Garden happenings

Today was so lovely - close to 70 degrees, and mostly sunny. I dealt with the long-neglected compost, and did a lot of pruning. And then I just took a close look at everything and when you look hard enough, you see a lot of signs of life! It gave me a very glowy happy feeling. This is why I love gardening.

This was yesterday

I am crossing my fingers that these foreground plants might be self-sown larkspurs. Or they're weeds. We'll see!

These new alliums are looking great. I am looking back at a photo from Sep. 14 last year, and I am hopeful that what's sprouting anew between them is a transplanted foxglove from the backyard.

These are the alliums transplanted from the back garden - they are looking splendid and already sending up buds!

Daffodils are starting to bloom; geraniums are starting to leaf out. Looking back at a photo from last year, I am surprised and sad to see that a lot of daffodils didn't come back.

I think I planted these daffodils new last fall. I think.

Oh, the magnolia! It is so very splendid, just starting to bloom.

What mystery plant are you, in the foreground?

While my other peony is going gangbusters (see below), I was looking in vain for signs that this one on the right side would come back, and finally there is a shoot! It did not do well last year and I'm not getting my hopes up this year, but at least it's coming back.

Gangbusters peony

Perennial tulips in their second year

The poppies look very promising, and with any luck, the tiny seedlings between them will be self-sown larkspurs 

Wider-view shot of the poppies, also Shasta daisies in foreground (and a onesie daffodil I am always meaning to transplant). And baptisia in background, not yet looking alive.

I am not positive, but I am thinking here that one of last year's allium is not coming up in the front right, and the other one has made itself into two plants. 

Confused flora

The magnolia is blooming....again.

Persisting in the face of death and destruction

Before we delve into the ugliness, here is a lovely arrangement of salvia, lavender, and Shasta daisies on July 3 that still looks pretty good today.

And now let's get real, below: the vile deer have chomped the blooms off my new hydrangea. I don't think they've ever been after the hydrangea in back, so it didn't occur to me this was among their interests. But I looked it up, and sure enough, deer "occasionally severely damage" hydrangeas. So I have set myself up for failure, or a lot of anti-deer spray.

But now back to the soothing things that have not been eaten (yet) (and only thanks to anti-deer spray).

Cornflowers and zinnias.

Zinnias background; peppers foreground. Peppers are flowering now too.

July 3 - the unmolested hydrangea in back.

As it did last year (http://aylwardgarden.blogspot.com/2017/07/late-bloomers-and-revolting-beetles.html)  this rhododendron bloom so much later than the others. This is on July 4!

Speaking of late bloomers, the magnolia threw out a few additional blooms in the past few days, too. I'm not complaining. But I'm maybe a little confused.

The first tomato has been born in defiance of the squirrels that will surely spell its demise, not that I care, because I absolutely am not attached to my accidental tomatoes. [Inwardly steeling self for impending tragedy]

What is this hen-and-chick doing? Is this normal? OH MY GOD I JUST LOOKED IT UP AND IT'S GOING TO FLOWER AND DIE. No one prepared me for this agony.

This grasshopper(?). I have nothing good to say about him.

Garden happenings

Most of the mini-greenhouses are now sporting little sprouts, the exceptions being foxgloves and peppers.

Allium

Gypsophila

Sweet pea

Also, everything else around the yard is looking stupendous and full of promise.

Magnolia

Alliums in the front yard

Perennial tulips... please don't let them get eaten before blooming!

April 19, 2017

Side-by-side comparisons of the front at this time of year are below. There were more daffodils than I remembered that didn't make it back this year, but the main takeaway is that everything else looks a little behind this year - no surprise whatsoever, given that spring only just showed up. Note the viburnum already blooming this time last year.

April 18, 2018

Finally, yesterday I saw an Eastern Towhee (bird) in the bush, and today a pair of chickadees made an appearance.

Springing up and down

It still feels a little wintery, but after two gloriously warm days at the end of last week, things exploded into bloom. I refreshed this daffodil and forsythia display for a couple weeks and it made me happy.

April 8

And then there was this grape hyacinth bud, until something ate it.

April 10

A lot of the seeds Emma and I planted have come up in their mini-greenhouses (below, gypsophila).

April 11

But earlier this week we had so much rain so fast that some seeped into our basement via the crawlspace, a first since we have lived here. This shows how the backyard floods (even in much lesser rains); I took these photos to share with landscape architects we are evaluating to redo our backyard.

April 16

The daffodils I planted last fall in the front have come up nicely, but they all seem to point downward. So avoid this type in future: Narcissus 'Carlton.'

April 18. Note the magnolia coming into bloom, despite being half-destroyed earlier this year!

April 17

April 17

Second life for fallen magnolia branches

A few days after the storm, I brought in some branches from the huge magnolia limbs that had fallen onto our driveway after the storm. And they bloomed! It took about 10 days for them to reach their peak.

Above and below: March 15

Above and below: March 20

March 21

Crushed

A week ago, I was returning from a vacation at a heavenly Caribbean resort. We missed a windy storm here in NJ, and were feeling smug. And then Wednesday came.

A foot of soggy, persistent snow dropped on us. Everywhere you look around my community, there are trees broken and uprooted from the weight of the snow. We were lucky not to be among the many people who lost power (for days, sometimes). Our beloved magnolia split, though fortunately it didn't fall on our garage. I watched my rhododendrons outside the window with great anxiety, and brushed them off once, then sent Pat out to brush them off again later. It was funny to brush the snow off and watch them spring back to life. That snow was HEAVY.

I have no idea what the effect might be on my garden, which is still buried under snow! Some shrubs may never recover. What of the daffodils and crocuses and tulips poking up leaves? Time will tell, assuming spring ever comes (it is that time of year when I despair).

When the snow started falling, it highlighted the branches that had littered the yard during the storm the previous week. And then it got MUCH worse!

Here we have my poor beleaguered rhododendrons before I brushed them off the first time:

 And then here they are after being brushed off:

The rhododendrons made it, I think. Fingers crossed!

Some more scenes from later that day, and the next morning:

Emma took it upon herself to pile up the fallen branches.

Note the moon! Pretty.

On the left, you can see the fallen magnolia.