AGY is in the news!

I have a visitor counter on my blog. When I began AGY, I kept a close eye on my stats. It was so exciting to see how many people were actually reading what I wrote. Three years later, blogging has become "old-hat". I rarely look at my counter so I didn't notice the uptick in visitors recently.

Instead, I learned about my new visitors as I was perusing my usual favorite blogs. A couple of them mentioned an article written by Jeff Ball of Gardening and Yardening. Jeff writes a column for The Detroit News. Recently he wrote about garden blogs. One of the blogs he recommended was my very own A Gardening Year.

Thanks Jeff! And welcome readers from The Detroit News. Believe it or not, I briefly lived just outside of Detroit when I was a child. Sorry, I was too young to have many memories of the area. No one will be surprised to learn that one of the few things I do remember is my father showing me a snake in the garden.

Tulip Mania

The jury is in on the Monet tulips: love 'em.

And do you see what's blooming in the upper left corner?

The Angelique tulips! They look like peonies. And here's what the whole bed looks like now:

All that's left to bloom are the Greenland tulips which are late-season. Most of the iris and the lilies survived and are coming along fine. Yes, I know that the bed is very weedy, but it sits on a slope so I am leaving the weeds as long as possible to hold the soil in place. We've had a lot of rain!

The mystery tulips not only have multiple blossoms, they also come in assorted colors:

Less than satisfying are the Peppermint Stick Tulips.

The colors are very washed out. You barely notice them in the garden. Thankfully, the Pencrebar Daffodils are cute as a button:

I was trying to create a "miniatures" garden. I planted the Peppermint Stick tulips, the Pencrebar daffodils and dwarf iris. The squirrels got all of the iris bulbs and the tulips were a a disappointment. Maybe I'll just stick to miniature daffodils in this bed.

Right across the little paved walk is my lilac bush with lily of the valley and violets underneath.

And this is the reason that I keep planting hellebores even though they don't bloom well for me:

They make a really nice groundcover!

Green Thumb Sunday

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This post is dedicated to Kasmira who introduced me to Winter Sowing via her blog, Cincinnati Cape Cod. I sowed 20 containers in late February/early March. When I opened them today to begin the hardening-off process, I discovered that all of them had germinated. The two laggards were Gas Plant (Dictamnus albus 'Purpureus' ) and Great Blue Lobelia. Here is my complete list of winter sown seeds for 2007:

Bachelor's Buttons
Butterfly Weed
Calendula
Cleome "White Queen"
Cosmos "Seashells"
Gas Plant
Great Blue Lobelia
Jewels of Opar
Johnny-Jump-Ups
Kiss Me Over The Garden Gate
Love-in-a-Mist
Monkshood
Nicotiana alata “Lime Green”
Nicotiana sylvestris
Pansy "Chalon Supreme Mix"
Red Swamp Milkweed
Snapdragon "Black Prince"
Snapdragon "Plum Blossom"
Verbena bonariensis
Wild Purple Foxglove

I have to admit to an initial skepticism about the winter sowing concept. I even had duplicate seed packets in reserve "just in case". I am now sold on this technique. I'm already saving containers for next year, 12 so far.



Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Minty Fresh

Last year when I planted and tended an herb garden as part of my Master Gardener training, a couple of extra plants "accidentally" ended up in my basket and came home with me. The Lavender Lady was added to the Entry Garden along with the rest of my lavenders. The chocolate mint was confined to a pot and placed on the other side of my sidewalk along with the Kiss-Me-Over-The-Garden-Gate that I bought at a Master Gardener sale. I don't steal ALL of my plants!

At the end of the gardening season, we were supposed to be able to bring home any of the perennials that we had grown in our herb beds with a few exceptions. One of those exceptions was the chocolate mint. My partner and I were asked to return the two mint plants which had been planted in pots which were in turn "planted" in the beds. They were going to be wintered-over and propogated in a greenhouse because the only other chocolate mint they had was in a large wooden container and wouldn't survive the winter outside in a container.

I beg to differ:

Mine seems to have survived quite well in a MUCH smaller plastic pot in a less than optimal spot, the corner formed by my sidewalk and my driveway.

I'm now in search of a more attractive container. One that will also survive the winter.

Winter Sowing Update

I am still hopefully peering into all of my winter sowing containers. Today, I was rewarded with seedlings: Red Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata), a native perennial. It is destined for the Wildflower Garden.

Winter Sowing Sprouts!
Bachelor's Buttons
Butterfly Weed
Calendula
Cleome "White Queen"
Cosmos "Seashells"
Jewels of Opar
Johnny-Jump-Ups
Kiss Me Over The Garden Gate
Love-in-a-Mist
Monkshood
Nicotiana alata “Lime Green”
Nicotiana sylvestris
Pansy "Chalon Supreme Mix"
Red Swamp Milkweed
Snapdragon "Black Prince"
Snapdragon "Plum Blossom"
Verbena bonariensis
Wild Purple Foxglove

More Spring Flowers

All that bulb planting I did last fall has really paid off. Every day it seems that something new is blooming.

This is what happens ten years later when you plant bulbs in the fall and hydrangeas in the spring not realizing how large the hydrangeas will become:

I think it's kind of pretty, though. Here are a couple more of the "pink" daffodils:

I like the double one a lot. I have another double in the Purple Garden in back:

I'm putting more double daffodils on my list for fall. And this is what my front yard looks like now.

It needs more work, but it's more interesting than it was. Last spring I looked around my yard and decided I needed more tulips. I ordered a variety of forms and colors. Among them were these pseudo-Rembrandt tulips.

The "I have no idea how it got there" tulip in the background kind of detracts from it, though.

These red tulips started popping up all over last year. Here's one in what has to be the darkest, weediest, ugliest spot in my yard between my shed and the back fence.

I'm already starting renovation on this area. Last year I began the Wildflower Garden at the entrance and this spring I planted a few ferns along the fence. Eventually I want to convert this to a "Woodland Walk". It's the only idea I could come up with because it gets so little light.

I was very excited to see that the squirrels did not get at the Red Riding Hood tulips. Here is one in bud one day . . .

And blooming the next day. I love the variegated foliage.

As predicted by some commenters, the mystery tulips have developed multiple blossoms.

I've always loved these little fritillaries in catalogs but was hesitant to order them because I know how deceptive the catalog pictures can be. But after seeing pictures of them on other garden blogs, I took the plunge last fall.

The lunaria, or Money Plant, has begun to bloom. I have two colors in my yard. These white ones in the Purple Garden somehow holding their own amongst the lamb's ear and asters . . .

And purple ones growing in the border along the UGF. Those tiny green seedlings are poppies. I saved a ton of seed last year and strewed it all in this bed in March. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

What's Blooming Now

I've been so busy taking pictures of all the spring flowers in my yard, that I've completely neglected to post any. Here's a quick run-down of the past few days:

A crocus, not planted by me, growing by my composter.

Another "pink" daffodil

More garden weirdness. Thalia daffodils growing really well under less than optimal conditions. This little bed gets very weedy no matter how hard I work at it. And it's a race every year for the foliage to store enough food as the bed gets progressively shadier as the leaves develop on the over-hanging tree.
Meanwhile, in the sunny (relatively) weedfree bed by the UGF (Ugly Green Fence), Thalia doesn't do well at all.
It seems to like shade. And competition. This is the Purple Garden which is shaded half the day. These Thalia were planted years ago. They have to compete with aggressively spreading asters. As you can see, they are lovin' it!

Here's an example of disappointment and pleasant surprise in the same bed. These are supposed to be Fortissimo Daffodils. In the catalog, they are large yellow daffodile with bright orange cups. In person, they are pretty but not outstanding. Right behind them. . .

Iris bucharica. It's from Afghanistan and I learned AFTER I planted it last year that it likes wet springs and dry summers. Kinda like Afghanistan. Duh! I was sure it wouldn't make it through our wet New Jersey summer. It not only made it, it spread! Since it is doing so well, I'm going to move it in the fall to the front of the bed to really showcase it in the spring. I love happy surprises, don't you?

Speaking of happy surprises, remember the not so pink daffodil from earlier in the week?

Apparently it opens yellow and then turns "pink". I had read about flowers that change color after they open but had never seen it.

The jury is still out on these tulips.

They are supposed to be a Monet pastel mix of colors. I'm hoping that this is just a case of the white ones opening before the other colors. This is just one bunch, by the way. There are more of them in the bed with the "pink" daffodils. There are also Angelique tulips and Greenland tulips that bloom later in the season. The idea was to maintain a consistent color scheme in the entry Bed through a long blooming season.

I'm convinced that this bed is jinxed!

The Weirdness Chronicles 2007 - Chapter 3

Spring is busting out all over. Every day I run around the yard with my camera recording each new blossom. Today I was thrilled to see these new tulips in bloom. I didn't know what kind they were but I did know two things: they are planted in the Wildflower Garden so they must be some kind of species tulip and I was meticulous about my record-keeping so identification would be a breeze.

Except that it wasn't. I have every single bulb that I ordered for last fall recorded on spread sheets sorted by the catalog from which they were ordered. Nothing. I even checked my spreadsheets from the previous year, admittedly incomplete. Still nothing. I don't recall any freebies involving tulips.

The occasional snowdrop or crocus popping up unexpectedly, I can accept. But tulips of a type I've never grown before? That's just plain weird.

Green Thumb Sunday

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Okay, lousy picture but the point I'm trying to make is that there are a few things going right in my garden this spring. Last year I started a Wildflower Garden. I planted bulbs and seeds. These cute little daffodils surprised me with their tiny size. I'm glad to see them back this year. The wild columbine was grown from seed in 2005 and transplanted into this bed. It bloomed last year and was also tiny. This year, the plants are much, much bigger as you can see by the picture. I can't wait for them to bloom!

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Pink? Yes & No

Two more "pink" daffodils have bloomed.

By not stretch of the imagination could this one be called "pink".

Maybe this one could.

Both of these photos were taken stretched out on my back. In my front yard. Do you think I should start bringing out my (unused) tripod so people will think I'm a photographer and not just crazy? Or maybe start wearing one of those vests that photo-journalists always seem to wear?

Winter Sowing Update

More gorgeous weather and another container has germinated: Jewels of Opar. I harvested these seeds last fall from the Headhatter's plot at Rutgers Gardens. With her permission, of course! I'm going to be planting them in the border along the Ugly Green Wall to provide some autumn interest.

Winter Sowing Sprouts!
Bachelor's Buttons
Butterfly Weed
Calendula
Cleome "White Queen"
Cosmos "Seashells"
Jewels of Opar
Johnny-Jump-Ups
Kiss Me Over The Garden Gate
Love-in-a-Mist
Monkshood
Nicotiana alata “Lime Green”
Nicotiana sylvestris
Pansy "Chalon Supreme Mix"
Snapdragon "Black Prince"
Snapdragon "Plum Blossom"
Verbena bonariensis
Wild Purple Foxglove

Leonard J. Buck Garden

The Master Gardners sponsored their second trip of the year to the Leonard J. Buck Garden in a valley formed by glaciers in Far Hills. The "bones" of the garden were shaped by the ancient ice with a little help from man. The plants in the gardens are a mixture of native plants and hybrids azaleas and rhododendrons. The result looks like a magical garden created by fairies rather than humans.

Walking down the steps from the Visitor Center, your first view of the garden hints at the wonders to come.

Plants are nestled in pockets of basalt walls and in naturally occurring outcroppings.

I was amazed at the amount of work that was done by hand in the 1930's to create this wondrous place. According to the website: "Mr. Buck discovered the layout of outcroppings, and the men chiseled and shoveled, picked and blasted to expose the basalt--once hot lava that formed the Second Watchung mountain about 175 million years ago. "

And after all that work, more work using stone to create raised beds:

I want this gazebo!

I saw some incredible plants. These are Giant Snowdrops. Scale kindly provided by "A", my fellow Strawhatter who also came along:

And look how tiny these daffodil blooms are! Scale provided by a tri-fold brochure:

An entire wall of Dutchman's Breeches:

And how about these trees!

There is a small stream,

crossed by several small bridges,

that leads to a pond that must be spectacular in May. It is lined with iris and rose mallow.

We saw many frogs and a few fish in and around the pond. And this is my newest must-have for my shade garden:

Red Trillium

Please visit Flickr for more photos of the trees and flowers I saw there. The next MG trip is scheduled for June. We are going to the Rudolf W. van der Goot Rose Garden. You can imagine how excited I am about that trip!