lily of the valley | Mom in the Garden

Hello! Welcome to my blog. Gardening always has its ups and downs, and that’s just the way it goes. I had some big fails with my seeds this year, and while I still have some plants that might grow, it is nothing compared to what I had at this stage last year. The good news is that I have lots of other plants (not from seed) that I’m so excited to have planted, and while the garden might look different than last year, I think it’ll look lovely in a new way. 🙂

It is always nice getting jobs done in the garden and this was a very productive week! My husband was tasked with figuring out a way to cover the strawberry plants to keep the birds out but also allows us to easily pick the strawberries. We’ve tried netting before, but it was a mess (and birds can get stuck in them). His design is not only functional and light weight, they also look really good. He did a great job, and I am very hopeful to have lots of strawberries this season!

Tulip season is still going strong with the late varieties just coming into their glory now. I have two different types in front of the playhouse and they are quite pretty. The jury is still out about these two tulips being paired together, though!

It is such a wonderful time of the year, with new flowers awakening and blooming all of the time. I am joining The Propagator again this week for his Six on Saturday meme, as I think it is a perfect way to sum up the week! Feel free to join in.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you have had a good week!

In Peace,
Dana

Playhouse with tulips and bleeding heart

Tulip Lilac perfection and Tulip Mascotte with bleeding heart plant

1 & 2 – Tulip Lilac perfection and Tulip Mascotte. Ok, I think you can tell that I prefer the Mascotte tulips, although that might just be because they are a tiny bit further along than the Lilac perfection. I like the fringed edging. They are both lovely, and I’m happy with them, the bleeding heart and Japanese maple around the playhouse. Last year I pulled out a scraggly lavender plant that was in front of the playhouse, and I think that these tulips look much nicer. I now need to think of what to plant here for the summer!

3 – Lily of the valley. The scent! Oh how I love scented flowers. These are tops. And they have finally settled in enough to spread. That took a little longer than I’d hoped, but never mind, they are finally doing it. They are in the shade of an evergreen, and I really like them there.

4 – Cherry tree. I know I showed the cherry tree last week, but I loved the contrast in this picture of the black cloud with the yellow rapeseed field and the sun shining on the cherry tree. I’m sure this is the longest that I’ve seen the cherry trees looking their best. They’ve had a super season.

5 – Freesia. This is more a picture of the planters that I tidied up this week than of the tiny freesia flowers, with bluebells and tulips in the background. I was so glad to finally have weeded the containers, put in some fresh potting soil and feed, and cleaned them up. Great to see some signs of life in the planters, too.

6 – Strawberry covers. It wasn’t until my husband was nearly finished with the covers that I asked him if he’d taken any pictures along the way. So the best he could do was a picture of the painting side of things (a hassle in itself, I suppose). There are five sections, and they are light enough to lift with one hand. They will also attach to the base, which I’ll show in another post. The last picture was taken after I planted the squash/pumpkin plants that managed to survive their transition to outside. I have a few of them under a mini poly tunnel. We’ll see how they do. My sunflower plants are so teeny tiny! I’m not sure they’ll bloom this season! Fingers crossed.

Thanks again for visiting. I hope you’ve enjoyed the tour! 🙂

Snowdrops in January

Hellebore Frilly Isabelle in February

Happy (almost) New Year! What a joy it has been looking through pictures of this past year while putting together this blog post! I love taking pictures and capturing what is happening in the garden, and it is nice to then go back and see what changes there were in the garden throughout the course of the year. The garden is always in a state of flux and growth. The biggest change to the garden this year, though, was the addition of chickens. I adore having them as pets. The Long Island Red (hybrid) chickens joined our family in March, at 23 weeks. They each started laying one egg a day a couple of weeks later and have continued ever since. Their house and run now take up a large part of our back garden, where I can watch them from our kitchen.

There have been other changes in the garden, too. In one of my lavender beds, I removed a large plant that I have never been a fan of (name unknown). What a great feeling it was to get rid of it! In its place, I added a fig tree. My love of evergreen trees continues, with the addition of a small one, Picea pungens ‘Super Blue’, to the garden this year.

Plants and shrubs were added to a few of the beds around the yard. I like making these small changes, which of course add up over time.

My two rose beds have also had more David Austin roses added to the collection. The boxwood (box) hedge in the newest rose bed is doing really well and slowly filling in. This is exciting to see because we grew all of these plants from cuttings. “Yay!” for successful ways to save money in the garden!

We had quite a fruitful crop of apples and pears this year! Lucky enough, we didn’t have any major storms to knock down the fruit prematurely from the trees, as has happened in the past. (And they tasted delicious!)

I’m thankful for our harvest of garlic, too. There is nothing nicer than homegrown garlic!

My crop of sweet pea smelled simply amazing this year. I was able to cut bouquet after bouquet of pretty, sweet smelling flowers for weeks.

Like Sweet pea, Sunflowers have been a staple in the garden for the past number of years, and I plan to continue with that tradition.

Not all was pretty in the garden this year though. My Incrediball Hydrangea started the season off well, but finished with a burnt look from, apparently, too much sun. I will move it to a shady spot this year.

Another section of the back garden has become quite overrun by weeds – in a very bad way! And therein lies my challenge for 2020!

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in the garden, photographing it and writing about it. I hope you have also enjoyed it.

I’m very excited to see what the garden brings in 2020!

Thank you so much for being a part of my gardening and blogging experience! I have had visitors to my blog from all over the world, and I’m so glad you’ve stopped by. Please do feel free to write a note, especially from where you are from. I’d love to e-meet you! 🙂

I wish you all best wishes for a wonderful and healthy New Year! May 2020 be everything you hope it to be!

In Peace,
Dana

Garlic in February

Cleared out lavender + hydrangea bed March 1

Lavender bed cleared of unwanted plants while Lavender, Hydrangea & Lilies remain – March 1

pink hyacinth in a jug with chicken house in the background

A bouquet of Hyacinth and the hen house

Hellebore Winter Sunshine in March

Freshly dug up bed - Lavender + hydrangea - fresh compost

Lavender bed cleared of unwanted plants while Lavender, Hydrangea & Lilies remain. Here it has been freshly turned with compost added.

Abies Koreana covered in pine cones March 31st

Surrounding fields in April

Aubrietia in April (can you see my boots?)

Front Garden View at the end of April

Japanese Maple garden view end of April

Dug-up bed mature Lavender + hydrangea + hosta + lilies

Lavender bed cleared of unwanted plants while Lavender, Hydrangea & Lilies remain.

Merlot tulips and aubrietia

Dana in compost with chickens and Kitty

Strawberry Plants at the beginning of May

Chamaecyparis nootkatensis ‘Pendula’ (Nootka Cypress) in May

Lily of the Valley planted with our cypress Nootka

View of the garden around the playhouse in May

Hawthorn trees in May

Lilacs and Hawthorn in May

Here is a picture of the mystery plant (at the back of the bed) last year. The mature lavender plant at the front is the source of many of my lavender wands!