Welcome, sports fans, to the 2015 Oakleaf Olympics. This year’s contest promises to be an epic struggle between the defending champion Team Oak and the upstart Team Chatsworth, a newcomer to this division although with a decade of recent experience in Sweetgum/Linden League play. The arena is a typical rectangle (a bit larger than normal…
Where did the summer go?? This is a catch-up post covering several ‘shoots’ in the Temporary Garden at various times during September and October. Finally, in early September the direct-sown morning glory ‘Heavenly Blue’ decided to start flowering. The obelisk is about four feet tall and believe it or not, all that growth is…
I recently came across this amongst some scribblings of mine from the late 1980s and realized that it’s just as true a quarter-century later as it was then! The thought occurred to me that the novice orchid grower might be able to use a bit of help in navigating the shoals of vague and ambiguous…
There are times when I feel utterly foolish, and this is one of them. Remember back in the spring, when I was puzzling over the “tardy dogwood” in the backyard of the Temporary Garden? The one that was two or three weeks behind the seemingly-identical dogwood next to the driveway? Flowers and leaves looked the…
Among the many ‘why would anyone plant this’ discoveries in the Temporary Garden were three that I was especially dismayed to see. I do realize that all of them might appeal to those who favor prodigiously-self-replicating, low-maintenance plants that remain unfazed by the vicissitudes of nature, but let’s face it: These three are thugs. …
Well, the Temporary Garden has made it through a thankfully nonbrutal summer with only the thirsty genera (willows and hydrangea) showing any severe effects from my tough-love approach to watering. There are three crape myrtles on the property; the other two are red. Neither of those made even half the floral show that the…
I should confess at the outset that I’ve never been fond of shrubs and trees that have ‘artistic’ growth habits – meaning anything other than upright, spreading, vase-shaped or upright/weeping. Most do fall into one of those categories but for some reason the exceptions set my mental teeth on edge. Back in the early 1980s…
More than a month has passed since my last photographic walkabout, and here we are at midsummer already – where does the time go?? These photos were taken at various times between mid-June and the end of July. Shrubs and Trees I’ll begin by rewinding the clock to early May’s photo of what I’m almost…
The Chatsworth Lady 