The July Ramble

To say it’s been a strange summer in the garden would be an understatement.

Spring started with a drought. Then upstate we had a very hard freeze in May that did things to emerging trees and perennials that I’ve never seen before. Then some of us got flooded but all of us got plenty of rain. Even aside from that there’s plenty to chat about so here’s my late July ramble.

My favorite magnolia that totally defoliated after the May freeze has made a miraculous recovery and has fully releafed. I fear there is a price to pay though because next year’s flower buds — which should be tiny, but forming now — are missing. And with all the rain in July, powdery mildew is now showing up on the foliage.

My favorite Geum is a variety called “Tangerine.” It’s been very reliable and edges the north end of the perennial island with its 1-inch tangerine-colored flower for weeks from mid-spring through mid-July. This year, however, as soon as the first batch of flowers began to fade each plant sent up another set of stems and by late July the plants were flowering a second time.

The Japanese beetles, which always show up at or near the Fourth of July, were totally absent. I was joyous at them being MIA, but two weeks later they showed up with a vengeance. The infestation seems to have been short-lived, but time will tell. One of their favorite foods are the flowers of perennial hibiscus, which are just about to open.

From what I hear from other gardeners it’s been a spectacular year for columbines with everyone marveling at the number of plants that emerged and bloomed from seed dropped last year. They’re an early favorite of hummingbirds and bees, but the columbines have not been immune to the summer weirdness. Every year they are plagued with the columbine leaf miner, which makes the foliage look awful and some literature says the leaf damage can actually kill the plants. I must have a thousand columbines in the garden this summer. Not a single leaf is showing signs of leaf miners. Not one.

I’ve got a very challenging spot in one of my borders at the side of the property. The north end has some very tall ornamental grasses along with Joe Pye weed along the road, which hides the house across the street. Twenty feet from the road I’ve got a magnolia then three Japanese maples heading toward the house. Below the Joe Pye is a space of about 50 square feet that’s generally hot and dry. It’s been a challenge to grow anything in the spot, but of course the weeds thrive.

This year, a surprise. It’s tough to mow along the bed edge at this spot so I always move the tractor slowly, and with the wet grass I managed to get stuck. As I got off the tractor a flower caught my eye, then another and another. The flowers were growing on a rather ratty looking plant and I had no idea what I was looking at other than the fact that it looked like a multi-colored daisy — maybe a Rudbeckia.

I went back into the office and simply entered “Rudbeckia” into the database and went through the hits until I found one for that part of the garden. Bingo, #674, Rudbeckia “Kelvedon Star” planted in 2017. No other data though. No record of it flowering and no record of it returning, but it did come from Bluestone Perennials. Turns out that it was never offered again, and it’s not really a perennial but an annual. I can only guess that it dropped some seed the first summer, and in turning the soil for other plants, the seed germinated. Lo and behold, it’s flowering, However, this very much confirmed that it’s an annual with hardy seeds.

And another mystery solved. From the time I started putting gardens in at Southampton College at least 45 years ago I’ve planted and been disappointed by Althea, or Alcea, zebrina. Park Seed and Wayside sold it back then as a perennial, and year after year it never came back — but it did. Confused? Read on.

Not one to easily give up, I bought the plant, in flower, at a garden center upstate and had one beautiful A. zebrina, aka a miniature striped hollyhock, in my garden. This was 15 years ago. Some years it would come back, other times it wouldn’t come back for two yeard, but it always seemed to show up sooner or later.

Last summer I saw the plant being offered at a garden center and it had some ripe seed on it that I snatched. I germinated the seed, grew the plants and installed five of them in the trial garden. The next spring each and every one was dead. Totally and absolutely dead. I still had some seed left over though and late last winter I germinated them on a windowsill. To my surprise they germinated at 55 degrees, which is pretty cool to cold. The seedlings were transplanted several times then put into gallon pots to grow in. The plants began to flower in early June.

One of the facts about perennials is that they take two years to flower. After years of complaining to the retailers that sell this plant and-mail order nurseries that sell it as a perennial, that masquerade seems to have finally stopped and there is no doubt in my mind that there is no way this plant is a perennial in our zone or even in zone 8. It is absolutely and positively an annual for us, and yet the largest grower of perennial stock plants in the United States, Walters Gardens, still lists it as a perennial. No, Virginia, it’s not you.

The promotional material still says, “Heat and drought are not a problem for this perennial. Though it is sometimes short-lived, Malva will self-seed readily assuring years of bloom.” It is not, repeat, not a perennial. But it will occasionally self seed.

Don’t forget your fall vegetable garden. With climate change our gardening season has probably stretched a week to 10 days further into the fall, and this creates opportunities. Watch local garden centers for cell packs of some fall crops in the next few weeks and resow greens like lettuces and spinach every 10 days, beginning at the end of the first week of August. Radishes can also be sown on a 10-day rotation at the same time. Keep in mind all the different types of radishes. Not likely you’ll have issues with radish maggots with fall plantings, and remember that the foliage is great in salads.

Are greenhouse radishes next? Research has just been completed on about 30 varieties of radishes that can be grown in cells then marketed. If the growers take the bait we may see radishes joining greenhouse tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries and others.

One fall veggie the books say can be a fall crop are peas. I’m not so sure of this though. They always show up in the fall veggie suggestion box but peas like to start when it’s cool and finish and flower when it’s warmer. If you’ve ever grown peas in the fall please let me know about your experiences, and I’ll share the results with others.

Daylilies (Herocallis) can be cut back, dug and transplanted toward the end of August, and iris can be cut back to 3 inches and transplanted until early September. Toward the end of August and into September you can dig, divide and transplant peonies. While somewhat long-lived, peonies will crowd and have reduced flowering if not divided every five or so years. Iris should be done about every three years.

Hardy lilies (as in Lilium and not daylilies, aka Hemerocallis) are dug later in the fall when the foliage turns brown. Some retailers now sell potted and bare root lily “bulbs” in the spring but my experience with spring planting these over the past few years has been poor. This plant’s bulbs need the cool soil of the fall to develop a good root system, which supports the plant the following summer. Spring planting seems to result in inferior plants. And if you’re used to getting your lilies from B&D Lilies, know that the owners have retired. While their shutdown was planned for last spring they now say they’ve decided to slow the shutdown, and you may still have a chance for a few more seasons with some new introductions for 2024.

I found a strange fungus in the edge of one of my borders. A little searching and I discovered that it’s called “deadman’s fingers,” or Xylaria plumorpha. I was told by a mushroom expert that it only grows on dead beech wood, but I have no beeches on the property. Ah, but I do have mulch (at the same location) that I presume contained some beech chips and the spores for this interesting visitor must have been on the mulch chips.

Sale time any minute at your local garden center. You’ll find some great bargains but give them a year or so to recover from being a great bargain. Keep growing.