As I walked across the Bridge of Flowers yesterday I was suddenly aware of a sweet fragrance. Looking around and sniffing first in one direction and then another I realized the fragrance was coming from this Viburnam carlesii, just beginning to bloom. This shrub is also called Koreanspice viburnam, and the fragrance certainly certainly is spicily sweet. It is not a surprise this is a member of the honeysuckle family. It is not fussy about soil, but I…
We are putting a (we hope) deer-proof fence around the vegetable garden. When my husband Henry began digging the first post hole a turkey flew up from the weeds right at the edge of the garden. Henry looked and saw she had been sitting on four eggs. The fence had to go up. The turkey has not returned. Fortunately we have been told that the season is early enough and she will be able to lay more eggs.…
I hope you can see how yesterday's heat - 88 degrees - is making the forsythia bloom as it never has before. We also have a lot of wind which is drying, but blossoms keep coming. All of a sudden the wild cherry trees in the chicken yard have burst into bloom. Last year we gambled on this weeping cherry, bought at Home Depot where I do not buy many plants, and it came through the winter and…
Bloom Day and I have the most respectable forsythia ever. Which isn't saying too much. A little rain would probably have helped. We haven't had any real precipitation since two inches of snow on March 8. The Van Sions, an old early blooming variety were here when we moved in, have been blooming for a couple of weeks. Now other daffodils are just starting to bloom as well. Lots more to come. Rain would help. I have little…
Soil is alive. It is more than sand, silt or clay particles. It is even more than rotted organic matter. It is full of bacteria and all kinds of fungi, good and bad. Soil is alive and it needs to be fed. Some people go to the garden center and buy bags of 5-10-5 fertilizer. The numbers stand for the ratio of nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), and potassium or potash (K). This kind of fertilizer is soluble and…
It is still so cool and cloudy that I have to go to town to enjoy flocks of daffodils - on the Bridge of Flowers. Hyacinths and tulips, too. For drama and beauty I look to the sky. To enjoy the beauty and drama of other skies, click here. Skywatch Friday has arrived.
Last fall we saw that beavers had built a lodge on the edge of our Frog Pond. Once before, in the spring some years ago, we had beavers in the pond but they didn't really get a lodge built so we hoped they were just passing through. We urged them on by keeping the overflow pipe in the pond clear. The beavers kept blocking it, and we kept unblocking it. We heard that beavers do not like the…
The weather remains cool and breezy or windy. And dry. I wish we had some of that early warm weather, and rain.This morning there was spitting rain - and snow flurries. There is very little sense of seasonal progression in the garden. This is the single daffodil in bloom, besides the very early Van Sions, but you can see (if you look closely) that buds are showing some color. Over the weekend my husband got all the little…
Mother Nature has been playing with us these past weeks, but no matter how she laughs as she keeps us off balance spring is coming. Crocuses, daffodils and sky blue scillas are laughing right back. Forsythia bushes are sunbursts of blossom. Even some small trees are beginning to bloom. My neighbor Paul has a golden witch hazel in his garden. Hamamelis vernalis blooms early in the spring and is noted for that early bloom and twirly petaled flowers.…
A couple of weeks ago I was invited to sign my book, The Roses at the End of the Road, at the majestic Springfield City Library, along with a group of other local authors. These book signings are one of the ways that the Springfield City Library supports authors as well as readers. We do need each other - authors, readers and libraries! Gerry Garner was a great light at the event. This great-grandmother (we both have great-grandaughters…