Memorial Day weekend saw much work being done in the garden. Thanks to Marenakos we found just the right rocks to build a little retaining wall for the final plantings around our new fountain. The solar fountain arrived from Silicon Solar Inc. and I already had the plants as relocations from my own yard or plants I had picked up at the local Lake Wilderness Arboretum.
I placed the rocks, poured in the soil, placed the plants, secured the landscape cloth for weed control and poured beauty bark. My husband assembled the fountain and pump and viola, the fountain is done! As a pleasant surprise, the fountain even came with underwater lights that turn the water silvery in the dark. We do have solar landscape lights on order as well, but for the time being we are very pleased!
Elsewhere, yesterday I planted some plants from my stockpile that every gardener always has such as a rhodie, a grass and some others that I’ll get the names of later. I also relocated a couple of plants that were being crowded such as one of my white roses. There is always more to do though. Next up I need more beauty bark so I can lay more landscape cloth around some trees and shrubs.
Here’s what’s newly blooming:
- Geum
- Exbury azaleas
- Columbine
- Iris
- Poppy
- Lupine
- Chives
The garden looks amazing after a weekend spent spreading 12 bags of beauty bark and installing our new fountain. Of course, the fountain includes new plantings thanks to my pick ax wielding husband and 10 new holes to welcome the plants. I also planted some annuals mostly in the front yard. These include petunias, snapdragons and impatiens. The fountain plantings include 3 hybrid tea roses, 4 Sarcococca (Sweet Box) shrubs and 2 clumps of Dierama pulcherrimum (fairy bells). There are still some plantings to add once I find some river stone to shore up the bottom of the planting beds as this is all on a slope.
Otherwise, the slug patrol continues and in addition to my ammonia dilution, I have resorted to slug poison around the newly sprouting dahlias otherwise there would be nothing left of the new growth. No shortage of slugs in my backyard!
Finally, here’s an update of what’s blooming:
- weigela
- lilac
- poppy
- saxifrage
- all rhododendrons
- species primrose
- blueberry bushes
- Fothergilla gardenii
I spent yesterday spreading 4 bags of shredded bark mulch on one of my remaining two un-mulched flower beds. My 2 and half year old kept busy by blowing every dandelion seed head into the wind that she could find in my meadow area. I just watched the seeds fly around and know I will be pulling weeds for months to come. Of course, I helped blow every seed head my daughter brought me never letting on how conflicted I was feeling about the fun we were having. Every new dandelion I will have to pull out of my flower bed later will well be worth it as long as I remember that my daughter helped to “plant” them. I also washed and polished my hanging copper pots so that they would be ready for their summer plantings as well. The white wooden rocking chairs and outdoor furniture also had a good cleaning. I can’t wait for summer to get here!
Some new blooms:
I was in Virginia and Cancun, Mexico for a two week vacation and missed 80+ degree weather and snow as well. My weather station kept me up-to-date. I came home to find all sorts of new blooms and buds that didn’t look bad for all they’d been through! Here’s what’s newly blooming:
- tulips
- forget-me-nots
- sour cherry tree
- ornamental strawberries (lipstick)
- lamium
- wild ginger
- English daisy
- bog rosemary
- dicentra (bleeding hearts) in pink and white
- fritillaria
- Leopard’s Bane
- Foam Flower
- Pulminaria
Also, the past two days since I have been home I have been busy getting a couple of roots and tubers in the ground that I ordered and had arrived while I was out of town. I planted the following:
- Dahlia- Mary Evaline
- CURCUMA ALISMATIFOLIA THAI SUPREME
- BRODIAEA LAXA ROYAL BLUE
- GENTIAN MARSHA
- ARISARUM PROBOSCIDEUM (THE MOUSE PLANT)
- ASTRANTIA MAJOR MOULIN ROUGE
- DAHLIA BLUE BELL
- ASTRANTIA RUBY WEDDING
- BUTTERFLY PLANT A. INCARNATA
- BUTTERFLY PLANT A. INCARNATA ICE BALLET
- BUTTERFLY PLANT A. TUBEROSA
Okay, I figured I’d start something new. Each first day of the month I will attempt an inventory of what’s blooming. Of course in the spring it is equally exciting to see what is budding, but I can only do so much. So here’s the inventory for the first day of April, and it’s no April Fooling, even with 7 days of snow in a row, here’s what’s blooming:
- Viburnum
- Hyacinth- burgundy and white
- Hepatica trilobia
- Pulmunaria- just started
- Hellebores- still going
- Azalea
- Narcissus- mostly just starting
- Camellia- just started with 2 huge blooms
- Primula- only the grocery store kind, not the species
- Periwinkle
- Tulip- only species
- Pulsatilla
- Brunnera macrophylla
- White, variegated groundcover
- Anemone- blue only
- Corydalis curviflora
- Erithronium
I obviously have some naming updates to do on this list and will edit today/tomorrow with a couple of naming corrections. Most of my plants are labeled, but some have lost their name tags and my mind can only keep up with so much. Otherwise, the list is complete when it comes to blooms! Spring is definitely here and 60 degree weather is coming by Thursday.
