The garden has arrived and I’m silly with excitement.
The difference one plant makes
If I may say so, the recent addition of this Persian Shield and its dark foliage brings this section of the garden to life.
As the surrounding perennials grow, so will this annual and by summer it will be a frickin delight to witness as you approach my front door.
We need to talk about the Bee Balm
It’s infiltrating the entire garden year after year and I’m still not sure if that’s a good or bad thing.
I appreciate how it easily fills in bare spots.
I appreciate how it smells (and how much the deer disagree).
I appreciate how it combines with others when in bloom.
The question becomes: When is it too much of a good thing?
It’s OK to open up
The relocation of my Trollius ‘Golden Queen’ can now be considered a success since they are blooming and looking healthy.
Still, year after year I wonder why the flowers don’t open up like this.
They never move beyond what you see in the pics below.
Daffo-delight
Other bulbs
The consistency and continued growth of Leucojum aestivum ‘Gravetye Giant’ (Summer Snowflake) has not gone unnoticed by this easily distracted gardener.
I’m still getting tulips in year two. Hell to the yeah baby.
Soon enough …
Phlox yeah!
Always a welcomed sight to see the Moss Phlox blooming. The perfect groundcover along a walkway or in a rock garden.
The only issue I’ve had is in trying to divide it to make more plants.
Most don’t survive or struggle mightily. It may be due to their short root system.
Malus ‘Prairie Fire’
While fleeting in flower, nothing signifies spring like this Crabapple tree.
Fothergilla ‘Mt. Airy’
Happy to see flowers in spring.
Solid and healthy looking green foliage all summer.
To die for color in fall.
Oh deer
This was the worst year yet.
The deer bombarded the Viburnum carlesii one night this past weekend and devoured nearly all of the about-to-bloom flowers.
And they messed with me by leaving a few along the bottom of the shrub.
A big F You.
Up next
Baptisia time is right around the corner.
get those red solar blinking lights that make animals think it is prey. Mount it as directed and see if that won’t keep the deer out of your garden. worth a try and not really expensive.
My viburnum carlesi has escaped the deer… so far. This weekend I have to move some hosta as I am having a gate put into a long fence along which I keep my growing collection. Just this week they have begun to show their leaves so that I can find them. It is wonderful to get back into the garden after such a long winter.
Ugh, deer. If they could just respect the garden by staying back 10 feet I’d love them.
We’ve been spraying fish emulsion on the garden weekly in hopes to ward those guys away. So far *crossing fingers, not jinxing myself* it has helped. Otherwise I wouldn’t be having some certain plants.
Deer. Booooo.
I agree about the deer being worse than ever. They have eaten or totally destroyed plants that they have never touched in my thirty years on this property (which is in the middle of a village). I’m about to throw in the towel.