I have been on a winter hiatus, but now I'm just itching to get outdoors and plant, rake, dig, re-pot, hoe, mow, prune, sow, thin, transplant, cultivate, tend.....you get the idea. And there is no shortage of things to do. If you are reading this blog, you probably like gardening, too, and you know exactly where I'm coming from. So let the gardening begin....
Grape Hyacinths: I love these little guys. They are so bright and cheerful and require very little care. Muscari are members of the Lily Family. Muscari armeniacum can become invasive as the seeds are readily dispersed. Muscari botryoides is less invasive. The two species are virtually indistinguishable, and I'm not sure which one I have, but I certainly have not had a problem with them becoming invasive. In fact, I wouldn't mind if they would spread the wealth of blue a little bit in my back yard!
This is the first Celandine Poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum) of the year. These bright yellow native flowers are very easy to grow and like dappled shade. They are self-seeders so I always have new plants and move them around as I see fit. Ants aid in moving seeds to other parts of the garden, as the seeds have an oily substance that stick to the ants. Cool! If you are cutting or digging up these poppies, be careful of the yellow sap present in the stems and seed pods. The Native Americans used the yellow dye for baskets, clothing and war paint, and it is difficult to get out of clothes or wash from your skin. I received this poppy from a visitor to my garden when we were on the Edwardsville Garden Tour in 2010. She was so surprised that I had no Celandine poppies, and she said she would bring me one. A few weeks later, she showed up at my house with the poppies. I don't even know her name but that's what's so nice about gardening and gardeners. Recalling her kind deed, I am happy to pay it forward to my fellow gardeners.
This is such a sad picture! I'm posting it to demonstrate the importance of monitoring your bluebird houses regularly. I cleaned this bluebird house about 2 weeks ago, discarding a nest that was left in it over the winter, so I know this little guy wasn't here then. It appears to be a juvenile Chickadee. Maybe he was seeking shelter from the extreme cold we had last week. We saw our first bluebirds of the spring on Sunday. They were sitting on this house but I never saw them enter it. Maybe now I know why! Well, Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird, your house is now clean and ready for you to move in!
The emergence of Lysimachia nummularia.....well, that's a mouthful. But if we break it down, maybe we can remember the scientific name for this Creeping Jenny or moneywort. The genus is named for King Lysimachus (661-281 B.C.), King of Thrace in Greek mythology. The species gets its name from "nummular" which means "coin-like." When my daughter was little, she had "nummular eczema" which manifested as coin-like rashes. The leaves of Creeping Jenny are round, coin-like. I have this patch in a shady area in our back landscaping. I also dig up swatches to use in large pots for the pool area. And last year I tucked some swatches into rock crevices in the Koi pond, where it grew quite nicely with the roots directly in the pond water. It's a very versatile plant!
In the opening for this blog entry, I forgot to include the verb, ERADICATE!
That is what we are trying to do with all the bush honeysuckle on our property. It's not too difficult to cut the stuff down, and not difficult to paint the stump with glyphosate, but hauling it away is a big pain! But, we will keep at it until it is ALL GONE!!!!!!
🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻Happy Spring!🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻
What plants do you have peeping through? Leave me a message or comment and thanks for visiting.
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