The comfortable, sunny weather of May in Maryland’s gardening zone 8 welcomes spring blooms. I’ve enjoyed nurturing my plant babies these past few weeks. Watching them sprout and recently bloom brings a bright smile to my face. The tiny pink dianthus (aka carnations) and large lush peonies bloomed this week while my roses began displaying their vibrant colors within the past two weeks. Eternal Flame (yellow), Ebb Tide (purple/magenta), Bolero (white) boasts vibrant colors and exquisite fragrance! The songbirds have three separate nests hidden throughout this garden full of life. Last year, my lambs ear suffered from die back due to too much rain. It looked rather unsightly for quite some time. This spring, however, the lambs ear resurrected stronger than ever and in the lovely form of a heart (center of the collage photo). Perhaps the lesson of the heart-shaped lambs ear could be sometimes areas of our lives need to die back or be pruned before we can be reborn or renewed with a perfected heart. Glorious spring, without fail, always triumphs over the harsh winter. Renewed hope is the heart of Spring.
Yay! We made it to Spring! I recently launched a faith-based, online, gardening club that discusses gardening-themed books and what we’re learning in the garden! Join us on Facebook, and share your garden-themed books and blooms! Look for the “Books and Blooms Club” on Facebook or click here.
Are you as excited as I am for Spring? The dainty crocus in shades of purple and yellow announced the approaching Spring season. Despite the forsythia not blooming yet, I pruned my roses, lavender, and daisies in this gardening zone 8a along the shores of Maryland. Normally, I try to wait till the forsythia are blooming before pruning my roses, but I’m willing to risk it. Meanwhile, the grass is burgeoning. Leaflets are poking out from the woody stems of my hydrangea. My lamb’s ear, dianthus, and veronica/speedwell appear to be awakening too! Oh, how I love the glorious season of Spring!
Update: About 10 days after I pruned, and 3 days after this post on the first day of Spring, the forsythia started to bloom!
While lounging on my back porch this past weekend, I discovered minuscule insects crawling on a black patio table as well as on two candles placed on the table. After close inspection of these critters that were no bigger than a dime, I realized they were baby praying mantis! In total, I found five crawling around my patio furniture. Last summer, there was an adult praying mantis crawling on my steps, which lead to the garden from my back porch, but I haven’t seen an adult one since. Needless to say, I have been in awe while observing these little ones. Praying Mantis are considered good bugs in the garden ecosystem, and they will devour plenty of damaging insects.
What is a lesson we can learn from the Praying Mantis? Perhaps the lesson is when we take the time to pray, listen, and be discerning in our movements, we can overcome much!
The hostas are unfurling and the shrubs are stretching their limbs as everything is awakening from the sleepy winter here in Maryland’s gardening zone 8a. I’ve also been amazed at how rapidly my peonies are growing. I added plant supports that I purchased from Amazon to help support the billowing pink blooms soon enough. Once the peonies are past their peak, I plan on moving the plant support stakes over to my Shasta daisies later in the summer. At the moment, the daisies are only about six inches in height but I know in time they will grow to be nearly two feet tall. I intentionally avoided the grid-style plant support stakes so I could use these rounded ones in different areas of the garden if needed. I have immensely enjoyed seeing the growth of the peonies and hostas in recent days. The peonies have grown so much you can’t even see the support stakes!
The plant support stakes are camouflaged among the peony stalks.
I also recently added affordable, custom eight-inch metal garden tags purchased from Specialty Garden Markers to identify my roses by name and variety at just $1.50 each. They arrived in a week and were easy to place in front of each rose. Meanwhile, my fragrant, yellow hybrid tea rose known as ‘Eternal Flame’ was the first rose to bloom in my garden, reminding me first and foremost, to keep my mind focused on the Eternal and less on the insanity of this world. This rose bush is nearly as tall as me already! I look forward to propagating it and a few others from my garden after their first flush of blooms – I’m going to try anyway!
The pink dianthus and lavender I recently planted have taken root and are blooming beautifully. I look forward to seeing them bloom in full force as the weeks go on. I’ve staggered the pink dianthus in between the lavender to create a romantic border. In a different, distant bed, one yellow lily has exploded in color but for the most part, my various plants are growing and loaded with buds. I look forward to seeing my garden burst forth soon in hues of yellow, pink, purple, and white.
While my garden is exploding in growth, I, too, am growing spiritually as I continue to study Torah/Tanakh, and I’m also expanding my education as I am about to embark on my next college course while working full-time.
Everything is growing good in my life. I guess you could say, “You grow, girl!”
Dig. Plant. Weed. Mulch. Fertilize. I’ve been busy in the garden these last few weeks as have the the plants themselves and the insects they attract. Here in garden zone 8a of Baltimore County, Maryland, nearly all of my roses boast buds accompanied by aphids, tiny bugs that enjoy sucking sap from a rosebud. In years past I have squished aphids or squirted them off, but I felt confident that the ladybugs that took up residence in my flower beds would eat their full of the aphid buffet soon enough. It’s believed ladybugs can eat 50 or more aphids in a single day. Sure enough, when I checked back a few days later, only this aphid lingered. Unless a pest is obliterating a plant, I tend to let nature do its thing or find other less severe options to mitigate pests. Last year, a praying mantis showed up (they eat just about any insect in range).
Speaking of life, I’m delighted to see everything I planted last year managed to resurface this year! A couple of hostas kept me in suspense as they just now broke ground (in mid-April) whereas others manifested in late March.
The side of the house is part shade which is why I planted several hostas as well as broke up one large hosta and transplanted five sections of the original in that shaded location. After a minor outdoor plumbing repair (where the sump pump drains) and adding river rock, I decided to plant a shrub known as ‘Golden Euonymus’ to hide the pipe that runs along the house as well as the gutter. When I purchased the house, it already had these golden-green shrubs that retain their foliage throughout the winter; so, I was familiar with their habitat and it was only $11 at Home Depot. Before planting the new shrub, however, I relocated a large hosta known as ‘Blue Angel’ by a foot or two to the left. I also added other hostas between a hydrangea bush and a reddish shrub aptly named ‘burning bush’. I also lined a sidewalk with brick for a cohesive look in the backyard that same Sunday last week and set up small trellises for my clematises to climb. One week later, my clematis has reached the top of the 4-foot trellises! As I said, my plants and I have been busy.
One of the ‘Golden Euonymus’ shrubs that was already established upon purchasing my home.
On Friday, a plant order arrived on my doorstep from Proven Winners which I quickly planted before the whipping winds consumed our region. I ordered 3 pink dianthus (they look like carnation mounds), 2 pink veronica speedwells, and 1 lavender. Last year, I planted several of Proven Winners’ lavender known as ‘Sweet Romance’ in one particular bed as a border. I intended on planting sweet alyssum, a dainty low-growing white flower, in between the lavendar but that never transpired. This year, I added the lavender that just arrived and staggered the pink dianthus between the lavender border (instead of my sweet alyssum idea from last year). My garden has a pink, purple, white, and yellow theme.
Meanwhile, the lamb’s ear I transplanted in the same bed a few weeks ago took without hesitation and my roses are busy cranking out buds. If you recall from an earlier post, I transplanted a rose known as ‘Earth Angel’ in early March and created a new flower bed for her. Like the transplanted lamb’s ear, it too established itself with no transplant shock. I clearly do not subscribe to the “wait to Mother’s Day myth” to plant or transplant. I figure if the temperatures dip, it’s easy enough to put a 5-gallon bucket, pot, or cloth over the plant for protection.
In the new flower bed, I anchored the newly arrived pink veronica speedwells on each side of ‘Earth Angel’, a pink and white romantic rose. I’m anticipating the vertical spikes of pink will annunciate the rounded pink in the center of the mostly white rose.
After resting on Sabbath yesterday, today, I checked on my new plants and put plant support stakes around my quickly sprouting peonies. I also mulched a bed and scrubbed the bird bath as well as the bird feeder. As if all the dreaming, planting, mulching, and fertilizing isn’t enough joy, I have a mama bird also busy this spring!
This season, take the time to enjoy the magnificent blooming trees in shades of pink, white, and purple. Allow the warmth of the illuminating strands of yellow on the forsythia bushes to brighten your smile. Behold the dainty daffodils, hyacinths, and tulips resurrected another year. Admire the unfurling of a rose bushes’ foliage and uneven patches of grass eager to be trimmed. The birds sing happily and so should we for Spring, the most wonderful time of the year, is here!
Living in a classic Baltimore County, Maryland rowhome built in the early 1950s, it’s not unusual to coexist with cats and rats. As discussed in an earlier post, a neighborhood cat thinks my flower bed which hosts pink roses, is her personal litter box. Using her hind legs, she creates mounds of mulch to cover up her unclean presents, and thereby, exposes soil to germinate weeds. The cat is unintentionally creating more work for me by moving around the mulch. On the plus side, the neighborhood cats help keep away rats and mice from creating a nest or munching on my mulch and other plants. It could be worse. Some gardeners in more suburban or rural areas battle deer, groundhogs, moles, and voles. I hear those four-legged foes think roses are a tasty buffet!
With my four-legged foes in mind, on Friday, March 15, 2024, I took the day off from my office job in advance to weed and mulch ‘the pink patch’. I experimented by placing bamboo skewers throughout the bed to deter pests and pets from tromping through my flower bed. Should the visiting cat need to use the restroom, she may feel a little jab, and choose to defecate elsewhere. Likewise, a hungry rodent might decide to go grocery shopping anywhere but on my property! Overall, I think the project was a success as I don’t see redistributed mulch (no fresh mounds) thus far. I just have to remember they are there later in the season when I need to tidy up the bed. They are disguised so well within the mulch. Can you see the skewers in these photos? It’s like a game of Where’s Waldo.
While weeding, mulching, and realizing I’m another year older, I transplanted a small lavender plant, as well as a mound of Lamb’s Ear into their new homes in a different bed. Earlier this month, I ordered ‘Magic Show Pink Potion’ Veronica Speedwells, ‘Fruit Punch Sweetie Pie’ pink dianthus, and more ‘Sweet Romance’ lavender from Proven Winners to add to other beds. I look forward to their arrival and seeing mounds of purple and pink in full bloom! I have a color theme of pink, purple, white, and yellow in my various beds.
My gardening goals this year are to experiment with more perennials to compliment my roses and to invite two-legged guests to tour my ever-blooming garden. Cats and rats are not allowed! Okay, so a cat can visit, just not redistribute mulch!
On sunny, almost spring days, I sat in my office feeling like a kid anxious to get out of school. After a day of recycled air in the office, I burst through my front door, dashed up the stairs, and quickly changed out of my work clothes into jeans and a shirt. The forsythia had started to bloom, the air was fresh with the temperature at approximately 60 degrees, and the sun still shined as I grabbed my pruning shears, gloves, and a small stool. I pruned lavender, rose bushes, and pulled some weeds before the sky transitioned from hues of coral to grey. I accomplished more than I anticipated in what remained of today. Feeling energized, I continue to dream of all that will soon bloom.
