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Thursday, September 11, 2008

Making a comeback

I think my garden's making a comeback. Not that it ever really amounted to much this dry summer, but after all the rain recently, some things are actually looking great out there. Here, for example, is the aptly named Helianthus giganteus, giant sunflower, a native plant I bought last spring at Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve in New Hope. The tag said it could get up to 8 feet tall. No kidding! This thing is a monster. It's towering over everything like an enormous exclamation point in an otherwise flat sentence. Goldfinches love its bright yellow flowers. I need to crane my neck to see them, but they've brought color and life to my brownfield. To be fair, other stuff is looking good, too. Some roses and clematis are blooming again. The asters are sputtering to wakefulness. I still have cosmos and zinnias, even a pink, ever-blooming hydrangea. So I need to lose the long face that comes on every year at this time. We might have another six weeks of good weather, after which my giant sunflower will be stooped over and ready to plow under. In the meantime, I'll enjoy the show.

Posted by Virginia Smith @ 5:31 PM  Permalink | Post a comment
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About Virginia A. Smith
Ginny Smith, a Philadelphia native, worked as a reporter at newspapers in New York, Connecticut and Ohio – with six short months at the end of the Bulletin tossed in – before returning to Philadelphia in 1985 to join the Inquirer. Her favorite beats here have included Center City, roving around Pennsylvania (and getting paid for it!) and alternative medicine. She’s also been City Editor and Pennsylvania Editor. Ginny has been happily writing – and learning - about gardening fulltime since 2006. She’s won two silver medals of achievement from the national Garden Writers Association and in 2011, Bartram’s Garden honored her with its Green Exemplar award for her stories about “the region’s deeply rooted horticultural history, cultural attractions and bountiful gardens.”
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