gardening — Page 16

A Late Spring

April 30, 2014 at 8:35 am by Claudia

I’m thinking that Spring is about three weeks behind this year. If I didn’t know what date it was, I would assume it was the beginning, rather than the end, of April. A long, hard winter and a late-in-coming spring. Yesterday? Rain. Today? More rain. I do take comfort in the fact that we will reap the benefits of all that moisture, whether snow or rain, in lushness of growth.

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This is the large garden bed. I took this photo yesterday. Last fall, when I was away in Hartford, a huge maple limb came down in a storm and fell on the garden. It stretched all the way across the middle of the bed.

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You can see the sawdust that still remains – a remnant of all the chainsaw activity the day after the storm. It was late September when I returned home, so I had no idea what plants might have been destroyed because of the damage. This perennial bed has been lovingly established over the past eight years and the thought of losing any of the plants made me very sad.

The good news is it looks like all is well. I can see the beginnings of most everything that was in the path of that limb. Time will tell, but it looks better than I thought it would.

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The hyacinths (mystery bulbs that I found deeply buried in one of the other garden beds) are gorgeous this year.

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My Annabelle hydrangea, ever reliable, is leafing out.

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Sedum Autumn Joy, long established when we moved here, is blessing us with its beauty.

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The lilacs are ready to open. (The blue tarp around our chimney is protecting us from leaks until we can scape together the money to repair it.)

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We’ve been doing a lot of bramble clearing and we have the wounds to prove it. What a pain in the tush – and the arms and the legs! We were clearing some of the brambles that are near the shed when I noticed this young tree, which was about to be overwhelmed by those pesky, thorny branches. I’m happy to say it has been freed. Does anyone know what kind of tree this is? The leaves are the maroon color of a Japanese or Norway Maple, but it is neither. I have a tree book somewhere around here and I’m determined to solve this mystery!

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And the weigela bush (it’s not a tree), like clockwork, has beautiful buds ready to open. I love this bush.

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Aren’t they beautiful?

I spent most of the day on Monday outside, clearing out garden beds, cutting back lavender plants near the kitchen, neatening up the stone edge that surrounds all the beds, pulling weeds.

I am passionate about gardening. I love it all, but I especially love perennial gardening. It takes patience. It’s not an instant garden. But one of the great joys of living here after years and years of apartment living and/or house renting has been the opportunity to create my very own gardens. The only bed that was established when we moved here was right next to the house and that area had only a few hostas and sedums. Everything else I’ve added over time. The beds now stretch from the driveway to the far side of the house, from the chicken wire fence to the shed. I love my gardens and I’m proud of them.

I wrote a post in 2012 called: Why I love Having a Perennial Garden. You might find it interesting.

Gardening, that meditative and peaceful process, takes me to another place where I lose all sense of time, which makes it the perfect activity during this period of mourning. It offers some respite from my grief.

It’s too early to plant seeds – that is at least another week away. But we did plant some wildflower seeds in an area to the left of the shed. I hope they take root. Our plan is to call it Shirley’s Wildflower Garden in honor of my mother. Cross your fingers.

On another, seemingly endless, note: Those of you who subscribe to this blog may have noticed a lack of posts lately. But in reality, except for Friday and Saturday of last week, I have been posting every day. This problem is due to Yahoo and AOL making changes in an effort to stop spam or spoof emails. I subscribe to this blog via Yahoo, AOL and Gmail and the only consistent delivery lately has been through Gmail, though I did get the post via AOL yesterday. I’ll say it again. Bookmark the blog. Visit directly. (Quite frankly, when you visit the blog directly, it helps my ad income.) Or subscribe through Bloglovin’. I’ve seen a few posts on how to fix this problem but the jury’s out as to whether it will work. So I’m not doing anything until I know, for sure, that the problem will be solved and that I’m not creating another problem in the meantime.

I’ve written about this several times but I’m still getting messages from some of you saying you haven’t received my posts lately. I can’t make you bookmark the blog’s URL or subscribe through Bloglovin’ but if you don’t, you probably won’t receive any updates. It’s up to you, my friends. I would sure hate for you to miss anything!

And finally, the winner of a copy of My Boyfriend Barfed in My Handbag…and Other Things You Can’t Ask Martha is Janet in Rochester. Congratulations, Janet! I’m sending you an email.

Happy Wednesday.

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The Gardens: Then and Now

June 10, 2013 at 9:29 am by Claudia

When we moved to the cottage, it was in the late summer of 2005. I was overwhelmed with the move and getting situated in our new home, so I held off on any planting until I could take my time and get to know the property. The one thing we did do was plant four tiny boxwoods in front of the porch, an area that was sadly barren looking. Here’s a glimpse of the boxwoods as they looked the following spring (2006):

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Teeny-tiny. I can spot the beginnings of my clematis right below the second post from the left and the newly planted Lady Elsie May rose bush on the far left. The tiny rose bush that you can see on the far right didn’t survive.

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Here’s what it looks like in this summer of 2013. I added the rose bushes, hydrangeas and spirea on the far left and all the plants that are around the corner in the side-of-the-house garden beds. The boxwoods have done terrifically well; I shaped them with my pruners just the other day. On the far right is the hydrangea that I planted last summer. I’m hoping it grows enough to balance the larger bushes on the left.

When the spring of 2006 arrived, I was raring to go. I couldn’t wait to start prepping the large garden bed. Always on a budget, I added just enough plants to make it affordable and manageable. Here’s a photo of me watering the garden – it gives you a nice idea of the beginnings of the large garden bed.

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Here it is today, in the spring of 2013; not a lot in bloom yet, but you can see how everything has grown. (I notice that I hadn’t yet planted anything in front of the shed.)

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I like a densely planted, free-form sort of garden – a lush look with plants spilling over each other. After 7 summers, we’ve reached ‘lush.’

In those first days of getting to know my garden, I started this journal:

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I wrote quite a bit in those days – logging in details as to the first and second years of the garden.

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I was just discovering the cycles of the trees and the plants. When did the Catalpa bloom? What about the peonies?

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Take note of the entry highlighted by the arrow. Salvia – dug up by Riley. The salvia was in a raised bed by the kitchen door and that boy loved to dig there. I miss him.

The cranesbill geranium and astilbe lasted a few summers, the creeping veronica lasted a bit longer. All of those plants eventually died. Who knows why?

Perennial gardening takes patience. Except for the pots of annuals and the little area in front of the dog corral that is grown from seed, every plant in the gardens is a perennial. For six of the last seven years, I have added a few more plants (remember I’m on a minuscule budget) each spring. Eventually, I put in two more beds on the side of the house. Slowly, over time, I discovered what worked well and what didn’t. We’ve reached an agreement of sorts, my gardens and I. We know each other. I agree not to use pesticides or anything that will harm the environment. The garden thanks me by growing naturally, allowing the proliferation of healthy bugs (and some not so benign) as well as providing a home for butterflies, hummingbirds and bees. If, like a couple of days ago, I see that the deer have been chomping on a few plants, I use Vicki’s all natural deer repellent recipe and spray all the plants.

Does that mean that there are holes in some of the leaves from caterpillars and bugs? Yes. It sometimes makes getting a good photo a bit more difficult but, in the end, I don’t care. Not only do I have a garden that I love, a place of peace and beauty, but I’m not polluting the soil or the ground water.

And here’s the kicker: after 7 years of planting, I’ve reached the point where I don’t have to spend any more money on new plants. The perennials come back every year like old friends, and I can trust that they will be a bit lusher, a bit fuller. I simply buy some annuals for the porch and the funky patio and that’s it.

Until I start a new garden bed.

Hmmmm.

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Oh, cottage and gardens, I love thee.

Cicada update: Just about a half mile up our road, where the woods are more plentiful and are next to the road, the sound of the cicadas is deafening. Don came back from an errand yesterday and told me about them, so we got in the car so I could give them a listen. Amazing. These 17 year cicadas, millions of them, are making the most incredible noise; the cicada buzz along with a high pitched drone. It sounds like something out of a science fiction movie! I even saw them flying around.

Wow.

I recorded them with my iPhone but I couldn’t figure out how to transfer that to the blog without a lot of hassle. Then I realized that all anyone has to do is search for Cicada/audio and you’ll have a good idea of what I’m talking about.

Happy Monday.

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Forty-Eight Hours: Mowing, Gardening & Cuddling

April 30, 2013 at 8:34 am by Claudia

lilacs

Sweet lilacs. Sigh.

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The orange-red blossoms of the weigela are adding a splash to the green landscape.

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Poppy and catmint. A study in texture and color.

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Daffodils, grasses, yarrow (in the background.)

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Hostas unfurling their leaves.

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And my mysterious miracle bulbs, long buried under too much soil, rescued and replanted – aren’t they gorgeous? Such beautiful hyacinths they are.

I haven’t mulched, nor do I have the time to do that. Which means I will be doing a lot of weeding when I get back. I haven’t planted any of my seeds because I usually wait until after May 1st. Since we had such a cold, long winter, I think I’ll wait a few weeks to be on the safe side. And frankly, mowing is taking up a lot of my time. Don and I both took turns with the mower yesterday – all of the front lawn (which is huge) is done, along with the dog corral. Today I’ll tackle the back forty. The grass isn’t as long back there but if I wait until I come back for another visit to mow, it will be.

All that mowing equals some sore muscles. The first few mowing sessions in the spring are always tough, but so worth it as we gaze at the newly green expanse of front lawn. There’s so much to do around here but I have to pick my battles with only 48 hours at home. Next time? Mulching, pot and window box planting, hanging plants, porch arranging. I can’t wait! This is my favorite time of year because I love to garden, I love being outside and losing all sense of time while tending to my garden beds. It makes me very, very happy.

Don made my favorite dinner last night – Crab Cakes without the crab. I can’t remember the exact name of the recipe but as a former crab cake lover who is a vegetarian, I have to say these taste so much like crab cakes that I would never know the difference. Actually, I think they taste even better! Ummm mmmm good! We watched A Few Good Men, which is such a great movie. Jack Nicholson is brilliant.

There’s much to do today before I head back to Hartford tomorrow morning. Priority one: cuddling Don and Scout. Time goes by so quickly!

Happy Tuesday.

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A Late Spring

The Gardens: Then and Now

Forty-Eight Hours: Mowing, Gardening & Cuddling

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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