“Every clod feels a stir of might,
An instinct within it which reaches and towers.”
-James Russell Lowell
Out and about in the garden, and things, though late, and a little worse for wear with the late frosty weather, are popping. The winter honeysuckle finally put out some bloom, and the quince is flowering now, though deep in the bush or on low lying branches -which is usual after the kind of cold snaps we have had this winter.
It was quite warm today, and I put in a little weeding time. Took the camera around while inspecting what is up with the garden. the red bud trees have the tiniest little pink slippers of bud, and the lilacs held compact pyramids of greenish bud… the Virginia bluebells have their lush green leaves and just opening to their watercolor tints of blue, purple, and mauve.
Handyman worked on the tractor, but they gave him the wrong part, so we have to wait for Monday to get it going. It’s time for the first mowing- things look pretty ragged around here ( but there were so many pretty anemones in the grass out front that I am not going to mow there for awhile.) The Magnolia stellata did not have the flurry of white that it did last year, this years more usual late frosts finished off much of the bloom, but the ‘Jane’ magnolia looks good. It is just now blooming… although I hear we are in for a big temperature drop.
I noticed that in the village the Magnolia Soulangea is still blooming, and the Bradford pears are in full bloom, some of the crabapples were,too, although mine are still tight buds, keeping close from the many bees that are visiting the garden this year. My daughter got her first bee sting of the year. We used to have that all the time, but the bee population has been down and that had become a rarity. I was sad for her, but glad that we have more bees! The first thing she said is: “Are the honey bees still in danger?” I said yes, why? and she looked so sad when she said ” I stepped on one and killed it.” Didn’t know whether the sadness was environmental awareness, the pain of the sting, or both! I got out the baking soda, although she said she didn’t need it, but she applied some. Still, the foot is swollen and itches now. It seemed I always got stung a number of times in a summer…used to make me so careful when walking through the yard.
The farmer next door (a new one who farms differently) has put the field to alfalfa this year. I haven’t seen very many wheat fields in the vicinity this time around. Noticed two Holstein calves down the road. The biggest crop is the housing developments (isn’t there a housing bubble, still? Shouldn’t that have put the damper on the proliferation of all these houses?) and I wish they’d slow that down. It is a crying shame to see what is arguably the best farmland in the US put out of commission under all this building.
OK, enough grousing… I should have told you about all the birdlife I’ve noticed here. The robins and mourning doves have been here awhile. The mockingbird showed up: late but raucous as ever. The blue jays seem to have moved on… and the grackles are here in full force. The warblers have moved on north I think- I don’t hear their songs anymore.
Tags: Northern magnolias, birds
Rob (ourfrenchgarden) says
April 19, 2009 at 8:53 amHi Ilona
The first mow is always the starting pistol for Spring.
Rob
johanna_lea says
April 19, 2009 at 11:40 amgood sunday morning, i.
your rambles in the yard, camera in hand, are the greatest! i really enjoy seeing it through your eyes, with your stories and comments. wish i was a digital- type photographer %]
i remember precious little about your garden, except for the easy flow from place to place, walking with the shapely shrubs and all those enchanting flowers…seemed so natural and unplanned for a “created” or landscaped garden…but it takes
great aesthetic eye as well as
PhD.-level skill and practice to create such pleasing space. your pictures bring me right back to memories of our last visit. and it has been 16 years!!
johanna_lea says
April 19, 2009 at 12:29 pmi forgot(me??)you mentioned there would be alfalfa farming next door. you are in garden heaven!
on newly bare ground a light layer of green-chop alfalfa mulch was crowned the # 1 soil builder by Organic Gardening Magazine, years back. just a handful per plant is sufficient. it was that old O/G
article,an extensive comparison of mulches and soil additives, that sold me on alfalfa. many long
years of use-my experience making dirt and growing healthy organic plants- has proved them right. even a good handful of alfalfa pellets around the plant is just like a compost treat. i remember reading that you can use too much! a light layer under your regular deep mulch works far better than
a good deep mulch of pure
alfalfa hay. go figure….
get some spoiled or rained-on bales for your veggie garden. in any hay bizness, it is inevitable
there will be always be cheap or free supply. lucky you!!
***Too much strong coffee this
early sunday AM=way too large/long commentaries. i do run on, so
the rest is silence…***
vty, j.
Ilona says
April 19, 2009 at 2:19 pmYou know your comments fuel me! better than strong coffee (although I’m afraid I need both.)
You visited when the garden was in full implementation of ideas and efforts. As we speak, I am wondering what to do with the front border which I have not reclaimed from negligence yet.
I never attained diploma honored academia… so I must chalk things up to just knowing what I like…. informed by a love of art, beauty, and gleaning from artists gone before (some unknown gardeners, some well known authors)
You are a fabulous photographer – I remember your pics of old rural Georgia buildings moldering aesthetically into their surroundings. Digital is not hard, you become braver when not wasting expensive film. Still, my photo skills are pretty poor. I keep trying…
Good to know about alfalfa… I’ll have to write about my experiences with hay, though. Well, wheat straw, I guess is more accurate.
Ilona says
April 19, 2009 at 2:20 pmRob, I think you are right! From then on it is a race with time to get all the work done 🙂
TC says
April 19, 2009 at 2:30 pmIt’s only a matter of days before I get the mower ready. The snow plow is still attached, I’ll use it one last time, scraping gravel instead of snow!
Last year I joined the Arbor Foundation and received ten trees, two of which are redbuds. The young sapling redbuds aren’t lookin to good, I hope they spring into spring.
Do you have star magnolia and if so, does it have an aroma? A Facebook friend of mine asked if I knew what would cause one to lose its scent. She said one she has, which is about 15 or 20 years old, lost its aroma this spring. I didn’t know they were aromatic as I don’t have one in my landscape.
Ilona says
April 19, 2009 at 2:45 pmYes, TC, the time has come… we had our snow plow on until just the other day (that was part of getting things ready with our mower-which is actually a small tractor).
I hope your redbuds make it- I’ve seen some that seem to die off from a hard winter, so I planted mine in the vicinity of large spruce trees to take the edge off the drying winds and cold. You will know by June, but in the meantime be sure they have moisture and give them a light feeding… you might be sure they are mulched for the summer.
Aroma in the garden is a funny thing… it can depend as much on the atmospheric conditions and prevailing wind as on the plant some days. I do grow Magnolia Stellata, but I did not notice scent particularly – although magnolias are known for that. The other day, (as an aside) I was weeding by a patch of daffodil and the fragrance was very strong! Like paperwhites inside the house. That was the first time I had noticed the scent of a stand of daffodils outside. The day was relatively still and quite warm for this season. I have noticed the same thing while visiting the Metro Rose Garden… certain afternoons are heaven, while other days you can’t seem to catch the scent of the most redolent of roses.
It is more the characteristic of scent, then of the plant at times.
All that said, and yet, it is known that you should get certain varieties or even smell the individuals flowers at time of purchase to be sure of good scent properties. Gardening is truly more art than science at times.