When I saw Kong Coleus in the William Dam seed catalogue I was intrigued by its apparent size. Not disappointed. It’s only the first week of July and they are already overgrowing their containers. I have removed the first flower stalks to encourage more and bigger. I thought the seeds were a bit pricey at $1 each but now they look like a bargain. They are brightening up the side deck and dwarfing everything else I planted there.
Get out the food processor it’s Pesto time. There is Basil growing everywhere and it’s ready to go to its ultimate destination. I start too many seeds and I just plant a piece of it in every spare corner and now it’s time to reap that harvest. We make big batches of Pesto and freeze it in the ice cube trays then bag them up for use all winter. It’s such a wonderful fresh taste in February.
Everything perennial continues to be early this year. The first of these Daylilies appeared on the first of July a good two weeks before we might normally expect them. This particular group, peeking out from behind the dwarf Blue Spruce, were an unnamed variety, which we call #8, from a breeders open house. It has turned out to be a great bargain. Lots of large blooms in that wonderful orange yellow. Always a treat when it shows up.
After you have collected “several” regular looking Daylilies you start looking for something different and this spider type fit the bill. Its flower scapes are much longer, close to 2 m, and the blooms are close to 20 cm across, making quite the statement in the garden.
Here is something that I was not particularly happy to see early. The Japanese beetles have arrived and are hungrily looking for my Asparagus and my Roses. My early morning stroll through the garden, armed with my sprayer, now has three creatures to look for. The Asparagus Beetles have been here for a few weeks but we now have to look farther afield to find those Japanese Beetles, not that they are difficult to find. They are quite large and are often found in groups like the photo. For something smaller but even more prolific we have the Striped Cucumber Beetle. Early in the morning they’re relatively easy to find as they seem to like to spend their nights in the large yellow blooms of the Zucchini and Squash. I give those blooms a slight tap and that gives any foraging bees time to leave and then in goes my soap spray to deal with the Cucumber
Beetles.
Those big blooms on the winter Squash are easy to find and to get to, as they happily climb the structure I made for them. They had always been happy climbing the old Lilac but they seem even happier climbing up the wire fencing. That holds their blooms up off the ground and thus, easy to find and to check for nasty creatures. Some times my crazy ideas seem to work well but we will reserve judgment until the Squash develop and add significant weight to test the sturdiness of my structure.
This lovely true Lily with its orange colour and black speckles is justifiably called Halloween. All of the Lilies are as early as most of the perennials this year and we are happy to see them but we wonder what will still be in bloom later in the summer. I even have a Dahlia blooming. The Red Lily Beetles were not as prolific this year and that has allowed most of my Lilies to thrive and put on a wonderful display. Although it is interesting that some varieties seemed to be attacked by those colourful beasties more than other varieties. I guess everything has its own dining preferences. Most of my Lily bulbs were dug and replanted two years ago and did quite well in the first year but are simply amazing this year. Apparently digging and dividing their bulbs was actually a good idea.
And so the overstock begins. Why did I plant 7 summer squash vines this year? Being “clever” I acquired a package of mixed Summer Squash seeds hoping to have a small mixture without buying several packages of seed. They were not identified in the package so I planted several to get an assortment. I have an assortment as well as an abundance. If you thunk that you should pick that Zucchini tomorrow you should actually pick it later that day. I’m determined to catch them all when they are small and delicious and not to grow any telephone poles this year. We enjoy eating these summer delights in many ways but we will have to find some people to share them with. Prolific thy name is Zucchini.
The roads are pleasant to drive on this time of year, as I am travelling around sharing my various presentations with hort. societies, garden clubs and corporate presentations for lunch and learns. I would love to come and visit your organization. Check out my web
page at Gardening-enjoyed.com for more details on topics and availability.
If you have any gardening questions just “reply” to this emailed newsletter and I will attempt to answer them and then share them here if they are of wide interest.
Tom Asks? I have a fairly large honey locust tree in the front yard. The live branches are drooping fairly low and there are a fair number of dead branches, some quite large. My Question is: will it hurt the tree to prune all the dead branches as well as the low-hanging branches at the same time, or should I do a few each month?
Ken Answers! I would go ahead and do them both now. I'm sure you are used to the regular appearance of a few dead branches.
Jennifer Asks? I have two established peonies in the garden Pink Derby I believe. Can you tell me why one of them had the usual 30 or more blooms while the
other had only one? They are in line with the narrow side yard from the house so I wonder if a blast of late frost hit one plant which in turn sheltered the second. I have trimmed off all the dried buds.
Ken Answers! Jennifer, It sounds like you have answered your own question. I have had Peonies that started to develop buds early in the spring and then have them turn soft and brown after we have had a late freeze. They usually come back as strong as ever the next year.
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