Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...

Jenny Daffodil

It's been almost a month since I posted anything about my own garden. I've been doing quite a bit of travelling as well as keeping busy with my garden coaching clients. And my own garden as well! I thought I'd recap some things happening here although I'll keep most of my bloom photos and discussion for the upcoming Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day (April 15th). Above is the last of my daffodils that bloomed last month. This is the first time Jenny has actually bloomed since I planted it in 2008. Hooray for a tough winter! ;-)

Wisley Blue Starflowers

I'm in love with my starflowers (Ipheion uniflorum) although they've just about finished blooming now.

Blue-eyed Grass and other plants

I put together this little potted arrangement last week. My favorite plant in there is Blue-Eyed Grass, Sisyrinchium angustifolium, the little blue flowers there which are native to Texas and other states. (Layanee, thank you for the ID!) Other plants in that arrangement are 'Alabama' coleus, 'Creeping Jenny' lysimachia, ornamental pepper 'Black Pearl', and Carex buchananii, Red Rooster Sedge (also called Leatherleaf Sedge).

'Bloodgood' Japanese Maple with tree wrap

My Japanese Maple looks like it's wearing a black sock since I put tree wrap on it. This year the squirrels decided to start chewing on it. Those dadgum squirrels! I hope this helps. I have no idea how long to leave it on (will they forget about chewing on the tree after a while??).

Cedar Waxwings

The Cedar Waxwings have been around all winter and spring. But they only recently started mobbing the birdbath. Thank goodness I have a couple more birdbaths or the other birds would have a hard time. My guess is they're going for my birdbath now that the rains have stopped. The goldfinches were here for the shortest time on record for me. A few are still straggling through and even gracing me with their breeding colors. The Ruby Throated Hummingbirds have returned as well. But no sign of the Rose Breasted Grosbeaks or Indigo Buntings yet.

The woodland garden is starting to put out some growth, mostly from the hostas and ferns. The 'Silver Shower' mondo grass is struggling to recover from the freezes.

The square beds are starting to fill out now. This year I redid the front two beds to have all pollinator attracting plants (for the bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds) and the back two beds will have mostly herbs and veggies (with a few flowers thrown in there).

The daylilies along the rock wall are filling in. Can't wait for their blooms in May!

UPDATE: I was in too much of a hurry when I first posted this (trying to make it to yoga on time) and forgot to include this photo. The area with the boulders at the back is my problem area. Water collects at the foot of the steep 6 foot hill and even a french drain hasn't helped that much. The only thing that helps is not much rain. So instead of tearing it up to work on the drain again I decided to learn to love what I have. Recently I planted some plants at the base that should tolerate the occasional wet feet and I also added some more rocks. Still more work to come on that area though.

Well, that's about it for now. I do hope I get some time to visit my favorite blogs, so I hope to "see" you sometime soon.

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2009. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.