Just a quick post to say, now I'm here, but in a minute I'll be gone.
This is my property out by the street. I have nicer photos of this area all planted but that would be cheating. Today I'll be working out there all day because our nice town of Huntington is sending a crew here.
This is my curb in the other direction, actually, there is no curb. The rock retaining wall was put in when the house was built, the story is that these rocks all came from when the dug the foundation of our house. That's hard to believe because there's a lot of rocks and my house is not huge. Anyway, for some reason our land is slightly higher than our driveway and the street.
As I walked around out there this morning I found a few new babies growing out of the crevices in our retaining walls. Here you can see Corydalis, it's seeded itself all along the wall and I'm just crazy about the way it blooms out there.
How cool is this! The Asarum europaeum (European Ginger) at the top of the wall also seeded down into the cracks. Hooray!
Hello little baby, this is the first time I've seen a Geranium maculatum seedling in the wall. I'll try to remember to feed you a bit from time to time.
The west side of the driveway is bathed in the rising sunlight. I found a little Sedum sexangular seedling basking away. Better move that acorn before it tries to root!
Oops, looks like a poly-nose seeded here. Sorry baby but I don't think I want you here.
Here's the last shot, even though there's nothing blooming out here yet, I love how this area looks as the sun is rising.
Tonight's class topic is "Theme Gardens". Basically every garden has some theme. It might be a English Cottage theme such as I have here.
Many people love the rose garden theme, this one is at Old Westbury Garden and is spectacular!
A knot garden and an herbal garden theme goes hand in hand.
The theme you choose is only doable if the conditions of your property allow it to be done. Many properties in my area have large trees so a Shade Retreat works well around here.
The best theme garden I've ever toured was a Redneck Garden in the Carolinas.
Even small gardens can have themes. A potted garden, a container garden and so on.
If wildlife is your thing, then you want a nature retreat with lots of plants to invite the woodland creatures into your garden. I can tell you though that I did not invite this little guy here, he came on his own. Go away you cute chipmunk!
What does this photo have to do with today's topic of sifting compost? Absolutely nothing but I figured I needed to start off with something cute since the rest of the photos are blah.
This is my compost area. This is a nice photo of my compost area. Trust me...and yes, that is a toilet in my compost, oh the shame.
My husband Don made this sifter for our garden at our first house. Back then we were on a quarter acre lot and didn't have a compost pile.
Happy Garden Bloggers Bloom Day!
The Hellebores are in their glory now, I really do find them such wonderful additions to the early spring garden.
Just popping it's sleepy head up is Viola 'Bowl's Black' which enthusiastically seeds itself throughout the perennial border.
You'll have to look carefully to see the blooms here but the Dicentra spectablis' (Bleeding hearts) all over my garden are plumping up like crazy and the tiny miniature hearts are just visible today.
A sweet lavender violet given to me a number of years ago. Unfortunately I'm too soft hearted and this beauty has invaded several parts of my perennial bed. I keep holding off until they bloom so I can cull the blue ones and leave the lavender ones but that doesn't seem to work. This year I vow to win the war!
Oh my, this is as good as staring at a pile of wrapped Christmas presents. The Sanguinaria canadensis (Double bloodroot) is just about ready to unfurl it's leaves and burst into bloom. I'm willing to bet that it will be open by this evening.
As a closing shot, I was so delighted to find the first bloom on this Hellebore seedling. A gardening friend, Mary Kay, shared some seedlings with me and what a wonderful day for this beauty to begin.
Centaurea montana was also potted up. I just checked my favorite garden catalog for the botanical name on this plant and was surprised to find it isn't even offered for sale! This plant has never seeded for me but the clump had grown huge so once again, I potted up 8 pieces and put three back in the garden.
Oenothera tetragona is another simple cottage plant. It seems the old fashioned plants can be hard to find at some nurseries. I found a new cache of these under the red maple out back and will be potting them like crazy.
What is it about me that makes me so miserly with certain plants? This sweet Geranium has formed a huge clump but I can barely make myself think of digging in to it. The same goes for the Polygonatum odoratum 'Variegata' behind it. I have at least 8 different plantings of this beauty but I am only willing to part with a dozen pots a year.
Not a bloom but wonderful leaf buds are bursting open on the Schizophragma hydrangeoides climbing up our tree ladder.
Look where I found a new Corydalis seedling growing. I can't wait for this baby to bloom.
The Hamamelis 'Arnold Promise' is just about finished. It's delicious scent still perfumes the area but the petals have been falling to the ground. As the sun peeked through the clouds I wondered what was in bloom at the base of 'Arnold'. A close up inspection showed me the lovely yellow foliage of Spirea japonica 'White Gold' just beginning to put on a show. I'll have a close up shot on Tuesday.
Contrary to what I say in every lecture, I do have tulips growing here and they do return every year! I don't know the name of these beauties. I bought them when Emily was in elementary school as part of a fund raiser. I still remember the day she and I planted them.
As a closing shot, I had to share the sweet little blooms on the Dicentra cucullaria (Dutchman's britches) and check out those awesome pink spikes of Polygonatum odorum 'Variegatum (Soloman's seal) peeking up out of the ground.
