The Candy Store

The weather has been cool and damp. On and off rain showers make many gardening chores difficult. To pass the time, my wife and I toured a few local garden centers yesterday. So many plants to choose from, kids in the candy store. Restraint is required.

True frost free days are still a few weeks away.For the the time being we look and plan, hoping our favorites are not out of stock when we are ready to plant. We use annuals liberally in containers and as fill-ins in new beds.

We purchased a group of Azalea “Hotshot”to replace some overgrown and aging prostrate Junipers from the front walk. I have been replacing the tired foundation planting in the front of the house. The process and the progress here has been gradual.
I take my time, maybe too much so, when it comes to deciding on trees and shrubs. They will be in their places a long time so I try to get it right the first time. Not that I am adverse to moving large shrubs, I just prefer not too. Perennials are another story. Most I move three or four times before I find the “right” spot.

I see planting diagrams in landscaping books and magazines and have even drawn a few. I just don’t have the knowledge of plant height, bloom-time etc. to plant this way. I walk the yard and say:
” I need something here”
“This works”
“This doesn’t”
Trial and many errors, that is my gardening technique. I can plan all winter, but all that goes right out the window with my first trips to the garden centers. A pretty face on a new variety and I am bewitched. With so many choices, decisions become difficult. In the end I normally stick to the tried and true varieties with ease of culture. The candy store is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.

GDD = 245

Local Weather and News

People in NE Ohio complain about the weather.The last four days have been glorious; Warm temperatures, sunny days, cool nights, constant breezes, little humidity and all this wrapped around a weekend. Nothing to complain about here, but with the first wet weekend, or humid day the past four will be forgotten and the complaining will start again. Just human nature I guess.

Speaking of human nature. The local college kids took advantage of the weather in usual fashion; drinking in the sun, as well as plenty of beer; throwing Frisbees to their friends, and beer bottles at cops. The newly indoctrinated, or was that intoxicated, green generation increased its collective carbon footprint by burning couches, chairs and various other pieces of furniture – and so soon after earth day. I guess there is hope for this generation after all. Drinking beer, letting off steam and raising a ruckus trumps orthodoxy every time. Human nature triumphs.

The weather has turned more seasonal today. Cooler temps and a steady drizzle. This will be perfect for the transplants that I moved around over the weekend. Many of these are groups of perennials that I transported here from my previous house. The clumps have grown to dividable size and I have a little better handle on the conditions around the yard. An over all plan is beginning to come together in my mind.

Today’s rain brought the official end to the front yard magnolia bloom season. The vast majority of the blossoms are scattered across the lawn and already beginning to shrivel. I believe that the blossoms smell their sweetest when they lay on the ground in mass. The scent fills the yard.

Perfection

The day began like many others, with a face full of cat fur.Our cat performs a not so ballet-like move we call the ‘flop-and-drop’. She stretches her back in the classic Halloween hunchback pose,buckles her front legs then brings her butt crashing down. Her accuracy is amazingly good. Weekends, during the warmer months, this is my weekend alarm.

“Time to get up and let me out”

She had the right idea this morning. The week started cold and drizzly with a hint of spring snow in the air. Over the last 36 hours, winter,spring and now summer weather have all visited. Most mornings I am off to work and grab coffee on the way. Letting the little girl out I knew that would not be the case today.

The coffee was ready and off to the deck I went. The birds sing;the emerging sun tints the few high clouds pink and lilac; a fresh breeze cools my bare feet.Little girl stalks through the still unmowed grass. The morning is perfect, no dogs to bother her, no bugs to bother me. I sit in the rocker and remind myself to slow down, relax and enjoy the yard;something that is easily forgotten amid the normal trimming,cutting and digging that accompanies spring.

Warm temperatures and low humidity will rule the weekend. There will be plenty of time for both work in the yard and sitting on the deck and just enjoying doing nothing.

Thanks little girl, see you tomorrow morning.

GDD = 111

Roll Call Mid-April

GDD – 77

End of the Line

• Crocus

Blooming

• Maples
• Daffodils
• Magnolia
• Star Magnolias
• Hyacinths

Budding

• Tulips
• Forsythia
• Redbuds
• Viburnum “Carlessi”
• Lilacs

In Leaf

• Roses
• Lilacs
• Clematis

WEATHER

Seasonable as of late, rain has increased recently after a bit of dry,higher than normal temperatures through the end of March.

Frosts just about every morning, Daytime highs in the 50’s or close to it. A bit higher for the next few day.

 

April arrives

GDD = 64

Daffodils in many areas are already blooming, but none here yet. The only bloom like activity is coming from the magnolia in the front yard. The lower branches on the western side have numerous buds that are beginning to break. The pink of the flower barely showing through the splitting bud.

I have spent most of my time outdoors cleaning up the pile of chipped roots that is all that is left of the Wild Cherry tree.What I could salvage of the Sweet Woodruff that surrounded the base of the tree, I moved to an area at the rear of the property around the pine trees. Some of the beds have gotten their spring edging, others their spring cleaning.

Though the weather has been fine throughout March,guaranteed frost-free days are still a good six weeks away. Patience and caution rules the early spring garden in NE Ohio.