5/23/09 What’s Blooming?
Front Beds
The front bed is overgrown with the dying tulip and daffodil greens. I am looking for ideas to hide it. I’d like to cover it with something big, leafy, and with purple foliage.
The Japanese maple finally got its first haircut of the year.
Columbine Aquilegia sp., – note the bee on the right?
Edible Garden
The potato condo. Supposedly I’ll be able to harvest many, many pounds of potatoes this way.
An overview of the edible garden. We will be putting in another raised bed or two within the next year. In the meantime I (as of 6/1/09) have just dug a trench and made a dirt mound row for the walla walla onions and elephant garlic I was given. First off, how can I say no to either plant? Second, they were both given by neighbors, and it would be sooo rude to say no to them – right? So, here’s to growing more than I have room for – for the nth time.
The peas are very nicely climbing the trellis my dear hubby made me. Some days I swear they grow a foot!
The melon trellis still looks bare, but I’m hopeful it will be covered in green by the end of June (which may be a bit ambitious).
The snowball bush is also due for a cut. I’m hoping to take off about the top third and get it a little more bushy. Right now it is really shading my strawberry bed (on the left). We can’t have that.
This is a basil that I’m hoping will come back. I think it got sunburnt.
Butterfly Garden
The catmint is blooming and the bees are swarming. This is the beginning of one of my favorite seasons for this garden.
The yarrow Achillea millefolium and Nicotiana sp. look stunning together.
On the Side
Red rhodie.
The roses are beginning to bloom. All of these roses are part of the jungle (several rose bushes, a rhododendron, ivy, a GIANT honeysuckle smothering everything, and a few blackberries for good measure, all grow and bloom wildly on the north side of the house). I’ll post pictures soon, but they won’t do it justice.
Calla lilies, which despite being run over by bikes every year, eaten by slugs, and completely starved of water come back beautifully and faithfully. How could I not love such a carefree plant?
And they are starting to bud!
Backyard
The apple and plum trees have been pruned up to mow under them, but still need help in the heights.
The pink rhodie you can see in the picture above, underneath the apple tree.
The sour cherry tree – we have no idea what kind of cherries they are, but it looks like the tree is loaded again this year.
This was a volunteer cherry, again no idea what kind. It’s later bearing and less prolific.
The other apple. This apple tree is desperately in need of the tender touch of pruners.
Shade Garden (this is under the apple tree, next to the pink azalea)
