Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Rain delay

 The photo only looks out of focus. That's what happens when you shoot out a window wet from a driving rain. The blue blob in the center is a stand of iris.

Summer must not have received the memo. Her presence was nowhere to be found today. Wind. Serious wind. And rain. Serious rain. The rain held off until early afternoon so we were able to do some weeding, but much of the transplanting -- already late because of the cool, wet weather -- will have to wait. Sillydoggarden is soggy, sodden and saturated.

But -- looking on the bright side -- it's not a tornado, a drought, a fire or a flood. And the wind keeps the bugs down.

The weather people promise sun and 70 degrees by the weekend. Summer finally will show up and a planting marathon is on the agenda.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Seventh Day June

 Heucherella 'Rosalie.' Heucherellas are a cross between heuchera and tiarella.

The cool temperatures and plentiful rain have been good for many of the spring bloomers -- here's some of what's happening in the garden this early June. Take a peek around the place in the slide show in the sidebar.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Beautiful fawns


We stumbled onto these babies in the woods behind our house this weekend. Brian spotted them just a few feet from where he was foraging for moss for making hanging baskets. He and the silly dog must have unintentionally spooked their mama and she took off. Fortunately, the silly dog didn't see the twins; Brian hustled Dakota back to the house and told me to get the camera.

We watched the fawns for a couple of minutes. They were still wet and may have just been delivered. They huddled together and tried to make themselves as small as possible on the forest floor. The Minnesota DNR says very young fawns have almost no scent and instinctively lie still -- adaptations that help them elude predators.

We left after taking a few photos -- we were sure their mother was nearby and wanting to tend to her twins. We felt privileged to have seen them.




Friday, June 3, 2011

At the end of the day ...


... potatoes planted;
more peas sowed;
leeks transplanted;
campanula divided, moved and mulched;
'Autumn Joy' sedum divided, moved and mulched;
arugula harvested for salad for supper;
chives snipped for topping baked potatoes;
and a very tired Silly Dog fast asleep.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Spring in Winter

 The path from the lower parking lot to the display gardens and greenhouses.

I love how one of my favorite places to visit in spring is named Winter.

After months of cold and snow, it seems crazy that I'd look forward to visiting a place with that chilly moniker. But I always do. And the visit to Winter Greenhouse in Wisconsin never disappoints.

The folks there don't just offer plants for sale; they show them off in their display gardens. And how!

The sunny garden includes a pond.

A view of the sunny garden from the other direction, from under the crab apple.

The woodland garden was made possible by thinning trees and laying mulch-covered paths.

A bounty of plants -- including hosta, trillium, lungwort, ferns, lamium and spring bulbs such as daffodils and tulips -- fill the woodland garden.