Friday, March 30, 2012

Friday in the Garden

 

This was a cooler week with a couple of very cold mornings. Luckily it did not do much damage to the blooms here on the hill.
And I am so thankful for that because..

Wisteria_FirstBuds
…  just look at these buds on my Blue Wisteria vine. Those who have read my blog over the years know my frustration with the two wisteria vines I have had and how I have tried everything to get them to bloom from all of the gardeners tricks to the threats upon its life in my garden if it did not shape up and bloom. While I was out redoing a flower bed yesterday I looked at the wisteria vine and was in total shock when I saw its first buds ever coming out on one of the vines. I ran back into the house to take pictures to document this feat of magic just in case a freeze got to the buds before it got to bloom out. All that waiting was over after 14 years. Yes, fourteen years. I planted them in 1998 and this is the first buds ever.
So I am relieved and excited about the buds. Can you tell? LOL!

LilcaBuds_March29
I am also thankful the cold did not get to Nanny’s  Lilacs that are budding along the bank.
LilacBuds2_March29
There are not as many buds this year from the old bushes but the butterflies will welcome them and enjoy the fragrance. I saw two Swallowtails flitting around the garden while I was outdoors playing in the dirt this week.

Polebed_Redo
I went out to get the weeds out of my pole bed but then got to thinking that I should just redo the whole bed and make it bigger. Yes, more room for more plants. The stump is what is left of a Trumpet Vine that took over the whole yard including the septic system, which was a mess. After all these years there are still sprouts coming up in the yard fifty feet from where this vine was planted that I have to kill each year. Be very careful of Trumpet Vines and where you plant them gardeners!
Anyway …

Polebed_Redo2
I redid the whole bed. It is amazing what  a lot of digging and a new layer of mulch can do to make a garden bed look better. In this bed I have Apricot Yarrow, several Coneflowers, Coreopsis, Lilies, Shasta Daisies, Iris, Orange Perfection Phlox, Yellow Variegated Loosestrife, Daffodils, and Hellenium growing.

RoseGarden_March29 I also got two new roses planted in the Rose garden this week.
A ‘Ketchup & Mustard’ and a ‘Music Box’ Rose now have joined the rest of those that are growing and leafing like crazy in the bed.
One rose was lost this winter. ‘Almost Black’ died out for some reason and it is not because of a bad winter so a replacement needs to be found to take its place. Just in case I did stick it in the trial bed to see if the roots may sprout out a new shoot yet. I do this with roses that look died and if nothing happens during the summer then it is tossed away.

FrontPorch_March29 Elsewhere in the yard the beds along the front porch are growing with a Rose of Sharon bush that is just sprouting, Astilbes, Lilies, Peonies, Coneflowers, Daisies, Weigela, Coreopsis…

CreepingPhlox_AlliumPersianBlue
Creeping Phlox and the Persian Blue Alliums are coming up.

PaintedFern_UrsulasRed
In the Shade garden bedside the porch the ferns are starting to grow and the Japanese Painted Fern ‘ Ursula’s Red’ is starting to look lovely. I have two Louisiana Irises that I planted here last fall that are growing fast and I am hoping for some buds and blooms soon.

Dicentra_DewDrops
The Pink Bleeding Heart was untouched and still looking beautiful with some morning dew.

Dicentra_BumbleBee
The Bumblebees are enjoying their blooms along with….

Pulmonaria_BumbleBee
with the blooms on the Pulmonaria ‘Diana Clare’.

Candytuft_Closeup
I really enjoy the long blooming period of the white Candytuft along the front walk.

JackFrostBrunnera_Blooms

The ‘Jack Frost’ Brunnera is putting on more blooms but I am still waiting on the ‘Haspen Cream’ Brunnera to bloom even though it is growing well.

Laugh
The red ‘Apeldoorn’ Tulips are blooming in the Rose garden.

Tulip_RedHunter2_Species
And the dwarf tulips ‘Red Hunter’ are blooming now along the front porch and walk. They only get about 8 inches tall like a species tulip.

Tulip_Yellow_Perennial The few yellow perennial tulips along the side of the house are in bloom now. They have bloomed for years and I should plant more of the perennial tulips so that I do not have to replace them like with the other fancier tulips.

Tulip_Yellow2_Orange
This fiery yellow and red tulip has bloomed for several years also.

Magnolia_Jane_March29 
The blooms on the ‘Jane’ magnolia in the Woodland bed was untouched  by the cold nights. The trees are leafing out so it was the blooms were sheltered. The tree is still small but has several buds on it.

Pansies_March29
The pansies in the window boxes are loving the sunshine and do not mind the cold nights. I have to move the yellow and rust colored ones out of the box to another spot since they do not go will with the purples, white and burgundy ones.

Paque_Flower2

The Pasque Flower is looking lovely. I love its purple blooms and its fuzzy stems. The other Pasque Flower I have is ‘Red Clock’ but it has not bloomed yet.

Primroses_March29 
So there has been a lot going on this week in the garden for myself and the flowers. Don’t you just love Spring!

Fertilizer_Friday

I am joining in with Glenda from “Tootsie Time”  for Fertilizer Friday. Join us there and Flaunt Your Spring Flowers.

Happy Gardening,
Lona

16 comments:

Karen said...

Hello Lona! I'm glad to see the cooler temps didn't ruin anything in your garden. And you have a wisteria in bud?? OH, be still my heart.....I'm working on a stained glass Wisteria lampshade right now and wondered where I could ever find pictures of the blooms up close and personal. I've never actually seen one in bloom, but now I will!

Trumpet vines, yes, we have one too, and you're right about them going all over the place. Ours has been here for about 15 years and has completely eaten the trellis it was planted on which was a railing/arbor creation Carl welded up. We've often wondered if we should get rid of it, but when it's in bloom it is so pretty.

So much going on in your garden! Have a wonderful weekend, dear lady.

Anonymous said...

Bleeding hearts are my favorites. They were the first flowers I "knew" by our front porch -- gosh, that would have been 55 years ago or more!

VW said...

The revamped bed looks fabulous, and will no doubt look even better in a month or two as it fills in. Good work, woman! And holy cow, 14 years is a long time to wait for those wisteria. I was still a teenager when you planted them ;-) I'm hoping for blooms this year from my 'Blue Moon' wisteria, which isn't supposed to take so long to start blooming. But it doesn't leaf out until May, so I'll have to wait a while to see.

Andi Rivarola said...

Love the wisteria buds. They are such beautiful sight when they open. Heavenly colors, really. Great pictures. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

You must be so excited about your Wisteria - great news Lona! Your Spring blooms are beautiful and I particularly like the lilacs x

Jean Campbell said...

I would be much more excited about Lilac buds than Wisteria. Lilacs are not invasive, smell better and do not bloom here because of the lack of cold. Wisteria is all over here, a real thug.

elaine said...

You have so much going on in your garden at the moment - it all looks beautiful.

BernieH said...

Aside from the Pansies, none of these beautiful plants grow here. The Lilacs are fabulous, and I do so love those creeping Phlox. The pole bed looks great. The Trumpet Vine stump looks great in this bed. Lantana here presents the same problem as your Trumpet Vine. It doesn't matter how much of it you rip out, there's always another one popping up somewhere.

Kay said...

I love your garden

scottweberpdx said...

Fourteen years! You are more patient than I would be...and it has paid off...I hope they are spectacular!

RURAL said...

Well they do tell you to be patient when planting a wisteria, and you were, LOL.

Take a photo everyday, what a wonderful garden miracle.

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

sweetbay said...

Oh those nail biting cold nights! Many's the time we've lost wisteria blooms from the cold. Fourteen years, you're far more patient than I.

The garden in front of your house looks so charming.

I love the pasqueflower.

Gatsbys Gardens said...

Lona,

I tried growing wisteria many years ago with no luck. I give you credit for waiting years for your surprise. Your front porch is so special and inviting and that new garden will look great when everything is up and blooming.

Eileen

Lori at Jarvis House said...

Alathough you have waited for a long time to see the flowers on the Wisteria bloom, I have spent twice that long trying to kill a vine at my back doorstep. I grew up with a mom who encouraged Wisteria. It takes over everything and has such a deep root that it is very hard to eliminate. But if you like it, just be watchful where it grows. It can overtake shrubs and trees. You are a few weeks ahead of me on Long Island. Most of the flowers that you have, are way behind in my garden. Cheers for the Spring!

Tootsie said...

I miss my garden already...wish I didn't have to move so far away from it! lol
you have shared many of my favorites here today...everything is looking so wonderful...I love spring blooms
Once again I am just loving the tour of all the gardens that have linked in to my little party! I am so excited to visit each and every post...they are all so inspiring and I am NEVER disappointed! The creative gardens and colorful displays that I am lucky to see are inspirations that I would never have found had I not found each of the gardeners I see online! Thank you so much for sharing your garden with my Friday Flaunt this week...I do hope you will link in again soon!
This post is being shared on my Tootsie Time Facebook page too just so you are aware.
(¯`v´¯)
`*.¸.*´Glenda/Tootsie
¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•.

Wally said...

What an abundance of spring beauty. I love the first photo, of the wisteria buds, so unusual and fascinating.