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Post by whollygoats on Jan 31, 2019 19:47:18 GMT
So...I just checked the thermometers here at Ravenswood. I have one on the back balcony, 100% shaded, and one on the front porch, next to the heat pump, also 100% shaded. The back indicated a temperature of 17 C, while the front thermometer registered at 8 C. That is the temperature differential between sunny south-facing back garden and heavily shaded front garden.
I've donned my overalls and sweatshirt and I'm headed out to wreak havoc on the volunteer plant life....
ETA: I'm gonna be sore tomorrow...
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Post by whollygoats on Feb 5, 2019 17:37:15 GMT
Snow.
Not much, but enough to snarl traffic and engender a 'snow day' for schoolchildren.
I'm starting my planning for the coming pruning session. President's Day (18 February, this year) is my general marker. When I was working my regular day job, President's Day made a three-day weekend, over which it was possible to start, and if nice, even finish, the annual pruning of roses, grapes and raspberries.
I have to educate myself on the indicated pruning care of raspberry canes as this is year two, plus, in the ground. I need to thin, I'm quite sure.
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Post by Mari on Feb 7, 2019 10:41:26 GMT
I need to get around to planting my fruit plants, but before that can happen the garden will need to be rearranged.
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Post by whollygoats on Feb 7, 2019 20:57:16 GMT
Hummer at the hummer feeder!
My first confirmed.
Most excellent! I am pleased.
He just buzzed right up while I was standing on the balcony and took a sip. Then, he backed off and sat in the honeysuckle to check me, and Cleo, out.
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Post by whollygoats on Feb 17, 2019 18:28:54 GMT
I'd pretty much trashed the idea of starting my winter pruning this weekend....traditionally, this weekend, our President's Day, a national holiday, is a three-day weekend which falls at a fortuitous time for gardners like me here in the Specific Nerdfest.
The weather has been too cool and always damp. Yesterday, we had a couple of hailstorms and a lot of rain. Today, it dawned gray, and, although not actually raining, moist.
But, wait....what light breaks yonder from the southeastern skies, smearing shadows throughout the garden? Is it sunglight? Will it last?
A nose out the French doors shows blue skies and big, white puffy clouds, with birds atwitter throughout.
I must needs don my hoody and venture out!
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Post by whollygoats on Feb 17, 2019 20:35:49 GMT
I haz my first tete-a-tete!
It's a miniature narcissus....a tiny daff.
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Post by whollygoats on Feb 17, 2019 20:37:02 GMT
I got about half of the roses pruned down before the weather turned on me with a drop in temp and foreboding dark clouds.
Plus, Murray wants me to join him for some snugglebunnies.
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Post by Mari on Feb 17, 2019 20:52:57 GMT
My narcissus are poking through the earth, but aren't near blooming yet.
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Post by whollygoats on Mar 1, 2019 21:50:20 GMT
Alright....So, I turned off the heat indoors and threw the balcony doors open.
I have unfurled the balcony banners so that one is not blinded by the low angle of the sun whilst seated on the bench on the balcony. It brings that festive look.
This allowed me to finish the pruning in the back rose garden which I had started last week, before the snows. I still have Cecile and the rugosa yet to do, but I did get an excellent start in on the raspberries. Of course, the grapes still taunt me and the garden is abundant with volunteer unwanted species of a vast panoply of plant life.
The tete-a-tete miniature daffs, which I mentioned earlier, are still in bloom, but other than a few specimens of alyssum and huge numbers of weeds, that's about it.
The cats are happy. They love it when the door stands open and nothing impedes their passage.
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Post by Mari on Mar 2, 2019 15:19:49 GMT
Yeah, that's nice The weather here is nice too, but my daffodils are not out yet.
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Post by whollygoats on Mar 3, 2019 0:58:15 GMT
It didn't warm up today. Cold feet.
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Post by whollygoats on Mar 3, 2019 19:01:13 GMT
Again...Another of those days where it is much more enjoyable to stand at the window, indoors and warm, looking out at the frigid sunlight dancing on all the weeds.
It's windy, so the temperatures indicated on the thermometers are deceiving.
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Post by whollygoats on Mar 20, 2019 15:29:05 GMT
Tra la, tra la...'tis the vernal equinox here in a far corner of North America....and the weather actually reflects that.
The most recent week has been distinctly warmer and sunnier than much of the past month. The fleurs are making their showing, what with the tete-a-tete miniature daffodils showing up all others. I even realized that I still have a Delft blue hyacinth adrift in the Stairwell Rose Bed.
My collection of faux terra cotta pots have dry trays.
I'm steeling myself to do my ladder climbing pruning of the grapes.....sigh.
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Post by Mari on Mar 20, 2019 17:31:22 GMT
Pffft, I'm not ready to start thinking of all the work the garden needs doing. Good luck steeling your will for the pruning!
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Post by whollygoats on Mar 21, 2019 2:13:28 GMT
It was indeed an 'open door day'. I shut down the heating in the house and opened the doors about noon. It must have hit near 22 C today.
I managed to get much of the grapes on the arbor trimmed back, but I've still several spots that I need to do more. Cecile Brunner is pruned. And, the rosa rugosa awaits me out front.
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Post by whollygoats on Mar 25, 2019 2:00:20 GMT
An idyllic Sunday in the sunny garden. I'm mostly finished with the grapes, but my bins are full until Tuesday.
I gotta get at the duckweed in the front, or it will get out of hand fast.
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Post by Kye on Mar 25, 2019 10:49:58 GMT
The snowdrops are almost open in the church garden!
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Post by Mari on Mar 26, 2019 19:37:32 GMT
I'm still waiting for my daffodils to bloom.
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Post by Kye on Mar 26, 2019 22:09:09 GMT
There's still a lot of snow and ice and the ground is frozen here, but it looks like the temperature will stay above freezing during the day for the next week! That's a first for this year.
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Post by whollygoats on Mar 31, 2019 2:45:55 GMT
My daffs are fading. The forget-me-nots have begun.
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Post by whollygoats on Apr 1, 2019 0:05:54 GMT
Today was the assault upon the duckweed. This has sprung up on the eastern front topside. The first onslaught was today and over the next few weeks I'll have to revisit for more.
I still have not managed the pruning of the rosa rugosa; it is now showing leaf buds.
The katsura, the lilac, and the honeysuckle are all leafing out.
The white camellias bloom, front and back.
The house painting is done....only a few iris lost to the bumbling clodhoppers of the paint contractors. The pressure wash team did the most damage.
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Post by Mari on Apr 5, 2019 11:14:18 GMT
I have white flowers I haven't managed to identify yet, but my daffodils still aren't blooming.
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Post by ceptimus on Apr 6, 2019 15:20:32 GMT
The fruit trees in my garden are in blossom right now, so I snapped a few photos. I 3D printed an adapter to let me use an old cheap 35mm SLR lens on my modern micro 4/3 camera and used it to get some (I think) nice depth-of-field effects. Apple blossom Pear blossom Plum blossom Tulip in focus Same shot with bluebells(?) in focus Hydrangea leaves Unknown yellow flower - can anyone tell me what it is? Probably officially a 'weed' as my garden is pretty unkempt.
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Post by Kye on Apr 6, 2019 16:11:26 GMT
Pretty!
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Post by whollygoats on Apr 6, 2019 16:25:53 GMT
Niiiiiice.
Is that an Oregon grape, in yellow?
The cherries are in bloom here, as well. A neighbor has one which is presently resplendent in pink.
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Post by whollygoats on Apr 8, 2019 21:33:56 GMT
O, my dawg....
I have iris buds. On the iris in the tub next to the back door. These must be the yellow iris I've missed for two years running, now.
Soon...
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Post by Mari on Apr 10, 2019 18:13:21 GMT
Still no daffodils. .. but my violets are doing wonderfully.
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Post by whollygoats on Apr 10, 2019 20:29:30 GMT
My daffs are starting to fade. I have violas, forget-me-nots, and bleeding hearts. And the primula are busily being consumed by the local slug population. I even bought slug bait....
Violets are very promising. I get them in February and they are my first harbingers of the blooming season to come. Rejoice, for it is reborn!
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Post by ceptimus on Apr 10, 2019 20:43:01 GMT
Same here. Daffs fading; magnolia also past its best. Tulips are in their prime right now.
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Post by ceptimus on Apr 14, 2019 16:31:46 GMT
Niiiiiice. Is that an Oregon grape, in yellow? I think you're right. It has the holly-style leaves so I think it's Mahonia aquifolium. It doesn't look so impressive from a distance. It's growing against a north-facing fence - maybe invaders from the adjacent neighbour's garden - like the bloody ivy! Also, I think the bluebells in my garden must be the so-called "Spanish bluebells" There seem to be just as many white ones as blue - and the flowers are a bit fatter than our native bluebells. The darker blue ones with thinner flowers you can see near the centre of the photo (a bit out-of-focus) may be native ones. Apparently these Spanish ones are a threat to our native bluebells (which are almost always blue) - they're taking over from and hybridizing with the native ones.
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