State of the Garden

 It's the middle of May, and it's been a fairly chilly May so far. I have plants waiting to be planted out, including a tomato that I've potted up twice and is getting on to 2 feet tall! I guess I started too early.

Tall cherry tomato.

Fuzzy salvia (salvia argentea "Artemis") surrounded by zinnias.

  

I have already planted out some perennials I ordered and I have a few more still to come. I have not shopped for annuals yet, with one exception. I really wanted the Proven Winners Evolvulus "Blue My Mind", and when I found them at a nursery, I snatched two of them up immediately. But I was actually shopping for hanging baskets, to decorate the porch for Emma's wedding on May 9th. I could make room on my light-table for two more annuals, but not for all the things I'll need for pots and raised beds. Tonight it's supposed to dip back down into the 30s, but after that I think our nights will stay 40 or above. I'll likely take a trip to a nursery tomorrow. 

So, to the state of the garden. I only lost one wild petunia plant (Ruellia humilis) over winter. We had some extreme cold periods, but they all coincided with snow cover, so I think the insulation really helped. Everything else has returned.

The newish Dragon garden is beginning to fill in a bit. The mountain mint spread only a tiny bit because I controlled it some in the fall. The obedient plant (in its second spring) came up in a huge clump, which made me happy. I know I'll have to control it in the future, but there is space to fill. The heart-leaved asters have come back, but don't appear to have done any seeding, and I'm happy to see the veronicastrum has three flower stems. I was also pleased to see that the three hoary vervain plants that went in last fall have returned. This is the second planting, since the first didn't make it (I blame the turkeys). 

This is a funny view of the Dragon garden because of the camera angle. I extended the bed a bit, but this makes it look like I extended it a lot. It is really about 3 feet, and I did it to plant an addition I'm excited about --a dwarf gingko tree! It's called Gold Sprite and it's in a cloche to stop the dear from snacking on it.  There is a lilac tree you can see in the photo, but it never grows. I don't know what is wrong with it. I have a clematis planted to the left of it that I'm hoping will scramble up the lilac, but I only planted it last summer, so it'll need time to make some good roots. (The tall 4x4 pole is the mount for the weather station Rob got me for my birthday last summer.)

Gingko in the foreground.

In the photo below you can see why I call this the Dragon garden. You can also see that there is still a lot of empty space for things to seed and bulk up. If I can just stop the turkeys in the fall from digging things up.

 

This photo is looking from the other direction. At the bottom is a cranberry bush viburnum I just planted this spring, and you can see the large spread of the obedient plant in the upper third. Cloches abound because of rabbits, turkeys, and deer. 

Two years ago I started a bed on the south side of the house that is under three mature black walnut trees. The first thing I put in it was a hydrangea that was supposed to tolerate juglone. That was a dud. It didn't make it through the first year.

Weirdly I also planted a tiarella, even after reading they don't tolerate black walnuts (I was desperate for a spot because it was already failing where I'd originally planted it) and it did come back. Luckily there is more information about plants that will grow under black walnut trees now, but it's obviously not always correct. 

I've been trying to add more native plants to my gardens, so I've got some geranium macrorrhizum I planted bare root this spring, and some heuchera villosa "Autumn Bride". But I also have brunnera and hostas in there too. I'm just happy that these things will grow with the black walnut trees. I'd like to add some native bleeding heart and a few more carex albicans this spring.  

Other gardens are doing okay. At least they don't have fewer plants than they did in fall. In general I'm pretty pleased with the state of the garden this spring, especially in comparison to last spring.