Mason County Garden Club Flower Show 2023

The Mason County Garden Club hosts a standard flower show every two years, and even though I was gone for 18 months, I managed to not miss one!

For a small club, I think they do a really good job with the shows. They found a larger venue for this one, too. Today, I'll just give you a sort of overview. The first two pictures are simply attractive plant-y decor that welcomed people as they came in the door.

Then you entered the main room. You may recall from all my posts about the Philadelphia Flower Show (and two previous Mason County ones) that the primary focus of a "standard flower show" is competition. This is where all the horticultural exhibits were. Think something like the county fair for 4-H.

I don't fully understand the categories, but one of them was "From the Ground Up," which had bulbs, corms, rhizomes and tubers in it. Within that category, there was a whole row of tuberous begonia entries. Today, I'll just show the line-up to give you an idea of the variety of entries, colors, etc. What I don't understand is if all these begonias would be judged against, say, a single iris (which wouldn't be blooming in July, but just "if.") which would fit in the same category.

Flowering Trees and shrubs included Hydrangeas. The white ones seemed to be organized separately from the colored ones. Here's the white row.

It's July, so there were a lot of lilies.

There were whole categories for just foliage. There were ferns, conifers, and hosta. Look at the range of sizes and colors of hosta!

Another room had photography and educational displays, and the third room had things like I show you all the time from Philadelphia- place settings, small niches, etc. I don't know if a small club chooses from a list of the categories they want to offer for competition. Obviously a small group can't have entries like the front porches, outdoor offices, etc that the Convention Center has room for. Not to mention that a small club needs to come up with a viable number of entries in each category.

There is plenty of good material here for a couple more days of blog posts. I'll probably show you some winners tomorrow, and then some of my favorites after that.

For a parting shot, here's the blue ribbon entry in "A Season in the Sun" Flowering Annuals. I think maybe a subcategory of one species in a planter or something. This is a New Guinea Impatiens. Stunning!

In other news, I got "in the zone" on one of my priority projects and worked hard on that all day. That means I didn't move around very much, so I'm a bit stiff. I better switch off with some gardening again tomorrow, but I always feel that if I'm really in a mood to work on something I'm supposed to be doing, I should take full advantage of that!

See MCGC Show 2021

Plant Profile- Cocklebur or Clotbur

I'm still hunting for the picture I really want to show you. Meanwhile, I found these.

This is most of the rest of the life cycle of Common Cocklebur or Clotbur, Xanthium strumarium. (Link below about the seeds) There's discussion on whether it's native to Eurasia and was brought here or the other way around! I don't have pictures of the flowers yet, which are moderately interesting, so you may see this plant again.

At any rate, it's not a plant many people are going to like. Here's what a roadside covered with it looks like before it blooms.

The leaves are rather distinctive. A few other plants look similar, but it's pretty easy to identify. Here they are closer. Similar leaves might be: Coltsfoot, but they are short and not branched, Sycamore, but that's a tree, Velvetleaf, which has large leaves but not as lobed.

The stem is streaked, so I'm a little surprised the word "maculatum" isn't in the name. So how about the name? The binomial name is always so much easier to remember if you know what it means. So Xanthos is Greek for yellow. I knew that, but there's nothing on this plant that's yellow. Well! They used this plant to dye their hair yellow! Another source says the seedpods turn from green to yellow, but the first idea comes from Miriam-Webster which seems more reliable. Strumarium is supposedly a "cushion-like swelling," apparently referring to the rounded form of the seed pods.

Animals die from eating this plant, as it causes liver failure. Farmers sure don't want to see it growing in their pastures. It's not so good for humans either. Supposedly it's been used medicinally, but people who eat it often die.

As if that weren't enough, once it forms the seedpods, it's no fun either. These are nasty seedpods, with hooks like burdock but much stiffer. It's actually painful to pick these up.

It's a novelty to find this plant, but it's no treat.

In other news, we had an inch of rain overnight, and then thunder and wind in the morning. Consequently, I worked inside. I kept busy all morning, but I wasn't doing anything that is a priority. I did get my act together in the afternoon and worked hard on a priority project. Also dug up some more autumn olive. Maybe one or two more sessions of that and I can finish the mowing (I don't work on the olive for very long at a time. It's hard and nasty work. It has thorns.)

See Cocklebur Seeds

Rock Garden Report 6

I was hoping to have the new sections all created before reporting again, but that's not happening any time soon. I need to bring up more rocks, and I've decided that I need logs for the steep part of the edge. I'm "fishing" for some junk logs from my friends. Here's the current staus with the standard view for comparison.

Nevertheless, I've made a ton of progress. And I've got almost everything weeded for the second time, which makes it look a whole lot better. I've ripped out a lot of the purple geranium, but I'll be battling that forever. It has an impressive root system that invades everything. If anyone wants some, let me know! Here's the view from the deck. Even though it still looks like a lot of bare dirt, I think you can tell it's cleaner dirt. And maybe more organized dirt!

You might remember I said I had thought of two plants I could use instead of the one I bought that was so unhappy. (That has been moved to more shade and it's looking quite nice). These are for the top of the rock garden, and I'm willing for plants to be a little taller in that top teir. I was able to find both of the ones I wanted locally, and both on clearance! I've had success with both of these in my soil before. The ones I had finally died from neglect, but not because they were unhappy.

This is Blanket Flower, Gaillardia pulchella, 'Arizona Sun.' It should spread out to fill that space, but even this year it is happily blooming with more buds. Sale table.

The other one I got for the top row is Lamb's Ear, Stachys byzantina. There are a bunch of cultivars, but I don't think this is a special one. It will get spikes with light purple flowers, but it's mainly grown for the foliage. It will also tolerate the full sun. Remember the post I did in North Dakota about white plants? This was a kinda sad 4" pot, and it's looking happier already.

The 'Lime Twister' sedum hybrid is making me so happy I bought another one, this time at half price, and covered with buds. Hooray for end-of-season sales. This one is going to bloom. The first one is very happy, but it might not bloom this year. Again, this is one of those SunSparkler hybrids.

The is another of the sedums I bought early after I started weeding. It's Sedum pluricaule 'Ezawe.' It's very low growing, and likes to trail down things. It hasn't been looking very happy, but it's starting to perk up. I put half in the garden (this picture) and the other half is still on the porch waiting for a space. I wanted to be sure this one was going to make it before I put out the rest.

I'm extremely happy with this one. Sedum takesimense 'Atlantis.' I was not familiar with that species name, but it's the new name for kamtschaticum. That makes sense, since it grows in that pattern. I'm showing it again, because look at the center of the new growth. It starts out as a little salmon rose before spreading to make new leaves with the bi-colors. It seems happy where I put it (getting new growth, duh), and I really love it. I also got it on sale, but pretty far from home, and they were almost out. I'm not going to drive all that way, but I hope I can find another next year, or that this one spreads enough to split.

Finally for today, I'll show you a Sempervivum Betsy gave me. The variety is 'Oddity,' and it's very, very cool. It looks a lot like 'Gollum's Fingers' which is a jade plant not a Sempervivum, and not hardy, but it has those thick rolled leaves. She gave me two rosettes, and I put them in two places. Both seem happy.

OK, I lied. One more picture. I don't mind having non-succulents in the rock garden. It's just that there aren't too many other low plants that will tolerate the really hot sun. However, I was a sucker for this Dianthus (Pink), variety 'Kohari,' at half price for a big pot. It was on clearance because it was sad. I trimmed it up, and look what it's doing for me now. It's really nice to have some color in this expanse of still mostly bare dirt.

This is more than enough plants for today. I do have a few that aren't happy at all. Those stupid starlings pulled up a few things. Two of them seem to be recovering from being replanted, but not another. The "black buttons" plant is a goner, I think. It said "full sun" on the tag, but o well... I'm spending too much money, even with getting things on sale, but so far, I still have grocery money too, so... who cares, right?

I spent today as yesterday, alternating writing with gardening. The weather was absolutely perfect!

See Rock Garden Report 5

Birdbath Wars

I've been getting a real kick out of watching the birds in the birdbath. Today this one flew in and settled down for a real bath.

You need to keep in mind that these pictures are taken through a (very) dirty window, and I can't see details until I clean the pictures up later. I originally thought this was a starling.

In a few moments, a robin showed up. I didn't get any pictures of the best scene. The robin divebombed the dark bird and there was a tussle with screeching, but the robin did not get possession of the birdbath. You can see what the combatents thought of each other.

Pretty soon, the robin backed off and just sat on the porch rail as if it were waiting in line for its turn.

The robin flew off and the brown bird casually finished its bath. So, when I could really see these pictures... it's not a starling, it's a juvenile robin! Maybe the adult robin is not its parent? Maybe the adult robin has decided the juvie is grown up enough that it needs to learn how to share? Interesting questions.

This year, the birdbath has for sure been used by phoebes, starlings, the robins, a downy woodpecker, and quite a few of these guys. This is probably a house finch, but it's pretty hard to tell them from purple finches.

I alternated between working on the gardens and writing. A good and productive day.

See Phoebe on Birdbath

Best Pictures of February 2022

I went through the pictures I took from February 2022. I'm beginning to percolate ideas for the new program I need to put together. I also checked on getting permission to use a song I would like. Not happening. The cheapest plan is $1000. There are other options, but I thought I might as well check.

From Febraury 2022, I've chosen what I think are the 10 best pictures to share. I am calling them "best," not because they necessarily tell the story best, but because I think they are simply the best actual photographs. I've left them full size, so you can click on them and see them larger. That always makes photos look better.

They are chronological, so don't try to develop any meaning to the order! The are all Ohio. You may remember that Ohio was l-o-n-g.

This one is the farm of one of our favorite host families, Jeff and Kathy Crisler.

Denali hiking through the winter landscape.

And some winter landscape. There was a lot of it!

The focus isn't perfect on this, but I'm still pretty happy with it. I'm amazed that I caught the moment and that it's fairly good. A red-shouldered hawk.

This was the morning of stunning ice and blue sky. OK, you can see that for yourself. But it was hard for the camera to see the sparkles.

This one is more subtle, but I like the colors and textures, and the shaded halves of the tree trunks. Shawnee State Forest, I think. Near it, anyway.

Honeycombed rock is everywhere in Ohio. It needs the contrast with some sharp angles to make it stand out.

Next, we have water in the mill race at Stockport.

This is the back of a drying mushroom. No clue what one.

This is the Devil's Bathtub at Hocking Hills. Notice the waterfall, bottom left.

I did shopping and a bunch of errands in the morning, then my energy sort of ran out. I still did stuff in the afternoon, but nothing too physical.

See Best Pictues of January 2022