The Garden Worm blog Digging up the best dirt on gardening!

July 18, 2011

Midsummer

Filed under: Berries,Flowers,Grasses,Our gardens,Summer — Judy @ 10:10 am

Wow! We have been so busy that I haven’t given a thought to updating the blog. First, so much rain in the spring that it was hard to get in the gardens to do cleanup. Then, it was rush, rush, rush to get everything cleaned up, planted up, and spruced up for the holidays and beginning of summer. And, in the meantime, all the moisture in the soil dried up and huge cracks appeared in the parched earth while we were experiencing temperatures hovering around 90. This morning? A bit of soft, steady rain to moisten things up and maybe some more this afternoon – yay! We surely need it.

I’m loving this corner of the yard now – the red doublefile viburnum berries, the dark purple foliage and berries of the Diabolo ninebark, the hint of yellow on the chamaecyparis pisifera aurea, the wispy threads of the Morning Light miscanthus grass, and barely seen at the bottom of the picture, the bluish green fronds of a microbiota decussata. So much going on!

A closeup of the center shows all the coloration and texture variations going on.

Here is another corner with lots of interest now – amsonia hubrechtii in the center, coreopsis ‘Zagreb’ and ‘Goldsturm’ rudbeckia just below, lamb’s ears (which interestingly have not browned out and turned to mush this year) and ‘Amethyst Myst’ heuchera at the very bottom, hosta (can’t remember the name) and aruncus on the far right, hakonechloa ‘Aureo-marginata’ and sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ on the left, and spikes of siberian iris ‘Caesar’s Brother’ and ‘Butter and Sugar’ punctuating the scene here and there.

Despite the flooding rains this spring, the horrific heat this summer, and the tough love we are meting out to our gardens this year, they don’t look too bad! What’s going on in your gardens now?

May 14, 2011

Unfurling of Spring

Filed under: Contests,Flowers,Our gardens,Spring — Judy @ 11:21 pm

The unfurling and uncurling of spring is now taking place in gardens all around me. This miraculous process is one that I love to watch. The emerging leaves or flowers give only a little hint of the final show!

“I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden.” ~ Ruth Stout

Watch the Christmas ferns bending over backward as their fronds uncurl.

Polystichum acrostichoides

Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)

The ‘Lady in Red’ ferns unfurl in red, but their leaflets turn green while the stems stay red.

Athyrium 'Lady in Red'

Athyrium filix-femina 'Lady in Red'

The next picture is one that I am submitting to the Gardening Gone Wild Picture This contest for May. The unfurling leaves of the Crimson King maple, though red, remind me of newly emerging bat wings drying in the sun. Or what I imagine they would look like. I love how the early morning sun lights up the leaves against the clear blue sky.

Crimson King maple

Crimson King maple

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April 28, 2011

Spring is Sputtering

Filed under: Flowers,Our gardens,Spring — Judy @ 4:18 pm

Yesterday and today, we have actually been able to shed the extra layers of clothes and work in shirt sleeves! We have had sooooo much rain – the creeks are overflowing, the farmers have not been able to get into the fields to plow, and this is now the rainiest April on record for our area. The lawns are so soggy that it is difficult to find anywhere to walk to start cleaning up the gardens.

My daughter sent me this picture to let me know that they have had somewhat warmer weather than we have had!

Flowering cherries at Cornell

Fortunately, the flowering trees and shrubs around here are now bursting forth – the star and saucer magnolias, the flowering cherries and plums. The forsythia seems to be gorgeous this year and the quince is promising lots of color very soon.

Forsythia 'Lynwood Gold'

Forsythia 'Lynwood Gold'

The daffodils, grape hyacinths, tulips, and all the spring bulbs are now on stage too.

Poet's eye narcissus

Poet's eye narcissus

Purple Hyacinth

Generic purple hyacinth

And the perennials are starting to jump out of the ground. The polemonium I have mentioned before here is showing its fabulous early coloration.

Polemonium 'Stairway to Heaven'

Polemonium 'Stairway to Heaven'

The brunneras, that have similar flowers and coloration of the forget-me-nots, but don’t seed all over the place and look gray and ratty by midsummer, are blooming gloriously in the shade garden.

Brunnera 'Jack Frost'

Brunnera 'Jack Frost'

It almost seems like spring is going to be compressed into a very short season – everything is blooming at once! I certainly hope not because, now that I am able to get outside, breathe the fresh air, savor all the newness and glory of the season, it seems a shame to not have it hang around for a while. I was more than ready to let winter be gone, but I can’t say that I’m ready for summer to be here just yet. How about you?

February 18, 2011

GBBC 2011

Filed under: Creatures,Miscellaneous,Our gardens,Winter — Judy @ 4:37 pm

PEOPLE! It’s time for the Great Backyard Bird Count! This is the 14th year for this fun and fabulous example of great citizen science. Sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Audubon Society, it brings together bird-watchers of all ages and skill levels across North America to gather information for a real-time look at where the birds are for one weekend in February – and this is it! Count for as little as 15 minutes on one day or for as long as you like. Take pictures of the birds, or of you and your family watching them, and submit them. Go to www.birdcount.org for more information!

Carolina wren

Carolina wren

This little guy, the Carolina wren, is one that I have been attempting to get a picture of ever since he arrived at our feeders last year. Very elusive, very “bibbity-bobbity,” he made it difficult to get anything more than a blur! As you might remember, I did get his footprints last year though.

Carolina wren tracks

Tracks of Carolina wren

This year, he has been very photogenic, posing on the deck railing in-between food forays in the viburnum and the potentilla, and then zooming at breakneck speed over to the birdfeeder and back. Don’t you just love the way his tail points straight up? Click on this one for the big picture.

Carolina wren

Carolina wren

As of 2 PM today (Fri, Feb 18th), there were 989,746 birds counted. Whew! and the counting goes on until Monday, Feb 21st! The deadline to enter your tally checklists is March 1st. Go to www.birdcount.org and see what birds are being counted in your neighborhood, see where birds are found all over the continent, and check out the spectacular photos in the gallery. And if you aren’t quite certain just what birds are in your backyard, go to their excellent learning pages starting here or the ever-excellent online bird guide from Cornell here.

Happy birding!

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