May is Over

May 31, sunny, breezy, beautiful, in the 80s but the wind was cool and sweet.

I watered, we really need more rain.  Everything is done and planted, I just need to add some mulch.  May is officially over, and now the 3 hot months of summer start - June, July, August - and any kind of strenuous garden tasks stop.

Now, just weeding, watering and enjoying!

The clematis viticella alba Luxurians is blooming.

The dappled willows, Salix Hakuro Nishiki came back great this year and are really colorful waving in the breeze.

The baptisia Twilite Prairieblues is an odd color, but it looks nice from the kitchen window.

Memorial Day Weekend

Cloudy and threatening all day, humid, 70s, but no real storms.  A brief sprinkle came through late in the afternoon.

Saw a hummingbird at the feeder today!

Finally, today, the last of the 6 yards of soil was used up, spread about in low spots in the gardens.  I cleaned up the tarp, washed down the pavers, and we now no longer have a pile sitting at the top of the driveway.  We had previously moved about a yard or two to a spot in back of the spruces, and are keeping that covered for any future uses.

So, all the major garden tasks are done as of Memorial Day.  Now all that is needed as summer arrives is some mulch, and ongoing weeding, watering, and minor tending.  Just as planned.

I'm liking everything... except the very end of the new garden along the west walk.  I still want another tree to finish the "allee" feel as you get to the corner.  Something to frame the maple in Meadow's Edge as the walk turns.  Must be small and architectural!

Top Ten Day

A Top Ten day, cool, breezy dry... after all the oppressive heat this was gorgeous.  High in the 70s, hot in the sun, cool in the shade.  Sunny all day.

I planted European ginger in the Northern Exposure garden to create some foliage texture.  Added 6 more epimedium Frohnleiten under the dogwood.  Added a different kind of Myosotis (forget Me Not) under the new redbud, so it's a mix of a darker and lighter blue now.

Planted an annual Nicotiana in the back of the birch garden.  Added three artemesia Silver Mounds in the front of that garden.

And I added more of the geranium wlassovianum in the new garden along the west walk.

Bought two gauras Siskiyou Pink, but I planted them in big pots instead of in the ground.  Hopefully I can get them winter over inside.

The allium moly is a real surprise:

The Oenothera is blooming, so pretty:

And the knock out roses!

Hail

Today was a record breaker, at 99 degrees.  Humidity was over 50%.  Then, finally tonight a brief thunderstorm rolled in, bringing hail and rain.

Impossible to work in the yard at all today, although I did plant a blushing pink knockout rose by the front steps, and weeded a little.  Also tried planting out the zinnia seedlings, but it was so hot, and the ground was so dry even though I had watered yesterday.  So this rain is welcome, even with hail.

The zinnia seedlings really didn't work out.  Too little, and spring came on too fast!  I don't think I'll try seeds again.  They get lost in the emerging spring stuff.

I love the spirea frtischiana Pink Parasols... looks good the year for the first time. 

Ninety degrees today and humid.  This is unbelievable.  Too hot to do much.

I did move all the sedum kamschaticum to the front of the Medow's Edge and I really like the pop of yellow color and the curvy mounded forms.  Later, when they are no longer blooming, they will be nice green mounds, breaking up the scraggly looking liriope.

In place of the sedum, I put in two carpet roses, which have bright red blooms and should keep blooming all summer.  Nice jolt of red.  These will be low, and wider than tall.  I miss the mounded green foliage of the sedums spilling over the walk, but I hope the groundcover roses will do the trick.

I watered today --- everything that was newly planted, including the oak and two maples I put on the hill.  So hot and uncomfortable.  But we haven't had any rain for a while.

Birch Garden looks great

Too hot and humid.  It's only May.  This is really putting a crimp in my schedule... it has been so summer-like that I can't get much done in the garden.  Another sticky day, in the 80s.  By late afternoon a breeze kicked in and the clouds dispersed, much nicer.

I still need to move what's left of the dirt pile from the top of the driveway.  Too hot.

I want to move these sedum kamtschaticum to the back garden (Meadow's Edge) where the yellow orange will go better (maybe replace the struggling liriope at the front edge).  Too hot.  Here in Northern Exposure they bloom when the weigela does, and I don't like the contrast.  I got some scarlet groundcover roses to go here instead.

The Birch Garden is looking spectacular, except for the hole on the left front where the gaura was.

I like the soft purple nepeta in front of the deep purple salvia, and the pink snapdragons and pink mallow Zebrina in front.  The mallow is crowding out the gas plant, which is looking a little better this year (slow to establish).

Best view is from the bathroom window!

Blooming Now

Warm, humid, in the 70s and 80s.  We went to Ludlow for our anniversary on Saturday and stayed overnight at the Governor's Inn.  Visited Edith Wharton's The Mount on the way back, coming back on rte. 7 through Lenox.

When we got home, so much was in bloom.

As of May 23

• Red peony Blaze is velvety and intensely red
• Sweetbay magnolia has light yellow blooms, but still no fragrance
• Amsonia Blue Ice looks dark blue - purple - navy
• Knockout roses are prolific and all opening now
• Allium moly are brightly yellow, and coming up all over
• Stars of Persia alliums have opened.  Only 2 in Birch Garden this year
• Bright red Dianthus are cute in the Birch Garden
• Sedum kamschaticum in orangey yellow
  

Camassias and Tiarellas have now faded.

80s again, sunny, light breeze, lovely day.

I planted the 10 free trees from Arborday today.  In the past, I've had very limited success planting them out in the field, and almost no success keeping them in pots for several months.  So this time I am trying planting them in right away on the berm in back of the spruces.  I'll keep them there a full year or two and then, if they take, plant them out in the field.

I finished the small garden at the end of the west walk.  The idea is to create a shady lane, drawing the eye toward the curve of the walk and to the big maple in back.

I think I need a small tree where the new garden is, instead of the gray pot.  I want more of an "allee" look, leading to the sunny spot where the maple is.

In that small focal point garden I have the gray pot with dwarf butterfly bush Blue Chip, irises (yes, I'm going to see if I can grow bearded irises) Beverly Sills and Immortality, and a Russian sage for Jim, who has always wanted one.  The red pot has a tiny twig of a cutting from my favorite (now defunct) heather.

Yesterday I changed the hummingbird feeders.

Alliums are coming out along the front walk.  I like the yellow Allium moly.

Peony Blaze is blooming... incredibly vivid, and surrounded by intense purple May Night salvias.

Amsonia Blue Ice is in bloom.

New Black Gum

60s, humid, and overcast today, with some sun.

Bartlett came today and removed the poor linden, then ground the stump.  They took the better part of a whole afternoon to plant the new tupelo, and were very careful, and cleaned up after.

Then they pruned the paper birches from this:

To this:

Nice job.

Saturday in mid May

Beautiful day today, breezy (actually windy), low 60s, sunny.

I planted the Alaska mixed nasturtium seeds in the ground today.  Planted two more spicebush shrubs in the field. 

Watered the katsura, buckeyes, and some perennials in the Birch garden. 

I got 3 German irises (2 are 'Beverly Sills') and a Russian sage to add a little garden at the curve of the walk.  The idea is to draw the eye along the walk to the curve, framing the maple in Meadow's Edge beyond.