I believe we’ve just passed peak color here in NE Oak Park. It was glorious this year – check out the parkway basswood!
The leaves have come off quickly this week with all the wind and rain we’ve had. What comes after peak color? Raking and vacuuming/shredding, of course. Next up, the story of the one tree that is no longer there…
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!
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.
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.
When you have record rainfall, even self-staking can’t keep the Annabelle hydrangeas upright! The self-staking (cutting the outer ring of stems in half in May, per my garden guru Kim) did keep them looking good much longer, but the huge flowerheads plus the unending rain finally knocked them down.
The waterlily is still getting disturbed on a regular basis. We think we’ve found the culprits: after wrestling and eating crabapples on our porch roof, these baby raccoons met up with an adult raccoon who showed them around the pond. The adults aren’t so cute because they’re huge, but the babies are awfully sweet (although they provoke some severe agitation among our cats). I’ll have things straightened out for the pond tour on Sunday, so please stop by if you are in the area!
Last year, I didn’t get a picture of the “Autumn Brilliance” serviceberry while it was in bloom, and vowed not to let that happen again.
I was all set to make a post showing just how quickly the blossoms fade, and darn it all if they haven’t lasted for the past 5 days!
Unlike last year, when they came and went within 12 hours, the blooms this year have been prolonged by (I presume) the cold and damp weather that’s been alternating with warm and damp weather the past couple of weeks. They’re just about done now, though, and I hope we still get a bumper crop of berries for the birds come June.
It’s definitely bloomier than March was, but this chilly April is far from lush! The good news about a cool spring is that flowers last a long time.
Just finished blooming:
Now blooming:
Coming soon:
Big purple volunteer crocuses emerged in the backyard around March 20 and are still blooming.
The native Allegheny spurge (Pachysandra procumbens) has spread considerably, and doesn’t seem to be fazed by the temperature swings.
As is nearly always the case in Chicago, there’s a depressing late snowfall. It happened right as the first daffodil blooms appeared this past weekend. The snow was gone within a day, which is also typical!
We may getting another cold spell this weekend (albeit not going below 0 F), but at least winter should be half-over by now. I really did enjoy its getting above freezing for a day.
Even though the shortest day of the year was nearly 3 weeks ago, there’s still lots of winter to go. Tom Skilling’s weather blog points out that we’re only 33% through this season’s snowfall and 34% of the way through sub-zero (Farenheit) temperatures. I will have to console myself with the thought that not only are the days now getting over a minute longer each day, but that the cloudiest months of the year are behind us.
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