My Garden Looks Like Crap

Contrary to most people, I'm not terribly fond of autumn. It's not that I don't love the brilliant foliage and the golden, slanted sunlight. It's that fall is a messy season. I mean, come on. I spend months trying to keep my pathways clear and my beds and borders free of unnecessary detritus. And then it all goes to hell in a hand basket in October, reinforcing the futility of this thing called gardening. It's like splattering paint all over my canvas and it's depressing. 

Rosa 'Cinco de Mayo' in front of Rhus typhina 'Tiger Eyes' or Tiger Eye Sumac.

So the macro shots are aplenty as I wander the garden paths, ignoring the frustration of leaf litter. 

The Dahlias are happy. 

This is the first blossom on this Dahlia. Patience. (I don't remember its name.)

And also the first blossom on this one.

Serendipity. . .

Arbutus unedo and Fuchsia hatsbashii

This is a "climbing" fuchsia but it needs support. I love how it wends its way up
the Arbutus and to have them blooming simultaneously is just good luck.
The bumblebees find those white bells irresistible.

The rose blossom below is no bigger than a nickel. Tiny, but powerfully fragrant, it comes from a plant growing in a container outside one of the hoop houses at Gindhart Nursery. A sign below it reads, "Mom's Old Rose, 1955." I've admired it for years and this spring, when I saw that they had propagated it, I had to get one of my own. It's been blooming all summer.

Rosa 'Mom's Old Rose'

Dainty and exquisite. Unfortunately the leaves are plagued with spider mites but
I just cut them off when they start looking yucky.

Rosa 'Jacques Cartier' is extremely fragrant.
I'll be picking this, adding a few sprigs of Hall's Honeysuckle to a vase
and enjoying the combined fragrances for several days.

Also during a trip to Gindhart Nursery, I purchased a small pot of Boston Ivy. At the nursery, there is an entire wall of this beauty and I hope I can get mine to do something similar on a trellis near my compost pile. 

Boston Ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata) 

I will allow one photo of a particularly decent looking area of the garden. LOL

Hydrangea paniculata 'Limelight' is in the foreground. I bought it recently after learning that it
is the identity of Mindy's fabulous plant. If luck is on my side,
mine will someday look as outstanding as hers.

There you have it. I hope you all are enjoying every moment of your fall gardens. 

Ramblers and Ramblings

 HI PEEPS! I spent the weekend on this:

English Ivy creeping (or should I say LEAPING) through the fence. 

The same neighbors that are cultivating running bamboo also have a gargantuan spread of English ivy growing a few feet from the fence that divides our properties. In moderation, I like English ivy. The waxy dark green foliage is a nice counterpoint to the gray skies of the typical Oregon winter. I said MODERATION. But this plant doesn't do moderation. It's an invasive monster that must be kept in check with regular pruning (or blow torch) to keep it from eating the neighborhood. 

Of course, I neglected pruning it last summer, in lieu of more enjoyable pursuits. Dealing with ivy was too much like work especially in this part of the garden which sees temperatures that are at least 50 degrees warmer than the rest of my spread. While I was otherwise occupied, the sneaky stuff had rambled its way over the fence and into our wood box, located just to the right of the photo above. I cropped it out for your protection and my vanity. 

In November the ivy bloomed and despite the fact that Mother Nature had turned the temperature to something more doable, I couldn't disappoint the swarm of honeybees taking advantage of what appeared to be delicious ivy nectar. 

Then we had our arctic event, then Christmas and here it is January. Of course, the ivy flowers are long past their prime and the bees have vacated the premises. With decent weather this past weekend, I figured it was finally time to tackle the beast. Besides, indoor pursuits (read: taking the Christmas tree down) felt too much like work. 

First I had to remove all the wood from said wood box. In case you're wondering, the box is bigger than a small car. It measures roughly four feet tall, five feet deep and about six feet long, and weighs close to five thousand pounds. 

On Saturday I tugged and heaved and tossed the wood out, creating a giant pile. Picture the painter painting himself into a corner. There are purposely no pictures so you'll have to take my word for it. 

Then with everything out and with the hubby's help, the wood box monstrosity was relocated away from the fence so I could get to the aforementioned monster ivy. But I was tired so I called it a day. 

Sunday meant restacking the wood which took a few hours, several cups of coffee and subsequent trips to the bathroom which meant stepping over piles of logs and scrap wood with exposed nails. Yeah. I had to be careful, which is why the coffee was so important. 

Finally, with the wood neatly (sort of) stacked in the wood box, I could tackle the ivy. I was mistaken. A few hours into it, I realized that taking the Christmas tree down was not work. 

Today, I'm fine, as long as I don't move. My muscles are annoyed with me. 

It was too late in the day to get an "after" photo so you'll have to--again--take my word for it. Despite my excessive bitching, the results were worth the effort. 

Moving on, I thought I'd do like the many talented bloggers out there and share a few of the highlights of 2013. 

Here is a photo of what I call the "South Lawn" in the dead of last winter.
The sticks in the foreground are raspberry canes awaiting my pruning prowess. 

Here is the same area in July of 2013.

And just for fun, a different angle of the same border.
So, are we ready for spring? 

Bleh! Here it is in October.
Reality sucks.

In April, I was lamenting to my friend Joy the plight of my 'Tiger Eye Sumac' (Rhus typhina). Basically I thought I'd killed it when I dug and moved it. Joy encouraged me that it was alive and that I needed to exercise a little patience. She was right, of course. Thank you Joy. 

Tiger Eye--alive and well, with rose foliage

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you may remember that my hubby and I finally got up the nerve to remove our pathetic excuse for a deck. I documented the project here.

Part of the deck is behind this jungle of plants (below).

Stage 1 -- Crazy Jungle 

Stage 2 -- The taming begins,
Deck removed, no patio yet

Stage 3 -- Much better, patio installed
(If you look closely, you'll see the aforementioned English ivy behind the umbrella.) 

A few weeks ago I posted a photo of my Winter Sweet (Cimonathus praecox) almost blooming.

Stage 1 -- Buds!

On Sunday: 

Stage 2 -- Fragrant Flowers! Hooray. 

In closing, I rarely get good photo of my kitties (not enough patience) but I just happened to be at the right place at the right time to capture Nala in her basket. The photo is a little grainy which proves I'm not a photographer. 

Nala