Plumeria At Last!

Finally signs of life! I was giving up hope on my plumeria cutting, but was happy to see new growth at the top of one of the stalks:

Checking the bottom of the pot revealed two root ends growing out from the drainage hole. Yay!

Bowman's Hill Flower Sale 2014

Yesterday I visited the sping flower sale at Bowman's Hill Flower Preserve and came away with some plants:

• Polygonatum Biflorum (Solomon's Seal). I brought a few years back from the same place. It seems to be doing well, so I thought I should buy two more.
• Asarum Canadense (Wild Ginger). I planted this underneath the sad looking azalea which still hasn't leafed out. 2 plants. 
• Anemone Canadensis (Canada Anemone). I planted this by the back door. It is supposed to be a vigorous spreader and sounds like just the thing to cover the empty space in the shaded back area where it seems difficult to grow anything. 1 plant. 
• Trillium species (Trillium). At $15 a pot, this was the spendiest of the lot. I only brought one since I'm not too  familiar with it and am not sure how well it will do, but the flower on their sign seems nice.
• Stylophorum diphyllum (Celandine Poppy). I was not expecting to purchase these and have never heard of them, but their pretty yellow flowers caught my eye as we drove by them along their driveway. I'm planning to plant these in front of the ferns by the back door. 3 plants.

It was really nice to visit the Preserve and see some of the spring flowers growing in their native environment. Anyone who is interested in gardening should get out to see some gardens as they are extremely useful in determining how a mature plant will actually look once they have filled in. I enjoy pouring over plant catalogs and imagining how the ones I like will grow in my garden, but their focus is usually on the flowers, fruits or vegetables. Nothing will give the gardener a real sense of size and habit as well as visiting a garden. Better than that, visit at different seasons when it is possible to see how they look during different seasons.

I also FINALLY planted the Lady Fern after soaking the bare roots for about 2 hours in water. It is in the back near the large stacked rocks where the ivy used to be. I moved the ivy to the new hosta bed, hoping that they will trail over the broken retaining railroad ties. The Tennessee Ostrich fern is currently soaking in a basin of water and will go in the back since they are expected to become very tall. I brought both varieties as bare roots from Home Depot earlier this year, so hopefully they are still alive. I'm not sure how the astilbes are doing. There may be signs of life from one, but the other two roots are not doing much of anything.

Since C moved the large clump of catmint from the front of the house to the space along the road, there was room for more plants in front of the house. I really enjoy going outside and picking fresh thyme for cooking, so I thought that it would be even better if I could also pick some fruits and vegetables as well.

I move the blueberry plant which was planted in a container by the back door to the front, where it can enjoy more sunlight and planted two hanging baskets with strawberries. A trip to Rutgers' annual spring flower sale yielded a Roma tomato plant which is now in the ground next to two spots of Bonnie sweet basil.

Along the road, there are some leaves which look different from the weeds that normally grow there. I hope that it is one of the foxtail lilies. There should be two, but if only one grows, I will still be happy since they sat around the house for a while before they were planted.

Spring Planting

Planted 3 Sarocococca humilis "Fragrant Valley" by the big bed next to the back door, as well as 1 Gaultheria Creeping Wintergreen. The Hydrangea macrophylla "All Summer Beauty" is now a few feet away from the propane tank in the back and takes up the empty space near the downspout.

Tristan strawberries were planted into 2 hanging baskets. There are 3 plants in each basket.

Lenten Rose "HGC Jacob" was planted near the backdoor in the bed on the other side of the bathroom.

Two azaleas were moved to the area behind the house close to the wild daylilies. The white azalea was tossed out. There was a funny little wormy thing which caused me to worry about its condition. In addition, when I snapped a stem to check if it was still alive, the core of the stem was not green.

Spring Rush

April 26, 2014

Cut ornamental grass in the driveway area.
Divided sedum, Autumn Joy and moved some to the bed along the road
Planted Evening Primroses, Echinacea Prairie Splendor
Creeping phlox
Moved a large hosta from under the pine tree to the back door area
Divided catmint, although it is looking pretty sad


April 27, 2014

Put out Lupine Sunrise under the pine tree near the mailbox (also added extra seeds in case the transplant does not go well)
Planted Rocky Mountain Penstemons near the lupines
Also planted one Foxglove

Two hostas are emerging from the ground by the pine tree. Right now the shaded area is pretty moist.
Peonies stems have come up. Planning to move it into a more well lit area probably in the front of the bed.
Planted Grecian Windflowers Anemone blanda next to the lavenders which do not look like they are coming back.

Planted Rutgers tomato seeds and stock
Sowed a tray of Linaria maroccana Fairy Bouquet
Direct sowed stock to the hosta area
Direct sowed Sweet Woodruff Blue Suprise (packed for 2013) near the back door

Easy Breezy Plants

There hasn't been too much rain this April, but it certainly is a windy and chilly month! I'm always awed when I think about how plants are able to cope with weather that would leave me shivering in my gardening boots! [Ok, I don't have gardening boots (yet), but it seemed like such a good turn of phrase that I wanted to include it. It's not all the time that I think of these things, ya'know!]

Just for the record, here are pictures of some spring plants waking from their long winter nap. The bleeding heart and King Solomon's Seal are from Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve's plant sale. The bleeding heart has gotten bigger and looks so nice in bloom that I am afraid to move it. I should probably find another one at this year's plant sale, so that I don't have to! The Muscari in the bottom right corner of the picture has sad, droopy leaves and is not as vibrant and full-of-life as those planted by the mailbox. I suppose it has something to do with the soil. Those by the mailbox are in a drier location. I should move this little guy over there once it is done for the season...

On the other hand... the King Solomon's Seal were moved. I unknowingly left a few behind, which is what you see in the picture below. Not bad for a plant that has been disturbed. I will probably use more native plants since they seem pretty resilient for a novice gardener like myself.

Bleeding Hearts
Dicentra spectabilis
(now known as Lamprocapnos spectabilis, according to Wikipedia)

King Solomon's Seal
Polygonatum

The daylilies and quince were planted by the previous owners. There are maybe 4 scraggly quince shrubs in the thicket near the garage. It would be nice to move the quince, but I don't know where... 

Daylilies

Quince

The garden gnome is an Easter gift from my mother-in-law, R. He's so adorable and I love the unusual pose! He's in the garden bed by the entrance door ready to help me with my garden. Hm... maybe he is trying to work his magic on that sad looking Muscari in front of him... 

A Lovely Easter Garden Gnome
from my Favorite Mother-in-Law R

Springtime Mailbox Planting

This picture was taken yesterday:

Muscari and the First Daffodil

Behind the mailbox are the irises I planted a year or two ago. I hope they will flower this year :)

Flowers in April

So far, the muscari by the mailbox has come up and is looking beautiful. The daffodils are getting ready to open. I should probably plant a different variety since the ones that are currently there seem to have week stems which don't support the flowers very well. I don't have pictures now, but hopefully I can take some pictures tomorrow.

Bleeding Hearts and Jacob's Ladder

Sweet Woodruff, Hyacinth and Primrose

Jacob's Ladder

It seems that the Jacob's Ladder that is planted in an area with part shade is doing a lot better than the one planted in full shade. Unfortunately, I'm planning to move it so that I can plant 3 Sweet Box (Sarcococca humilis Fragrant Valley) in that bed. Then again, maybe I'll just plant it near the wall, since it is supposed to do well in dry shady areas where it is difficult to grow many plants. Unfortunately, it seems to be a slow grower. Decisions, decisions! 

My shipment from Park Seed came yesterday. In the box were:

• Hydrangea All Summer Beauty (1)
• Sarcococca humilis Fragrant Valley (3)
• Gaultheria procumbens Creeping Wintergreen (1)

I'm hoping to get them in the ground this weekend. 

Another sweet surprise came from Uncle L and Aunt J who surprised us with a tall Persian Lilac shrub on Easter. I've been keeping it watered and trying to figure out the best place to put it.