I ventured out into the garden this afternoon after a long stretch of disgust and discouragement with it. Lo and behold, it weathered my neglect pretty well, so I did a bunch of weeding and came in much more optimistic than I went out.

Japanese beetles have come and gone. At least they have a short season. Apparently the weather conditions have made this a doozy of a year for them all over Ontario. I was not as vigilant about picking them off the beans as maybe I should have been; hopefully this will not mean I am stuck with a horrible grub problem in the "lawn" next year. They also got at the corkscrew hazel - not a big deal, since that plant is all about winter appeal anyway. Otherwise, though, the damage was encouragingly minimal. Even the beans are recovering, having put out piles of new leaves and blooms.

In other encouraging news: I have rose-explody! The blaze rose re-bloomed with a spray of about 10 flowers that lasted for weeks. Now that it's out of the shadow of the bee balm, the prairie joy rose has at least doubled in size...guess that answers the question of how I make it bush out. And the fairy rose, whose straggliness was worrying me, has put out half again its previous size in new shoots, and is covered in buds. Pictures to follow!

Between the asters, the fairy rose, the assorted sedums, the rudbeckia, and the turtlehead - and possibly also the lemon lights azalea; wtf is it doing putting out flowers now?? - it should be a nicely colourful month out there.

Another pest inundation has begun: the dreaded Japanese Beetle has made the leap from the grapevines on the fence to my scarlet runner beans. AUGH. Tomorrow I will go pick off the ones that are roosting there and spray the bean plants down with a solution of garlic puree, which was the recommendation from Richmond Nursery - but I am not optimistic, considering that the grapevines are so thoroughly infested; even if I tackled the impossible-looking task of de-bugging the vines on my side of the fence, they're planted in the neighbour's yard (and invading the yard of another neighbour to boot). Maybe if I make the beans unappetizing enough they'll stick with the grapes.

Interestingly, however, I am growing some of their reputed favourite foods - roses, japanese maple - and so far they haven't touched them. (This had better not just be a matter of time!!) Also interestingly, the beans are located in the shade bed, the only piece of the back garden that is not planted throughout with alliums (garlic relative). Hmmm! As if I needed another reason to stock up on those. Hopefully my inference is correct; the internets seem to suggest it may be so. C'mon universe, work with me here!

In more positive news, while at Richmond Nurseries, I happened across a stand of butterfly bush (buddleja). And OMG internets, I MUST HAVE THIS PLANT. It smells heavenly, and true to the name, in the couple of minutes I spent staring at the stand of plants at Richmond, they had attracted several butterflies of at least three different kinds.

The trick, of course, is that it needs full sun, and while you're supposed to chop it back to the ground every year, it grows back to about 4 or 5 feet high and wide. It's also only borderline hardy here. Basically, were I to plant one, it should be in the backyard for preference, since it's nice and sheltered there; that would also allow me to sit and enjoy the fragrance and butterflies. But I really don't have anywhere left for a 4'-5' shrub. I toyed with the idea of putting it where the beans are now - the digitalis and azalea would probably be done blooming by the time it got big enough to block them from view - but I don't know if that spot gets enough light, and I wouldn't want to hide the phlox and sweet rocket, nor cast the mockorange into total shade. A more promising spot is probably in front of the yew and peonies out front; I could crank the windows open to catch the fragrance, and we could watch the butterflies from the window, at least. Have to check how much light that spot would get before the shadow of the house falls over it - will keep an eye out for this tomorrow over the course of the day.

Meanwhile, I have dug up and divided the bee balm - dun dun DUNNNNNN - and am pleased as punch with the results so far. It already looks more balanced. And the relocated chunks of bee balm will be a nice repetitive element to tie the whole garden together, as my garden magazines always say. Photos to follow when I have the replacements in the ground.

Well, I achieved most of what I set out to do during my Glorious Vacation. Weeding, civilizing, and mulching were mostly accomplished - it's just the wild and woolly part of the east bed (past the rhubarb) and the foundation bed out front that have yet to be conquered. Planted all the plants I meant to plant (although I now have some veronica and some hollyhocks waiting to get into the ground, and didn't get around to a pile of seeds).

To my irritation, some disgusting insect - probably sawfly larvae - is devouring the needles off the mugho pine in the front bed. Must remember to wield some soap-and-water at them, although I'm not sure that will be effective; worth a shot I suppose. The intarwebs assure me that one year's infestation doesn't generally kill the plant. And if it does, well, I will be sadly lacking a nice structural evergreen, but on the plus side I will have space to plant something new.

Something dug up the sunflower seedlings Rose brought home from daycare for mother's day. Not that Rose is old enough to really understand making or giving a gift, but still: GRRR. The Empress of Dirt has to protect her sprouting sunflowers from birds, apparently, so maybe that's what got mine. She has a picture illustrating a nice little cage that seems to be made from an old hanging basket. Maybe I will try that next year. Meanwhile, I still have the pot that she painted to put them in, so there's something anyway.

In other pest news, I am somewhat surprised to find that the alliums seem to be - knock on wood! - deterring the groundhog, since its depradations have been limited to the one bed that doesn't contain any. Hmmmm! I need to get some more of the pinks ones (allium roseum) anyway, and I like them in general, so those are totally on my fall bulb shopping list. (Also some Black Hero tulips, so pretty!)

I would also really like to plant some asparagus. Not to eat - the soil here is sandy and poor (I submit for evidence our pathetic excuse for a lawn), which conditions apparently result in tough and woody stalks - but for ornamental purposes; if you let asparagus stalks mature, they turn into gigantically tall feathery foliage. Check this out:

Wouldn't that be a cool accent! I am pretty much out of space for tall full sun plants in the back - there's some space in the middle, but I think something so tall in that spot would just end up hiding everything at the back - but it could go in a corner of the new bed out front. As a bonus, I believe I spied some at Artistic Landscape Design for the eminently affordable price of $6.99.

Fall bulb schemes so far, then:

Gardenimport.com
Eremurus x 3
Black Hero tulips x 20

Breck's
Scarlet majesty tulips x 8
White cloud allium x 3

Vesey's
Blue drumstick alliums x 24
Peach melba tulips x 15
Angelique tulips x 18
Allium roseum x 20

Now if I was smart, I would make my tulip investment in some nice single flowering varieties that would come back reliably for a few years...but I can't help myself, the double ones just cry out to me. Siiiigh. Mail order plant purveyors, you had better love me.

Note to self: just because it has been cold and miserable outside does not mean it has been cold and miserable enough to get rid of the bugs. Try to plant bulbs or otherwise dig in the dirt, apparently, and they will come out in force.

My miscalculation on this front, however, does tell me that the patio is excellently performing the function I originally had in mind for it, i.e. creating a space to sit and look around without stirring up the ravening swarm.

Anyway. Time to deploy the mosquito hat, even if it looks dorky.