Faithful garden correspondent Jeffg166:
4.10.2024
The hardy tribolt camellia I planted a few years ago. It was a three year old plant when I got it. Last spring I stepped on the main shoot breaking it. The side shoots developed buds in the autumn. It’s supposed to flower from December to March. It’s been in the process of opening for the last month. This morning it is finally open. I hope I does better at flowering this coming winter.
4.14.2024
Dog tooth violets.
4.20.2024
The Star of Bethlehem flower is very pretty for a week but it is so invasive.
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Unfolding — well, exploding — here north of Boston: Forsythia! I’m not a fan of crayon-yellow flowers in general, but after a New England winter, especially a mostly snow-free one like this year, the exuberant fountains of blooms are a very welcome change in a grey/brown/grey landscape. Suddenly there’s little pockets of forsythia waving their branches everywhere, in the drabbest most unlikely spaces, because they’re hardy enough to survive being crammed between rocks, blasted with street exhaust and rock salt. There’s always a few stubborn householders who try to topiary their forsythia like boxwood, but all that achieves is a week of ridiculous Dr. Seuss flower-objects followed by a long season of sad sparse green bushlets looking embarrassed. Better to let them sprawl as they like, because: Spring!
What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?
HinTN
It’s time to see what wildflowers from seed survived my conversion of the zinnia garden last fall. The annuals may have sprouted and died but there are chunky things out there that may be perennials.
in other news, the trees of Spring, cherry, redbud, dogwood, silverbell, and red maple, have been glorious this season.
JR
Redbuds just gave way to dogwoods in western PA. Love this bloom period, with Virginia bluebells and azaleas flowering too.
oldster
All true about forsythias — their exuberance would be garish at another time of year, but coming when the snow is hardly gone, they are a sight for sore eyes. I’m grateful for them every spring. True also that there’s no point trying to train them. When I was a wee lad our front lawn had a huge untamed forsythia in it, and the hollow space in the middle made a good hiding place.
Mousebumples
Pretty, pretty flowers! Thanks for sharing!
We planted a Costco bought apple tree yesterday. We’ll see how it goes. When we went on Friday, the available types had changed and now included my preferred option for our yard – Zestar! (the ! is part of the name, I think) Created by U of MN in 1999, it’s planted maybe 10-15 feet from our crabapple. Hope it does well.
My parents are driving up later today to help cut down an old (25 years, probably) ash tree. No longer thriving, unsure of Emerald Ash Borer is an issue… We’re taking it down.
NotMax
Forsythia blossoms not only yellow – there’s white, pink, purple and red varieties.
Ken
I’m just waiting for that yearly two-hour burst of beauty, between when the magnolias blossom and when the petals are all knocked off by the next rain. Meanwhile I’m admiring the tiny forest-floor spring plants that take advantage of their own brief window of sunlight to push out their two leaves and one flower. They really have pared it down to the basics.
TBone
My next door neighbors garden like blindfolded 5 y.o. children with dull scissors. As a result, all of the previously lush and beautiful forsythia, rose bushes, azalea, hydrangea, and everything else looks just as you described from Dr. Seuss. It’s maddening, that property was gorgeous before they got ahold of it. This year’s project: rip out everything on our side and replace with river stone AND a large, sandbox-like area without the box, just the sand. In green PA it’s like a sore thumb. Ugh! They also cut down all the previously beautiful, lush, mature shade trees. One was a mighty oak that I still miss to this day. GAH
When they moved in and started wrecking it, I used to call it Dirt Patch Farm. Now it’s Stone Henge.
Jeffg166
@TBone: They will be very surprised by the weeds that come up in that sand and out of the river rocks.
Mousebumples
Random question for gardening jackals – any favorite stores (online or physical retailers) for seeds? I figure nurseries, maybe, but I also have Steins, Jungs, Fleet farm, and other home improvement stores within reasonable distance.
Thinking of planting some nasturtiums (seems smart with my 2 yo putting everything in his mouth, lol), and maybe some native/local wildflowers to try to start rewilding part of our lawn. (baby steps…)
Thanks!
Rugosa
Let your forsythia sprawl but watch out for the runners. The stems that arched until they reach ground will root and take over the space if you let them. As oldster remembers, an untamed forsythia can get pretty big.
WendyBinFL
Like Anne Laurie, Oldster and Rugosa, I vote for allowing forsythias to find their own graceful shape. When my sister and I were young, our parents bought a lot in a development that was under construction. It was exciting to watch our new home going up! When we moved in, the yard was totally bare. Our folks planted forsythias along the property line, and as they grew, Marcie and I loved playing in the secret space beneath the fountaining branches. That fun ended abruptly when our hideout was whacked back into a dreadful hedge, to make room for lawn. Sad!
TBone
@Jeffg166: that’s my only solace. Wifey has already been out on her hands and knees pulling weeds out of the stone 🤣. At my house, I pour white vinegar and I’m done. Also, the neighborhood cats will be using her new sand as a litterbox 😻
Jeffg166
@TBone: The giant cat box was my other thought.
kalakal
It’s Amaryllis season in the garden at the moment, may only be a few weeks but they do look lovely. Mrs kalakal is happy as the Gardenias are doing their thing as they’re her favourite flower. I’m enjoying seeing the Caladiums emerging from their winter retreat
Torrey
IANAG (G for “gardener,” of course), but I have a bad case of garden envy, and I enjoy looking at the pictures posted by people who know things about plants. I was wondering about those beautiful white flowers that had suddenly this year sprouted in my neighbor’s lawn (also not a gardener), and I now see that they are Star of Bethlehem. And sure enough, they’ve wilted overnight. Oh well. For one brief shining moment, I thought I saw something I wanted more of, but they’re probably going to wander over into my lawn in any case.
I’m an outlier on the subject of forsythia. I like the yellow color, but I’d probably hate it if there were too much of it about. My neighbors (different neighbors) have a forsythia bush, and I always enjoy seeing it on my walks.
Also, yes on the subject of white vinegar. ‘Tis truly a magic elixir, solving many problems and covering a multitude of sins.
Jeffg166
@Torrey: The Star of Bethlehem flowers are on their way to your yard if your neighbor has them. They are everywhere here. I waged a twenty year battle trying to get rid of them. I gave up about five years ago. They won.
i went to a restaurant supply store yesterday with a neighbor. We both bought a case of white vinegar to spray on the street walk weeds. There are four gallons per case. I might have enough to get me through July.
Kristine
Frost advisory last night here in NE Illinois. Hoping all the buds survived.
Quinerly
Great pics!
Here outside of Santa Fe, I have finished putting in 10 new roses with 2 more to add. Some climbers and some rugosas….and experimenting with growing a “Frido Kahlo,” an”Adobe Sunset,” and a “Cinco de Mayo” in pots. Adding a few more waterwise perennials (mostly beardstongue, dianthus, yarrow, Blackeyed Susan) to the beds I put in last summer that surround JoJo’s fake turf “doggie park” and that flagstone patio that Miguel and I laid. Deep watered my cottonwoods. Got bids from an arborist on a taking out a dead juniper at the end of the drive way and properly trimming a huge juniper that is my second favorite juniper here. Arborist said it’s one of the biggest he has seen and is over a 100 years old. The tree guy is British and we had a lovely visit yesterday. Great life story. He was a joy to spend time with.
The fruit trees were beautiful with their buds this year. Of course, the apricot got zapped with frost and wind so probably another year of no fruit. I am hopeful about the pears, plums, and apples, though. Not one single iris bulb I planted in the Fall came up. I think I didn’t water enough during our dry Winter. Although the daylillies put in at the same time are popping up.
One of my yard Bullys greeted me yesterday morning. I was thrilled to see him. Looked to me that Bob the Bullsnake had just chowed down on a mouse. I have become very pro Beneficial Bully since my move 2 years ago today. Bogart and I are fighting a battle with 2 very aggressive packrat nests. I wish I had a dozen more “Bobs” slithering around.
Have a great week, everyone!
Anne Laurie
Can’t speak to your specific circumstances, but as a beginning gardener, I had to learn *NOT* to bury my iris rhizomes ‘like a proper plant’. Here in New England, at least, they want to sit practically on top of the soil, and will refuse to grow or even rot if they’re ‘protected’.
Trivia Man
@Mousebumples: also in Wisconsin, i like adding clover to the lawn. Adds some texture and flowers, never gets long and unruly.
Quinerly
@Anne Laurie:
I had Googled iris issues. I suspect probably not watering enough (I still have problems remembering to water in the winter here at 7000 ft) and burying too deep. I don’t think I was thinking “shallow” when I put them in. I have planted a lot of bulbs over the years in NC and in St. Louis. These were my first iris bulbs, though. Apparently iris grow very well here if the gardener knows the basics.
Thanks for weighing in!
wenchacha
My daffodils got knocked around by the rain. I planted fancy double blooms, and it looks like the big blooms are too heavy for the stems. I hope when they multiply, they will reinforce one another.
I can live with Star of Bethlehem, but it’s Lily of the Valley which has overrun one side garden. The scent doesn’t appeal to me, and those suckers are so tough to dig out of the soil.
Kristine
@Anne Laurie:
Same here in NE Illinois. Half-exposed. I’m always tempted to at least sprinkle some topsoil over them but maybe I won’t now.
Quinerly
@Kristine:
Live and learn.
They were beautiful bulbs. I was in a hurry to get them in because I was leaving on a drive about. I did dig around last week. No sign of them.
Kristine
@Quinerly: I don’t think anything eats them—mine are exposed and squirrels and rabbits run over them and ignore them.
I am honestly alarmed at how above-ground the rhizomes are—I swear they’ve pushed up over time. I need to give the greenery a prophylactic spray with copper fungicide to prevent brown spot, but other than that they’re just spreading and taking care of themselves.
Kristine
@Mousebumples: I haven’t bought anything from these folks but they’re on my list of native plant purveyors. https://www.prairienursery.com
MagdaInBlack
@TBone: It makes me physically ill to see mature trees cut down and mature landscaping destroyed. I lay a curse on those people.
JAM
@Mousebumples: HI, I’m pretty late to this thread, but I recommend seedsource.com, Native American seed for native wildflowers, especially if you live in the south-central US (they are in New Braunfels, TX). I thought their seed packets were more generous than the other company I used, and everything came up.
Mousebumples
@Trivia Man: good idea, thanks!
@Kristine: thanks!
Mousebumples
@JAM: appreciate the rec, thanks! I’m in the Midwest, but I’ll see what they have on offer. 😊
Kristine
@Mousebumples: Plenty of native plant purveyors in the Midwest. Here’s another in the Chicago area. I bought one of their fragrant sumac and a few wild ginger plants and everything came up.
Quinerly
@Kristine: I learned my lesson. May try again in the Fall.
Kosh III
Here is Warren county TN we don’t have any flowers or plants aside from one large pot with lettuce that is about ready to pick.
This morning at 6am the temperature was a balmy 33F. Despite that the predicted Frost did not happen.
Gloria DryGarden
A friend is about to give me baby Aspen trees in a pot. I’m not sure whether to plant them or find someone who waters a lot and has rocky well Drained soil.
Meanwhile
Some humor about bird names, that I’m enjoying
https://www.facebook.com/100004942505583/posts/2587586464749412/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v
Oh dear, it’s a photo from Facebook. Can I post it like this? I’m new here.
It’s a picture of 5 bird name coasters, each with examples and drawings for Tits, boobies, cocks, peckers, and Hooters. An excellent gift for birders.