You Know It's Spring When

You know it's spring at Seven Oaks when...

• Peepers are peeping!  Yes, I can hear peepers...faintly...probably back on the boggy part of the land way in the bank, near the creek, but they're peeping.
• Moles are tunneling EVERYWHERE.  I suspect I've got some mole-courting going on. I wish Mr Mole would bring his girlfriends flowers and candy instead of worms, but if he finds a few Japanese beetle grubs to give her I won't complain.  I will, however, be mighty mad if I turn my ankle again in a mole hole.  The tunnels are everywhere throughout the orchard and on the edge of the woods.  Shadow continues to harass the mole whenever he tries to live in the vegetable garden, and while she makes a mess, he leaves. Thank God.
• Shadow snaps her first wasp.  Have you ever had a dog that eats bees and wasps? She'll snap at anything flying by her head but she has a special quit-chomp-chatter that she saves to sever all sorts of stinging insects.  Only once did I hear her yipe as if she got stung.  She's got the swift CHOMP down to a science. 
• Pierre once again jaunts into the woods. 
• The weeds have returned. With a vengeance. I have weeds growing UNDER the landscape fabric on the little bit of pathway we didn't finish last year.  Big, thick, healthy weeds. Guess I made a nice little comfy micro climate for them under the black fabric...high moisture content, warmth, the works.  Sigh...

 So what are the first signs of spring in your garden?

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By the way, I am going to start posting some of those essays everyone likes. The ones where I ramble on about childhood fun, things I used to do in New York, stuff going on here and Pierre the cat stories.  It took me a while to figure out that 1) I can't be serious all the time 2) I need a creative outlet and most importantly 3) you, my readers, like that stuff.  I heard from several folks who wished I'd get back to the good stuff like what it was like growing up in Long Island, discovering the remains of the old buildings on the land here at Seven Oaks, and of course,  Pierre's latest antics.  So I am going back to my usual eclectic mix of posts.  Enjoy and please DO comment or contact me if you have a special requests. I take requests....

Favorite Cold Tolerant Flowers

Candytuft, non stop bloomer this year - not typical!

My blog post today for the MainLine Gardening community focuses on three flowering plants, two annuals and one perennial, that tolerate and even thrive in cool and cold weather. The local university, Longwood University, plants beautiful displays of pansies as early as February, as does the local shopping center.  It really cheers you up on a gray winter day to drive by and see something blooming.

In my garden today, heather and pansies are blooming alongside crocus and daffodils. I didn't add my perennial candytuft to the list on MainLine Gardening, mostly because I think mine is sitting in a little protected micro climate bubble.  It's in an unusual spot with the slate walkway in front reflecting southern and western sunlight and heat, and sheltered by the overhang from the front porch. I think those two factors keep it nice and snug and encouraged it to bloom all winter long.  It took a rest in November and December, but in January the candytuft began blooming again. Someone asked me if I'd placed a fake silk flower out front - they thought it wasn't real! It's pretty amazing.

I also wrote an article yesterday for Hub Pages on How to Choose Trees for Your Yard.  I think you will find that one interesting and I included links to many resources as well as a video. Enjoy!

Panies blooming in February

Wondering About Wonder

I walked Shadow around the flower garden today, and noticed with surprise that the lavender border I planted around the roses is blooming again.  Most years I get one beautiful show of lavender in June, then nothing for the rest of the season.  This has been the oddest fall temperature and plant-wise since I moved to Virginia. It's been very rainy, with five inches of rain in one week, and cool. Perhaps that has something to do with it? Perhaps the lavender thinks it is spring again? I can't quite figure it out.

We have an odd vine that is growing out of the driveway, and it has set fruit. I'm betting it's a stray cantaloupe. I am careful not to compost the seeds and I did not grow any this year, but every once in a while a seed clings to the compost bin or to the rind, and my best guess is that a squirrel carried the seed with him across the driveway and accidentally planted it. The gravel driveway has made a neat little micro climate, and the heat radiating up from the dark gravel must be keeping the melon toasty warm during this cool snap. I wonder how long we can keep it alive? Every day we go outside and check out little melon. We guided the vines back into the flower garden so that the car won't run it over every time someone drives in and out.

In the vegetable garden, the tomatoes seem to have finally cried 'uncle' and given up. They're flopping this way and that with nary a tomato in sight. Shelob, the giant spider named after the spider in the Lord of the Rings series of books, still holds court in the tomato bed. She turned in the opposite direction, however, with her back facing the sun instead of her abdomen facing the sun, and she's turner her web now so that instead of it on a direct north-south access, it's slightly angled east-west.  Another thing that fascinates me but to which I have no answer. Did she sense the windy days we have had over the past week, with winds coming from the east, and change direction so that insects are blown into her web?

There are so many questions I have about my garden. Why did we get gigantic 'fairy rings' of mushrooms this year, not just in our yard, but in the neighbors' yards too? I'm talking gigantic 10-20 foot circles of perfectly formed mushrooms, the likes of which we have never seen before. Why was this a great year for peppers and a not so great year for tomatoes? Why did the spider angle her web different?  Why is my lavender blooming in September? And why oh why are all the dogwood trees already turning colors, and the under story trees, as if they sense an extra cold winter on hand?

I think that if you love a garden and you have even a modicum of curiosity, you will never be bored. There is always something to learn, explore and wonder about. It seems like every day as I walk to get the mail or just walk the dog, I stumble over another mystery, raise another question. 

"I wonder" has become my mantra.

Hurricane Preparations for the Garden

The trellis view before the wind moved my morning glories.

I can't quite recall a more adventure-filled week. I listed the events somewhere else today: Monday, business setbacks; Tuesday, 5.9 earthquake; Wednesday, aftershocks that woke us all up at 1 am; Thursday, on my return from an all-day business meeting, violent thunderstorm tossed a tree in front of the train on the tracks, causing quite the delay; Friday, we prep for Hurricane Irene.  I am really hoping for a boring, peaceful, totally nothing to report week!

Yesterday's thunderstorms brought wind gusts of over 60 mph to our farm, giving me a taste of what the hurricane might bring. The rain gauge reported 3 1/2 inches of rain - in under two hours!  On top of that, some plants were absolutely flattened by the rain.  My morning glory vines are growing thickly along the top of the trellis, and the wind lifted up a big mat of vines and pulled it right off.

If you live in an area prone to hurricanes or affected by hurricanes, you may want to read my latest essay for Main Line Gardening:  Hurricane Preparations for the Garden.

There's a Rebel in Every Pack

The new seeds were supposed to look like this....

It's true for people as well as plants - there's a rebel in every pack! Thanks to my friend Lisa Ritchie for the title for my essay today written for Main Line Gardening, in which I celebrate the surprise of a new and different Gaillardia among the 100 seeds that were supposed to be alike.

When I bought the seeds, I expected 100 identical plants. But nature had another thing in mind and provided me with one unique plant. I have choices; I could rip it up and insist on my little pink border being "perfect," or I can celebrate the unique and different. I can rejoice in the new and exciting.

I choose to rejoice. Celebrate with me!

...but I got a little of this...and that....lemon yellow REBEL Gaillardia

And if I get seeds? Yes, I'll share...but I can't guarantee they'll grow true. Maybe yours will yield surprises, too!

Please enjoy my essay on Main Line Gardening's website - There's a Rebel in Every Pack.

And yes, the picture is of my latest rebel...

Petunia Pizzazz

I managed to score a whole bunch of "Wave" petunias as well as many other types at Lowe's yesterday, each for 50 cents a pot. They're going to need some TLC, but I think they will recover quite nicely.  Below are photos of the last batch I rescued from Lowe's discount rack. A little water, a little talking to and some love, and lo and behold, abundant flowers!

With 3 inches of rain this past week, my garden is green and glorious just when Virginia's hottest summer weather rolls around.  Thank God for rain!


Enjoy the petunias...once the stragglers recover, I'll photograph them too.

Last petunias 'rescued' from the discount rack, and looking good!

Scenes from the Garden

I took lots of pictures today of the flower garden. Yesterday we finished about two thirds of the rock wall border around the butterfly garden, and we'll finish it later today. We're picking up large rocks around the property, carting them back to the garden, and cementing them in place. It's back-breaking work but the results are beautiful and really neaten up the garden's appearance.




We are still fussing with the paths in the flower garden.  We have the slate pathway stones, but they're of uneven thickness and we're struggling with what to use as a base that will keep back the weeds yet provide even footing.  Landscape fabric is a no-brainer, but what do we use for the base rocks? Sand washed into the shade garden and almost killed my plants. We bought two different size bags of stones at the garden center, but John doesn't like either. I'm not crazy about them either. I could live with them, but they don't feel right. We just can't find what we need.   Something natural, something in between the two sizes of rocks...I feel like Goldilocks from the old fairy tale; nothing is quite right!

The garden is mostly green but everything is ready to bloom. In about a week, if the flowers bloom as I think they will, I'll take more photos for you to compare the before and after!

Counting My 2009 Blessings

Do you enjoy all the television shows that provide a retrospective of the year, or the specials that remind you of all the celebrities who died this past year? Didn't we get enough of Michael Jackson already?

As you probably guessed, I'm not a huge fan of those types of shows. What I do enjoy, however, is looking back over my own year of personal triumphs and reminding myself of how far I've come.

Think about it. You have a choice, you know. You can look back at the past year and be all glum and gloomy about it and think about things you didn't do or people you loved who died or the fact that you lost your job or business was awful. I'm sure at least some of my readers can commiserate here! 2009 was a tough year for many people, no doubt about it. Health challenges, job losses, lousy economy, scary news stories, all sorts of yucky stuff happened.

I lost people I loved. I've written about them here. But I don't want to dwell on loss today.

We know bad stuff happened in 2009. But we can't do a darned thing to change it, right?

And among all the yucky stuff, I'm sure something wonderful happened to you. Even in the worst years of my life there were blessings big and small. I might not have recognized them as such when they happened, but they were there all right.

Today's I'm going to express my gratitude for the wonders that 2009 brought to my doorstep. What can you celebrate about 2009 so that you enter 2010 with an attitude of gratitude?

My 2009 Blessings

1. I resumed my magazine writing career, and published several articles, as well as an essay in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series of books. That was on my "list of things I've always wanted to do" and it was such a thrill to see my name in print again. It also reminded me that my original love, and my gift, is writing. I enjoy marketing - my gift to the world is writing.
2. I met people around the world through this blog and my writing, and I call them friends: Bangchik, who comments nearly once a week (I don't know how you manage to find the time, between your family, job and your own gorgeous garden, but thank you); Keewee, Janet, Colleen, Annie and all the rest who stop by and offer a few words of encouragement; thank you, thank you.
3. My vegetable garden produced so many vegetables that we still enjoy them. What gratitude I feel that I have space to grow things again.
4. Good health for myself, my husband, my little family.
5. Hiking part of the Appalachian Trail on the peak foliage day this fall, a golden cathedral of yellow, a carpet of color. What a memorable day.
6. Continued spiritual growth and participation in my wonderful church community at St. Theresa's.
7. Getting over my fear of playing music in public - and actually playing at church (okay, just a few notes, it can only get better from there).
8. New friends in our local community, and loving long distance relationships with old friends.
9. Facebook - what did I do before Facebook? Facebook has put me back in touch with people I loved and lost contact with 20 years ago. Elementary school friends, girls I played dolls with when I was a child, high school buddies, college friends, and the wonderful people from all my past jobs - and I can leave out the people I didn't enjoy working with. What fun to catch up on their lives and keep up with their lives now.
10. Clients I enjoy working with. What wonderful people I have met this year. I have been blessed by my clients and I hope I am a blessing to them too.

And now, my gardening accomplishments for 2009!

• The new vegetable garden went in and was productive.
• My perennial flowers flourished, and I added my new iris varieties (one survived) to keep my goal of adding one new one each year.
• We finished the patio and the new flower beds in the back of the house.
• We expanded the number of trees, shrubs and flowers to nurture wildlife.
• We planted 460 flower bulbs to brighten the spring.
• My house plant collection grew to include Christmas cactus, plants I've wanted for many years but didn't have the space or light to grow back in New York.

and the biggest gardening accomplishment....

Canning! I learned how to can my harvest. And I enjoyed canned pears and pickled peppers this week, a taste of the harvest.




Happy New Year to all!

Garden Volunteers Part II

What's a garden volunteer? It's a plant that seeds voluntarily throughout the garden. In the past, I've written about the volunteers in the flower garden. This morning Shadow and I tromped through the soaking wet flower garden taking stock of all the volunteers this year.

First, the coreopsis tincturia is back...with a vengeance. Why is it that it's growing in the flower garden in spots I don't want it, but the verge along the driveway where I DO want it naturalize it refuses to grow? I gave some to my neighbors this year. I hope they're still talking to me next spring after it takes over their flower beds.

The Buddleia (butterfly bush) has been a wonderful surprise. We purchased two white ones from Lowe's, and a purple one came with the Spring Hill Gardens Butterfly Gardening Kit that I bought. The purple one has gleefully spread seeds everywhere. I have baby butterfly bushes growing up through pure sand on the pathway in spots we are working on, in ground like cement in other spots on the pathways, and throughout the flower beds. I've kept a bunch, given some away, and have more for the taking (if you live close by! come with pails and shovels). We transplanted several along the edge of the forest. They don't look very happy, but the one I transplanted towards the front of the flower beds, near the trellis, also looked dead after I moved it. Butterfly bushes seem to have a very long tap root, and I'm assuming that they go into shock when you dig them up...but they do recover. The transplanted on is thriving now.

The marigolds self-seeded all along the pathway, and I scattered the rest. I have thickets of marigolds. I love them. They are so wonderful and will bloom here until November or a very hard frost, and I rarely see insect damage on them. Plus they act like natural bug repellents!


I had cosmos self-seed last year too. I grew a patch from a seed packet I bought at the dime store; it tipped over in a heavy rain, ripped up by the roots. I simply pulled it out and tossed the spent stalks into the woods. To my surprise, a little patch rose up in the area where the stalks had tipped over. I left it alone, and what do you know? Giant patch of cosmos now...and yesterday, it tipped over in the rainstorm. I wonder if this is how cosmos self seeds? Just kidding. It doesn't need to wait for a rain storm!

Zinnias self seeded a bit, but the nicest surprise was Vince major...Hubby bought me a six pack of Vinca major from Lowe's last year, thinking it was the purple Vinca I wanted for a little shady spot. I planted it in the flower garden and thought nothing more about it. Now it's scattered itself all about the flower garden. And while the bright pinks clash horribly with the orange and yellow marigolds, I can't help but marvel at its tenacity.


What's growing in your garden these days? Other than weeds, of course, which I have...in abundance.

May your Sunday be filled with joy!

Garden Volunteers or Self Seeding Annuals

I love the term garden volunteers...I always picture a little army marching through the annual bed, gleefully volunteering themselves as seeds for next years' plants. Garden volunteers are self seeding plants, usually annuals. They pop up everywhere. For beginning gardeners or lazy gardeners, or simply people who need to cover a large area with flowers, they are an answer to our prayers.

Last year I bought two 10 cent seed packets at Family Dollar, a discount store in Farmville, Virginia. It contained 30 Bachelor's Button seeds, one package of all blue and the other a mixed package of blue, pink and purple. I directly sowed the seeds into the soil in the perennial bed next to the driveway in early May and promptly forgot about them. The conditions are tough in that area of the garden: hard clay soil with lots of rocks, a fairly steep slope, and hot sun most of the day.

The results? Beautiful clusters of flowers last year...and this year...garden volunteers!

Along with the coreopsis, the Bachelor's Buttons did a great job self sowing throughout the garden, so much so that I've had to move many of the seedlings.

Not bad for spending only twenty cents!

Here's a list of what self-seeded in my garden this year:

• Bachelor's Buttons (Centaurea cyanus)
• Alyssum (Lobelia maritima) - this self seeded during the growing season, so much so that I was picking plants out of the walkway. It's too early yet to know if it will come back this spring.
• Cosmos: I had a free package of cosmos seeds from a company trying to get my business. I threw them in the ground without a thought. Soon I had a massive stand of 3-foot tall pink and purple flowering cosmos on frilly greens. Unfortunately, a strong wind during a thunderstorm smashed them right over and uprooted them, and I could not get them to grow again. They did leave behind seeds, which are now sprouting right where they fell. Amazing! This year I have the same seed packet (that company just won't stop trying to get my business) and another of orange, red and yellow. I will place supports for these tall gems.

I've read a lot about other flowers that will self seed, but these are the annual that volunteered for another tour of duty in the Seven Oaks flower garden.