Tag: New England Aster
Pausing For Breath
Gardening is something you do inside your head as much as out in your garden. Sometimes you need to look at an established bed and mentally rearrange the plants. You need to decide to pull the plug on an unsatisfactory performer. And you need to imagine potential replacements, newly planted and in a few seasons. …
Giverny in September: Americans In The Upper Garden
American plants, that is. I’ve already written about Monet’s lower garden. In trying to write a post about the upper garden, I face a serious challenge. Namely, Judy took exactly 357 pictures, and narrowing those down to a number suitable for a single post is an impossible task. So, I have chosen to do at …
Blooms of Late September
When we returned from vacation a week ago the garden was looking a bit neglected. The grass was overgrown, perennials were flopping and needed rectification. This past weekend I started getting things back into proper order, but also took stock of our autumn blooms. Of course, autumn is about asters, and I have many species …
April Showers OK, But This Is Ridiculous
When she emailed me the photo below, Judy asked if this is what they mean by an island bed. The Chicago area got 5″ of rain last night. Rain continued through the day, and more heavy rain is expected tonight. Streets and basements are flooded – though thankfully our own basement has been OK so …
The Front Island Bed: A Wildlife-Friendly Spot Full of Bold Plants
The Front Island Bed lies between the Sidewalk Border and the low retaining wall of the expanded Foundation Bed. It is filled mostly with taller plants that enjoy lots of moisture, since the soil is a moist clay loam. It gets almost full sun, even though it is on the north side of the house. …
Book Review: The Well-Tended Perennial Garden, by Tracy DiSabato-Aust
If perennial flowers are the backbone of your garden, as they are of mine, you may occasionally feel the need for an orthopedist. Keeping perennial flowers blooming, attractive, upright, adequately contained, and the right size and shape is an ongoing challenge. Experience and occasional expert advice are necessary to meet that challenge with reasonably consistent …
An October Stroll Through the Garden
Let’s start in the backyard. Rosa ‘Sally Holmes’ still has a few blooms, and even some buds straining to open before the frost. Most of the asters have gone to seed … But the dwarf New England Aster, Symphyotrichum novae-angliae ‘Purple Dome’, is a very late bloomer – it’s just hitting its stride. Rosa ‘Darlow’s …
An Astonishing Variety of (Mostly) Wild Asters
Now that I have the taxonomy issue out of my system (see last post), I can write about the asters in my garden. (As hillwards points out, “They may not be Asters any more, but they will always be asters …”). All the asters I grow except for one are Midwest USA natives and straight …
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