April showers my a**!
Holy rain! I know, I know, April showers bring May flowers and all that but the rain and wind we had on Monday here in New Jersey was something else! Definitely not a shower. It was more of a deluge. Not sure of the total amount of rain but it was a lot. The wind was fierce as well and lasted for hours and hours, and yet, I know we are so lucky compared to the Southeast who got hit really hard with tornadoes. Yikes.
My tulips in containers made it through but are a little worse for the wear. They were just past their peak anyway so I'm not too upset about it. The tulips I have in the ground hadn't quite opened yet so they fared much better. I was seriously afraid for my Lemony Lace Elderberry which I had put in the ground last fall. It was just about bending over in half and I was sure it would lose most of its leaves but that plant is one tough cookie and made it through with flying colors! Huzzah!
I brought some supplies to my mother in law a few days ago as she lives by herself and we don't want her going out. While I stood on her porch, we spoke about her garden and plants she was trying to get rid of (I tried to play it cool-sure I will take them if you REALLY don't want them). I casually suggested I had a shovel in the car and would be happy to take some of her pesky Hostas away for her and give them a nice, new home. Out they came and into the car with me! I divided them up and set them in the ground behind a big, beautiful Oak Leaf Hydrangea where they will be the perfect border plant where the garden bed transitions to the yard. To my dismay, when I went out to check on them the next morning, a deer had picked one of the chunks of Hosta right out of the ground and left it next to the hole I had planted it! I am very grateful it wasn't eaten and I was able to pop it right back in. I then sprayed it with some deer repellant that I have found works very well for us. Yesterday, I edged that bed, today I will mulch it and call it complete.
Behind more of our Oak Leaf Hydrangeas was a lonely, scraggly Spirea of an unknown variety. It was so leggy and really wasn't getting much sun at all because of it's placement. I dug it out (yes, me!) and had my very strong son pull it out of the ground and I replanted it in one of the new garden beds we've created off our patio. I am unsure of how it will do but it's got to be a better situation than where it was. I am already regretting it's placement slightly because I have Dappled Willow in there and I think they are very similar in texture. It's all good. I can move it again if necessary.
I was able to purchase a Yellow Twig Dogwood recently along with a few Hosta Albomarginata. I've wanted a Yellow Twig Dogwood for some time now because of the beautiful Winter interest they provide and I finally got my hands on one for a really good price! This went into a very large and mostly empty landscape bed we have and I really hope it will do well there. That bed is really going to take a while to shape up and to get it where I would like it to be-I will need to practice patience. Hello, I'm Kate and I am not a patient person.
The variegated Hostas I purchased have been placed under a Hinoki False Cypress tree and are already providing such a bright spot of color in that shady space. That bed is a little tricky as it is mostly full sun but transitions abruptly to nearly full shade depending on the time of day. As you can clearly see, there is still a LOT of real estate in this bed and it needs to be filled up! I have some ideas....stay tuned.
Little by little, inch by inch, leaf by leaf, these gardens are beginning to take shape and come to life. I am so grateful for the attention I have been able to give them, and the time I have been fortunate enough to spend in them during this very unusual time.
"To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow"- Audrey Hepburn
Cheers!