Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - May 2009

May is when things really start picking up around this Zone 5b garden. I've almost made it through one complete year at this house, so I'm still finding new gems (and some that are not-so-gem-like) that were left by the previous owner(s). Slowly but surely the gardens become more of me and less of them. Here are some thing I found blooming...

Many "firsts" happened this week:

The first peony -- our state flower.

The first blooms opened on the clematis vines. I'm not sure of the name of this pink one, but I really like it.

The first perennial geranium, barely peaking out of the foliage.

The first irises. I love the smell of irises--it reminds me of helping my neighbor in her garden as a child. (Anyone know the name for the bi-color bearded iris above?)

Other blooms have been around for a week or so...

Lily-of-the-valley lurks underneath the lilacs.

Huge alliums bloom balls of purple.

The azalea has several blooms this year.

One of my favorite blooms tells me that raspberries will be here soon!

And now we come to wonderful blooms for which I have no name -- any help is appreciated here!Interesting, almost neon purple-blue flowers with a black base.


Large bush that within a few days went from nothing to spectacular!


And finally, I believe these a bulbs, perhaps related to crocuses as they have similar foliage. These tiny white flowers I've found in the herb garden and near some peonies.

Happy Bloom Day to all -- may the next month be full of beautiful blooms!

Finishing projects... and a new tool for the garden

With all of the beautiful weather, I've been able finally work on some projects that have been building up for some time...

The raised beds are complete. We mixed a final batch of compost/vermiculite/peat moss over the weekend. Peppers and tomatoes (I'm really no good at growing these from seed, I've decided) were purchased from a local garden center, Habig Garden Center (oh, how I love Habig's). The majority of things were also planted on Sunday -- bush beans, cucumbers, various lettuces and spinach, basil, oregano, carrots and more. We got a late start to a few things (lettuce and carrots, but we should get at least a salad or so). The carrots I ordered were order specifically because they can be planted a bit later. Mel's Mix (from Square Foot Gardening) is terribly expensive to create. I better get the best produce ever to compensate for all of the money spent on this stuff...

More detail to come on the varieties of peppers and tom-toms...

The rain barrel is almost done! It's primed--all I need to do it pant it. Right now it's that electric blue, which doesn't exactly complement the brick facade. I bought the special plastic paint in "cocoa bean" and, after two coats, this puppy will be ready to go. Must finish it before the big rain tomorrow!

A future "how-to" post on this one to come as well...

And finally, because sometimes I feel like a old lady, and because I am really in the weeds (they are everywhere!), I bought myself a Vertex GARDEN ROCKER!! This small contraption is built of magic--it works so well for weeding an area and not feeling like your back/knees/legs are going to aching the next day. I picked mine up a Meijer near my Mom's house for only $20. After using it only once, I can tell you that it is worth it's weight in gold to me!

Rain Gutter Gardens

What a cool idea -- especially for those who don't have a ton of space.

Attach nice looking rain gutters to the side of your house for a row of garden.

This idea came all the way from Alaska via the Juneau Empire.

New plants for me!

I recently acquired several new plants through various means and I am pleased to share some of them with you...This lovely bleeding heart was a present to myself. I've been looking for one and this one just so happened to be right in front of me as I was entering, of all places, Kroger, my local supermarket. I've found they have some gems from time to time.

This was a fun find for me at the Indianapolis Museum of Art's annual Perennial Premiere. There were many plants that I was familiar with, but some very new and unusual plants as well. I found this cordylis lutea and loved it. It's great for shade, which is what I have the most of...

I also saw a Heuchera 'caramel'; it was beautiful but a bit rich for my taste (they only had one size: BIG) -- I'll try to find it elsewhere, though.

Finally, my neighborhood had a plant swap this weekend. It was great fun! Each person brought some plants to spare and share and the hostess even allowed us to take some starts from her own garden.
Besides the bee balm pictured above, I got a few irises (white and a yellow), a beautiful variegated hosta, and a geranium among a few others.
I think we're going to do this semi-annually (in the spring and the fall) and perhaps a neighborhood garden club will grow from this.

There was an explosion in my garden!

An explosion of color!

I really like these red tulips. Their petals are pointed instead of round like the rest of my tulips.

Purple lilac bushes by the back door perfume the air.

These minnow daffodils flower in bundles and are minuscule compared to the others.

More tulips, orange and pink, in the back.

As I was potting up some hanging baskets this weekend, someone yelled, "Your flowers look great!" as they drove by my house. It absolutely made my day.

Thinning plants back for a new water hose

I was recently gifted a new watering hose, so I bought a spiffy container to keep it rolled up nicely. It was a bit wider than what I used last year. And I remember feeling like I was going through a jungle to get to the water spicket last year.

Thus my project from Sunday:

• Remove old crumbling rocks that lead to the spicket.
• Dig up surrounding plants that will eventually grow to cover said spicket.
• Replace old rocks with wider paving stones.
• Put in new water hose and container.
• Fill in holes with wood chips.

I think the finished product looks pretty good. We'll see if I need to thin back the plants even more. The one in the back on the left (I think it's a tall phlox) will need to be moved most likely.

This took a lot longer than anticipated as every time I went to plant the starts that I had just dug up, I ran into another task (generally weeding) that needed to be done before planting.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - April 2009

Happy Tax Day Everyone!

Although it's been quite rainy and dreary here lately, many spring blooms are here!

I believe this is a crab apple of some sort. I can't wait to see it bloom as this is the first year I've been at this house; I moved in too late last year to see the blooms.

Hyacinths and daffodils are still blooming everywhere. A few tulips have even shown some color.

This is the first time I've seen these pretties blooming as well.

A view of the front walk. This reminds me of a colored Easter egg.