Category Archives: gate bed

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – May 2014

bulbs, gate bed, loki bed, sidewalk bed, spring, Uncategorized

May Bloom Day is upon us! The end of last week and over the weekend we had some warmer weather during an otherwise cool Spring. It took just those handful of days for the tulips to bloom and the trees to leaf out. My allergies have also been telling me the garden is now is full swing.

Last season we had three arborvitae removed from in front of our porch. They were planted very close to the porch and also had grown tall enough to block our view. This left a large area we decided to plant with a variety of early to mid spring tulips.

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This next little plant is Rock Cress (Arabis sturii). There are rocks placed behind our backyard gate door, so a ground cover was needed to dress up the area. This plant receives morning sun and doesn’t grow much larger than shown.

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All the Labrador Violets are in bloom around foundation in both the backyard and along the east side of the house.

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Last season Sweet Woodruff (Galium odoratum) was planted in the backyard on the north side of the house. It isn’t quite in bloom yet, but I’m not sure if it will make it to June Bloom Day. We placed the Woodruff near our finch feeder at the kitchen window to help camouflage the discarded thistle seed. This ground cover is quite content in the shade.

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This is one of my favorite plants on the Lot. The Foam Flower is so delicate and pretty, yet quite a tough plant. In the foreground of the photo, the Snow Angle Coral Bell is just beginning to send up its flower stalks.

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This is the Bleeding Heart, one of the first perennials we planted on the Lot when we moved into our home in 2008. Even after a tussle with an aggressive Trumpet Vine last season, it’s still going strong. There are a handful of Forget-Me-Not and Grape Hyacinth in the foreground.

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Here is the Cranesbill brightening up the walkway back to the compost bin beside the garage. This plant lived on the Lot before we did.

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The variegated Solomon’s Seal is in the process of blooming at the edge of Loki’s flowerbed.

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This is the remainder of that same bed. The Lenten Rose, Forget-Me-Not, and Grape Hyacinth are all blooming here.

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Here is the Mt Airy Fothergilla putting on its Spring show. The flowers are likened to bottlebrushes in appearance. Upon further inspection, this is because the flower on Fothergilla are only filaments and have no actual petals.

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Here are more Grape Hyacinth! It seems I will never have to plant a single one of these bulbs on the Lot again. Oh, there is also the lovely dandelion in the bottom left.

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That is all to share from the Lot this Bloom Day. Be sure to visit May Dreams Gardens to see what is blooming in gardens around the rest of the world!

Spring 2014 Has Arrived

backyard bed, front bed, gate bed, pruning, southwest bed, spring, spring cleanup

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

 

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – October 2012

fence bed, front bed, gate bed, ,

Fall has definitely arrived on the Lot. Last week when it wasn’t raining, I was preparing the two 4’x4′ raised vegetable beds for winter. This past, soggy weekend I began to ready the perennial beds by trimming yellow foliage and raking out large clumps of soggy leaves. But Fall prep will be another post; this is a bloom day post with pretty things!

Monster Hardy Mums

First up is the classic, Fall, hardy Chrysanthemums shot. They are a bit raggedy, but still pretty, posing here with Alfred the Hedgehog. In this bed the Jupiter’s Beard (Centranthus ruber) is still blooming and the Plumbago (Ceratostigma plumbaginoides) is just finishing.

False Indigo

This is not a bloom necessarily, but this is quite cool because it’s some Fall interest in the way of sound. These seed pods belong to the False Indigo (Baptisia) that bloomed this past May. When the wind blows through the stalks of this plant, the seeds rattle within the seed pod like a percussion instrument. I’ve also snipped the stalks with pods attached as accents in Halloween and Fall arrangements.

Wand Flower

This Wand Flower (Gaura lindheimeri) was blooming last month as well, but it’s still going. I’ve admired the wispy plant in the garden centers for a couple of seasons now. This was the year it was finally added to the Lot. In the same bed the Coreopsis is finishing it’s blooming. Down along the gate bed, the Stonecrop and Maiden Hair Grass are both in bloom. Other plants blooming on the Lot include Nicotiana, Toad Lily, Lamium, Pincushion Flower, and multiple Stonecrop.

Soggy Fall

I felt this parting shot of a cold, soggy annual would capture the feeling so far of this Fall season. Brrr… a lot of gray and rain. However, the tree foliage colors were beautiful, having reached their peak in our area around the weekend of October 6th. We’ve already had a few frosts that zapped a lot of the more tender annuals.

Time to travel on over to May Dreams Gardens and see what other gardeners from around the world have blooming this October. Since a lot of us shared the hot, drought-like summer, I’m curious what Fall is like so far for them. Be sure to check it out.