Time to Get Moving!

The air feels fresh. Fresh, not stale, moldy, not hot or stifling. It is a gift sent by tropical storm Lee, still a few hundred miles away but headed our direction. Gentle soaking rains, so badly needed after a dry August, have fallen all day, and we should get heavier rain and even cooler temperatures over the next several days.

September has arrived, and some of the plants have golden tints which glow in the afternoon light. A few days ago I took the following photos of the front garden. The second one is a good overview, showing how the front garden wraps around the lawn. I probably feature this view too often on this blog, but I never tire of the changing moods as foliage and and flowers transform through the seasons.

More moderate temperatures means it is time to get back into the garden. Every year I take a critical look to decide what plants need to be moved. Some of my plants have been moved multiple times before finding the right spot. I once dug up a seven foot tall crepe myrtle and transplanted it, for the third time. 

Fall is the best season to plant new perennials, shrubs and trees and to transplant existing ones in my garden. Our ground doesn't freeze in the winter, so plants have months to establish their root systems before the growth spurt of spring and the heat of next summer puts stress on them. This year the list of transplants is long, and I am looking forward to starting. In fact, I started this weekend by dividing and moving some purple salvia plants in the front garden. It's a little early, but I figured the rain would help it settle in nicely. 

I was inspired to move the salvia because I had to make room for a new bench in front of the parking court. It's a small bench made of twisted iron and a slab of flagstone, just large enough to hold a heavy, frost proof pot. After a difficult summer, this area was looking stressed, so I wanted to do something to enliven the spot. I planted a 'Blue Boulevard' Chamaecyperis in the pot and surrounded it with creeping jenny, stonecrop, and some sheet moss. The Blue Boulevard is a small tree, and I am planning to root prune it every spring to make it into a sort of bonsai. A stone rabbit completes the composition. The rabbit is also a new purchase. The Kingdom of the Three Rabbits now has four!

A small assortment of flowers are blooming in my garden at the beginning of September, but as temperatures cool, roses and other flowers should find new life and put on a show until frost arrives. Meanwhile, a few decorative elements add some color to the garden.

A metal hummingbird flies amidst annual purple fountain grass:

Another metal stake, this one with a ladybug, is surrounded by garlic chives. Below the top picture are a few shots of some other spots of color in the garden:Clockwise from middle left: Garlic chives; The Zephirine Drouhin rose beside the front arch almost disappeared during the summer but is now making a comeback; Japanese maple seed pod; The berries of dogwood 'Cherokee Chief' are beginning to turn red.

A birdhouse stands out against a background of cosmos, zinnias, and other naturalized flowers in an area I am calling the wild garden:Above left: A bee doesn't mind the tattered state of a cosmos flower. Right: Cigar plant, Cuphea ignea, is an annual with interesting orange flowers.

I know that we are not finished with hot, humid weather, but these few days are a nice respite and a promise that fall is coming. Time to get moving!

Rosemary in My Garden

Rosemary is a surprise in my garden. Native to the Mediterranean region, rosemary prefers low humidity and well drained, even sandy soil of neutral to alkaline ph. My garden experiences sauna type humidity, and it has heavy clay, acid soil. Lavender is another plant with similar cultural requirements as rosemary, and it perishes here. But rosemary has grown well for me. Here are some recent photos of my rosemary:

Rosemary must have heat and full sun, and it does receive this in my garden. I have also added plenty of humus to the clay soil, to improve drainage. It is planted along the edge of the walkway which leads from the patio to the front garden, and I suspect lime from the concrete walkway leaches into the soil and increases the ph enough to satisfy the rosemary. I fertilize my rosemary in the spring with fish emulsion, and I prune it to allow good air circulation between it and the surrounding plants. 

Rosemary comes in both trailing and upright forms. I have two of the upright kind, originally grown a few years ago as small topiary Christmas trees. I planted them outside after the holiday season, and I wasn't sure they would survive. Rosemary often dies if the temperature drops much below freezing. We have mild, short winters, but frost and sometimes snow is expected. Nevertheless, my rosemary has survived several winters, so I must have a hardier variety. My one disappoinment is that although rosemary is supposed to produce pretty little blue or white flowers, mine have never bloomed. 

I allowed the rosemary plants to grow out of their artificial tree shapes, and they soon assumed their more natural structure. Rosemary is a woody evergreen shrub that can grow up to six feet tall, but I keep mine to about three feet. Much higher than that and they start to flop over other plants and obstruct the walkway. My husband Lou got angry at one of them once and attacked it with his chainsaw, ruthlessly chopping it without regards to appearance. I had to re-prune it and try to salvage its good looks, but it took over a year for the poor plant to recover. I have been diligent to keep it within its designated bounds since then. I prune them with my hand snippers, cutting individual branches at different levels throughout the plant. This improves air flow and allows sunlight to penetrate the plant. Pruning them is an olfactory experience. My plants are high in essential oils, and the stimulating fragrance fills the garden when I am working on them.

Rosemary has traditionally been used for both culinary and medicinal purposes. It is high in antioxidants and is noted for improving memory and relieving stress. Some studies suggest its essential oil may help regrow hair. I need to tell Lou about that. Mostly I grow it because I love the way it looks in my garden.

Here are some photos taken back in May that show its location along the walkway which runs under the arch:The top photo is taken from the patio, outside the kitchen. The second photo is looking back from the path, just beyond the arch. The pretty pink flowering shrub is 'Anthony Waterer' spirea.