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.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - March 2017

It's the 15th of the month, and to garden bloggers, that means one thing -- it's time to put together a post celebrating Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, hosted by Carol of May Dreams Gardens.

I usually forget about it until it's too late.  I think I can count on my toes how many times I have posted a "GBBD" post!

But I'm pleasantly surprised that the garden is perking up, in spite of being largely ignored last year while I was recuperating from my surgeries and the few hard freezes we had over the winter.

I already showed you some of the signs of spring in the garden, now it's time to show you some blooms :-)

Our freezes didn't faze these dianthus one little bit.  They stayed lovely and green all winter and now are covered in blooms.  I've got several in various colors (although I don't actually remember planting them all!)

With it's delicate foliage, you would have thought that the Achillea would have succumbed to the freezes too, but they stayed a beautiful bright, feathery green all winter and are now starting to put out blooms.

it's sharing that section of the border, under the Vitex tree, with the purple Homestead verbena.

More dianthus in the island bed, along with either the Pineapple sage or Salvia Greggi.  I planted them together in the same area and neglected to make a good note of which was which.  So I'm not sure which is blooming here.  There's also a lot of Cosmos coming up so this area will be lovely and colorful soon.

Here's a closer look.

And finally, the Star Jasmine is absolutely covered in blooms.  Unfortunately, it's short on scent. We have always called it our "Scent-less Star Jasmine".  There are actually two of them planted side by side and one has no scent at all, which the other has a mild aroma.  I did catch a whiff of it a couple of times when I was out taking photos in the rain on Saturday but I certainly wouldn't call it highly aromatic, which is a bit of a disappointment.  But I like it anyway, the blossoms are lovely and the birds appreciate the shelter afforded by the thick vines and trellis.

So that's about all I have to show for this Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.  I hope we have nicer weather this weekend than we did last weekend.  I need to do some more weeding and add compost and mulch to the island beds and back border before the temps start heating up too much.

Seem more Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day posts, hosted by Carol of May Dreams Gardens.

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