More Ferns

This is a not so good picture of my side yard but it does prove that "the sun does not shine here". Since this picture was made I have cut back the shrubs but the hickory tree still has the drooping limbs. It seems to have been a neglected area for a long time. buying flowers. I purchased some Kimberly ferns. It was a shot in the dark because I had never heard of them. So I buy them take them home and put them in the ground then check them out to see what info I can find. Yeah, the backward way to do things I know, but what can I say. I did discover they are native to Australia, I think, and that in Florida they have become very invasive. Seems zone 6 may keep them from becoming anything like that. I surely don't need any more invasive weeds.

When I first bought this property I brought a ton of heirloom Iris with me, planted them here in side yard after I raked up years of hickory leaves and nuts only to have ever one of the Iris just disappear. Months later I discovered that logs of my house had been treated with creasode and I suppose it had leached into the ground.

Trees Gone

The walnut trees are gone! Yipee! Can't say that I'll miss the occasional skating when you step on one of the giant marble-like nuts, nor trying to get to the back door when one leaves the house before dark with every good intention of returning while it is still light, only to get detained and we won't mention that it's hazerdous to your head - like playing Russian Roulette when they start to fall from the trees. If you've never been bonged on the head by a falling walnut you have no idea how much fun that can be. Talk about seeing stars and having a goose egg the size of a baseball on your nogging.

Ferns -- Roses

A stop at the grocery store yielded not only necessary supplies, but two beautiful Boston ferns for my front proch. I'm thinking perhaps a couple more may be in my future but we shall see. After getting the ferns placed on the porch and the groceries "put away" I collected my two roses and a rose of Sharon shrub, my shovel and off I went up the hillside to plant all of the above. It has rained so much the last few days that things were very wet. Hopefully that has helped the plants because today has been sunny with the temp in the mid-eighties. Gonna go home and put down mulch this afternoon. The weekend is suppose to be really nice so if things go well I will be gardening most of the weekend. Maybe I'll post a picture later.

Can You Name these Creatures?

These odd creatures are growning at my house. Can you name them? This answer that may suprise you or then again it may not. I found it to be interesting.

Gardeing? Not Today

These two Knockout roses (two of the pruchases I made yesterday but forgot to list) for a specific spot in my yard but it's gray, gloomy and rainy here today so I'll have to wait to get them in the ground. The good thing is - IF I look out on my patio these cheery plants brighten the day. The rain is good for all the things I got planted yesterday and it gives me an excuse to take a break to recover from my manual labor. Much needed break, that's for sure.

Saturday, Errands

Saturday, early morning. It's off to do a few errands, one of which is to wash my dirty car. I get this done without a long wait and then as I'm driving along I remember I need to stop by Lowe's Garden Center to pick up some potting soil. It's never a good thing for me to stop by anywhere there are plants. As I meander along throught the isles I find the tomatoes, dill, rosemary and the blueberry bushes that I had been intending to purchase but could never find the right variety. There they were on the shelf all fresh and potted - Lets see, I needed ten of those - I am going to blend them into the landscape design. Oh! and then I found the Japonicas: Flaming Star which is a dwarf and Valley Rose which can reach a height of five feet. I have a home for the Flaming Star but not sure about the Valley Rose. My last discovery before I get to the bag of potting soil, which I originally stopped to buy, is a Clump River Birch. There is the perfect spot for it in my side yard.

My poor clean car, not to mention my smoking credit card. Let's see, how do I stuff all these plants into the back of a Ford Escape?

Trillium Bloom

One has a bloom. WooooHoooo! Not a good picture but nevertheless it's bloomed.
Since these are shade plants when they have finished blooming I will find a shady spot for them and at the same time remove the amaryllis. I'm really delighted to have these little flowers.

Purple Trillium

Look what I found the other day! I'm so happy that they came to live in my garden. You have to look closely to find them in among the lilies, but the speckled leaves are there. Last year before we sold Dad's house I moved bunches of his flowers. Mom dug these many years ago from the woods and they have grown in that flower garden since, multipling slowly. After they have bloomed, I will move them to a more shaded area with the bluebells. The unusual flowers bloom here in Kentucky from late Arpil to mid-May or maybe a little later. I'm not sure these will bloom this year since I have read that they need to be several years old before they will flower. We will see. It is said that they can live to be 25 years old or longer. So far the deer have not bothered these but in my research of this plant I found that in heavily browsed areas the plants will die out.

Rain Showers

I've been trying to work between rain showers for the past few days, getting a little done each day. The plants seem to love it. Everything I've put in the ground looks nice and none have wilted, even slightly. The nights have been rather cool and the daytime temps in the sixties giving everything a good chance to become acclimated to their new surroundings.

Freeze Warning!

Flowers all survived the freeze warning that we had for Monday and Tuesday night. Everything still looking good. It's suppose to rain the rest of the week but I'm hoping to get out and do a little work in between showers. I've never built raised beds but I'm going to try a couple this spring. I have been looking at them and they don't seem to be difficult. Since I'm fairly good with hammer and nail and IF I can squeeze a few extra hours of the day...

Bluebells aka Cowslips

Virginia Bluebells, Cowslip are native here in Kentucky and are very reliable if planted in shade with soil that is high in orgainc matter. They are one of my favorite flowers but they die back in the summer and should always be planted with perennial that fill in once the blooms and leaves are gone.

Snow Tonight? Maybe.

Well the white stuff is still in our forcast. They say it will get to thirty-two in the downtown area and colder in outlying areas. My place is snugged into the east side of a hill and the mirco-climate here is usually warmer than the open areas. Aside from that the ground is warm so I'm not really expecting anything to freeze. I keep telling myself that the warm weather will soon be here.

I'm not the only thing around my house who is waiting for spring.

Yep, she's twenty pounds of calico cat that doesn't know she's a cat.

Wisteria Blooms

This picture is from last year but yesterday afternoon I saw that my wisteria has buds. I have discovered that the more I cut it back the more it blooms. I was told that they had to be old before blooming. I'm not sure how old but this one is about seven years and it has bloomed since it was about three. In the spring of 2008 it bloomed heavily. I cut it back severely in the fall and a friend told me that was one of the reasons it bloomed so much. The blooms are large and beautiful-not at all skimpy.

Bluebells and Quince

It was only forty degrees Fahrenheit here this morning but with the sun out it quickly warmed. About nine I went out to work in the garden. Still needed a sweatshirt but it didn't take long for the temp to reach the sixties. I spent a good portion of the day digging out weeds and spreading mulch. Did a lot of manual labor but didn't get as much done as I had hoped I would. I did acquire one very angry sunburn. My mind wanted to do more but my body said, "I quit".

It will be a few days before I can get back to moving the rest of the peonies and putting down more mulch. According to the weather report tomorrow will bring rain and possibly severe storms and Monday we may have snow showers. Brrrr Can you believe it? Guess that's just part of living in the Ohio Valley.

I did get two pretty pictures this afternoon. Check out the blue sky behind the quince.

Plants before Snow Comes.

Today they are forcasting rain for this afternoon and a chance for severe thunderstorms then snow for Monday evening/night. It's seventy-one degrees F here this afternoon. Kinda hard to think the temperature will drop that much. This afternoon I moved a forsythia that was ancient and put in some Johnny-Jump-Ups. Mom really liked this little perennial. It is a perennial here in my zone six area. I snapped a picture of some jonquils in the back yard. They remind me of soilders marching down the hill. I say down the hill because, as my daughter pointed out, they all face down the hill.