We came, we saw, we bought... plants

My daughter and I took a trip to Hicksville, OH, to check out the plants at Strait Gate Greenhouses. Rumor has it that their prices are better than around here; see comments below. They had a LOT to choose from, too.

I have not been happy with the aster by the front walk, wanted to replace it with something. I considered a fancy redbud, but visually another tree does not fit there. Then I got hot 'n bothered to put a Rose of Sharon there ('Aphrodite' which does not reseed itself), but I think something yellow would work better. And voila - a 'Lemony Lace' elderberry came home with me.

Sambucus racemosa 'Lemony Lace' (cultivar SMNSRD4)

Some of you may remember that I planted one of these in front of the picture window back in 2017. It's a good plant, but it was a bad location. And most plants deserve a second chance. (I notice that the price on this specimen is less than the price of the one in 2017. Score!)

Some plants deserve a third chance, like the ninebark. Instead of trying to find the same variety, I went with two of these 'Ginger Wine' ones. The price is less than half of what I paid for the 'Amber Jubilee' they are replacing. Another score!

Physocarpus opulifolius 'Ginger Wine'

One plant that has had its second chance is a Canadian hemlock that has been replaced once. In its place will go this 'Fluffy' western arborvitae. I had planned to find another big gold mop like I had in the front yard, but I think this one will do nicely. I might have found it cheaper elsewhere.

Thuja plicata 'SMNTPGF' 

I keep trying to find something that will thrive on the trellis by the front porch, despite the lack of sun in that location. Against my better judgment, I selected this 'Happy Jack' purple clematis. We shall see. Another bargain.

Clematis 'Zojapur'

I have tried petunias and sweet potato vine in the hanging basket on the shed in the past, decided to try something different, like these portulacas. It's a tough location, on the north side of the building, but midsummer sun still reaches it. We'll see how well they do.

Portulaca grandiflora

Coleus for the planter on the front porch has been an annual success story, so why mess with what works. This is ChargedUp Campfire.

Coleus scutellarioides

I've seen lantana growing in containers here and there and admired it. Now I have one, 'Hot Blooded Red'.

Lantana camara 'Hot Blooded'

An impulse purchase was a trailing snapdragon, something I had never seen. I considered putting it in the flamingo planter, but decided I still want to try a tuberous begonia there. The snapdragon will summer on the deck instead.

Asarina procumbens

And that's all for now. My schedule this week is tight, but maybe I can get a few plants in the ground each day. Step by step, hole by hole, slow and steady, etc. If it weren't for gardening, how would we make it through the winter?

I frequently hear bird strikes against my windows but rarely find any dead birds in the yard. Sadly, a white crown sparrow met its demise last week. I thought the mallards in this pic were dead, but they were just keeping a low profile.

My daughter, son, and daughter-in-law all have birthdays this month. We will celebrate with birthday pie tomorrow. Rhubarb, of course.

Have a happy Mother's Day!

What's it good for? Meadow rue

The three meadow rue plants by the rain garden were an impulse purchase, driven by the sign indicating they were good for wet areas. The rabbits dined on them a bit, but they persisted, and this season are TALL and blooming. I found a plant tag that indicates they are Purple Meadow Rue (Thalictrum dasycarpum).

They are mostly dioecious, which means male and female flowers are on separate plants, and the male flowers have showy yellow stamens, which is what mine look like. They are supposedly clump forming (which means I probably should have planted them farther apart from each other). I'm hoping they don't spread a lot.

The blossoms don't look purple-ish to me at all, but the stems do.

The blossoms attract pollinators, which I have observed, so that is a good thing. The plants prefer a little shade, so I hope they do okay when the afternoon sun starts beating down on them... if it ever warms up around here.

Yes, I'm going to complain about the weather AGAIN. We have received plenty of rain, but the temps keep dipping. The rain is interfering with my yardening plans, but tomorrow is supposed to be dry (fingers crossed), so maybe I can get a start on the weeds that are taking over.

What else is blooming around here? All the winterberry bushes are in flower, but the blossoms are so small they are not visible from the house. If you stand next the bushes, though, not only do you see the blossoms but also all the pollinators enjoying them. The blossoms are white.

The 'Chicago Lustre' viburnum is also blooming, also white blossoms. The penstemon in the meadow (and now on the south side of the house) is starting to bloom, with pinkish flowers that closely match the honeysuckle vine which has been blooming for a while and will continue all summer long.

The blossoms on the ninebark surprised me because I did not select the plants based on flowers but on foliage. Now that the blossoms have passed their peak, the flower clusters are red. Another surprise.

The wrens are back, finally. I hear them in both the front yard and the back. Just as last year, nobody seems interested in the serviceberries. I wonder if climate change has caused the robin nesting period to be out of sync with the berry production. I may harvest some of the fruit, freeze it, and set it out come winter, to see if the robins want it then. They certainly are hungry for the winterberries then.

I saw a monarch butterfly about a week ago. I'm hoping the milkweed does its job this year and attracts more. And of course there has been a paperwhite or two. I spotted a pale lavender butterfly, but it may have been a paperwhite as well.
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My experiment of growing garlic in containers and the raised bed has not been working out very well. A friend posted a photo of her garlic scapes, and mine are nowhere near as large. But it may be because I planted them in the spring instead of fall, so I won't give up on this experiment yet.

I've been pinching the blossoms off the strawberry plants to let them put their energy into getting established. Luckily, one of the local farmers markets has been able to keep me in supply. Those big and beautiful strawberries in the grocery store have nothing on homegrown when it comes to flavor. Today I was also able to get snow peas and snap peas, as well as the freshest scallions I've had in a while. Oh, and sourdough bagels and a huge, incredibly rich chocolate chip cookie. Yum!

What's it good for? Ragwort

When the landscaper selected Golden ragwort (Packera aurea) as one of the primary plants for the front yard, waxing rapturously about what it looks like in bloom, I shrugged because I had never heard of it. He is right about the blooming, but before and after, the stems look kind of weedy. In previous years, I cut back the stems, but this year let them go. Then I observed one use for this plant: food for goldfinch.

The plant is a natural for my yard, as it tolerates wet soil and both sun and partial shade. It spreads by rhizomes and by seed, already showing up in other parts of the yard with no assistance from me. When not distracting me with its yellow flowers (which attract pollinators), it makes a great ground cover. And the foliage is one of the few larval food sources for the northern metalmark butterfly (which I've never seen around these parts). So I guess I'll keep it.

(Most of my ragwort information is from this site.)

Meanwhile, around the yard....

The ninebark is blooming, something I had not really considered when selecting it, as I was primarily concerned with the foliage. A nice surprise, though.

I do believe this miniature forest is volunteer asparagus, something I have never observed before. I love asparagus, but let the patch go except for a few hardy plants. Now it looks like I will have plenty in the future. My neighbor says it is good frozen, which is something to consider.

All four of the green bean seeds germinated, but two of them never formed primary leaves. I will replant them and have a staggered harvest, completely by accident.

Every year I say I am going to remove the climbing rose, but then it blooms. Red is my favorite color.

The hairy beardtongue is the primary bloomer in the front yard now. Ordinarily, it would be attracting fat bees, but the weather has been so erratic lately that there are few insects out and about, even on sunny days.

It hardly feels like summer, as highs have been stuck in the 60's. But Monday and Tuesday promise to be HOT. The neighbors had their pool filled with water today, so it must be true.

Frosty

This past week we had several light frosts that have touched the more tender plants, but they were not what I consider killing frosts. Don't tell Mother Nature, though, as she is continuing with her plan to follow the frosts with what we used to call "Indian summer". The forecast is for warmish, dry weather in the foreseeable future.

Two of the ninebark shrubs that were planted in 2023 didn't take hold, so the landscape guy replaced them... with something different? I didn't notice the difference until the shrubs began to turn color this fall - the two replacements are not like the original one. Maybe as they mature, they will look more alike? I don't mind that they don't match, but I like to know what I have.

Original ninebark

Replacement ninebark

A while back, I posted about sticking nonskid strips to the garden shed ramp. As a follow-up, I want to report that the narrow gray strips are not adhering very well. If you are considering nonskid strips, take heed.

This past week, I've been involved with purchasing a new car. For some reason, I find it to be incredibly stressful. I'd rather have a root canal. Or three.

Word of the day: foliaceous

I've complained here about how my native plants are not very showy. By that I mean that there isn't much color besides green, green, green. It turns out that green is not green is not green. There are shades of green and textures and shapes that, when combined, create interest.

Foliaceous means resembling or pertaining to leaves. Mother Nature is very foliaceous. (Photo by my daughter while we kayaked at Chain o' Lakes State Park.)

And so is my yard. You just have to look with fresh eyes.

I finished transplanting the seedlings. Well, sort of. Some Profusion zinnias went in empty spots in the beds in the front yard, some volunteer zinnias moved from a container to the coneflower bed, a dozen or so Profusion zinnias went into the containers, the amaranth is now in a bare area on the south side of the house, and the leftover Profusion zinnias are now in a bed along the driveway at my SO's house. All that remains are the wild strawberry and wild petunia seeds in the refrigerator that I have been ignoring.

Two of the 'Amber Jubilee' ninebark were replaced this week, as they were more than half dead. They never developed roots. It's a mystery why one is doing fine but two did not.

My neighbor's lawn treatment guy has been a bit too generous with the pellets he spews about. Enough landed under the 'Perfect Purple' flowering crab to kill one catmint and seriously damage two others. I talked to the neighbor and she talked to the lawn treatment company, but I decided to be proactive and protect the replacements. (Said replacements had been in a container, transplanted to the coneflower bed where they were seriously overshadowed, so they are happier now under the crab.)

It sounds like the baby wrens have flown the nest, while a new (or same?) pair of bluebirds is inhabiting the bluebird house. The coneflower is starting to bloom, which means it is summer. The weather certainly says so. We've had some delightful days, but a heat wave is on its way. All I have to do at this point is keep all the newbies watered.

Sometimes things go according to plan (mostly)

The rain garden install did start on Monday as scheduled. Sean took a photo last year of where the utilities were marked in the yard, and he felt confident that their digging would be safe. And he was right.

He was not so right about the "Dingo" being able to scoop up the earth. My clay soil is so hard and compacted that the crew had to break it up by hand before the Dingo could scoop anything. It was useful for moving the dirt (and tearing up the lawn a bit).

So instead of being completely done in one day, only the digging was finished by the end of Monday. Sean calculated the size by estimating the runoff from the roof over the den.

Tuesday it rained off and on all day, so no work was accomplished. The moisture did make it easier to install the plants - Carex bromides, a.k.a. brome sedge - as did a mechanical hand auger. They didn't use all the plants ordered, so that reduced my bill some.

Originally, they were going to mulch with river rock, but Sean mentioned using mulch instead. I liked the *idea* of river rock, but he said that by next year, the river rock would not be visible. So we went with mulch, another money saver.

And then it rained, an inch over the past two days. The rain garden appears to be doing its job, as not only is there standing water inside it, there is NO standing water outside of it. Whoo-hoo!

Besides the rain garden, the crew installed three ninebark, Physocarpus opulifolius 'Jefam', a.k.a. Amber Jubilee. These shrubs should grow to be 4' wide and 6' tall, a better fit for that space than the arborvitae. Also, more sun for the 'Limelight' hydrangea. I'm eager to see how that pans out.

Sadly, I was right about the pagoda dogwood meeting its demise from the soggy lawn. The crew went to cut it down, but it basically pulled right out of the ground as there were no roots to speak of. I thought about replacing it, but my yard and soil and moisture conditions are not really right for it. Why torture an innocent plant?

New plants that should thrive in my yard have been arriving. On the left in this photo are a dozen coneflower, destined for the last remainng raised bed where they should be protected from the perennial thugs. On the right are a bunch of catmint plants, ten Calamintha Nepeta Nepeta (I don't know why "nepeta" is repeated) and four Nepeta 'Cat's Pajamas'. Most of them are destined for the beds around the trees in the front yard, but the extras will go into a container for the deck.

Here is this year's messy robin's nest.

Last Monday, an oriole landed on the feeder, complained bitterly about all the commotion in the backyard, flew off, and has not returned. Yet. Some house finches have been sampling the grape jelly in the orioles' absence. And lately I have heard wrens, although no nest building has occurred yet. A bluebird tried to squeeze into one of the wren houses, which I mentioned to my son. I think I will be getting a bluebird box for Mother's Day. He's looking for one that is sparrow-resistant.