The Daffs Are Blooming! The Daffs Are Blooming!

Look what was greeting me today when I got home!

Not only that, but it was 82 degrees today!  82!  Minnesotans everywhere were giddy as school children on the last day of school, and working in a school, I'm very familiar with that feeling!  Do we spoil the excitement by looking at the weather report for the next few days?  No, because we know we're going to pay for this 82 degrees and we will no doubt have another day in the 40's sometime soon.  That's spring in Minnesota.  But for today, we enjoyed it as if it were summer!

Here are some other blooms in the gardens.

Glorified Weeds

Kathy Wieditz truly has the most beautiful home garden on the planet, in my opinion.  She propagates plants from her gardens in northern Minnesota to sell as well, calling her business Glorified Weeds.  I'm just as excited to see her gardens in bloom as I am my own!  Here is a link to her garden gallery to enjoy.

Fall Perennial Order

The fall catalogs are arriving - a bittersweet thing.  It means the season is almost over, but it also means planning for fall plantings to enjoy next year.  Here's what's on my wish list (including where I plan to plant it so I don't forget!):

From Bluestone Perennials:

Grape Hyacinth   (Shade Garden)
Scilla (Shade Garden)
Hyacinth (Blue Ice - a light blue one, and Blue Jacket - -a dark blue) (Garage Border)
Snowdrops (Shade Garden)
Lime Frost Daylily (Driveway Border)

I'm also ordering some more oriental lilies from John Scheepers to enhance my garden this time of year next year when a lot of things are past peak.  I ordered five of each so I can plant some in the garage boarder, driveway border, and maybe even around the shed.

Miniature Oriental Lily Mona Lisa
Garden Party

 Sheila

and some more spring bulbs:
English Bluebells (Shade Garden)
Allium (Driveway Border)

About two weeks ago the kids and I doubled the size of the shade garden.  The soil was actually pretty good when I tilled it up - I just had to add some peat moss and it looks really good.  I just divided up some of my perennials and moved a few more to fill it in.  We also tilled up a little garden around the shed and put some more sun loving things there.  I can't wait to see how things fill in next summer!

Other plans for the shed and garage next year - WINDOW BOXES!!!

Day Lilies in Bloom - July 22

Old Rose

Indian Love Call

Raspberry Pixie

My Melinda (?)

Catherine Woodbury

Carlton County Master Gardeners Tour - July 20, 2010

Here are some of our favorite pictures from the Carlton County Master Gardeners Tour.  We toured three beautiful gardens and got all kinds of inspiration!

  Love this stepping stone idea!

July 16 Blooms

From the top left:  white phlox, rose campion in front of some silver artemesia, bee balm (red & burgandy), a pink asiatic lily, and Quick Fire hydrangea.

Grandma Swanson's Peonies

Thanks, Mom, for this bouquet!  These are from a transplant from my Grandma Ruth Swanson's peony bush from her home near Denham, MN.  Grandma passed away around five years ago, so it's nice to have these beauties every year.

Spring Flower Photos

Geum

Columbine and Bleeding HeartFoam Flower with columbine and fern leafed bleeding heart in background

Lilacs, sure sign of spring!

Blooming Update

The following plants are now in full bloom:

Siberian Iris
Peonies
Jacobs Ladder
Fern Leaf Bleeding Heart
Spiderwort
Geranium (all varieties)
Viola

The following are past bloom: Old Fashioned Bleeding Heart, Columbine, Virginia Blue Bells, Lungwort, Miniature Iris, Forget Me Not.

This fall I need to divide up the Siberian Iris and put some in the other part of the main garden where all of the Lilies are as there is almost nothing in bloom there right now and it looks awfully green and boring. I planted some peonies there last year but they just haven't bloomed yet this year. Plus I just need to move them a little because they are getting crowded by the white peonies that are in full bloom.

Always work to do in the garden!

Garden Update

On June 2nd, I finished planting the vegetable garden. I planted squash, beans, the rest of the row of peas, 18 roma tomato plants, and several hills of cucumbers, both slicing and pickling. I hilled the potatoes two days ago and did some more weeding. Everything is coming along so nicely!

Today I finished planting my latest delivery from Bluestone Perennials: Blue Angel hosta, Zounds hosta, Paul's Glory hosta, bergenia, and snowdrop. I've really been adding things to the shade garden - not really expanding the bed sizes, just filling them up more. I will post pictures when things start flowering!

More Vegetable Gardening

I tilled the remaining section of the vegetable garden today and planted Sugar Ann Snap Peas, beets, dill, Black Seeded Simpson lettuce, and spinach. The I came home and logged two miles jogging on the treadmill after weeding my flower beds. Very tired. I am hoping we'll get some rain soon so I don't have to drag out the sprinklers.

Blooming flowers include:
Tiarella
Columbine
Bleeding Heart (both the old fashioned and fern leafed varieties)
Geum
Forget-Me-Nots
Lilacs (MMMM... they smell wonderful!)

Heckuva Day!

What a gorgeous day today! We had highs in the 70's. It really felt like summer.

My Bluestone Perennials order came today, so I planted some Snakeroot, Lady's Mantle, Biokova Geranium, and some Summer Sky Coneflower. I was really impressed with the quality of the plants and how they held up during transport. I will definitely be ordering from them again!

I spread some mulch in my new bed by the bay window. That area is a huge improvement. I'll snap some pics once things fill in a little bit.

We also spread some black dirt in the garden at Rita's. That was quite a job! Tomorrow we'll till that in and hopefully plant potatoes and peas, and maybe some lettuce and spinach depending on how ambitious I feel (and how well I can move tomorrow after all the manual labor today).

Bluestone Perennials Order

I placed a Bluestone Perennials order today: I ordered some Lady's Mantle, Summer Sky Echinacea, Biokovo Geranium, Black Snakeroot (aka Bugbane), and a Butterfly Bush. The thing I'm most excited about, however, is the Innocence Mock Orange (pictured here). It reminds me of the first house my husband and I lived in. Next door to us was a charming old woman with a beautiful garden that happened to serve as a border between our two lawns. In the spring, the scent from her Mock Orange was just heavenly. Wherever you are, Mrs. Winchester, the Mock Orange will always remind me of our little place in Moose Lake and our lovely neighbor!

Pictures from last Memorial Day