Creeping Charlie and his cousins

I complain a lot about the Creeping Charlie in my yard, but some plants I've been referring to as CC are actually something else.

Borrowed photo (can't recall from where)

Creeping Charlie (Glechoma hederacea), a member of the mint family, is known by several other names: Ground Ivy, Creeping Jenny, Field Balm, Alehoof, and more. While eschewed by most gardeners, it does have its uses: provides nectar to some pollinators in early spring, is edible, has medicinal uses, was used in place of hops when brewing beer, etc. Some no-mow lawns include it in their seed mix.

Last summer I let it run rampant on the south side of the house while trying to keep it out of the garden beds there (it may have allelopathic qualities that cause it to compete with other plants). I thought it might be a natural (if non-native and invasive) no-mow alternative to lawn, but it doesn't withstand light traffic very well, so that area is a bit muddy now. Elsewhere in the yard, it gets treated with a broadleaf herbicide. For more info, see this post.

Purple Deadnettle (Lamium purpureum) is also a member of the mint family. It may be known as Red Deadnettle or Purple Archangel. It too provides forage in early spring, is edible, and has medicinal uses (as described here). I have it in my yard, but being a winter annual, it dies when the weather gets hot and isn't that much of a problem, or where it does pop up, it is easy to pull.

Henbit (Lamium amplexicaule) is yet another mint relative that is very similar to Purple Deadnettle. I probably have this in my yard, but I have not noticed it or assumed it was Deadnettle. To read a comparison between Purple Deadnettle with Henbit, visit this site.

What *is* growing in my yard is Bleeding Heart. They seem particularly prolific this year. I love them, wish they hung around longer.

While I whine about the lack of bugs in my yard, this year I've noticed a lot of ants. These busy little critters were trying to drag something much larger than themselves into their nest.

We have been having a LOT of rain recently - everything is so *green*. The lawn has needed twice-weekly mowing, and I've already cleaned out the gutters twice as well. The chokeberry shrubs are blooming, so maybe they will produce fruit this year. The ragwort is in its yellow glory, the wild geranium and blue star are doing their thing, and the columbine is just starting to bloom.

On the edible front, the strawberry plants are taking root, the garlic poking up, and the rhubarb heading toward first harvest. Even a remnant of my asparagus patch is providing me with a few spears here and there, enough for an omelette now and then.

Yarden every darn day

That's been my motto lately, as I hustle to get all the plants I purchased installed in the yard. I'm not done yet, but getting there.

Sunday: planted bleeding heart and porch plants (coleus and black-eyed susan vine); cut back most of the daffodils; installed bluebird box; put zinnias on deck to harden off; set up latest addition to my flamingo collection.

Old-fashioned bleeding heart

Thunbergia 'Sunny Susy Amber Stripe' aka black-eyed Susan vine

Unknown coleus

Unknown coleus, leaf detail

Bluebird box installed (before baffle added)

It's a planter!

Monday: spotted the first catbird of the season; making clay toad houses and designing Beau-proof vases; purchased a cage for the "nesting" cylinder bird feeder to keep the starlings out (unfortunately, keeps the blue jays out as well); purchased a baffle for the bluebird nesting box.

Tuesday: lots of activity at the bluebird house (after I installed the baffle), but no takers so far; bird fight between two male bluebirds; cowbird at the birdbath; added the cage to the feeder with the "nesting" cylinder; after another inch of rain, the rain garden overflowed, which left standing water on the lawn and where I planted grass seed - it needs a berm at the north and northwest ends; mowed and trimmed.

Wednesday: planted the honeysuckle; hung the planters for the sweet potato vine (which involved a 2x4, hand tools and cable ties); sprayed for weeds; found an excuse to buy an Ego trimmer: the area behind the fence (where there is a lot of garlic mustard); I think a raccoon got into the robin nest behind the Japanese maple (found empty egg shell); replanted a brome sedge; positioned the metal heron and two flamingos by the "pond".

Thursday: saw a grackle at the feeders; SO helped me shore up the low end of the rain garden (I think I should have purchased top soil instead of garden soil); mowed because we are expecting days of rain; purchased an Ego trimmer.

Friday: planted catmint around trees in front yard and added some mulch (my aching back!); not much rain, until later - 0.5".

Saturday: finished planting catmint (in a pot); planted zinnias (in pots) - 'Cut and Come Again Mixed Colors'; top dressed containers with Black Kow; I think more of the rain garden needs a berm; pruned butterfly bushes.

Roots on zinnia seedlings

Zinnias, all in a row

I've been cutting back the flower stalks on the golden ragwort, as it is starting to go to seed. Lazy me just threw the stalks behind the blue star where they can decompose. Today, I noticed that all those flower heads turned to seed heads despite being removed from their mother plants. I hope that is not going to be a problem. I like the ragwort, but not *everywhere*.

Blue Star "hedge"

One aim of planting natives is to attract pollinators and their relatives, like this ladybug. Most insects won't stay still long enough for a decent photo, but this bug was very obliging.


Every time I plant a perennial, I think to myself, Hopefully, I won't have to do this again. My shoulders work great, but my back - not so much. I dream of the time when spring means adding a few annuals to the landscape, then enjoying the view from the deck, iced tea in hand.

It's hard to keep up

It seems every time I turn around, something else is blooming or about to bloom. Spring feels compressed into less time - today it is in the 80's - so while everything is taking its turn, there seems to be a bit of shoving going on in the line.

The creeping phlox is not only creeping across and down the castle block, it is putting on a nice show. Each year, once the bloom is done, I prune it back a bit. This year I will do that but also let it continue moving down the front of that bed, so that it is draped over all the castle block. It doesn't seem interested in moving under the shrubs there; probably too shady.

I'm very pleased with the 'Perfect Purple' crabapple. It is only one year old but blooming like an old hand. It has two means of support; I'll remove the one along the trunk this year, the rest next year (per the nursery's recommendation).

The apple trees are blooming now. When I planted them, I was all gung ho on growing my own fruit. Almost immediately after, I lost interest. I'll leave them be for now - the apples are quite tasty - but I have a feeling their days are numbered.

I know I posted a pic of the old-fashioned bleeding heart before, but it just keeps getting better and better.

Non-blooming trees and shrubs are leafing out, too. This is the view out my dining room window, where the Japanese maple provides nice dappled shade. The variety is 'Bloodgood'.

For the record, I've started transplanting seedlings. The coleus is in the box on the front porch. To keep my indoor-outdoor cat from using this planter as a litter box, I laid pine cones on the surface. For some reason, cats don't like trying to dig around pine cones.

Today I also transplanted marigolds to the marigold/pole bean raised bed, and started the beans plants in paper cups. I purchased poke milkweed to go where the butterfly bush was, in the milkweed patch, and as soon as I am done here, they will go into the ground.

My ongoing problem (one of several, actually) with the dogs is they trample stuff. I finally decided they could not have the run of the yard, so have been setting up some fencing to limit their turf. To protect the bed on the south side of the house, I moved some fence panels from the removed movable fence. To eliminate their access to the raised beds and the hosta bed, I strung electric fence wire but haven't charged it yet; I'm waiting to see how the configuration works out for my convenience. So far, the dogs seem to understand that the flimsy wire fence is meant for them.

I thought the spice bush was a goner and intended to replace it. However, my source had a similar problem this past winter, so wasn't selling them yet. She showed me how to check the cambium layer for signs of life. I didn't need to, though, as the little stick of a thing is sending out a leaf. We'll see how it fares. The mountain mint might be recovering as well (see trampling dogs above). And the dill reseeded itself, sprouting only *after* I purchased more seed. Of course.

Redbud season!

Redbuds are one of my all-time favorites. They are forever linked to the first house I owned, the birth of my children (both May babies), and of course to spring. This is a spectacular year for them.

Fat bees were buzzing among the blossoms. I tried to get a pic of one, but it looks like all I captured was the blur of its wing.

After waiting for eons for spring to get here, now I can't keep up with the shrubs and trees. Each day something new is blossoming, including the North Star cherry. Out of four trees, one is blooming, one is dead, and the other two are biding their time.

Earlier today I noticed the purple-leaf sand cherry starting to bloom. By this evening, it was going full blast. Since I am going to be busy tomorrow, I didn't want to miss its glory.

It starts to leaf out while blooming, so the the delicate pink flowers are accented by the deep purple leaves. Yum!

The hosta bed has survived trampling by Clio the Big Foot, as has my old-fashioned bleeding heart. Some of the coral bells are questionable. Damn dog.

Pink seems to be the theme of this post!

And more pink! The prairie smoke is blooming (but not smoking yet). While visiting my local native plant nursery today, I asked if they had more. Not this year. Apparently, they are difficult to start.

Besides the flowering plants, other denizens of the yard are showing signs of life. The Prairie Fire crabapple that looked like a three-foot long stick when I planted it is sprouting leaves. Yes!

The 'Limelight' hydrangea is beginning to leaf out, but the true purpose of this pic is to demonstrate that sometimes things go according to plan. I'm talking about all that gout weed underneath the hydrangea. The plan called for it to fill in that area but NOT spread to other areas. We'll see how well that second part works out. BTW, the green plants among the gout weed that are not weeds are volunteer columbine. Not according to plan but I'll take it.

I've been actively discouraging the three forsythia bushes in my yard. Last spring's whack job was enough to prevent blooming this year, but I'm discovering I kind of like this dwarf version. Too bad it won't stay small.

For the record, I purchased a flat of alyssum today, 'Snow Crystals'. Some has already found its way into the big pots. I also transplanted the butterfly bush to where the azalea was. And I spot treated dandelions in the front yard. The trellises I purchased last year for the clematis are securely in place, just in the nick of time. I expect the following weeks to be split between planting seedlings and weeding. And eating asparagus!

Not much to see yet

The weather continues to confound. Some days I am in hurry-up mode, other days it feels too early to get excited about gardening. I finally started some seedlings inside (late) while we (my SO and I) continue to plod along outside.

As stated earlier, one thing I wanted to do this year is show the progression of changes of the raised bed portion of the yard. I added a reminder to my calendar to take pix every month. Last month's are here. Below are this month's.

Looking SW

Looking NW

Looking NE

Looking SE

Orchard - looking SW

So far, the biggest changes involve moving concrete blocks. The old strawberry bed has been dismantled and those blocks doubled the height of the asparagus bed. The blocks for a smaller bed that last year hosted tomato plants is now the second story of a bed in the orchard where I plan to plant madder.

The redbud trees are still going strong, but other denizens of the yard are coming on. The rusty heron still protects the rhubarb patch. While cleaning out a cupboard, I found several jars of too-old-to-eat vanilla bean rhubarb jam. I may have to repeat that recipe, but share the results in a more timely manner (I can eat only so much of the stuff). There will be the annual May birthday rhubarb pies. AND I plan to mordant wool yarn with the rhubarb leaves. Fun stuff!

This Old Fashioned Bleeding Heart is not only big and beautiful, volunteers are starting to pop up here and there around the yard.

This northside bed fills up with hostas, coral bells, iris, and rudbeckia. Somewhere along the line, the landscape timbers got relocated. I need to figure out a way to redefine the edge, to keep the grass out.

After giving the 'Limelight' hydrangea a severe pruning, I was a bit nervous about its survival. It is starting to leaf out, though, so now I am more excited than nervous, to see how it turns out.

The 'Betty Corning' clematis continues to be a problem of excess. This year we are trying an open-ended approach to the trellis, hoping the prevailing winds from the NW keep it somewhat corralled, at least better than previous years.

With the removal of the picket fence around the raised beds and a judicious pruning of the nearby redbud tree, the view from the deck has opened up quite a lot. I didn't want to prune the redbuds yet, but yesterday was take-crap-to-the-compost-site day. Rather than start a new pile of trimmings so early, I whacked a few limbs here and there, despite the trees still being in their glory.

2016 view from the deck

2017 view from the deck

Otherwise, there has been much weeding going on, in an effort to uncover lost plants. Most of the time I mark their location in one manner or another, which is extremely helpful when it is difficult to tell the newly emerging plant from the weeds. There are still a few rabbits around, eager to wreak havoc, but I have not seen the local woodchuck, at least not in my yard, this year. Fingers crossed!

Brrr!

I am so tired of talking about the weather. Wet and windy yesterday, a good day to spend my children's inheritance on the yard. I purchased some "garden fence" at TSC, to (re)build the compost bins that fell apart after many years of service. Then I succumbed to the four Dwarf Gold Mop shrubs I've been coveting. They get only 2-3 feet tall, 3 feet wide, and should camouflage the rabbit damage at the base of the arborvitae. I balked at the price at Stuckey's Greenhouse last year, but after shopping around, discovered it was a good price.

Either bravely or foolishly, I have been transplanting a few things here and there. My annual success story is the continuation of the coleus I favor for the box on the front porch. It does really well and I like the color, so rather than gamble on it being available each year, I save a mother plant in the fall and start cuttings from it in the spring. So far, so good.

I have a love-hate relationship with my lawn. On the one hand, it would be nice if it were weed-free. On the other, I like seeing clover, violets, and other "wild" flowers creep into it. There is a big patch of wild strawberry to the north of the King Crimson maple. I have no explanation as to where it came from or why it likes that spot, but it is welcome to stay.

Last year's rhubarb looked rather anemic. I dosed it well with horse manure this past fall. Now it looks positively robust, just in time for birthday pie, an annual tradition for my kids.

One victim of retirement has been my desire to cook. Consequently, I don't know how I will use up all this garlic. It is fun - and easy! - to grow, but I'm not sure I will continue with it.

A victim of various remodeling projects was my lovely Old Fashioned Bleeding Heart. I replaced it and am happy that the replacement is alive and doing well.

I have yet to capture on "film" the iridescent color of the purple smoke tree leaves. In sunlight, they positively glow. On a gray and gloomy day, this is the closest I can get.

We are supposed to get a couple of sunny-ish days, so between other engagements, I may be found in the yard.