Late post

I've been neglecting my posting here, so in order to catch up a little, this one will be essentially a picture dump from last month (again - I'm falling into a habit here).

February was a horror. Not just for Missouri, but all over the states. Even Texas froze, leaving millions of people without heat or water for days (that's another story about corporate greed and political unpreparedness). It was miserably cold here, and finally March gave us a break from the freezing weather. The early plants started coming up, and just as it has done every year for decades, a late March freeze snapped at them.  And as if that weren't enough, another freeze in late April (!) went at them again.  Against all odds, nothing suffered damage - not even the magnolia.  

December and January were relatively mild, and a number of plants stayed green, if not growing heartily.   

And then came February.  The only things that made it through that were weeds (of course), lettuce and, surprising to me, the 'Phenomenal' lavender in the rose garden...

...and the perennial poppies.  This is how they looked mid-March:

But then came the rains, and I found another low spot in the garden, next to the tulip beds.  Seems like every year I find a spot that needs to be built up.

Spring bulbs (alliums, hyacinths, daffodils, tulips, crocus, bluebells, muscari, mountain lily) all started coming up the first two weeks of March, along with the rhubarb.  And now (the first of May) things are looking up.

First, though, here's a picture from Easter when a baby squirrel decided I was at least better company than none.  

It followed me around for two days and then disappeared.  I hope it found a new home and not a predator.

The new tulips were beautiful during the month of April.

'Guinevere'

'Guinevere' and 'Red Matador' with 'Thalia' narcissus

'Tom Pouce'

'Slawa'

'Shogun'

As were the previous year's daffodils...

'Orangery'

I planted peas along a trellis in the same spot as last year.  I don't usually plant things in the same plot two years in a row, but I had put up that trellis and thought I'd go ahead and use it.  Besides, last year's pea crop was a bust because what the moles didn't eat as seed, the deer ate when they sprouted.

And...guess what?  The same exact thing happened this year.  I got something called TomCat Mole Killer and plan to pre-flood this area next year before planting anything.  Only I tried flooding it this year, and the water never stopped running, so I'm assuming the run is very, very long.  

I've never heard of anyone having much luck with mole baits or traps, but I'm desperate.  There are acres of yard for them to tunnel - and they do.  I just want this little plot of garden.  Is that too much to ask?

A decent bit of lettuce overwintered through that frigid February when the ground was frozen, along with walking onion and wild garlic, so I've had salads for weeks.

And, speaking of frigid weather, we got a late freeze (and snow) in late April, so I had to bring all my seedlings indoors for two nights.

Amazingly, the only plants to be damaged by the freeze were the potatoes, but they've come up from different "eyes" since.

I also cut a bunch of tulips and daffodils thinking they'd freeze anyway.  

The ones I left weren't even fazed, so I could have left them all and enjoyed them outside longer.  Oh well, I enjoyed them inside.

I saw a recipe for dandelion jelly a while back, so, having a bumper crop of dandelions (as every year), I thought I'd try it.

It was way too much work for something that tasted only of the lemon zest in it, and sugar.

Lilacs, magnolia blossoms, and dandelion jelly

 

Apologies

Getting my blogs mixed up. If you got any political posts on this blog, I apologize, and will try to be more careful!

Getting in some gardening time at last

 Every year I tell myself I'm not going to start so many seedlings the next year, and every year, it turns out I lied.

This was all that's left of my huge compost pile from 2014 when a section of the yard was skimmed for my garden.:

It's about a quarter at most of what it was originally, and it was covered this year in Egyptian walking onions.  They spread like wildfire.

And this is what I reduced it to:

I won't be terribly surprised to see some of those onions spring back up.  But, I planted some potatoes around the outer edge, and I plan to add gourds, pumpkins and ornamental corn in time.

'Rouge D'Hiver' leaf lettuce that overwintered is harvestable now.  Tasty, sweet and tender.  And so pretty.

Also harvestable is a red romaine and a green/red leaf lettuce, neither of which do I know the variety name for.  They're from a mix of saved seeds.

The rhubarb I harvest are several varieties that I've tried in a failed search for a red-stemmed variety.  'Holstein' - nope.  'Cherry Red' - nope.  'Canada Red' - nope.  When the weather is still quite cool, they show some degree of red surface, but I'm looking for one that has nice red stems through and through.  My latest attempt is 'Kangarhu', and it's not looking very healthy right now.  If it survives but doesn't produce red stalks, I'll quit trying.

The first of the rhubarb made a delicious pie, with a pinch of cinnamon, pinch of ginger, and pinch of rosemary.

I decided to mulch the tulip/daffodil plots with black mulch this spring in order to make the colors stand out.

In the pictures from the website where I ordered 'Tom Pouce' tulip, the coloring was more peachy pink with yellow coloring at the base.  I don't know if they sent me something else by mistake, or if these will change colors as they age, but even if they don't, I love the color of this tulip.*

The red-veined sorrel started out a few years ago as a salad green but has since settled into the tulip bed as an ornamental, from which I rarely pick the newest leaves to add to a mixed greens salad.

I don't recall where I got the pretty purple Chionodoxa, but I didn't order it.  Sometimes I can't remember what I did a few hours ago, and those were planted last fall, so there's no hope I'll remember. And that is why I try to be vigilant about writing everything down.  (Sometimes, even then, I mess up my records.)

Until next time, enjoy the spring awakening of plant life!

'Orangery'

*I still don't know what the purple tulip is, but it's not 'Tom Pouce'...I can't find any record of ordering the purple tulip.

This is 'Tom Pouce'...

2021 gardening is underway

 It started late this year, but gardening in earnest has begun.  That includes cleaning, weeding - and oh, my lord, are there weeds a-plenty this year - and cutting back dead wood in the ornamental beds. 

Actually, when I started this garden six years ago (already!) I planned it for vegetables.  I called it the ornamental vegetable garden because I laid it out and planted with the visual effect as top priority.  As time has gone by, I've planted fewer and fewer vegetables and more and more flowers.

And I've quadrupled the size of the whole thing.

Among the very first things to bloom are the few crocus I planted in the tulip beds.

Comparing the two varieties in the picture below, you know right away which one has the word "giant" in its name.  That's right...the little purple one.  It's called 'Ruby Giant'.  I was expecting something a little larger.

The white one was a surprise that came up last year and must have been a stray bulb in one of my daffodil orders, so I don't know it's name, but it's white like 'Jean D'Arc' crocus, so that's what I call it.  Who's to say that's not what it is?

I cut back all the dead wood in the rose garden recently.  Everybody stands less than a foot off the ground now, except 'Poseidon'.  He rules over the plot.  I may be sorry I didn't cut it down to match the others, but 'Grande Amore' next to it always shoots up to about 7 feet tall (it's advertised to be a 4-5' bush, which is what 'Poseidon' actually grew to be).

Also, I put up a new Black-Eyed Susan vine trellis and made it from wire fencing instead of the plastic mesh I used last year.  The vines grew so dense and heavy they broke that one down.  Then I planted 'Premium' peas in front.  I haven't planted that variety before, so next week I'll plant 'Lincoln', which I had good luck with last year, in front of those in case 'Premium' is a bust.

Aside from peas, the other vegetable seeds I got in the ground are onions, carrots, lettuce, and kale.  I haven't planted kale before.  In fact, I don't think I've eaten any.  But the seeds were one of the free packets Baker Creek always sends with every order, so I figured I would at least try it.

Speaking of lettuce, I had planted some late in the fall, but it never got big enough to harvest.  It didn't die, though, and I'm harvesting it now.  This is 'Rouge D'Hiver'...

...one of my favorites for taste and color. 

A red Romaine variety is intermingled with something having more of the habit of 'D'Hiver', both of which were in a mix whose seed I saved from 2019.  Since it was from a mix, I don't know the varietal name of either, but the non-Romaine one is quite pretty, too - lime green with red flecks:

I planted these in the bare spots in my California poppy plot along with some saffron crocus which bloomed last fall and, like the lettuce, never died back even in that long frozen February we suffered through.  There's also some ground cover weeds in there (on the right side of this picture) that need tending to before they get out of hand.  The weeds never seem to suffer defeat in extreme weather on either end of the thermometer.

I don't know what this is, but I'm afraid to pull it up in case it's something I planted on purpose in the tulip beds!

It could well be a pernicious grass, but it's scattered about in a manner that makes it look like something I placed intentionally.  It's probably weeds.

Here it is beside a new tulip that a grazing deer decided to nip off before it grew 2 inches tall.  That was my cue to start spraying deer repellant.  The first year I planted tulips, the deer came along one night or early morning and chomped them all off, and those bulbs didn't come back up the following year.  I imagine I've lost this one.

The earliest of my daffodils - 'Cassata' - is currently in bloom.  They had a couple of days in concert with the crocus, but a cold rain beat down those delicate little crocus blooms.  They don't last long anyway.  I don't see any rain in the forecast for this week, so I'm looking forward to some other daffodils popping out soon.

Oh, yeah....this little blue guy is blooming.  I forgot I planted some of these last fall.  Chionodoxa forbesii.  It's commonly called Glory of the Snow, so perhaps where it's native, there's still snow on the ground this time of year. 

How sweet.

Stay well.  Get your Covid-19 vaccination and wear your masks.  We're not out of the woods yet, but we're getting there.

The lost post

I see I set up images for a post last August and didn't get it finished. So, out of place, here it is without a lot of explanation.

Aztec zinnias

late tomato harvest ripening under cover - 'German Johnson' variety

too-late-planted cabbages (didn't get large enough to harvest)

perennial garden in full glory

I wish I could remember what this is:

It has pretty red stems, whatever it is.  It looks like zinnia leaves, but it might be a weed!

Monarch butterfly larva

ground cherries

I planted ground cherries thinking I'd make some jam from them, but it turns out they're like tomatoes, and once you boil them down, all you're left with is gajillions of seeds.

I don't know the name of this little black bee.  We'll call her Shirley.

Top: 'Yellow Butterflies' mullein;

Bottom: 'Cardinal' basil

The perennial garden was lovely...

It was the first time I planted tall verbena (Verbena bonariensis), and I absolutely love it.  Especially interplanted with the Russian sage (Perovskia).  It's not truly a perennial in this zone, but I hope it reseeds itself.  It may not, so I'm starting more seed indoors in March in case it doesn't.

dark purple = verbena; light purple = Russian sage

The old mimosa tree at the west end of the garden lost a couple of limbs in the winter storms, and  I think you can see why...

The August garden before a rain: