Fairies need decent affordable housing too! Yesterday a group of dedicated and skilled laborers built a new fairy community on a Blithewold subdivision. The houses were constructed of green material and fit beautifully into the landscape – this was a very environmentally conscious endeavor! I took a walk down this morning to see how the fairies were settling in but oaf that I am, I must have frightened them because the place was fairyly deserted. I didn’t think they’d mind though if I took a little look around…

Looks like I disturbed breakfast… Sorry!

Clap your hands if you believe! (and don’t you all just want to go right out and build a new house for your resident fairy?!)

To see more pictures of Fairy Magic in the Garden and the building crew at the constuction site click here!  (photos of the kids with their houses by Gail Read)

At the end of August I swivelled around the garden trying madly to take pictures of all the dozens of hummingbirds. Two weeks later it’s the monarchs distracting me from my work. They’re like a pure fall color concentrate or tiny drunk polka-dot fairies – completely captivating either way. (speaking of fairies – something tells me they’re going to be busy this weekend…)

So in honor of Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day (a day early to the party) here’s what’s blooming with a particular focus (and soft focus) on what the monarchs like.

When I could drag myself away from the butterflies, I found Autumn crocus (Colchicum) at the Bosquet entrance,

Begonia grandis in the Rock Garden,

Seven-son flower (Heptacodium miconioides) near the wedding tent,

and on the Cutting Garden fence, Clematis ‘Roguchi’ is still blooming – I think it should get the “employee of the year” award for being super productive (it will take a vacation finally come winter), efficient (the plant blooms away without growing out of bounds), and for having a terrific attention to detail (just look at that beautiful blue!).

(hover over pictures for names/titles and click on for larger images)

It rained!! I found a link via Cold Climate Gardening to the U.S. Drought Monitor which shows most of Rhode Island in a moderate drought as of 7:00 AM Tuesday. That’s the day it finally rained and we got a whole 2″ almost! I know it’s only a dent – a drop in the proverbial bucket – but there’s a little water in the pond again and background music of lawn mowers. (It’s amazing how fast the grass grows with a little torrential encouragement.) We’re all dancing jigs here so happy to have a day or two off watering! (Plus it’s important to keep doing the rain dance.) We’ll have to check the drought website again once they get the rainy day data posted…

Gail and I have been waiting months for a rainy day to weed and clean the greenhouse. We’ll start moving back in mid October and with the Display Garden Soiree coming up next Wednesday and Gardener’s Day next Saturday, we really needed a chance to get in there – when it wasn’t 100 degrees inside. Besides the Kenilworth ivy (Cymbalaria muralis), the greenhouse floor was (still is for some) home to a self seeded Four O’clock (Mirabilis jalapa),

a few Geranium madrense,

Some Begonia grandis and even a couple of baby prostrate rosemaries (Rosemarinus officinalis ‘Prostratus’). (It’s amazing what will grow in crushed rock.) We didn’t have the heart to weed out everybody but the benches are clean, the floor is raked and we ready for company!

Ornamental grasses are coming into their own just now and it’s time to sing some praises (and maybe one dirge). There are reviews here and here with links to more and more about all kinds of grasses in all kinds of places so I’m setting a self imposed limit to speak only about our annuals/tender perennials.

I’ve already shown pictures of everyone’s new favorite this year, Pink paintbrush grass (Melinis nerviglumis ‘Savannah’). We don’t know yet if we’ll find it seeded all over the garden but since we want it pretty much everywhere next year, that wouldn’t be a totally unwelcome thing.

This is our second year for Love grass (Eragrostis tef ‘Ruby Silk’) and I take the blame for this one. I -and the wildlife- love the silky soft inflorescences that begin red and extend to brown. I think it’s handsome, if delicate, in arrangements and deadheading it satisfies the obsessive-compulsive in me. But the plants slouch like bored teenagers. If they weren’t planted en masse and held captive and upright in a Cutting Garden grid, we’d probably have to kick them out of the house for looking like weedy slackers. (Get a job!)
Palm grass (Setaria palmifolia) is another that we use in arrangements although it’s a bit of a pain because the blades are deceptively covered in eensy splintery hairs that lodge in all uncalloused finger flesh. (Where are my gloves?) We keep a couple of stock plants in the greenhouse and have been successful growing it from seed. (It usually flowers for us in the winter after we’ve cut the bulk of the plant to nubs.)
Ornamental millet (Pennisetum glaucum) has been a favorite of the volunteer flower arrangers – its burly black seed heads are very dramatic and the dark foliage is a great contrast for – just about anything! In the garden, we’ve got it stunningly and serendipitously paired with Snow on the mountain (Euphorbia marginata) – can’t miss that combo.

Another favorite of mine, grown for the 2nd year in a row, is Job’s tears (Coix lacryma-jobi). Arching inflorescences dangle shiny seeds that clack like prayer beads. Last year I went a little crazy collecting the black and gray seeds because I thought I’d make jewelry… We sowed some of them instead.

Gail has been growing Fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum – sold by Stokes as Pennisetum ruppelianum) for the gardens since well before my time and it’s certainly a tried and true winner. This year we used it in the Rose Garden and I’m not sure yet if I think it’s a good addition or a clash of cultures. Any opinions??

This new neighbor kitty (who, incidentally, has the biggest paws I’ve ever seen on a tigger) thinks it’s just what the garden needed.

(Hover over pictures for titles/I.D.s and click on for larger images.)

It’s been another dry week of desiccating wind, worries and ragweed allergies. All over the property difficult choices are being made about what to water and what to let go – the guys are looking pretty grim lately. Most of the major collection trees and newly planted trees and shrubs are on a water rotation but there places where the weather is having an obvious effect – the periwinkle in the Bosquet (shown at right) has seen better days. Even the goutweed (Aegopodium. – Not shown) is wilting – not that we’d mind if some of that died… (I think it’s made of tougher stuff) We’re starting to hear the word “drought” in the news and are crossing fingers and toes that a forecasted “chance of showers” for the beginning of next week becomes a full soaking rain. Water restrictions are certainly around the corner and we’re watching our well.

A couple-three corrections: The Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) which we all thought was only suffering damage from a weird winter does have a fungal problem. The guys have been watering it to keep it from becoming more stressed and they believe that it will recover without having to spray it with a fungicide.

The plants in the bed surrounded by recycled iron from the greenhouse are most likely NOT stunted from leaching iron. Evidently, grass can be a canary-in-the-coalmine for toxic iron levels by turning black. The sod around that bed is perfectly healthy! Could be the early summer heat that slowed the plants down.

And Hydrangea paniculata ‘Limelight’ is quite green! – and white and pinkish these days. A glaring sun does bleach it out but it’s really a whitish shade of green rather than a greenish shade of white now that I’ve taken a better look!

Another greeny white beauty is the Moonflower that just opened in the Rose Garden. I’ve noticed it on my early morning rounds and by 10AM or so they’ve already closed up. Come early or late in the day for an ethereal and fragrant display.

Nicotiana sylvestris are also adding their fragrance to the evening air – brides-to-be take note: September evenings are just as sweet as June!

And a tree by the south end of the house caught my eye – The Golden Rain Tree (Koelreutaria paniculata) is full of green and buff seed pods – gorgeous.