new duo

I told myself I wasn't going to go nursery shopping this season, to avoid the heavy work of planting stuff. But visited some friends of my husband, who have tons of azaleas in a beautiful huge shade garden. And when I admired certain plants, they gave me some (I turned another three down, because afraid the deer will just munch them). I'm taking chances on these, then. First, a nice large-leafed rhododendron, 'Solidarity'. Not sure what color it will bloom. I took out the sad dying bayberry, and planted this just uphill of it (my husband dug the hole).

Second, was this azalea 'Seigai temple red'.

It's a 'spider' azalea, I'd never seen one before. In fact, that's how I got it, on the walk through their garden, I pointed and said "what's that plant that looks fluffy?" because the leaves are so narrow and deeply cut, the whole thing looks soft and rounded from a distance. And the flowers (just one was open while we were there) look like little red fireworks.

I wanted this one close to the front of the planted area, to admire its delicate foliage (and to start moving our lawn edge forward). I put it midway between the pawpaw and the large straight oak tree.

I was just delighted with this plant, because it's so unique. It doesn't look like an azalea to me. It was really hard to get photos though, because it's small still, doesn't show up well against the background of everything else. Here from the side, looking at the oak (and you can see in the rear, eyesore of the blue tarp still covering the compost I need to finish putting around the perennials).

View of it from the rear, looking up towards the house. You can see how empty the garden beds are. And how the deer have eaten all the lower half of that bright euonymus shrub against the house corner.

Speaking of the pawpaw, here's a much better photo of it. Grown enough I can actually see it from the kitchen window, inside its little protective cage.

stinkin' babies

Year before last, when our big maples on the second sideyard were cut down, I moved a bunch of plants in a panic. Including the stinking hellebores, which didn't survive. Well, now I have a few new ones! Got from another gardener who was taking spring divisions.

I put two near the ostrich ferns (the smaller ones are coming up! but my photo was blurry)

and two on the other side of a tree from the solomon's seal

Hope for lots of babies in a year or two so I can spread 'em around! So far the deer have not munched my hostas yet- coming up strong now! - since I scattered the irish spring again. This is one of the blues (ignore the bird drip and the chewed on leaf, and it's perfectly lovely)

I peeked into the makeshift cages around saplings- I still have a few redbuds, just barely leafing out now, and the two spicebush also, and the one pawpaw (which I'm not as thrilled about since I discovered I don't actually like the taste of pawpaw- but one of my kids does so at least someone would appreciate the fruit).

Here's a photo of the mayapples- and the few I dug up and moved over under the edge of rhododendrons, did just fine too!

I'm also pleased to find a few seedlings of joe pye 'chocolate' around the backyard- happy to let them grow where they are, right now. Anxiously watching to see when the taller, regular joe pye comes up- those I moved in a hurry late fall because I thought our fence was going to get built.

But sadly, it looks like two shrubs I was hoping would do well on this damp, lower slope, are finally dying. The inkberry and the northern bayberry. I can't believe how lush they looked, back when I first bought them. Just last year the inkberry was like this- hard to notice at all- and now it's all bare stems. Either the deer are eating it down to nothing, or it's sick. Both of them. I'm kind of giving up on them now.

Another casulty of winter- it seems my rosemary is dead in its pot.

Today all I did outside was plant the four stinkin' hellebores, dig up a few dandelions from the front lawn (their numbers are definitely fewer, takes me far less time to get them cleared out now), and pull some weeds in the back. 

I broke all the dry monarda stems into short pieces for composting, but found they make very brittle, sharp fragments- got a few nasty little splinters- so I scattered them across the empty garden beds. For mulch, and maybe a deterrent to the squirrels and my cat. Seems to help, so far. It's been a few days and nothing has disturbed the layer. Trimming grass around the garden beds and pulling weeds in them, which I toss right back on top for more mulch layer. To at least keep the soil covered and a tad fed, while the garden rests. And to keep things tidy. A lot of the bricks are leaning, I need to straighten them out with rock or shims wedged under, but really what I should have done is dig a small trench, set them on a bed of gravel. Probably I should still do that, reset them all properly, but I just haven't got the energy for that kind of work yet.

plant swap!

This was great. Local gardener's plant swap was today. Here's what I took to give away: two young tomato plants, three pots of sorrel divisions, a half dozen coleus, one african violet, a small pot of miniature geranium cuttings, three pots of jade cuttings, 

a pot of tradescantia 'bolivianus', some rooted spider plant babies, one pot of cuban oregano cuttings.

And here's what I brought home! The obvious: another ostrich fern.

Two Lysimachia Lanceolata var purpurea. They have purplish leaves, and will bloom yellow.

Four strawberry plants

a sad-looking handful of lamb's ears

Salvia lyrata (I think I got this plant before from swap, don't think it survived, hope to do better)

Red Monarda 

And what makes me most happy: some young trees and shrubs! American Persimmon:

Two Spicebush:

One Pawpaw (!!) (I think- it wasn't labeled)

and seven little Redbuds (!!!)