I'm nursing a gardening addiction in an apartment while I figure out life. I have an indoor succulent collection, and an outdoor space that needs some TLC before I can call it a garden. You'll also find my photography and general gardening...
potential in my garden today: daffodil, hosta, tulip
For a while now, I’ve been contemplating what plant to put in the back corner of the garden for a focal point. I knew I wanted something tall, but not too wide, and showy, but native. I think I’ve finally found it: an elderberry bush. I think I’m gonna order a bareroot one from here. It’s pretty, it’s unusual, and it feeds wildlife!
Went out into the garden to see what was what this afternoon. It is still, in many ways, a mess, but I hope that this summer it will get better than ever. I’ve got lots of tulips and daffodils coming up, including the pictured tulip leaf, which had neatly cut a hole for itself through the dead hosta leaf.
Late in the fall, a planted a bunch of plugs of a native grass, a bit of which you can also see in the picture. At least some of these are hanging on. I also dug and divided (and scattered around the garden) these pink tulips which I love. Thirdly, I planted a mixed bag of, and moved some existing, daffodils, which haven’t come up (though more established daffodils have). I’m hoping they’ll be along, though.
Garden update!
The hydrangea is growing, slowly but surely. I can’t wait for it to bloom next year! There are far too many weeds in every part of the garden, but yesterday I cleared out a small area north of the hydrangea and planted a hosta ‘guacamole’ and a hay-scented fern (the fern is a bit droopy right now. I think it will perk up.) The hosta albomarginata is one of the ones I planted from bareroot back in May (5 out of 6 of those came up successfully. The “guacamole” is sort of replacing the one that didn’t come up.)
(Also, not pictured, when I was digging the hole for the fern, I came across some of the daffodil bulbs. I’d been meaning to move them anyway, since they haven’t bloomed the past two springs, so I went ahead and put them in front of the hostas. Hopefully the increase in sun will do them good!)
At least some of the native bleeding hearts are showing through the weeds, thank goodness. I hope they’re getting good and established, though I know I need to go through and weed this area again. The impatiens are also doing quite well in their pot.
And, last but not least, a volunteer sunflower! Presumably from the bird feeder, since there are two more getting ready to bloom right under where the bird feeder was hanging.
In the garden today: the alliums are blooming, and the irises are seriously considering blooming.
Three days after planting, those of my bare root hostas that already had pips emerging are *just* starting to show some green. No sign of the ferns yet, but that’s to be expected, I think.
Finally got out and planted my bare root plants. Six hostas and three cinnamon ferns. There’s not much to see yet, though we (my wonderfully helpful roommate and I) cleaned up a bunch of weeds and bricks. I hope the ferns are OK. The roots didn’t look as alive as the hosta roots did. I guess we’ll see!
I was going to start hardening off my plants today, but the weather vetoed this plan. It’s 50 degrees Fahrenheit out. C'mon, weather, I’ve not got a lot of free time! Gotta stick to the schedule!
I love dogwood. I like this flower color, with which I only became familiar more recently, even better than the white flowers I grew up with.
