yarrow in my marrow

The garden is a never-ending delight right now.  Everything seen in the photo below:  yarrow, lupine, sedum, bellflower, Jacob's ladder, false indigo, obedient plant, coneflower, foxglove, wild geranium...is a perennial that I planted last year.  Perennial = comes back every year, bigger and better.

Columbines...another perennial...are starting to open up.

Little surprises cause a sense of wonder.  I was given a big clump of wild geranium last year.  It didn't look like much, but I split it in half and planted it.  Wilted last year, and covered with flowers this year...possibly tripled in size.

A spontaneous greenhouse purchase, the Japanese anemone huddled against the soil last year.  But this year, nodding bells open up into beautiful white flowers.

Hostas are coming up in places where I maybe, possibly remember tucking little bits of split-up hosta plants last year...

The huechera!  I selected them for their gorgeous leaves...

...and had almost forgotten about the delightful flower spikes that start nodding in early summer.

Did that little dried-up lily of the valley twig really come back?  Sure did, and then some.

Last year's lupine certainly didn't have any flowers...

...and I just don't remember planting FIVE foxgloves last year, but here they are nonetheless!

I remember buying two peonies last year, not five, but that's how many stalk bunches are coming up.  One is over three feet tall!  I have no idea what it will look like when it blooms, but looks like I might find out soon!

I was unimpressed with the pricy spirea I picked up at the Lowe's clearance rack last year.  A few sad, dried leaves clung to the spindly branches, and it looked dead...but for $3, I could afford to take a chance.  This year it's covered with bright, healthy leaves.

No matter how rough a plant looks, I remind myself, they want to live.  It's a good lesson to learn, because last week I got the opportunity to pack my car with new plants!  A local woman posted in a Facebook gardening group - too many plants, need someone to come and thin them out.  I was the fifth person to stop by, and even after loading up my car, the yard looked almost untouched!  I came away with hostas, ferns, toad lilies, surprise lilies, four or five different types of daffodils (all in big clumps), several different types of irises, daylilies, chocolate mint, sedum, and more.  In the end, I think I had over 500 bulbs/tubers.

It can be overwhelming to contemplate planting so many things, but I was determined to get everything in the ground.  I started a new shade garden under the pine trees by the driveway with the toad lilies, hostas, and ferns.  I've never been completely happy with the bare slope of lawn that terminates at the pond's edge, so I decided to plant most of the daylilies and irises there. I envision having plants on both slopes and a garden bench in between, under the big pine free. 

If you think those look sad, check out the tired heap of leaves in this 4-foot swatch of surprise lilies...maybe 50 in total planted here!  The daffodils clumps were split, mixed and planted in three big groupings by these same bushes.

They look awful, and they will look worse as the year goes on.  The leaves will never stand up and will turn yellow.  They will look dead.  But next year, I suspect I'll have a fantastic display in this area.  Because plants want to live.  They're just recovering from the relocation.  Next year they'll be ready to shine!

(so says prognosticator Claudia, my garden assistant)

Bosewichte promises to forecast good news too, if I let him outside.

But I already have some good news...two loads of compost have been delivered (only 1 shown in pic).  Now this field just needs to be plotted out...spread with compost...and plowed.

How is she going to fill a huge field?  You might wonder.  Well, I'm starting to experiment with propagation again...taking a bit of root or stem from various plants and rooting it in soil.  Then, of course, there's my thousands of seeds.  And happy reseeding from last year, too!  I noticed little yarrow seedlings in a front garden and decided to dig them all up and move them into a side holding bed.  In the end, I transplanted 55 seedlings.  I also saw quite a bit of reseeding around my white coneflower, and ended up moving 50 seedlings.  Total time investment:  1 hour.  Considering I spent $10 each for ONE yarrow and ONE white coneflower last year, it certainly seems worth the trouble!  When the field gets plowed, they'll be moved to a larger holding bed and then distributed around once they get large enough, and I decide where I want them.  They won't look like much this year, but should be amazing next year and especially the year after.  I look forward to giving a lot away to friends, too!

I hope that it looks quite different soon.

Have a great week!

Dough Re Mi...

I've learned some valuable lessons this week! Lesson #1: be very cautious about pruning hydrangea bushes. I didn't realize that the blooms grow on the old wood...so if you prune too aggressively, you might end up with one solitary blossom...like me. Thankfully, it should be back to normal next year.

Lesson #2: some plants just aren't 'meant to be.' I've tried to grow creeping jenny for three years, and I kill it every year. This year it took a record two days to shrivel up. Oh, well!

Lesson #3: always keep an eye out for rogue mantises. They're coming out of the woodwork...literally!

All mishaps aside, the garden is blooming nicely now. I'm just waiting on my marigolds and my rose of sharon bush.

The bees are out and about. Little honey bees...

...and larger carpenter bees are frantically gathering up pollen!

Other little creatures, like this grasshopper, are glimpsed from time to time.

In this hot weather, we like to get out in the early mornings for a relaxing walk in the park.

I love the butterfly garden there. Especially I love this spiky purple plant called a blazing star. They bloom all summer long and are really beautiful en masse.

Bees and butterflies love to delve into this little filaments!

Speedwell is also good for bees and butterflies, and so beautiful...

...and, of course, coneflowers.

They look so nice against the purple blazing stars.

Less showy but just as nice, an oak leaf hydrangea flowers in the shade nearby. The bushes can get quite large, but they're beautiful plants that are a nice change from hostas if you've got a large shady area to fill.

Acorns are ripening on oak trees...

...and the bees are taking advantage of the flowers! This hive died out over the winter, but was replaced this spring with a new, healthy colony. It looks like they're thriving!

This impressively-named Tawny Emperor butterfly (asterocampa clyton) lit briefly on this tree as we walked by. They don't hold still for long, though!

Despite the heat, I've been doing a fair amount of baking. One thing that used to intimidate me was pies, but really, they aren't hard at all! A homemade crust doesn't take much time and tastes so much better than store-bought. Here's my recipe and a quick tutorial!

All-Butter Pie Crust
Smitten Kitchen
One double- or two single-crust pies

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter, cold

Before starting, place several ice cubes into a cup of water. Go ahead and mix together your flour, sugar, and salt. Make sure your butter is VERY cold and dice it into small pieces. Use a fork or pastry cutter and cut your butter into the flour until the butter is pea-sized. Be sure not to overwork!

Now, take your ice water and slowly drizzle it over your flour mixture. You'll probably use about 3/4 cup total. Add 1/2 right away and gently mix. Add the additional 1/4 cup a tablespoon at a time.

Once you can mound your dough together, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for an hour or so. See? That's not so bad! It takes less than 10 minutes to mix this up!

After the dough has rested, take it out and cut it in half. The key is to work with cold dough, so put one dough ball back in the refrigerator and just work with one at a time. Be very generous with your flour and roll out the dough until you've got a 12-inch circle. I use a 10-inch bowl and tack on an extra two inches, just cutting around with a knife. I was an inch short in this example but it worked just fine for me. Don't throw away those dough scraps! I've got a great recipe for using them up next week.

Place your dough in the pie pan...

...and crimp the edges with your fingers.

Stab the bottom with a fork a few times and bake at 325 for 15 - 20 minutes, until firm. Look at the flaky layers!

I chose to fill this particular pie with strawberries...

...and make a simple strawberry pie. No additional baking needed and it's delish!


I hope you take some time out to bake this week. Enjoy!