Garden cadence

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.

It was 3:30, now it’s 6:00

How fast the summer has gone! How fast the year has gone!

It seems like I was just waking up at 3:30 am, hearing the birds start to sing, going back out at 4 am to watch as the day began. So beautiful! Now, the birds start singing at 6am. The Cardinals love to sing loud and clear. It is all still very beautiful. Just less sun time. And that’s ok too. Rest is good.

Today’s picture is an early morning picture of the second to last daylily bloom in our gardens this year – a beautiful Marque Moon. She sits next to a bloom from a couple days ago, which I do not remove, as it may produce a seed pod. If that happens, it would be the first Marque Moon seed pod of 2022. Some years are like that. You never know.

Update – no Marque Moon seed pods this year. Each year is different 🙂

The July color show begins

The Just Plum Happy daylily is in it’s second day of bloom. 7 blooms today!

In front, the Blue Mouse Ears hostas are wrapping up their bloom.

Farther out, a variety of hostas, the Purple D’Oro daylilies, the coneflowers, and the shamrocks are in bloom.

Hats off. Weekend fun.

The buckets and plant pots that protected the daylilies, hostas, and sedum during the roofing project are off, but will have one more appearance in the next couple weeks when the gutter and fascia work is going on.

After that very long, hard to wait but dreading the potential collateral damage May, it was great to get back in the garden.

First up was removing the remainder of the tree seedlings. That got done yesterday. The total of buckets this year was down from the past few years – 5, compared to the usual 7. Hurray!

The dying tulip greens that got smooshd also got pulled. They were done anyway.

Then the pollinator created, harvested daylily seeds from 2021 finally got planted. Another post on that coming soon.

The sunflower seedlings also all got pulled. They were an experiment, but the rolling roofing dumpster made that decision for me. My husband was very happy – hahaha!!!

Today my thoughts turned to the front entry garden. It needs love.

One of the Blue Mouse Ears hostas out back also got a little smooshed with the roofing project. That was ok because it needed to be divided anyway, and the flowers get hit by the sprinkler, so moving the whole plant is probably a good idea. Blue Mouse Ears are the perfect size for the entryway area, and with dappled sun due to the Amur Maple they will look great for years to come. That area also had the remnant of a Rainforest Sunrise hosta I mostly moved up north, but it got a bit smooshed too so this will not be it’s shining year. I had to cut away the smooshed leaves. No worries, it will pop back next year. But besides a center hosta and the few Blue Mouse Ears divisions, and the low growing sedum, what to put in that area for color? No to annuals I think. Daily watering – ugghhh. That is for bird baths – haha! No to sedum divisions – the two low growing sedum are enough. Asian lilies seem to die out there, and the stems are not great after bloom either. They require layering to cover those up. So it may be daylilies. I am concerned about the dappled sun, but maybe. Still contemplating.

Finally, the center of one of the back garden areas was pretty bare. Plenty of baby forget-me-nots that will bloom next year, but it needs something additional. I pulled a nice daylily from there to go up north last year, and right afterward I saw how bare that area was and regretted it. Bummer. So that area needs love. But low investment. Trying out the green shamrock. Not sure. Might need a trip to the garden store.

So that was the weekend garden fun. Super enjoyed it.

Waves of forget-me-nots

Quite a few years back I planted forget-me-nots. We had lost my father-in-law and a beloved neighbor within weeks. It was a tough time. Gardening lends itself to seasons of expression.

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Every year the forget-me-nots have come back better and better.

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I have read, however, that they can be invasive. So although we let them mature and bloom, I am careful as to where I let them seed. I would not, for instance, plant them and leave them to naturalize up north, but here I can keep a close eye on them. I pluck them after bloom except farther back among the asian and day lilies, so they only seed in that area. They bloom first, but I love the lacy look that even the drying seeds form among the lilies.

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