Saturday, April 25, 2020

A Very Fine Spring

So far …. there has not been a killer freeze after things started waking up, just the lightest nip of freezer burn.



















That makes a big difference in the presentation.




















The whole world is in a very troubled place. The United States of America is very deeply troubled. Let's go for a walk in the garden shall we.




















I go out looking to see all that is waking with spring. It can take a while to find everything. Sometimes I can't. The plant may be late rising or hidden by a neighbor and needs to get bigger before I can see it. Sometimes they are just gone. Which means some damn varmint probably ate it.

Gardening this way is really more about population dynamics. For many of the herbaceous plant species to remain, they must thrive and begin to multiply. There has to be more than one. The competition is fierce. The good news is the Angelica gigas has started to self sow in my part of the gardens.




















This is Solomon's Plume rising with very cool form.




















Without a killer freeze, all the different kind iris have a much better chance for a good bloom display.




















A sad baying hound parked itself at one of the houses across the byway for the last three days. I called the caretaker this morning to ask for help. My other rescue options are closed for the virus. He kindly agreed.














We found ourselves a scared, maybe year old, Australian Shepard mix. The caretaker looked quite pleased. I was most happy a scared puppy was connected to an obvious dog person who would make sure it was well taken care of.

The day before the barking started a couple pulled down my drive with a nice looking cinnamon brown hunting dog wanting to know if it was mine. No. I suggested they take it to the general store where the dog hunters hang out. And thank you very much for stopping to fetch the dog.

I sure hope another round of lots of lost dogs on the top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere isn't about to start.




















Uvularia grandiflora, Large Flowered Bellwort.





















Two out of three population introductions are doing well. Uvularia perfoliata is another recent introduction. It came up.




















How much bigger will the heiau get? That is a question only time can answer.




















It has been a very fine spring ….. so far.



















Speaking of lost pets, Solly Kitty is doing fine with her new roommates. Today she and I went for a walk in the ridge top garden next door to have a look at the Bluebells and to douse the Lady Slipper with some hot Cayenne pepper. Damn bugs. Solly is cat now with a strong developing personality.




















We can finish this walk with Fothergilla puffs in this sublime rising time of spring.


2 comments:

Lisa at Greenbow said...

I thoroughly enjoyed this stroll through your garden Christopher. It is a soothing place. A most beautiful place.
I wonder if since they have said that dogs and cats can have the corvid virus people are dumping their animals?? Sad any way you look at it. I am glad you could help at least one dog.
Good to hear that Solly is getting along so good.
The frost was very damaging to my garden. I had to cut persicaria to the ground it was made into mush. I doubt the mop head hydrangeas will bloom. And a lot of the hostas were made mush. I think they will come out of it but it sure is ugly now.
Cheers and have a good week.

Christopher C. NC said...

Bummer Lisa. Everything should grow back. They just shrink in size and lose bloom when this happens and have to spend the year, sometimes two, growing back to the size they were before. I had not read dogs and cats can get the virus. It is the economic fallout that worries me about people setting the pets free in the wild.