all the fishes

My angels have spawned, and been fighting, again. A day after they laid eggs it was due for tank maintenance, and a filter cleaning. I worked very slow and methodical, and lifted the filter sponge out as smoothly as possible. The female threatened me, but didn't actually try to strike. And to my surprise, this time they kept carefully tending the eggs afterwards- I really thought they would eat them all. So it looked well.

Then my youngest had some friends over- they were very careful not to tap the tank (they have guppies at home) but did crowd around to ooo and ahhh and point at my angels- and maybe that stressed the fish out. Next day they had cleared the leaf, and were fighting- striking so hard at each other I could hear it through the glass. M Beautiful has red bruises under her skin, and was breathing hard. I also saw them lip-locking, first time observing that.

On a good note, some new plants in here- I anchored individual stems of elodea to glass beads, they haven't even melted.

The dwarf water lettuce I added a while back is doing okay- growing slowly, and showing new roots. (In the 20H, water lettuce all died) I was away on vacation four days a week ago, and I guess the lack of nutrients (fish not eating = no poop) was too much for the java fern. Most of the leaves severely died off- but the new fiddleheads look alright still. Perhaps it was also the lack of leaf litter- has disintegrated again, I'm prepping more oak leaves to put in.

My paradise fish Lady is really a male. I've found evidence of bubble-nest building, Lady flares at reflections in a mirror I hold up, and tail is growing larger, brighter colors. So the wall will never come down, dang. I've changed the name to Laddie. Tried to get photos, but of course the fish never flared when I snapped the camera shutter.

Laid down, eyeing me sideways and refusing to move after a while. If it's just me staring near the glass, they wriggle with excitement and dash up and down. If I hold the camera up, they hide or cower.

Compare length of Perry's tail: it's nearly the same now

The paradise fish tank has a few stems of elodea now, too. It looks better in person than photo:

Hill of bolbitis fern:

And . . .  Ruby is still in the basement. He seems fine and most of the plants are still alive, green- buces look particularly happy- but I am tired already of having him down there. Don't get to enjoy his tank much at all, forget to keep an eye on it. I'm looking for a particular kind of stand, then will move him upstairs to the main floor.

new beans!

My purple pole beans sprouted a few days ago-

brightening the house

Every few days I cut flowers off the arugula, now- and toss others that are starting to die in the little jar vase. Brightens the kitchen:

and the corner of my desk upstairs

other things brightening my room- african violets are blooming!

the pink one is just opening. I need to divide it- has two crowns now.

'Lipstick' plant is finally putting out some new growth (its relative, the 'goldfish' plant in hanging pot, is doing great - but hasn't flowered again since I got it).

Younger creeping charlie on my short bookshelf by the window, looks better than its parent plant downstairs. And the stems here are reddish. I think from the different light?

rehomed

I gave away my little green cories. Want to take this tank down and put the betta's tenner in its spot. Here's my last photo of the female and one of the little males. My youngest was sad and misses them- but I know I wasn't going to get more, or put them in the bigger tank, and they need a better home.

more stuff in the front

At the nursery, I also picked up a lovage plant. Because the one I grew from seed is so small, not sure it will survive. New lovage:

My grown-from-seed very small lovage:

Buds are forming on my older peony (crawling with ants, too):

Fuschia flowers beginning to open:

I've set the various daisies and coleus across the rest of the front bed, to see how they look- but waiting for an overcast day to actually dig them in. Only have three mums now. The others succumbed to cold on a few nights I forgot to cover them up.

wild geraniums

aka cranesbill. I've read caution that this plant can become invasive, but it's never spread into my lawn, and from the few seed I managed to save, I only got one seedling planted out. So I was rather upset when my husband accidentally broke it off at the roots. It's now in a tiny bit of water- geraniums can grow from cuttings but I didn't know how well it would do, looked pretty sorry when first rescued from the bare ground. However a day after I took this photo it sprouted a new leaf- so perhaps it will recover.

Meanwhile I went off to the nursery and bought a replacement plant. I looked for wild geraniums with the blue/violet color, got one called 'Rozanne' which is a hybrid- so not exactly wild I guess? When I situated it next to my first cranesbill, realized the leaf shape is different- not as deeply divided, and a brighter, lighter green with mild pattern. Hm.

My original cranesbill:

the new Rozanne:

I'm curious to see if the leaf shape/color changes at all as it adjusts to its new spot, and whether the flowers will vary any.

a few things

Pulling weeds, I found what looks like a tiny red japanese maple. I planted it in a small pot. Lots of my neighbors have japanese maples in their yards, I'm not surprised a seed found its way onto my ground.

Hard to see, but the ginger is sending up new shoots! I've freshened its pot with a top-dressing of fertilized potting soil, blanketed it in mulch, and set back outside in the shady stump spot near the garden.

Sadly, I think I finally killed my boston fern. It was going out during the day, in at night- can't take below forty degrees- and one night when it happened to be particularly cold, I also happened to forget to bring it back in with the others. Dang. I cut back all the dead foliage, but am keeping the pot around and watering it now and then, just in case it revives.

I also tossed a few plants that just aren't doing well for me (needed their containers). One was the very pathetic "butt plant." I can't seem to do right by this one- out it goes, sorry.

caught up

I've been catching up on posting all the photos taken over past few weeks, with no time to really sit down. Here's the yard plants I've been admiring. Rumex- busting out with growth. Turned out to be a very attractive plant!

It's behind the liriope, which I cleaned up just the other day, cutting back the older foliage. The new leaves appear to glow.

Summersweet also appears to glow with more vigor than I've ever seen. Guess it likes the broken sticks I scattered under its branches all fall, winter, and early spring (whenever I clean the yard).

Forsythia in the far rear corner responded similarly- it has doubled in size, and nearly filled its space, just like I envisioned:

Panicle hydrangeas opening all their green leaves in a hurry:

Columbine:

How I love the ferns. On the left, hellebores, on the right behind the ferns, monarda:

Black-and-blue salvia. A few leaves got nipped by cold- or stepped on? but overall it looks great

Monarda in the back is already a thicket, and echinacea are just as lush:

The echinacea I moved to the edge of the front yard are doing pretty good- I'm no longer anxious to water them every day we lack rain. Already insects are visiting the salvia I planted next to them.

first collards

I cooked them last night as a side dish. Didn't get any photos because I was in a hurry to finish making dinner. Cut all my yellow collards back to two or three small leaves- the stack I brought into the kitchen seemed huge, but it cooks down to very little. If you look online, there's a lot of fuss about how to properly clean collards, but I didn't have any trouble- I don't grow mind in sandy soil and the mulch kept the leaves clean of splashed dirt. One rinse was good, I did a second just to be sure. The few recipes I looked up- this being a new green for me- said to simmer them a long time- thirty or forty minutes at least. Some said up to two hours. I sauteed a bit of minced garlic in olive oil (next time will add onion too), then tossed in the roughly chopped collards, then added some vegetable stock and simmered for just ten minutes, covered. They were pretty darn good that way, not tough or chewy at all. I did purchase seed for collards known to be more tender and sweet- the 'yellow cabbage' and 'alabama blue'. I'm really happy to say my husband ate them with gusto, and even the kids did not complain but finished theirs. Already lettuce is starting to bolt in the garden so I'm glad to have them, and I feel the collards have more versatility in the kitchen- I can make frittatas and quiches, stir-fry and soup . . . as well as just traditionally cooked greens. I just need to grow more next year! I cut seven plants down and it cooked down to just three small servings. Next year I will fill a bed just with collards, cut half down at a time I think.

surprises

I was cleaning up weeds in the back perennial bed- and found these tiny plants under the edges of hellebores. Pulled some up before I realized they are hellebore seedlings! I am going to move them to another spot and give them room to grow.

This plant further back, behind the younger euonymus, I think is another hellebore- and there's another one similar size under the shrub by front porch. They spread far! (I thought it was virginia creeper at first but pretty sure it's self-seeded hellebores). Which is delightful.

I definitely know this one- it's a self-seeded heartleaf brunnera 'jack frost'. Wonderful!

Very small still- here next to its parent plant:

I already showed this spring surprise- the reappeared mayapples- but they've opened further so here's another picture of my happiness

glory of hosta

I love the blue ones. These under the euonymus are grown enough, I could probably divide them next spring.

shares this shade area with yellow salvia- view here from both sides- and mock strawberry-

and against the wall, vinca- which also looks incredibly lush this spring-

this variegated hosta is quickly becoming another favorite

the one I didn't move last year, is getting smothered by monarda! which is okay- it will survive the summer in shade and I can move it later-

the four I moved last year, to sit in a row under the holly shrub, are looking very nice- this one is narrower, more upright in leaf shape-

I planted out the new 'big boy' hostas under a tree that had nothing yet for its shade

Didn't remember I'd also left these two in the back perennial bed- but they appear to get enough shade to do well, and actually look pretty under the skirts of bleeding heart- which grew so much larger this spring than I expected!

so I will leave them there for a while