Sunday, June 21, 2015

Garden Visitors + Pond Emergency = Busy Squared

My dear gardening and garden-blogging friends: I don't know how it could be two weeks since I last posted! But looking back on the past two weeks, it has been a rather busy summer time:
  1. Last weekend we had two groups of visitors over: first our church's new pastor and her husband for tea and a garden walk last Saturday, and then a group of parents with children about the same ages as our kids from our church for a grill-out potluck and garden walk last Sunday. Needless to say, we spent the week before trying to catch up with weeding, mowing and tidying both the gardens and the house!
  2. My parents then arrived on Tuesday for an overnight stay.
  3. Wednesday I came down with a cold, which I thought might be really bad allergies until other family members started getting it too. I felt pretty bad for a couple of days.
But most recently: While my parents were here Tuesday, we made the shocking discovery on our walk around the gardens that one of the large paving stones edging our pond fell into the pond as a result of the edge collapsing from our heavy rains of the past week, and the water level had alarmingly dropped six inches overnight! 

Before: All looked fine a couple of weeks ago.


I greatly feared that the stone had punctured the lining (although I would have supposed that our nearly 100% clay subsoil would have prevented such a rapid depletion of the water). Fortunately, when we partly refilled the pond, the water level stayed constant, so I can only surmise that when the stone fell in, the top edge of the rubber liner folded down and the water ran out of the side into the sod surrounding the pond. (I still don't know where approximately 250 gallons of water could have gone, but I guess that will remain a mystery....) At any rate, my husband and I have counted ourselves lucky that we don't have to remove everything from the pond and replace or try to patch the liner. 

During repair: The spot where Puppy is sitting is where the paving stone fell into the drink and the edge collapsed. I have removed most of the pavers in this photo and you can see that while the pavers on the short sides were supported by rigid metal bars, nothing but the earth edge was holding up the pavers on the long sides. I'm sure it was just a matter of time (it did hold up for three years) until the edge became structurally unsound. I'm just glad no one was standing on the stone when it happened! 


We've been working on building a lumber frame around the edge to support the stones -- something we should have done when we built it. I hope we'll finish repairing it in the next few days.

We first tried 4x4" lumber, but decided 6x6" would be more solid. We'll still use 4x4" on the short sides, bolting the corners together. Then we'll refill the pond, staple the liner to the lumber and replace and level the stones. Oh, the labors we gardeners take upon ourselves.... :-)

Anyway, that's what I've been up to in the past two weeks. But it hasn't been all work; my gardens have had some beautiful moments that I haven't been too busy to notice while outside working. Here's a few of them:


The delphiniums were at their peak a week ago. I think these are probably
'Pacific Giant' varieties.

This is the first year I've had any luck with sweet peas. I wintersowed them under milk jugs
along the east side of my house in late February, and finally started getting some flowers in
early June. I think they like the afternoon shade here, and I hope they will continue blooming
even in the heat of summer, although they are a cool-season annual. These smell wonderful
-- they are Burpee's 'Old Spice Mix'. 

The milkweed that sowed itself at the very front of my North Border is doing its job....  

More prairie goodness for butterflies (although none appeared for this photo), with cornfields beyond.

The hollyhocks are starting to bloom in the Front Border (actually just outside it, in the
driveway, where they prefer to seed themselves). Roses and yarrow and snapdragons
are merrily accompanying them.

More butterfly action among the delphiniums and daisies.

A clematis whose name I apparently didn't write down in my garden journal, one of two planted on our
gazebo. Very pretty purple flowers -- I suppose it could be 'Jackmanii'.

This view is back toward the house from our Flowering Grove, which we have planted with crabapple and other spring flowering trees. I just finished mulching the circles around the little trees last week. We've been striving for a "parklike setting" in this area, and it looks good at this time of year. 

One more shot of the delphiniums before they are gone for another year. (Actually, if I cut them back after they are done, they sometimes re-bloom in September, although not with so many or so tall flowers as in June.)

I hope you are enjoying your own June gardens and that you haven't had any garden emergencies as upsetting and work-requiring as my pond-repairing business, although I know that many of you have garden tours in your gardens, which are indeed a lot of work to get ready for. But June is such a beautiful time in our gardens that we should be sure we encourage ourselves to enjoy them.

Happy Summer Solstice, and thanks for reading! -Beth

15 comments:

  1. I am sorry for your pond emergency, Beth, but glad you didn't lose fish or plants. I like the park-like setting at your home - a good place to enjoy a picnic lunch! The delphiniums are gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Beth, Yes, we really did get off lucky with the pond, didn't we? Thanks so much for visiting! -Beth

      Delete
  2. Oh, swoon ... those delphiniums, those daisies, and those scented sweet peas. You've got every I dream of, except not the head cold and other garden disasters. Laugh. Those you can keep. Thanks for sharing your pictures and your time to post them!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jane, We get the good with the bad, and every gardener (and human being) has a few setbacks from time to time. Mine are really pretty small, I'm thankful. Thanks for reading! -Beth

      Delete
  3. How lovely to share your beautiful garden with your friends and neighbours! It's looking stunning and I love the view from the flowering grove area and by the pond. I'm sorry to hear of the collapse of a part of the edge of your pond, but glad that it could be sorted out with more hard work, of course. I hope you're feeling better and you, your family and guests can continue to enjoy your garden this Summer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your kind comment, Linda. You're right: the pond will get sorted out and it's really quite tiny in the grand scheme of things. Thanks for visiting! :-) -Beth

      Delete
  4. I'm sorry for the necessary work on the pond. Certainly the date of advice. Beautifully look like flowers on a white picket fence. Regards.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Giga, I'm so glad you like the flowers near the fence. Thanks for visiting! -Beth

      Delete
  5. The view of your home and gardens from the flowering grove is exquisite Beth... so quintessentially Iowa! Home you are enjoying your summer and not working too hard with all that you have going on... Larry

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Larry, I appreciate your kind comment -- thanks for visiting! -Beth

      Delete
  6. That would be 'Hope' in my second sentence... one has to watch auto-correct every time one writes.... LOL

    ReplyDelete
  7. Garden emergencies are a pain but also a good opportunity to fix problems we didn't know we had. Your lovely pond will be better than ever after the repair. Your garden looks wonderful! You have an absolute ton of space!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the encouraging words, Casa. I'm so glad you stopped by! :-) -Beth

      Delete
  8. Your delphiniums are beautiful. I never have any luck with them so I gave up. You seem to be ahead of us in bloom times. My sweet peas aren't near blooming (got them started late) and my milkweed is just beginning to show the beginnings of blooms. The power of water is incredible! In my area roads have been washed out, sinkholes pop up and of course a lot of folks have water in their basements. I'm glad you didn't have damage to your pond liner.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I've lost quite a number of delphiniums over the years, but some seem to do well in certain spots, for some reason unknown to me. I'm sorry to hear about the flooding in your area. We've had a lot of rain, but probably not as much as you have. Hope you stay dry and don't have flooding problems yourself. Thanks for stopping by! -Beth

      Delete