In Memory--April 30, 2011

In memory of Anna Pauline Dayhuff, a.k.a Bobbie and Meemaw

I don't even know what kind of tulips they are, but red tulips were my mother's favorite flower--and these always bloom on the anniversary of her death, April 30th, 1990.

April 29, 2011--A Real Spring Day, at last!

As with most of "life," garden moments can be "all or nothing."  After a week of rain, drizzle, and cold, today's dawn had a sunny glow.  I know because I was already awake watching the royal wedding in London and had the pleasure of seeing a beautiful sunrise and a beautiful wedding this morning.  It was not only the sunrise and the eternal hope a wedding brings, but also the opportunity to hear The English Lady speak last night that energized me to spend time in the garden today.

The English Lady

Baroness Maureen Haseley-Jones, known as The English Lady, encouraged gardeners to connect to the Earth with mind, body, and soul--and manure!  She claims manure will manage all the problems in your garden--and in your mind.  "Just go play in the dirt and forget all your cares," she recommends.  I tried it today and it works. 

I stopped at Paul and Sandy's for more composted manure and a three-tine cultivator--not as expensive as this one from Garden Tools, but a replacement for the one I gave Sara when we moved.  I thought I wouldn't need it anymore.  What was I thinking? It's good for breaking up the "cap" (The English Lady's term) on the mulch and incorporating the manure and old  mulch into the soil.  I also sprinkled some Osmocote on the manure before mixing it all up around the dripline of each shrub. 

I'm hoping that this mixture will boost the front shrubs' recovery from the whitefly invasion last summer.  I used the insect soap spray somewhat successfully last summer and hope those pests don't overwinter!  Where were those lady bugs that swarm on the screens each fall when I needed them?

I deadheaded the Tete-a-tete daffodils.  They were so lovely, but very short-lived. I'll leave their leaves to die back naturally, absorbing energy in the bulb for next year, but also gave them a "better late than never" boost with Bulb Tone.  This should have gone down before they bloomed. I also put some Bulb Tone on the tulips, grape hyacinths, and other daffodils still blooming in the side and the back garden.  The English Lady doesn't like the term "yard" and wants gardeners to refer to all planted areas, including the lawn, as gardens.



Chaenomelis speciosa "Toyo-Nishiki'



Lastly (remember everything at once?), the Flowering Quince is blooming. It has pink and white blooms on the same branch. I have needed to prune it the last two years and it may be still too big for its spot near the bedroom bump out on the south side of the house. I am considering moving it to another spot but we planted it on Easter in 2009 after my melanoma surgery and I feel that I should leave it alone.

What is a gardener to do with so many things happening at once?

Go out and play in the dirt!

Tuesday, April 26th--a very strange day!

It started out foggy and cool, but when the sun burned away the fog, the temperatures soared into the 80s!  We are just not prepared for that kind of weather in late April.  We were wearing fleeces last week (because we couldn't bear to put on our winter coats) and still shivering while working in the garden. I planted Mary Ellen's Nikko Blue hydrangea yesterday afternoon and expected rain overnight, but none occurred.  She carried out many watering cans full of  water for the poor thing as it withstood the sun, southerly wind, and high temperatures late this afternoon.

The landscapers are mulching this week and word has it that they cover anything that is not a shrub with mulch.  I pulled the concrete stepping stones out of the landscape bed so that I would not lose them under the new mulch. Alice and I made them two years ago by filling giant hosta leaves with concrete.  We had fun and were pleased with the results --but it was a mess!
A couple of the stepping stones broke this year. I should bring them into the garage next year.

Hosta leaf concrete stepping stones

I chopped up the old mulch, which had crusted over to an almost inpenetrable layer, so that it will further decay under the new mulch, and add some nutrients to the poor soil left after construction of our stand-alone condo in this "active 55 community" we live in.  Still no sign of earthworms in the thin layer of contractor's topsoil on top of the compacted clay of the landscape beds. The 'Ogon" spirea in the front bed is blooming.  The small, white blossoms have five petals only 1/4 inch across, but are so profuse they color the whole shrub. The bloom is followed by charteuse green leaves on willowy branches.

 Spirea thungergii 'Ogon" in bloom

I moved the Acorus gramineus 'Ogon' "grass" (actually Japanese Rush or Sweet Flag) from the south side of the garage to the north side of the house under the birch tree.  I hope it does better there (although it seems to have survived this harsh winter of 2011 with no problems) where it may escape the brutal sun and drying winds of August.  I love this grass-like plant with a subtle fragrance and evergreen leaves that are actually variegated yellow and shiny--but it doesn't like to be dried out!

Japanese Sweet Rush under the birch tree

I helped clear out the gazebo yesterday evening with the Belltown garden club.  It went quickly with lots of help this year and much pruning and dividing done last year.   We were able to divide a couple dozen perennial plants, mostly Siberian Iris, for the plant sale   I have about 8 newly divided and potted plants to "nurse" along until the end of May. I moved them to the back of the house for the impending mulching.

So, strange, summer-like weather, some ordinary "spring housekeeping" garden chores, and assorted memories from past years provided my garden moments for this day.

Easter Sunday 2011: The Sun Arises!

Narcissus 'Sempre Avanti'

Finally, some sunshine! After more than a week of rain, drizzle, mist, fog, and cold temperatures, the sun broke through the fog this morning.  The daffodils by the bird bath drooped with their leaves and petals covered in water droplets.  A few held their trumpets more upright like the large-cupped 'Sempre Avanti' shown above. 



Non-blooming Viola Sorbet 'Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow Babyface'

 My terra cotta garden frog near the garden hose liked the rain, but the violas have not yet bloomed.  They were everywhere in the garden in early April last year (as shown in the banner photo behind the blog title), but are sparse and non-blooming so far this season, even though they are a variety that tolerates cold.  I've heard that we are two weeks behind our normal bloom time with the damp, cold weather we've had this spring.  If the sun cooperates this week, we may make up for lost time.

April 15th--Halfway to May Day!

Such a beautiful day with light breezes, plentiful sunshine. My kind of temperatures in the mid-60s.  Jacket weather!

Narcissus 'Tete-a-Tete' 

The little bag of Tete-a-Tete miniature daffodil bulbs I got at a garden club meeting last year were blooming today.  They have naturalized along my front walk.  Their diminuitive, soft yellow flowers with slightly darker cups stand "head to head" very early in the spring.

I found plants yesterday at the garden center in Middlefield and planted my driveway planter and a planter at the clubhouse today.  In my driveway which is in afternoon sun I planted Viola 'Tiger Eye', Heuchera "Green Spice' (coral bells), and Sedum 'Makinoi Limelight' along with the chocolate grass I'm watching for signs of life.

Driveway planter at 12 South Hollow

At the clubhouse, the planter is under the deck on the north side and very shady.  I planted it like Cathy Testa showed us last year with several holes drilled in the bottom for drainage and covered with used dryer sheets to keep the soil inside. I lined the planter with plastic cut off below the lip to hold the soil for easy removal next year. Don't forget to make some slits in the bottom for drainage! It was half full with her special soil mixture leftover from last year (and never used!). I brought two more bags of Soilite sterile potting soil which has a wetting agent and a chemical to discourage fungus and disease.  I planted Arenaria montana (Sandwort), Vinca minor 'Bowlesii' (Periwinkle), Liriope muscari 'Big Blue', and purple pansies. I used Cathy's three-part design system of thrillers (Liriope), fillers (Sandwort), and spillers (Periwinkle) and a dash of color (pansies).

Lastly, I put some Holly-tone around the holly, azaleas, and boxwood in my landscape beds before calling it a day in the garden.  I'm concerned about the Buxus (Boxwood) because it had a lot of snow damage.  I trimmed it back about a month ago to restore its shape after many branches broke from the three feet of snow that covered it for a couple of months.  It's also not in a good spot with full sun, but I need an evergreen in the front landscape bed.

We gardeners are never happy with things as they are and are ever alert for problems and changes.  Good thing we get to do planter designs within small spaces and with limited choices each year and enjoy plants that naturalize themselves in larger spaces with only one decision and no upkeep over time.

This 'n That

It's been a busy week with many activities, but that's April. With improving weather, we all come alive again after a long winter.  The weather has not been good--very rainy and cool at the beginning of the week.  The sun is out today with stiff breezes and temperatures in the 60s.  At least, the improvement was a lift for the spirits so low after the death of a friend's husband and another friend's mother. It made me feel liking tidying up some loose ends. 

• I planted the chard in the veggie and herb boxes on the deck this morning after yoga. It rained so hard the past two nights that I was concerned the young plants' leaves would be battered--but they looked fine!
• I noticed a planter outside the clubhouse exercise room where we meet for yoga and recalled that I never planted it last year.  Tomorrow I will take a Heuchera and some pansies and topsoil with me to yoga and plant it up after class. 
• I put the black cherry twigs I cut from Sara's tree on Sunday in water and they are sprouting already. I was hoping to use them to replace the Bradford Pear twigs I forced at the public library, but the timing may not be right.
• I pulled the planter out from the garage and cut away the old banana plant stalk. The chocolate grass Carex comans 'Milk Chocolate' still looks good (since it is brown anyway), but didn't show signs of renewal yet.  I'll give it some more time. Sara's grass from the container gardening workshop last May with Cathy Testa showed little green sprouts at its base on Sunday, but I don't know the name of her Carex.



Carex comans 'Milk Chocolate'

• I think I will stop at Country Flower Farms in Middlefield on my way to Wallingford this afternoon to meet a friend for dinner. I'm still looking for Hydrangea 'Endless Summer' to plant for my neighbor in memory of her mother--even though it is too early in the season, I've been told by the local nursery professionals. Isn't that typical of the amateur gardener?

More on my Herb and Veggie Mini-Gardens

I found rainbow chard yesterday afternoon at Paul & Sandy's Garden Center in East Hampton. I put the six-pack out in the planter box on the deck but did not plant it yet. Last night was warm and rain is expected today. I didn't cover any of the plants. I would like to find the garden cloth mentioned at the UCONN garden conference that allows light and rain to pass through. Then I would make some mini-greenhouses with some hanger wire and the cloth. But by the time I find it, it will not be necessary. I'll give the chard a few more days of T.L.C. (in case of severe rain, wind or low temperatures I can bring the six-pack inside) before planting them with the lettuce, bok choy, and spinach already in the planter boxes. This is a great article about hardening off tender young plants and getting them planted in the ground that arrived in my email today from Fine Gardening. Get Those Seedlings in the Ground - Fine Gardening Article

Maybe Too Early?

Oregano, rosemary, sage, and room for more...



Parsley, bok choy, and pansies



Spinach, Romaine lettuce, and pansies

Oregano, marjoram, thyme, and a pansie

Lemon thyme and Mojito mint (for Reid)

Well, I couldn't wait with the sun and warmth today.  The plants were not getting enough sun in the garage.  I'll have to cover them each night, but it may be worth it.  I saved a few plastic pots to overturn on the bok choy for extra warmth. The pulmonaria were blooming today--just not the forsythia!

Try this: Enter your zip code for information on your first and last frost from

Dave's Garden web site.  Check here for a chart on when nature tells you what to plant (phenology) at about.com

Spring Beginnings and Endings

Yesterday brought sad news that a neighbor and friend died.  Howard Dean, husband of my friend, Terry Concannon-Dean, died in hospice at Middlesex Hospital Thursday night.  Terry is co-librarian with me of the community clubhouse library. We also attend a monthly book group together and recently saw the Hartford Stage production of Divine Rivalry together.  Terry keeps a lovely English-style garden in the front of her house (same model as ours) that I always admire each trip up and down Laurel Ridge.  I hope her gardening gives her some solace as she grieves the loss of her dear husband who shared garden chores with her.  He will be missed by all of us, but will be remembered each time we view her garden on our trips up and down the hill.

On a beginnings note, my daughter, Sara  Graziosa, met with the president of the Waterbury Garden Club, Nancy Cebik, to discuss a plan to create a garden in the play area of the Child & Adolescent Behavioral Health facility at Waterbury Hospital where she works.  I helped her find a contact who could make her idea come to fruition.  I attended the UCONN Garden Conference on March 11, 2011 with an East Hampton garden club friend.  Sara had originally asked if our club could help her with the garden. We felt it was too far away and that the local Waterbury garden club might like an opportunity to be involved in a garden therapy project. But at the conference, I talked with Leslie Alexander of the Master Gardeners at UCONN while visiting their display outside the speakers' auditorium.  She told me that there was a project in place at a Natchaug Hospital Behavioral Health facility in Mansfield Corner, with a master gardener.  Sara pursued that lead, receiving an email from Leslie and the master gardener, but the project was local and much larger than Sara wanted in Waterbury. I contacted the Federated Garden Clubs of CT in Branford and found a contact for Sara in Waterbury.  After some phone calls, Sara and Nancy got together yesterday to discuss and view the project.  Sara will present the project to the Waterbury Garden Club at their meeting Monday.  I can't wait to hear and see how this beginning becomes a garden.

A Real Spring Day--Finally!

Today started like a day in March but has ended like an April day.  I picked up my neighbors at the airport this morning.  They flew home from Hawaii after spending 10 weeks of the winter in a tropical paradise.  They couldn't believe how drab it was here as we drove down I-91 south toward Hartford.  They could find only the willows and--just today--the maples providing color in the woodlands bordering Route 2 toward East Hampton.  Even the evergreens to them seemed a shade of black or brown.  After all, they are used to birds-of-paradise and hibiscus, not our dead grasses (which offer a faint tint of color and some texture) and fallen limbs (at least they are horizontal or diagonal rather than vertical).  I was so excited to see that my daffodils had bloomed between my leaving at 10 a.m. and my return at 1 p.m.  When I told them the daffodils bloomed to greet them, they looked at me with pity--and hurried into the house because they were not wearing coats.  Ah, New England!  At least they will get to see the whole show from this day forward. There is really only one in full bloom...

King Alfred Daffodils

Another spring day?

Today started with a tease of sunshine but the wind was like March--and the temperatures cool. When the sun came around to the garage door about 1 p.m., I opened the door and pulled the veggies and herbs out into the sun. But a couple hours later, the sun was gone and I pulled the plants back in for shelter. This is the problem with early planting--too much watchful waiting.

Herbs and vegetables still looking healthy, but where is Spring?

Another Garden Moment --Inside

Today's garden moment happened inside the East Hampton public library.  I met a good friend and garden club member at the library to set up a display of garden books for April.  The garden club donated some funds to the library to purchase books recommended by our members at the January book discussion meeting.  Sue Berescik, the library director, met us and cleared a shelf top for the books.  Sue had purchased the new books and placed a bookplate "Suggested by the Belltown Garden Club" inside.  The books looked wonderful, covering topics of gardening from shade gardens to vegetable gardens and from growing roses to planting natives. I had brought in last week an old tin bucket, some dirty garden gloves, a trowel, a kneeler, and some green garden clogs to add realism to the display.  I borrowed the straw hat of another good friend and garden club to brighten up the display. She had embroidered the hat with our club's name and decoupaged it with pink cabbage roses.  It was special because she wore it when we sat in the audience at the Martha Stewart Show on March 1st in New York City.

Bonnie's garden hat from the Martha Stewart Show

But the special moment today came when JoAnn called my attention to the Bradford pear tree branches I had brought in to the library last week.  They were blooming! I had almost given up hope that they would.  Bonnie and I had picked up some fallen branches in the village center traffic triangle earlier in March when the snow had melted.  We both took some home to force.  Bonnie's bloomed right away, but mine had not.  I took them to the library for the display last week, stating I would give them a week to ten days and then replace them with other branches.  It might have helped that the temperature in the library today was over 80 degrees because of problems with their thermostat.  I guess I'm not the only living thing that has been cold in my house this spring (that still seems like winter!).



A Garden Moment--in another garden

Yesterday, I visited another garden--Monet's garden at Giverny.  Not in France, but at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut.  The exhibit showed only nine pieces of his artwork focusing on the water lilies in his garden pond, but it was truly a garden moment for a variety of reasons.

One interesting aspect of the exhibit was that it incorporated black-and-white photographs of the artist and his garden as he experienced it --and an incredible black-and-white film of Monet painting in the garden.

Claude Monet, June 1926

as well as color photographs of the garden over the years in a slide show format viewed from comfortable seating while listening to soft music.

Monet's garden at Giverny today

It was intriguing to see the wisteria on the Japanese-syle footbridge grow full and be trimmed back over the years; or to see the wisteria grow only on the lower part of a bridge span, and then, to see a pergola-style structure above the bridge covered with lavendar bloom.  The trees in the background grew from saplings to monumental sculptures, especially the willows.  The water lilies seem to stay the same over time, but probably take much care to maintain so that they don't overrun the pond. Reflections are a necessary component of the garden and the paintings--and the experience of his garden and his art.

Water lily maintenance at Giverny

Another aspect that made the visit a garden moment was that, as a gardener, I could understand Monet's obsession with the beauty of the waterlilies as a flower and, as an artist, I could sympathize with Monet's compulsion to capture the moment and the beauty by trying over and over to "get it right." This piece was from a private collector and was not signed--a hint that Monet might not have considered it finished.



Monet's Water Lilies with Reflection of Tall Grasses



It was this piece that brought to mind my art instructor's voice:  "No, the color is not right.  That place where the grasses grow is muddy and full of garden debris. It needs to be darker and more rich in the colors of decaying vegetation. The reflection is more grey and cool than the actual grass."

A section of my pastel of Monet's Garden

A true garden moment!  Understand the environment and the soil and the process of growing (including decay).  Observe carefully.  Notice color and light, contrast and highlights, depth and perspective. Trying to capture a garden moment seems impossible--until you see a Monet.

First Planting Ready to Go

I bought Premier Pro-Mix last week at Jessica's Garden.  It is a growing medium with peat compacted by 1/3.  You add water to the organic "soil" to reconstitute it. We drove to Salem Herbfarm this afternoon down Rt. 2 and Rt. 11 to Witch's Mountain Road exit.  They had Romaine lettuce, spinach, and bok choy in the greenhouse.  They will need to be hardened off in the garage with the door open for a few days. The chard was not ready to leave the heated greenhouse so I will need to go back in a couple weeks. I also bought some herbs: rosemary, sage, curly parsley, and for Reid, Mojito mint.  Couldn't resist the yellow and purple pansies to add to the planter boxes with the veggies and herbs. Tomorrow should be less windy and a lower chance of rain.  We had rain showers twice today.

April Fools' Day 2011

Well, it was an April Fool in two ways:  who would expect a nor'easter in April? --and-- it was not anything like it was predicted to be!  You can see the scattering of snow on the ground, not inches of the white stuff.  The bird bath did fill with water from the overnight rain.  This photograph is similar to the masthead photograph at the top of this garden blog--in location only.  The bird bath reflects an overcast sky and is filled with something that looks like melting ice cubes.  The tulips that poked their leaves out last week when it was 70 degrees are shivering with the slushy-like coating of snow today. The Heuchera "Green Spice" and "Midnight Rose" (or coral bells) around the bird bath have had their haircuts but wait for warmer days and some sunshine to begin to develop their new spring styles.  The Korean Azalea "Pink Discovery" looks like it didn't make it through the winter, but it plays pitiful each year--and then surprises me later with a burst of color in mid-May.  The birds were noisy this morning when I pulled up the hood on my sweatshirt and pushed my feet into my green garden clogs to go outside to take this photograph.  Were they laughing and singing at the April fool?