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!

Suburban wildlife

Most of the time, the only wildlife in my backyard are birds. In the past, woodchucks were the bane of my existance along with rabbits. Between the privacy fence and the dogs, most critters keep away except for one bunny and a few squirrels. So imagine my surprise when I found this opossum in the backyard.

At first, I thought the dogs had killed it, but no, opossums are very good at "playing dead". There was at least one baby on board; opossums are marsupials with a pouch, which this little guy was trying frantically to find. Mom was not helping in the least.

There were a couple more close encounters between the opossum and the dogs, so I thought she would leave. But the other night, I saw Baby wandering around on the deck after dark. They seem to have taken up residence in the dog house.

On top of the opossum, this black squirrel made an appearance. I've seen squirrels with this mutation in the neighborhood, just never in my own backyard. The squirrels (and presumably the opossum) clean up under the bird feeders.


And, not to be oudone, a bunny got everyone excited by making an appearance by the front walk.

The orioles and catbirds have abandoned their feeder for now, so I took it down. I also removed the mealworm feeder, as the only birds using it were sparrows and the occasional bluejay. The local paper printed a photo of a hummingbird at a nearby nature preserve; I hung out my hummingbird feeder, but so far, no takers. I think the robins in the front yard and the wrens in the back are nesting; in another week or so, I may hear some hungry peeps.

The pagoda dogwood has been blooming its little heart out this year. I can't find many photos of this tree on my blog, but I don't know if that is because it doesn't usually bloom so well or if I just neglected to document it.

The hawthorn in the front yard is blooming as well. I can't miss that as I see it every time I open or close the drapes over the picture window.

It seems like it is either raining or I am mowing. Everything seems HUGE this year, even the (doomed) rhubarb.

While the Clematis Paniculata is putting out some new growth, it looks like the 'Jackmanii' clematis did not survive the winter in a container despite my precautions. Now I'm back to the idea of trying to raise Virginia creeper, which covers a section of the privacy fence, in a container. All I want is something to grow on the pergola.

Sounds of spring (weekend edition)

We are having a lovely weekend, if a bit cool, with threat of frost tonight. So my neighbors are out with their various power tools and such. I too decided it was time to mow and trim the front yard, but I'm leaving the back for another day.

Speaking of trimming, I stopped at Lowes to take a look at the EGO trimmers. I hate, HATE, HATE loading the string on my electric trimmer. The EGO ones load automatically. They are also battery powered, so I wouldn't have to wrestle with the extension cord anymore. However, they seem kind of heavy to me. Also, now that the raised beds are gone, I won't have that much to trim. So I postponed that purchase.

Last weekend, my SO helped me disassemble the "rainbow" shed. This shed is a perfect example of my yardening karma. I thought it would be a good playhouse for my granddaughter, but, you know, spiders. Then I spray painted it rainbow colors; the cans said the paint would stick to ANY surface, but it did not stick to that shed. I did store lawn furniture and some pots in it over the winter, but otherwise, it went unused. Because of the flaky paint, no one else would want it, so it will probably end up at the dump. (That piece of plywood was under the floor. It too will be going to the dump.) At least there were no animal burrows under it.


My SO and I also cleaned out the "big" shed. There wasn't much to throw away, just a lot or rearranging. The few remaining vegetable gardening doodads, like the grow bags, went to my neighbor across the street. Then we cleaned gutters: he wrangled the ladder while I did the climbing.

During the week, I cleaned up the beds on the south side of the house a bit. My plan is to move the perennials from the bed by the fence to the new wildflower corner, but I am beginning to think it would just be easier to get new plants. For decades I scrimped and saved so I could retire, which results in this mentality of making do even though making do is sometimes a lot of work. Also, I'm concerned about reintroducing weeds like creeping Charlie into that area after it is treated by the landscapers. Today I potted a clump of rhubarb, which left me with an aching back.

Meanwhile, I continue to spend my children's inheritance at Wild Birds Unlimited. This time I came home with a new finch feeder. Even with a coupon, it was a bit expensive, but it is supposed to be easy to clean and antimicrobial. Right now the house finches are sticking with safflower seed and the sock nyger feeder.

As you can see, the daffodils are blooming. Buds are swelling on most of the flowering trees like the serviceberry and redbud. I just hope tonight's low temps don't damage them.

Despite the weather

There has been a feeding frenzy at the bird feeders recently, mostly sparrows. I began to wonder if we are in for a rough winter, but the forecast is for mild and dry instead of cold and wet. We shall see.

We had a light frost the other night, nothing that would finish off the zinnias. I've been throwing a sheet over the coleus on the front porch when warned, but I dug up a new mother plant for next year's cuttings, just in case.

Now that the fence work is complete, I transplanted the bee balm to the south side of the house, after moving some of the remaining asters from the house side to the fence side of the same area. I'm a little confused about the aster varieties I have. What I moved looks like New England asters but are shorter. A volunteer aster has popped up in the yard as well, something I thought at first was more fleabane (which is done), then classified as a low growing aster, but then changed my mind again when I realized the plants were not low growing but floppy. Some day I may get all the asters sorted out, but not today.

I repeatedly try to capture the reddish hue of the Big Blue Stem in fall, but my pix never do it justice. This is the one that is most upright; next year I will try to prop up the others, as they look great in front of the fence.

A shrub I pretty much ignore is the coralberry. This year I made a point of checking on it periodically, because I wanted to actually see the berries. My efforts have been rewarded. I thought this shrub would get a LOT bigger, like eight feet across. This is its third season, so maybe I am being impatient.

The spicebush witch hazel is another shrub I tend to ignore, even though it looks lovely in front of the viburnum. I've yet to notice any berries on it, or blossoms either. This is its third year as well, and like the coralberry, it seems puny compared to what it should become.

Virginia creeper is one of my fall favorites, although sometimes it grows where I don't want it to, like behind the vinyl siding on my house. I'm still thinking of trying it in a container on the pergola, though. Tell me if I am nuts.

Rhubarb always surprises me with its fall color. Although I don't grow food anymore (something I have been debating lately as I never made it to a farmers market this summer and the grocery store zucchini tastes horrible), I keep my rhubarb patch for pie and dye.

I should be finishing up a few things in the front yard, but instead have been fixing up the raised beds I plan to keep, moving dirt from the defunct beds and mulching with newspaper and shredded cypress. The bee/wasp nest is still active, but once they settle down, I'll complete the transplanting of coneflower.

While searching through my blog for references to this or that, I've come to realize that there are a LOT of plants that I loved but that disappeared and were consequently forgotten. I'm making a list of ones I'd like to re-introduce to the yard, plus some new ones. This, despite my vow to downsize the garden.

Yaller

I have never let my rhubarb go to seed, as I was under the suspicion that one should not let one's rhubarb go to seed. This year with the rain and all, I just didn't pay attention to it. So this is what rhubarb looks like when it is allowed to fulfill its genetic destiny:

That is one thing that is going on in the backyard. In the front of the house, the Lemony Lace Elderberry is going to town. Over the winter, it looked dead, dead, dead, with only a few sad looking branches. Once spring (and spring rains) hit, it took off, now overwhelming the mugo pine.

I was recently diagnosed with severe arthritis in one hip, which explains the pain there. I'm talking a prescription strength NSAID now, and wow, do I feel better! I didn't realize how much all over discomfort I was living with until it was gone. Yesterday I went to town with the trimmer, and today my biceps hurt. But it's a good kind of hurt, from labor, not from age. The yardening seems less daunting now.

Warm colors for cool days

Garden photos have been lacking while I fixated on the monarchs. One reason is, thanks to the giant pile of wood shavings we had to move this past spring, gardening was a bit haphazard and not according to plan. New perennials went into "holding" beds instead of their desired location, annuals filled in the holes, etc. But there is a lot of color out there right now, even if it looks a bit messy.

Asclepias tuberosa, var. Clay

I find butterflyweed difficult to get established, but some I planted last year is still there, while newbies are doing okay. Conversely, coneflower and black-eyed Susan flourishes, although sometimes the latter struggles in ensuring years.

Rudbeckia subtomentosa

Besides the butterflyweed, coneflower, and black-eyed Susan, I have a jumbled bed of Ohio goldenrod, ironweed, and bergamot, none of which did much blooming this year.

Rudbeckia subtomentosa and Echinacea purpurea

There is also some cupplant and compassplant. It looks like the poke milkweed did not survive - too much competition from the common milkweed, I guess.

Echinacea purpurea

Annuals besides the Mexican sunflower are marigold, dyer's coreopsis, and cosmos, all of which I stopped plucking blossoms from, to give the pollinators something to feast on as summer draws to a close. Oh, and the redundantly named Red Scarlet zinnia is also providing late season nectar.

Tithonia rotundifolia 'Torch'

The volunteer goldenrod seems to have disappeared from my yard, because in the spring I mistake it for a weed; I'm sure it will be back. The prairie sampler on the south side of the house is a mess, but a few asters are making a valiant effort to start blooming; that area is due for a reboot. Later I will do a post on garden FAILS.

Rhubarb, turning

Monarch update: the adult appears to have taken flight, as it is MIA this morning. Another chrysalis is turning black, so a new butterfly should be free soon. The forecast is for warm and dry, so hopefully the last of them will hatch and head for Mexico. ¡Olé!

Not much to see yet

The weather continues to confound. Some days I am in hurry-up mode, other days it feels too early to get excited about gardening. I finally started some seedlings inside (late) while we (my SO and I) continue to plod along outside.

As stated earlier, one thing I wanted to do this year is show the progression of changes of the raised bed portion of the yard. I added a reminder to my calendar to take pix every month. Last month's are here. Below are this month's.

Looking SW

Looking NW

Looking NE

Looking SE

Orchard - looking SW

So far, the biggest changes involve moving concrete blocks. The old strawberry bed has been dismantled and those blocks doubled the height of the asparagus bed. The blocks for a smaller bed that last year hosted tomato plants is now the second story of a bed in the orchard where I plan to plant madder.

The redbud trees are still going strong, but other denizens of the yard are coming on. The rusty heron still protects the rhubarb patch. While cleaning out a cupboard, I found several jars of too-old-to-eat vanilla bean rhubarb jam. I may have to repeat that recipe, but share the results in a more timely manner (I can eat only so much of the stuff). There will be the annual May birthday rhubarb pies. AND I plan to mordant wool yarn with the rhubarb leaves. Fun stuff!

This Old Fashioned Bleeding Heart is not only big and beautiful, volunteers are starting to pop up here and there around the yard.

This northside bed fills up with hostas, coral bells, iris, and rudbeckia. Somewhere along the line, the landscape timbers got relocated. I need to figure out a way to redefine the edge, to keep the grass out.

After giving the 'Limelight' hydrangea a severe pruning, I was a bit nervous about its survival. It is starting to leaf out, though, so now I am more excited than nervous, to see how it turns out.

The 'Betty Corning' clematis continues to be a problem of excess. This year we are trying an open-ended approach to the trellis, hoping the prevailing winds from the NW keep it somewhat corralled, at least better than previous years.

With the removal of the picket fence around the raised beds and a judicious pruning of the nearby redbud tree, the view from the deck has opened up quite a lot. I didn't want to prune the redbuds yet, but yesterday was take-crap-to-the-compost-site day. Rather than start a new pile of trimmings so early, I whacked a few limbs here and there, despite the trees still being in their glory.

2016 view from the deck

2017 view from the deck

Otherwise, there has been much weeding going on, in an effort to uncover lost plants. Most of the time I mark their location in one manner or another, which is extremely helpful when it is difficult to tell the newly emerging plant from the weeds. There are still a few rabbits around, eager to wreak havoc, but I have not seen the local woodchuck, at least not in my yard, this year. Fingers crossed!

We all fall down

The leaves have been changing at such an erratic pace this year that it has been difficult to capture a shrub or tree at its peak. I don't have much flashy fall foliage, but I do appreciate the more subtle colors of autumn like yellow and cinnamon and blush.

Redbud tree leaves

Tulip tree leaves

Rhubarb leaves

The tomato and pepper plants have been pulled, but there are still a few flowers valiantly trying to hold on.

Azalea

Mexican sunflower

Zinnia

The zinnias, while fading, are still interesting to look at, but not for long. The forecast calls for frosty weather. When I have trouble sleeping at night, I picture cross country skiing in snowy woodlands. Hopefully, that dream will come true this winter.