Garden Siren Call

    Pounds of pollen recently collected on the driveway; part of the debris from American Linden trees that line the space. It was swept up and deposited elsewhere.      It could be that Mother Nature is trying to send a message, as odd as that may sound.             When we Eastern Iowa gardeners try to work outdoors, she often, lately, sends rain. This enthusiastic gardener generally loves when it rains, but ...  The timing is hilarious on one hand but frustrating in another.     Picky? You bet. One example of this is driveway upkeep. Our driveway is lined by three large American Linden trees.  I like to keep the driveway fairly tidy.     This necessitates the use of a blower, brooms, and a place for debris. A lot of debris comes from these tall, stately trees.     The American Linden, first cultivated in 1752, grows 60 feet tall or more. It is beautifully shaped and was ...

      Seven yards -- the equivalent of 95 bags of mulch -- were delivered by truck on May 20 and carefully dumped in the driveway.      Mulch, mulch, everywhere with no bare soil to see...     That's our yard, which is about an acre in size and has something like 13 gardens. These gardens are surrounded by large cobblestones which hold the fresh mulch, every year.     I ordered seven yards to be delivered by truck and dumped in a big pile in our driveway. We drove our cars around the pile for a couple of weeks before it was diminished enough to shovel remaining mulch off the concrete.       It was delivered on May 20 and I finally finished up the pile June 11-12. Some excess has been stored on our property.     It is an investment but the benefits are clear:      1.  Mulch makes it harder for those hated weeds to grow because it reduces sunlight available to them.     2. It...

This is what I call an "orderly" garden, in front of our house.  Plants (soon to be many more!), mulch, and cobblestone borders.             A garden expert published a statement on Sunday that caught my eye: Many gardeners call this time of year '100 days of hell,' she wrote.     Well! I can certainly understand that thinking.     When you combine a gardening enthusiast with an admitted "Clean Freak," you get me. (See related blog  https://bakersheartbeat.blogspot.com/2021/02/confessions-of-clean-freak.html ). I recently finished Spring Cleaning inside the house.       But '100 Days of Hell?' It's all perspective.     We have almost an acre of land in rural Scott County, Iowa. That includes more than a dozen gardens. All are mulched, surrounded by cobblestones and with what I call a "gutter" between the garden and yard.     Tending this is a labor of love, for sure. Luckily, that's ...

The coleus plants over-wintered and planted in May of 2020 are at left. This photo was taken in July. The plants were tall and bushy by September. Eight pots, with special seeding soil, and cuttings from the coleus plants.  All winter the coleus cuttings were rooting in a vase. I did trim the roots from time-to-time.      The coleus plants grew large last summer, easily filling in spaces toward the back of a garden which receives afternoon sunlight.      I took cuttings of some of the most colorful plants last September and made a bouquet which lasted all winter.     Now, after an eventful March, I have returned home and rooted the coleus plants from the vase and into small pots. This is what I did last year and it was a great success. So it goes, once again.     The coleus plant is an easy plant to work with. I trim off the leaves, and leave several inches of stem and roots (from its days in the water-filled vase). I bought small s...

       At top, see some big impatiens and a Rieger Begonia. Below are huge coleus plants.      This year of COVID-19 put the Bakers at home, mostly, along with other Americans. In the case of this blogger, it meant WAY more annual flowers were planted. Lots and lots and lots of blooms helped to raise the spirits.       It has been a colorful mass. In no particular order, here's what went in the ground for the most recent growing season:     Dinnerplate Dahlia, "Vancouver;" Lobelia; fountain grass "Fireworks;" Verbena "Quartz Purple" (four plants); Begonia "Senator IQ Mix" (three plants); purple fountain grass; succulent Creations (a perennial); Rio Dipladenia (two plants, one came indoors in an experiment to see how it goes over the winter); Silver-Nerved Fittonia and Coleus, "Royale Alligator Tears" (multiple plants).     Also: Sunset Sedona; red Salvia (two plants); Coleus "Pink Chaos;" Caladium, three plants; ...

     There are daisies, day lilies, coneflowers, heuchera, milk weed and a mum plant in this garden. Below, the same garden has been 'winterized.' This area has been cut back, but includes hostas of various sizes and spirea bushes .     When it comes to gardening in Iowa, there's as much work to do in October as there is in June.      This time of year, for example, we cut back perennials, and remove all annuals from the ground. Luckily we have a place to put these items: It's a compost area for our neighborhood in rural Scott County, Iowa.     I am most reluctant to do this. I think the annuals are just beautiful and I don't like to take them out before they are dead. However, we once left all the work until springtime and that was very hard to handle. It's done in October, mainly.     Basically Steve cuts down many of the perennials with a hedge trimmer, and hauls it away. His main concerns are two fields of Becky daisies,...

This garden gets more water than any other place on the acreage. I replaced a plant today with a purple mum (center, near sidewalk), and watered it as deeply as I could. Since the first of August I've gotten up early every day and started watering ... Something. There are annuals and perennials in the gardens, and all plants certainly struggled during the weeks that delivered searing heat and absolutely no rain. Even the derecho on Aug. 10 featured tremendous  sustained winds and caused untold damages, but only an estimated two-tenths of one inch of rain in our yard. Garden experts agree: Most annuals and perennials do need 1 inch of water, once each week. But such a challenge in this year that seems to post a daunting challenge nearly every day! Richard Jauron, a noted horticulturalist at Iowa State University, Ames, identifies three ways to deal with drought: 1. Soil moisture can be conserved by mulching a planting bed with wood chips, dry grass clippings, shredded l...