Garden Voices

Growing with Plants: Orchidishness

2009-11-06T15:52:34Z

Originally posted by Matt from Growing with Plants.

empress of dirt: glimpses #2

2009-11-06T02:28:14Z

Originally posted by empressofdirt@gmail.com (M.J.Will) from empress of dirt.

The day brought snow, rain, sleet, hail, and globs of a combination of all of them, interspersed with brilliant sunshine. I love this time of year. It's nuts.

On the way to school we saw this woman and her dog in matching rain gear:

Not to be outdone, we then saw another woman and her dog in matching hoodies. This is one weird world. But funny sometimes. I couldn't get a photo of the second one. I like to be discreet with my photo taking, trying not to invade privacy but capture the glimpses of things that make my day.

Here's a head scratcher. On my way to the post office I noticed someone was directing traffic into the gas station which is very odd. I was just passing by but asked what was going on. There were at least 50 cars in line waiting for the pumps. I was told gas was "on sale" for 5 cents off per litre.

So, people are willing to wait in line (with engines idling) for 20 minutes to save, perhaps, $2.50 on their gas purchase (example: 50L x 5 cents each = $2.50 off). Yet, after buying said gas on sale, they pull into the StarBucks and spend $5+ on a cup of Double Triple Lava Java Whipped with Soy Froth.

The obsession with gas prices makes no sense to me. I see people throw money away all the time: not checking prices in the grocery store, buying bottles of water they could get from their taps, chasing designer labels and name brands, paying debit card fees, not to mention the zillions of big-time expenses like shiny new cars and giant houses and boats and trips and so on. And on and on and on.

Yet, damn it: they'll do anything to save a few bucks on the gas purchase. And the punchline was, gas was selling for 5 cents less per litre at regular price just down the road. Silly rabbits. Sometimes I feel like an alien in this funny, old world. They obsess over gas and I'm gulping at the rising price of broccoli (and all fruits and veggies...). Which of course is related to the rising price of gas...so maybe I'm not so alien to them after all. My obsession is just one step removed.

Gulp. If I don't watch it, Eli and I will be wearing matching outfits in no time.

Mr. McGregor's Daughter: The Late Roses

2009-11-05T04:57:17Z

Originally posted by Mr. McGregor's Daughter from Mr. McGregor's Daughter.

On Halloween, I took the kids in their costumes over to my parents' house. I was shocked to find that two of my mom's Roses were still blooming, despite several freezes. (My Rose hasn't bloomed since August, and the Roses in the main garden at my parents' house are done blooming.) The towering orange one pictured above is in a decent microclimate against the brick wall on the east side of the

Growing A Garden In Davis: L'Orto Botanico di Roma

2009-11-05T02:59:23Z

Originally posted by Leslie from Growing A Garden In Davis.

L'Orto Botanico di Roma is the botanic garden in Rome. It belongs to the University of Rome and is the former garden of the Palazzo Corsini. We visited the garden last June on our first day in Italy. It was a lovely morning but by the time we arrived we were a bit tired as we had taken one wrong turn and walked up an unnecessary hill or two before regaining our bearings. I found the garden pleasant even if a bit disheveled. The young mothers playing with their children on the lawns reminded me of other botanic gardens I have visited...from Quail Botanical Gardens in Encinitas, CA to Boboli Gardens in Florence I'm pretty sure moms and kids are standard features in most botanic gardens.
I wandered the paths and saw a few interesting plant groupings, including a bamboo collection that also reminded me of Quail Gardens, but it was for the most part unexciting. When I saw the above sign, however, I found something that I felt was worth the wandering. The Orto dei Semplici is an herb garden with an emphasis on medicinal uses for plants. That being said, it seemed to me there were an excess of plants capable of causing moderate to severe digestive reactions...I'm not sure I would appreciate being the recipient of some of these cures.These curious fuzzy fruits on a cucumber type plant were not what you'd want to find in your salad!
L'Orto dei Semplici was set out in raised brick beds, the whole of which was also raised so that you entered it by climbing a few steps.
Leaving L'Orto dei Semplici I found a strange but beautiful 18th century staircase, designed by Fuga, complete with water feature that seemed cast adrift from whatever purpose it once served.

And even further into the far reaches of the garden I found the Nicchione, also designed by Fuga in the 18th century.

One of the last things I saw here was the star shaped Giardino degli Aromi or garden of aromas. This area featured many scented plants and plants that have pleasant tactile characteristics. There were quite a few scented geraniums...a pretty way to end my visit.

Blue Ridge blog: November

2009-11-02T19:34:03Z

Originally posted by Marie Freeman from Blue Ridge blog.

It was a beautiful November morning. The end.

Eden Makers Blog:

2009-11-02T18:52:07Z

Originally posted by http://edenmakersblog.com/?p=1517 from Gardeners obviously love plants or they wouldn't be gardening. "Plantanistas" are an extreme type of gardener. Plantanistas collect plants frequently and with abandon! This week's Garden World Report show features "Plantanistas" with plant collection ranging from succulents to hydrangeas to rare Chinese plants found on an expedition trip to the China. Also ....

Sweet Home and Garden Chicago: Green Tomato Time

2009-11-02T16:25:23Z

Originally posted by Carolyn gail from Sweet Home and Garden Chicago.

This is what was left of the tomatoes

Good thing I made a photo because these are long gone.

Goodness gracious I never expected to see grits or fried green tomatoes go gourmet but they have. They've made the fried green tomatoes healthier by using olive or vegetable oil , That's where I draw the line. Gotta have that taste of bacon fat. Yum. And I add a little drop or two of tobasco sauce to pep up the flavor. I don't eat a lot of junk food so I guess this is one time of the year that I can indulge my quaint taste.

I didn't grow the regular or large tomatoes this year so I'm making little bite size tomato sliders. They look like something out of Martha Stewart's appetizer cookbook.

I miss the thick large slices of green tomatoes so I am already formulating my plans for a little veggie plot for next year.

Our Little Corner Of Paradise.: Bountiful Barleycorn In October

2009-10-29T03:07:28Z

Originally posted by A wildlife gardener from Our Little Corner Of Paradise..

Large White And Red Admiral Butterflies On Michaelmas Daisies

At the beginning of October the sun shone brightly and our visiting butterflies had their last sustenance from our Michaelmas daisies. After such a poor Summer, weather-wise, with a period of almost ten weeks of rain, we are having a glorious Autumn.

Red Admiral and Hoverfly On Michaelmas Daisies

It was a joy to observe the flurry of frenzied activity on the various posies of Michaelmas Daisies around our ponds. I, too, enjoyed the warmth of the sun on my back while taking my little video of the butterflies and hoverflies. It makes my heart sing to see the fruition of all the hard work in creating our garden, when intensive farming methods deprive little creatures of their habitats.

Red Cotoneaster Berries

The birds and insects, too, have had a wonderful time gorging themselves on the Autumnal fruits and berries we provide for them. They had a choice of cotoneaster berries, rowan berries, crab apples, Japanese quince apples, the tomato-like hips on the Rosa Rugosa hedge, hips on our climbing roses and a cornucopia of seedheads from all the herbaceous borders.

White Bark Of The Jacquemontii Silver Birch Tree

Autumn is a wonderful sensory experience in the garden, with a rainbow of colour which paints a smile on the dullest of days. In this photograph, we can see the green leaves of the Cornus Alba, the White Dogwood behind the silver birch, turning to gold. But, now that we are at the end of October, they are all but spent.

View Across Part Of The Back Garden At Barleycorn

Our garden is too large to leave all the cutting-back to the Spring, when we would be in danger of trampling our bulbs. It means, therefore, that, in Autumn, my hubbie and I spend a fair amount of time cutting back spent stems which no longer bear seeds. It helps to encourage a new crown around the centre of the plants, which, in turn, protects them over the Winter. As you can see from this photograph, we have left the foliage on the pond plants at this late date in the calendar, as they give shelter to a host of insects.

Red Autumn Foliage On Joseph's Rock Rowan

When you come to view the little video (at the end of this post, made up of snippets taken during this month at Barleycorn) the Joseph's Rock Rowan has green foliage with yellow/orange berries. This photograph, however, shows the amazing transformation from green to yellow to its glorious red Autumnal coat...but, even as I type, the tree is almost in silhouette...

Lily Leaves In The Pond

I have said, many times, the ponds are a constant source of delight to us, and never more so than when they are wearing their Autumnal hues. As an amateur watercolourist, I delight in the photographs which show the play of light on the ponds. The reflections never cease to amaze me.

The Potentilla Hedge Up The Drive

Our Potentilla hedge, planted by my hubbie, flowers for six months of the year and feeds insects and birds to their heart's content. Whenever we walk its length, sparrows are chattering amongst its thick-set foliage, safe in the knowledge we can scarcely spy them. On frosty days, it is often draped in dew-filled spiders' webs, which, like so many fairy necklaces, exude an air of magic.

Hosta Foliage In Autumn

Even though many gardeners are keen to tidy up, I prefer to leave the hosta leaves until they disappear by themselves into the ground. On dry days, I like nothing better than coming across a filigree-patterned leaf, with only the skeleton of the veins showing.

Crocosmia Leaves And Spent Grasses

Once or twice, we have come across a hedgehog's nest in the garden. They are shaped like a rugby ball with the lower half underground in a hollow in the earth and the top half made from the long foliage of grasses and crocosmia, all woven together with hedgehog spittle. Once, to our delight, we found three babies inside. However, on closer inspection, we found they were dead, and we wondered if their mother had been killed on the road, as is, sadly, often the case.

Lichens On Logs

Here and there, around the garden, we have logs for insects to hide in and to chew. Over the years we have had to replace many of them as the insects, and the weather, have reduced them to smithereens. The glaucous blue lichens growing on these logs are worth a closer inspection. Just click on the photograph.

Taz, The Barn Cat, Under A Weeping Birch Tree

Those of you, who follow the blog, will know that Taz had a friend called Cookie who shared the barn with him for the past four years. Her original owners have now decided to take her back to live with them and their seven new cats. No sooner has that happened than a new cat, jet black with green eyes, has made himself at home in the barn. Since the barn is 70 foot long, they will be able to give each other a wide berth if they fail to bond.

White Iceberg Climbing Rose

This climbing rose stays with us till January. I am so glad it is so hardy, and is covered in heads at the moment. Hoverflies, flies, spiders, and a myriad of other insects feed on it, and, in turn, they feed the birds. Although its foliage sometimes suffers from a spot of mildew, the blooms don't seem to be affected.

Crimson Glory Climbing Rose

This rose has been growing up the wall next to our back door for eighteen years now. It has a profusion of blooms throughout the Summer and has a pleasing fragrance. I miss its cheery colour when it goes to sleep next month.

Ox-Eye Daisies

These daisies spread themselves freely around the garden and I love them for it. They brighten dark areas of the garden, such as next to this pile of twigs and logs. Each head always seems cheerful to me with the golden cups of sunshine in their centres. They open with the dawn and close at dusk, which is why they are called the day's eye...

Who Goes There?

I am a light sleeper and often hear our local Barn Owl screeching as it catches its prey during the night. Often there is a large pile of feathers lying along one of our paths. This pile looks to have been left by a sparrowhawk though, as I often see one de-feathering a smaller bird in the same spot... near the stane-dyke wall adjacent to the field behind our garden, so that he has access to a quick getaway.

Balloon Over Barleycorn

Our October weather has been perfect for ballooning and the prevailing winds often carry the balloon over our house. I always greet the travellers with a friendly wave and they often call down to me. Three years ago, our elder son and his new bride treated us to a flight and it was a wonderful experience flying over our village, cameras at the ready, taking aerial views of our garden.

Sunset Behind Barleycorn

We do not always have beautiful Autumn sunsets, so I made the best of an opportunity to take several photographs of the ones we have enjoyed this month. In this photograph, as the sun neared the horizon it became a fiery red.

Sunset Behind Barleycorn 2

It's always exciting to have the silhouettes of trees in the foreground. The tree in the middle is a Holly so it will stay in that form. But, the two either side of it are Silver Birches, and, gradually, they will become more streamlined.

Sunset Behind Barleycorn 3

As if it wasn't enough of a pleasure to be writing this post, a surprise came to me the other day from one of my blogging pals, Linda May, who writes at

http://llindylou.blogspot.com/

She very kindly gave me the One Lovely Blog Award. I feel very humbled and honoured to receive this award. Linda writes from Canberra about her garden and her family and, in her own words, would "like my writing to be thought of as 'painting pictures with words' ".

In turn, I have to nominate blogs which I feel worthy of recommendation.

http://mywildlifesanctuary.blogspot.com/

http://nature-trail.blogspot.com/

http://walklabyrinth.blogspot.com/

http://jeannesbliss.blogspot.com/

http://beneaththewater.blogspot.com/

xxxxxxx

My video consists of many snippets taken during the month of October in our garden as well as footage of Greylag Geese flying over our garden and in a field along the road from us. Turn up the volume to hear my CD of Josh Groban singing, 'You Raise Me Up'.

Katamat: Scotland: Skye to Inverness

2009-10-28T20:00:00Z

Originally posted by adixonmahatoo@gmail.com (Anne Dixon-Mahatoo) from Katamat.

The next leg of our journey took us from Lochalsh toward Inverness. The countryside between Skye and Inverness is stunning. The weather was starting to turn rainy and the skies were overcast, still the sun managed to make a couple of appearances.

This is the cairn on Culloden Moor. Appropriately, the day turned completely grey while we were here. The Moor is pretty much as it was 260+ years ago.

Skippy's Vegetable Garden: bright fall cosmos

2009-10-28T06:00:57Z

Originally posted by kathy from Skippy's Vegetable Garden.

It seems that cosmos are the latest spots of color in the garden this year. My marigolds and zinnias are long gone. These cosmos are at the Cambridge community garden I visited yesterday. I like bold magenta tones.

Mr. McGregor's Daughter: OOTS: Fall Edition (Out in the Streets)

2009-10-28T04:14:37Z

Originally posted by Mr. McGregor's Daughter from Mr. McGregor's Daughter.

I've finally managed to take a photo of the garden (I can't call it landscaping) outside of the Palatine Inn restaurant in, unsurprisingly, Palatine, Illinois. All summer I admired it while driving past on our way to the girl's Irish Dance class. Finally, I went there for breakfast last week and, even though it was raining, I got a photo. There is more garden around the corner too. In keeping

Katamat: Scotland: The Isle of Skye

2009-10-27T20:00:00Z

Originally posted by adixonmahatoo@gmail.com (Anne Dixon-Mahatoo) from Katamat.

I've been looking forward to visiting Skye for quite some time. And it was even more beautiful than I expected. One of the branches of my family emigrated to Canada from Skye a long, long time ago and it is amazing that I still feel a connection to this place.
We were fortunate enough to have a clear and sunny day for our tour of the island - something the locals assured us was quite rare in October.

The north side of the island is sparsely populated and once outside the towns near the bridge (Broadford and Portree, the capital) we found ourselves on a single track road pulling off to the side infrequently to left a car pass by and more often slowing down to admire the local sheep. But more on the sheep of Skye later.

This picture was taken in Trotternish and shows off the Old Man of Storr.

And now back to those sheep. At first they looked friendly enough. Willing to pose for a picture or two while trotting down the highway.

I'll leave the sheep along for a while and return to the natural beauty of Skye.

Somewhere about now, we had made our way to the south of the island and felt it appropriate that we take a short break and tour the Talisker Distillery in Carbost. It was a fine tour, with a wee dram offered as a sample and then we were back on our way.

Ahhh, the return of the Sheep of Skye. There is a bit of an inside joke about the sheep. I wanted a picture of me with the sheep on the road and I wanted that picture very badly. I had Roël stop several times so I could get out and mingle with the sheep while he got the picture. Every time I stepped out of the car, the sheep made for the hills. So one more close-up of my friend, the sheep the way they look when you are in your car. And then the view we had most often. The sheep, actually airborne, and from the rear.

A couple more shots of the incredible scenery on Skye.

And then back to the bridge at Kyleakin.

The Balcony Garden: Quite possibly the ugliest plant I've ever seen...

2009-10-27T18:13:33Z

Originally posted by Sue Swift from The Balcony Garden.

I mentioned a few posts back that weeds aren't a particular problem when you balcony garden, but that things do sometimes float in on the wind and seed themselves in the containers. And sometimes they can be quite interesting plants - so when I saw this one sprouting at the beginning of the summer, I popped it into a pot to see what would develop.

What is it? No idea - some sort of succulent it seems. I was sure I'd never seen it before - it's not something I've noticed growing wild, but nor is it anything I've ever seen in a garden.

Well - not till a few days ago that is, when I was walking through the garden at the front of the house and found this, crawling its way up a lamp post ....

Quite possibly the ugliest plant I've ever seen.

How did it get there? That's not a plant that's been deliberated over in a condominium assembly for at least three hours and until blood has been spilled (mandatory for any decisions regarding the condominium). Someone has had the thing growing on their balcony and, in desperation, crept into the garden at dead of night and stuck it up the lamp post. Look how awkward it looks - that, I'm sure, is no natural climber.

To me, it looks as if it should be snaking its way insidiously across the ground. Did someone actually go out and buy it (worthy of a post on Great Gardening Mistakes of the Century) and thus infect my balcony, or did it float in on the wind to them too? I can imagine hundreds of the things spreading through the garden, choking the shrubs and the trees, and then reaching unstoppably for the buildings. We'll all wake up one morning murdered in our beds, tendrils sliding through the shutters and wound mercilessly around our throats.

Because I'm sure it's conscious and I don't think it's from this planet. Who said that intelligent life must be animal? This is something out of The Day of the Triffids or The War of the Worlds. It's here to take over, to wipe us out ...

And I'm growing one. No question that it's the same. Compare the close-up below with the photo of my little one in its pot. Should I kill mine now, bringing upon myself the certain wrath of its kin, or should I go on nurturing it, in the hope that when the time comes I'll be spared and kept on as some sort of servant? They'll need someone to bring the fertiliser, for heaven's sake.

The monster in the garden is already starting to evolve. Did the person who planted it there think he was rendering it harmlesss by tying it to a stake? He's only increased its rage, and sooner or later we're all going to pay. Look at those little bubble things on the tips of the "teeth" on the leaves. Spores which spread silently on the wind ...

Alert your Neighbourhood Watch. Write to your Congressperson. Notify NASA. But don't ever say I didn't warn you...

Garden Rant: How not to plant bulbs

2009-10-27T11:53:34Z

Originally posted by Elizabeth from Garden Rant.

These suck. For the most part, I have a healthy respect for garden tools. Every pruner I have cuts what it’s supposed to cut, every spade moves earth the way it needs to, and I’m still using claws, rakes, and...

Horticultural: Hot plot or not? Number 8

2009-10-27T04:20:17Z

Originally posted by Jane Perrone from Horticultural.

Whatever you make of the garden, this house is one to go a little green at the gills over: lovely location right right near the park and the river, big Victorian pad, bet it's lovely inside. Does the front garden do it justice though? Just add your thoughts below: please start your comment with a "hot" or a "not" so I can tally the votes. Do send me a picture of your garden if you want to be subject to the scrutiny of the HPON judges (by which I mean, you readers). Reg Wickings did, and his garden, which was...