This weeks weather has been very interesting. It was sunny and in the high 80s on Monday but today it is raining and in the 50s.

The plants have been responding to the warmth, sun and rain. Some of the current happenings in the garden include the following.

• The hostas in the back yard are breaking ground.


• All of the grasses are finally greening up including the ones that were just recently divided.


• The red and yellow tulips in the oval brick bed in the front yard are all blooming. From the street, the display is beautiful.


• The daylillies have doubled their size.


• The radishes and the lettuce mixture in the four pots have sprouted. They need to be thinned.


• The pansies that I grew from seed and planted in the wheelbarrow are doing better. Unfortunantly, not all of them survived.


• Two of the carpet roses are up. However, I had to dig the middle one out last weekend because it did not survive.


• Ken and I dug up the bulbs in the small bed in the back yard. I planted the four Marguerite Daisys around the butterfly house. I still have to dig up the perennials in the bed at the back of the house and transplant them.


• The Yukon Gold potatoes were planted last Sunday in the barrels.
• The coral bells are beginning to send up new leaves.

FALL 2009 AND SPRING 2010 SUGGESTIONS

FALL 2009

• Order Orange Emperor Tulip Bulbs from Van Engelen (100/$31.75) and plant in the front oval bed.

• Order giant crocuses and Tulip Tarda or Tulip Dasystemon (50/$9.25) from Van Engelen for large back bed.

The weather today is unbelieveable. Yesterday, they changed the weather report several times. First there was supposed to be rain in the evening, then in the morning and then not at all! The one thing that stayed consistent was that forecast said that the temperature would be in the 80s. Right now it's in the mid 80s. I hope that the warmth doesn't harm my cool weather flowers or crops. This picture shows the violas that are planted in one of the pots in the front side yard brick bed.


Two yellow Carlton daffodils have blossomed in the large bed and I see several other buds. However, all of the bulbs that I put in this bed in October 2007 have not come up. Some of them may have rotted away or were destroyed when I put other plants in the ground. I love spring flowering bulbs but they can be undependable. That's why I usually treat them as annuals and not perennials.






I decided to dig out the minature bulbs that are in the left small bed. Even though a lot of the green leaves came up this year, less than a dozen crocuses and daffodils bloomed. I want to transplant perennials in this bed and add some vegetables later this spring.




The perennials in the right small bed are bursting out of the ground. There are Stella d'Oro and Happy Returns daylillies, Nana coreopsis, salvias, irises, delphiniums, and a grass in this bed. I'm still having trouble with the Obedient Plant cropping up. Even though I have dug it out twice this spring, I see that some more leaves are coming up! I bought the ornament in the picture above at the Meier Gardens Gift Shop last summer.

Ken mowed the front yard for the first time this year. With all of the heavy rain that we have had this week, it really looks good. However, that still doesn't make me a turf fan! I would be happy to eliminate all of it in our yard. I might not be able to do this in the front but I'm doing my best to get rid of the grass in the back yard. Every year, Ken digs up more of it. Unfortunantly, it's difficult to do so all at once. Right now, Ken has a huge pile of old sod next to the composter that he will turn into "black gold."

April Showers Bring May Flowers! Well, it's not exactly May yet but the rain that we have had since Sunday evening is really making everything green. Today, the sun has come back out and it is in the 60s. This picture shows the minature tulips (I can't remember if they are T. tarda or T. dasystemon) that have been coming up in the garden by the front door for three or four years. I love them especially mixed with the scillas.

The forsythias have been blooming this week and the ones in the back yard look beautiful. I love their free flowing form and they are covered with flowers. The lilacs are also getting purple buds at their tips. Last year, we cut the height of the lilacs but this year we need to thin out the dead wood and overlapping branches. This morning, Ken started to create a rock border around the base of the pine tree. So far, it looks really good.

On Monday (April 20th), I sowed some more tomato seeds. I started three Celebrity tomatoes, two Mild Jubilee tomatoes and three Lemon Boy tomatoes. This time I decided to put them under the lights right away instead of starting them in a warm dark room. Even though, the Celebrity and Mild Jubilee tomato seeds are from last year, the Lemon Boy seeds are the ones that I bought last weekend. Today, I noticed that one of the Celebrity seeds that I planted several weeks ago started to germinate so I put it under the lights.

Today is definitely cooler than yesterday. It is in the 50s, overcast, and trying to rain. I hope that it does because all of my pots need watering. The photo on the left shows some of the work that we have done in the last week. The decorative grasses have been cut and divided; the violas have all been potted, and the sedums (right hand corner) have been dug up and transplanted. The mass in front of the bird sculpture is a coral bell plant that is starting to revive. It actually looks better than the picture portrays.

Today, Ken and I worked out in the garden for about three hours. I finished planting the violas in the pots located in the hosta bed. I also noticed that the hostas are beginning to send up shoots. I was shocked when I walked by the Jackmanii clematis today because now there are leaves on each of the three stems. So I pruned it back. This will be the third year that we have had this clematis. It has large purplish-blue flowers and reblooms throughout the summer.

I planted two pots of radishes and two pots of lettuce.

• Cherry Belle Radish (Lake Valley Seed; $1.29) is an early season radish grown for its crunchy round, red roots. It sprouts in 5 to 10 days and matures in 22 days.
• Green and Red Salad Mix Lettuce (Lake Valley Seed; $2.49) is a mix that contains Black Seeded Simpson, Green Salad Bowl, Red Salad Bowl, Marvielle of Four Seasons and Bibb lettuce. It sprouts in 7 to 14 days and matures in 50 days.

I put six of the Cupani Sweet Pea (Botanical Interests; $1.99) seeds in water so that germination will be easier. I should have planted these plants in the middle of March but I decided to take a chance. This plant blooms in spring/summer on 5 to 6 foot long vines. This heirloom variety is described as having purple and deep blue bicolor flowers that are very fragrant. I will plant the seeds around the apple wood plant stand in the large back bed and let the vines twine around it.

SPRING TO-DO LIST

Today it is sunny and in the 70s but it is supposed to get about 20 degrees cooler with rain tomorrow. Oh well!

Dave's Garden Newsletter had an article recently by Susanne Talbert titled "Spring To-Do Lists." I thought that the article would focus on what tasks need to be done but instead it is about how to categorize them. The author states that first you need to decide on goals she refers to as "Focal Points." Then miscellaneous tasks that need to be done to achieve the focal points should be identified. I am very happy about what I have been able to achieve during the last several weeks but there are still a lot of spring-time chores to finish. So I decided to make my To-Do List. Also, I will update this list when I have finished a chore.

Focal Point 1: Clean all out old foliage, leaves and rubbish from beds.

• Sunday, April 19: Clean and weeded left-sided small back yard bed.
• Saturday, May 2: Dug more Obedient Plant out of the right-sided small back yard bed. Placed four pots in bed and added Geranium Sculpture to fill in bed.

Focal Point 2: Plant/Transplant new and existing plants.

• Saturday, May 2: Transplanted two daylillies and two salvias to the left-sided small back yard bed.
• Sunday, May 3: Transplanted mums to the left-sided small back yard bed.
• Sunday, May 3: Planted new Asao clematis in front of the trellis.
• Sunday, May 3: Planted new Gold Coast Juniper next to the other juniper in the back yard.

Focal Point 3: Trim/Prune shrubs.

• Sunday, April 19: Pruned clematis.
• Sunday, April 19: Dug up spirea bush.
• Saturday, May 2: Pruned Butterfly Bushes back to six inches

Focal Point 4: Sow flower seeds in beds.

Focal Point 5: Buy mulch and add to beds.

• Saturday, May 2 & Sunday, May 3: Put cedar mulch in hosta beds in the back yard.

Focal Point 6: Plant flower pots with violas.

• Sunday, April 19: Finished planting violas.

Focal Point 7: Plant vegetable seeds.

• Sunday, April 19: Planted two pots of lettuce and two pots of radishes.

Focal Point 8: Miscellaneous

• Thursday, April 23: Created a rock border and pathway around the pine tree in the back yard.

What a beautiful day! Sunny and in the 70s. After the rain that we had earlier in the week, the flowers are really starting to perk up. Also, some of the daffodils in the large back yard bed are starting to bloom. The flowers in the photograph (left) are Ice Follies and are in the large back yard bed.

This morning, I went to English Gardens to pick up a few seeds. (All seeds are 30% off.) I wanted to buy some hot pepper seeds because none of the seeds that I had from last year have germinated. However, they didn't have any. I did buy some other types--Cherry Belle radish, Lemon Boy tomatoes, and a Cupani Sweet Pea. While I was there, I also purchased four Marguerite Daisy "Kelwayi" (Anthemis tinctoria) plants. (They were $1.99 but the fourth one was free. So I paid $1.50 for each one.) The tag describes it as being an "easy-to-grow 18 inch tall plant with beautiful flowers. Finely cut, aromatic foliage. Great in gardens or for cutting. Attracts butterflies. Blooms June to September in sun or partial sun."

Later in the afternoon, Ken and I drove to Bordine's Nursery in Brighton. We purchased two packs of Yukon Gold seed potatoes. Each package cost $3.99. I also, bought a welcome mat for the front porch that is made out of recycled materials.

This evening, Ken put the Butterfly House in the small left-hand bed. I will plant the Marguerite daisies around it. I will also transplant some of the flowers from the perennial bed behind the house.

The last few years the bed directly behind the house has not been looking as nice as it once did. I found some old pictures that I took when I first created the bed years ago and it looked very tidy. I am not sure what I will grow there. The air conditioner sits in the middle of the bed and I don't want any thing to get too close to it even if we rarely use it. I have been thinking that planting the petunias that I have grown from seed there.

Many of the pansies that I grew and then transplanted into the decorative wheel barrel are not doing well. I have decided not to bother to start pansies from seeds indoors again. Some of these plants may make it but it wasn't worth my time and money to grow my own. I still think that I want to buy a package of Johnny-Jump-Ups and sow them in the fall. It would be interesting to see if they germinate.

It has been raining the last two days but that's a good thing! The pots that I planted and the flowers that were transplanted last weekend needed a good watering. The weather forecasters predict that it will be warm and sunny later this week.

Today, I decided to shoot some pictures of the back yard. These pictures will help me to remember what is going on in the garden this year. For example, in the photograph of the left-side small bed (above), the bulbs that I planted several years ago (Fall, 2006) are up. However, only a few of the crocuses came up and bloomed. Also, only five of the Tete-a-Tete daffodils have flowered. I'm not sure what will happen with the other minature daffodil bulbs. Last spring, I didn't get much bloom either.

I started to clean up the right-handed small bed (above) but haven't finished the job yet. Ken cut back the grass that is in the center of the bed and it is showing new growth. Also, the daylilies, irises and salvia are up. The coreopsis is starting to green up but is not as thick as it should be. I hope that that is because it needs more time. If it doesn't do as well as it has in past years, I'll dig it up and replant it. I planted violas in the oval container but I noticed that it has some holes and cracks in it. I shouldn't be surprised because I have had it for a long time. I placed three empty pots that I found in neighbors' trash last fall in the area where the Obedient Plant was taking over. Even though I placed bricks in the bottom of the pots, a squirrel knocked two of them over. I'll plant something in them soon. Two of the delphiniums have come back so far but I'm not sure about the other four that I planted in this bed last spring. Next time that I am at English Gardens, I'll look to see if they have any. (Currently, they have small perennials on sale for $1.99.)

The daylilies in the left-end of the large bed are doing well. I still want to dig out one of them (Stella d'Oro or Happy Returns) but I decided to wait for now. The coral bells are still looking ragged but they have new growth on them. The columbines that came from seeds that I direct sowed are also coming up. I want to keep sowing the seeds each year so that the columbines beautiful blue flowers have a greater impact in late spring. I also put some more large rocks and the plant stand that Ken bought me in Paw Paw in this area. The shelves of the stand will only hold small pots so I told Ken that I want to try growing a vine up and around it.

I planted two pots of violas and placed them behind the "bird" statue found in the center of the large bed (above). The large coral bell plant is beginning to rejuvenate. Ken has cut back the grasses but they need dividing. I'll transplant the divisions in the same area but will enrich the soil with compost.

The right end of the large bed has been weeded.

Another gorgeous day! Ken and I spent three hours outside doing various chores. I planted two hanging baskets for the end of the right side of the large back bed. I also planted two regular baskets to put in the middle of that bed and a smaller oval basket for one of the smaller beds.

Ken helped to transplant two Autum Joy sedums to the large back bed. I wanted to add something on either side of the coral bells that would have height and substance. (Their blooms will also add color in the later part of the season.) I read in Michigan Gardener several years back that sedums could be pinched back to make them sturdier and fuller so yesterday I did some research. On one of the forums, a member stated that she pinches her sedums when they reach 6 inches and then takes off 4 to 6 inches again at 12 inches. Even though I haven't had any problems with my Autumn Joys, I'm going to do this.

Ken also helped me to dig out more Obedient Plant from the two beds where I had originally put them. I hope that we were able to get all of the roots. What a mess! They had rapidly spread and were taking over the areas where other plants were located. If I see any more being sold at English Garden, I'm going to talk to the manager.

The weather has been sunny and in the highs have been in the 50s during the last two days. Today, Ken and I were able to get a lot of work done in the garden. We pruned the Weeping Cherry tree. I noticed last year that its branches were growing at odd angles and some of the limbs were overlapping. In the e-newsletter (JMaxGarden) that I received yesterday morning, Janet Macunovich had an article about pruning these trees so we followed the her directions. The before picture (left) shows the branches that were growing straight up and not weeping. These were cut off. Also, we trimmed any branches that were too long or overlappin (right). If there are no adverse side effects, we'll prune it again next year.

Also, we worked in the back yard. Ken dug up five day lilies at the end of the large bed. Then I filled three regular pots and two hanging pots with violas. I placed the hanging pots on the shepherd's hook at that end of the bed and triangulated the three pots around the shepherd's hook. It added interest and substance to that end of the bed.

Left End of Large Back Bed

Right End of Large Back Yard Bed

Yesterday, Ken and I went to Lowe's to buy a few things including potting soil. Also, I purchased the violas there. They had a large selection of healthy pansies and violas at $1.99 per six pack so I couldn't resist buying a flat (36 plants total for $12). I usually don't buy flowers at the big box stores especially after finding out that they don't pay the growers unless they sell the plants. However, when I was at English Gardens last week they were charging $5.99 (on sale from $7.99) for one six pack of pansies/violas. It would have cost me $36 for the equivalent amount of flowers. Tomorrow, Ken and I plan on going back and I would like to purchase some more flowers.

I decided to plant the pansies that I had raised inside under the grow lights. I have been keeping them in the back sunroom to harden them off. At first, I wasn't sure where I would put them but I decided that they would look nice in the decorative wheelbarrow. I don't think that I will grow pansies from seed next year unless I sow them directly. The plants started out doing well but then they began to look scraggly. Even though buying the seeds were cheap, I don't think that they look as good as the ones that I saw in the stores. Maybe, this fall I might try sowing Johnnie-Jump-Ups directly into the ground.

The last two days have been sunny and warm so the snow is now melted. I haven't noticed any harm to the plants.

Today, I had to lower the shelf under the grow light again. The 4th of July tomatoes are really growing. I do have one concern though; I noticed that some of the leaves are beginning to turn yellow. After doing a internet search, I have found the cause of this problem. I'm overwatering the plants. I need to begin letting them dry out between waterings. This should also help them to develop a better root structure.

Tomorrow, Ken and I are going to pick up some gardening supplies. One of the things that I want to buy is a Wall-o-Water. They come in three packs. I'll be planting two 4th of July tomatoes and one Sungold tomato outside in the middle of May and I will need the protection from the cold nights. It should be interesting to see if all of this hard work will yield an early tomato crop.

It's still snowing and in the 30s. However, it's suppose to warm up by 20 degrees in the next few days. Typical Michigan weather for April.

Today, I had to lower the bottom shelf on the grow light system. The 4th of July tomatoes are getting big--6 to 8 inches tall. The Sungold tomatoes are also growing well but I threw one out yesterday because it wasn't as healthy as the other three. I need the growing space under the lights and I have to be diligent about getting rid of imperfect specimens.

I also had to replant the six petunias (Salmon Velvet). They were getting too big for the 6-pack cells so I put them in individual pots. Unfortunantly, when I was transplanting the largest one, half of the roots broke off. I'm hoping that it won't affect the plant adversely.

After that, I planted hot pepper seeds. For some reason, perhaps bad lighting, the peppers that I planted several weeks ago were not sprouting. So I threw them away and planted two Biker Billys, two Jalapeno Ms, three Anaheims, and three Poblano Rancheros. If they don't grow then either I'll have to buy new seeds (I used last year's seeds) or we'll have to buy plants at the nursery. I haven't had any problem growing them the last two years so I think that the lighting situation wasn't optimal. I replaced one of the grow lights on the top shelf and need to buy a new bulb so that I can replace the other one.

Surprise! Surprise!

It snowed again last night and today. We got about 4 inches of very heavy, wet snow but it seems to be melting already. The forecast calls for temperatures in the 50s by Wednesday so it should be gone soon.

I've been thinking about surprises in the garden lately. This photograph shows a Johnny-Jump-Up that I found blooming in the large back yard bed. Each year I find violas that have self-seeded in parts of the yard that I never expected to find them. During some years, I have been able to dig up enough of them to plant together in a pot.

In an earlier post, I mentioned finding a pansy growing in a pot. I've been keeping my eye on it and it seems to be doing well but hasn't yet flowered.

Last year I had another surprise. I've read that the new Wave petunias are quite hardy but I never expected them to self sow and rebloom in our Zone 5 area. However, last summer I found a lot of the pink Wave petunias coming up unexpectedly in the back yard bed where I currently have bulbs. Unfortunantly, I pulled some them up before I realized what they were. The ones that did survive grew and bloomed.

Saturday and Sunday, Ken and I spent about three hours digging up the invasive Obedient Plant. Again, this was another surprise. I had never grown it before and when I was able to buy some inexpensive 3 inch pots of it at English Gardens, I purchased six of them. I now know that it should be named the "Disobedient" Plant. Not only was it invasive but it was also killing off the perennials around it. After, digging up the plant and sifting through the soil, we had to dispose of the soil behind the pine tree. We didn't want to take a chance of any pieces of root surviving and reestablishing itself. Luckily, we have plenty of compost to refill the holes left behind. I'm not going to fill them in until I'm sure that we were able to get all of the plant out. I'm not only disappointed that the plant was so invasive but I also wasn't impressed by the flowers. I looked in several books and the flowers in the photographs were much more attractive than the ones that my plants had.

One of the reasons that I started this blog is so that I can remember what happens year after year in the garden. I like to try new techniques and new plants. I had another surprise last weekend. When I was cleaning out one of the perennial beds in the back yard, I saw a feathery-leaf plant growing. I didn't recognize it as one of my perennials but I thought that it looked too pretty to be a weed. Later on, I remembered that it is one of six delphiniums that I planted last spring. This is the first time that I have had these flowers and I had forgotten that I had them in the bed. I'm glad that I didn't impulsively pull it out.

Yesterday was sunny and in the 50s. Today started out sunny but is now overcast. The forecast calls for snow tonight. It's in the 50s right now so if we do get snow, I hope that it doesn't stick. Even if it does, it should melt fast because the weather is supposed to be in the 40s and 50s this week.

Some of the Tete-a-Tete daffodils are beginning to bloom. There are a lot of the minature daffodils coming up in this bed so I'm looking forward to the rest of them flowering. I am planning on transplanting some perennials to this bed in a few weeks.

I went to see Janet Macunovich speak this afternoon at English Gardens. (This is the third time that I have attended her lectures.) The topic was Perennial Designs for Continuous Color. She has a great gardening philosphy--if it doesn't work, dig it up! One of the points that she made was that she plants perennials that will thrive in their site and not just survive.

I always pick up something new from her. She said that she doesn't let the leaves of tulips and daffodils die back. Instead, she cuts them back when they are done blooming. We are buying bulbs that are already at top size so it's not necessary for them to grow larger. I'm going to cut back the foliage on the bulbs this spring so that they don't get brown and "ugly."

She also believes that butterfly bushes should be cut back hard in the spring. (I just finished reading April's Michigan Gardener yesterday and she wrote about this in her column too.) Several years ago, I was at at presentation about Butterfly Gardening and the presenter was aghast when I told her that I cut back my butterfly bushes hard every year. She said, "I don't think that you can do that" even though I had made it clear that I had been doing that! In fact, I need to cut back my butterfly bushes soon. I have had the current ones for two years and they have thrived in their current location.

These are the scillas that I took pictures of several weeks ago when they were just beginning to bud. Now they are in bloom and are beautiful. I really enjoy this bed (by the front door.) It has a variety of small early blooming bulbs planted there and it's always a joy to see them each spring. The only problem is that a few bulbs get dug up accidently and discarded when I am planting other flowers there in the summer and fall.

It's April!

What a beautiful afternoon! It's in the high 60s and right now it is sunny. The forecast calls for heavy rains this evening though.

The early bulbs are in bloom. The crocuses look especially pretty and the minature daffodils (Tete-a-Tete) in the back yard bed are starting to flower. This picture was taken of the front door where there are a variety of small bulbs. Soon the tulips will be blooming and they are very beautiful.

I started to take some pictures of the Tete-a-Tete daffodils when this butterfly landed right in front of me. I chased it around the yard trying to get a close up. It finally stayed in one spot long enough so that I could get a decent photograph. I really feel as if it is spring now.

Yesterday evening, Ken and I went out and did some work on the yard. I cleaned out the side bed in the front yard. I dug up the stray grape hyacinths. Even though I thought that I had eradicated all of them last year after they bloomed, I pulled at least twenty to thirty bulbs out. Usually it is against my nature to do so, but I felt as if they were detracting from the bed. I did have a suprise though. A small pansy has sprouted in one of the pots. Now I know that I can harden off the pansies that I am growing. I'll plant them outside in a week or so if the weather remains nice.

Ken has dug over the two vegetable gardens on the side of the house. This morning he dug in leaves and compost to the one closest to the front yard and then covered it with landscape fabric. He plans on doing the same to the other two vegetable plots that we have. That will give the worms a few months to start turning the leaves into worm droppings.

Several years ago, I read an article in the Michigan Gardener about a man who had been vegetable gardening for decades. He stated that he had no problem growing the same vegetables in the same plots year after year as long as he added a lot of compost to the beds. This has also been our experience. We grow many hot pepper and tomato plants and don't have the room to do rotation. By using this method, I haven't had any problems with diseases or pests.

I also started to clean out one of the beds in the back. Many of the perennials were popping up and the leaves and other debris were starting to smother them. Also, I needed to dig up a flowering plant that I bought at English Gardens two years ago. (The name escapes me.) Last spring, I noticed that it was invasive and I should have dug it out then. But I wanted to wait one more season to see what it would do. It bloomed in the late fall but I was not impressed by the pink flowers or the leaf structure. I have it in another bed and want to get rid of the rest of it this weekend if the weather permits.