Cold Weather

The temperatures have turned cold although we've had no precipitation. Yesterday Wayne could not get out to finish the transplanting or removing more grass.

Tulips

Name: Tulips
Variety: Adrem
Type: Bulb
Height: 18"
Light: Full sun
Color: Reddish Orange
Bloom Time: Early April
Location:  South side of garage

So far only the orange and the apricot bulbs have come up. There are lots of unopened blooms and so I'm hoping that we'll soon see the yellow and white we bought. There are spots where the bulb did not bring forth full foliage. I'm a little disappointed in these although right now those that are up are very beautiful.

New Bridal Spirea

We purchased 3 new spirea. These are the large bushes that get 6' x 6'. This variety matches the older ones and are renaissance. Once they get bigger they should be filled with white bridal blossoms. We planted these along the north east side of the garden as the screen for our vegetable garden. We paid $25 each and purchased them at Plymouth Nursery. The older ones were purchase about 3 years ago and have not grown very much. I'm not certain what we can do better for them. But they keep coming back each year. My only hope is that after 5 or 6 years we'll see some more growth.

Spring Spirea Foliage

Name: Spirea
Variety: Goldflame
Type: Deciduous bush
Flower Color: Pink Fushia
Height: 3' by 3 ' wide
Sun: Full Sun
Bloom Time: Late May Early June

I love this variety of small spirea. They have these wonderful burnt orange leaves in the spring that gently turn yellow and then green. In fall they reverse the process and provide brilliant fall foliage. Plus in early summer they are loaded with pink blossoms. They are a wonderful find.

Cleveland Pear Spring Color

Name: Cleveland Pear
Variety: Pyrus Calleryana "Cleveland Select"
Type: Deciduous tree
Height:30-50'
Light: Full sun
Flower Color: White
Bloom Time: Early April
Location:  Front of house north and south side
Care:  Prune dead wood as needed.   Apply 2 fertilizer stakes per tree in spring.

 

Spring Garden Work

We spent some time in the back yard. I did a little weeding in my perrennial garden. The astilbe, iris and black eyed susan are up. I was really excited to see that. There are little signs that the balloon flowers are greening. I'm concerned about the poppies. My mother had rows of them. Why can't I grow poppies?

Wayne moved grass and we transplanted the large peony to it's permanent location east of the arbor. I have redesigned the arbor location many times and I still don't think we have it right yet.

We took pictures of the pear trees in bloom, the orange tulips and the spring color of the spirea. I saw that the grape hyacinths are coming and the regular hyacinths are in bloom.

Getting Out Deck Chairs

We spent some time last night getting out the chairs. The new ones we purchased last summer were a little rusted. They are enameled and not suppose to rust, but hopefully we can fix that. I noticed that the red bud tree is now budding and that the bleeding heart is well above the ground. The honey suckle vine that we transplanted is doing well and growing. Now we need to get a date to stain the new arbor before the vine grows too far up it.

Forsythia

Name: Forsythia
Variety: Forsythia Espinosa
Type: Shrub
Height: 6-8'
Light: Full sun
Color: Yellow
Bloom Time: Early April
Location:  NE corner of lot

This is the first year that the forsythia bloomed really well. I'm not certain if it was the lateness of spring or just that they are now mature enough to do well. I'm certain that our neighbors appreciate the bright yellow view from their back doors.

Daffodils

Name: Daffodils
Variety: Dutch Master
Type: Bulb
Height: 18-20"
Light: Full sun
Color: Bright yellow
Bloom Time: Early April
Location:  Front of house 

The daffodils have bloomed gloriously. Every single bulb in both groups has come up with a bright yellow flower. I'm so pleased with the efforts and with the cost. It was worth it.

Crocus Disappointment

All five groups of crocuses came up. However, there was only one group that bloomed and of that I had 3 blooms for a very short season. I was really disappointed to say the least. I am going to dig those up and find a new place to plant crocuses. I think that around the mailbox might be ideal. It gets more sun and will do better.

A Weekly Walk About

Plants are still starting to come alive. The Walmart hostas are up. They are an earlier variety but not as nice as the others. The dogwood has swollen buds but nothing yet on the red bud. I'm a little concerned about the blue spruce. It looks like it has buds, but the color is not too good. I will look forward to seeing a change with some fertilizer.

The spirea we moved is doing well and has lots of buds. I'll happy with that progress. We moved two of the ornamental grasses. I really wanted to give them away, but have no one to give them to. They are really really hardy and Wayne did some work to get them out. We moved the little stella doro day lilies in their place. I think they will do better there. They were just too crowded with the big yellow day lily. While he did that I did some more dead heading on the spirea.

Raining and Cold

The weather turned wet and cold. Snow is expected over the weekend. I'm certain glad we got yard work done on the day we did.

Moving Plants

It was cooler than on Monday (which turned a high of 71 degrees) but still nice enough to get outside.

Wayne moved the stubby spirea in front that was next to the weigela to the area with the bayberries by the two other spireas. We had a spirea die there last year and this one will fill in the space. We will replace it with a nice spirea from the store, which we hope to purchase on Saturday. The root system was rather shallow and so hopefully it will survive. It was still fairly dormant although the buds on the spirea are beginning to show. It rained during the night and the ground is still very wet.

Wayne moved the Hal's honey suckle vine to it's permanent location outside the arbor. We will train it up the side. Now it's a race to get the staining done before it starts to grow. The root system was fairly extensive and we had to cut a big root. However, these are fairly hardy plants and propagate easily so I am optimistic it will survive.

I did a some dead heading on the spirea and cut the asters to the ground. Wayne trimmed a couple long branches off the forsythia.

We discovered one crocus in bloom. It looks like more are coming.

64 Degrees

Spring at last!! It is sunny, gorgeous, warm weather. Finally!! Plants should start popping now. I'm really impressed we got the crab grass control on just at the right moment.

Lawn Fert Day

It was a beautiful sunny day. I'm glad we got out of the house and drove to conference. Wayne applied the 1st application of fertilizer on the lawn--Scott's crab grass control. It is finally spring.

Cold, Wet Day

It is cold, dreary and rainy. Highs will be in the high 40s. Good news--it's not snow.

Touring the Garden

It was a beautiful day in the high 40's. We took a tour around the yard and found the many of the tulips up on the south side. On the east side we found evidence of the peony coming up and the bleeding heart is up above the ground. We dug up a piece of the peony, some of the candy tuft and some lavender to send to Melissa.

Along the north side things are still dormant. However, in the front of the house all of the daffodils are up and we see a few of the crocus and grape hyacinth. The day lilies are also starting to grow.

In the back the glove arborvitaes took a beating this winter. We may have to tie them up to get them to grow right again.