Spring is Rockin'

Spring is certainly rocking here, so don't bother knocking... I'm in the garden and I won't hear ya. I've already been sunburned and dehydrated... I'm one of those gardeners that looses all sense of reality when I'm out there. Time is not a thing, unless I'm running out of daylight. I forget to use the potty, or go in for a glass of water. My husband actually gave me a camelback... but I won't wear it because it restricts my movement. Pretty ridiculous.

 

I've been so busy that these pictures are actually a couple weeks old now, but nevertheless share worthy. Here's the newest addition to the Rex Farm- we're now the proud care givers of 6 koi fish. A neighbor has had them for a while, but decided not keep them anymore. So far they love our pond. The fish are a bit skeptical of us when feeding- we have to stand back before they will come to the surface. They also much prefer to get the food as it falls down from the filter fountain to the bottom of the pond.

 

 

The greenhouse proved to be so worth its cost this year, as I started seeds vigorously, everything from lavender to zinnia, pumpkins, from sweet marjoram to castor bean. For the first time ever, I've grown every tomato, pepper, herb, pumpkin, squash, eggplant, etc from seed on my own.

Why the lights? Besides it making the whole greenhouse look like a spaceship you can see from everywhere in town, it also helped get us through some seriously cold nights. I saw that adding Christmas lights (that actually get HOT to the touch) could up the temps by almost 10 degrees over night... it totally worked, as outside temps dipped down into the upper 20's and low 30's, and all of the stuff in the greenhouse sailed right through. I was careful to close up the window and the door (if they were open at all during the day) before 2pm or so, so the solar heat could build up over the afternoon... then the lights helped keep it up. I didn't do an exact scientific experiment, but I'm fairly certain it never dipped below 42 in there.  

Outside the daffodils sang their song, and the bees loved it.  

 

And I got super frugal and made this new shade cover for our gazebo! 

Our back porch is full HOT sun all day- and is relatively useless to us if its not covered. Years ago my mom bought us this nice gazebo with a screen cover- even had doors to keep the skeeters out- but last year it began to tear, and the mice chewed through the screen when it was stored in the garage. This spring has been financially taxing (to say the least); my husband is a retired veteran who was medically discharged from the Army this February, but has yet to see his VA benefits kick in. To say we're tight on money is an understatement! Can we say $6 in the bank? Yeah... so when I need to make shade for us I had to SUPER creative. I had bought some burlap for another project years ago, and never used it. Cheap garden burlap- like $6 a roll. I deciced if I had some cross bars (enter twigs from the forest behind our house) I could rig this thing with burlap. I literally used a household stapler and ta da! Its already managed several thunderstorms and even a wee bit of hail. My husband says it looks like Pirates of the Caribbean, which is FINE with me. I LOVE that ride (and movie). And you know what? Perfect shade! The plants I'm bringing out from their indoor slumber love it, and so do I.

Also, my husband built this table-- isn't it awesome?

 

We've also started finding frogs and toads in the yard. This silver tree frog was hanging out under the burlap, too.

I overwintered TONS of succulents this year- many of which spent the whole season in my living room window. I brought a bunch of them out and stuffed them in his old metal "thing" my husband found at a yard sale for $2 last year. Its now the perfect window box on my shed (also made by my husband out of almost entirely salvaged materials last spring).  

 

We've also had more bird activity than ever before. In fact, some doves laid eggs in our shed- in this huge willow heart I put up in the corner--- I was actually putting it there deliberately so birds would build in it, although I was hoping it would be inside the heart, not on top. Sadly, the birds only stayed a few days; every time I entered the shed, even if I did so slowly, tapping to announce my presence, the mama dove would fly up into the plastic-ey ceiling and bang her head, and spaz out for a bit before finding her way out. I was worried we would both hurt ourselves. I'm hoping she's found a better place to nest, as I still see her mister feeding at our feeders...  

 

 

Hope the growing season is finding you all well! I was lucky enough to already get a trip to the local arboretum in, so look for pictures coming soon.

 

Happy gardening! 

Oh man, I'm so ready.

This week you will find me staring out the window, watching the rain collecting in every vessel, gazing at the wind blowing through the leafless trees, amused by the robins dashing from flooded puddle to the mud for worms. Its been stormy here folks, and cold- today we didn't get above 40, and tomorrow's high is also in the low 40's.  We have had over 2" of rain since Saturday evening, and we're not done--there's more snow forecasted, and more rain, for the next 2 days. We're officially in cabin fever overload. I normally would savor this rain, grab some knitting, and kick back, do some house chores I normally can't get to. Normally. But its been since last September since I've really played in my garden, and I've done most of the house chores I can dream up... and I'm so ready to get  OUTSIDE. Totally don't even need it to be warm, just dry.

 

Thank goodness for the greenhouse. I'll take some pictures of progress out there tomorrow, and in the basement under the shop lights- we have seedlings- that's for sure. And all the dahlia tubers are divided and ready. Ready, ready, ready...

 

So what else is there to do but go through last years pictures? What a blessing to have more time to plan things, to leave less room for sporadic planting, to make more deliberate combinations. My sketch book has been open on/off every evening. My pen has been going like crazy. The pin boards are bulking up with ideas.

 

So this collection of pictures below were all taken the same day.  Do you ever have those days when the camera seems to find all the things you're looking for- and it all just feels right? You come in, and feel so glad you decided to bring the camera out, that you planted those plants where you did, that the sun was just right? This was one of those days for me. I just enjoyed every drop of the experience on this day.

 

So happy the bee balm has reached its massive proportions finally- rather than the scraggely little divisions I brought with me when we moved here. The bees seem to hum, yum... and the yellow hollyhock bloomed the first year. Bonus.

Just a few feet away this dahlia, "Mrs Eileen," steals the show. She was a favorite of mine last season (new that year), and this year, as I'm mapping out the beds this year I'm finding I want to put her dahlia in every one.

I've already gone and transplanted some of the golden hops I planted last year. I can't wait to see it engulf the arbor I've planted it on... I mean, seriously CAN NOT wait.

 

This perennial echinops is wide awake and growing already. So happy to see its return, as last year was my first year growing it, and it preformed so well.

I have no more zinnia seedlings from this mixed packet, and I didn't collect seeds. This mango hued variety was one of my favorite flowers all season. I think it looks cool with the cleome seed pods.

Even the tree bark looked good that day...

Another zinnia from the mix packet- a coral beauty. Darn, I should have collected seeds!

The caladium are started in the basement now,  but this Miss Muffet will be so missed... succumbed to mold in the basement over winter. Such a great spotted pattern and color combination, especially with 'georgia peach' heuchera. 

Another caladium, taken at sunset with the sun behind it. It just glows!

I ordered a wholesale bag of 50 oxalis corms that arrived a few days ago. I also successfully overwintered the corms I dug up last year, and they are fully growing in the basement already. I should be hardening them off into the greenhouse in a few days. I love the color & shape they bring the to the shade garden.

 

I just planned where I'm putting all of the alocasia bulbs this year, too. Can't wait... can't wait!!!

 

Last year was my first year trying painted ferns. I also tried a hybrid mix painted and lady fern- pictured here. I can't wait to see their little fern fronds poke up soon.

More caladium. They seemed so happy in the garden, they made me a true believer, and I will always grow them now.

I overwinter all of my elephant ears in the basement in their containers. They are all growing, sending out large leaves, looking wonderfully awkwardly tropical in the dry ugly basement under the shop lights. Haha.

I am so glad I brought this perennial along for our move a few years ago. Its so tall, nearly 7 feet some years and always covered in flowers, covered in bees.  It lights up the back of the garden. I can find the name if anyone is interested- at the moment it escapes me.

Oh how I love how rain makes the garden glitter.

This fern overwintered in a huge jar on my dark dining room table! Here she is in her little terra cotta pot in the shade garden last year...

...with her other fern friends.

All of these containers came in for winter, and are growing like mad, ready for their trip back outside soon. The geranium leaf you see at the top of the frame here is even blooming in the basement today.

 I've already pruned the clematis. Some of them are sending out new leaves and shoots from the ground. This variety, Betty Corning, is moving up the ranks to my favorite as the years go by.

Because I didn't leave room for orientation, I can't tell if this clematis is the Polish Spirit I have the same trellis as BC, but I'm pretty sure it is.

I tucked my three succulent urns under the eaves of the shed- where no additional rain could get them. Folk say succulents are so easy, but the truth is, when you live in a wet climate there can be times when it rains and rains, and your succulents need a break- which can mean moving them around a lot. I keep my cacti in the greenhouse, and the majority of the succulents planted in tricky spots where they get sun, but no rain. Under these eaves works, and under our old gazebo, on the sunny side. Other options comes include up against a house.

Not bad for Minnesota, eh?

I love how the agave looks up against the shed. My husband built the shed from wood he took from a shed/barn he tore down in northern Minnesota.

 

 

This succulent hanging basket was also hung under the eaves. It seems so, so happy there all season.

Not far from the succulents this dwarf bedding dahlia blooms. I love using these for the front of beds, hiding the knobby knees of a rose, or skirting the edge of a shrub.

This is a large bed I have behind out garage.  It was filled with invasives when we moved in, but I unearthed a few keeper plants, and have finally made it my own. There's dahlia Mrs. Eileen center stage. You can also see another angle of the bee balm and yellow hollyhock from the previous pictures.

Last summer I tore out hundreds of ditch lily tubers on a path between our garage and the neighbors. I filled the path with perennial divisions and used stepping "stones" I literally unearthed in various spots in the yard (and/or repurposed from edging). In between the steps I tucked in some large hens and chicks I found at walmart on clearance.

The path is awkward because one side is all day intense sun, and the other gets shade from the neighbor's garage and a large tree in the back yard. So just inches from the succulents I have shade plants like this heuchera, some ferns, and a Japanese Maple.

 I found the Japanese Maple labeled as a Red Maple Tree, MISLABELED at a local walmart. JM aren't hardy here- they are supposed to be reliably hardy to zone 5, and we are zone 4a, so I've taken my special JM and placed it in a micro zone (between the two garages, in a bed of large rocks that warm the soil when the sun hits). On the off chance you find them available here you pay A TON- like $50-75 for the common "bloodgood" varitety. I was beyond excited (like, I may have shouted from the rooftops) when I found this guy for a song.

I also included my first cushion spurge in this section of the garden.

 

Right at the end of this walkway I planted this "mrytle's folly" dahlia. I wasn't too happy with how many flowers it put out, but the few blooms I did get were pretty great.

Across the walkway from the Japanese maple was 3 tall plants of dahlia "ice cube." I'm not crazy about the worn siding of our rental house, but it sure goes great with this dahlia!

My neighbor gave me this dahlia- and I loved it. It worked its head off all season- non stop huge blooms, and all from one tuber. I am hoping to have more of it this year through dividing.

One last beauty from this warm day last summer- some birch wood laying by the fire pit, ready for an evening bonfire. I'm pretty sure we ended this day with a fire. perfect ending to a great day in the garden.

 

I don't know about you, but getting lost in all these pictures for awhile made me forget it snowed today. For a little while anyway.

 

Happy gardening!