Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Last night as I was packing the car I noticed a little tea rose just starting to bloom. First rose of the season.

I have noticed a lot of aphids and I haven't done anything about them yet - and now won't until June.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

ponderings of time...

It just seems like everything is on hyper mode when it comes to growing in my garden. I don't know if it's because I'm getting older and the days are going by faster or if in fact things are growing and blooming sooner.

I noticed over the weekend that the Irises already have their heads, so do the poppys and the Knautia Macedonia also have the beginnings of their heads. I don't recall that they were this advanced last year.

But in thinking back two years ago - we were leaving for France at the end of May and I was really sorry that I was going to miss the blooming of the Irises. The morning of the day we left, we were all packed and headed to work; I noticed that some of the Irises had bloomed. I quickly snapped a few pics and then we were gone for two weeks. By the time we returned, they were pretty much all done blooming and faded.

So, anyway, the point is that I don't think any growing has really sped up - it's just my measurment of time.

Monday, May 18, 2009

need names...

Not sure what either of these plants names are...can you help? The top one is a bush. Sort of looks like a laced-capped hydrangea, but I have two of those and this is not the same.
And so it is..."Shasta" Viburnum (thanks Eric).
This is a ground cover and for most of the year it is just foliage, except in the spring when it has yellow flowers.

This one is a Yellow Lamium (Galeobdelum).

wild...



flowering trees...


lilacs...




Thursday, May 14, 2009

random shots...


allium - persian blue (allium purple sensation)
cherry tree
ground phlox  (phlox subulata)

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

garden blues...

Haven't been doing much out in the garden lately.

Sometimes it has to do with the weather. It's been either too cold, too windy or too rainy. Other times I just don't feel like it. The reason is two-fold...if not three-fold; we are leaving in two weeks for our bi-annual trip to France. We'll be gone for a couple of weeks and when we return, our garage demolition should begin.

The boulder garden butts right up against the existing garage. We've been told by the contractors that are bidding on the job that they will need to move a couple of stacks of boulders. Within these couple of stacks are several plants that will need to be moved. We have a few roses, a lace-cap hydrangea, Russian sage, tulips, garlic, a juniper, some bamboo, some knautia-Macedonia and depending how far they go, some ground phlox, garden phlox, coreopsis, blanket flower & Japanese maple.

I don't know where we are going to move all these plants!

So, I'm feeling a little like the garden is going to be a mess for most of the summer, so why even bother putting much effort in it right now.

Monday, May 4, 2009

For Dynochick - these are Knautia Macedonica "burgundy wine" (photo from last year).

They are a cottage flower. Please come by and get some...they re-seed themselves and are ALL OVER my garden. I have to do some major clean-up.

Friday, May 1, 2009

what to look for in may...

In May, these are the flowers in my garden that we need to watch for since this is the month that they begin to bloom:

Alliums
Cherry tree
Columbine
Lilies of the valley
Salvia
Crab apple
Jack-in-the-pulpits
English bluebells
Geraniums
Irises
Knautia Macedonica "burgundy wine"
Rhododendrons
Siberian irises
Stars of bethlehem
Chives