Planting tulips in the snow

The townhouse garden is all cut back and tucked in for the winter. It was a late finish this year. Between adding extra activities to our lives (time up north, going on our townhome association board) and fully enjoying all of the garden’s fall color, I finally finished up the cutback Sunday and the bulb planting yesterday. I was planting tulips and crocus in the snow!

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The two 5′ hostas are now in other people’s gardens, and in each place are 9 yellow tulips and a dozen purple and white crocus bulbs. In the spring I will layer with daylily seedlings and see how they progress.

The fall color wrapped up about 3 weeks ago up north, and has now wrapped up at the townhouse. Our beautiful fall colors are no longer our natural decorations, but they were gorgeous and we enjoyed them tremendously! Soon we will have layers of the white fluffy stuff that stay for a few (5 at least!) months.

Starting our journey with the land up north this year really changed me. We have spent time up north for 20 years, and camping for many years before that, but something about managing and spend time on our own land changed me. It was partially the simplicity of hauling in our water, living in the small footprint of a 280 square foot camper, and having an outhouse, but it was more than that. We’ve done that, even primitive camped. It was deciding how to manage the slice of woods for which we are now responsible – how much wood to harvest, how much to clear, how much of the land to leave alone, how quickly things grew, how our little garden got overtaken, how the trailcams showed us deer and bear and wolves and coyotes that move through the land, how the area I thought I would develop into a wooded garden became a fern forest with an abundance of toads, and how wildflowers were everywhere. It made me stand in awe. Unlike in our townhouse garden, the horseflies bit hard and the wood ticks showed up in groups on the screen tent fly. But the vast beauty of uncultured, natural “gardens” got ahold of my “simpler” self. I gave up time in the townhouse garden in favor of time walking the land. Each now has its place, but they are very, very different.

Back at the townhouse I did not end up harvesting the hosta seeds this fall. Realistically, I know we have plenty of hostas. I am giving them away. Up north, the deer would just eat the seedlings. My seedling focus will be on daylilies next spring.

I did dig out the irises that never bloomed at the townhouse, and planted them up north to see how they do. Beyond that, up north we’ll see if the asclepias, the asparagus, the coneflowers, and the malva zebrina hollyhocks we planted make it through the winter. The hugelkulture gardens in raised bed forms turned into weed patches because we are not up north all the time, so we’ll see what survives. I will say I wish I had the money back from the raised bed frames and bags and bags of dirt. I would not do that again. That little garden area seems really out of place in its surroundings. Lesson learned.

Our old hibiscus ended up with dozens and dozens of buds in August, and is still blooming profusely indoors. It was over 5′ wide when we brought it inside, and it barely made it through the door. As the blooms on a stem fade, I am trimming it. It is lovely and just keeps on going.

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I also saved the gladiola bulbs that I had in a large pot this year. They required chicken wire protection, but were beautiful!

For next year, I’m thinking I will continue to simplify, enjoying the established townhouse garden, seeing if I can get new daylily seedlings to grow, and continuing to enjoy the up north natural beauty.

Now energy turns to indoors at the townhouse – getting garden decorations stored, cleaning up the shamrock plants for the winter indoors, and then on to dispersing all kinds of items that we are no longer using in the house, getting them on to new homes. Our townhome is also small. We constantly need to work at keeping things cleared and as simple as possible.

Maybe this weekend we will be at a state where I can pull out the candles and put them in the windows. They are our only “outdoor” “holiday” lights, and I’m looking forward to having them up again.

And over the winter there will be time walking in the snowy woods up north, where the outdoor lights are solar, and probably covered til spring.

Turning colors and time to start trimming

While we were up north we literally watched the leaves start to turn yellow. Each day there was more and more yellow.

Now back at the townhouse, the linden is turning more and more yellow. Soon we will have a carpet of leaves in both places.

While we were up north the last 2 daylily buds also bloomed. I have already harvested our first seeds – from the ‘South Seas’ daylily – just one pod. While we wait for the other seed pods to mature, it will be time to start trimming.

I take about six weekends to hand cut everything back. This weekend it will be all the asian lily stems. Our friend the bunny has put a hurt on a bunch of them, so literally some of them are just stems.

What a wonderful spring and summer garden we’ve had! Lots to remember! Now, while we enjoy fall, it’s also our time to prepare well for next year.

Hugelkultur results – year one test garden

Before we understood exactly how dense the plants and shrubs on our land up north are, I planned our northern Minnesota “year one” test garden. A very compelling idea was to use hugelkultur. Hugelkultur calls for raised garden beds. The bottom layer is tree trunks and large branches. Then smaller branches and twigs. Finally, atop it all is soil.

We gave it a try. I bought two steel raised garden forms. We had abundant tree material. Plenty of soil topped it off. In went both seeds and seedlings. The seeds sprouted but stunted. We realized we could not rely on just rain – we needed to be there to water, which we weren’t. Then the ferns poked through the open bottom and the hugelkultur. Now it looks like a fern garden. I couldn’t even bear to take pictures.

I think it’s an awesome idea, but our experience was that it still requires just as much weeding and watering as a normal, in the ground, garden.

We are hoping some of our work will survive. We put some winter hardy perennials in – malva zebrina hollyhocks, asclepias, coneflowers, and asparagus, and we’re hoping those make it through the tough winter. The carrots, cinnamon basil, and kale we already wrote off as critter food (deer, rabbits …).

Naturalized beauty

On the way home from our recent trip up north, my husband and I were talking about how different “gardens” are for us up north. He said something interesting – In the “city” we plant gardens to bring nature and beauty into our outdoor spaces. We long for it. Up north nature is already there, abundantly.

Every time we go up north new massive waves of flowers are blooming. We’ve seen some of those waves for years. The applicability of those experiences to what we are doing is now slowly dawning on me. Yes, the different waves were technically “planted” over time, but they are naturally all over – in fields, in the ditches, in the woods. I don’t need to create “garden” beauty up there. It’s already there for me to enjoy.

This last time the tiger lilies were blooming. I realized when we were on the way home I didn’t even take pictures. Wow! I was “in the moment”. I just enjoyed their beauty, for long walks, and for miles and miles of driving.

Perspective is coming forward. My tiny attempts to bring “garden” beauty to our land up north have quickly been overtaken by the massive natural beauty that is already there – a gigantic garden, planted over thousands of years, doing its thing naturally and with more beauty than I could ever put together. My part as a gardener in that environment is to realize it and just enjoy it.

Now, if we ever move up there, we may want to grow some food, and that will take more work. And at the homesite area we are slowly clearing we eventually want to have a clover “lawn”. But that is a topic for another day.

Back at our townhome, I confirmed what I suspected – I missed the first ‘South Seas’ daylily blooms of the season. But before we headed up north I caught our first ‘Purple D’ Oro’ daylily blooms, and when we came back we caught the first ‘Just Plum Happy’ daylily blooms

along with a couple ‘South Seas’ blooms.

Today I caught the first ‘Hush Little Baby’ bloom

and the first red daylily bloom (in the way back)

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along with over a dozen ‘Purple D’ Oro blooms.

And after work, after our dog got his daily walk, I spent an hour putzing in the gardens – trimmming here, weeding there. It’s all good.

We’re running now – here and up north

As I enjoyed my “putz and pamper” time this past weekend, I had time to reflect on the gardens so far this year.

After a very long winter, and months of feeling like a horse at the gate, we are running quite fast now – both here and up north.

The cherry trees wrapped up their bloom here quite a while ago, but a pleasant surprise was that we got a glorious “re-do” during one of our trips up north. Such a treat to get multiple blooming schedules.

At the townhouse, sadly, my favorite long-lived bunch of purple tulips has faded. They were an icon each spring. I will try to find something just as iconic, but maybe a different species. Not sure what yet, but it might be harvested daylily seeds. Just thinking at this point.

The new tulips I planted here last fall were glorious this spring.

Now the blooming season of early clematis has also passed and the weigelia has hit it’s peak bloom. Soon the asian lilies will start blooming.

What I did not expect was a hosta bloom so early – yet here it is, beginning to form. And on the ground in that garden the forget-me-nots are beginning to pop up.

To watch here this year – two plants from 2017 harvested daylily seeds – both from ‘South Seas’ – one of my favorites. We’ll hopefully see a bloom or two on them this year, and discover what we got with the help of our pollinator friends. What I know for sure is that daylilies are deer munchies, so I have decided they will not be making the trip up north, as divisions or as seedlings.

In pots, the hibiscus and the gladiolas here are squirrel favorites. I have put chicken wire around a number of the potted plants and bulbs – not a flattering look – but needed.

The Aureomarginata hostas here are gigantic again this year, the daylilies I added last year are looking good, and the Blue Mouse Ears are more full than ever.

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Which leads me to options. Up north, the trail cams are showing us oodles of deer, a coyote, lots of bunnies, and a bear. Makes sense – there’s lots to eat, including wild strawberries all over the property that just wrapped up their season. I wanted to divide the Aureomarginata hostas and bring them up there but it’s probably not the smartest. I will be fighting a munching battle that will only make me sad.

There’s also a sedum that has been crowded here for a couple years. I wanted to bring it up north and put it in the sunny garden to let it shine. But despite web lists that say sedum is on the list of “deer-resistant” plants, I am hearing reports that they too are tasty morsels up north.

What did work in the year one test garden up north is two types of seeds directly sown into the raised beds – malva zebrina hollyhock, and cinnamon mint. Some free carrot seeds are also sprouting, and two asclepias plants have survived, so far. Coneflower seeds did not sprout, asclepias seeds did not sprout, and all of the kale and asparagus died back. I think it needs more water than we can provide. We are just depending on watering when we are up there, and rain.

And, after much deliberation, and my husband mentioning he doesn’t think he’d like the look, I have given up the idea of using a dog kennel as a critter-proof option. Alas, I don’t like the look of chicken wire here. I probably wouldn’t really like a dog kennel asthetic up north.

So the lesson so far is – some things will stay townhouse garden plants, and we will embrace what’s already on the land up north, plus seed sown additions that can survive with just rain, and that are not attractive to critters.

I heard lupines may be an option. They do naturalize beautifully …

Our irises

When we bought the house we raised our kids in, my mother-in-law arrived one October day with a bucket of 40 iris tubers. 3 years later – I kid you not – 3 years later when I went to split them out there were over 400! I did that again 3 years later! And they bloomed like crazy! One long full row of purple.

Here, not so much. My sister gave me some of her irises. No blooms – lots of greens but no blooms.

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I bought some from a local gardener – one year of blooms and no return the next year. I bought some from a local, very reputable garden center – no blooms the second year and no greens at all the third year.

So I have a plan, and a very good one I hope! I am going to dig out the irises from my sister that don’t bloom here at the townhouse, and plant them at the land up north. I think the soil up there is more like at our old house – rocky, gravelly. Maybe they will bloom there.

First I have to solve my deer grazing dilemna up north, but then we should have a good test.

Plum trees and raspberry bushes and strawberry plants and ferns galore

When we were last up north at the land, things looked very different. The nice winter clean look has given way to a jungle-like appearance!

We are learning more about what we have up there now. If I was a bird or an animal I would be delighted. The place is overgrown with raspberry bushes, strawberry plants are everywhere, and there are small plum trees. A friend told us we may not ever harvest the strawberries and plums. They are small and the birds and animals get them pretty quickly. As for the raspberry bushes, I did not feel bad about cutting some of those down to get a clearing. They are all over the land!

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Just like the tall ferns that now line everything! They, too, need to be tamed a bit.

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I think it’s going to be a very gradual process. Taking some from the land so we have a place to be without a crazy amount of ticks and mosquitos and black flies, yet leaving a whole lot in its natural woodsy state that we fell in love with.

Snort!

Funny story …

A month ago we were up north on the land, eating lunch out on the trail. We were just chatting occasionally. All of a sudden we heard a loud snort! I couldn’t place it. A weird bird?

My husband asked if I heard that. Yup. Did I know what that was? Nope. Well, it was a deer very close to us, just up at the turn of the trail, who heard us/caught wind of us and was not pleased. It was warning its buddies “Danger, Danger” and probably trying to fend us off. An hour or so later we wandered up the path. Wide open, very fresh deer tracks could be seen just beyond the turn. The deer was running when it left.

I doubt I will ever get bored there. There is always a new experience!

Whirlwind

Every night I think, “Tonight I’ll blog”, but it’s been a four week whirlwind of activities. Tonight’s the night. There is so much to share!

My 15 yr old purple tulip bunch that I have truly enjoyed each and every year faded this year to one small purple tulip. (Plus one the bunnies might have enjoyed)

I have wonderful pictures over the years and will always remember spring mornings relaxing on the patio, looking at their gorgeous blooms swaying in the breeze.

Besides these giant new tulip “bouquets” I planted last fall,

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Last fall’s planting also brought a new, delicate bouquet of pink tulips out back. At our family gathering last week someone thought they were artificial! I reportedly gave a funny look and said, “Go touch them!” – lol. They were, admittedly, pretty “perfect”.

Right next to them, the bunnies had a munch-fest, so having them spared was awesome!

The amur maple out front flowered last week. It smelled glorious for two days, and then I got a cold. But I trust it still continued to smell wonderful for a few more days at least! Hopefully our family enjoyed it a bit!

Now the pink tulips are starting to fade, the asian lilies are starting to show buds, and the daylilies and hostas seem to have doubled in size this past week.

The days have been full. The sunsets have been incredible.

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We have also spent time up north, where the sunrises were awe inspiring.

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And we saw the sunset reflect off one of our very old old pines. We think this one is over 100 yrs. Notice it’s size compared to the other 20ish yr growth!

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Quite a difference from “Charlie” who we moved to get the camper situated.

Grow, Charlie! Grow, Charlie! He has a companion “Lucy” who we will also need to move. They will both be in decent proximity to “Linus”. You get the theme?

The seeds are half planted up north. Lifting 440 pounds of dirt into a raised bed garden was enough for me for one weekend.

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And that was 2/3 full of branches (see hugelkultur post).

Unfortunately, there is a center support that it turns out bends pretty easily when you push down on branches. Oh well! Live and learn!

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I still have one more (identical) raised bed garden to do. And I have milkweed plants to get in the ground, and stakes and chickenwire to put up once the seeds sprout, plus daylily seeds to try. It’s all so much easier to have “scope creep” in the winter when planning! But slow and steady wins the race. I keep reminding myself my gardens at the townhome are years of putzing – changing this, moving that, adding “one more thing”. This is the Year One Test Garden up north.

Trying out Hugelkultur

Along with the up-north plan comes my garden. Originally I envisioned at least a 20′ x 20′ garden year one, right in the ground, with no gate at first. Then I remembered we have abundant deer, bunny, and even some moose tracks on the land. They love to walk the established trail,

but they are all over the land, and new plants will be more yummy food for them to eat!

Next I thought about using a dog kennel to keep them out of the garden – and I still may do that.

Along the way we heard about Hugelkultur – using raised beds with layered organic material that slowly decomposes. Tree trunk pieces come first, then branches, then twigs, and finally soil. It sounds like a plan we can grow with!

For year one I bought two steel raised bed garden forms to try it out. We can put up chicken wire inside the forms to keep deer and hopefully bunnies out and still let pollinators in. I’m not sure about the moose. We will see.

Right now there is still snow in the forecast up north. It will be at least a month until we can get seedlings into the raised beds. But we’re ready – we have the materials and a decent plan for year one.

Just like individual plants in a garden sleep, then creep, then finally leap as they get established, so it is with this process – step by step, layer by layer.