I LOVE THE FALL TIME OF YEAR

I probably like the fall season the most, but let me clarify. Fall, to me, is actually three distinct segments - early fall (or what I would refer to as summer mild), high fall (that picture perfect period when the trees are in their full color mode, the days are warm and sunny, evenings cool and the imagination is stirred by the greatest of fall events - the Saturday afternoon college football game), and finally ending fall (when the leaves are nearly all down, its cool and damp and the daylight is gone by 6:30). I don't especially like the later - its the sign that winter is bearing down. By that's the cycle here in the USA midwest and in the northeast, where i'm originally from.
As a gardener, fall generally means a few added chores - putting away the patio furniture, cleaning out the flower beds, and assisting the garden in preparing for the long winter nap, and finishing up those summer projects that somehow never got finished.
Best of all, as the ending fall ascends upon us I'm reminded that spring and next summer will soon be with us again bringing a return of nature's delights and sights and a garden of dreams.

More Prairie Wildflowers

MORE PRAIRIE WILDFLOWERS:

Brown-Eyed Susans

Showy Goldenrod

Monarda / Wild Bergamot

Smooth Blue Aster

Common Iron weed

If you've never seen the prairie in bloom you are missing one of life's greatest panoramas. A real feast for the eyes. The fall bloom lasts several weeks and different plants make their appearance from mid-August through mid-September. While the natural occurring prairie has all but disappeared many smaller habitats have been restored. Go visit a restored prairie near you - you'll appreciate the beauty and splendor that nature has to offer.

A day along the Fox River - prairie wildflowers

SOME OF THE WILDFLOWERS WE DISCOVERED !

It's Labor Day and we decided to go for a ride. I especially wanting to get into the country which isn't an easy task here in Chicagoland. While our village is surrounded by Forest Preserves finding undeveloped raw open space is quite hard - Chicagoland stretches for 30 miles in every direction and most of it is developed. A countryside of small villages has over the years become one large mass of development. We are lucky in many ways because our immediate area contains lots of preserved open space creating a more comfortable living environment.

So we decided to head out to the Fox River - about 30 miles due west of Chicago are St. Charles and Geneva - two charming, historic villages about 10 miles apart. The river front between the two villages has been largely preserved as open space and parks so it's a chance to get out into nature for a few hours. Bella came along to keep us company.

We found a small park about half way between the two villages with parking for just 8 cars surrounded by woods and prairie. After lunch of some sandwiches we purchased on the way, Bella and I took a walk along the river - it was a glorious day - 70 degrees, sunny.

Bella and I then decided to go into the prairie - in this case a field of several acres that in early September is a thick, overgrown mass of wildflowers, weeds, grasses, and native plants that tower six feet plus. The display was overwhelming - dozens of native plants in full bloom.

WHITES, YELLOWS, BLUES, PURPLES! I picked over a dozen plants that are fall flowering and observed probably another two dozen that are spring or summer bloomers.

Now the fun begins! I'm horrible at plant identification. For the next several days I'll be consulting wildflower books trying to identify my finds. The array of colors, textures of leaves and plant forms boggles the mind. I WANT TO GROW NATIVE ILLINOIS PRAIRIE WILDFLOWERS!

THE BEST OF OUR GARDEN - PICTURES / SPRING

Falling...

September song with

promise of shorter days and

cooler nights splendor...

David and I are currently taking a landscape design class. One question that came up asked us to consider what design services were we thinking of providing? As I reflected on my own experience, and what have I learned that could be of remote interest to others. What could be my niche? Well, the most fun I've had is learning about herbs and appreciating not just their beauty but their various uses.

No matter what level of gardening you enjoy, now that we are all spending more time at home, looking to squeeze as much from our dimes as we can, please consider growing more herbs. Not only are they spectacular specimens in the garden, they are of ultimate practicality. I see myself of assistance to those who love to cook from their own Italian and Mexican gardens (happily assisting in my personal crusade to pepper the planet with salsa gardens) and surely some must have considered by now tea gardens. How satisfying it would be to come home after a stressful day, snip a handful of mint and relax with this refreshing tea? Yes, there are decorative ways to contain its wandering habit.

If I had to pick just one to entice you with, it would have to be lemon verbena.

http://oldfashionedliving.com/lemonverbena.html

I want to share with you a great article I found above with uses and recipes for this amazing herb. Allow me to wax poetic about its unique long lasting fragrance. A multitasker to be sure, used in potpourri, cooking, baking and delicious tea! Can you just imagine using this lovely syrup in your late summer beverage? Are you like me and enjoy orange peel in your coffee, then why not try a sprig of lemon verbena in your next carafe? Who do you know would enjoy a humble gift of lemon verbena vinegar? Even if you only tuck some leaves in your sugar bowl, wouldn't it be worth it? Alas, this herb does not winter well in our cold climate, so please give it serious consideration on your spring planting list. Your welcome.

Challenges...

Are you a gardener?

the joy of watching things grow

Only to be trampled…


I had a recent conversation with a fellow gardener who reminded me that you’re either a gardener or a dog lover, and if you’re devoted to your garden, you don’t own a dog. Well, I happen to be a terrier lover and a gardener. When we moved to our current home I begged for a terrier and we soon rescued a delightful Australian terrier with short legs who quickly adapted to the fences placed around our landscape. He would occasionally dig but never to any great detriment and we all spent many great hours outdoors in blissful coexistence.

When we lost our four legged companion to cancer, we vowed not to replace him, but in donating items to our local shelter we were captivated by this little white terrier. Bella is an engaging addition to our routine but she’s a Jack Russell and a true definition of a terror in the garden. I should have known we’d be in for an adventure, no sooner than I introduced her to her new yard, she looked up at me, took a vertical leap to the envy of many and dove into the tiger lilies emerging with a toad egger to share her prize with me! I haven’t seen the toad much, but after some hard lessons, we are resigned to protect any new transplants with generous applications of chicken wire to insulate them from the ravage of her daily quest for the resident field mouse.

We used to place pots for their esthetic use in the garden, now they serve to temporally divert Bella’s devoted pursuit of whatever sound captures her complete attention at the moment. Her daily trash talk with the neighbor dogs over who’s really in charge, keeps her nails in shape but walk may never fully recover.

MISTAKES

I've sure made a lot of mistakes since I started gardening - the vast majority were small and inconsequential, however two really stand out that make me wish I could have a 'do-over'. The first and most fundamental mistake was not studying the sun's pattern throughout the year as it exposed various parts of the yard to full sun and/or shade. I sure would not have placed various elements and components of our back yard garden where I did - most notably the terrace. So now I'm stuck doing modifications to make it more useful for our summer enjoyment. And the other big mistake - the one every garden book and gardener preaches - AMENDING THE SOIL. Yes we were in such amateurish haste to start planting and enjoy the benefits of our efforts that I never properly amended the soil. Here in the midwest we have the worst soil - because it really isn't soil - underneath 6 to 12 inches of black soil is heavy clay - the kind of stuff NOTHING can really grow in. No wonder the prairie of the midwest is dominated by native plants that are tougher than tough.
So there it is. My major gardening mistakes. I'll comment more on these in future posts and on several of the lesser gardening mistakes I've made. I guess I'm continuing to learn and hope I never stop.

Ah....

Suspicious delight

a graceful flower appears

a weed, determined



One persons weed is another's delight...are weeds the bane of your existence? Just how many monarch butterflies have you spotted this season? Their particular munchies of choice are:

Apocynum cannabinum - Indian Hemp
Asclepias incarnata - Swamp Milkweed
Asclepias syriaca - Common Milkweed
Asclepias tuberosa - Butterfly Weed
Aster sp. - asters
Cirsium sp. - thistles
Daucus carota - Wild Carrot
Dipsacus sylvestris - Teasel
Erigeron canadensis - Horseweed
Eupatorium maculatum - Spotted Joe-Pye Weed
Euptorium perfoliatum - Common Boneset
Hesperis matronalis - Dame's Rocket
Medicago sativa - Alfalfa
Solidago sp. - golden rods
Syringa vulgaris - Lilac
Trifolium pratense - Red Clover
Vernonia altissima - Tall Ironweed[22]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarch_(butterfly)

It’s a sure bet not many of these are currently in residence in very many gardens.
I began this journey after a conversation with my gardening consultant and sometimes adversary or advisory (I’ll leave the final determination up to you) on an unidentified plant which took up residence in our garden. We decided to let it grow to determine what it was. It turned in a pretty nice performance with a wonderful delicate flower that butterflies were attracted to. Which lead to my haiku, then wiki search and here we are. Oh, about that “weed” I’m still not sure, but what a journey it has been.

HOW I GOT INTO THIS MESS

I didn't always garden. In fact I didn't ever consider gardening until Terre and I bought our house in 2001. Terre was insistent on wanting a house with a yard so that she could have a dog. So we bought a place with a postage-sized lot on the 'prairie' in suburban Chicago. Having a natural adversion to lawn care (a childhood affliction) and realizing that something had to be done with this piece of scrup grass I had little choice but to consider gardening. Besides the back yard would need completely fenced in if 'Stinky' (the mythical dog) was to join our family. And I promised Terre she would have an electric garage door opener (detached garage/buried electrical line from the house) by winter. Then two events got us going - the spring inexpensive plant sale at the local supermarket, and the discovery of an old flagstone patio buried under 4 inches of soil and grass. I now had enough stone to build a walk, a wall and you get the picture. I was off and running.