Field Pussy Toes

Yep, I said Field Pussy Toes (Antennaria.)
Notice the pretty, silvery spot on the ground in the picture to the left? We have them in a couple of places around our yard and in the Spring they send up little flowers. I discovered their name online last year, but haven't been able to learn much else.

As bad as thepicture below is, hopefully it will at least illustrate why they got their name. I promise, I'll get a new camera one day...

Here's what I know:

They're considered either a wildflower or a weed depending on your point of view. I like them!

Some varieties are sold in nurseries. There's a pretty rosy variety; unfortunately ours isn't one of those.

They like full sun and well-drained, dry soil.

Is?/was? a medicinal herb. It looks like it was some kind of mood enhancer a long time ago and is now part of some herbal remedies.

Spring is Here!

I know not terribly original, but definitely irristable. It's my favorite time of year and like most gardeners it's hard not to a daily check on new growth, pulling back leaves and mulch to discover anything yet to break their surface! Can you believe some "experts" say you shouldn't do that because you could hurt the plants? Perhaps, but as usual passion is stronger than common sense.

A busy (and cold) late winter kept me from getting my early vegetable planting done before last weekend. However, a warm weekend and distracted guests let me slip out long enough to get peas, lettuce, carrots, beets and onion sets in the ground. Of course I went out of town and it didn't rain, so the poor seeds have gone a week without water. Oh well, it'll be a miracle if the crows don't rip them out of the ground or the deer don't eat them so a little tough love in their early life is probably the least of their worries.

My Spring peeking has made it clear that almost everything is returning! The pictures show a few of the best in bloom right now. From top to bottom, peach blossoms (no we've never had one, but the squirrels say they're delicious!), cilantro (I have tasted this!), mahonia and the much despised, yet still lovely, shallow-rooted, weak-stemmed, stinky, messy Bradford Pears. Unfortunately I can only take credit for planting the cilantro the rest were done by previous owners.

Weeds-(written, but never posted from last Fall)

I have a fascination with weeds. Not so much known ones like pachysandra, liriope and the insiduous one from my front bed, but the unknow variety that could turn out to be something good. Of course, they rarely do, but I still can't keep myself from waiting a while to see what it will become. Of course, this Spring that meant a weed that threw seeds at me everytime I pulled it--you've got to admire the ingeniousness of it, don't you? The lesson there was o pull them BEFORE they set seed. There's one in my kitchen garden now that has pretty flowers and threatening leaves; I think you'll agree it's pretty amazing.

This Weekend

There were a couple of family engagements, more useless attempts to fix Archie's electric fence, and some work to do inside the house. Hopefully, knowing all of that, you won't think me too lazy when you read how little I've gotten done on the outside over the course of this 3 day weekend.

1. Deadheaded the butterfly bush.

The butterfly bush is huge; the tallest I've ever seen at 8-10 feet. My Garden To-Do list told me that I was supposed to cut it back in the Spring and so I did--part of it. I was curious though, would cutting it back make that big of a difference for bloom?, so I left some of the tallest branchest alone. The result--I don't see a difference in the amount of bloom between those I cut back and those I didn't. One obvious benefit is that the shrub isn't as leggy and that it's easier to deadhead the lower branches. The dead flowers look much uglier to me on the white flowered variety than they did on the purple one at the old house so I tend to deadhead this one a little more; perhaps I should cut it back more severely next Spring.

2. Weeded the front bed.

Oh, the dreaded front bed and its weeds. In one sense I find weeding soothing, however a person can only weed a bed so many times...The biggest culprit this summer has been liriope. Not the variety I moved to the front, but some that was removed from the bed before we bought the house yet keeps reappearing. Those insiduous weeds with the thorn were back too, in multiple locations which led to my next small project...

3. Cut back the insiduous weeds from the front and small tree volunteers in all established beds and painted on Weed B Gone

The small trees came with the gardens, mostly small oaks. I had cut them back previously, hoping that would take care of it, but no such luck. Their close proximity to the plants I want to keep in the bed made it risky; hopefully the basting brush I used did the trick without damaging anything else. A couple of the beds look much more open now that I did this little piece of housekeeping.

4. Contemplated the shrubs in the front bed--can I count that?

Oh, the shrubs in the front. You can see that they've already started stretching in front of the windows again (and almost to the roof of the garage) despite being pruned this Spring. They are just too big for the area and should never have been planted where they are! This is a prime example of why one should always consider the ultimate size of a plant before putting it anywhere. I will prune them again this year and probably several more, but I truly feel I am only delaying the inevitable. Why not just go ahead and get rid of them now? Besides having hope that maybe I can figure out a way to severely prune them without killing them thus minimizing having to do this twice a year, just look at this trunk. They were probably planted when the house was

built in 1978, making them almost 30 years old. How can I contemplate anything, but a lifetime of pruning them?

Two weekends ago...

I have plans for this boxwood which currently resides at the back corner of my house by the air conditioning unit. At the far end of the front bed, there are smaller versions or varieties of this encircling the white Crape Myrtle. At the other end of the front bed, by the driveway, is a yucca; my plan is to dig out the yucca and replace it with this boxwood from the back. I am hoping it will provide some design continuity and tie the two far ends of the bed together. We'll see when I actually move it. In the meantime I followed the advice of Paul James from HGTV's 'Gardening by the Yard,' affectionately known to me as "The Goofy Gardener Guy." He recommends doing the following if you have time before you move a tree or shrub; I included how I handled the steps with this tree.

1. Measure 1 ft up tree, then measure the diameter at that spot, multiply diameter times 18 to find size of root ball to dig.

It was hard to get into the middle of the shrub and I was too lazy to go inside and get my measuring tape so I used my favorite folding yardstick to guesstimate. I think I came up with 1/2".

2. Cut inside branches and stems back 1/3, don't do top b/c it ruins natural shape.

I didn't cut it back at all. I know, I know, but being evergreen and naturally globe-shaped I was too nervous.

3. Dig a trench at the root ball distance, slicing thru roots as cleanly as possible.

Ever have completely inpenetrably, dense moments? The day I was doing this, I couldn't figure out how to do this to save my life. Did it mean depth, width, what? Finally, I plunged ahead and started digging approximately 9" out from the trunk. I think that's what he meant.

4. Fill trench halfway with compost or shredded leaves.

I used some of the shredded leaves I had gathered last year.

The result for now...

I'll move it in October or November. In the meantime, I'm watching it and planning to repeat the treatment for the two lilacs placed on either side of the deck steps; it's too shady for them to bloom there.

Thirsty Birds!

I was sitting on the porch, talking on the phone and saw that the birds were going nuts. A couple of them landed on the edge of the pond and made efforts to reach the water. They couldn't, it was too far down. I saw other birds landing near a wet spot in the yard, that's not wet at all right now. I can't believe it; how did I not think of the drought's impact on birds!

Not having yet found the perfect cobalt blue bird bath for my kitchen garden, I have nothing set up for them on a regular basis, but I could improvise! I took a plastic saucer, put a rock in the middle to stabilize it and filled it with water. The next day about ten birds were queuing up for a turn! If you haven't yet found the perfect bird bath for your garden consider at least putting something together. The birds are thirsty!

Attack of the Cicada Killers! Not!

My family thinks I'm nuts, but I was very happy to have a gigantic bee fly at me when I walked across the deck a couple of weeks ago. I know, now that you've read that you think I'm crazy too, but there's just something about cicada killers.

They're scary looking at more than an inch long, but they rarely use their stingers, more content just to give you a warning fly-by, much like those Maverick enjoyed in Top Gun. Luckily I wasn't drinking coffee. Unafraid of challenge, I have seen them wrestling with cicada's as long, but twice as wide as they are. Plus, and I know this is only my 2nd summer with them, they have already come to mean late summer; the time of year when it's too hot to use the porch anyway so it's okay to share it with some oversized bees. They nest under our porch and their eyes are frequently bigger than their stomachs, or at least the cracks between our decks. Every day we find multiple cicadas stuck like this. They're not dead just paralyzed an intended larval meal. I don't know yet if they ever wake up from their slumber and wonder how they got wedged in our deck. Maybe I'll pay attention this weekend; if I find out I'll let you know.

For some actual, factual information about cicada killers:

http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef004.asp

For some just for fun and funny information:

http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com/2007/07/return-of-cicada-killers.html