Phenology

[pameladean]

Bloomed while I wasn't posting

Crocuses

These were eaten by rabbits, but in order of color. I never saw the pale blue-white ones that are always first, because rabbits eat them before they bud. I saw the tiny gold snow crocuses briefly, because rabbits eat them as soon as they bloom. Larger yellow and large purple crocuses are let to bloom until they get limp and then eaten. White ones are not eaten at all.

Tulips

Rabbits ate the earliest ones, the red on the south side of the house and the deep purple in the bed under Lydy's office window, as soon as the leaves came up, and repeatedly thereafter. No flowers, unsurprisingly. Later red ones that were either growing in grass or had not had the dead leaves cleared away from them managed to bloom, as did the water-lily tulips that are growing in goldenrod. These last are starting to revert to standard, taller yellow tulips with plain rather than red-striped leaves, which is interesting to watch.

Daffodils

One flower. I expect they want feeding. Rabbits don't eat them.

Scilla

This was a banner year for scilla. They have spread all the way to the front yard, just a few individual blooms, and the back had masses, both of the wild ones that were there when we moved in and the more floriferous ones that I planted in the lawn.

Winter aconite

The plants on the south side of the house and on the north side of the house have disappeared. Nobody eats them, but squirrels like to dig them up and say, "Ewwww, poison!" The corms of winter aconite don't like being dried out, so that pretty much does them in, unless I happen to notice and cover them up in time. The ones in front that are growing in a mix of grass, asters, and bee balm came up and bloomed copiously with the scilla there.

Small purple violets

White violets with purple faces

Freckly violets

Actual violet-colored violets, as opposed to the standard purple




Blooming now

Canada violets

A few of the other kinds of violet that got mowed early or are in the shade

Dame's rocket

Shasta daisies

The neighbors' peabush hedge

Lilacs, though they are starting to go off and look soggy

Bleeding heart, which has been going forever

Columbine, both the double red and yellow and the straight yellow

Creeping thume

Moss roses





Thinking about blooming

Peonies

Mock orange




Might be blooming another year, but annoyed by the weather

All the roses




Encroaching

Japanese knotweed
motherwort
hairy bellflower
wild grapevine
Virginia creeper
ten thousand maple seedlings
plantain




And how does your garden grow?

Pamela

Comments

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

Everything is dormant or dead already--too hot.:(

[pameladean]

Wah.

P.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's early this year--I expected another six weeks of life.

[momomom.livejournal.com]

Bunny troubles there, chipmonks and squirrels here.

[pameladean]

We do have squirrels, but aside from their propensity to dig up bulbs they can't eat and to take one bite out of a ripe tomatoe and then leave it lying about, they are not too troublesome.

P.

[noveldevice.livejournal.com]

My strawberries are still fruiting. Yarrow is flowering and I am marking the pink so that I can leave those and cut off all the white heads before they set seed. I am also ruthlessly removing all white yarrow from the top part of the yard. Only colored yarrow in the yard! White yarrow at street level where it belongs! Roses are blooming up a storm. That Folklore that I nearly shovel pruned has a new lease on life, and Oranges'n'Lemons needs to have the wild buckwheat cleared off. Iris are pretty much done and I am painfully digging them out to divide. Sage is blooming, parsley is blooming, thyme is blooming. I have no rosemary. The sunflowers are getting bigger and bigger, and so are the beans and tomatoes. The paprikas have died, and I am mourning them. I may have to buy a plant or two. Lilies are getting ready to go--the horrible orange ones in the lamppost bed are of course first, but the nicer ones should go soon. Water lilies have been blooming for a month, day lilies have yet to go, and the sweet flag and dutch iris have been done for a few weeks. Oregano and mints bloom later, and I am rooting out all the spurge, but if I had it it would be blooming. The love-in-a-mist is going like gangbusters, and so are the clematises. The penstemon that treeskin gave me last week is still blooming, and I seem to recall that skullcap blooms among the later of the mints. I have never grown madder before so I'm currently just hoping it survives, let alone blooms. (Does madder bloom? I've never had it before.) I'm still waiting for some seeds (cosmos, an ornamental basil, etc) to come up, and waiting to see if the things that look vaguely petuniar in the pots I planted petunias in are actually petunias. Oh, and the romanesco is looking enthused and the lettuces are going to be big enough to eat soon. Om nom nom.

I think that's it at my house. Except for the everlasting catnip and the bizarre onions. :)

[pameladean]

I'm impressed.

You've reminded me that I should have had another category:

Encroaching.

P.

[noveldevice.livejournal.com]

All that in a few spots in the back yard and a front garden that is about 25 x 20! :)

[thedragonweaver.livejournal.com]

I live in an apartment, so it's all pots, but to my surprise almost everything is thriving, even the heat-blasted morning glories.

Except fo rthe sunflowers. My cats have been eating those.

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

Kind of wonderfully out of control. Nearly 30 tomatoes planted, but even more violets. http://vom-marlowe.livejournal.com/259704.html

[pameladean]

Your violets are glorious.

And I should have added yet another category:

Still in pots. That's where my tomaotes are, all two of them. And the marigolds to surround them. I hope rabbits don't eat marigolds. They haven't bothered the potted ones, at least.

We have two raised beds that have gone to grass and volunteer garden plants. I really ought to clear them out, this of all years, as you say.

P.

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the kind words about my violets--they've really done well this year, it's been very rainy and gray for us.

So far, I've not had rabbits or squirrells go for the marigolds--it's one of the reasons I like them. Well, okay, I admit I am a marigold junkie. I still have plenty of stuff that's in pots that wants planting--I think it's some sort of gardening law that when you plant one, two more appear....

[markgritter.livejournal.com]

All the volunteer cilantro is growing like crazy with dense leaves, though I anticipate it will go to seed as soon as it gets hot and dry, like it has in previous years.

The chives have wonderful blooms.

The tall snapdragons have noticeably grown, although there are no buds yet. The dwarf snapdragons are producing flowers.

The bunnies have taken care of one of my gardening chores--- I was supposed to trim the phlox back after it finished flowering They ate about half of each plant.

The tomatoes seem to be filling out nicely.

[gwyneira.livejournal.com]

My garden is still a couple of weeks behind because of our unusually cold, wet spring. The lilacs are just about done but were beautiful this year (I think they liked the cold winter), the rhododendrons are in full flush, and the roses are just starting out (http://gwyneira.livejournal.com/128227.html).

And yesterday I spied an English bluebell in the back garden, at the edge of the woods where I planted them in November. I planted more than one, but my bulb luck has never been great; I'm very chuffed that one actually came up and flowered. If it weren't pouring today, I'd go take a picture of it.

[raphaela.livejournal.com]

I have exactly 3 Black-eyed Susans growing up from the wildflower seeds I planted last year. My azaleas are unhappy, and my peonies are very limp with the recent heat. Dandelions abound in the back yard.

[clindau.livejournal.com]

Peonies are nice and big, lots of leaves but no buds. Patience, patience...

Planted two clematis(es); one is blooming (pink and white), the other is entertaining serious thoughts about blooming.

Received/moved several hostas to make a bed along a shady fence. They have all gotten over that indignity and are thriving.

Traded with a garden blog acquaintance some lily-of-the-valley for lamiastrum, putting the lamiastum where the l-o-t-v was. It's also doing well.

And this afternoon I found a volunteer tomato plant in the bed by the garage. Too bad it will succumb to walnut wilt later on. Maybe I should leave it there for a while and then pot it up and put it on the deck. Hmmm...

In the front--

The larkspur seeds from the Philadelphia Flower Show are sprouting!!! Yay!!!

Everything else out front (echinacea, phlox, sedum, monarda, bleeding heart) is thriving despite continual assault from weeds and tree seedlings, aided and abetted by lazy weeders....

Gosh, there's more in our gardens than I thought. The landlord thinks we're doing a good job with the yards; we got a note from him the other day saying how nice the yard looked with all the plants and he enclosed a gift card to Home Despot. Whee!!

I imagine if we volunteered to mow the lawn he'd swoon from teh happy....

And there's a new community garden starting up at the corner of Glenwood and Gramercy a block from the house. I've been spending some time there helping to build raised flower beds (the site is mostly asphalt and concrete; digging beds is contraindicated) and sticking the occasional plant in the ground. Already it's a marked improvement from the vacant lot that it was. If there were an army of helpers, it would be a *finished* garden by now, but since there are only a handful of us the work happens in fits and starts. I was over there today dumping a load of wood chips from the Park Board's wood chip site by Theo Wirth Park. Those will be for the paths between the beds. I hope we can all sustain our enthusiasm over the summer, we've only been seriously working for a couple of weeks.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

My hard is not much bigger than a double bed. Last year my roses were crap. This year looks like it's shaping up to be good rose year.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

I have neglected my garden for more than a week. Who knows what I shall find there today when I look? :-)

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I got more blooms on my daffodils that I moved around 2 summers ago than from any others. It was about then that I happened upon the MN Daffodil Club (which probably has a different name than that, and isn't actually part of a Kurt Vonnegut story - hey ho) a couple of years ago and asked for advice on why my daffodils were blooming so poorly.

Mr. Guy said that it might have been because they didn't get enough water in the autumn, or it might have been because they were too crowded. I prepared to blame both of those as they both pertain.

K.

[pameladean]

Thank you, that is extremely useful. I have daffodils tucked away in odd corners and am always forgetting about them -- obviously a bad idea during a fall drought.

P.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

It's hard to remember that they're there in the fall, though. That's the part I always have trouble with.

K.

[jbru.livejournal.com]

My columbine are flowering nicely and the rest of the front prairie is busily putting up green stuff. I have yet to see my Rattlesnake Master and I'm a bit concerned for it. On the other hand, the Cupplants are being vigorous!

The daffodils that minnehaha helped me plant bloomed and passed already but the irises are coming up for their turn. A few blooms already and more in store.

The hostas I got at the Friends School plant sale are doing OK, but I have yet to get the wild ginger that I purchased there planted. They're doing quite nicely in their little pots while I wait for the stuff where I want to plant them to die under the tarp I placed there.

And, as is according to plan, my lawn continues to die back after the application of Evil Chemicals.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Oooh, you should have asked me for wild ginger. I have two kinds.

K.

[inlaterdays.livejournal.com]

Oooh, freckly violets and moss roses.

My daffodils were lovely and my balcony planters are looking a bit daunted by recent thunderstorms but will soon perk up. The herbs are nice and green.

[tanac.livejournal.com]

The new climbing vine's made it all the way up to the deck and is taking over deck rails; the strawberries are ripening (we've had two so far!); the tomatoes are large and green; the magnolia trees are just now in bloom and smell intoxicating; and it's 96F outside right now. ugh. Welcome to summer :)

[papersky.livejournal.com]

My herbs are all thriving, and my flowers grown from seeds are big and exciting plants but have no flowers yet and so I can't yet tell which are which. They're really cool though.

I love having all the plants up in boxes on the balcony where I can reach them with no need to bend at all.

[kightp.livejournal.com]

Haphazardly, I'm afraid, and mostly on its own this year. When the weather was right for weeding, I was rehearsing and performing, so that bit never got done; as a result, all the flowerbeds are utterly overgrown with grass, and now the constant rain is keeping me from getting out and doing what needs to be done.

As a result, what's thriving are the hardiest of the hardy: The perennial salvias, especially the twiggy scarlet one (the hummingbirds love it), the lavender (despite not getting a haircut in the fall) the scilla (quite invasive, hereabouts) some annuals that self-seeded in the back beds and, surprisingly, the lupine I planted last spring (I didn't realize how vigorous it would be.

I divided my irises last fall; unsurprisingly, I'm not getting much bloom this year, but I'm told they should be back at full strength next year.

It looks as if the snails have got the clematis, and my columbines have utterly disappeared. Perhaps they just lived out their lifespan.

Edible-plant-wise, most everything is getting well-watered by the rain, but growing slowly because it's still quite cool. The herb garden, all containers, is doing just fine - even my finicky French thyme came back this year, albeit slowly. The raspberries are rampant and full of potential fruit; the six tomato plants are nice and green, as is the sugar pumpkin, but none of them are actually *growing* at the moment. My lemon cucumber seems to have been nibbled to the ground by some creature that likes lemon cucumber leaves. )-:

At this point, it all depends on sunshine. If we get some soon, I should have food crops. If not, well, there's always the farmers' market.

[kchew.livejournal.com]

I have heirloom tomatoes in pots this year, and I've put some tomatillos in, hoping that they get enough warmth and sun to produce before the frosts hit. I overdid the herbs a bit (never!), and have everything from the more usual rosemary, parsley, and Genovese basil to lovage, borage, and calendula. The peonies are blooming for the first time,
and I have a 'pink' area (carnations, snapdragons, obedience, a Japanese quince), a 'blue' area (blue salvia, munstead and provence lavender, delphiniums), and the iris area. The irises are blooming furiously now, and the strawberries are producing pale fruit. My front lawn is edged with a riot of bearded irises, and the poppy is poised to strike once they're done. The Japanese irises, which are almost indigo, will start blooming in a few weeks, and are in a big clump at the end of the garden. I need to divide the irises: right now, they make a lovely monochrome wave down the
length of the sidewalk until the end, when a new iris I put in last year is blooming and is not a complementary colour. I'm debating moving new iris, or making the front less monochrome.

I'm really excited about the tomatoes this year, and the basil.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

One of the oddities of the current house is the way large trees like to grow very near the buildings' foundations. One of these is a black locust. The backyard is heaven right now. (But grass is also blooming, and I sneeze. Ugh.)

I have an adorable little geum "Mango Lassi" that's blooming right now, and looks likely to go on indefinitely. Violas since forever, weedy peach-orange poppies, Siberian iris. The massive lupine that sprang from nowhere and bloomed dozens of purple spikes has finished, and the other surprises, hostas, are putting up buds.

The fruit trees have finished and seem to be setting fruit, no thanks to our unusually cold, wet spring weather. I'm so curious what kinds of fruit they'll give. Clearly at least one is an Italian prune, but we have what appears to be a pear and possibly a cherry as well. Spring at a new house is always fun.

[therienne.livejournal.com]

I'm new to the garden, since it was here long before I arrived this year. I've mostly just been watching to see what will come up, (which apparently is everything), and trying not to touch anything until I know where it all is.

So far, Gone Already: crocuses, daffodils, forsythia, lily of the valley, a single tulip, azaleas, rhododendrons, money plants, pieris andromeda, wisteria, and bleeding hearts.

Mostly Gone: irises (purple, yellow, white and purple), unknown pink bush, and double peonies.

Going strong: unknown small white flowers, unknown yellow flowers, wild roses, buttercups, bailey's gold, laurelwood, and peachbells.

Just beginning: bittersweet nightshade, fleabane, and a rose.

There was no hint at all any of this was here when I arrived...