Category Archives: Gardens

Weeding and Planting, Oh My!

Country Life, Dogs & Other Animals, Gardens, ,

Zekie laying in front of the new flower bed under construction. He has been spending a lot of time with me while I’ve been weeding and planting. For the most part, he’s been good.

He’s stayed nearby while I worked on the rose bed. He’s even learned to stay out of the rose bed. I do have to preplan everything I do so he isn’t alone for more than a few minutes. Otherwise he gets stressed out. And a stressed Zekie, is a destructive Zekie.

He was with me for the urns I planted too. I tried to tie him to a leg on the patio table but he chewed through the leash. Change with Zekie is slow, although he does improve. In the interim, dealing with him is done with a lot of management.

A Quick Evening Walk

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I volunteered at an AKC Obedience Trial yesterday and today so only a little time for weeding this evening and a quick walk around the yard. This is my new foxglove plant, also known as digitalis. Haven’t decided where to put it yet, but we have been wanting one.

These blooms are from three different azalea bushes. The last one is very old. The trunk is as big around as a small tree.

Our traditional lilacs are in bloom. Not a lot of flowers on them this year, but the Miss Kim’s and the French lilacs are still to come.

And the lily of the valley are just starting to open up. My mother used to have lilac and lily of the valley perfumes. I wish I could find them now. They smelled remarkably like the real thing. I hope

I hope you are getting out to enjoy your own flowers. Spring is a beautiful and peace inducing thing.

Flower Walk

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Early spring always calls for a walk around our property to look for signs of life. And it is so exciting when you find some. It means winter is on its way out. And while I like winter, there is a time for everything and this is the time for gardens and warmer days. Above is the lungwort nestled amongst the vinca vine. It is a native perennial. You can identify even without the flower, by its mottled leaves.

These are the only trilliums we have. Trillium were once endangered in Ohio. They do not like to be disturbed so I have never moved them. They are also nestled amongst the vinca vine. The lungwort and trillium like to grow in shade. They reside in our pine grove under the tall trees.

Pale pink blossoms belong to the viburnum. The bush and its flowers are not particularly showy but the smell is amazing. Worth growing for the fragrance alone.

This is the beginnings of flowering on our red bud trees. I was not familiar with them before we bought these from the county extension office but I am a big fan.

These trees are also from the county extension office. They are river birches. It amazing what you can grow from sticks not even as big around as a pencil.

We have many plants from the extension office because we like the try new things. Their offerings are selected to do well in our area. We have several of these bushes from one such experiment. They are plum bushes that grow little football shaped plums. So far the bushes have only produced a few fruits and the birds enjoyed those before we had the chance.

Onward spring! I look forward to many more blooms.

Stay! Good Dog.

Country Life, Dogs & Other Animals, Gardens,

Zekie continues to improve his behavior. He can hold a stay long enough for me to take a few pictures.

Of course just last week he chewed a second bungee cord in half that was used to hold the pasture gates together. Without it there is only the latch and cross board holding the gates together at the top. With no bungee cord Zeke can push his way through and escape. I was working in the patio garden and he couldn’t bear to be that far away from me. The gate is now held together at the bottom by a chain and a metal closure with a snap on each end.

Sometimes you take what you can get. Look at that stay!

Scientist As Artist

Gardens, Thoughts On Life, ,

This is what you get from a gardener who is also a scientist.

A visual and olfactory experience.

Enjoy!

Daffodils in Spring

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And so it begins…

We have many daffodils, and soon narcissis too. This is just a small fraction of the daffodils we have blooming today and they are just getting started. Many more to come.

This lady vase is special. She was given to me by a friend and former co-worker. The vase belonged to her parents and she chose to share it with me! I reserve the Lady Vase mostly for spring flowers which are special after a long winter. I keep the vase up on our living room mantel so it is safe.

This is why. Kitties love biting and batting flowers around. And I cannot be around 24 hours a day. So up out of harm’s way she goes.

May you have spring flowers to enjoy and friends to share them with!

The Olive Tree

Country Life, Gardens,

Even in the off season for gardening, we have things growing. These are future olives. We have an olive tree that my daughter gifted my husband with for Father’s Day last year. It resides in our spare bedroom right now, along with a gardenia that we are wintering over.

We don’t know whether these are flower buds or actual olives. Either way, they will eventually result in olives. It was an exciting day when we found these little orbs. Gardeners can go through a form of withdrawal when nothing is green or growing outside. These indoor plants help.

As for myself, I am happy in the spring when plants resume growing again. But I am also happy (relieved) when frost comes. After a spring and summer’s worth of planting, watering, weeding, and harvesting, I am tired. I enjoy the best of both these worlds.

So, will we get olives? Only time will tell.

The Last Hurrah

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Our garden is having a last hurrah before the snow arrives this weekend. The flowers amaze me with their tenacity.

They keep producing a nice display for us even during the cool fall temperatures.

I found a few poor, confused rhododendron blooms that I snipped and brought inside so we can enjoy them all evening.

The garden is still a beautiful and relaxing place to pass some time. If you wear a coat!

Rebirth

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I finally took some time and worked on fall chores. I dug up all my gladioli bulbs to store them for winter. We are in Zone 5 so you never know if they will survive to come up in the spring or not. It just depends how cold it gets. If I leave them in the ground, sometimes they come up the next year and others they don’t. I have enough bulbs now that I don’t want to take a chance.

So I take the time to dig them up so we can enjoy them again next year.

Once I have dug them up, I spread them out so they can dry for a few days to a week. If they are all clumped together they can retain too much moisture and rot.

After that I put them into several paper bags. They need to have air circulation but still be in the dark. I store the bags in the basement so they don’t freeze. And that’s it. Come spring time I will break off any dead parts from the previous season and separate bulbs that have multiplied but stuck together. Then they will be ready to go back in the soil and we can enjoy them all over again.

A Touch of Splendor

Country Life, Gardens,

Tonight’s garden offering.

Each bloom becomes more precious than the last.

There are fewer each day.

The threat of frost becomes more imminent.

Splendor.