Frost Preparations

April snow is a rather regular occurrence along the Unadilla River.  Both the plants and the people that live here just have to modify and adjust if they are to remain.  Magnolia sounds like something that would grow in Georgia but our flowering tree was nursery bred near the northern tip of Seneca lake.

From this vantage point our garden looks rather good.  Fenced Day lilies have received their early season cleanup and are well on their way.  A pile of brown stems are covering a clump of Cardinal flowers as is the nearby blue bucket.  Since we have way more dead stems than plastic buckets, a test to see how well the stems protect from frost is underway.  27 degrees has been in the forecast for tonight over the past several days and that is unusually harsh.  All of the buckets were removed this morning so the plants can get the rain today.  Wet foliage sometimes survives a freeze better than dry leaves.

Four clusters of Asiatic lilies require two different methods of protection.  Four metal posts will hold circles of wire screen high enough to prevent a bud loving deer from eating them all again.  We will not allow another summer without these beautiful flowers.  The garbage cans are needed now since the circles of emerging plants are large.  Later frosts will also require the height since any lily tip that touches the top of a protective can will be burned by the cold.

This planting of lilies presents a unique problem.  The three plants in a row come from bulbs that were planted in a triangular pattern.  Why they grow in a line is a puzzle.  Perhaps this will be the fall when I remember to dig these up and replant them in a pattern that will not require such a large covering can so close to the center plants.

Quite likely passing motorists wonder why there is such a huge pile of bagged leaves hiding our woodland garden.  Pernicious pasture grass grows where we wish to garden.  Disturbance of the soil to remove weeds would kill the shade producing sumac trees.  Two years of bagged leaves piled here have killed much of the unwanted vegetation.  A little precision plowing with a single bladed hand tool will remove most of the remaining grass roots.  After the desired plants,  yellow violets, ferns and Trout lilies, are introduced where I am standing a deep layer of finely chopped rotting leaves will be placed close to the new plants.  As a result the remaining weeds will be smothered and the leaves will rot producing woodland soil.  Working slowly and with smarts is the only way that this new garden can continue to expand.  The area in the foreground has some spots that need more plants but the moss covered rocks, ground leaves and growing plants create the look of a natural planting.  What is nearly finished will look much better when the nearby bags of leaves that were collected last fall are removed.  This afternoon before the temperature drops the garbage cans and buckets will be put back in place and we will hope for the best!