I have entered dangerous territory, going down a rabbit hole, contemplating rock vs mulch in the garden. For me, as an earth mama, rock is for accents, mulch is for plants. Landscape rock is supposed to be low maintenance, but in all reality, over time, it just looks gross, all full of non-rock stuff, as if nature itself is trying to cover it up. But … mulch requires maintenance, and if no one wants to do that, well then, rock, and routinely blow off the debris as much as possible, and call ‘er good.
Such is the dilemma.
I leave you with one of my happiest recent earth mama creations. This was at the little house up north by the shore of Lake Superior. I do so miss that yard. I loved to putz around there.
And tonight I found a spot for the future iris bed. Yikes, I was thinking fall moves, but in refreshing my knowledge on best practices, after bloom is best. Judging by my memory on when we had an iris bed years ago, that should be in the next few weeks. So transplant in late June. Arggghhhh…
They do not look too bloomy yet, but I’m thinking it may have been a few years since they were divided, so they may not bloom. They also may want more sun.
In project management we call this scope creep – lol. And “talk is not do”, so we shall see!
The cadence of the garden continues. It is now tree seedling plucking time. Maples of different types, linden, and cherry. This year does seem lighter. Our Amur Maple threw a lot of seed, but not as much as I remember. I am thinking the squirrels harvested a lot. And now we will not have it going forward. We lost it in the big ice and heavy snow storm. I am tempted to save one seedling. We will see.
Usually I get seven buckets like this. I doubt we will have more than two this year.
Just about the time each year that I am plucking tree seedlings, the pines begin to show new growth (candles). I noticed today they are starting.
And the forget-me-nots are starting to bloom. They bloom on last year’s growth – they are biennial. I planted them the year my father-in-law passed, and they bring me great joy.
I am careful to keep them contained, as, like the joy they bring, they can take over a garden and move onto a lawn.
And today I moved the purple shamrock out from the protection of the patio, to it’s summer spot under the linden.
I am ready, and I know that after it goes through it’s normal transformation to being used to the outdoors, it will again look like this
Finally, it is time, I suppose, to cut the plastic back again from the base of the linden. She is so much bigger every year. I have toyed with moving to mulch in that area. Maybe next year. For a mulch garden spruce up at the historic cemetery is where I landed for my “all summer” project. But that will be a story for a different day.
A long weekend of up north therapy is our perfect remedy to the wear and tear of everyday modern life. Mowing trails, fixing solar lights after a long very snowy winter, cleaning up fallen trees, branches, and sticks and having our first campfire of the season felt great after long hours at a desk.
My husband had been up during the previous week, but it was my first look of the season – always fun and interesting. The daffodils and grape hyacinth must be deer and bunny repellant as I see the spent daffodils flowers are intact and the grape hyacinth are blooming.
That area is perfect for a spring naturalized garden, so I am hoping it continues. Come June, the ferns start to come in and take over, but for now it is still early enough to show low growing beauty.
It was a very long very snowy winter and the deer pics on the trail cams show skinny young bucks, but there is also a very pregnant doe. Hurray! A good sight! Now we hope she delivers well, and the wolves don’t get the fawn(s). The trail cams also show a turkey, another very nice sight.
Just being in the woods and camp was wonderful. While I was out in the “yard” I heard branches cracking and down the trail a deer ran across. I think there might have been two, but by the time I looked I only saw one. And while I was out in the yard relaxing another time, here comes a big hare, right behind the outhouse, nice long stride. Treats, experienced, not caught on camera, but very nurturing. Being in the moment. Although we do know the big hare very well. It has lots of appearances on one trail cam, lots of antics 🙂
I was able to catch a pic of a new (to us) bird species – the rose-breasted grosbeak.
Looks like a couple. Thinking they were hoping for seed. Alas, last time we did that, Mr. Bear showed up after we left! A bent shepherd’s hook, a missing bird feeder, a broken solar lamp, and a battered grill handle were it’s “hey, how ya doin’?” from that visit. Thinking a hanging feeder between two trees will be needed before we try seed again. All down the road.
My husband said stats are that the average vacation property owner sells around 5 years. You know, the dream wears off and what is left is a work camp. Trying to be mindful of that as we embark on our fifth season of the up north adventure. It is a lot of work, and the romance does wear off very quickly – think heavy wood ticks this year already – but it is an awesome off grid reset.
The crocus, grape hyacinth, and tulips have bloomed. The petals from the Mother’s Day tulip are on the ground turning to compost. The forget-me-nots are softening the stark rock look.
Attention now turns to the clematis blooms.
At the historic cemetery, the little clematis transplant is making itself at home. It is starting to wrap around the starter trellis. Made my plant mama heart very happy. I think it needs some mulch to keep the weeds at bay.
The rain gardens at the historic mansion are coming alive! The main work so far has been clean-up. There are a plethora of black capped raspberry vines, not part of the original plantings. The birds must have “gifted” them. They were scattered throughout both rain gardens. Last week and today the primary job was to cut them back to a contained area.
Other jobs today were putting mulch around transplanted shrubs, and cutting back ornamental grass.
At the historic cemetery, this week’s work was minimal – digging out a 2 year old clematis volunteer from my garden and planting it at the fence garden. Daily watering checks are showing it is doing well.
Back at the townhouse, planting our veggie garden – two jalapeno plants – lol – was job #1.
Then trimming the weigela, and trimming the ninebarks.
I may have, from outward appearances, chosen poorly, and, I may regret the choice in the future, but I made a call regarding my planned PTO time this weekend, a celebratory weekend, to stay at the townhouse, even though it is going to rain, even though up north it is going to be beautiful clear skies. I should do “me time” up north, instead of only taking one day off and returning to working tomorrow on something that needs attention, but I just cannot seem to motivate to do all that is needed for a long weekend up north, and that tells me, I think, I need to go where the peace is right now, here. I think, if I am reading right, it is meant to be a garden sharing day.
Just so I don’t sound martyr-ish, full disclosure, leading up to this celebratory weekend, for a full six weeks, I gave myself permissions to choose my own gifts and have them show up at the house – glory!!! A cotton vintage floral throw I’ve been wanting, some peasant style tops, a pair of legacy style jeans, a set of toiletries, a wildflower scented candle, and 2 pairs of Walmart lounge outfits aka “jammies” – you know the kind with dog and coffee words as designs? That you can throw a zippered sweatshirt over the top and feel ok about wondering about the garden really early in the morning? Yah. Those. They are AWESOME!!! Regarding the “gifts” aspect, Hubs is totally cool with not trying to figure out what to buy me for gifts and having the charge alerts show up on my phone before the gifts do – always a weird thing, right? Been married a LONG time. Good with the “gifts” thing. We got this nicked.
So I have indulged. I am full, and good and apparently ready to garden share. Cuz that is where my heart landed for this celebratory day, and weekend.
I am sitting in my recliner, in one of those Walmart “lounge” outfits, having, as the lounge pants say “Coffee Time”, having a couple of the peppercocker cookies our DIL made me for my birthday (best gift, thank you!!! ❤️). I am listening to the squirrels alert about something or another. The birds started their morning chorus hours ago. Very loud today. I love it. I dozed off, dog on lap, and still, 90% asleep, was enjoying their singing. No need to rush into the day. A good use of PTO. A good day to share, and to share the garden, in a variety of ways.
Recently as a neighbor stopped by on her walk, she said she is looking forward to seeing what I do with the garden this year. Wow! It reminded me how we as gardeners go merrily along, enjoying the garden, its rolling cadence of fun activities, caught in moments, hours, days, weeks, months, seasons, and not fully focused on the wider circle of joy the garden provides while we are enjoying it personally. Yes, we share because, well, we just have to share such goodness.
Sharing time is at a different level right now – that of sharing with other gardens. Two weeks ago I was wondering if I was going to have more empty space than I thought. This week as I watched the garden literally spring to life again, I saw that EVERYTHING was coming back. Even things I thought were gone. And some volunteers. To keep the garden pleasantly sharing joy, I need to share with other gardens – a clematis volunteer here, a cherry tree seedling there. Then, the view will be right, and right-sized, and the rolling beauty will continue, until, like vegetable harvesting in late summer, it is time to share at the giving away level again.
The giving away part is always a bit sad, and scary. What if next year’s garden really misses that, what if the new owner doesn’t care for the plant (and believe me, that happens), what if the new location for the shared plant is not conducive to continued healthy growth? But ultimately it does work out. I have a few regrets, I learn, but mostly I continue to believe in the beauty of sharing a garden. And volunteers are an easy choice to start with.
Sometimes, a “kid” comes home after a short stint in another garden. This beauty coming up is a Rainforest Sunrise hosta. One of my absolute favorites. Back when we thought we were going to ultimately move to the little house up north, I dug her up out of one of the townhouse garden areas and brought her up there. At first she seemed good, then “ok”, but when we sold that house, she needed to rebound. The no-see-um bugs were eating her foliage, and she was covered with ants. We dug her out, cleaned her up, and brought her back home, to the townhouse, to hang out again with all her peeps and shine.
Today, amid rain and thunder spurts, I think I will dig out a clematis volunteer that needs moving. She is, I think, the “child” of another clematis volunteer I need to find a trellis for. Her trellis went to the little house up north and did not come back. But the new volunteer needs new digs. Hopefully she will love the fence garden at the historic cemetery, grow, shine, and share joy there.
Susan's Daily Garden 