Roses

"One can complain

because rosebushes

have thorns

or

rejoice

because thorn bushes

have roses."

                       -Abe Lincoln-

Oh dear, oh deer!

      On any given morning I can see evidence that Bambi has paid an overnight visit.  Yet I have not seen a chomped off blossom, bud, leaf or stem since I began this garden.

I owe it all to Liquid Fence.

I discovered Liquid Fence after one disastrous (for me), bountiful (for the deer) overnight feast in my Pittsburgh garden where they stripped every daylily bud I had, depriving me of the pleasure of any blooms that year.  The war was on.  But aha! I quickly won the war with this product.  And now I sound like a hawker from a booth at a Home and Garden Show.

     Every silver lining has a cloud, and this cloud is one of repugnant odor.  I only apply on a breezeless day, and only when I am about to de-tox in the shower anyway.  Neighbors, dog-walkers and passers-by only hate me for an hour or so; then the odor disappears, at least to humans.
   
     I owe my blossoms and a portion of any garden sanity I might possess, to this beautiful white and green gallon of truly vile liquid.

Joyful Re-find Of My Mystery Scabiosa

     About seven or eight years ago I had a stunning variety of scabiosa.  I enjoyed it for only a year or two before a harsh winter took it away from me.  I never saw it offered for sale again.  For years I have inquired about it at nurseries.  Most people were puzzled by my description. "Never heard of it, don't know what you're talking about."  ONE person, thankfully, validated my sanity, and said she saw a scabiosa answering my description at a garden in England.  It was truly lovely, but she had never seen it in this country.  I had given up on ever finding it again.  Until last week when I was taken by sweet surprise at Sunnyside Gardens in Saratoga Springs.  I knew the minute I saw it that my search was over.  And here it is in my garden, bringing me delight every morning when I go to "check on it."

      

It's blossom is a paler blue than the scabiosa that is common to our gardens and is, in fact, the color of blue flax.  The blossom itself is larger, up to two inches across.  The petals are larger, and there is a more distinct center.  The stem and foliage which support it are stronger and somewhat glossier than the more common scabiosa (Scabiosa Columbaria Butterfly Blue).  I offer a picture of that familiar plant for the sake of comparison:

     Determining exactly what kind of scabiosa it is, has been a challenge.  The descriptive tag that came with the plant I just purchased reads, "Scabiosa, Pincushion Flower, House Hybrids," too general a description to be helpful.  I found my eight year old tag which I keep in the Envelope of Lost Causes, and it was named "Scabiosa Caucasica 'Kompliment."  I believe they are the same Scabiosa.
     My reunion with this flower was the highlight of my week and one of the highlights of all my gardening experience.  I hope that it likes my garden well enough to call it "home."  I'm going to hold on to that Envelope of Lost Causes!

Asclepias Tuberosa

     Asclepias Tuberosa (butterfly weed), in my opinion, presents its best self just before the blossoms fully open.  Today it is perfect.  Once open, the flower is nice for an eye-popping accent, but it teeters precipitously on being too brilliant an orange. In this location it has made friends with a yarrow, which is either "Anthea" or "Sunny Seduction."   I don't suppose my mapping glitch really matters, since they both look exactly the same - a nice, soft yellow.

First year.....sleep.

     There is an expression in perennial gardening, "First year sleep, second year creep, third year leap." Someone, somewhere, contrived this saying to give the gardener realistic expectations, and perhaps to give the impatient gardener patience.  Reduced to simplest terms, "Don't expect great things until the third  year.  So many times this has proven to be true.  My garden offers Knautia as an example.

First year knautia (snoooooze)

Second year knautia (not in blossom, but creeping to a real clump of foliage)

 

Third year knautia - Leap Year!  The foliage is in the foreground; the wine red blossoms  suspended way above the greenery are difficult to see  in this picture.  I like to pair it with Penstemon Husker Red (behind it) because they just go so well together.  Its size is lush and perfect.  And I wish it had stopped here!  Scroll down....

Is there a rhyming word for what happens the fourth year?  Sleep, creep, leap................I'm at a loss.   Officially taller than I am, it has become unruly, out of proportion, towering over everything else, even the spruce tree.  While I am grateful to have healthy soil, I'm not sure I have the space or imagination to divide and re-locate this basket-ball player of the garden.  This, my fourth Autumn here, will be a big season for division.

Compatibility in the Garden

     Heuchera Brizoides (my favorite coral bell),  Amsonia Blue Ice and Veronica White Alpine a combination that made my heart light and merry today!