Late Summer Garden Update

Won’t you join me in the garden today?

As slowly as 2020 seems to be progressing, the summer is certainly speeding past. I can’t quite get my head around the fact that it’s already late August. There’s a taste of fall in the air. The robins stopped singing weeks ago.

And as always, I don’t want to let summer go.

I’m savoring each day. Greeting each garden visitor with delight, knowing they won’t be here for much longer.

For a while I kept finding so many caterpillars, but one by one they all disappeared. Some, I hope, are hidden away in chrysalises, but I think some were probably eaten.

Before next year I want to figure out a good set-up for raising caterpillars in a protected spot.

One year at the library I worked at in Ohio we raised monarch caterpillars. It was such a joy. For the kids, for the staff.

It’s hard not to feel joyful when you notice a butterfly in the garden or fluttering across the sky. Bees. Hummingbirds. Cicadas. Toads. Grasshoppers. Chickadees. Bluejays… I delight in each of my garden visitors.

Well, not every one.

It’s been a bad year for Japanese beetles. They arrived the week I wrote the post about the roses in my garden and I haven’t had a nice rose flower since.

They also decimated my little plum tree.

And my soybeans. I’ve spotted them on a few other things, but the plum and the roses have been their favorite.

Multiple times a day I pick them off my plants to drown in soapy water. Hundreds and hundreds of them. Matthias became obsessed with helping me. And when my parents came over for lunch on the patio my dad even chipped in. I’m certainly losing steam and have been turning a blind eye these last few days.

I’m grateful there’s so much else they haven’t touched.

In fact my late summer garden is a bit wild. It always is.

A tangle of plants and flowers. Some things completely finished. Some past their prime. Others just coming into stride.

The poppies this year were amazing, but were finished in a flash.

I’m saving seed for next year. And to share. I think I’ll start sending packets of seeds tucked into customers’ orders. Poppies. Calendula.

Bachelor buttons.

The bachelor button plants are looking a little tired, but they keep blooming and blooming.

Such a pretty blue.

I harvested my garlic a couple weeks ago.

And pounce on each tomato as it ripens.

They’re doing well this year. I chose varieties described as well suited to growing in pots and also disease resistant. Blight is such a problem where I live. The tomato pictured above is called Stellar. I’m also growing Roadster, Geranium Kiss and Tasmanian Chocolate. So far I’ve liked the taste of Tasmanian Chocolate the best, but I think the other varieties weren’t quite ripe enough when we ate them. I’m always impatient for tomatoes and mine always seem to ripen late.

We eat out of the garden every day.

I was blown away by how prolific my Cube of Butter yellow zucchini plant has been. I’ve never had much luck growing zucchini in the past. This year I can’t keep up. I’ve made grilled zucchini, stuffed zucchini, ratatouille, fritters, zoodles (spiralized zucchini noodles) and eaten zucchini raw in salads. Have a favorite zucchini recipe? I’d love to hear about it!

In my June garden post I mentioned how well my spinach had been doing. It finished up a while ago, but lettuce, chard, kale… it’s all been great this year. My peppers are the only real disappointment. They’re scrawny and don’t have many fruits. I think the spot they’re in isn’t sunny enough.

My sunniest garden beds are filled with flowers (of course).

I love a jumble of cottage flowers. Cosmos. Zinnias. Sunflowers.

Coneflowers.

The purple flowers are ageratum, a variety called Blue Planet.

Also tucked into that bed are some tulsi plants (aka holy basil). It’s a very healing herb and I planted it to use for tea. It smells delicious whenever I get near.

Being able to engage all of my senses is one of the things I love most about the garden. Anything you can experience with all five senses keeps you present, curious, engaged.

There’s aways something to notice, to discover.

And for me there’s endless inspiration for my art. You might remember this painting,

part of a series inspired by the clematis plants in my garden.

I created a repeating pattern of vining clematis

and entered my design in Spoonflower’s Climbing Vines Wallpaper Design Challenge (voting is going on now. I’d love to have your vote!).

But even more than the inspiration I find in my garden I cherish the peace, the joy, the replenishment to my soul I find in it.

There are always surprises in the garden, too. Mysteries.

Like these resurrection lilies (which I prefer to call by their other name, Naked Ladies, so named because they appear without leaves).

I didn’t plant them. This is our 7th summer in this house and I’ve never seen them here before. What a fun gift from the universe.

I will miss all this when the season shifts and winter returns.

Do you garden? How has your garden been growing? What discoveries have you made lately?