Seven Days From Frigid To Fantastic

When the snow on the garden finally melted this spring, my uncaged tree peony received another  pruning from the deer.  This year they cut it back hard!  The plant was ugly, misshapen and dead looking.  I have always been conflicted about pruning this plant since I have read that they should not be cut back.  This year I snapped off the dead wood and cut it back hard.  It was starting to look great and then on May 22 we got a hard freeze.  Fortunately we covered the plant with a sleeping bag and a plastic tarp.  When we got frost again the next night I had my doubts, but once the sun came out, the weather warmed and the tree peony exploded with growth!

I have had this plant in the same spot for years. It has never shown me anything like this.  I count eleven big beautiful blossoms in this picture and there are a couple on the back side of the bush that don't show.  This plant could stop a bus on the highway driving by at 60, but of course no one drives by this garden.

I did not measure this intriguing flower, but it is much bigger than the picture, at least 5 inches across.  These flowers do not appear to have any scent.  I suppose if you can dazzle with that kind of flamboyance, who needs perfume.  Now I'm wondering if I should uncover the plant for the winter and let the deer do the pruning for me. Perhaps the plant thrives on adversity.   Like Scarlet I'll think about that tomorrow.  In the meantime, "Oh WOW!!!   Check out my tree peony!"

Light Last Frost

We were prepared to deal with three consecutive nights of possible freeze or frost.  All of the plants on the wall were carried into the basement.  Since this is no small effort, they remained there until the danger passed.  Wet, but in subdued light, they came through the scary nights unscathed.  The forecast calls for warm nights in the coming days so we can begin to remove plants from pots and fill the garden.

Pinxter opens its flowers before leaves appear.  An earlier frost took the unopened flowers while the leaves were still tightly closed.  Now the plant is poised for a full season of healthy growth.  Perhaps we will see flowers next year.

Summer sweet sends out its leaves ahead of the flowers.  Small brown twists mark the locations of leaves that were open for the previous frost.  Newly opened tender green leaves were able to survive this one night with a light frost.  In time the plant will fully leaf out and should manage a grand display of sweetly scented flowers.  Here we were lucky.

Becky had resigned herself to the fact that her tree peony would never flower here.  The only cover available for this plant was a large wrap of thin nylon cloth.  With that small amount of protection, all three buds survived the frost.  We will look for flowers this year.

None of the plants in this photo were covered from the frost and all survived.  The poppies are somewhat sensitive to frost.  The light frost caused them no harm.  The lily is a survivor from the days when we expected them to survive with no protection.  Survive it did and perhaps we will be able to identify it by its flower this year.

Our bearded iris had sent up buds just ahead of the frost.  We prepared ourselves for a year with no flowers but the light frost did them no harm.  This unknown variety from Becky's grandmother's garden still flowers and stimulates a pleasant childhood memory.

These lilies in the sod house also look great.  The holes mark the locations of plants that had grown too tall to fit under the tarp.  They were pulled to spend cold nights in the basement.  We will now begin to move the lilies into the garden after they are removed from the pots.

Busy days lie ahead of us as we set out both flower and vegetable plants.  We were lucky to have waited longer than many.  We were lucky that this last frost was light.  Now we can get to some serious gardening.

Down 60

We knew that summer temperatures in March would end abruptly and perhaps with damage to plants that had been teased out early.  A week of daytime temperatures in the seventies exploded  old record highs.  The new highs were twenty degrees above  previous records.   17 F was the low forecast for last night and our weatherman advised protecting tender plants.  These orange spotted Asiatic lilies were left in the open garden as the sod lily house was full.  Protection was required here,  but how does one protect plants when the temperatures are expected to fall fifteen degrees below freezing?

These plastic tubs were filled with dried leaves then placed over the lily shoots.  Stone weights seemed necessary since violent winds preceded the temperature drop.  We left the tubs in place today.  More cold is forecast tonight and the mess of cleaning up the dried leaves beneath the tubs did not seem worth it when cover will be necessary again tonight.  If the insulating value of the leaves was enough will not be known until  the tubs can be removed.

This is the best that our tree peony has ever looked.  Dried leaves filled the space between the tree peony and its wire cage all winter.  Putting the leaves back last night did not seem wise.  The new growth that may have needed protection was high above the warm ground so there would be no warmth for the leaves to retain.  Damage from placing the leaves was likely.  We chose to leave the tree peony unprotected and the new growth does not look damaged.  It will have to endure a second frigid night.

This bed of Ice Follies daffodils looks really sad and droopy.  The new flower stems were full of liquid when they froze.  Cell damage is apparent as the limp stems can no longer support the weight of the flowers.  Plant leaves look undamaged so the bulbs will be fed this season and we can look forward to another beautiful display of flowers next year.  For this year the show is over but it was grand while it lasted.

First Day In The Garden

There was no question that today was to be a garden day.  The wind had shifted 180 degrees and now came from the south.  Temperatures were forecast to reach near 60 degrees F.  We took no time to check the thermometer there was too much to do.  Getting the pile of leaves off the tree peony was job one.  We prepared this plant for winter by filling the wire cage with fallen maple leaves.  Insulated protection was the goal.  The green dwarf iris leaves at the base told us that it was time to get rid of the leaves.  Bleached yellow iris shoots were totally covered by the leaves.  They should quickly green up now that they are in the light.

Our tree peony has never been happy here.  One or two flowers is the best display it has ever produced.  We picked a good year to try the protective leaf cover as we had no snow this winter.  These buds look promising.  When the frozen leaf mass on the north side of the plant thaws, it will be removed and we will get a look at the entire plant.

This patch of bulbs was well weeded last fall.  Snow never came and the weeds grew over the winter.  A slight tilt to the south warmed this bed early so weeding was a workable option today.

This is one of our most hated weeds.  We do not know its name.  Extensive deep roots spread wide under its insignificant above ground growth.  Removing this monster from the emerging snow drops was a challenge.  Usually the root mass of this weed holds enough soil to make way for a new layer of compost.  Soft freshly thawed soil released these roots today.  Only one snow drop was uprooted by weeding.

This is the other most hated weed.  Its tap root is impressive but was easily pulled today.  I am certain that this weed will regrow if even the smell of the tap root is left in the hole.  Today they pulled cleanly.

The bed is weeded now.  We will see if the bulbs finish flowering ahead of the return of the weeds.  Knowing the names of things allows one to more fully express their feelings.  We have been unable to find the names of either of these pests.  I would really like to be able to attach a proper name to the string of words that spew forth while removing these buggers.

The lemon verbenas were given a brief moment in the sun today.  Some soft leggy new growth was broken off in the wind.  It found its way to the teapot and the plants should do fine.  These plants made the first of many round trips from the basement to the outside today.  June will have arrived before these plants can be safely placed in the garden.