Weather woes and spring cleaning

Greetings!  It is that time again when I begin to regale you with my tales of gardening, nature and outside happenings!

Alas, we once again had no true winter to speak of.  Sadly the best snow we got was actually just a few weeks ago.  It was a beautiful snow, the wet heavy kind that sticks to the trees and makes everything seem so ethereal, if only for a short while.  The snow was gone within twenty-four hours, all seven inches of it.

The weather has been all over the place.  I have heard Mother Nature being referred to as 'bi-polar', 'off her meds' and even 'hormonal'.  The irony to me about all of this is that historically, the weather is doing what it always does, whatever the heck it wants to!

Friday and Saturday found us basking in sunshine and almost ninety degrees.  Too hot, too fast for every living being.  It also meant it was time to get the pond circulating again and find out were there any fish left!

Tucker was quick to answer the fish question!  They are not only in there but they are huge and beautiful.  I still would like to get a couple of Koi since the current residents are so shy and hardly want to eat in front of you.

We had a great net up over the pond this past winter, huge and with a tight enough weave that it keep the blasted poplar seeds out.  It was glorious until the freak wind storm came and ripped it out of the ground and uncovered the pond!  So it will take a few days of circulating to get a good visual on the bottom and find out just how much muck is down there.  Thankfully, the rocks are gone so getting the leaves out should be fairly easy and not require much more than the pond rake!

We invested a little bit of extra energy to clear the leaves away from the flower beds that I worked so hard on last year.  While doing what we gardeners do in the spring I was delighted to find something lovely blooming among the leaves.

A beautiful bloodroot!  There were lots of flowers blooming, lungworts, Lenten roses and even a blue Anemone has made it's way to that side of my garden!  Of course, the false marsh marigold is everywhere but I saw pollinators all over them, so I can't complain too much.  Even some of the woodland poppies have burst open with their happy yellow flowers. 

So while it felt like summer yesterday, today the temperature will be forty-four degrees.  Which in all honesty would be more pleasant to work in!  I told Randy that next year, I'm going out in my parka and layers to clear the leaves from the flower beds because now they are up and mulching is going to be a challenge!

Happy Spring-Winter-Summer Weekend!

A break in the rains..

Last weekend Randy worked very hard to get the gazebo roof completed.  It’s been a long time coming but I love how it turned out.  We pressure washed it to get it ready for some quality sitting time this summer. 

I didn’t get a lot of time outside this week the rains came and hung around making it to wet to weed or plant.  The one day I did get out though, I worked all around the pond area trying to get the work done before the plants exploded in growth, I barely made it!  I did however manage to get the topsoil, leaf grow mix added to the pond walls and leveled out the stones.  I also managed to get the weeds out and the mulch down.  I still need to attach the stones but that’s another day when it’s dry out.

Today with a break in the rain we moved quick tackling a bunch of little things; moving some outdoor furniture, spreading mole repellent, cleaning out under the deck, mowing the front lawn, moving a massive pile of pots to the front for recycling, spreading some pine straw under the azaleas in the back and installing the water canon in the back flower bed.

Several years ago I bought some metal frogs that were brightly painted and I wanted to mount them to the gazebo.  I asked Randy to drill holes in them and he eventually did but they hadn’t gotten mounted.  Today he mounted them only the way he did it is leaving me with a really gruesome feeling.

Those nails were not quite what I had in mind and while he doesn’t understand, it’s freaking me out.  I wanted a smaller nail, much smaller that I could put a dot of paint on so the frogs would just look like they were hanging, not like they’d been, nailed.  Yeah, we gotta do something about that.

In other and much less gruesome news, the azaleas that were planted to hide the heat pumps are doing very well, even though the deer ate them last fall when they broke in to the backyard.  They don’t all bloom at the same time which is not really a bad thing, because it means lots of flowers at different times, but I bet they would be amazing blooming all together.  I  guess I need those guys that do Amen corner to come take care of mine!

Speaking of blooms, I’ve been waiting years to see this bloom,

It’s been eating by deer, mowed over multiple times and now transplanted to a safe spot behind a crepe myrtle.  Maybe one day it will even manage to climb into the crepe myrtle but for now, I’m so happy to see all these beautiful flowers!

Welcome to July…

It’s July.  Where is the summer going and why is it going so fast?  I need a way to slow things down, isn’t it supposed to be the lazy days of summer???

The rain took out my milkweed jungle, rather the torrents of rain and wind that came with some severe storms did.  I tried to prop it back up, but it just didn’t work.  Now it looks messy and the sweet smell has drifted away.

The bee balm continues to bloom and attract lots of hummingbirds, the pink bee balm has had bees and butterflies on it.  Out of the mess the Joe Pye Weed and Goldenrod have appeared and will hopefully get a chance to bloom without being eaten by the deer.  They are eating things fast this year, I spray it rains, they eat. 

Case in point.  I noticed that my yellow daylily and my Cherokee daylily were close to blooming so I sprayed them.

 

Today when I went to see if they were blooming or not…

That’s what I found, it’s so frustrating.  I’ve got to get the rest of my plants moved this fall.

So far they haven’t reached my daylily called Joan, if they do at least I got to see it bloom!

Oddly enough they are eating my bonset this year, I wouldn’t think they’d like that it has very fuzzy leaves but..

It is usually a good five feet tall by now.  Sad, I guess it will have to be moved as well.  I’m thinking that a lot of the stuff at the front of the driveway and at the porch is going to end up at the deck bed and the deck bed stuff is going to end up in the shade beds.  That deck area is about the only place that gets enough sun to support all these plants.  Well, the former bee garden gets sun too, but that may end up as something totally different in the coming years.

I went out to do some weeding the other day, taking Tucker and Cooper with me and was trying to decide where to start.  I settled on the deck bed, thinking that I really need to keep after the jewel weed.  So I kneeled down and

decided on another location after almost grabbing this lovely visitor!  At least five feet long, it wasn’t too bothered by my presence, just kept laying there, but I suspect had I grabbed it or stepped on it that would have been a different story!

There are so many insects which you know is fine by me as long as they aren’t munching on me! What I have seen a lot of this year are these lovely garden spiders.

I haven’t looked up what kind they are exactly but they are all over.  Being the kind of person that doesn’t want to wreck their homes I weed around them and do my best not to mess up their webs.  They are really very lovely!

The damselflies are back, I’ve not gotten a good picture but I’ve got dragonflies galore too!

Nature just never ceases to amaze and delight me, except the deer, they just really frustrate me!

April First…

I went out to let Cooper gallivant for a while in the sun.  It was so pretty out I came back in and got my camera to take a few pictures of some of my Spring flowers in bloom.

Of course I had to get a couple of pictures of Cooper!

I was walking around the yard when I noticed something interesting, a lot of activity at the beehives. In case anyone ever wanted to know, this is what it looks like when an empty hive is being robbed out.

Not too much different from what a happy hive looks like right?  Well here let me show you something else;

See those specks all over the front, that the stolen goods being brought out.  It’s my own fault for not having closed it off before now.  The last time I checked it was when I realized my colony was gone and I haven’t been back since.  Now that it’s warm, these bees that are looking for food wherever they can find it, found basically fast food and are tearing the comb apart to get to it.  So tonight I’ll be closing that up for sure! 
Happy April 1st…no fooling!

In Which We Address Daffodils..

A friend recently waxed that daffodils were the ugliest flower on Facebook and he was immediately reprimanded for having made such a statement.  I being of sound mind did not comment on the comment as I am, as you know fond of all flowers and really don’t know that I’ve ever seen an ‘ugly’ one.  Strange, odd, unusual and even garish but never ugly.  After reading his comments I went out into the garden to stroll and look at my collection of daffodils to see why he thought them ugly.
 

 
Daffodils are heralds of Spring that burst from the ground and explode in an array of blooms and colors.  They are tough and ask for little in the way of care requiring but a sprinkle of bulb food every season.  They are impervious to deer and rabbits which in my location is a bonus beyond measure and they return faithfully each year with no pruning, prodding or fussing needed.  For me, daffodils are many things but ugly isn’t one of them…

Past and Present…

So here is a glimpse into the past..ready, put on your winter parka and take a peek.

This first picture was President’s Day weekend back in 2003!  Of course that paled in comparison to this snow, back in March of 2010! 


Today though, today it looks like Spring to me, it sounds like Spring and it even smells like Spring.

Apparently even this girl thinks Spring has sprung and I can’t say I blame her, it’s a balmy 60 degrees.  It makes me want to do yard clean up and leave mulching and planting planning!

Like how lovely the gazebo will be once we get the roof on it this spring and I’ve been giving the green light to decorate it however I want!  Oh does he know what he said lol..
Instead, I took pictures of my Hellebores in all their glory just to share with you!

All ruffles and lacey Winter Jewels double flowering variety.

This dark nodding lovely is Winter Jewels in single form.

This diva, dark, mysterious is London Fog.

This happy face is Mellow Yellow!  Doesn’t it just make you smile!
Of course no early spring post is complete without…

Snowdrops in full bloom and all around them Daffodils standing tall, ready to make buds for beautiful spring flowers.

For now though, the crocus are bursting out of the leaves and I’m going to leave them alone for the time being, Spring will be here for real soon enough and my garden list is endless!  Till next time!

F is for Frogs, Fish and Flowers!!!!

I knew I had a few bullfrogs in my pond, but maybe my Prince Charming is among these guys!

I count at least six of these handsome guys (or girls lol) in any event I am one happy camper to have this many bullfrogs in my pond.

This past winter was harsh on my fish population, we lost all but two.  So we’ve been adding more goldfish and some minnows.  I also want to get some fresh water clams to help with the cleaning of the water. That’s a picture of the two large fish and one of the small new ones, they look tiny compared to what we use to have.
The rest of these are just some random shots of what’s blooming in my gardens right now.  Enjoy!