Spring Chorus

The peepers began singing last night and it’s glorious!  Spring is officially here!

Amazing Hawk Sightings

No pictures for this entry because both were witnessed between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m. as I headed out to work.  Yesterday,  two red-shouldered hawks and several crows were sitting in the yard across the street.  This morning, one of the hawks was in the yard again and the other in a tree by the road; the crows were in our yard this morning.  As I watched, the hawk in the road flew off, nice and low, so I got a great look at his markings.  He? landed on top of the hawk in the tree.  She? permitted him to wriggle there for less than a minute before she took off further down the road.  Did I witness mating or at least an attempt? I don’t care, it was amazing!

This species of hawk has lived in the yard across the street and behind us since we moved in.  One of the hawks is missing some wing feathers so we can easily identify it.  I once saw him/her flying to its nest with a squirrel in its claws.  I haven’t yet seen either of these recent hawks high enough in the air to tell if either are “our” hawk, but I hope one is.

I can’t wait to leave for work tomorrow in hope that I’ll see them.

It Bloomed!

Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Jelena’

It’s planted next to the driveway so I see it every time I come or go in my car.  My strategy is to fill that area with early bloomers and plants with winter interest in the hope that it will lift my spirits with the promise of spring.  It works.  There’s just something about seeing flowers at the end of February!

Hope

Today is Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, but most of my gardens are so thoroughly covered in snow I can’t see anything, but the tip of the highest branches.  Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Jelena’ offers a small beacon of hope and the promise of soon.

Succession Planting for Year-Round Pleasure by Christopher Lloyd

I had hoped to come up away with an idea of  how-to plant for succession.  I didn’t.  I did learn that a full-time gardener on staff  or    maybe more than one, can allow you to “bed” plants which makes succession gardening easier.  It’s a practice, Lloyd says, “Some will say that it is extravagant–a favourite word of my mother’s, said with the relish of  deep disapproval and preceded, inevitably, by ‘very’.  Away with the kill-joys” (79)   What exactly is bedding?  Growing plants in pots and then filling in the beds as needed throughout the seasons.

Count me among the kill-joys.

That’s great for Lloyd and his head gardener Fergus, but most of us don’t have the staff, time or resources for such, well, extravagance.  However, and I broke the rules of basic book discussion by starting with the negative, but well I couldn’t help myself, as the above quote indicates, Lloyd has a great voice.  There were also some great plant profiles and I learned something about anchor plants.  All in all, not a loss, but personally, not a worthy time investment.  Next up, a book I feel confident will be a benefit, The Perennial Gardener’s Design Primer by Stephanie Cohen and Nancy J. Ondra.

Storm Damage

Less than 24 hours into last weekend’s storm, I was huddled under the covers wishing for electricty when I heard a creaking, cracking sound.  It stopped and started and then sounded again one final time.  Looking out the window I saw this

Where formally this magnificent creature on the left had stood

The storm wasn’t done yet.  Before the day was out, the top half of one of the cedars by the driveway had fallen off

Unfortunately, no before picture exists of that one, but it was taller than our house and narrower than the previous cedar.  The tips of most of the other cedars in the yard are leaning over and don’t show immediate signs of recovery.  Of course, there’s always hope for Spring, but before that another storm threatens so we’ll see.

Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day-July 2009

A month sure can fly by.

The Pond Garden

Liatris spicata

The coreopsis ‘Zagreb’ and Verbena ‘Homestead’ are both  in bloom too.

The Patio Gardens

Asiatic Lilies

The only reason I still have these is because they’re on the patio and, this year at least, the deer haven’t walked onto it to devour them.   Also in bloom, the wonderful salvia ‘Snow Hill,’ the lamb’s ear, the gaura has a few blooms and the balloon flower is reblooming after being deadheaded.

The Butterfly/Hummingbird Garden

Helianthus 'Lemon Queen'

This bloom and one other are awkwardly, but luckily, behind the hummingbird feeder pole so this one has suffered as much from the deer as its cohorts have.  Also in bloom here, the scabiosa ‘Butterfly Blue,’ the cardinal climber cypress vine, a couple of daisies and a volunteer tomato plant that I think is a ‘San Marzano.’   There’s also a volunteer morning glory sprawling around.  It sounds like a lot, but it doesn’t look like it.  Definitely need more in here.

The Cutting Garden

Monarda

This came from Martha’s Garden.  It’s not what she was supposed to be giving me, that was ‘Black and Blue’ salvia, but it didn’t come back.  Instead, in true bee balm fashion, this plant has taken root.  I don’t mind though, I love the color and the butterflies and bees love it.

The Kitchen Garden

Fennel

I don’t like the licorice taste of this at all and grow it primarily for the swallowtail butterfly caterpillars that thrive on it.  These are definitely taller than last year and is just beautiful.

Queen Anne's Lace volunteer

This one, and several others, popped up in just the right place this year.

Cosmos

This one self seeded from last year.  According to Sally Jean Cunningham in her book “Great Garden Companions”  both are great for attracting beneficial insects, but the latter for specifically parasitic ones.   Also in bloom are the tomatoes, squash and peppers.

The Front Beds

Hosta

I almost wish this one wasn’t drawing so much attention to itself;  I’m afraid it will somehow help the deer find it. It’s the only hosta they haven’t devoured yet this year.  Also still blooming in the front, the coreopsis and Geranium ‘New Hampshire.’

Thanks to Carol at May Gardens for sponsoring this event!

The Pond Lovers by Gene Logsdon

Thank  you very much Mr. Logsdon!   As if I need another project, but now I want to build a  farm pond.   His stories, of the ponds and the people and animals who love them, have convinced me.  He tells  of herons landing on peoples heads, muskrats, snapping turtles and snakes.   Just think of the wildlife we could attract here, especially considering what has already magically appeared  in our small garden pond!   He talks about pond plants like water lillies, lotus and cattails.  He reommends not planting  too many of the latter because they can take over a pond.  Apparently the muskrat can help keep them under control however.  He tells of people living simply and how their ponds help them reconnect with their land.  It’s all very idyllic until the last chapters so when he talks about human waste being reinvented as pond water and the various uses for pliers, skinning bullfrogs and muskrats for example.  Yet, Logsdon still manages to persuade.  No, there won’t be human waste in my farm pond, but I can see the benefits of recycling this, umm, product.  And no, I don’t want to eat either bullfrogs or muskrats, but it’s good to know that I could.  If only I owned a pair of pliers…

My Current Favorite Garden Tool

I promise I’m not secretly being paid by a feta cheese company.  No, this tub is my current favorite garden tool because I am using it to drown and/or suffocate insidious insects like asparagus and potato beetle larvae.

These things are so, well, larval.  They undulate like Jabba the Hut and they stuff themselves like ticks, they’re one of the most revolting things I’ve encountered.  I feel no twinge of guilt when I flick them to their fate.

One other type of creature that meets its end in my tub of doom, the Japanese beetle.  Remember when we didn’t see those until July in Virginia?  I saw our first one the weekend of June 20th!  Of course, my favorite approach, but the one I just can’t bring myself to follow through on, is sweet Martha’s, putting them in a plastic bag and then “step on the whole thing!”

Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day-June 20009

Carol at May Dreams encourages garden bloggers throughout the county to share what’s in bloom every month on the 15th, then visit her blog and add their post to her comments.  I like that it’s a great way to add to my garden record, but  I also plan to use it as a reference tool.  The new butterfly/hummingbird garden needs more in bloom for May and June and I’m hoping to get some ideas there.

So here’s what’s in bloom:

The pond garden…

Coreopsis verticillata 'Zagreb' with Achillea 'Moonshine' in the background

Iris in the pond

Also: Verbena, a Geranium from the farmer’s market (leggy enough to be ‘Johnson’s Blue’) and a big purple clover that I’ve let stay.

In the butterfly/hummingbird garden…

Hyssop 'Golden Jubilee'

Cardinal Climber Cypress vine

There’s also a salvia and scabiosa with one bloom each on about five plants.  Perhaps there would be more in bloom like hosta and asiatic lillies if the deer hadn’t been dining extensively.

Patio Gardens…

Two of my favorite new plants are in bloom right now.

Gaura 'Whirling Butterflies'

This one just plain makes me happy.  The thin stalks are so erect and the flowers really do seem to whir; it’s very cheery.

Salvia 'Snow Hill'

This is thriving and blooming like mad!

Asiatic Lily

So much for the white garden.  This is an inherited plant that appeared this year, the hummingbirds love it and if I put it anywhere else the deer will devour it so it stays.

The Front Bed…

Geranium sanguineum 'New Hampshire'

Finally,the kitchen garden…where the tomatoes, peppers and potatoes are all beginning to flower.