We were at Well Seasoned gtg last year in mid June and we woke up to frost on our windshield. That's not unusual round those parts.
You sure take good care of your plants. There was a time I did also, but now only the very hearty survive.
Not really - I water the first year and after that they are on their own. I don't fertilize or use insecticides either. They need to be easy keepers, otherwise they don't survive long. Probably why, even though I love roses, I can't keep them alive for more than a couple of years.
I'm trying lupine's again this year. This time I grubbed out 5 areas and planted seeds. They are covered with a thin layer of compost and loam. We can't find grown plants at any nurseries, so seeds it is. Last year I just scattered seeds in the tall grass, but no takers. The Quince and crab apples are in bloom here and reports of hummingbirds are trickling in. I relocated the sunflower feeder about 10 feet over and will get the hummingbird feeder going. I've seen chipping sparrows, kinglets, phoebes, and all the usual winter birds. There is one female cardinal with a broken leg that is straight back. She has managed the winter so far and looks better as more food becomes available. She can't preen properly, so her feathers are a mess. Juncos have left and headed north again.
Jon not sure what planting zone you are in, but the lupin we have here grow best in zone 3. I have them here at home (zone 4) transplanted from up north where they are everywhere. They do well here, but don't like temps over 80f. So once we get those temps regularly they flowers go to seed pretty quickly. The one plant I transplanted here at home has spread to at least half a dozen areas in our yard and they are very beautiful when flowering.
I'm hoping the lupine seeds I got from Well Seasoned last fall have some success in germinating. I don't remember where all I put them as I spread them shortly after bringing them home. The winter weather should have scarified and prepared them to do their thing (hopefully)
It looks like we are zone 6. My old neighbor had them in her garden when we were across town. On the way to Well Seasoned GTG last spring, they were planted at the side of the highway just a few miles from me here. It was quite impressive. I put them in a location which gets late afternoon sun and the soil is pretty damp near the swamp. I have columbine and foxglove in the same area. I'm more optimistic this year. I was out popping dandelions off the lawn until I came across some with honeybees on them. I left the rest. No chem's used here on the lawn at all either. I don't need a perfect lawn and too many frogs and things at the swamp here.
Here are Mrs Mt. Man's seeds she has started indoors to plant in her bed here, she brought them home last fall from her Lupines in her flower bed up to camp. They were started about 5 weeks ago.
A few years back, the state DOT planted a football long field of Lupines in the median between the highway lanes about 10 miles from here. They came up great, it worked so well, and the Lupines looked great. But, for the idiots, it was just too much. Cars would pull over over in the breakdown lane and ran across with their kids and old slow grandma's into the bed to take pics and cut flowers. The state put up flashing signs saying don't do that, still they did, so they had a State Police car sitting there with the flashers on. They ended up plowing the whole thing under. The same exact thing happened between exits 32 and 33 Lincoln and Woodstock.
My wild bleeding hearts are blooming as well. the lilac is going wild already. I want to pick some to bring into the house but they always seem to be loaded with earwigs.
Would anyone know what this shrub is? We moved in mid-May last year and this was already past blooming. It has weak, woody stalks that don't hold up well under a snow load. We discussed removing it until we saw it in bloom this week. I found a shrub called pearl bush that looks close.
I think you're right in it being a pearl bush. Way too early for it to be a spirea. Too bad the flowers don't have any scent and it doesn't do anything interesting in fall. Whoever placed it there didn't do it any favors - it needs to be amongst other plants, ar next to a tree so it can show off in the spring and then let other plants distract from its being non-descript the rest of the time (from what I read anyway).
I know this a gardening thread, and I don't wanna hijack it and turn it into a bird thread, but there is not much growing now and folks seem to like to see the colorful birds. So here are photos from today. We have a Goldfinch, Blue Bird, Hairy Woodpecker, and a Pileated Woodpecker on the ground.
