Hi everybody, sorry to leave you all hanging for so long, but I've been recuperating from all the cuts I received a week ago, while tying up my ornamental grasses!

Not really, but I did manage to get quite a few cuts, doing this and other weekend chores. You see, I remembered to wear protective gloves while tying up the grasses. However, I did not remember to wear long sleeves! So I must stress to the rest of you, if you're planning to tie up your grasses, rather than cutting them back for the winter, make sure you wear proper protection. The fine blades of the grass can wreak havoc on your skin. And while it doesn't sound that bad, imagine 20-30 little paper cuts all up and down your arms!
Anyway, I choose to tie up my grasses rather than cut them back. Either option will not harm the grasses in any way (it's pretty difficult to kill grass). I like the way they look throughout the fall and into the winter. And as I've stated before, in the spring when I do cut them back, I save the cuttings, tie them together, store them in the shed and viola, come fall I have unique decorations for the front of my house.

As pictured here, they are a economical/ecological way to decorate, instead of buying corn husks.

Over this past weekend, I managed to get a few things on my To Do list done. Like cleaning up the leaves on the patio - this has become a regular chore over the last month. It seems like the dynamics of my patio make for a perfect gathering place for leaves ... so every weekend I go out with my handy-dandy Black & Decker leaf machine and suck them up. With three dogs, I get plenty of leaves inside the house as well, and it all goes into the compost pile with grass clippings from the lawn. The combination of green matter and brown matter makes for a good base for next year's compost. (Of course, I'm still hoping for a good yield of compost, after failing miserably the last two seasons.)
And the leaves don't just end up on the patio ... the pond is full of them too. So Saturday it was time to get the net out! I hate getting the net out, it's my last admission of defeat (that the summer's really over), but it had to be done or the fish wouldn't have any room to swim! Anyway, in preparation for covering the pond, the summer pond plants had to be removed as well. So that means the canna and black taro got taken out to die back from the cold nights, and then placed in the basement to hibernate till next year. The net tends to confuse the frogs too.

Black Taro
And since my neighbors have left for their winter home in Florida and covered their pond already, I have more frogs to tend to. So I can't completely cover my pond, or the frogs wouldn't be able to get in or out. It usually takes a couple of days to figure out exactly where they are comfortable jumping in/out, so I can leave that end a little open. Every now and then over the years, I find a frog early in the morning sitting in the middle of the net, confused, cold and in need of rescue!
Still have to plant the dward rhododendrons my previous neighbors left me when they moved a couple months ago ... time's running out. And I still haven't planted my precious Allium bulbs yet. If you still have any perennials, bulbs or shrubs left to plant, get them in the ground ASAP. Especially since last night we actually had frost.
And most important (because I've been forgetting this one too) WATER! This month's lack of rain has not been kind to our plant life. Especially for any new plantings, get out and water! Just because summer flowering season is over, don't forget your plants still need water ... I can't stress this enough. Water early in the day, if possible, since the temperature has been dipping at night, it's not a good idea to wait until near dusk to water. You wouldn't want to be out there at night all wet ...

OK, so last night I got things square with the waterfall. Hopefully, it will hold for the rest of the week. Time to clean out all the leaves that have accumulated at the bottom before they clog up the works!

Anyway, since my gardening is slowing down for the season, I thought I'd share some regional gardening tips for our area from the National Home Gardening Club.

With shorter days and cooler temperatures, September is a transitional period in the garden. Many annuals are on their last legs, and perennials need some care before the thermometer drops.
*Add ornamental grasses to the fall perennial garden. They add texture, color, and sound to the landscape and provide winter shelter for wildlife.

*Fall is the perfect time to plant new perennials. The warm soil and cooler temperatures let them establish strong roots before winter and get a head start on spring growth.
*Stop fertilizing perennials, roses, and shrubs. It will stimulate delicate new growth that will be damaged by winter's cold. Wait until next spring.

*Buy spring bulbs early for planting in October. Garden centers and mailorder catalogs have the best selections now.
*Keep gardens tidy. When veggies have finished, remove the plants and other debris. Unkempt gardens are favorite winter hiding places for disease and pests.
*Watch the weather. Know your first frost date, but remember it's only an average. Mother Nature loves to surprise us. Harvest produce and protect tender plants before the first frost hits. Don't forget your houseplants this time of year; prepare them for returning indoors by gradually moving them into outdoor shade for a bit longer each day. Carefully inspect the foliage and soil for gnats, thrips, and spider mites before bringing plants in for the winter.

For more information or to join the National Home Gardening Club visit http://www.gardeningclub.com/Main/default.aspx

OK, I'm back from vacation, and I'm always amazed at how much my garden seems to grow while I'm away.
I spend time every day tending to various aspects of my garden. I'm happy to do it. It's very therapeutic and I enjoy seeing the plants grow and bloom or produce veggies. But sometimes it's like watching paint dry ...
Before I go on vacation, I always trim things up, make sure the last plants are planted, finally finish mulching and water and fertilize everything again.
Although every vacation is a great getaway, there's no place like home, and I look forward to seeing what's been happening in the garden. And I'm never disappointed. Everything seems to have grown a lot this time ... the pond's overcome with water hyacinths and lillypads. (I'm happy to report that the waterfall's just fine.)
My dad's on "pond watch" while I'm away, feeding the fish, and making sure things runs smoothly. So he couldn't help himself and already cleaned the new waterfall filter twice. "You can't believe how much easier it is than the old filter," he told me over the phone. "Dad, the new filter's not supposed to need cleaning for a couple of weeks," I said.
"Yeah, but I just wanted to see how difficult it was and it's not at all!" he gleamed.
The ornamental grass has gotten taller. New spikes are coming out of the top of the ravena grasses. The butterfly bushes are starting to bloom. The hydrangeas are blooming. The annual salvias have returned among the stones in the path. I haven't planted annual salvias in at least three years, but they must re-seed themselves and keep coming back each year. I even have petunias coming up through the bricks in the patio. They must have re-seeded out of the planter pots I had there last year. That's the "cool" thing about a mild winter ... sometimes annuals come back.
And it's time to prune my wave petunias, a chore that I don't look forward too. Everything I read says that it's perfectly fine to cut them back. It promotes more blooms. But that hasn't exactly been my luck over the years. They are definitely getting too leggy now, but I know once I cut them back it'll be weeks before they bloom again. I just can't win with them!
On a brighter note, the first veggies have been harvested out of the garden ... we have a few cherry tomatoes, the first Early Girl tomato, four zucchini and six cucumbers! Yes, I love to have fresh vegetables in the summer. Soon we'll be making our own bruschetta and cucumber salad. I already made some zucchini bread, and we recently dined on zucchini "crab" cakes.
Before leaving on vacation, I declared that my 2008 Planting Season was officially over ... I spoke too soon. I bought a few new plants on vacation, and yesterday I had to stop at Lowe's to get gravel for a new pond plant I bought ... and there by the check out stood racks of plants marked "Clearance." Well, you know, I couldn't pass that by without a look. So I got some elephant ears ($1.99), a lonely lime green hosta ($1.49), lantana ($2.49) and a few more geraniums (all under $1), because, you know, I can't pass up a bargain.
Remember, there's still a lot of good stock out there, just be sure to check the roots before buying. And when planting these late buys, definitely break up the root ball so the roots don't continue growing in the shape of the pot they've been kept in.
So now that I'm back, there's lots to share ... I tell you about the new plants I got at Rehoboth Beach, plus the unexpected visitor on one of them, my lillies, salvias, ferns, hostas, the parrot boat and, best of all, the triumphant return of Flamingos to my nighttime landscape!

Just a quick note to everyone... HGTV had an interesting show on last night -- "25 Biggest Landscape Mistakes".

If you missed it, you can get the tips at HGTV.com/landscapemistakes

Check it out, it's pretty insightful if you're just starting out or even if, like me, you already have an established landscape. I must admit, I'm guilty of at least 7 of them. We'll get into that later ...

Oops, I misidentified one of my grasses in a previous blog last week. The Maiden Grass I claimed grew to have 12-ft. plumes was actually Ravena Grass. Maiden Grass doesn't get bigger than 5-6 ft. I don't have any Maiden Grasses, but the Ravena Grass in full plumage is truly a sight to behold!

Here it is from a previous year's garden. It's the tall grass to the immediate right of the lighthouse.

This past weekend was perfect weather for getting out and doing some spring cleaning in the garden.
Sorry I haven't blogged for a few days, but I've been busy. Saturday and Sunday were spent cutting down ornamental grasses, gathering fallen tree limbs (cutting and bundling, some for kindling and the rest for trash pick-up today), raking old mulch and leaves from flower beds bursting with spring bulbs and early perennials, tending the compost pile, and cutting back the butterfly bushes. After spending the winter inside looking out the window, dreaming of summer's colorful blooms, it sure felt good to get back out and into the dirt!
I mentioned my ornamental grasses above, and in case you were thinking of adding some to your garden, I can't recommend them enough! These hardy plants are perfect for people without a green thumb. They thrive in just about any area - full sun, partial or shade. And they come in all different sizes and colors!
My personal faves are Zebra or Porcupine grass (mine get about 7 ft. tall, not counting the plumes), Maiden grass (plumes to 12 ft.), Fountain grass (3 ft.), Silver grass (3 ft.) and Japanese Blood grass (just over a foot). I'm hoping to get a new variety called Northern Lights grass this year. It is yellow-orange in color and gets about 2 feet tall. I'll be checking my local garden centers for this one!
Grasses look great in the summer, some change color in the fall, and they're even pretty in the winter. Some people cut back their grasses in the fall, but I like to leave them up until spring. They add a beach feel to my yard even when covered with snow.
And when I do finally cut them down, this year using hedge-clippers (thanks for the idea Dad), I save the taller ones. They get bundled up with twine and stored in the shed over the summer. When the time comes to decorate for fall, I get them out and use them like corn stalks for decorating the front of my house. They look great and it's another way to recycle yard refuse. In November, they get chopped up and put on the compost pile, only to be recycled back into the flower beds the next spring!
More on those butterfly bushes later.
A quick update: I decided to wait to plant my perennial geraniums until May, storing them in the vegetable crisper in my fridge. As you can see, the weather is just too predictable right now.