Why I Oughta...

My Disneyland Roses have struggled all season.  Not a lot of blooms.  Yet...tons of LOST foliage.  They look bare.  The past week-or-so, I've tried to baby them with water.  And, I just applied the last feeding of the year - with this systemic granular.    I'm hoping that they'll have a strong Fall showing and get fat-and-happy with the weather cooling off a bit now that August is in the rearview mirror.  I'll do my part - and water them more regularly, but, I don't see a way that they get back to what they were last year - at this time - with BIG bunches of blooms and a happy Floribunda bush .  

Last Fall, I bought and planted two (at that time) new (to me) Heucheras:  Dolce Silver Gumdrops.  They were at Lowe's end-of-the-season sale and I said that I was going to plant them in over by the Guacamole Hostas .  Today, there's just one of them.  And, I don't really see *where* I could have planted the other one as there isn't a ton of empty space around.  But that one?  It is showing up well right now - Late Summer/Early Fall with silver foliage and tiny pink blooms about to arrive.  See below for a photo of the current state of this Silver Gumdrop Coral Bells: I've had mixed results with Heucheras over the years.  Some that I've neglected have done great.  Others that I've baby'd have perished.  This one is small, but that's by design.  The listing talks about this Heuchera's size this way : Silver Gumdrop’ is a smaller scale Heuchera, the perfect size for a container. Growers and gardeners alike will be pleased that it is ...

I was reading this post about what Margaret Roach from A Way To Garden includes in her September gardening chores each year and I was struck by one item:  she takes an inventory of late-blooming perennials as part of her critical look at the garden .  That made me pause.  And think about my garden.  And...what's in bloom?  The answer:  nothing. We're just BARELY holding on in lots of places.  But, not blooming.   Her post talks about thalictrums among others - that (now) have my interest.  One that wasn't mentioned was something that I, frankly, was unaware of until this past weekend.  I was also at Northwind Perennial Farm up in Wisconsin recently and came across this pink flowering perennial named Pink Turtlehead - Chelone lyonii 'Hot Lips' that I *SHOULD* have bought when we were there.  Alas, I passed on them because I didn't know where to put them in our garden.  This is a late-blooming perennial that has the a...