May Winds Down

As the revels of the Merrie Monthe begin to wind down, there's still plenty going on in the garden. For example, that iris in front of the house turns out to look like this!

Delightful, hmmm?

There's plenty of promise for the future, too, as just about every plant begins climbing toward the sky. A few of them now have visible flower stalks rising, like this clump of foxglove.

These are buds of an early yellow daylily, that's popped up out of clump of thistle, clover and coreopsis. Looks like we'll have a blossom to greet June pretty early on.

There's also this rudbeckia to look forward to. If I'm not mistaken, this might be the one with the rusty orange flowers. It might actually be closer to the coneflower family, in fact. But it is always a crowd-pleaser. There's a bunch of stalks coming up there.


Two different clumps of lychnis are also beginning to send stalks up in the air.

I guess that proves I'm a garden geek, when I can see those very first leaves that are just different enough from the basal leaves for me to recognize what's going on...and to get a little thrill from the sight of it.

Speaking of sights to see, I was drawn out of our yard and down the street this morning, as I realized that the wisteria which seemed so blue the other day has clearly "purpled up" after a couple of days in the sunshine.

Their scent really smacked me across the face as I got closer. It's sort of rich and sweet, a little dusty and cloying perhaps, activated no doubt by the sun's warmth. It almost gives you the impression that it means to draw you in to some sweet doom(or at least serious entanglement, knowing the enthusiasm with which wisteria winds...), like the Witch's poison poppies outside the Emerald City.

Oh, but what a way to go.

Today's weather really was terrific here, with bright sunshine that brought us up nearly to 70 degrees. Of course there's still a breeze, which keeps things comfortable...even if it does make flower photography a little more of a challenge.


Yesterday, I made a visit to the nursery and decided to try out a bottle of this "Liquid Fence", which is meant to be an all-natural deterrent to bunnies and deer. And I expect it may do quite nicely...since it's more than a little rank.

No surprise there, as the primary ingredient is "putrefacted egg solids". Supposedly the scent fades upon drying...but remains strong enough on some level to keep the Nibblers away. I'll keep you posted.

Meanwhile, I couldn't be more pleased with the Easter cactus, which is blooming very nicely inside. I had long expected the flowers would be the same or very similar to those of the Christmas cactus, just at a different time of year. But I'm really enjoying how different these are...and the color!!

Saturday

Saturday morning began with the first blooms on the Easter cactus, their fuscia tones almost too vivid to look at.

Nearby, my bedroom window is suddenly crowded with green. In the plastic bin in the lower left, you'll see all the cleome seedlings, their more ornate leaves beginning to show. There's also a few recent morning glory sprouts closer to the window ledge.

On the right side you'll see a quartet of tomato plants I picked up at the nursery yesterday...where I also acquired the two sixpacks of tall marigold seedlings you see on the window ledge, flanking the larger morning glory seedlings.

Those older morning glories suddenly put out long whip-like stems today, and I'll be happy to get them out of the bedroom before they strangle me in the night.


With a head full of fond weekend reunions from Memorial Days past, good friends are always on my mind this time of year. So it was great to get the call from Beth and Joe this morning saying they were on Cape and headed in my general direction.

We met at the restaurant and had a great visit over lunch. It wasn't nearly as long as we'd have liked, as I had an afternoon of work ahead of me, and they were staying in far-off Falmouth and had plenty of vacation-type plans. Still, we enjoyed what time we had!

Had to show you the beautiful bluebells of our neighbor in Harwich. I really need to get me some of these!


In was an exciting day in our yard, as Owen's work completing some comprehensive network of fencing allowed Em to wander freely around the yard for the first time in years. She's not what you might call "trustworthy" on the subject of staying nearby, so she's always been on a run or a leash when she's outside, for her own protection and that of the World At Large.

But now she's got some open space where she can roam free (though neither you nor she should think we aren't watching her every move, just to be sure!) and not feel so much like a prisoner. Although, to look at the way she lounges carefree in the sun, you wouldn't think that was foremost in her mind.

That's quite a tongue, isn't it?

This little montauk daisy plant is one of my accidental garden triumphs. When I bought the big plant a few years ago, it got jostled in transit and the tip of one of the branches was broken. The stem appeared to have pre-root bumps (perhaps I mean nodes) along it, so I took a chance and stuck it in the ground not far from where the larger plant was located.

To my surprise, the little stem survived and even bloomed at it's appointed time. Today, it's grown into this. Don't get too excited, though; this doesn't bloom until just before Columbus Day.

Meanwhile, here on Not Wisteria Lane, the irony comes from the fact that I simply chose that as a code name for privacy's sake. However, it turns out there's actually a hell of a lot of wisteria growing on our street, like these vines just down the street from us.

The deeper purple of the buds is a more obvious color at a distance. Once the flowers open up they turn a lighter blue which is one of the most difficult flower colors to read from far off. They're not so much to look at as you drive past.

Fortunately, I wasn't afraid to get right up close.


Down the street in the opposite direction, this treetop echoes with the unison cries of baby birds demanding dinner. I didn't spy any adult activity, so I can't name a species, but it's always an exciting sound.

There's lots going on in the bird world, though. Passionate swarms of orioles and cardinals swirl past through lilac-scented air. A pair of starlings chased each other between us on the back porch this evening.

In a treetop down the street, it appeared the flickers might be educating young ones in things aero dynamic. Bluejays and catbirds rustled around in various thickets of underbrush.

Every now and then a gull or two made a pass by overhead from nearby shores.



As darkness fell, I was out in the garden, lighting some tea candles in the lanterns I've got hanging on the fence and heard a familiar buzzing.

I didn't have a flashlight with me, but the camera's flash revealed the arrival of those dumb thugs of the bug world, the May Beetle...soon to be known as the June Bug.

The graceless way they arrive on the screens of early summer almost always makes me laugh...though sometimes that low buzz can be a little disconcerting.

And So it Grows

Checking in at the Sunflower Academy, some of my most eager seedlings have now surpassed the one foot mark, and still not quite a month old. I'm so proud. I'll be happy to get these guys outside in the some real sunshine and let them see what they can do.

With such a good start out of the gate, I think we stand to be impressed.

Not far from the sunflowers is this easter cactus. I bought it as just a small plant as a gift to myself when I moved into my Provincetown apartment. It's never bloomed for me, though grown considerably in the ten years since.

This week, I'm seeing for the first time, a few hot red flower buds. Woo woo!! Don't underestimate the power of a south-facing window!

The rains were heavy overnight and continued for a while this morning. If there were thunderstorms--I don't think they materialized--I slept through them (not an impossible scenario).

But the quantity of rain itself was a good test of the new level of the garden...and I'm happy to say, it seems to have passed admirably. The rain water still pools outside the garden, but doesn't spill through the rocks and flood everything...meaning the water is in the perfect place to feed the garden residents, without washing them away. And that's good enough for me just now.

As you can see, the rain's done a world of good for a garden already thriving, and the shades of green seem so much richer today against the dark wet colors of the dirt.

A few of the very full young hyacinths flopped over under the weight of the rain, which is not a sad thing...since I'd been thinking about cutting a few to bring inside.

I'm a big fan of their scent, and it's kind of fun to have it wafting through the indoors, as well as the garden.

Plant Inspector

Another sunny day today. Temperatures still in the mid-thirties and pretty breezy, but the sun was awfully nice. Still, it was also a nice day to check in with the houseplants in my bedroom window.

As you can see, Badum's gotten there ahead of me. T'was the great flights and songs of birds outside the window that brought him here, but the budding apple branches I've got in water drew his attention. Note the height on the canna lily. I'm not that familiar with these guys, but I wouldn't be surprised if it starts blooming before long.

In the lower right of the window is an Easter cactus, which I guess was blooming when I bought it back eleven years ago this spring. But I can't for the life of me remember what color the flowers were. Orange, perhaps?