Joy's Garden Patch

It’s been a week since our trip to Maine and the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay. Even as we unpacked the suitcases, gave friends and neighbors mementoes of Maine, maple syrup being the standard gift, I find myself drifting back to the gardens we left behind.

Among the 248-acre Botanical Gardens, now New England’s largest botanical garden, there’s the spectacular Lerner Garden of the Five Senses and the Bibby and Harold Alfond Children’s Garden. We showcased those areas last week.

Outstanding landscape design can be found throughout the grounds in an almost endless array of garden rooms. The Giles Rhododendron and Perennial Garden shows best in early spring. The Birch Allée is a year-round quiet slip of a trail where the breeze and birds are the only things you’ll hear on your stroll. There’s also the Rose and Perennial Garden, along with the Cleaver Event Lawn and Garden. The Shoreland Trail is a beautiful walk within the pines, alongside moss-covered rock ledge on one side and serene waterfront views on the other.

The Vayo Meditation Garden is also a wonder. The massive, carved stone basin is the centerpiece for this garden, a place of rest and introspection.  Numerous carved pieces using Maine granite contribute to the aesthetics. 

This week I’ve posted pictures of the Vayo Meditation Garden, the Burpee Kitchen Garden, the Shoreland Trail, and a few of the head-turning, eclectic sculptures thoughtfully placed throughout the gardens. Again, the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens have year-round events, garden workshops, fun and educational programs.

The Lost Lady Bug Project: The number of ladybugs is, for some unknown reason, declining in the United States and North America. Contact The Lost Lady Bug Project to see how you can help in the hope that the phenomenon can be studied and better understood. Details and photo requirements can be found on the Lost Ladybug website.

In the Veggie Patch: Has this season’s weather seemed extreme to you? Good grief. One heat wave after another, then all the rain —it might have been enough to give my tomatoes a case of “the splits” and end-blossom blight.

On the other hand, cukes have been prolific breeders; the way squash usually behaves. I’d like to say I’ve been picking a lot of squash and zucchini. That’s not the case. The plants looked fabulous for a time; I harvested a couple of zucchini. Then another hot spell followed by torrential rains, and after all that drama, the zucchini got a virus of some sort. It got black mold on the leaves, which moved on to the heart of the plant. It finally gave up and died. Then whatever virus it had, suddenly found its way to the squash. Those plants died. By the way, this zucchini, before it bit the dust, was the best tasting I have ever had.

As it happened, a neighbor soon came by to ask if, perchance, I would like a zucchini. Would I?  She showed me her healthy garden, and the aforementioned zucchini. They were as big as baseball bats! I took the smaller almost foot-long monster, and left her with the enormous zucchini that should be entered into the North Haven Fair in September.

Another very pretty local garden was the one I found at Rosewood, here in town, on Hartford Turnpike. I discovered a community garden there. The gardeners at the condos are doing a great job growing herbs, flowers, peas, beans, onions and lots of tomatoes. I’ve posted pictures for you to see.

Oma Tike Tip: Keep deadheading and watering. Your perennials need you more than ever in the heat of August. Water deep, use a little fish or compost tea to boost container plants, and deadhead. All of this helps to keep the bloom on your flowers as we go into September.

Events:
August 15:  CT Chapter of the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) Workshop at Massaro Farm in Woodbridge.

August 21: 2011 CHS Garden Tour, Redding and Bethel, (All season color, deer resistant plants)

August 30:  Annual Tour at Elizabeth Park, Hartford

From the Garden Bookbag:

Oma Tike’s Pick: “The Random House Book of Vegetables,” by Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix, Random House

Just about any and every vegetable you can grow in your garden is in this book. To go along with the many color photographs, there’s important historical info, a number of different varieties of a featured veggie and growing and planting information.

Joy’s Pick: “Color in Garden Design,” by Sandra Austin, Taunton Books

Before I die I would like to learn about color. For instance, I still have a tough time trying to figure out how to make the color brown. I know, I know: blue, yellow and red. Yes? I know what I like when I plant things in my garden. However, it would be nice to understand color design, color theory and what color combinations work and why.  Sandra’s book is really well-written and not at all intimidating for those of us who are sometimes inept at the whole color wheel thing.

Next Week’s Column:  Plant for Fall; Windowboxes; Events; Bookbag