Trillium & Bluebells

When I discovered that the trillium was back again I was delighted. Each year I keep a close watch until it reappears. This one has a special meaning for me since it came from my Mother's garden. It has bloomed since I made this picture but because it is so NOT in the shade I am going to move a protion of it to a less sunny location.The bluebells were nodding in the breeze and so the picture is not the best but these little guys are real troopers. Coming back year after year and spreading wider each time. Now that I have some of the wooded area cleaned I am going to start putting in some woodland flowers and some ferns. Still battling the Japanese honeysuckle and green briers but I have made some progress in reclaiming the area.

The yard man has not been by as yet so if you look closely you can see a trio of dandelions along with the bluebells.

Rain, Storms and More Rain

At about midnight the rain came in sheets and the weather forecasters kept showing more heavy storms moving into the area but by 1:45 a.m. there was not much going on. Seems that the major storms skirted us. When I went to bed about 2:30 it was still raining steadily but there had been none of the cloud to ground lighting the forecasters kept insisting we were going to see. Today it's still overcast, gray and gloomy. The temperature is several degrees cooler than it has been and may go down to the high 30s tonight but daytime temperatures are in the 60s. A good time to plant trees and shrubs.

Before

Above and below you can see what I did Tuesday evening after getting home from work. There is a "before" and "after". Once I finishing weeding I will put down some fresh mulch. Back in the woods there are several white dogwood and some redbud trees. Think I'm going to purchase some white and pink dogwoods to put out closer to the house.

After

The "after" was the result of lots of weed pulling. I have this horrid grass/weed in the yard this year that I have no idea what it is. It just seems to have taken over the yard since last fall. I'm hoping that by next year I have things better under control and won't have so much work to do.

Shrubs and Trees and All Things Green

Beautiful Easter day here. Everyone got together at my sister's and a wonderful time was had by all. I baked one of my "famous" hams and was going to make deviled eggs. The eggs are something I always make for family get togethers. My youngest son, his wife and my oldest nephew just expect to have the eggs. Well, guess what?! Yesterday I forgot to make them. Needless to say they were disappointed. I promised to do better next time. :)
My Egyptian walking onions are doing great. I think they are most interesting plants. I like the way the sets form at the top of the stalk and that these are edible when they are small. My mother and grandmother always refered to these as "7 year" onions. Supposedly they would come back for 7 years before they had to be replaced.

Saturday after a couple of rather heavy down pours the sun came out. I went out, pulled weeds and put down a bunch of mulch, trimmed and mulched some more. I think I'm gonna buy stock in the company I get the mulch from. The guy next door who owns the florist/nursery probably considers me one of his best customers since I go thru a skid of the stuff every year. Not sure what's on the agenda for today. Probably going to put the clump river birch in out front and clean out around the blueberry bushes.

One of my friends told me the other day that she has some gooseberry bushes that have starts and she will bring me some of those. I love gooseberry pies.

Peeking throught the Mulch

If you look closely at the picture above you can see, between the liripoe and the base of the birdbath, the phlox that are poking their heads up through the mulch. Its so good to The Naked Ladies are up in profusion. I hate these things! The more I try to dig them out the more they seem to multipy. I really think they are determined to drive me insane.However, these beautiful little hyacinths are totally different. I'm not sure where my mother got these but I managed to salvage a few when the house was sold. I have another clump about this size. When these little blue flowers poke their heads up I feel that winter is surely ending.

The temperature here has been in the 80s for a couple of days and in the 50s at night. I put in some lettuce seed last weekend and now have lots of tiny plants.

A Return to the Garden

Now that the weather is a bit warmer and the days longer I'm back in the garden. I take a look around and wonder where on earth I'm going to find the time to get all the things done that must be done. Yesterday I worked several hours after arriving home from the office. I put in the hollies that will replace my deceased japonicas. Now I still have have a false cypress to plant and a clump birch for the front lawn.

I also trimmed back some of the liriope and pulled up landscape fabric that I put down several years ago. That was a BIG mistake to use. I think I could hear the soil breath as I pulled it out. I have found that layers of newspaper beneath the mulch works so much better keeping weeds and grass down and is far better for the soil. The area at the right is where I was working and this is my "helper". He seems to have adopted us as his family.

This little japonica has survived a couple of winters and I love the blooms. I have two that are struggling so I plan on relocating and trying to salvage them.

Spring is Approaching!

It's quite chilly here on the Hill this morning, gray and very wintry looking, but there are signs that spring is approaching. There are robins and blue jays everywhere. Jonquils have poked their heads up but my crocus did not return. I will talk with my neighbor soon and have them drop a skid of mulch when he gets his order in for the greenhouse. I will go out the next warm day and begin spring cleanup of the beds.

I have decided that I am going to use a holly as the shrub near my front porch. After having so much trouble with the other things I've put in the past two springs I am very hopeful that this will be the end of redoing the landscape out there.

I have a few small trees that need to be removed farther back in the yard but with most of the vines and tangled briers gone they will be easy to take out with a small saw. I will add a good deal more grassy area when I get this accomplished. When I get to this point I am taking a few days vacation so that I can really get it finished. IF I had a fire pit I sure could get burn a lot of limbs and such. HUMMMM! A fire pit! Maybe that another project to add to the never ending list.

Dreaming of Warm Days

It's cold here today. It's gonna get colder before the week is over but last week gardening catalogues arrived in the mail. Things look a bit bleak in my garden at this time but soon, very soon there will be crocus peeking thru and the cold will give way to warmer days and more daylight hours. This spring, I hope to get in lots of herbs and some vegetables. Just as soon as the weather warms I'm putting in raised beds. Had plans to do it all last spring but just never got around to doing so. Not sure how much I will harvest or how much the critters will devour but we shall see. There was a fairly good size herd of deer in the woods the other day and a couple of them were down close to the house because they left tracks in the snow. Nothing else looks like "deer tracks in the snow".

Looking out the kitchen window late the other afternoon I saw the fox. She was on the hill behind the house looking as if she were surveying her "kingdom". This time of year we often here them barking but January thru March is mating season for the red fox. They can have up to 12 pups but I've only seen this one with two. They are really neat animals.

Their only real enemies are cars and humans but distemper, rabies and mange may also cause them concerns. Once trapped for their fur and killed by farmers because of their attacks on poultry the red fox took a heavy "beating? Now with no more bounty payments for their fur and most poultry farms more or less "safety proof" from predators the red fox is expanding. The Coyote seems to be one of their biggest competitors and like the fox it is expanding it's field. So far we have neither seen nor heard Coyotes for that I am very thankful.

Happy New Year!

It's been well over a month since I've posted but I had three weeks away from the University and I really enjoyed the winter holidays. Came back to work Monday and found that the venelation work being done on our building had left us without heat in some of the rooms. Brrrrrr! Was almost in the thirties in some of the offices. On Tuesday everyone came in bundled up and still complaining but by Wednesday when the students returned we had some My kids and grandkids came for Christmas on December 24 and we had a wonderful time then on Sunday after Christmas they all came back to my house along with my sister and her family. As for all the holidays everyone ate too much.

Other excitement in my life - my car, which my daughter was driving and my grandson was a passesnger, was totaled when someone ran a red light, hit another van and then both hit my car. The driver that caused all the problem then got out of his van and fled the scene. The police did get him about two block away. No one got injured so that was good.

This is my new vehicle. Guess one might consider it an unexpected Christmas present to myself.

It is snowing steadily here this morning. According to the weather we are only suppose to have 1-2 inches today and then thru Saturday it could be up to 4 inches. Around here that's enough to cause problems.