Garden: Photos Only a Gardener Could Love

Well, hello there, everybody!  I sorta feel like I should knock on wood for writing (or even for thinking) this, but it really feels like Spring has sprung.  We've had a several stretches of unseasonably warm weather during the past couple of weeks and the garden is burgeoning with life.  It's been rainy though, and that's made it a tough decision whether or not to go into the garden.  It is still quite soggy out there.  But new growth is starting to push up among the old so I had to get out there and do some cutting back and cleaning up.  I brought along the camera and snapped a few pictures of things that probably only another gardener will appreciate!

My neighbor's ancient cherry tree is among the first of the neighborhood trees to bloom.  Don't you love how gnarled and moss-covered are its branches?  

My neighbor's cherry.

I worry about this tree because it's been completely defoliated every year by some sort of fungus.  Each time, it seems a bit slower to rebound but it keeps coming back.  I enjoy it in Spring and it makes a nice backdrop for most of the pictures that I take in the front garden.  And the wildlife appreciate it as well--it is home/lookout for a couple of hummingbirds and today the tree was humming with bees.

Cherry blossom close-up.

Moving on....I have a monoculture of Oxalis oregana growing next to the sidewalk on the side of the house. This plant's delicate appearance belies its toughness and its aggressive nature--it is a true survivor!  It thrives in the dry shade under the eves on the north side of my house.  I chose to plant it in a location that is bordered with concrete on three sides.   We'll see what happens on the forth side which is currently occupied by a sword fern and a vigorous tricyrtis.

Oxalis oregana rhizomes erupting from the soil.

Believe me--this small area is absolutely seething with oxalis growth!  Here (below) are the plants which are placed to do battle with the oxalis--Polystichum munitum (Western Sword Fern) and an unknown tricyrtis which might be T. formosana "Gilt Edge".  I think they will be worthy opponents.  

Tricyrtis formosana "Gilt Edge" 

I find it interesting to compare the growth on the T. "Gilt Edge" (if that is, in fact, what it is) with another Tricyrtis growing just across the path.  "Gilt Edge" is much earlier to sprout in Spring.  The other Tricyrtis was supposed to be dwarf--not so much.  It is less upright than "Gilt Edge" but has eagerly colonized just as much territory.  The weird thing, though, is how many more above-ground rhizomes it makes.  Just look at that mess!

Tricyrtis rhizomes.

Close-up of Tricyrtis formosana "Gilt Edge"--so fresh!

I am always a little surprised by the discovery of new growth.  Here, a crown of Darmera peltata peeks (Ha!  I just caught the typo/autocorrect "peaks"--though that also would have been an appropriate choice, don't you think?) through the leaf debris.  Darmera peltata is a big plant with big leaves so the fact that it has a robust crown shouldn't surprise me, but it does--every year.  You might also notice the lumps of snail and slug bait.  Those monsters are going to be REALLY bad this year.  I think the very mild winter encouraged them.  I've seen virtually millions of tiny slugs but today I air-mailed a couple of huge ones into my neighbor's backyard wildlife sanctuary i.e. unkempt acreage.  Yuck!

Darmera peltata makes a robust crown. 

I shared the transient sunlight with a new friend.  Sorry about the blurry image--she wasn't too keen about the paparazzi:

Ladybug!

Garden: Winter Break

This is the closest I've been, recently, to gardening or horticulture.

Zappos' float in the Rose Parade

But, you know, I see a few signs of fresh, new growth among the sodden remains of fall.  Before long I'll be out there with a shovel and a camera to document it all.  Happy New (gardening) Year, everybody!

Arts & Crafts: Halloween 2014

Next year, I SWEAR IT, Zachary will go trick-or-treating in a costume of make-up and fabric.  I am just about done with displacing my kitchen (and my whole life, practically) for the crafting of a Halloween costume!  But I do enjoy the challenge of designing a new costume and the new skills and techniques that I discover and learn through completing it.  

This year, Zachary dressed as Marvin Martian from the Warner Bros. cartoons.  Marvin Martian was always my favorite Warner Bros. character.  After the idea of the Marvin Martian costume was floated, I was pretty sure that SOMEONE in our family would have to dress like Marvin and I think that my husband is glad that he didn't have to do it.  

Here's the finished product:  

It all began with a hippity hop.  I needed something absolutely round and about 14 inches in diameter to use as a form for the head.  I hadn't decided whether I'd make the costume using EVA foam or paper mache or something else, but all methods seemed to require a form of some kind--a collapsible form in case I chose to use paper mache--and a hippity hop was what presented itself.  In the end, I decided to craft with foam because I have some experience using this material.

So.  Here's how the costume got built.  I found a scaleable mathematical template online for a sectioned sphere and I adjusted it to the appropriate size.  Then, I cut sections of EVA foam and warmed them in the oven until they were malleable.  (You could choose to heat the foam with a heat gun or torch but, given the softness of the foam, the large size of the sections, and the fact that I wanted to heat it evenly, I chose to use the oven.)  I stretched and shaped the sections over the hippity hop and when they cooled they permanently retained the curve of the hippity hop.   Then I cut them to shape with a hot knife, carefully beveling the edges inwards.  I pinned the sections together and hot-glued them on the inside edge.

I placed each completed half back over the hippity hop and coated it with, first, a layer of 5-Minute-Epoxy to act as an encapsulant and stiffener, and then layers of heavy-bodied acrylic to even out the surface.    This part was tedious and more difficult than I thought it would be.  Even though I'd taken pains to make the surface as smooth and regular as possible, the seams still poked up and the human eye is very good at detecting out-of-roundness.  The foam I purchased for this project was medium-soft.  I'd had some misgivings about that at the time, but couldn't find a source for stiffer foam in the thickness that I wanted.  In hindsight, I sure wish I'd located some stiffer foam.  The softer foam really didn't do a good job of supporting the spherical shape and caused a lot of angst throughout the project.  It probably would have been cheaper, easier, and more satisfactory all around to use play-tile foam for everything.  Lesson learned!

Tools of the trade.  Mod Podge, can you craft without it?

Several more coats of acrylic "filler" and we are starting to get there...

I hot-glued on the collar (lots more filling and sanding to try to erase the join), and temporarily positioned the visor and eyes templates.

The eyes are cut out!  I backed them with white buckram so that Zachary would have ventilation and a large area to see out.

I didn't take any in-process shots of making the "brush".  I made it from a chunk of styrofoam that I cut to shape and sanded smooth.  I covered it in 5-Minute-Epoxy to harden the exterior and give it strength.  I drilled holes into the top of the brush into which I poked tufts of cut pipe-cleaners.  One hundred-nineteen holes/tufts!  

One of the things I liked best about this project was my decision to flock Marvin's face.  His face, after all, is a black sphere--almost just an emptiness.  I didn't want shine to distract from that effect and I wanted to minimize any lingering out-of-roundness, so I flocked his face.  It was fun and easy--but messy!  Even though I made a temporary spray booth in the corner of the kitchen, I still had flocking fibers settling on every adjacent surface.  Fun fact!--if you want to purchase a small amount of flocking, go to a woodworking supply store.  Wood crafters use flocking on the heads of duck decoys and insides of jewelry boxes.  Automotive companies (like the ones that customize hotrods) also use flocking, but they use a lot of it and use specialized equipment to apply it.  For a small flocking project (you might have one!), head to a woodworking supply store (Rockler, for example) for your materials.

How many power tools do YOU need to make a Halloween costume?  It takes me...uuummmm...at least four or five?!  Hot knife (wood burning tool), Dremel, pad sander, hot glue gun, blow dryer...And, as you can see, I am not a tidy worker.

I'd planned to use mattress foam inside the head to give a firm fit, but that didn't work very well.  As I wasn't going to be the one wearing it, it was hard to figure out where support was needed inside the head and it was hard to work inside the sphere.  In the end, I mounted an old bike helmet inside the head, supporting it with chunks of mattress foam cut-to-fit, and that worked pretty well.  

I also made a space-style gun from a plastic water pistol, a bunch of assorted plastic parts, and shapes cut from craft-foam "Foamies".  I painted the rings with glow-in-the dark paint--that was a fun touch.  The "skirt" was made from a single piece of foam--a floor tile left over from last year's costume.  And I finished it all with a purchased, red skin-suit and gloves.

The only thing I really regret about this costume was that we spent the whole night (and took ALL the pictures) with the visor pushed up really high on the forehead.  It was installed with stiff snaps so it was moveable, and it looked best when pushed down low.  Dang.  Oh well.

Here are a couple more pictures of Zachary trick-or treating.  I know it's horrible, but we attend the trick-or-treat event sponsored by local merchants so that's why he's going into a shop.  Thank you, Wedgwood Business District!

...and one, final picture...

That was Halloween, 2014, everybody!  Hope you had a good one!

***  Edited to add  ***

As I'm re-reading this post, it occurred to me that it might have been better to coat the foam head sections with epoxy resin BEFORE attempting to glue them together.  I bet the seams would have stayed flatter if I'd hardened them first.  Or maybe not...it's an untested idea.

Garden: Today in Photos

I spent this morning in the garden just pottering around--picking fallen leaves off the low plants that don't appreciate being smothered, plucking out the Shot Weed (Cardamine hirsuta, Hairy Bittercress) seedlings wherever I saw them,  and cutting down some of the more wretched-looking perennials.  While doing so, I was delighted to find some things looking especially fresh and full of life.  First up is this Lobelia seedling which sprouted in water collected in the cup of a Darmera leaf.

And then I checked on the Asarum europaeum.  These plants have taken a while to settle in, but they look like they'll grow into healthy clumps next year--lots of new buds at the crown.  They'll look lush and full with a new crop of shiny, dark green leaves, but they'll never look as fecund as they do right now.

Next to the Asarum is planted Chrysosplenium alternifolia, a small, evergreen, groundcover plant that was an impulse purchase from Far Reaches Farm.  This little plant has earned a warm spot in my heart.  At first, I sited it badly in an area that (I'm sure) was too wet and too shady.   The poor little thing just sat there dwindling slowly for months.  That's what happens with impulse purchases :-(  Eventually, I moved it to its current location and it perked up and started growing right away.  Then I discovered it unearthed and tossed aside, roots up--dug up by squirrels, probably.  I pushed it back in the ground and it took off growing again. I admire the tenacious survivors in my garden and this one certainly has proven itself. It is described in the Far Reaches Farm catalog as being about 6 inches tall, of indefinite spread, evergreen, and hardy to zone 5a.  This will be its first winter in my garden, so I can't attest to its winter hardiness, but it's more than quadrupled in size since I planted it in the current spot.  This little plant seems always to look tidy and fresh.  It is my hope that the Asarum and the Chrysosplenium (the leaves of the one--shiny, dark green, and round--contrasting with the hairy, lobed leaves of the other) will knit together into a low ground cover under a planting of ferns, hostas, and Arisaema in this woodland-y area of the garden.

Chrysosplenium alternifolia is tidy and fresh looking in all seasons.

Sweet Cicely (Myrrhis odorata) is another plant that always looks fresh.  Its ferny, bright green foliage emerges early in the year to be followed by white umbels.  The umbels are not super impressive--they are more like irregular tufts of blossoms as opposed the the architectural flower heads of Sellenium or Ammi--and the foliage is less architectural overall, but I appreciate the way its fresh green mound of foliage fills in early and lingers late.  I've got a couple of sizable clumps of Sweet Cicely growing in either side of the front garden.

An out-of-season bloom on Sweet Cicely with spent foliage of Chasmanthium latifolium.  Isn't that spring-green foliage fresh looking?

Also in the front garden, the self-seeded white Borage is still pumping out flowers.  I've no idea where this white Borage came from as none of my neighbors grow borage (white or otherwise), but I recognized early last spring that the seedlings were something different and possibly worth saving.  I'm glad I preserved them.  I've enjoyed the Borage this year and I'm interested to see if it makes a return appearance next spring.  The flowers have been a nice addition to the garden and the woeful foliage has not been an issue as it has been disguised/obscured behind the other plantings.  (Although I know that the foliage is typically kind of sparse, maybe it won't look quite as woeful if I don't attempt to transplant the plants in mid-season.)

Around to the side of the house, the espaliered Camellia is blooming.  I moved it from the front of the house to the north side of the carport/garbage enclosure and I think it's pleased with the new location.

So that's a quick look at what is going on in my garden--a few fresh moments amid the senescence of Fall...

Garden: Rain Drop Dash!

Well--as the title suggests, I dashed out between rain squalls to grab a few photos of the garden.  I'd been hoping to capture some evocative, richly tinted photos of the garden bathed in golden, afternoon sun--but that ain't going to happen!  At the moment, I predict that even if the sun makes a reappearance, all the leaves will have rotted or been driven to the ground by the heavy rains.  Already, I'm seeing a lot of decomposition and leaf drop even before the leaves have had a chance to color.  Maybe we haven't had the cold snap that we need to help develop leaf color?  Maybe this is the legacy of a rather droughty summer that stressed many of the plants? Truth be told, autumn color is a bit scarce everywhere in my neighborhood.

So, here's what we have in the garden today:

Front garden taken from the entry path (looking south, towards my neighbor's ancient cherry tree).  

"Long view" of the front garden taken from the carport.  Did anyone notice?--the unhappy Chasmanthiums are missing...an improvement already, I think.  The bright yellow plant is Amsonia "Blue Ice"  I moved it during the summer and it colored brilliantly.  The other plants won't achieve this fall coloration.

Some of the denizens of the "Carport Garden" located to the right of the path.  I think this planting will prove to be successful--I like the combination of the dark foliage (Ajuga "Mahogany and Salvia lyrata "Purple Volcano") with the other low, green groundcovers.  That's an Allium "Summer Beauty" in the foreground.

Cut Leaf Sumac with Calamagrostis "Karl Foerster" behind--in the bed to the north of the driveway.  I recently planted some asters ("Wood's Blue", I think) near the Sumac and, even though the camera cannot capture both plants at once, the fall color of the Sumac adjacent to the blue aster flowers is a really nice combination right now.

A little Halloween spirit and the Japanese anemones still making a bit of a display.

The walk around the side of the house to the backyard.

Rain-beaten Ageratina altissima "Chocolate" in the shady backyard with Hydrangea "Bombshell" and Darmera peltata.  Last year I wondered about the fall color of the "Bombshell" hydrangeas--the one most recently planted colored up a brilliant flame hue while the remainder showed peachy and pale yellow colors.  Well, this year I think they won't be able to hold onto their leaves long enough to achieve much color.  All the plants look like this and there are already quite a few leaves on the ground.

Still a few blooms on the Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum "Watanabe"  I think I'm going to like this shrub!  It's a more-dwarf form of V. plicatum which flowers heavily in late spring and repeats off-and-on throughout the summer and fall. This, after I almost killed it by letting it bake in its nursery pot on a super-hot afternoon.

Yep.  It's different this year.  This is a picture of the front garden taken on October 20, 2013.  Definitely more lush and colorful, fresher, and greener.

So.  That's what is going on in my garden at the moment.  It's currently raining cats and dogs, so I'm happy to stay indoors working on craft projects and finishing my son's Halloween costume.