joene's garden

Morning Discoveries in the Garden

joenesgarden — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:41:03 +0000

Early mornings are wonderful in the garden. With cup of coffee in hand and birds singing wildly from nearby trees, I stroll through the garden to enjoy the blooms and observe what's going on.

Many iris are in full glory, but I'm not the only one enjoying them. Early morning strolls reveal slugs in their journey back down iris leaves and stalks after they have had a nighttime feast on the foliage and blossoms. To counter a slug invasion I arm myself with with a repurposed peanut butter jar filled partially with soapy water and a plastic spoon. The spoon easily scoops slugs off foliage and bloom so they can be deposited into the soapy water … their final home. I don't get them all but each slug I remove means fewer slug babies enter this world to feast on my plants. When the slug population really explodes, as it does during rainy springs and summers, I go on slug-fari in the evenings, too.

Clematis 'Crystal Fountain' shows off its stunning blooms. Slugs don't seem to care much for my clematis.

Strawberries, though, are a favorite of slugs. So far, the wood chip mulch surrounding my Alpine strawberries has kept the slugs away – they don't like crawling on the rough surface. The first of these tiny, sweet tasty fruits delighted my taste buds this morning.

Yesterday morning, during an extended stroll and weeding session, I heard a rustling in leaves I neglected to clean from under a holly bush. Closer inspection revealed an Eastern box turtle as the cause.

An Eastern box turtle hung out at the opposite end of my fenced in back yard gardens last year. Perhaps I cleaned too many of the leaves from the area the turtle preferred last spring, or maybe it's just a different turtle. I'm just happy to have a turtle call my garden home, even for a short while each spring, and from now on I'll be sure to leave leaf litter under the holly shrubs the turtle/s obviously prefer.

When I went out later to check on him – I think it's a him because of the red eyes – he had settled down among nearby euonymus.

He's still under the holly this morning, barely visible among the leaves and I chose not to disturb him with another photo session.

The Eastern box turtle population has taken a serious hit in Connecticut. Development diminishes their woodland habitats and roads dissect the routes female turtles travel to find preferred egg-laying locations. I'm happy to maintain areas of unraked leaves under the shrubs in my gardens for Eastern box turtles to use. They eat slugs, worms, small snakes, and fungi … there's plenty of each in my gardens. They also eat fruit. So even if resident turtle meanders to the nearby Alpine strawberries, I don't mind sharing if it helps him survive.

Garden thoughtfully …

Categories: Creatures, Edibles, Gardening, General.
Tags: Alpine strawberry, clematis, Eastern box turtle, gardening in Connecticut, iris, slugs.

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A Connecticut garden in May

joenesgarden — Tue, 15 May 2012 09:30:00 +0000

It's party day in the garden blogging world. On the 15th of each month, Carol at May Dreams Gardens hosts Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day so gardeners all over the world can share photos of what's going on in their gardens. Connecticut gardens party hearty in May. Here's some of the blooms in mine zone 6 gardens.

Clematis, growing on either end of my front porch, are always show stoppers in May. Blue Moon graces one end of the porch. It's blossoms open with tinges of lavender pink along the edges that pale as the flowers age.

Nelly Moser, in a more pink hue, grabs attention at the other end.

Nelly is showy enough on her own but this year she is framed by a new addition, Allium rosenbachianum.

Nearby peony buds slowly expand, promising pure white blooms with small blotches of maroon.

The bearded iris 'Beverly Sills' sings sweetly, as if enticing the peonies open. Stakes hold the top heavy blooms up during heavy rains.

The whole view shows foxglove and rose campion standing tall at the rear.

The small, demure Allium karativiense grace the foot of the peony and the stachys border at the front of the bed.

In garden beds in other areas of the property there's amsonia blue star,

a grouping of a bearded iris in so pale a blue the flowers appear white,

Siberian iris amongst ferns,

strawberries blooming in a blue strawberry jar,

and, on branches too tall for deer to reach, stunning flowers of Viburnum plicatum 'Mariessii'.

These and other blossoms draw me outside each morning and greet me throughout each day. No May day should go by without witnessing the magic of May flowers.

The garden party continues at May Dreams Gardens where you can enjoy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day photos from zones warmer and chillier.

Enjoy … and garden thoughtfully.

Categories: Bloom Day, Gardening.
Tags: allium, amsonia, clematis, Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, gardening in Connecticut, iris, peony, strawberry jar, viburnum.

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Butterfly watching

joenesgarden — Sun, 13 May 2012 03:05:37 +0000

My two-year old granddaughter excitedly summoned me yesterday.

«Mum-mum,» she called. «There's a butterfly on your pink flowers.»

«Come see.»

It's there, in yellow and black, at one-o-clock in relation to her head.

This morning (she stayed with me last night) she could not wait to get outside to again check for butterflies.

Love looking at life through the eyes of a two-year old.

Categories: Creatures, Gardening.
Tags: butterflies, gardening in Connecticut.

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Don’t Miss the CHS Plant Sale & Auction

joenesgarden — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:27:18 +0000

The timing could not be better … a pre-Mother's Day plant sale and auction that supports scholarships for horticulture students all courtesy of The Connecticut Horticultural Society (CHS) this Friday, May 11, 2012 at the Tolland County Agricultural Center, 24 Hyde Ave., Vernon.

Admission: FREE

Doors open for previews: 5:30 pm

Plant sale starts at 7:00 pm.

Pick out shrubs, bulbs, wildflowers, perennials … all donated by CHS members. Prices range from 50 cents to $5.

Auction begins at 7:15 pm.

CHS raises scholarship funds mainly through its spring and fall plant auctions. Since 1959 this fund has awarded about $150,000. Students in horticulture programs at the University of Connecticut and Naugatuck Valley Community College apply for these scholarships.

It's a win-win all around. Mom receives plants grown in other Connecticut gardens and the proceeds of your purchase go to furthering horticultural knowledge and education.

If not for a prior family commitment you'd have to elbow me out of the way for the best deals! If you cannot make it to the sale, consider a monetary donation to the CHS Scholarship Fund. Visit www.cthort.org or call 860-529-8713.

Garden thoughtfully … and enjoy the sale and auction.

Photo courtesy of Colleen Fitzpatrick, Director of Communications, Connecticut Horticultural Society

Categories: CT Grown, Horticulture Groups.
Tags: Connecticut Horticultural Society, gardening in Connecticut, plant sale and auction.

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An American Woodcock in a Connecticut woods

joenesgarden — Sun, 06 May 2012 20:11:34 +0000

This is a photo of an American Woodcock.

Don't see it? Look closer.

Still having trouble? Look again …

She is sitting on her nest. She was found quite by accident, flushed out when the gentleman doing some tree work for us stepped about a foot from her nest. He counted four eggs before he retreated to work in a different area.

Thankfully she returned to sit on her eggs. She never once moved or blinked during the brief few minutes needed to capture her image.

We know she has been there for at least a week. The Audubon Society reports the eggs should take about 21 days to hatch. Once chicks hatch they remain with and dependent on their mother for about a month. Once on their own, the youngsters will likely stay in the general area until it is time to migrate south, sometime between October and early winter.

What a pleasure it will be to watch for signs the eggs have hatched. Naturally we will refrain from working in the area until the nest is no longer active.

Once they move on we will do what we can to let the woods heal from our activity, leaving some branches and logs in hopes that mama woodcock returns to nest again. This is a good example of why it is not beneficial to clean wooded areas of all brush and logs. Creatures you may never see use these areas to nest, for food and for shelter.

Learn more about the American Woodcock at The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and at The Audubon.org. The males are known for their unusual mating routines, something I'll watch for next spring now that I know American Woodcocks live nearby.

May 7 update: I went out to see how mama woodcock was doing to find no sign of her and her four eggs destroyed. Not sure what caused the destruction. So sad.

Categories: Creatures.
Tags: American Woodcock, gardening in Connecticut.

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