Monday, September 3, 2007

It's Small, But at Least it Didn't Die Out During the Drought

Good old Sedum Autumn Joy. Not a drop of extra water the whole summer and it's still going to put on its late summer show--albeit with much smaller plants.

The heads are very small, but I didn't have to worry about any flopping over this year. (There are positive aspects to nearly everything)

Last week we got a couple days of nice rain, so the grass is greening up again. There's a little something left blooming in the Arbor Gardens, but nothing worth a second glance. Here's a picture just for my record keeping.
Sunday morning I did a little digging and hauling of new top soil. I decided to remove most of the overcrowded daylilies, etc. in this end rockwall area. I have planted three small shrubs and I plan to plant many of my new tulips here. You can still see a bit of the silver Cerastium tomentosum that I've been trying to kill off because it's growing into the creeping phlox. It's been hit twice with Roundup and most of it appears dead. I plan to dig it out this week.

I have no shortage of fall digging/remodeling of the gardens. Remember this area that I sprayed Roundup on in July? It's pretty dead and I will be digging it all out and replacing the top soil. I have no idea what I will be planting here.
I would really love a big huge ligularia or cimicifuga right in front of that wheel.
In fact I have a ligularia, the 'Rocket' just out of camera range. It's a little squatty thing with only two 6" blooms. I've had it for three summers now. It's just too dry in these gardens for the water-loving ligularia.

A big clump of Tropicanna would be great in front of that wheel. But I have no luck growing them in the ground either. Maybe I will grow a big pot of them and put them there just before they bloom.....hmmmm....that's an idea I need to remember for next year. Guess I will make a new label--Remember for next year.

Hope you are all having a nice Labor Day. I had to work today. What could be more appropriate for Labor Day than to labor? LOL. The day went by fast and I left about 50 minutes early.

If I had been off, I could have accomplished a lot of the digging I need to do. I did come home and work for about 45 minutes outside. I raked all the dead Cerastium tomentosum up. It was a full wheelbarrow load. Then I removed a few more plants from that area. It was too hot to do much more.



Remember those 4 potatoes I found in my pantry that sprouted so I planted them in the rockwall garden? Well look at this!
DH grilled steaks tonight and I cooked up the freshly-harvested potatoes. They were delish! I still have three more plants to harvest.


All in all it was a good day.

14 comments:

  1. Sounds like you had a great day. Can you believe you actually grew sweet potatoes in Michigan?!! Were they from Marguerite vines, or other tubers?

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  2. Hi Giddy,
    I must not have made that clear...they were plain old Idaho potatoes! LOL. The ones you buy at the grocery store. They were just old and had sprouted so instead of throwing them away, I planted them.

    I must say, it was a thrill to find dinner buried in the soil!!

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  3. Happy Labour Day dear Zoey! Your Sedum Joy are looking wonderful, small or not, they're blooming prettily for you:-) My Sedum is just beginning to bloom now so I'll have to take pictures in the next few days. I was doing some weeding in my faerie garden today and planning the changes I want to make to it next year! lol Look at those potatoes...you GO girl:-) We harvest between 250 to 500 lbs of potatoes from our garden every year...but ya, it's still fun to know we grew it ourselves! xox

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  4. How long did it take to get 'taters, Zoey?? I have always wanted to grow them, but they seem so mysterious!!!

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  5. My 'Autumn Joy' is going to be the salvation of my fall garden, too. Everything else is suffering from the drought. Even the asters are half as tall as normal.

    Thanks for working today so that others could enjoy the time off!

    Carol at May Dreams Gardens

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  6. Thanks goodness for Sedum-it looks pretty even though it suffered from the draught there.
    We also grew potatoes for a few years. I guess they took up a lot of space or Bri didn't like to dig them up, so we stopped, like with the corn. They are really good freshly harvested as you said. : )

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  7. I still haven't found my Autumn Joy, I think something must have smothered it. I like your new label, you come up with the best ideas!

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  8. Pea, what do you do with 500 lbs of taters?!

    Sissy, I just planted them June 30, so not long at all.

    Carol, the few asters I have left are shot, too. Everything is less than half its normal size.

    I was happy to work for you all. :)

    Dianne, It's just neat to go out and dig up a handful for dinner.

    lostroses, Just look for the bees! I have hundreds of them when my sedum turns pink.

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  9. I'm going to have to remember to plant the taters that sprout like you did. What a neat idea! And I love your rock wall. Thanks for the wonderful comment on my blog. It really brightened my morning. Cindy at Rosehaven Cottage

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  10. I've managed to grow Ligularia in a sunny spot by adding lots of compost to the soil and topping it up regularly. I love the different areas of your garden - the rock wall is gorgeous. The garden shows all of your hard work!

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  11. Yum, home grown potatoes and steak..sounds delicious. We had steak done on the grill too, with sweet corn from our garden and sweet potato fries. Mmm...Good!
    Your Autumn Joy came through the dry summer amazingingly well. It looks great.
    I see you have lots of projects going on. Me too. Glad you got some rain. Hope you get more soon!

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  12. I just love fresh from the garden potatoes.. Your sedum looks fantastic!!

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  13. Wow - you had a busy weekend! I love all your garden areas - I don't use edging plants like that, but I really think maybe I should. The Autumn Joys are really pretty as edging - and seeing so many of them really makes a big visual impact. Nice.

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