Plants of the (dry) Week

Just a few photos. I has been dry. Waiting for rain to release everything. The heat comes in the day, but it is still cold at night. What kind of summer is this?

 

 

 

 

It has been way too long...

I've just not gotten around to writing in the blog in the last month or so.  Here it is, July 5th, and I haven't updated since June 9th.  The likely most explosive and changing month in the year, and I haven't written anything about what's happening.  This has been the time when things have solidified, become relaxed, opened up into summer.  The spring was tenuous this year, and we never really got to the point where things grew like they trusted that it would last.  Then the heat came.  Big heat.  and no rain for a couple of weeks.  It is now high summer, and we are almost in drought conditions.  We need to water every day, and every two or three out in the vegetable garden to protect the investment in plants and to preserve the hope that we'll have fresh tomatoes in August. 

This was the 4th of July weekend, and we had three days of both of us home to really work out the neglected parts that had been ignored as we prepared for the Torch Convention.  I had ordered 8 cubic yards of bark mulch last week, and so there was that to disperse.  And the watering, and the weeding, and the edging, and the creation of a completely new chipped area behind the apple trees.

The raspberries needed to be weeded, preparing for the harvest in the next couple of weeks.  And the area around the pond needed weeding and tending, to make it pretty for the rest of the summer season.  The lilac was totally overgrown, creating a problem for both Lee and me when we mowed the space between our yards.  And there were spent spring blossoms everywhere, as well as yellowed tulip and daffodil foliage.  Lots of sprouted tree seedlings, and other weeds everywhere.  And it was time to do a major weeding in the vege garden and then lay down the straw mulch for summer.  Had to water first, then weed, then remove the walking boards that kept me from tramping down the roto-tilled earth, then finally, spreading the straw.  Again this year I believe I have been careful about not letting too many sunflowers grow, but time will tell.

The deck has finally been cleared of all of the nursery functions, and the only non-ornamental plant left there is a single remaining Christmas Amaryllis.  The leaves keep living on, and I keep watering it.  Soon I must stop, let them die, and hope for a beautiful show next Christmas when I start watering again in October.  Most of the plants around the deck are doing OK, but progress is slow this year.  A nice surprise jumped up in the last week or so, I planted them years ago, and never know where they will come, never can count on them, but there they are.   

Another Major Cold Rain

This year has just not really warmed up yet.  And we have had two periods of dry weather, lasting too long, and then two periods of cold rain, excessive rain.  Today is the third day of rainy weather, with temps failing to get out of the 50's.  So far the gauge near the pond says 2 1/2 inches.  Out at the compost, the older gauge says only 2 inches.  either way, that's a good rain.  The weeds are growing well, but so are all of the newly planted annuals.  I finished planting everything late last week, so now it is all about hoping that it matures nicely. 

The Cannas are coming slowly, but there  are new shoots every couple of days.  I think they will survive at least, and I hope they become dramatic as usual.  This year I didn't plant them inside and get the growing before transplanting outside.  It is scary, given that each plant of the beautiful orange striped variety I have cost about $20 if I had to replace them.  Now, I only bought one.  And now I must have 10 or 15 of them.  But still, I would hate to go backwards.  The ti ny shoots are poking up from the planter south of the deck, and from the bed below there are shoots of my older, larger, red flowered green leaved variety.  We put the extra rhizomes in a couple of places around the yard, and if any of them survive I will be thrilled.  But the ones around the deck I am counting upon.

There is one water lily flower that has been blooming for almost a week, and at least three more that I can see just below the surface.  The tadpoles have slowed down, it is just too cold!  Everything that was in full glory last Friday is now sort of drooping, because the rain has weighed it down.  The Bridal Wreath will likely not come back to fu ll beauty 'til next spring.  The alliums are all hanging down to the ground.  The Iris's are blooming, but wet and hard to see.

But all in all, the rain is, as usual, good.  We did need to get everything firmed into its place

Early June

It is interesting that no matter what the weather has been like, warm, cool, dry, wet, certain plants just always arrive at the same place at the same time.  Irises bloom in the first few days of June, maybe half a week variation.  The Bridal Wreath Spirea always comes into full bloom in June.  A little sign of blossoms opening in late May, but full glory on June 1st.  There are so many things in glorious bloom now it is hard to spotlight anything.  And I'm out in the garden so much I don't have much time to write in the blog.  But that's OK. 

 

This is the time of year when Bill's insistence on keeping the Columbine is hard to refute.  I know that in a couple of weeks I will want to remove them, and I will cut them back to the ground.  But this year they are quite lovely, and I must be sure that some survive.  The alliums are in full bloom, but once the blooms start the leaves begin to yellow, and they are so large that they detract from the surroundings.  I spent some time today cutting them back and leaving the flower stalks, which may mean that they don't do as well next year, but I can live with that. 

 

The newly expanded pond is doing very well.  The water lily has taken over almost the entire surface and the first bloom is at the surface and ready to open.  The Bufo americanus (American toads) that mated earlier and laid eggs everywhere have disappeared, but here are thousands of tadpoles swimming purposefully here and there everywhere.  Side plantings are doing well also, and I think it will be nice all year. 

Mid May Flowers and Birds

We've had a fantastic assortment of birds in the yard in the last few days. An Indigo Bunting came to the thistle feeders several times last Friday, though I have not seen him since. There are Oriole's, Hummingbirds, and two male and one female Rose Breasted Grosbeak. Plus the usual assortment of finches and Cardinals and Robins, etc. It is a colorful yard these days.

Flowers blooming also add to the color. Difficult to include them all. Tulips of course. Daffodils are fading, but some still going. The Serviceberry came and went in the last week. Apple Trees, despite our hard pruning, are pretty now. The Magnolia still going strong. The white Iris on the west border is spectacular. Lilacs coming in. Prairie smoke at its best. Wild Geraniums, May Apple, Jack-in-the-Pulpits everywhere. The Shooting Star is perfect now. And the Astilbe is putting up flower spikes - thankfully not fully up as of Saturday eve, when we had a light frost. Most of the tree flowers are done, but a few still going. Generally unspectacular, but important.

Just beginning to show themselves, but giving hope for a beautiful June and July, are the Butterfly Weed, the Asiatic and Oriental Lilies, the Liatris. Peonies that I thought might be dead are now, two weeks later, over a foot high. I'm happy to see the Heuchera finally relaxing, and some are even putting up flower stalks. And I'm thrilled that the Hibiscus plants that I bought and planted late last year are showing signs of some growth. They certainly seemed totally dead until about a week ago, and even now I can't fully trust that they will come back. But it is looking possible at this point - they each have a couple of small sprouts coming from the very bottom of the old dead stalk. I don't know this plant, so I don't know what to expect. We shall see.

Robins, Swallows, Tadpoles, Near Fullness...

It never ceases to amaze me how fast things happen once the spring really comes in. We haven't had a night below freezing for a couple of weeks, and it doesn't look like we will for this season (knock on wood).

The toads singing in the pond joined together and produced an amazing number of eggs, which now are clumped up in the shallow end of the pond. I took a few into the house in a large vase, and those have matured faster, probably because of the higher temperatures inside. They are swimming around a little. Outside, the ones in the pond are still in rows, not yet emerged from their gelatinous casings. But I bet they will do better in the long run.

Bill was off on Monday, so we had a three day work week. We got a lot done. Friday I cut the lawn after a couple of hours of yard work. Saturday was cold and rainy, so we shopped some and found some Rhododendrons for the front garden. I had been to Fernau's on Friday, and already had broccoli and leeks and onions to plant whenever the garden was ready.

Sunday we worked very hard. In the front garden we divided the grasses, a huge job. Once all of them were replanted, smaller and ready to be vigorous, we put in the three Rhododendrons that we bought Saturday. That doesn't sound like much, but it took most of the day. We did find time to work on straightening up the stem of the corner Juniper in the evergreen garden. The view of it from the house has been distracting for some time, and I hope we can successfully straighten it up.

Monday, Bill revved up the roto-tiller, and to my amazement it started on the first pull (though Bill later told me he had been working on it and trying to start it for some time before I came to be the anchor weight for a full-out pull.) I don't know that it has ever started that well. I pruned bushes, tried to pull the dead stuff out from the Alpine Clematis on the gazebo, watered plants, took out dead branches from the Hydrangeas on the east side of the hou se. Once Bill was done with the tilling, I planted the broccoli, leeks and onions in the new garden. Bill brought out the outer hose, and we got it strung out under the yard t hrough the PVC tunnel out to the island. Then he brought out the screens and put most of them up, with a tiny bit of help here and there from me.

We won (bought) a very nice plant stand for the deck at the Rotary Shines event last Tuesday. I've got the cacti out on it right now, but I don't think they will be the final sum mer residents. It is very pretty, and I look forward to seeing it later on.

This week I brought the Rex Begonias up from the basement, and put them out on the front porch. The planters are ready, and I will put them in shortly, I think. All of the basement plants, except for a couple of begonias I'm keeping safe just in case, are up and out now. And most thinks are out of the kitchen and living room also.

Newly Blooming this week: Jack in the Pulpits, Rhododendrons, birch, willow, Tulips!, Prairie Smoke, Apples, Serviceberry, Choke Cherry, Lungwort, Trilliums, Violets, Potentillia, Grape hyacinth, Ninebark, Bleeding Heart, Forget-Me-Nots, Magnolia, Marsh Marigold, Primrose, geranium sanguineum, Bergenia cordifolia, ....

I'm so happy to find the Forget-me-nots, given to me a number of years ago by Marsha Dawson. They tend to grow where they want to grow, and not necessarily where I choose to plant them. These have migrated from the garden to the woods, but they are coming up each year somewhere. Never can count on them, but can't forget them either.

Sprouting newly this week: Liatris, Joe-Pye Weed, Japanese Maple, Hostas coming on big time, Butterfly Weed, Russian Sage, Dill weed seedlings, Cleome seedlings, Leaves of the ninebark, ash, and many other trees, Oh, pretty much everything is showing signs of life.

Things are speeding up, and now is the time I wish things would slow down so I could enjoy every minute of the changes. I do love the growing season.

Spring has Sprung

Don't even know what to take pictures of this weekend. Everything is progressing so quickly. On Saturday we couldn't find any sprouting Jack in the Pulpits, and on Sunday they were everywhere. I swear the Ostrich Ferns grew 4 inches high overnight, and Maureen told me that was the photo to take. And the Liatris began to show its shoots that I could not find at all on Friday.

This weekend was a big one for yard work. Gotta do a few of those in the spring. On Saturday I dug up some of the overgrown Hostas along the front walk, divided them and replanted enough to be as full as before. With what was left, and that was about 1/3 of the plants, I planted the entire new bed beneath the Willow in the back yard. While I was doing that, Bill was digging out all of last year's compost, sifting it, and storing the resulting wonderful soil in a couple of containers. After he was done with that, I took the wheelbarrow and spread a couple of loads on the original berm garden. That hasn't had any amendment for several years, and can use the organic content from the compost. Only concern is that since we do "slow" composting there may be a lot of weed seeds just waiting to germinate. With luck, we will find a musk melon or a watermelon or a tomato. But there are many weeds in this yard that could be what comes from the compost.

After all the work of the compost and the transplanting the last activity of the day was to mow the lawn for the first time this year. Many places didn't really need it, but many did, and we had to keep things even. Bill started, but I stopped him and asked him to do the raking and pickup of the willow branches while I finished the mowing. Took about an hour and a little bit more, but it did look good when I was through. Then just a few little tasks, watering in the new Yews on the west side, and the May Apple and the Russell Lupines I planted.

Bed was good Saturday night. We were both very tired. After a good video sleep came. On Sunday we rode our bikes up to Shopko to pick up some prescriptions, and then got home for the day. We brought out each large willow stem that we had piled up along the creek and hauled it out to the roadside to be picked up this week. I don't know why we did that pile, but it has seemed to encourage rabbits and probably other critters who wreak havoc on the gardens. Now it is gone.

Bill roamed the woods to find rocks that would be more useful in other garden places - he found three pretty big ones to embellish the new garden in front that I consider his to design. He also scraped out the chips that we used to fill in the space behind his most recent wall, and we found dirt and soil to fill in with a few chips on top. This is in order to be able to plant something there for next spring - the front isn't very attractive and needs Spring interest for sure.

Maureen came over to get some plants for her garden, and we found Purple Coneflowers, a Compass Plant, a German Statis plant, some Sedum that I can't identify, and a couple of Shasta Daisies. I look forward to hearing how they grow.

I did a little pruning of the Clematis plants that are growing up the gazebo, and tested the pond for pH levels. Did spot the two remaining goldfish that I had over-wintered, and also some of the little ones that Lee and Lin gave me last week. But the pond is cloudy, and I'm not sure why. Maybe the pH is wrong, maybe something else.

Emerging this week: Hostas, Liatris, Jack in the Pulpit, the Spring Beauties, Marsh Marigold, Pulminaria, Bleeding Hearts grew up to 7 inches high and will bloom next week.

Moved the Hibiscus plants out to the porch, but cover it with burlap over cold nights and sunny days. Moved the geraniums from the basement to the greenhouse, and continue to keep the cannas watered there. I did check the cannas that I planted several weeks ago in the deck planter. I was worried that no sprouts had emerged yet, and feared that the cold weather had made them rot under the ground. But when I carefully dug down, I found some nicely growing shoots and quickly buried them again.

There is so much more going on that I find it difficult to write about everything. Hard for me to understand why people leave Wisconsin at this time of year. January maybe, but definitely not April.