Moving through March

I really want to get caught up this week - so here we are in the middle of March.

This is the west side of my house, from the front look to the back (to the south). Once the Maple tree (to the right just outside of this picture) and the cherry tree (right side of the photo) leaf out this shade is pretty dense.

This is the sun at 1pm

View from the backyard looking to the front (the north)

The two shrubs you can see are Leucothoe axillaris and an unknown azeala. I'll have more pics of these later but they were shrubs that one of my co-workers (Pam) got for free from Home Depot. Last year in June (I think) she had gone to the garden center and they had a bunch of shrubs on this rack that they were going to throw away and she convinced the manager that she would "take them to the dumpster for them" *wink wink, nudge nudge* Well Chris had decided to tear out the old yews from the front of the house around the same time I heard of Pam's good fortune (she couldn't use all the shrubs she got) so I said tear the ones on the side out as well and I put in these guys (plus one other leucothoe that is hidden by the azeala in this photo) in my new shade garden. I can't wait to see what color blooms the azeala has!!

Just before the 1st basement window I found this...

Dicentra spectabilis - Pink Bleeding Heart.

This is from another co-worker Amy last year and I transplanted it after it bloomed and it was pretty warm out. I read that they can be hard to transplant and don't like being disturbed so I had no idea if it would be back or not...so happy to see new growth. and I found it interesting that the white bleeding heart (see previous post) had new green growth and the pink bleeding heart came back red.

Let me pause and say that if it were not for Pam and Amy sharing their perennials and their knowledge with me over the past 2 years I'd either be divorced for spending too much $$ at the nurseries or I'd have one hell of a sorry ass looking yard.

Moving on, I found this little guy starting to strech his legs in the shade bed.

Polemonium reptans - Jacob's Ladder

I picked up this up last year from Point Phillips Perennials. They have decent prices, are very close and very knowledgable and Pam and Amy are close with the owners (so naturally I want to follow their lead, you can get some good deals when you become friends with nursery owners!)

Moving into the back yard and my full sun bed (I'll probably alternately refer to this as the sun bed, backyard bed or lilac bed)

It's not much to look at now, but I'm setting the stage for later posts. (the right side of the picture is a lilac shrub from my parent's friend's house and a liriopie (evergreen grass from my mom).

In the left side of the picture I think I found the beginnings of a Turtlehead

Chelone glabra

I was so afraid I killed this plant. I got 3 of them on my trip to Russells last May and waited ridiculously long to get them in the ground. I tried my best to make sure to water them (they love water!) a lot but I never got them in the ground because of our pesky sewer/backyard make over project that never really got finished. Specifically I had to wait for the retaining wall to get built and filled in. Chris had me scared that I'd end up having to move these plants when we finished grading so I never planted them. Poor excuse because I could've moved them, but alas I hope all the fretting was for not as I think/hope/pray that this means they will return this year. They have such a cool flower, I really hope they spread!

And this is where it all began! This hill on the east side of our house was such a bear to mow that the first year we moved in I started tearing the grass out. This is where the aforementioned plant sharing from Pam and Amy saved me. They pretty much gave me every plant in here and I'm so grateful!

So as of March 16th there really isn't a whole lot to see. Mostly everything in here is an herbaceous perennial (dies back to the ground every winter) I leave most of the dead stems up all winter to let the birds pick at the seed pods and add some winter interest when the snow covers them. I had just cut them back in the beginning of March. So things are just starting to poke their heads up. What little bit of green you can see is tulips and daffodils.

in the far lower corner I did notice the Obidient Plant was starting to sprout

Physostegia virginiana

Just up from that is the catmint

Nepeta xfaassenii

And continuing across the bottom of the bed I found the yarrow sprouting (fern-like leaves) with the yellow chrysanthemum (soft grey/green leaves)

Achillea millefolium - Yarrow &  Chrystanthemum

Moving long the bottom of the bed towards the front of the photo

Hemerocallis - lemon yellow daylily.

One of the few things I bought for this bed. I'm not a real fan of the stella d'oro daylilys (they typical golden yellow ones) probably because so many people have them. I like this softer brighter color yellow. It makes me happy :)

And these...

These are purple asters from my little old neighbor down the street. she offered them to me while she was clearing them out of her bed, she was sick of pulling them up every year and I was rescuing planting anything I could get my hands on so I took them. that year they did great, really deep purple flowers, I was so happy. Last year they did nothing for me so if they don't bloom this year they're all goners.

And in the back yard Chris made me this lovely retaining wall.

haha. in all seriousness, we have some big plans for adding a deck or patio back here that would cover this so I was okay with him using broken pieces of our concrete sidewalk to hold back the dirt from washing down the sidewalk.

This will make a lovely new full sun bed and I can't wait to see flowers covering up spilling over the "wall" :)

And here he is, relaxing after all that hard work :) and a view looking down from our deck of the little path I threw together. This path leads through the new bed, through the "lilac" bed over to the west side shade bed.

Okay so techincally the path leads to the bird feeder pole in the lilac bed, but that's just splitting hairs I think :)

Life in the garden (early March)

I'm debating how I want to set this up. I thought about showing each plant's progress through the month but I realized that might get a little too confusing for me and I just don't think I have that kind of time.

So I think I'll just post pictures in the order I took them and hopefully you (and I) can follow the progress.

Let's start in early March. I first decided to grab my camera when I noticed the 1 crocus in my yard start to bloom.

This happens to be in my "bulb bed". This bed has sounthern exposure and 6+ hours of sun a day, especially in the early spring before the big silver maple (the bain of my gardening existence) leafs out. We have a deck immediately to the left of this bed and that provides shade from the late afternoon sun. In here I planted some Hyacinths, Tulips, Daffodills and some Asiatic Lillies. I also have Siberian Irises (even though they're not bulbs)

Moving around the yard I found my foxglove had survived the winter. I bought this plant last year at Russell's Wholesale Nursery, Willow Grove, Pa.

I researched this plant and found out that it's supposed to be a perennial but many foxgloves are bienneal and I was worried that this wouldn't come back. There is fresh new growth in the middle of the gross brown foliage.

Digitalis lutea - Straw Foxglove - New Growth

I also found that some of the 50+ daffodil bulbs I planted last year had started to break through the mulch

I don't recall all the different kinds I planted, some are single colored, some are bi-colored and some are Double two-tone blend. The are all from Lowes though, purchased and planted last fall.

Narcissus - Daffodils

In the West Side shade bed I found the White Bleeding Heart that I bought last year coming up. This is an herbaceous perennial meaning it dies back to the ground and regrows from the roots every spring.

Dicentra spectabilis - Bleeding Heart

A few feet away I found My Newst Favoritest Plant coming back - it's common name is lungwort, not thebest name but it's a cutie (just wait for more picutres, you'll see!)

Pulmonaria saccharata - new growth

(all pictures were taken from 3/6 through 3/11/10)

Up next - pics from 3/14 through 3/17 - things really start to pop up!

End of March update

I fully intened on doing a bunch of catch-up posts where each would sort of chronicle a week in my early spring gardening life. Well that obviously didn't happen so now I have to play catch up.
March was a pretty wide-ranging weather month this year. We had snow on the ground in the very beginning, followed by high temps (into the 60s and 70s and some pretty heavy rain in the middle and a big cool down, now more rain to finish the month and the first few days of April should bring temps back into the 70s!

I started the month off wanting to sow some seeds. There won't be much flwoer spending money this year and with the opputrunity to get some seeds thorugh the Hardy Plant Society I thought I'd give it a go. I havne't done plans from seeds in a number of years, simply becuase I have no real room to set up seedling trays under lights inside. And partly because I can get super obsessed and usually end up overwatering and not leavin well enough alone. I love browsing the forums at http://www.gardenweb.com/ and this year I came across the winter sowing forum. So in the beginning of March, even though I was really weeks behind the 8-ball I decided to give it a go.

My very first winter sown jugs set up outside. I started with Hollyhock, Delphineums, Sweet Pea, Columine, and Gold Groundsel. From my limited research most of these seeds require some cold treatment - typically that means cold moist stratification and for starting seeds inside that usually means moist papertowels in baggies in the refrigerator for a few weeks, constant checking and them potting up once they've sprouted. I didn't think that sounded like a lot of fun, but it did make them great canidates for winter sowing. By sowing the seeds outside I'm letting Mother Nature tell the seeds when to sprout. I'm still not sure I'm giving them enough cold treatment being that I on;y just started them in MArch, so I'm not going to be shocked if nothing comes up.







What I was shocked by was this

-My very first holly hock seedlings in just over 10 days!

And now, I have a total of 15 seedlings in 3 containers! These seeds were in my basement for the past 2 years which makes the fact that they even germinated that much more amazing!

On 3/13 (another lovely spring day) I sowed Candytuft, more Columbine (Aquilegia)  and some Burgundy Pincushion (Knautia Macedonia) seeds. So far I have 2 or 3 candytuft sprouts, but I've read that the columbine and pincushion seeds can take a while so I'll be patient.

Then on 3/17 I did some Sweet Alyssum (annual groundcover), Silene Armeria (catchfly/none-so-pretty) and Emilia Javonica (Tassel flower). The Silene and Alyssum seeds were so small I just dumped a bunch in and holy cow - in less then a week I have hundreds of sprouts!

Silene Seedlings

Alyssum Seedlings

And finally on 3./21 I did the last of the winter sowing for March. I did 4 containers of Oenethera (Evening primrose), 3 containers of Nigella Damascena and 1 conainer of Tanacetum Niveum (Tansy). I only got 9 Tansy seeds from the HPS seed exchange and I really want this plant so I really really hope at least some of them germinate. I can see myself really coddling this container/plant if they germinate!

So all in all I'm up to 39 containers for the year. And this is only the hardy perennials and annuals - I haven't even started the veggies or the tender annuals yet (mostly zinnas, marigolds and 1 packet of poppies and 1 packet of calendulas and some others I'm probably forgetting.)

Stay tuned for an early spring walk around the yard :)

A Warning: blog subject will be shifting

I have so much to talk about, but sadly none of it is a TTC update. Until I decide if I want to start a dedicated gardening blog I'm going to be doing a whole lot of "dirt talk" on this one. I have become nearly as engrossed with gardening research as I ever was with TTC. I think the 2 subjects have a lot in common, how do I get it grow, what to do to take care of it so it will thrive, how do I handle the fine line between becoming ultra obsessed and smothering vs. showing it the appropriate amount of attention. In the above sentence "it" can refer to either a baby or a plant. (and coincidentally, they both grow up in nurseries)

Gardening really does take my mind off TTC. I can get lost for hours outside and never get tired of examining each green leaf (usually trying to decide if it's a weed or a plant). And I can read gardening books well into the night, long after Chris has gone to bed. I can read and re-read the same plant description over and over and still get something new out of it every time. I can plan and re-work that plan in my brain and still make changes once I go to put a shovel in the ground.

I have so much to learn. I am constantly mispronouncing plant names as I try to get to know the latin names behind them. I'm trying different methods of propagation. I love experimenting. I hate killing things, but I love seeing how far I can push the "rules". I love getting my hands dirty. I wiping the sweat off only to come inside, look in the mirror and see the "war paint" across my forehead. I always laugh at myself. I love my pruners, I love making my plants look nice.

I love cottage gardens, I love seeing all the different colors and heights and textures, when one thing dies off another springs up and brings a whole new look to the garden. it's always changing, never stagnant. it never looks the same 2 days in a row. I love having everything stuffed in there so there's really no need for mulch. I love finding something new and exciting at a nursery and coming home and finding the perfect spot for it.

I love giving plants that would otherwise be shovel pruned and tossed in the trash a new home and new chance at life. they rarely disappoint.

I have so many pictures to put here to start documenting my garden transformation from brown nothingness to green waves of wonder....if that sounds like fun to you then stick around as I take you on a tour of my yard through the seasons. I didn't have much to work with when we first bought the house so every year there have been some major changes. this year will be no different :)

(oh, for reference to those that don't know where I live, I'm in Eastern Pa, borderline hardiness zone 5a/6b. I always try to get plants that are hardy to at least zone 5 - like I said, I hate killing things).

It's ridiculous how badly I want it to be spring

Like I seriously cannot even think of anything else right now...ok that's an exaggeration but there are times during the day where I seriously cannot stop thinking about plants and flowers and plans for my plants and flowers and thinking about what I'll use to replace something that doesn't make it and what I need to divide and what I want to add and...okay, you get my point right??

While I cannot WAIT for the warm up this weekend I know it's going to make going back into winter, which is inevitable, that much harder.

I will probably take pictures tomorrow of what might be sprouting to comapre to least year and I think I'll also take advantage of the lovely temperatures and start doing some garden clean up. at least cut back the dead stuff (I leave most of the dead stuff in place over winter, it adds interest and the birds can pick the seed pods clean) and pick up the leaves. I'd also love to convince Chris to clean out the burn pile (lots of whood stacked up by the house from the basement step project and other various wood projects that we just cleaned out of the basement) and our christmas tree and take it to the barn for the next bon fire.

mostly because I think that would be the perfect spot for me to start my next project - Winter Sowing.
This will be the first year I'm trying this, I'm skeptical but it's such a simple concept I think it has major potential.
If you're interested here's the link wintersown.org but in essence, this is what winter sowing is all about...you sow seeds in containers during the winter (for hardy perennials, in early/mid spring for tender perennials and annuals - but it doesn't matter because it's still early to do any real gardening anyway), put them outside with some sort of clear or light colored cover/lid with holes for drainage and for air transporation and let Mother Nature do the rest. The seeds will germinate when they are supposed to and after increasing the number of air holes over the course of a few days and uncovering when it's warm and covering when it's too cold you essentially leave them be as the little seedlings grow through spring until it's safe to plant them out. Depending on how the seeds are sown you may transplant them into individual cell packs before they're ready to grow in the ground and with some minimal protection through the major swings in temperature and making sure they don't fry, freeeze or dry out it's pretty much as simple as seed starting gets.

-From the FAQ's on the winter sown forum on gardenweb.com:
"Winter Sown germination is never forced, the seedings are put in the ground while very small and initially fed with weak fertilizer solutions. They come into bloom at their own right time, and they achieve their height and width at a gradual pace....they develop naturally and are vigorous and healthy because of it.

Seed sowing and germination should be simple...that IS the emphasis of Winter Sowing. We do less work and are rewarded with more seedlings because of it. It's an uncomplicated method....keeping it simple will always keep it fun."

The real difference between direct sowing in the garden and winter sowing is the seeds are protected from being washed away, eaten by birds and other critters or blow away in the wind. You also have more control over where you want to plant them in the spring and there seems to be a higher success rate in germination this way. The major advantage over starting them indoors (well there are a bunch of advantages) but mostly you're not wasting space in the fridge for the seeds that need cold moist stratification, you don't have grow light set ups all over your house that can make your neighbors think you're growing pot and every inch of available shelf/counter/table/floor space isn't covered with flats of seedlings. Oh, and you don't have to lug the flats in and out of the house to harden the seedlings off.

I can't wait to try this out!! :)

Be glad you can't smell through the internet

so it's okay for mom's with babies to talk about their kids poop so I'm going to extend this liberty to myself to talk about my dog's poop (just count your blessings that I didn't take any pics) :)
Druppy's poop has been the source of much frustration and anxiety these past few weeks. since he got sick it's been "soft" to mucus-y to downright watery. And since he really wasn't eating and what he was eating for weeks was baby food I wasn't expecting them to be normal.
After he got diagnosed and started on the prednisone it was definitely diarrhea and we had to stop the pred and start an anti-diarrhea medicine. The meds would supposedly cause constipation so if he didn't poop with a 24 hour window we had to stop them.
He started this course of medication last wednesday and by saturday the diarrhea seemed to be less watery then it was earlier in the week and he even started to pick up a slight interest in food. This was super exciting so we weren't forcing as much baby food in hopes he'd be hungry enough to eat some dog food. Well less food in means less poop out, so sunday he had one BM and that was it. It was definitely more like what came out when he was first sick and not nearly as watery anymore so today I decided to call the vet and see what we should do. She wants us to put him back on the prednisone (1/2 a pill once a day instead of 2xs) and the antacid 2xs a day and stop the other meds. YAY!!! This means he'll really get his appetite back :) And we're going to watch what we feed him more closely this time so hopefully we'll be able to determine if it was the food of the pred that caused the diarrhea. Pray that it's not the prednisone as he needs this to get better!

So After I hung up with the vet I let him out and he finally pooped (it was nearing that 24-hr mark) and it was just about normal!!!! I was so excited and praised him up and down (not like he really had any control over it) bu he was proud, he came trotting up the back deck steps all happy and it was so cute :)

Oh how I hope the trend of normal poops continues!! :)