The HH. I think he misses the snow. I caught him driving his tractor to the mailbox yesterday. It’s kinda funny isn’t it…. When it’s summer, we miss the snow, and when it’s winter, we long for the warm days of summer.
What an overgrown and unattractive little spot don’t you think? I’m looking forward to removing the birds nest spruce, cutting down the dead tree and pulling out the half dead juniper towards the back of the bed. I’m putting this picture here so I can reference it later this fall.
The plan is to clean the area up a bit {maybe extend the short rock wall/planter if I have time?} and fill the space with spring bulbs for a little pop of color during the early months of the year. Dwarf daffodils and those tiny grape muscari look so magical in a wooded setting, don’t you think?
Making this place our own is a lot of work… but we’re getting there, inch by inch.
In other news, Hilda our Blue Easter Egger has been a little bit of a trouble maker lately. She has this little game she likes to play whenever anyone tries to collect the eggs. As soon as she see’s you lift up the door to the nesting boxes, she rushes into the coop and tries to escape out the opening. So far she’s been successful 3 times.
I think it’s hilarious. The HH, not so much.
Oh Hilda… Mama loves you. 😉
The hot pink peonies are in full bloom…
And the ants are trying their hardest to get the soft pink ones to open.
Apples. Maybe we’ll get lucky this year and get a good harvest. I was thinking about covering the apples with nylons to protect them from bugs. I saw someone do that once. Do they still sell nylons? Where would be the best place to buy bunch of them inexpensively?
Mystery plant of the week: Anyone know what it is? Alternate-leaf Dogwood (Cornus alternifolia) Thanks Diana N from Facebook!!! 🙂
I’m not a big fan of irises, but I do like the purple ones. This cluster will need to be divided up early this fall but I still haven’t figured out where to transplant them to.
Maybe along the rock border in front of the potting shed for a swath of color. What do you think?
And the path to the woods… It’s coming along. We’ve been tossing our garden clippings to the sides of the path in hopes of creating sort of a hidden garden down to the pond. If you look closely you can spy the awful orange daylily plants the HH tossed on the heap. You just can’t kill those things can you.
A path lined with orange day lilies and poison ivy. It’s like a dream come true, right? Tell me this is the garden path of your dreams. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Hopefully soon though, the giant mound of garden clippings will be covered with pumpkin vines. I planted a few starts at the edge of the cleared area and with a little luck, we will have a compost style pumpkin patch.
Summer. And all the garden chores it brings with it… are here. And I’m loving it!
Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone,
~Mavis
Claudia says
How about knee highs instead of pantyhose hose? I know you ou can buy packages of 10 or more inexpensively at Walmart.
Mavis Butterfield says
Thanks!
Jennifer says
I’ll see your knee highs and raise you footies. What about a box of footies like people use at shoe stores? Amazon maybe? I have used footies to cover entire sunflower heads to keep birds from getting the seeds.
Brianna says
You can buy big packs of nylon apple socks specifically for that purpose online. I think we bought ours through Amazon or a plant nursery’s website.
Stacey says
Your hatred of the orange daylilies amuses me. I think they’re amazing flowers because they are so hardy. Only the orange ones seem to grow wild. No matter what happens to them they plug on, just like New Englanders. They are very popular flowers in my neck of the “woods.”
Trudy says
My apples were best the year I had over 20 free range chickens. They did ruin my yard while they were gathering bugs and worms but the fruit trees did great!
Mary3M says
Wish you could send them to me. I LOVE them!!! and I LOVE irises. How funny each of us has our things that drive us crazy. Looking good there Mavis! Perhaps you should open up a ‘door contest’ with your neighbor Carol’s door and yours to see what you are up against. Just a thought.
Mel says
We actually put Ziploc bags over our apples and use clothespins to secure them to the branches after closing the bags around the stem. You sometimes have to poke holes to drain water or collect apples/bags the tree drops, but it has otherwise worked for us.
Speaking of loose chickens, we’re supposed to finally return our roosters from our 24 straight run chicks this week. It’s getting crowded, and they’re starting to crow, so I cannot wait to start unloading birds. I’d ultimately like to get down to 6 or 8 hens, but this is the first step.
Also, our first Sungold tomato is ripening—about 30 days early here in Zone 7b Maryland.
Carrie says
Order a box of ‘foot stock’s’ off Amazon. I think that is what they are called. They are the nylon socks you would try on shoes at Nordstroms with when I was growing up. I think it was under $10 for a box of 100 or so. That way you don’t have to cut anything.
My mom has had success with them. We ordered them last year, but did not get around to using them. I just saw all our little apples yesterday and was trying to remember where I stored them.
Ruth says
From a design standpoint, the birds nest evergreen was placed on the curved edge to “hold” the curve and provide structure to the garden during the bare winter months. It (and the junipers) contribute texture, height, variety, and a sense of maturity to the landscape.
Their soft, fluffy branches provide an insulated shelter to birds and other little animals during cold weather.
By all means, Mavis, do as you wish with your garden. I’m just offering up another perspective to consider. My gardening neighbor yanked out her mature evergreens and later wished she had not…their garden looked flat and bare…it took a long time to regain its maturity.
Brenda says
I agree, maybe start with taking out the dead tree and prune the rest. That might clean things up enough to make it look less wild/overgrown.
Julia says
I agree as well — I like some structure to such a space. I was thinking maybe you could put your purple iris here, toward the back. Iris bloom a little later than grape hyacinth and daffodils, etc. It’s nice to spread the bloom over a few months. That stone wall is to die for.
And I understand your loathing of the daylilies, but is there any way you can pot and offer them (for free?) down at the fruit stand or the dumps? I have made my garden from other people’s castoffs before and it is so nice when someone cleans up and gives away “ugly” flowers that would really help my yard. Geranium and succulent cuttings, a bag of amaryllis bulbs, red hot poker corms… all good!
Last thought — I just noticed my hydrangea are starting to form heads like that. I think mine is a lace cap (grown from cuttings!) and it has never bloomed, and your mystery plant looks similar. Good luck!
Teri says
Is that heap your only compost pile or did you make one closer to the house & garden for scraps? Would love to see it.
I think the daylilies look great in the “wild” 🙂
Leslie Honcoop says
Is the mystery plant a cascara tree? The leaves look right; not so sure about the flowers.
Pat says
You should watch the Clint Eastwood movie The Mule. Lily’s brought a lot of drama to the poor man but in the end saved his life. And no I did not give the ending away.
Lisa says
Mystery plant- if it is a large bush, I guess viburnum. If it’s low lying, I’m out.
Karen says
Your house would look great with shutters…probably had them originally, don’t you think so?
Amy says
If you post on NextDoor or Craigslist you can likely find gently used or new in package nylons that neighbors might be interested in parting with for free.
Katie King Schneider says
I use the nylon footies and then spray with diatomaceious (SP?) earth mixed with water. One discourages apple maggots, the other codling moths. You can get a bajillion footies on Amazon for like $14.
Cris says
My vote on the mystery plant is hydrangea. Looks exactly like mine. They come in SOOOO many varieties, but I don’t know if they survive out your way. I’m in CA.
A Autenrieth says
I think perhaps this plant is a hosta.
Carol says
You are to move iris in August. Cut the fans back to about 6 inches and don’t crowd them or plant very deep.
Your daylilies are just doing what is programed in them. Don’t fight with anything that wants to grow and bloom as bad as they do.
And as for Hilda, she is also doing what chickens do. If you are a chicken it doesn’t matter where you are…you want to be somewhere else. She is beautiful. I love her too.
Anna says
You can try to buy pantyhose at the thriftshop, that’s what I do too, for anything and everything except my wearing them.
Linda Anderson says
Mavis, Amazon sells EnPoint nylon fruit protect bags with drawstrings. They’re also reusable.
Jennifer says
It looks like the mystery plant is a type of Hosta. They have a bunch of varieties and when they flower they start similar to that. Is it in the shade or sun. That might help figure out what it is.
Jackie V says
Mystery plant- maybe a type of dogwood? Cornus Alternifolia – Pagoda Dogwood is my best guess.
Diana says
Definitely Viburnum.