Garden happenings

Apr. 19. You can see the flowering viburnum. It wasn't spectacular, but nice.

Phlox (it got looking much nicer a couple weeks later)

Tulips on Apr. 19

Tulips on Apr. 23. These are Dreaming Maid. They are darker purple than I expected; I was a little disappointed. Also sort of short for tulips, which I knew.

View from the front door - not terribly lovely, is it? Need to fill up this space!

Spring! Ahhhhhh.

I took this picture to illustrate the purple finch sitting on the wire - we had a ton of them this year. But it is also a nice shot of the back yard. The tree on the right, in back, is the one the pileated woodpecker enjoyed.

Why do we have these yellow patches in the grass? Concerning.

This shows where the daffodils are.

And speaking of daffodils, we visited Reeves-Reed Arboretum to see the daffodils in the "bowl" - perhaps we were there a week or two early (on April 10) or late, but it wasn't as spectacular as hoped. And it was so COLD!!

This is a lovely sampling of the three types of daffodils I planted last fall. From left to right, we have Narcissus Erlicheer, which was pretty but too small and whitish to be appreciated from a distance, and the smell was super intense and off-putting and made me sneeze; Narcissus Pink Wonder, which just wasn't pink enough; and Narcissus Rijnveld's Early Sensation, which was marvelous and, indeed, an early sensation.

Pileated Woodpecker

I have always wanted to see one of these "Woody Woodpecker"-type birds! It was on a dead tree slated for removal.

Designing a plot

If I may toot my own horn here, I was the star pupil in my garden design class today. My work was used as an example for the class. My design was for this bed:

And here's what I hope it will look like:

This is the plan:

I will need the following: 3 wood's pink asters, 3 thread leaf coreopsis moonbeam, 1 silver mound artemisia, 6 ornamental onion globe master (allium), 9 lungwort (blue with the spotted leaves), and at least 13 ageratum.

All these plants are more or less deer-resistant and partial-shade-tolerant, and something should be blooming from late April through September. 

Meanwhile, here's what's currently happening with the bulbs and the magnolia, which despite the frost is in full glory:

Bulbs in bloom

On Wednesday, the crocuses bloomed! And today my first daffodil is out, along the back wall. Just one, but soon to be joined by others.

Plus some new entrants, from yesterday, in everyone's favorite series on this blog, "Fuzzy Photos of Birds." The bird in question this time is a downy woodpecker.

The magnolia is on the verge of greatness, but frost is expected in the next few days, and my garden design class teacher Helen says all the blooms will turn brown, which would be tragic.

In my mini-greenhouses, the basil has joined the alyssum in starting to germinate.

Blooms in waiting, plus garden design class

Some of my lovely crocuses are juuuuust about to bloom! Mostly yellow in this batch:

Some of the daffodils have blooms readying themselves, too - I think the Rijnveld's Early Sensation is living up to its name.

And the first of the Spanish bluebells is peeking up leaves:

This shows the bluebell plant (up against the wall) in context, with the Pink Wonder daffodils poking up in the foreground. And a dandelion, which must die.

Last week having been so uncharacteristically warm, the magnolia tree is on the verge of massive bloom. It has cooled back down this week, though.

And in my mini-greenhouses, the alyssum has started to germinate.

I am two weeks into a garden design course at the South Orange Maplewood Adult School. It turns out to be taught by the sister of my friend Matthijs, whose daughter goes to preschool with Emma. I would say "small world," but it's not as if we didn't know that about SOMA.

Anyway I have learned all sorts of interesting things, though it has not translated yet into a design for the sad patch on our back patio that I have plans to redo.

Some of the things I've learned:

• Plants with variegated leaves are nice for reflecting moonlight if you'll be enjoying a garden after dark
• Plant grape hyacinths with daffodils because they have shoots in fall that let you know where you've already planted daffodils - plus they're cheap
• We can plant plants hardy to Zone 7A or any lower number
• This area has quite acidic soil. And trees increase the acidity in soil - which is why grass doesn't grow well under them, and moss takes over. You can decrease the acidity with lime.
• Lavender likes well-drained, rocky, limey (not acidic) soil - not clay! (explains why the plants in front did badly)
• Boxwoods don't like mulch
• Epsom salts contain phosporus, which promotes blooms, eg. for hydrangea
• If you want to get moss to grow on something (e.g. stones), mix some moss with yogurt and water in a blender to form a thin paste, then paint it on!
• Lawns should receive about 1" of water per week - if you're watering, give it to them one long (eg. 1.5 hour) dose
• Master Gardeners hotline: 973-228-2210
• Soil tests are especially important for places where you're growing edible plants, to test for contaminants.
• There are a couple nearby gardens that I'd like to visit: Durand-Hedden garden in Maplewood, and Greenwood Gardens in Short Hills

Helen (the teacher) recommended a book listing all plants - National Gardens (there is also a Northeast version), by Sunset publishers.

Sowing seeds

Today I put five kinds of seeds in my little mini-greenhouses, not that a seed would need a greenhouse in a week as lovely and warm as this one. The high today will be around 60 degrees; in two days it will be 75!

Thyme, basil, alyssum, poppy, forget-me-not

I also put lavender seeds, as per the package directions, in "moist" growing medium in a bag in the fridge for a month. Kind of winging it with this. I'm picturing taking the stuff out of the fridge in a month and working it into the soil in the ground to actually germinate? Couldn't be bothered seeking greater clarity on the internet.

Right next to an enormous bag of chocolate chips. And now I'm craving cookies.

Six or seven days ago, I cut some forsythia branches from the back yard, crushed the ends of their stems with a hammer, and stuck them in a vase of water with a drop of bleach, which I've been replacing every other day. And today, they started blooming! Further proof that it's spring when I say it is.