Mid May, and All is Well

Haven’t had much time to post to the blog lately, but the garden is marching on.  Being preoccupied with other things, and unable to do much heavy lifting, this spring I’ve depended on the garden to do its own thing and it has stood up to the task.  One problem has been that the early spring encouraged things to grow faster than they perhaps should have, so some things were set back by the frost last week.  A couple of hostas lost most of their emerged leaves, as did the ginkgo tree.  Even some of the most timid of the native plants got stopped in their tracks.  Most of the shoots of the Joe-Pye Weed got fried/frozen.  I expect the plants will make new growth, but they will be set back. 

Had to take in the plants that were out on the deck and on the front porch for a couple of days, and it is still pretty cold at night for them.  After all of the effort to keep them alive over the winter it is a shame to let them go due to a couple of cold nights.  But what a hassle to bring the in and put them out every day.

But now we are looking at a ten day prediction of rising and above normal temperatures, and by the end of that span the normal will be quite warm.  So I think it is fairly safe to begin acquiring new plants, and acclimating the old ones to the outside.  Maybe even plant the deck planters this weekend or next week. 

I have a bunch of wave petunias to put out to take the place of the spring annuals.  And I’ve been finding some interesting annuals to put in the deck planters.  Lee and Lin gave us a beautiful Mandaville plant from Florida, and I think it will be safe to leave outside soon.  It needs a bigger pot for sure, and something to climb on.  Planted the Cannas last week, but nothing has emerged yet. 

The Shooting Star is in full bloom and so is the Prairie Smoke.  The Ajuga beneath the Willow has really taken hold, and is gorgeous in the spring.  The Pagoda Dogwood on the South side of the house is getting more and more robust and beautiful.  It will bloom soon, as will the dogwood bushes along the creek.  The Pagoda is becoming one of my very favorites.  It is a bit too close to the house, for sure.  But it is beautiful in every season, and not at all difficult to take care of.  What a wonderful plant. 

  

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.  

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.              

Mid May Thoughts

The pasque flower and the Darwin tulips in the miniature evergreen garden bloom together this year. It will be interesting to see if they always do.

Well, today is the 19th, and we had frost or very near it last night. I guess there have to be some frosts later than May 15th in order for that to be called the "average date of last frost" for this region. But I really hate to see it get that cold this late. I had to stuff everything that was still in pots into the little greenhouse and then hope like heck that it would make it through the night. Can't really heat that house, have to depend on the ability of all of the soil and pots to hold the heat stored over the daytime.

This morning things looked like they survived, even the cannas that I had no room for in the greenhouse and had to just cover with a little burlap. I do hope that is the last time I have to be so careful this year.

I was off for a three day weekend and of course the weather wasn't as great as I would have liked. Used the first day to shop, doing my annual trip down to Fernau's in Oshkosh. I really like that place - everything seems locally grown and well cared for. Even given that, the prices are lower than they are at most of the "bring 'em in for the season and staff the joint with people who don't care much" places. Stopped also at some of those and bought most of what I'll need for the initial round of planting at least.

Saturday was my annual plant giveaway day. Several people from work were able to stop and pick up the extra plants that have sprouted around the yard. I really like to do that, and people seem to like to come. In between I was able to do some weeding and bed preparation. Getting ready for the transition from spring to summer. Bill roto-tilled the vegetable garden. We got all of the major pots filled with good soil ready for nice plantings. I really should do something to mark the places that need new tulips and daffodils so that I remember next fall. That chore always seems to fall through the cracks though, there is so much to do.

We ordered 8 yards of bark chips on Sunday, for delivery some time this week. That should be enough to get things going this year, though we will probably need another 8 yards or so later. There will be plenty to do this weekend.

The picture here is of the tree I call the 'mystery' tree. It grew on its own, and is now about 9 feet tall or so. Pretty white racaemous blooms in the spring. 5 petals, like an apple or cherry or?? Beautiful redish leaves in the fall. I haven't been diligent in keying it down, and I don 't know what it is. Maybe a wild cherry? Maybe this post will force me to figure it out before someone puts up a comment that makes me feel stupid.

One evening this weekend, can't remember which, the light was so beautiful at sunset that I had to take some pictures. Dark clouds to the south, but bright sun coming in at a very low angle.

Blooming this week...

For the record, in bloom this week are: Bloodroot, Forsythia, daffodils and narcissus, squills, hyacinth, snow glories, birch trees, pansy, Pasque flowers, pulmanaria.

The First Flower of 2008 has arrived

On March 28th, even after this very long winter that seemed it would never end and before the snow was gone from the entire back yard, the first flower of the year has arrived. It is a Winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) that I planted so many years ago that had to spend 10 minutes searching it out on the 'net before I could name it. Some years, the Snow Drops (Galanthus sp.) are first. But this year their location is still buried under a frozen pile of dirty snow. For me, it is a point of honor to be sure that there is something in bloom continuously from the time the first blossom appears until as late in the fall as possible. I think there will be crocuses soon to take the place of the aconite, and the tulips are close in a few places

As the snow melts this year I can see that there has been plenty of activity underneath it even though we couldn't see it. The vole damage is huge this year. A trip out to the gazebo for a closer look revealed that they had completely consumed the bottom foot of the stems of the alpine clematis that has been growing there for many years. I had to cut the whole plant down for the first time since it was put in. I have faith that it will regrow from below ground, but this will surely be a setback.

Not so for the first pasque flower that we ever planted, just below the clematis. Someone, probably the voles, completely consumed that entire plant, roots and all. There is just a hole where the plant had been. I've counted on the pasque to be one of the early bloomers. Good thing that is has been so dependable that it has reseeded itself in many locations throughout the yard. I will not be without any pasque flowers, but I will miss that first one - a gift many years ago from friends Paul and Jude.

Today we cut back the apple trees, took the tops off of the dried grasses from last summer, pruned the spirea that wasn't covered with snow. We also bought a small plastic covered greenhouse to keep early purchases and starts warm. We assembed it on the deck. I've put a high/low thermometer inside to see how cold it gets overnight. It certainly gets warm in the day - 85 degrees within a half hour of closing it up, even though the temperature outside was only in the high thirties.