The Garden of Live Flowers

Ending, beginning

noreply@blogger.com (Diane) — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 04:05:00 +0000

This will be the final post at The Garden of Live Flowers. Come find me at my new blog, 30 Acres and a Greyhound!

xoxoxo,
Diane

Like a phoenix, a blog rises from the ashes

noreply@blogger.com (Diane) — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 15:35:00 +0000

Long, long ago, I promised big upcoming changes in real life. It's just two little tiny inconsequential things.

1. I wrote and defended my dissertation and am now the proud holder of a PhD in biology! Also, I am unemployed.
2. TMCH* and I moved from Chicago to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, just northwest of Fort Collins, Colorado. No reason other than we just wanted to!

Regarding the thesis, I still can't talk much about it until I get the chapters published, which is one of my tasks for the upcoming months. Grad school may officially end, but the work just goes on and on!

As for the fabulous new mountain lifestyle, I will have many many things to say about it over the coming years. While I'm still in zone 5B-ish, it's drier, rockier, clay-ier, and more acidic in the mountains. The growing season is probably also shorter. The trees are primarily Ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, and aspen, and most of the wildflowers are new to me. I have a lot to learn and I can't wait to dive in and share the joys of our new property and our new state with my readers!

The big story that underlies everything we do here is that we're in the High Park Fire burn area. While 88,000 acres of the county burned through much of June, TMCH and I fretted back in Chicago, absorbing every bit of news we could find and wondering if the house we'd put an offer on was still standing. Thanks to the erratic nature of forest fires, some careful fire-mitigation planning by the owner, and the dedication of the RCVFD, the house is fine and so is most of the property. It's too long a story to retell but TMCH did a great job here.

We did, however, lose a lot of trees and shrubs. Signs of the fire remain everywhere and every time it rains the smoky scent fills the air. Many of our canyon neighbors lost their homes and many of the hilltops are covered with charred black toothpicks instead of lush pines. Fortunately, the community spirit is strong, and rebuilding and restoration efforts have already begun. Another task for us over the coming months and years is helping our little bit of the forest recover from the fire and become healthy and beautiful once more.

Because of all these changes, I want to retire The Garden of Live Flowers and start a new blog in which I talk about gardening in the foothills, outdoor activities in Northern Colorado, post-fire restoration, and learning about the natural landscape around us. I will of course also talk about my houseplants, most of which survived the trip out here. I am going to ponder a name for the new blog and hopefully begin writing soon!

*Too Much Coffee Husband :)

The hiatus is ongoing, but I have to say one thing...

noreply@blogger.com (Diane) — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 02:30:00 +0000

I finally got a Euphorbia obesa!! Thank you, Ted's Greenhouse :) Here it is with its new friends Euphorbia suzannae, Haworthia attenuata, and Sedum rubrotinctum.

Also, a voodoo lily (Arum cornatum) and a Dracula lily (Arum dracunis). I consider my visit to the Chicago Flower and Garden Show market a success.

And now, excuse me once more while I return to the Dissertation Dungeon. Sigh.

TGOLF on hiatus! Awwwww.

noreply@blogger.com (Diane) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 21:39:00 +0000

I didn't realize until just now that my blog title acronymizes to GOLF. Looking for help with your backswing? Want to know how to turn that old golf bag into a super-cute planter? Look no further!

Anyway, I haven't posted here in a while, and that's partially from a bit of burn-out and partially from real life requiring my attention. I am scheduled to defend my dissertation this winter and when I'm not *absolutely freaking out* I am writing and analyzing data. There may still be an occasional post if something occurs to me, but mostly I need to set this part of my life aside. Same goes for the garden itself, which did remarkably well this summer considering I barely spared it a glance. (Fun Fact! Unharvested Swiss chard turns your hands bloody red when you finally cut it down in November. It's a little alarming.)

I will be back in the groove for the spring season, at which time I will have a big announcement and a new garden project to entertain you with. No spoilers; you'll have to wait and see!

Citygarden, St. Louis

noreply@blogger.com (Diane) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 21:17:00 +0000

Last week I visited St. Louis to attend the annual Botany conference and present my latest basswood research (and did I rock? Oh yes I did!). My mom went with me for a little getaway and so on the hottest days of the year we found ourselves touring the St. Louis Zoo, the Central West End, and the Missouri Botanical Garden while mopping copious sweat from our brows. On Thursday after she caught the train for home, I did a quick architectural tour of the downtown area, and just for fun I walked to a park called Gateway Mall. Turned out that it was way better than a park; it was a recently-rebuilt space called Citygarden. I passed a lovely half hour touring its two city blocks of gardens, waterfalls, and sculptures.

The design is inspired by the geology of Missouri and is laid out in three bands from north to south: the Northern River Bluffs, the Middle Floodplain, and the Southern River Terrace.

The Missouri bluffs are recreated in beautiful blocks of rough and polished limestone,

with a forested region whose trees and understory plants, while still young, offer cool shade.

There is also a restaurant (glimpsed in the photo below) with a green roof, and a small amphitheater.
(Tom Otterness, Kindly Gepetto)

A waterfall makes the transition from bluff to floodplain.

The middle floodplain band has paths paved with black granite and is planted with soft-textured prairie grasses.

The river terrace is the most landscaped portion and is meant to reflect the fertile, cultivated portions of Missouri. An 1100-foot granite bench meanders through the gardens, suggesting a river wandering across the landscape.
(Ju Ming, Tai Chi Single Whip)

The river terrace also has a huge fountain with mini-geysers of water popping up at varying times.
(Jim Dine, Big White Gloves, Big Four Wheels)

The Citygarden is a cornerstone of the St. Louis downtown redevelopment and I hope that as more people discover it, it becomes as iconic as Millennium Park has in Chicago.
(Tom Claassen, Untitled (Two Rabbits))

Summer garden

noreply@blogger.com (Diane) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 12:28:00 +0000

It's been a busy summer and I've been letting the garden fend for itself for the most part. Luckily, the plants know what to do, sometimes a little too well.

Nothing says "June" like lilies.

(I know it's July. Shhhh.)

Speaking of June, here's Hosta 'June', the only hosta I ever bought because I liked it and not because I needed a filler in the shade.

Clematis 'Jackmanii', irrepressible as always.

Humulus lupulus, the hops plant I got at the UIC pharmacy garden a few years ago. Somewhere under that mound is a cute little iron trellis. Hahahaha what was I thinking?!

Someday we'll wake up and find the entire house encased in hops. For now it occupies itself with trying to unscrew the hose from the wall.

Happy Summer, everyone!

The Lurie Garden through the seasons, updated

noreply@blogger.com (Diane) — Sat, 14 May 2011 13:55:00 +0000

The view northwest
January 13, 2011

April 21, 2011

May 13, 2011

May 29, 2009

June 30, 2010

July 8, 2005

October 20, 2010

The view south
January 13, 2011

April 21, 2011

May 13, 2011

May 29, 2009

October 20, 2010

Lurie Garden in spring

noreply@blogger.com (Diane) — Sat, 14 May 2011 13:50:00 +0000

I'm continuing with my semi-regular visits to Chicago's Lurie Garden so I can admire it in all its phases. Because of our strange, chilly spring, the spring flowers have been delayed. The river of salvia was in full bloom on May 29 two years ago but I don't foresee that happening this year.

Dodecatheon sp. and Geum triflorum

The dark plate, looking southwest

Ballade, Don Quichotte, and Queen of the Night tulips

Daffodils, tulips, and redbud trees

The Lurie Garden through the seasons, updated

noreply@blogger.com (Diane) — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 18:04:00 +0000

The view northwest

January 13, 2011

April 21, 2011

May 29, 2009

June 30, 2010

July 8, 2005

October 20, 2010

The view south

January 13, 2011

April 21, 2011

May 29, 2009

October 20, 2010

New juniors!

noreply@blogger.com (Diane) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 03:08:00 +0000

The Junior Acquisitions Department has been on hiatus while McGarden Enterprises, Inc. took a few months to ponder life and get its mojo back. Well, the mojo is back, baby! As VP of the JAD, I took the corporate credit card and went on a spree. We lost a few juniors through, um, attrition, and had empty spaces that needed to be filled...

At the Chicago Flower and Garden Show, I stocked up at the Ted's Greenhouse booth as usual. The Adenium obesum I wanted so desperately was nowhere to be found, but I comforted myself with these cuties:

Crassula perfoliata subsp. falcata (propeller plant), Euphorbia mammilaris variegata (corncob plant), Trichodiadema densum (miniature desert rose), Crassula 'Springtime'

I also bought a new African violet:

I usually get my violets on the cheap at places like Home Despot but have had bad luck with them lately, so I shelled out the dough for a plant that had been taken care of by someone who gave a crap.

Finally, at last weekend's orchid show at the Chicago Botanic Garden, I bought the prettiest orange orchid with the most ridiculous name: Potinara Love Passion 'Long Vacation'.

Orchid Show at the Chicago Botanic Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Diane) — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 23:28:00 +0000

I went to my first orchid show today, the spring show and sale of the Illinois Orchid Society. I've never been wild about orchids but I find that the more I see them, the more they grow on me. (Because they're epiphytes! Get it?) Plus, it is always fun to spend time with serious plant geeks.

I had my first up-close look at the (in)famous Blue Mystique phalaenopsis orchid introduced this year. It attracted plenty of attention and photographers, but I was gratified to hear that when customers found out it's artificially colored, they lost interest. Breed me a true-blue and then we'll talk.

I find that I very much like the Paphiopedilum orchids. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough cash to get one of my own. Next year?

I also liked the obscure orchids, including the species orchids, which have not been bred and hybridized into such foofy shapes. This subtle Acianthera chamensis was extremely appealing.

Vanda 'Sansai Blue' and its companions showed off some of the purples orchids can achieve.

The show judged on individual plants and on displays. I liked this collection with a range of warm colors.

Not a great picture, but another genus that appeals to me is Masdevallia.

The marketplace was hopping!

Of course I bought things. I knew after wandering the market that one of the orange cattleya-type orchids would need to go home with me. I browsed until I found just the right color, and ended up with Potinara Love Passion 'Long Vacation.' Potinara is a hybrid of hybrids, in the Cattleya alliance. This one is a lovely rich orange with a touch of red in the throat; in shape it reminds me of a jonquil.

I also bought a Miltassia C. M. Fitch 'Izumi' (Oncidium alliance) off the orchid society's sale table for $5, because I can't resist cheap fixer-uppers. It desperately needed repotting and watering, but a nice person at the orchid society's repotting booth divided it, potted it, and gave me piles of advice. I was told the flowers would be yellow but Google says it will actually be purple/red and spotty and cute in a lanky way. IF it survives!

Finally, I bought a cheap bare-root plant, only because of the name. Meet Miltassia Dark Star 'Darth Vader.'

"I find my lack of soil disturbing."

#chiflowertweetup and #chiflowereatup

noreply@blogger.com (Diane) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 20:25:00 +0000

Hello, friends who are attending the Chicago Flower and Garden Show! Twitter is an awful way to plan anything so let's try it this way. Here is what's happening on March 5:

3 pm: tweetup at the Crystal Garden at Navy Pier
#chiflowertweetup

For those who don't know Navy Pier, here is a map: http://www.navypier.com/visit_us/pier_maps.html#
The Crystal Garden is near the entrance, upper level. I think enough of us can recognize each other that we don't need any big signs or balloons. Just look for a bunch of happy people standing around! From here, groups can move on to the actual show, which is farther down the pier in the Festival Hall.

8-ish pm: some sort of dinner plan!
#chiflowereatup
The show closes at 8 on Saturday, and some folks may want to go back to their hotel between show and dinner. This whole dinner thing has become very complicated so here is my proposal. There are three vegan-friendly restaurants in the neighborhood of Navy Pier and the hotels many people are staying in near Michigan Avenue:
Big Bowl
Grand Lux Cafe
Heaven on Seven
All three are relatively affordable and have a lot of variety so there should be something for everyone. Please look at the menus and tell me in the comments 1) whether you intend to join us for dinner, and 2) if you have a preference for restaurant, and I will call the winning restaurant sometime Wednesday and see if I can get a reservation for 8pm Saturday for a lot of people.

IF it looks like none of the restaurants can accommodate us, we can eat somewhere on Navy Pier. I don't know how busy those restaurants are but there are several, including the very fancy food court! So at least there's a fall-back plan.

May I also request that people coming to dinner bring cash? If the restaurant won't do separate checks, splitting the check is easier with cash.

A note about transportation:
It is forecast to sleet and snow on Saturday. (Welcome to Chicago, haha!) Regardless of the weather, a cab is almost always the best way to get to and from the Pier. If we cram a bunch of people in a cab, getting to the restaurant will not be expensive per person. Parking on the Pier is I believe $14; if you do bring a car, it would be great if you could shuttle some people to dinner or hotel. Parking near the restaurant will be expensive (maybe $20?), regardless of which place we choose. Just a warning. For hardy souls, walking from hotel to Pier or Pier to restaurant is about a half hour, not a big deal unless the weather is awful. Of course there are also buses that go to Navy Pier; that's my plan. Bus info is at http://transitchicago.com

Okay, comment away! And let me know if anyone has better ideas!

Getting ready for the 2011 Chicago Flower and Garden Show

noreply@blogger.com (Diane) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 18:26:00 +0000

The Chicago Flower and Garden Show will be held March 5-13 at Navy Pier. I am as always very excited! The garden show is one of the first harbingers of spring, the perfect way to transition from winter to the growing season (though of course we still can't plant until mid-May). Think of it as "spring training" for the gardening season!

This year's theme is "The Sport of Gardening," and I'm interested to see how this theme is integrated into the display gardens. The display I'm especially excited about is one in which Phil Schliefer of Unique Landscapes will show visitors how to turn their backyards into a dog agility garden. Dogs and gardens: two of my favorite things! And of course, always tantalizing is the marketplace, where all the cool garden-related products you've ever wanted are brought together in one glorious room.

I already have plans to meet up with various friends at the show, every one of whom I met on-line through blogs, Twitter, or Facebook. Pay no attention to those grouchy sorts who think technology represents the end of human interaction! Sharing information on-line about plants and gardening has become an important part of my gardening routine, and during the off-season there is an active "hot-stove league" of gardeners yearning and planning for the new growing season. I can't wait to emerge from my winter hidey-hole and visit some gardens with my friends again.

The Chicago Flower and Garden show runs March 5-13, 10-8 Monday-Saturday and 10-6 Sundays. Admission is $13-17 depending on the day and time. $2 discounts are available on Diet Pepsi cans and through your Chicago Botanic Garden membership. Parking is available but I will be taking the CTA and you should, too! See you there!

Posts on the two previous garden shows:
2010
2009

Gardens at the Art Institute

noreply@blogger.com (Diane) — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 03:19:00 +0000

The Art Institute of Chicago is surrounded by several gardens, including the Lurie Garden across the street. Unfortunately, on a gloomy January day most gardens are hidden by snow and in some cases are closed to the public. With nowhere else to go, the Art Institute's free admission lured me in and I found myself hunting for gardens indoors instead.

Théodore Rousseau, Springtime, c. 1860

What I found, or rather did not find, surprised me. I hadn't been to the Art Institute in several years and had forgotten what was there. I was expecting endless rooms of landscapes and formal garden paintings. Instead there were very few works that reflected garden settings or really featured plants at all. I don't know if this is typical of a general art museum, with botanical art being pulled from gen-pop and put into exclusively botanical art collections, or perhaps my bias that gardens are an important artistic inspiration is coloring my expectations. In any case, walk with me as we visit...

Gardens in the Art Institute of Chicago

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Two Girls in a Garden, 1914. If you squint a bit, you can kind of tell that this is a garden, but it's anyone's guess what plants these might be. I'm going to guess roses. Rhomboidal roses. This non-representational style that suggests garden-ness without getting bogged down in the identity of the plants is pretty common throughout the European art I saw.

Vincent van Gogh, The Poet's Garden, 1888. This strikes me as more meadow than garden but a lovely spot in any case. While still impressionistic, you feel you can almost identify the various trees and shrubs accurately. Looks like a weeping cherry or mulberry on the right.

Berthe Morisot, Woman in a Garden, 1882/83. The lady in the picture expects her garden to be a neat, orderly place where she can gossip about the neighbors without having to encounter such unpleasantries as bugs or dirt or hired help. There is, however, a reminder on the left that someone has been laboring off-screen to create this sanctum. That "someone" is not a proper subject for a painting, of course.

Or is he? I like this next painting for showing a glimpse behind the scenes, however unrealistic it might be. I hope this nice young man is not a slave. I prefer to think of him as someone who gardens for a fair wage but finds it sometimes tiring, and as you all know, when you're tired from digging in the soil there's nothing more relaxing than playing a ditty on your French horn.
Albert Schindler, Portrait of a Gardener and Horn Player in the Household of the Emperor Francis I, 1836

Of course, you can't have a discussion of painted gardens without including Claude Monet. Here is his The Artist's House at Argenteuil (1873)...

...and Water Lily Pond (1899), depicting the pond at his famous garden in Giverny.

I am an unapologetic fan of Monet and used to have one of his Giverny prints over the desk at my previous job. Monet was obsessive and loved to paint the same scenes over and over, in different seasons and at different times of day. He planted careful gardens just so he could capture them on canvas. Monet would totally be a garden blogger if he were alive today!

Monet's gardens were considered fairly formal, but they had nothing on this one:
Francesco Guardi, The Garden of Palazzo Contarini dal Zaffo, late 1770s

Here's a nice indoor garden that I would love to visit. The photo doesn't do it justice; when you see it in person, the colors and lighting draw you in and you know exactly what the room sounds and feels like, what the air temperature is. This painter cared what the plant species were; you can clearly see several distinct species.
Carl Blechen, The Interior of the Palm House on the Pfaueninsel Near Potsdam, 1834

Adriaen van der Spelt and Frans van Mieris, Trompe-l'Oeil Still Life with a Flower Garland and a Curtain, 1658. A still life in a window hardly qualifies as a garden, and the flowers are ridiculous and fluffy and frilly and no self-respecting gardener or florist would put those colors together. I include this painting because of the curtain. It completely blows my mind.

This next is the only American artist I include here, and although it's a landscape rather than a garden, I found myself staring at the painting for a long time. Sheeler's works usually had industrial themes, which makes this landscape especially notable. An artist who found beauty in cities and industry, this blocky geometry of plain grass and hardscape is how he perceived "nature."
Charles Sheeler, The Artist Looks at Nature, 1943.

Across the world and back in time, the Asian depictions of gardens tend to be very formal, featuring specimen plants and repeated motifs rather than garden settings. The plants are stylized but highly representational; no fuzzy green blobs here! This a Japanese Hizen-ware bottle from the 17th century:

The screen below was likely part of a pair, the "spring/summer" of which has been lost. Again, the plants are stylized but each is an identifiable species. According to the label, time moves right to left; the autumn flowers in the center are bush clover, morning glory, pinks and hibiscus, and the winter flowers including narcissus are on the left.
Suzuki Kiitsu, Flowers of Autumn and Winter, 19th c.

Going farther back in time, here's a depiction of a Chinese "garden." Highly stylized, but it really is meant to show a garden setting (note the fence). To understand what a Chinese garden might have actually looked like, you will have to use your imagination. The flowers shown are peonies. From what I saw, the Chinese LOVE peonies.
Dish with Long-Tailed Birds in a Garden, Yuan dynasty, 14th c.

Thus completes our tour of garden-themed artwork at the Art Institute! Maybe it will help tide us over until spring...

January: Lurie Garden through the seasons, updated

noreply@blogger.com (Diane) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 01:13:00 +0000

The view northwest

January 13, 2011

May 29, 2009

June 30, 2010

July 8, 2005

October 20, 2010

The view south

January 13, 2011

May 29, 2009

October 20, 2010

January 2011: One Seed Chicago: Radish Love

noreply@blogger.com (Diane) — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 17:26:00 +0000

"We've got this thing that's called Radish Love

We're growing veggies in the soil: Radish Love"

As an avid reader, I'm a big fan of the One Book, One Chicago program. This program from the Chicago Public Library "seeks to cultivate a culture of reading in our city by reinforcing the importance and fun of reading and highlighting the benefits of reading together as a community." People can participate at whatever level makes them happy, from simply reading the selected book to joining in discussion groups. At best, the shared reading experience engages readers in conversation and a sense of community, and at worst people have read a great book that they might not have read otherwise.

There is another opportunity for fun, learning, and shared experience: One Seed Chicago. One Seed Chicago is a project of NeighborSpace, the land trust that has made community gardening possible all across the city. The goal of One Seed Chicago is to engage gardeners and inspire new gardeners by providing seeds for a plant that we can all grow together, in our home gardens, on our balconies, in our community garden plots. In other words, to cultivate a culture - of gardening.

In 2010 three candidate plants--bee balm, nodding onion, and coneflower, all Illinois natives--were put to a vote. I voted for, and lobbied for, nodding onion, in honor of the connection between Chicago and the stinky oniony leek plant that gave it its name. The bee balm won despite my best efforts but that's okay; bee balm is a fantastic plant!

This year the candidates are edible plants: radish, eggplant, and Swiss chard. Eggplants and chard are undeniably beautiful plants, but I voted for radishes and I encourage you to as well!

Why radishes? Well, because they taste awesome, crispy and peppery. Pull them from the soil, rinse them, and eat them. For greens lovers, the greens are edible, too. Why else? They're so easy! Last year my husband and I built a raised garden and grew food for the first time.

It was not 100% successful (I'm looking at you, green peppers!) but the radishes made me feel like a gardening rock star and their success convinced me to keep trying with other plants. Radishes grow fast, they taste great, and they're so easy even a kid, or a distracted grad student, can grow them. Talk about a great gateway plant for a fledgling gardener. Plus, if you're like me and don't like to cook, radishes are edible right from the ground. And they're pretty!

Imagine a whole city growing the same plant and reading the same book. We can't agree on a baseball team or whether Rahm Emanuel is a Chicago resident, but we can unite in these two activities and improve ourselves in the process.

So go, vote RADISH now!

October: Autumn in the Lurie Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Diane) — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 03:08:00 +0000

I spent today running errands and doing some botany work at the Field Museum. Since it was such a gorgeous day, I dawdled a bit in between and visited the Lurie Garden. I think it's the first time I've seen it in autumn. It's pretty amazing how the garden changes throughout the year; just a few months ago it was the most vivid river of purple salvia imaginable, and now it's all soft gold and green.

The iconic Lurie shot; I wonder how many times have I taken this picture?

Since construction of the Art Institute's Modern Wing, this has become the other "iconic shot." That's Amsonia hubrechtii glowing like fire in the middle.

Looking west towards the Michigan Avenue streetwall. I love how each maple is turning red from south to north.

Chicago blues: asters and something (delphiniums?) in the background, echinops going to seed in the foreground.

Northern sea oats, Chasmanthium latifolium

Japanese anemones glowing amongst the fading foliage

To envision a city on a prairie, you just need the proper perspective.

October: Birthday Junior, plus one

noreply@blogger.com (Diane) — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 02:44:00 +0000

It's been a long time since I've posted about, or acquired, any houseplants. I took a several-month hiatus from collecting, cooing over, photographing, and in some cases watering, the juniors, and am just now starting to regain interest in their cute little lives. I did however work up the energy to buy two plants recently...

Vriesea hieroglyphica, my birthday present to myself (and $20 off, thanks to Groupon)

and Portulacaria afra 'Variegata', purchased from a vendor at the Chicago Botanic Garden's bonsai show.

I don't know if I will maintain its horizontal branched form or just let it go wild. I certainly do not have the patience for full-on bonsai action, as evidenced by the collection of empty bonsai pots in my basement.

I put some of the houseplants outside for the first time this year. Usually, indoor plants stay indoors, outdoor plants stay outside, and never the twain shall meet. I mixed it up this year, overwintering a hibiscus and then putting some things out in the summer. Lesson learned: even morning sun is BAD. I nearly lost my treasured night-blooming cereus and another cactus to sunburn. On the other hand, the desert rose thrived and bloomed in the sun (until the wind knocked it off the table; now it sort of....curves) and the yucca put on a bunch of new growth. Trial and error, I suppose, but I'm going to be very reluctant to put anything outside next year.

October: Aster-kissing

noreply@blogger.com (Diane) — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 03:43:00 +0000

Asters, asters, everywhere! Next Thursday I will try to get pictures of the carpets of asters in bloom at the Morton Arboretum. I am also working up the nerve to rehome some asters growing wild on a vacant lot down the street. In the meantime, I will just enjoy the ones in my own yard...

I was told this is heartleaf aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium) but the leaves are more like arrowleaf aster (S. urophyllum). Whatever it is, I was also told it belongs in shade. I'm thinking that's not entirely correct since this is all it's accomplished in two years.

A fuschia S. novae-angliae passalong...

...and a purple one my grandma gave me.

The sky blue asters, S. oolentangiense, always look like lovely lavender clouds.

A pink NOID native whose tag is long lost...

and a white one. Both from Prairie Nursery many years ago. Not shown is the S. ericoides, heath aster, which is already done for the season. :(

And remember, greyhounds are an important part of any fall garden!

October: Nasturtiums: That's a wrap!

noreply@blogger.com (Diane) — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 23:26:00 +0000

It's October in Chicago. The asters are blooming, the leaves are turning yellow, and the first frost is imminent. The cooler early fall weather has been a boon for the Spitfire nasturtiums, which rebounded from their bedraggled summer state and are still full and green. The nasties by the house filled in all around the purple aster that has just started to bloom. The purple and orange would make a striking color combo if only the nasties would produce more than two or three blooms at a time. Still, the contrasting foliage shapes look nice together. I like the idea of using nasturtiums as ground cover in the fronts of gardens and intend to try it again in the future.

The nasturtiums by the alley fence didn't like being trained up the fence, but the vines on the ground did well in their shady spot. Still very few flowers, but the foliage softens the boundary between fence and ground and has a cute woodlandy look. You can still see the sad yellow vines that I had trained upwards.
What have I learned doing this project?
1) I can't comment on other nasturtium varieties, but at least the Spitfires do best on the ground. Planting them in a crowded spot and hoping they'll fill out up on a trellis does not work. Even draping the vines upward doesn't work, as the vines soon become spindly and yellow. Mine also didn't do great in containers; the leaves were smaller and the vines stayed short.
2) The Spitfires didn't flower as much as I was hoping, which is too bad because I love their color. I'd like to try other nasturtiums, perhaps yellow ones, that flower more reliably. However, nasturtium foliage is very cool and is worth the effort by itself.
3) Wintersowing is totally the way to start these babies. Direct sowing, for me, was a complete failure, and I have no patience for grow lights and hardening off.
4) The hottest part of the summer is rough but with enough water, the plants will pull through and look lovely in the cooler late summer and fall. My plants survived both in full sun and mostly shade.

Special thanks to Mr. Brown Thumb and to Renee's Garden for putting this project together. I hope everyone had a good time and that the shared feedback has been useful! I've enjoyed seeing everyone's stories and hopefully we can do this again sometime. Cheers!

I'm growing Nasturtium 'Spitfire' for the GROW project. Thanks to Renee's Garden for the seeds.

September: Nasties on the rebound

noreply@blogger.com (Diane) — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 00:09:00 +0000

After an August with a little more water and a little less blistering heat and sun, the Spitfire nasturtiums are doing fairly well. The flowers are still more like occasional jewels than a full flush of color, but as I said last month, I'm thinking more of the foliage at this point.

The nasturtium in the planter has been in mostly shade for a couple of months. It's alive but small and the leaves are small. It does bloom sometimes but today it's shy. I think I'll put it back in the sun soon.

The nasty on the alley fence looks kind of silly and half-dead where I draped the vine up over the fencepost, but the vines on the ground make such a pretty groundcover! Well, okay, it looks leggy and scraggly in the picture, but from a short distance it actually looks pretty nice.

The nasties by the house still look best. They've pretty much filled in the area around the asters and spirea and make a cute groundcover. They're in full sun but the surrounding plants shade the roots, and that seems to help. Plus, they get watered most days because they're next to the veggie garden.

I'm growing Nasturtium "Spitfire" for the GROW project. Thanks to Renee's Garden for the seeds.

August: Bloom Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Diane) — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 05:01:00 +0000

I am just now realizing, I have an awful lot of yellow flowers. Oh well!

North edge garden

Rudbeckia triloba, brown-eyed Susans

Rudbeckia subtomentosa, sweet black-eyed Susans, and Agastache scrophulariaefolia, giant purple hyssop

Garage garden

The 11-foot volunteer sunflower continues to amaze us, and hosts SO many bees, flower flies, and butterflies, the rest of the neighborhood must feel left out.

Eurybia macrophylla, big-leaf aster. Remember the good old days when asters were just Asters?

Well, this is a terrible picture, but it's my prairie dock, Silphium terebinthinaceum, with flowering stalks reaching high above my head.

Foley and Lucy, my favorite two flowers of all!

Thanks as always to Carol of May Dreams Gardens for hosting Bloom Day!

August: At least the leaves are pretty

noreply@blogger.com (Diane) — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 14:42:00 +0000

Hello, and welcome back to the GROW project! The foliage on the Spitfire nasturtiums has recovered from its crispy sunburned state of a month ago, possibly due to more watering or less intense heat and sun. My plants are still sparse on flowers, but I love the nifty peltate leaves of nasturtium and would almost be willing to grow them for that reason alone.

I moved the potted plant to a shadier spot, and it looks a little more alive now.

The plant vining up the alley fence looks good. It gets sun in the afternoon but the roots are shaded.

The plants I meant to go up the railing are also turning into a very pretty, yet flowerless, groundcover.

Part of that same plant, going where I meant for it to go:

And so you don't think I have zero flowers, here's one! (it's not quite that red in real life)

From the side... note cool nectar spur:

So how do your Spitfires grow?

I'm growing Nasturtium "Spitfire" for the GROW project. Thanks to Renee's Garden for the seeds.

July: Bloom Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Diane) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 05:01:00 +0000

Is it that time again already?

Biggest. Sunflower. Ever.

Seriously, what sunflower has a trunk??

ETA: I measured the sunflower and it is 11 feet 4 inches tall, 4 3/4 inches diameter where my hand is. On 7/16 it has 4 flowers open and about 20-ish more buds. The thing is a freakin' TREE. Did I mention it's a volunteer? Why are my best plants accidental?

Monarda didyma 'Violet Queen' and Schizachyrium scoparium, little bluestem grass, in the prairie garden

The double cosmos 'Rose Bon Bon' seeds from Renee's that came with the Spitfire nasturtiums have just started to bloom.

Do I ever get tired of taking pictures of red admirals? (Answer: no)

Or swallowtails? (again: no)

Ox-eye sunflowers, Heliopsis helianthoides, in the prairie garden

Speaking of the prairie garden... This view just makes me so happy!

My favorite weed (good thing, because I have a lot of it): Commelina communis, the Asiatic dayflower

And let's not forget what's happening indoors! I lost two of my African violets and a third is in its death throes, but this guy still loves me.

Even the City of Chicago celebrates Bloom Day!

Thanks as always to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting!

July: Wordless Wednesday: Keeping an eye on the library

noreply@blogger.com (Diane) — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 23:05:00 +0000