Ninebark (physocarpus'diablo') in bloom

On my to-do list today I had two very small garden related tasks..a gardening friend had given me divisions of geranium macrorrhizum  from her garden I wanted to plant near the new blue spruce (picea pungens), and I had to re-pot a houseplant that needs to summer outside. So I planned to go out in the garden quickly before my age concealing hair coloring appointment and knock these two items off my to-do list. I get the geranium, shovel , and cow manure and head to the side garden. While planting I notice a few weeds around and start to pull them.

 Working my way down the bed I see that my Rose of Sharon( hibiscus syriacus’?’ -until it blooms there are 4 and I never remember which is which*) has fully leafed out  and there is some dead wood I should prune. , so I head to the garage again to get my pruners.

 On my way by I notice mr. hyrangea is blooming white and should be blue so I figure while I am in the garage anyway I will grab the aluminum sulfate (used to change the soil ph ) and work a little into the soil quickly while I am outside. Getting the aluminum sulfate off the shelf I notice that behind it is the bag of organic 10-10-10- that I was looking for to spread around some transplants the other day and grab that too. I augment the soil around the hydrangea , then head to prune the hibiscus ,but notice two roses (one called “canyon” and the other a white flower carpet) that could use a little deadheading to keep on blooming since I have a garden tour coming up ,so I stop since I have the pruners in hand and snip them.

 When I am finally pruning the hibiscus I scan and see that the summersweet (clethra alnifolia ‘ruby spice’) in the same bed could use a little tidying as well and over the tops of those bushes I spy that my new red knockout roses are blooming. I should really take a picture of that before I forget. I run into the house to get the camera and also grab a plastic bag to clean up the dog poo in the adjacent lawn on the way back.

 Coming out of the house I see a dead mouse floating in the pool, and all chores stop right then and there until I get that sucker out and thrown over the fence. Then I clean the dog mess, snap some photos and realize it is time to go in and get ready for my hair appointment. The houseplant is still sitting on the deck waiting to get re-potted, the geranium transplants have not yet been watered in, and the bag of 10-10-10- is sitting on the walkway.

How many of you garden like this? It is a wonder that anything ever gets done around here, or maybe that IS why things do get done around here.  I am not sure which is true.

Cheryl

*If you do not already grow Rose of Sharon(hibiscus syriacus) in your garden ADD ONE! They are tall and narrow so easy to squish in the border and flower profusely from August until first frost. The pollinators love them as there is so little else blooming and they are nectar filled so will keep the hummingbirds around longer.YOU will be happy too because August can be a real down time in the garden if you let it be.

Don’t whine that they self seed rampantly, because there is a series of cultivars introduced by the U S National Arboretum , all named after greek goddesses,that produce little or no seed and flower in profusion. Not to mention the dark green leaves and wide soil tolerance this shrub has. What is not to like?

The cultivars are ‘Minerva’-lavendar    ‘ Aphrodite’-pink   ‘ Helene’- white and an older one   ‘Diana’- another white.

You will not be sorry to have any of these around, maybe even all of them!