Bulb planting day October 25, 2009

The cold and rainy weather got me feeling as if bulb planting was overdue (more experienced gardeners have told me that I’m overreacting), so I got some bulbs planted in the front yard today: snowdrops and crocus. Since the gas company had to rip up the parkway to put in new pipes on our block, I didn’t have to do quite as much hard digging as in the past. I’m not sure how attractive these bulbs are to the local squirrel and raccoon population: we’ll know come March!

The garden gets less and less lush by the day.  We’re definitely having a good tree color year in Chicago, although we haven’t had quite enough dry days to appreciate them.  And the Caroline raspberry is still yielding a few sweet berries – winter is still a few weeks away.

Bloom Day – October 2009 October 15, 2009

The grape woodbine doesn’t have a lot of berries left, but it does have a lot of color.

I apologize for neglecting this blog for several weeks.  Not only is the garden not all that inspiring right now (except for the everbearing Caroline raspberries, which continue to be delicious), but I keep putting off taking more photos because I haven’t done anything with the vacation photos I took in mid-September.  But no more: it’s picture time!

In bloom:

• calendula



• volunteer aster that popped up by our patio this year (Aster novae-angliae?)



• white woodland aster (Aster divaricatus)



• marsh marigold (Caltha palustris)
• petunia
• sedum ‘Autumn Joy’

In fruit:

• raspberry ‘Caroline’



• crabapples
• grape woodbine (Parthenocissus vitacea)



• Solomon’s plume (Maianthemum racemosum)

And pretty foliage:

• oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia)

A trip to Morton Arboretum September 9, 2009

To celebrate the holiday weekend and get some exercise, the Spouse and I went hiking at Morton Arboretum. We don’t get out there very often since it involves a trip on the dreaded tollway. Of course, I didn’t remember to bring an actual camera, but my iPhone is good enough to get the gist of things, like the mass of yellow wildflowers above.

We hiked loops 3 & 4 on the east side of the arboretum. Loop 4 is almost exclusively in woodland, so any interesting plants made us pay attention. We saw the berries above all over the place, and the folks at the visitors center informed us that they were either Jack-in-the-pulpit or green dragon. Since I’ve been dragging my feet on getting any J-i-t-p, this may be the motivation to plant some in the side yard. Another notable berry we saw was Solomon’s plume, but with red berries rather than the bronzy ones seen on my plants.

Last photos from late summer September 2, 2009

The hostas are finally blooming now that summer has come to an end. It was cool, and the cloudiest one ever.

Despite all the raccoon harvesting done to it, the pickerel weed (Pontederia cordata) finally bloomed.

The bees have moved on from the Joe Pye weed to the zigzag goldenrod (Solidago flexicaulis), which is prostrate in the shady side yard.

The early crop of Caroline raspberries was not particularly impressive, but the canes are really starting to produce now.  Even farmer’s market raspberries are not as fragrant and delicious as backyard ones!

Vine Blatherings August 27, 2009

Presuming the Dutchman’s pipe remains dead, I really need to find something for the garage trellis.  (I suppose the grape woodbine could – and would – spread over the whole thing, but I’d like a little more variety.)  Unfortunately, there’s just not a huge number of native vines for semi-shade and clay in zone 5 (or that many native vines at all).  Here’s what I’m contemplating now – any other native plant geeks should feel free to pipe up in the comments with their experiences.

• Lonicera prolifera – Yes, it’s the Morton Arboretum shrub of the month, but yellow/grape honeysuckle is really a vine.  It looks like it’s cold-hardy and at least somewhat shade tolerant.  Berries are also a plus, since I like to feed the critters.
• Bignonia capreolata – Crossvine shows up in my go-to native gardening book, but it may not be hardy this far north.  Given the past two winters, I’m not inclined towards anything that’s only marginal in zone 5.  But some big showy flowers would be nice.
• Wisteria macrostachya – Kentucky wisteria is another nice big flower, but it may not be happy in the semi-shade.  But I like any plant that gets called out for its hardiness!
• Use what I already have – My trumpet vine (Campsis radicans) is not particularly happy in the deep shade between our garage and the next door neighbor’s garage.  It’s too big to transplant, but maybe I could root a cutting.  (Or I could get a new one – I believe the one I have planted is a cultivar, not the species.)  And then there’s the grape woodbine (Parthenocissus vitacea) which is happy everywhere in the yard, but it’s not showy except in the fall.

Do any readers have a favorite among these vines?  How about a least favorite?

Happy Mutant August 20, 2009

Rudbeckia fulgida…or is it Big Bird?

Bloom Day – August 2009 August 15, 2009

After a very wet and cold spring and early summer, we’ve had the driest midsummer in 75 years.  I’m having to water for the first time this year, but I snapped a few pictures before turning on the sprinkler.

The blooms this August look much like the ones last August, except that the big white hosta blooms are a few days behind schedule and the pickerel weed isn’t blooming at all after all the raccoon pool parties.   Links below go to pictures of that bloom in recent posts.

• Water lily (above)
• Marsh marigold (Caltha palustris)



• Great blue lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica)
• Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
• Orange coneflower (Rudbeckia fulgida)
• Marsh phlox (Phlox glaberrima)
• Calendula
• Snapdragon
• Fennel
• Dill (Grandma Einck’s)
• Petunia
• Oregano
• Basil
• Cilantro



• Big leaf aster (Aster macrophyllus) – seen here with great blue lobelia



• White woodland aster (Aster divaricatus)
• Spotted Joe Pye weed – the little one (Eupatoriadelphus maculatus)



• Sweet Joe Pye weed – the big one (Eupatoriadelphus purpureus)
• Zigzag goldenrod (Solidago flexicaulis)



• Annabelle hydrangea (the parts I trimmed back in May are blooming now)



• Sweet black eyed Susan (Rudbeckia subtomentosa)
• Nodding onion (Allium cernuum)

What bugs like August 11, 2009

August is the time of year where birdsong disappears and bugsong comes on strong.  In honor of this insect-filled season, here are some of the bug favorites in the garden:

Joe Pye weed always seems to have a lot of flying visitors when it blooms. This isn’t the big sweet Joe Pye (Eupatoriadelphus purpureus) in the side yard, though, but a brand new plant by the pond that I don’t remember ever planting. The purple stems make me think this is spotted Joe Pye (Eupatoriadelphus maculatus).

Another plant I never planted is the 6′ tall fennel up by the house.  There’s a cloud of tiny insects around it this time of year.  I don’t blame them – I’m always snacking on the foliage, and the seeds are delicious come fall.

The purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) are being visited quite a lot as well. One of the few birds making themselves known this time of year are the goldfinches, and they’re definitely keeping an eye on the progress of the seeds here.

Bittersweet conclusion August 4, 2009

Now that the pond tour is over, I decided to finally remove the invasive Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) that I mistakenly planted a couple of years ago.  I was planning to do it at some point, but Beth Botts’ post about invasive species recently banned in Chicago – including C. orbiculatus – got me moving.  Well, that and all the bittersweet fruits that were forming!

I have tried to prune the C. orbiculatus (the bushy stuff on the left half of each of the two trellis panels) back a couple of times this year, but this only seemed to provoke greater growth.  My native C. scandens (on the right half of each trellis panel) is growing really well, but is still sort of puny compared to the much older invasive.

A good hour of work with pruners, loppers, and a shovel (for the top foot of roots) later, it’s all gone and C. scandens has sole possession of the trellis. (Pretty impressive growth for something I planted only a year ago!) Since the old stuff is an invasive species and very woody, I skipped my lazy compost pile and put everything in a bag for municipal composting.  That should be hot enough to kill all those berries that the C. orbiculatus was growing.

Rudbeckia Review July 30, 2009

Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta) have become very popular in gardens, but I’d like to point out a couple of cousins that work particularly well in my shady clay-filled garden.  Above is orange coneflower (Rudbeckia fulgida), an enthusiastic grower and bloomer in several parts of the backyard.  It needs some sun, but it seems to do well even with only a couple of hours a day.  It’s very unfussy – I never touch the plants at all, just admire them.

Sweet black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia subtomentosa) is a newer addition to the front-yard rain garden.  It’s not as exuberant (yet) as the R. fulgida, but it’s doing great in an extremely rainy year.  The soil in the rain garden has not been amended much, but that doesn’t seem to stop it.  I’m guessing that next year it will look even better.