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What’s blooming this week
Month: April 2012
We had a remarkable hail storm over the weekend. The rain, wind and hail lasted for about 20 minutes and damaged cars, roofs … and our garden. We were luck that we hadn’t planted the tomato seedlings yet, or else they would have been destroyed completely.
When folks say “golf-ball sized hail” they aren’t kidding. Take a look at the size of this sucker. It was probably bigger when it hit the ground and finally bounced/rolled under the porch where we could safely retrieve it.
We were terrified to go out to inspect the garden in the morning, fearing that everything would be shredded. It wasn’t as bad as we’d imagined (thank goodness) but the hosta bed took the brunt of the damage. What’s that proverb? Pride goes before a fall? Well, that certainly holds true in this case.
Take a look at our lovely giant blue hosta before and after the hail storm. We were SO PLEASED with the way the hosta garden was developing and absolutely too proud of everything. Then the storm came. And this was the result.
We know that it will heal itself (and the other plants will also spring right back) from the storm but I have to admit it was heartbreaking to realize that the storm came at EXACTLY the time when it could inflict the most damage.
Sigh. Such is the life of a gardener.
Categories
Derbytime in Louisville
The magazine Garden and Gun has a special feature on Louisville and the Kentucky Derby that you’ll all want to see.
Yes, we have both.
Garden. Gun.
So I guess that makes us the perfect (heh) demographic for all things cool.
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Oh my, how the hostas have grown!
Take a look at the hosta garden this week! I cannot believe how quickly they’ve spread. Our ultimate goal is for them to grow so thickly that you can’t see any dirt at all here. Almost there!
We get frequent questions about the large celtic circle we have in our hosta garden. It’s about 3 feet in diameter and has a flat base that we’ve sunk/buried in the ground so that it looks like the circle is emerging from the dirt.
We bought it at a place nearby called The Concrete Lady. They have EVERYTHING. Giant elephant statues, fountains, the Virgin Mary … you name it. It’s fun to just go to see what’s new. Who knows, a garden gnome might be just the thing you’re looking for.
Categories
What’s in bloom this week?
Let’s take a look at what’s in bloom in the garden this week.
Categories
Roses are in bloom everywhere
It’s the time of year when the Knockout Roses are wildly blooming all over town. These are those disease-resistant, can’t kill them if you tried kind of roses that are as common as dirt, but they are pretty, if I do say so myself.
We bought this bush from one of the big-box store garden centers at the end of the season when everything was picked over and on sale for so cheap that I think if we’d asked, they’d have paid us to take it. It’s a double knock-out, meaning the blooms are fuller than the regular kind. We don’t cut it back in the spring (like they say you’re supposed to) and I wouldn’t mind if it got overly big and unruly. There’s space for it to expand a bit and I like the splash of color it provides behind the celtic circle yard art here.
I’ve been in Philadelphia this week for a conference for work. It’s a lovely city and one afternoon we had time to explore the center city and some of the historical sites.
But there’s no place like home.
Hotels can be cold and sterile places. For me it is tiresome to have someone else prepare all of my meals every day out of ingredients I didn’t choose myself.
Don’t get me wrong — I love to travel and to experience new places and eat new foods. But business travel isn’t like that. I felt lonely, even surrounded by longtime friends and colleagues who I only get to see once a year at these types of events.
But I’d rather sleep in my own bed, with my loving partner and a dog or two. And although I’ve always loved people-watching in airports, I get tired of the schlepping from terminal to terminal and the constant worry about being on time and in the right place.
Ah, isn’t it good to be back home with one dog curled up next to me and the other at my feet, with the windows wide open and a view of the garden beyond?
We have a beekeeper who lives on our street.
We don’t live in the suburbs. We don’t live in the concrete jungle either. We live in an older neighborhood with small houses and small yards and sidewalks and trees and restaurants you can walk to.
And one of our neighbors has bees and fruit trees. And a company called Earthy Browns where they market items made from the beeswax.
We invited the bee man to come look at the honeybees we have visiting our Earth Boxes where we grow our lettuces and herbs. This year we’ve seen many more bees (about 40 at a time) than usual and we were a little bit worried that the bees were moving in permanently. But, the bee man told us not to worry, that they’ve just found something sweet to eat (they love lemon balm) and that this is the time of year they wander around feeding.
He also reminded us that they will not sting unless you step on them or swat them so vigorously that you hit their stinger. When they lose their stinger they die and they aren’t usually aggressive, especially away from the hive.
So for now we have visiting bees. And a source for local products that the bees helped make. Now if we could only tell the bees apart we could give them individual names.
Remember when we planted lettuce in our earth boxes a month ago?
Everything is growing well and while it’s still WAY too early to start harvesting, I think we’re going to have some yummy salads this spring. Our only worry is that this early warm spring will move too quickly into a hot early summer, causing the lettuce to bolt and become bitter.
We’re researching ideas for building a frame with a sunscreen on it that we can use to cover the earth boxes but haven’t decided on the final designs for that. We’d love to hear any suggestions.
Lydia Street 