Lush-ness

When considering the glass half empty/glass half full debate, I am prone to say I am glad I have a glass. Therefore, I will not enumerate the many days of lower than average temperature this past April and May. And June. I am glad I have a garden. And the plants don't want a sweatshirt and a hat - they are getting taller and wider and greener with the extended Spring. Now the color begins.

The Progress of Seedlings and Cages

Do not be fooled by the white blurs in the background. Yes, there are white bags of yet-to-be-distributed horse manure. But the featured white blobs are sleeping geese. They are pretending to be bucolic. My network of lobster boat propeller cages and topiaries and wastebaskets keeps the geese at bay enough for Great Growth to occur. I thank the gods for the long photoperiod of Downeast Maine which, combined with the recently arrived warmth, grows my garden exponentially each day. Any seedling that is small however needs its own cage to survive.

Not Exactly Waiting

Knowing the forecast held three days of rain, I was active yesterday afternoon and this o'dawn planting my seeds. My perennials continue to thrill me in a very green way - everything in my garden is a shade of green. The weigela has buds, the peonies have buds. Yes, the ladies-in-a-bath and columbine are both actually blooming. But the blooms themselves are sparse and not photo worthy. There is not enough CONTRAST to qualify as color. Then I checked the mail. One side of driveway is spectacular with bunchberry. The other side of my driveway has hints of Indian Cucumber-Root with hundreds to follow. I love Spring. Oh, did you say it's June 4th? I say, "It's Maine."

Gardening in Somewhere Else

I was lucky enough to garden in Atlanta over the Memorial Day weekend and leave my constant highs of low sixties temperatures behind in Maine. All the moonflower seedlings were dutifully planted into the soil and awaited any glimpse of sun and warmth they could get. The moss rose continued to creep millimeter by millimeter closer to the grow light. I wished them well and boarded my plane. Meanwhile, the most superb garden helper in the universe helped me settle in some succulents, verbena, Rudbeckia maxima set off by Juncus fillformis 'Spirilis', and two pots of glorious firecracker plant, Russelia equisetiformis. A picture tells a million words.

Flowers at Last.

May 12, 2014
I hear it's snowing in Denver. I don't have snow but I also don't have soil temperatures above sixty. I did plant the Phlox drummondii seeds by the shed since that bed faces south and receives yet even more heat reflected from the adjacent shed walls. My computer and Shopbot generated trellis got two coats of red paint and was installed behind the weigela which is nicely waking up. The daffodils and jonquils are bloomed and, given the ten day forecast of No Great Heat, I believe will be with me for a nice while. The peonies have stuck their red stalks tentatively into the air and the garden is just a quilt of silvery green and chartreuse foliage. On the wild side, I have seen coltsfoot blooming by the roadside and there are bluets and violets everywhere.

Change

The gate is up and it looks superb but the geese have found an alternative route up to the garden. I have changed their title/job description from Compost Aides to Slug Patrol and that makes it all OK. There are many perennials that they do not nibble on. Therefore, these are the perennials which should grow here and do grow here. The moonflower seeds dutifully sprouted sandwiched between damp paper towels within Ziploc bags and then I planted them into pots. And then, voila - seedlings. Temperatures continue to yo-yo between forty something and fifty something although the Sun fools the weatherpeople and creates bursts of sixty something during my day. Tomas the rabbit is moved from the basement to his garden shed and loves watching the theater of growth and geese. At least, that's what I imagine he thinks.

Yard Sale Season and Nursery Season

Spring may be officially begun but daily temperatures are stalled. Highs flirt near sixty, lows seldom go below forty but that translates into too cold soil. Many, many of my perennials ignore the facts and grow just a little larger every day: ladies mantle, Shasta daisy, feverfew, lambs ears, lilies and lavender. The shrubs know it is spring as well: mock orange, weigela, climbing hydrangea all show signs of budding. The mint is ready to take over the world. The portulaca indoors is tiny but happy under the grow lights. I have moonflower seeds soaking in the kitchen, and desert bluebell seeds scattered on the south facing slope past the birdfeeder. Their seed packet said "two weeks before the last frost" and I believe I am there. I have been to my first yard sale of 2014 and scavenged four free cinder blocks for my compost  structure. A junk store yielded a pedestal perfect for my terra cotta yard sale find from last summer. Rhododendron maximum independence has been purchased from O'Donal's Nursery and installed. I sawed through the last of the tree seedling stumps in order to have the perfect woods path for my blind Jack Russell but I was dressed in fleece and a hat. So it's not warm, but hey, the snow is gone and there is actual green in the yard.