nature

What’s Growing On In My Garden- Early Summer

/ The Bent Trowel / 2 Comments

Summer is just a week old, and you would think it was Fall the way the rain and cold has been pounding down. This weather is actually a blessing in disguise, because it forces me to get indoor work done that is usually neglected when it’s gardening season!

I have a late-blooming Allium that's getting its share of rain!

I have a late-blooming Allium that’s getting its share of rain!

So, I just thought I would give you a rundown of what’s “growing” on in my yard this year.

First, I have to say that everything is coming along just wonderfully this year. I think this endless rain has helped speed up the lush full-grown landscape that surrounds my home. I also believe that it’s the rain that has kept the deer at bay– I haven’t had to spray my hostas and other deer delicacies only twice so far. By this time last year, I was spraying my plants every week!

As always, there is never an end to gardening. I always tell myself EVERY year that what I have done is enough and I don’t need anymore. Well, of course, I keep adding and keeping making new beds. I comb through garden magazines, peruse garden centers and research online all the different perennials I could add to my garden for my hardiness zone of 6a. 

Well, these are the plants I have added this year:

Beautyberry: I have wanted one of these plants for a long time. In the fall, they will have these beautiful (hence the name) purple berries on its branches. They require part sun/shade.

I can't wait to see these berries in all their purpley-ness!

I can’t wait to see these berries in all their purpley-ness!

Indian Holly Fern: I love ferns, as everyone knows at this point. So, how could I not add yet another fern to my back yard shaded area? This fern has light stripes running down the middle of the fronds.

This fern has stunning shades of green!

This fern has stunning contrasts!

Creeping Thyme: I purchased four of these plants for this little brick wall I made for the flower bed directly behind the garage. I hope they will start growing over the bricks and make for an excellent groundcover look!

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Some other views of my gardens that are blooming beautifully:

Maidenhair fern

Maidenhair Fern

Cinnamon Fern

Cinnamon Fern

Yellow Loosestrife

Yellow Loosestrife

Torch Lily

Torch Lily

Rudbeckia

Rudbeckia

Sea Holly

Sea Holly

Two stone crop sedum

Two stone crop sedum

Stay tuned at a later date for some more pictures of other plants well on their way through the season. I hope that these pictures will give you some ideas of what you would like to add in your garden as well!

Have a wonderful summer week!

Quick Tips and Advice for Full-On Summer Gardening

/ The Bent Trowel / Leave a comment
Wild daisies are a sure sign of summer!

Wild daisies are a sure sign of summer!

With summer just over a week away, everybody is a busy body, scampering to greenhouses and home stores trying to get what they need done. So this post is going to be just as swift as you! Here are a few tips for the full-fledged gardening season that you need to keep in mind for the rest of the summer:

Good things come to those who wait: By the end of July/ early August, spring nursery stock gets slashed to 50% off. Pick up some things there to add to your landscape. It may seem like forever, but it’s not.

Mulch: Mulch fascinates me, actually. I don’t know why, but it does. I actually have a blog post in the works that is totally devoted to it. It’s both a time and money saver on your part. It retains water to keep your plants hydrated. And it really doesn’t cost that much for a bag. You can get it for $3. And it makes your flower beds look so darn neat and nice!

Keep the weeds out: I always have weeds. It really doesn’t matter what I do. But when I am preparing my beds in early spring, I used to lay down landscaping paper to keep the weeds out. But then I was given even better advice from my mother: lay down newspapers instead! So, to keep the weeds at bay, I lay down newspapers and then put the mulch on top. That saves you money from buying the sometimes costly landscaping paper– just use your Sunday paper! It’s better for the environment because it slowly decomposes over the growing season.

Don’t forget to enjoy it. We get so wrapped up in the work we put into our landscape that we have a hard time enjoying it. I’ve talked to some people who feel that gardening and landscaping is something they have to do, and absolutely hate it. My advice? Don’t do it! Just do what you have to do– mow your lawn and maintain what you need to. Nobody needs to do any of it, but for those of us who do the grunt work every year because we love it, stop and enjoy it. Get a nice patio umbrella and lounger and plant it right out in your yard. Sit down and relax and take in all the work you have been doing. Because, truth be told, we all get far more accomplished in the garden than we do anywhere else. Trust me on this.

Clematis beauty!

Clematis beauty!

For me, I am satisfied with the results of my gardening thus far. I feel that I have finally found the “zen”, or balance that I have been striving for over several years now. Just another example of how gardening is a process, and it takes years to perfect!

A Natural Pause

/ The Bent Trowel / Leave a comment

I guess I have never been on a hike during this time of year. It’s either when everything is completely bare or full-on green. Seeing the little green sprouts on everything was absolutely beautiful to me, and I could help but take a picture. Enjoy.

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A Natural Pause

/ The Bent Trowel / 3 Comments

One of the first things I saw growing in my back yard last weekend were these violets. I know most people consider violets a weed, but I remember as a child growing up in a valley called Bucktooth Run, there was this little violet patch in the hay field behind my house. I loved it and took claim to it. Enjoy.

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A Natural Pause

/ The Bent Trowel / 2 Comments

“It’s a Truffula Seed. It’s the last one of all! You’re in charge of the last of the Truffula Seeds. And Truffula Trees are what everyone needs. Plant a new Truffula. Treat it with care. Give it clean water. And feed it fresh air. Grow a forest. Protect it from axes that hack. Then the Lorax and all of his friends may come back.” — The Once-ler, from The Lorax

In honor of Earth Day. Every day I am in awe of our amazing planet. Enjoy.

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Gardening Is In The Books: The Woodbook: The Complete Plates

/ The Bent Trowel / Leave a comment

Ahhhh, February you keep coming and we don’t know what to do with you! At this point I am sounding like a broken record, but we keep getting pounded with more snow and the relentless cold won’t let up. This Thursday the high expected for the day is 8 degrees.

So, I can tell you for a fact that I have my work cut out for me this spring. I have lost both my Emerald Green Arborvitae to winter damage. I would love to show you a picture, but I can’t. They are buried under three feet of snow.

To show you I am not making this up, just look at this comparison:

My backyard in early September 2014. Truly blissful.

My backyard in early September 2014. Truly blissful.

To Saturday, February 7, 2015:

I took this yesterday morning. Can you believe this? That's just accumulation, and not shoveled or piled snow!

I took this yesterday morning. Can you believe this?  That’s just accumulation, and not shoveled or piled snow!

Yes, I am afraid I am going to have a lot more damage from winter and deer this year than I have in the past. Well, a few more lessons will be learned this spring, I will detail them all for you!

So, as you can imagine, I have been laying low. This past week was the worst driving to work week in all the years I have been living in the Buffalo Metro area. So, this weekend has been really subdued for me.

This is my uniform on weekends in bitter cold weather:

I have been on a kick this winter purchasing big, woolly warm boot socks like these from Wigwam.

I have been on a kick this winter purchasing big, woolly warm boot socks like these from Wigwam.

Snuggly socks and blankets leave you wanting to do nothing but read. I have been really stoked lately because a couple of weeks ago, I purchased a book that I have actually been looking for in some way, shape or form for a long time. When I read about it in Outside magazine, I couldn’t help myself. I had to buy it!

Now, this is an encyclopedia of trees that will be loved by everyone from gardeners to woodworkers. I am talking about The Woodbook: The Complete Plates. This is a fantastic undertaking by Romeyn B. Hough in the late 19th century – early 20th century. Hough was a doctor and botanist who between 1888-1913 created a 14 volume series that included actual samples from every tree in North America.

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This edition of the book was compiled by Klaus Ulrich Leistikow. It has three different “slices” or cuts each of more than 350 trees neatly laid out. This is a multilingual edition that comes in English, French and German. It can be a little confusing, because some trees are referred to by two or more names sometimes, but it lists the description, habitat, type of wood (hard or soft), and use for each one. Informative, thorough, and wonderfully done. It’s been a joy to look through all the plates and see how beautiful the trees really are. This is, as they say, a truly unparalleled work that keeps blowing my mind!

One of the responsibilities of my day job is that I am a graphics/layout designer (not to be confused with a graphic designer) of sorts, and I am getting a ton of inspiration from looking at this book. I have so much to look at and will continue to enjoy this book while I keep getting snowed in!