Why I Oughta...

I seem to have gotten on top of the spider mites in the sideyard.  Those plants are starting to show new, green growth (I'll post on that separately), but those plants haven't begun to re-flower.  Yet.  But, the rest of the dahlias are still popping off.  The heavy rain we had over the weekend has weighed down the plants and flower heads, so I cut a bunch off and brought them inside.  One arrangement on the left that is a little bit more compact and tight.  And, one on the right that is a bit more wild and splayed open. Milena Fleur, Rip City, Saint Martin, Brown Sugar and Crichton Honey.   #6 on my 2026 to-do list ( marked incomplete earlier this month ) was to "Go Bigger on Dahlias".  Seems that has been done.  

I've been working on a wasserspiel (water feature) that includes a DIY Alpine trough that can be part of an upgraded water feature in the backyard.  The current water feature is a half-barrel with an insert that is stuck about half-way back in the garden and it is mostly a sound-feature.   The inspiration for the new feature is in this post (via Instagram) and includes a basin dug into the ground, covered in gravel with a stone trough on top that empties into the gravel and then recirculates.   That means that I have to identify a spot that I can dig out for a basin, cover it with gravel and set the DIY Alpine trough on top.  Oh...I also have to make the LARGER trough, as my current one is simply proof-of-concept.   I've been thinking about water features around the patio for years.  This post from 2017 (almost 10 years ago, eeek) shows a waterfall/creek that I fell in love with and talked about how it could work around the steps to the pat...

Over the past week or so, I've posted the first posts in my compost bin turning process.  In part one, I emptied the tumbler, removed the (mostly) finished compost from the third (finishing) bin and filled the tumbler back up .  In part two , I upgraded the finishing bin with some additional cedar boards to hold in more of that "black gold" near the bottom.   In that part two post, I outlined what was going to happen next :  The next step (which I'll cover in Part 3) is to open up the middle (mixing) bin and the left (holding bin) and pull everything out and build a mixed pile that I can load up into the finishing bin. I'll add a couple of layers of mixed material, slide in the first level of the aeration pipes. Add more material, then add the second level of pipes. Then, pile in the rest of the material to fill the finishing bin. I typically OVERFILL the the finishing bin. Mound up the material HIGHER than the rails of the bin. When the pile decomposes, i...

Just when everything was starting to look a little crispy, we get absolutely SATURATED with three inches of rain that all came down in just a few hours.  What's not to love about seeing the rain gauge filled up to the [3] mark?  I'll tell you:  nothing. One of the things that I'll try to keep in mind as the cooler temperatures arrive is to keep watering.  Keep watering.  Especially those Korean Maples that went in this year.  And, the dahlias, of course.

Am I disappointed that I am NOT growing a Bell's Palermo dahlia ?  Yeah.  Sort of.  But, am I now (sort of) falling in love with whatever this dahlia that is growing in our front yard?  Yeah.  Sort of.  Is it Candela?  Maybe.  Does it have short stems?  Yes.  Certainly.   But, it also has this spectacular bloom:

I usually will open up Erin the Impatient Gardener's "Garden Stroll" YouTube videos in one tab, move it to my second screen and let it play while I fiddle around with some other stuff in other tabs.  On a couple of recent videos in her garden, she pauses and talks about a bunch of specific plants.  Many of them, I'm familiar with and some of them I have in my own garden.   But, the past few videos, there's been a plant that she talked about (and has in her garden) that is also something that Nat has recently pointed out on one of our neighborhood walks as 'a nice plant'.   That plant is Calamintha Nepeta ‘Montrose White’. Here at the 14:44 mark in her August Garden Stroll, she talks about Montrose White and how it is starting to bloom .  Late...in August.  And, how she interplants it with Sesleria Autumnalis and Alliums.  Hmmm...I like those other two? Then, in this week's September Garden Stroll video, she once again, talks up Calamintha 'Mo...

I was supposed to have two Crichton Honey tubers in the garden this year.  I'm certain that I have one.  The one next to the pizza oven.  I labeled it as dahlia #1 in my 42 tuber planting map .  I bought two Crichton Honey tubers from Bonny Blooms.   The other one is at spot #12 along the sideyard .  But, that whole bed has been suffering the past few weeks from a terrible infestation of Spider Mites.  So, I'm not seeing ANY blooms.  And, I'm not sure that it is Crichton Honey.  At least yet. But, the pizza oven version?  Have a look: And, in addition to being real (and spectacular), they're certainly popping off right now with blooms and blooms. Apricot blooms.  Almost orange.    I think they say "pumping out blooms" in the trade.  That checks out. While my time right now is spent with my little snips cutting off flowers for arrangements....I am hoping that all this above-ground plant happiness that I'm seeing means...