... Meet Some of the Garden Help ...

The Mantises have definitely arrived (or emerged from hiding) in the garden now, and we couldn't be more delighted! After yesterday's discovery out front, we were thrilled to find two more --bigger-- ones hanging out on some of that weedy Heliopsis I ranted about back in July (it's not ex-ter-min-ated by a long shot). These were destined to be pulled at some point, but now that these guys have apparently taken up residence, we may reconsider that. For some reason, this year these 'Yellow Rogues' (as we call them) have been afflicted seriously by aphids (you can see them all up and down the stems), and we suspect that's exactly what drew the Mantises. Honestly, for a Mantis they must seem like an all you can eat Tapas bar or some Happy Hour spread somewhere. Hey guys, knock yourselves out and grow fast and prosper! Nobody wants aphids around (though they don't seem to bother our other plants), and if they're tasty to a Mantis, so be it and good riddance to the aphids!
Don't ask me what this weed is, but we have it everywhere, and when we clear an area, this is one of the first things to go (and this one went shortly after this shot was taken). The only reason to include this was to showcase that flashy little leaf hopper we saw earlier this summer on one of the 'Sun Showers' Hibiscus flowers. All we know is that it is some kind of leaf hopper, but when you see him up close he's really quite the snazzy dazzler, and to me he looks a lot like the Neon Tetra of the insect world, only he doesn't need an aquarium! There's no end to what we find insect wise in the gardens, but at least this one seems to do no harm, and is quite pretty we think.

Guess who's been playing with the video again? I'm really loving the video capabilities of the S700, the more I experiment, and I caught this little 16 second snippet of a bumblebee working a Cat Mint bloom in front of our old decrepit excuse for a garden shed. I was staking out the Praying Mantises nearby, but thought it would be fun to catch a bee at work, so here he is. I also took two short videos of the Mantises, but I'm going to have to edit them somewhat to get them reduced in size and duration, so I won't post them just yet. As for my video capabilities, they're still in their infancy, and I'm just starting to get the hang of focusing properly and using the zoom, so one day I hope, I can get some really great footage of things around the garden. My next targets will be the Goldfinches who are starting to come around for the Annual Coneflower Seed Feast and the various butterflies we've been seeing in abundance lately, so stay tuned for more to come.

Still photos by Fernymoss and video by IVG, all taken August 24, 2008.

Riding the Leafy Wave ...

Tonight we have another one of Fernymoss' discoveries from when he ventured out on August 5 with the camera ... this cute lil one is a Ladybug larva, as it makes its way across one wavy corn leaf in the back garden, accompanied by some smaller, unidentified bugs riding along with it. We seem to have lots of Ladybugs most years, and they are a very welcome presence in the garden, along with the bumblebees, mantises, small wasps, lacewings, dragonflies and other predators of the bad bugs. We're firm believers in the gardening philosophy that if you plant the right sorts of plants, you'll attract the right kinds of insects to keep things in line a bit. We give a lot of credit to them, and are glad to see they're comfortable making our garden their home (and hunting ground). We've only once had to use a spray (for a whitefly infestation on tomatoes) to conquer insects, and that one was composed predominantly of steeped cayenne peppers and dish detergent (which is remarkably effective on a lot of insects). We like to think that a lot of our smaller, insect buddies in the garden take care of potential problems for us, even if we are, at times neglectful of their surroundings. Embrace the Ladybug (if you don't already) and some of her equally interesting and beautiful cohorts....

Corn Patch Confidential

Though I was cooped up again today working furiously (I'm having a busy time again for a while), Fernymoss had the day off, and since the heat has finally abated a bit, he indulged the demands of the Urban Oasis by taking the camera out to see what was going on as he weeded a bit.... I've been wanting to get an update on the corn posted, so I specifically asked that he get some shots of it (he likely would have even without my request), as well as Punkenstein, (as Boran2 dubbed our runaway pumpkin patch) ... other than that, I left it up to him to just have fun and shoot whatever else he found of interest.

He came back with a great batch of photos you'll be seeing in future posts, including some of the first blooms of Hibiscus moscheutos 'Blue River,' which unfortunately now needs to be staked up again after the storms that moved through late last night, when some oddly intense thunderstorms just popped up after midnight, from which we got a fair amount of wind, rain and unfortunately, the first damaging hail of the summer. In that regard, though I'd like to whine about it, we've been very lucky so far so I'll refrain ... so in some of these photos you'll see the evidence of its damage.
But! The corn is standing high, tasseling and putting on its first ears despite it all! This first shot shows the basic corn patch at the northern end of the veggie garden where we usually plant tomatoes and peppers, but this year we have them situated elsewhere. If we're successful with it this year, we'll probably plant more corn at the other end of the garden next year (currently squatter space for Punkenstein). You'd think that two guys who have gardened for years (in of all places, Iowa!) would be old pros at corn ... well then, you'd be mistaken, as this is the first year we've tried sweet corn! Aside from planting Broom Corn (a really cool plant) the second year here, which we loved, but it terrified our neighbor by growing over 9 feet tall, so somehow we convinced ourselves we just didn't have the room for it. It's true that in our earlier years, we planted far more tomatoes and peppers than we do now, so there wasn't room, but now that we've cut back significantly on those crops, we have a decent space for it. And, despite being planted literally in mud in June (we remember all that rain oh so well), it has done very well for us so far this summer, even with getting knocked down several times in recent storms. Though it's going to be a while before we can harvest some, I take consolation in the fact that the local growers' crop is just now starting to hit the stores and roadside vendors, so we're a bit behind, but not hopelessly so.
This shot obviously needs little introduction, but it's great to see that although it just started tasseling out last week, there are already quite a few ears set on out in the patch. We are a bit apprehensive that we may get raided by neighborhood raccoons (they're out there!), but we're hoping for the best and if all they steal is an ear or two, we could live with that ... as long as we have several good meals out of the bargain. For me, it's been fun to grow corn again, something I've not done since I was a child and teen and lived at home with my gardener dad. So now that we're in a situation where we can plant it, we should probably stick with it ... after all, even when the edible ears are gone, we'll have some home grown, organic Halloween decorations from the garden, along with the pumpkins (we hope)!
Now to the interesting part of this post! Here's an interesting (as yet unidentified) beetle Fernymoss caught lurking in the corn (along with other critters as well). In this shot, he's looking head on, and when you really zoom in on this photo, he's got a rather unpleasant mug with some fearsome pincers on display. If any erstwhile readers can ID this guy, let us know in the comments. We're just hoping it's not a bad critter for the corn, attracted by a crop that doesn't usually grow here....
Here we have the same beetle, though at this point he apparently decided he had enough posing for the camera, and prepared to take his leave ... yes, yet another "bug butt" shot from the garden! We found it amusing that this beetle's ahem, posterior looks remarkably like a clearly defined bullseye ... we have no idea what that's all about but it is striking, n'est-ce pas?

Fortunately, milder weather is forecast for later this week, so maybe finally (if work cooperates) this weekend, I can get in a few weeding sessions to try to tame some of the worst stuff that has been thriving since we've been in this most recent rainy period.... I'm already starting to think that this year has been an odd spring to summer. We started out with incessant rain in late May through June, with the flooding thrown in, all of which kept us from getting these veggies in when they should have been planted ... basically we lost that whole month in the garden due to rain, flooding and mud. Still, I remain optimistic that we'll pull out a respectable showing and harvest after all is said and done.

Those who know me well would find that optimism a bit surprising, because I'm usually more pessimistic about certain things, but the garden always seems to offer me plentiful reasons to switch to the 'glass half full' attitude, something I think must be a near pathological instinct of confirmed gardener DNA. That's the only way I can rationalize this inherent contradiction with regard to my general world view. I suppose one could characterize that as a humanizing quality of gardening, but whatever one might call it, it definitely promotes a more positive outlook. Something that's sorely missing in the current zeitgeist of the nation, but with any luck, that may be poised to change for the better....

Weekend Bits and Bobs

Tonight we have a bit of a potpourri of shots from Saturday and Sunday at Casa IVG ... I don't really have an organized theme here, but if we're lucky, maybe one will emerge! Just some pretty mundane pictures of a Saturday and Sunday spent outside in the garden, weeding and planting more of the remaining perennials in the front Boulder Bed.

ARACHNOPHOBE ALERT! If you're seriously freaked out by spiders, you should just cruise by photo number 4 (there, Manny, I warned you!)

The dainty purple flower depicted above is a Toad Lily (Tricyrtis hirta), though I've lost the tag with the specific cultivar, so if any Toad Lily fans out there know the cultivar (iaBoy, can you help out?), I'd appreciate hearing it, so I can definitively ID it. Now, aside from being positively lovely, it's really playing a little trick on us, by blooming pretty early for most Toad Lilies (who come into their own usually in September when everything else is done blooming). I planted this particular plant last year in the bed with the primroses (it's right behind them toward the back) and it's really happy where it's growing. Not only did it winter just fine with several feet of snow over it for months on end, but it was up pretty early, bringing some of its offspring with it, and we discovered yesterday that more are on the way. At first, the main plant came up, swiftly followed by an offshoot that has been growing quite rapidly, and yesterday Fernymoss was weeding a bit around it and discovered that it's also putting out a long runner from the base of the plant, which he carefully covered with a bit of dirt so it can do its thing and produce yet another offshoot. Toad Lilies are wonderful colonizers for whom only the meanest gardener (and I don't meet too many of those!) would begrudge them the space they seek to occupy.

Our original plant in the Woodland Garden is currently over 4 ft tall and really gearing up for a spectacular show this year, along with the two other new ones we put in near it last year. Just be patient, and you'll be seeing lots more of them come late August or September. To my mind, Toad Lilies are one of the best kept secrets of the garden, because they're easy to grow (in shade only however!) and spring into action in the garden by producing their delicate orchid like flowers just when everything else in the garden has pretty much packed it in for the season ... and they bloom right up to (and sometimes after) frost! Perfect for deeply shaded, moisture retaining spots in the garden, where they multiply faithfully after the first couple of years. And there are so many varieties that there's bound to be a cultivar for every taste!
This is a view of where I was toiling in the heat and humidity yesterday, weeding out and rescuing that clump of Calendula that had been overrun by all sorts of weeds. Once I got the area cleared (which itself took quite a bit of time), I planted a couple of small rows of Zinnias by the Calendulas, and some Four O'clock seeds here and there, in the hope that they will take off again somewhere in the garden this year, even if they don't get enormous by fall, at least we'll get some blooms and with any luck, visits from the Sphinx Moths! I planted two Salvia nemorosa 'May Night' nearby, as well as one of my new Hibiscus moscheutos 'Luna Red.' I placed it more or less in line with the 'Lord Baltimore' you can see in the background of this shot (near the front of the line with the Porcupine Grass in the distance). While 'Lord Baltimore' is quite stately, reaching heights of 5-6 ft, 'Luna Red' is one of the newer, bushier cultivars that spreads more, but usually tops out at about 3-4 ft (like the 'Disco Belles' and 'Blue River II' cultivars). Discerning gardener eyes will also spot quite a few other things in this shot ... like the Rue (Ruta graveolens) blooming behind the Coneflowers, a few Calendulas, and in that big pot (hidden from street view) there are three 'Carmencita Rose' Castor seedlings just peeking above the top of the pot. We had some annuals in the pot last year, and never got around to dumping it or moving it, so we just decided to pop a few Castor seeds in it to see what might happen this year ... yeah, one of our many garden caprices that may or may not work out!
Though Queen Pepa (approximately) was spending most of the afternoon indoors due to the heat and humidity, we heard her plaintively asking to join us out front, so when we decided to take a break for a late afternoon beer, she came out to keep us company, lounging obediently on one of the front steps. I mentioned recently how much of a treat this is for her ... I think it's the equivalent of getting to eat at the grown ups' table for her, because she rarely gets to run free in the front of the house (because our street does have a fair amount --but not insane-- of traffic). So these are special moments for her when she gets to join us on one of our breaks from weeding and planting.
And then, along came a spider ... which literally did sit down beside her, though Pepa was largely oblivious to it, which was probably fortunate for both of them! Fernymoss IDed this as a "thin legged wolf spider," one of the rare species of spiders who don't spin webs. This is clearly a female with her brood (thus the fluffy looking abdomen -- make sure to click for the large version) who happened by. Apparently the females of this species drag their egg sac behind them until the little ones hatch, then they all clamber up on her back and ride around with her until they are big enough to take off on their own.
Mallow Mania continues unabated around here, with the above shot being the most current bloom from one of my tropical species, 'Brilliantissima Red.' Though the late afternoon light doesn't do it justice in this shot, it's a lovely deep red flower that can arrive in profusion as the summer progresses. Unfortunately I missed the first 'Erin Rachel' bloom of the summer because by the time I actually noticed it, it was getting too dark to take a photo. But she's finally recovering from her winter slump and gearing up for more glory in the sun ....
This hollyhock may look familiar, as it's the one I showed a while back, growing in the truly wild back corner of our lot (along with the Monarda, Baptisia, Coneflowers and Phlox). It was looking particularly pretty to me today, so I had to shoot it! Don't worry, no flowers were harmed in the creation of this post....
If you remember my herb garden post from a while back, I had showed some of the emerging Basil seedlings, well this is how they looked late this afternoon as I wandered around the back looking for likely suspects to include in this hodge podge post. Aside from needing a good weeding, I also want to thin it a bit (my sister wants some plants, so I'll likely dig a few for her) and give it a good pinching to promote bushier growth. It smells great already, and I'm finding it hard to be patient for the arrival of the first tomatoes with whom it makes such a great companion. One of my favorite tomato season salads is a simple dish of tomato slices, with shredded basil and balsamic vinegar sprinkled over it. And if I have Nasturtium flowers at the time, I throw some of those in as well, and that's (as Alton Brown would say) Good Eats!
Talk about needing patience! This is the 'Bush Celebrity' tomato I have planted in the herb bed just behind the house. This particular variety never gets as big as other 'regular' varieties, but is a great tomato to grow if you're limited on space you have for them. They'll even grow happily in a big pot on your patio or terrace, which, if you decide to go that way, make sure to sprinkle some Basil seeds around the edges to keep them company. Basil should always accompany tomatoes nearby as they are perfect companion plants! In the garden and kitchen as well!
And finally, here's our corn patch today. Yes, it needs a good weeding, but we haven't gotten back that far yet in our never ending weeding sessions ... notice the bricks, tomato cage and stakes? Well, when I first went out back today, I was horrified to see about half the corn laying on the ground, beaten into near submission by those storms we had last night. Fortunately, they weren't snapped, so Fernymoss just hopped in and propped them all up with bricks, rocks and whatever we could find to give them support. The onions also took a bit of a beating, but that's less serious where they're concerned ... And now, I hear thunder in the neighborhood as we prepare for our next round of storms tonight. There are some really nasty ones moving in from Nebraska currently and I actually hope they miss us (supposed to arrive around 2:00 a.m. here). These storms have been producing high winds, large hail and torrential rains, and I think we can do without that. Yes, we needed rain, but with what we've had since Thursday night, Saturday night and now tonight, we can take a few dry days for things to recover a bit. I've really got to get working on that storm diverter to send them down Gail and Annie's ways when we've had our fill, but I'm not making much progress on it. Sorry, my Southern Garden Friends!

To conclude, I'd like to give a hearty shout out to Mr. McGregor's Daughter, a garden blogger in the Chicago area who has a fantastic garden and blog that demands to be visited. In perhaps one of the most informative and useful posts I've read this year on a garden blog, last week she detailed her method of eradicating the vile, pernicious and downright infuriating bindweed, the scourge of our (and others') gardens. I encourage any of you reading this who don't know her blog to stop by, at least for this post, The Squirrelhaven Method of Bindweed Eradication. You'll be glad you did!