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..

…  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!

I am also thankful the cold did not get to Nanny’s  Lilacs that are budding along the bank.

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.

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 …

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.

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.

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…

Creeping Phlox and the Persian Blue Alliums are coming up.

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.

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

The Bumblebees are enjoying their blooms along with….

with the blooms on the Pulmonaria ‘Diana Clare’.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

 
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.

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.

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.

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

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

Happy Gardening,
Lona

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