Garden at the End Of May

This is the view from the computer room window.  It makes me smile.

The tulips are lovely and the daffodils are mostly finished.

The late daffodils are often multiples.

We have put up the screen house, but so far, the bugs have not sent us sheltering.  The rhododendron on the right of the picture has not bloomed yet.  On the left are bits of scaffolding waiting for Todd to do the roof.

Isn't this the sweetest violet!  It is tiny - the fabric it is sitting on is a sweatshirt, so perhaps you can get an idea of scale.

This is the tulip that led to fencing the tulip garden.  Some critter (rabbit?) ate much of this clump of tulips - you can see the stem eaten down in the center.  They got some, but not all of these pink tulips when they were just emerging.  D put fences around the tulips and no further damage was seen.

One of the flowers that just appears is speedwell.

These are tiny, tiny flowers, about the size of a pencil eraser (for those of you who are of the age of using pencils!

Just as cute as can be, and lots of fun to find.

We have been seeing more bees this year than in ages.  Some look like honey bees.  If you are interested in knowing more about bees, here is an article about bees by the Honey Bee Conservancy.  It's a quick read.  There are about 400 different bees in New York.

This strawberry plant promises lots of berries!

Because of slug nibbling, it was decided to remove the mulch, to reduce the damp environment slugs love.   Check back to see how that worked.

If you were wondering how we got the plants started, D set up a garden area in the basement.  There are around 30 LED lightbulbs, 60-100 watt.  They are at variable heights, so that he can keep them as close to the plants as possible, and since they are LED, they don't get hot.  The plants in this picture are mostly brugmansia and tomatoes.

The zinnias, marigolds, basil, parsley are hiding somewhere.

The new plant to experiment with this year is Brugmansia.  It's also called Angel Trumpet.  It is not expected to bloom this year.

Here is a Brugmansia ready to plant out.  

Notice the root ball - there is almost nothing but roots.

It's a little hard to see through the gazing ball, but that kneeler has been wonderful. It is the standard foam pad, but it sits a couple of inches off the ground, and there are handles on the sides that make it easier when you need to get up and down and to pick it up to move it.  

Then, the entire thing can be flipped, and it becomes a seat.

This is the beginnings of a new garden.

This is the east side of the house.  You see windows for the master bedroom (with air conditioner), bathroom in the middle, and D's room on the right.  The house is well insulated, and that little air conditioner will keep it comfortable all summer.  My guess is that I was sitting on the new bench when this picture was taken.