Garden happenings

The wormwood has spread out nicely, although it's got some yellow parts underneath. Hmmm. The thing next to it with purple flowers, brachyscome, is also doing great. Two winners.

Most of the flowers did not spread out as much as I'd hoped, so the lesson is to plant more of them, spaced closer together, next year. Still, the begonias are doing great, and the geraniums are doing well. The stock has petered out. I'm not sure whether it was being eaten, or it just didn't thrive. I'll avoid that next year.

In the back, I think these were going to be purple coneflowers - four of them. I think it is deer that have basically kept them munched low to the ground, and then I spotted this beetle on them too.

This bud was cruelly chewed off the very night after I took this picture. It was literally nipped in the bud.

The hydrangea is a little anemic, but still it's nice to see some blooms. I panicked a little when the bleeding heart turned yellow but then read that that's normal and you just cut it down.

This is the front where all the ground cover was pulled out. If I ever get my act together, it's going to be a rock garden. I plan to put the rocks and soil down this year and wait to plant until next year. Meanwhile I'm waiting for Frank's Tree Service to pull down the dead tree.

The view up the walk:

The lantana has done very nicely. Must get more for next year. The lavender bloomed and now the blooms just look dead. I thought they would keep blooming? I am not pleased.

The moss roses/portulaca have been a great success and I just wish I had more.

Not pictured, some bug has completely razed the mint that was growing wildly in a pot. My basil also came under attack (from a caterpillar, I believe) but is now looking reasonably good again - I think the caterpillar became moths or butterflies or something.

Last note: I have decided I don't like the gazanias, though they are doing well. Too spiky and garish colors.

Garden happenings

The basil is looking great- the scallions in the middle, less so. They really should have been direct-sown.

This was mint that I threw in the pot after I tore it out of the yard (a battle I continue to fight, but am winning!). I am pleased to have it (contained!).

The marigolds transplanted from seed are growing nicely, though the ones I put in the front were eaten right away - slugs?

The hot peppers and forget-me-nots transplanted from seedlings are still tiny. And desperately need thinning.

Rhododendrons in the back are at their peak, and gorgeous.

Lesson for next year: don't plant anything under what will turn out to be a very healthy, large peony plant! These stock plants are still doing fine, but they're literally and figuratively overshadowed.

Garden happenings

For Mother's Day, a week ago, my request was to spend time gardening. I did, and picked up a case of poison ivy from the patch of shrubs, ground cover, and (belatedly discovered) poison ivy in the front of our house, by the trees by the sidewalk. I look like I have smallpox, and want to scratch all my skin off.

This is the patch with the offending plants. I will forward this picture to our lawn people and beg for assistance.

Meanwhile, I've been doing a little weeding/trimming of the rest of the landscaping. It still doesn't look like much. The lantana plant has perhaps spread the most so far.

Phlox, stock, begonias, geranium. I planted a ready-made "plant pot" with 3 zucchini seeds in it behind the flowers last week. We'll see whether it comes up.

Geranium, begonia on the other side of the front step

The view down the steps. On the right is a peony plant that looks poised to produce beautiful blooms.

I pulled out two of the small boxwoods along the front pathway - the ones I'd haphazardly tried to prune earlier. They were looking more and more dead. The third, visible in the last picture above, still looks mostly healthy.

You'll see a lot of brown debris in the pictures - the trees in both the front and back yard shed an ENORMOUS quantity of those bits. On a windy day, they floated down so thickly they might have been snow.

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.