Peaches, Blueberries & A Weekend Trip

While chatting with my baby brother Jeff (one half of The Overachievers) on the phone tonight, the subject of blueberries came up. His didn't get flowers or berries this year, and he wanted me to explain why... I think only so he could mention AGAIN that he thought it was completely unfair of me to tell him to de-flower his blueberry last year and forego the berries!

I told him that I have read this in several different places, that you should let the plant put its energy into making roots instead of berries for at least the first year, and that it has always seemed to work well for me. What I didn't tell him is that a few sources even suggest doing this to your highbush blueberries until they're at least 36 inches tall. (Waiting just ONE year was already asking a lot of him, I know!)

To prove to him that I practice what I preach, here are the few flowers on my dwarf peach that escaped my notice this spring until they were past the bud stage and in full bloom:


These were pinched off shortly after this photo was taken, and if he stops and thinks about it, he will know that I am telling the truth about this. After all, if I actually had baby peaches in my garden, I would definitely be rubbing it in and sending photos around to all of the family in anticipation of my first peach harvest! But... that fun will have to wait until next year. :)

By the way, while looking for the peach tree photo, I came across this interesting picture:


It's the spent flowerhead/growing seedpot from my tree peony! I love how the fuzzy pods flare out and curl over at the end. They look kind of like a jester's hat.

Speaking of funny guys, I'll get to see 3 of them this weekend. Tomorrow I'm heading down to The Apartment Dwellers' place to spend the night with Craig and Jen and meet their new puppy, Maggie. And then on Sunday morning the four of us are heading to Dayton for a baptism. (The Overachievers had a baby this spring! I'm now Aunt Blackswampgirl! ;)

This will be the first time I've seen "Baby Evan" since the weekend after his birth, so I'm very excited. He doesn't count as one of the funny guys (yet!) though--the other 2 funny guys are his father, Jeff, and our father, Rick. Both of my grandmothers will be there, too, and they'll both be meeting my boyfriend Steve for the first time. Add in getting to see what my brothers and sisters in law have been up to in their gardens... and it should be a fun and interesting weekend! We shall see. :)

The Last Camera Photos (RIP)

My boss at work was nice enough to bring in a 6-in-1 device that she had at home... and luckily my storage chip fit into the longest, thinnest slot! So here are the last of the photos from the old digital camera, may she RIP:

Japanese maple underplanted with 'Purple Dragon' lamium in the front yard.
Supporting cast includes Northern Sea Oats, a 'Peach Melba' heuchera that I got for free in the fall and meant to move this spring, 'Amber Waves' heuchera, 'Frosted Curls' and 'Beatlemania' carexes, red-flowering pansies and tulip foliage.

Succession planning, of sorts: As the miscanthus starts to get bigger in the spring, the purple-flowering catmint needs to be cut back anyway for rebloom.
Supporting cast: An inherited heuchera that is sturdy enough to shrug off a sunny, dry Western exposure, a low-growing cultivar of lemon thyme, and digitalis parviflora foliage rosettes.

More succession planning: I hate the messy look of goatsbeard foliage (on either side of the rhododendron) after it blooms out, so I cut the whole plant back and top dress it with compost to make up for the shock. It responds by putting out a lower mound of new foliage, which gives the switchgrass in the front (and 'Hillside Black Beauty' bugbane, out of sight in the back of the photo) room to grow.
Supporting cast, from the fence forward: lonicera sempervirens, 'Othello' ligularia and zebra grass, 'Black Lace' (sambucus) elderberry, tulip foliage.

One of the other "wall pockets," where the woolly thyme was cut back to better show off the sedum cauticola 'Lidakense.'
Supporting cast: Japanese bloodgrass, sedum album 'Chubby Fingers'

This one makes me wish I had a camera... so I could show you a current photo of this area, too! The 'Midnight Reiter' geranium in the middle is absolutely covered in blooms now, and the golden lemon balm has been cut back for a harvest (and to prevent reseeding) which really shows off the dark-leaf geranium.
Supporting cast: The 'Sioux Blue' sorghastrum nutans (sorghum grass, or Indian grass) is already a lot taller, and I've planted a bunch of 'Cocktail Vodka' red-leaf, red-flowered geraniums at its feet. Nearby are some 'Lime Rickey' heuchera, two currant bushes, lovage, and a dark-leaf canna. The whole effect is a bright, tropical look that is deceptively made up of tough (okay, except for the geranium!) plants.

I have to admit that I was overwhelmed by the sweetness of everyone's comments on my last post--I feel very lucky that such wonderful people visit my little gardening blog! I believe that I am going to take my brother up on his offer to "permanently borrow" his old digital camera (he and his wife got a really nice, high quality digital when they got married two years ago, so he doesn't really need it) and I will see them this weekend. So I could be "back in business" here as early as next week... I hope to be posting again regularly then!

My Mother Made Me Do It...

Last night, I was on the phone with Mom when I heard her mutter, "Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day..." under her breath. She took advantage of the next break in conversation to ask, "So, when are you going to put up a new post, anyway?"

I sighed. "My digital camera is dead, remember? What fun is it to post on my blog if I can't put up garden photos, too?" (Let's be honest: I NEED lots of photos to break up all of the wordy mind-wanderings that end up getting posted on this blog!)

"Oh, that's right," Mom said. "I forgot about your camera. Well, you should at least put up a post to let people know what's going on. Some people read your blog, you know... they probably miss you and wonder what's going on!" (I guess Moms never stop being your cheerleader... even when you're 33 and haven't lived at home for over a decade. :)

Since I always do what my Mom says (*ahem*) here's a post to let everyone know why this blog has been relatively quiet lately. And here are the last few photos that I was able to retrieve from my camera before its demise:

The texture of the front yard garden as seen from the porch steps, during the usual lull between tulip time and the start of the spring perennial show.

More texture: The dry corner between the driveway and the walkway leading to the porch. Plants featured here include lavender, sea kale, carex buchanii, and sempervivums. (And now, coral-flowering portulaca as well.)

Can you tell I'm a texture fan yet? Clockwise from bottom left: salvia lyrata, sea kale, sedum album and nassella (aka stipa) tenuissima, with some ripening tulip foliage and driftwood scattered throughout.

Two years ago, I made some planting spaces in a retaining wall in my backyard so that I could plant a few sedums there for interest. Now the pocket-planted sedum cauticola pokes through a veil of woolly thyme, and some of the cute little sedum album planted at its base tries to climb the wall beside it. I love this little tapestry of color and texture!

Anyway, posts from me will be few and far between for a while--until I break down and buy a new digital camera at some point. I will try to borrow my digital camera from work on occasion, so that I can chronicle my garden and keep things up to date here on the blog... and hope that this is a short (and not permanent) hiatus. :(

Of course, I'll continue to post comments on many other garden blogs as well. To focus on the silver lining of this cloud: It will definitely be nice to have a little extra time to see what's going on in everyone else's yards this summer!

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - May 2009

It's May 15th, the May Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day hosted by Carol over at May Dreams Gardens... and I find myself able to enjoy my little bouquets of cut flowers more than I can observe the actual garden plants in bloom this month! Between the overlap of indoor and sand volleyball, long hours at both jobs, going for bike rides, taking my little cousin's Flat Stanley on adventures around Cleveland, and hanging out with Steve and Coco, I simply don't have much time!

I have been sneaking a peak at some of the new blooms in my garden off and on, like this pretty little groundcover phlox divaricata:


And the HUGE blooms on the 'Chojuraku' tree peony that I salvaged last year from the garden center:


Of the spring bloomers, some (like this 'Jack Frost' brunnera--which I love underplanted with golden creeping jenny) are hitting their peak:


And others, like this pulmonaria (also underplanted with creeping jenny) are almost at the end of their bloom time:


The gorgeous coral honeysuckle (lonicera sempervirens) will always remind me of Annie in Austin since it first caught my eye on one of her blog postings. It's just starting its amazing late spring show:


And I'm equally excited to see the flowers on many fruits & veggies, including this blueberry (underplanted with woolly thyme and 'Ivory Queen' allium):


What really amazes me, though, is that so many tulips are still putting on quite a show. It's been at least three years since I planted anything but the short little species tulips that are finished blooming now, and yet I have some gorgeous returners like 'Queen of Night':


The peony-flowered 'BlackHero'tulip, which I love love LOVE coming up through the leaves of a peachy orange heuchera:


And this unknown variety, which usually looks pink to me (Steve, knowing my aversion to pink, assuredme that it's "a reddish tulip" instead--good guy, isn't he?!) but which looks nicely orange/red when backlit by the setting sun:


Notice those white flowers behind the tulips? They represent my failure--AGAIN--to take out my doublefile viburnum. *sigh* Oh, but I've rationalized it this time, don't worry! See, I'm thinking that now that the treelawn tree is gone... well, sure it will have more sun. But it will also have less competition for water since those tree roots won't be sucking up all of the moisture in that garden. That sounds reasonable... right?!?! :)

It's way past my bedtime now, and I have to get up early and dig out some plants to bring with me to the garden center tomorrow as gifts for a few of my coworkers, so I'll sign off with a few lists... and a wish that your May garden is as lovely as a May garden should be!

Shrubs, grasses & vines in bloom:
- Doublefile viburnum, tree peony, lonicera sempervirens

Perennials in bloom:
- Phlox divaricata, lamiums 'Anne Greenaway,' 'Purple Dragon' & the passalong one from mom, sweet woodruff, linaria, pulmonaria, 'JackFrost' brunnera, 'Samobor' geranium, various heuchera

Fruits, veggies & herbs in bloom:
- 'Red Lake' currants, blueberries, chives, common sage, strawberries

Annuals & bulbs in bloom:
- 'Geranium' daffodil, 'Black Hero' tulip, 'Queen of Night' tulip, unnamed "reddish"tulip, frittilaria, red pansies

A "Little" Spring Appreciation

A few years ago, after one planting combination that would have been unfortunate in any other season, I decided that all colors worked well together in the spring in Ohio. Why? Well, after our grey-brown-white winters, Midwesterners are so color-starved that literally anything looks good popping out of the ground and blooming at the top of a stalk... doesn't matter what its neighbors look like at all!

Similarly, I decided this year that spring is the perfect time for perennials that have small flowers to bloom. Would we appreciate the blue bell clusters on a grape hyacinth in any other season? After all, you could fit between 2-4 of them within the area taken up by one of my fingernails:


Strawberries can be appreciated for another reason, but the little blooms themselves are not really much to write home about:


Leaning down to view and appreciate the tiny flowers of 'Anne Greenaway' (aka 'Anniversary') lamium helped me find another small treasure this spring:


And there are other lamiums in bloom in my garden today, too, including this 'Purple Dragon' that lurks beneath my Japanese maple:


And the passalong variety (thanks, Mom!) that is mounding all around my rhododendron:


Other spring-flowering groundcovers include the ajugas--here is 'Metallica Crispa' in the bottom of the deepest "Lock" garden:


The drought-tolerant bergenias, whose leaves have greened up and are no longer sporting their winter burgundy hues:


The dry-shade-tolerant epimediums, with their "bishop's cap" shaped flowers:


And the pulmonarias, with their silver-spotted leaves and flowers that open pink and "fade" to blue:


And the sweet woodruff, with its sweetgrass-esque fragrance:


And don't forget some of the mounding perennials! I would grow 'Jack Frost' brunnera just for its gorgeous silver leaves and drought tolerance, but these sky-blue flowers are a definite bonus:


On the darker side of the spectrum is 'Samobor' geranium--again with interesting foliage, and equally interesting, moody-hued flowers:


Rock garden plants are starting to get into the flowering act as well. No sign of blooms yet on my 'Little Plum' lewisia (the sunset-colored one I showed off in the May '08 Bloom Day post didn't overwinter) but some seedlings of the 'Neon Lights' Linaria I purchased last year from Mulberry Creek Herb Farm, via Gales in Westlake, are already starting their summer show:


And last but not least is a gorgeous dwarf iris, iris pumila, which may have come from Mulberry Creek as well. (I just can't find it on their website right now, and am too lazy to go out and check the tag!) I planted this directly in the ground in its biodegradeable pot last fall after rescuing it from the trash at the garden center where I work--along with some saxifrage and a couple of other alpines. All came back just fine, but I was particularly excited to see the beauty of the iris:


Its lovely white petals, which look like they were dipped in the lovely shade of bluish purple that veins them, are intricate and detailed, in spite of the fact that each individual bloom is not even as big as the palm of my hand:


Who says that beautiful things never come in small packages? Spring seems to be proving otherwise--at least, around my garden!