Spring Inventory April 11, 2010 - Back Yard

Yesterday I walked around the yard with camera in hand to record early spring activities. The first three photos are wide shots of the back yard. Despite having snow on the ground three weeks ago, plants are growing all over the place. It's too early to plant tender new plants. That's okay. I still need time to do spring clean up. Please note the height of the grass in these photos. Have you guessed that the lawnmower we bought last fall is still in the box? Maybe today (she says optimistically).

You can poke the photos to see them larger. I should have used a larger font in the labels in many of the photos.

The lily garden is thick with leaves, but some lilies are already poking through them. I'm hoping the leaves were thick enough to protect the delicate lily bulbs from our few deep freezes last winter. If all goes well, a lovely vine with orange flowers (whose name escapes me) will come back to cover the trellis.

Last fall I planted some primroses bought at half price closeout. It looks as if about half of them survived the winter and are already blooming. I want to get more and plant them earlier this year so they'll have a better survival rate. I love the bright blooms this early!

The next shot was taken behind the tree in the photo above. It was cleared last year with Roundup but nothing was planted. My hope was that the wild violets would come back as a natural ground cover. They did! I'll be planting other perennials in the area and let the violets fill in between. I'm surprised to see so many white violets and some with purple & white blossoms. In previous years they were mainly purple. I wonder if the chemicals in the Roundup had anything to do with this, although the same thing is taking place in areas that weren't sprayed. The Japanese maple tree is going into its third summer looking very healthy. Lots of leaves unfurling.

Too bad I can't say the same about the dogwoods that were planted at the same time. The white dogwood (foreground) is dead. The pink one has leaves but will not be blooming this year. Between them can be seen mounds of coral bells leafing out. Most of them were purchased at the Powell Gardens plant sale last spring. I'm thinking about putting in a Japanese Rose (Kerria japonica 'Pleniflora') when the dogwood comes out.

There is no photo, but I'm sorry to report that all three of the Encore azaleas are dead. Found out from the Powel Gardens blog that only one variety -- Amethyst -- is hardy enough for Zone 6. You'd think the numbskull at the local nursery would have known that. Another nursery gets their Encore azaleas from a nursery farther north than we are; I asked them to order 3 more for me.

Along the north fence (looking toward the front yard), the daylilies from Lilywood Farms are poking through their covering of fall leaves. The long rows of green are surprise lilies (aka naked ladies) that were here when we bought the place. Apparently they plan to be here forever. All efforts to dig them up have fallen far short of goal! The foliage will yellow and dry in several weeks, then in August there will appear lovely pink lilies, one bloom per stalk -- naked without any foliage. I'm rationalizing that they make a nice border for the long bed of daylilies.The area by the "kissing tree" (a double pin oak) shows the hellabores leafing out. The witch hazel that was presumed dead yet put out a couple of leaves last fall again appears to be dead. The other two have leaves already. Always the optimist, I'll leave it in the ground for a while and see what happens. None of the ferns are showing green yet.

The Bradford pear has me a bit concerned. Instead of being solid white with flowers (as are the other Bradford pears around town), ours put out leaves with only a few flowers. I'm wondering if all of the spraying I did to kill off the invasive vines on the ground didn't mess with the tree. The container says it won't cause harm if not directly applied, yet so far as I know, this is the only difference between our tree and the others. We'll see what happens next year.

The last photo from the back yard is of the wild violets growing between the edge stones in the little plots beside the shed. Aren't they lovely? I don't understand why some people treat them as weeds. Look at the pansies! They were planted last fall and came back with colors flying high.

This is a long post. I'll report on the front and side yards in the next one.

A cactus for all seasons

These Christmas cactus plants spent the summer out on the screened porch, so I guess I can include them in a garden blog, even though they're primarily house plants. This photo was taken on November 14. Do you see why they're special?


What makes them even more special is that they also bloomed last spring, for Easter. Let's see ... Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving ... what holiday will they celebrate next?

With a note to the outside garden, we bought a rotary lawnmower yesterday. It's not self-propelled. I don't see much point in that, since the areas of grass are losing ground to the ever expanding flower beds. Why a power mower when I profess to enjoy using the non-motorized reel mower? Well, the reel mower won't chew up leaves and small twigs. When the rain stops and the leaves still on the ground have had a chance to dry out, I'll use the power mower to turn them into mulch to spread over the daylily and lily beds. I don't see much point in buying mulch to keep the plants cozy and prevent the frost from heaving them out of the soil.

Planting and dying ... the cycle of life

Today we hit a high of about 72 F, a great day for the garden. The first step was to plant the corner with the electric meter. The grass here has been dead for a good long time, and with all of the rain we've had, turning over the sod and breaking up the clumps was almost fun.

My first father-in-law, a farmer, told me that it's better to leave small clumps of dirt rather than break it down and rake it until it's nearly like sand. The clumps and the little spaces between them accept water easily and hold it longer and don't tend to form a hard crust as it dries out.
The candidates for this little bed were the lilies-of-the-valley I bought at Powell Gardens and a piece of a hosta that I took from beside the screened porch. There was a nice little pup on one side of the mother plant that was just ready to leave home. I think the meter is read electronically from the street now, but I put a stepping stone there in case the reader has to come into the yard to do it.

The next project was dealing with the clumps of sod from the front yard that have been piled in the low spot near the pink dogwood.

The rain broke them down a bit, but it took some serious chopping with both a pointed hoe and a rake to break them down the rest of the way. But the tufts of dead grass are gone and it's smoothed over. I think something will be planted there tomorrow, and those two little coral bells can get out of their pots at last.

Next up were the six caladium bulbs that have been waiting patiently for release from their bag. The label says they are mixed, so we'll be surprised by the colors when they come up. They're spread out in the area indicated in yellow.

Another small step was to get out the hammer and drill and hang the wind chime on the fence and put up a hook for the bougainvillea. The plant may need a couple of links of chain to lower it just a bit so it doesn't hit its head on the rain gutter.

Then came the dying. I sprayed Round-Up in this back corner to try to kill off some vines that have been a problem for years. Last year they nearly tied up the Bradford pear. When I'm convinced it's really dead, the ornamental grass near the shed will be moved against the fence. I think it will make a nice background for a fairy village. It doesn't seem to be as invasive as some grasses. It has pretty much stayed right here for the past four years. This will clear the area by the shed for something special ... a secret for now.

While I had the Round-up out, I sprayed along the two sections of fence that flank the gate to get the grass out of the way for planting the mums that are taking up space in the garden. It's about time they got out on their own. And I sprayed a larger profile for the Maple island and sprayed a fourth island, to be known as the Tear-shaped island between the Big Oak island and the Maple island. The fountain will go in the Tear-shaped island.

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While I was in search and destroy mode, I also sprayed the few weeds in the brick sidewalk up front and the area under the picket fence along the south side, where the mower can't reach.

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And speaking of mower, I found out that American Lawn Mower Company sells a sharpening kit for their reel lawn mowers, so I ordered one. Using the non-motorized push mower is really relaxing. No noise or fumes! And when the lawn is reduced to pathways of grass, it will be a pleasure.

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That's it for today. I'm going to hit the shower and then work on my garden notebook. I'm really trying to keep track of what's planted where, where it came from, when it was planted, etc.