Kathy's Garden Journal ...and Musings March 1998

29 March 1998 - This is actually Sunday, but I didn't have a chance to write yesterday. In fact, after getting a distress call from our Bishop about needing someone to do the bulletin for Sunday's meeting (the usual person was out of town), there wasn't much time on Saturday to work outside before having to do other errands in town! Probably just as well. Friday, I overdid it. It was beautiful and almost HOT in the late morning. As is my usual, I went out to work some more on the rose bed and did most of the work in the back perennial border. Mainly I cut back dead stems and pulled some weeds. There were two shrubs that got drastically pruned. One was the red twig Dogwood (my daughter, Diane, did that one) which was due for being cut back to the ground. The other plant was left with a few more stems to work with. It was a Senecio 'Sunshine' that had sprawled way beyond its allotted space and was endangering the lives of some of the perennials that skirted it. I'm not too fond of the composite yellow flowers it produces in summer (sort of like tansy!) and cut them off, but the foliage is wonderful. I'm especially fond of gray plants, and if you live in a milder climate, this one is wonderful. Some of the branches had begun to strike roots where they had rested on the ground...a good way to propagate new plants!

On Saturday, I marshaled the forces (all two of them), and had two of the girls spread some bark on areas of the rose bed and frontal that I had gotten weeded (at least until the remaining missed grass runners sprout). I could do it, but with the shoulder getting more and more irritable, the bark spreading is better left for someone else. That particular motion really causes problems! I've gotten to the halfway point in the rose frontal and am currently digging in an area where lily bulbs are planted. I'm trying not to go too deeply with the fork because I'd be pretty sick to skewer one of those beauties! Once in awhile a small white "thing" will turn up in the dirt. What looked like a miniature marshmallow at first glance, turned out to be a baby lily bulb. I carefully replanted it. The Asiatic lilies (and Orientals, for that matter) make a lot of babies around the stem, between the parent bulb and the surface of the soil. If they are left undisturbed, they gradually gain in size and manage to "dig" themselves deeper into the ground each season. At this point. these little babies are helpful in alerting me to the whereabouts of their larger parent bulbs!

While I pulled tangles of grass runners and vinca roots out of the rose frontal bed, Ron started digging out some sod from the edge of the lawn nearby. When these beds were laid out a few years ago, the arc of the riding lawn mower was not taken into careful consideration. It turns out there was a bit of lawn in the "corner" of the yard that always got missed. He's decided to dig that out. In the process, another piece of lawn edging (what a lifesaver!) will be put down and will include the bed I'm now working on. This will also open up a bit more NEW space! I'll probably rescue the struggling Iris pumila near where the old lawn edge was and a few other small frontal plants, if they are still alive under the weeds. There are also some 4" pots of Armeria alliacea that I'd salvaged from a large plant dug up from the small entry bed last spring. It was such a pretty pink with a tinge of lavender, that I didn't want to completely lose the plant. I stuck pieces of the original in pots and kept them watered. They rooted nicely and are starting to bloom now. I just didn't know where they were going yet!

26 March 1998 - If you've been reading this, you'll notice I've changed it to put the most recent entry on the top. I thought that would be easier...I'm between showers and thought I'd take a moment to write. It's been raining quite hard this week and there hasn't been much opportunity to make progress outside (I guess I'm not dedicated enough and there have been other things going on in the family to occupy me). There was a break in the weather this morning, with a possible thunder shower coming in later. I got out and did a bit more in the rose frontal. A huge undivided clump of dahlias is waiting in the wheelbarrow to be replanted. I'll probably reset a few smaller tubers by themselves, but don't know if I want to break up the larger clump or not. There are a lot of plants unaccounted for in that bed. They were probably not strong enough to deal with being overtaken by vinca and running grasses! Maybe I've even thrown out a few feeble root systems without noticing their presence in the tangle of grass runners and vinca roots...though I tend to think that the plants just gave up the ghost. There are so many metaphors for life in gardening. Maybe that's why it's so therapeutic when you are dealing with stress or some sort of life change. I've gardened my way through the death of a parent, the frustrations and pain of parenting and the loss of other loved ones through death or relocation. It strikes me, while working , that although there is sadness at the loss of plants that used to be there, there comes in their absence an opportunity for reassessment and change. When we deal with changes or loss in our lives, it's a more serious matter than going to the nursery and buying another plant, but the metaphor is still valid. Sometimes what is a painful change, is actually an opportunity for growth and ultimately an improvement overall. It's something worth pondering.

Early tulips are beginning to show up in the garden and develop color. They can all use some feeding, but the stalwarts have returned. I am partial to the smaller early tulips over the larger later ones. They seem to be better about returning and come at a time when there is less competition from the perennials in the yard. Any of the 'Emperor' series tulips and some of the smaller species types and hybrids are my preference. I especially like the wonderful coral-colored bunching type named 'Toronto.' It has come back very well, considering the neglect over the past couple of years where it's planted. Grape hyacinths are happily blooming in various parts of the yard...some of them having planted themselves. A surprise under the oak tree is a single daffodil. Years ago, I had planted 'Mt. Hood' there but in the first year it developed streaked foliage. I was worried about mosaic virus and took most of it out. It turned out that in the middle of the HUGE bulb was a fat grub...probably of the narcissus bulb fly. They pretty much hit most of my daffodils and I just don't try to grow them any longer. The early ones like 'Tete a Tete' are fine, but the later ones disappear. They would much prefer a moister heavier soil and most of our yard is sandy loam. There was a small healthy offset remaining, however, and I left it in the ground. For the past four years or so, without my notice, that bulb has been gaining in size and strength and this season, produced a single surprising bloom. People can be like that too...there are few completely lost causes in life.

Progress is slowly happening. Since this photo was taken, there is bark on the part of this bed that has been weeded. Sure wish the weeds would stay out, but some of the grass will come back from runners that I've missed or that are intertwined in roots of the established perennials.

22 March 1998 - No, I didn't work outside today. I don't do yard work on Sundays, but while admiring the flowers or taking pictures, I have been known to pull a weed or two along the way! :) Since Friday, the weather turned quite rainy and nothing more has been done in the garden. I have to remind myself that the rain is good at this season to give the eager plants a boost in their growth. It's also a reminder that I should be broadcasting a bit of fertilizer in the beds that are already in good shape. I took a page from my neighbor's gardening "book" a few years ago, and every spring, around March, I lightly broadcast a balanced chemical fertilizer. 10-10-10 would be nice, but usually I have trouble finding that and use less of 16-16-16. This is the only time I use chemical fertilizer and it should be done just before a good rain like this one (too bad I haven't done it yet!). The easiest thing is to walk around with the hand-held whirlibird spreader and fling the stuff around lightly. The better thing to do for plants however, is to provide organic feeding with mulches or organics added at planting time. During the rework of the back beds, I will be adding alfalfa pellets, mushroom compost and composted manures as I go along to renew the fertility. Sandy soil can lose that rather quickly. I've recently noticed a change in the baby hellebores under the oak tree, I am amazed at the size of the new leaves! Those were tiny things when I transplanted them last spring. Wow! What a testimonial for organic feeding! Some of their new leaves are larger than that of their seed parents under the Styrax (Japanese Snowbell) tree.

This may be hard to see, but these are some of the baby Hellebore seedlings I transplanted into the oak bed one year ago. Notice the difference in size from the basal leaves and the new ones that are starting to open on top.

There was a break in the rain today and after church, I was pulled outside to look at the garden. The sun was out and the lighting was beautiful. Yikes! There were things in full bloom that I hadn't even noticed! It must have happened over the couple of warm days we had at the end of the week. The rhododendron that I mentioned earlier, 'Lori Eichelsor,' was in full bloom as was the miniature behind it, R. 'Tiffany.' We'll see if 'Lori' gets bit this year. If we have a frost, she will be reduced to brown mush and 'Tiffany' will come through unscathed. R. 'Tiffany' has small florets of a soft blend of soft pink and cream. I took some pictures of them and if they turn out, I'll try to slip one in here later. The Magnolia 'Merrill' by the deck is almost completely open, as is the rather tiny star Magnolia that is planted in the back yard. This is the best bloom I've had on 'Merrill' since it was planted three or four years ago.

A few people have asked about the photos on the website and what kind of camera, film, etc. I use. There's nothing special about the equipment I have and I had to reply that I think lighting is the biggest factor in getting garden pictures to look like something special. Mine don't always look wonderful, but along the way I've managed to get some good shots. It's all about lighting. I've read that the best shots are gotten in the early morning hours just after dawn and the last couple of hours before sunset. I'm not usually taking pictures just after dawn (!!!) and tend to be more shaky in the morning than later in the day, so all of the better garden photos I've used on "Olympic Views" were probably taken in the evening. If it's been a nice day and I've noticed some really pretty possibilities for pictures, I will grab the camera when the light starts to look "good" and run around like a fiend taking pictures until it runs out! I try to capture the subject with some backlighting or sidelight if I want the flowers to become "illuminated." Many of you are already taking pictures like this and this is old news, but if you haven't tried it, do an experiment and see the difference!

20 March 1998 - Here's the rose bed and frontal just after I started this past week. It looks insurmountable, but I'm making headway! It was so warm out there today that the air was filled with the sweet smell of spring. I'm excited, but feeling pressured, because once the perennials get larger, it will be harder to do the kind of weeding that needs to happen.

My time spent outdoors was working on a few more feet of the weed infested rose bed. This is not a fun job, but while I'm outdoors, I am usually treated to something new. Today the entertainment was provided by a spunky little male red-headed woodpecker. I heard a noise that sounded much like the percussive creaking of a metal gate, moving in the wind. It turned out to be the woodpecker. My husband had placed a folded metal ladder on the deck of the playhouse and the woodpecker thought it was a great thing on which he could do his spring mating ritual. They will tap on metal roofs, metal oil drums on top of power lines, anything that provides all that resonant noise! I've seen Flickers do this almost every year on the power poles and on the shed roof, but the ladder was a new wrinkle (I've not noticed the red-heads doing this before either).

The other little birds we noticed this morning from the dining room window were two chickadees who were climbing around all over the trunks of the white birch that is near the deck. I hadn't realized they could cling so well and they looked more like woodpeckers than chickadees. I'm not sure if they were looking for insects to eat or peeling small slices of bark off for nest building.

18 March 1998 - What a beautiful day it was today! It got quite cold last night but was sunny and clear most of the day. I'm noticing different bird sounds when I go out and think that many of the migrating species are returning. I haven't seen the first swallow yet, but they should be here soon.

I've noticed a trend in the way I work. I will usually go outside to tackle a certain bed or chore and more often than not, spend most of my time doing something else. I guess it all counts, but it's much easier for me to fuss around with the beds that already look fairly good, than to tackle the completely overgrown and weed-infested ones! After doing some weeding in the oak and alley bed, and replanting some baby lily bulbs that got pulled up with the bunches of "Lilybells" (I still think I got some sort of spreading campanula instead, since Adenophora is supposed to behave itself) I was weeding out around them, I finally put some time in on the rose bed and the area in front of it. This is slow going! I don't know if I'll ever completely eradicate the running grasses there since they've embedded themselves in the huge clumps of Daylily 'Hyperion.' Someday, I'll lift them out and divide them, but it won't be this year. There is also Vinca minor that has rooted in that bed, but it's not nearly the problem as the grass!

The cherries along the driveway are just starting to open and will be out in a couple more days (Prunus yedoensis x 'Akebono'). The 'Thundercloud' flowering plum along the front yard fence has been blooming for the past week. I've taken a couple of pictures, but don't know if they'll be nice enough to include on the website. The Osmanthus delavayi in the alley bed at the corner of the carport is starting to bloom and will soon have a contest with the nearby Daphne odora as to which one smells the best. I'm not sure if their fragrances compliment one another, but I love them both. The Daphne is probably the higher priced stuff. The Osmanthus would rate as cologne...but still very nice!

13 March 1998 - I didn't plan to write today, but after spending a couple of hours outdoors this afternoon, I just needed to. My intent was to work on the rose bed, but I never really got that far. I weeded lots of little (and not so little) mauve colored violets (they're not presently in bloom) out of the entry bed which is inset into the sidewalk. These violets were introduced to the garden by me and they really are charming, but seed themselves everywhere! My neighbor who shared them warned me that they were a "weed," but like most enchanted gardeners, I didn't listen. (I actually had someone beg and plead for me to give them a start of bindweed for their yard because they loved the little morning glory blossoms. After trying to talk her out of it, I finally relented...but fortunately they died before they got a foothold in her yard!) My sister dropped by unexpectedly just to check in and visit and I had her sit on the sidewalk next to me while I continued with my work. She was very understanding.

Later, we moved to the back, where a huge clump of Geranium 'Claridge Druce' was dug up and pitched. It had started as a 4" pot size a few years ago and was crowding its more desirable neighbors. Don't feel too badly for it. There are dozens of its posterity growing all over the oak bed and in the alley. I pulled some of them out also! While I was wrestling with its huge clumps and shaking topsoil out of their roots, I heard a very familiar whirring sound. It was the first (MY first) hummingbird of spring! He was feeding on the Daphne odora that is now opening next to the white bench in the alley. As it was getting near sundown, the fragrance emitted from that plant grew stronger and I had noticed the wonderful smell from where I was working (It's sweet and heavy without being cloying. Today, I even made the UPS driver walk over and sniff it!). I guess the little hummingbird picked up on it also. He had a brilliant orange throat and was probably a male Rufous. By the time the flowering cherries are in full bloom along the driveway, we will be treated to mating dives...an extremely entertaining ritual to observe. They really like doing them over the orchard and driveway area.

The other delight today was the discovery of two blooms on the Iris unguicularis (Winter Iris, syn. I. stylosa) growing in the little sidewalk bed. I didn't spy them first. A couple of visitors saw them upon leaving the house. I hadn't been noticing any buds on the plant and then suddenly the flowers were there! If any pictures turned out that I snapped today, I'll try to post one. The flowers are not huge, but their charm and unseasonable bloom makes them very stunning.

12 March 1998 - Today I cleaned in the house and did three more pages for the website (this one included). There were hopes of getting outdoors in the afternoon, but fatigue set in! It was totally WARM today and all the birds and frogs went crazy. The chorus of hundreds of frogs on spring and summer evenings is one of my favorite parts about living here. Another little harbinger of spring this morning seemed to be a little black bunny that was resting in the middle of our orchard. We saw him around 6:00 a.m. and my husband has been seeing him in the driveway in the mornings this past week. Obviously, he's not a feral bunny , but I don't know where he came from. I hope he can survive the outdoors (and that he doesn't devour my favorite perennials!).

11 March 1998 - Finally got outdoors for a little this afternoon and dug out weeds in the white bed. This area is in pretty good shape since last season and had a few hawkweeds and dandelions that still needed removing. I'll let some of the Sweet Woodruff alone until it blooms and then pull most of it out (it will be back). The Escallonia against the pasture fence bordering that bed had started to sprawl over the plantings and the lower limbs needed to be headed back. There is a beautiful lungwort, Pulmonaria 'Roy Davidson,' starting to open in front of the Escallonia and I wanted it to be the star of the show right now without competition of the shrubs. Near the pulmonaria is an Aster divaricatus that is sprouting fresh new leaves. It will bloom in the late summer to fall and is a wonderful member of this shady and somewhat dry bed. It has lots of little whitish starry flowers that are borne on black stems which sprawl around the center of the plant in a lax way. Blooming currently near the lungwort is a Helleborus x hybridus that grew from some seeds I tossed there a few years ago. It's a beautiful deep rose color with a sort of matte finish to the petals. This is its first year to produce flowers.

I'm hoping to start tackling the rose bed behind the house and its attendant frontal bed next time I go outside. By May, whatever I haven't accomplished will tend to be put on the back burner because there's so much to do that I usually can't keep up...especially since I still need to baby the shoulder. Two hours at a stretch is about the limit. The areas that got fully weeded and barked last year before my shoulder went on strike were still nice this spring and didn't need much to shape them up. The rose bushes were pruned about two weeks ago, since they had already started growth. It's been a very early spring for us and the temperature this week has gotten up to 64 degrees!

10 March 1998 - Today, on the first anniversary of the death of my sister's husband, I finally got the web page successfully uploaded, after much difficulty. Dave would have liked this...he loved gardening and computers almost as much as sports and fishing. Anyway...the bugs have been worked out and I don't think I'll have to bother our Internet provider again (there's not nearly the support for the Macintosh as the PC and it took some trial and error..."Fetch" did the trick!). The web pages took about two weeks to design, from the inside out. Doing the home page was so much easier after I knew what the linked pages were going to be. Unfortunately, while this virtual gardening was taking place, not much was happening in the real garden or the HOUSE! With a large family and remodeling, it doesn't take long for dust and chaos to set in.

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