Without this team of helpers, I’d never have got through the summer — there’s so much to do here — mowing, weeding, watering, weeding, mulching, pruning, edging — did I mention weeding? Honestly, without help, I’d go crazy: from April to November the workload is steady. (Have I ever mentioned how relaxing I find November? One of my favorite months of the year, and I’m not kidding.)
With me on the bench are Shane (left) and Stephane, top, my friend, Shelly
Missing from the picture is my husband John, whose contributions to the general garden welfare are most essential — otherwise how could I pay my helpers? (Garden writing isn’t that lucrative.) And, of course, John manages his rock garden, which the team sometimes waters and weeds for him, but he does his own planting and transplanting.
Shane and Stephane have fallen in love with Toby, and vice versa
When Stephane applied for the job here, he sent an e-mail to which he also attached his brother Shane’s resume. I was amused by that, but I only wanted to hire one student because Shelly was already helping me two mornings a week. Then Shane came home from university and Stephane kept coming to work bleary-eyed, complaining that his brother was keeping him up all night, so I said: “Okay, bring your dear brother. Let’s put him to work.” And that’s how I managed to have two charming garden boys working here this summer.
The weeding team hard at work on the garden paths
When we first began to make a garden on this once-neglected 10 acres, we were a dozen years younger. Now I’m in my mid-50s and John is in his early 60s, and we couldn’t possibly do it all ourselves and keep it at the level of up-keep that we like. It was actually about three years in that we realized that we needed gardening help. Since we are not in a position to hire a full-time groundskeeper or a head gardener (my if-I-win-the-lottery fantasy), we have had a succession of part-time helpers.
Finding good garden help:
At first I didn’t think it was possible to find part-time help, as I always assumed that everyone is looking for full-time summer job, but through Craigslist it hasn’t been that difficult.
Part-time actually works well because summers are hot, and I can’t imagine asking someone to weed for eight hours straight in any case. Shelly comes two mornings a week, and the boys have been working four- or five-hour shifts, usually Monday to Wednesday. And if the mowing doesn’t get finished on those days because of rain, I do it myself later in the week, or we might swap a day and work Thursday. What appeals to everybody is this: Friday is always off!
When you work for me and you’re a gardener, you get plants and divisions to take home; if you’re not, lots of hort training — the boys learned to prune artistically, mow neatly, and edge properly. On top of that, there’s always excellent coffee, a decent boss, if I say so myself, and the company of a lovely dog who likes nothing better than hanging out with the weeding team.
This quick country garden video tour of our property exists courtesy of my friend Mark Disero, who brought over his Flip HD video camera yesterday, and showed me how to use it. Within hours we had edited the video together on my computer, and here it is on YouTube.
Pocket video cameras are upping the ante as far as blogging goes. Now were all expected to become YouTube producers or be left behind. Blame it on the iPad!
As the pundits are saying, the day of the pure text writer is coming to an end. Video plus text on the Internet is the future. Words on paper are not. Fortunately, the tools are getting easier to use and almost downright cheap. And there’s never been a more exciting time to share your own creative works.
PS: Here’s the link to my YouTube channel. I guess I know what to ask for as a gift for my 55th birthday which is coming up uncomfortably soon. Maybe you can teach an old gal new tricks…
For several years now my daylilies have looked terrible. It’s the leaves — they get streak, a fungus disease, which causes the foliage to start to die back even as the plants begin to bloom.
Not a pretty picture: The crappy-looking daylilies in my garden
I’m not big on fighting disease in the garden. I have too much on my plate to fuss about individual plants and, besides, there are no fungicides available to home gardeners in Ontario since the so-called cosmetic pesticide ban came into force last year. I rarely used commercial fungicides anyway, and I’m not about to start mixing up homemade baking soda concoctions to spray on my plants. Life is too short. (Although it has occurred to me that leaf streak could be a disease of wet years — which this season and the past two have been. During the drought seasons before that, our daylilies didn’t look as bad.)
In any case, my plan is simply to give up on daylilies. Last year we tore a bunch of them out, and this year I’m turfing even more. In their place, we will be planting cast-iron stuff that always does well for us, such as the ubiquitous Goldsturm rudbeckia, and Hameln fountain grass, and shorter varieties of Eupatorium (Joe Pye).
For some reason, it’s the newer daylily varieties that appear have the worst problems with fungus disease. Over at the golf course across the road, where I designed the plantings around the parking lot, I chose an older yellow-flowering daylily called Hyperion, and it looks great while mine just look crappy.
Hyperion daylilies thriving in the garden around the golf course parking lot
I may yet take a chance on Hyperion in my garden, although the spores from leaf streak might affect the plants if I put them in exactly the same spots.
For more information on daylily leaf diseases, visit my website for details: leaf streak and rust. The articles were written by my friend Sandy Perry, a retired horticulturalist who knows her plant diseases.
Here’s a sampling of what’s in bloom in mid-August for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. The garden is ablaze with late-season perennials in flower alongside a variety of ornamental grasses. It’s that late summer, almost autumnal garden look, which I love best because it suits the prairie-style openness and size of our property so well.
Sedum 'Matrona' with Russian sage and Eupatorium, Miscanthus 'Morning Light' with Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm' and R. nitida 'Herbstsonne' in the distance
A view of our house from the pond, which is planted in a variety of native wetland species. The house is surrounded by a variety of grasses and late-season perennials. It's been a great season for Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm'
Ornamental grasses, along with Echinacea, Eupatorium. Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm' and R. nitida 'Herbstsonne' and Sedum 'Matrona'
In our foursquare garden, Rudbeckia again, the grass is tall moor grass (Molinia arundinacea 'Skyracer'); in the back, Limelight hydrangea
Our meadow delivers acres of color: here purple coneflower and prairie coneflower (Ratibida pinnata) dominate; the white flower in the foreground is wild quinine
Our containers have held up reasonably well in the heat, here a collection of tropical succulents, and petunias with dark leafed sweet potato Vine
As we sat here here sweltering today, my husband said: “This is the kind of weather that gives summer a bad name.”
I couldn’t agree more — we have been enduring hot and humid weather for weeks now. However, in spite of the weather, it’s lovely and colorful here even though rain is needed now.
I love what Carol at May Dreams Gardens ( the founder of Garden Bloggers Bloom Day) has to say about this time of year: “August is what separates the real gardeners from the wanna-be gardeners. It’s hot and dry and who wants to be out there now?”
Visit May Dreams Gardens to check out more contributions to August Bloom Day, and don’t miss Nan J. Ondra’s contribution. Nan is a garden writer who has worked magic on 4 acres in Bucks County in Pennsylvania, and her August photos are simply awesome. I was blown away!
Home-grown Eupatorium from wild collected seed, with Rudbeckia subtomentosa
Last year in southern Ontario July was cool and rainy, but this year July was hot and humid and almost as wet, according to Environment Canada. Last month we enjoyed (at least I did) more than 130 mm of rain (over 5 inches), which is 50% more than we normally get in mid-summer.
From Agriculture Canada's national information service
The upshot of this is of course that our landscape looks lush and green, and so I’m happy. I’m actually surprised that this summer has turned out to be so wet because we had a few weeks in early spring that were very dry, and unseasonably hot — in fact, we got July weather in April. This marks three summers in a row with higher than average precipitation.
It’s all good as far as I’m concerned: our first few years at this property were very dry, culminating in the drought of 2007, when we had virtually no rain from spring to fall. This was said to be a once in 50 years drought, which I hope we never have to experience again.
When I was out this morning with the camera, it struck me that the shrub border was looking positively autumnal. With the hydrangeas in bloom and a few fallen leaves from the nearby weeping willow, this picture looks just a bit fall-like, doesn’t it?
Hydrangeas and seated woman sculpture in our shrub border
I know that this is not welcome news to most people, but my husband John and I always feel a sense of relief as the summer months begin to wane. We prefer the cool crisp days to come, and we won’t miss the heat and humidity for a second.
The sculpture
The sculpture in the shrub border is a work in progress that John started several years ago. He takes it into his studio every winter because it is unfinished and he has hopes that he can work on it. However, his job is still very demanding at the moment, and so I think finishing the seated woman will have to wait until his work hours become more manageable.
Recently, along with about 60 fellow garden bloggers, I had the privilege of an advanced peek into gardens featured in Buffalo’s popular Garden Walk. (If you’re up for a trip to Buffalo, this event is held annually on the last weekend in July. The 2010 edition is Saturday and Sunday, July 24 and 25th from [...]
I have been busy playing catch-up after a great trip last weekend to Buffalo to meet up with other garden bloggers. Upon coming home, we had to get the garden ready for two back-to-back bus tours. So here — better late than never — is my contribution to Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. When people come [...]
Echinacea pallida, or pale coneflower, is a graceful perennial native to eastern North America. In our meadow it brings the first show of color each season. It begins blooming in mid-June and carries on into early July. The pale echinacea begins to flower about a month before the common purple coneflower, Echinacea purpurea. It grows [...]
The garden is in a quiet phase, after the spring show of bulbs, crab apples, rock garden jewel tones, and the peonies of June. There’s a bit of lull until all the meadow flowers of mid-summer come into bloom, and all our ornamental grasses come into their own. Thankfully, we have had plenty of rain, [...]
yesterday, and showed me how to use it. Within hours we had edited the video together on my computer, and here it is on YouTube. 
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