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?

April 26, 2011

Garden Visitor

Filed under: Creatures — Judy @ 11:18 am

A loud rat-a-tat-tat outside alerted us that the pileated woodpecker was back. Through the rain and the dirty windows, I managed a picture of questionable quality, but it still is evidence that he was here!

Pileated woodpecker

Pileated woodpecker

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