My Garden Is a Mess

 We are in the awkward stage here..overgrown and bloomed out. The mistakes of fall and spring are clearly evident; planted too close, unfortunate color combinations, wrong exposure etc etc. My 'real' camera is still in ICU, so I went out with the trusty old point and shoot and got a few images of the carnage. As all good gardeners, I didn't photograph the very worst areas.

Lily flops onto (and clashes with) reverted P. Norah Leigh while Salvia 'Black and Blue' looks on .





From another perspective.



 Moving a little further west, 'Black and Blue ' has it's way with with Phlox and Autumn Joy, while Aster frikartii peeks out at the bottom of the pile.




In the upper third, you may notice that Eupatorium 'Gateway' has engulfed an entire rosebush. That's Austin rose 'English Garden' barely visible just above the Phlox 'David'.




 A Robin Parer Geranium , Santolina  'Lime Fizz, Teucrium all hang out together. One can view about half of each plant. They are dukeing it out.




 Teucrium 'Purple Tails' and the chives have bested the french tarragon...which reclines beneath them all. I believe there is a Basil 'Pesto Perpetuo' in there as well..have not seen that plant for months, now that I think about it.




Reverted variegated Oregano with Gaillardia and more Teucrium. Somewhere in the midst of this there are Fraises des bois.



 Love my new Miscanthus 'Rigoletto' . Too bad I can't see it.




Symphytum 'Axminster Gold'  is encroached upon by Rozanne and a seedling Veronica.



Crappy Daylily foliage ..



 Symphytum attacks are a trend. Here we see it in the jaws of Trachelium caeruleum .




The up side ? I can't see the soil, and I can't see the weeds.

Comments

  1. That is a great upside! But it is kind of annoying, this time of year, how things get all blowsy and overblown. Early on in the spring, you think, Oh, I have so much room for more plants, so you go out and buy them, and next time you turn around, all those gaps have closed, and you are out of luck. Then things start leaning all over each other like drunken party-goers.

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    1. ha! 'Drunken party-goers' indeed...and one must be mindful of fall interest , so too much chopping is ill-advised.

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  2. All part of gardening but overall things still look good :)

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    1. You are kind ! It is a part of gardening and I go through this every summer. I still struggle with it though.

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  3. I don't know Kathy, except for the crappy daylily foliage, it all looks pretty! Shame about the missing plants but the ones that show looks nice. Interesting that your 'Nora Leigh' reverted. Mine has been in there for at least ten years (could be more, I can't remember)and it's still variegated. It will throw a few green stems every spring but I just weed them out.

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    1. Thanks Deanne..I think part of my problem is that I go on vacation in June/July , look at fabulous gardens and then come home to my own neglected patch and get deflated. I am going to try to find another Norah and put it in front..this reverted specimen is so vigorous there is no way I'm going to sp it. I think mine is going on 15.

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    2. Glad to hear you are going to keep it, It is a great looking plant and I'm in favor of keeping things that do well even if they aren't exactly what you planned on. I was going to remove my rudbeckia fulgida a couple years ago and Sue observed, "but how many plants are that vigorous, bug free and look great with little upkeep." She was so right, the rudbeckia lives on in the terrace garden even if it isn't the exact color I want there.

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  4. Good to know I'm not the only one who looses plants in this manner! BTW it does look gorgeous. I'd rather have plants fighting it out than bare soil between them.

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    1. I'm with you Loree, bare soil does not work for me !

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  5. My garden's in much the same state, although I think yours looks better. On top of the plants that are overgrown or dying back, I have a never-ending dusting of mimosa blossoms. When the mess got to me last weekend, I began a serious clean-up effort, cutting back everything in sight. It doesn't look a whole lot better but I'm now too exhausted to care.

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    1. My neighbors across the street bit the bullet and cut down their Mimosa, which I know has been there for all 27 years I've lived in this neighborhood. It was beautiful, but way to big for the small tract lots in this neighborhood, and they are not gardeners so they are less tolerant of 'the mess'. I wonder if Mimosa litter is worse than Liquidamber sticky balls and Birch pods ?

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  6. Crappy daylily foliage is the down side of the deal we make when we fall in love with their beautiful flowers at the nursery! Your garden is not a mess, it's simply exhibiting its summer exuberance.

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    1. I cutting all the daylilys down to the ground with my trusty Corona hedge shears. The new foliage should be clean since the snails are in retreat this time of year. Thank you for setting my mind right about mess vs. exuberance !

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  7. Snip, snip, whack, whack are the soundtrack to my garden by late July. It's unavoidable, isn't it?

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  8. I have a whole section of garden this year that I though was going to be fabulous but everything decided to grow the same height so it looks like crap. Usually I wait til spring to move plants but this year the shuffle will start right after I get back from the beach.

    Funny about Norah. Like Deanne, I have ten year old plants and not even a stem has ever reverted.

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  9. That's what you get for watering.

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  10. The geranium, santolina and teucrium might be dukeing it out, but in the meanwhile their colors look great together.

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