Garden - Late March

Today was the front mulching!
I sprinkled wildflower seeds before mulching in the front and side beds. I don't know how well that is going to work. For starters, how will I know what is a wildflower and what is a weed? I think lots of things will be allowed to bloom this year that ordinarily may have been plucked.


side bed:






window bed:
I'm thinking the variagated hosta may not be coming back :-(


front bed:




side of the house:
hosta's coming up.
I don't want to be too hopeful, but there were little stalks coming up in the area where I put the lily-of-the-valley. I just hope my mulch didn't mess up it's progress.


other end of that bed:

Garden - Maintenance

Jan

Grass - remove green shoots as soon as they appear (oops forgot this year!)

February
Foxglove - Prune off winter-damaged leaves
March

Daffodils and Hyacinths - cut off heads as soon as the flowers die

Liatris - divide and move (last chance of frost)

March/April

Hosta - divide and replant
Buddleia - prune

May

Azalea - prune after bloom, cut out whole branches

Hibiscus - new growth will come up in late spring
Foxglove - remove spent flower spikes to promote rebloom.

June/July

Achillea (yarrow) - will fall over if too wet; encourage repeat bloom by deadheading the spent flowers just above the buds of new flowers.

Hydrangea - prune 1/3

Summer

Liatris - remove spike tips to trim away dead flowers 

Heliopsis - remove faded flowers for more blooms (next to Buddleia)
Buddleia - remove dead flowers regularly

Fall

Buddleia - cut to 1" from ground

Foxglove - do not cut back

Rudbeckia - Dead-heading or cutting back faded flowers regularly will encourage the plant to re-bloom later in the season. Seedheads are good for winter interest, if you choose to keep them, and are also a good food for the birds. Rudbeckia self-sows freely, so deadhead if you do not want volunteer seedlings next season.
Echinacea - Grows from roots and seeds

Nov

Roses - prune

Garden - Seeds and Spring

Spring came early this year, like the end of Feb!
One thing I've noticed is that the bleeding heart didn't get as big as it did last year. I am guessing that it rushed to bloom because of how quickly the temperatures rose.
Here is a photo of it today:
already blooming :-(



And here is last year (in the front):
This photo is from before it bloomed!


Here is the window bed with three of the four plants looking good:


I just love this Heartleaf Brunnera "macrophylla" (Jack Frost).
Can you believe the blue flowers?





A Heliopsis h. Ballerina starting to come through the ground.


The front bed with things coming up, covered in petals.



The hostas on the side are coming up:


I desperately want lily-of-the-valley! I planted 25 pips to the left and right of the hostas. I planted them right after they arrived. I am so worried that the hot spring will be too much for them and they won't come up. I am afraid to look in case they never appear. If that happens, I'll try again next year.


SEEDS
Because of the early spring, I rushed to get seeds in the ground.

I planted sweat peas and morning glory at the base of the triangle trellis. They are coming up after one week. Yikes!

There are nasturtiums all over the place. I don't even remember everywhere I pushed them in so I'll have to take pictures of those when they bloom.

I put giant sunflower seeds in peat pots so that I can baby them and then plant the whole pot into the ground when they are hardy. I have been worried that I did the planting wrong in that the seedling mix was very dry when I put it into the pots. Even though I soaked them before adding the seeds, the soil bubble up after planting and re-watering.
Last night it POURED with rain, and I was very worried that the seeds would have been upset and brought to the top of the soil. I got up at 6am and brought all the pots inside. In the light, I say this:


HOW RELIEVED!!

I have big plans for this big sunflowers.

I also put impatiens seeds in two of the peat pots... at least I thought I did. They are SO tiny! like dust. I don't have much hope there and will buy impatiens later to plant after the bleeding heart is done.

Garden - SPRING!

It's kind of a fuzzy picture, but here is the side bed with the new trellis... and everything covered in fallen petals.

Garden - Bulbs in the front...

I hope the daffodils naturalize.
I need to figure out what to do with them when they are done, and then also how to plant more without damaging the existing ones.

Garden - Some Ideas

Garden - Year One

In September 2011, my Mom came out for Labor day and we had a mammoth gardening experience. I could not have done it without her! I also had a Groupon to my favorite nursery!

The finished product without labels...

This is what we have:
FRONT
1. Sedum spectabile "Neon" June-Sept 15" high
2. Hibiscus moscheutos "Lord Baltimore"
3. Stella de Oro daylily
4. Salvia - was already present
5. Buddleia
6. Liatris spicata "Gayfeather" July-Oct 48" high
7. Yarrow
8. Heliopsis h. Ballerina June-Sept 48" high
9. Columbine
10. Digitalis p. Camelot Mix May-July 38" high
11. Dianthus barbatus, Sweet William

WINDOW
1. Heartleaf Brunnera "macrophylla" Jack Frost 12-15" high
2. Carex oshimenis "Evergold" Japanese Sedge Grass 8-10" high
3. Heuchera "obsidian" 10" high
4. Hosta x f Patriot 24" high

SIDE
I have not done an inventory that identifies each plant, so here's a general list
Rose
Salvia
Stella de Oro daylily
Flowing onion
Various daylilies (will take photos this year)
Blue Ridge Phlox
Echniacea
Leucanthemum x superbum "Becky" Shasta

Garden - A Plan

Now that we'd seen what was in the garden, and we'd cut down the bushes, the next step was to create a plan. I made a detailed plan of the front beds and a more general one of the back. I also sent the soil to the agricultural exchange for testing, and found out that everything was very general and wouldn't need any amendments.

Garden - 2010 Aug

Garden 2010 Aug, a set on Flickr.

...and then we cut down the bushes.

We didn't know what would go there, so it was kinda bear for a LONG time!

Garden - 2010 July

Garden 2010 July, a set on Flickr.

The first year of the garden with no actions taken... this was the watching year.