Normally I leave work and head to Deep Eddy to swim. It's better than two martinis, for flushing away work stress. Today I came home and fed everything. Lisa, a neighbor with a phantasmagoric garden (and apparently the last remaining gardener without a blog) came by walking her dogs and said supportive things about my miserable front bed, which frankly looks like an abandoned drive-in movie theater--all rubble and stems. We agreed this has been a challenging summer. Heat. No rain. Both of these are bad enough but not that unusual. It's the aberrant and apocalyptic wind that has us most unnerved. In combination with the heat and drought, it's impossible to combat. Lisa says she suspects she's lost a lot of bulbs, but she won't know til next year.
It's not all death and dying here. The Port St. John Creeper (podranea ricasoliana) is fixing to explode. I planted it right after I moved in, in Spring 2007, but it declined to bloom during its settling-in year. Another bloomer right now is the Brugmansia Charles Grimaldi, which after the sun goes down, scents the deck with its lemon buttercream icing perfume. In the debris that is the front bed, a white plumbago is valiantly blooming.
So I fed it and the rest of the rubble in front hoping that fall comes soon.
It's not all death and dying here. The Port St. John Creeper (podranea ricasoliana) is fixing to explode. I planted it right after I moved in, in Spring 2007, but it declined to bloom during its settling-in year. Another bloomer right now is the Brugmansia Charles Grimaldi, which after the sun goes down, scents the deck with its lemon buttercream icing perfume. In the debris that is the front bed, a white plumbago is valiantly blooming.
So I fed it and the rest of the rubble in front hoping that fall comes soon.
4 comments:
I'll trade weather with you. It's been nothing but thunderstorms for the past week in the Hub and I'm getting sick of the rain.
(I'm also not trying to grow anything at present.)
Ah, the Charles Grimaldi, of course! Can't believe that's its name.
I agree with Mrhe. The faux hurricane weather here has LITERALLY put a damper on my tomatoes. I think the bees are having enough trouble getting up to the second floor balcony, and if it rains constantly I don't think the bees are going to be at all interested in making the trek.
Libby - I am so tired of watering! But did you see the forecast with at least a chance of rain for 7 days? I've got to make some offering or something! I want to see a picture of your Brugmansia! I have one, a German Double pink, but a stinkin' grasshopper or someone has eaten all the lower leaves and I'm not sure it will bloom. It's alive, but kinda sad. And it's new from this Spring so I've never seen it bloom. I'm thinking about feeding it,but am hesitant in this weather...
So, my new love for datura has lead me to wonder whether I should give brugmansias another try, and you're the one person I know who seems to have success with them.
Do you do anything extra to care for yours, and how would you recommend overwintering it? If the scent is half as incredible as datura, I wouldn't mind giving it a little extra TLC.
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