Timing

A delayed spring, followed by intense heat, seems to have played with the timing of lots of plants.  Everything is blooming at once!  How do I tell nature to slow down?

Across the alley, I always enjoy my neighbor's forsythia, which I can see from my kitchen window.  It's the perfect place for a forsythia, in my view.  I get to enjoy its bright flowers, but it doesn't take up valuable space in my yard with its uninteresting form the other 11 months of the year.

I think it bloomed later this year, since spring insisted on hibernating extra long.  But, eventually, the forsythia put on its stunning show.

And then it got hot.  Thanks to the sudden warm up, the neighboring lilac (another shrub whose blooms I love, but not enough to have in my yard all year) is right on time.

So now we have forsythia and lilac, blooming at once.

(yes, if these were mine, I might prune them a bit)

Nice combo, but I'd really rather have them spread out more, so my scenery lasts longer. 

Maybe next year.

April 2013 Blooms

It's an explosion of spring in my yard right now (finally)!  Most of the daffs are done, thanks to last week's heat wave (I started cutting them down over the weekend - check back next week for this year's final count.), but these doubles in a shady spot are still looking perky:

This white and peach daff is all dried out, making it look quite delicate, I think.

Moss phlox is making purple mats in the back yard and in the front


garage garden

front parking strip

 

The Neglected Terrace is at its peak, with vivid pink moss phlox, euphorbia, and iberis all in flower - a rather garish carpet, but full of energy.



 

Tulips!  They are not reliably perennial in my area.  I planted some red and white ones about 6 years ago that lasted only three seasons.  This is the fourth year for these purple ones, and they've been increasing yearly (originally only two bulbs).  The yellow tulips are at least eight years old (they predate me in this location), and have sent up only foliage (no flower) for the last 3-4 years.  Kinda funny looking right now, but I'm happy to see them again.

 

 

Hellebores are still going.  I like how my newly-flowering plant on the right doesn't droop as much as the parents.

 



Giant snowdrops aren't quite giant enough - they get lost in the spanish bluebell foliage.  Bluebells around the corner (no photo) are already blooming.

More purples and blues:  Mazus reptans creeping between the stepping stones in the side yard, adorable Brunnera flowers (my first brunnera, I got it last year and never put it in the ground), and creeping phlox in the garage bed.

First flowers of the year on the green-and-gold under the Japanese maple

Lastly, not a bloom (yet), but a preview of what's to come:


irises already?  not quite, but soon

(also blooming:  white bleeding heart, periwinkle, flowering pear (nearly done), dandelions everywhere, grape hyacinths, violets also everywhere)

Check out more blooms at May Dreams Gardens.  Happy Spring!

The Perils of Spring Travel

So many tasks/activities compete for a gardener's time in the spring.  In addition to yard, garden, and athletic pursuits, spring is also Travel Season at my job.  This year most of my travel was compressed into two weeks. 

The first trip (first week of April) lasted five days.  I returned to find spring finally starting to spring in my yard (hooray!).  Inside, a sad story awaited me.  My 'not late' pepper and tomato seedlings, sown in tiny cells, must have used up all their available water by day two.  I found the cells completely dry, and some withered up seedlings laying on top.  I tried to revive them.  Some came back (turns out the flat was not completely level, so one corner go more water than the rest), but many did not.  No photos:  I couldn't bear it.

I didn't have replacement seeds for many of the varieties I'd planted. I re-sowed what I had, plus some more mater seeds that had (finally) arrived in the mail while I was gone.  Two days later, I left on another five-day trip.  Fortunately, this time I had houseguests staying in my basement, who agreed to tip over a watering can every day or so during my absence. 

When I returned on Friday afternoon, I was shocked by the explosion of spring outside.  The daffodils had withered in the three days of 90+ weather, but moss phlox and the redbud made up for that big time.

the parking strip that welcomed my return

Indoors, everything that was alive when I left was still alive when I returned, thanks to my helpful houseguests. Hooray!



don't worry, the seedlings aren't actually yellow - that's just my poor photography

Note the big empty space where pepper seedlings used to be.  I have two or more of each variety remaining, so I should be ok.  My friends and neighbors just won't be obliged to take excesses off my hands this year.

Next spring, I'm going to insist on shorter work trips. 

I'm Not Late!

I thought I was really behind on my spring garden.  This is mostly true, especially since there's a whole lotta bittercress out there getting ready to spit seeds everywhere.  The garden isn't prepped (except for my small patch of peas), onions and garlic aren't in yet, etc.  And I just started seeds on Monday. 

But, wait!  What's this in yesterday's Washington Post?

It's time to start tomato seeds this week.  And I did mine on Monday! (Ok, just four varieties I happen to already have; I'm still waiting for an order of more.)  One part of my garden is Not Late!


Afternoon update:
I even have tomato sprouts!

Exercising Restraint?

Friday afternoon I made a trip to a local garden center.  I had an expiring Groupon to use, and I planned to spend it on some seeds and bulbs.

I found some "usual" seeds, one I'd been looking for for a while (Malabar spinach), and some other new things to try:  coleus (pretty plants for cheap), celery (you can grow that?), cumin (why not?), and a seed potato.  I've toyed with the idea of potatoes for a while, now I'm finally giving it a try.

"new to me" seeds - and a potato

I also bought some bulbs/roots:  elephant ear, bleeding heart, rain lilies, and funky gladioli. 

I'm so excited about the elephant ear.  I've planted it in a big green pot (probably not big enough, but its the largest I have), and plan to use it to help "tropicalize" my back patio.  The bleeding hearts will go under the cherry/crape myrtle.  I've no plans yet for the other bulbs - they were true impulse purchases.

After picking out all my seeds and bulbs, I took a tour of the outdoor part of the garden center.  Not to buy, just to look.  I'm expecting another Groupon for this place to come out soon, and I figure if I identify what I need/want now, I'll know how many Groupons to buy.  I looked at blueberries to replace one that died a few years ago, dwarf cherries, because I really want one and I think I've even IDed where I can put it, and camellias. 

I need to pull out my one remaining nandina that grows by the front door, and want something all-season-pretty to replace it.  I've been a little obsessed with the idea that a camellia would look great in that spot, but I don't think it will thrive in my SE-facing front border.  So I just walk through the camellias and dream.

On the way out, I browsed the clearance shrubs.  Yep, there were a half dozen camellias there, for a bargain.  Also some cute mini-rhododendrons.  I have probably the only house in Virginia without azaleas (or azalea relatives).  Not for lack of trying, they just really don't like my yard.  But this one was $10.

"No!" I told myself.  "You do not have time to dig up a nandina and plant a camellia.  You also don't have any space for a rhododendron, no matter how small."  I have no free Saturdays until mid-May, so my limited garden time is already entirely spoken for with spring cleanup and garden-planting tasks.  Anything extra will languish in its cramped pot until summer, when it the weather will be too hot for transplanting.  I'll forget to water it, and it will die.

So I walked away.  I exercised amazing willpower an restraint, and went home with just my seeds and bulbs. 

I was regretting my decision even as I drove out of the parking lot.  So the next day I went back.

So much for restraint.

Snow and Seeds

I'd intended to post colorful photos of my rather stunning daffodil display.  I declared yesterday "peak" bloom for the side yard - a sea of yellow and green.  But I didn't get around to taking photos.

Then this morning I woke up to a monochromatic landscape:


The upper garden, pre-dawn today

Yes, that's more snow than all the other non-snow events this past winter, combined.  In the last week of March.  Over in the side yard (I couldn't bear to take a photo), the daffs lay prostrate under the slushy snow.  The snow had (mostly) melted by this afternoon, but the daffs still hung their heads.  Well, at least I got to enjoy them yesterday while I was out weeding the front parking strip.

Tonight I finally got around to seed-starting.  Yes, I'm ridiculously late this year.  Five varieties of peppers, three of tomatoes (There will be more, but I, um, don't have them yet.  They may have ben ordered a bit late.), assorted herbs, huckleberries, four kinds of zinnias, and some coleus.

I used up all my remaining Pro-mix, and had to try something else (Hoffman's, maybe, I don't remember now what the bag said), because my usual Pro-mix source (Bill's True-Value) doesn't carry it anymore.  Any NoVA-ites know where I can get my hands on more?

Plenty more to sow another day.

Coming up soon(ish):  a tale of my attempt to exercise willpower at the garden center



March 2013 Blooms

Is it really mid-March already?  I feel so far behind.  I haven't started seeds yet (except the peas); I haven't prepped the veggie garden (except to plant the peas); I've barely begun to cut down everything from last year.

Fortunately, my yard is a bit slower than last year to wake up, too.  The crocus are mostly done, except this little patch shaded by a euphorbia.

 

not yet fully awake this morning - must be the shade

 The rest of the crocus have given way to the daffodils:

The large patches of daffs I showed off this time last year are still just starting to come into bloom. 

The trailing Euphorbia myrsinites is just thinking it might be springtime:

In the front parking strip the crocus are finishing, the daffs are still budding, one anemone is opening, there are some random flowers on the moss phlox, and this:

Of the 10 or so squill bulbs I planted two falls ago, only one remains.  But it is a cute one.

Over on the north side is the periwinkle. So much periwinkle.  I planted it in two spots in my yard, before I knew better.  A few years ago, I successfully dug out one 5x5 patch (formed from just three original plants) to plant strawberries.  But this patch I haven't dealt with yet.  It has smothered a mini azalea, invaded my window well, and started to grow up the house.  But it still makes me smile when covered in flowers: 

One tree is in bloom, too.  My maple tree doesn't have showy, or even pretty, flowers, but they are there.

This time last year the plum tree was in full bloom; nothing yet this year.  I haven't been keeping records long enough to know if my yard is "late" this year, I do know it was earlier than normal last year.

I hope you'll visit May Dreams Gardens to see more March blooms. If you found me from there, welcome!  And thanks for visiting.