All the Dirt on Gardening

The native, cold-hardy Hibiscus shrubs are blooming now and are one of the highlights of late-summer gardens. The large, colorful, cup-shaped flowers shine in pinks, purples and white against the rest of the garden. Full-sun is usually recommended though ours bloom reasonably well with a bit of afternoon shade. The ones in full-sun produce more flowers. Cultivated Hibiscus shrubs bloom earlier in the summer and are worth pursuing for their varied flower colors and forms. They also produce very few seedlings when compared to the native plants.  Shrubs in the Chiffon series of Hibiscus have a ruffled center set of petals. The Blue Chiffon in our garden makes me stop and stare every time it blooms. Others in the series include: Lavender, Pink, and White Chiffon. Satin Hibiscus cultivars have flowers with dark red centers.  They come in Blue, Orchid, Violet and Ruffled varieties. Another Hibiscus we love in our perennial bed is Sugar Tip which is a completely seedles...

Swallowtail nectaring on Phlox Victoria The end of summer is coming whether or not we are ready for the tasks ahead. You know, the pruning, digging and dividing. Then there's the transplanting this year's plants to their better, new, location because trees grew and now it's too shady where they were or it's too dry where they are ..... Fewer flowers are blooming by late August but there are enough to keep the butterflies and skippers happy. The upside is that weeding takes less and less time as fall approaches.  Swallowtail caterpillar on parsley This year we've had more dragonflies than ever, probably because there was some rain this summer unlike previous years. Lots of projects present themselves at this time of year and although we spend 5 hours a day out there, we can't seem to get it all done. The parsley did better this year than usual and since we plant it for the Swallowtail butterflies to raise their babies on, whenever t...