No! I did not have fun in my garden today. :( I had to work. Then I went straight from work to the ice rink for my daughter's hockey game. Now I just got home and it's getting dark. Sigh. This week it seemed like when I was out of work it rained, and when I was in work it was gorgeous. Couldn't win this week.

Tomorrow I have family/graduation duties, so there goes another day in the garden.

Sometimes life really gets in the way of gardening, lol!

:)
Dee

I sure did! I was outside from about 7:30 until 5:30, planting the zillion plants I bought Thursday at Andrew's in Amherst...one of my favorite places!

i sure did. this morning i hit the sisters plant sale at about 8:30, came home, and put everything in its place. wrote up tags for my new plants, then to pemberton. put in some annuals to fill in around new planted perennials, got the herbs started in their pots on the patio, and did a little clean up.

First I went to the Plymouth Garden Club plant and bake sale, bought a few very, very cheap plants plus a sour cream coffee cake and some other stuff. Came home and started to plant the loot. Also took a big bunch of empty pots out the tool shed to make some room.

The landscaper who we used to prepare for construction came by (was working in the neighborhood) and asked if we wanted any wood chips. I said yes and asked if he had time to remove a very big branch that fell from my tree into the neighbor's yard, just missing his hot tub. He did. While looking for my neighbor to alert him we were going to work in his yard, I discovered he was in his hot tub. Managed to embarass him thoroughly, but he was happy the branch was going to be removed.

Supervised the branch removal, plus removal of some other dead stuff (the neighbor was no longer in the hot tub). When that was over, I planted most of the new plants, then got out the digging fork and rake and spread some of the wood chips.

Finished by sitting on the porch with the cat, looking at the garden, and eating some of the German chocolates a neighbor gave me.

Claire

Yesterday I started to clean out a place in the garden to put the rose 'Gertrude Jeckyl', but the soil was really too wet to dig in. So I just walked around doing piddly chores--pulling weeds, etc. Saw some lily beetles and got out the Bayer, sprayed them hard.

Not too much. I am fighting a head cold (a gift from one of my six nieces and nephews visited during my trip to Jersey this past week), and it was an odd day, mostly overcast, sometimes too cool, sometimes too warm (or else that was just me). I walked around, pulled a weed here and there, and examined things  new tree roses in pots starting to grow out, platycodon finally popping up through the mulch, a surprise late appearance by a 'fancy' peony thought lost, the last of seven to appear from eyes that I purchased on eBay two years ago (two of which have buds this year, go figure), daffodils, tulips and hyacinths STILL in bloom, etc. I did dredge up the energy to dig out some more of the orange daylilies from the front of the house, where they are crowding the four Annabelle hydrangeas I planted last year, and move them over to the slope along the drive. But, if you know the feeling you get, when you have a head cold and bend over, you know why I gave up after planting a dozen or so clumps. And, I was in no mood to deal with the black flies.

It is sunny out this morning (at least I think that odd, bright object I see up in the sky is the sun), but weÂre supposed to have thunderstorms this afternoon. Hopefully, I can mow the lawn before that happens, since it is becoming quite a jungle out there. Sitting and driving I think I can handle.

My Bluestone, Hirts and Richters orders will arrive this week, and I leave on Friday for another week-long business trip. So, I will have a lot of planting to do, before I head out. Hopefully, I'll be back up to speed by the time all the plants arrive. If the weather is as nice as predicted, planting should be good medicine.

Sniffingly yours,

narcnh

I had a glorious time, planting my little heart out. Planting is my absolute favorite activity. Got both perennials and annuals in the ground--tho plenty more to go. Did more clean-up and fertilizing. And just walked around and admired the spring. This time of year I don't want to do anything but garden. Am headed to a nursery after church--then the garden. Some parts are still too soggy from the floods so I'm working on higher ground. Then I come in and make notes. It is truly amazing how much I forget--those notes are a lifesaver. As I write, I check things out in garden books. My two favorite perennial books are Clausen/Ekstrom and Armitage.

"Today" being yesterday -- YES, YES, YES. Did the grudge work first -- weeded everything, put in trellis's, brought out della robia and large terra cotta, Took a Bunch of Advil.

Then, the real fun -- planted everything from the CT swap and the few things purchased. Moved two Rugosa's from the nursery and am glad I didn't wait 'til next year. Planned out where to put the wintersown annuals and trenched the edge of the semi-herb garden for the Alpine Strawberries that are just too little to go in the ground, yet.

Decided that cherry tomato plants will do just fine as an ornamental vine where I need red and got that trellis in. Plants will go in today.

Yes, fun and sore muscles and definite need for a manicure!! Life doesn't get much better when topped off with a mixed grilled dinner and handsome men to share it with :-)

Martie

Condolences to Dee who is gamely attending to family responsibilities (there will be other nice days for you to enjoy in your garden!). And best wishes for a speedy recovery to Narcnh. Planting is more fun when you don't feel as though your head is going to explode. We don't have the black flies the way we did when I lived int MWV, but we have mosquitos that could rival the Airbus A380. A few more warm days and they'll be out in force. Can't wait.

I've cleaned out the leaves we added around the Nikko Blue, Toyko Delights, and the Varigated Hydrangeas. I have wanted to do it for a couple of weeks now, but the rain always seemed to interfere. I did not find any really slimey suprises under the leaves, either. :) I am hoping the protection will accord us some flowers on Nikko and Varigated, and more of the lovely blossoms the Toykos produce.

Now, just returned from the (PACKED!) nursery with bamboo stakes and a new ball of twine I am going to get the peonies staked before the onset of more rain. I am leaving the poppies for another day, since they are barely showing buds and the flower stems haven't really begun to shoot up (the rain has set them back a tad).

OK, well... looks like Rex and I need to get back to work. Ginny, are you coming to the swap (I hope so)?

Well, I got about 2/3 of the lawn mowed today before the rains came. Got pretty soaked in the process and have a wet Chow Chow to boot, but the lawn around the house looks a lot better. Probably not the best thing to do for my cold, though. Now, I'm relaxing with a cup of first flush Darjeeling.

If any of you like tea, you should check out Boston Tea Campaign. I bought a pound of FFD for $16 and a pound of green tea for $14. Service is excellent, too, and they will even send you a free sample. Link below.

narcnh

Here is a link that might be useful: Boston Tea Campaign

I just got back from the nursery. It took longer than I thought--now there's a surprise. And I didn't even buy that much. Lusted after Cimicifuga 'Hillside Black Beauty' but they were $25 EACH and I'd need three. Just couldn't be that wanton. Now I'm headed outside to get some more planting/cleaning up done. Little by little....And no, Chelone, I am so sorry I will not be at the swap. I will be in the Cotswolds, drooling over the results of someone else's hard work in the garden.

Like martie, I also took a bunch of advil (prescription strength is the best!). Dug a lot, pulled out roots, made a new bed, planted some shrubs. Now that the rain forced me in I guess I should think about laundry, cleaning and grocery shopping. Ugh!

I have the peonies staked! Why I always wait until they're so tall I have no idea, but it seems to be a yearly thing with me. :/ ! I was dazzled by the size of the buds on the tree peony... I counted 5/6 and it's about 18" high.

I need to dig out a Lonicera that has failed to really do much of anything. I think I will replace it with another "Polish Spirit" clematis. They're easy, they perform nicely, and I don't have time to really mess around with roses.

Think I'll jam the Lonicera in another bed and train it along a retaining wall. If it takes, GREAT! if not, no great loss. I have really developed a "devil may care" attitude after yanking out the Phitzers. It was a liberating experience... and a death nell to many languishing plants, lol.

This weekend has been awesome. It's the first real gardening weekend I've managed this year! Either the weather or gigs have kept me away up til now.

My parents were in town and they had a great time watching me and DH buy stuff, put in stuff, weed stuff, etc. And they have more gardening experience than us, so it was fun discussing plans with them and having them tell us that we're doing well!

What we did:
Weeded lots (the weeds sure loved the three weeks of rain we've had!)
Pulled out grass to create a bed under my lilacs (I just stuck bulbs in last fall coz I was lazy, now I'm regretting it as I have to carefully yank grass out from around the plants--frittilaria and grape hyacinth--without yanking the plants). Have a ways to go with that bed, but made a lot of progress.
DH mowed the lawn and took apart the scary riding mower and changed the fuel filter and sharpened the blades. He also pruned back lot of the small trees--especially the nasty honey locust trees with the evil pointy thorns that jump out and grab you if you go anywhere near them (I *hate* those trees. I really want to take them all out and replace them with something else but I havent managed to talk DH into it yet.)
Planted out allysum, clematis, bleeding heart, hellebore, one black iris ("Before The Storm"), Nemesia, something I dont know the name of (orange petals, blue center, kindof daisy-like in look).
Bought hanging baskets: terracotta million bells, purple petunia and something white and something lavender mix.
Made railing planters: white petunia/red million bells/blue lobelia.
Saw the first hummingbird of the year! Yay!!!!
Bought Bayer's Rose and Flower spray to treat the lilies for red lily beetle infestation. I'm going to treat them until they get to full buds and then stop before they flower. I'm hoping that that way I'll get rid of the beetles before the spray would be killing bees as well.
Sat on the deck swing for the first time this year!
Mom hung out and identified all the birds. She's President of her local chapter of the Audabon society (in Putnam Valley NY) and had a blast. We have a LOT of birds on our property! So cool!

I did, I did! Planted winter sown annuals with my daughters in their raised cutting beds. Moved a bunch of astilbes over to the Husker's Red Penstemon/Chocolate Eupatorium/purple heuchera bed. They look nicer there! Decided to pull out everything around my Japanese maple -- but didn't do it all today. Planted 6 tiarella under my magnolias. Hope they'll run fast! Then rearranged the front yard -- moving monarda, anemones, and Dragon's Blood Persicaria then adding Sweet Dreams Coreopsis and Knautia macedonica. Thought lots about where everything else should go. This is the 2nd time I've rearranged that bed this Spring. Fear that I lost a small sugar maple and 3 blueberries to the winter moth caterpillars. Not a leaf on any of them....

Man oh man! I just can't get cut a break, lol! On the way home from the graduation brunch (at which I had a fantastic time, by the way!), my 13-y.o. son called his friends, and it turned out their social activities for the afternoon fell through, which let me off the hook for chauffering and chaperoning. Yes!, I thought, an afternoon in the garden...

Ten minutes later as I pulled in my driveway, it was pouring.

Well, the sun is out now, so I will at least go take a walk through the garden. Hopefully our monsoons are over now and we'll get some more pleasant weather this week.

Glad to hear others enjoyed their gardens this weekend!
:)
Dee

THis weekend, we decided that we needed to attend to the drive way erosion. Friday, I snuck over to home depot, picked up 4 inch piping, and ordered the 3/4 crushed stone. Silly me, figured that the digging might be easy...heavy clay and 10 days of rain.......Pass the advil. but my reward was going over to Stone falls garden center thsi afternoon. We went for just a flowering almond , right...

6 crepping stone sedums, two flowering almonds, and a catmint plant. The latter was a vain attempt to keep the boss out of the herbs. Anyway, time to relax and enjoy the afternnon.

Dennis & Amy

I took Friday off so I've been having fun outdoors now for three days. Unfortunately though only one of the days, yesterday, was decent in terms of weather for the entire day. Is anyone else sick of being wet and chilled? Yeesh...

Despite the wet weather we did get quite a bit accomplished around here. I'm almost through moving plants and planting what new stuff I've acquired. Then it's compost and/or mulch and on to the tropicals, annuals and containers. Sounds quick and easy, right? lol We'll see...

Sue

I've really been enjoying reading everyone's responses! I didn't get out much this weekend, but I did buy a new reel mower. I convinced myself I needed it so the newly sprouting grasslings would get a perfect, gentle, no-pull cut. (Yeah right. *G*) Roses, lupines, columbine, and centaurea all have buds, as well as my little clematis crispa that I rescued last year from the NEWFS "injured" table for $1. Can't wait to see them all!

My wishes for speedy returns to the garden for Dee and Narch. I put in my parents' vegetable garden and part of the flower garden on Saturday and Sunday, deferring playing in my own garden. But hey, I was gardening. And when it comes to put in and tending my elderly parents' garden, there's an extra satisfaction because it gives them such enjoyment to have something they wouldn't be able to make themselves.

Cady I had a similar experience as you. I did up the four large containers for my mother's deck with a variety of annuals including zonal geraniums, tri color potato vine, licorce plant. Kind of a mother's day gift for her. She'd rather have the planted containers than some bunch of flowers that would only last a short time. It is hard for her to get around now so even planting containers is difficult for her.

I also stopped by the heirloom plant sale at Gore Place in Waltham and picked up some interesting heirlooms annuals. Very muddy ground but worth the stop. Then on to Lexington Gardens. BTW anyone looking for Fuschia 'gartenmeister' they have them in stock at Lex Gardens for around $5. Nice looking plants there.

Sue

Sedum37,
Those container arrangements sound delicious.

I wanted to go to Gore Place for the plant sale, but thanks to my weekend schedule I wouldn't have gotten there until 2 hours before the end of the sale on Sunday. The thought of wandering despondantly through the last picked over remains made me give up on the idea. lol