Garden happenings

I am sort of aching for my garden to kick into high gear, but progress is good.

May 6. Daffodils and Spanish bluebells in front of the shrubs directly in front of the house. The other daffodils are done, but these littler ones bloomed later.

These are actually in front of Emma's school, not my house. I took a photo because I liked that they looked good on May 7.

The rest of these were taken today.

I made this seed bed...

A week ago Emma and I transplanted what was left of our mini-greenhouse seedlings (none of which looked too robust; I would say we waited too long), and I threw a lot of random seeds into the garden just because a moment was here and would pass and they'd never get planted if I didn't take immediate action. I remember foxglove and poppy and pepper and sweet pea seeds but was overall just not worrying about documentation. Sometimes you just have to see what happens, because you don't have time for careful plotting and recording.

But now I spend some time every day staring at the ground and wishing things would appear, and I'm fuzzy about what I'm expecting. There's a lot of green stuff sprouting, but who knows whether they are weeds or seedlings? I made this (seed) bed; now I must lie in it.

In other news:

Perennial tulips wide awake on Apr 23

Perennials tulips waking up on Apr 25

This is actually the first time I have spotted a rabbit on my property, remarkably, even though I have occasionally seen them elsewhere in the neighborhood. Just another critter to eat my beloved plants. Sigh.

A more welcome creature: mourning dove with fluffed feathers. Note the allium getting taller on April 28

Last year, I got a free pot, and when I emptied the soil, I found mystery bulbs. So I threw the bulbs in other pots just to see what would happen, and two of the pots sprouted these things. Lilies? Random weeds not from the bulbs at all?

If you look at the photo below, you'll see our azalea being glorious in front of the house, but my new favorite part of it is this random branch that has grown back through the other shrubs toward the house, such that I can see it from the front window, though not from anywhere else. Lovely!

May 1

What the heck made this huge hole on the right side of the front garden? Was it something burrowing, or just a deer stepping into a soft spot?

Poor dianthus

Lilac, obviously, but also transplanted Shasta daisies on the left, in front of hydrangea. The daisies have been getting a little uppity on the left side of the garden.

In front of the street number sign, there used to be a thriving anemone - now it is just sending up a very few tiny leaves. Will it recover? Close-up below. Interestingly, this was the anemone that replaced the one that didn't make it after the first winter when we redid this front garden.

I think this shrub is pretty, in front of 14 Brookside Dr., in Maplewood, on May 2

Another view

I passed these pots in the city on May 3. Love the Columbine.

The cherry tree blossoms are now more on the ground than the branches, like a fluffy pink carpet surrounding each tree. This is in front of the library.

Annuals as far as the eye can see

I bought more annuals, having felt that I was in need of portulaca and basil. I got them at the Maplewood Garden Club's annual sale, which was fine - nice people, of course, and decent selection, and for a good cause, but I do prefer a big nursery like Williams.

I should probably be buying more perennials for the front but I will always need herbs, and I have a love of portulaca and brachyscome and (even though I did not actually purchase it) lantana, so it's hard to resist.

So everything is in the ground now save that I ordered three digitalis grandiflora (yellow foxglove) for the back plot that haven't arrived yet.

This is one of the plots in the back and I am realizing as I look at the photo of it that it looks bad. Left to right: struggling azalea in a shade I don't like, tiny new hydrangea that you can't really see, big hydrangea that has had a weak show of flowers the past two years, and bleeding heart, which is probably the only winner here. Still, at some point we'll redo the patio so there's no point in fixing this spot now.

I don't ever take pics of the azaleas in the back but they are very nice when viewed from the solarium. (These pics, of course, are from outside)

Here's the stuff I added in front. The brachyscome (foreground) I planted last week; the spiky thing is actually crocuses. Then I added basil and portulaca and you can't really see that I put the begonias left over from the back in that spot too, around the phlox. Side note: the Spanish bluebells in the back have been great long-lasting performers this year.

More portulaca, to the right of the steps as you're facing the front door. I'm hoping they'll grow to peek out from under the bushes.

Portulaca behind the verbena that I wish was lantana.

Catbird and Spanish bluebells

Everything is looking lovely out there these days.

Spanish bluebells in the foreground, and azalea in the background, to the left of the steps as you're facing our front door.

Catbird

Catbirds have a rusty patch under their tail feathers

Backyard action

Today I saw a ruby-throated hummingbird pause at the white azalea flowers in our back yard, then sit for a moment on a rhododendron branch. No picture, alas.

A couple days ago, this was the state of play in the back plot I redesigned last year:

The big allium! And the lungwort and dead nettles are doing terrifically.

Forget-me-not returning beautifully

The plot as a whole (with nothing added yet this year), as compared to last year on May 19, below - so three weeks away. Those forget-me-nots have spread nicely!

More planting

Today and yesterday I transplanted my "mini-greenhouse" seedlings.

On the side of the patio in back, I put forget-me-nots and hot peppers….because why not?!

A bed adjacent to the house in back got the marigold seedlings

The basil and scallions went into a planter

And finally, check out my lovely bouquet of lilacs and azaleas.

Spring Planting - Front Yard

Bought flowers today at Metropolitan Plant and Flower Exchange, in West Orange, close by. The staff was very friendly, and the place has a decent - though not huge - selection.

Our tulips remain alive and kicking in the back. Bottom left is phlox, then the vertical row to the right of it is stock, and next row is begonia, then a pink geranium.

Phlox (one of my two perennial selections)

Stock ("midget mix" - there are pink and white in addition to purple

Snapdragon, but alas! They don't appear to snap. Has that quality been bred out of all of them?

Begonia

Gazania. I'm not sure yet whether I like this plant.

Lantana

Wormwood, my second of two perennials. I was attracted by its smell. The varietal is called "Powis Castle," a place we loved in Wales.

Brachyscome. I don't know anything about it, but it is pretty.

This is one of the plants that was already there, but I noticed a tag on it - now we know what it is!

Note the azalea starting to bloom in the foreground, and in the background - white lilacs! Two of them! Already there, not new. UPDATE: they are not lilacs; they are some variety of viburnum.

Gazania and portulaca next to our spontaneous primrose.