend inordinate time in the yard before it snows. Hostas are trimmed, as are various perennials. I haven't pulled out my beloved bright tropicals (Hibiscus, for example), but that will happen soon.     The garden that gives me fits is in the photos; There are about eight daylily plants in that location, and probably a hundred miles, or more, of grasses with long, long roots.     Last year, 2021, I weeded this daylily bed eight times. That's right!      The grass roots get  entwined with the daylily tubes, about si...