I went outside with my camera this morning and took some photos. A squirrel was perched on my settee, its bushy tail bouncing around.
I don’t know about squirrels, but did you know that a cat’s tail is filled with nerves?
I could hear a cat somewhere meowing plaintively and walked just a bit on the patio to try and find it. But I never could locate it. I even looked out in front once I went back indoors. Poor kitty.
I don’t know if it wanted someone to let it in, or if it was something else. My heart went out to the poor creature.
John & Boomer:
Yesterday John and Boomer were outdoors and I gently stepped up on the raised part of my yard to talk to John. (I’m unfortunately paying for it today).
I walked over to his rose bush by holding onto his steel fence and walking sideways. When I told him his rose bush he planted last year had three rose buds he was so excited.
I wrote last spring about John going to the garden nursery and picking out whatever he things is pretty. And then he plants it with no real regard for whether it needs sun or shade.
I wrote about it in My Neighbor’s Fanciful Approach To Gardening.
The neighbors all stand outside and caution him about where he’s chosen to plant something. But he pretty much ignores them.
And one of those neighbors cautioning him was me. Well, his rose bush defied the odds.
Japanese Maple:
My potted Japanese Maple tree looks so pretty now. It is the highlight of my yard.
I’m fairly certain that this is ajuga with the pretty purple blooms.
I always want purple in my garden. It looks so beautiful against the green of the leaves and sets the mood, I think.
When I see purple against green, I immediately feel my body relax.
Chives:
It looks like my chives have made it through the winter. I rubbed a leaf and smelled it but it doesn’t have any scent.
Wouldn’t it have a scent?
Sage:
The sage in one of my containers has come back this spring. I love its velvety leaves. Small, but growing.
The sage grew on long stems I never was able to get out and cut back because of my ankle. Normally, before it gets cold, I would cut everything back to look nice during the winter.
But maybe I shouldn’t have done that. Maybe it needs what appears to be dead stems to give it growth in the spring.
Does anyone know if it’s best to leave long stems of flowers and herbs or cut them back? My tendency was always to cut them back.
Mystery Plant:
The mystery plant. Maybe if it ever blooms we’ll realize what it is. Though this plant is in the shade, so it might not bloom at all. Or maybe it isn’t a blooming type of plant.
This was a big container of ornamental grass of some variety.
I thought I’d just dump it out, or have someone dump out, this plant. But I’ll let it grow awhile longer and see what it does.
Mint:
Mint, as well as weeds, are coming up in this container. Funny how plants make their way out from under rocks. Tenacious plants, that is.
I had thought to go out and move some of the rocks aside for the plants to come up. But it looks like many of them don’t need my help.
And last but certainly not least, and what excited me the most, is the hosta plant emerging!
Hosta:
Remember how worried I was last week that other people’s hosta plants were coming up and mine weren’t?
Well, I’m happy to say that at least one of the two hosta plants I planted last spring has emerged. Yea!
What’s coming up in your yard?
I also love purple and green in gardening. Last year, i only planted purple flowers on my deck. It was so soothing, I immediately thought Black-Eyed Susan when I saw your mystery plant, and I see others have mentioned that as well. It needs a lot of sun, but if your neighbor had luck with his roses, maybe your Black-Eyed Susan will shshow its pretty yellow blooms!
I agree with two of your previous readers that your “mystery plant” looks like a Rudbeckia (Black-eyed Susan). They can spread very easily….even from your neighbors’ yards. I am glad you were able to get outside and check things out!
Picture This plant ID app says your mystery plant is an arrowleaf violet.
Patiently waiting for all our snow to be gone. Much warmer this week so far, so hopefully it won’t be long before I see something starting to bud.
Wow , i learned something new here. i wish you will post more article just like this one
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Brenda,
I love seeing what is coming up in your garden. My peonies are already a foot high and some even have buds! I cannot wait to see the flowers.
I planted my wildflower meadow this past week, I have no idea what is going to come up but it will be fun to watch.
Have a wonderful week!
I looked up your mystery plant on an ID website. Did you maybe plant a bellflower? That was the ID that was the highest match.
It’s great to see so much coming back in your garden. The ajuga is beautiful. I’m not doing much this year, as my life is still in transition. Hopefully that will change soon and I will have a new place of my own with a container garden again. I did plant butterfly pea vine seeds & a few have come up. And I’m enjoying all the East Texas wildflowers. Today I saw my first stands of tickseed or coreopsis.
Watching things grow is the best. Even if we can’t manage a lot, having anything green to nurture is a blessing. In my last garden, a big feature was a neighbor’s gorgeous fig that grew over my side of the fence offering shade & perspective. Even “cheating” 🙂 like this can bring joy.
Weeds! Weeds are what’s coming up in my yard! The grass is barely growing. I think the only reason I need my yard mowed, is because of the weeds. Most of my plants are indoors, but outside I have a rose bush that currently has one rose and 2 blooms on it. I also have some magnolia trees that are starting to bloom. They are all pretty. I love that you have some plants blooming. I know you were a little worried about them, and bummed that you couldn’t buy more, but it sounds like you’ll have a garden outside after all! Yeah!! Please be careful though. The last thing you need is to hurt yourself. What did Ivy think of the squirrel? Maybe one of your neighbors will find the kitty you heard. And I’m sure you, and your neighbors, are all happy to be wrong about the rose bush, lol!
I’ve moved to a condo/townhouse and miss my Mister Landscaper Micro Sprinkler Landscape & Shrub Kit. I wonder if this set up would work for your plant situation? I plan on setting it up in my limited space but had it set up in my yard at my house. It’s available on Amazon too and the brand: Mister Landscaper.
I love your Japanese Maple! To me, trees are just as pretty as flowers and offer a foundation to a patio or garden. I love your mint peeking out from the rocks and I also love to see ground cover, such as Japanese Juniper, growing in between and over rocks in a larger rocky area. As far as cutting back, if I am new to growing a plant, shrub etc I always have to look them up because some bloom on new wood so pruning is ok; however some plants bloom on old wood so don’t cut those back. Even within a species it can be different, such as for various hydrangeas, they don’t all bloom on new wood! I lived 35+ years in sub tropical South Florida, gardened in NJ for a number of years, and currently live in South GA zone 8b – gardening is very different zone to zone.
IEL, what do you mean old wood and new wood? I bought a pretty hydrangea plant for my Easter table center piece, and I was considering planting outside. Do they do well, long term, in a pot indoors?
Hello Laura Your “florist” hydrangeas can be grown indoors – they need bright but indirect sunlight and moist but not soggy soil. Florist hydrangeas are generally best keep indoors as their blooms have been forced early; however if you want to try planting it outdoors slowly acclimate it by putting it outside in partial sun/shade for a few hours a day for a week or so before planting it. You may need to cover in burlap over winter although generally hydrangeas are very cold hardy. There are dif types of hydrangeas – yours is probably a mophead/big leaf which blooms on old wood. This means that you don’t need to prune it but if you do cut it back do it after spring blooming and before August when the buds for the following spring are being set. A new wood species will set its buds and then flower in the same year- these should be pruned in late winter. Below are a couple of links about hydrangeas – if you want to plant more I would visit a good nursery that has multiple types so you can match your yard/needs to a specific type – generally they bloom only once per season but there are some newer everblooming ones that set blooms on both old and new wood and will bloom in spring and then again in summer. Hope this isn’t confusing – it’s rather a loaded topic!
https://plantaddicts.com/types-of-hydrangeas/
https://ucanr.edu/datastoreFiles/268-86.pdf
I meant to comment too Brenda that many times as I type a comment to you that the blog suddenly reloads and I have lost my comment. We had our internet checked a few weeks ago and although we don’t have the high speed nor will pay for it to be upgraded, it might be a reason others can’t read your blog if it happens to them. We don’t stream but have cable instead as it’s easier for us to just turn on a remote. But there are some blogs I can’t read anymore cause too much comes on them continually as I read and I understand they have to for business. But I like reading yours and feel bad when it suddenly stops and reloads again.
I’m sorry. Let me check into this.
I asked my tech guy and he said that is very strange and it might be the browser you are using and what device you’re on. Do you use Chrome or Firefox or which browser?
It is Safari.
I am sure the fresh air felt good to breathe in being outside. Your plants are coming along. I have a very sore hand from digging with the shovel yesterday but I kept at it or it wouldn’t get done so I rest today. Little by little we do what we can and I am thankful for springtime.
I have a wild acre of land lots of weeds. Already had half of them cut down and will
have to do so end of May for fire abatement. Just had a neighbor drill some holes in an old wheel barrel and have to plant it up. I sprayed it a beautiful dark blue so it will be pretty planted. I’m not much of a gardner sad to say.
That will be beautiful, Annette! I’d say you’re holding your own as a gardener! 😃
I have been out raking…bleeding hearts …violets…blue bell flowers..a peek of hostas…bee balm..flocks…are up…crocus blooming..daffodils have buds…trees budding here in Wi….we are having summer weather for a week then back to 50’s and 60’s…sun is glorius..I feel so much better even with the aches from working lol…everyone enjoy…I usually cut everything off before winter…but last year it did not get done with all of it…I feel I have more clean up after leaving it…it comes up fine either way…have a great day💕
I see lot of crocuses coming up in my front and back yard! No other flowers yet though. Finally it’s spring bc it was a hard winter with lots of snow! Lol
It looks like one of my rose bushes didn’t survive the winter. The other two are showing some tiny sprouts of leaves along the base of each shrub. I got most of the bed under the arborvitaes in the NE corner of the backyard cleaned out, and the hostas are just starting to peek through. Wild violets are ahead of the game, though. I don’t mind them if they stay in the garden beds, but they show up all over the lawn. Sprayed them all last summer and I still see areas where the leaves are shooting up. I also will have to treat for Creeping Charlie. Day lilies are 3-4 inches tall now, as are the iris. I’ve been raking the backyard for the past 3 days, off and on. The backyard is a mess. Squirrels trying to make nests in the arborvitaes had little and larger branches and greenery all over the yard from failed building methods, and strong winds blew the stuff all over the backyard. Sedums are also coming up, they appeared very early this year. Lamb’s ear is peeking through in some places, so I have to tackle cleaning out the beds before more plants start to sprout. All of a sudden, we’ve been getting temps in the high 60s-up to mid 70s. Less than 2 weeks ago I still had piles of snow both front and back yards.
Growth in your pots is a very good thing!
Weeds and more weeds in my corner of the world. Ugh!!!
Looks like your mystery plant is either Rudbeckia (Blackeyed Susan) or Echinacea (Purple Coneflower).
I agree—I first thought of Coneflower/Echinachea…but I can see Rudbeckia, too!
Beautiful either way. 😀
Weeds. That’s what’s coming up. LOL. I did buy some flowers however and my asparagus ferns are coming in green and bushy!
Loved seeing your hosta poking its little head out to see what’s up after a long winter nap! We live on a wooded lot, so gardening is minimal. Window boxes bursting with impatiens and several varieties of hosta….that’s it. When I see those brave little spikes for the first time, I know spring is truly here. Time for the bird bath and humming bird feeder and the end table at the window (ala Ivy and her yellow table!) for premium cat viewing!