Good news for the jardin

It's raining!

Uncovering the columnar elements

Mum and I planted two sweet little evergreens (help, Mum, cedars?) that are supposed to grow about 70' tall and stay only 1-2' wide. We put them right against the back fence, one to the left of centre, the other over at the right by the elderberry tree, so that, when they grow up, they will help draw the eye back and give a sense of depth and space to the view from the house.  If they grow up. Here's a recent photo of the one at the left, poor thing:

Can you see the columnar element? Nope, neither could I. Lots of convolvulus and seed heads of some really tall thing that bloomed at the end of May. Oh the guilt! So I got busy this weekend, and, mercifully, the sweet little thing is still there and is looking ok. I gave it a great big drink of water. I'll get back in there and rip out the rest of the weedy bit soon. But at least it can breathe, for now.

Of course, there's still its sibling on the right side to check in on:

Sigh.

Castillo de los tres gatos

Look what's new in the Texas jardín:

A moon flower bud! It looks a bit like the wretched convolvulus I've been hauling out all weekend, but it's actually kind of the opposite. It is not a horrible invasive vine whose white flowers open daily and curl up at night. Rather, it is a fairly well-behaved vine (when nurtured), whose white flowers open at night. For just one night! It is exciting to spot a big bud like this during the day, and even better if you remember to look again that night. Here's what you see:

Up close, it is a fabulously delicate piece of brilliant white parchment. Teya, either you just watered it, or a blessed thunderstorm just passed through!

Changing of the daisy guard

Today I've been cutting down a lot of the marguerites in the back yard, because they've pretty much had it. They're at their best in June, it seems. Now there are just lots of wizened brown stalks, plus the start of new leaves down at the base of each clump. Not to worry, though, because the shastas are just getting going in the front yard. We've got some real amazonian clumps, the sort that dominate the scene and make the neighbours think I know something about gardening after all. The regular shastas are good:

The ones with the split (double?) petals, though, are real showstoppers. I call them the "froufrou" daisies:

The cats were off sleeping in the shrubbery, but now Harriet has come inside and demanded to sit on my lap while I blog. Those of you who've met H will know that typing around her is a bit of an extreme sport! Voluptuous kitty.

This post is dedicated to Daisy-cat, in Toronto.

Harriet...

... the disapproving cat.

What's new in the jardin?

Here's something that wasn't in the rhododendron the last time I checked!

It's kind of fun, as an antidote to bending over and digging out horsetail, dandelions, and buttercups, to stand up straight and snap off the spent bloom stalks on the rhododendrons. Apparently it helps them set bigger, healthier buds for next year's show. So there I was, not thinking about much, breaking off the deadheads, pop, pop, pop - when all of a sudden I realized there was a buzzing sound, and it was getting louder, and - "OW!"  It wasn't really a sting, more like a little warning nibble from one of wasps who'd been carefully building this nest. What an intricate job!  If you look at the big leaf on the lower left, you can see that they've built the nest right over and around it, for extra stability. Despite that, my tidying had them lurching and swaying all over the place. I said "AGH", and went and got the geek, who's very easily enticed by the prospect of photographing bugs of any sort.

Lavender in summer evening sun

Excellent! I managed to lure the geek into the garden with his camera yesterday.  I should have enough pics to blog all week. Here, he takes my original composition to a whole new level.

Before & After

Before:

After removing half a branch from the acer:

Already an improvement, I think. Now I really do need to go in there and thin the plox. In case you're getting tired of looking at that same view, here is another:

From left to right: euphorbia, curry plant, lavender. All the purple flowers seem to be thriving this year.  I left last summer's dried bloom stalks on this lavender bush until late March. Then I cut all the dead-looking woody bits back to the little buds of green that were starting to show down by the roots. It seems to have liked the haircut. It's really hard to know when to prune, and how much to take off.  I still haven't figured out the curry plant's cycle. The books don't help. They're full of "when does it bloom, on new or old wood, from branch points or from the ground, etc." Do I pay attention at the right times? Nope. So I'm glad the lavender experiment worked, and now I've got it documented. 

Oh, OK, here are the deux chats:

What did I do today?

Can anybody guess?
Actually, I figured out that there was a pronounced wiggle in the offending branch, and much of the foliage blocking the view was out at the end, past the wiggle.  So I chopped at the wiggle, instead of taking off the whole branch at once.  I took a "before" photo, chopped, got the cats to pose, and then realized I was late for my 8k(!) run.  Now it is too bright to take the "after" photo, so I'll get one this evening. We can compare, and see if more chopping needs doing. 

Doing the jackmanii justice

There, that's better.

And here is a video of the maple and environs, made July 1, 2007.  Similar mess to this year!  But the foxgloves and daisies are a good spread. I think the sound got edited out, so you don't get to hear Oz being operatic. Perhaps I'll make an MP3.

Remember the nice views

OK, so I still have some work to do behind the maple in the back yard.  Behind the alstromaria I found other monsters lurking, including a miniature version of the dreaded convolvulus. But some parts of the garden are doing things that I like. On the fence between us and the hospital, where the honeysuckle was starting to look a little pooped, the clematis jackmanii is coming into bloom. Ain't it grand, with the hebe (sp?) accompanying it below?

Routing the alstromaria

But they're so pretty!

Yanked out quite a lot yesterday, but you can see (below) that there is still more to go.  Nonetheless, the maple's trunk is emerging.

There's another clump of perennial to the left that might need thinning as well.  I can't remember what it is. Here's a closer shot (with roses behind): 

What is it? Enquiring minds want to know:

Should I chop the arm off the acer?

Here is the lovely, sculptural pruning job Mum did on one of the japanese maples during her "spring-training" in 2007:

That lowest branch on the left-hand side balances the shape of the tree, and looks very pretty against the bare ground behind. In the summer, though, with leaves, it blocks the rose bushes and other interesting tall plants back against the fence.  (As seen from the back step, at least - the most common view point.)  Here is a photo I took today (hmm, may need to get an evening shot for better light):

It may be that I simply need to haul out those clumps of tall things immediately behind, so the maple branch screens only the roses and tall stuff right at the back by the fence.  But quite a few days this summer I've been tempted to go out and chop off the maple branch.  I think I will start by hauling out the alstromaria, and then take another photo this evening or tomorrow.

When I figure out how to get the file size down from 49M, I'll post a video I made on Canada Day last year, that shows the same section of the jardin, and a little bit of Ozzie, too. Here's a still from it.  Oz loves the catmint, and the purple flowers do look pretty against his tuxedo.

Welcome

Almost every day, as I step out the back door and head off to work, I see something new or different in the garden and think, "I should get a picture of that for Mum".  Or for me, so I'll remember three months from now what was blooming where.  Sometimes I'm able to convince the geek to take some spectacular documentary shots. Let's see if I can actually get into the habit of collecting and posting these images.

To start with, here's Harriet in the jardin sometime in the spring of 2005, I think.

Doesn't she just look so intelligent and alert?  Here's what she hasn't noticed: