The Garden Appreciation Society Week 5

Sorry for the delay on getting The Garden Appreciation Society Week 5 up. You know work, and then I, well, forgot and then yada, yada, yada. (I don't think anyone else is still yada, yada, yadaing but it's really such a useful device, don't you think?)

It continues to be a challenging time to find something for me to make a bouquet out of, but the fact that I did again I think proves what this is all about: there is ALWAYS something to appreciate. Still, I love for the week when I can just cut a handful of zinnias.

This week I went with stuff that I never would have thought about putting in a bouquet, including Ligularia (possibly 'Desdemona') and Hakonachloa 'All Gold'. The two alliums are obvious additions but are a great examples of flowers I never would have cut before. I don't have many and it's difficult for me to cut them to bring them in. I have used the bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis 'Gold Heart') before, including the foliage last week and have found that it holds up really well. Now that it's in bloom I had to put some in the bouquet.

Can you tell I have a thing for chartreuse foliage? Looking around the garden I've been noticing I have a good amount of it spread throughout the garden. I think one can go overboard with that, but I don't think I'm there yet.

Now that you've seen it looking good, I have to unfortunately report a couple items. The Ligularia leaves completely pooped out and the cat (named, you may recall, Desdemona) passed those up but LOVED the the grass so most of that was pulled out and stuck back in again.

You all came up with such beautiful bouquets for Week 4. I have to say I'm more than a little envious of some of your flowers (particularly the gardenias), but I am so enjoying see everyone's ways to appreciate their gardens in a new way.

Please link up this week. I'll leave the link open a little longer because of the late start.

And check out the great links from past weeks as well:

• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4

What's happening now

This headline should really read "What WAS happening a few days ago." Blogger was down for much of the end of the week so I couldn't post this, but I hope you enjoy it now. Sorry for the delay.

Sometimes I feel like everything I write on this blog is old news because my zone 5 garden is so far behind so many of those of my readers. I can't believe that some blogs have pictures of tomatoes on the vine this week!

The situation seems to be particularly bad this year, although I'm not sure if that's because the weather really has been worse than normal or if it's because we had a lovely spring last year so things are slow in comparison to last year when they were probably ahead of schedule.

I planted climbing rose CanCan in front of the downspout in the front of the house. I was so upset when I found out there was no option to putting that downspout smack dab in the middle of the front of the house, although I have to say it doesn't look as bad as I thought it would. Cancan is developed by Bill Radler who created the Knock-out rose series and grows to about 10 feet so I have hopes that it will do well in this place and not eat the house.

 

Some of the daffodils are blooming. Is there any cheerier flower than a daffodil? OK, maybe daises, but daffs are close.

 

Other varieties have yet to bloom. I should have daffodil blooms for at least the next two to three weeks.

 

I was thrilled to see the wonderful purple spikes of 'Blue Angel' hosta poking up. Certainly a favorite in my garden.

 

The Serviceberry tree has fuzzy little buds getting ready to bloom. The Serviceberry trees at work usually bloom four to seven days before the one at my house does so I usually have a little warning. My mother-in-law bought this tree for us the second summer after we bought the house, so it's been in the garden for eight years now. It's a lovely little tree.

 

Dicentra 'Gold Heart' is coming up. I think everyone should grow this plant. It's just amazing.

 

The mini greenhouse is full of plants: some plugs from the Yahoo plant co-op, some from last year that I overwintered in pots heeled into the ground and, believe it or not, I finally potted up the poor amaryllis bulbs that were forgotten in the basement.

 

There are a lot of plants by the garage waiting for a spot in the ground. Three beautiful Hydrangea 'Little Lime' are waiting, along with some roses I overwintered (again in pots in the ground) and a few other random things.

 

They back yard looks like a graffiti artist attacked it. That's the rough layout for a path and new beds that I have planned. I'm not at all looking forward to doing the hardscaping, but paying someone to do it just isn't in the budget so that too is going to be a (back-breaking) DIY project. I hope to complete it by Memorial Day but I suspect that, like a lot of my DIY projects, that is a totally unrealistic deadline. (There is nothing like taking a picture of your own space to realize what a dump it looks like!)

 

And very exciting news: The cable railings are finally finished on the deck! I was going to do a post on installing these because Mr. Much More Patient did the honors, but honestly, it's a pretty high-level DIY project that is a bit more complicated than a post on a blog would cover. They are however, sailboat lifelines. No seriously, they really ARE sailboat lifelines. There is NO difference and we actually bought the materials for this project from a company that sells both marine stainless steel products and has an architectural line. By the way, if you're looking for something like this, email me for the contact information. Anyway, since Mr. MMP has experience with lifelines, he figured this out pretty quickly, but it was still a three-weekend project just because drilling all the holes and cutting all the wire took a long time. I'm happy it's finished now. All we have to do now is touch up some of the stain on the deck and pergola and install the stair lights and the deck is finished!

 

So as Al Roker would say, that's what's happening in my neck of the woods. What's up in yours?

Spring has really come

I know a lot of you are already well into summer but here in Wisconsin, we're lucky if summer comes with the solstice. Fortunately there are signs that spring is indeed here.
Clockwise from top left: Adorable anenomes, an emerging allium, dicentra Gold Heart in all its glory, purple smokebush starting to leaf out, a wonderfully fuzzy bud on the Guernsey Cream clematis.

Lovin' this plant

This is dicentra Gold Heart, and she has become a star in our garden. I picked it up at the hardware store two or three years ago and even though she's not in a great spot for a bleeding heart (west exposure) she just keeps getting bigger and bigger (and is currently taking over a mini hosta growing underneath it). It's one of those plants that you spot from the other side of the yard and are just drawn to.