Your Neck of the Woods part 8, Hay, I herd it was spring!

birdsong, yes!! Our Sr. Cardinal seems determined to be sure all those young whippersnappers (we had several first-years hanging out here this winter) realize just whose territory this is!

big bird news for me today is that for the first time ever I saw a pair of Baltimore Orioles in our yard!!! They were pecking around under the sunflower feeder, so now there is grape jelly in a dish next to where they were. We are beseiged with sugar ants recently, so I thought up a way to (hopefully) keep them out of the jelly, based on the "ant moats" I use with my hummingbird feeders.

I put the jelly in a small, sturdy glass dish. I placed the dish into a larger plastic dish containing about an inch of water. There is no direct path to the jelly without passing through the water, so the ants should be unable to reach it, unless the glass dish slides over so that its rim touches the rim of the plastic dish (in which case I'll use museum putty, or chewing gum LOL, to stick the glass bowl into place).

Thanks, Terri! Sorry I neglected to ask Terry to cut that thread loose earlier.

Sorry you aren't feeling well, critter, but it is wise to not risk spreading your germs to your father. I am sure your family will miss you (and your cooking). Is hould be nice weather this weekend, you can garden instead!

I am still packing. I need to get out for more boxes, otherwise things are going smoothly.

I think I might have gotten poison ivy on my wrist (or maybe a reaction to cleaning solutions). A minor irratation, but I have enough irratations.

Winston the pug wil like the new place - everything is on the same floor. He doesn't like the spiral staircase here. He hops up the stairs no problem. Unfortunately, he tumbled the first time he tried going down the staircase, so he refuses to try again. I was surprised, because he is extremely agile for a dog, but knows his limits.

Sorry to hear you won't be able to do some cooking at your dad's, critter. Feel better soon.

Thinking of you, Gita, after your surgery.

GQ, glad Winston will be more comfortable on one floor. How quickly we learn our limitations.

Confession: I don't remember who gave me the Nepeta 'Walker's Low' last fall. Happy maybe?

Question: Should it have started breaking dormancy by now? To give you an idea of the "time" for this part of my garden, this is a place where the hosta eyes are about an inch tall and the tulips buds are just starting to get color.

If it's lost, then I need to start thinking about filling the space with something this year.

oh, wow, Typ, you have tall hosta shoots already! No sign of my hostas yet-- however the Walker's Lowe is sending up quite a number of green shoots. Here's a photo of it from this morning. It's in a 'part sun' spot with I think more emphasize on 'sun' than on 'part'. ;-)

Catmint, your catmint looks great! ;)

My hosta in the backyard in the warmest part of my garden has a leaf that's unfurling now. It's a big variety anyway but the unfurling leaf is probably 6-8" tall now. The front yard is so much cooler that the genetically identical hosta (it's a division) in the front yard is very far behind. The microclimate thing is endlessly fascinating to me!

Well then I guess it's official. My catmint must certainly have succumbed to the weather. :( :( :( They were tiny babies last fall so it must have been too much. Perhaps I'll move my Agastache 'Golden Jubilee' up in a few weeks. I know they survived.

I have Golden Jubilee seedlings popping up everywhere. I don't think it's possible to kill them!

Typ, maybe it is a microclimate thing again? Maybe my catmint is in a particularly warm part of my yard, and my hostas are not? Maybe just give it a little more time to show itself?

For me, no sign of Crocosmia, Leucojum, any hostas, Solomon's Seal, Delosperma, creeping bramble, fennel, Veronica 'sunny border blue', calla lily, and several others. :-( But some of them just may be later breaking dormancy? I hope so!

My Golden Jubilee is popping up nicely, too! Also my agastache 'purple haze'! No tutti frutti yet, though.

You guys have so much breaking dormancy! My perennial wildflower garden only has about half of its plants showing their face :(

They all better get their act together though because I am taking off next Wed and Thurs to do some planting there.

Seq that might scare them into action..!
I am waiting on a woodmint, the rest I think have shown up.

hehehe

"Plants! Wake up NOW!

Okay, NOW!

No? How about now?

Please?

....pretty please?"

*silence*

Sally, you are so lucky! Seq, I have today off but am thinking of taking a day off later next week as well to do planting. Yes, it had better warm up once and all for us, because *we are ready*!!

LOL Typ!!

LOL you guys..

I carefully inspect the bed each day for new shoots. I think part of the problem is that I threw down two inches of composted mulch over top of the bed second weekend in March. Now they all have two more inches to push through. Had I thought more about that, I'd have waited on the mulch because I've got a ton of plants to install.

Cat--
In 2012--did you not ID a clump of something I had--and did not know what it was--
as a cat mint? Just now--the name "Nepeta" came to mind since you are talking about it..

IF this is a Nepeta--Karen--I will dig some of it up and pot it for you.
Is it just ONE clump--or does it spread like reg. car mint?

This clump is growing in the center-corner of my YUK bed.
Not too big a clump, but I can split some of it off..

G.

hi, Gita. There are lots of people on this forum better than me at identifying plants, but to me your plant looks very different from my Walker's Lowe.

I joined MAF about May/June of 2013, and that was shortly after I started gardening, so I could not have been helpful at all in 2012! Maybe it was Catbird who was helpful?

Hmmmm----someone ID'd it for me......

I DO remember the name "Nepeta".... G.

There are a lot of different Nepetas ....

I'm so behind -- I haven't removed the winter debris from my awful front hill -- or any of the other beds -- yet. I'm hoping to get to that this weekend, so I can see what is growing under all the mess!

Slacker Happy!!

I've been out every weekend since 3/8. I'm a little bit of a fanatic though and I like to push the envelope in the garden towards the end of winter.

Gita, your plant looks greener than Nepeta 'Walker's Low', which has a gray-ish blue look tint to it. But your plant definitely is in the mint family!

Sequoia: You got that right - I am notoriously late for everything!

Haha...that's ok. I was talking with an customer service person at one of our WI vendors today and she said she was considering raking the lawn this weekend...I had to chuckle because I'm considering MOWING the lawn this weekend! She's late in the game but not her fault. Terrible WI weather. You know some of those poor folks in norther WI got 14" of snow this week??? Terrible.

definitely glad I don't live in WI right now!!

They must be going stir-crazy -- that is just too long a winter!

Gita, that might be Nepeta catara, which has white flowers. I bought a plant at HD last year; they were selling it in the herbs section. It was evergreen throughout the winter, and that one plant is a clump of almost a square foot. I bought it because I thought my cats would like it. They didn't like the green leaves at all; I guess I could try drying it. It's good at filling a blank spot.

This cat mint does bloom--but i cannot tell you right now what color...
Nor can I say whether it is evergreen--or loses its leaves....
I "think" it is there all winter--in some kind of a dormant, ratty state.

Looks real green and fresh right now...I have NO affinity to this plant...
I got it from someone at a Swap--and had to plant it somewhere...

G,

We're home,safe and sound, and glad to be. Our beds came to life while we were gone, our hellebores just went crazy. The GH looks great, maybe I need to have the neighbor take care of all the time.

Welcome home!!

yay!!! hope you're all rested up and ready for spring!

I hope everyone is enjoying their Easter weekend (or spring weekend for those who don't celebrate Easter).

I have one week to finish packing and digging. The astilbes and the largest big green species hostas better hurry! Has anyone else's bleeding hearts, lilies of the valley, comfrey or astilbes emerged yet? Mine are mia. I will probably have to start many perennials such as monarda, echinacea, campanula, shasta daisies and others again from seed.

A few hostas are just starting to peek up out of the ground here. I have a hellebore blooming, one budding and one that may not have made it. I am greatful for each bulb popping up thru the ground and any sign of life on my roses and other perennials.

I guess this isn't the best week to move. So many people are on vacation or visiting family. I hope someone is able to give me a ride to nethe new place to take care of a few pre move things and to pick up more boxes and packing supplies.

Back to the boxes!

GQ--

I feel for you--having to move again, but your new place sounds good.

Since you may have to start over from seed with new plants, please check my
"Trade List" (link below). I have over 50 different seeds there--and a few more
I have not added to my list. Seriously--need to update it.
There are, probably, about 10 new seeds I need to add....

http://davesgarden.com/community/trading/list.php?list=have&member=Gitagal

I will be most happy to share any of these seeds with you to start your new garden.
May be a bit late for this year--but you will have them for next year.

Gita

Can anyone tell me what I need to do to edit my Trade List?
Like--put some as "inactive'--remove some--correct the info, etc.

I asked Melody once--and she told me how--now I do not see anything
to do this with. There's nothing to click on to do it...

Thanks. G.

Good luck with your move, GQ. What a lot of work, even without trying to gather your plants.

Our white bleeding hearts are blooming. The lilies of the valley are up and making the remaining cleanup of the beds a challenge. Astilbes are up and looking quite healthy. Purple plum and redbuds are blooming now. Still many fall leaves to rehome, but lots of progress.

It will take awhile for us to catch up.Our trip was just wonderful we had a great time. Here are a few pictures of the view from our balcony.
Jill, so glad that your Dad's surgery went so well.
Typwc, Just loved the pic from the Cylburn Arboretum. We did the same thing with our GS JR when he was younger, putting our camera on a tripod and letting him carry it around the gardens to take his pictures. It worked just great, Love the pic of your daughter smelling the daffs.
GardenQuilts, WOW another move. Hope you love the new place. What a lot of work.
When we got home the front yard looked so good, if you ignored the beds that needed cleaned and weeded. The spring bulbs are really putting on a show and the helle's are just specular. I am heading out to take advantage of the beautiful sunshine and see how much of the beds I can get cleaned. Pictures of the yard will follow.

Holly -- those views are so beckoning!

wonderful photos, Holly! Looks like a nice place to spend some time! :-)

oh so gorgeous Holly!!!!!!!!!the lily of the valley just appeared alst couple days

Good luck GQ. For me the bleeding hearts were up over a week ago, and the comfrey, the lily of the valley just appeared last couple days, and the hosta buds have been coming along in the middle of it at various rates. Look for bleeding hearts first--But then you never know which is in what microclimate.