NOVEMBER IS A BUSY TIME IN THE SWEET HOME AND GARDEN

  

"If it is true that one of the greatest pleasures of gardening lies in looking forward, then the planning of next year's beds and borders must be one of the most agreeable occupations in the gardener's calendar.  This should make October and November particularly pleasant months, for then we may begin to clear our borders, to cut down those sodden and untidy stalks, to dig up and increase our plants, and to move them to other positions where they will show up to greater effect.  People who are not gardeners always say that the bare beds of winter are uninteresting; gardeners know better, and take even a certain pleasure in the neatness of the newly dug, bare, brown earth."

I always pray for good weather in November because I open my studio to the public the first two weekends to see my paintings.  This is a tour of about 100 artists in the area and is very popular with the residents.  We had a lot of visitors and sales this year and the weather was good - no heavy rain or snow.

The entrance to my studio is through the garden gate and visitors are always pleasantly surprised to see a garden still filled with texture and color.  The Japanese mums and Autumn sage are still in bloom and the brilliant Fall color of dogwood and viburnum is stunning.

         Fall color of the 'Koreanspice ' Viburnum

Because of our warm Fall the leaves were late in dropping and I have been busy raking them into the forest to compost.

While cleaning up the garden I noticed voles had quite a few tunnels dug and I sprayed them with castor oil and dish detergent mixed together.  

After a few chilly days I finally got around to planting the alliums I bought to add to the daffodils for the Spring border.

The garden still looks good in November and my plan for Spring is to plant as many evergreen groundcovers I can to fill in bare spots so I won't have to mulch.  We call this " living mulch. "  I have a lot but I need more.

                 A corner of my November   garden.

OCTOBER IN THE SWEET GARDEN

October

Robert Frost - 1874-1963

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O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
To-morrow's wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
To-morrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow,
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know;
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away;
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!
For the grapes' sake, if they were all,
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost—
For the grapes' sake along the wall.

A few of my October favorites, left to right :  Autumn Sage, 'Bolero '  mum, Japanese roof iris,   and Euphorbia 'ascot ' .  'Autumn Joy ' Sedum is peeking out from the boulder on the left corner.

I planted dwarf Fall blooming anemones  to add to next year's blooms.  This year the asters were a disappointment.  I suspect they were affected by an early Spring fungus that also attacked my daylilies.   To remedy that in the Spring I'm going to spray with a fungicide.

The star of the late Fall garden is the latest blooming aster 'raydon's favorite'.  It spreads nicely and I've divided and planted it throughout my roadside garden, a deer resistant pollinator garden that fronts the entrance to my home.

While it takes the poets to write about the glories of Autumn it takes us gardeners to rake them so it's onward to composting a half acre of fallen  leaves and pine needles, some of which I'll leave for mulch but I have to be careful because I've seen signs of voles getting ready to nest for the winter.   

SEPTEMBER IN THE SWEET GARDEN

"By all these lovely tokens

September days are here

With summer's best of weather

And autumn's best of cheer."

- Author Unknown

Summer lingers and the ample rainfall we had in August has disappeared.   The mornings are cool and I use them to do my garden chores.  

The local garden center has started stocking its Fall plants and I found a few that I couldn't resist.  I purchased two dwarf anemones -'pretty lady susan ' and 'pretty lady diana . ' 

Spotted an unusual blue cardinal flower - ' starship blue ' for a partly shady corner of the garden.

I have a lot of yellow, orange and pink among the flowering plants so a touch of blue will help balance the color scheme.

I have fallen in love with coneflowers and have been planting them in every color.  I like the way they bloom continuously without much fuss.

August blessed us with a lot of rain but September was unusually dry so I had to do a lot of supplemental watering for newly planted perennials.

I have started to divide some spreading perennials such as the Japanese roof iris and 'ice dance' carex,

 and giving away excess to neighbors.  The lantana has also spread so I'm going to divide it as well.

Much cooler weather is on the way, as is Hurricane Ian which is supposed to impact us here in North Carolina as well.  Praying for everyone in its path.

AUGUST GARDEN SUPERSTARS

 "When summer opens, I see how fast it matures, and fear it will be short; but after the heats of July and August, I am reconciled, like one who has had his swing, to the cool of autumn."

-  Ralph Waldo Emerson 

As expected August was filled with endless days of temperatures in the 90's but lucky us here in central North Carolina we had ample rainfall.  I shudder to think what it would be like to have the 67 days of  no rainfall and temperatures in the triple digits that Texas gardeners and farmers have had to endure this year.  To make matters worse they were then flooded.  How do you garden in such extreme conditions ?

Despite the heat the Coneflowers continued to brighten the August garden.  Coreopsis is another stalwart as is the ever-blooming Lantana and Autumn Sage.   I love Blackeyed Susans but forgot to give them a haircut in July and they tended to flop over.  

I believe that I have THE tallest banana palm in town -it's at least 15 ' tall and it has a large flower bulb that should turn into bananas.

One of my friends gave me a small clipping of 'purple heart ' a few years ago and as it spread I transplanted it through-out my flower border.  I love it's color and the bees love its flower.

Last year the Asters bloomed very early and were spectacular but this early warm Spring we had caused a fungus that seem to stunt their growth.  It also affected my daylilies with ugly yellow streaks on their blades.  Going to be diligent in spraying with fungicide this Fall/winter to hopefully avoid fungus this Spring.

Waiting for the cooler days of Autumn to start my Spring flowering bulb garden.  I've ordered 500 bulbs of species  ( wild ) tulips and while that sounds like a lot, it's not nearly enough ! Since I have a boulder garden the species tulips look much more natural and will colonize quicker than the larger ones.   I do love the late lily flowering taller tulip and may use some of them as well.   The species tulip will look good with the existing creeping  phlox and early blooming Japanese roof iris.  

September can still be warm and sometimes dry.  I'll spend it going about the garden and seeing what should be divided and transplanted.  

A COLD DAY IN JULY

                                                              July 10, 2022

                                          Carrboro, N.C.

                                                                 73 degrees high

 Sometimes the unexpected happens, thus the Southern saying " That'll be a cold day in July ' when it does.  I published a blog post a few years ago on this subject and got over 8,000 hits !

I'm still amazed that July here in central N.C. is the rainiest month of the year.   After days on end of temps in the 90's the thirsty garden certainly welcomes the rain.

We had a very wet, warm Spring that caused a lot of fungus, aka, Southern blight and it's mostly affected my Ajuga groundcover.   It's the first time that my daylilies were affected by the fungus and I had to spray them with Neem oil. 

Started my succulent garden next to the garden path near the back entrance with drought-tolerant plants.  

I'm loving coneflowers and have one in every color except white.  I am slowly filling my flower beds with more of them because they seem to love the hot weather and they bloom a long time.  My boulder garden, below, in late August, is filled with early blooming Mums, Autumn Sage, Purple Heart, Autumn Joy Sedum and Dianthus.  

Another drought-tolerant perennial that I love is coreopsis, aka, tickweed.  Below is 'moonbeam ' which has been in bloom since late Spring.  I gave it a little hair cut last month and it's re-blooming again.

By July we gardeners can tell which perennials are heat and drought-tolerant.  Another one that I like is Nepeta, or Catmint.  It tends to get leggy by late June so a trimming back helps it revive.  It is a very long blooming plant that the bees love.

Onward and upward in the garden -August won't give us much relief from this heatwave we're suffering this year but at least it's one more month 'til September !

JUNE MARKS THE BEGINNING OF SUMMER

"And since all this loveliness cannot be Heaven,  I know in my heart it is June."

– Abba Woolson

     

        My backyard boulder garden has lots of textures that make it interesting even when not in bloom - the mark of a true garden, IMO.

The unusually hot weather of May continued into June and with very little rainfall I spent a lot of time weeding and watering.  The daylilies suffered from the warm, humid weather in Spring and had an ugly fungus that turned its blades yellow.  I have decided to move them to another location and replace them with coneflowers which bloom for a much longer season and don't have problems with fungus.

June begins with the arrival of the dreaded devastating Japanese beetle.  I put out 6 traps and they easily fill up.  I also pick them off in the early morning and evening and feed them to my chickens.

My 'moonbeam' coreopsis did very well this year and I want to add more of them due to their long bloom season.  My favorite color palette is orange/yellow/red and blue/purple . Sometimes pinks and whites sneak in.

I still find it amazing that I have asters blooming in June !  Also discovered my banana palm has a bunch of small fruits on it.  Most unusual.

Amazingly, and at only 3-4 ' high, this banana palm has fruit.

Alas  June is at an end and the hottest and wettest month, July is just around the corner.  

ALL THINGS SEEM POSSIBLE IN MAY

"The world's favorite season is the spring. All things seem possible in May."
- Edwin Way Teale

May in the Sweet Garden is very colorful with Japanese roof iris, phlox , daffodils, euphorbia, catmint and dianthus blooms.  

The weather has been very pleasant with plenty of rain.  A short heatwave was surprising and rare this time of the year.   The hard freeze we had earlier in the Spring damaged the 'ice dance ' sedge, the 'sunshine ' privet and the 'Lady Banks ' rose.  The good news, however, is that they will recover.

The Hellebores loved the cool wet Spring and have hung on forever.  I finally had to trim off the spent blossoms and dead foliage.  The snapdragons among them survived the winter.

May is a major month of celebration as the first day is my birthday, followed by Mother's Day and a son and daughter born this month.

The early blooms of Autumn Sage  ( left ) attract many hummingbirds that I enjoy watching from my back porch.  I have many bluebird houses throughout my yard and I love watching them fill up.

Early blooms of the most outstanding clematis -'bee's jubilee ' which re-blooms throughout the summer.

Meanwhile in my front woodland garden the Ajuga and viburnums are putting on their Spring blooms.  

APRIL SHOWERS

"The sun was warm but the wind was chill. You know how it is with an April day."- Robert Frost

This April was rather warm and didn't shower us with a lot of rain as expected.  Nevertheless the Spring flowers put forth their cheerful blooms -early blooming phlox, Japanese roof iris, dianthus and a shrub rose  ( above ) are some of the earliest to appear.

In my front yard forest the 'Prague' and ' Mariesii ' viburnums are blooming and in the foreground the cobalt-blue ajuga.  This area is a rain garden since all the run-off collects there.  The sedges soak up a lot of the excess.

The boulder garden is coming alive with the tiny yellow 'lady banks ' rose and Chinese snowball viburnum.

Above, my new moss garden is thriving in this shady nook.

Despite the lack of April showers the boulder garden is coming along nicely.  Now for some May rain !

MARCH INTO SPRING

 My red Buckeye never fails to put on it's beautiful Spring show !

Oh how I missed these blooms this year  ( above ) on my early-Spring blooming Prunus mume 'Peggy Clarke ' ! The good news however is that my severe pruning off of the black knot fungus that attacked them both last year has resulted in new growth.  By luck I also came upon a new cultivar -'kobai' at the local garden center and of course I had to have it.  It appears to be more shrub-like than 'peggy clarke . ' I'm expecting quite a show next Spring !

It's not Spring without the charming bell-like flowers of the Hellebores that I have lining my long driveway.  Their long blooming white flowers add color to the woodland garden.

Early blooming phlox ,Japanese roof iris  and dianthus are usually the first perennials to appear after the daffodils and tulips are gone.  My Schnoodle Odie is sniffing out one of the many lizards that call my garden home.

Another welcome harbinger of Spring -Edgeworthia, aka, Chinese paper bush.  It's fragrance is outstanding as well, which is why I planted it near the pathway.

Another outstanding fragrant Spring shrub -Korean Spice Viburnum

Did I say how much I love Viburnums ?  At last count I had close to 9 .  Here's an early Spring bloomer -Chinese Snowball .

And - last but not least - in the darkest corner of my garden -the cheerful yellow blooms of Kerria Japonica .

We had a wonderful Spring this year and it awarded us with an abundance of beautiful blooms.

 

FROSTY FEBRUARY

"Every gardener knows that under the cloak of winter lies a miracle ... a seed waiting to sprout, a bulb opening to the light, a bud straining to unfurl. And the anticipation nurtures our dream."- Barbara Winkler

This February was an unusually cold one here in central North Carolina, with many night-time lows below freezing.

Nevertheless, life goes on in the garden.  Even though I'm missing the cheerful blooms of my 'peggy clarke ' prunus mume  ( flowering Japanese apricot ) due to a severe pruning, I am enjoying the fragrance of the Chinese paperbush  ( Edgeworthia ) and it's beautiful yellow blooms, which are very long-lasting.

We had a very light dusting of snow with no major accumulations.  Below is a view of my back garden in its white dress.

Since I couldn't  garden I spent most of my time in my studio painting.  It took me two months to finish this very large painting titled ' Summer Afternoon .'

Absence the sight of beautiful flowers in bloom I am happy with the many shades of green in my garden-Chindo Viburnum, 'Little Gem ' magnolia, Japanese cypress,  'Summer gold ' Privet, Hellebores, Lorepetalum, Sedges, and  holly and camellias, to name a few.

Getting ready to welcome Spring.  Already planning to add more Spring bulbs this Fall-purple alliums to go with my yellow daffodils.

JANUARY AND NEW BEGINNINGS

"Nature has undoubtedly mastered the art of winter gardening and even the most experienced gardener can learn from the unrestrained beauty around them."- Vincent A. Simeone

We did indeed learn from the  " unrestrained beauty " in the garden this first month of the year.  For 3 weekends in a row we had below freezing temperatures and a dusting of snow.  

Usually I'm cheered by the winter blooms of my Prunus mume 'peggy clarke ' but alas it had to be severely pruned due to a fungus and will take time to recoop.

I am going to search for some more Prunus mume in the local garden centers in case my current ones don't survive.   I would even love to plant one in the front garden so that I can see it from my window.

This winter's freeze also delayed the blooming of the Hellebores, another flower I love that blooms in the winter.  The buds emerged but growth stopped when the temperatures plunged to the low 20's several nights in a row.  I'm hopeful they will survive to bloom in February.  Below is my favorite -a light lime color that shows up very well in its forest setting.

I've also been enjoying another winter bloomer -Edgeworthia ( Chinese paperbush )  and its incredible fragrance.

Meanwhile I'm spending winter planning for Spring.  I want to add a witch hazel and more dogwood and viburnums this Spring.

Each day now brings earlier sun rise and later sunset, a sure sign of Spring !  My chickens , after a brief rest, are beginning to lay again.

DECEMBER HANGS ON TO SUMMER

"How like a winter hath my absence been From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year!
What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen!
What old December’s bareness every where!
And yet this time remov’d was summer’s time;
The teeming autumn, big with rich increase,
Bearing the wanton burden of the prime,
Like widow’d wombs after their lords’ decease:
Yet this abundant issue seem’d to me
But hope of orphans and unfather’d fruit;
For summer and his pleasures wait on thee,
And, thou away, the very birds are mute:
Or, if they sing, ’tis with so dull a cheer,
That leaves look pale, dreading the winter’s near."
- William Shakespeare

December was the third warmest on record.  Many days of 60's and 70's and the garden was yet untouched by a hard freeze.

The Edgeworthia  ( Chinese Paper Bush ) put forth its fragrant blossoms.  The dianthus, autumn sage, silver and gold Japanese Mum and some Korean mums still has blooms.  

Alas, my long-awaited Prunus mume 'peggy clark ' ( ornamental Japanese apricot ) will not bloom this Winter due to the black knot fungus that attacked it this Spring.  It is struggling to put forth new branches after I severely pruned it to get rid of the disease.  I'm hoping it'll make a full recovery over the coming Summer.

In the deep of December I am happy to see the Christmas Rose burst forth in bloom.  The lime green and whites are my favorite .

 Farewell to this last month of the year in the garden.  I'm looking forward to the new year.