Garden Siren Call

Black-Eyed Susan flowers, or rudbeckia, weren't planted by a human How the space looks in autumn The Black-Eyed Susans are a family favorite but this year the blooms appeared unexpectedly in a new location some 50 yards from where the flowers were first established. It's serendipity ... with help likely from the birds. The flowers unexpectedly bloomed in a hosta bed near a gutter. This is at the front of our house, on the northeast side. Hostas are planted there because it generally doesn't receive a lot of sunshine. I didn't notice the move until the plants were pretty established. It was a nice surprise! The original site is far away on our acreage, in full sunshine. According to Aaron Steil, assistant director of the fabulous Reiman Gardens at Iowa State University in Ames, the Black-Eyed Susans, or rudbeckia, typically spread by runners from the original plant. It's very common, Steil wrote in an e-mail message, to see new plants pop up a few inc...

New gutter by annuals in front of home The lines of the garden are drawn by shovel, not by using a pencil, but there does appear to be an artful edge involved. That thought occurred after reading about an artist who drew border lines freehand. These garden lines are cut from sod and adjacent to large cobblestones used in several areas of the yard. As written in previous blogs, there are thousands of "cobbies" in the Baker's yard, in large, medium and small sizes. They are used as borders to gardens, or in rock gardens. Husband Steve, who mows the grass, tries to mow as close as possible to the stones but says the wider the gutter, the easier it is. Well! Since one aim is to make the garden easier to maintain, the plan is to cut wide gutters around the yard. This will take a season or two, to accomplish. The time to do this most easily is in September. This season the side and front of the house were cut and the results gained rave reviews. The newest ones ar...

Monarch butterfly among the hosta fronds One recent gardening project included dividing over-grown hosta plants and planting divisions in new parts of the yard. It is arduous work indeed, but it started with a surprise. I was shoveling under a lime-green hosta, getting under the roots, when an adult monarch butterfly suddenly appeared. A butterfly UNDER a hosta? Oh my! According to the Monarch Lab at the University of Minnesota (monarchlab.org), adult butterflies born in late summer and early fall might well be the ones who migrate to Mexico. The primary job of monarch adults is to mate and bear eggs. Monarch females are able to mate after they are 3-8 days old; the males and females may stay together for up to 16 hours, the lab website explains. Adults can mate several times in their life and those born in summer months live 3-5 weeks. But adults born in late summer/early fall are the ones who live up to nine months, and they make a treacherous journey to Mexico. The U....

The renovation effort, in progress. Stones were rearranged, etc. All done, and the grassy area was being watered The tall white birch tree came down several weeks ago but the spot where it lay is now rejuvenated. Yes, it took some thought, muscle power and a little cost, but the space has been re-jiggered and filled with what used to be called: "a little old, a little new, something borrowed and something blue." The garden itself was very spacious, so I felt comfortable in cutting it off and adding grass seed at one end. In the new style, it features a hanging basket for instant color, two heucheras (also called coral bells which used to be there), a bit of mother-in-law's tongue, or sansevieria and some seed for morning glories. It's doubtful the morning glory seeds will have time to grow, but it was a simple 99-cent investment, and who knows what kind of weather we'll have this fall. Otherwise, the grass seed was watered on a regular basis and is ...

Before: I just got started on the driveway weed project After: It's done for 2019! A neighbor jogged past me on Monday and took a look at what I worked on. I was kneeling at the top of our driveway, which stretches 15-20 feet across. The juncture of the driveway and our street, 208th Avenue, was filled with weeds and I was on a mission to pull them out. "This is my OCD project!" I yelled to the jogger, only half in jest. For the second summer, I tackled the weeds on this part of the driveway. Looking up and down our street, it appeared that our property was the most weedy. We can't have that! The tools used are a container of water, gloves, a kneeling pad and pair of pliers. I found regular pliers were the best tool to use, after trying the weeder, as well as needle nose pliers. The process: 1. Sprinkle water on several feet of the weeds, making sure it soaks into the dirt. 2. Wearing gloves, pull out the weeds about an inch at a time. Use the...

Red cannas in the back of the deck display were attacked by Japanese  beetles, but fought them off and now are thriving When the Baker's young daughter was injured in a school bus accident, she was treated and released in the hospital's emergency room, and returned home. This mother made sure her child was comfortable indoors, and then headed outside to weed the garden. With passion. The example of gardening activity right after a family crisis might be described as having "an addiction" to the yard and garden areas. Getting outdoors in warm (and not so warm) weather is like an addiction, it seems. It's the first thing done in the morning, and last thing at night. Some of the best times to garden during a warm spell are in the early-morning hours, and at night the stars are gorgeous in the big sky above. There are about 13 garden areas in our big Scott County yard. If gardening is an addiction, it is a healthy habit and the results, ultimately, i...

A rock garden substitutes for the former cherry tree in this space Close-up photo of the annual flowers; blue Torenia, top, and polka-dot, bottom center. A sloped part of the yard was a challenge to the homeowner: How does one go about making this an attractive space? The answer: A rock garden. This garden replaced a wild cherry tree that was dying on the spot. First, the tree was cut down and hauled away. Secondly we bought rocks, and rocks, and rocks, from the "rock shop" on Northwest Boulevard, Davenport. Cobblestone was the choice. The biggest "cobbie" rocks rim the area, while the medium-sized ones took up the inside space. This was augmented by small cobbies. Also added where a few dozen round stones, in a robin's egg blue color. This added interest to the array of colors. Five spots were established in the rock garden. Planted were three types of succulents such as hen-and-chickens, and alternanthera -- noted for colorful leaves. Two sp...