Children of the Corn: Summer Garden Walk & Heavy Veggie Harvests

Big Picture Time

Before we dive into the details of What’s New in the Garden I want to take a moment to step back and appreciate the yard from afar. We’ve had some opportunities to zoom in and admire the intricacies in the past few weeks through macrophotography, but that is not how we usually see the garden. For Sara and I, these pictures are a better representation of what we observe in our evening garden walks.

The front face of the house is a stunning display of foliage textures and bloom colors right now. As we transition from spring to summer, the Gladiolus are the rockstars of the front beds. We’re only about halfway through their blooming period, so there’s a diverse selection of colors on their towering (some of them over 6 feet!) stalks. Below the glads, the Caladiums have had their best year ever. The front bed has always been challenging for these shade loving plants as it gets FULL morning sun, but they seem to have adapted well this year. Above the glads we have the ten hanging baskets filled with Kimberly Fern, Potato Vine, Coleus, and Dahlias.

Rounding the corner as the bed wraps around the north side of the house we see one of the most spectacular views on our walks. From this perspective, the Elephant Ear anchors the bed, the Gladiolus stalks all align, and the hanging baskets form an orderly line.

In the backyard, the vegetable garden is really taking shape. From this angle (a view from our back porch) there is a LOT of action to observe. We have a full row of luscious Pepper plants, homemade cages with young Eggplant, scattered around are mature Squash plants, the Bush Beans are nearly ready, the Corn is starting to show its tassels, the Tomatoes have outgrown their cages, a newly installed arched trellis will soon be filled with Black Eyed Susan, and more! In the background, the Live Oak is covered in Resurrection Fern and dappled with hanging Dragon Wing Begonias.

Heavy Harvests

Speaking of vegetables, this week was a serious time for vegetable (and cut flower) harvesting!

We picked our first red(ish) Tomatoes this week and put them to use immediately! Within an hour of being picked, these juicy scarlet tomatoes were sliced and perched atop a thick burger.

After weeks of small harvests of Potatoes each night for dinner, we dug out all of the remaining plants to make room for the next round of new plants! We pulled an impressive 24 pounds of spuds from the raised bed which has been their home for the past few months. These have since been washed and stored away for use throughout the summer. As one thing fades, another comes in to take its place. Taking up after the potatoes are some fresh Zucini Squash which has started to bear fruit. These go great with summer squash and sausage, sautéed down for a quick easy dinner.

Not to be outdone, the cut flowers have continued to provide us a continuous harvest of mesmerizing blooms. This week our kitchen island is crowned by an arrangement of deep purple Dahlias and a mix of Zinnias.

Heavy Hitters

Speaking of Dahlias and Zinnias, next up on the garden tour are the heavy hitters!

The Zinnia blooms are continuing to accelerate! As you can tell from the full vase above, we cannot cut these flowers fast enough! Also, despite the heavy rains we have experienced this week, not a single Zinnia stalk has snapped, which is more than the Dahlias and Gladiolus can say (Check out the first picture in this post to see a few Gladiolus victims)!

Speaking of Gladiolus, we have a lot of new colors this week! The reds were present last week but have really opened up this week! The peach is new and is next on the list of colors to enter their prime time! Also, we have a very unexpected early entrance of a white bloom! These are usually the last color to come out, but this one stalk decided now is his time!

The Dahlias also have a new entrant this week! In a nice contrast to the existing deep purple Dahlias, these pale pink blooms provide a bright pop in this area of the garden. These Dahlias are also a departure from the usual structured nature of the others and bring a very whimsical vibe. Sara and I each commented on its likeness to a Sea Urchin.

Lastly for the heavy hitters, the Tigridia continue to provide a vibrant show every morning. They may not last long, but these tri-petal flowers are showstoppers early in the day.

The Lily Lifecycle

As some lillies are ending their season, others are just getting started! I figured we could take the opportunity to see some fresh blooms, and some dry seed pods.

Here we have some fresh Yellow Blooms at the mailbox! Historically, this has been a very productive lilly bed, but this year we are in a bit of slump. We can usually count on ~100 blooms in this bed, but this year we’re only seeing ~10.

Moving to the back, we find some Amaryllis seed pods which have dried, separated, and are ready to be spread by the wind.

Second String Veggies

We try our best not to let the excitement of the first harvest to distract of from the work that remains in the garden to ensure the harvest continues all season. Here we’ll see what is still to come in the heat of summer!

As our first round of Tomato plantings continue to ripen on the vine, we have replaced our potato raised bed with new tomato seedlings. To go along with these, I made a new trellis/cage specifically for the raised bed using a single 16ft cattle panel.

Turning to the row crops, we have Corn starting to throw off tassels and pollen, with some stalks reaching around 6ft tall already. In a fun perspective (looking up from the ground) we also can see our find Eggplant bloom of the season!

Foliage and Flowers in the Front

Despite everything we’ve seen so far, there is still a long list of plants thriving around the garden! Out front, we have an assortment of blooms still happily putting out.

In a collection of similar bloom styles, we have Oak Leaf Hydrangeas on the North side of the house which are really coming into their prime time despite the shady location, the Coleus in the front hanging baskets are sending out shoots of light purple flowers, and the Chaste Tree has darkened up as it transitions from a periwinkle to a deeper purple.

Also, around the North side of the house, we have a new style of Day Lily as well as Society Garlic blooming.

Back to the South side of the house, the clearance Mandevilla has put on its first bloom, and is reaching for its trellis! Opposite of that, the Red Knockout Rose is putting on its second round of blooms for the season.

Backyard Bonanza

Even with all of the vegetables and heavy hitters already covered in the backyard, there is still more to be said!

The Liatris have formed an unreal forest of towering pink to purple blooms resembling vertical bottle brushes (though more dense). Along side these, a new Butterfly bush picked out by Sara has flushed out its first blooms. Opposite of these and along the shady side of the garage, a fresh Hydrangea bloom begins to open!

The Biggest Disaster this Week? Bugs.

And they aren’t even really a disaster! This more so serves as foreshadowing for next week’s garden blog where a series of unfortunate events has just fallen (maybe literally) upon the garden!

There has been a small amount of damage to the pole beans in the form of a Bean Leafroller infestation, but this is nothing that the bean plants themselves won’t outgrow! In fact, these will become distinguished butterfly guests at the blooms around the garden before long. The structure and consistency of the damage as the caterpillars build their shelter is quite fascinating! Next, we have a Katydid Nymph resting on a fresh rose bloom. I tried to get in for a closer look, but it stood on its hind legs in an impressive display of intimidation which I decided to respect.