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!

Pond Evolution 2009 August 24, 2009

The pond is 4 years old this week. The photos below show how it appeared year 0 through year 4. There’s more prose about the earlier years on the 2007 and 2008 posts:

The Dutchman’s pipe (left two panels on the garage trellis) died this summer after looking very lush and strong in the spring.  I’m not sure whether that was due to all the rain (in heavy clay soil) or whether voles nibbled it to death.  Conversely, the Techny arborvitae behind the bench to the right of the garage is growing steadily each year.  In general, things are a bit less overgrown this year due to both cool weather and my (seemingly) constant pruning.  As for the pond itself, the raccoon pool parties apparently involve water lily and water hyacinth refreshments, so they both cover less of the surface than previous years.

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)

Raccoon party in the pond July 21, 2009

I can stop blaming the baby raccoons now.  Last night, the spouse and I were awoken by loud squealing and chattering coming from the back yard.  With the help of a flashlight, we found at least 6 full-grown raccoons having a party or a fight in and around our pond.  They were deterred only slowly by the light and our yelling.  Here’s some fun facts I learned:

• Raccoons are not afraid of the water.  We saw a couple cannonball into the deepest part of the pond from our patio.
• Raccoons don’t need the shallow areas to get out of the pond – they just climbed right up the rocks when they were done in the pond.
• We couldn’t hear them getting in and out of the pond over the sound of the waterfall.  They may jump right in, but either they’re graceful divers or their small bodies don’t splash louder than the waterfall.  This explains why we never heard them in the pond before – if they’re not yelling, they’re quiet.

The pickerel weed is almost gone now, and the lizard’s tail and water lily are pretty torn up as well.  I didn’t have the heart to do a goldfish headcount this morning.  I’m grateful that this happened after our pond tour day, and that we don’t have expensive koi!

UPDATE: I think most, if not all, of the fish survived the raccoon party.  There’s one shubunkin that I didn’t find, but it’s mostly black, and my walking through the pond to pick up pieces of lizard’s tail, pickerel weed, and water lily root made the water pretty murky.

Floppy Annabelles and little visitors July 17, 2009

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!

Bloom Day – July 2009 July 15, 2009

Midsummer means showy blooms and berries, like Annabelle hydrangeas and red baneberry:

• Lizard tail (Saururus cernuus)
• Pickerel weed (Pontederia cordata)
• Water lily
• Annabelle hydrangea



• Oakleaf hydrangea



• Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
• Pale purple coneflower (Echinacea pallida)



• Culver’s root (Veronicastrum virginicum)
• Celandine poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum)
• Indian pink (Spigelia marilandica)



• Marsh phlox (Phlox glaberrima)
• Snapdragon
• Petunia
• Calendula



• Hosta
• Daylily
• Lavender “Blue Cushion”
• Oregano
• Thyme
• Cucumber
• Raspberry

Fruiting:

• Raspberry



• Cucumber
• Red baneberry (Actaea rubrea)



• Solomon’s plume (Maianthemum racemosum)
• Blue false indigo (Baptisia australis)
• Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus)

Pond Tour ‘09 July 13, 2009

Pond tour time is rapidly approaching! The MPKS 2009 pond tour starts this Saturday (July 18) and runs both this weekend and next.  You can buy a tour guide and map for $15 at several gardening locations in the greater Chicago area.  My pond will be on the tour on Sunday the 19th – feel free to stop by and say hi.

The Aquascape Chicago pond tour is July 25-26 and is primarily ponds  in the far western suburbs.  The MPKS tour covers the same region on the same weekend, so you can easily go on both tours at the same time.

Both tours are self-guided, and the ponds are open all day long.  It’s a lot of fun to drive around and see how different people’s ponds and yards can be!

Bloom Day – June 2009 June 15, 2009

The blooms are a bit sparse right now: the cool spring has delayed things like the hydrangeas and swamp marsh phlox.  Nevertheless, there are things blooming…..

….like thyme and a mystery yellow-flowered groundcover inherited from the previous homeowner.  Any ideas about what this could be?

Wild iris (Iris shrevei)

Also,

• Celandine poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum)
• Canada anemone (Anemone canadensis)
• Peonies
• Petunias
• Lavender ‘Blue Cushion’
• Chives

There are also many things setting fruit right now….

….like the Baptisia australis. I wonder if I should be deadheading this?

Also,

• raspberries
• invasive bittersweet (all the berries will end up in a village compost heap, believe me!)
• ‘Autumn Brilliance’ serviceberry (pictures when they start ripening)
• Celandine poppies

On the down side of things, the wild hyacinth looks about dead – it never bloomed this year. The strawberries are spreading everywhere, but don’t seem to be coughing up any fruits, darn it!  But pretty much everything else is going great guns, if a week or two behind their normal schedule.

Shades of Green June 10, 2009

A cool and wet spring/early summer means that everything is very lushly green.

The sunny bed by the bittersweet (more about that later) is full of different green shades and textures.  The Proven Winners petunia from Spring Fling provides a bit of color among all the herbs.

The a/c hasn’t been turned on yet this year, so a Celandine poppy is growing in a highly unlikely position. Guess it’s shade tolerant, huh?

Summer is here June 7, 2009

Summer has arrived in Chicago, so it’s finally time to start using the patio.  Nothing is quite as relaxing as sipping wine while listening to the waterfall.

The wild irises (Iris shrevei) are blooming both in the pond and out of it. The pickerel weed (Pontederia cordata) is poking up above the water, and the lizard’s tail (Saururus cernuus) has spread over quite a bit of the pond.

On the other side of the pond, the blue false indigo (Baptisia australis) is almost done blooming. The goldfish have lost their springtime shyness, and are now begging for food every time a human wanders near the edge of the pond.

The Dutchman’s pipe (Aristolochia macrophylla) is still blooming, amazingly enough.  The vine is having a great year, and may take over the entire garage trellis.