A Convenient Excuse for Some Lovely Pictures (Garden Update)

Being well past the time for the tulips and dafs which were lovely this year, the irises have started to burst open in the sun and warmer weather of the last couple days.

We have lilac/purple ones which Wendy donated and helped me to plant last spring along the driveway.
The grass really wants to take over, but I'll work on that slowly.

And then we have the more burgundy ones that my sister Judy donated and helped me to plant along the south side of the house.
Only a few are open in each bed, but the rest are almost there.

The alliums came up early this year (I thought). They are in full bloom now, distracting from the now-bare stems of the tulips and dafs and barely keeping above the lilies which are thick as thieves.
Gertrude and Antonio are enjoying the colours and keeping a careful eye on all those who use the path between the garage in and house. Be careful Antonio doesn't peck off a button as you walk by: he can't get enough of bright or shiny things.

I had a nice surprise in the bed by the propane tank:
One of the dahlias from last year decided to come back. How nice! The perspective on this pic doesn't show it, but it's almost 2 feet tall already.

And finally, my spirea bush is really outdoing itself this year
I have noticed a lot of really full and vibrant spirea bushes in people's yard, but mine has never been able to keep up. I'd like to think it is due to my TLC, although I'm not sure you can call severe pruning tender loving care. But if it's what it needs, you gotta do it.

I will add that Troy has all eight fruit trees in the ground. I put on the last of the trunk protectors for him and used some scrap pieces to put around my poor stunted Red Bud and Crab Apple trees. I planted them about two years ago. They were the tiny starter trees you get from the Arbor Foundation and still are not more than 18" tall.

Perhaps now that Troy has some trees around them they will get a little more of the care that they deserve. Except the one which I discovered had been driven over by the tractor. I don't think it will live to benefit from Troy's TLC. But ever the optimist and believer in nature's ability to grow stuff, I put a trunk protector around what was left and will wait to see!

Garden Update

Time for a garden update. After the first two, we didn't get any more crocuses. Those two are going to have to multiply a lot if that's what I have to count on to get more in the next few years. I might have to break down and buy some, but I think other things will have priority. (Like what am I going to do along the road? hmmm....)

But in the meantime, I went around and snapped a few pics of everything blooming and budding tonight. We have exactly two daffodils in bloom. This is so much later than everything in town. I'm guessing that missing the warmer late afternoon sun is responsible. One of the dafs, however, is very fancy (lower left). I don't remember planting it, and I was very cavalier about them as they were coming up. (I'm afraid I'm not very tender with dafs.) But now that I see how fancy they are, I'm going to have to take more care! The problem is that they were planted right beside the spot that the gopher used to tunnel under the porch. So there's a mound of dirt to move but they are growing right through it. I will just have to wait...

Let's see...on the right side you see a tulip that is this close to popping open. Those are the ones on the south side of the south porch. They're a little ahead of the rest. And you see the buds and leaves developing on both crab apple trees. The rest of the trees still look like dead sticks. I've got my fingers crossed for them. And finally there is the first of the sunflowers volunteering under the bird feeder (one of the few seedlings I recognize now--we had chipmunks planting them in all my beds last summer). They come up like weeds, but as long as I thin them down to healthy levels they look great. Who couldn't use more sunflowers?!

Wendy, the irises you gave me are coming up great, up to 4" tall by now. No pictures b/c it would be a boring picture right now. Judy, the irises you gave me are coming up too, but they're only about 2.5 inches tall. Not that this is a competition or anything...I'm sure they're just different types of irises.... In either case a big thank you to both of you! Especially since you helped plant them!

I still have to plant the ground cover I'm going to try on the hill (some Irish Moss and Red Sedum), and the bulb catalog got me again so I have more plants coming including rhubarb.

Troy got his seeds this week so he has tomatoes and some other vegetables started in pots which are now sitting all around the living room. He also got some free zinnia seeds so I will find room for them later too. He just put the potatoes out tonight along the west wall, outside the kitchen. Grass wouldn't grow there anyway, so I guess we can try this. I know, you're still wondering who actually plants potatoes when they're like 10 cents a pound...well we must prepare for the end of life as we know it, you know...

Well, enough for now. For those of you with gardens, this is all old hat, and for those of you without I'm sure this is ho hum.

Either way, enjoy the quickening of spring!
christina