Spring Has Sprung

I love Spring!  The 2 Saucer Magnoloias are in complete full bloom.  Sometimes a late freeze catches them and damaged to budding flowers, but not this year! 

The front yard tree...

The backyard tree...

I planted them about 30 years ago.  Because in a small park across the street from where I worked, I saw them for the first time (a dozen around a reflecting pool) and thought they were the most beautiful trees I had ever seen.  

I had to research to figure out what they were.  And they require some maintenance.  They grow rather twiggy on their own, and I didn't realize at the time how much effort the Park Service put into keeping the branches "open".  I do some work on them every couple of years, but even with an 8' stepladder, it is hard to get at the crowded top sprouts.

I do what I can.  But I may have an arborist visit and do better work.

The other Spring thrill for me are the daffodils.  Daffodils are wonderful!  The deer and rodents can't eat them (the bulbs are slightly toxic) and they seem to have no disease or insect problems.  They seem to live darn near forever and multiple on their own.  

The only thing I could ask for is more colors.  White/yellow/orange seems to be about all they can  do.  But that is still pretty impressive.

The early daffodils in the front box are blooming.  And there is a later-bloomer variety emerging.  So I get 2 shows in one place for longer.

The old backyard circle is blooming...  Five varieties of slightly different blooming time.  If I had it to do over again, I would have just mixed them all up so the the entire bed was blooming somewhat for months.  To make up for that, I am going to put some thin-bricks in empty spots ( I bought 60 last Fall to hold down landscaping fabric) and add random daffodils there next Fall.  Eventually, it might all look "fuller, longer".  And there are some tulips and hyacinths growing among them.

And I planted more daffodils in front last Fall.  Really late, so I wasn't sure they would grow.  But they are emerging!  

One early bloomer type is planted right around the tree.  A later bloomer was planted around the inside of the border edging.  There is a gap between them which I will mark with nylon rope around tent stakes as a reminder where to plant a 3rd kind next Fall.

And I planted more in the back yard.  I have a 10' circle where I've tried to establish insect pollinator plants for several years, but it has never worked.  So I planted a 4' circle of hyacinths in the middle and daffodils all around them.  The daffodils are up; the hyacinths will emerge later (I hope).

They don't show up really well yet.  They were the last ones I planted.  So, "last in, last up".  And while voles love hyacinth bulbs, I hoping all the inedible daffodils surrounding them will discourage foraging.

Lastly, the old established daffodils keep blooming in the "woods".  A typical patch...

There are others scaterred around...

And some old hyacinths are still surviving in one corner of the yard.  The voles haven't found them!

I do need to clean up that area, though.  Too many brambles and weedy vines.

Now I have to get some tomatoes started.  I'm running out of time.  On the other hand, I've learned that tomatoes planted outside before May just sort of "sit and sulk".  So 6 weeks of growth might work just fine.

Happy Spring flowers and a happy successful Summer gardening season to all!

 

Emerging Daffodils

The earliest established daffodils are up.  Not blooming yet, but leaves about 4" high.

They will look like this soon.

I expected the gradual emergence about now.  My excitement is that some of the ones I planted in early Winter are showing up.  Planting was delayed because they arrived late, the weather was cold, it was a new spot, I needed to cover the spot with brown packing paper (to smother grass), shovel several inches on 50-50 compost/topsoil on top of that, my hip hurt, and I had to drill 250 holes.  The drill auger helped...

Because they were planted late and Spring bulbs need a certain amount of "chill time" to get out of dormancy and develop roots, I wasn't sure if they would emerge this year or just sulk until next year (if ever recovering).

So I am pleased to say that at least 25 (so far) have sent up leaves.  That suggests that more are on their way up.  I check each day and see a few newer leaves each time.  

Yay!  😁

Yardwork

With 500 Spring Bulbs arriving in a few weeks (what was I thinking?) I had to prepare some places for them.  

Most are daffodils with different colors/flower shapes to add to the existing daffodil bed around the bird-feeder.  Some will go into the front yard daffodil box for the same reason.  I decided that masses of the same flowers needed some additional/contrasting colors.  

The hyacinths, tulips, and crocuses have to protected from deer and voles.  Both consider them candy.  The voles eat the bulbs below ground; the deer eat the flowers.  I can protect against the voles by planting with wire cages underground.  I can only protect them from deer because the deer won't jump the tall fence into the back yard.

So I mowed one 10' diameter bed in the back yard. and one larger one in the front down to 1/2".  I have never grown pollinator plants in it (as I intended it for), but a few dozen hyacinths will smell sweet in Spring and I can try other plants there (slightly shady in Summer).

The crocuses will go into the back lawn in mesh cages too.  I need to keep the moles away.  They don't eat the bulbs, but the voles use the mole tunnels to travel around and they eat the bulbs.

I need taller edging around the various beds.  6" is not enough.  Set 4" deep just to stay upright barely protects against mowing.  I need 12" edging.  Or landscaping bricks that stack securely.  

Flower Report

Spring is such a lovely time of year.  I love daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths.   The tulips don't last very long (in terms of years) even when planted in wire cages to keep the voles away from the bulbs.  But they vary in lifetime.  I have some 10 yer old red tulips.  The fancy ones die young.

And once, I planted some yellow tulips among the yellow daffodils.  What was I thinking?  They showed up like ice cubes on snow.  LOL!

The hyacinths live longer, but they need cages from the voles too.  Tulips and hyacinths are vole-candy!  But the daffs are slightly toxic and seem to live forever.  I recall driving past a Washington DC hillside where Lady Bird Johnson had them planted in the 60s.  40 yers later, they were still growing and blooming wild.

So I love daffodils...

I planted a front yard box of a mix of early and late varieties 30 years ago.  They are still growing great!  Here are the late ones (and they are fragrant, which is unusual for a daffodil).

Some of the surviving red tulips...

In the daffodil bed, I planted a few caged tulips, 9 each cage.  Some still last.

But what happened here?  I don't recall planting any mixed colors in a cage.  And I'm pretty sure they don't change colors!  

My guess is squirrels.  I've read that sometimes squirrels dig up bulbs (thinking they are nuts they buried) and replant them elsewhere.  That doesn't really explain why "all in the same spot", but who knows how a squirrel thinks?  I do know that there are crocuses in my lawn where I never planted them.

But I enjoy whatever Spring flowers I get...

And speaking of flowers...  The pansies I planted last Fall had a hard time of it over Winter.  I thought none would ever bloom!  But about half of them are perking up now, so I will enjoy what I can of them before Summer heat kills them off.  

Years ago, I put in a flowerbed edging of "species" (old simple ones) daffodils and purple&yellow crocuses.  The voles ate the crocus bulbs (mostly), but the daffodis remain.

They looked like this, back then...

This last is the cat memorial garden.  I took the boxes off (don't worry, I know where each one goes) and covered the area in cardboard last Fall.  By Summer, all the weeds should be dead.  

And then I'll put down weed-blocker fabric so the kitty-angels won't be insulted with weeds.  OK, OK, I know they don't actually care.  But it matters to me.  I look at the spot often enough.  And they were my daily companions...

Back Yard

 The back yard has flowers and blooms too.

Asters  are growing from a deck pot.

The sawhorses ready for more lettuce and small crops in trays.  I tightened a lot of bolts yesterday,

Some stargazer lillies (so named because the flowers point up) are coming up nicely.  I really love perrennial flowers!

I have some Autumn Joy Sedums to be moved to the flowerbed,  I had 3 for years, but they all suddenly died.  I'm happy I rooted some clippings just before that.

I have several dozen Nandina clippings are growing.  They will be a border along the drinage easement side of the front yard,  They are tough.  And evergreen with bright red berries in Winter.  

In a few years, they will look like this...  A whole hedge of them!

Back yard daffs...

A sourwood tree just starting to grow well...

Which will look like this someday...

There is a far back daffodil patch,,,

And some in the sides of the back.

A few hyacinths the voles haven't found yet,

Even a red tulip still uneaten...

The daffodils love it here.  The original 5 have multiplied, as have many planyings.  But this one is best at that..

And the y thrive even under the trees,

Sometimes, I just walk around admiring them.  

The back yard has a saucer magnolia too.  Actually, larger than the front one, but neighbors don't see it.

Some years, frost kills the blooms. But this was a good year.  Sometimes, I just stand on the deck and stare at them.

Front Yard

 The saucer Magnolia tree is in full bloom.  I love that tree!  

The front box of Daffodils is in full bloom too.  As are the Nandini shrubs.

There is a later bloom of daffodils just emerging.  I get to show the front yard off twice that way.  And those have some fragrance, which is nice.