New England Gardener

Just when I was ready to throw in the towel and call it a season, my garden is coming alive! The dahlias that I had given up on are full of buds! My rose bushes are suddenly ready to flower again…even the ones that had lost their leaves and looked half-dead.
One bush produced the sweetest smelling rose that I have ever had the pleasure to sniff last week. It was an amazing scent. And a late, but fast growing gourd vine has a couple of babies on it that are getting bigger by the day. After all the rain, the black spots, the bugs and the disappointment this season, I am pleasantly surprised. Go figure.

The dahlias typically bloom until the first hard frost. But, I had such bad results with so many of them this year, I didn’t expect them to ever come around. I’ve attached a photo of a beautiful orange dahlia that we picked this week and put in a vase. Better late than never.

I guess that I will try to get them in the ground earlier next year….or maybe start them inside. Like Amy, I am taking notes. I’ve also vowed to plot the plan of my flower garden this fall, so I remember what lives where next spring. ( I vow to do this every year and never seem to get it done.)

It was not a great summer in our garden. In fact, I’d call it one of the worst in recent memory. But there were a few highlights.

In early August, while searching for a pre-school backpack, my husband and I found some very nice healthy hosta plants on clearance at K-mart. There were many varieties, in gallon pots, all reduced to $1.50 each. It was a steal! After a few return trips, we had planted 75 new hosta in our gardens. They blend in so well, that I couldn’t tell you where we put even half of them at this point. I have had success with some hydrangeas for the first time this year. I wish I had planted more of them! And, my morning glory seed experiment worked too. Our fence is wrapped in vines with little purple flowers poking out here and there.

As we move into autumn, the sedum look beautiful. They are full of bees, and are slowing changing color. I am thankful that they have thrived this year. I’ll be busy picking flowers until the frost.
Let’s all hope for more sunny days in 2010!