March 31, 2016

The Promise of Spring: End of March View


If you're new here, welcome!

I'm going to start in my back flowerbed, next to the house.
Right now it's all about the daffodils and hyacinths back there, and I couldn't be happier!
This bed faces south, so it's at least 2-3 weeks ahead of my flowers out front.

Overview, looking towards the back deck.
Quite a few empty spots--I moved some things around last fall, so I'm not surprised.
I'm going to wait and see how my perennials fill in before adding anything else.


Daffodils peeking through my 'Abraham Darby' English rose foliage.
This will be the second summer for this rose--I'm hoping it really takes off!


Mostly, I love this view for all the varieties of daffodils represented here.
I have found that I especially like the white daffodils, and the minis.
Here we have a sampling of at least 5 different kinds.
The more the merrier!

I'm not sure what type this one on the left is (or where it came from, actually), but I love it!

Raspberry bed--not much happening here yet.
Some of the smaller stems are starting leaf out.

Going on around the house, to the west-side cherry trees:

Cherry blossom time is on the horizon!

In my front porch bed:

Bleeding heart coming back for round 2 this year!
Everything about this plant is so beautiful--including those red stems.
The euonymous is looking healthy, too.

Front terraced beds also are showing some signs of life:

Those red peony shoots look sort of like an alien life-form, don't they?
On the left is a fall transplant: 'Prairie Smoke' geum, with buds forming.
In the back, of course, are tulips growing up.

This year's first grape hyacinths.

This is in the bottom terrace, right by the driveway.
Those purple primroses in back are doing great, despite my low expectations when I planted them last year. I just bought these sunny yellow ones a couple of days ago.
Now I just have to remember to plant them!
I've been working out back in the vegetable garden lately, and I have forgotten about this poor plant that needs to get in the ground--until I walk out to the car, that is.
Oh yeah.
Tomorrow will be the day, for sure!

Now we're coming around the corner over to the east-side terraces.
(It's all terraces, I tell you. It wasn't called "The Never-Ending Wall Project" for nothing!)

My sorbaria there in the back has such pretty new leaves.
There are also fat buds on my ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius 'Lady in Red'), and even my lilac bushes are about to burst into leaf.


Let's not forget the ornamental plum!
Soon, my friends, soon.
All these promises of loveliness to come will be fulfilled!

Now we're back to the backyard again!

Last but not least, my vegetable garden.
I just got the pea trellises up yesterday.
The pea packets almost all said they shouldn't need staking.
LIES! They always need staking!
I used the suckers pruned off my ornamental plum for the stakes, along with some twine for the cross-pieces. Bring on the pea sticks!
Yes, I have 3 separate pea-patches (actually 4): 1 for the family, and 1 in each child's plot.
You can never have too many peas, I think.
At least, we have yet to have enough make it into the house for a meal.
We just planted 2 1/2 packets, though, so maybe this will be the year!

I also got my onions in yesterday (3/30); a mix of yellow and white.
I need to water it all tomorrow, I think.
After weeks (and weeks) of rain, we've actually hit a dry spell.
Not that I'm complaining!

This post is linked up with Helen's over at The Patient Gardener for End of Month Views. Head over there to see some other lovely gardens.

What's growing in your garden right now?


11 comments:

  1. I love your ornamental plum - I used to have one in a previous garden but don't think I have space now.

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    1. Thank you! It will be really gorgeous in about 2 weeks. I do like the purple-red foliage after that, too. Thanks for stopping by!

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  2. I love your ornamental plum - I used to have one in a previous garden but don't think I have space now.

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  3. Thank you for taking me round your garden, you certainly have lots of beautiful flowers making your garden very colourful. Colourful foliage is important too, I think you are further ahead of us in the UK, our trees aren't really showing their leaves yet.

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    1. Hi Pauline! I'm glad you came over. I used to like only green foliage, except in fall, but lately I've come over more and more to the darker-colored leaves. I'm blaming the ornamental plum!

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  4. Wow, that is a serious slope! Terracing is a really good way to deal with it, you've obviously been doing a lot of landscaping. We have one small area terraced but for the rest of the time I'm just climbing up and down the hill. At least we keep fit?

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    1. Yes! It was all junipers holding the slope up when we moved in. Since neither of us particularly care for junipers, we knew something had to change. Hence the many, many walls. My kids have fun sledding down our Back Slope in the winter--I guess that's one advantage!

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  5. I love the terracing Linnae. All that space for plants too. Thank you for the tour - nice to see spring has sprung chez Linnae :)

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  6. Hello, this is my first time visiting. I'm rather blown away by those vegetable terraces, they look amazing. I have vegetable terrace envy and I didn't even know it was a thing. It's interesting to see how similar what is flowering or coming up in our gardens are, given you are in the US and I'm in the UK (Sheffield). You are quite right, peas always need staking. I look forward to seeing how your garden grows this year.

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    1. Hello! Welcome! I didn't really know about terraced gardening either, until we moved here. We have a slope on every side of the house, so we had to learn very quickly! It is interesting to compare what's blooming with gardens far away. Thanks for visiting!

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