Why I Oughta...

Despite my best (pinching) efforts, the Large Leaf Italian Basil is nearing the end of its run for the season.  Between bolting and the stalks browning-out, this herb is facing imminent decline.  Will I buy it again?  Of course.  I really like this variety.  Will it bolt in early September again?  Of course.  It always does.   See below for current state of our annual Large Leaf Basil: Next year - with the pizza oven in operation (knock wood) - our basil production will necessarily have to increase, won't it?   What's that you say?  We need a pizza farm?  

2024 is the year of flowers.  Despite these still be VERY outside my foliage gardening 'comfort zone'.  This started last Fall and continued with my 2024 to-do list with #2 - push thru with flowers . I've done A LOT of dahlias - arranged for the kitchen counter .  And, even a small set of pompon, dark maroon ones .    Now, I have a small Zinnia arrangement.  Mostly composed of the direct-sown Cut and Come Again seeds in the sideyard .  And a couple Yellow Flame Zowie Zinnias from IB2DWs .   Below is what I cut on a recent morning: I will certainly plant these Cut and Come Again Zinnia seeds - in the sideyard.  I'll also put some down IB2DWs, too.  Mark it down for Spring 2025.  

Back in late April, I bought a single 1# nursery container of a stonecrop/sedum at the Morton Arboretum Arbor Day Plant Sale that reminded me of eucalyptus.  I bought it on a whim and didn't have a plan for it.  When I cut and created the new Island bed in the front yard, I ended up tucking it into the backside of that bed - behind the Spring Grove Ginkgo.  I don't seem to have posted about it.  And, to be fair...I mostly forgot about it.   But, the rabbits didn't forget about it.  They've been gnawing at it all Summer.  But, it keeps growing back.   The name of the plant - October Daphne - would imply that it puts on a show in October.  But...perhaps due to the rabbit damage, that show has ALREADY begun - in early/mid-September.  See below for a photo showing the pink blooms on some of the tips: Here, below, is a look at the sign from the sale that describes the sedum (or stonecrop) - Sedum sieboldii 'October Daphne' - as a 'low spreading species'.   Gr

Back on July First, I posted the details of a new (to me) Northern Glow Korean Maple tree that I planted in our front yard in a newly created island bed.  I tucked it in next to our third Spring Grove dwarf Ginkgo tree.  Planting a new tree in the middle of the summer Summer is always a risk - with the heat and drought conditions that usually occur around here in Zone 6a/5b.   But, I learned last year that some shade cloth (50%) is a pretty good path towards helping young, dwarf trees get established during the heat of July and August.  So, that's what I did:  I put up a shade cloth covering both the Ginkgo and the Northern Glow Korean Maple .  With the cloth down at the end of August, I've begun to provide supplemental water to both of these small trees.  And, what I'm seeing on the Maple is a surprise (to me):  new, late-Summer foliage growth.  There are a handful of new buds that have emerged on some of the tips of the tree and some new leaves are beginning to unfurl.  S

Last week, I posted the first few photos of the dome 'going vertical' with the second and third (or first and second if you count the solider course as separate) being mortar'd in with high heat refractory mortar.  Today, I'm showing the next chain (the 4th - or 3rd if you similarly call the solider NOT part of the numbering sequence) going in - where we're starting to see the slightest bit of dome starting to appear with each chain of the dome hanging *over* the previous one oh-so-slightly. Below are a couple of photos showing chain four.  (or three plus the soldier....) I've been cutting the bricks with side angles to get a tight fit and that's been working well.  This chain is the first one where I needed to use wedges under the bricks to get the right top angle. Just eight or nine more to go.  With each chain getting a little bit more difficult. 

One of my Dahlias - a Melina Fleur variety - that is planted in a protected spot (against the house) on the southside in (mostly) full sun has been pretty busy producing blooms the past few weeks.  But, I started to notice that some of the foliage was starting to get eaten up.  Not lace-like, but holes at the tips and in the middle of a number of leaves.  And, those holes kept getting greater in numbers.  A week ago, I sprayed the plant with Neem Oil, thinking that I might get whomever/whatever was eating the leaves.  But, that didn't seem to slow it down.  So, I went in for a closer look.  And...sure enough...I found a couple of different pests on the plant.  The first were these fuzzy caterpillars.  There were like 30 (that I could find) that I picked off and stomped on.  I also clipped off a number of the partially-eaten leaves.  See below for the backside of the leaf with two (large) and one (tiny) caterpillars below: The other thing that I found was a green worm ON THE FLOWER.