Our gardens at the townhouse are 18 years of age. Adults, right? Or is there a 7 to 1 conversion ratio like with dogs?
When our lilac got very woody, I had it replaced. I was a poor choice by the landscaper for our initial plantings. It belonged in a hedge.
Our weigelia, one the other hand, is an old favorite. When the landscapers put it in the initial plantings, I was delighted. I like the color and how it seems to draw the hummingbirds – to the blooms, and to the feeder. Already this year I have also seen bees on its blooms.
It is aging, but I am working hard to keep it properly pruned. Each year it is right behind the tulips, blooming away in the corner.
This morning I went up to a local historic cemetary where a friend volunteers quite of bit of time and resources. She has lovingly researched the lives of many of the people who are buried there, sharing with written narratives placed at the grave sites as well as discussions during events and visits. Many of the lives of the people buried in the cemetary date to pre-Civil War, including two veterans of the War of 1812.
History is very important – how people lived, took on challenges, struggled, survived and worked to thrive. If we lose that information, we lose perspective – and that would definitely not be a good thing.
I also love old gardens, and old trees, and eco friendly solutions to handle challenges. Enter my impetus for visiting the cemetary today. Today was a visiting day – a chance to perhaps catch a glimpse of some temporary contributors, and definitely to see what they are accomplishing.
A couple local organizations worked to raise funds to bring in 61 goats to eat in the woods of the property, and were successful in achieving that goal. The goats will eat buckthorn, an invasive species, that has been a challenge in the woods at the site. What an awesome solution!
My friend, Shirley Dalaska, the local historian and author, has provided the attached pictures. These were from when the goats first arrived a couple days ago. Today the goats were far into the woods so you couldn’t see them, but you could see they had been there for sure – by the results. They’ll be there a week and a half to 2 weeks until they stop eating, and then they will come back next year for another stay. After two years it’s supposed to be way more controllable so the area could potentially be mowed then to keep the buckthorn growth down.
A few days ago I finished hand pulling all the tree seedlings for this spring. 8 buckets! That is a crazy amount of tree seedlings. It was literally a mat this year.
Mixed in were maple, pine and cherry seedlings. Were it not for the location, it would be fun to see what could become of all those seedlings – what would survive. Their contribution each year, however, is a fair amount of exercise. Under the shrubs and hostas and daylilies, not just on the edges, but way into the garden.
In the end, a few had been missed, but not many. There’s always another trip through the garden.
A couple weeks ago I was on a call with some colleagues and – you know it goes – you’re a few minutes early and you all chat about whatever topic comes up. Indeed, because this past year has not been good for normal healthy socializing, we were even assigned “buddies” to encourage keeping in touch on a more personal level. But I digress –
The topic that bubbled up pre-meeting-start was eating clean and exercising. Yah. Well, you know the younger generations. They have all sorts of exercise programs and classes, many of which came to a grinding halt this past year. Some folks said they put together home exercise areas because they were really feeling the effect of being cooped up, eating for comfort … I can relate to eating for comfort, but I laughed that I was not nearly so disciplined in exercise plans and programs. I said my exercise program is walking the dog. All good natured talk, and the meeting started.
At the end of the day I walked the dog, and then, as is our spring, summer, and fall habit, we did our cool down on the patio – and I did a little weeding, and branch picking up, and adjusting clematis vines into place, and kicking landscape rock back into place …
The next day I was on a call with one of the same colleagues from the day before. We had a little pre meeting chit-chat. I said, you know how I said yesterday I just walk the dog? That’s not exactly true … She laughed. She knows.
This year, with all the activity in the past year, I was pretty lackadaisical with my seed planting. I gave the pods I bought to our daughter-in-law, and planted seeds directly in large pots of soil (covered with plastic). Nothing happened for 6 weeks indoors so I just put them outside. Well, that did the trick, but the timing has also coincided with birds nesting. I hear they need mud?
Now I have 4 pots of plucked dirt, 2 daylily seedlings, and some sunflower seedlings that I did not intentionally plant (but we do feed).
At least the forget-me-nots look great this year again.
I have ordered some protective grates for the pots. They should arrive this week. Then I’ll transplant the daylilies and put cherry tomatoes and greens into the pots.If the sunflowers survive and bloom – bonus!
The Victory hosta is now the largest hosta in the garden. It’s not the fullest – that would still be the Rainforest Sunrise hostas – but the Victory hosta is the largest. It’s leaves keep getting larger each year, and it seems even each day lately.
It took a few years to establish, and indeed the second year I was wondering if it would thrive in that spot, but Victory was victorious and now stands tall under the Linden. We have only one Victory hosta, there are “a few” Rainforest Sunrise, and two Elegans. One of each can be seen in this picture. The Elegans will bloom first, then the Victory, and last the Rainforest Sunrise, taking us from June to fall in that little corner.
Victory hosta in the front, Rainforest Sunris hosta mid-left, Elegans hosta back left
I have no idea how this happens, but it has happened a few times. I buy a hosta I think is what the tag says, and then the next year I go, “huh?” So I have no idea what this hosta is. I’d say it was labelled Rainforest Sunrise when I bought it a few years ago, but no, it’s not. I’d say Guacamole, but it’s already starting to get scapes so I doubt that too.
The mystery hosta, we shall call her. Whatever she is, she blooms and seeds profusely. I have harvested the seeds, but sadly they never grew.
We enjoy her, she is healthy, she can stay as long as she likes.
A state of disrepair, I tell ya! Nah, just spring. The birds plucked away at the frog’s rope swing until it broke, and the maples had a bumper crop for seedlings. Soon all will be restored again. Just need a few free days to pluck the hundreds of seedlings, and a trip to the hardware store for replacement rope. At least it’s not ferns! Those things are ca-ray-zee!!!
If you have read my blog in past years, you know that tulips come and tulips go in in our garden. The flowers are annuals here, the leaves are perennials. But we have one patch of tulips that is trusty, and it is this patch. It has been going for years. Hurrah for the purple tulips!
Susan's Daily Garden 