Enjoying the Spring Garden

With the recent rains, and now the bright sunny weather, the back garden is really starting to take off.

In previous years, the island beds were completely taken over by weeds by this date, but I've been more or less able to keep them in check by weeding five minutes here, five minutes there.

Other than the Nutsedge, which I have complained about before on this blog, the most prevalent weed in the garden is this:

I don't know what it is, but it's everywhere -- in the lawn, in the island beds, in the veggie garden. It's fairly easy to tweak out but it does involve bending over and hand picking, as trying to hoe it only ends up with the roots of the River birch, Vitex and peach trees getting disturbed.

I got most of it out now, which is better than I have done in previous years. If anyone knows what it is, please let me know.

The pansies I put in at Thanksgiving are coming in to their own now and really looking lovely. The yellow, purple and white set the tone and pick up those colors elsewhere in the garden - such as the Homestead verbena under the Vitex and the snapdragons in containers by the birdbath.

Along with the purple Homestead verbena under the Vitex, this Achillea is blooming. I planted this a few years ago and it's spread along the back border, enjoying the dappled shade provided by the tree in the summer.  I haven't really seen many blooms on it before, but it looks like it's getting ready to pop now.  I started some seedlings of this in different colors so I will be interested to see how they do in future years.

Isn't it funny how the smallest birds can make the most noise?  I was indoors this morning and heard what at first I thought to be a mockingbird singing outside.  I realized it was something else and took a peek outside to see who it might be.  It didn't take me long to spot this Carolina Wren sitting at the top of the tree behind our back wall, singing his heart out.

That scraggly old tree is quite a favorite with the birds.  The woodpeckers love it,  and I happened to see this flock of Cedar Waxwings land in it yesterday. Funny how I had never seen one of these birds until just before this year's Backyard Bird Count and now I see flocks on a regular basis.

Another garden visitor I was thrilled to see was this squirrel. Squirrels used to be regular visitors until the lots either side of us were cleared and built on.  It's been quite a while since we have had such a furry visitor.  This one was partaking of the buffet I had put on the wall for the birds.

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Winter Work Day in the Garden

I think I have mentioned I'm between jobs (still) at the moment, so yesterday I took advantage of the beautiful weather and tackled an eyesore in the garden that has been bugging me for years.

This section of bare wall at the end of the garden is UGLY!!!  I've wanted to do something about it since we moved in, but since there were originally three pine trees outside the wall, the whole area was so chock full of roots it was impossible to dig.

Obviously, the trees are no longer there (thanks to the developer not taking care to protect the trees in the neighborhood while putting in walls, utilities etc) so I decided that the time had come to tackle the issue.

Up until now, the area has been home to a selection of containers (more or less empty at present), but I wanted to add an evergreen that would (a) HIDE THE WALL and (b) offer some habitat to the birds who visit.

I found what I was looking for in this Hollywood Juniper.

According to the tag, it's a fast grower and will fill out to 30' tall and 10 feet wide.

Getting it in the ground was a bit of a battle. In addition to the tree roots that I knew were there, there's a hard layer of clay about a foot underground.  We broke it up as best we could using the auger that my husband uses to aerate the lawn and filled it in with good soil before planting.  Looking at this photo of it in place, I can see that when it's mature it should fill the area nicely, hiding that ugly wall and offering us some privacy if the field across the street behind the wall gets built on, as I'm sure it will.

Today I refreshed the containers with some cool weather color - white and purple alyssum and some snapdragons, and arranged them around the birdbath.

I also added some alyssum, dianthus, stock and salvia greggi to one of the island beds (the other one will have to wait).  

After all that I took a well earned break on the patio, and look who paid a visit...

These are Cedar Waxwings and I have never seen them before!  I've added them to my "Life List" now.  Amazing to think I might have missed them - I just happened to look up and there they were.  I wonder if they will stop by and be counted at the weekend, during the Great BackYard Bird Count.

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.