Mosaic Monday #96: A Short(er) Season

Labor Day in the U.S. conjures memories of warm sunshine and family barbecues, the last hurrah before summer ends.  Labor Day 2020 in Northwest Montana brought high winds, small hail and a night-time frost.  And just like that, our already abbreviated growing season came to an abrupt halt for much of my garden.  As it is impractical to cover an entire landscape as protection from frost, I woke Tuesday morning and approached the garden with one eye open, expecting widespread damage.  Of course, I have been known to imagine the worst, so maybe I should not have been surprised to discover that more than half of the plants were unaffected.  I believe this is another benefit of native species, especially those in Montana.  Like our hardy residents, they don't shrink and wither the first time the temperature gauge dips below 32!

But even so, I got Mother Nature's message, and decided I should show you my garden before it truly goes to sleep for the winter.  Join me for a prance through my prairie!

I discovered Rocky Mountain Bee Plant last year, growing naturally.  Seeds I sowed in the fall sprouted, and the most successful plant loomed to five feet before the frost brought it down.  Aptly named, it is a magnet for bees, butterflies and hummingbirds; you could hear the incessant drone of buzzing from quite a distance.   Overnight, the pollinators have vanished from this plant.  I have already collected seed pods, and will continue to do so as more mature - I can't count on this plant to return since Bee Plant is an annual.  I look forward to continuing my experimentation with this gorgeous member of the caper family.

By mid-August, my driveway baskets were past their prime, so I augmented them with Lamium, Anemone, and Angelface Summer Snapdragon.  Despite covering them the night of the frost, the most delicate plants succumbed.  Sigh.  On the porch, the cold devastated the black susan vines that looked so pretty twining around the railings.  I don't plan to use them again, since their connection to the railing prevents me from moving them in the case of hail (or frost)! 

Aster showed no impact from the frost, and since it is a late bloomer providing welcome splashes of color in the garden right now, I am pleased.  My aster plants (I think the initial landscaping plan had four or five) have spawned innumerable volunteers, and it appears to be a favorite of the deer since many of the seedlings are nibbled before they produce flowers.  I am still occasionally surprised where I find the plants - the seeds are so small, I can only attribute it to the vagaries of the wind.  When I locate one in a particularly desirable location of the garden, I make sure to protect it!  

Speaking of welcome surprises, I have been thrilled to find paintbrush volunteers in at least five places.  Why is this significant?  Paintbrush is a hemiparasitic plant - it seeks out roots of host plants, usually grasses, and taps into them for nutrition.  So, I had concluded that it was just unlikely that my mama paintbrush would reproduce!  As it turns out, the volunteers are growing close to or underneath other plants, but none of them are grasses.  It has emboldened me to attempt planting some seeds this fall! (and the frost did not affect them- yay!)

I was also delighted to discover a coneflower with magenta florets within the boundaries of my "formal" garden.  It first appeared last summer in the prairie, and clearly some seeds found their way into the flower beds.  Its stalks and leaves are remarkably similar to those of the prairie coneflower, so I had mistakenly labeled them as such, until they bloomed.  I have studied my plant books, and perused the web, but I have been unable to make a formal identification.  Can anyone help?  Until then, I am mentally referring to them as magenta coneflower. Update: thanks to MB of Small City Scenes and Pat of Mille Fiori Favoriti for helping me identify this as Mexican Hat/Upright Prairie Coneflower.  (In general, the coneflowers are more droopy following the frost.)

Several other plants have also performed well with self-propagation, including the goldenrod.  I was amazed to locate one among the gilia and blanketflower.  I have also learned that it is easy to confuse goldenrod and fireweed, especially when they are small.  Goldenrod tends to have one stem; fireweed is likely to have multiple branches as it grows.  What they have in common is that the deer love them!   (Fireweed is an important colonizer of burned areas.  It spreads rapidly by seeds and buried rhizomes.  When bombs levelled parts of London in WWII, fireweed appeared in the heart of the city for the first time in generations.)  The goldenrod and fireweed were unfazed by the cold.

As the summer has progressed, I have also marked many spots containing what I believe to be volunteer bee balm.  If I am correct, I will be quite happy since it has been hard for me to harvest seed from this plant - as soon as it is done blooming, the whole plant turns brown, and I have been unable to identify anything that looks like a seed!  

As many of you know, bee balm is another plant that draws pollinators in droves.  Below is a video of butterflies on and around the plant.

As long as we are looking at videos, check out the hummingbird with the scarlet gilia.  For weeks, this female hummer was guarding this section of the garden by sitting on the chicken wire in between feedings. (The gilia showed no reaction to the initial cold snap.)

You may have noticed the blanketflower that is mixed in with the gilia.  This plant has a special corner of my heart - it seems to bloom continuously with that eye-catching yellow/orange combination.  Also, it was unaffected by the frost, its seeds are easy to collect, and I had great results with the seeds that I sowed in the spring.  A keeper!!!

Let's pause for a moment and talk about critters.  Deer continue to be a nuisance.  Other than chicken wire/fencing, all of my methods for deterrence have had very limited success (including the deer repeller I wrote about on 9/8/2019).  As the garden self-propagates, it is more and more impractical to protect individual plants.  I have had some success with placing chicken wire around large sections, such as the gilia and blanket flower you have seen in some of the pictures above.  I think my next plan is to move those large chicken wire enclosures from year to year, allowing a new section to get well-established.  We can only try, right?  

On July 23, I found aphids on the Norway Maple.  I consulted with the experts at Montana State University, and they recommended washing them off with insecticidal soap.  Realizing that I can't reach all the leaves, my contact reassured me that all trees have some aphids, and that there are lady beetles, lacewings and parasitoid wasps that will come in to control the aphids.  I am inclined to take their advice since I have seen a complete recovery for my sand cherries since I pruned them per their guidance (see below).  August 9, I chased a bunny from the front flower bed, and I have not seen it since.  And, as usual, the ground squirrels went into hibernation in the middle of August.  One less thing to worry about!  

Admired for its silvery gray, fragrant foliage as much as its lavender-purple flowers, Russian sage make a bold statement in a garden.  The abundant, spiky clusters of flowers only started blooming in mid-August, so I was a little chagrined to see that some spike tips were affected by the frost.  Also, the wind has weakened some of the branches and spoiled the normally symmetrical look.  Nevertheless, all three of my plants are spectacular, and I love the show.  They have also produced a number of volunteers, and I have learned NOT to water them - Russian sage likes very dry conditions.

Another implication of a short growing season is a lack of time for a second bloom.  For both Catmint and Salvia, it is suggested that shearing/deadheading can produce a second bloom.  I have been watching the Catmint carefully, and as recently as a week ago, it still had blooms frequented by bees, which makes me hesitate to shear it.  At this point in the season, it would be fruitless to try for a second bloom.  In fact, with some plants, you should stop deadheading to allow the plant to focus its resources on preparing for winter.  I deadheaded the Salvia at the beginning of August and one plant out of three has produced a few new blooms.  I think next year I will try trimming it lower on the stalks and supplementing with some additional water. (Neither the catmint or the salvia were harmed by the frost.)

I have been very pleased with the performance of the Black-eyed Susan plants, and it is a direct result of guarding.  I ran my own experiment, and most of the Susans that were not protected were nibbled, especially the flower buds!

Susans are also prolific in the prairie, as a result of the seed mix we planted in the fall of 2018.  It is hard to capture in a photo, but you can see a few of them below, among the naturally-occurring yarrow. (The tallest Susans were hard hit by the frost.  I was able to protect some of the shorter ones with a few strategically placed buckets.  These pictures were all taken before the cold snap.)

As I walk around the prairie, I keep my eyes peeled for other treasures.  I am pretty sure the daisy* and larkspur were in the seed mix, but the harebell is so plentiful in the woods around here that I am sure these seeds were already present.  And the Oceanspray is a shrub that has clearly been here for quite a few years.  It is the only one that I have seen on our 15 acres! *oxeye daisies are considered invasive in Montana, so I pull them up when I see them

I have been doing some reading about prairies, generating some ideas that are part of my garden planning for next season.  But this post is already long enough, so I will start to draw to a close with some photos of the Coreopsis that has exploded on the southeast side of the house.

The soft tissues of the Coreopsis were blackened by the frost, but some of it close to the ground is still alive.  Even before the cold snap, the plants had produced drifts of seeds visible on the stone steps.  Birds, especially pine siskins, perched delicately on the stems to pick out the miniscule morsels, and flew off in a pack when you opened the mud room door.  I suspect I will be plucking hundreds of volunteers next spring!  Before then, these beds will be subject to significant thinning/transplanting; some of these plants may find new homes in the rock garden at the front of the driveway.  By far, that bed has been my biggest disappointment this summer, but you know me -- I have MAJOR plans and HOPE springs eternal!

Dedicating my prayers today to all those suffering the impact of wildfires, hurricanes, and flooding.  

Mosaic Monday

Welcome to Mosaic Monday, a weekly meme where we get together to share our photo mosaics and collages.

Please include at least one photo mosaic/collage in your post.

The link will be open from 1 p.m. Sunday until 11 p.m. Tuesday (U.S. Mountain time). 

Remember to add the link to your Mosaic Monday post and not the one to your blog. 

Please link back to this post so that your readers will be able to visit and enjoy more wonderful mosaics; taking the MM blog button from my sidebar is an easy way to link back. 

As host I will visit every participant and leave a comment so that you know I stopped by. 

Please try and visit as many other blogs as you can, especially those that join in later, so that everyone's creativity can be appreciated fully. 

Thank you for joining in today and sharing your mosaics with us. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

MM #81: Learning My Lessons (or a Garden Tour with Dad)

Golden Currant - May 23, 2020

Nature has a way of teaching us.  Such as: don't plant your pots before the end of May!  You would think I would know better, having lived in Montana for three years.  But sometimes the heart outpaces the head!!!

As faithful readers know, I even started a garden journal last year (see June 9, 2019, July 21, 2019, and September 8, 2019), to document my learning and for other reasons.  Sigh.  But not all is doomed - I have good news as well, and some of it even derived from my knowledge gained last year.

And how can I be downcast when I am IN MY GARDEN?  It is a joy that vibrates through my whole being, and hard to explain to any but other gardeners.  If I am ever somewhat morose, it is when I think of my Dad, and how I would thrill to give him a garden tour, as he was wont to do with all family, and anyone else that he could swindle into it!  So, you will be patient with me in this post, as I act out a garden exploration with my Dad.

May 7, 2020

Let us begin at the driveway entrance.  In May 2019, we built jackleg fences to mark the driveway,  and the next month we added flower baskets to sections of the fence using chicken wire and coconut fiber.  This year, we added a layer of black plastic between the fiber and the soil to aid moisture retention.  In hindsight, we should have poked some holes through the plastic to allow for some drainage.  After several days of steady rain, I feared the whole structure might break under the weight, and I found myself out there trying to punch holes from beneath with a screwdriver.  Marginally successful.  Also, we planted too soon- on May 13, Spousal Unit helped me rig temporary covers from clothes hangers and trash bags since frost was in the forecast.  It did the trick, but what a pain!!!

I'm talking about flowers, and I can envision my Dad sizing up

trees, hands on hips, shrewdly observing that two of our

larch transplants don't look healthy.

Rocky Mountain Bee Plant - May 23, 2020

In August 2019, our-neighbor-with-a-digger helped us construct the flower bed near our "address rock".  As I wrote in this post, fall transplanting included the red osier dogwood, juniper, pearly everlasting and Russian sage.  All have survived the winter except for the sage.  In the fall, I also planted coneflower, goldenrod, rocky mountain bee plant, aster, aspen fleabane and grass seed.  In the spring, I sowed blanket flower, columbine and yarrow.  Thus far, I can clearly identify the bee plant, first based on location; now I can discern the plant by its leaves.  Coneflowers may also be sprouting, but it will take a few more weeks to be sure.  On a whim, I also threw some sunflowers by rocks on the other side of the driveway, and they have emerged!

Transplanted lupine - May 20, 2020

As we stroll up the driveway, I cannot spot any of the lupines that I sowed in the fall.  It doesn't help that I didn't mark my planting spots!  Such a mistake - WHAT was I thinking?  If Dad was here, I would take the opportunity to reminisce about planting beans (or was it peas?)  Back in the day, Dad coated them with some black stuff, and then us kids would poke them into the ground.  With the benefit of age and learning about planting lupine seeds, I realize the "black stuff" was an inoculant - I performed the same operation when sowing my lupines in the fall.  Maybe they will still grow, but I am skeptical given that other lupines in the area are well underway.  In fact, my kind Dear Neighbor Friend took me to a nearby ridge and we harvested 29 lupines of varying sizes, which were transplanted along the driveway.  Some sources say lupines don't tolerate root disturbance, but it is an experiment.  So far, 5 are perky, 7 are middlin' and the remainder look downright dead.  Time will tell.

Columbine volunteers: May 23, 2020

Arriving at the flagstone path to the front door, we begin to see the "formal" landscaping installed in June 2018.  I have been very pleased that some of the plants are propagating nicely.  Case in point: the columbines.  In this area alone, I have 6 "volunteers".  Second example: the goldenrod.  Too many "babies" to count.  It does appear that the seeds do best when they have something to grip to, like gravel.  Perhaps otherwise, they simply blow away.  In many cases, the instruction is to sow "on the surface:.  Well, there you go.  And THERE they go!  So I think I will, in future, try sowing this type of seed among some gravel, which can later be removed.

Goldenrod nursery - April 26 - May 23, 2020

Ah, the pot on the front porch (and the other pots, too, for that matter).  A sad story.  Clearly, planted too soon on May 10.  The coleus have already withered away, and the black susan vines are not faring much better.  Just one too many nights with cool temps and days with light snow that didn't stick.  Lesson learned!

Pots on May 10 - and no, I am not going to show you how they look now

By the way, we do think Spring has been later and cooler than last year.  As "evidence", ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I submit the following comparisons.

Columbine

Left:  May 21, 2019 (flowers forming)                   Right: May 23, 2020

Goodland Apple

Left: May 21, 2019                                                                  Right: May 23, 2020

Norway Maple

Left:  May 21, 2019                                               Right: May 23, 2020

Some sections of the "formal" landscaping still look orderly, with rounded clumps of plants at regular intervals.  Other areas are starting to fill in, randomly, and in the manner I have envisioned.  As I gaze upon some higgledy-piggledy areas in my flower beds, I wonder what Dad might say.  I remember him as a perfectionist when it came to his lawn, trees and vegetable garden, although he would clearly tolerate a volunteer tomato or two.  I don't recall much in the way of flowers, so I wonder.

In its "final" stages, I hope for a prairie, awash with a variety of plants and bushes, growing together in a riot.  This means a few things: 1) I have to be patient, and let a plant grow for a while in order to determine if it belongs, 2) it is harder to decide if something has been nibbled, and 3) since I have more plants, I don't freak out as much if ONE is nibbled!

Oil Beetle is distinguished from other Blister Beetles by its short wings

I have discovered a new "enemy", the Oil Beetle.  Weeding one day, I noticed this prehistoric-looking creature eating a plant.  What?  I took a picture, squished it with a stick and then looked it up.  An Oil Beetle may seem an ordinary black bug, but its secret weapon (a caustic chemical called cantharidin) can blister human skin.  It is part of a family of Blister Beetles, which are fond of flowers, nectar and plant juices.  I see them frequently now, and if they are on one of my ornamental plants, they are DEAD.  This creature might explain "nibbling" that has happened in the past when plants were caged.  Below is an aster that has been stripped of its leaves.  I think I know the culprit!

Dad had an arsenal of bug-fighting tools at his disposal, and the one that stands out in my memory was a knee-high metal canister with an attached tube and nozzle.  It had a pump handle, and its main use was to spray the fruit trees.  I also remember Sevin being applied liberally to chase off aphids, and it was easy to turn to that last year when I had an infestation.  But sometimes, no tool or product was necessary.  Give him a cutworm on a prize tomato plant, and he would grab it and PINCH, it would be oozing green caterpillar juice on his fingers.  I surmise that's why I reacted without thinking when I saw that beetle munching its way through my plant! 

As we pass around the side of the house, and take the stone steps down to the "back yard", I am sure my Dad would be looking at the grass and wondering when we will get out the mower.  In the fall of 2018, we sowed 50 pounds of wild grass seed, combined with wildflower seed.  Last fall, we added top soil to the remaining barren areas, and I scattered grass seed that I had painstakingly gathered by hand.  As you can see in the comparison pictures, we have progressed from construction zone to "I am thinking about being a prairie."  Spousal Unit has suggested that we buy more grass seed this fall to save my collecting it, and I am on board for that!

Top: area near fire pit - May 21, 2019

Bottom: same location - May 22, 2020

May 23, 2020 - Penstemon and Coreopsis

Actually, I think Dad would understand that my dream for my garden and "yard" is different than his.  Dad had his favorites, his "pride and joy," in his garden.  I am no different.  The "apple" has not fallen far from the tree.  Anything that is blooming, gives me joy.  I am thrilled that plants are settling into the rocky areas, lending a natural, "we've always been here" look to our stone steps.  I am excited about plants that gave me fits last summer, only to come roaring back this spring.  

I took care to guard the strawberries, since they were some of the

first plants to be nibbled last year.  They are thriving.

Top - yellow penstemon original plant

Bottom right and left: "volunteers" - amazing when you consider the mama plant was afflicted with aphids!

And as the boundary between the "formal" and the "woods" begins to blur, I have a growing appreciation for the naturally occurring plants in this region.  They were here first, and I welcome them to mix and mingle and make my dream come true.

Mosaic Monday

Welcome to Mosaic Monday, a weekly meme where we get together to share our photo mosaics and collages.
Please include at least one photo mosaic/collage in your post.
The link will be open from 1 p.m. Sunday until 11 p.m. Monday (U.S. Mountain time).
Remember to add the link to your Mosaic Monday post and not the one to your blog.
Please link back to this post so that your readers will be able to visit and enjoy more wonderful mosaics; taking the MM blog button from my sidebar is an easy way to link back.
As host I will visit every participant and leave a comment so that you know I stopped by.
Please try and visit as many other blogs as you can, especially those that join in later, so that everyone's creativity can be appreciated fully.
Thank you for joining in today and sharing your mosaics with us. 

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Click here to enter

Mosaic Monday #31 - How Does Your Garden Grow?

Blue Columbine

My April 14 post, Anticipation, had me dreaming about the wild grass and wildflowers that we sowed in the fall.  I also speculated about our formal landscaping - would it return?  Would there be self-seeding?  Would the apple trees bloom and cross-pollinate?  And then we have the pines and the aspens we transplanted at the end of the summer.  Did they survive?  Since I know you have all been on the edge of your seats waiting for the answers, this post will put your inquiring minds to rest.

I began keeping a garden journal on April 21; on a weekly basis, I note observations about each of the plants, and take pictures.  I am also tracking key events such as rainfall.  I am confident that in years to come, my notes will become my own mini-Farmer's Almanac for planning purposes.  Call me crazy, but this approach and its future application gets me jazzed!

If I went all-out with this post, it would contain over 25 mosaics to document plant progress since April.  This is good news because it means that most of the landscaping survived the winter, but even I think that's too much.  Perhaps I will focus on the most dramatic transformation, or my favorite plants.  Let's start and see where this goes.

BEE BALM: I am excited to have several of these plants in our garden since they are a magnet for bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.  Last year, they did not bloom; I am hoping the second year in the ground will make a difference.

Left to right: April 21 through June 2; all other collages will follow

a similar format

COLUMBINE: My love affair with this flower began when I saw a plethora of yellow columbine along the Highline Trail in Glacier National Park.  Our garden contains red and blue columbine, although some of the flowers seem to vary from what was on the official tag.  Never mind, they are delicate and unique and I never tire of looking at them.

Red Columbine

WILD STRAWBERRY: You might be surprised to know that wild strawberry flourish in this mountain climate; the plant is among the first to sprout and bloom.  Of course, this also means they are very attractive to hungry critters in the spring.  This plant was chowed down to the ground at the end of April, and has been nibbled at least once since then while making a comeback.

PAINTBRUSH: If you've never seen one of these, the pictures will soon reveal the source of its name.  Paintbrush is a sought-after prairie beauty that prefers bright sites with medium dry soils.  Its vivid bracts nearly hide small greenish flowers.  These plants are seldom grown in gardens because they are partly parasitic and require the roots of a host plant to survive.

GOLDEN CURRANT: an ornamental shrub with fragrant, yellow trumpet flowers, this drought tolerant plant should produce sweet, golden seedy fruit within three years of planting.  Given the maturity of these shrubs when they were planted last summer, fruit this year is a distinct possibility.

The currants were the first of our shrubs to leaf out

WESTERN SAND CHERRY: This small shrub has grayish-green leaves that turn purple in the fall.  The mass of white flowers along the branches in the spring are followed by large quantities of purple-black fruits in summer.  Unfortunately, as you can see in the upper middle photo of the collage below, a couple of the sand cherries show significant withering.  I discussed it with our landscaper, and he asked if aphids were present.  By the time the damage was visible, if it was aphids, they had moved on.  I suspect it was aphids since I have now discovered the little sap suckers on our burning bushes!

WILD GRASS/WILDFLOWER SEED: Last fall, we scattered 30 pounds worth of wild grass seed, mixed with wildflower seed.  We were equal parts hopeful and skeptical, given 1) the seed is sown in soil that has been scored to loosen it - so, essentially, the seed is lying on top of the soil, 2) the target areas were disturbed and in some cases compacted during construction, and 3) birds and other critters would have an opportunity before snow fall and after snow melt to gobble up the seed.  I am pleased to report that hopeful won out in this case - we have a healthy crop of grass (that we don't have to mow) - the wildflowers will take a little longer to see.

TRANSPLANTS: In my November 7, 2018 post, I wrote that we had transplanted no less than 2 juniper, 18 aspen, 5 Engelmann spruce, 2 Douglas fir and 9 larches.  As spring approached, I recalled my days as a pregnant woman - anxiety mixed with joy as I anticipated our success rate.  AND?  The spruce and the fir are not showing new growth, but the needles feel soft, which means they are still alive.  (A dead tree would drop its needles at the merest touch, much like a dried-out Christmas tree.) The juniper have green tips, and 17 out of 18 of the aspen have leaves, with most of them fully leafed out.  I cannot say we have enjoyed such a ratio with the larch - only 4 out of the 9 greened up, and one more is questionable.  Sigh.  Good thing we have plenty of young larch to draw from elsewhere on our property when we try again in the fall!

Upper left: aspen; lower left: juniper

Top and bottom right: larch

ROYAL RED NORWAY MAPLE: If you've been following my blog for a while, you will recall that this maple was subject to some severe "pruning" by elk last fall.  It's still a little lopsided, but the overall condition is better than I expected when the elk left it with little more than a "poodle tail"!

FALL FIESTA SUGAR MAPLE: Now, this is a tree!  You can take the girl out of the Midwest, but you can't take the Midwest out of the girl!  Something about the leaf shape, the contour of the tree, its fullness - ah, that's a tree!

APPLE TREES: I saved the best for last!  The Honeycrisp was planted to honor my Father, a life-long gardener who taught me most of what I know about nurturing a landscape (he passed away in April 1998).  When I was a young girl, we had Winesap and Golden Delicious trees - so many sweet memories are tied to that small orchard.

As it turns out, a Honeycrisp needs another apple tree for pollination, so it seemed only fitting to dedicate the second tree, a Goodland, to my Mother.  It was a blessing that my Mom was here last September to harvest the first apples from her tree.  As I watch the bees and other pollinators buzz about the blossoms, I think of my parents, and I wish my Dad could have been here for one of his famous "garden tours", only this time I would be giving the tour.  This post is for you, Dad!

Elk also "pruned" the Goodland but it has made a full recovery

Mosaic Monday

Welcome to Mosaic Monday, a weekly meme where we get together to share our photo mosaics and collages.
Please include at least one photo mosaic/collage in your post.
The link will be open from 1 p.m. Sunday until 11 p.m. Monday (U.S. Mountain time).
Remember to add the link to your Mosaic Monday post and not the one to your blog.
Please link back to this post so that your readers will be able to visit and enjoy more wonderful mosaics; taking the MM blog button from my sidebar is an easy way to link back.
As host I will visit every participant and leave a comment so that you know I stopped by.
Please try and visit as many other blogs as you can, especially those that join in later, so that everyone's creativity can be appreciated fully.
Thank you for joining in today and sharing your mosaics with us. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter