Jasper My Jasper

 Sir Jasper of Highland House

Circa 2005 - 21 January 2025

Dogs' lives are too short. Their only fault, really. Agnes Sligh Turnbull

 

A tough habit to break. . .

 

Pumpkins and pole beans "share" space

I have a habit of over planting. Some of that comes from my great enthusiasm, some for a repeated inability to realize how much plants will grow. Especially annual plants. This is their big shot, right? Germinate, grow, reproduce, die. . .all in one growing season, not even one year. So it should come as no surprise that while this garden looked pretty sad and scraggly a month ago, it is growing outrageously now.  I keep moving the pumpkins from the pole bean trellis, and from the lawn, and the beans are asking for more vertical space. Fortunately it won't be a battle to the death, at least I hope not. Decent soil and amendments, mulch, trickle irrigation, and an abundance of sun will sustain both, even if they get a little impatient with one another. I do wish the beans would start to set flowers, and the pumpkins would start to set fruit.

The Vegetable boxes in mid-July

Likewise, my vegetable boxes are champing at the bit. The indigo, my impulse buy in early June, is really getting pushy. . .I may need to harvest and dye something sooner rather than later. . .but the basil, eggplant, tomatoes (so tall!), kale (!) and potatoes are all flourishing. I'm afraid to say this lest I jinx it.

 

Clematis

 

 

It is a time when the ornamentals are at their summer peak. I won't bore you with all of them, but by mid-August, most will look pretty tired and spent. Some will be setting next year's flower buds, some will be recovering from all of that reproduction, some will just be hot and tired.

 

But for now, they shine. All of them. 

Yet another day lily

Hydrangea

 

The tall ones, and a sweet beginning. . .

The tall ones in a favorite vase

As I was walking around the yard, I realized that The Tall Ones have arrived. The peach colored slightly frilly day- lily is a real show off. . .she's blooming so much that I feel like I have to cut some to bring in. Hardly fair competition for the rest of them. Hydrangeas are just getting a start, but the Coral Bells are also having great fun. And my volunteer grape needs a little resistance to her climbing under the siding of the house.

Also of note, I harvested a few blueberries yesterday. . .plump and fully blue, so delicious, and a bunch of raspberries. These pictured are from last Tuesday, but Thursday's crop was considerably bigger. Raspberries for breakfast, lunch, and dinner until we get sick of them, and then I'll start on the jam. Smile. Raspberries for the winter.

Small beginnings

These are summer raspberries. . .a cultivar called 'Killarney'. We never grew it elsewhere, because it's big claim to fame is it's cold hardiness. But moving to Maine, it seemed a good idea. I was unimpressed with its size, flavor, color and thorniness for the first couple of years, but I'm pretty impressed with size and flavor this year. It's not as red at full ripeness as my fall fruiter (JoanJ), not as large either. But it's a decent eating berry. Last year I was sprinkling it with a little sugar to eat straight, but this year I'm not. It's pretty delicious as is. I did see my first Japanese Beetle on a leaf yesterday. I'll have to monitor that closely. I hate to spray unnecessarily, but those critters can ruin the whole business. Japanese beetles so love all of the family Rosaceae. That includes not only raspberries, but my apples, plums and peach. Can't have that.

Other horticultural items, the basil is ready for the first big cutting (pesto!), all of the herbs are doing exceptionally well, even the little cilantro that I transplanted from a grocery store pot, and the bean and pumpkin vines have decided to overtake the entire yard. Food is so great!

 

What a sweet plant. . .

 

Cornus canadensis

I just thought I'd share this new discovery. It's a plant we discovered while hiking on Plummer's Point Preserve over the weekend. Clearly a dogwood, id'd as Cornus canadensis. The common names are Bunchberry or Creeping dogwood. It's a native (with a very large range), and while we missed the flowers, the groundcover alone is lovely enough to have me very interested.

 Wikipedia provided the image of it flowering. I'm thinking a lot about where this will thrive in our garden/woods.

Cornus canadensis flowering. THX, Wikipedia!

Nice to have a bit of good news. I'll take it.