Gardeners! Share your garden photos and garden chatter here.

[cgw143 168]

Prices are up around here also. I was planning to buy a small pink dogwood tree this year and will end up paying much more than I wanted to if I do. Mostly I am good with perennials and some herbs from seed but there are a few things I buy annually that I don’t want to skip, and I need a new hibiscus. I couldn’t bring mine inside last fall because it had a bad case of spider mites and I didn’t want to risk them getting into my houseplants.

Thought I might miss the magnolia bloom while I was away but the flowers are still holding on.

View attachment 296231

View attachment 296232

View attachment 296233

So nice. They're weeks away here. Deeply enamored of Stellata. Continuously lobbying for one at the family ruin to replace an aged ailing beauty that passed not long after my MIL a decade ago.
They thrive in "Goldilocks" locations up here but finding those is always a gamble. Worth it, though, if you find one.

 

[SquarePeg]

So nice. They're weeks away here. Deeply enamored of Stellata. Continuously lobbying for one at the family ruin to replace an aged ailing beauty that passed not long after my MIL a decade ago.
They thrive in "Goldilocks" locations up here but finding those is always a gamble. Worth it, though, if you find one.

Oh just looked that up, those are pretty! White or pink? Mine is a Ricki magnolia. More of a V shape than a tree although I’m thinking of pruning some of the lower branches that have bunny damage which would give it a more tree like shape.

Spent the day cleaning up the butterfly garden which is in a U shape around the magnolia. 8 bags of leaves and two buckets of stems. Must have pulled 100 Norway maple seedlings. They are everywhere in the beds this year. Not sure if there are so many because I left the leaves or if it’s just been a prolific year for them. My neighbor has 3 directly across the street. All the leaves were from their trees…

 

[cgw143 168]

Oh just looked that up, those are pretty! White or pink? Mine is a Ricki magnolia. More of a V shape than a tree although I’m thinking of pruning some of the lower branches that have bunny damage which would give it a more tree like shape.

View attachment 296240


Spent the day cleaning up the butterfly garden which is in a U shape around the magnolia. 8 bags of leaves and two buckets of stems. Must have pulled 100 Norway maple seedlings. They are everywhere in the beds this year. Not sure if there are so many because I left the leaves or if it’s just been a prolific year for them. My neighbor has 3 directly across the street. All the leaves were from their trees…

Damn Norway maples! Jihad in force at the ruin this Spring. Have a dozen or so 2-3 inchers targeted for the chainsaw soon. They sneak in and get big so fast in all the wrong places!

 

[snowbear142 73]

I got sidetracked. Here are the general phone snaps; I have some closer shots still in the Nikon. Temps were below freezing last night and again tonight so we pulled the pots into the kitchen. We'll put them back out tomorrow. Lazy Lobster also some veggies in a garden bag thingie, on the deck snd MLW tossed some wildflower seeds on the-hill-that-can't-be-mowed.

 

[terri60]

I got sidetracked. Here are the general phone snaps; I have some closer shots still in the Nikon. Temps were below freezing last night and again tonight so we pulled the pots into the kitchen. We'll put them back out tomorrow. Lazy Lobster also some veggies in a garden bag thingie, on the deck snd MLW tossed some wildflower seeds on the-hill-that-can't-be-mowed.

View attachment 296241 View attachment 296242

Everything looks great!

We seem to be out of frost danger now. My main focus is to get the Morning Glory seedlings outside. I've been setting them outdoors for a few hours every day - they should be well hardened in another 10 days or so. They'll have to go then - they're stretching and twirling and must be close to outgrowing their seedling pots. I'll have the outdoor spaces ready so they can be popped in during a nice bright stretch in early May.

 

[cgw143 168]

Everything looks great!

We seem to be out of frost danger now. My main focus is to get the Morning Glory seedlings outside. I've been setting them outdoors for a few hours every day - they should be well hardened in another 10 days or so. They'll have to go then - they're stretching and twirling and must be close to outgrowing their seedling pots. I'll have the outdoor spaces ready so they can be popped in during a nice bright stretch in early May.

Still frosty up here. Enough overnite to flatten too-soon plantings. The old folk wisdom in S. Ontario is Victoria Day, this year May 18.

 

[SquarePeg]

Got a new Major Wheeler for the butterfly garden. I think the coral color will look nice against the white fence and behind the purple globe thistle.

Then I stopped by Dollar Tree to get some creative bunny proofing supplies. These $1.50 “waste baskets” make perfect protected covers for emerging perennials. Once the plants are big enough to survive, the bunnies lose interest. I cut the top out of the ones for the liatris and leave them in place for the season as they seem to be completely irresistible.

 

[cgw143 168]

Got a new Major Wheeler for the butterfly garden. I think the coral color will look nice against the white fence and behind the purple globe thistle.

View attachment 296253

Then I stopped by Dollar Tree to get some creative bunny proofing supplies. These $1.50 “waste baskets” make perfect protected covers for emerging perennials. Once the plants are big enough to survive, the bunnies lose interest. I cut the top out of the ones for the liatris and leave them in place for the season as they seem to be completely irresistible.

View attachment 296252

Agree. ANYTHING to keep rodents and rabbits away from your pricey salad bar, right?

 

[snowbear142 73]

View attachment 296213

Nominated for April Focused POTM

 

[Rickbb86 1]

Mom’s peonies. Had them almost 50 years now.

 

[snowbear142 73]

The tulips in the flower bench have bloomed. The tiger (AKA $#it house) lilies have sprouted, and the lilac tree has leaves. We noticed the peonies that we brought up from the Maryland house are coming up. I don't know if they will bloom this year, but it's good to know I didn't kill them with the lawn mower. The largr cluster of peopnies that were here when we moved in are also coming up. I may take a stroll through the back and see what else might be sprouting and budding.

In addition to the flower bench, we have a train for plants - locomotive and two cars. That is still packed away but we'll have that out soon.

The flower bench.

cmwrenn3_d750_6006.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr

Close-up of the begonia

cmwrenn3_d750_6005.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr

 

[SquarePeg]

Got my dirt today! Lucky me I was last stop on the delivery route so I got everything that was left on the truck as a bonus. Ended up with roughly 1.5 yards instead of the 1 yard I ordered.

Got this pile squared away and distributed to my new raised beds in about 2 hours, not bad for an old lady working solo! Had enough left to fill all my pots and grow bags. Was just finishing up when the truck returned this time with my yard of compost. That will be tomorrow’s problem! I’m all done for the day.

In other news, I’m ready to start planting my dahlias. I did an inventory of what survived storage and I have about 200 tubers in 43 different varieties. I have room for 62 plants. I’ll be giving away the rest. Working on my placement plan tonight. Hoping to plant on Monday if all goes well and forecast looks dry.

Here’s one of last year’s favorites called Holly Hill Pandora

 

[SquarePeg]

Finally some blooms to show off. Lilacs and cherry trees plus a few tulips that the hungry bunnies overlooked.

 

[terri60]

Wow - you did luck out with all that great potting soil - beautiful black stuff. Do you have a landscaper who delivered all that for your beds? Sure beats buying a bunch of huge bags that are always waterlogged!

Everything is coming up nicely in my back yard, Joe Pye weed, coneflowers, honeysuckle, daylillies, bee balm - but I'm a long way from having blooms. Tonight should be the last night the temps dip down into the 30sF. Fingers crossed.

It's been slow to warm up this spring - the meteorologists are saying the multiple Polar vortex events we had are messing with the jet stream and keeping warmer air from settling in.

I'm just getting impatient to set my herbs outside, plant the morning glory seedlings and pick up some annuals for my pots.

 

[SquarePeg]

Wow - you did luck out with all that great potting soil - beautiful black stuff. Do you have a landscaper who delivered all that for your beds? Sure beats buying a bunch of huge bags that are always waterlogged!

Everything is coming up nicely in my back yard, Joe Pye weed, coneflowers, honeysuckle, daylillies, bee balm - but I'm a long way from having blooms. Tonight should be the last night the temps dip down into the 30sF. Fingers crossed.

It's been slow to warm up this spring - the meteorologists are saying the multiple Polar vortex events we had are messing with the jet stream and keeping warmer air from settling in.

I'm just getting impatient to set my herbs outside, plant the morning glory seedlings and pick up some annuals for my pots.

The soil and compost were delivered from a company called Black Earth. They do curbside composting in this area and also deliver soil and compost either by the yard or bagged. I used them last year for a yard of compost to top off my raised beds and amend the soil in some problem areas. I was worried it would be too much work and more compost than I really needed but I actually ran out. This year I got 1 yard of their soil blend to fill some new raised beds and 1 yard of compost. After some trial and error I came up with a good system of raking the soil pile into small tubs and using my gorilla cart to transport them around the yard. Minimal shoveling and no really heavy lifting.

I’m anxious to plant my zinnia seeds but I’m holding off until the 15th. Even though technically our last frost date this year was the 5th, it’s usually the 15th and old habits die hard. It was close to 80° here yesterday but very breezy.

Trying to be patient!