May Wrap-Up

Yikes! I am so far behind if I wish to chronicle this year in the garden! So, here's a wrap-up of the merry month of May, in photos.

Overview of the newly fenced front, complete with grazing wildlife.

Tradescantia: found wild around here, spreads freely.
I have planted it, but not here, this is a volunteer.

May 9. American wisteria: love the purple blooms.
Slight re-bloom after first flush.

May 14. Baptisia, false indigo.

Nothing false about the shades of blue. I love this, 

have it all over.

May 14. Threadleaf bluestar on the corner.
Mostly grown for its fall foliage display.

May 17. Siberian Iris.
These came from Mom's garden on LI.

May 17. Peony and roses.
I didn't plant the peony, so it's more than 20 years old.
The roses had been deer eaten to the ground a few times.
Best display ever.

May 19. Blueberries.
I would have to work to protect from
birds and squirrels if I really wanted to
eat any. 

Two views of the roses. I planted this bush years ago. It didn't bloom for several years, because of the shade from the now-gone spruce. Also, was eaten down by deer at least once. So this is almost all new growth and it is spectacular!
Note another (more purple) false indigo at its base.

The first of what is going to be an amazing lily display!

Things are Busting Out All Over!

Fringe tree is doing well

My new daylilies, and tropical vine in the background

Scott's iris is enjoying the sunshine

Fleabane. Total volunteer, but not unwelcome.

Zizia! Love the name! All derived from seeds, spreading well,
but less aggressive competitor than senicio.

Not sure I've seen the cherry laurel blooming before

This odd thing is the flower of Dutchman's pipevine

I put three blueberries inside the fence,
before the big drop-off nextdoor

I Can't Keep Up!

Due to this horrible thing called "work" that sucks up so much time, the garden has totally gotten away from me. Everywhere I look are weeds and other enthusiastic plants that need removal or cutting back. In the mean time, there are also plants that need planting, pruning to be done, grass that needs to be mowed. And, it's raining on the weekend.

I have a long list of projects, inside and out, but in the garden right now it's a matter of triage - what is the one thing that absolutely must be done? It's never ONE thing, but that's generally all I have time for.

This is the groundsel just before peak bloom,
and where I deadheaded.

The past two days have been mostly dedicated to removing and/or deadheading my golden groundsel (Senecio aurious). It has been way too enthusiastic, spread vigorously in last year's wet, and survived the boots tramping on it. It's actually a good plant - beneficial to wildlife - and the groundcover aspect is welcome in some places. But it is out-competing other things, so a couple of hours Friday and Saturday were dedicated to removal, thinning, and deadheading. I wasn't successful at deadheading without seed scattering, but it's still better than if I hadn't done it. And, I removed quite a bit of it by the roots. Inside the fence, between the log, the silverbell and the arrowwood, I ripped up lots by the roots, Behind the log, it was more deadheading than uprooting. Still, it allows for competitors. Outside the fence, there was an extensive patch behind the copper trellis. I mostly tried to uproot it. There is not a good garden there - I need to figure out what I want there. But there is an azalea that was overwhelmed by the senecio, and there are monardas competing. Planning what goes there, and in other places outside the fence but newly sunny due to losing the spruce, is low on my list, but the weeds move in without waiting for me to make up my mind.

I find I have a great deal of energy around weeding and pruning, more than buying and planting. Must be my love for demo versus construction. See the results instantly.

A couple of hours at a stretch is about the right period of time, I find. My back gets sore if I go longer. I try to rely on a kneeling pad, but it's so much more efficient to stay on my feet and bend over. When I do that, I try to remember not to be a cashew but instead a table. It works, mostly. Getting down on my knees and back up again is also hard, but I figure these are good for me. 

I'm unlikely to do a lot during the week after work. I just know that is the case, it's always been the case, and not likely to stop during my last month ever.

What's Blooming

Catching up on the explosion of blooms!

Blue woodland phlox

Azalea by front door. This one's a keeper.

Yellow rose has started early. Had to give it support.

Another trillium.

A few columbines

This is unexpected - along the back fence.
Thought it was dead.

Uvularia. Think it's from long ago.

This cheerful plant is on the steep bank by the street, spreading nicely and retarding erosion.

The spring beauties really took off!

Anenomes, also known as
"obscure white spring ephemerals".

Not actually a flower, but hung out in the yard for a couple of days at least. Welcome, old guy!

More plants

Here is what I bought and planted last fall.

From Prairie Nursery:

(5) American Alum Root (3" Pots)  (5) Maple Leaved Alum Root (3" Pots)  (5) Cardinal Flower (3" Pots)  (5) Woodland Sunflower (3" Pots)  (6) White Turtlehead (3" Pots)  (6) Tall Bellflower (3" Pots)
Solomon's Seal (Polygonatum biflorum) Item #: 37210-04 Plant Format: 4" Pots

And then, from White Flower Farm, I got ferns, and scattered them around. Frankly, while I'm sure I planted all of the Prairie Nursery plants, I don't know where I put them. The heucheras are all along the fence by the south end, but I'm not sure about the others. 

Of the plants bought last weekend, yesterday I planted the clematis (along the front walk fence) and made myself a little blueberry patch. (The daylilies went in along the front walk right after I got them.)

My little blueberry patch. Note red subsoil and black topsoil.

Most of the work I've done lately is weeding. There is a lot of weeding to do! I'm pulling out the senecio in batches, to make room for other things that are already there. I pulled it out from around the lilies (by the front walk) and from behind the silverbell. The senecio will need to be deadheaded soon, the stuff I don't pull out. There is an awful lot of it! Yesterday, I did a first cleaning of the back bed where I'll do vegetables. I also cleaned up the ground around the pagoda dogwood and yellow rose, which was covered in dandelions and lyre-leafed sage. I think  phlox may go there.

Last fall, I spent a day or so digging up Joe Pye weed by the roots. I left one patch, which I think I regret now. There are spotty ones coming up in the vicinity of where I dug them out, either strays or from seed. I need to decide on a policy for it going forward - pull out on sight? Allow some to grow? Yesterday, I nipped them all down to just a couple of inches above the ground, but didn't pull them out. There is something coming up along the front walk fence, inside the fence, that looks similar but not the same. Perhaps New York ironweed? I left them, again, for now.

Yesterday was the No Va native plant sale. Because its raining right now, I'm not going to list them (I can't do it from memory.) None are in the ground yet. It was not an enormous buy.

I set the hibiscus outside just now. I think its warm enough for it, but I'm keeping my Cousin It palms inside for a couple more weeks at least.

Need More plants

It's a fun puzzle, watching carefully to see where things I want will come up. Between the tree crushing things and pulling up soil all over from its enormous root system and changing light-and-shade patterns, to fence building, to dumping excess sub-soil from excavations, to simply big boots tromping through the garden, I really have no idea what has survived and what couldn't make it through. I bought and planted some stuff that I'm not clear about what went where. There are new, fenced in areas that were covered in ivy and weeds before that now are bare dirt with a thin layer of mulch, ripe fields for opportunistic weeds.

So I've been buying stuff. I have a long history of over-buying for the garden, and letting things die in their pots. I'm really struggling to avoid that - at least, things should die in the ground, not in their pots! I got an email that the absolute best nursery around, Behnkes, is closing after the spring season. So this weekend, I hit Behnkes, Lowes and Home Depot all. Here is what I got:

I find that if I want common things, and especially if I want lots of them, Lowes or Home Depot may work out fine. The trick is to stop in often, because it's best to buy things right off the truck from the nursery that grew them. The big box stores are very bad at taking care of them once they arrive. So I lucked into $4 daylilies, the exact variety I was looking for, to plant in a specific spot. It's fairly rare at the box stores to find exactly what I want. I got some stuff to make a pretty yellow pot, and a tropical vine that needs to wait on the covered porch for a while, but that I hope will be able to climb my new fence.

I got blueberries at Home Depot, three varieties, to cluster along the fence in the back. The fence on that side is at the top of a steep dropoff, and I need to plant things with good roots to make sure everything stays in place.

At Behnke's, I went specifically for a lilac, and then to see what was there. I have wanted a lilac planted outside my bedroom window forever - I want to smell it at night. So there I was, bending over the pots sniffing vigorously. The one I got smells good - hopefully it'll be strong enough to come in on its own.

I got a palm tree at Home Depot. I'll put it in a pot and bring it in for the winter, probably. I have a couple of other palms, but I'm anxious to branch out (he-he).

Next weekend is the big native plant sale. I'll need to set a budget. This weekend was about $250 in plants (not counting the tools and supplies). Last plant sale was $100 - and all of those are nicely in the ground already. I keep eyeing my catalogues, with some good ideas, but I think I'll hold off until after next Saturday and see what I was able to get locally.

Part of this is rationing for the work required to plant, to make sure the plants have a chance. I put in a couple of hours outside today (yesterday was sailing), got just four of the new plants in the ground. But, I also dug up and moved a couple of scrawny sprigs that want to be bushes, and pulled up a lot of weeds. Two hours was about all I had time for. Some of the new plants have to hang on the porch until the weather will stay reliably warm, another couple of weeks or a month. I knew when I delayed my retirement date that I would miss most of prime planting season.

Forty-eight days to go.

Nothing Equals Washington in April

Unless it's Washington in May - I'll let you know in about a month.

We've hit the point where it's impossible for me to catch everything that is blooming in my yard, so this is only a sample.

Redbuds are fabulous

Grape hyacinth from at least 12 years ago

Virginia bluebells - you will find huge patches of these
on the floodplains along the Potomac and other waterways.
The foliage disappears by midsummer, and the ants move and
plant the seeds so I never know where they will pop up.

Golden Groundsel
Makes a neat groundcover when not blooming.

There are three different tulip varieties here, and my white rhododendron.

I didn't realize my mix of yellow tulips included
a double. I generally avoid these freaks.

Woodland phlox.

Trillium. Rare, hard to grow and slow to spread.

Spring beauties. They grow wild along the creek.

The hellebores are still going
but fading in color.

Apple blossoms. This tree is probably too close to the house, sadly.