It’s Coming Together
If you remember, I posted about moving my boxwood hedge to its final resting place. It’s creating a garden room of sorts, setting apart a section of the garden for something special. Whenever I create a new garden area, I always plant it with annuals the first year, sometimes cover crops and sometimes vegetables. The following year I plant perennials. The main reason I do this is the get ahead of the weeds. I find in doing this I have much less weeding during the second summer, which means I don’t have to worry about disturbing perennials or having invasive weed roots get into my perennials.
Yesterday, I dug up my ‘Walker’s Low’ catmint that I brought from Ohio. I brought one plant, which I divided two years ago. I divided them again yesterday and ended up with about 20 plants. It’s not quite enough, this summer I’ll take starts and get the rest of them. See my post on starting catmint from cuttings here.
The plan is to have the entire garden area filled with catmint (a low growing variety) and giant globe alliums. In the fall, I’ll cut back the catmint and plant decorative kale for winter interest. It’s a fairly large garden area, I’m guessing it’s about 300 square feet. I think the mass planting focusing on one color will create a stunning display. More photos to come throughout the summer as things fill in and grow.
Do you have any garden changes in the works this summer?
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Friday Favorite: Houseplant Gifts
I’ve always wanted a Christmas Cactus, but I’ve never gotten around to getting one. There’s not a lot of extra room for houseplants around here, so I don’t typically go out of my way to get more. On Easter, my neighbor gave me a ‘Spring Cactus’, which is just like the Christmas one, but it flowers in the spring. I’ve also seen them called ‘Easter Cactus’ since they flower around Easter.
After a week or two on the coffee table it burst forth in bloom and what a stunner it it!
Do you get gifts of houseplants? Do you have a Christmas cactus?
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New Cornelian Cherry
Last week I got a new tree for my front flowerbed. I’ve been reworking this bed, if you remember I added a hedge of box that brought with me from Ohio.
Behind the box hedge is a rock wall with a raised foundation bed. It was filled with various perennials, annuals, and lots of invasive weeds. Last fall I dug up the entire bed, removing all the plants and as much of the weed roots as possible. Most of the plants were completely infested with invasive weeds and couldn’t be saved. The good thing is that none of them are expensive plants and they can all be replaced if I want to.
The truth is that the bed needs structure, it needs shrubs, not perennials. It’s needs something that will have presence in the winter. I planted three ‘Annabelle’ hydrangeas in the area under the front window and was looking for a small flowering tree to put on the corner of the house. Originally I was thinking I’d add a crapabble, but then I spotted a Cornelian Cherry at Fieldstone Gardens last week and knew that’s what would be perfect in that spot. Not only is it beautiful and flowers very early in the spring, it will provide berries for birds later in the year. I’m always trying to add plants that maximize habitat and food for wildlife, especially birds and pollinators.
I wanted a tree that was crooked because it needs to grow out away from the house. I found a perfectly imperfect specimen. Another lovely things about the Cornelian Cherry or the ‘Cornus Mas’ is that the bark is quite interesting as well. This will be a nice addition in the winter.
If you’d like to read a little more about this lovely shrub, head on over to the Missouri Botanical Garden website to read more. This easy to grow, flowering beauty, should be a wonderful addition to my garden.
Have you added any new trees to your garden this year?
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Hello Tom
Tom has been dancing for all the turkey hens, he’s quite a handsome fellow. Of course the ladies pretty much ignore him all the time. That doesn’t deter him, he still spends all day dancing and puffing his feathers to show them how handsome he is. I’m quite happy with him, he’s a real gentleman. He’s never shown even a hint of aggression towards me. This year I’ll be letting my muscovy hen hatch out ducklings, but I’m not sure if I’ll be letting any of the turkeys set, we shall see. I am selling fertile hatching eggs though, I’m happy to provide these for other locals who want to raise turkeys and don’t have toms or hens.
Of course it’s mating season with all the wild birds as well. I enjoy hearing and seeing them all flitting about the garden and starting the process of bringing up the next generation of pest control for my garden. We have a pair of nesting crows and they’ve been madly building their nest in the pine grove below the house. They are a joy to watch!
Have you been noticing bird courting in your garden?
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A Good Start
This past weekend it was beautiful here in the Maine. The temperatures were in the 60’s & 70’s and the sun was shining. I spent the weekend getting loads of things done in the garden. I planted onion, lettuce, and broccoli raab seedlings. I also seeded tomatos and planted dahlia tubers in pots, along with loads of other chores I’m completely forgetting.
It’s good to once again be feeling the sun on my back and my hands in the soil. I’m hoping to accomplish a lot in the gardens this year. They are slowly expanding and hopefully the final sizes will be achieved this summer and layouts can be finalized.
What did you do in the garden this weekend?
