2009 Livonia Garden Walk

The weather has turned cool after having some very hot and humid days last week. This week the day time highs will be in the high 60s to low 70s. I don't mind the cooler weather because it is more pleasant to be outside but my tomatoes will not be happy. I was hoping that the Sun Gold tomatoes would begin ripening this week but the low night time temperatures may inhibit them from doing so.

Last Saturday (June 27), was the 2009 Livonia Garden Walk. There were seven gardens on display but due to time constraints we were only able to visit four of them. All of the gardens were lovely and we were able to get some great ideas.

One garden had a wonderful side garden. You entered this garden by going through a trellis and then following a pathway. Both sides of the path were planted with perrenials. However, the most enchanting part of this garden was the "stream" that was flowing on the far right hand side of the garden. It was made up of medium-sized rocks and it really did seem like a stream. There was even a fish sculpture in the stream bed.

Another garden was composed of a variety of smaller gardens. Each section had a theme such as ferns, roses, etc. The lot's shape was unique and the owners were creative with how they had divided it into sections. My favorite part of this garden was a cottage garden that is off the side of the patio. An antique wrought iron fence surrounded and defined this bed. I noticed that people were stopping to admire the globe thistle that was planted there.

Ken loved a pergola that was a main attraction at another garden. It was located over the patio and the roof was covered with grape vines. Inside the pergola, old grape vines had been twined together and were wound over the ceiling. In addition, a variety of artistic objects were hung from these vines. Ken was attracted to the shade that the pergola provided and liked the idea that grapes could be grown on top of it.

Several other observations:

• I was happy to see that even though all of the gardens were beautiful none of them were "picture perfect". By this I mean that none of them seemed to be artificially staged. I occasionally would see weeds in lawn or bed areas. I even saw a dead rhododendrum that had been dug up and placed out of the way.


• Three of the four gardens that we visited had compost piles. However, none of them had rain barrels. (When we went on the walk last year, we saw only one garden that had rain barrels.)


• Three of the gardens used cedar mulch to create pathways. None of the homes had extensive brick walk ways. Instead, the brick or stone paths were used as accents.

We did get one idea for our own garden. We have been wanting to do something to block the sight of the compost area. After seeing many raised beds, Ken decided to create a curved raised bed in front of this area. Yesterday, he layed out a tentative plan and is eager to begin building it.

Another hot and humid day. The weather forcast predicts that it will rain tonight. I hope that it does rain because I have used all of the water from the rain barrel.

Last night, I went to a lecture by Janet Macunovich at the Livonia Public Library. (This is the second time this year that I have went to one of her seminars.) The topic was Keep the Color Going: Important Summertime Strategies Toward Continuous Color. She is a very dynamic speaker--humorous while being very informative. She also had an excellent PowerPoint to accompany her presentation. I liked the pictures that she used because they were realistic. They really did look like true perrennial gardens instead of staged magazine photographs where plants that would never be in bloom at the same time are flowering together. In fact, she made the point that if you want to get ideas for your perennial garden not to look at magazines but to go on garden walks.

She emphasized that watering, weeding and pest management are the three critical maintenance strategies. However, I believe that mulching is even more important. Mulching helps to eliminate the need for watering (unless there are drought conditions), inhibits weeds and they add nutrients to the soil when they are broken down by the soil inhabitants. In addition, if the plants are healthy then they are able to fight off most diseases and pests. That's why I am so willing to spend a lot of money each year on mulch.

I also love her attitude about plants. She is not afraid to cut back plants to the ground when they are not attractive any longer. She showed pictures of how different types of ornaments can be used to cover the bare spots and also emphasized that bare space can be attractive. She pointed out that brown leaves and flowers can distract the eye from seeing the positives in the garden.

It really got hot this afternoon. It is almost 7:00 p.m and it is 86 degrees outside. I turned on my air conditioner today for the first time this year. The plants in the garden are doing very well though. I think that the mild spring weather has helped their roots to become established and they now are able to put on a beautiful flower show! Even the begonias and Victoria Blue salvias (see picture) that are in the large bed are larger than they usually are at this time.

Last night, I worked in the garden for several hours. Saturday, I purchased small pots of All Stars annuals and planted two containers that I have in the bricked hosta garden. I put the same plants in each of the containers--Sun Coleus, Lysimachia "Aurea", and Caladium. The Lysimachia "Aurea" is described as gold, coin-shaped, trailling foliage with bright yellow flowers from May through June (part sun to part shade). The Caladium is described as having arrowhead shaped leaves that have dark green veins (shade). The Lysimachia is cold-tolerant to zone 4 and the Caladium tuber can be dug up and saved over the winter. The Sun Coleus is described as having unique, puckered and scalloped leaves that are elaborately crested and intricately cut. I planted one of each of them in each of the pots. I don't like to overcrowd the plants when they are becoming established.

I also potted New Guinea impatiens in the two pots that are in the brick bed on the side of the front yard and the two pots behind the bird statue in the large back bed. I placed two Celebration Pinks and one Icy Blue in the pots in the front yard. I put one Icy Blue in each of the pots in the back yard. The New Guinea Celebrette "Icy Blue" (part sun to shade) is described as having soft blue flowers that bloom early and continuously right through summer. Its super mounding habit and dark green foliage compliment well with the large, bright flowers. The New Guinea Impatiens "Celebration Pink" (part shade to full shade) is described as having candy-pink blossoms with well-branched stems and dark green foliage.

I have finally been able to plant the green beans and the zucchini. I placed the green beans in the front of the tomato bed. I also put one zucchini in the back of the tomato bed but the other four are in the adjacent bed at the side of the house. All of the other vegetables are growing like crazy. Some of the tomatoes (either the 4th of July or the Sun Gold) have blossoms and small fruits. The Yukon Gold potatoes are almost two feet out of the containers. We weren't able to find any bamboo stakes that were the correct size so we decided to cage some of the plants and stake others. The hot peppers are still small but the new leaves are turning a bright green. We did get wood stakes at Lowe's for the pepper plants that were 3 feet tall. The tomato bed is mulched with cedar chips and the pepper bed is mulched with cocoa hulls. Newspapers are layed under the mulches and so far they have been weed free.

The Jackmanii clematis has been blooming. It looks very stunning.

The Stella d'Oro daylillies are now in full bloom. I took another picture of them because they look so different from the one in the previous post.

It's Summer!

Summer is finally here and the weather is reflecting the change. The last few days have been in the 80s and humid. However, there also has been a nice breeze to counteract the heat.

I have been busy during the last two weeks so yesterday was the first time in quite a while that I have had an opportunity to work in the garden. I planted Italian Flat Leaf parsley/Lake Valley and three different types of basil (including Greek Spicy Globe/Botanical Interests, Genovese/Lake Valley, and Fina Verde/Lake Valley) in individual pots. I also put down newspaper and cedar mulch at the back of the tomato bed. Ken transferred the shephard's hook from the front yard to the middle of this area and I purchased a potted flower from Westborn Market to hang on it. I also put four pots of flowers around the hook.

The Stella d'Oro daylillies are starting to bloom. Last week I purchased three garden ornaments at a wonderful garden center in Sutton's Bay. I placed them in the daylily patch to give height and additional color to this area.

The small (right-side) backyard bed is in full bloom. I had to cut back the irises on Friday but the delphiniums, daylillies, coreopsis, salvias and pinks are flowering.

The Salmon Velvet petunias and the Salmon Flambe petunias are both starting to really take off. Each day they seem to have grown several inches. I love the color of both of these flowers and the habits are outstanding. Both are compact and very full.

It rained all day yesterday. Actually, it poured! However, today's weather is beautiful again--sunny and in the 70's.

Ken and I planted the tomatoes on Wednesday. There are 13 tomato plants in all (two Jubilees, two Lemon Boys, two Celebrities, one Yellow Tangerine, and an unknown number of 4th of Julys and Sungolds). I'm not sure exactly how many 4th of July and Sungold tomatoes were planted because some of the tags came off of the pots. This seems to happen every year. Oh well! We still need to lay the newspaper and mulch around the plants though. I hope to get this done either tonight or tomorrow. We also want to buy bamboo stakes and build triangular trellises to support them. We haven't been able to find bamboo stakes that are tall enough in a local store (at least seven feet tall) but Ken did find a website that has them. He's going to check to see if they still have them in stock.

Many of the perennials are either in bloom or getting ready to do so. The other night, I cut off the spent flowers from the iris plants so that the new flowers on them would look more attractive. The coral bells are covered with flowers and the violas as well as the columbines are still blooming. I have only had two flowers on the daylillies (both of them were Happy Returns) but the plants are loaded with buds. I also noticed that the white salvias are beginning to bud. The Jackmanii clematis has grown over the trellis and is now growing up the side of the house. It has buds but no flowers. The Asao clematis is starting to grow but has no buds yet. The Salmon Flambe petunias that are in the pots are starting to fill out and look greener than before. In addition, they now have a few flowers. The flowers have a very unique coloration--light pink in the center with light yellow edges. I think that these plants are going to be spectacular. The ones that I stuck in the ground are still struggling but I'm not surprised. I never transferred the peat pellets to larger pots and I just let them sit in a container of water for weeks.

I picked the last of the Cherry Belle radishes. The lettuce has filled the pots. In addition, the Yukon Gold potatoes are growing like crazy. The other day, Ken filled their containers to the top with a mixture of manure and soil.

It's June!

The weather during the day time has been pleasant but it is still too chilly at night to plant the cold sensitive vegetables. I have been able to harvest more radishes and lettuce though. In addition, the carrot tops are starting to look like carrots should and not just like weeds.

Ken set up the rain barrel last Sunday. It rained on Monday and it filled up quickly. I read in several different publications (including Organic Gardening magazine) that the water captured in the rain barrel shouldn't be used on vegetables. The run off from the roof could be contaminated with aluminum from the gutters and asbestoes from the shingles. However, I have so many flower beds that it won't go to waste.

I haven't had time or the motivation this week to work on the flower beds but I have been enjoying looking at them. This weekend, I need to plant the rest of the annuals in the front yard. The wax begonias that I bought at Ken's Nursery several weeks ago are really looking nice in the areas in which they have been planted. When I took them out of the six-packs I noticed that they had good root systems--not too thin but not root-bound.

I am in love with the Salmon Velvet petunias! So far, they have a dense growth habit and are covered with flowers. The color is spectacular also. I can't wait to see how they fare as the summer progresses. The photo (below) was taken on May 29th and they look even better today.