Wednesday Wandering

We are still eating asparagus from our veggie garden almost every day. We like it oven roasted.  

Time to harvest some rhubarb too. Maybe today. 

I have places in the cottage garden where one single daffodil is blooming. Not sure how they got planted here and there - Mother Nature, squirrels or fairies- but a touch of yellow daffodil here and there makes me smile.   

Speaking of fairies...I have little grape hyacinth blooming now in the fairy garden. 

The big patch of Virginial bluebells are blooming now and the alliums have sprouted up in amongst them and look like they will bloom sometime soon. I also have Spanish bluebells but they bloom later than Virginia.  I should look up how to divide and transplant Virginia bluebells. I've had them for over 30 years and they have multiplied. I'd like to move some elsewhere but after they bloom the whole plant disappears and that area is so full of different plants I'd hate to disturb anything digging around for bluebells to transplant. 

I kind of got out of order here but back to the fairy garden and these small red species tulips peeking their heads through the saponaria (soapwort) leaves. The invasive saponaria is not supposed to be in the fairy garden. 

I divided out a hosta that really needed dividing -- the center is bare, it is a hosta with huge leaves that is now covering several other plants and the place I planted it over 20 or so years ago is no longer very shady. . I have struggled but managed to dig up six good sized pieces from around the edge of the plant over the last couple of weeks. That was not even half of the hosta!  Right after I planted the first two clumps a deer or rabbit came by and had lunch and munched them to the ground but now the hostas are growing like weeds. 

This used to be a sunny area where I planted annuals but over time the area has become shadier and shadier mostly because wild mulberry trees seem to constantly spring up along the other side of the barbed wire fence that runs between my cottage garden area and our field we contract out to the farmer down the road.  We used to be able to manage that area between garden and field but not so much now that we are older.  Mulberry trees like to topple in a high wind right into my flower garden. Some times we are unable to get the trees cleared out right away. This piece of mulberry has been there for several years. I thought it looked like a nice place to sit in the shade. So the divided hostas have been planted in this area. I also have some astilbe and coral bells and fritillaria in this area and will be developing this into a shade garden I guess. By the time that happens I suppose the mulberry limb where I am thinking to sit will have disintegrated. That's how it goes.   There is a leaning peach tree on it's last legs over on the left. That tree is in the center of this area that used to be annuals and is now shade garden. 

In the cutting garden most of the tulips are now in bloom. Some have bloomed and gone.  And some in the front of the photo were devastated by wildlife. Thank goodness they left me some to enjoy.  Mostly we use Bobbex deer and rabbit repellent spray.   I also have planted rocambole (hardneck) garlic around the edges of this area as a deterrent.  I also have motion sensor lights in parts of the garden but they don't reach down here to this area. I also hang foil pans or other things that will make a noise in the wind. And truth be known...this area is far from the house and if I've been working here and had a sudden urge to "go"...well, I "go" somewhere on the path near a flower bed.  So if the rabbits and deer still insist on munching I guess they will. 

Even though these are planted in my new cutting garden area I have been unable to bring myself to cut any of them to bring inside to a vase. I just walk by them every morning and enjoy the outdoor bouquet. It's such a nice way to start a day.

Oh, and I just noticed the strawberries are blooming! Gosh, I haven't even gotten around to weeding them yet. I guess that will wait for awhile now. 

And so it grows...