Signs of Spring

I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted!  Of course, for a while there, nothing was happening in the garden, so each post would have been more or less a repeat of the last one.

But all of a sudden, Spring has Sprung!  New shoots and buds are appearing everywhere.

This little clump of daffodils somehow manages to survive getting flooded every year and reliably pops up in March -- encouraged, no doubt, by the metal daffodil staked into the ground to mark their location.

The Angel Trumpet I transplanted from the pot that fell apart to a half barrel is leafing like crazy.  I hope I get some blooms on it in the fall.

The Sam Houston peach is starting to put out blossoms.Hopefully this year the fruits won't get beaten by a hail storm like they did last year.

All of the Rose of Sharon bushes are leafing out, including this one on the west fence. This came with me as a cutting from a bush I had at my previous house.

This volunteer sapling is a bit of a mystery.  I have no idea what it is and can only assume it was "planted" by the birds that like to hang out around the Southern Wax Myrtle, in the midst of which it is growing.

I was going to hack it down a year of so back, but my curiosity got the better of me and I decided to let it grow and see how it does.  At this point it's about as high as the Wax Myrtle - 15 feet or so - and has deeply lobed leaves. 

Over by the utility boxes, the Homestead Verbena is spreading nicely across in front of the trellises that hide the utility boxes (and the brush pile).  It's also spreading the other direction, under the Vitex tree toward where we have the grape vine.  I love the purple flowers and so to the butterflies and bees, so wherever it wants to spread is okay by me :-)

That's it for today - I need to get out and weed -- the nutsedge is taking over the island beds!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.  Did you remember to move your clocks forward one hour last night?


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.

"Junior"

 As I reported here in this blog, back in August of last year, we sadly had to say goodbye to the mature pine tree that we fell in love with when we bought our house.  The arborist that had removed the tree came back in the fall to plant a replacement.

I will admit, we had a bit of a scare after "Junior" had been planted.   We started seeing lots of yellow needles and dropped needles.  For a while, we feared that we'd have to cash-in on the one-year guarantee that the arborist offered and get yet another tree.  We worried was it not getting enough water, was it getting too much?  

As my husband was watering it one day, from the faucet at the back of the house, something suddenly came to me.   We have a water treatment system installed and it was connected specifically behind the water connection for the sprinkler system and the faucet at the front of the house, so it didn't affect those water outlets.  But all the other faucets around the house were supplied via the treatment system.  Great if we wanted to drink clean water right out of the faucet, or have lots of suds when washing the car, not so good for watering plants because the natural mineral content of our water had been altered.

I mentioned this to my husband and from that point on, we started watering "Junior" either from the rain barrel, or from the faucet at the front of the house.

  
 I'm happy to report that "Junior" is doing very well.  The needles stopped turning yellow almost immediately after the change and this spring, it's vigorously putting out candles of new growth.

Of course, "Junior" has a long way to grow--it's currently about 20 feet tall, nowhere near the 80 ft + of the original tree. We just have to be a little patient. According to historic aerial photos of our area on Google Earth, there weren't any trees here about 35 years ago - it was farmland.

So yes, we just have to be patient, although the local bird population is eyeing it up already :-)

 


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

Spring is Just Around the Corner

 The garden is beginning to show it's appreciation of the rains we received this week.  Lots of little green sprouts all over, including the milkweed, the lantana and some bluebonnets in the front garden.

Also in the front garden, I've been closely watching the milkweed as I've seen Monarchs out there and there haven't been any blooms for them. Well one of the plants is now blooming and looking around I see more flower buds forming.  I would say the Monarch Waystation is open for business!

There's not too much else blooming just yet, but this Cool Wave White Viola, that I got right before Christmas, is blooming nicely...

...as is the Babylon White Verbena which I have growing in the half-barrel planter.

We've had some chilly nights and mornings, even down here in Texas, as this photo of our outdoor thermometer proves.

I heard we're expecting some more freezing nights this week so I hope that none of the newly sprouted plants get damaged. 

I will, I think, cover up the pot of Cypress Vine seedlings I have against the back fence.  Everything else will have to fend for itself as usual.

And finally - a mystery bird. I took this photo last weekend and I have looked in my bird ID books, as well as Whatbird.com, and have been unable to identify it.  Can anyone help me out? As always, you can click on the photo to see a larger version.

  



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

Signs of Spring

Spring is always an exciting time of year.  Everywhere you look there are sweet green shoots peeping out of the ground, things once thought lost to the winter freezes start coming back to life.

In both the front and back gardens, the milkweed is taking off like gangbusters! 

One in the front even has some flower buds on it already and I saw a Monarch apparently laying eggs last weekend. I'd say this year's Monarch Waystation is well underway!

The front border continues to be a bit of a challenge. Originally there was a row of holly bushes at the back of the bed, close to the house, but they all died.

In my post from February 2010, Little Path to Nowhere, I posted how I laid a stepping stone path through the bed, to allow me access to work on it. I even planted some more holly bushes, making sure to amend the soil in the planting holes.  All to no avail, they died too.

 Interestingly, the only thing that seems to thrive in the no-man's land close to the house is milkweed.  Okay, so some of them are so close to paving stones they make it impossible to actually walk on the pavers, but at least last year, I remembered to snip the seed pods off before they let loose with a gazillion seeds!

The other challenge in the front border is that the Indian Hawthorn and other bushes the builder put in have grown -- a LOT.  They are now shoulder to shoulder and there's no room for me to plant anything in between them. I don't really want to rip them out because they do present a nice green border for the house, and also because I think getting them out would be a nightmare.

I planted New Gold Lantana along the front of the border the year before last, and that's starting to leaf out again, so perhaps the combination of that and the milkweed in the back of the bed will provide enough color.  If all else fails, I can probably nestle some containers of annuals among the bushes for some pops of color.

More signs of spring in the back garden, this Blue Salvia (salvia farinacea) is leafing out nicely. Hmmm - look closely at the label.  Doesn't that say "Upright Annual"?  I wonder if it knows it wasn't supposed to come back this year?

In the veggie garden, the parsley is going strong, as are the garlic chives (not shown)  and I was surprised to see a flower on the strawberry plant. 

We had no luck whatsoever with the cucumbers last year, so we're got going to try those this year.  Instead we want to try some peas and some Roma tomatoes.  And we'll see what else takes our fancy.

I had been planning to do some more clean up in the garden today but we had a soaking rain (with accompanying thunder and lightning) and now the ground is waterlogged, so the gardening will have to wait.

Think I'll sit and watch the birds instead :-)

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

A Weekend in January

Last week I posted about the Goldfinches flocking to the feeders in my garden.  Well, they're still here :-)

They seem to be roosting in the hedgerow across the street behind our house, but each morning they arrive en masse to gorge themselves at the feeders...

... before resting up in the Crepe Myrtle  ...

... Or in the Vitex tree...

They don't stay with us long, but rather refuel to continue their northward migration.  I have never seen an American Goldfinch in its glorious yellow and black plumage.  I only ever see them in their "olive drab", lol.

I didn't spend all weekend sitting around watching birds - I actually did some work in the garden too. 

The compost bin has been getting very difficult to fit stuff in because it is overflowing.  So I decided it was time to "harvest" some of the compost at the bottom of the bin, which would allow me to turn the rest, water it down and get the lid on properly.

I was sweating like crazy by the time I was done, but it needed to be done and I had a sense of accomplishment.  I got two loads like this and added them to the island bed.  

Before putting the lid back on, I used my secateurs to make sure all the garden waste that was sitting on top was chopped into small pieces that would break down more easily, added a layer of soil and watered it down.

During the week, I spent a long overdue afternoon attacking the front flowerbed.  As I was ripping out the nutsedge which is growing rampant along the back of the bed, I discovered that the milkweed I had trimmed back recently is putting out new growth.

So after admiring it and taking its photo, I set to work trimming back the rest of the milkweed and mulching, so the front bed looks tidy once more... at least for a while.

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

More Signs of Spring

 I've been off work this week--taking a "stay-cation"--and I had ambitious plans to get all kinds of work done in the garden.  Looking back on the week, it seems like I didn't do much of anything really.


OK, so my husband and I replanted a couple of things, and I potted up some verbenas I got at the garden center.  


But the garden still looks bare and brown...


... until you look closer...

The smaller of my Rose of Sharon shrubs is putting out new growth.

As is this unknown plant I received at a plant swap last spring.  It has since become separated from its plant marker and I just cannot remember what it is.

The Tropi-Cannas that I had to cut back to soil level because of freeze damage are starting to put out big healthy leaves.

And this little yarrow (Achillea), which was a passalong last year, is multiplying.  I hope I see some flowers this year.  I didn't get any blooms on any of my achillea plants last year.

I was surprised that the Homestead verbena has put out flowers already.  The one on the other side of the garden is a tenth the size of this one, and has no flowers.  Obviously this one has the prime location, but it almost got buried in nijer thistle seed hulls this winter because it's growing underneath where I hang the sock feeders for the goldfinches. 


I bought a new verbena at the garden center this week.  I potted this one up, rather than plant it in the ground, because I'm not sure where it would be happiest.  In a pot, I can move it around until I find its sweet spot.

Isn't it a lovely color?

I remember lamenting in my blog a couple of weeks ago that I might not get to see my blooming daffodils because I leave the house before dawn to go to work, and I don't get home till almost dark.  Well this week I got to enjoy them fully.


I thought I'd let you see them too.

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