Whipper Snipper: Anonymous Attack!

So, for a few years I've been saying (lamenting) that the person who invented the whipper-snipper should be taken out each week and whipper-snipped around the ankles.  Oops, did that sound harsh?  If you don't mind a little rant, read on...

     The Honeylocust (Gleditsia triacanthos) above, and below, I bought and planted several years ago.  Discovered this week it had been "kindly" mowed and trimmed around, by whoever was doing the mowing for the neighbour at the cottage next door.  How kind (grumble, grumble).

Then I found that most every little tree and shrub that borders the next property was also harshly treated.  And I have quite a few young specimens along the property line. 

  Now, I must say, the owners of the neighbouring cottage next door are wonderful, cooperative, and accommodating.  I like them a lot; I like what they do.   It's just that whatever team of young ones doing the mowing and trimming got quite a bit too ambitious.  I wish they would not be so generous to mow into my lawn.  

  Above and below are photos of a thriving little Amur Cork Tree (Phellodendron amurense).  About four years ago, when it was quite tiny, it had the bark whipped off at the base, and finally now the bark has sealed over the holes and healed.  

    Well, it's back to square one.  

 On the happier side (gotta inject some sunshine into this lament), I found a nest in this little tree, with what looks to be thee hatchlings and two eggs.  Did not linger long enough to discover what kind of bird.  

Nearby, admittedly in some tall, weedy grass, a little Bristly Acacia (Robinia hispida) was trimmed down to a bare, black twig.  It was, so I hoped, protected with a wire tomato cage, but the anonymous snipper was thorough.

In another locale on my property, far from the wandering whipper-snipper, is a mature locust shrub, coming into bloom for the second time this season.  It's a great little thing, found 'wild' in Nova Scotia on an old dump site in Wolfville.  (That's where I collected this, a decade ago.)

Well, the litany of scarring becomes a stanza of decapitation.  Below you see what remains of a Hydrangea 'Blue Billow.'  One branch with leaves, the rest - gone.  Sigh....

Amid some tall grass I have some things planted in a temporary spot, including this Clematis recta 'purpurea.'  The second photo shows the work of the avid mower of lawns, except that 60% of this plant was not cut off.

I have been nursing a yellow-flowered currant (Ribes aureum) to health, even propping it up (and thinking I was well protecting it) with a tomato cage and a small stake.  Note how the neighbours employee kindly skinned the bark off this little shrub.  

Should I go on much longer?  The local weed-whacker did! Here is my cliché shrub, Dappled Willow (Salix integra 'Hakuro Nishiki).  Planted everywhere, yet I could not resist getting one.  Not too much damage here.  

The final victims were several Burning Bushes (Euonymus alatus).  These came as seedlings some years ago from a gardening friend in Parrsboro.  Now in their permanent locations, I've been hoping they would get healthy and fill out, branching up from the base.  And they started to do that very thing, last year.  

 Well, they just got a trim.  See the nice, green-barked twigs, now short and de-leafed?

Not to mention the bark.  

     OK, I've ranted, I've shared my pain; I think I got this out of my system. :-) I've got to end on a happy note.  So I'm changing the subject completely.  Here, simply, is a shot of the Cup Plants (Silphium perfoliatum), in the prime of their first blooming season.

If you suffer the unintentional destruction of some of your garden specimens, I hope it's not the end of the world for you.  Carry on.  Most plants have such will to live; most will survive to thrive another day.   I reigned myself years ago to the fact that there will always be some casualties due to human error.  Hey, I even mowed over one of my small tree seedlings myself, this spring, a Tree Heaven (Ailanthus altissima).  It has grown back with a vengeance.  

    But... don't forget risk management, and send those local whipper-snippers to the dump!

Belated Bloom Day July '13

Left my camera home when I was at the Cottage yesterday, so I'm catching up today.  I have not yet visited Carol's May Dreams Gardens to connect with many other Garden Blogger Bloom Day posts.  Check it out on the 15th of each month.

  The hot, muggy weather here is fine with most plants... roses and day lilies are thriving.  Lot's of things putting on a show.

 I'm so glad last year's seedlings of cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum) are doing so well.  The plants are certainly robust, and just starting to bloom this past weeekend.  I will need to move them before next year.

The blooms of agave-leaved sea holly (Eryngium agavifolium) are subtle, but the structure of the whole plant is spectacular.  Growing perennials from seed is encouraging when a neat-o plant like this arises!

     A weed I collected this spring that is not too common in the province is viper's bugloss (Echium vulgare); it's great to get another true blue flower.  No offence intended toward good ole Clematis 'Jackmanii'.

 

I will say the day lily season is starting with a bang.

 

The bleeding heart, below, should bloom for quite a while.  Collected from my parent's home, it likely was planted years before by my paternal grandmother.  I like to think so, anyway.

I love the late-blooming azaleas, so I bought this reddish one just the other day.  Has a nice fragrance too.  I think it is named "Millennium."

     And the roses keep blooming... This is a moss rose I collected in a nearby ditch a decade ago.

 These final shots - for those who are curious - are of dyer's greenwood (Genista tinctoria).  A couple seedlings were kindly given to me by some friends here in Hants County.  First saw this plant blooming in Cape Breton, where it is wildly prolific in one North Sydney neighbourhood.

Good luck gardening AND blogging.  I can't seem to catch up with either... but am having fun trying!

A Friend's Garden

Since I started blogging, a mere five months ago, I thought it would be great to feature the gardens of others.  As we head toward the backyard of this friend in Cumberland County,   NS, and view the geraniums hanging along the porch, one might expect a fairly traditional yard.  

And in a sense, it is traditional, but the collection of clematis, roses, and daylilies is truly wonderful.  And it is filled with plants in every corner.

These first shots I took on June 22, in the gardens of my friend Phil.  Roses and Daylilies are two great loves in his gardening.

When I returned, a few days ago, other roses were blooming.   This one, below, is Crocus Rose, a beautifully scented David Austin.  I was impressed with it so much I bought myself one.

And, of course, it is now daylily season here in Nova Scotia.  In the background there are also some Asiatics and others.  mercifully, the dreaded lily beetle has not yet arrived in this part of the province.  

Daylilies are not affected by the lily beetle.  The unidentified little critters above seemed merely to be revelling in the nectar and pollen.  Phil said there had been a multitude of these in the daylilies just lately.  

     This yard is packed with botanical treasures, well tended by the gardener, who has recently retired.  

Of course, there is much more than roses and daylilies.  Here are a few parting shots around the yard.   

 

Whenever I get to this town, I visit my friends here, see how things are growing, and we share our horticultural wisdom over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine.  
     Well... maybe I should say that we talk about what grew and what didn't!  And we never mention goutweed.