Gruss an Aachen is my solution to the shade under the maple tree. Some of you wonder, "But what about planting where maple tree roots are so shallow?
Maple trees hog the water supply with their tough surface roots, but I can create some depth of soil on the perimeter by purchasing some and using circular, ceramic fencing. The surface will be covered by periwinkle, a favorite for shade and for holding soil in place.
Although this seems a stretch, I did some more reading about this rose, which I have grown before. Gruss an Aachen is unusually tough, flowers well in semi-shade, and is also disease resistant. David Austin considered GaA good enough to sell with his modestly-named David Austin Roses (TM).
Isn't that like saying, "I like this Michelangelo so much that I have decided to sell it with my Greg Jackson paintings?"?
Aachen is quite the city - the most western in Germany, where many German kings have been crowned. It also has the hottest of the hot springs, so the wealthy still love going there for the cure.
When It Rains, I Plant
The rain came down in torrents for a long time yesterday. When it let up, I went outside to plant a few miniature sunflowers, for contrast in the rose garden. Mrs. Ichabod half-heard my plans, but reacted strongly when it was done. She imagined one of my sunflower forests, which are pretty neat by themselves. I used one to conceal the play equipment for kids, so the youngest one enjoyed "hiding" from us and popping out of the tree-like stalks.
The big Sunflower you can grow in a small pot! There are many dwarf Sunflowers out there these days, but none quite like Sunny Smile. Plant it in a 4- or 6-inch pot and it will grow a neat 12- to 15-inch-high plant with a single giant bloom fully 5 inches across! Or put it in the garden, where it remains just a bit over a foot high but branches beautifully, giving you 4 to 5 big blooms! Versatile, beautiful, and so easy to grow, it belongs in every sunny garden and flowerpot!
Mammoth - or striped - Russian sunflowers can be nine feet tall.
I found out that I ordered pole beans instead of bush beans. I can plant the pole beans along the chain link fence.
Hollyhock seeds will be planted soon.
When I picked up the mulch, I saw a large swath of Queen Ann's Lace growing together on the other side of the road, leaving Lowe's. I hit the brakes and ran over to harvest a few.
Each flower seems to have a spot of dried blood on it - or an insect. The flowers cleverly planned this, to attract more insects. That is what evolution teaches us.
They are a great plant for bees and butterflies, so I left the seed-heads in the grassy alley between homes on our block. Some people groom the area, which is only six feet across. Others let various weeds or vines grow there.
