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Old 02-10-2005, 07:22 AM
madgardener
 
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Default The fall fairies are commencing to get serious.........

Well, the fall fairies are commencing to get serious about their display's
up here in Faerie Holler. Everywhere, I see goldenrod in the fields
along-side the now tanned and faded Queen Anne's lace. Blue is starting to
show up along side the roads, indicating the smooth leafed aster is popping
open.

All of the Sweet Autumn clematis has burst open and the country roadsides
are frothy with the thousands of white star flowers, and are already setting
seeds for more invasions next year. The crispy dry spell we've had for these
past six weeks has given the country-side a dusty, tired look. The
refreshing rains we got Saturday night were a welcome relief and you could
almost hear the trees and plants gasping with delight. It wasn't nearly
enough to replenish the cracked soils, though.

Things are winding down and cranking up in Fairy Holler. It's always been a
contradiction of experiences. My Frakartii asters are bud tight. The
plant stand I sat against them on the bricks was just enough support to hold
them upright during rains and winds thru the summer, and the Swamp sunflower
fairy had the last laugh on me. I didn't have thousands or even hundreds of
those plants like last year. He gave me seven. I will allow them to feed
the finches and titmouse and chickadee's and hope I'll get more to blind me
with their intensely brilliant yellow coreopsis like star pointy petals.

Two of them came up in the cracks of the bricks and are shining brightly at
me from between the iron slats of the plant rack that holds the sedums,
cacti and succulents that enjoyed a good baking this year. This is a great
place for all my inside cactus garden to summer out. I'll put everyone here
next year who survive the winter in the house desert of Dandridge....g

The Zebra grass has long set golden tassels above the striped leaves. Pods
of trumpet vine need clipping off, and I noticed while ill, the great oak
leaf hydrangea leaves started turning burgundy and the flowers are muted
shades of tan and light plum browns.

Toad lilies are all open and croaking, and the hastily planted Loripedilum
under the edge of the black cherry gardens was a great idea. The arching
shape of it compliments that edge of the bed next to the driveway, just
getting enough sunlight to encourage the leaves towards that deep reddish
purple color.

In a moment of clarity, I went and checked on Lady Jane magnolia who is
almost out of sight and out of mind when you've been as ill as I have, and I
was pleased to find that she has survived the parching weather with only a
loss of some leaves and most of the blackberry Corydalis and two small
biden's daisies who resided under her skirts. The Japanese painted fern is
holding it's own and the Green and Gold hosta and pulmonaria is hanging in
there as well. So I watered them deeply, and noticed the shrubby tree is
literally covered on all twig ends by fuzzy promises of next year's
blossoms.

The bright pink of all those perennial begonia's are now starting to show
signs of making those triangular seed pods. but there are so many of them
under the black cherry tree, all you see is an island of pink yelling at you
as you pull into my dead end driveway.

I didn't mention that sometime on a Tuesday someone came up our dead end and
thru the open gates (we never close the gates unless I want to try and
attempt to keep Sugar and Sméagol inside the property lines, and lately it's
resulted in three encounters with skunks from Sugar..........)in the early
morning hours between 7 and 11:30 and wiped out the whole southern side of
my black cherry bed.

Luckily, all the bulbs were dormant, the astilbe were crispy and only the
epimedium and Japanese painted ferns were disturbed, along with ALL the
bricks that made up the four high sides of the bed. The 'Pink Chimes'
silverbell sapling was run over but didn't suffer from the tires. I lost a
perfectly wonderful old, thick plastic watering can that held three gallons
of water that my mother had given me years ago. This old thing was
incredible. But it gave it's life for the good of the shade garden I
suppose. The tracks of the tire in the water showed me someone had indeed
driven to where our driveway literally ends, and they managed to even move a
bricko block that I keep in front of the entrance pathway to sit and ponder.
That was moved four foot, and they somehow managed to miss my
van..........................good thing. I was passed out in delirium of
fever and that blood poisoning caused by the abscessed extraction of a molar
two weeks ago when this was occurring.

I've rebuilt the wall in a gardening moment of madness, and am seriously
thinking of eventually purchasing some of those retaining blocks that stack,
and enclose the black cherry bed right. Only this time I will mortar them
together! Easiest solution though was just restack them for now until later
on.

Four o'clocks were ripped out in another moment of madness a few days later,
but there are still fours blooming despite my half ill ministrations. There
are still pure pink Japanese anemone that are blooming, now I wish I had
located a Boltonia this year to have plugged into a spot out front to wow me
with hundreds of white daisies. Next year. There is always next year.

No blue mist flowers. So I'll start searching for that Eupatoria to plant
amongst the other perennials as well. But the Blue Enigma still attracts
hordes of hummers. Their squacking would be more noticeable were it not for
the deafness I still have. But I enjoy hearing them thru the open window of
my bedroom and seeing them thru the living room window from the good ear as
I strain to hear them.

As shabby as the Fallopia looks with the white variegation now faded to a
light egg yolk yellow, I see all the many stems of pre-emerging flowers that
are erupting in foamy whitish flowers of the faerie kind. They will be
most welcome to the teenies and tiny fliers who are searching in desperation
for food in these last days of the plentiful season before their end or
sleep.

I did an inventory yesterday. A simple thing really. I could see that with
or without me, the gardens I've worked in for 10 years goes on with their
thing. Asters, anemone, trycyrtis, solidago,Chrysanthemum 'Clara Curtis',
cushion mums, a few stray Echinacea hanging in there, perennial begonia's,
Fallopia, the old fashioned phlox, Korean spirea,Ascelepis or Butterfly
weed, the trumpet vine, now I see that the Orostachys is blooming in the
Peace rock chicken garden, and all those reseeded moss rose portulaca
between the chicks. Swamp sunflowers, Delosperma, Helianthus, Heliopsis,
Iron weed, sedums, Euphorbia's, a few succulents and cacti, even the Blood
lily is re-blooming for me.

Since starting this, the Frakartii asters are all open, and the Monarch's
are visiting the open light sky blue flowers with the bright yellow eyes.
Sedums are starting to fade to shades of rust and burnt sienna and sable
browns. The royal purple salvia I found at Stanley's nursery two months ago
and tucked behind the Korean spirea decided to settle in and take off. The
slender stems are so loaded with deep purple tubular flowers, that the
bumblies are hogging them for themselves.

My hummers are starting to disperse, and somewhere in the chaos, I've
misplaced the vinegar bottle feeder that they adore. By the time I locate
it, the stragglers will be finished gleaning every drop of nectar and on
their way to Mexico. I'll hunt tomorrow and see if I can locate it and try
one bottle of super sugar water for the possibilities of the one family
still being here.

Everywhere I see bright blue tailed lizards, toads, suspiciously absent male
mantis, but a few very pregnant females. I've started searching for foamy
egg cases to make sure none come inside. Red spiders that spin those huge
endeavors between anything they can throw their silk out and catch have
settled in. I walk into one persistant one who uses a cactus to anchor her
web, and then she spins it totally across the north end of the deck off the
kitchen. That's quite a huge web. The leader anchor strands are attached to
the tomato cage with the final tomato's. I'm not impressed with this one
(the tomato), I will pluck the fruit off and fling them towards the compost
pile.

But every time I go out onto the deck to admire the sempervivums, or the
cacti, how all those spiney Euphorbia's are doing, that the desert rose is
blooming again, that there are now FIVE red flowers on the blood lily which
amazes and humbles me, I tear her leader strands off and look at the tall,
prickley cactus where she is sitting there in the shelter of the ribs
glaring at me for tearing out her hard work.

I have begun to get back to my old self and the whisperings of the fairies
are soft in my ears, despite my lack of hearing still, and I took hosta's
that were growing happily in rich pots of soil on the deck, and plugged most
of them into the now empty soil of the BBQ fountain garden. I lost anything
that loved sunlight, and the only thing that is growing happily is the hardy
ginger that still hasn't set flowers for me and on the opposite side, facing
south the Japanese iris and common sedum that is blooming soft pastel white
and faded pink star like flowers.

So in a surge of energy, I started grabbing the bags of worm soil that son
had unloaded out front that had sat so long the swamp sunflower had grown
thru the cracks of the bags and the bermuda grass had formed a long knotty
strand over a few of the open bags of worm castings. One bag in each hand,
I dragged and carried them to the sunken garden around the brick BBQ pit
fountain and started pouring the soil in. Eight bags later, I realized it
was going to take every bag of everything I have left that has sat for a few
months waiting to be used, and left the last section of the bed (the
Japanese iris and sedum) to be filled up higher and started picking out the
pots of hosta's.

Guacamole has bulked up wonderfully. All full and showing her namesake.
That was tucked under the tall spires of the hardy ginger. Then 'Remember
Me', a little white edged hosta that has lance leaves. Next, the little
babies of 'June Fever' that hopefully will golden up next spring, and the
odd sport of H. Sagae that is really different from the parent that I nabbed
at Lowes awhile back . ' Paul' will be planted, and a baby 'Patriot' near
the back of the BBQ pit/fountain near the resin fairy that holds roses who
stands at the corner. I hope the little 'Green and Gold' hasn't dried up
under the Lady Jane magnolia, and if it's hanging in there, I'll lift her
gently and plant her in the bed as well to catch her breath and hopefully
bulk up with her kindred kinds.

Near the daylilies I'll tuck in the 'Sum and Substance', and any stray
hosta's that are in pots on the deck, relent and plant the tiarella as well
in with the hosta's. I took the 'Green Spice' heuchera, and plugged it into
an empty spot in front of the waterfall/spring bed/fountain in the BBQ pit,
then decided to put a Lady fern next to the rock bed that the water goes
down. I've already planted some very nice Autumn ferns on either side of the
"stream bed" and they have rewarded me with lusher fronds. I just hope they
winter in the raised soils of this fountain/garden.

A few frogs still live in the frog pond part, along with the four huge
goldfish that Squire just HAD to put into the deep holding portion of the
fountain that feeds the water features. The fairy that perches at the top
of the BBQ pit's wall has grown some impressive moss and algae on her feet
and calf with the trickle that comes out of the shell the water comes out
of. Squire won't let me clean her, he says this is what he wants.
Eventually he hopes she'll be all mossy green...........we'll see. (he
keeps this up, I'll just grow moss on the walls above the water...g)

The fig tree is about done, and I'm going to whack it back quite severely.
When I do, there will be sudden southwestern exposure. Next will be a
larger undertaking. The Pawlonia tree will have to be limbed. This will be
more difficult. I won't be able to do this myself, but it has to be done or
risk losing everything in the western yard like I almost did when the pods
were so heavy on the ends of the branches stretching all whacky across the
space that they broke and almost devistated the Vitex, my bridal wreath
spirea, the button spirea, and the Oak Leaf Hydrangea..........too close.
And of course, the sister Pawlonia will have to be just cut down completely.
I now see my mistake at letting her girth up. And sadly, I know the baby
maple will have to go too.......the Epimedium will NOT be happy......

As I gaze out the bedroom window across the front beds, the Frakartii asters
are sky blue with those funny little yellow suns in each center. The
monarch's are fluttering and supping each flower, I count many, many of them
as they feast before their long flight to the jungles of Mexico to winter
with the hummers. And intersperced are the fireworks of the Goldenrods that
seeded themselves into the perennial beds. Perfect compliment of contrasts.
They look like fireworks bursting mid-air just beneath the blue flowers that
are on arching stems almost seven foot tall.

'Heavy Metal' grass is arching towards me, with the funny little seed heads,
and the leaves are a metal blue-green. Underneath it's grassy leaves, the
thick, succulent leaves of Gloria's gift to me. The Crinum that will blow me
away hopefully next year with Wine and Milk trumpets of flowers. I notice a
bare spot that would be absolutely perfect for the red leafed Hibiscus.
Great contrast and another perennial that will go on without me if I'm
distracted.

I catch the swift green at the edges of my vision and know it's my little
Rufus hummer, and focus to see he's greatly outnumbered by the bumblies,
their kids and the red bitches with the black wings (the wasps with
attitudes, again) that have discovered all the sedums I must have planted
just for THEM. He darts in and out of them expertly like some great pilot.
I admire them all the time. I catch myself missing already the antics of the
many numbers of them I had a few weeks ago that kept me entertained despite
my illness. I might not have ventured outside, but I had window's full of
acrobatics every day until dusk. I wish them a safe journey and hope to
greet them next spring when they and their children return to Fairy Holler.

Thank you for letting me share a moment with you all. It's good to be back.
I look forward to rambling with you again, soon. There are still things to
do before frost comes and I'll be blathering on about the great desert and
tropical trek inside to the Dandridge sahara...............

madgardener up on the ridge, back in a cool and perfect October 1st evening
back in Fairy Holler, overlooking English Mountain in Eastern Tennessee,
zone 7, Sunset zone 36









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