Winter, winter go away ~ send up please, a warm spring day!

This winter weather needs to go into hibernation.  We actually had snow on April Fool's day :(  It was quite the joke.  I do look forward to Monday's weather though.  It is supposed to get up to 78 degrees.  I'll believe it when I see it.  It's hard to believe that the past two years, I have been able to plant all my planters and flower pots by the 15th of April.  I'm not going to risk it this year.  I do have some little seedlings coming up in my basement greenhouse and lots, and lots of tulips coming up in my yard.  Not too much to write about at this point, but please stop back next month ~ hopefully by then, I will have lot's to talk about!
Happy Spring!

Seed starting time is approaching!

This will be my third attempt at starting seeds indoors.  I have had minimal success with this project, mainly because my shelving units are in my basement and  "out of sight ~ out of mind".  I did however purchase new self-watering trays that may help this time around.  I picked up the potting soil at a local nursery and have seeds that I saved from last years plants, as well as seeds I purchased through Swallowtail seeds.
 Many of the seeds that I purchased, are for attracting butterflies, which has become a passion of mine.  After rearing my first monarch last fall, I'd love to rear other types of butterflies too. Many of the seeds are for host plants for different butterflies:  parsley, dill, fennel, etc...  I also planted two Pawpaw trees last fall to attract the Zebra Swallowtail.  I've never seen this type of butterfly in person, so hopefully they will find my trees ~ that is, if they make it.  I received them in their dormant stage, so I have my fingers crossed.  The weather today was so beautiful ~ it actually made it up to 70 degrees today! I took a brief walk around my yard and found a few plants starting to break through the ground!  I'm hoping for an early spring ~ hope that groundhog was right!  Have a great weekend!

Jeni

Fall clean up ~

(I just wanted to share this photo of a beautiful storm rolling in last week on my way home from work ~ nature surely is majestic at times! )

This time of year is always so bitter sweet.  The sweet is the beauty of the changing colors of the leaves and the cooler temps and the bitter is the blooming season coming to an end.  I don't really mind the extra yard work,  as far as the cutting back and dividing,  but there are the leaves, leaves, and more leaves.  I live in the woods and there is an endless supply of leaves.  I blow them, rake them, shred them and then I do it all over again, and again, and again.  I'd love to shred them up and spread them on my gardens, but then more leaves fall and I blow them off ~ along with the shredded ones.  So, I guess that will be an early spring project.  Today I pulled up all my annuals that the frost killed and cut back all the dead perennials.  There are still quite a few flowers blooming ~ so I left them alone for another week or so!  There was quite a bit of new growth earlier in the fall and I'm hoping that's a good sign for the spring.  I also planted 120 tulip bulbs today in various gardens.  I tried spraying the bulbs with Liquid Fence to deter any varmints from snacking on them.  I'll let you know if it works ~ especially if  I see some chubby chipmunks and squirrels running around and lots of empty holes.  Next weekend will be the dumping of the planters and flower pots ~ too many were still blooming to dump this weekend.  It's also time to clean up all the garden tools and lube the hinges of the sheers and clippers.  Get out there and enjoy what's left of this gardening season!

:)  Jeni

Fall 2010

September Charm Anemone ( my favorite fall flower!)

Mums

September Charm Anemone ~ again :)

Golden Rod (with a Summer Azure)

Iron weed

Peaches sneaking a sip of water from the birdbath!

Asters

Bluebeard

Autumn Joy Sedum

(this bee isn't very friendly ~ caught him trying to sting my butterflies)

It was a long, hot, and dry summer.  I spent alot of the summer evenings, watering my gardens just to keep my plants alive.  Some things had a shorter bloom season than they normally have ~ my Black-eyed Susans, Shasta daisies, and even my Purple coneflower wilted quickly.  My fall flowers have all started shining though.  Right now, I have September Charm Anemone, Golden Rod, Asters and Mums are blooming like crazy.  Even my Shasta daisies made a come-back!  I spent alot of the summer trying out my new camera also.  I bought a Nikon D3000 in August and haven't put it down since!  I'm still learning how to use it but like anything else, it just takes practice! I started a second blog called "Wings in my garden".  Check it out at: wingsinmygarden.blogspot.com .  I have taken a special interest in Monarchs ~ to the point that I started a Monarch habitat in two of my gardens.  I mentioned in a previous post that I planted 20 milkweed plants and I planted 4 Butterfly weed plants back in the summer.  Those butterfly weed plants are what really got me hooked on the Monarchs.  I found 7 Monarch caterpillars chowing down on my plants, although only 4 of them grew big enough to turn into butterflies.  I think the other 3 became lunch for a mole that was making a home out of an old stump near the plants.  Any caterpillars I find in the future will be reared indoors, just to protect them from preditors.  I also want to plant more host plants for some of the other butterflies in my garden. I guess I better start looking up what they are because there is only a small window of time left to get things in the ground before the frost comes.  Enjoy all the beauty that autumn brings~

Butterfly gardens plans !

This is the inspiration for my butterfly garden plans!  I just ordered 20 starter milkweed plants for only

 $1 each!  Now ~ where to plant them all?  Need a sunny location, sandy soil (that may be a challenge with my clay/rocky soil) .  I also want to find some more Iron weed, butterfly weed and thistle.  Anything to attract more monarchs. 

                                                          








Found this guy sippin' nectar from my impatiens. It is a White-lined Sphinx hummingbird moth. It's wings flutter as quickly as a humming bird. I was lucky enough to capture a shot that showed how beautiful it's wings are!

  


A female ruby-throated hummingbird taking a rest! I have had 6 regulars lately putting on their airshows for me. I sure am going to miss them when they fly south for the winter.