June

What a lovely month to garden. There was so much blooming it was hard to choose what I wanted to highlight. I decided to focus on some macro shots and a few critters.

Do you see the little bunny hiding behind the variegated iris
Rose “Grandma’s Blessing”
Peonies, Penstemon “Husker Red”
Sorrel blossom
Clematis seed heads
Succulents
Mama turkey and her babies
Dad’s pink dahlias blooming the end of June

More to come…..

End of May

The lupines in the meadow are blooming. The bluebirds and cardinals have fledged. The veggie garden and containers are planted. Now its weed, water, and enjoy.

Gas plant
Clematis and ferns
Bumblebee and Columbine
Clematis
Indian Pink
Lupine
More lupine
Hosta, Heuchera, Epimedium foliage, Amsonia
Iris, azalea, daylily “Elizabeth” a very early variety, gas plant, sorrel, and so much more
Azaleas, Siberian iris, rhododendrons, clematis, succulents

Happy Memorial Day

Late May – Iris

I grow lots of iris – bearded, siberian, japanese, dwarf, cristata. Here’s a sampling.

Bearded
Bearded
Siberian “Kiss the Girl”
Siberian “Oregon Marmalade”
Bearded “Neutron Dance”
Bearded
Siberian “How Audacious”
Bearded “Beverly Sills”
Siberian

The Japanese Ensatas won’t bloom til June

Mid May

This is the second post for May. The garden became fuller, the lawn greener and the wildlife more plentiful.

Hostas, forget me nots, and phlox
Iris cristata
Lilacs
Columbines
Peony “Early Scout’
Hosta “Orange Marmelade”
Baby cardinals
Bobcat
Tree Peony
Geum “Prairie Smoke”
Baptisia
Tufa trough with alpine plants
Iris “Eleanor Roosevelt” and Camassia,
Baby cardinals getting bigger
Heucheras and Tiarella

Early May

Well this is embarrassing. No entries since early April and the garden has been lovely. I guess I have been too busy gardening to take the time to post photos. I will try to catch up with a few posts all at once.

Early May was cool and we had enough rain so the bulbs were nice for a long time. The epimediums were gorgeous and we had lots of wildlife

Daffodils”Thalia”
Epimedium “Harold Epstein”
Primrose ‘Jay jay”
Trillium luteum
Trillium erectum
Epimediums
Narcissus
Bluebird eggs
Trillium pusillum ‘Roadrunner”
Wild Columbine
Dwarf Alpine Columbine
Epimedium ‘Sunshowers”
Epimedium ‘Windfire’
Baby bluebirds

April

Spring has sprung. The garden is doing well. I lost some plants over the winter due to voles and deer. As always, I am moving some plants around because they have gotten too big or I want to fill a hole I created by moving other plants. The domino effect lives large in my garden. My big goal this season is to get the spreaders out and put them in the meadow where they can all fight it out for space. Mountain mint, Filapendula, Helianthus need to be dug and relocated.

Bloodroot – Pink form
Forsythia Hedge
Daffodils
Digging – what goes and what stays?
Red Emperor Tulips
Double bloodroot – Multiplex
Alpine Columbine in the rock garden
Primrose – note the double blossom on the right
Dutchman’s Breeches, WIld Ginger and Solomon’s Seal shoot
Forget me nots
Epimedium and rock iris
Primroses, Bloodroot, Trillium
Ahem – not a bird on the birdfeeder
Bluebird

The bluebirds are nesting in the houses we put up. Lilacs are budding. We have had plenty of April showers so May flowers should be beautiful.

Snowbird gardening – March 2022

I haven’t posted in awhile as you may have noticed. We are spending some time away from winter. I eagerly await the gardening season in New England but its not quite there yet. I’ve been doing a bit of gardening though. I like to grow my own cilantro and have two containers of it which are doing quite well and have already been harvested a couple times.

I also have started some Brugmansia cuttings. You may remember the big beautiful yellow cultivar “Jean Pasco” which I have been growing for at least 10 years now and the photos I post in the summer. Every winter, I cut it back so I can get it into the basement for overwintering. I had over a dozen cuttings this year and gave some away, but I brought some to Florida with me to give to my daughter-in-law and some Florida friends. The cuttings are doing great.

I also received permission from our landlord to plant a couple of cuttings here. It will be fun to see what they look like next winter.

More later

New Year’s Eve

The last few weeks have been pretty dull in the garden – except for the birds! We put out mealworms and the birds have been a delight to watch. We have had a flock of bluebirds 8-10 at a time, carolina wrens, woodpeckers, starlings (not my favorite), chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, juncos, cardinals, finches, sparrows and doves. What a treat. The feeders are just a few feet from the house so we can watch the birds up close. We had a bit of an ice storm as well and the world was all sparkly magic!

May the bluebirds of happiness visit your gardens as well in 2022.

Happy New Year

Late November – Early December

My apologies for the lapse in posting but I needed to resolve a few more computer and camera issues. I spent most of November cleaning up the garden, putting away patio and porch furniture and getting the new hot tub area ready for the tub. We decided to purchase one so that we could soak our creaky bones and achy muscles. We have had it a month and its great. I think this gardener will really enjoy the hard work of spring a lot more now. In the meantime – ahhh some R&R.

Partially cut back garden in November

The mowed meadow

Garden bench
Beaver lodge we encountered on a local walk
Ice patterns
Deer in the garden
First snow with bluebirds

We put mealworms out for the bluebirds and wow did that bring them in. We have had a flock of 7-8 of them every day for weeks now. The feeders are right outside the living room window – only about 6 feet away.

The above photo is the view at the end of my street. Some snow is expected this weekend so perhaps we will have a white Christmas. TIme will tell

End of October, early November

I think I’m back in business. I am finally able to post again after a few weeks of computer and cellphone issues. I have a few nice foliage pix to share with you, but not many flowers. We had some frost, so the dahlias are dug, dried and put away for the winter. I cut back the brugmansia and that has been brought inside. Most of the perennials are cut back now too. The meadow has been mowed, porch and patio furniture put away, and pots emptied out. We have a few more chores to do outside and then winter can come.

This was the orange sunrise on Halloween
We lost a huge willow in a nor’easter. It was obviously very rotten
Some nice reds
So many colors all on one branch
Grass is still green
Frosty morning
Last rose with hips
Front yard color
Mowed meadow in the late afternoon light
Sunset after the most recent rain storm

Soon the snows will come and the garden will rest. I can use one too!.