planted stuff

I put my new rosemary in the ground. In the corner of the garden. By the rue- so you can see it's really still quite small, considering the final size it might get- but four or five times larger than any rosemary plant I've had in the past!

I trimmed those droopy tips a bit too, to reduce the transplant shock.

Also planted out- on the backyard slope that I want eventually to have no grass- the shining sumac. So small from the house I can't even see it!

The iris are likewise nearly invisible-

And the two shrubby St. John's wort. Near the other ones. Now I suppose that my larger St. John's wort (the first one I planted) might also be a 'shrubby' one, and the one with very small leaves, another variety? I didn't realize before there's different types, though I ought to have guessed.

And indoors, I took all the crypt balansae out of the vase and planted them into the aquarium. They're down the center. Hard to get on camera though. Here's a side shot

and one with the fish in it. He's not quite as bright as before. Maybe the excitement of loosing his tankmates has evaporated. Or he doesn't like the change in weather (colder now). He still brightens up when I feed him a worm or fly, but then darts away from the camera, of course.

plant swap!

I made this bench on the front porch (some of the legs a bit wonky, it's not nearly as sturdy as I'd like, but it does the job of holding up whatever I need to set down for a moment)

and here it is with plants ready to go to the swap. I took two rue, four pots of echinacea, the mini geranium, some coleus, three potted catnip, and some aloe vera babies. But nobody wanted the catnip, I had to bring it home again. And I'd had it identified wrong all this time- I thought I was growing catmint, but it's catnip- no wonder it seemed too tall, and the flowers not-quite-right. I was corrected at the swap.

and what I brought home! Here's some, plus more pics below of individual detail- the one lower front left is buttonweed. Not even sure I'll plant that one now, having discovered it's considered a difficult-to-control lawn weed . . . 

The rest I'm pretty happy about. I got slender mountain mint-

'Shrubby' St. john's wort- Hypericum prolificum-

Elephantopus carolinianus or Elephant's foot (referring to the root) makes small purple flowers, in the aster family. Seemed interesting!

A sedum that looks different from the ones I already have-

Virginia sweetspire

Also a small rosemary plant, two New England aster (yes, trying that again even though every time they disappear. I think get eaten) and a wild bergamot (monarda, or bee balm) why do plants have so many names for the same thing. And- shining sumac! I have wanted a sumac for many years, although I was hoping to eventually find a stahorn sumac, this will do for starters.

American beautyberry!! Very excited about this one.

and a good-sized rosemary that someone had obviously just pulled out of the ground, so maybe I'll have one that gets through the winter at last. It's as tall as my hip.

Plus a few little houseplants- two little succulents, Haworthia and a dwarf snake plant, plus this one with purplish tint that wasn't labeled- it looks like another begonia variety to me, but I'm probably wrong on that.

and three bags of iris bulbs- 'Black Gamecock' Louisiana Iris, 'Pallida' and 'Victoria Falls' both a tall bearded iris. I've never grown iris before but I have a damp area I think they'd do well in.

time to joyfully plant stuff

tidied up the liriope today

Half the row on the lower slope, had mostly healthy-looking older leaves, not much new growth yet though. I felt safe putting those trimmings in the compost. The plants on the upper section (where the ground is higher and flat) on the other hand, looked pretty awful- lots of dried, dead foliage, lots of rust. But when I cut that back (and threw away), there was nice new foliage coming up!

I got a better photo of that ostrich fern fiddlehead, by putting my finger next to it so the camera knew where to focus.

I'm really liking the look of the younger St john's wort plant. Maybe I should cut the older one back hard, to have a flush of new smaller leaves like this.

I cleaned up around the hellebores some more. Meaning, I put my hands between the slightly larger leaves of second and third-year seedlings, and yanked first-year ones out by the handful. There's just too many. Now room for the slightly older ones to grow without competition, then I can move them to new locations out from under the parents' skirts, or perhaps take to the plant swap. The young plants are in foreground here.

bright yellow

I'm actually happy with my forsythia this year! Surprised how much it grew- I know the deer eat the ends of the twigs but now it's tall enough to avoid most of that damage, I think. Bloom is best ever! I can see it from the house, so bright and airy. It makes me want to plant more of them.

Another pleased note is the small row of volunteer euonymus I dug and transplanted years ago. In spite of the deer, these two are finally getting some height too.

It looks pretty messy and bare back there, still- I haven't yet cleaned up the stems of monarda (new growth showing at their bases) but some of the ground covers are greening up- I found a few bits of woodruff showing itself

Nearby the patch of purple lysimachia, which hasn't filled in much noticeably yet (here's one of the dozen or more individual plants)-

and I thought this was the same plant that's coming up in a few places in the lawn- but not sure now

I'm still liking the creeping jenny- here's how it was last season

and now filling in more- but have to be careful to keep it from spreading too far- it could be invasive I've read (if it got into the neighbor's yard and then further into the woodland behind)

Also to note nearby, the younger St. john's wort I grew from seed

and planted out last year, is looking better this time. Since I cut it back it's filled in and not as leggy

my kid's plants

He's planting one of the beds this year with flowers and herbs. Because didn't have time due to school and rehersals, I potted up the seedlings for him a few days ago.

Catmint 

Chia 

St john's wort 

Chamomile- so many! I pricked out a dozen into three-inch pots

so delicate and ferny

and there were still tons in the seedling tray. He begged me to save some of those- so I thinned them out, moved a few to space them better, sprinkled a bit more soil over the top (as they were in a sterile seedling mix) and misted. There's at least fifty:

They looked fine, until yesterday I forgot to bring them in from the mini greenhouse. So they were out all night in a chill, and then got overheated because I didn't notice they were on the top shelf right under the roof, until it was afternoon. I immediately brought them indoors where it's cooler and watered, but only a few perked up again. I hope he's not mad at me for killing his seedlings!

how some are doing

I have quite a few houseplants that still need moving up, but need to get more potting soil and keeping what I have for the garden plants that will need space more urgently. Meanwhile I've spread the fronds of my asparagus fern held in place with halved chopsticks- thinking by the time I get around to repotting the plant, the stems will hold themselves in place- more evenly spaced and attractive.

I keep peeking under the mulch wondering if my rhubarb made it through the winter- and it did! 

I did not protect my camellia at all this winter- once or twice just knocked snow off it when the branches were getting bent down. Seems it did fine- there's plenty of fat buds and I'm hoping for blooms- I see a hint of pink color!

One of my newer plants, the st. john's wort, also came through the winter just fine:

and the borage I moved into a pot is okay too (though it looks like slugs have found it)

I never gave this 'wild' mint any special attention, but this spring moved it into a larger pot with some better soil. It's already responding well

Potted up the leaf beet chard seedlings. Ate the extras I pinched off from sprouted clusters. 

Next to go into paper pots will be the second set of marigolds, and the sweet peas. But I'm holding off a week or so for reasons in next post.