Joy in the Garden

Summer is softening now. We have had some cooler days with an edge of fall, and I have been taking it easy.While I am recuperating from surgery, I get to just be in the garden with no weeding or watering or trimming or digging or any of those other chores that can distract from the joy the garden has to give. I am fortunate that Lou is here to keep things under control, for otherwise I might be fretting. Happily, I am able to study and make plans, and I am doing lots of that!

While lounging on the patio, I keep admiring my red banana plant. Forgive me for bragging about it again. When I bought it last year, I wasn't sure it would fit in or if it would survive the winter. No doubt it is now at the top of my list of plants with beautiful foliage. When golden sun shines through the leaves, it is spectacular:Down from the patio Pieris japonica 'Cavatine' is putting out new growth, which I think is particularly lovely:

Another foliage plant I am noticing more lately is arborvitae fern. I have several of these planted under some azaleas. It has taken a few years for them to become established, but our wet summer this year has really helped them to flourish.

I have been disappointed with my peacock orchids. They bloomed the first year I planted them and not since. I am thinking about digging them up. But the other day I noticed their stems. Who needs flowers?

Variegated fig is another beautiful foliage plant. It is not hardy, so it will go into Lou's office for the winter, where it will stay warm and receive just the right amount of light. Lou complains about how I convert his office into a greenhouse every winter, but without an enclosed garage or greenhouse, it really is the best place we have.

Down in my arbor garden hosta 'Francis Williams' is looking good. Voles decimated the hostas in this area earlier this year. I am glad this one is a survivor.

I am fascinated by the changes that occur to hydrangea blooms as they age. This skeletal bloom caught my attention the other day. It reminds me of coral:

Endless Summer hydrangea was bright blue earlier this year. Now the antique blooms are shades of lavender. Here it is with variegated daphne:

More photos of aging hydrangea blooms:

Finally, here are a few flowers that add color to the garden as summer's end approaches. They should stay lovely well into fall:Clockwise from top left: Portulaca, Pavonia hastata, Caryopteris, HibiscusIt's easy to receive joy from a garden. One only has to listen, to look, to smell, to hear, to feel. But one does have to pause to take it in. I am grateful for my garden and for the time to enjoy it.

Stone Stairway to the Woodland Garden

I have a new entrance to the woodland garden. I am thrilled about this, as I have dreamed of it for years. The older, main entrance is quite a way from the house. One walks down the road and enters from the lower part of the front lawn. You can see this entrance in a recent photo from within the woodland garden. Look past the birdhouse, and you can see the path that leads from the lawn:Summer in the woodland garden

While I usually used the main entrance when touring folks around the garden, there was another way into the woodland garden. It was directly across from the house and was much handier, but it also involved walking down a steep slope on precarious homemade steps and tree roots. Earlier this year Lou watched as I maneuvered my way down the hill, and then he announced it was time for me to have a proper stairway. I think he was worrying about my arthritic hip.

Hooray!

Here is what the top end of the woodland garden looked like:If you squint, you may see one of my homemade steps in the distance.

Here is the same view, with a portion of my recently completed stairway visible in the background:A distant view of the new woodland stairway

I had to wait a few months for Paul, the stone guy, to get to my project. He finally showed up the very morning I was scheduled to have my hip replaced, about thirty minutes before I was to leave for the hospital! After all that waiting, I could not believe the day he chose to come. (It happened that I had talked to him a few weeks before, and there was a miscommunication about dates.) I asked Paul to wait until I was at home and on the road to recovery. He was very understanding and agreed to come back at a later date.

The wait was worth it. Here is a closer view of the new stone stairway:The rustic stone stairway is a perfect entrance to the woodland garden.

You can see that the stairway includes some planting beds along the sides. Frustration! I am three weeks into my recovery and in no shape to be planting anything. However, my friend Janet came over and kindly moved potted plants from various areas of my garden to give the stairway a more completed look. I have often used potted plants for instant gratification whenever I needed something in a particular spot, but for whatever reason was unable to plant it directly in the ground.

Here are some closer views of the potted plants I used:

Top: Variegated ivy; Stromanthe tricolor. Middle: Two types of plectranthus; Variegated plectranthus is in the green pot on the right. Bottom: Birds Nest Fern and Voodoo plant are on the left; Asparagus fern is on the right. At the top of the woodland stairway is a pot with Chamaecyparis 'Blue Boulevard'.

I had better get well in a hurry, so that I can keep the woodland garden worthy of its new entrance. If you have followed my blog for long, you may recognize the following scenes, but I thought you might like to see the views as one comes down the new steps.

Clockwise are shots taken from the stairway directly ahead, to the right, and to the left:

My physical therapist was right when he said my garden was its own therapy session. That is especially true now that I have a stairway to practice on, though very carefully!