Shooting Stars, Warm Weather, Invasions

It is still hard to do much of anything in the garden, because I’m tired a lot, and I can’t lift more than 10 pounds at a time.  So I have to ask Bill to do the heavy work, and he’s already pretty busy preparing and painting the house, foot by foot. 

But the yard has a lot going for it, and as long as I can keep things from getting away from me it will continue to reveal its beauty. 

Today, the fish are showing themselves in the shallow parts of the pond – the Great Blue Heron of last fall finally has escaped their memory it seems.  The Water Lily leaves have broken the surface of the water finally, and it won’t be long now til they cover a significant portion of it. 

The Shooting Star plant has made one bloom, and will soon make more.  Seems late, considering how far ahead most things are.  But the native plants tend to be more careful than other things for sure, emerging later and not being as responsive to the oddities of the particular year.  The Pasque flowers are pretty much right on schedule.  It’s hard for me to be so disciplined.  I’ve moved several plants outside, perhaps earlier than usual.  Have to keep an eye on them, but I hope it will be OK.

Today we planted Cannas, earlier than usual,  but in fact a week or so later than last year.  I still have quite a few in the basement, and will have to find a place for them soon or they will be wasted.  My favorite tulips are the Darwin varieties.  The yellow ones that I planted in the first year or so in this yard have spread and I’ve moved them around, til there are great clumps in several places.  Very beautiful for a week or two in spring.

The big event of today was finding a clump of garlic mustard along the creek.  They were blooming, but not yet seeding.  This is an invader that I really don’t want to gain a foothold for sure.  So we spent some time this morning pulling up the plants, making sure to get every one, and putting them into a black plastic bag in which we can bake them in the sun and then toss them out.  Keeping the creekside free of loosestrife, garlic mustard, buckthorn, and other invasive plants is a constant challenge. 

Spring Marches on Quickly

Since the challenge of keeping something in bloom once the Winter Aconite started, there has been little challenge.  It has been such a warm gentle spring that things are just jumping up and into full bloom, sometimes faster than I can keep up with them.  Was away for a week last week, and the change in the yard was unbelievable.  The crocuses have bloomed and are done.  Daffodils are fully out now, some even past prime.  Tulips, Hyacinth, Squills, Grape hyacinth, all emerging. 

The Bloodroot came up, bloomed, and is done, pretty much all while I was in the hospital.  There is a single Trilium coming up next to the clump.  And Forget-me-nots are blooming there too, though I never planted them.  The Marsh Marigold has a single blossum, at least it comes up each year.  Forsythia is pretty much done, though it may have lasted longer if we didn’t have the 5 inch snow a week and a half ago.  Many Pulmanaria around the yard are blooming, as are the Pasque flowers.  Prairie Smoke is beginning, and so are the Darwin Tulips in the first berm.  Snowdrops have come and gone.  Shooting star is just getting ready to burst forth.  And I think the Japanese Lilac will be next. 

We had fresh asparagus from the garden for dinner tonight.  Not a lot, but enough to whet our appetites for more.  Also fresh chives for the baked potato, and a little mint just to smell nice.  And the frogs are singing in either our pond or the neighbors each night.  Hope we get tadpoles again this year.

It is surely good to be home.  Going to be difficult to keep up with all the changes in the next few weeks, but most things can make it on their own.  I poke around doing tiny jobs, and ask Bill to do the big things.  He’s also painting the house this spring, so he’s busy for sure.  Not sure when the garden will be plowed, but we are really still at least a month out from major planting time.  I should be able to do more by then, I hope.