Today's Weather in Your Garden - 17

Great photos everyone. I loved the bird photos and got a kick out of Tiger.

WC, what nursery was that? Their stock looks great and I'm always looking for a new place to hit.

The other day, I thought I saw two ducks fly into a neighbors tree to perch..I thought I was crazy. Then yesterday, I saw them again. This time I ran for the binoculars and camera. Who ever heard of ducks perching in trees!!! Imagine my surprise when I looked it up in the new bird book I have and discovered Wood Ducks!

Wow - and they look so real!^_^

haha..you know someone is gonna believe you on that.


Don't listen to Victor - they are real, although definitely different than the mallards I normally see in the lake.

Would I to see a wood duck in the woods, I would be suspicious. Would you? But they do roost in wooden trees if they are real and not wooden. So would it be wooden or not? Pretty special if not wood.

Congrats on your tulip Boojum.

38 and going to 51 today and gorgeous outside. Out to plant phlox and edge another bed. I love seeing sjms has her pond going and fish survived the winter, and that kitty, Tiger, doesn't look too hungry. I need a JMaple for my pond. Love that one Acer palmayum beni kawa that ge1836 got. Sorry about your Viburnum. I would dig it up and cut it back to the ground and replant it somewhere else. They are remarkably resilient and yours may come back in it former glory in a new spot. Worth a try unless you never liked it. Have a good day all, watch out for the hermit crabs and Hummingbirds. Patti

Hurray! The Magnolia did not get hit by frost!

Love all the pics everyone. We have a pair of wood ducks here every year too. It is odd to hear quacking coming from the woods. It is quite a cacophony around here now with all the quacks and tweets and gobbles. Glad to hear the magnolia buds are fine and getting ready to show their stuff. :)
The sun is out and the cold temps over night are already warming to the high 30s. Should be a gorgeous day and warmer the rest of the week.

We are new to the house. History of the gardens here is too long to cover here.
Kids and I sold houses and Moved here last July Vibs. were in leaf and had a beautiful color in the fall. We took out a hedge of overgrown( defines everything here) junipers and the nurseryman who helped ident. some of the bushes said it was Vi.????? and it was infected with borer. My daughter trimmed back quite a bit in January and wants to see how it comes along before we do anything drastic.
I'm for taking them out but she will come to that conclusion when it doesn't bloom, saves an argument.
I'll triumph sooner or later.
Delicate diplomacy needed when you live with the kids like I do. Anyone want to wade in on companion plants for the benikawa? here's where it's going.

and from another angle

new garden where the junnipers came out. Old sick Vibernums in fall colors----on the right.

Bummer that you have VLB there. Dreading its arrival here. Beni kawa is very nice. Got one last fall. What size are you looking for? Flowering shrub? Fall color? Fragrance?

flowering shrub. Beni Kawa comes five feet and tops at maturity at nine feet.It looks more like a tree than other Jap .threadleaf in front of the front porch.
Maybe something that grows lower than the first branches.

What is with the "F's"

Still many choices. How much sun does it get? When do you want bloom? Any bloom color you like? Again - fragrance or fall color?

63 and gorgeous. Planted my three new JM's. I'll post a photo later. Also worked on the pond again, fertilized the clematis and transplanted some bleeding hearts. Will do a bit more after lunch.

Holy cow Victor. I believe you had pictures of a Spirea that has lime,yellow and burgandy foliage. Does it have to be all one kind? I'm taking out 3 bushes when it happens and only putting in one tree. There are flower gardens on either side of this spot so maybe ,foliage and blooms.

Sure - it can be a mix. That's what I would do. How much sun?

full sun to part sun. The front corner faces South west and the corner faces west. This house is hard to garden ,it doesn't sit square on the lot facing south but at an angle in the upper right hand corner of a square.

Lots of viburnums, hydrangea paniculata, arborescens or quercifolia, itea, fothergilla, pieris, crape myrtle (will be root hardy), spirea thunbergii 'Ogon', spirea japonica (some will re-seed quite a bit), butterfly bush, rose mallow....

You can double-check the hardiness on these. Those were just off the top of my head. I personally love pairing dwarf needle conifers with JM's, so that's another!

Fast approaching 70 here, absolutely beautiful.
Got my order in from Bluestone will be planting later today.

Thanks Victor I have captured the list.

Robin - don't you hate it when your pot dries up and dies? Good thing you could do everyone else's...
(kidding..)

Delightful day! 64 and sunny right now. Killed myself removing two large miscanthus after lunch. These were more than four feet in diameter. Knocked off two. One more to go.

Three JM's planted this AM.

Compliments of the deer. I'm taking these out.

Did you ever see them there eating?

Really warm and windy, this is the nature center where I took the snow head at this winter - this pic is about 70 degrees warmer.

70 in the sun today. yes, ok, it was beautiful, but I got that panic feeling that I always get on the first hot cloudless day. Sun shines on the garden like in the desert, and I just want spring to go sloooowwww....

They usually browse during the night and early morning, Al.

Around here the deer browse all day and all night, the worst being dawn and dusk. I learned the word years ago when my son did "Summer Scholars". It's crepuscular. I hope I spelled that correctly. - Lynn

Yes you did - meaning active during twilight. I get them during the day too, but not as often. My neighbors have their dog out then.

No dog on my end, and you'd think the kennel we must live in would be helpful,, but the deer are so bold that they actually come up to the patio to munch on what they can find up here close to the house. Soon the does will be bringing their twins and triplets to enjoy the fiesta. OLE!!!

Tell me about it. I once came downstairs in the AM and glanced out the LR rear window and saw a bunch of them, with three of them actually laying down!

Ahh the net/deer fencing is working so far. So happy after all these years. Really a cheap option. Where was I???

Yup. That's why I stopped growing a veggie garden. They would chow down and then lay down until it was time to eat again. Two winters ago, I had one or two who bedded down almost under the deck. Just a little too close for comfort, especially with us being a Lyme disease hot spot. - Lynn

Edit: This was with fencing. They would just jump over. In my neighbor's garden, they are able to somehow get under the fencing, and then the rabbits get in - or the wood chucks. She threw in the towel last year.

This message was edited Apr 16, 2008 8:04 PM

You need at least 8 ft fencing. I like the 'invisible' black plastic stuff but it does not work in a suburban setting.

Sometimes you just have to cut your losses. It's better all the way around to visit the local farmer and grow house plants! I don't want to live fortified or constantly having to spray. If only they would eat the grass, then we wouldn't have to mow!

I often feel that way but it's just too late. What do you do - dig out every plants and fill the beds with grass?? Yuck.

The battle with the deer seems endless for many of us and yet I won't give in and keep using Milorganite, Blood Meal, Deer Scram and have soap to put out, too, but I'd like it not to be "Garden Art". Happily, when they visit my next door neighbor they've never touched her asparagus and have never sampled ours either.

Maybe you can hang asparagus all over.

If it would repel them I'd be glad to part with 100 of them. First of the year will be served with dinner on Friday and by late June we'll each be eating 20 every other night. No gout in the family histories, thankfully.

No. We plant the things they just don't seem to touch. Most of us up here have Alberta Spruces, daffodils and hardwoods tall enough that they can't stand up and eat. They don't like sedum or holly, but have eaten my yucca during the winter. Most of my gardens have been decimated and the neighbors' plantings all have growth that begins about 6' off the ground where the lower branches have been eaten off. I will have to remove a bird's nest spruce that never recovered from where it was half-eaten by the miserable creatures - and this is a shrub that is deer resistant! Potted plants up on a deck are just about all we can do around here - even the die-hards are tired of it! Please don't think I'm negative - the most optimistic people in the world are gardeners - but after knocking yourself out for 20+ years to be disappointed makes you a little frustrated. Sorry for the rant, it isn't directed at anyone, just the deer!