Mid-Season Gardening Resolutions Check-up #2

I changed my mind about going to Bowman’s spring sale (two hour drive, one way) and instead ordered blue Scabiosa to border the front of the blue garden. Now that that garden is more mature, there is no room for a groundcover.

An unplanned purchase for the blue garden was Monarda Blue Stocking, a plant I couldn’t get last year. The Eupatorium I bought last fall is just getting ready to bloom. Be forwarned, this plant gets a late start --- I almost yanked it out thinking it had died!

Other native plant successes from last fall include Bottle Gentian (Gentiana andrewsii), Turtlehead (Chelone lyonii) Spikenard (Aralia racemosa), and New York Ironweed (Veronia noveboracensis).

Finally, the two side gardens. Dan is madly working away on finishing the rose arbor (the rose canes are now long enough to start training onto the roof), as well as about 150 other projects. My volunteer Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa),shown above, is at its height of bloom, beloved by both bees and butterflies.

The east garden is now free of stilt grass and the pokeweed has been thinned out. Did you know the roots range from the size of a parsnip to a small loaf of bread?!!! What a job.

Some strawberries were moved to the berm on the west, after Dan once again grubbed out tons of crown vetch and Canadian thistle. The plants quickly burnt to a crisp from the shock of moving into the blazing sun, but the roots survived and new leaves are coming up. Time to move the runner plantlets that are popping up all over to the east garden.

So far the tomato ladders are keeping my plants nice and straight. I bought Cherokee Purple and a small cherry tomato. One bite out of the Purple reminded me why I wanted it in the first place; the flavor is extraordinary. My insurance, close to the back door, is a patio tomato.

Tried some greens, which were regularly trimmed by the bunnies. However, I’ve discovered that neither bunnies, chipmunks, nor groundhogs care a whit for arugala, so if you like it, plant it anywhere.

I didn’t get to the cucumbers, but the compost pile produced several plants of Galeux d’Eysine squash from last fall’s table decoration. I’ve got flowers; we’ll see whether I get squash. These are colored a wonderful pale pink and covered with grayish warts. A visual treat. They are edible, but we haven’t tried one yet.

We didn’t get to those 25 cedar volunteers but, overall, came pretty close to our goals. Time to sit back and enjoy it all before the next round begins.

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