Odds and ends

While I have been moving away from growing food, there are still a few food plants in my yard and garden. Despite my attack on the asparagus, it continues to produce, so I am enjoying that, tossed with a little olive oil and roasted in a hot oven for about ten minutes (the asparagus, not me). Then there is the rhubarb patch, which provides pie for me and mordant for dyeing yarn. And there are some pole beans, just about ready to bloom.

I keep contemplating eliminating the "orchard" but it is low on the priority list. The birds usually get the sweet cherries, but leave these North Star tart ones for me. Another pie producing plant. (Can you tell I like pie?)

Instead of dumping out the "mother plant" I use each year to create more coleus for the front porch, I pruned it up a bit and added it to the tableau.

Coleus are such a nice foliage plant and tolerant of shade that I decided to plant some under the purple-leaf smokebush. It is late in the season for purchasing annuals, so there wasn't much selection. 'Pineapple' was close enough. No pic yet.

The common milkweed in the yard is going to town. The neighbor's privet was providing an almost cloying aroma last week, now it is the milkweed, which fortunately is a tiny bit more subtle. I've seen a few random butterflies recently, but no monarchs.

The blossoms of this Hydrangea arborscens, a.k.a. smooth hydrangea, are not very showy. The plant also has a tendency to die back to the ground during the winter. My 'Limelight' takes a heavy pruning and keeps on producing, so I'm assuming once this baby is established, it will fulfill its potential.

And an early appearance by a coneflower.

I am STILL installing transplants, but the end is in sight. Last year I planted some butterfly weed next to the silvergrass; one clump survived, so I tried again, plus added some coneflower and rudbekia. I also put an ornamental fence around the grouping, in hopes of deterring the dogs. I've also been planting a variety of natives in raised beds, theoretically so they can get bigger and stronger before going in their final resting places; they just aren't quite ready to complete.

And I have been weeding, weeding, weeding. More rain is in the forecast, plus higher temps, so I am "making hay while the sun shines". Ooh! I just saw a monarch. Huzzah!

Guilty

The volunteer flowers that I have been calling phlox are actually dame's rocket, an invasive. It comes and goes in my yard, so I never thought of it as a problem. In wild preserves, however, it is another story. Sorry.

In more responsible gardening news, the 'Betty Corning' clematis is busting out all over. I was afraid the smallish openings in the trellis would not be sufficient, but never fear. We had to shore up the trellises a couple of times, to keep everything upright. Maybe next year I will give the plants more room - they are kind of smooshed up against the siding.

In other clematis news, the Niobe I have been nursing along for YEARS finally feels comfortable enough to bloom. Maybe next year it will get tall enough to climb its trellis, in the company of black eyed Susan vine. Hopefully, that will be a sight to see.

In other climbing news, I did repot the cardinal vines, into brand new clay pots. (I swear I have a variety of clay pots around here somewhere, but damned if I can find them.) Now they can climb the redbud trees to their hearts' content.

In the reach-for-the-sky department, I picked a nursery brain about the stretchy nature of the purple smoke tree's limbs. She suggested that the poor thing might not be getting enough sun. This makes sense, as since I planted it, the nearby Crimson King maple tree has finally become large enough to shade that corner of the house.

The surprise of the week are these cherries, on the Northern Star tart cherry tree (I think).

I wonder if there will be enough for pie?

In not-so-surprising news, the highbush cranberry viburnum is pumping out the blossoms. I have a love-hate relationship with viburnums, due to some errant purchases several years ago. This one was a good choice, however.

In other fruit and vegetable news, my son and I sampled the first two strawberries of the season. The garlic is going strong, as are the onions. The Irish potatoes are up, but the broccoli appears to be stalled. Ditto some marigolds I planted in the pea/bean beds. Maybe the weather has been too weird lately.

Speaking of weather, it feels rather summery this week, so I planted pole beans, corn, and sunflowers, transplanted tomatoes and hot peppers. I'm holding off on the sweet potatoes, for now.

There is (always) more to report, but I'll save that for another post.

Pretty in pink

I have so many photos of the flowering plants in my yard that I don't get too excited about wandering around the property, camera in hand. However, I don't recall the rhododendron ever blooming this heavily before. I'm glad I took this pic despite the windy conditions because the next day, after a frosty night, most of the petals lay on the ground in a pink carpet.

The fruit trees did arrive, as did the underground utility guy. I had to help him find the gas lines because 1) he was not aware that when my neighbor to the south installed a gas furnace, NIPSCo ran the line across a corner of my property, and 2) the utility maps shows the main line to the north to be on the property of my neighbors on that side of the house. I've lived here over 20 years and generally have the utilities marked every year, so I guess that now makes me the expert.

I'm not such an expert when it comes to transplanting fruit trees. Different instructions from different sources do not help, either. The trees are in the ground, hopefully at the correct depth given the root stocks. Now all I need to do is cut them back to where I want the branches to form a scaffold, in my case at about 24 inches, per Grow a Little Fruit Tree. Gulp! Since I finished planting last night in the dark, I have not made this cut yet, as I wanted to be able to see what I was doing. Today is wet and windy and cold, so I will gardener up and do it tomorrow.

By the way, here is what I planted:

Apples:

• Liberty
• Wolf River
• Pristine
• Nova EasyGro

Cherries:

• Black Gold Sweet
• Balaton Tart
• North Star Tart
• Hedelfingen Sweet