Trim Day

Currently, the asiatic lilys are in bloom. Here's a picture of a pink one.

Today I spent some time trimming the hedges around the front of the house. Instead of using the electric trimmers whose noise unerves me and is really hard on the upper arms... i used a new pair of hand hedge trimmers. I like being able to put them down on a minutes notice without hurting the shrubs. I was also able to trim the backside of the hedges that were too close to the house. I wasn't able to be in control of the electric trimmers to do that previously (without hitting the brick).

I also started the process of trimming back the wild asters. I have found that if i trim them to half their height sometime around the fourth of july, they respond well and get really thick and bushy (and not too tall).

Today, i also harvested columbine seeds. Shaking the seedheads in to a bucket... i noticed a bunch of tiny little beige beetles. I need to look them up and see what they may be.

The Newest Daylily

I purchased this one last year at the garden show at the Succop Conservancy. The ruffled edges delight me and the tones of yellow make it like nothing else i have. I need to find the paper that came with it. It was created by a hybridizer in West Virginia.

Moving Milkweed

Saturday i had to do some emergency moving of plants. The nighbor was going to mow down the patch of milkweed that is near her property. I've watched the onarch butterflies feed on this patch of milkweed and i was very distraught at seeing her push it over... So i very hurriedly created a bed (which i will use for wildflowers) and transplanted a bunch of milkweed. I'm hoping that it will take. The day was hot and sunny, so the plants are stressed. I put up sheets to protect them from the sun. I'm concerned that when i dug them up, i noticed that they are on runners undergound... and i had to cut the runners when i dug them up. So i'm hoping for the best.

I also transplanted some snap dragon that were volunteers growing up through pea gravel.

This evening was cloudy so I finished edging the front bed near the sidewalk.

pests

So this evening after digging out more from around the birch tree, i glanced over to a small crabapple and something caught my eye... oh no... tent worms. So we attended to their elimination and i turned around and joseph pointed out... a japanese beetle... OH NOOOOOooooooooo!

Rain Barrel Adventures

So we had wonderful rainfall on Tuesday... filled up both barrels, but last night we became aware of a drip in the smaller barrel. So we gathered all manor of buckets and bins to put the water in... and used some putty compound to hopefully plug the hole. And then today we got more rain and it filled up the small barrel again... and the dripping got worse. So i decided to clean away the old putty (not a good idea)... i had rain squirting out all over. When i tried the water putty, i ended up having to keep pressure on it for some time or the water would push its way through. It was absolutely maddening. I ended up draining some of the barrel, in an effort to ease the pressure of the water on the putty. It seems to have worked, but we'll see...

RAIN!!!

This evening we finally got some measurable rain.

We kept getting passed by with the rain... or only a sprinkle or two. So, my garden has been in need of rain. My rain barrels were empty... last night i even broke out the hose for watering purposes. This evening we got 8/10 of an inch of rain (and counting). The larger of the two rain barrels (75 gal) is full and the second one (60 gal) is well on its way to filling.

Recorded rainfall:

• May 16- 1 inch
• May 17- 1/10th inch
• May 19- 3/10th inch
• June 3- 1/10th inch
• June 8- 1 & 2/10th inch
• June 19- 8/10th inch

Total: 3.55 inch

Average rainfall:

• May: 3.8
• June 4.12

i've got some catching up to do...

Garage Sale Rake

On Saturday Joseph and I wandered around the neighborhood visiting all the garage sales. My big purchase of the day was an old rake/hoe tool... shorter handle, perfect size, black tape on the handle for nostalgia. Perfect for pulling mulch into the buckets. And with the quarter price tag, i've already gotten my money's worth! I also got a couple liatris (blazing star) from Charlotte... and a window box (for herbs) from Amy. I planted the liatris and planted basal seeds in the box. I also started trenching around the second birch... it's about half done. It was a good day!

I'm still waiting for some rain. This evening i thought for sure that we would get some... but once again it went all around us. Maybe tomorrow...

another birdbath...

I purchased another birdbath today. I was aware that the goldfinches have a rough time trying to use my current birdbaths... the rims are too wide and they can't get a good grip. The birdbath in the main flower bed is great for the robins and bluejays and the song sparrow has learned how to make it work for him. So we went down to Trader Horn and purchased an inexpensive ($6.99) white plastic birdbath. The rim is very small and the bath is shallow... i think the gold finshes are going to like it.

We could use some Rain!

It rained all around us yesterday... i thought for sure that we would be getting buckets (like what i drove through on my way home)... and we got a drop in the bucket instead. One rain barrel is about empty, and no rain in the immediate forecast.

I'm noticing that the garden is showing the stresses of lack of water. An Aster is starting to bloom! It's only eight inches tall and its starting to flower. I guess the plant feels that its mid August. My Shasta Daisy is also starting to bloom... and is half the height of normal.

Today I stripped away the grass from around one of the birch trees and alfter pouring on buckets of water, i mulched it in good. One down, one to go. Luckily there was cloud cover today so i wasn't sun blasted.

The Stella D'oros and California Poppies seem to be happy and continue to grace us with a profusion of flowers.

NOTE for 08: Transplant Stella D'oros out fro under birch trees.

Nature's weed-eater

Nature's weed-eater
Originally uploaded by pjslomer

The quieter weed-eater... doens't spew toxic fumes either...
The baby bunny in the garden has been taught well by his parents. They were very good at eating the dandelion stalks that were abundant in the yard a month ago. This little bugger proceeded to show me that he's fond of dandelion too. So i don't need to weed my garden... just leave some dandelion for the bunny.

Bluejay

This morning when i got out of bed and raised the blinds to the window... a bluejay came flying towards me. He flew from a tree at the bottom of our property straight towards me. He landed on the roof briefly (and in a story and a half, that's pretty close. Then he hopped down to the wire two feet in front of me! Looking in and ready for peanuts. There are tow in particular who are always near the door waiting for me. They are getting used to me being around... still a little on edge about me getting too close. But I think we are training each other...

Two Bees or not two bees...

No, they were definitely two honey bees spotted today! I was surprised and delighted to see the two on the clover in the yard. These two bees were totally focused on their task at hand and went from one clover blossom to the next, unlike other bees that i have seen this year (and that is very few). The bees previously spotted looked hyperactive and unfocused... they wouldn't even land on a flower for me to get a better look. That's why these two today were so special, they didn't look like the had attention deficit disorder or too much sugar in their system. Here's an image of honey bees from last fall... they loved the wild aster that i left grow in the garden. Needless to say that this aster is coming up in the garden again this year.

Rose

Rose
Originally uploaded by pjslomer

Transplanting Day!

Today has been a perfect weather day for moving plants around. It's been some time since we've had 72 degree weather with cool breezes and moist soil. Today is that day and i moved a lot of oatgrass from the center of my main flower bed. I trasplanted it to the bottom edge of the yard, a spot between two burning bushes (i've connected them with a bed... have more to do but haven't had the right amount of shade in the area) and also in the top of a plastic urn whose base brocke down. With that pot i took the base off and planted the whole pot a couple inches then added oatgrass, creeping thyme and chicks 'n hens. I created a bed around the holly that was in the middle of the yard and added the pot there.
I also took some liriope and thyme and planted along the paver path in the east corner of the yard. In hopes that it doens't look so bare there.
Currently in bloom are the rose, peony, stella d'oro daylily, california poppy, veronica and coreopsis.

Raindrops & Baby Bunnies

YesterdayJoseph and I realized that we have a pair of baby bunnies taking up residence in our garden... or rather, they were born in the garden and now are growing and hopefully we can get them to move on out. As Joseph says, what better place for a baby bunny than in Paula's garden. sigh...

After a month (May) of rainless weather... 3/10 over that time period... Today the rains came. We had thunderstorms and a whole lot of rain. 1 and 3/10 inches to be exact! Both rain barrels are full and a few other buckets were brought in to action. It felt nice to not be carrying the watering can around this evening.

Hummingbird in the Garden

The garden has been graced with the presence of a pair of hummingbirds. As you can see from the photo, they really like the heuchara (coral bells). They are also happy with the fuschia plant.

carved out gardens

carved out gardens
Originally uploaded by pjslomer

i continue to dig out turf (part of the "lawn -elimination" program) and mulch varying areas around the yard. I have finished the outer bed along the sidewalk... and now the crescent behind the paper-bark maple.

P.S. we have been getting some much needed rain today... a tenth of an inch so far... not as much as many other places, but i'll take it. it has been so dry. thank you tropical storm barry.

Coreopsis & Veronica

Coreopsis & Veronica
Originally uploaded by pjslomer

Sometimes you get a great combination of colors... and this is one of them...

Bird Bath

Bird Bath
Originally uploaded by pjslomer

new configuration...