A few Indian summer flowers have been finally harvested. This last bouquet offers a reckoning of the season's successes and failures, starting with the blooms arranged in a recycled Tianjin 天津冬菜 jar.
Dahlias: of several planted, only Kelsey Radiance bloomed. The others suffered insufficient sunlight, uneven watering, the predations of rabbits.
Next year: just stick to low dahlias in the old side yard.
Salvia farinacea: "Victoria Blue" deserves strong representation in the garden.
Next year: what about adding a white-flowering annual variety, such as "Evolution," "Victoria White Series" or "Jewel White"?
Day lilies: For several--well, for several several--years, the daylilies have been infected by leaf streak caused by Aurebasidium microsictum fungus. At the end of the summer, I sprayed the foliage with Daconil (chlorothalonil) both after cutting down and again when re-growth appeared.
Next year: continue with the Daconil treatments every two weeks and replenish the bed with new fungus-resistant daylilies ( Betty Bennet, Edna Spalding, Ella Pettigrew, Globe Trotter, Nancy Hicks, Pink Superior, Ron Rousseau, Sudie, Tropical Tones, Upper Room, or Winsome Lady).
Sedum: Pinching and trimming back is better than not doing either, but that luxuriously full and rounded mound remains elusive.
Next year: no reason not to shift stragglers lurking around the compost area into real beds.
And speaking of the compost pile: despite the continuing challenge of balancing dry/wet, green/brown, kitchen scraps/everything else, one discarded seed sprouted out between the bin openings, flowered, and set a cute kabocha squash. Success!
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| Pickle-pot posy |
Next year: just stick to low dahlias in the old side yard.
Salvia farinacea: "Victoria Blue" deserves strong representation in the garden.
Next year: what about adding a white-flowering annual variety, such as "Evolution," "Victoria White Series" or "Jewel White"?
Day lilies: For several--well, for several several--years, the daylilies have been infected by leaf streak caused by Aurebasidium microsictum fungus. At the end of the summer, I sprayed the foliage with Daconil (chlorothalonil) both after cutting down and again when re-growth appeared.
Next year: continue with the Daconil treatments every two weeks and replenish the bed with new fungus-resistant daylilies ( Betty Bennet, Edna Spalding, Ella Pettigrew, Globe Trotter, Nancy Hicks, Pink Superior, Ron Rousseau, Sudie, Tropical Tones, Upper Room, or Winsome Lady).
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| Streak, blight, fungus . . . |
Sedum: Pinching and trimming back is better than not doing either, but that luxuriously full and rounded mound remains elusive.
Next year: no reason not to shift stragglers lurking around the compost area into real beds.
 |
| Compost pile kabocha? |
And speaking of the compost pile: despite the continuing challenge of balancing dry/wet, green/brown, kitchen scraps/everything else, one discarded seed sprouted out between the bin openings, flowered, and set a cute kabocha squash. Success!
