Under A Blanket Of Snow, The Plants Are Carrying On!

You might think with all the cold, snow, ice and darkness that the plants would be dormant.  Some are of course.  We won't see a sign of the Lemon lilies until the Spring actually happens, but the Johnny jump ups have been flowering under the ice and snow.  They always do.  That bright green sprig of tall snapdragon is ready to try for another season.  It's not dead so it still has a chance!

This gorgeous sedum might be more pink than green in the cold, but I'm pretty sure the plants are growing and the clump is getting a little larger every time I get a chance to see it.  As far as I know the cold has little effect on these plants but sometimes rodents eat them!

Forget-me-nots have self seeded on top of the shade garden wall.  Some of its leaves are brown from the cold.  It is growing in a very exposed location.  This plant plans to flower when spring arrives.  It will not give up its chance to flower easily!

Ed's Shasta Daisies barely made it through the winter last year.  At this point this clump looks terrific.  It is well rooted and has a wonderful chance to survive.  I do see  some weeds plan to make a comeback as well.  They include Shepard's purse, a new dead nettle that appeared here in droves last summer and  that disgusting little sucker in the front of the picture.  I don't know the proper name of that pernicious weed and I would never print here what I call it!

This Lewisia, also called bitter root, was wonderful this summer  It had beautiful pink flowers in July.   However, I have to wonder just what it thinks it is doing now.  Whatever it is I  don't understand it.  I certainly wish the plant well, but just the same I'll be marking the Lewisia  in the catalogs when I find a place to get more.  Perhaps the idea of having the company of a few more of these plants will give this one the will to live.  I know it will cheer me up!  

Hidden In Our Untamed Garden

With all the rain the garden is lush.  Just about anything could hide there.  The two wild turkey hens and their babies caught my eye first thing this morning.  They actually spent their whole day here just walking away until they could get out of sight behind a stone wall or and area of tall plant growth.

The spiderwort loves this weather and is covered with flowers.  It has been hiding under the Summer sweet for years, but this summer it has grown to the top of the stone wall. I love the purple fuzzy ball in the center of these interesting flowers!

In the past our history with Shasta daisies has been rather dismal.  This year the white flowers with yellow centers, or should I say yellow disc flowers with white ray flowers, are doing great.  They look great from a distance and would pass the speeding car test with ease.  Close ups of composite flowers are always fascinating!

Hidden beneath the raucous display of Gloriosa daisies are Ed's pinkster, cardinal flower, one of my favorite sedums, blue flax, a red hibiscus, closed gentian, Emperor of China chrysanthemums and more.  I think the garden looks wildly fantastic!

The late freeze/ frost greatly reduced the number of pink double poppies in the garden this year. In the past I have pulled out buckets full. The first batch of plants were eliminated by the cold and there are not too many in the garden this year.  Even so poppies that are not full doubles or ones that have thrown back to singles are supposed to be pulled as soon as possible.  This plant has been pulled, but bees have already spread it's pollen.  Add it to the list.  We do what we can, after all Mother Nature is in charge here.  We only referee.  Click on a picture to enlarge them.  Click on the pale grey text to go to a link!

There Is Hope

That most recent bitter Arctic blast felt like a hard punch to the midsection.  We are usually working outside by this date.  Today the temperature inched above freezing and a  check on the exposed plants was in order.  Native Lobelia cardinalis is a personal favorite.  It is not a true perennial as none of last year's plant returns.  A cluster of new daughter plants emerge from the snow cover already growing. We are underway with this year's garden.  

Dwarf phlox was new to us last season.  This plant seems to have shrugged off the cold and the snow. Deer feed on the regular phlox so we have kept the dwarf plants caged.

Chervil is actually a treasured weed here.  As a frequent ingredient in early salads, I have to sneak the overabundance into the compost bucket.

Finding this Shasta daisy alive was a real treat.  Then the picture revealed the fact that a rabbit found it before I did.  That diagonal stem nip is a sure sign of rabbit.

Becky found blue eyed grass growing in the lawn when we lived in the village.  It has had a home in our garden ever since.  It resembles many weedy grasses and has been nearly pulled out many times.

These bluets were protected by locust leaves and the stems that they grow on.  The stems hold the old leaves in place.  I find the size of locust leaves tidy.  Generous air circulation around the small curled leaves helps prevent rot while providing some shelter.

Fringed polygala is another prized evergreen native.  Its crow excluding wire cage has been set aside allowing close visual inspection.  That looks like new growth trying for an early start.

Recent melt water formed a sizable pond near the town road.  That bitter Arctic air froze the surface water before it could drain away.  Now the sedum stems support the ice showing just how much water was briefly trapped here.

The walk about was pleasant enough but I simply must put some seeds to soil.  A 30 gallon trash can was filled with prime potting soil last Fall and stored in the basement.  Everything is in place and the planting will soon begin.

Hot Fourth Of July

Hooray for the red white and blue!  We have red cardinal flower.

We have white Shasta  daisies.

We have blue Chinese forget-me-nots.

It's possible to party hard in this heat.  There are those who do.

At the end of the day it's pretty easy to end up limp and droopy.  Many plants in the garden are there already.  Ed spent  today with the watering cans in the garden.  He is sure to come in hot and droopy  not unlike the plants he is working so hard to save.

Some places there will be fireworks tonight.  Here at the Stone Wall Garden the only flashes of light and loud noises we would be interested this in year  are those that come along with rain.