I am my own worst enemy

There were a couple of plants growing in the rain garden that I did not recognize. Assuming they were weeds, I sprayed them. Then I spotted a third clump. Curious, I took a photo and used Google Lens to find out what it was. Swamp milkweed.

I don't remember planting it, but a search on the blog reveals that I did, last spring; it bloomed and produced seed pods. My forgetfulness was so complete that I purchased *more* swamp milkweed this spring. I feel like an idiot. An OLD idiot.

I contemplated cutting down the dame's rocket before it went to seed, but the bees have been in it. Not that there aren't more flowers for them to visit. I just hate to limit their choices.

ALL the perennials I purchased this spring are now in the ground FINALLY. I marked each one with a white flag. The chokeberry shrubs are completely fenced off with poultry netting since the bunnies like them. The additions to the rain garden have a little (old) ornamental fence marking their area, to keep me and hopefully the dog from trampling them. It's a relief to have that chore done.

I've been hearing a catbird along with the wrens and the other usual avian visitors. And yesterday a monarch butterfly flitted through the yard, so I am hopeful that the milkweed will attract them this summer.

I would have more photos, but today has been rather breezy, so everything is dancing in the wind. The forecast for this week looks delightful - 50's at night, 70's during the day - so I hope to get even more done in the yard.

Although I am feeling my 73 years these days, I truly enjoy gardening. I hope I am lucky enough to live here long enough to see everything mature, or mature enough that it all looks complete and purposeful. And if I am *really* lucky, the next owners will value what I have done.

A year for dandelions

The dandelions are rampant this year. Untreated yards and roadways are full, full, full. It's a rather stunning vista. My yard is treated, so weedfree, but I've been digging them out of the flower beds and rain garden. Ugh.

Last week I forgot to mention that I attended an Earth Day event where two local nurseries were selling natives: Riverview Nursery and Chapman Lake Nursery.
From the former I purchased three culvers root, 3 rattlesnake master, and one spiderwort, and from the latter three common ironweed, three swamp milkweed, and three dense blazing star.

The four Aronia Low Scape Mound chokeberry shrubs, also in the above photo, arrived from Bluestone Perennials. So now I have some planting to do.

I also have some mowing to do. It keeps raining, which means twice-weekly mows. The temps are going to be low this week, which I don't mind as it keeps the spring flowers blooming longer.

On the birding front, a white crowned sparrow hung out with the locals under the millet feeder this past week. They don't summer here, so I don't expect it to stay. A pair of bluebirds are busy with their nest building. I hear wrens but am not sure if they have taken over the wren houses yet.

Around the yard... what I thought might be a mullen patch turned out to be dame's rocket, an invasive that I don't mind as it seems to just come and go with no rhyme or reason.

I severely whacked back one honeysuckle vine that was threatening to run rampant, then wondered if it would recover, and it is. So is the tree that has been growing up through it, but its days are numbered.

After several relocations and not enough sun, the rhubarb "patch" is finally getting established, just in time for pie season. My SO dug up a neighboring goldenrod clump to call his own, which helps with the sunshine issue.

I usually drag planters into the garage over the winter, but just didn't feel like it last fall. The catmint survived despite the frigid temps, so I repotted it (and will take better care of it going forward).

Out of the twelve coneflower cultivars I planted in the bed along the front sidewalk, only one survived the winter - lesson learned. Two ninebark shrubs are dead, dead, dead, along with one of the Canadian hemlocks. I'll give the ninebarks another chance, but that hemlock has already been replaced once, so a gold mop will go there. Some of the winterberry shrubs look peaked, but we'll see how they do. Otherwise, things look hale and hearty. Fingers crossed!

Plant fever

I was rather smug about my self-control over ordering plants from catalogs - just a few cup plants and a dozen common milkweed. But then I made in-person visits to two nurseries and came home with more than I intended. At one nursery, it was not crowded and I spent too much time wandering the aisles. At the other nursery, I felt rushed and grabbed plants without thinking. I'll list them all in a later post, as I'm a bit tired today from trying to get most of them planted.

Here is an example of an impulse purchase. I am not a fan of geraniums in general, BUT. Sometimes I find the intense color of their blossoms irresistable. This one caught my eye and followed me home.

And here is an example of what I planned to purchase: some coleus for the front porch planter. This is a "sun coleus" - the porch gets rather intense morning sun.

Last year I tried to grow ornamental sweet potato in hanging baskets with limited success. In fact, the success was limited to this planter on the north side of the shed. This year I decided to try "wave" petunias there instead. The vertical fish is a ceramic piece I made as a watering aid - water goes in the mouth and out some holes at the bottom.

And a few pix of some current blooms in the yard:

Columbine - up close and personal

Dame's rocket

I just read that there is a work day planned at a local preserve where they plan to eradicate dame's rocket. Of all the invasive plants to target, this one seems rather innocuous. Better to tackle ornamental pears and garlic mustard.

In the past few years, I have tried to grow perennials in containers, with some success. But I'm tired of having to water the containers and store the containers in the garage in the winter. And the plastic containers are starting to fall apart. Last summer I transplanted some penstemon, and it is doing quite well. Today I transplanted some catmint from one container into the coneflower bed where there was a bit of a gap. I also transplanted a miniature butterfly bush into the same bed where there was another gap. Interestingly, the root systems of these plants were not very developed. The remaining dirt in the pots went onto low spots in the lawn where water puddles after a rain.

I think I heard baby bird cheeps from the bluebird house today. While I have let all the other bird feeders run dry, I had planned to keep putting out mealworms for the bluebirds... until I saw that the sparrows are eating the mealworms. They don't usually do that, are probably gathering food for their young, but hey. Not allowed.

A trillion cicadas

Nothing says August around here like the drone of cicadas. For the first time since 1803, Brood XIX, or the Great Southern Brood, and Brood XIII, or the Northern Illinois Brood, will appear together in an event known as a dual emergence. I'm not likely to see it, as northeast Indiana is not their home territory. It looks like Illinois and Missouri will be hit the hardest.

Do cicadas bite? No, nor do they sting. But they are lousy fliers and landers, so may become a slimy nuisance on streets and sidewalks. Don't let your pets gorge on them, though.

Cicadas are actually good for Mother Nature. They drill holes in the ground, thereby aerating soil (and my clay soil could use a LOT of that kind of help). The slits they make in trees cause "flagging", a natural pruning of trees; when the limbs start growing again, they will be stronger and yield heavier fruit. Dead cicadas make great fertilizer, so throw them into the compost bin or let them rot where they fall.

Whatever you do, DO NOT try to kill them, especially with sprays as you will kill other bugs that you want to keep around. Just let nature take its course.

(Most of this information came from this article in the New York Times and this one in Smithsonian Magazine.)

Brood XIII (blue dots) and Brood XIX (red dots). Gene Kritsky / Mount St. Joseph University

Closer to home, I've seen something emerging along the south side of the house. At first I thought it was some weed spreading rampantly. Then I remembered what it is: dame's rocket. Technically, it's invasive, but I find it rather easy to get rid of, but I don't. It's quite pretty when it blooms.

Dame's rocket - not pretty yet

The garage setup for the seedlings was not the best (plus I kept forgetting to turn the lights on and off). The past few days, I've been putting them outside once the temps are above 50 in the morning, taking them in before the temps fall below 50 in the evening. They are starting to put out "true" leaves.

I did a little research on spicebushes, as I was wondering why the landscaper planted only one in my backyard. To produce fruit, there needs to be both female and male plants. Mine appears to be a male, so I was wondering if I should get a female. The answer is no. Even though they are native, they tend to be invasive. Also, they grow to be 6-12 feet tall and wide, so one will take up quite a bit of room. It's for attracting the spicebush swallowtail, and they don't eat the berries.

Otherwise, I've been piddling about in the yard. The asters I planted last fall have survived. I've taken in the orange stakes that mark the edges of my driveway and sidewalk (didn't need them this past winter - sigh - I miss snow). The grass has been mowed a second time.

NEXT!

The blossoming continues. Unfortunately, the light is not always ideal and I am not the best photo editor around. So while I am documenting the progression of the flowering, some of the pics are not the most flattering. Not that the plants care.

I keep trying to capture the way the purple-leaf plantings in the front yard enhance the rest. An example is the hawthorn and the 'Crimson King' maple trees.

The hawthorn is peaking blossom-wise.

The 'Wentworth' highbush cranberry is coming on strong.

I love the delicate details of the flowers.

Behind the highbush cranberry is the easy-to-neglect 'Alabama Crimson' honeysuckle vine. It has been blooming for a while. I keep meaning to provide it with a trellis so it can show off more.

Just getting to the honeysuckle is a challenge.

The sad looking shrub on the right is the 'Aphrodite' Rose of Sharon. It is always late to the dance, but is looking particularly peaked this spring. I think I will cut it back severely and see if it recovers. And while it is in a smaller size, maybe I will get that trellis installed for the honeysuckle.

I am not sure if the catmint in the milkweed bed is 'Walkers Low' or 'Six Hills Giant'. If you look closely, you can see a milkweed plant sprouting in the midst of the catmint. By the way, I spotted a monarch today, fluttering around some milkweed on the south side of the house, but alas, it did not land.

I'm glad this catmint is doing so well because the Russian sage planted at the corners of the bed is not.

A few plants of dames rocket spot the yard. This is a non-native invasive that I have mistaken for some kind of phlox in the past. Sometimes there is a lot, sometimes a little. I let it hang around because I like it.

The false indigo gets bigger every year. When I planted it I had no idea just how big it would get. I'm happy with it, though.

There is some volunteer columbine mixed in with it this year.

This poor 'Niobe' clematis keeps trying but has never lived up to its reputation of being 8'-12' tall. It adds another shade of purple to the front yard, though.

Meanwhile, my efforts to get rid of the yucca is turning into a game of whack-a-mole. The roots keep sending up more shoots. I snip them off and they come back. I'm beginning to wonder if a yucca is forever.

My immediate goal (besides moving the giant pile of mulch in the driveway and keeping the lawn mowed) is to get the rest of the transplants into the ground. There are the ones I bought, which are waiting rather patiently. Then there are the ones I grew, which are moving on as best they can despite my starting them too early and transplanting them too late, like these Profusion zinnias.

For the record, three 'Luna Red' hibiscus are in their own raised bed; I started more plants, as I want at least four. Today I planted some zucchini and cucumber in paper cups, to get them off to a good start. Last year's hollyhock did not all come back - it looks like some of them rotted in the ground - so I transplanted some 'Torch' sunflowers into that bed, to keep the survivors company. I've neglected the alyssum I purchased earlier (and it shows), so I've been moving it and some of the Profusion zinnias to containers.

I was wrong about the climbing rose being dead, as it is sending up some new growth from its base; it probably heard me musing about planting a honeysuckle in its place. I whacked back the forsythia again, as it just won't stop growing. I'm beginning to wonder if forsythia is forever, too.

And I have been weeding, weeding, weeding, especially the Canada thistle. How about you?