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.

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.

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.