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.
Early last summer I posted about how Eric and I had snuck in to the vacant lot next door to us and lopped some saplings so we could use the wood in craft projects and, in essence, keep the spirit of the little thicket even though the thicket itself would be gone.
I never got around to showing you what we had done with some of the wood, so I thought I'd share a couple of photos with you.
Remember the old grill that we repurposed to a planter last summer? Well I thought it might be nice to add a trellis of some sort to it. So I used some of the saplings to build a rustic trellis.
At first, we had the planter by the dining room, but the plants in it really suffered when the sun came round to that side of the house. So I moved it back against the bedroom window, where it gets more shade, so the plants aren't getting cooked every afternoon. I think they like it much better.
The other little project completed so far is this macrame owl. I was big into macrame back in the 70's and when we went back to England on vacation in May, I noticed mum still had the little brown owl towel holder I had made her.
I also remembered a larger owl I had made that she used to have hanging outside. I decided I had to make one of those for our patio.
Here he is. The two branches are cut from one of the saplings from the thicket next door and he came out exactly the way I hoped he would. Pretty good since I was going from a 40 yr old memory and didn't have a pattern! He's hanging over the outside light on the patio, out of the rain.
We've got plenty of wood left and my husband plans to make a platform bird feeder for me, similar to one my dad has in his garden.
He hasn't given me a project completion date yet....
Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.
