It's hard to keep up

It seems every time I turn around, something else is blooming or about to bloom. Spring feels compressed into less time - today it is in the 80's - so while everything is taking its turn, there seems to be a bit of shoving going on in the line.

The creeping phlox is not only creeping across and down the castle block, it is putting on a nice show. Each year, once the bloom is done, I prune it back a bit. This year I will do that but also let it continue moving down the front of that bed, so that it is draped over all the castle block. It doesn't seem interested in moving under the shrubs there; probably too shady.

I'm very pleased with the 'Perfect Purple' crabapple. It is only one year old but blooming like an old hand. It has two means of support; I'll remove the one along the trunk this year, the rest next year (per the nursery's recommendation).

The apple trees are blooming now. When I planted them, I was all gung ho on growing my own fruit. Almost immediately after, I lost interest. I'll leave them be for now - the apples are quite tasty - but I have a feeling their days are numbered.

I know I posted a pic of the old-fashioned bleeding heart before, but it just keeps getting better and better.

Non-blooming trees and shrubs are leafing out, too. This is the view out my dining room window, where the Japanese maple provides nice dappled shade. The variety is 'Bloodgood'.

For the record, I've started transplanting seedlings. The coleus is in the box on the front porch. To keep my indoor-outdoor cat from using this planter as a litter box, I laid pine cones on the surface. For some reason, cats don't like trying to dig around pine cones.

Today I also transplanted marigolds to the marigold/pole bean raised bed, and started the beans plants in paper cups. I purchased poke milkweed to go where the butterfly bush was, in the milkweed patch, and as soon as I am done here, they will go into the ground.

My ongoing problem (one of several, actually) with the dogs is they trample stuff. I finally decided they could not have the run of the yard, so have been setting up some fencing to limit their turf. To protect the bed on the south side of the house, I moved some fence panels from the removed movable fence. To eliminate their access to the raised beds and the hosta bed, I strung electric fence wire but haven't charged it yet; I'm waiting to see how the configuration works out for my convenience. So far, the dogs seem to understand that the flimsy wire fence is meant for them.

I thought the spice bush was a goner and intended to replace it. However, my source had a similar problem this past winter, so wasn't selling them yet. She showed me how to check the cambium layer for signs of life. I didn't need to, though, as the little stick of a thing is sending out a leaf. We'll see how it fares. The mountain mint might be recovering as well (see trampling dogs above). And the dill reseeded itself, sprouting only *after* I purchased more seed. Of course.

Be fruitful

I planted some cherry trees (two sweet, two sour) and apple trees a few years ago and pretty much neglect them. The other day I was taking a closer look at them while contemplating some heavy pruning when I noticed... FRUIT!

I think the apples are Pristine, a descendant of the Macintosh and Starking Delicious. The flavor is described as "sharp/refreshing" which I think means "tart/crisp", but the reason I chose this variety is its natural disease resistance (see neglect above). The apples look round which means they were well pollinated... I think. My intimate knowledge of apples is not very developed.

These cherries are definitely tart, which is why the birds haven't been feasting on them too much. I think this tree is the North Star Tart, a great pie cherry. Yummmmm!

Elsewhere in the yard I spotted a crabapple on my brand new Perfect Purple. There are also berries on the serviceberry but I couldn't get a decent photo - the camera kept focusing on the leaves and not the fruit.

The climbing rose has never been so dense with blossoms as it is this year, obscuring the fruitfulness of robins.

Until I edited this pic, I didn't realize there was an egg in the nest. See the bit of blue?

How fruitful is your garden?

April is busting out all over

This has been a great spring for early blooming shrubs and trees (with a few exceptions like forsythia and magnolias). I confess the redbuds are my favorite anyway. So pink!

And it is not just in my yard but it's everywhere, even along the edges of woodlands. Which brings up a question I have: ornamental pears have proven to be invasive, which is bad of course, but no one complains about volunteer redbuds, perhaps because they are native?

My fruit trees are not that old, but are making a great effort this year. Top photo is apple blossoms, bottom is cherry.

The serviceberry is already past its prime, but the sand cherry out front surprised me this morning. I hope the neighbor across the street comments on it so I can remind him that there used to be two in his yard. I missed them, so I planted my own.

My experiment of tulips in containers has not been very successful, or at least not what I envisioned. The bulbs were free, and maybe the species is not the best for container growing. Or maybe it was the weather or something about my technique. The colors are gorgeous, but the stems are short. It looks like many will not bloom at all. I can't even blame this failure on rabbits.

I have to admit I am not taken with the fact these particular tulips will not bloom again. For all the effort involved with fall bulbs, I would rather plant something that comes back year after year. I wonder how perennial tulips would perform in containers?

Lazy Fair

I confess I sometimes take a laissez faire approach to my yard, which is usually NOT a good thing. Plants get out of control, or worse, they die. The place starts to look like a jungle and becomes overwhelming in a very short time.

Topped cherry trees

Maybe it is the orchard and its requirements for severe pruning, but this summer I have been turning a critical eye toward the shrubbery and trees. That critical eye is frequently followed by a limb saw and/or lopper and/or snipper of one sort or another.

Topped apple trees

If I were more on top of things, I would have taken before and after photos. I might not have even taken these shots, but I'm reacquainting myself with an older, more compact camera, to take on the Garden Fling in Minneapolis come July. The light was not the best in most of these cases, but I think the camera itself will do.

Trimmed up redbud tree

The redbud tree closest to the deck was blocking my view of the backyard, so it was one of the first to get trimmed up. The other two received similar treatment. A plus to trimming up is it is easier to reach the base of the trees, which in this case allows me to keep the cardinal vine plants watered.

Trimmed up viburnum and redbud tree

Another plus to pruning is it keeps one shrub from impinging too much on its neighbor. This is a real problem with my forsythia, which are planted too close to the arborvitae. I've taken to whacking them severely.

Trimmed up arrowwood viburnums

Trimming up also allows more light to reach the bed underneath, inviting contemplation of what to plant as understory plants.

Trimmed up purple smoke tree

I have been more diligent about weeding. The other day it was the Canada thistle under attack, as the plants were starting to form buds. Yesterday it was something I don't know the name of but that is particularly prolific. Today I pulled errant northern sea oats from behind the rhododendron. (For more about battling weeds, see gardeninacity's post. What he said.)

Volunteer oak tree

More diligent weeding has uncovered some surprises: the baby oak tree above and the volunteer elm tree below. I plan to let the elm continue to grow in situ, between the Viburnum prunifolium and a Rose of Sharon shrub; it will break of the monotony of a row of bushes. If I keep the oak, it will have to move away from the house and into the yard, then survive absent minded mowing.

Volunteer elm tree

Regarding the gayfeather mentioned recently, I did move it, to the prairie sampler bed on the south side of the house. Initially, it is pouting - no one likes to relocate - but I think it will be very happy there, eventually.

Moping gayfeather

In sadder news, something got to the broccoli plants.

Bitten broccoli

I took a tour of the garden fence and discovered this breach.

Animal incursion

Previously, I had reinforced this corner with additional poultry netting, as little bunnies were squeezing in and out of there. Apparently, that did not stop something bigger (woodchuck? rabbit?) from bypassing my effort. Sometimes I wonder why I bother to grow edibles at all.