April Gardens 2021

 After seeing our crocus, snowdrops, and our first daffodil in March, 2021, we were looking forward to lots of daffodils and tulips in April.  Mother Nature had an April Fools joke for us, and we got four inches of snow on April 1.

This is the view from the computer room window.  The tall circular cages protect the apple trees from deer.  The small ones along the hedge protect the hosta from deer and rabbits and woodchucks.

And there is a fence around the garden to protect the tulips from rabbits and woodchucks and deer.

We love having flowers in the house, so on April 7, some twigs were cut from the forsythia to force.

Our first daffodil bloomed on March 31 this year.  Our first small bouquet was April 10, and the forsythia twigs are blooming.

and by April 19, we were able to have flowers all over the house.

April 19 brought our first dandelion.  It is growing on a south-facing wall under the exhaust from the furnace, so it is early!  It is accompanied by some periwinkle.

The strawberries are in for a shock - they are blooming now!  

They can take some frost, but April is likely to have hard freezes.

These strawberries are everbearing, so it may not hurt their production this summer, but these blooms are unlikely to be successful.  It's still fun to see.

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Don't these look like they belong in a medieval tapestry?  This is Fritillaria, Crown Imperial.  It's about two feet tall, with a single flowering part at the top.  It grows from a bulb.  Fritillaria has the "advantage" of smelling like skunk.  This attracts carrion eaters, like flies, to pollinate them.  It also keeps deer and rabbits away.  And it makes them undesirable as a cut flower.

This flower is available in two colors - this orange and a yellow.

We got this bulb from Mrs. Wells in the 1980s, and it has multiplied so that when we sold the farm we were able to transplant some.  The bulb is fairly expensive, but we are considering getting some yellow ones, since we have never seen them in a garden.  These get planted, like daffodils and tulips, in the fall.

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There are still lots of violets.

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The lungwort is blooming.   The blooms are pink and blue on the same stem!  The plant is pulmonaria.  I have read that it is named because the spotted leaves resemble diseased lungs.  And it is used for respiratory conditions.

"People take lungwort to treat breathing conditions, stomach and intestinal ailments, and kidney and urinary tract problems. Lungwort is also used in cough medicines, to relieve fluid retention, and to treat lung diseases such as tuberculosis."  WebMD

On April 19 we went for a drive to see what was blooming.  The forsythia is beautiful this year.  Coltsfoot has started and we were delighted to find bloodroot on Lower Ravine Road.

Is this hyacinth near the driveway lying down because of its weight or has a dog (who shall be nameless) trod here?

Mushrooms have started.

This last picture is a similar view to the one at the top of the page.  We are enjoying all the tulips and the variety of daffodils.  

The lilacs are budding, and they will bloom in May.  Alliums are poking up, and one allium has begun developing its flower head.  The rhododendron buds are plumping up.  Hostas and peonies are appearing.  The bleeding heart has buds, and the monkshood has a strong start.  The late tulips are beginning to show color.  There is always something to look forward to in a garden.

2021 Garden Pics

March

To see 2020 garden pics:

Second half of September

September 1st half.

Second half of August

First half of August.

2nd half of July.

First half of July garden.

Garden at the End of June

And the first half of June is here.

You can see the end of May, 2020, here.

Here is the first week of May

Daffodils 2020

The middle of April is here.

First week of April.

Garden in the First Half of August 2020

 Everything is taking off.  In July the tomatoes began.  In August, they are abundant.

The three that we are growing this year are San Marzano, our favorite paste plum tomato, and Cherokee Purple, a fairly new heirloom, and Azoychka, an orange tomato.  It is new to us and we find it to be a bit sweet, with great texture, and a fairly tough skin.

Our tomatoes are interplanted with marigolds, zinnias, basil and parsley.  Notice that the tomato plants are severely pruned.  Any branch that does not have flowers or tomatoes is removed.  The theory is that it forces the plant to put its energy into the tomato itself, and also that there is better air circulation to reduce disease.

The great crop is Mara des Bois Strawberries.  They are amazingly sweet and they taste like a strawberry should.  The color is red throughout (no huge white core), but they bruise easily and therefore are not sold commercially.

D has decided that 35 plants are not enough, so he has created three new beds.

. . . 

Check out that kneeler.  It has really saved his knees and makes it much easier to get up and down.  It's quite sturdy and has a side pouch to carry tools.  Another benefit is that the kneeler can be turned over to make a small bench when you're ready to sit and admire your work or when sitting would be easier on your back, for example while pruning tomatoes.

The joy of August, in addition to tomatoes and strawberries, is flowers!

Some of the new daylilies are blooming.  

Look at the size of this gladiolus:

This lily is at least eight inches across and has an amazing scent.   It perfumes the entire garden.

The aconite is almost as tall as he is.

It finally bloomed:

Another name for aconite is monkshood.

The flower does kind of look like a monks hood!

Remember the dahlia support cage?  The plants have gone through the knee-high wire lattice and are now going through the chest-high lattice.

This garden has also been planted with zinnias, so there are zinnias and dahlias.

The dahlia tuber for this dramatic creamy orange flower was a gift from a friend in Oxford.  

Isn't it wonderful?

Some delphiniums are getting dwarfed by the nearby plants.

We have so many different little gardens that it is fun to decide where to sit and enjoy!

To see other garden pics:

This page.

2nd half of July.

First half of July garden.

Garden at the End of June

And the first half of June is here.

You can see the end of May, 2020, here.

Here is the first week of May

Daffodils 2020

The middle of April is here.

First week of April.

Garden in the Second Half of June, 2020

 

The end of June is not as exciting as high spring in the garden.  The daffodils and tulips are long gone.  Some of the allium is taking off, and there are peonies.  

The annuals are still little things without much drama, so we are grateful for the allium altopurpureum (those are the deep purple ones) and allium nigrum (the white ones - go figure!).  The giant alliums have already gone to seed.

This is the first year for the peonies, and three plants have bloomed, but with only 1-3 blooms.

In the absence of flowers, we take joy where we find it.

Can you guess what these white ones are?

They are mushrooms!

The most exciting crop of June is Strawberries - These are Mara des Bois, a French strawberry with outstanding flavor.  They are not very firm, which means they will not travel well, so they are not grown commercially.  In June, we harvested a total of 9 pints.

Spring is mud season, and lace-up boots are difficult to remove to go in an out.  

This is a handy mud remover.

This boot scraper is made of two industrial stiff pushbrooms, handles removed.  They were cut in half and screwed to boards to scrape bottom and sides of boot at once.  In the garage, it lives under a bookcase, and the string is used to pull it out easily.  Then, when not in use, it is kicked under the bookcase, out of sight.

And it's time to anticipate summer blooms.  This frame will support lots of dahlias, as well as some gladiolus and zinnias.

The Tibetan Prayer Flags make me smile as they send prayers in the wind.

We will enjoy the bench seen in the background all summer!

Other creatures enjoy the garden.  During an afternoon of reading in the screen house, I looked up to see a cardinal perched on the apple tree cage.

His lady appeared right after he left.

It turns out, we had a nest of cardinals in the hedge.  How cool is that!

(These photos were shot through the screen of the screen-house.)

This is a time to get the tomatoes staked.

Tommy just enjoys being out!

D's experiment this year is growing Brugmansia.  This plant is often called Angel's Trumpet for the large, fragrant flowers that hang down to earth.  

(That name is also often given to Datura, a closely related Genus, also in the Family Solanaceae.  Datura flowers usually point up.  Other members of this genus are Deadly Nightshade, tomatoes, eggplant, potato.)

We did not expect them to flower the first year, so this was a wonderful surprise!

At first glance, this looks like a toad - and we do have a resident toad in the tomato garden.

But if you pick it up, you see it is a nut, dropped here by a neighborhood squirrel.

You can see the end of May, 2020, here.

And the first half of June is here.

Spring Garden

The asparagus is done, and the peas are only a foot tall, but we have some wonderful treats from the garden.

The spinach is ready.

In fact, one of the plants is thinking about bolting!

Ah, and the strawberries are starting.

These are the first that the birds and chipmunks have not eaten.

And the first lettuce is ready, too.

Time for dinner!