Green Thumb Sunday

Green Thumb Sunday
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Rhododendron Buds!

Virginia Bluebells

Virginia Bluebells close-up!!

"Carlton"

"Ice Follies"

This has turned into a gorgeous, blue-sky, "balmy" day! I finished the wall and hauled the rocks to other beds.

Tah-dah! Here's the complete view,

with Barbie's tree in the foreground.

This little daffodil is one of 15 Carlton Daffodils I planted last Fall.

The continuing saga of the lone hyacinth.

The Bleeding Heart is growing!

As is the Pasque Flower.

Here's a new little fellow that 's shown up over the past few days!Last, but not least. This is called "getting up close and personal"
when you're about the business of digging and planting rocks in the ground!

Not Shady. Just slightly "buggy." :-)

Poem In Your Pocket

I found this interesting fact at Bobbi's Place, Almost There.

Today is Poem in Your Pocket Day! (Click words to find information.)

Today's forecast was rain. It did rain,
but not until this evening after 6:00 P.M.
That's okay with me!

First, the poem.
Then, the events of the sunny, warm morning!


Spring
by Karla Kuskin

I'm shouting
I'm singing
I'm swinging through trees
I'm winging sky-high
with the buzzing black bees.
I'm the sun
I'm the moon
I'm the dew on the rose.
I'm a rabbit
Whose habit
Is twitching his nose.
I'm lively
I'm lovely
I'm kicking my heels.
I'm crying, "Come dance"
to the freshwater eels.
I'm racing through meadows
Without any coat
I'm a gamboling lamb
I'm a light leaping goat
I'm a bud
I'm a bloom
I'm a dove on the wing.
I'm running on rooftops
And welcoming spring!

Yesterday, I mentioned I was going to move "the chunks." That's what I did, and I have the photos to prove it! ;-)

This is where I stopped. I ran out of time AND energy.
I'll try not look outdoors tomorrow.
I'm leaving for the weekend, and have many loose ends to tie.

This is today's photo of the fellow that hibernated under the sedum. ;-)

This is a close-up of the (lone) hyacinth.Here's the little pond I sank last Spring.
Obviously, it needs to be cleaned.
After removing the top layer of Fall leaves, look what I found!
Some green-ness to a couple of water hyacinths.
I really don't know that they'll live,
but I'll leave the whole kit-'n-kaboodle here
until Sunday afternoon.
And now a warning about the following video:
I didn't really take it for viewing, so close your eyes.
That way, you won't have to turn your monitor sideways to watch it.
AND, you'll be able to hear the bird sounds,
which is the reason I bothered
to make this video in the first place!
(Did you hear the red-bellied woodpecker?)
:-)

Still not shady around here!
Just a little silliness. ;-)

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day
Brainchild of Carol of May Gardens
Make your posting on the 15th of each month.
Join us!

Hey, Bud! Where did you go?

See those nice big chunks back there?

Now, look at the following photograph. I'm going to remove the rocks at the front of this bed. I'll replace them with two layers of "chunk." It may help level the bed a bit. Then I plan to reposition the rocks in front to make a lowered layer.

(Can you visualize that?)

And then (I can hardly wait!) I'm going to plant
a shorter variety of Butterfly Bush!
Hurrah!
(I haven't purchased it, yet. I want to see if I can find it at a local nursery.
If not, I'll order it.)

It looks as though I need to begin some serious trimming on my forsythia!


Yo-Hoo! Bud....?

Oh!
There you are!

Hens and Chicks on the left and a Hyacinth (my lone).

Well, for heaven's sakes! Did that little guy hybernate
'neath the sedum?

Same sedum on the left, a trimmed miniature rose in front (I have the variety, but not right here), that lone hyacinth back there, some daffodils that somehow are crowded into the bed with a prickly rose! Yuck! Who thought THAT would be comfortable?

Scenic photo of some red stonecrop, a crocus, some leaves, another newly sprouted miniature rose (different variety) and an in-dangered dandelion leaf!
(This may be the year we'll try eating him!) ;-)

Last, but not least... it's astilbe! ;-) yea!
(Look closely!)

Hasn't this been a much-anticipated Spring?
I won't be able to play outdoors until Sunday afternoon.
The believe tomorrow's forecast is rain.
So... that's okay with me. ;-)

I hope you had as much fun outdoors today as I did!

Today is Sunday!

While it's not been a warm sunny day, it's not a cold Winter's day! We can be very grateful. ;-) At this writing, 5:42 P.M., the sun has peeked out in full force, even though the sky is still very cloudy.

A few things are beginning to bloom, or are nearly blooming, in several of my beds. Here are a couple of photos.

Siberian Squill ("Scilla Siberica") and Early Snow Glories ("Chionodoxa forbeisii")
The S. Squill are looking at their "toes" and the E.S. Glories
are smiling at us!

With forcythia nearing full blossom, you can catch a peek
at the other tiny blossoms off towards the right.

Here's a closer look. They say both these plants propagate freely.
I say, "Go for it! Multiply rapidly!"

Tete-a-tete daffodils

(While I'm not advertising for the site, this provides a nice description.)

These are so very cute and petite, as they're only about
six inches tall. You might notice how fortunate I was
when I planted other daffodil bulbs last Fall.
I seem to have just barely missed a direct "hit"
on a group of Tete-a-tete bulbs! (second photo)

The forecast states warm weather ahead. Wonderful news! Perhaps I'll show these same plants in full bloom in a couple of days! :-)

Perhaps you'd like to see what I discovered "peeking out" last week when I was raking!
Pulmonaria (Lungwort) "Diana Clare"
Pulmonaria (lungwort) "Trevi Fountain"Pulmonaria (Lungwort) "Baby Blue"
Heuchera (Coral Bells) "Amber Waves"It does look as though I should have been wearing gloves!
:-)

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Brainchild of "As the Garden Grows"

Is There Anyone Out There Needing Aerobic Exercise?

This past Saturday morning, this is what I heard!

Saturday was the beginning of the first extensive raking season of "a year in the woods." It was a beautiful, clear, blue-sky, warm day! Beginning around 8:00 a.m., I raked the 4 inches of last Fall's oak leaf mulch from the south and east and northeast flower beds. Next, I grabbed two big, blue tarps (I'm guesstimating them to be around 9'x12') and headed to the backyard.

I didn't shred these leaves... there were tooooo many of them. I raked until 2:00 p.m., when my friend/neighbor Chris and I enjoyable a walk in the woods. We returned around 4:00 p.m. or so, and I resumed raking. I admit to taking time to cook and eat a quick meal, and then I finished raking for the day. My it felt good!! A grand total of 18 tarp-loads of leaves were dragged to the ravine. Not bad if I may say so myself! :-)

On Sunday afternoon, I managed to rake and drag 5 more tarp-loads. And this evening (Monday) I began work in the "Sunny bed" in the front corner of the yard, as well as the north edge of the driveway, and hauled 4 1/2 more loads to the ravine.

Unshredded leaves take much longer to decompose. My theory about the lack of deer in my backyard is that they don't appreciate trying to climb the bank when it's covered with so many layers of foot-deep leaves. I'm going to operate on that theory and continue to drag those leaves down there! ;-)

I tell myself, by composting leaves, I may gradually increase the square footage of land back there! ha. (What do you think?) We own land on the other side of the ravine, and a small trickle of water flows between the banks. I haven't pursued the possibility that mosquitoes breed there, but I assume it's very likely.

Can you see the edge of the ravine back there?

These photos were taken from the dining room windows
at nearly 5:30 p.m. Saturday.
You can probably tell by the source of sunlight and slant of the shadows.

Looks nice and clean, though, doesn't it?
(Sunday's raking cleared leaves from about 10' behind
that soon-to-disappear log pile.)It will remain beautifully clean for only so long......as you may notice, if you look closely at the trees,
many still hold their leaves. ;-)But those will be a project for another day.

And I'm ever-so-hopeful that I haven't raked too early!

Nothing shady here, yet.

Green Thumb Sunday

"As the Garden Grows"
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Something Old...

Virginia Bluebells... growing in a woodland garden.

Something New...

Lady Sheila Ann Germaney Iris - new last Fall.
They're growing in the front yard, around my sister's tree.

Something Borrowed?
(Well, not really - these are new, too!)
Sweet little crocus;-)

Something Blue.
(Siberian Squill)

I want you to see these little gems! Grape Hyacinths that I planted late last Fall. The first photo is a little dark. The last is taken from above. :-)

A happy spring day!