Why I Oughta...

A week or so ago, I debuted the initial build of my (DIY) Alpine trough wasserspiel (water feature) that I created out of a Styrofoam cooler and Vinyl Concrete Patch.  I built up a few layers of the concrete patch and tried to age it/paint it to make it appear more stone-like in appearance.  On top of that, I then applied a heavy-hand of spray waterproofing.  I chose Gorilla Brand Waterproof spray.  And...it turns out....spray waterproofing (with some sort of 'solvent' in the mix that allows it to be propelled as a spray, I think??) EATS AWAY at foam.  In this case, a Styrofoam cooler.   I sprayed the waterproofing on all sides - inside and out.  And, then, I tucked it away in the garage to await the '24 hour curing period'.  My plan was to then water-test it.   When I grabbed it out of the garage, I noticed something.  One of the inside corners looked different.  It was soft and 'eaten away'. Ugh.  I guess I didn't ...

Just a few days ago, I posted about the pair of Peaches-n-Cream dahlia plants that I've been growing in the IB2DWs bed(s) and how their bi-color blooms were starting to shine .  Both in terms of colors, but also shape/texture.  Like Peaches-n-Cream, today's post is about a dahlia tuber that I bought from Bonny Blooms.  This one is a first-bloom-of-the-season for a new (to me) dahlia:  Bell's Palermo. If you look at this post from November , you'll see that in my Bonny Blooms order, I ordered pairs of tubers for all varieties but one:  Bell's Palermo.   That's because it was double the price of the rest of the tubers.   But, now in Late August, the plant has put on some size and we're seeing the first bloom.  On a really short stem.  But...still a bloom.   It is, well, interesting.  And large.  And, not what I was thinking it was going to look like.  Here, below are a few photos of the very same bloom.  ...

Just when things were going swimmingly with dahlia season pop'ing off, we have a setback.  And, this one was an accident.  I planted a number of dahlias in the Pizza Oven Bed.  I called it the "Pizza Oven West Bed" because it is, well...West of the oven.  And, that makes them *close* to tree swing.  Which, up until this week hasn't been an issue.  But...kids will be kids.  And, one-way-or-the-other, someone found themselves in, amongst the dahlias.  And, unfortunately....that means that two of them had stems that were cracked off.   A Milena Fluer decorative dahlia.  And, Rip City.  Or... what I was sold as Rip City (but I'm pretty sure isn't really Rip City.) Here, below, are a couple of photos.  Milena Fleur on the left.  "Rip City" on the right.  Both were cut down by about half.     Below are a couple more photos showing the close-ups of the cracks.   And, here below, are a couple of...

The last time I shared photos of some cut flower arrangements here on the garden diary was back in early August .  Since then, I've cut and put together a number of countertop arrangements.  For our kitchen.  For friends.  For neighbors.  Here are a few below.   In this jade-colored hobnail vase that I've used a number of times this year is a mixed ALL dahlia cut flower arrangement featuring:  Rip City semi-cactus dahlia, Blue Wish dahlia, Milena Fleur decorative dahlia, Wizard of Oz dahlia, Jowey Winnie, and a bunch of Saint Martin dahlias. In this smaller milkglass vase is a similar selection of dahlias:  Blue Wish, Jowey Winnie, Milena Fleur.  But also some Brown Sugar and some Silver Dollar Eucalyptus that I snipped off one of the plants: Here, below is that same jade-colored hobnail vase with a different set of dahlias.  Some that I cut longer/taller like the Pooh collarette ones.  And those Saint Martins on long stems....

As Walt Disney has (famously) said:  Everbody needs deadlines.   That includes me; an amateur suburban gardener.   I also need a way to focus and prioritize.  That's why I began to make myself an annual to-do list.   Here is my 2026 to-do list.    Over the past few years, I've also 'graded' myself against the list.  Tracking how much I accomplished.  Last Year, I also did a mid-Summer check-in post and it helped me close out the season strong.  At this time, I had 11 done, and 7 items both in-process and incomplete .  I ended the year at 17 (done) and 8 (incomplete ), so I closed out 6 additional items.   What about 2026?  Here's where we stand at the end of August: 1. Priority Project 1: Stop fighting nature (Or…as they say: nature finds a way): Begin the replacement process for the backyard the Oakleaf Hydrangeas . Status: Well...I didn't replace the Oakleaf Hydrangeas. But, I did install a full per...

To be a compost gardener , you have to do multiple things.  Not all at the same time.  But, over time.  Those include:   Adding material.  Carbons and Nitrogens. Blending the material in the right (or close to the right) ratios. Turning the material.  So it 'cooks' and actually turns into, well...compost. And....Using the material (a.k.a "Black Gold").  Spreading it back into the garden I'm quite good at the first item:  adding material to the pile.  We're pretty good about collecting and hauling out our kitchen compost material throughout the year .  That also includes Nat's coffee grounds.  I also collect and store a full bin-full of fall leaf material.  And, Spring clean-up material.  And, other, various garden debris that I collect/pull-out/yank/cut-down/remove from the various beds and trees over the growing season .   I've written about our compost setup over the years:  We have a three bin system...

The overnights are cooler.  And, as I've posted about recently, that seems to mean that the dahlias are happy.  Warm, sunny days.  And cool(er) nights = blooms popping off.  And, it also means that the dahlias begin to change colors.   That's one of the things that I've been learning over the years is that dahlias don't stay the same color over the full season from start-to-finish.  They shift and change how the colors appear.  Some get darker.  Some get lighter.  And, they change as they mature on the stems over time, too. One of the new (to me) dahlias this year is Peaches 'N Cream.  I bought two tubers from Bonny Blooms of this variety after seeing them show up on so many cut flower creators/influencers 'must grow' lists at the end of last year.  Here's my post from November 2025 where I showed a small roundup of what I was seeing in those kind of lists .   When my tubers arrived from Bonny Blooms, a few things we...