When bad things happen to good gardens...and other woes

The symmetry and beauty of flowers does a lot to calm us when we're in the middle of turmoil. I love nigella, and this white one does a great deal to just make me feel better about life in general. Although Hurricane Bill wasn't so much of an event, it did manage to make a mess in the garden. And this has been the week of electronic tantrums, too.

My digital SLR camera is acting up so it's on its way to the shop to be cleaned and checked over. That's annoying enough, but the real fun was Sunday morning when I went to wake up Oggy, my MacBook Pro laptop...and there was no video. Turned out that there was shortly afterwards no computer activity at all, because the motherboard had fried. THREE HUGE CHEERS, however, for my Applecare Extended warranty, which replaced the motherboard that would otherwise have cost over $1000.00 Canadian.

A public service announcement to those with Intel-based Mac laptops: apparently, the fans that are supposed to keep the computer cool aren't set high enough (at least in older ones like Oggy). However, there is a small, free program called sncFAnControl that you can download and install, which controls the fan RPMs. I do not know if this is an issue with new laptops, but ask your Apple technician if you have concerns. Mine is certainly running much cooler since its new motherboard and this program were installed. Hopefully my electronic storms are over with! It's no fun trying to read or write blogs on an iPhone, and my hubby's old computer just makes me cranky. Spoiled, that's me!


Back to the story of the garden. Not-really-hurricane Bill did bring a LOT of rain and wind, but the most annoying thing was that the wind changed direction a few times, and managed to create a greatly disheveled garden. Happily, the coneflowers weren't damaged, just made to lean a little, which I've since corrected with a few bamboo stakes and some plant velcro.


To reward me for my labours, 'Mac n Cheese' has really gotten its colour, and sure does look like that particular dish. 'Tiki Torch is in the process of opening, but we're having post-tropical Danny here today so it's bleak and rainy.


Inula (sometimes called Elecampane) is an odd plant, a relative of sunflowers and coneflowers, and a shy, retiring little fellow--regularly reaching well over six feet tall in our garden. It was a staple of Acadien potager gardens, but I have yet to find out definitively why. It was apparently used to treat as diverse ailments as sciatica and colds. Whatever the case, I like the plant's stature and flowers, and it's in a spot where it can get as tall as it wishes.


We grow a fair number of clematis, which do well here because the soil is clay and well mulched, so the roots get the 'cool feet' that they want, while the rest of the plant gets the 'warm head' part of the equation. This species regularly stretches up ten feet (and would go higher if the trellis was taller.


Being a digital shot, the photo looks more purple than the wine the flowers really are.

The little yellow-flowered C. tangutica is still flowering--and growing--profusely. Not as showy as some of its counterparts, but I love the seedheads, which hang on til well into late autumn unless the wind beats them off.



This is Clematis integrifolia 'Caerulea', one of my favourites. Some allow it to ramble across rock walls, but we have ours more or less on an obelisk, (where it has grapevines and a rambunctious rudbeckia relative keeping it company.

Late summer means that the Brazilian vervain (V. bonariensis) is in bloom. I'm going to make carefully where mine are, and not disturb the ground around them in spring, so that they'll reseed. Mine are seedlings given to me by a friend (and much beloved because they're a favourite flower of butterflies, too).

The helenium is also flowering where its in full sun. Other plants, that are in more shade and also taller species, won't be coming on for a little while yet.

Although the monarda is still enthusiastically blooming, and was unphased by the winds, I think that our hummingbirds have packed up and left. Maybe they read about post-tropical Danny, which has brought rain today and possibly wind later. NO matter. It's a good day to catch up on my blog reading. The garden work can wait til a drier day.