I’m still waiting for the beds to fill in — I delayed a lot of growth by moving everything around over the winter. I hope it didn’t permanently damage stuff, and I hope I have the patience this coming winter to leave everything alone so it can re-establish. Maybe things will fill in more by July and August. We’ll see. That’s one reason for posting these status updates with pictures, so I’ll have a comparison next year.
I took my coffee out and sat in my garden chair this morning; the morning was cool, and the colors inspired me to get my camera out.
Out back
My new Mexican feather grasses; they’re my favoriteBack hill and raised bed
I’ve been checking the rue for swallowtail caterpillars, and I saw my first one of 2022 this morning.
Swallowtail caterpillar on rue
I’ve been checking the swamp milkweeds to see if they’d come back. I was getting nervous because they seemed to take longer this year than in previous years. Three of the five have finally re-emerged; I’ll need to replace the other two so the monarch caterpillars don’t run out of food.
First rose through the nepetaNepeta and roses in bloomRose bedSalvia by mailbox is peakingYarrow and salvias by the bird bath bloom togetherYarrow in bloom and grasses filling inBack hill still has some filling in to do, but flowers are bloomingJethro Tull coreopsis
Mexican feather grass and purple salviaFull back bedCuphea for hummingbirdsBack bedsI need to cut those old hydrangea flowers offMay 15 and we’re better than February, but still have a ways to go to fill inyarrow and butterfly bush filling inpansies in the rainnepeta bloomingyarrow starting to yellowI hope the lavender fills inthe roses are getting bushy
Nepeta in bloomPink salvia beginning to bloomOrlaya will soon bloomDwarf lilac beginning to bloomYarrow will soon bloomRue will soon bloomFirst of the dwarf lilac blossoms
The grass is greening, more perennials are starting to push up leaves, and the dogwood, redbud, and first tulips and salvias are blooming.
Rose bedFront beds and dogwoodDogwood starting to bloomJoe Pye, pineapple sage, and orange milkweed emergingColumbine flower budsDogwood flowers and skyMexican feather grass out backMexican feather grass out frontWhite salvia blooming in rose bedFirst tulip, by mailboxDogwood flowersRussian sage getting leavesblue salvia bloomingRhododendron in its new spotTulip budsBack hill
One of the small orange milkweeds is coming back — its just started poking through. Also, I put a few things in the ground today:
Thyme for the rose bedMy favorite grass: Mexican featherWhite Coneflower to replace one that didn’t come backLollipop Vervain to fill in out backDwarf agastache to fill in out back
I always take a lot of photos this time of year because I’m eager for every bit of new growth each day. It’s easy to see progress when everything is starting fresh; I walk the garden multiple times a day to see if anything new has emerged.
Today it rained most of the day, which is excellent for the garden, and also for me since I need a break. I took my camera out in the drizzle to record some of the stuff going on.
New rue growthColumbineLilac growthNew rose growthOrnamental onion emergingSedum filling in
I want to believe the warm weather is here to stay, though I know from the forecast that it’s not. Still, it was warm here this weekend, and I took full advantage of it to get the garden cleaned up. I pruned roses, cut back ornamental grasses, raked leaves out of flower beds, moved lavenders, transplanted hydrangea, and kicked poor performers to the curb.
As I worked, I smelled fresh mint in the mint patch. I listened to birds chirp and leaves rustle in a warm breeze. I was surprised by the first forsythia blossom. When I pulled away dead debris and raked out leaves that have insulated the ground these last 5 months, I found leaves emerging underneath – sedum, tulips, columbine, goldenrod.
I finally figured out a way to plot out plants in a way that I can visualize how they’ll look in the space. I photographed the back beds, then annotated the photos using Preview on my mac. I had to combine two pictures to get a full panorama of the back hill, but I think I’ve finally (mostly) gotten to a point where next time it’s warm enough to work in the garden, I know which plants to move and where. I’m hopeful I can get most everything moved before my gardening vacation in March, when I’ll mulch.
I want to rearrange everything: every circle shown here is a plant I need to move 😬
Already done
These are the plants I’ve already moved; I shifted my work day earlier Friday so I could take advantage of warm temperatures to work in the garden.
This is the bed I created in February of 2021. In its first season, I sowed seeds for annuals (zinnias, dill, and Mexican sunflowers), but they took too long to come in, and I am not patient. Then, once they exploded in bloom, they were messy and too tall. So this year I’ll try something different. I’ve moved a bunch of perennials, some of which are early bloomers and some are later. I also plotted a little path through them so that it’s not just a giant rectangle and it has a little more organic shape.
I’m excited for the next warm day so I can start working on the rest of the hill.
Andrea's Gardening Blog 