Ahead Of The Storm

Typical April days have presented our plants with a wide variety of conditions.  Several warm sunny days were followed by ground whitening frost on two consecutive nights.  Today is presently warm but a wet heavy snowfall is set to begin at any moment.  Predictions vary from 3" to 11" and we are ready to be snowed in for possibly several days.  Pictures taken both before the storm and after will allow us to see just how these native plants handle April in NY.  Three Bloodroot plants show different degrees of releasing their flowers.  Starting with the partially open bud in the upper left, the protective curled leaf has been left behind with the petals starting to open.  The flower in the center is a bit further along with its pollen load visible.  In the lower right a bud still in close contact with its leaf is still holding its tightly curled petals.  We will return after the storm releases us from its grip to see the condition of these plants.

This flower has nearly extended its eight petals into a flat circle.  The small green leaves beneath the flower are likely a wild Geranium.  The larger leaves to the right remain unknown to us.  One of these days we will try to identify the fallen tree leaves since these trees are nothing like the Red maples and Oaks that grow on our land.  These rotting leaves may have produced soil that meets the needs of the Bloodroot plants.  There has to be a reason why their growth here is limited to one small piece of ground.

These two separate plants are possibly displaying good judgement by holding their buds close with the approaching storm.

 

Subdued light resulting from the storm cloud cover allowed us to finally take a picture of Spring beauty flowers that show their actual colors.  This plant grows from a pea like structure that is located far from the above ground growth.  Without this pea no growth will follow transplantation attempts.  One cannot go for the pea until the plant begins to die back  Taken too soon it will simply die.  Trying to find it later will likely prove unsuccessful.  So we drive across the valley to see this beautiful plant in flower.

These next pictures were taken in our woodland garden.  Our Dutchman's breeches have been protected under a wire cage preventing the deer from simply trampling them into a state of nonexistence.  Even the cage presents a hazard when its removal fails to see a dead blossom breaking stalk trapped in the wire.  These plants will soon disappear from sight when their short growing season comes to an end.  We will endeavor to place name bearing stones at the known edge of these plants.

We have been checking here daily for the first signs of life from our Wild ginger.  Its habit of protecting the top surface of the leaves by holding them inside of a tight package with only the unseen underside of the leaves pushing up through woodland soil.  When the canopy of wide intact open leaves covers the soil, the flowers will open in actual contact with the ground.  These flowers are easily missed as they will be hidden from view.  Roots seen creeping just above the ground are normal for this plant.  We have learned to simply leave this plant to fend for itself.  How much new ground will be claimed this year remains to be seen.  We anxiously await for it to spillover the path defining stones as that will make the open flowers easier to see.

In the center of this carefully cropped picture are the only two Bloodroot plants to have made an appearance in our shade garden this year.  A spherical light brown ball can be seen atop a reddish colored stem with the leaf wrapper close to the ground.  Each day we search for more but so far have found nothing.  I failed to describe the location of the second plant.  Its still tightly wrapped flower is still held close to the ground to the left of its big brother.  So we wait.
 

Finally A Day Fit For Garden Time

One of Becky's favorite photo subjects is the grumpy old grouch gently placing a young plant into the ground.  In this case a new Dutchman's Breeches appeared near the parent plant in our old shade garden.  Our new shade garden is developing under Sumac trees  They are short lived and messy but they are what we have to work with.  A transplanting hole cannot be dug without damaging tree roots so we need new woodland soil to raise the level of the ground.  A fresh supply has been run through the screen and we are ready to move the plant.  The gloved hands have just pulled soil carefully around the root ball.  Water was then applied to the bare soil.  Previously chopped leaves were then worked around the plant intending to create a functionally natural looking planting.  More water followed firming up the leaves and increasing the chances of success for this plant in its new home.

The stone bearing the plant's name negatively impacts the sought after natural look but is a tremendous aid when one finds himself unable to remember.  The name is placed on both sides of the stone since the exposed label will fade.  Correct identification can then be found on the under side of the stone.  This plant should flourish in its new home.

Our old Jacob's Ladder plant had pushed itself up out of the ground.  We took this opportunity to unearth the entire plant and divide it into two pieces.  One piece was properly returned to its former location while the remaining piece was moved into the new shade garden.  The root mass was sizable so a considerable amount of new soil was needed for proper planting.  The new soil created the appearance of a stone nearly disappearing under centuries of decaying forest litter.  That is the look we are trying for.

Some time ago we purchased Wood Anemone planting stock.  What arrived was pieces of root that looked like thin sticks.  Nothing grew in their first year here but finally they have made an appearance.  Chickweed grows freely here and we needed to carefully separate the two plants.  The Wood Anemones should flower this year and begin to take hold of this ground.
 

Last year Becky purchased a Yellow Ladies Slipper at Catskill Native Nursery.  There one can walk among the plants and select the plants to be purchased.  Naturally the best of the lot was chosen and several flowering stalks presented a stunning scene.  This is another transplant that is making its second appearance.  We are looking forward to enjoying the coming flowers from our bench located just across the path from this plant.

The entire native plant issue is ever present.  The Trout Lily native to New York State has yellow flowers and its leaves are just now pushing out above the forest floor.  These West Coast natives flower much earlier and are simply dazzling.  Moved to this location last year, we were unsure that any would have survived.  There was much action here from chipmunks and red squirrels.  We were afraid that the bulbs were being eaten.  That is obviously not the case and new plants have appeared.  We are well under way for flowers in the  woodland garden.

Pleasant Surprises

Today was a perfectly lovely day to be outside in the garden.  Even before we went outdoors we had the wonderful surprise of seeing the male red fox making his rounds in the garden.  It's always wonderful to see the fox in the garden, but today it was an extremely pleasant surprise.  It has been perhaps a week or more since we found the female red fox dead  next to the road not far from here.  We wondered if the male would wander off to search for a new mate.  It was good to see that he is still around!  When I did get outside I was surprised to see my Dutchman's breeches in flower.  This plant and its flowers appeared so quickly. I'm pretty  sure two days ago there was no sign anything.

It was a little surprising to see my pink trout lily pushing up through the leaves.  So far there is no sign of the wild trout lilies that are so numerous here.  I surprised a yellow shafted flicker and got a fabulous view of the bird and the yellow underside of his wings as he flew away.  I guess he was busy eating ants and didn't see me on my garden tour. It's early for him to be here.

These warm March days have made the garden a very pleasant place to be. It has been a delightful preview of things to come, but cold weather is coming back. I hope it doesn't bring too many unpleasant surprises!