Wednesday Wandering

Today I'm going off the quilty path and on to some garden paths. 

The roses are starting to bloom! 

There was a Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly on these roses but of course it flew away as soon as I pressed the shutter button on the camera. 

I'm pretty sure it was a Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly and not a Black or Spicebush Swallowtail because the only host plant for Pipevine Swallowtail's is Dutchman's Pipe vine and the Dutchman's Pipe vine, now in bloom, is very near to that rose.  And speaking of invasive...that Dutchman's Pipe vine has invaded my lilac bush. 

I was rather surprised to see my Moss Rose blooming.  I haven't seen any blooms for a couple of years. A few years ago a big mulberry tree limb fell near it and has shaded that area. The limb is still there, living and too massive to remove. I just prune off the leaves of that mulberry from time to time but that whole area is now shaded. Both red and white mulberries grow wild here and are invasive.  Well, anyway, it is rather shady where this old moss rose grows but maybe now it has acclimated itself to the area.  Not only is there a fallen mulberry shading it but...

...there's a big patch of poison ivy (leaves of three, let it be) right next to it that I have trying to get rid of for years that is also mixed in with a patch of invasive Rose of Sharon shrubs.  Needless to say I kind of have been staying away from this area because the runners of poison ivy have spread everywhere. I guess I need to rig up some kind of disposable haz mat suit and just go in and pull and chop in order to save everything planted near there - tree lilies, a tree peony, daylilies, etc. 

I still have other roses but they are just budding out. So on to some Clematis in bloom. 

This is Nelly Mosier Clematis. This one looks similar to the previous one (can't remember it's name) but it is different with a stripe down the center of the petals. Long ago when I started the cottage garden in what was an old pasture there was an old rusty piece of farm equipment embedded in the ground that I could not get dug out so I used it as a trellis. 

There used to be an arched trellis you could walk under for this Jackmanii Clematis but the trellis fell apart and I have been trying to piece it together and keep it upright for years. The trellis got shorter and shorter so I could no longer walk under it to a little pond so I blocked off that pathway with wire to keep animals from using it and a few years ago planted some things in that pathway and made a new path to the little pond.   You are supposed to cut Jackmanii to the ground every year but I neglect it and do nothing for it. 

The Martagon lilies are in bloom. They like shade so I've been hoping they will like it there and naturalize. I think I planted them about 7 years or so ago. 

A Foxtail Lily! Gosh, I thought they all disappeared. I planted three bulbs in the Autumn about five years ago and they bloomed the first year and I have not seen any since. 

I have Foxglove I planted from seed in a couple of partially shaded areas of the garden. Now they are reseeding themselves in those areas.  On the left is a Wild Rose in bloom that I let grow there because it seems to do fine in shade and it's better than having weeds grow there. Behind the Foxglove is an old Hydrangea that is threatening to take over that area behind the barn. And for now I'm okay with that although it has grown over a pathway into the cottage garden. 

I have all sorts of different Aquilegia (Columbine) growing here and there and most have now gone to seed. The yellow spiked variety seems to bloom later than the other varieties I have. 

The Sweet William is in bloom and the poor darlings need to be weeded. I started them from seed many years ago and they reseed themselves so it's like having a perennial grow there. 

I have a lot of different hostas in shady areas. I love the variations of the leaves. I bought six or seven different varieties of hosta on clearance at Walmart over 20 years ago and I have divided them a few times over the years to fill in here and there in shady spots. 

Another patch of Foxlove. I started this area with seed from the flowers of that previous patch I showed. I added in seed of a white Foxglove but only one plant has white flowers. 

I'm going to try to get some seeds of other colors going in this patch. 

Leaving the cottage garden and going over the path to the cutting garden the Black Prince Snapdragon is in bloom. This is not supposed to be a perennial plant here; however, this one particular plant must love it here because this is the third year it has been here. I know it is the same plant and not one that has reseeded.  Most of the other Black Prince Snapdragons I plant don't survive the winter so this one is special. I started it from seed. 

Also in bloom in the cutting garden is the Nigella in four different colors - white, pink and dark and light blue. I planted these from seed two years ago and now they reseed themselves. I've been trying to put in hardy annuals and perennials in the cutting garden rows so I will have flowers for cutting with very little effort someday.  Nigella or Love-In-Mist also have seedpods that make a nice dried flower. 

I think I mentioned a few weeks ago that I wanted to revive the Fairy Garden. It has been overrun by Soapwort I think I have most of that cleared out and have planted a few seeds of a miniature Phlox and some Five Spots so we shall see what happens. Hopefully I can stay on top of keeping that darned Soapwort out of there.

Another Walmart Clearance item was this miniature Lily. It only gets a foot tall or so and has lots of blooms. I have separated it twice so there are several clusters of it in the Fairy Garden. 

This minature Rose came from the grocery store a long time ago. It grew a little taller than I thought it would so put a little obelisk there to support it and to keep it from falling over the circular pathway around the Fairy Garden. It smells so sweet.

And another Rose in the Fairy Garden is the Seven Sisters about ready to bloom. This is actually a vigorous old climbing Rose that I keep pruned back . It used to be on a heart shaped trellis in the fairy garden; however, another mulberry tree limb fell right into the middle of my Fairy Garden a long time ago and smashed my trellis. The Tree limb is still there and is now the trellis for the Seven Sisters rose. And remember how I said Dutchman's Pipe vine is invasive? It is trying to strangle the Seven Sisters.  A woman's work is never done! 

And sow on...

CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

June 2 - Peas! I had peas from the garden for dinner. I put row covers over them to keep the varmints around here from eating them first.  Yumm...

June 3 - Finished a book! Dead Coin by Sheldon Siegel. It is book number 15 of 16 in the Rosie Fernandez/Mike Daley legal thriller series.   I have read 15 books now in this series and have read about characters growing up, passing away, changing jobs and winning cases. I'm getting kind of tired of this series now because past history of characters are brought into the books for those who read them as stand alone and not part of the series. That's boring to me and I kind of skip through those parts. Then, of course the outcome is always the same...hopeless case is always won at the last minute by the lawyer's private detective brother Pete. I'm not sure if I want to read that last (for now?) book in the series any time soon although I probably will finish what I started (the series of books). I can't really say they aren't good books. 

June 4 - Roses!  I love them. I have lots of them in the gardens. I have made quilts of rose fabrics and I eat my dinner every day on Sharon Cabbage Rose depression glass plates. And I always try to look through rose colored glasses.