What's Blooming: Black Lace and Roses

So much is going on in the garden that I fear I have missed a glorious moment or two. I still have plants to get into the ground and the days seem to whir by like dragonflies ... are those dragonflies already out prowling the garden? Yes, they are! And evenings seem to sparkle ... yes, those are fireflies! The Catbird has finally come out of hiding and I watch him hop about the Potager. He even dares to perch on a trellis and study me. It's mid June, and time to pause, sit in the garden instead of running around frantically with my shovel leading the way.

Out front chives are cheering like pom poms and Sambucus Black Lace is revealing her best show ever.

Sambucus Black Lace

Clematis are creeping and peeping from corners along the drive. My native clematis, Virginiana were coming up nicely until Mr. Rabbit ... well actually it must be Mrs. because now there are little rabbits hopping about! ... decided they would make a tasty salad. I have wrapped them so that they can hopefully, reestablish themselves.

Clematis Claire de Lune

Clematis Rooguchi

This year I am enjoying the changing palettes of the garden – pinks and purples, blues and yellows.

Spiderwort, Tradescantia Osprey

Yellow Evening Primrose with Cranesbill

The foamy yellow flowers of Lady's Mantle

Blue Flag Iris

Amsonias with golden Creeping Jenny

Overnight, my swamp rose burst into bloom and surprise!, this year a neighboring rose that was on our property line decided to creep under our new fence and join us.

Swamp Rose, Rosa palustris

The flowering raspberry bushes, Rubus odoratus, that the Rabbit seemed to enjoy dining on so much this winter are bigger than ever in spite of all my worries. Their blooms resemble wild roses. Their leaves are big and beautiful.

Thank you Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting Garden Bloggers Bloom Day the 15th of each month.

What's Blooming

Blooms are fading fast. In the upcoming months it will be challenging to find any blooms outside in the garden, but we have had a true Indian Summer here in the North Country.

Out front Sweet Autumn Clematis is blooming. This plant can be invasive and I cannot recommend it. Of course, I didn't know that when I planted it. I imagine that here in zone 4 it is not so problematic as it may be further south. To make myself feel better I just planted two native Clematis Virginiana in other areas of the garden – this spot on the front porch receives too much sun. I do have to say the Sweet Autumn smells divine.

This Woods Aster (pink blooms) always punctuates fall. The sedums are just about ready to burst into bloom. Catmint Walker's Low is still faithfully blooming.

Along the drive California Poppies are bright as orange pumpkins. In the background Helenium and Verbascum bloom. Along the trellis the Purple Hyacinth Bean vine is still blooming strong and Scarlet O'Hara is now finally gloriously greeting the mornings.

In the woodland edge geranium Sylvia's Surprise is surprising me with more blooms.

Persicaria Firetail is the work horse this summer ... still a stunning show.

Chocolate Joe Pye was moved this year to this spot due to the porch renovation. Though not as big and bold in previous years, at least there are blooms to let me know that this spot will do. Hopefully next year will be big and bold once again. (Spied several flower flies on Joe Pye's blooms though I am not sure of the specific species. Will have to revisit with guide in hand.)

Tradescantia Osprey says BOO! These were given to me through the mail by Jean at Jean's Garden and were just planted this spring. Thank you Jean! They seem to be happy and they are oh so beautiful.

The potager is putting on a fall display of its own, no pumpkins, but comparable are the bright orange of marigolds and nasturtium.

And at last the Exotic Love Vine is dripping with blooms! If we didn't have an Indian Summer, I'm not so sure if I would have been lucky at love.

Garden bloggers' bloom day is hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens the 15th of each month. Join in the fun with your blog blooms!

Project: Rustic Leaf Trellis

I have been working on an area of my woodland edge garden that was recently "exposed" after my neighbor cut down what remained of a box elder. There is a small rental practically on our property line and three peeping windows – way too close for comfort.

This photo (above) was taken last year, but you can see how the box elder screened the neighboring building.

This photo (above) was taken recently. Hello neighbor. The dogwood will benefit from more sun and should top out at 10 ft., but it does lose its leaves come winter. Though once mature, it should have a thick network of branches. The blue spruce will also fill in this space once it matures. And I took this opportunity to plant another evergreen.

This Filicoides Fernspray Cypress will mature to 8-10' tall and 4' wide, a perfect size for this space. It is soft to the touch and really does remind me of ferns. Its foliage also has hints of blue that compliment the blue spruce nearby. But until it grows 10 ft tall ...

We decided to put up some curtains – a bamboo shade to screen those windows. It's attached directly to the existing chain link fence. Some volunteer Virginia Creeper is also benefiting from more light and is already growing through the bamboo screen, yippee! But the space still felt too open and exposed so I decided to make another rustic structure in keeping with the rustic theme of my garden. This time a freestanding trellis. It is sort of my tribute to the missing tree. I decided to make its walls resemble the structure of leaves. Again, my source for the branches is our local dump although some of these branches are from the box elder itself. Construction began in my shed, one of my favorite retreats. The trellis was put together with various lengths of drywall screws and a power drill. I began by making two "sides" sort of like a ladder, and then used branches to connect the sides together so that I had a square base that could stand on its own.

Here I am visualizing leaf shapes and adding veining.

Hours later I have my rustic leaf trellis.

  Here it is in place as viewed from the new screened porch.

The leaf pattern on this pot repeats the leaf shapes on the new trellis.

The birds now have a new perch. This garden bed now has another layer between us and them. I have a Clematis Virginiana, a beautiful native clematis, on order that I will plant at the base of this trellis. Hopefully it will twine its way through the leaves.

A friend of mine gave me these beautiful garden ornaments. I thought I would hang them here to honor the trees – new and lost. What about you? Do you have an area of your garden where you would like to have more privacy? Consider making yourself a freestanding trellis or a tribute of some sort to your favorite or lost plant.