Robins

I looked out the kitchen window this morning and saw several robins picking and pecking under the apple tree. They are the first I've noticed. Can spring be far away?

Let the blooms begin!

My 'Jelena' witch hazel on the first of February.

From TTH200902

From TTH200902

From TTH200902

Baby pictures - Azalea seedlings

Last winter I acquired a lot of seeds for eastern US native azaleas. I had to join 3 different azalea and native plant societies so I could buy from their members-only exchanges. It's tricky getting them started. You have to sow them on the surface of finely milled sphagnum moss, grow under lights, fight off fungal infections and eventually transplant the babies. The ones that survived I potted up and moved to the basement for the winter. They are growing like gangbusters. In May I'll move them to a protected spot under the apple tree for the summer.

From TTH200901

From TTH200901

From TTH200901

From TTH200901

Listening to Catnip

I planted two catnip plants in the herb bed last spring. Cats having no ability to delay gratification promptly uprooted and ate them. I bought two more larger ones and the night before I entered the hospital for my knee replacement I planted them out. I figured that would give them two weeks to get established before the cats could get at them again. The catnip plants flourished and all summer I would find cats wallowing and nibbling.

From TTH20081231

From TTH20081231

From TTH20081231

From TTH20081231

Cat, Interrupted

My smallest cat, Minou, is a skilled and dedicated hunter. She has been staking out a spot in the back flower bed for weeks. I have seen her sit and stare at the same spot for an entire afternoon.

From TTH20081231

From TTH20081231

Wood pile again

I did finish moving and stacking the firewood and spreading the mulch.

From TTH20081231

From TTH20081231

Hedginess

I love the woods in winter because you can see in and through them. When they're leafed out in the summer they're just a solid mass. My back yard is planted all around with trees and shrubs, some with winter berries, some with colored stems.

Red twig dogwood (Cornus sericea 'Cardinal')

From TTH200812

I planted these first around the base of my big pine tree. They didn't do well, maybe because the tree sucked all the moisture out of the soil. I moved a few to the back yard hedge and gave these to my neighbor. They're planted along our joint lot line. He was surprised to find that they grew about 8 feet in one year and is eyeing them nervously. I told him if he gives up on them to let me dig them and give them to a friend who is planning hedge in a wooded area.

She has some dreadful neighbors who actually cut down a mass of trees and laid out a road on my friend's property. They've erected a fence and now want to plant it thickly with fast growing shrubs. These are incredibly easy to propagate. In the late winter, just as the buds begin to swell, you cut a bunch of long stems, bundle them into fascines and bury them in trenches. They sprout all along the length of the stem. These are supposed to be great for erosion control on stream and pond banks. I suggested that she include plenty of pokeweed so the birds will eat the berries and then poop purple all over the neighbors' house.


Viburnum trilobum (Cranberrybush viburnum) and more Red twig dogwood

From TTH200812

I have three kinds of viburnums in this back hedge. The dentatum berries are gorgeous, gun metal blue, and get eaten as fast as they ripen. Th nudum are beautiful when they are ripening, shading through green, pink and dark blue. They dry to raisins that hang on and get eaten slowly. The trilobums are the showiest, starting out bright red, freezing to a rust color and hanging on through the winter. They'r a food of last resort for the birds and get eaten by the returning flocks in late winter.

Viburnum trilobum

From TTH200812

Ilex verticillata (Winterberry Holly)
I think I love winterberry the best of all. I have at least half a dozen cultivars. This one was a surprise with its pale orange berries. Only the female plants set berries and there are two major groupings with different bloom times. You have to have male plants with bloom times that match. The Forest Farm hard copy catalog has a very helpful chart. Request one here.

From TTH200812

From TTH200812

From TTH200812

Compost hump

I've moved the black compost bins behind the new shed and piled the extra in a hump. When I have a minute I will cover the hump with burlap, InterBay mulch style. The moist dark is supposed to promote the growth of micro-organisms and the barrier protects your larger wormy things from predators. I gave it a try last year and it did produce lovely compost.

From TTH200812