Several of us have noted that our sweet Relic is starting to show his age a little. We figure he’s about 10 years old now. (We’ve only had him since 2017, but we figure he was around 3 years old then). His FIV+ status means he might not make a super old cat, but he’s doing pretty good so far.
Under his supervision, I was able to finish the leaves on the right side.
There are some leaves on top, and a flower on the bottom to finish still – but this one is getting ever closer to that finish line!
Bit by bit, we are getting things done around the yard.
Last year. I bought a rain barrel on clearance, but we never got around to setting it up. But Dave decided to tackle it a couple weeks ago.
And it was pretty much full after just a couple of rainfalls! There’s no need to do any hand watering now (because of all the rain) but it will be nice to have when we get a dry spell. Just making the gardens a little more sustainable!
It took me a couple evenings after work (since the weather on the weekend hasn’t been cooperating) but I FINALLY got the new raised bed painted. And on Saturday I filled them with soil.
They look so much better painted green. Now I just need to get some mulch down on the pathways and it will be pretty much complete. We’ve still got a few weeks before I can plant much of the veg, though what I do have planted it doing well.
Spinach on the right, and wee lettuce sprouts on the right. I also have potatoes started, as well as the shallots. All of the above is new for me, so it will be fun to see how successful I am.
I realized I never showed you the porch boxes planted up for spring…
The theme was pink this year – Pink hyacinths, and pink tulips. Sadly, I didn’t get the hyacinths put in while in bud. They were in full bloom and they flopped terribly. A lesson for next year.
But that was weeks ago… this is how they looked now.
Definitely time for a refresh. I dug out all the bulbs (which will be planted in the other gardens), and filled them with some miniature roses and pansies.
I think this is going to be and amazing combination when it fills out more. And come fall, when I fill the boxes with mums, the mini roses can be planted in the garden.
Hanging above them I got a pair baskets just brimming with the prettiest shade of Calibrochoa
I will have to keep an eye on the predicted overnight temps, because it’s still a tad early for tender plants – but I can brings these in for the night if I need to.
There’s still lots to be done out there, but it feels good to have these few things accomplished.
Early May is kind of the inbetween time in the garden. The tulips (as you saw yesterday) are still putting on a decent show, but most of the spring bulbs are done or going over.
My ABSOLUTE favourite daffodil, Poet’s Daffodil is a late bloomer, and it’s just started.
They are a small daffodil, with a very short trumpet. And as you can see, a very pretty little red ring around it.
There’s still a few Pipit daffodils going too.
It’s bloomed for several weeks, and has and amazing scent! It was definitely a great purchase – I highly recommend it!
But now is the time to look to the late spring/early summer bloomers.
The irises are just getting started and it’s looking like it’s going to be a bumper year for a few of them!
In the driveway garden, the Spanish Thrift is blooming.
There’s a white one too, and it’s not far behind.
The dwarf Columbine is REALLY showing off.
It’s a native too. And it will reseed all over the place. There are a few other Columbines set to bloom – I think I have six or seven of them throughout the gardens – they come in sooo many colours, it’s hard not to collect them all.
There’s not much going on in the catio at the moment but there is one little clump of Summer Snowflake blooming.
There was more last year, but no doubt Lemmy put and end to it somehow. He’s a rather destructive lad.
There is one bit of excitement in the catio. Remember I showed you the Bachelor Buttons that turned out to be Forget-me-nots?
Well, apparently it’s both! See that big bud in the middle – that’s a Bachelor Button! The leaves of both plants are so similar, I really can’t tell them apart!
I got all the clearance perennials moved from their temporary home in the veg beds. This one is Leopard’s Bane.
You may remember it from the townhouse. The one I brought didn’t make the move, so I was happy to see it again in the nursery. It’s not happily ensconced in the Woodland garden
Speaking of which – a few of my shade natives came back, much to might delight!
On the right we have Wild Geranium and the left is Woodland Poppy. I was not optimistic about them so it was nice they came back.
And my experiment with the Hostas under the Norway Maple has paid off, despite what the internet told me.
There are about six of them out there, but these are the two that are the furthest along. They still aren’t my favorite plant, but they do the job in a shady spot.
And though Norway Maple are supposed to hard to plant under – pretty much everything I put under them is coming back – the Heuchera, the Astilbe, and Bugloss.
And there’s so much more to look forward too. We are just minutes away from these…
Today I thought it would be fun to take a closer look at some of the tulips in the garden.
Last year, I bought a bag of mixed “Fringe” tulips and they’ve really shown up this spring.
Such a great mix of colours.
This is one of the tulips that came from the previous owners, and it’s such a gorgeous tulip. You really have to look at it close to truly appreciate it – that red is just dusted on.
Have you ever heard of multi-headed tulips? Neither had I. But those three flowers all meet in one main stem a little lower down!
This pair are “Lemon Chiffon” – new this year. They are a triumph tulip, so there’s a good chance they will stick around for a few years, at least!
And this strange thing is an “Icecream” tulip! It’s gorgeous but a little on the short side for a tulip.
And the Peony tulips are always a delight! I should get more of these in the fall. I only have a few – in red and white.
The tulips are starting to fade, and will probably be completely gone in a couple of weeks. But they have been absolutely fabulous this year!
Of course I love my gardens, but the real delight of my garden are all the creatures that come to hang out with me in it.
The most frequent visitors are, of course, the squirrels. They are also the most destructive… but I just love their antics.
If you look closely, you’ll see that this guy is covered in dirt from digging in my veg beds.
But, clearly, it’s tough to be a squirrel, so I try to give them a break.
And I’ve put the bird baths out, all freshly cleaned…
But this Robin decided a big puddle by the road was the perfect place for a refreshing bath! It was a pretty warm day, so I guess I can’t blame him.
It had just rained (as you can tell by the puddles) and that meant it was a good day for hunting worms.
I love these pics because you can clearly see the difference between male and female. You don’t always notice how much lighter the female is when they aren’t together.
And it appears they’ve been making good use of their time together…
We’ve got a nest in the maple tree. They’ve been chasing away everything that gets too close, and frequently make a big ruckus outside my office window. Sadly, I can’t see the next from the window – it’s blocked by the tree’s main trunk. I got this shot from below. I’ll be keeping an eye on them though, and I’m sure we’ll see them when the babies start to fledge.
But they aren’t the only red-breast to grace the garden.
A Rose-Breasted Grosbeak has been frequenting the feeder in Willow Grove. And as you can see – he’s a stunner.
He was a little shy at first, but he got comfortable with me pretty quick and I was able to get these great shots.
And no garden friend post would be complete without a blue jay
My new craft paints arrived on Monday, and I’m so excited to give them a whirl!
Now it might look like I went a little bit overboard, but I wanted to get the free shipping. Plus, it is nice not having to mix paints – Especially when you are dragging out a project over a couple of days. It’s near impossible to mix the exact same shade twice.
And besides… they fit just perfect in my paint box, along with the few older paints I kept (Dave took the crappy CraftSmart.. I don’t know what he thinks he’ll use it for, but he wouldn’t let me throw it out)
The older paints I kept are the few Martha Stewarts leftover, as well as some Folk Art Metallic which are at least 25 years old! And still paintable like they were the day they were bought. I really hope the new ones are just as good.
Hopefully, there will be some time to get back to the other planters soon.
If course, there’s other projects in the works…
I’ve been collecting Fairy/Gnome Garden things…
But working on them will have to wait until the garden centres open and bring in all the fun sedums and tiny plants. It shouldn’t be long now!!!
Much like with knitting, there wasn’t much time for cross-stitching this weekend. In fact, I was lucky to get a little more than an hour to finish the lighter leaves on the left. It’s going to have to wait until next weekend to get balanced out. Then there some more leaves and flowers top and bottom. But with garden season here, it’s going to take longer to finish this project than I planned. Things should calm down by the end of May… maybe.
Thank you for all the lovely comments on the garden so far. But as the title of the post suggests, not everything is rosy in the garden.
And I think it’s important to share my failures, along side my triumphs. Now that we are almost to May, the things that didn’t make it through winter are more evident
I lost my favourite dark purple Delphinium. Delphs are somewhat short-lived perennials, usually lasting only three – five years. But this one was only two, so it was a bit of a disappointment. I have some Delph seedlings started, so hopefully there will be a dark purple one among them.
None of the tender Sages I planted have returned. They were a definite gamble, but I hoped that the mild winter, along with mulching them heavily would have helped, but it doesn’t seem to have.
It looks like many of those pretty Tickseed I planted last year did not make it through. The pinks were not a total surprise, as they aren’t as hardy, but the pale yellow, and a couple of the reds aren’t showing signs of life. I’ll give them a few more weeks before I give up hope completely.
My Hardy Glads are gone. I’m really ticked about this… you’d think from the name, they’d be hardy – right? Well – I missed some fine print on the website I bought them from “Lift in fall Zone 3 to 6”. I’m in Zone 6. It’s a shame, because they were gorgeous! I’m debating on getting more and trying again (lifting this time).
I lost one of my lavender plants. I had three, and the other two are doing great, so I’m not sure what happened to the third (they are in the same general area in and around the catio). I will probably get some more – but I think I’ll put some out front.
One of the Mums by the catio gate up and died. They only live about five years, and it came from the townhouse so I guess it was just done. It means I might lose the other two next winter. But I don’t mind buying more Mums!
Most of the roses are coming back beautifull, but I was worried about a couple: Caroline de Monaco and Good as Gold were not looking good. I cut them back hard – almost right to the base. Gold put on some new growth and seems like she’ll pull through.
But Caroline… I’m not so sure. There’s some growth on her, but it looks like it might be growth from root stock. Like the tickseed, I’ll give her a couple more weeks before I make a decision on pulling her or not.
And… I’m very sad… out of 10 asparagus plants…
Only ONE is sprouting!!!! I think I didn’t plant them deep enough, and then the squirrels digging probably didn’t help. I will probably get more, because I LOVE asparagus – and they take 3 years to get going enough to harvest.
I’m sure there will be more failures to come as we come into May. But they will balance out with the triumphs. Like irises in bloom!
These are a dwarf iris – they are very special, as they came from Mom. They are almost always the first iris to bloom each year. But they won’t be the last. I think I have at least a dozen different irises in the garden now.
And the mystery plant in the front garden was ground cover tulips, as I suspected. But I really don’t remember planting them there – maybe I did! Or maybe the squirrels made their own revisions to my garden design!
Plants are starting to show up at the garden centres now and I was amazed when I saw the pot containing these beauties. They are Ranunculus or Persian Buttercups. I’ve tried to start them from bulbs, but without any luck. i’ve never seen them in any of the garden centres. This pot had three beautiful colours. They aren’t hardy, so I’m going to try to save the bulbs over winter, and replant them in the spring. But now I’m going to enjoy every bloom.
It’s still early to put much out, but these pansy hanging pots were on clearance for just $7 at Home Depot.
I have no idea why they were on clearance already, but I snapped them up. I’ll have to bring them in if the overnight temps are going to drop below zero – but other than that they can take some cooler evening temps.
Despite the inevitable fails, it’s going to be another amazing gardening year!
Wandering Cat Studio 