Dirt Therapy

  Our garden will be open through the HPSO Open Gardens Tour . The board has just relaxed the standards so no appointment is necessary. Here are the dates and times - Sunday, May 30 - 2pm - 7pm Monday, May 31 - 10am - 7pm Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

Some much needed rain today but of course it would rain - our garden was advertised as being open on the HPSO Open Gardens Tour. That is being done by appointments because of Covid and we only have a few visitors coming (that is, if they come). We also have it on the schedule for tomorrow and next week and maybe the week after that (I forget). But I'm not going to complain about the rain one bit. It is desperately needed. April was the driest month on record here and May was looking to be the same until now. I don't like a wet garden but at least the lighting is good for photography and the plants look refreshed.             Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

'Golden Celebration' In the movie "Sweet Dreams", Patsy Cline (Jessica Lange) longs for stardom and the desire to own a house with a picket fence and yellow roses. At one point her mother (Ann Wedgeworth) moans "I'm sick of hearing about that house with the yellow roses!" Of course Patsy Cline did gain stardom and I hope she got her house with the yellow roses before her life was cut short in a plane crash.  I like yellow roses too. I would not say that yellow is my favorite color of roses but they are really stunning on an overcast day like the one we had yesterday. We were working most of the day spreading bark mulch and I happened to glance up and notice 'Golden Celebration' blooming along with Spanish Lavender and it took my breath away. I have 'Golden Celebration' by means of a mail order error - it was sent in place of another rose I had ordered. Apparently it had been mislabeled. I have moved this rose three times and I'm hopin...

Parahebe perfoliata and Cotinus (Smoke Bush) 'Golden Spirit'   The May garden is coming along nicely despite the record drought. It always amazes me how things change in just under one month. This is such a busy time in the garden and elsewhere that it seems like I barely have to time to keep track of all the blooms. Do you feel a twinge of guilt when you've failed to notice a lovely blooming plant? I do! So here are blooms that I have noticed this week -   Exbury Azalea 'Klondyke' Peony 'Shima Nishiki'   Enkianthus campanulatus 'Showy Lantern' - one of my favorite shrubs but very slow growing. The first ever bloom on the Honey Bush ( Melianthus major ) Ceanothus 'Black Diamond' (or is it? - the tag read that but I can't find any mention of this cultivar anywhere. A mis-label or just something rare?) Lilac 'Palibin' Peony 'Boreus' Peony 'Paula Fay' Exbury Azalea 'Mandarin Lights' Million Bells ( Callibrach...

  We finally got the fence stained. We were waiting for warmer temperatures to do the job. We started to do it two weeks ago but then decided against it after reading the staining instructions which called for night and daytime temperatures to be at least in the 50s. It is still getting down in the 40s at night although things are slowly warming up.   We worked all day yesterday with only one panel left to do. Michael kindly volunteered to finish it this morning while I finished getting some containers potted.  Here is the view from inside the back garden. It looks better without those nasty power lines mucking up the view - The stain we use is Cabot Australian Timber Oil 'Mahogany Flame'. We've used it for all the other structures in the garden. How I wish that it would retain this luster. Alas, it will eventually fade and probably be soiled with bird poop. Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

From what I had read about the Honeybush ( Melianthus Major ), I didn't expect it to bloom. That would have been okay as the foliage is satisfying enough. After cutting it down to the ground after the ice and snow back in February (it looked good up unto that point), it has rebounded and is already four feet tall. I grow it on the south side of the house and I'm sure it is happy in it's warm spot. Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

Birds flying into windows happens often at our house and it is an upsetting situation. I have been trying to come up with a solution to this problem but most of the alternatives have been undesirable. There is the option of simply closing the curtains but we can't stand to be in a dark house.  Recently someone posted on social media about using vertical adhesive strips every few inches apart. Apparently lines in the strips alerted birds that there was a barrier there. This sounded promising but we didn't really want to stick anything to the windows.  Someone else posted that they had used beaded curtain beads or something similar so this gave me more ideas. Recently I came across some suncathcher prisms and a light bulb went off. Michael installed the prisms (they hang from a chain) using suction cups but that did not work when they came crashing down the following day. I then put two cup hooks at the top of the window and ran a wire along the top. The prisms are hanging from ...

  Sad but true - the previous record was 1956 with only 0.53 inches of rain recorded for the month of April. I'm not sure what the final tally was for this month but it did not surpass that amount. In fact, it wasn't even close. I find it discouraging and scary but typical for my luck. I move to a region to enjoy a cooler and wetter climate and it starts to change. I know it is all beyond my control so I see no reason to fret over it. The garden actually looks great but of course we water religiously. I try not to think about what this year's water bills will like or the danger of wildfires. For now, I can only enjoy the moment. Some highlights from the garden right now - Peony 'Shima Nishiki'   Pinus contorta 'Spaan's Dwarf'   Norway Spruce ( Picea abies 'Pusch'   Lithodora   Veronica 'Georgia Blue'   Bleeding Heart 'Gold Heart' ( Dicentra )   Cape Lily ( Schizostylis) Podophyllum ' Spotty Dotty' Weeping Redbud ...