A little of this, a little of that
A little of this, a little of that on this blustery, alternately sunny and rainy day. Lots of fussing over the roses of course. Hey, that stick looks like it’s getting ready to go up my nose!
All day it rained maple seeds. They were literally everywhere. I even found them in my pants later today. How that happened I have no idea. TMI?
‘Erinnerung An Brod’ is in only it’s second year but has recently exploded in growth. So I had no choice but to move him from his container and into the garden into a more permanent position. This is not a good picture, but it’s covered in buds.
Here’s a closeup.
Not to be outdone, here’s ‘Georges Vibert’ (a Gallica) directly opposite and also getting ready to bloom.
Whoops! How did another photo of ‘Comte de Chambord’ end up in here? I have no shame.
As a matter of fact, lots of roses got new homes such as ‘Reine Victoria’ (not shown) and ‘Celsiana’ as seen tucked among some Coreopsis above.
Some were bareroot deliveries from David Austin like this ‘Winchester Cathedral’ still waiting to be planted.
And some were placed in their new locations like this bareroot ‘Lady of Shalott’.
Some only arrived a few hours ago like this last of my rose deliveries for the season (this one from Heirloom Roses). Our nosy little spaniel had to make sure everything was copacetic.
Of course I underplanted some of the container roses with colorful Calibrachoa which will fill in the bare spots and trail prettily over the sides this summer. The hummingbirds love them.
Believe it or not, it’s not all roses around here. Really! Here we planted a variegated willow to screen an icky view. This is Salix integra ‘Hakura Nishiki’ in case you’re wondering.
And just above the willow, a house wren sighting. They’re making their nest right next door so they visit our garden often. Wrens are such fun birds to watch because they have such an exploratory nature–always poking in and out of things pausing just long enough to sing a little ditty.
Here’s our resident bluebird off in the distance (yes, they ended up staying!) He perches on this tomato cage quite a bit–I think it affords him a good view of the nestbox and the rest of the yard.
Around the corner the blackberries are in bloom so you know what that means. More blackberry jam this summer! Only this time, with a LOT less lemon. Yikes.
But enough about us. What’s happening in your garden?
I don’t know a flower from a fern, but I was very impressed with the color of your hair. Love it! Oh nice roses too!
Haha! That’s funny Christin. Wanna know a secret? I just “henna-ed” it. I smelled like a hay field for about a week, but it got rid of some greys. 😉
Hey – I was thinking the same thing – your hair looks really pretty! And the garden too.
We had that second crop of maple seeds too – they were everywhere. I think it is because some of the trees produced seeds during our warm spell, and others waited until now. Two maple seed seasons.
Isn’t it interesting how each year a different tree “picks” itself to be mostly a seed producer? They seem to trade off.
Yes – I gotta get back to writing about my garden … I hear ya!
Interesting because I had no idea the maples produced two crops of seeds this year! Well, that explains it. Actually, this silver maple in our yard looks like it’s at the end of the road and we noticed that it has hardly any leaves yet but a BAZILLION seeds, so we wondered if maybe this is one last ditch effort to continue it’s line? Food for thought. At any rate, we’ll be very busy cleaning up the mess on the sidewalks, roof and gutters. Keep those garden posts coming! We love to read about your beautiful garden!
Well my hubby is tillen new beds for his peppers and a new small one for me and extended some around the house about a foot 🙂 and he is complaining that I will be putting in to many roses ATM I only have 3, 1 completely mature and another about a year old and the other one is leda she needs to produce roots and I just transplanted her and she was leafing out and I accidently tore off some of the new feeder roots and the leafs started falling so after a day I decided to cut the new shoots off :(. I had to make room so alot of my other flowers got the shovel..
Wow Jessica it sounds like you have quite an operation going on! Tell hubby to be glad you don’t have 50+ roses and that it could always be worse, haha. 😉 I’m so sorry to hear about your ‘Leda’ rose. She’s such a beauty, too (looked her up on HMF). I’m sure she’ll make a full recovery. If it makes you feel any better, 4 or 5 of my new banded roses did not survive the earlier temperature extremes we had last month. I know they’re dead, but I don’t have the heart to discard them. 🙁 Good luck with your peppers! My husband and I can’t seem to grow a decent pepper to save our lives but we’re trying again this year!
Hi Lara, Re your Silver Maple, I had a similar experience with our mature Acer (japanese maple) two years ago. Trillions of seeds and the following year I had to cut it down as it had developed a very bad case of vert.wilt, I hadn’t recognized the warning signs over the previous two years. We were heartbroken as it was a truly beautiful tree, admired by everyone who saw it. This was followed by lots of research into wilt-resistant trees, finally decided on a Heptacodium Miconiodes. It’s looking great and, of course, it was a great excuse to do a big make-over in that corner of the garden (gardeners really don’t, if I am to be honest, need an excuse). All it takes is watching Chelsea Flower Show on the tv (on at the moment), showing lots of new ideas and new plants and who
can resist that?
I love your blog, in fact I read it for the first time today and immediately joined up. I should add here that I’m living in Germany (also zone 6) and struggling with what I’m sure is climate change, interesting times for gardeners!!!!!
Regards, Marilyn
Hi Marilyn! I just sent you an email… 🙂
Thank you so much for that info about your silver maple. My husband and I were just looking at ours the other day and were shocked to see how many dead branches and few leaves there are on it this year. This actually isn’t our home–we’re renting–but I may have to call it to the attention of our landlord. I’ll be sad to see it go, if it has to, because it’s really such a stately and lovely tree. Interesting that your also seeing climate shifts all the way in Germany, wow! We have had the weirdest spring, and I’ve seen some doozies. I’ll be honest, I’m nervous of what may still be to come. Anywho, thanks again for the info!