Spring Stars

The yard is really blooming now.  I keep trying to stay ahead of things, but once the spring really takes hold things just move faster than I can keep up with.  In the last few days I pruned the apple trees of the last few sucker branches, bought two new Yews and planted them along the west side of the house, moved the Lilies of the Valley that the Yews displaced out to the creek, planted 12 potatoes in the vegetable garden, fertilized a bunch of stuff, put blood meal on the lilies that something is eating every night, moved a catnip clump from the garden up near the house so Kate and Cleo can find it, cut back a bit more dead foliage, purchased leeks and broccoli starter plants, moved a bunch of plants from the basement up to the deck and the greenhouse.  I'm sure there is more, but I can't remember.

 

The stars of this week are the Darwin Tulips, the Trout Lilies, the one single Primrose that has been blooming for at least 8 or 9 years under the Willow at the beginning of the walkway to the creek.  Also the Pasque flowers that have planted themselves in unexpected places, and the beautiful Daffodils.  I'm also pleased at the progress of the Ligularia that we moved from the area around the old pond out to the first berm.  It is coming up beautifully.  Very early spring seems to be a wonderful time to transplant perennials if you can be sure of where they are.              

Well that was then...

The rains have come.  It is green.  Still cold -- except for yesterday when it was 84 degrees for a couple of hours.  Back down to 50 today, and likely going to stay there for at least a couple of days.  But the yard is greening up beautifully, and it has been perfect weather to dig, divide and replant perennials.  This is the time to do that.  Rarely have the time, but this year I'm "retired" and have all the time in the world.  Or at least all the time I'm willing to spend.  Now that the pond has been re-established, and we've gotten the area around it back to growing condition, I have time to look other places.  I dug, divided, and moved the one remaining original clump of Karl Forster grass a couple of days ago.  One clump became five.  Could take over the yard, I suppose.  

 

The green has really taken hold now.  The lawns all around the neighborhood are solid and bright.  The only things flowering are the spring bulbs and wildflowers, and you have to look hard or have planted well to find things.  But Forsythia, Daffodils, Darwin tulips, the Bloodroot, some tree flowers have taken the place of the early pioneers as stars.  Emerging in the next week will likely be the Pasque flowers, other species tulips and probably some of the hybrids,  the Choke Cherry tree that planted itself, maybe the Serviceberry. 

I've put the Canna roots out into the greenhouse.  And also the German Ivy that has been in the kitchen windowsill all winter, but which has developed an un-curable infestation of some sort of bug.  I'm hoping the Ivy can survive the cold, but he bugs can't.  Hope I'm right.  (Though I did take a few cuttings just in case I'm wrong.)  The Elephant Ears are out there too.  A big cold blast could be a disaster, but I hope it won't happen. 

The fish are well and happy in the pond now, though two of them have not survived.  I bought new basket planters for the water lilies and will try to do some further division of them soon.  Our neighbor's pond was alive with Spring Peeper frogs last night, and I am really jealous.  We've never had frogs evident in our pond, and there were many singing last night next door.  I hope the enlargement and overwintering changes will help us there. 

Oh, and this was the week of the "Red Death" display on the roads of the flower bud scales of the maple trees.  Always a mark of Spring for me.

Driest April in Many Years

We have not had measurable precipitation yet this month. I hope that isn't a sign of a long dry summer. Things are not progressing very quickly, though there is some change from day to day.
I was able find the Bloodroot sprouts yesterday, and today there are twice as many. They really blend in to the dirt and litter around them until the leaves unfurl, which has not yet happened. Today I also saw some Trout Lilies beginning to poke out. Crocuses are almost done, but here and there late ones that I don't recall planting are bursting out. One Daffodil clump is beginning to bloom, and others will likely be out within the next week. The Snowdrops and Aconite are almost done also, but there are Darwin Tulips to take their places. I planted some Pansies the other day to be sure there are no gaps in the flowering.
This year instead of planting the Cannas inside I just took them out of their winter storage and added a little water. This week I planted some of the ones that looked the strongest out in the deck planter box. It would be too early to put them out if the leaves had emerged, but they are underground and can survive a light frost I hope. Lynn next door has done it that way for many years. I kept some inside just in case my method fails.

Middle of April and All is Well

The second weekend of Pond work went pretty well.  Bill refined the clay walls of the pond interior, and since we hadn't had any rain since we began the project it was hard digging, but very stable.  He worked hard to make the perimeter as level as possible.  Then in late morning, too early for lunch, but after a lot of work had already been done, we started to fit the lining material into the hole so as to do as best we could to protect the final liner from punctures and intrusions of roots, etc. 

Once that was done, we unfurled the new black plastic liner, and brought it over to the hole.  The idea is to ease it in, not disturbing the underlayment, with enough to leave at least 8 inches or so overlapping the top edge.  Then begin to flow in the water and try to keep the folds as flat an smooth as possible as the water fills in.  We tried to keep the bottom as flat and smooth as possible, since it will be stepped upon every time we have to clean out the pond.  Any wrinkles or folds could be weak spots if walked upon. 

As the cold water filled the hole, the plastic which had become warm and pliable in the sun stiffened up, and the weight of the water held it tight to the sides of the hole.  The fuller the pond became, the more difficult it was to change the positioning of the liner.  It was pretty critical to have it in the right place from the start.  And we also wanted to waste as little as possible, so we started with it aligned as close to the edge in one corner as possible so that most of the eventual excess was on the opposite corner.

It actually worked pretty well, and once the water had filled to within a few inches of the top we stopped for lunch.  Then back out to begin putting rocks on the edges, 'artistically' - or at least in such as way as to be able to conceal the plastic as well as possible.  As that came nearer to completion, we added more water to bring the edges up all around, and discovered that we weren't as level as we hoped.  One side was at least an inch or so above the other, and the plastic would be quite visible there unless we moved the rocks and dug out some of the soil beneath the liner at the edge. 

Next test was to build the waterfall, using two flat stones, another piece of plastic liner and Bill's incredible intuitive understanding of water and gravity to place rocks in the correct places to direct the flow between the flat stones.  Make sure the back of the upper basin was enough higher than the waterfall to make a nice birdbath, then all it will take is to add enough stones to try to make it look 'natural'. 

Along the way the water lily had to be put into the bottom, requiring that Bill stand in the water for over a minute.  That was a long time in water that was below 40 degrees.  His legs were painful after no more than a minute, and we had to do the placement in three or four stages.  

By early afternoon, we had gotten the pump in, and t  he hose up to  the upper level.  A few adjustments were required, but it seemed to be able to hold water and make a nice fall down into the main pond.  The fine tuning will take place next weekend, and I'll spend this week trying to get most of the stones and rocks at least close to where they will end up. 

We were beat.  But the garden was full of the cut stems and leaves of all of the perennials that I had been pruning for the last two or three weeks.  We had gotten a burning permit, and it was a perfect day for a small fire that would allow us to dispose of all of that material.  Bill dug a 6 inch deep hole in the garden, about 6 feet across or so, and we started burning.  It is very dry now, there are actually burning bans in the nearby counties.  We made sure to have the hose out near the fire, and we even wet down the grasses in the neighbors field 10 feet away or so, just in case a spark was able to escape.  The burn went well, and within an hour and a half or so everything was gone.  Good thing too, because the neighbors had invited a bunch of small children over for an Easter Egg Hunt in their yard. 

Next morning, Bill went out and decided to spread the ashes out around the garden.  After a few shovelfuls, he realized that the embers were still glowing and hot.  The fire was still smoldering after more than 12 hours.  Amazing.

Still Waiting, but Working Hard

The last tiny spot of winter snow has finally melted.  We may get more snow, but I swear we will not shovel it, and we will not make piles that take longer to melt than the surrounding area.  I think that when the spring finally really comes it will come with a bang, and things will spring to life quickly and there will suddenly be way too much work to do.  I have to figure out a way to do gardening work and clean up quickly for some meeting or another, and come back and do more gardening work.  I think that people will have to accept my dirty fingernails (or I will have to be willing to  not care.)  And my gardening clothes will have to be easy to change in and out of.  Spring work is the dirtiest, it will be easier in Summer.  But, as I said in a post a few weeks ago, now is the time for time to slow down.  I want to relish every moment at this time of year and not pine for the next phase. 

Bill has been tweaking the edge of the new hole that will become the pond.  It is close to level now.  I hope that this weekend we will be able to at least fill it with water and bring out the fish and move the water lily from it's tub to it's new home.  The fish are really ready.  They should have been out a month ago.  Maybe next winter we can leave the outside all winter, and they will be happy to be swimming in unfrozen water at this time a year from now. 

The water lily is suffering in the tub we bought for it.  The first night outside the water froze, at least the top inch or so.  I didn't realize that would happen so quickly.  The rest of this week I've been covering the box and laying on some insulation and the water has remained liquid.  But I noticed that the parrot weed stems that had survived the entire winter were now dead.  And the water has an unpleasant smell to it.  I hope that we are able to keep that plant alive for another few days and that it recovers once installed in the bottom of the new pond.  I've been looking at websites  giving information about dividing and planting lilies.  May have to go out and buy a few laundry baskets to serve as pots, and break down and divide the huge rhizomes.  Hope it goes OK.  Lots of variables going on here. 

Sprouts of many perennials beginning to show. Some of the wildflowers are showing barely.  A day of warm rain would bring things out amazingly, but it is dry for at least another 4 or 5 days. 

Whew! A Weekend of Work

I thought somehow that after retirement there wouldn't be these long days of work on the weekends. I planned to do gardening an hour or two a day instead of 6 or 7 or 8 hours a day on Saturdays and Sundays. But - the world slows down on weekends and the volume of emails demanding attention is much lower. And, Bill is home on weekends. He does the heavy work that I can't do, but asking him to do it requires that I participate - as project designer, consultant, gopher (go-fer), and that I basically keep working on something, whatever, for as long as I ask him to be out there.

Saturday was a gorgeous day. And we needed to get started on the new pond so that we could get the fish outside soon and so that we could have it done before stuff gets growing too fast. Digging a pond is spring work.

We started really on Friday evening, doing the weekend shopping and gathering supplies so that time wouldn't be wasted. Sat. am we started work around 8:30 or so, after reading the paper. The last rocks that I wasn't able to move were easy work for Bill that early in the game. As he did that, I dug up the plants that were too close to the edge to be saved, and the ones that might be in the way, making digging difficult. Some of them can take a week or so out of the ground if I take care of them in the greenhouse. Some really needed to be replanted elsewhere immediately. The clump of crocus, and the one of daffodils, needed immediate replanting. I also found homes for a divided clump of Stella d'Oro daylilies and a hosta that I think will likely do much better as three plants in a better location. I neglect division and relocation too much - and it is really the right time for that now.

Then we drained the pond and found the totally overgrown water lily at the bottom already sprouting new growth. We hauled it up in one huge piece and found a large enough plastic tub to submerge it in for awhile - it will not survive without being underwater. This week I need to research how to divide water lilies, I've never done that before.

Then we pulled out the plastic liner, and the under-layment and laid them out to dry. Some portions of these materials may be re-usable, though it was amazing how many roots had grown through the under-lining. Bill's work then was underway. While I looked around and found places to plant some of the rescued perennials, he dug the new pond. And then he tried to explain to me why having a level shoreline was so important - I am a difficult study when the subject is topography combined with physics, combined with the aesthetics of not seeing too much black plastic in the finished pond.

Some time in the middle to the work I noticed that the Juniper in the middle of the evergreen garden was buzzing with activity. A closer look revealed a flock of maybe 20 Cedar Waxwings devouring the ripe, overwintered juniper berries. They spend an hour or two then moved on.

We ran out of steam by about 2:30. But then noticed that the plastic tub holding the waterlily was leaking. A trip to Fleet/Farm to purchase a new tub was required. We intend to protect this one and not use it for holding dirt and being hauled around abusively. It only took a half hour or so to move the overgrown plant to its new home and fill the tub with water.

After all that, we dragged ourselves inside for a shower, a little dinner and relaxation and then dressing for the Fox Valley Symphony. It was wonderful, and sitting for two hours was just what the doctor ordered.

Sunday morning was different. We were expecting up to 4 inches of spring snow, and the weather website was still saying it would come. But it didn't. After reading the paper, and, I think, deciding that we didn't want to work any more on that blasted hole this weekend, I decided to go out and start moving all of the piles of cut bush that I had created last week over to the garden where it will eventually be burned. Bill came out and started snipping the water shoots off of the apple trees, but I stopped him and asked him to help me decide how to handle that this year. Should we just do a "buzz job", or should we do major surgery again? We decided on major surgery, and really cut them back. Very drastic, and it created a large pile of brush for the first pickup of the spring. I imagine that we will be cursed by the guys that have to pick up and shred that load. But the trees will be easier to deal with this year. And we may decide to cut them down entirely either this year or within a couple. Next time we'll plant dwarf fruit trees.

Seemed like a lot of work on Sunday too, though we were in by 1:00 or so for lunch and spent the rest of the day reading the papers and doing the laundry, etc.

Nice Weekend!

Cleanup Time

Today I really began the cleanup that will need to be done before the yard can come out of its winter doldrums.  Cut back old stalks of coneflowers, yarrow, sedum, clematis, and more.  Created lots of piles of stuff around the yard that we'll have to move to the garden for burning in the next couple of weeks.  I wish it would be easier to let it degrade. I suppose it would be possible if we had a huge chipper/shredder of some sort.  But we don't, and I hate to remove it from the property entirely.  So we burn it on the garden and then dig in the ashes when we roto-till in a month or so. 

Tonight when I went out to see the results of the work, I noticed a very large bird in the trees along the creek.  As I looked closer, I realized it was a Great Horned Owl.  As I watched, one crow after another arrived and they began to harass the Owl unmercifully.  there were at least 8 or 9 of them and the noise they were making was unbelievable.  Once in awhile one of them would dive down onto the Owl, seemingly trying to topple it from the branch it was sitting on.  Once or twice the Owl took flight and landed on another branch nearby.  The Crows were unrelenting.  After about 10 minutes they finally drove the Owl away, to my regret.  I would much rather have an Owl in the yard than 9 Crows, even if the Owl is more dangerous to Kate when she is out.