Belated Post of the Garden in May

Just got back from a ten-day vacation in Michigan and a week before that spent a long weekend in Virginia, so that has put me a bit behind. Just a bit. And by a bit, I mean kinda a lot. Here was what was going on in the gardens in May.

The Flower Garden in May

Mid-May saw the azaleas. And yes, that is one of the neighbor’s cats again. They keep photo-bombing my garden pictures.

There was a lot of green in the flower garden, but not a lot of color in mid-May. The purple Columbine and the Pass The Wine Iris were about all that were blooming at this point.

I feel like I didn’t have as much of the purple Columbine this year as usual. Will have to spread more seed once it goes to seed this year.

There is also this other purple Columbine that has been popping up the past few years that looks nothing like the other one. I’m not quite sure how this one came about, but I love it.

 
The Pass The Wine Iris (which I still say doesn’t look at all like it was supposed to) was not as full this year either. Not sure if it had to do with the long, cold, snowy winter or if I need to divide it.

The other side of the yard, which was planted just two years ago, was filling in nicely. A highlight for awhile on this side was the Sugar and Spice Foamflowers that I planted last year (seen in the bottom right of this photo).

One thing that look spectacular this year was the Clematis on the shed. It flowered like crazy. This was blooming later in the month of May.

Also later in May, the Siberian Irises went to town. I think these are trying to take over part of the flower garden.

The garden arbor always looks its best in May with the Climbing Hydrangea blooming, as well as the purple Clematis and the pink climbing rose. Obviously, I needed to tie up my rose here.

The arbor again and the flower garden. The purple is the Catmint. That must be why the neighbor’s cats love my yard so much.

The chives were blooming mid-May by the back door.

This Calla Lily was blooming in a pot on the back steps at the same time.

I planted this Creeping Thyme last year in the newer bed (the one that I created about two years ago). It seems very happy in this sunny spot.

The Minuet Mountain Laurel is also new as of last year, in the newer flower bed. I absolutely love both the flowers and the buds on this shrub. Look at all of those buds! Looks like it survived being buried by at least three feet of snow in the winter.

The Mountain Laurel is in between the Dogwood and the tree Wisteria.

On the tree that is at the back end of this same newer flower bed, I hung this pot with a Maidenhair fern. The pot holder is from Kinsman Garden Company. You would think I could have used this same kind of pot hanger for the ferns on the old fence (see previous post), however, the top hanger part was too small and would not have fit over the top of the fence, hence using wire and plate-hangers instead.

I moved this metal panel to a spot where it was more visible in the secret garden area. I like it there. That, along with the votive lamp and the blue, iron table, make it look like a little sitting room.

The Kitchen Garden in May

I had some successes and some failures in the kitchen garden when it came to my seeds, as usual. Some of the seeds that were leftover from last year didn’t germinate.

I had planted basil plants in the u-shaped beds and they are not doing well at all this year. Incredibly disappointing because fresh basil is my absolute FAVORITE fresh herb, by a long shot. I tried to find more in the local nurseries, but none looked good. Most seemed to have that downy mildew, which I noticed as a problem in our area last year. I was thinking of trying some more from seed in the greenhouse if I have time.

I kind of cut off my bed of greens in this picture, but you can see the Arugula at least. The greens did so incredibly well last year, but this year not all of them germinated – again, I think it was because some was seed leftover from last year. Plus, a squirrel managed to take my protective row cover off of half of this bed not long after I first planted it. I’m thinking that helped the birds get to the seed.

Things that seem to be coming along well right now are the radishes, turnips, cucumbers, yellow squash, acorn squash, nasturtiums, and string beans. I don’t think the lima beans are doing anything. The tomato plants are doing ok. I think I should fertilize them to help them along (organic fertilizer, of course).

So that was pretty much the story for May. Late posting about it, though. But seems to often be the case for me during the growing season.

What’s on the gardening agenda next? Well, weeding, and lots of it. That’s what happens when you go on vacation.

How to Dress Up a Dilapidated Fence and Feed a New Vertical Gardening Obsession All at the Same Time

A few weeks ago I posted about a class I took at Longwood Gardens on vertical gardening and how it fueled a new addiction. It made me buy this cool wine crate vertical garden panel from gsky. It has helped me further dress up this crappy old fence that is falling part.

I had already posted about the hanging terra cotta pots where I used plate hangers to hang them. I had originally thought I would make wood frames to hang around them, but didn’t really leave enough room up top to do that. Maybe next year. I think the vertical garden panel looks nice here and helps distract from the dilapidated old fence.

 
What’s cool about this system is that you keep the plants in their pots and just slip them into the panel, all easy peasy like. It is what I referred to as the “plant-in-pot” system in my other post. In the photo below I took out a couple of the pots so you can see. This system makes it easier to water and to change out any plants that might get too big or die.

This is a shady area, so I stuck with shade-loving plants. They are not all hardy, but I plan on bringing it into the greenhouse in the winter. The plants I used are four Maindenhair Ferns, one ivy (bottom middle), one Blue Star Fern (very middle), one Aurora Begonia (top middle), and two other kinds of Rex Begonias on the middle left and right, but the tags didn’t say the names. All of these are plants that look great on their own, but mixed together vertically they look even better. It will be interesting to see how they fair throughout the summer and fall.

Here is an update to the vertical panel of herbs that we planted in the class I took. I had kept it horizontal for a couple of weeks to help it root-in. Now it is hanging on the neighbor’s ugly, white, vinyl fence at the very back of my yard, in the Kitchen Garden. Again, a nice way to dress up a not so awesome fence. I didn’t want to drill any holes into a fence that doesn’t belong to me, so I used wire to hang it from the post.

And since we’re talking about the fence, I also hung my succulent wreath on it that I had made in a class at Meadowbrook Farms in April (I had posted about that, too). I let this root-in horizontally for about a month and a half. I also used wire to hang this from the post.

So there you have it, fun with hanging/vertical garden stuff. Now where else can I add some vertical interest? Hmmmm....