Saturday dawned bright, warm and sunny! I headed straight for the garden...oh, I had plans...to tidy, weed, edge and compost the entire place by late afternoon. Ah...yeah...when I looked up, around 4pm, it seemed the day had been spent in the two new beds I dug last fall. I've named it the Oak Garden ~ for a 125 year old oak we had to cut down last summer and whose huge, gnarled, beautiful stump is anchoring the trellis arbor at the back of the new garden. I moved several plants (daylilies, brown-eyed susans, lily of the valley, cranesbill and snow on the mountain) from the old beds and settled them in their new home. My niece, Sophie, donned her gardening gloves and assisted for a short time, digging for worms and transporting them to where I was working ~ very helpful!
I usually supplement the soil with composted sheep manure but used leaf compost this year instead. It is a deep, rich brown ~ beautiful stuff!
It poured rain on Sunday and I'm home today, so not much else was done ~ the messy garden shed and the rest of the garden (which is most of it!) still need alot of love. Maybe tomorrow...
I took a few photos this morning ~ my white bleeding heart is blooming...so is the fairy wings plant at Esmerelda's doorstep, an old fashioned pink bleeding heart with fernlike leaves, and chives ready to burst! I've visited many old barnyards with waves of solomon's seal blooming along the old boards...and have long wanted a patch of my own. I finally do! The false cherry tree in the center of the garden is also in full bloom. An old leather and wood trunk I found at my mother's house has been tucked into a back corner ~ I may fill it with annuals or just leave it...not sure yet!
Four springs ago, we planted a baby horse chestnut sapling. I'd seen photographs of mature trees in full bloom and was smitten - visions of a huge profusely blooming beauty filled my imagination! Fast forward to spring number two when the local deer families ate the poor thing to a nub. I know deer have to eat but I could have cried. I thought for sure it was done. Thankfully it leafed out and survived. That winter in our efforts to protect the tree and foil the deer, we wrapped it in layers of heavy netting. Spring number three arrived with hopeful new growth and several tiny flower buds tangled in the netting - ugh. Then the deer ate them again, along with the netting. Plan C involved staking around the entire tree (sounds big but the tree is still only 7 feet tall) and wrapping the netting around the staking - I would not be defeated! In spring number 4, finally the deer had to find their buffet somewhere else. And, there was lots of green growth but not one single flower bud. Oy. Now, if you know me or read this blog, you know I waited 15 years for my wisteria to bloom. I'm patient. And I'd like to tell you that I had a complex and detailed plan for last winter to coax some blooms from this little tree and keep the deer from devouring it...but the truth is, we were away for most of the winter and did absolutely nothing to protect the tree before we left. And here it is - go figure. It's grown about 2 feet, has 8 gorgeous pink and yellow blooms and is covered in happy little ants and bees! It's beautiful!
