Six on Saturday – 19AUG2023 – On Randomness

Chris Mousseau

Gardening, like life, can be so random, so fraught with unexpected challenges while providing little bits of joy. I have friends in a few parts of Canada who, in the past few days, have had to flee their homes in advance of approaching wildfires. They’re safe, thank goodness, but they don’t know what will be left for them to return to, or even when they’ll be allowed to return. I know the same story has been played out in other parts of the world this summer, with much loss of life as well as property. And it amazes me how, when opinion polls are done before elections, the environment and global warming aren’t top of mind at the ballot box.

My gardening parallel is to wonder (and to be thankful) why I’m fortunate to live in a spot with no fear of fire (this year, anyway, I guess) just as my red rose, Crimson Bouquet, has not been infested with rose sawflies at all while another rose, Friesia, planted about 50 feet away, has been the caterpillar’s favourite treat two years in a row. Another random head-scratcher – why the tomatoes at one end of the kitchen garden look horrible, leaf spot, scraggly, almost dead already, while other tomato plants, grown from seed at the same time etc etc, are much more vigorous.

To bring life and gardening randomness together, the past four or five weeks – mid summer – have been much wetter than normal, and much wetter than officially forecasted. Joining Jim for Six on Saturday, here are six random things from my garden that have been very much enjoying this unexpected wet season.

The afore-mentiond rose, Crimson Bouquet, about to burst into a third wave of red abundance. I didn’t want to embarrass Friesia by taking its picture…
The leaves of my umbrella Magnolia, M. tripetala, are suitably huge this year and the seed pods are starting to ripen.
I love blue globe thistle – Echinops ritro – but I’ve seen it in other gardens so much bigger so I wonder if mine is some dwarf cultivar or if the growing conditions are just that different.
I almost dug out this phlox a few years ago – it normally looks pretty horrible in August because it’s normally so dry. This year, however, it’s blooming with no mildew in sight and foliage fully intact.
Talk about random – these black eyed Susans will pop up all over the place, given half a chance, I certainly didn’t plan for them to show up in the protective embrace of a weeping false cypress beside the driveway.
Number six is this annual Nicotiana. It’s providing some welcome fragrance and movement in the garden. Not hardy here so it won’t get to the heights seen in Fred’s French garden but it’s quite nice anyway.

That’s in for me today – hope everyone has a great weekend. The forecast says nothing but sun and mild temperatures for the next few weeks. We shall see!

22 Comments

  1. I think that the more observant we are as gardeners the more we see that each year some plants thrive while others struggle. My tomatoes got blight as we have had a lot of cool damp weeks, but my beans have thrived in the wet. My sweet peas have struggled all season while other flowers have bloomed.

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  2. Yours is Nicotiana alata I guess when mine is N. sylvestris. Perhaps the difference in size. Otherwise I like a lot of magnolia tripetala and these large leaves.
    You are lucky to live in the south, close to Lake Ontario which gives humidity I suppose and therefore limits the fires (which are dramatic this year…)

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  4. I’m curious about your phlox. Is it a cultivar, or does the species naturally grow that tall? I’m accustomed to phlox being ground-huggers; at least, that’s how our natives behave.

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    1. We have the ground cover phlox as well, which blooms in sprung – P. subulata. I like it because it’s so hardy and disease free, as far as I can tell, and rabbits don’t eat it. The native species is pink but there are various cultivars with other colours.

      There are actually several native phlox here, most notably P. divaricata, which likes woodland sites.

      My tall white one is a cultivar of P. paniculata, probably ‘David,’ which is very popular here as it’s supposed to be disease resistant and fragrant.

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  5. Ms Crimson Bouquet is lovely. I like the leaves of the ☂️ Magnolia! Two Female Monarchs eclosed this morning, from eggs that I watched their mom lay & I brought in for safe keeping. My 5th year raising…other years have had many more eggs to care for.

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      1. I’m very happy to know you’re seeing Monarchs. It’s been very special raising, caring for & taking photos of these beauties.I’ve learned so much! I’ve released 177 Monarchs during the past 5 summers.

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      3. Thank you for sending that link/article…really nice to know that area is there. I’ve documented when I found the eggs…all in my yard, when they eclosed & have so many photos of the caterpillars & of almost all the Monarchs…a very few flew off my hand, so eager to fly, before their photo op. Lots of other notes, too & if male or female. Watching them make a chrysalis & eclosing are highlights!

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    1. I think Mother Nature has been making smaller points for many years, and humans have ignored her. This year it’s hard to ignore. Our response will determine what sort of lives our children and grand children and great grand children have.

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    1. Ugh! I’ve seen pictures of the damage they can do…they haven’t yet discovered my corner but I’ve no doubt one year I’ll look out the window and see skeletal plants swaying in the breeze…

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      1. I am still killing about a dozen a day and hoping that I am killing them before they breed. There seem to be fewer since I added milky spore to the lawn, and my weeping cherry has more branches and leaves, so is tolerating the feeding better – we shall see in Spring if they have been devouring next year’s bud…

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  8. The rose is beautiful Chris. I have an Echinops that stayed small this year after flowering much taller last year, so the long cool spring perhaps? I now wish I had grown Nicotiana this year – pretty!

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