Scarlet Tanager

Male Scarlet Tanager sitting in the rose of sharon in the lower garden

How wonderful that a male scarlet tanager decided to visit the lower garden this morning!

Usually a brilliant flash of red means a male cardinal is visiting.  But this morning the flash was brighter and smaller.   Tanagers are often hard to spot because they live in tall canopies.  But today the rose of sharon and the water fountain lured this male into the garden.  He can stop by anytime.

Male Scarlet Tanager sitting at the fountain in the lower garden

Green

My father once told me that the intense green we see after a rain is an optical illusion, but I don’t care.  Our two days of cold rain have greened everything up beautifully.  Illusion or not, spring green is upon us.

Sensational is finally producing lots of blooms!

I’m most charmed this spring by the lilacs.  A hard prune last summer finally convinced Sensational to be, well, sensational.  Ever since I planted this bush it has given out only one or two blooms. But this spring, I have lots of nodding panicles of maroon and white blossoms.

Mme. LeMoine and Esther Staley have always done well in the Secret Garden and this year is no exception.

Mme. LeMoine lilac

Lilacs are not native to North America, but have thrived here since early settlers brought them in the mid 1700′s.  George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both planted lilacs in their gardens.  Common lilacs (Syringa vulgaris) come from the Balkan area. Sensation is considered an outstanding cultivar and I’m so glad I had the presence of mind to plant it and the patience to wait for it to be sensational.

I have a concert tonight and have been baking cookies for the chorus.  Tomorrow is a designated garden day.  I have lots of annuals to plant.

Rose breasted grosbeak sitting in the rose of sharon.

Lots of migrating birds are coming through the gardens.  As I type this, a male rose breasted grosbeak is feasting at the feeder.  My neighbors, who were diligent about feeding the birds, have moved away and I am now seeing more varieties visting my feeders.  For years I struggled to tell the difference between a house finch and a purple finch.  And I think I struggled because purple finches rarely visited.  But all that has changed since my feeders are the only option.  I can’t go by color, I’ve discovered.  But the tail gives them away.  Purple finches have a deeply notched tail.  And as I get more and more familiar with them, I see other differences, too.

Pruple finch at the feeder.

Marigolds

Sahara Red Marigolds in front of the boxwood hedge

I love red and for several years I tried growing red petunias in front of the boxwood hedge in the front garden.  I thought that true bright red would go well with the bricks.  But, petunias just didn’t thrive in that soil.  I then tried red salvia.  That didn’t work either.  But marigolds?  Yup, marigolds work.  And so one of the first garden chores, or perhaps it’s a garden rite of passage, is the planting of marigolds. Yesterday  I planted three flats of Sahara Red marigolds.

Marigolds are native to Central America but are now grown around the world.  They are used in Buddhist and Hindi ceremonies and in some cultures are prized for their essential oil. Marigolds have been used to insure safe travel across a river, as a treatment for lightening strikes, and as a cure for hiccups.

Can’t resist taking pictures of the magnolia tree when it is in bloom

It was the Spanish who took marigold plants to Europe from Mexico, although, there may have been a variety growing wild in West Africa.  I grow them for their consistent color throughout the spring and into the fall.  Their shallow roots make them easy to pull up after the last hard frost.

After the Rains

The magnolia at night.

Grand Rapids experienced record flooding this spring.   Two weeks of driving rain filled the rivers and streams to over-flowing and prevented me for getting into the garden.  I was never in danger of flooding.  Or, perhaps it is more accurate to say that if the flood waters got to me, the world would be ending.  I’m at the top of a hill, what was once the bank of a stream, though, I supposed 10,000 years ago it was a raging river full of glacial ice melt.  Today it is about a quarter to a half mile away.

The old magnolia in the light of day.

But it’s May and everything is greening up, coming up, opening up.  The old magnolia burst into bloom yesterday and I couldn’t resist taking pictures of the flowers against the yellow light of the street lamp.  In the daylight, of course, the flowers look like delicate porcelain cups.

The PJM rhododendrons are blooming, too.  Too bad they don’t last very long.  The panas are looking tired and stressed and this year may be their last.  Sometimes you just have to admit something isn’t working and rethink.

Now that my semester and the rain have ended I can focus on garden tasks.  I got the fountain up and running yesterday.  And I bought marigolds to plant in front of the emerald boxwoods.

Male rose breasted grosbeak in the old rose of sharon.

Spring migrating birds have been visiting the feeders.  This male Rose Breasted Grosbeak stopped by this week.  The white crowned sparrows also came through, as did a wood thrush.  I know various warblers are coming through, but my eye just isn’t discerning enough to identify them.  The grey catbirds are back, as are the brown headed cowbirds.

Last, I’ve added a Secret Garden photo.  This is what the entrance looks like today.  I wonder what it will look like next week…

The entrance to the Secret Garden today. There’s not much happening yet, but good things come to those who…

The fountain is up and running.

April 15, Bloom Day

It’s pretty bleak in the garden, but there are signs of life.  We’ve had a slow spring, and that’s just fine with me.  A year ago the garden was seduced into early bloom.  This spring the juncos are still around, but the robins have returned, and the cardinals are singing.  And the hellebores are blooming!

Hellebore

March 15, Bloom Day

Well, it’s not exactly a bloom day since nothing at all is blooming.  But there are little signs that the earth will warm and the plants will bloom.  Over the winter I enjoyed seeing birds come to the feeders.  For some reason lots of cardinals decided to dine with me on a regular basis.  And, that intense red became my winter blooms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

September 15, Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day

This caryopteris is the only one of several that is left. As much as I loved them, they simply were too big for the space and I found new homes for all but this one.

The old rose of sharon is still kicking out some blooms. This bud will open today.

We’ve had a gentle fall with mild temps and enough rain to almost make me forget that dry hot July.  …Until I look at the hydrangeas. The white domes along the picket fence in the lower garden are stunted and bear evidence of the stress they endured two months ago.  But they will probably survive the winter.  So will the nikkos and the endless summers.  On this Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day, it is the annuals that are propping up the garden, and, of course, Sweet Autumn Clematis.

Also blooming is the nameless pink anemone near the garage. The sun sheds anemone and bird house shadows.

A few Fragrant Angel echinacea are blooming in the Secret Garden.

It’s easy to forget about the New Dawn climbing rose but it is sending out canes through the lilacs and across the path in the Secret Garden. It’s time to prune!

Every fall the Honorine Jobert anemone lights up the east side of the Secret Garden. A friend planted a small little shoot for me one day when I wasn’t home. It came from his garden.

I cut the rose campion back about a month ago and now it is giving me a single sweet little flower. Awwww.

In the Secret Garden, the white phlox and this nameless red rose provide a nice pop of color.

The Limelight Hydrangea seems to have fared the best during the drought, perhaps because it comes on later.

This Sweet Autumn has already needed trimming three times this summer, and it was cut to the ground when I had to install the new arch.

I planted this Sweet Autumn Clematis last fall and it certainly seems to like this location. The bonus for me is that it helps hide the rather unsightly rental house on the other side. Now that it is no longer empty, things are tidy there again, but it’s nice to look at that halo of small white flowers.

The marigolds and dahlias at the corner of the garage hide the sad Annabelle hydrangea that never got a chance to send out her large blooms.

I think I’m sold on dahlias. I’m going to try and winter these over in the basement, but I will definitely plant more next spring.

August 15, Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day

Wild Spice Hansa Rose, with a couple of Japanese Beetles enjoying some PDA…Hansa roses are wonderfully hardy and very fragrant. 

The entrance to the Secret Garden. The day lilies are spent and so is the crocosmia. But the Dahlias are blooming and so are the marigolds.

Wild Berry Breeze Hansa Rose, coming back after a hard pruning to curb powdery mildew.

An experiment with Dahlias

More Dahlias and an abundance of marigolds

White Carpet Rose

A second blush of Delphinium, a rather unexpected surprise…

Heuchera and a bumblebee guest

Stained Glass hosta with its lovely fragrant flowers

Zagreb Coreopsis, sending out some late summer blooms

A nameless miniature rose against white phlox.

one White Dawn bloom.

A nameless hosta that sends out lovely fragrant flowers.

Perhaps it is because of the heat, but this is the only Canna that is blooming. None of them this year got very tall.

Tardiva Hydrangea

Limelight Hydrangea

The single geranium flower…

Hibiscus, putting on a great show

Kim’s Knee High Coneflower

Annual geranium peeking through the dense growth of datura

The new red Knockout Rose

Red carpet rose

The miniature hostas I bought at Cedar Hedge Gardens in Interlochen. To the left is Maui Buttercup. In the planter, to the left is Hideout. To the right is Teaspoon. And on the bottom is Plug Nickel. To the right of the planter is Kaleidoscope. It’s not doing well…

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day, July 15, 2012

Wow, it’s still hot.  And the garden is baking.  The day lilies that were in glorious bloom just a week ago are now fading.  I’ve begun removing bare scapes and scraping at the lifeless brown leaves that seem more prevalent this year than seems normal.  The garden gets watered daily thanks to the in-ground system.  Michigan, surrounded by water, rarely gets water restrictions.  But the heat is taking its toll, especially on the hydrangeas.  In fact, I may lose a couple even though I give them extra water each day.  Sadly, there seems to be no end in sight.  At best, we have a chance of thunderstorms this week.  Weeks of 90 degree heat just isn’t what my garden is used to.

Veronica Spicata, Sunny Border Blue…the Great Black Wasps are loving this!

This tattered Purple Cone Flower has been a feast for Japanese Beetles.

Crocosmia, a nameless pale yellow day lily, and to the far right rear Barbara Mitchell day lily. All of these are weeks early. Man of the day lilies now have budless scapes that need to be removed.

A few Endless Summer hydrangeas are blooming, but the heat is really getting to them. Behind them is a pot of petunias. To the right is one of several Great Expectations hostas.

Nosferatu

At least the annuals will still be blooming in August…

Fragrant Angel Cone Flower

The old Rose of Sharon

Datura

A single geranium bloom

Cedar Hedge Gardens in Interlochen, Michigan

It was a grad student who told me about Cedar Hedge Gardens and so when I planned my annual trip to Glen Arbor, I included a trip to Cedar Hedge.  I wasn’t disappointed.  The display gardens are lovely, and the owner has a wonderful selection.  I was particularly intrigued by the miniatures.  So, on my trip back to Grand Rapids today, I stopped again and bought a number of little gems.  The trick now is to figure out where I will put them.

But first, a tour of Cedar Hedge… And then a look at my purchases…

And here’s what I bought.  Little Aurora, Kaleidochrome, Kiwi Full Monty, Hideout, Plug Nickel, Teaspoon, Maui Buttercup, Rain Forest Sunrise, Rhino Hide, Hyuga Urajiro.