May Day Vines

I don't have a Maypole in my yard, but I do have a trellis. Clematis is celebrating May with five new blooms:

Another vine celebrating Mayday is Carolina Jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens). I've had this vine growing along the veggie garden fence for a few years now, but this is its first ever flower.

It has a lovely fragrance, too. What a way to ring in the new month! I love this time of year - each day brings something new to admire.

Plant Sales

I was supposed to work today, but I rearranged my schedule to have the day off. Partly because the weather forecast was for perfect gardening weather, and partly because today was the spring native plant sale at Parkfairfax.

I love this sale, and I go even if there's nothing I need. I always find something I can't live without. Even when I have a box full of plants at home that still need to be planted, I find more to buy.

Speaking of plants needing to be planted, I've been on a bit of a buying spree this spring (ok, it happens every spring). I've been to three garden centers in the past 10 days, and have planted less than half of what I've bought. Sometimes I buy plants just because I like them, not having any idea where they will fit in the garden. Other times I have specific plans for the plants, but they space they are to occupy isn't prepared yet. And sometimes I'm just lazy. I've killed more plants just because I don't get around to planting them than for any other reason. I'm determined to change that this year. (By the way, I'm wearing one of my favorite T-shirts today: "Procrastinators Unite! Tomorrow.") But I bought more plants anyway.

Here's what I got at the plant sale today:

On the left, two plants that came not from the plant sale, but from a community yard sale I passed on the way home: Geranium maculatum and a variegated Carex. They will go in the north side garden, once I clear a space.

From the plant sale, in the back is palm sedge (Carex muskingumenses). I've never had carex before, and now I have two. This one likes moist-wet conditions, and I have one spot in my yard that stays pretty wet. Problem is, it's not a garden bed (yet). So I have to figure out something to do with this until I make a new bed.

Back right is an Amethyst Falls Wisteria frutescens. Yes, I do have a plan for this. A long-range plan, but that's ok; this is a pretty small vine right now. I'll repot it and let it grow while my other plans come together.

In the front are two pots of blue-flag iris (Iris versicolor). No plan for this yet. I just felt like I needed some non-bearded iris.

Next to this iris is a lupine. I've wanted one of these for a long time. It will go into the side garden, between the rows of non-flowering daffodils (I think).

Front right is Allegheny sedum (Sedum telephioides). It is similar to the ubiquitous 'Autumm Joy', but much more interesting. The leaves are greyer, and very thick. And guess what? I've already planted it! It has a new home in the lower front garden, along with some 'Walker's Low' catmint I bought last week. The greys complement each other. (Oops, forgot to take a picture)

At the community yard sale I stopped at on the way home, I also made a non-plant purchase for the yard: new chairs!

They need to be sanded and stained, but they are exactly what I've been wanting for the deck. I've been holding out buying them new, because I figured I'd come across used ones eventually. Today was my lucky day!

In other news, I moved 6 more cartloads of mulch today. That's a running total of 14, and my car almost fits in the driveway. Yippee!

Iris and Mulching

More iris are blooming in the side garden:

On the left, some solid lavender.

On the right, another white iris. This one is Snowbrook, and has bright orange beards.

It was a passalong plant I got two years ago, but it didn't bloom last year. I think I'm obsessed with white iris this year. I like this even better than the white/yellow iris from last week.

Finally, the most unique iris in my collection (I think). Lavender petals, golden beards, and zebra-striped falls that transition to a majestic purple.

When I'm not out admiring iris, I've been mulching. I've done eight cart-loads so far (2 Wed, 2 Thurs, 4 today), but it is slow going. Every year it seems to become a more difficult chore. Part of the "problem" is that my gardens are finally filling in. In the past I could run the cart right into the garden, dump out the mulch, then spread it around. Now, there's no open space to do that. So I'm doing bucketfulls or handfulls at a time.

Above is an example. What used to be an open space in the daylily bed has been well-colonized by mistflower (Eupatorium coelestinum). I'm very happy about that, but how do I mulch it?

The Mulch is Here

My city provides a nice service: in Fall, they suck up all the leaves people rake to the street. They compost it over Winter and provide leaf mulch free to residents in Spring (pick up yourself or pay a nominal fee for delivery). They started delivery later than usual this year, so I didn't get mine until today. But here it is:

I'd hoped the truck driver could put the pile off to the side, so I could still access the garage (off to the right in these pictures). As you can see, the truck barely fit in the driveway at all, so there was little option about where to put it. He really tried to put the pile up close to the garage, so I could at least pull the car into the bottom of the driveway, but the utility lines overhead caused interference with the lift. So I'm stuck with this pile and an inaccessible driveway until I get the pile moved.

Last year it was 2.5 months before that was done. Any bets on how long it will take this year?

I started moving mulch this afternoon, but it was really slow going. I loaded up the cart and wheeled it to where I wanted the mulch. Looked at the garden bed and saw: weeds. Everywhere. I'd weeded (almost) all the beds in March/early April to remove the leaf debris and winter weeds. But now several weeks later, without mulch, the spring weeds have arrived. So I had to do some weeding before I could spread the mulch. Looks like this will be the process for every cartload. I only got two loads moved before the storms came today.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!

(Don't those look like Easter lilies? No? That's because they naturally bloom in June. Silly name.)

A (really bad) Garden Limerick

There once was a shrub named Nandina.
In my garden, she was the queen-a.
But truth be told,
She was rather old,
& I'd much rather have a hydreengea.

Nandina was a pest, that's for sure.
Rabbits have nothing on her.
Those bright red berries
That seem so merry
They sure make the species endure.

I'm tired of weeding I say,
I want her out of my garden today
So I called my friend Rob,
Said I've got a job,
She's yours if you haul her away.

Rob dug and he pulled and he frowned,
But that queen would not heave from the ground,
She was determined to stay
It was just her way
of saying "Don't you push me around!"

Poor, tired Rob said "I know just the thing!"
"Why don't I just take the offspring?"
(some were seven feet tall)
(and he didn't get them all)
Someday one may even be King!

What to do with Nandina instead?
I didn't want to do this, I'm feeling the dread.
But the time is nigh
To say with a sigh
If you won't leave alive, you'll leave dead!

Right Before My Eyes

I'm always amazed how fast some plants grow once they wake up in Spring. I feel like if I ever sat still I could actually watch them grow.

Yesterday morning I went looking for iris buds in the side garden, and saw a few. By mid-afternoon, there were two more, looking like they'd always been there. I know I hadn't missed them in the morning.

And my garage garden has filled in so fast! Columbine leafed out seemingly overnight, covering most of the bare patches. And the moss phlox are spreading more each day.

See this Sempervivum in the face pot?

All Winter, and into Spring, it was laying next to that lavender moss phlox. Next to. With bare space in between. (You'll just have to trust me. Turns out I don't have any pictures of that.) It didn't move, but now it is nearly invisible.

I guess it needs a new home now.