Saturday, May 21, 2011

Witch hazel

Saturday, May 21, 2011
Waning Moon in Capricorn
Saturn Retrograde
Pluto Retrograde
Celtic Tree Month of Hawthorn
Foggy and cool

This is what a witch hazel looks like. This is when it’s not in bloom. I hear that when it blooms, the leaves fall off, and there are just white blooms, but I haven’t yet experienced it.

When things start to pop here, they really start to pop! The trees are finally in bud, the lilacs are blooming, rhododendron and azalea are blooming, things look beautiful.

My Black King Eggplant is enormous — the leaves are about 12” long. It got its first flower that’s preparing an eggplant, so that’s all good. The little Nadia eggplants are tiny, but I think will be ready to transplant to the vegetable bed next weekend.

The pumpkin vines are enormous and gorgeous. I hope they can hang on one more week until I can get them into the ground. The cucumbers are coming up, the marigolds are coming up. The green peppers haven’t come up. Neither have the morning glories or the moonflowers, outside. I may have put them in too early, and I may need to start some more inside and transplant.

The male holly is blooming and growing; the female still sulks. Strawberry-wise, the one plant inside is blooming, and the three big pots outside look like they’re preparing to bloom. Things are later here than usual, but that’s okay.

The huckleberry is happy. I think it’ll be a few years until I get any berries, but that’s okay. It’s a cute little plant.

I have two ENORMOUS beds of lily-of-the-valley around the house. One is in no-man’s land, between this house and the house on the left. It’s about eight feet long and four or five feet wide. The other is in the back bed, along the tree line at the back of the property, where all the lilies and extra hostas are. That one, too, is huge. They’re beautiful, and what a lovely, unexpected gift!

I’m starting to understand the hosta love around here. Now that they’re actually coming up and growing, they’re pretty darn lovely! The shape of the plant and the leaf shape, and the variegated colors do add a lot to the garden.

I also found some ferns unfolding! So many surprises! I get up every morning wondering what new plants I’ll discover.

Purslane is growing in my vegetable bed, even though I didn’t plant it. I may have to move it, once I put in the other vegetables.

The catmint I planted in the terraced border is starting to bloom. The stonecrop is naturalizing well. Most of the silver mound artemisia is also doing well — I love its texture. I always wind up petting it! 😉 It’s soft as a cat.

I put in some poppy seeds yesterday, and planted lobelia seeds in an urn in the front yard, along with moving some big pots to one side of the driveway.

If the weather clears up a bit, I have to mow the back meadow today, and then I want to set out the English garden carpet out in no man’s land, given to me by Costume Imp, so that can start rooting. I think it’s warm enough to do so.

It’s so wonderful to sit outside in the early mornings and in the evenings and listen to the yard. I am so lucky and so grateful.

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