Sticks, Stones, Coffee Grounds – and Early Indications

The snow is finally all gone here. Even the snow from the “blizzard” last week, although crummy at the time, is gone. We are firmly in April, with some enduring March winds.

More daylilies are coming up each day, and all of the sedum are now up. It is better than waiting for Spring, but I am still having such a hard time waiting to get the seeds outside in the seedling planters. For now:

Annual Spring Cleanup continues.

The daylilies and sedum are getting their annual sprinkling of used coffee grounds. It gives them a little boost and seems to repel critters and slugs. Eventually the hostas will get the same treatment when they start popping up.
The sticks that fell from the Linden over the winter are pretty much all picked up and the birds are starting to sort through what we saved for them to make nests.
We are continuing to move back any landscape rock that migrated over the winter.

Hints of what may change this year are emerging.

Something that is surprising me a bit this year is that the 3 Autumn Red daylilies closest to the Linden still haven’t shown up. They should be up. The other Autumn Reds are up. The tulip greens around the Autumn Reds in that area are well up. I know the sun exposure very well in that area, it is perfect for daylilies, and they have done well there in the past. Last year their flowering, compared to the other Autumn Reds, was a bit lighter, so it may be time for a move, but not because of roots or sunlight because the Marque Moons are even more challenged with roots and sun exposure and they are up. Something is going on. I’m just not sure what it is. For now, it is watch and wait. We can move them if need be.

I don’t see any sign of surviving clematis seedling transplants. It was a fun, multi-year experiment, but it is time to move on. Surprisingly, for that area my mind is wandering back to a time when, many years ago, I grew huge (5 foot plus) Aureomarginata hostas there. I think, for that mostly shaded area it is time to go back to that type of easy solution. Something substantial like a large anchoring hosta will be a nice backdrop to the daylilies further out in Sandy’s (sunny) Corner. I think I have the perfect hosta, already in our garden, that needs to be divided and moved this fall.

I am also a bit surprised at how few Asian lilies are showing up out back. Sometimes they are late, so we shall see. Unfortunately, the area they are in is not sunny enough for daylilies, but I already planned to move more of the Blue Mouse Ears into that more shaded area this fall. They would be perfect next to the hosta transplant mentioned above. It would be great if the Asian lillies came up. They have been in the garden for around 20 years. But if not, that area will still look nice with the Blue Mouse Ears.

A final surprise is that the volunteer seedling berry bush from last year is back, and much stronger. I think it was a bird “donation” so I am not sure exactly what it is. I will let it stay for now and see how it fits in.

Speaking of birds – the mornings are so wonderful again with their full surround sound chorus, and over the winter we even added an owl to the mix. It is truly delightful!

And finally – the daylily seeds update. The longer I go, the more I realize – I am not set up to grow daylily seeds indoors. We have a moderate townhome, and I am not willing to store a lot of supplies. Definitely not grow lights and shelving for the seedlings. So … the daylily seeds I planted indoors are still not coming up. There is simply not enough sun and heat. I cannot wait to get back to the medium pots in the seedling planters – outdoors. Unfortunately, the forecast is still a bit sketchy yet to start those. We’re probably looking at another week, at least.

Other than that, we did a quick pass by the historic cemetery, and the garden there is starting to pop up. Soon it will be time to add the annual mulch topper. This year it will be a “daylily seedling additions only” year at the historic cemetery while I see how the daylilies shape up from the past two years’ plantings. Quite a few of the purchased daylilies I planted in fall of 2024 never showed up in 2025. I am, probably a bit optimistically, hoping they will make an appearance in 2026. We shall see. Either way, any daylily seedlings that I add to that garden this year will be self-seed I harvested from that garden last year, so that will be a fun “first”. I am looking forward to that!

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Be Blessed!

Coffee Time

It is coffee time at the townhouse gardens. They don’t get mulch love, and I try not to use a lot of chemicals, so they get just a dash of used coffee grounds. I started this practice many years ago to fend off slugs on hostas and now I (sparingly) give each plant a sprinkling. There is the thing about acidic levels and certain plants, but so far this practice has been just fine.
As for timing, I start when the plants are popping up, but about this time of year, when so much starts to come up each day, I move to just doing sections. This year I started in front, but other years I have started in back.
At the historic cemetery I will only put used coffee grounds around the hostas, to ward off slugs. The rest of the plants don’t need any boost. They have that beautiful mulch 🥰

The clematis, and trimming the historic cemetery garden

The Bluebells clematis is budding out in front. This is one I learned needs to not be cut back. The new growth buds out of last year’s vines.

Out back the clematis is just waking up.

It was a super windy day today, so not much gardening.

Yesterday was much more fun. I went to the historic cemetery and worked on spring trimming the fence garden. Like at the historic mansion, I am just learning what all is in there. So far I can see tall sedum, stonecrop, phlox, some hostas, black-eyed Susan’s, and yarrow. I trimmed all except some stonecrop. I will go over some night this week and trim those, and also put some coffee grounds along the base of the hostas.

I am exceptionally happy to see there are some hostas. To be sure, they are small, but if they survive, yahoo! They can meet some new “friends”! (I can then divide some hostas here this fall and see if they do well over there.)

Coffee Time

Every year, as the perennials emerge, they get a haircut from anything I left for the birds over the winter. Then they get a sprinkling of coffee grounds around them. Not to wake it up, but to keep the slugs away. I started that years ago, and it has served the garden well. The holes we get on leaves each year since then are usually after the Japanese beetles hatch.

Last Saturday I gave the sedum out front haircuts. Then I sprinkled them with coffee grounds. There were also the tulips and one daylily starting to pop up, and they got some coffee grounds love too. May as well. Can’t hurt, I don’t think …

The tulip and crocus areas out back also got the coffee treatment. Hoping it deters sir bunimous from chomping down. If not, I have an all natural powder I buy. It worked at the little house up north to deter deer and bunnies. The downside of that is it looks not so pretty, and it is only good through a couple rains. Hopefully the coffee grounds will work and it won’t be needed.

It’s time to start saving coffee grounds

Every spring there comes a day when I say to my husband, “It’s time to start saving coffee grounds.” He knows why. They go on the plants in the garden as soon as the ground starts to thaw. The slugs don’t like them, the squirrels kind of don’t like them, and some people say they fertilize the plants. And they are free. And the plants have done better since I started doing that – many years ago.

Today was the first application day. I would say probably a couple more weeks and we’re done.