Well, as it stands right now, I've given up on all of my flowerbeds. I just can't deal with the quack grass any more and it has taken over 90 percent of the beds. I've waved the white flag of surrender. The quack grass wins! It's the only thing I hate about living in the country surrounded by farm fields that never get mown. ~sigh~
I'll continue the war in the veg garden, though. We might have an ugly lawn, but we still gotta eat!
It's exactly 30 F outside. There is steam rising from the ponds this morning and I suppose there will be tomorrow morning also.
Not as much got done this weekend as I'd wished. Of course.
The hubs got some of the garden weeds rototilled in the veg garden.
They was gettin' big, Ma!
What the heck is it with plants you want and weeds. The one's you want have only grown to toddler stage and the weeds race ahead to teenage-dom. Hmmm, at the size of them, maybe even middle aged.
Most got cut down in their prime. Too bad for them!
Mother Nature needs a Prozac. We had a hot, dry April and now that it's May, were dipping into the 20's F at night and getting soaked. She really needs to level out her mood swings or something!
I got 2 flowerbeds weeded. Doesn't sound like a big whoop, but a true pain in the ass. The rock wall around the tree bed had to be completely torn apart and weed roots yanked from underneath.
I divided some Lamium clumps and threw them in the pockets of the rebuilt wall here and there. That's one plant I wouldn't mind spilling into the walkway. Lamium is a fab plant! It flowers from April until well after frost, has the cutest white and purple flowers, the bees love it, it will grow in deep shade and keep on trucking, the leaves are fabulous variations of frosted variegation and it's a peach to rip out if it decides to explore past it's boundaries. Choosing to use the white flowered type, or the variety with the brightest frosted leaves will brighten up a gloomy area with it's glow like nothing else.
Seriously, I think Lamium is one of the most underused plants ever!
That freaking creeping (insert whatever weed you can think of that creeps and makes you crazy) is a whole 'nother story. I've been ripping 'creepy' crap up by the handfuls.
~sigh~ sometimes living in the country has it's downside.
At the rate I'm having to go - I'll never get finished.
.
It's suppose to hit 40 today, so yay!
I took a walk around the yard and cleaned up the perennials. Not much showing yet. What do I expect - the ground is still frozen solid and I was walking through patches of ice and snow!
Anyway, there are a few small, and I'm talking tiny, signs that spring can't be too far away.
I was cutting back the mums and chopping up the dead stems (I chop everything into really tiny pieces and leave it to do its thing rather than shluff it to the compost) and low and behold - new green growth! Wahoo!
Both the regular and variegated thyme are looking fantastic. Here and there I can see the dafs, tulips and hyacinths peeking up. The 'fire witch' dianthus got heaved like crazy this winter! But it's looking very healthy. I even had a gloriosa daisy make it through the winter!
The sweet williams look half mush, half nice and healthy. The allysum by the pond has spread like nuts. (definitely not a problem). I cut back the sedum and they're showing signs of waking up.
The rose campion looked good all winter (of course) and this should be the year I'll see blooms.
Obviously, there's no action in my wintersown containers yet, but I don't expect to see any until next month at the earliest.
I got the buddleia cut back. I'm not sure what to do with the cuttings. I don't want to chop them onto the compost pile or I'll end up with a million sprouts, sure as anything. It's really pissing me off that the ground is frozen like a rock and I can't pull all those freaking weeds. They're everywhere!
I have a real mess of labels spread all over the beds to pick up, but I'm sure I'll be wandering back out there this afternoon to do some more cleaning. Who can resist when it finally hits 40? God, it's been a long winter!
We've left a piece of land to do as it pleases. It's on a very steep slope (ok, cliff) that is simply impossible to mow, nevermind that it drops to a boot-sucking bog at the bottom.
And right now it's in its glory.
All summer long it has looked like nothing more than an unmanagable briar and wild things patch with a few phlox and queen ann's lace poking around here and there, but we've refused to cut it as it's such a grand wild things haven. Good thing I don't have any of those 'Turn You In' sort of neighbors, eh?
But right now that little untended plot is spectacular! Drifts of goldenrod are interspersed with wild aster, both with outrageously deep color this year, and peeking through on occasion is a splash of bright, glowing white bind weed.
Oh, how I wish they weren't such invasive weeds. I'd have them smack-dab in a front flowerbed. Just because.
Ragweed - it's everywhere. For some reason it exploded in my flower beds this year, and you just can't get rid of the crap. Maybe it's the weather we've had, maybe its finally gotten the army coordinated enough to swallow the world. Obviously, its harassed the Goldenrod to fall into flank behind. I don't really mind the Goldenrod so much. It doesn't have nasty pollen, though that myth is well circulated, and it is kinda pretty.
I have a beautiful woodpecker that visits daily, but let me explain the visit; It consists of him first checking the bird feeder D made attatched to the side of the house beside the sliding glass door. Now, there better be something good in there for him or I'm going to hear about it! If he finds nothing to his liking, it's straight to the living room window to hang on the screen, give me a good view of his butt and stare at me for some length of time. (And I'm glad I can't speak bird because I'm betting he's getting out a long string of bird-cuss). If this doesn't produce my attention, well, maybe some banging on the window sill will!
D realized the other day that he's begun to bring friends, and lots of them! I must have at least 5 different species hanging on my half-maple every day now. Absolutely wonderful to watch, but God forbid he ever teach them the 'screen hang-and-moon' technique!
The really bizarre thing is that the purple finches and chickadees will not come near the feeders if the woodpeckers are hanging out. Maybe the red headed repeated some rude gossip.
On a way off subject: I was hanging out at UKBob's and something he wrote reminded me of the Fuller Brush Man. Do you remember him? No? Don't want to admit your age, eh? ;)
I remember my grandmother buying all sorts off cool things from his magic case. It seemed he could pack anything in that sucker! And the Charlie Chip Man! (you can actually still order Charlie Chips from the net!) I simply adored those tins, and the chips weren't too darn bad either. I haven't thought about either of those door to doorers in years. Thanks for bringing the memories back Bob! Ah, the good old days.
Bishop's weed, gout weed, snow on the mountain, Aegopodium podograria.
It doesn't matter which alias it has decided to use to hide its hideousness from the unwary, it's still the variegated PLAGUE!
Eradicating this beast is Mission Impossible because it DOES irradicate.
One small sprig 20 years ago - still here. Leave one, tiny microscopic piece behind and you're doomed. Urghhh!
Don't even think it won't creep out of your rock garden. It will chuckle as the roots slip a foot deep beneath that boulder and pop its ugly head up on the other side. It's a curse!
NO, it isn't pretty.
NO, it doesn't brighten up a shady spot.
NO, it doesn't stay contained just because you're planting it in hardpan clay.
NO, it doesn't care if there's a drought (It will sacrafice the leaves to keep the roots alive).
NO, it doesn't care you popped it in a bog.
NO, it will NOT stay in a container (You might get lucky for a few years).
NO, it doesn't care you've planted it in the middle of a concrete contained, acre wide parking lot (Have seeds, will travel).
NO, it doesn't care your fingers are bloody from ripping the crap out of the ground.
NO, it doesn't care you're showering it lovingly with RoundUp.
NO, it doesn't care you've slaved over that perennial bush/shrub/vine/flower for 50 years, it will happily kill it.
Please people, please, for your own sanity - don't nicely send seeds, swap it, buy it, plant it, or even think this plant would look nice anywhere!
Personally, I think it's some kind of a sick, twisted Garden Gods joke. NOT funny.....
