six on Saturday, 21 September 2024

Travel, Master Gardener obligations, drought, and generally just the way of the world has gotten in the way of “Six on Saturday” updates from me since May. Of all of those, drought has certainly been the most significant. As a result, there has been very little blooming recently, but there are a few, as the US South would say, “puny” things blooming in the wooded area of the garden that I can share. For anyone wanting to share something about their garden–puny or mighty–guidelines for joining in “Six on Saturday” can be found at  Jim Stephens’ Garden Ruminations, the gathering point of our posts.

1. The blue and yellow of the flax-leaved aster (Ionactis linariifolius), a North American wildflower, spots the understory ground in a few places.

2. Hearts-a-bursting, also called the strawberry bush, (Euonymus americanus) is a native shrub in the Eastern US. It grows easily and all too eagerly in the wooded area of the garden. It sets out vigorous runners and by all evidence can be easily propagated by seed. That is why I gather the seeds and eliminate the runners! I’ve tried to cultivate it as a shrub, but while I can get it to grow tall, six to eight feet, I can’t get it to grow full.

3. Sedum Autumn Joy provides the other color at the moment. Of the various pots of it around the garden, only this one is blooming this week, however, others are preparing to flower. In all fairness to the plants, they are growing in part shade and can be forgiven a sparse and late flowering.

4. At a plant sale last spring I bought a papyrus plant from a near-by gardening group. I took a chance planting it in a pot in partial shade (it wants sun and moist soil), but I’ve been pleased with its performance. While there is not much color difference in the photos below, the contrasts in leaf shape is interesting. The papyrus sits among pots with oakleaf hydrangea, hosta, huechera, and sedum. Planted in the same pot with the papyrus is a little creeping Jenny and blue spruce stonecrop.

5. I’ve long been accustomed to watching out for spider webs crossing between the trees when walking through the wooded area for the first time any given day. To protect yourself, all you need to do is rotate a long twig in front of you as though drawing large circles in the air. You might look a little strange to anyone seeing this action but not seeing the all-but-invisible spider-spun filaments before your face. Nonetheless, you’ll feel safer. This year the webs seem bigger and more numerous that usual, though, so I still find myself swatting at my head and looking in mild panic for the eight-legged little critter that created the trap I just ran into. The first photo was taken in July, but the second and third were taken earlier this week. The best photos can be captured shortly after sunrise.

6. The last few days have been spent in pruning with my cordless shears (a great discovery about a year ago), gathering dead wood with my Gorilla cart, and carrying it to the fire pit.

There will be more clean up coming in the fall. Lots of leaves to shred for mulch I know. I hope not too much more dead wood to cut and gather.

Happy Autumn Equinox to all.