We are having an exceptionally rainy Spring this year, which, alternating with some recent heat spells is causing us to play hopscotch with our time in the gardens. Think mosquitos also added to rain and heat impediments. Short bursts of catch-it-while-you-can time has been the norm. But the Asian lilies are keeping it pretty, whether inside or out.
A fantastic 24 hours indeed!
Tuesday I had volunteer time through work to start using up, so I scheduled 2 hours at the start of the day. Hey, calendars determine part of these decisions 😉 Tuesday was predicted sunny a few days before, but it dawned with rain. By 7:30 am it was to a drizzle and I could not stand the wait any longer. I needed my historic cemetery fence gardening fix. Off I went. And as blessings would have it, the drizzle fizzled by the time I pulled up to the cemetery, and stopped within a minute of getting out of the car and starting to work.
This was the first project of the day I wanted to complete – a removable border to keep the mulch in on the new iris bed.
It has to be removable come late fall because the snow plow/blower will suck up even pavers set on end.
Now maybe the perfectionist in some will say, “Why not right on the edge?” Well, at first I had the mulch mounded, and it was going over the top of the border if I placed it right at the edge. But as projects go, I just had to see if I could make it work right on the edge. I smoothed out the mulch, repositioned the border, and called my friend the site manager, who said “Hello crazy lady!” Hahaha! I asked her if she and her husband were coming over because pics weren’t sending and I needed a second set of eyes. You know what she said? “No, because it’s raining.” Now, first of all, in case you think that was not nice, she is my friend, so she was just having fun, but I tell you, the drive is short from our part of town, and it was not even drizzling at the cemetery when I called her. So I was being blessed for sure!!! Here is the pic I was trying to send her.
I made the decision, I liked the border farther back for now. Maybe I will plant ground cover in front. You just never know what I might do in a garden when I set my mind a-going. I might plant more irises in that bed and move the border forward yet this year even. You just never know with me 🙂
So I got done with the border, poured in my last bag of mulch to chock-a-block full top it off, micro-weeded the right side of the garden, took a few more quick pics, and went back home, to my office, and logged in, 7 minutes late. No worries. It was all good. Work knows what a crazy lady I am too, and that they will see me work way more than 7 minutes late cuz, well, you know, I am one of those weird people that like what I do for a paycheck. We are out there, right? 😉
At the end of my work day the dog got extra lovins because I was going to leave him yet again, but only for an hour or so, to go to the historical society meeting at a historic factory turned hotel, condos, pub, and event venue. So fun!!!
Here are pics of the setting. It was an absolutely beautiful night! No rain there!
Still, I couldn’t stop there. I had spotted the first daylily of my gardening season in bloom at the cemetery in the morning. But my phone was in the glove box, all the way at the other end of the fence garden, and you know, I was running late dadeedadeeda …
So I had to, I just had to, get a pic of that first daylily blooming. Yes, it is the overused Stella D’Oro, but … it is the first daylily of the year in the gardens I love and work in.
I returned home a very happy crazy lady! And our dog celebrated with the zoomies.
This morning, I was treated to a fully opened peach Asian lily and the first opened hosta blooms.
I tell ya, it was a wunderbar 24 hours!
And I think the baby bunny must have had fun too.
Dang it! Now I have to start using that cordial glass again!
We are having a gentle early morning rain here, and the first Asian lily bloom is just fine with that.
Very soon the Asian lilies will begin their show.
So very ready!
The weigelia and the first blooming ninebark are wrapping up, and that has left the forget-me-nots and the first (almost) blooming hosta to carry the show.
I took a couple weeks off garden work when our 2nd grandson was born. Yesterday was “get back to it” day. 4 1/2 buckets of clover and forget-me-nots left the gardens and it looks great again.
As the Asian lilies wrap up
and the Elegans hostas stand in the background
The Blue Mouse Ears are starting to steal the show
The big Just Plum Happy daylily is getting it’s scapes
The daylily seedlings are starting to outgrow the seedling box and are gradually getting exposed to the wider world
And the lavender from the old seeds is standing guard as a deterrent to bunny munching
Oh yes, it’s a thing
The coneflower in the back is completely gone, and this is what remains of the one in front.
But it is a cute little one, right?
Note to self – buy more lavender seeds next year.
The last of the asian lilies to bloom.
Bunimous (named because he is dinosaur sized as rabbits go – haha 😂) decided which Asian lily blooms I should have in a vase. He must have started his munching but then left a broken stalk for me. Thanks Bunimous!
In the background is the daylily seeds result for this year – one for sure. I think the other two are grass – I think. Those two will go up to the camping land in a spot that gets enough sun and does not totally dry out. If they surprise me, AWESOME! If not, they will be in good company. More to come on that and change of seed soil in future blogs.
The asian lily below just bloomed. That plant is one that fell in the category of “tulip” syndrome. It bloomed strong year one, faded year two, and is now “iffy,” for blooming each year. Like the faded tulips, I leave it in the ground just to see if it will do anything. And it provides early greens when the garden is first coming up in spring.
The clematis could be trimmed, but hey! It covers the boring bare rock 🙂
The roofs, gutters, fascia project work is all done. It was a long month of very much activity around here, which was a good thing, but I am glad it’s done. Yesterday we put the pictures back on the walls inside (it was recommended to remove them during the roof replacement). Then we moved outside and started really assessing the gardens – what needs love this season.
The gardens here will be refreshed this fall. And we know a bush out front will be removed to make way for the new gutter drain system. So not too much extra work in the garden this season will be smart until we know what all that looks like. But we can do a few things. A little fun. Adding the garden decorations back, planting a gift of zucchini plants in a pot (we can’t grow veggies in the ground per townhome regulations), moving the green shamrock to a shady spot out front, and maybe, just maybe, a couple coneflowers to fill in a bare spot in the back garden. Hey, they were at the farmer’s market and they, how does the saying go, chose me ☺️
So, we put one foot in front of the other, and say thanks for the weekend of time to finally relax.
The clematis are now done blooming, as is the weigelia, and next up are the asian lilies. This is what some looked like a few days ago.
I remember when the garden out back was pink and purple asian lilies and (purple) Siberian irises – 19 years ago. The Siberian irises were a bit too crowding in the greenery department, and moved to my mother-in-law’s much larger garden. But the asian lilies are still there – they came up peach year two and have been peach ever since. For 18 years. Multiplied and divided and new growth started. Just consistently showing up each year in the same area in the back gardens. Nice.
I added pink Asian lilies year three in another area in the back gardens, and those multiplied and divided and I started new groupings. Every year they come up in the same areas. Nice.
A friend and I swapped divisions of our Asian lilies, and I got some tall white lilies from her. Every year they come up in the back gardens too. Very nice.
Under the linden, the deep pink Asian lilies are also a fixture.
And out front one pink Elodie stand still remains. Asian lilies do not have as much staying power out front, but that one bunch continues.
Much is the same, and much is up in the air. But little by little, we move forward.
It looks like the peach daylilies will kick off the color show.
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!
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.
I tell you what! I am absolutely delighted! The care the roofing team took was very evident. A few smooshes where I was not too concerned about covering, but given all they had to work around, amazing end state! Way way way better than I had even dared to hope for. Judge for yourself 🙂
Susan's Daily Garden 