A Spring Day in the Garden

It's days like this that make me thankful that I live in Texas. While many areas are getting heavy rain/sleet/snowfall, we are experiencing the most glorious spring day.  The temperatures are a little chilly (for here, at least) but the sun is shining and I was compelled to head out into the garden and snap some photos.

In the side garden we have beans coming up and getting ready to start climbing the tower.  In the corners of the bed I planted Fennel, for any swallowtail butterflies that might want to lay eggs :-)

The cucumber and tomato plants are coming along nicely too, while the garlic chives, that have been in that spot for years, are definitely outgrowing their boundary.

I love the view looking across the back of the garden from east to west. I sort of wish this was the view we got from the house/patio, but perhaps it's just the fact that I don't see it on a daily basis that makes it special.

Here's a view from the front of the island beds.

In the back border, under the Southern Wax Myrtle, the white veined pipevine, is growing nicely and I hope ready to host some Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars this year. 

That's all from me today -- I'm getting ready to fly to London this evening to visit my parents for a week.  I hope you all have a good week.

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

Spring Garden 2018

Wow!  It's been six months since I posted on this blog!  The garden has languished in neglect for much of the past couple of years.  If you've read my blog before you will know I had several surgeries in 2016, that resulted in me being out of action all that summer, and the weeds and Bermuda grass taking over the island beds.  Not pretty, is it?

Achillea, which has naturalized under the Vitex tree, is now invading the island bed,

 along with Bermuda grass

I started out last year with good intentions of getting it under control and having a glorious garden, but you know what they say about the best laid plans....

I won't bore you with all the details but suffice to say that the weeds won the battle again last year.

So I'm trying again this year!

Eric has been helping by pulling out some of the Bermuda, and in recent weeks he's also been buying mulch and dumping it copiously on the island beds.

I had been getting depressed recently because the weather would be lovely all week while I was at work, but lousy weather on the weekend meant I still couldn't get out and do anything.

But finally, the weather was pleasant this weekend and I ran to the garden center and picked up some perennial salvia.  I've planted this before, but not had luck with it, so I'm hoping it does better this time and is actually perennial.

The yellow flowers are Euryops pectinatus -- Shrub Daisy which is said to do well in this area and is drought tolerant.  Just a little dead heading should keep it blooming all summer.  I love yellow and purple together :-)

In the back border, under the Vitex, Homestead Verbena (more purple) and Achillea are naturalizing beautifully.  As feathery and delicate as the Achillea is, the snow and ice we had this winter didn't faze it.  However, I don't want it taking over the island bed, as it is trying to do (see first picture), so I'm digging/pulling it out as I can.

It's a bit late, but I'm also starting some Profusion zinnia seedlings in seed starter mix on the patio.  I had originally planned to scatter the seeds and let the grow where they landed, but since we're mulching the island beds as part of our battle against weeds and bermuda, I had to come up with a Plan B.

Another plant that came through the winter unscathed to bloom again is the Dianthus.  I have several and they are all doing nicely.  Now see that green plant in the foreground of the photo?  I don't know what that is.

It's growing where I had Cosmos last year, and there are some small cosmos seedlings around it.  So I know it's not Cosmos, but I can't think what it could be.  The very fact that it is so lush and green makes me suspect it's a weed that will need to be dug out.  But if anyone can help me ID it I would appreciate it.  A closer photo, with my hand for size comparison, is below.

Name That Plant

One of my favorite flowers from when I was younger is the Fuchsia.  My dad always has luscious hanging baskets with them in the summer in England.  I was thrilled when I saw they had them in Walmart, of all places, so I grabbed one to hang on the patio.

I know it will only last through the spring, and won't be able to handle our summer, but I'm going to enjoy it while I can.

The blooms always remind me of dancing ballerinas.

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

Spring has Sprung!

Ooops!  How time flies!  I can't believe I didn't post anything at all in February!  Although, truth be told, all I would have had to show you would have been weeds!

Since I was out of commission so much last year, with my surgeries and recuperations, the weeds really got the upper hand in the island beds (and the back lawn, come to think of it).

I've been making a concerted effort to get them back under control again, at least in the island beds, before we go ahead and add some more soil amendments and mulch.  One thing I love about my new job -- I'm home by 5:15, so even now I can get outside and spend a little time weeding when I get home from work.  Unlike my old job where I didn't get home until 7 pm because of the awful commute.

So now I'm beginning to see some signs of spring, I thought I'd show you some photos, but before I get to those, here are some photos of our winged visitors.

I love this photo of a pair of Mourning Doves.  At least, I assume they are a pair.  They hung out by the feeders and bird bath for a couple of hours together, whereas usually, there's a flock of them.

Here's another spring visitor -- a female Red-Winged Blackbird, if I'm not mistaken.  Amazingly, there weren't any males around the afternoon I took this.

I haven't seen any bluebirds taking interest in the new nesting box I bought especially for them after I had one pecking at the bedroom window a few weeks ago. 

But could something be showing an interest in nesting in this shelf?

Hard to tell whether the leaves just got blown in there by the wind, or whether someone is making a nest.  I'll have to check it out tomorrow and see if there's any progress on it.

And finally - the signs of spring I mentioned!  The Turk's Cap, that I had given a drastic hair cut, is sprouting like crazy.  I need to get after the ant hill in the bed, and also the millet or whatever it is that is sprouting all through that area (I put bird seed out on the wall right above it)

I even have some color in the garden, courtesy of several dianthus that weren't fazed by our December freezes.

I believe these seedlings are Cleome.  They're coming up in the general area of where I had Cleome growing last year, so I hope that's what they are.

And in this area of the island bed I've got some Cosmos that self-seeded from last year and elsewhere are some Achillea that self-seeded from underneath the Vitex tree.

In addition, I'm seeing signs of life in most of the Lantana, but alas, not the Milkweed.  I may have to make a trip to Plants for All Seasons and see if they have any on Saturday.

This last photo is of another little winged visitor I spotted on the dianthus.  I have no idea what variety of butterfly this is and haven't been able to ID it.  If anyone knows, please let me know.


So, for now my main tasks are of the clean up variety.  I've still got a lot of weeding to do in one of the island beds and the veggie bed.  Then we can add some soil amendments and mulch.  (It's amazing how the level of the soil has dropped since we first built the beds.)  But I'm determined to get ahead of the weeds this year, so keeping up with them isn't such a chore in the heat of summer.

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

The Garden in May

I was talking to my dad in England on the phone yesterday and he commented "I was looking at your blog yesterday and you haven't updated it in a month!!"

Consider me chastised!  You would think, since I'm currently not working full time, that I would have all the time in the world for things like blogging.  But to tell the truth, since we've been having (so far) a very mild, pleasant spring, I've been more inclined to be outside walking or puttering in the garden than to be inside writing about it.

But in the last couple of days it has felt like summer has arrived in the Houston area.  The temperature has crept up and so has the humidity.  So today I went out early for my walk, and now I can sit in the cool and write about the garden!

The daylilies in the island bad are coming into their glory.  We have a number of different varieties, none of which I can remember the names of now.  I'll call this one "Peaches & Cream" - I'm sure it won't mind.

This is another variety I don't know the name of. Earlier in spring I divided this one and put some of it in the other island bed.  The newly planted cutting hasn't started flowering yet, but the original is bursting into bloom.

The other day I was sitting having breakfast when I caught sight of a hummingbird flitting from bloom to bloom on the Major Wheeler honeysuckle.  Naturally, my camera was not handy!  But at least I know there are hummers around now and am in the process of making some nectar to fill my feeders to put out today.

Here's a close up of the native honeysuckle.  I'm glad it's finally doing something.  I planted it three years ago and it was very puny for a while.

I was reading somewhere that this particular vine is not the sort that will vigorously cover a trellis so it's not great if you want it to hide an eyesore.  As it happens, I have creeping fig growing on the sound wall behind it and the combination of the two vines looks rather attractive and hides the ugly sound wall.

The Rose of Sharon is also bursting in to full bloom.  This has grown from a cutting I bought with me from my previous house, when we moved here eight years ago.  It's a favorite of bees and hummingbirds.

Here's another hummingbird favorite, Turk's Cap. I have a bit of a dilemma with this.  It's in a container, but managed to pop a root through the bottom of the pot and is now rooted to the ground.  It probably needs to be either repotted or planted in the ground somewhere (if I had anywhere for it) but I would probably kill it in the process.  So I'll leave it where it is for as long as it lasts and then replace it when necessary.

Well today is Friday the 13th, which means that Sunday is the 15th - Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, hosted each month by Carol at May Dreams Gardens.

I'm going to link this post up with her May Garden Blogger's Bloom Day when she puts it up.

This post is also linked with the following memes:

Flower Friday, hosted by Aquariann

Floral Friday Fotos hosted by Nick V.

Today's Flowers hosted by Denise at An English Girl Rambles.

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

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.

Signs of Spring

I had mentioned last week that I'm starting to see signs of spring in our back yard.  It's a dreary, dismal sort of day here in Texas but I got out with my camera this morning, to see what was going on.

First of all, here are some of the weeds - um, "lawn companions" - I was complaining about last week.

I *think* this is wild strawberry.  It grows rampantly along the side of the house in the soggy area that gets run off from our neighbor's roof.

Here's another photo - you can see just how rampant it is.  I don't mind it though, the birds seem to enjoy the teeny tiny berries it eventually gets on it.  

I'm not sure what this grassy plant is.  We only have it in the corner of the back garden closest to the bird feeders, so I think it may be growing from seeds that have either blown off the wall or been dropped by birds.  It's tufty and very fine and you can see here, it has lots of seed heads.  In fact, last weekend when it wasn't raining, there was a flock of sparrows out there, pecking the seeds from it.  it keeps coming up in the borders and containers too, but I just pull it out by hand before it gets out of control, as it has already done in the lawn.

On to more cheerful subjects, I'm letting this bramble type vine grow along the back, underneath the Southern Wax Myrtle.  Just recently it's become covered in pretty white flowers and I hope that berries will follow.  I'm sure the birds will enjoy it.

The native honeysuckle, Lonicera sempiverens, still looks rather puny but at least it's blooming.  I had thought it was too early for it to bloom, since it's a major hummingbird magnet, but I had forgotten about the hummingbirds' spring migration.  So really, it's right on time.

I haven't seen any hummers out there yet, but I'm going to put up a feeder this weekend and start keeping a watch for them.

The "Sam Houston" peach is blooming and beginning to leaf out.  I hope we don't get another freeze, like we did last year, and that we might be able to enjoy a peach or two this summer.

This is the original cutting of my Rose of Sharon that I bought over from my previous house.  I was happy to see green leaves sprouting all over it.  I have two others in different parts of the garden that are also starting to leaf and I'm especially pleased to see that the cutting I took from this one last year, and planted further along the wall to fill in a gap, is leafing too.  It's got a long way to go, being only a foot high, but I'm pretty confident that will grow well in the spot I chose for it (probably better than this one, which is getting crowded by the Wax Myrtle)

 
My husband's grape vine, a "Mars" table grape, is leafing out.  Eric pruned it back last year, so we're hoping for some vigorous growth and lots of grapes this year, as last year was very disappointing.

Other than this, we've got daffodils blooming, there's new growth appearing at the base of the Tropical Milkweed, the New Gold and White Gold lantana and the St. Bernard's lily by the waterfall.

And if it stops raining this weekend, I have some Purple Coneflowers and Black-Eyed Susan's to go in, as well as four new native milkweed plants that just arrived yesterday. 

Have a great weekend everyone.  I hope you're enjoying the Signs of Spring in your garden too. 

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

Signs of Spring, Part Two

A couple of weeks ago I showed you that we had a few signs of spring in our garden. Well I think the garden was holding back, waiting for the official "First Day of Spring" to really let loose. 

The daffodils, encouraged perhaps by the metal yard art, burst into happy bloom.

The Sam Houston peach, which did nothing last year (I think perhaps we had one blossom on it), is covered in blossoms and now starting to leaf out.

Time will tell whether or not we actually get a peach or two this year as well. (I can hope, right?)

In the raised bed by the trellis, several asiatic lilies are coming up.  I forget which they are, so it will be a surprise when they bloom :-)

On the trellis itself, the Major Wheeler honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens, has been a huge disappointment since I planted it two years ago, with little growth and no blooms. But it looks like it may finally redeem itself this year.

For the first time ever, it has some of the red tubular blooms for which I purchased and planted it.  I'm also seeing other signs of new growth, so it may fill out this year. 

At the moment it consists of one single stalk twisting up the trellis and I was so close to digging it up.  These few blooms and signs of growth have earned it a reprieve! 

I do wonder if I'm wishing for too much though.  Everything I have read on it talks about how wonderful it is etc. etc., but it's supposedly hardy in zones 4 to 8 and as far as I know, I'm in zone 9B. Our summers may just be too much for it.  I'd be interested to hear from other Texas gardeners who have had success with it.

Elsewhere in the garden, I'm seeing new growth on the three Rose of Sharon bushes, and the milkweed in the front border is sprouting new growth at ground level. The grapevine is leafing out, as are the crepe myrtles and by the utility corner, the homestead verbena has started blooming (no photos of that yet).

Spring seems to be springing out all over - I love this time of year!

Finally, here's a little hint of what's to come in my next blog post....

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

A Few Signs of Spring

It was nice and mild outside this morning as I was putting some fresh seed out for the birds.  While I was outside, I noticed that there are starting to be a few welcome signs that spring is finally on the way.

I had stuck this metal daffodil, purchased in Hobby Lobby I think, in the ground several weeks ago, and was very pleased to notice that the real daffodil next to it is starting to show some signs of life and leaf out.

The only blooms in the garden at the moment are still the pansies that were planted between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  My only regret was not planting more of them.  They are such happy flowers, they always make me smile.

While most of the perennials are still no more than sticks in the ground, I was happy to note that the Turk's Cap Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii, is putting out some new growth.

The real stars, though, are the daylilies in the island bed.  They starting coming up weeks ago and seem to have shrugged off our freezing weather.  Looking at these photos - I need to do some clean up work of last year's leaves and also get to work dividing these up.  

Not sure when is the best time to do that, if someone could give me some tips, I would appreciate it.

What signs of spring do you see in your garden today?




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