New Edible Landscape Things

59*, 30.2 in and falling barometer, 36% humidity, ESE 12 mph wind, fair

Today's sky view:
I'm not feeling good again. Last night the pain in my throat/neck/ears kept me up. I think I finally managed to get to sleep around 5 am. But that didn't last long before Brandi wanted up for her walk waking everyone up. So I couldn't sleep again for the 3rd or 4th day in a row. This is freaking miserable. I had to get at least some of the more delicate plants in the ground that had arrived earlier so I got dressed and went outside.

I noted first my pretty red tulips blooming in their full glory. Aren't they great? They are much better in person though.

OK, I lied again. Those aren't my tulips either. They are my neighbors tulips. She never even planted them though and didn't even know what they were. I have tulip envy :(. All I have is a stupid ugly orange tulip.

So I got to work tucking a few of the new plants into the ground. This is the cranberry plant. I will have to cover it with straw or leaves in the winter as the flower buds are not reliably hardy to this zone without reliable snow cover or a bog.
Here is the concord grape. I'm not sure how to prune this thing. One book tells me to let it grow wild the first year then cut to a single strong stem, another source tells me to cut to one branch now and let only that one grow this year. What would you do?
I thought I hadn't received my strawberries yesterday but I had. I'm glad I checked the box again, I had missed them in all the newspaper stuffing. The roots were pretty dry so I soaked them for a while in water before planting them. These are a later variety called 'Sparkle'. I hope they send runners out and spread. My other strawberry 'berries galore' is being mean and not sending any runners out what so ever and it's the best tasting strawberry ever! In fact its in bloom already.

Well, that's it. I'm going in to try to rest a little more.

Happy earth day!

73*, feels like 72*, 30 in and falling barometer, S 9 mph wind, fair

Its earth day, and I had so many plans for today but everything is getting in my way! Like today's sky view photo, for some odd reason when I try to post it here all I get is a red x. Well my plans for the day included looking for the Mink that visited our patio last night. I'd like to find out where he lives. I really should get a critter cam! I've never seen a mink before. My plans also included getting my bike out of the shed, inflating the tires and oiling everything that needs it, planting seeds, watching the one sparrow that does visit my bird feeder, and watching clouds while laying on the grass.

A stupid strep throat infection had to knock me down and ruin my day.....I've never had strep throat before. I thought I would get over this nasty cold flu thing going on that I've had for a week now. It got better but yesterday suddenly got much worse. So Mr. Hyper DRAGGED me to the clinic and I got a fargin lecture from doc that my throat looks like ground hamburger and that it WOULDN'T of gotten better without medicine. SIGH. So no work outside, no bike riding, no nothing though I did sneak out to water the greenhouse seeds and snap a couple pictures.

And here they are...My tulips are finally blooming. Aren't they great?

I think they really out did themselves this year.
OK...so those aren't my tulips at all. Those are tulips outside the hospital where I work. I WISH they were mine!


All I have in the way of tulips to look at is this leftover from last year, which was nothing to brag about then, either.

Still...it's something.

I think I like the pansies better.

Oh, And Mr. Hyper thinks we really should adopt Mooch the cat, get him taken care of and snipped and all that since obviously he plans on sticking around and spraying my greenhouse!

That means he needs a real name. I'm thinking Boxcar Willie. What do you think?

The Garden Today

48*, 29.92 in and rising barometer, 80% humidity, NNW 6 mph wind, sunny

Today's sky view (I take the shot from the same spot everyday):
Veggie Watch 2008: Cabbage

This plant is supposedly capable of growing a 50 lb. cabbage head.

Diamond in the rough--- I wonder what the neighbors think of this? Oh well who cares, more lawn is GONE! It won't stick out so much when the trees are bigger, with leaves and the mulch is faded by the sun.

Yellow scabiosa, one of two successes with "winter sowing". All those containers, and all I got were two kinds of seeds to be successful and even then I had to grow them on in pots until they were big enough to transplant in the fall. Winter sowing...not worth my time in my opinion! I get bigger and better AND MORE starts growing the seeds early inside. But if it floats your boat, go for it. Maybe these will bloom this year. They would of bloomed last year had I started them inside I bet!
Sunflowers are popping up in the garden. I think I will move them to a place I could use them. These ones are coming up smack in the middle of my veggies. Mr. hyper would never forgive me if I 'murdered' them. He likes sunflowers. A lot. Almost as much as he likes morning glories. He told me when he retires he wants to be a sunflower farmer. (silly man!)
Remember my voodoo sedum I started from seed last year? Well, It's waking up.
My sea thrift I started from seed is waking too. I moved them to a new spot just as they started waking because the frosts had heaved them out of the ground (I lost a few to that) so I moved them in hopes of saving them. Some of them bloomed their first year! I was worried they wouldn't transplant well because they seem to have tap roots, however they are doing great after the move.

Today I planted more seeds in the green house

• giant red cockscomb
• moon and stars watermelon

I also transplanted into the ground

• catnip

I'll do more later (like peas, lettuce, more spinach) but I need to get over to my father-in-law's house today.

Signs Of Spring #2

62*, 80% humidity, S 20 mph wind, fair, FLOOD WARNING

More things are appearing day by day and those that are here already are really starting to grow.
Old fashioned bleeding heart is coming up.

My apple experiment seedlings are budding up. If they grow a lot this year I will be able to move them from the veggie garden. The tops were eaten off by some critter or another during the winter, unfortunately. This will be their second year of life.

I cut the dead snow drift asters back to the ground and now they are sprouting happily from the roots.
The dwarf arctic blue willow 'Nana' is ready to leaf out.

Primrose lilac is also getting ready to leaf out.

Pesky tom cats are yowling and being a garden bother. He's not mine, but I call him 'Mooch'.

Asiatic lilies are coming up. This one is the dark blood red one, it spreads fast. I REALLY need to divide up the clump again...
This is the forever pink freebie hydrangea I got through the mail last year. Its still just a tiny baby plant.

Lamb's ears are waking up with lots of fuzzy new leaves.

Lawn violets are up.

My haunted lilacs are leafing.

Ladybug!!!

Garlic chives. Yummy! I need to divide the clump up.

Seedlings from a blue flower mix from Pinetree Garden Seeds.

White obedient plant. Already sending runners out all over the place and I planted it last fall. My grandparents had the pink type and though invasive, to see the whole lot of them swaying in a summer breeze, it's so worth the trouble of having to weed them out of unwanted spots just to see that.
The fuzzy leaves of pasque flower are starting to appear. This is a plant I've never grown before in my life and I don't know much about it. I hope I see blooms!

R. rugosa seedlings

30*, feels like 19*, 70% humidity, SW 15 mph wind, partly cloudy

These are a couple of the Rugosa seedlings:
R. rugosa rubra has red stems.


R. rugosa alba has white stems.

This is WHY you should label collected seeds IMMEADIATELY!

IMMEDIATELY!


Huge mistake.....I did not start Hellebore seeds, I started DAYLILY seeds!


OOPS.

I found the real hellebore seeds and put them in water to soak...Boy is my face red!

Favorite Shrubs

40*, feels like 36*, 47% humidity, SSW 6 mph wind, partly cloudy

(no color enhancement needed....)

If Carol from May Dreams Garden (http://maydreamsgardens.blogspot.com/) can blog about her favorite shrub, then I can too! So, what is my favorite shrub? I will tell you right now I have never been a fan of anything shaped like a round ball unnaturally by constant pruning. I have never liked anything too generic. You know the every house on the block has them lining their front door on either side kind of thing. So what have I chosen as my favorite shrub? Something that is actually USEFUL and PRETTY in ALL seasons.

What would that be you ask? Blueberry bushes. With blueberries you get a bit of everything and they look just as nice as a hedge in front of your house---even better then most shrubs in my humble opinion. Spring you get flowers and bright fresh leaves with tinted new growth. those pretty flowers turn into yummy berries as summer arrives which feeds you and the birds while plain Jane shrubs just sit there providing nothing back. They take pruning well, in fact the big ones need pruning to produce well. Fall comes around and WOW! Red. They turn the most amazing bright red. Who needs a boring for most of the year shrub like burning bush when you can have the same color from a more useful shrub? The colors are long lasting too--they have been going for a few weeks now. Winter you get reddish stems, that holds the snow and ice in a pretty fashion. THAT is my favorite shrub. 'Nuff said.

Favorite Trees

41*, feels like 37*, 53% humidity, NW 6 mph wind, cloudy

Driving to work today, our road takes us along the edge of some woods full of trees in autumn glory right now. Reds and bright yellows are always pretty but to me, there is something soothing and wonderful about the earthy yellow and brown tones of the oaks around here. They create a tapestry of muted colors, that just seem to resonate with me. This got me thinking about favorite trees. My favorite trees have always been oaks. There is nothing grandeur or wiser then a great big majestic and gnarly oak. I grew up living under a 150 year old canopy Blue Oak in CA, I loved it on bright spring days with fresh new leaves. The deep shade of summer provided cooling--at least 15 degrees cooler under there then anywhere else. In fall plentiful leaves filled the compost bins to create rich earth for next years garden. And in winter, the dark bare and gnarled branches created a stark contrast against foggy weather and fallen twigs and branches got the fire in the hearth burning brightly. It was home to more birds then you can imagine. Yellow-billed Magpies, Scrub Jays, doves, Ruby-throat Humming birds, titmice, finches. It was home to squirrels and was a jungle gym for kittens. I don't have the room in my yard for a majestic oak, and dream of someday having lots of oaks on a large property.

Mr. Hyper, when asked about his favorite tree, said he likes the Tulip Poplar best. He likes them for their fragrance in early spring, drifting from so high above in the canopy. They are huge trees in the wild. Tall, reaching to the sky. A grove of mature tulip trees is impressive indeed, the trunks tall and strait, no branches for at least 50 feet up. They have an unusual shaped leaf, which makes them easy to distinguish even from maples. They are a valuable timber tree, and the most important part (to me anyway) is that they are the favorite food of humming birds and several kinds of native insects and moths. I planted one last year, I will likely never see it as big as they can get, but I understand they are a pretty fast grower too.

What is your favorite tree and why?

Fall Rainbow----What's blooming and glowing today!

RED
Blueberry bushes

Voodoo sedum (I grew from seed...the rose too was from seed)
The Free Forever Pink Hydrangea leaves, tinted.

ORANGE:

Calendula
Marigold

YELLOW:

Sunflower (It planted it self)

GREEN:

My new Arborvitae.

BLUE/PURPLE:

Pansies still going from spring.

Self-seeded petunia.
The second hosta seedling to bloom.

We just had our first light frost. I can tell because the poor morning glories are blackened in spots. They HATE frost with a passion. Me---I'm kinda glad to see them go. They were worse then weeds this year (pretty weeds, but.....) No matter how many I pulled up, more sprung to life to strangle everything. They must of dropped a LOT of seeds last year. Yowzers!

Some flowers, a good bug and a whole lotta bad.

72*, feels like 73*, 78% humidity, W 13 mph wind, cloudy

Who says amaryllis is just for the winter months? These guys throw up buds all year round.
Faithful red lily blooming today... Better then fireworks!

My first monarch butterfly of the year--- I am a happy camper. :)

I had to work extra hours at work for the last couple of days which meant no gardening at all, not even to pick off beetles. THIS is what happens.... UGH. Disgusting! This does not make me a happy camper!

Views of the garden from different places, and another daylily!

74*, feels like 73*, 50% humidity, calm wind, fair

Nothing much new in the garden to show you today so I thought I'd share some different views:

Some poppies. Red, white and blue just in time for the 4th of July.

This is Gold Spider daylily and she opened this morning. Isn't she gorgeous?

View from my kitchen window as I do dishes.... I like to day dream I am looking into mountains and forests rather then my neighbors house.... Still, at least I can watch my compost while I work!
The beginnings of my shade garden. It will eventually stretch all the way down along side and behind the house. Gardens are like paintings, you have a general idea of what the end will look like but you let your whimsy take you where it will go and sometimes no one understands your methods but when it's finally done they will all go "WOW!". So much more needs to be done, but a little at a time.... I have my hosta seedlings in there :) It gets morning sun but mostly shade the rest of the day.

I was at the nursery buying mulch today when I saw the same type of daylillies that I got for free the other day selling for $9.99 a piece...and they were one or two fans per pot. I felt very smug because my freebies, even when divided up into 15 plants are way bigger plants. But even if they weren't bigger: 15 X $10 = $150! I'd still be happy. Here is what they look like all planted and nicely mulched. Good bye more lawn. I swear, and every body thinks I'm crazy for this, but someday I will NOT HAVE LAWN. Not a speck. Well, maybe some weeds in the cracks........

A few more flowers.

I just have to show off my flowers, I love them and they make me happy.

New butterfly bush. Its a red-violet color.

And my Aztec Sunset zinnias are sure bright and sunny looking. these are also dwarfs.

Bloomers

67*, 54% humidity, E 5 mph wind, partly cloudy
Daylily 'Lemon Lime'

Plains coreopsis

White Poppy

Red Poppy
Aztec Sunset Zinnia

Cool bugs

82*, feels like 81*, 31% humidity, N 6 mph wind, fair

Where I go collecting berries and wild apples there is an amazing array of insects (including mosquitoes so don't forget the repellent). There are tons of butterflies of all types though most don't sit still long enough to get a good look at let alone a picture. This one wasn't cooperating much.
And then there are these, which look like dragon flies but instead of resting with their wings down, they hold them up. And they have dark wings that you can't see through.
And if you love dragon flies, you will see so many different kinds here. I see new kinds every time I go there, like this cool green one!
Again, a butterfly that wouldn't behave for me. This is a red admiral I think which is pretty common everywhere, even in my garden.
I let this one have this mulberry. I wasn't going to dispute it. There are enough to go around.

A few new bloomers.

Today in the garden the annual flower seeds that I had scattered in the flower bed opened their first buds today. All at the same time...is that good timing or what?

Of course my camera can't for whatever reason handle some colors, and vibrant red is one of them. This poppy below that looks orange is really red.
This plains coreopsis is so cute.

The lavender vera buds have opened.
Dwarf blue cornflower. I have never grown the dwarf and I like it very much! the tall ones just look kind of ungainly.