Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, your popular host, Mani the purebred border collie, here today to bring you up to date on all the recent events here. You may remember me from such posts as “Our Modern Lifestyle”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose.
Not much has been happening here, though there has been some excitement. It rained a bit a few days ago, though now we’re going to have a week of dry weather.
Mostly what’s been going on here is a bunch of cleaning up of stuff, which in itself is pretty remarkable. The guy I live with removed three troughs just a few days ago. One of them was broken, and the other two had so few plants left in them that he dug out the plants that were left, then removed all the soil-less mix, and very carefully moved the heavy troughs onto the patio, using a dolly. The two troughs will eventually go to the Chatfield Arboretum, south of here.
What happened was that larger plants flopped over the troughs and so a lot of the trough plants rotted away during all the rain we had earlier.
The other thing, and it was a much bigger deal, was that two weeks ago our trash pickup was missed. The guy I live with was angry at first, and then he realized that the person driving the trash truck might have been new, and since we’re the only ones without a trash container (we just used bags), maybe he should have asked for a container quite a while ago. So he asked for one, and it was delivered. The kind that gets lifted onto the trash truck with a crane sort of thing.
The container is pretty big (96 gallons), so it took up a lot of space in the garage.
The guy I live with decided it was finally time to get rid of the mattress and box springs that have been sitting in the garage for about five years, taking up a lot of space.
The mattress was really old. About 65 years old. Yes, I know.
People came day before yesterday to haul those away, as well as an old wooden cabinet the guy I live with disliked, and some other stuff.
So now there’s a bunch of room for the big trash container. The guy I live with even sometimes goes out into the garage just to look at all this new space.
That’s our big news. The guy I live with said it was very nice to get rid of stuff.
Since this is a gardening blog, sort of, I thought I show show some pictures related to gardening.
This is me, if you couldn’t tell, not paying any attention to Aster oblongifolius. These asters are all over the garden and are flowering now. They don’t need any supplemental irrigation. There are some cowpen daisies, too.
The guy I live with is more interested in the colchicums, which are peaking right now.
There are even more colchicums flowering now, but I thought I would just show these.
The guy I live with has been making cages, covered with window screen, to protect the flowers from being devoured by grasshoppers, who eat the colchicums right down to the ground, even though colchicums are poisonous.
And that’s really it for today. The ancient mattress is gone, the three troughs are gone, and we have colchicums in flower.
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
Asters and colchium are two flowers that I just commented about elsewhere. The asters resemble the tiny flowers of fleabane. No one seems to grow asters here though. Also, colchium is very rare. It is available from nurseries now, but no one seems to know what it is.
Maybe colchicums need a period of cold, though the guy I live with says there are some species from the Middle East that might not.
Oh, I did not consider that. It would make sense though, since several types of bulbs are not reliably perennial with such minimal chill here. Crocus are nice, but bloom less annually until none remain.
Yay! We grow fleabane here, have from the very first. Appreciate the acknowledgement and validation.
In some regions, it is no more of an option than some commonly invasive weeds. I suppose that it would be a weed for anyone who dislikes it, although I know of no one who dislikes it. It grows on stone walls at work. I pull it off when it gets shabby, but the roots remain to regenerate later. It really is quite delightful. It does not get too overgrown, or obscure the walls completely, but provides just enough greenery and bloom to be pretty.
Ours came 38 years ago–or so–on our first garden purchase, a box of Monet’s garden flower seed that Metropolitan Museum of Art offered in the way back.
Alyssum naturalized in my mother’s garden from a packet of ‘California wildflower’ seed that I found in a Better Homes & Gardens magazine in a pharmacy waiting room in about 1976. Alyssum is not exactly a wildflower here, although it easily naturalizes within home gardens. I would not expect fleabane in Monet’s garden any more than I would expect to see alyssum growing as a wildflower here.
It is so satisfying to be able to clear out space – I’m hoping for a similar achievement this fall, as soon as “enough to make it worth it” mass is achieved.
cheers, cici
The guy I live with was going to wait until he got around to draining the waterbed downstairs, but the mattress was taking up too much space in the garage, and creeping him out.
There’s so much stuff to be gotten rid of here. It felt so good to get rid of the mattress that he might keep doing this for a while.
Good job on clearing out the old mattress, cabinet, and troughs. Getting rid of old stuff is a challenge for me. I have all these memories that get attached to things or I think about how I might want to use something someday. Colchicums are up here too, though we don’t have any fancy species or varieties.
The next time, he’s going to get rid of some things that will definitely make him feel weird to do so.
Maybe someone in the neighborhood will take all the cinder blocks that the troughs stood on.
The guy I live with says Daffodils and More is a good source for colchicums. Very nice owner, and good prices. Probably too late for this year, though.
We’ll take the cinder blocks–just ship ’em!
The guy I live with said if you want to pay postage, then sure. (Lol.)
THE Asterss are so tall Mani An THE Colchiumss are speck-taculur two!!!!
HURRAH fore Guy cleerin out THE troffss an then gettin garbage bin an then sortin thru’ stuff an havin it taken away!
THE mattress was 65 yeerss old??? WOW! BellaSita Mum’ss bed was bott inn 1993 so that meenss it iss 30 yeerss old….mee thott THAT was old!!! Guy beet BellaSita Mum’ss record!
An BellaSita sayss shee nose THAT “AH” feelin when you get rid of stuff not beein used or takin up space an then there IS space an it feelss guud.
Hu’manss are furry innterestin aren’t they Mani?
You look wunderfull inn yore fotoss, speshelly beein on THE chair all cute an reelaxed!
***nose rubss*** BellaDharma an (((hugss))) BellaSita Mum
Pee S: Happy Autumm to youss’!!!!!
Thanks. Yes, the mattress was made before ZIP codes came into use. The tag said something like “Saint Louis 4, Missouri”. The springs kept popping out and the holes were covered with duct tape. (Did you know the real name of that tape is “duck tape” because it was originally made with cotton duck backing?)
The asters are nice but there are an awful lot of them.
Beefore Zippy Codess Mani??? That ISS old rite?
BellaSita looked up Duct/Duck Tape an leerned alot! Thanx fore tellin us this kewl fact!
Wee ADOOR Asterss…..THE more THE merrier! Mew mew mew……
You’re welcome. The duck tape thing is pretty funny.
Before ZIP codes is a long time ago.
BellaSita has postie cardss from THE early 60’ss an there are NO Zippy Codes on them! That was a l-o-n-g time ago fore sure Mani!
It really was a long time ago.
Love the autumn crocus. Such a contrast to the oranges and gold of autumn.
The guy I live with says that people call colchicums autumn crocuses but they aren’t. Crocuses have three stamens and are in the iris family, colchicums have six stamens and are in their own family, and are poisonous. I know to stay away from them.
He also said he would like more rain, to encourage the crocuses which flower after the colchicums. This next weekend looks okay for that.
Thank you for bringing this novice some clarity. I was completely unaware of the distinction.
You’re welcome. Saffron comes from Crocus sativus, a sterile clone developed (probably) for superior saffron production. You can get the corms at most garden centers. They need to be watered right away. Like soaked in water for an hour, and then planted and watered more. (Just the first year.) The leaves are formed in autumn and will be fine over the winter, unless rabbits find them.
There are other autumn-flowering species of crocus which produce saffron, but it’s not the same quality as C. sativus.
“Clone” because all the corms are repoduced vegetatively not from seeds.
Mani, dear dog, your portrait at post end is gorgeous; possibly because you are gorgeous, but the surroundings too. Our trash pickup was moved from Thursday to Friday, but the truck ignores our stop. My husband has low-key conversations with the company each week. Don’t know about the troughs, but that mattress–I can feel relief from here.
Thanks.
The guy I live with was super upset with the trash company, and then realized it was partly his fault, not asking for a container a long time ago. Everyone else has one, but he’s had the same company since he and his wife moved into this house, and the containers are a relatively new thing.
The mattress was pretty ridiculous. Low-slung, if you get my meaning, since the springs did almost nothing, but on the other hand the guy I live with said it was easy for elderly dogs to climb up on the bed, which is super important of course.
With the new bed, which is higher, the guy I live with said he would build a little staircase for me when it became hard for me to get on the bed.
Mani, ask Himself: I note how well colchcums are doing with you. Here, southeast Ireland, some do less well and I am wondering if they prefer dry summer/dormant conditions followed by the rains of autumn. Our summer soil is rarely dry and I feel this does not suit them. Similarly, Galanthus reginae olgae and its cultivars will not endure in our summer conditions but to well in pots in the glasshouse where I keep them dry all summer. A box of colchicums is about to arrive so I am considering their planting positions.
The guy I live with says that’s an interesting question. A very well-known expert on bulbs from The Netherlands told the guy I live with that the reason why the clumps of ‘Innocence’ looked so good here, not falling over etc., is that they were getting the amount of sun they really needed. But just how dry the conditions are in summer is anybody’s guess, really, because no one ever mentions it. People only go to see colchicums when they’re in flower, and not in summer, when they can’t be found, except maybe by the dried leaves everywhere.
The guy I live with said he’s pretty sure the habitat of Galanthus reginae-olgae is very dry in summer, but gardeners do grow this in the eastern U.S., which certainly doesn’t have dry summers the way we understand them. The habitat description of G. bursanus mentions “xerophytic” shrubs, and yet people grow this, too.
It’s kind of a mystery.
The RHS “Colchicum, The Complete Guide” suggests a well-drained site. Presuming it was written with British conditions in mind – a little drier than those in Ireland – it seems I should plant them in the drier parts of our garden. Some have certainly struggles (disappeared!) in damper areas. Galanthus reginae olgae and G. bursanus fade away in a season or two in the open garden here.
The guy I live with is always weirded out by “well-drained”. Especially “moist but well-drained”, which he says means that it’s always raining. Otherwise the water would drain away and it would be dry.
It’s a challenge to find the right place for a lot of plants, especially here, since most of the garden you see in pictures, on this side of the hedge of useless lilacs, is raised beds of one sort or another. Different soil mixes etc.