Sunday, September 19, 2010

Now You See the Black-eyed Susans, Now You Don't

I took a few pictures from my bedroom window early this morning before I went out to begin my fall clean up. Since I spent a lot of time early this summer removing tons of Black-eyed Susans, I wanted to remove the few that remained up front before they seeded all over the place.


I removed 5 wheelbarrow loads of them plus daylily foliage and some phlox.

Here is the area next to the main arbor after removal. You can see the green foliage up front, but the flowers are all gone.

Here is another view after I removed the Black-eyed Susans from the front of the border. I think it looks so much nicer without them. I like them in the back of this garden, but not so much up front.


Earlier this year I moved a bunch of colchium (sometimes called fall crocus) to this area under the smaller arbor. Their bloom has been quite disappointing. They were much nicer back in the rockwall garden--much larger. . . this year some insect has been eating the flower before it even opened. I will leave them one more year to see if they improve.



I am happy that my Mandevilla vine is still blooming. It has climbed all the way to the center top of this arbor! I really hope I can save it for next year!

I have a few very astute readers (especially you, Dianne! :) ) who may wonder what happened to the black-stemmed Elephant Ears that I had next to this arbor. I removed it today because it was really going downhill because of the cold nights. I cut it way back and put it on the deck where it is shielded from the harsh nighttime temperatures.
I will be storing it in the crawl space this winter, but it is a bit too early to put it there.

Tomorrow I will show you the last bloomers that are just beginning in my garden.

9 comments:

  1. you are a busy girl...looks great..

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  2. It does!
    We've been hit by frost twice this week, so our annuals all bit the dust. I was surprised at the hardiness of the perennials, though.
    I hope they last a bit longer :)

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  3. I was having a bit of a pity party, because I had a bad headache today, and didn't make it out to the garden.

    I like yours before and after the Susan's were pulled. I'm glad you left some there.

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  4. With all of your remodeling, you have time to work in the garden too? OH, I wish I had your ambition!

    Your garden looks so pretty--mine looks like it's gone to seed and I fully expect a large elephant to wander out of the overgrown vegetation at any point. Thanks for the inspiration to get out there and DO something!

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  5. I saved my mandevilla plant from last year and it got beautiful leaves this year but didn't bloom..wondering what I could have done to entice it to bloom.

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  6. I forgot to tell you thanks for the interesting information about how short the lives of butterflies are. I didn't realize that.

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  7. Wow, you have been really busy. I need to dig up ornamental grass that spread in my lilies, but it's so dry I will do a number on my knees.
    Love the Mandevilla-hope you can save it!

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  8. Did you actually dig up your BES after you deadheaded them or just cut them back to the ground? Do you save the seeds for the next year and scatter them in the Spring or late winter? I cut most of mine back last week but there are more that need to cut back. I saved a lot and put the seeds in a paper lunch bag for next year. I have several short BES plants that I will be transplanting in another bed. (If I get 'round to it!)

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  9. Sigh, there you are removing Black Eyed Susans and here I am trying to make them grow and they don't do anything! lol They have always been one of my favourite flowers and I always ooh and aah when I see some but for some reason they just won't grow for me. I should move them and see if they do better.

    Last weekend I cut down all of my lilies, irises, etc that were done and I moved a whole bunch of them as well as planting the pink tulips I found:-) xoxo

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