Early morning visitors

Early morning is my favorite time in the garden. It's quiet, dewey, and it's when you'll see some things that you probably won't get to see the rest of the day. The other morning was no exception.

Like many other suburban gardeners, deer are frequent uninvited visitors to our yards. I was going to write "unwelcome visitors", but I don't think that's really true, at least in my case. I like seeing the deer around.

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Termites! (don't panic)

So the other day when I was scrambling around trying to find more potting mix to use when potting up bamboo divisions, I emptied out a container which had been sitting around since last Summer when the Rhubarb that was in it went dormant (and then I guess died). Breaking the potting mix up, what did I see?

Termites! Ack! Termites! Well, that was my first reaction.

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Something to like, something not to like

I've been focusing so much lately on weeds, and cleanup, and the rainy weather, that it's important to realize that there are things that I really like about my garden. Enjoyable things. Beautiful, interesting things.

For instance, this spot next to the patio. I put these Heuchera in these pots "temporarily" three or four years ago. I've never repotted them or moved them. I do water them when it's hot, and fertilize them once in a while, but for the most part I leave them alone.

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Wild seedlings

I don't know about your garden, but I've got seedlings everywhere! Not just weeds either -- I've got plenty of seedlings from desirable plants. Plants that I probably want to save, perhaps to transplant, or maybe to leave where they are.  It's important to recognize the plants you want to keep while they're small, otherwise you'll end up yanking them out with all of the weeds. Sometimes it's simple, like when you're growing in pots, as is the case with this red plains coreopsis:

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Trying to get comfortable

It's been a few days, so let's check in on Super-whitey's kittens.

They're moving around a lot more now, and they each have one eye open. They still sleep most of the time, but it seems to take them a while to get settled.

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Digging, potting, and untangling bamboo rhizomes

The other evening I made another trip to Michael's garden to dig some more bamboo. As a reminder Michael has been growing a dozen or so varieties of bamboo in his garden for over 20 years, so has a wealth of experience with growing bamboo and keeping it controlled.

That's the plant we dug from. He wants to move it to the left a bit, so we took some off the right edge and he'll just let it spread to the left over time. We're not sure of the ID of this bamboo, but it seems like a Pseudosasa, most likely Pseudosasa japonica -- commonly known as "Arrow Bamboo".

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What do you do when it rains?

We've finally had a few days in a row of decent, soaking rains (after three weeks or more of warm and dry) so that's great for the plants! The problem is it's Saturday and I'm eager to spend some time in the yard. What can do you when the ground is muddy and everything is wet?

Take photos? Yes of course, since overcast days provide better lighting than harsh sunlight in many cases, but that's not the answer I'm looking for.

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Do a little planting

I decided to plant something at lunchtime today. I've been overwintering Tradescantia zebrina cuttings inside, and from two cuttings I've produced dozens of plants. They're taking over my plant table in the basement, so time to get some outside!

That's what they look like after Winter. A plant doesn't get much deader than that.

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Prepare for the onslaught!

It's the time of the year when some of the trees in my yard unleash their attack. I'm talking about Silver Maples, and their fascinating but frustrating (for a gardener) seeds more commonly known as "helicopters".

This year the tree seems to have decided that it doesn't need as many leaves, and has used the energy it saved by not creating them to instead produce extra helicopters.

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