I am so bad about remembering what day it is, and it wasn't until yesterday afternoon that I realized it was October 1 and I hadn't taken my monthly garden photo that morning. And it's a good thing I took it yesterday afternoon, because it started raining last night and it's been raining ever since. So not much blooming in front anymore, just the sedums and a few random phlox and anemones. Yesterday was beautiful, though, and I took advantage of it and got a lot done in the gardens. I cut back all my coreopsis, as it was blackened and ugly, cut back all the coneflowers and rudbeckia, deadheaded roses and zinnias, pulled out some vines gone wild, and various other clean up duties. I need to do something about my sedums, though. I don't like how they are all sprawly instead of standing up straight. I guess I either need to stake them or cut them back earlier in the season so they don't grow so tall. One of my go-to gardening books is Tracy DiSabato-Aust's
The Well Tended Perennial Garden, and she recommends that sedums be cut back by about half when they are 8 inches tall. I do this with several of my perennials to keep them shorter, but need to try it next year with these leggy sedums.
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| Sprawling sedums |
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| Chomp chomp, somebody likes my parsley |
Then I decided to tackle something that has been annoying me all summer--my big blue hydrangea in the backyard. It is so overgrown and I have been reading about what to do. Well yesterday I just decided to go for it, and cut it way down. Pulled out lots of dead wood in the middle. I just hope I haven't killed it. I know I won't get any flowers next summer, but if it comes back in any shape at all and is smaller, I will be okay with that.
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| Hydrangea--Before |
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| Hydrangea--After |
And finally, how about those Nats, our NL East Champs!! Woohoo, we are pretty excited around here!
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