Spring mourning

(edited)
In Lord of the Rings, one of the hobbits mentioned "second breakfast." This year, we're having second spring. Several of our plants leafed out early, were hit by a freeze, and wilted on their stems. The flower beds seem to be in mourning. So far, I've found:

Columbine (wilted)
Salvia
Cheddar pinks (spreading well!)
Hollyhocks (half wilted)
Phlox
Creeping phlox
Delphinium! (first time I've had it winter over; second try)
Sedum, Autumn Joy (half-wilted)
Something that looks like wild onion, but might be small daffodils?
Stella d'oro lilies
Tulips

The leaves on the Zepherine Drouhin rose bush in the back yard are wilted. The weeping cherry buds opened almost fully, then turned brown on the branch. Usually they go from pink to white, then fall like snowflakes to the ground. This year, the tree weeps brown tears. Its blooms were too soon gone.
* * * * *
I think of the loss, sorrow, and grieving at Virginia Tech this week. May God comfort those who are mourning.

Further reading: Campus Crusade Students Killed in Massacre
(I was a member of CCC, as a student.)
Myspace page of Lauren McCain
(HT: Christianity Today)

Vacation 4: Olbrich Botanical Gardens

English garden

















Hollyhock













Perennial garden
The Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison are well worth taking time for. I've never seen such a wide variety of plants so well organized and cared for.

A time to plant (annuals)

Last night I stuck four Beefmaster tomato plants in the back flower bed, among the (fading) tulips, malva sylvestris, hollyhocks, blackeyed Susans, phlox, salvia, and delphinium. This is my first year for malva sylvestris. So far, they've bloomed proliferously.

I also planted trailing blue lobelia, and salmon and white petunias, in two baskets hanging over the deck. Three large flowerpots got more salmon and white petunias. The long planter has the same, plus a sweet potato vine. The deck gets sun from the south, so keeping these plants sufficiently watered for the summer will be a challenge.

Luther Burbank quote, University of Kentucky Arboretum

Hope fulfilled

Late last summer, I posted about receiving Breck's bulb catalog. (Good coupon enclosed.) I ordered a dozen flame-colored tulips. About two weeks ago, they were in full bloom. I'm posting this bouquet for Vashti, who recently underwent surgery.

* * * * * * *
See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. Matthew 6:28b-29.

High hopes

Hollyhock (Bright lights), hosta (Sum and Substance), malva sylvestris, and phlox

Joy comes in the morning

Weeping cherry
Psalm 30:5

Spring break

Time out.
Yesterday I saw the first daffodils whizz by, on a hillside, as we headed north to speech therapy. Our tulips are up a couple inches. The bird feeders are busier by the day.

View from the front door (sort of)

Ilex
Recently a couple of bloggers shared the view from their front door. This is the view to one side of the garage door.

I had planted three holly bushes in a row, one male and two female, in the front yard of our previous home. They struggled, failed to grow, wilted; their leaves turned yellowish green and dropped, one by one. They looked so sad, but I could not bring myself to pull them out. (The following owner had no such scruples.) I still have a place in my heart for those little bushes.

This thriving holly, sighted soon after our move here a year ago, was a happy gift.

Greenhouse 3: oranges

Dreaming of Florida.

Greenhouse 2: gourds

For the second year in a row, our visit to the conservatory coincided with the Gourd Show weekend. Look at Chihuly's work, then look at these gourds. Both, a wild creative dance between unity and variety, form and freedom.

Greenhouse 1: glass

Chihuly
ADDED: We visited the local plant conservatory this past Saturday.

Autumn in Ohio

I once had an English instructor who told the class she found October the most beautiful season of the year in Ohio. Until then, I had always taken our autumns for granted, and liked earth's wakening in spring best. Now, I take neither for granted, and find both beautiful.

This picture was taken in late October, 2002, in the Japanese Garden area of Dawes Arboretum, near Newark, Ohio.

Summer Joy 10: Bulb catalogs

Burgundy Lace (actual color deeper than appears here) with muscari

This week we received the first bulb catalog of the year from Breck's, "direct to you from Holland since 1818."

At our previous house, knowing crocuses, tulips, daffodils, grape hyacinths, Dutch irises, and lilies were asleep beneath the snow gave me a sense of anticipation from New Year's Day through the month of March.

The previous owners had left large purple crocuses, yellow daffodils, orange Asiatic lilies, and a few stray tulips. Partly inspired by the glorious array of color put forth during Tulip Time in Holland, Michigan, I added a few more bulbs every year. By the time we moved, there were not yet the masses of color recommended in Mrs. Greenthumbs, but there was something new coming into bloom continually during spring and early summer.* I was sorry to leave it. (The subsequent owner has apparently torn out most of the landscaping and replaced it with the ubiquitous yew.)

Now we start anew, with a yard which, until now, has had no time for spring-flowering bulbs. Where to start.

Breck's has a good coupon included in its catalog. Bluestone Perennials, here in Ohio, is a trusted source of plants. I will also check out the bulbs at Free Trees and Plants, which employs workers with disabilities.**

I have learned from my sister-in-law in Florida, and our own experience living in Georgia, that gardeners in the south cannot grow most spring-flowering bulbs; the cold season down there is not long enough for their hibernation period. Tulip bulbs would need to be kept in the refrigerator several months, in Florida, for them to bloom.

Tulips and daffodils are one compensation for our long, cold winters.

*I see Bookish Gardener is able to keep this progression going during spring, summer, and probably fall.
**Thanks to Dawn at Frugal for Life, for adding them to her site.

Dutch iris

Summer joy 8: surprises in the garden

This week Early Girl lived up to her name, as she pulled into second, behind the cherry tomatoes. Yesterday I found what I thought were sloooowly ripening red tomatoes (when I checked several days ago) had turned golden yellow, and I picked 20 in one day! Eleven red tomatoes were ready on the three other plants, which had yielded a grand total of four or five, so far.
If you are a gardener, you know these little surprises are among gardening's choice rewards.

This is just to say

(with apologies to William Carlos Williams)

I have eaten
the first cherry tomatoes
that were ripe on
the vine

and which
I wanted
to save
for a picture for you

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and sun warm

Summer Joy 2: fruit of the vine

Two years ago, our son was approaching school age. We put our house up for sale and moved seven miles north, into an apartment in a school district better suited to his needs. I said "goodby" to my flowers and the tomato patch around the corner of the house.

We spent last summer in an apartment.

This summer's crop will be especially sweet.

Happy Father's Day

Father and son

To the former stewards 2

We saw your burgandy van glide past a few Saturdays ago, homesick eyes above out-of-state plates. The stella d'oros (lilies) and the floribundas (roses) were just buds then. Now they, along with the shasta daisies, are in full bloom. The wiegela, past its prime, nevertheless continues to flower. The Asiatic lilies are budding; the lilacs and dianthus are memories.

The only print you left on the deck was the hook for a hanging basket. I have filled two rectangular planters and four large pots with red geraniums, purple petunias, and annual blue lobelia.

Around the tomatoes, I planted orange-yellow marigolds to repel pests, and blue ageratum to complement them. The marigolds have turned yellow-orange against my wishes. The five tomato plants sport yellow flowers; why does Early Girl run in third place?

Lastly, I put six coleus in the shade by the garage, and two pink begonia bulbs in pots on the front porch.

You did not leave directions on the level of care to which your plants are accustomed. So I will spend the summer watching for signs, hoping to accurately diagnose problems and provide necessary treatment in time.