Before You Garden…

English gardener transplanted into American soil

Posts from the Garden advice category

Enliven your Fall Garden with Dahlias

By Jenny Rose Carey on 2022-09-29

Self-Sown Flowers – Create Bargain Fullness and Happy Accidents in Your Garden

By Jenny Rose Carey on 2022-09-07

More Witch Hazels for winter into spring bloom

By Jenny Rose Carey on 2016-02-29

Preventing snow damage to evergreen trees and shrubs in the snow

By Jenny Rose Carey on 2015-01-25

The poisonous caterpillar gets attacked

By Jenny Rose Carey on 2014-09-09

Do not Touch! The scary pretend face of the Saddleback Slug Caterpillar means beware

By Jenny Rose Carey on 2014-09-06

Weird parasitic plant – Thyme Dodder

By Jenny Rose Carey on 2014-07-24

Digging dandelions? Salad anyone?

By Jenny Rose Carey on 2014-04-01

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Herb Garden sitting area. Cleome is taking over!

Asters are beautiful for the late summer and early autumn garden. They are a favorite of pollinators. These ‘Moon Beds’ are slightly raised beds shaped rather like half moons. They face a lawn where moonlight often picks up light-colored flowers (see a post earlier in the summer with phlox). In spring this same bed is a show of an A-Y of historic daffodils that were bred before 1940. (There is not a daffodil from this time that begins with Z). I try to keep my flower beds full of flowers for as long as possible during the growing season. Or at least give each bed a couple of seasons of high interest. My new book for Timber Press - ‘The Ultimate Flower Gardener’s Guide’ contains my suggestions for keeping your flower beds flowering.

Fall planting continues - this autumn-blooming plant native to Eastern North America is Vernonia lettermannii Iron Butterfly. It’s thick roots really need to be divested of the potting medium so that there is good interaction between roots and your soil. Vernonia are a fabulous addition to the flower bed for puffy purple flowers, attractive to pollinators. Combines well with Asters, Helenium and goldenrods. Rich autumnal colors and varied flower shapes keep the flowery show going. To reduce the overall height of Vernonia it is a good candidate for the Chelsea Chop - cut off the top third of the growth around Memorial Day or around the time of the famous Chelsea Flower Show in London - about the third week in May. This reduces the height - and therefore lessens the need for staking, and delays flowering a little - you can chop part of the clump and not all to extend flowering time. Great plant that should be used more in flower gardens. Luckily I got these in the ground before the nice soaking rain.

Northview Garden Old Veg. Garden - now a combination of herbs, flowers, and vegetables that the pollinators, swallowtail butterfly caterpillars, frogs, and other garden visitors seem to love. There is a compost heap in the corner, raised beds, salt-hay as a path material laid over some layers of newspaper. I love being in this space with the sound of the waterfall in the neighboring Pond Garden, and bird and insect noises. The general style is vaguely cottage- garden like.

Jenny Rose Carey interviewed by Margaret Roach New York Times Sunday 4th September 2022 Real Estate section Why September is the new May in the gardening world. Also online if you subscribe to the NYT. Now is a wonderful time to get out and garden. Thanks to Margaret for the article @awaytogarden and to Chanticleer Garden @chanticleergarden and Wave Hill Garden @wavehill for the fabulous garden shots. The close up flower shots are mostly taken here in my garden @northviewgarden

Moon Garden after sunset - lots of insect activity. White and light-colored flowers are visible by the light on the moon. Our eyes adjust better than the camera. Night insects are calling to each other. Moths start coming out. The evening garden is not asleep! Hope that you enjoy the soundscape. Flowers Acidanthera- a type of scented gladiolus. Then African Foxglove - not a real foxglove but in the genus - Ceratotheca ( smells like peanut butter if you crush the leaves) and border phlox that is still blooming and has been covered in Swallowtail butterflies in the day. I wonder if moths find it at night?

Tip for the day - Fall planting of perennials for bloom next year. Loosen the roots and remove some of the planting medium that was in the pot. The roots can then grow easily into the surrounding soil. Several benefits to this - drought tolerance if you water infrequently but deeply to get water low in the soil horizon. The roots grow down towards the water rather than up towards the surface. Another reason for releasing the roots is that they will be more stable in the soil. Roots are anchors and especially for tall plants like this Obedient plant or Physostegia - a good root structure means little to no staking of stems is needed as it grows. I hope that this tip helps you. For more about fall flowers and my new Timber Press book - The Ultimate Flower Garden check out my interview by Margaret Roach in the New York Times - print copy Sunday 4th September 2022 - Title September is the New May. Also available online. If you like podcasts I am on one of her recent ones and we talk about drought tolerant plants including tips for growing lavender. That is called A Way to Garden.

Obsessed with flowers? Who me? Dahlias at this time of year are just what we need - fresh, floriferous and fun. This one is a new one for me this year called ‘Center Court’ - very appropriate since the US Open is being played now. More dahlia photos to come in the next few weeks.

New York Times article online today - print on Sunday. ‘September is the New May’ Jenny Rose Carey interviewed by Margaret Roach. Tips for how to keep your garden looking good for the rest of the gardening season. Check it out.

Stormy skies - still no rain. .

Strange light this evening as the storm clouds rolled in, gave the garden 2 drops of rain, and the rolled right on by to someone else’s garden. So much promise so little precipitation. Did you get rain?

Another parade of dahlias near the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. Pick your favorite. Go visit if you are nearby. Probably at peak through September

Queen Wilhelmina’s Garden in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. Windmill and begonias. Tulips get their turn in the spring.

Dahlia season is in full swing at the Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco. I might have to go back tomorrow to soak in all the shapes and colors. Tended by volunteers from the Dahlia Society these plants are well tended and floriferous. Such a treat to experience. A selection of dahlias and some views of the Conservatory.

Francoa ramosa is an interesting flower that comes from Chile originally but has been found in English cottage gardens for over a hundred years. It was a favorite of the English garden writer Gertrude Jekyll.

August flowers - this time of year doesn’t have to be a quiet time in the garden. Here are a few of the flowers in bloom at Northview this weekend. First garden is the Cutting Garden with upright snapdragons, Calendula, Gaillardia, and Cleome. Second garden is called Fruit and Flowers and contains in these shots Scabiosa - dark flower, Statice, and Zinnias. All of these make great cut flowers.

Today’s view of the garden - walking along the low stone wall towards the shed. Tons of Rudbeckia, late daylilies, Helenium and blue upright Lobelia.

Cup of breakfast tea in the garden. Happy weekend everyone. Hope that you have a chance to sit in your garden for a few minutes today. The seasons are changing and it is good to take a minute to enjoy what is here now.

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