Anemone Snow

Anemone Snow
Originally uploaded by pjslomer

Even with my garden going into sleep for winter mode, i get these little gifts. This anemone keeps on giving.

Lingering colors

Lingering colors
Originally uploaded by pjslomer

Gardening on a warm November day

It seems that we had a very cool October but today's warm temperatures allowed me to get some of the gardening done that i had been wanting to do. I started by planting the dianthus that had been growing in various pots and hanging planters. I made sure to protect them with chicken wire since it seems that dianthus is a favorite of the rabbits. It was a glorious time to garden... early on sunday morning, temperatures weren't too warm or too cold. And no one else was out. It was sublime.

I dug out a lot of liriope, woodruff and lily-of-the-valley that was taking over a section of the main garden. I still have a ways to go with digging it out. In the process I moved the monks hood that hasn't been real happy in that spot. It is now in the center of the garden.

I finally did something that i have been thinking about for some time. I wanted a taller plant near the patio edge between us and the neighbor. I had a healthy fountain grass that I felt would be nice in that role. i dug up the fountain grass and split it into four pieces. three of the pieces were planted near the patio... the fourth was placed in the main garden... it adds some nice height.

So now i have a hole where the fountain grass was and i'm thinking of planting the huge mum that Richelle gave me in that spot. I ran out of sunlight today... but maybe it will happen on Wednesday when i am off.

Monks Hood

Monks Hood
Originally uploaded by pjslomer

One of the last flowers to bloom.
The garden is in its last pre-winter stages. A few flowers hang on... the snapdragons, some white alyssum that reseeded itself between the patio pavers, a california poppy, a shasta daisy, a mum.
A few little final glimpses before the winter nap.

First Frost

This morning i woke up to a heavy frost. Most of my annuals were hit hard... except for a couple of the marigolds. They looked beautiful this morning with their crystaline glaze... not so beautiful this evening when i arrived home... I spent some time this evening pulling out what was left of the zinnias and cosmos.

I still haven't had a chance to move some of the plants around. I had hoped to do so last week but the weather was cold and rainy. Maybe this week it will happen.

Fall Cleanup... winter prep

September felt like October and now October feels like November!

Last weekend i took in the plants that i want to overwinter. The rosemary, oxalis, a few favorite geraniums, an ivy, a couple spike plants. I didn't bring in as many as in the past... and my chiropractor is happy.

Today I spent a lot of time winterizing... there are frost warnings tonight. I took in the birdbaths that will split if they freeze-i have a few others that i leave out all winter. A good portion of the statuary has been cleaned and brought in. The hose, that was only used once over the summer, was drained and brought in... and a winterizing protector was put over the faucet. I drained the rain barrel... saving some of the water into a tub for potential use over the weekend.

I've done a lot of trimming of dead flower branches. Took down the fence around the vegetable garden and left the deer a few pepper plants to nibble on. I think thats it for now... a nap is next on my list...

Mantis Time...

Over the weekend i was weeding in the garden and pruning away the stalks from the daylilies that are coming to the end of their bloom cycle. As I was cutting i was thinking about the mantis... i'd seen the tiny little babies that were less than an inch long... but hadn't seen any good size manti yet. And then I saw the first one of the day... brown, 3 1/2 - 4 inches long, perched in the white lavender. Absolutely delighted i called joseph over to see it. A short time later i spotted a pale green one in the spanish lavender... and then another brown one in a different bed on a daylily... and a forth one (green) on the white lavender. Four good size manti so far. I also saw a small (2 inch green mantis in a flower pot that i was watering... So five manti all tolled. :-)

Experiments in the Garden

This year my father advised me to place wet newspaper around my vegetable garden and then layer it with grass clippings. This holds the moisture for the roots and keep weeds down.

I decided that the wet newspaper thing might be helpful applied elsewhere. When planting my big clay pots, i added newspaper around the inside of the pot. It has really helped the plants in the pot... no drying out.

I also did a similar thing for some of my hanging planters. The ones most prone to drying out... i added newspaper.

I felt that the newspaper in the garden, in the pots and planters all were really helpful to keep the soil moist. So my latest experiment with newspaper is... shredded newspaper, turned in to the soil that i was prepping for planting. I had a pack of marigolds waiting to be planted. I know that the marigolds struggle with the clay soil and the need the consistent moisture. So we'll see how this experiment works out.

July Gardening Update

It's been a while... and the garden continues to grow and thrive. It has been a very dry and cool summer so far. I like the cool part, but the dry part has its challenges. Today I had Joseph get out the garden hose... which i try to avoid using. The water barrel is empty, the ground cracked... so a good soaking was in order. The weather forecasts for some showers tomorrow. I feel like i primed the pump by watering today.

We carved out more garden space along the pine tree line (see photo). It felt good to get more of the weeds out of that area. In its place i transplanted an old-fashioned red daylily, lily-of-the-valley and oatgrass. In another section i split apart a very large variegated hosta. It was a challenge digging it out. We ended up dividing it into five pieces. We planted three in the new bed. The other two we planted near the base of the blue spruce. In the side bed where we lifted the hosta... we transplanted a bleeding heaart that wasn't happy under a tree. I believe that it will be a good spot for it. And because the bleeding heart is going in to its dormant stage, i planted zinnias there too. A second bleeding heart I transplanted to the front of the house. I still have another one to move.

I've also added the image of the shallow pot. I decided to plant chicks n hens along with rocks. I am pleased with the reults.

Mantis in miniature...

Mantis in miniature...
Originally uploaded by pjslomer

I'm delighted to see these creatures in my garden. I watched one have lunch... a red spider mite. It was amazing how fast the mantis moved.

End of June already...

This morning I had to laugh at the noisy scene i encountered. I walked out of the house to hear a nighbor with a chipper/shredder machine going... and then there was the pair of red squirrels... constant chatter between these two critters. And then i had a family of Tufted Titmice... calling back and forth to each other in that exasperated tone, and then there was the blue jays ready for peanuts. It was a very silly scene.

Today I did a lot of thinning out in the main flower bed. Too much woodruff, viola, lily-of-the-valley and california poppy under the contorted cedar. It felt good to reclaim some of the paths that had become impassable. I planted a dozen zinnias in two spots.

I moved some clumps of viola down to the woodland corner. I also transplanted on of the Bleeding Hearts to the front of the house... i'm hoping that the moist soil will be beneficial.

Currently in bloom: Stella d'oro Daylily, Pale yellow daylily, spiderwort, coral bells, lavendar, coreopsis, veronica, astilbe, snap dragons, california poppy.

Currently available for consumption: lettuce, basil, parsley, dill.

And I watched a very funny young bunny... running to and fro'... hopping... flopping... rolling... stretching and napping... having a wonderful time in the garden.

Woodland area...

Woodland area...
Originally uploaded by pjslomer

Here's the corner area recently created. Today I did more clearing out of weeds and turf in this corner.

New beds and cleaning up old ones...

Saturday, we cleaned out the grass that was around the rhododendrons in the south corner... extended the bed further toward the house and planted the new astilbe that i picked up at a plant exchange. I also planted a dozen zinnias in the front flower bed. Planted my new rabbit foot fern.

Sunday, Joseph and I created a new bed near the tall pines down on the southern edge of the property. (Eventually I plan on having a garden along the south edge) I transplanted a day lily that was growing very thick... split it into three, planted it along with some lily-of-the-valley and oatgrass. I also planted a dozen zinnias in the main flower bed.

Today, i weeded and mulched around the hemlock near the back patio. I also cleaned out the ground cover under the maple tree. I moved a few pieces of statuary (a house and barn) into the area... planted some creeping thyme and chicks n' hens. I'm pleased with the look of it. p.s. i didn't plant any zinnias today!

Fences...

I have a small vegetable garden this year. Its about 4 ft x 8 ft. I have the area that is growing lettuce and beets surrounded by a cage. I thought it was adequate protection from the critters. Yesterday I had to fence most of my garden... that was after chasing out an adolescent bunny who had a taste for cabbage. I called it a "hunky bunny". I was more fortunate than my Dad. Deer came in and decimated his garden... especially the tomato plants. Ironically, Dad was close to having his electric fence in place.

Iris, vegetables, and plant extras...

This morning I started out by taking all the little posts and plant trays and digging out a lot of the surplus plants that I have. I still have plenty. I dug out liriope, oatgrass, pineapple mint, chocolate mint, columbine and freckles violas. (All plants are destined for the Harmony plant exchange in a couple of weeks). I did something different this transplant time... once i potted the plants i placed it in a big bucket before watering... i watered and let them sit in the puddle of water for the day. They seemed to like it because they didn't wilt at all... even with the hot day (even tho' the weather folks predicted mostly cloudy... and we had totally sunny weather. With the hot weather, my iris are flying through their bloom cycle. We left this morning with six blooms and came home late afternoon to over a dozen blooms. They were so heavy that five stalks had bent over to the ground. I had to stake them back up.
This evening I did as Dad told me and mulched in my vegetable garden. Using newspaper as a base and adding a thick layer of grass clipping. I noticed that two seeds from the squash variety are up. I also noticed that the beet seeds have broken ground too.

Vegetables...

Today we went to Jesteadt's greenhouse and purchased vegetables along with flowers. I proceeded to plant the green peppers and yellow peppers, a variety of tomatoes (still need to find plum tomatoes which are my favorites). Basil... twelve plants will produce a lot of pesto. Parsley. Cabbage... a variety with beautiful leaves. Joseph commented that there's probably not a lot of people that buy cabbage based on appearance. I also planted lettuce seeds.

In the flower side of things... i purchased flax, bouganvillia, marigolds and salvia.

The pots are out...

This evening I brought out all of the plants that have been overwintering in the garden room. Trimmed them, watered them and started moving them around. Hopefully we are past frost time.
I seem to have an overabundance of plants once again. I'm hoping to share some of them.

Beautiful cool May Day...

I had the day off today and used it in the garden. I transplanted a trillium and an astilbe that were struggling in the southeast bed. They now reside in the south bed with the other native flowers. I thinned out some of the sweet woodruff that seems to be trying to take over the southeast bed. I culd rpobably take more out of it, but i'll wait until the flowers are doen blooming. I noticed a honeybee enjoying the flowers. The hummingbirds this year seem to prefer the columbine over the coral bells. More beds were weeded and mulched. And the vegetable garden is one step cloer to planting. I added lime (cause Dad said so) to make the soil less acidic. Joseph used the tiller and churned up the soil making it light and fluffy. I was surprised and delighted that worms can survivie a tiller.

Warning, warning, warning...

They weather folks are waning of a "freeze" tonight... not a light frost, but a freeze. It is really hard to cover the essentials and pray that the rest will be fine. This is when i would like to have a dome over the yard... something that i can push a button and the top comes over covering up the plants. But since i don't have a retractable dome over the yard, i had to resort to covering plants with boxes, buckets and pots. I covered the most tender of plants (the new ones) and the bleeding hearts that contain a lot of water in their stems.

One of the young plants that i made sure that i covered are three lily trees. I hope that they do well for me. They are supposed to grow to3-4 feet the first year, 5-6 the second year and 6-8 the third year... i'm looking to build a visual wall and i'm hopeful that these lilies will help.

Today we took our "mantis" tiller over to Dad's so that he could tune it up for us. Thank you Dad! He also showed Joseph the ins and outs of this piece of equipment. We plan on tilling the garden bed tomorrow.

Flowers currently in bloom:

• Clematis
• Columbine
• Dianthus (pinks)
• Violets
• Bleeding Hearts
• Heuchera (Coral Bells)
• Iris
• Lily-of-the-Valley
• Azaleas

Note: Plan on moving the bleeding hearts to the south corner of the property. With the black cohosh, green dragon and astilbe. Will do this in the fall.

A Mom's day gift to myself...

A Mom's day gift to myself...
Originally uploaded by pjslomer

Here's a pic of my new trellis!

New additions...

Today I went to the garden show at the Succop Conservancy. I only bought one plant while there... an old-fashioned orange Poppy... guess I was feeling nostalgic for the older varieties, ones that i've had before. The high-point of this show was the purchase of an iron-worked trellis! It is outrageously organic and ornate with curls and turns. It is an original piece of art that I feel priveleged to have in my garden.
After this garden show I went and purchased hanging plants for Mom's day... two red-purple geraniums and a fuschia... i think Mom will be happy. I also purchased a fuschia and lobelia for me... along with some dill and a really pretty ornamental grass callede Pennisetum orientele 'Karley Rose'. When i got home i planted the grass, poppy and dill.
I dug up more Freckles violas and gave some to Phillip to inturn give to Lori... and I plan on taking some for Mom tomorrow.

It's May!

The magenta tulips are really putting on a show. The dark queen of the night tulips are a nice accent. The violets and violas are having a grand time, along with the creeping phlox. The little lilacs are blooming. The lily-of-the-valley are lending a nice fragrance to the garden. The columbine are starting to bloom... and the heuchera are getting ready... none too soon , as the hummingbirds are back.
I edged the bed around the patio while the robins waited for the worms that i turned up. I also weeded the butterfly bed, the front crabapple tree bed and the front house beds. Still have plenty of others to attend to. And i'm contemplating the vegetable garden.

Good ole' April showers.

Today we had beautiful April showers... enough to fill up the rain barrel. I need to put out the second one. The new mulch looks wonderful and the time seems to have been perfect. With the rain comes a lot of new growth. The clematis, dianthus and allium are getting closer to bloom. The big show currently is the tulips, creeping phlox, grape hyacinth, lily-of-the-valley, violets, violas and daffodils. The trout lily faded fast after last weekend's heat.

April heatwave...

Today the temperature hit 86 degrees... sort of strange considering that a few days ago it was 40 degrees cooler! Oh well, i managed to flow with it pretty well... lots of sunscreen, water and breaks. I remulched the beds near the paperbark maple... and also the main flower bed (almost... i still have a bit more to go) A lot of weeding, digging and lugging. I figured that i carried at least 20 big buckets of mulch today... add that in with the 40 lb. bag of concrete mix. That explains why my back is achy. The concrete mix was used to repair some of the pavers on the back patio. A lot of chippy excavation had occured... so i had to pry up the pavers and then add gravel and concrete, and put the pavers back in place. I also brought out the first rain barrel and hooked it up to the downspout. I repaired (hopefully) two birdbaths that had leaks. I also buried a banana peal near the rose for extra added nutrients.

• Today i noticed that it appears that the quince is taking a year off from blooming... but the flowering almond looks close to bloom
• The orange tulips are looking fine and the small red ones are also blooming
• grape hyacinth in three colors continues to bloom
• five very hearty trout lily plants are having a banner year
• many varieties of daffodils continue to bloom
• new growth on the ferns, hosta, asparagus, heuchera, columbine, lily of the valley
  
• banner year for the freckles viola
  

New Bulbs Planted

This evening wile the temperatures were still very warm i decided to plant some bulbs that i had purchased. I planted 12 Anemones near the sidewalk, 15 fragrant Freesia near the bottom wall and 5 Crocosmia planted near the patio. The rain from earlier in the week helped a lot of the plants grow in quite a spurt. The orange tulips planted last fall look wonderful amidst all the purple and yellow currently in the garden.

I'm really enjoying the small buildings that i purchased last year. They are really nice structural elements in the garden.

April in the Garden

Today was warm, sunny with temps around 60 degrees. We unwrapped the tree trunks of their plastic protection... wish we would have had enough to protect the one lilac that the deer rubbed. But there is another shoot coming up from the ground to take the place of the rubbed branch.

I continues to do the obligatory dandelion digging... buckets of them. I also took to digging out some of the liriope that is spreading past where i want it. Liriope has quite the root structure and it took a lot of digging and prodding to get them out of the ground.

Currently in bloom:

• Dandelion (many varieties)
• Scilla
• Squill
• Wood Hyacinth
• Grape Hyacinth
• Crocus
• Violas
  

March Rains

We received some much needed rain yesterday and more today. Over an inch of rain total... a slow drizzle for days... the garden is very happy.
Yesterday I dug out a couple buckets full of weeds (mostly dandelion)... and today i noticed so many more that seemingly sprung up overnight!
Currently in bloom are the miniature daffodils, and scilla. The trout lilies and grape hyacinth are almost in bloom.
I noticed new growth on the lupine, columbine, tulips, daffodils, honeysuckle, clematis, and violas.

Oh, I'm sore...

Yesterday was a beautiful day. I would have stayed home but had an afternoon meeting that i needed to attend. So I rushed home and jumped in to my gardening clothes. I spent the next 2+ hours in the garden. Cleaning out debris, raking, and clipping a big shrub that needed to be trimmed before bird nesting season. That is what did my arms in. I prefer to use non-electric hedge clippers. I hate the noise and lack of control i have with electric ones. So I clipped and clipped and my arms were screaming at me when i was done. But boy, sis it feel good to be out in the garden! So many plants starting to grow. I noticed the lupine, honeysuckle, columbine, all showing new growth.

Ides of March garden cleanup

Bright yellow Winter Aconite with its delightful and funny green collar. Groups of these diminutive blossoms are throughout the garden.
Today we continued with general yard clean-up... a whole lot of raking of pine cones and needles. Another fire is already in order.
I also trimmed the butterfly bushes and finished cutting back the grasses... especially the liriope. We discussed where we want to move the rose... which also means moving a daylily. I'll probably split the daylily in two.

The almost spring clean-up continues...

Today we burned the garden debris pile that had been building since last fall... and gathered branches that had fallen from our pine trees. It's a small price to pay for these beautiful big old pines that line the edge of the property.

The winter aconite is in full bloom and the small daffodils and crocus are starting to bloom... more snowdrops have sprung up too.

70 degree March day!

... which translates in to a lot of gardening clean-up. Clipping more grasses and raking leaves & pinecones... and trimming this and that. A very busy day I did some repellent spraying and adding a cage around the flowering almond seedling that had been chewed upon (looked like rabbit activity).

Today I noticed a winter aconite flower bud... and buds on one of the lilac bushes. A lot of daffodils, crocus and tulip greens are coming up.

I've noticed that a lot of our trees have gone through a growth spurt... especially the birch and crab apple. I need to find places to plant the two crab apple in pots. The seedlings that Sandy gave me last year from the arbor society.

I also noticed a mantis egg-sac on the honeysuckle!

First Flower 2009

Snowdrop in the sunshine! Two weeks ahead of 2008.

First day of 2009 Gardening... pre-spring cleaning...

Today, even tho' it was still quite cold, i felt inclined to do some garden/yard maintenance.
I put chicken wire over 10 heuchera plants to keep the deer at bay. I give the deer a fair amount of time to nibble on the plants in the garden... and then i need to step in so that the plants will have a chance to grow. I may be adding more chicken wire at a later date.
I trimmed the zebra grass, pampas and oat grasses... still have a few more to trim. I also trimmed the raspberry bush and a lot of shrubs along the lower edge of the property.
I also picked up a lot of twigs and pine branches. Soon it will be time to burn the pile that i have accumulated.

Today I saw...

... a little white bud... snowdrops are on their way!

Little Signs of Life

Little Signs of Life
Originally uploaded by pjslomer

I'm always excited to see the first little signs of life in the garden... and here they are... daffodils breaking ground.

I also noticed that the deer have been helping themselves to the heuchera... so i got the stinky/awful tasting spray out to deter them.

New Growth!

Today i spotted the first new shoots in the 2009 garden. Little bulbs pushing a quarter of an inch through the soil. It has been a rough November - January so a little bit of life is a refreshing site to see.

Garden View- February 8, 2009

Garden View- February 8, 2009
Originally uploaded by pjslomer

Garden - January 18

Garden - January 18
Originally uploaded by pjslomer

The garden is all snuggled in with its winter blanket of snow. Good thing... the temperatures have been very cold for us.

Blanketed Garden

blanketed garden
Originally uploaded by pjslomer

Chilled

Chilled
Originally uploaded by pjslomer

The Sun breaks through in November

The Sun breaks through...
Originally uploaded by pjslomer