A Gardening Year

The adventures and misadventures of an heirloom gardener

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Waiting for the rain . . .

Still itching, both physically and figuratively. I had planned on having all my gardens planted by now but it has not rained in weeks so the ground is like concrete. I can't dig the new bed I want to create or widen the border in the backyard or finish the bed I started widening in the front yard. Thankfully, the weather has remained cool.

The iris has started blooming. It's early this year. Usually it starts on Mother's day or later. I wish I knew what kind this is. It came with the house. I've never seen any like it.

Lots of blues and purples blooming now. The wood hyacinths have started blooming. I seem to be down to two clumps. I'll have to order more eventually.
The roses have also started to bloom. I thought that Baronne de Prevost would be the first to bloom:
But the largest Blaze rose beat it. It's so competetive!
I can't wait for all the blooms to open. The window in the background is where I have my computer. For one month each year, I look out on a sea of roses.
The other mystery plant in the semi-shady garden has finally bloomed. It wasn't foxglove after all. It's Dame's Rocket. I had purple Dame's Rocket in the Purple Garden last year. It was so pretty, I decided to plant white ones in this garden to offet all the pink and red flowers. They are a biennial so they didn't bloom until this year.
Now a new mystery is emerging. There are tiny columbine seedlings coming up. What kind are they? I don't remember planting any. Are they offspring of the Grandmother's Garden columbine?
This is the only time of year that the back of my house looks nice. I haven't found anything besides the iris and roses that will grow there. It gets early morning sun only.

This year I am trying Johnny Jump Ups and columbine here. We'll see how they do.

4 Comments:

At 9:26 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello,
I deal with a lot of shade too. Something you might want to think about planting in your shade place is astilbe. I've had really good luck with it, the foliage is beautiful as well as the flowers.
Just found your blog and have enjoyed reading it and seeing your gardens.

 
At 11:12 AM, Blogger David (Snappy) said...

welcome back.I thought you were sick.My roses are growing nice new leaves I have four bushes now. one orange tea rose, and recently bought white and cream roses which I hope do well.
Love your columbines its on my wish list to grow.I got a book too (see last post) about heirloom garden planting inspired by you!

 
At 6:16 AM, Blogger OldRoses said...

Pennie, I planted astilbe in the front of my house this spring. The squirrels got most of them but a few have survived and hopefully will bloom.

Snappy, you will love columbines. They readily reseed so in a few years you will have lots of them! I'm so flattered you were inspired by me. I love history so heirloom gardening is a natural for me. Enjoy!

 
At 10:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

New reader, also from Jersey here. I can third the astilbes for shade, they are great plants.

Another low growing shade plant that grew where no others would at my place was Lamium. Pretty green and white leaves brightened things considerably.

There's always hosta too! :)

 

Post a Comment

<< Home