Bloom

Our landscaping is hardly spectacular, but if it has a shining moment it is now!

My brave bleeding heart survived a hailstorm right after I planted it and bloomed four little fuchsia beauties.

The one and only shrub in the back yard turns out to be a show-stopper! It's a bridal wreath spirea, and boy is it spectacular right now. It reminds me of a firework.

My tomatoes are in full bloom and I even have a few first fruits setting.

My peas are in full bloom too. This morning I found my first pea pod!

Best of all, a few of my iris bloomed. I just planted them last fall and didn't expect much from the first year, but they rewarded me.

It has been fun showing Maddie why they're called bearded iris and how they sparkle in the sunlight. I remember being fascinated by them when I was little, and I think I've succeeded in passing that on to the next generation. They smell heavenly too.

I love flowers. I think they are a supreme gift from a supreme being. Their perfect beauty reminds me that He loves us and cares about every minute detail of our lives.

Spring in the Noni Gardens

I found a new gardening friend and made her go with me to see the "my gardens" last week. We were just talking one day and realized we both love horticulture, and both shyly admitted that we have garden blogs. It has been fun to swap thoughts and ideas. Little does she know, I may drag her on more garden field trips this summer. I have always wanted to see the Red Butte Gardens in SLC and Thanksgiving Point is always worth a gander.

I knew our timing might find the garden crews right in the middle of change-out (removing all the bulbs and pansies and planting summer annuals), but I wanted to catch some late-spring glory. You can see the bed in front of the sign has been replanted, but spring glory we did find!

Check out these late-blooming pink parrot tulips.

And these huge yellow parrots that open so big they look like a dinner plate.

These orange anemones were still gorgeous.

This north facing side of the building was still in full bloom! It is shaded most of the day, so the bulbs elongate to reach for the sun and bloom late in the season.

These double pink tulips are stunning. They don't even look like tulips they are so full. They almost remind me of peonies.

Speaking of peonies, these might be my very favorite flower! They are so gorgeous and vibrant. Someday I am going to have a bed full of peonies.

Just imagine what this will look like when they are all in full bloom.

I also love wisteria. It can be aggressive and needs lots of room to grow, but it is so beautiful in bloom.

I was happy to find these dainty crabapple blossoms (Malus ioensis, Betchel Crabapple) still in bloom.

If you remember from the groundcover post, I didn't have a very good picture of sweet woodruff, so I took another one for you. Just look at how lush and carpet-like it can get. It makes you feel like you are in an enchanted wood.

I am happy to say the kids also enjoyed our outing. (Sorry I get a little carried away... visiting the gardens is like visiting old friends. I know every nook and cranny of that place and love seeing how things are growing and changing!)

We couldn't keep them out of the reflection pool--too tempting! It does feel really good on a hot day... believe me, there were many times we took breaks and dipped in!

Just for fun, I wanted to do a little comparison from when I worked there to now.

Stream Island Fall 2005

(Tricolor beech trees {Fagus sylvatica 'Roseomarginata'} at center)

Stream Island Spring 2010
Look how big and vibrant the beech trees are now!

Promenade Fall 2005
Zelkova serrata trees

Promenade Spring 2010
They are huge now!

Time marches on, and plants don't stop growing just because you're not watching.

Home Depot Garden Club

I just saw this update on a coupon blog I follow and thought it would be appropriate to pass it on to my gardening friends!

I just signed up and this is what they offer:

• Exclusive members only coupons and savings delivered right to your inbox.
• Timely gardening advice and regional tips, delivered biweekly.
• Answers to outdoor questions from and "expert", within 24 hours.
• Plant Library and Plant Care Guides
  

I hear their coupons can be pretty good, including occasional buy-one-get-one-free plants and trees!

So here's the link! I think I'll try the 'ask an expert"... I'm interested to see how expert they are! :)

Garden Report #2

The garden is coming along nicely, despite facing great adversity (snow last week)!

I think everything is finally in. I planted my tomatoes today: 6 Romas (best for canning), 1 Big Boy, 1 Early Girl, and some tomato seedlings that I am letting come up from last year's cherry tomatoes. I will only keep 2 since they take over the world!


My beans are up! One day, there was nothing and the next day they were unfurling their little leaves. I was so pleasantly surprised!



The pumpkin seedlings are up too, although I am going to have to transplant them to somewhere with more space (maybe the flower bed?). That is the biggest problem I am facing--everything is going to be a little crowded!

I thinned the beets today and saved the greens for a special treat.

Aren't they beautiful?

And we harvested our first strawberries last night. They were small but sweet!

How does your garden grow?

Groundcovers

It seems like I have been getting a lot of questions about ground covers lately, so I thought I would put together a guide of a few of my favorites. The pictures are mostly from my files (from working at the Noni gardens) and if not, I have made note of the source. You can click on the pictures to enlarge them and get a better look. The information is from a favorite book called Perennials for Every Purpose, by Larry Hodgson.

Ajuga
Bloom: Late spring to early summer for 3 weeks or more
Details: Ajuga spreads by creeping roots. They thrive in both full sun and deep shade. They tends to spread rapidly, as you will find most ground covers do, hence their name!

Arabis or Rock cress

photo source

Bloom: White, pink, and purple in the early spring for about 3 to 4 weeks
Details: Rock cress is great for a rock garden. My sister and I just planted some in the crevices of her rock wall, and eventually they will root and spread to soften and beautiful the wall. They prefer full sun or very light shade.

Cerastium or Snow-in-summer or Chickweed
Bloom: White, mid to late spring for 3-5 weeks
Details: This ground cover is as appealing for it's white flowers as it is for it's silvery foliage. They form dense mats of narrow, pointed, silver-gray leaves. Prune them back after blooming to keep them looking good, and beware that it spreads quickly!

Ceratostigma or Plumbago
Bloom: Blue flowers late summer to mid or late fall, for 2 months or more. This is one of my favorite summer bloomers!
Details: Plumbagos do well in a wide range of conditions, from full sun to part shade. The stems are hardy and almost woody, while the leaves are dark green and turn a reddish color in the fall. They spread vigorously by underground stems and can be pushy, so plant them in a place you don't mind filling!

Galium or Sweet Woodruff
Clarification: The Sweet Woodruff in this picture is the white flowering plant, mixed in with colorful pansies and tulips. Sorry I don't have a close-up of the plant. The lush green ground cover is Fragaria, or strawberry! They make great ground covers too, and a tasty snack at break time. :)

Bloom: White flowers in late spring and early summer. The light green foliage is also beautiful year around and forms a dense carpet-like cover.

Iberis or Candytuft
Bloom: White flowers in early spring to early summer for 8 weeks or more.
Details: Grows in full sun to partial shade. If plants suffer winter damage, cut off dead stems and they will sprout anew. To keep them compact, don't hesitate to prune them back every year or two in the spring. Then, shearing the plants after spring bloom will promote the growth of fresh foliage.

Lamium or dead nettle
Bloom: Purple, pink, white, and yellow from late spring to early summer for 4 weeks or more.
Details: Lamiums form a perfect mat of foliage that's heavily marbled with silver. They have attractive flowers borne in clusters on upright stems (in this picture, they are only about half in bloom). They grow just about anywhere and have a tendency to creep, even up and over barriers, so you may have to uproot them where they get too unruly!

Lysimachia nummularia or creeping jenny

photo credit

Bloom: Creeping jenny has a small yellow bloom in early summer, but it best known for it's beautiful yellow-green foliage.
Details: This is a vigorous creeper as well, and will fill in it's allotted area quickly! Grows pretty much anywhere.

Phlox, creeping
Bloom: A low carpet of 5 petaled flowers in purple, bluish, pink, red, and white, usually in late spring for about 3 weeks. (The yellow flower in the foreground is called Geum, just to clarify.)
Details: Phlox are also creepers, although less aggressive than other ground covers. Shearing them back after they bloom helps to keep them full. These are also good in rock gardens.

Thymus or thyme

There are many types of thyme. The top picture is a very low-growing variety, and the bottom is a more woody, shrub-like variety. Both have the characteristic thyme aroma.

Bloom: Lavendar, pink, purple, red, or white flowers bloom in late spring and early summer. (The top variety in called Mother-of-thyme and has a beautiful purple flower).
Details: Thyme grows well in full sun to part shade, and is best sheared back after blooming.

Vinca or Periwinklephoto credit

Bloom: Blue, purple or white 5 petaled flowers that bloom most abundantly in the spring, but also in summer and fall as cooler weather returns. There are also variegated varieties common in container gardening.
Details: Vincas make great ground covers around stepping stones and paths because they can withstand some foot traffic with no damage. Their shiny, dark green leaves are evenly spaced along creeping or arching vines that root wherever they touch the ground. They grow in full sun to deep shade (I like them best under a tree canopy for a woodland feel). They need little or no care.

Buying Bedding Plants

While we were in Idaho visiting my parents we visited their favorite nursery. It happens to be run by a group of Mennonites who really know their stuff. Their plant material is healthy, huge, and beautiful, and even better, at steal-of-a-deal prices!

Now is the time (in my gardening zone) to buy bedding plants! The general guideline is to plant after Mother's Day or after the risk of freezing is over, but sometimes you still have to be careful! Here in Utah we have had an extremely cool spring, and just Monday we had a huge hailstorm which stripped and damaged many plants! The forecast is looking better now and hopefully some of those April showers will turn into May flowers.

After visiting numerous nurseries and greenhouses in the last month, it occurred to me that many people probably don't know how to buy bedding plants. For example, Home Depot's nursery department was full of beautiful blooms, but they weren't labeled very well and it would have been easy to buy what was prettiest, only to be disappointed upon returning home and finding it was only in bloom for a few weeks when you wanted something colorful all summer. In fact I saw an older couple buying huge pots of flashy foxglove, and I could only hope they knew it was a spring bloomer. The key to this predicament is knowing the difference between annuals and perennials.

Annuals are plants or flowers that will only live for one season. They don't have the resources to over-winter, so you will have to replace them annually. (That's how I keep them straight.) Common examples of summer annuals are petunias, snapdragons, geraniums, stock, and marigolds.

Stock... oh, it smells so good! It doesn't like heat so is in it's prime right now.

Look at this hanging basket of petunias I got as my Mother's Day gift!
It's so heavy we don't know how to hang it without making a hole in the stucco!

Perennials, on the other hand, come back every year. They typically have one bloom period, but this can differ per species as well. Spring blooming perennials such as peonies, iris, and aurinia, only bloom for about a month in the spring.

My aurinia, or Basket of Gold, is still small and almost done blooming.

Others such as lavender, sea thrift, and scabiosa, bloom all summer as long as they are deadheaded properly.

Sea thrift is so compact and cute.

Scabiosa, or pincushion flower, is one of my favorite.

Another key to success is making sure you buy healthy plant material! This seems like a no-brainer, but don't underestimate it's importance! Ideally plants should be just beginning to flower and have lots of buds and lush green leaves. If a plant is already overgrown and full of blooms, it won't have much splendor left for you. If it's too small, however, it may have a weak root system and never reach it's full potential.

The little ones had a great time at the nursery too. There was certainly a lot to discover!

I also bought more of my veggie garden starts on this trip. Now I have basil, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, and a tomato plant in the ground! I need to plant my beans and a few more tomatoes and I will be set! I can't wait for summer.

GrowCookEat

This week I thought I would share with you a new source of inspiration. In light of my own desire to cook in season, allow me to introduce:

Katie Goodman from goodLife {eats} has a new thread called GrowCookEat wherein she shares her experiences in her own garden, and also recipes that take the produce from "garden to table". Every Friday she focuses on gardening and shares pictures, a recipe, or tips from a specialist. You can also find links to other gardeners and share ideas! It should be a great resource for this growing season.

If you like to cook, also be sure to browse her recipe index and try something new. I have really enjoyed some of her recipes!