2017 has been pretty good to the garden so far ( am I jinxing myself?)
a pretty mild winter and late spring meant no late kill of buds on trees and shrubs and we had minimal loss of plants in general, there are even flower buds on ALL the hydrangeas! ( please don’t anyone eat them !)
unlike the past few years we had a wet spring so everything got of to a good start and I actually had time to compost and fertilize like I should instead of battling hoses and watering routines ( I like rain, let it rain, to whom should I direct my rain dances?)
at the start of bunny sex season( does that ever even stop?) when it seems litter after litter of the little buggers appear hellbent on garden mayhem,we had a visiting owl who left their beheaded carcasses all over the walkway Apparently , owls eat the brain and head and leave the body which is frankly disgusting even to this bunny hater but it meant the plants could get growing and bigger plants tolerate their chomping better. ( is there anything worse than rabbits ? , did I just invite it here by claiming victory?)
it is not all fun and games though as gypsy moth caterpillars did quite a bit of damage to the river birches and wisteria , rose sawfly larvae attacked a rose with vicious determination , and a wet spring always means apple scab and dropped leaves for one of my crabapples that is not resistant to it. ( that seems like such a short list, have I missed something?)
Blooming right now are 10 different roses with more in bud, within the week a bunch of new clematis should open, with any luck the peony show will still be going , lots of weigelas are in flower , we still have lilacs and hellebores whose show started in April , and salvias, foxgloves, dianthus, gaillardias, sedums, smooth hydrangeas, penstemons, yarrow, lillies, mock orange, columbines, siberian iris, trandescantias, comfrey, spirea, geraniums of all sorts, honeysuckles, wisteria, calycanthus, are all giving the bees, hummingbirds and other pollinators just what they are looking for.
Should I be waiting for a powerful storm or hail or onslaught of deer or whatever fresh hell may be around the bend so I can eat my words . Isn’t that always the way in the garden?
On Sunday June 25th the garden is part of Tower Hill Botanic Garden’s City Places, Country Spaces tour from 10-4. If you are local you can get tickets on their website and come visit .
Seriously? i am so happy to see beautiful roses, peonies and clematis all blooming in tandem and right behind them all the summer bloomers gearing up for quite the show. Because it all looks spectacular, I am , of course, very worried.
. One week, one week, one week….that is all I need with no new threats of weather or varmints…one blessed week is that too much to ask? Until then I shall be knocking on wood, crossing all my fingers and toes, looking for 4 leaf clovers, collecting horseshoes and searching for rainbows,
and weeding , always weeding 😉
ps every day I post to Instagram , you can follow my feed here to get a daily dose of beautiful blooms!
I too have limbed up two 30-year old “Sea Green” junipers growing in planters in front of my Brooklyn brownstone. They are very healthy, have sturdy branches with lush growth. Because there is now bright shade beneath them, I can grow heucheras, hostas, even some annuals in the same planters. They have a graceful, vase-like form, about 5 feet tall. I’d recommend keeping yours and continuing to prune them.