Category Archives: backyard bed

Spring 2014 Has Arrived

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Today at exactly 12:57 ET the center of the sun passed over the Equator and the first day of Spring arrived. We usually have slightly warmer weather within the Lot’s micro-climate than the remaining Zone 6a outside of the city. The temperature reached a whopping 37 F today, which is an improvement to the very chilly winter we’ve experienced this season.

Lot Update

Here are some photos of the Lot from two days ago. A lot of snow has melted away from the edges of walkways, along paths, and from the house foundation. It seems the yew (yes, those are holiday lights that still need to be taken down) and newly freed rose in the South bed did not receive damage from the ice storms and heavier snow.

yew in south bed

The monster rose (aka my Other Half’s nemesis) seems to have made it through as well.

rose bush

The East bed is quite a soggy mess along the pathway to the gate. Several new perennials (foxglove, toad lilly, barrenwort, and coreopsis) were just added during the past growing season.

East Bed

Here is the main garden area of the Lot. Many of the perennials are still insulated under a layer of snow. This did not stop me from pruning the spirea to the right of the garage door. Usually I would not prune a spring-blooming shrub at the end of winter for fear of trimming off all the flower buds. However, this one has been falling apart over the last few years and I plan to cut it all the way to the ground after it is done blooming this spring so it can restart new, healthier growth.

We often set our Christmas tree outside by the bird feeder after the holidays. It gives the birds another place to tuck themselves away from the winter weather while they eat.

Back Garden

The middle shrub in front of the main garage wall is a burning bush. This species of shrub is too large for the space in which it was planted. When the snow retreats and the weather warms a bit more, I am going to attempt to thin out the branches a bit and bring the whole shrub back a bit in size.

Back Garden 2

Once the snow melts more, I will be cleaning up and pruning back a lot of perennials left up for winter interest. That includes the maiden hair grass and bits of false indigo seen in the foreground peeking up from under the snow.

Back Garden 3

What’s Different?

I looked back at pictures of the first day of spring from the past several growing seasons. In 2009 all the snow was gone and crocus and snowdrops were blooming. The same was true in 2010 with the daffodils swelling and many perennials stirring from winter. In 2011, there were still traces of snow in the areas of the back yard that were in the shade for the longer periods of the day. 2012 brought a very early spring with many trees already blooming which led to a horrible destruction of fruit crops for the state when a late freeze hit. Last year spring seemed back on track with the crocus and snowdrops appearing again and small areas of snow scattered here and there in the garden.

Deep down I know we will more than likely see snow again over the next month. In fact, it is in the forecast for later this week. However, there are chickadees moving through the backyard as they return from winter homes and the first snowdrops are emerging from the beds revealed by the withdrawing snow base.

#springiscoming

 

Nip! Nom, Nom, Nom.

backyard bed, education, spring

CatnipOur two garden helpers and I spent an hour outside today in the cool weather and bright sunshine. I passed time turning compost and the dead leaves in the raised beds. The other two spent time chewing on and rolling upon the new growth on the catnip.

I also spent some time surveying the backyard of The Lot for an upcoming landscaping class. The four week course, one evening a week, is being hosted at a local church and conducted by a Master Gardener. Since our main view of the garden from inside the house is through the kitchen window, that is the area I will be focusing on for the classes.

Homework after the first class consists of filling out a profile-type sheet on the garden. How much and what type sunlight does it receive? What is the texture and aeration of the soil? How is it supplied with water? What is the drainage? What is the root competition with neighboring trees and/or shrubs? What natural elements is it exposed to? What type of budget, financial and time, do we want to spend on the garden? And most importantly, why do we even want the garden in the first place? What is it’s purpose? These all seem to be fantastic questions that help to make plant selection and planning a bit less overwhelming.

Lady’s MantleAfter filling out the garden profile, I took the camera around The Lot and snapped more photos of the beds. Perhaps it’s because I can be a bit of a softie, but I get all warm and fuzzy inside when I brush back dead leaves and stalks to find brand new plant growth. Though I love Fall in general, Spring in the garden is always amazing.

Bloom Update

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Wow. I had not realized how much time passed since I last made a post to the blog. I have to get better about making regular updates if I want this to be the handy garden tracker I’d hoped it to be.

Here are several more bulbs that popped over the last few weeks. This first is an Azure Grape Hyacinth ordered from Breck’s. I snapped the picture around the 15th of this month. The size of the mulch is a good indicator as to how little and dainty the flower is. The flowers pictured are planted in the main backyard bed, receiving sun all day long. The other five bulbs were planted in Loki’s garden, receiving a very small amount of sun in the morning hours. The buds of those are just breaking up through the leaves.

Saturday was absolutely gorgeous with sun, a nice breeze, and temperatures in the high 60s. My Ice Stick Tulips, also ordered from Breck’s, finally opened up. The blooms had been ready to do so since Easter. As shown here, they seemed to enjoy the sun as much as we did. These guys are very sensitive to the weather. Today was very chilly and rainy, so the buds were sealed up tight. This fence bed receives more sun than the neighboring gate bed where I planted the other half of the ice stick tulip bulbs. Again, the bulbs in the gate bed, receiving a half of day’s sunlight are several days behind the fence bed tulips.



This next flower was an absolute surprise when it started emerging. Two purple hyacinth are living in the southwest corner bed.


Finally, the Scilla survived! These bulbs, picked up from a local nursery, are part of my experiment in naturalizing an area with flowers. I planted the bulbs in the fall as directed on the package. However, instead of placing them in a bed, I cut circles into the turf and planted the bulbs directly into the back lawn near the alley. I can’s wait to see what these will look like in a few years.