Wednesday, May 1, 2024

Wednesday Wandering

Oh, gosh! Today was another beautiful day. I worked outside from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. with a short break for lunch of oatmeal with cranberries and candied pecans. I mostly worked in the vegetable garden today planting out the cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli and brussel sprouts I started from seeds. I cleared the area for planting some dahlias in the veg garden this year. And I cleared the area for planting a few more potatoes. I have 12 plants up and growing but I do love potatoes and I still have some sprouted potatoes I grew last year so I will be planting more. I'm still harvesting asparagus and rhubarb is ready for picking and strawberries are blooming. Peas and sugar snap peas are up as are my lettuce, spinach, mustard greens and radishes.  Since hubby can no longer swallow and eat food and I do all the cooking for myself  I might just turn into a vegetarian because I do like a lot of different kinds of vegetables prepared in a lot of different ways and although I do also love meat it just seems I am not eating as much of it these days as I used to.  So, give me fruits and vegetables and some homemade bread once in awhile as well as a few dairy products like cheese, yogurt, ice cream and milk and I'm good. 

The tree peonies are starting to bloom. Tree peonies are not to be confused with herbaceous peonies that die back to the ground each year.  Tree peonies are more like woody shrubs. 


The air is full of the scent of lilacs in bloom.  This white one really needs to be trimmed back because the flowers are too high up for me to pick.  I took a cutting from the old homestead -- the place where my great grandfather settled when he emigrated from Ireland. The farm was in the family for over 100 years until all of my dad's siblings passed away and the acreage was sold. That was a sad day. As a young girl I spent a few weeks every summer there with my grandparents, aunt and uncle. Oh, those were some fun times! Well, anyway, I took a cutting from one of several lilacs along the circular gravel driveway the last time I paid a visit. 


I planted this variegated lilac in the middle of my cottage garden when I first started planting things there in what used to be a section of pasture land. 

There's three different types of purple lilacs in the front yard. They were here when we moved here.

Lilacs and May 1 also remind me of the May Baskets we used to make when we were younger. We had lilacs growing along the side of our house. For May Day we made construction paper cones (baskets) with handles, filled them with lilacs, hung them on doors of old folks in the neighborhood, rang the doorbell and ran off. I don't think anyone gives May Baskets anymore or even knows about the old tradition.  

Also in bloom in the front yard is the Viburnum or American Cranberry. 

In my native wildflower area Hepatica is in bloom. 

And so are Shooting Stars. I just love the cute little things. 

The Shooting Stars are delicate little things. I left the dandelion head in the photo so you could compare the size of it to the Shooting Stars. 

Also in the native wildflower garden the Camassia is starting to bloom. 

For a short time I watched a bumble bee jump from one bloom to the next but stay hidden from the camera. 

I have a little fairy garden - see the fairy door at the base of the sundial? And see that some fairies have arrrived and are camping?  The grandkids used to love the fairy garden. I would sometimes hide little treasures in there for them to find and add or move fairy things around - sometimes there would be a fairy with shovel and bucket and sometimes there would be a little clothesline and basket.  I have a lot of minature flowers in there too. Then along time ago a big mulberry limb fell right in the middle of the fairy garden and the grandkids grew up weren't fascinated by it anymore so the fairies let everything go weedy and wild animals stomped some of the fairies and gnomes and broke their wings, kept knocking them over and such.  But this year I am hoping to get the fairy garden back in shape. 

I unearthed a primrose in bloom in the fairy garden. It was hidden down in the darned saponaria that has become so invasive. 


There's also some wild or species tulips in bloom there. 


There's also a miniature hosta that looks like it needs to be separated.  The fairy garden is circular and there used to be a ring of red perennial dianthus around the entire circle but that has long ago disappeared. I'll have to find some seeds and try that again. 

Soon there will be a minature rose in bloom and a few miniature lilies. 

And finally there's a bleeding heart in bloom. Isn't it fascinating that there's a heart shaped flower? I always forget that I want to take cuttings of it so I can plant more of it in shady areas of the garden. Someday...

And sow on...

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CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

April 30 - Received a package with some triangle/qst papers, thangles and some fabric from a friend. 









 

11 comments:

  1. Thanks so much for taking us along on your early spring garden walk;))) I just love those lilacs--i need to get one for our yard...my Grand-mere had a Lemoine yellow lilac that smelled so delicious... maybe I can find one like that...
    I see your bleeding hearts are putting on a show, too..;)))
    Hugs, Julierose

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  2. Isn't the spring garden so invigorating? My lilacs are budded, but not blooming yet. The deer do so much damage to the lower branches that the bushes look bedraggled. And something seems to have infected one of the lilacs and a virburnum. I have both pink and white bleeding hearts and they reseed themselves everywhere. I'm constnnatly digging up the smaller ones to give away. The Virginia Bluebells are also in bloom and they have been spreading throughout the gardens. They usually grow in filtered sunlight and dampish soil, neither of which I have. But they seem supremely happy, so I'll be content with that. I hope you are able to resurrect most of the fairie garden. Whimsy keeps us young.
    Pat

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  3. Thank you for taking the time to share photos from your beautiful flowering garden. Most of your plants we had at the farm where I grew up. We had purple and white lilacs, I've always loved the smell. ...and the bleeding hearts of course, amazing flowers. Enjoy your summer garden!

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  4. The 2 little neighbor girls brought me a May basket today. The little one (almost 3) said "open it" and inside was a handful of cherry tomatoes. These are the girls that I plant 2 tomato plants for by my driveway which is right next to their yard. They didn't run away after they rang the doorbell, they love to stay and talk to me.
    I didn't realize the tree peonies bloomed ahead of the regular peonies. If I had more space I would plant one of those tree peonies.

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  5. I enjoyed my visit with you today! I need to go outside and see what’s going on in my yard! So thankful I don’t live in a house with no yard…

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  6. I loved your garden tour. Like you, my sister and I made May baskets when we were children, and would hang them on the neighbors’ front doors. Our mother’s family was from Denmark, and she taught us how to make those woven paper heart baskets the Danes use at Christmas. Our May baskets were made from pastel construction paper, not the traditional red and white of Christmas baskets. It’s nice to see that Wanda’s neighbor girls are carrying on the tradition. Dot in NC

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  7. @You. Have many lovely flowers. I miss lilacs; they don’t grow this far south. Enjoy your outdoor time and all the vegetables and flowers.

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  8. Loved the garden visit, Cathy! I have many of the same types of flowers that you do, including the pesky saponaria (which I know as soapwort)! I actually like the bloom, but I am not happy that it takes over all of the space! I have three tree peonies that I am looking forward to seeing the blooms. I had to transplant them a couple of years ago and they didn't want to bloom, but this year is the year! My season is just a bit behind yours, but I do have lilacs (lots and lots of those) blooming, and a few other things happening in the garden! I love this time of year! :)

    May Day...My sisters, me, my friends...all grew up with the May basket tradition. That was such fun!

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  9. I have so enjoyed visiting your garden - albeit not physically. Your vegetable growing is quite unbelievable and if I had your green fingers I would be vegetarian, I am basically anyway.
    I could almost smell the scent from your lilacs and the viburnum, how I miss having lilacs here, too humid by far for them. I once had a plant of bleeding heart but it didn't survive. I love your fairy garden, we should all have one!
    Thank you for taking me down memory lane with your plantings Cathy.

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  10. Thanks so much for the tour of your garden. It's great to get lost in the nurturing of a garden isn't it? Filled with hope and memories!

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  11. I hope the fairies come back to their garden!
    We're not quite to the lilacs-blooming stage, but it gets closer ever day. I do so love the smell of lilacs!

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