Wednesday Wandering

Yarrow

I have not done a Wednesday Wandering blog post for awhile.  First it was so hot and dry so plants were struggling and critters and insects were looking for water and eating a lot of my garden. It was too hot to work outside for very long and the haze from the Candada wild fires filled the air both in and out of my house. I was too tired to leisurely ramble the garden and take pictures. My oldest son who has been grief stricken since the unexpected death of his daughter in January 2022 stopped taking care of himself and a wound on his foot he had for six months would not heal. When we finally convinced him to go to the ER they admitted him to the hospital and a couple of days later he had his big toe amputated and he found out he was diabetic (like I kept telling him). He is on an antibiotic pump and needs to go into the infusion center a half hour drive away every day. So I take turns driving him over. Worrying about and tending to my son cut into gardening time and left me exhausted and with little free time to enjoy the gardens. Then the rains came and with it unseasonably cool temperatures so I couldn't go out into the gardens to work because of the rains. And when it rains a lot I end up spending time in the flooded basement sweeping water to the sump pump. Then I tripped and fell and hurt my back and knee and even though we had beautiful weather I could not work outside because of the back pain and knee swelling.  

Ok. So when I finally did make it out to the garden a couple of days ago after a short absence I saw a lot of insect and critter damage - all my daylily buds devoured, Japanese beetles in the roses, missing Sunflower leaves, missing seedlings, weeds, scrub brush up to my waist,groundhog holes, rabbit holes, mole hills, deer poop, raccoon poop, rabbit poop...oh poop! . A lot can happen in a garden in a short time.  Some times so many things are in bloom and the scents and colors are overwhelming - a joy to behold. And other times all I can see is the devastation.  I used to comfort myself with "there's always next year..." but I've lost so many loved ones in the last couple of years so I know that's not really true. 

So maybe I should change that mantra to "sieze the moment", "enjoy the moment". 

At this moment in the garden when I took the pictures and got past the devastation I could hear the birds singing, a few bees buzzing and the slight breeze slow dancing in the wind chimes, a couple of Painted Ladies (butterflies) flew by and blue Dragonfly. The perfume of the Oriental Lilies and Roses filled the air. . 

The ever changing gardens...

The Trumpet Vine and Dutchman's Pipe Vines have taken over a trellis. I spend several hours a week digging up and cutting back pieces of each that sprout up everywhere in the garden and threaten to strangle everything in sight. My sister-in-law gave me a cutting years ago. When in bloom the Trumpet Vine flowers are a hummingbird magnet.  The Dutchman's Pipe attracts the Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly. 

Trumpet Vine

Orienpet Lilies

aka Tree Lilies

They are a cross between Oriental and Trumpet Lilies so they have the scent of Oriental Lilies and the big trumpet shaped flower of the Trumpet Lilies. I guess they are called Tree Lilies becauses they grow quite tall. I think these are about six feet tall and have a sweet scent.  I have these in several places throughout the cottage garden. 

Orienpet Lily

Another Orienpet Lily

The deer missed these daylily buds! That's because they are up closer to a solar powered motion sensor light. 

A long time ago I planted rocambole garlic here and there in the cottage garden around a few plants that aren't scented in hopes of keeping deer and rabbits at bay. This time of year if we haven't harvested and eaten the garlic scapes they will form bulbils on top of the plant. These can also be harvested and eaten and have a delicate garlic taste. Or they can be planted and the first year after planting a garlic round forms in the ground which is like a single clove of garlic. If that is left in the ground another year then a garlic bulb witth cloves forms. So needless to say we have an endless supply of garlic. 

I have several Azaleas and they rarely bloom. I cannot keep the deer from munching on them.  This one is up close to those motion sensor lights and near some of that Rocambole garlic. 

Purple Coneflower and Bee Balm

Soon the Goldfinches will flock to the Coneflowers and sit atop them and pull out the seeds. 

The Bee Balm is scented and attracts all sorts of bees. I have some pink and...

...and some purple and I started some Spotted Bee Balm that I will plant out in the Autumn when it gets a little bigger. 

An Oriental Lily is growing up in amonst the Bee Balm. Not sure how it got there. 

Once again I'm not sure I will have a Sunflower House. At least the plants are still standing and have a few leaves so maybe they will eventually get a Sunflower on top. I planted Christmas Lima beans in between the Sunflowers to climb up and over the top of the Sunflowers for the house sides and roof but most of those have been eaten too. 

It does look like I will have a nice apple crop. This is the only apple tree of four that we had that is still standing. It is supposed to be a columnar tree but it has gotten out of hand and needs to have a lot of pruning done to it but I don't think I am able to do that any longer. 

The peach tree has cracked in half but it looks like I still might get some peaches this year. I have this limb propped up so it doesn't crack further. 

Hopefully I will also have a good Blackberry crop. The wild black raspberries dried up this year but I guess there's always next year! I'll sieze the moments until then.