Spring Blooms - Part 2

I've never smelled anything from normal distances. When the flowers fully open, I will take a sniff.

A different pieris. Leaves are a bit funky.

More nice pics Victor. Spring has certainly revved up at your place.

Thanks! Still looking forward to some warm days. Then it will really take off.

Next week is looking good I think. Enough warm dry days for the soil to dry up some and maybe get some transplanting done. Here's hoping the weather people are correct. The wild cherry trees are getting tiny leaves always a good sign the earth has defrosted and starting to warm up at last.

Victor, Do deer bother your pieris? I planted 3 Mountain Laurel, Kalmia latifolia 'Elf' and a rhododendron chionoides (dwarf) and 3 Leucothoe fontanesiana and 3 Juniperus horizontalis 'Bar Harbor' and a mugo pine in a little bed addition and the deer/rabbit are dining on every thing except the mugo and the juniper.

I was thinking of moving the Mt Laurel, the rhodo, and the leucothoe to the fenced part of our property and replacing these with Clethra alnifolia Hummingbird and a Forsythia viridissima var. koreana 'Kumson' which just bought. I want to keep anything planted in this spot under 4 feet. I was reading about Pieris japonica var. yakushimanum 'Prelude' as something that might make me happy along with some Euphorbia. I don't have a very good picture, but this sort of shows it. It is on the North side of the house, but it gets plenty of early morning sun and late afternoon sun. Advice please. Patti

I found a better picture taken May 20th. the upper part is mostly sweet fern. Patti

No, they have never bothered the pieris at all. Not the mt. laurel either. Hard to believe the deer are bothering yours. The woods around here are filled with them and deer! The alkaloids in them are toxic to them.

Kumson is very nice. I have a few. Hellebore would work there. Deer never bother them. My itea have not been bothered. At least I have not noticed. Could be that they have other stuff they like more. But Little Henry would fit nicely and takes shade. I'll think of others.

I like the idea of more "stinking" Hellebore. I am shocked that they are eating the Mt Laurel too. With rhodo, they just eat the buds, nice. I will look at Itea Little Henry. What about mock orange or a group of Cornus sericea 'Arctic Fire ? Patti

Rhus 'Gro-Low' is another. Also sweet woodruff.

Mock orange may need more sun. Here's another deer-resistant list.


http://www.myohiolandscape.com/deer-resistant-plants.cfm

These should be nice when they open. Love that foliage.

That's glorious, Victor!

Thanks, Pirl. It's a time of year where highs and lows are felt at the same time. You see plants that did not make it, or were damaged / ruined by animals and how much has to be done in a short period of time. But then you see great things like that!

Yes, it's true. Tonight I was looking at the damage done by squirrels. They dug up and tore apart a daylily I've been waiting to see bloom for 2.5 years.

Pirl, sorry about the DL and you know there is plenty of others things to eat. I have been finding damage, but most of it is from the dear doggies.

Victor, I am thinking Fothergilla gardenii which I love. I will do the mock orange in a sunny spot. I have tons of sweet woodruff, but I think it might run amok in this spot. That foliage is great. Which stinking one is it? Patti

That last one is not a stinker - it's a Sunshine hybrid. I was going to suggest fothergilla but they enjoy sun as well.

Just took this JM out today, had to do some a little work on it first so I kept it from awakening too quickly. ☺

amethystsm . . .looking forward to seeing that lawn filled with Chiondoxa. There are woodlands here I noticed last May covered with blue something or other. Have to check that out in the next few weeks. Might be bluebells. Whatever it is, its been there for decades and decades. Some vernus crocus from this afternoon:

Love all of the spring blooms everyone!! Eleanor

pirl, sorry about you DL, too!!
We've slowly been able to look at our gardens as the snowpile recedes. So far, looking good, except that a lot of the markers have moved while under the snow.

Anna's idea last fall of tossing a bunch of tulip and daffodil bulbs onto the ground and planting them where they fell is looking like it's going to pay off. We have a LOT of tulip and daff sprouts in some most amazing places!! I can't wait for bloom time!!

I am trying, ever so hard, to keep really good records this year. (Anna has appointed me the official garden record keeper, even though I didn't do so well last year!) She and her little daughter do things so quickly that it's hard to keep up with her!! Mostly right now, I just note things on my Outlook calendar, and hopefully I will be able to get back to the notes later. Any suggestions for me?

Photos are a great help, Candyce. Just use the same title, such as:
Daffodils 2008-0406
Daffodils 2008-0407 etc.

You'll be able to check how they bloomed and when they bloomed.

Yeah, I do that, too, pirl.
That's one of my 'tricks' for trying to keep up. I love it that my camera time stamps every photo, and I take TONS of photos!!!!!! It's the filing of them and then finding them to file that, oh well ... leaves a bit to be desired.

But, that's a great point, and one that sure helps!!

I also keep photos in files by the month and year. It's a really great benefit as the ones from the old house help me remember some of the plant combos in the containers.

Filing photos, or re-filing them, is what I do most of January, February and March when I'm not ordering plants.

My computer puts all my pictures in Date order. I use Picasa2, a free program from Google. I file all my garden pictures in several folders (Container, GH, Portrait, Garden) as well as all my other pictures in folders like Family, Vacations, House, Dogs, Holidays etc. Once set up, it is a snap. It helps so much for bloom time review. I can clearly see what is lacking during certain periods. Then the problem begins of how to rectify the problem. I download them very often so keeping up is not a problem. Keeping too many is my problem. Patti

LOL, Patti
I have the same problem!
I keep saying to myself ... 'but I might want to remember THIS someday"!!

I have all in monthly folders and two sub-folders - Garden & Other. I keep saying I will re-name the photos with meaningful names (plant name), but never seem to get to it.

Sometimes I file them by garden and other times by the individual flower or shrub. I have Picasa also and love it. Often it's what I called the plant on the label that confuses me. I went through this insanity on another thread last year.

If someone wants a recommendation for a red daylily it's much easier having them all listed as Hems to make the search easier. Then on each photo I can enter the garden where it is. Often I'll put that Hem in a folder for the garden it's in as well as by the name.

great subfile idea pirl.
my gardens are named for the big bushes that are in them aka vibernumrose or lilac garden. Your subfiling idea will make things easier.

With age the memory isn't what we might like it to be so that gorgeous purple Hem's name just doesn't come all that easy but knowing which garden it's in does help. Then I can find it easily. Yes, it's twice the work when double filed and does take more space but at least I can find it.

Naming gardens for the major shrub or anything of importance is great. Then comes the day when the shrub dies and it's still going to be listed by the same name. I have one for the Dogwood end of one long garden. The dogwood died last year but the name won't change.

It always reminds me of, "Make a right turn where the little red schoolhouse used to be". Not too helpful for anyone who doesn't know the area.

"You can't get theya from heya!"

I am thinking about doing a secondary photo file with copies of individual types of plants that I am particularly interested in such as Narcissus, lilies, Iris etc. But that will be a winter project when I get a Round-to-it.

In my Garden Journal, I have one named journal for all the plants by source ( crocus Pickwick Bulbs under Brent and Becky) and another named journal by bed (crocus Pickwick in West Walk East Side) and so on. Some plants have been purchased from several vendors and are in many beds, so they have multiply entries. This way I can view a whole bed at once, but my main journal is by vendor they other is just a clone of the original entry and is dispersed by bed. I record the price etc in information box along with the plants needs, traits etc.

Our longest bed is confusing as to where Middle meets either Right or Left but they're all under one title, Belmont, named for the pines in Belmont State Park, on Long Island, where my parents always took us for the picnics and boating when we were young.

Sofonisba probably likes my Harper Post garden or the Harper side of the dog's pen best of all. We live at the corner of Harper and Hill Roads.

I have made new folders, since this is the beginning the folders were empty except for photos of the bare gardens.

It should be fun for you to look back on in two years.

perennials should be about mature by then.
Amescorner garden- shade part sun

Such great ideas!
I love the way you have set up your journal, Patti.
I have set mine up by garden name and then I try to get as much detailed information into each journal for each plant in the garden. And, oh yeah, I have sub-journals for the types of plants, like 'tulips', 'daylilies', etc.

That's what I am working on now, today.

I am so impressed by all your filing and recording pictures and info systems- I have relied on my memory but its just getting impossible...I've kind of given up on remembering the exact name of which cultivar.... The photography thing is way out of control too.. I take care of about 10 different gardens as well as ours.. it's nuts! The problem I have is time- especially once the season really begins. could i hire one of you??? sarah

Sarah, I don't want to get hired, but I would love to wander around someday with you looking at other peoples gardens and their weeds instead of just mine. I always feel less the slacker when I see that they grow in other's gardens as well. Only I sometimes realize that I don't even grow some weeds well. That hurts.

My real world for years was tracking inventory of book buying and sales for my stores, so the journal is just an extension of my previous cataloging and tracking life. The photo files was born out of frustration that I could never find the picture I was looking for and I saw mention of Picasa by several DG members and took a look and realized that program was my answer. For some reason Picasa's format works for me, when others didn't.

My biggest problem is after taking a picture is trying to remember which bed it was taken in, so I can then look up in my journal for the correct name and record it on the downloaded picture. I try to remember to take a general shot first, so I can clearly see which bed I am taking pictures in, but I often forget. Plus my DH takes better pictures than me always and he is less interested in the name than the shot, but I am happy he is out there doing it for me. Patti