The April Garden - and a new garden journal tool

I've been meaning to write another blog post for well over a week, but can never seem to get round to it.

So tonight's post is a bit of a hodge podge of thoughts and observations from the last couple of weeks.

First of all, let me tell you about a great tool I have just re-purposed for keeping a garden journal - Evernote.



It's an app that allows you to take notes, keep lists, jot down reminders and a lot more.  I have it on my iPad, my iMac and also my Android phone.

A couple of years ago I used it to keep a diary/journal when my husband and I went on a road trip across the American West, taking in Carlsbad Caverns, the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, Lake Tahoe and San Fransicso.

I'm a great one for taking photos in the garden, but I'm bad about keeping notes of what happens when.  Every year I start a garden journal, only to have it sit untouched after a month or so.  This year, I didn't even start one.

But with Evernote I was able, for example, to take a photo with my phone of the island bed when I planted some native mikweed and then post it as a note in my Garden Journal notebook on Evernote.

I did the same a week later when I noticed the milkweed was sprouting, and also when we laid new stepping stones in the garden.

I can also hand write notes using a stylus on my phone or iPad, and I can clip articles from garden websites and add to Evernote.

Once something is posted to one of your Evernote notebooks, you can view it on any device that has Evernote on it.

Evernote is free in the Apple store and on Google Play.  You can also upgrade if you wish to the Pro or Business versions.

Anyway that's enough of that, back to my garden blog :-)

I mentioned above that I had bought some Asclepias Tuberosa (native milkweed) and that it was sprouting already.  I'm thrilled they are taking off so quickly and hope to have a good supply of milkweed in time for the arrival of the Monarchs.

I've also got quite a few Tropical milkweeds coming back up, both in the back and front gardens.  The Monarch Waystation is on it's way to being stocked and ready!

I was amazed at how the Achillea (yarrow) was unfazed by the freezes we had this winter.  It stayed fluffy and green all winter and is now putting out lots of clusters of tiny white flowers.  I had thought the Homestead purple verbena next it it had died over the winter, but it was just dormant and is now covered in beautiful purple blooms. 

I've already seen a Swallowtail butterfly on it, but wasn't able to grab my camera in time to snap a photo.

I never had any luck growing anything in front of this trellis which hides the utility boxes because the soil is like concrete and I can't dig there because of the utility lines.  But at some point I planted the verbena nearby (I have long since forgotten when I did that) and for at least the past couple of years, it has happily crept across and bloomed in this unlikely area.

A couple of weeks ago we were thrilled to notice new candles of growth on "Junior", our Loblolly pine. This photo was taken March 28th and the candles are at least twice as big as this now. "Junior" obviously appreciates the spring fertilization he got at the beginning of March.

In my last blog post I showed you the Sam Houston peach tree covered in blossoms.  Well now look at all these tiny little peaches! I hope they actually grow big enough to eat this year!

I bought this nesting shelf from Duncraft at least three years ago, but although we always have pairs of cardinals around, they've never used it.  We're trying a new location this spring, tucked in behind the Savannah Holly bushes/trees.  Hopefully, in a year or two, a cardinal family will decide it gives them the cover and shelter they need and nest there.

The hanger came off this little birdhouse and I was wondering what to do with it.  I had an idea and now it's lodged in among the scentless Star Jasmine.  There's nesting material in there now but I haven't seen which bird is using it.  

Of course, it could be the mouse that Eric got a photo of, helping itself to birdseed on the patio the other night.

And finally, look who is making a home underneath the Wax Myrtle...  a cute gnome couple.  I found the tree stump fairy house in Hobby Lobby first and had to get it.  But then decided it needed occupants and that's when I found the gnomes.  I would have got fairies, but they didn't have any in the right size ratio to the fairy house.

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

Miscellaneous Musings

After last year's drought, I have a tendancy to get excited if we get any significant amount of rainfall.

Imagine my joy then, when we got over three inches last Wednesday.  Of course the problem with getting over three inches of rain in one day is that it tends to lead to flooding. As it happened, we were lucky and by afternoon it had cleared up, so the street flooding that often occurs around freeway off ramps and service roads had, for the most part, cleared up by evening drive time.


I was actually home from work on that day and spent the day indoors, watching the water gushing out of the downspouts and out to the street to the storm drain.


It was raining so hard and so fast that the water started pooling in the back garden and I got worried about flooding.

 Eventually though,  most of it soaked in to the ground (I'm sure the pine tree was loving it) and the swales around the house took the excess water out to the street too and out to the storm drains.

The sight of the steady stream of runoff between the houses to the street got me thinking about something else I read about last week. 


As I watched the steady stream of runoff water, I felt relieved to note that I don't use any kind of chemicals on the yard, so we weren't contributing any pollutants to the local streams and rivers through the storm drain system.

Fellow gardeners have probably heard about the proposed partnership between NWF, National Wildlife Federation and Scotts Miracle-Gro in NWF's Be Out There program, aimed at getting kids outside and reconnected with the outdoors and with nature.


There was a firestorm of opposition in various blogs around the internet, as well as on Facebook and Twitter from people who couldn't understand why an organization which condemns the use of pesticides and other chemicals in the garden and promotes gardening for nature would partner with the company which makes its money selling said pesticides and chemicals, such as Round Up.


Now I'll admit, I've used Miracle-Gro on my houseplants and a few years ago I spent way too much money having Scotts come out quarterly and treat the lawn, before I learned about the benefits of organic gardening.


I've even got Miracle-Gro Organic Choice fertilizer in the garage now and use it, and I feed the birds in the garden with Scotts No-Mess Patio Blend seed, which they relish.

So I'm not totally anti- Scotts or Miracle-Gro, but I did feel a little disappointment that my recently NWF-certified wildlife habitat was now a little tainted by the association with Scotts in the minds of many gardeners.


I read later in the week that an issue had come up involving a pending legal settlement that Scotts were involved, dating back to 2008, in which they had not disclosed to NWF. 

Because of that pending legal settlement, NWF announced that the partnership would be ended


NWF is still going ahead with the Be Out There campaign, which I highly endorse -- I spent my whole childhood outdoors and loving it and often think how kids today are missing out on something great.  I hope the program is a success.


Something that might get myself and my husband outside more in the near future has been the arrival of seemingly every seed and plant catalog in existance!

We're planning a small vegetable garden on the unused east side of the house. It will be raised and will be created using bricks left over from the building of the house, which have been taking up room in our garage since we moved in.


I'll keep you updated as it progresses. 


And finally, we added a new birdhouse in the back corner. I think it adds a cottage garden look to the garden.

I hope Mrs. Wren or Mrs. Chickadee like it.
 

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

The Urge to Plant Something

This past weekend I, and seemingly most Tomball area residents, headed to Lowe's Garden Center as "spring fever" hit and the urge to plant something took over.


I was feeling a bit guilty really, having just had a week of "stay-cation" which would have been perfect for a garden project, but during which I didn't do much of anything but relax. However, it was a wonderful Texas spring weekend, with temperatures in the low to mid 80's, so I couldn't wait to get out there and plant something.  

I think my enthusiasm must have been contagious because my husband joined me and spent the afternoon pulling thistles out of the lawn while I planted in the flower bed.  

(Yes, I *do* realize I have a husband in a million, and No, he's not for rent!)


I concentrated my efforts on the bed outside the dining room window where the daffodils are winding down. I kept it simple and planted a Heuchera hybrid,  Coral Bells "Midnight Rose" and a couple of Iberis sempiverens, Candytuft "Snowflake", along with a six pack of Senecio cineraria, Dusty Miller.

Here's another view of the same bed -- this is as you walk into the back garden from the front gate .

The other project that was accomplished  (a joint effort in that I offered advice and my husband did the heavy labor, i.e. digging the post holes) was this support for the Mars grapevine.

 

Last year we had this vine propped up with some plastic trellis, but it wasn't up to the task and the whole lot collapsed. Not only that, but even though at one point the vine was covered in little grapes, every last one of them disappeared the same night the trellis collapsed.  

We're thinking the local raccoons had a grape party.

We hope this support will a) hold up the vine and b) allow us to utilize some sort of netting or other deterrant to keep the raccoons away from the grapes.  Any suggestions will be gratefully received.

  

In the previous photo, you can see how close we were to the birdhouse that has the nesting Carolina Chickadee, as my husband was digging and I was "heeling in" the posts.  That was when we met the occupant, who sat on the Vitex and scolded us for bouncing her house around.

Here's another shot of the birdhouse - the Vitex is really starting to leaf out compared to the photo of the bird house I showed you last week.

To end my post tonight, I thought I would share a photo of flowers in the front garden.  Another of the Gaillardia "Fanfare" is blooming, and there's also a lot of Verbena blooming.  The problem is, I have been all through my garden journal for last year and find I completely omitted to make a note of what variety it is!

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

For Rent: Desirable Residence, UPDATE

 It's official -- we have a Carolina Chickadee nesting in the bird house hanging in the Vitex tree.

I've seen her fly in and out a couple of times and when  I look in there (from a discreet distance) I can see her on the nest.

I tried taking a pic with my zoom lens but you can't see anything just a black hole.

I'm looking forward to seeing the babies when they fledge. I'll keep you posted


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