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Health & Fitness

Roundup

No, not the herbicide,  I have not gone to that side.  By it I mean a seasonal look back on what transpired in my wildlife garden and what didn’t.  A kind of hits and misses. 

So, for starters, that azalea I thought was dead ?  It is pictured above in full bloom, along with some iris and one of my favorite pollinator plants, fleabanes.  I was very happy I did not succumb to Spring despair and remove it!

What a glorious year it has been for ferns too!  The fern bed I started in the back wild border is doing very, very well.  I have a variety of native ferns there, as well as one  Frankenstein half-Japanese, half-Lady fern.  I transplanted some Lady in Red ferns from the front where there is more sun and they seem to be happier there.   I thought the hay-scented fern in my newest shadier front bed was a goner, and yet it has come back nicely.

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Also doing well in both the front and the back are two species of milkweed, swamp and  purple, or Asclepias purpurascens. They are not blooming and I am hoping for Monarchs to find them when they do. I have not seen any yet.  Other pollinator plants thriving are the elderberry patch that is in it’s second year. The plants are now blooming; I would hope to see some pollinator action on them, perhaps if I could sit for a moment I would? Mostly I am always watering or weeding.  Yes, the ground ivy is winning...

My added in the Fall, sweet virgin’s bower and Canadian waterleaf (from http://www.dawnswildthings.com/ ) came in nicely.  The waterleaf are blooming.   Like wild ginger, the blooms are under the leaves, subtle but white and frothy.  Speaking of wild ginger, the native species took over the corner patch where once only the shiny-leaved non-native plant lived.   

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My columbines more or less all bloomed.  I divided them in the Fall, and replanted them about.  I seem to have found the correct home for all of them.  Most of the fleabanes got a haircut on Memorial Day weekend; those that did not are blooming.  I might cut some back again over the weekend of the Fourth of July.

Also about to bloom is my once dwarf Joe Pye Weed.  I got this from a private seller online and am pretty sure that it is not really a dwarf nativar.   Today I planted the last of my new plants from Wild Things; a dwarf iron weed and a miniature (and native) evening primrose. 

My heritage (as in has been here 60 year) hydrangea are blooming gloriously.  I did not cut them back last season, and it made absolutely no difference in the bloom.  Plus I would like to think some insect or butterfly specie might be calling them, or their leaf litter home.

The nannyberry shrublets I thought were goners are filling out nicely in the  Earthbox.  I have even added a heritage tomato and some snap beans in that.  They are all thriving.  (I do not normally grow for people food).  I am also having some good luck with strawberries that I put in a strawberry planter - first time ever.  I watched a grackle parent show his fledgling how to harvest strawberries the other day.  Hopefully, between them and our dog who loves fruit, there will be some left for us.

Doing sort of meh are my shrub whips that I got new this Spring.  A fothergilla disappeared, then a cranberry bush.  I am not sure of the culprit. The cornus remained sticks with no leaves and were eventually planted in the native back corridor to do what they will, if they will.   I have two high bush blueberry patches.  Group one is in the ground with the coral bells and filling out nicely; those in the Root Pouch are going to be transplanted along the side yard with the June berries.  They have hardly progressed at all.  

Fails were not so bad, besides the shrub whips, I have once again proven that no corm (root bulbet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corm ) will grow for me.   I have missing Turk’s Cap lilies, anemones and maidenhair ferns.  All from American Meadows, I will have to find hardier plants to experiment with in the Fall, as they do guarantee their stock.  I wish the lilies had sprouted, maybe they should not have been interplanted with the orange ditch lilies that are coming into bloom now?  I will be studying this not-native for pollinator support.  I see them every where, and if they do indeed feed the hungry bee, stay they may.  I have read varying opinions on whether native species can adapt to non-native plants.

I did finally get a foam flower to bloom.  Unfortunately, it was decapitated by an exuberant young weed whacker.  But this is just the first full season with the tiarellas (foam flowers), I hope they grow, bloom unmolested, and prosper in future seasons. 

I visualize them as ground cover some day.

We have a banner crop of chipmunks.  Unfortunately, they have taken up housekeeping under the very expensive nativar panic grass planted in the front garden last season.  The one that turns scarlet as the year progresses (think barn red, like our house color).  The chippies also tunneled under the tickseed, which I thought was gone, then it came in and bloomed, then half died, but is now sending up one flower. 

I don’t have the heart to banish the fun little rodents, and heck they are chipmunks!

Our bunnies are back too, the Dutchman’s breeches did not last a week after the new kits were born.  I am pretty sure they are New England Cottontails or a hybrid of them.  I will have to one day collect some pellets and submit for DNA testing. Or a corpse *shudder*....  Mostly they enjoy our lawn clover and the sweet anise that might just need some thinning out.

I am not seeing too many bird species other than the usual grackles, robins, blue jays, sparrows and chickadees.  They all love to splash in my faux watering hole when I top it off daily.   I think the rain amounts so far have been good, but since I use our rain barrel to water so many things, I may need to add some water to it. 

What is still missing, (but I admit I have not spent a great deal of time outdoors in mid-day), are the bees and other pollinators I hope to attract.  Not too many butterflies either. I will be putting up the hummingbird feeder this evening. The cardinal flowers are healthy but not in bloom yet.  Though I have red and blue sage in pots to attract them.

I really hope that whatever is inhibiting the insect activity here is just nature, not misguided horticulture.   I can still smell the mulch and mystery product from neighboring properties. Because the odor makes my yard unpleasant, I did not finish my mulching here, and the composting project is in a state of suspension.  

It sure was a different Spring after a daunting Winter, but it is good to see some of my old friends back.  Just waiting for the newer ones to arrive.


Did you have any surprises in your garden this Spring ?   I would love to hear about them. 

Coming up in the near future is NY Invasive Species Week: http://www.nyis.info/blog/

I applaud the action of the Huntington residents‘ who have begun the Citizen’s Appeal for Leafblower Management, which was all over the news last week.  Also I am happy President Obama is making a commitment to help pollinators, I hope this includes Federal VA Cemeteries: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/06/20/presidential-memorandum-creating-federal-strategy-promote-health-honey-b 

    

Have the last day of your Fourth weekend is lovely.  And do leave a comment about anything that got your attention here.  

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