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.
Happy fall, y’all! I’ve been enjoying the fall temperatures and the praying mantises that live in my garden. These are likely the same babies that I discovered in May on my back porch. Also, the Montauk daisies that I planted last year finally bloomed. The large, foliage of Montauk daisies feels like wax. Montauk daisies, not to be confused with Shasta daisies, only bloom in the fall whereas Shastas are repeat bloomers. This fall, I had both types blooming at once! A few weeks ago, I planted additional ‘Sweet Drift’ roses to finish a pink hedge that borders my neighbor’s fence, and transplanted rosemary and hostas to new locations. I trimmed an overgrown tree that blocked an exterior light and mulched some beds. The garden is ready for winter now. Just in time for a first freeze tonight.
Sea Myrtle also known as Salt Myrtle produces fluffy white blooms, is loved by the bees, and blooms profusely in my area.
Within these last couple of weeks of May, my peonies have exploded in hues of pink and divine aroma! Peonies are once-blooming perennials, which seems like a juxtaposition. The luscious, fragrant blooms last a few weeks while the foliage remains a vibrant, shiny green until late fall when they need to be cut down so the plant will rebloom the following year. In my gardening zone of 8a here in Maryland, peonies bloom typically in May.
What can we learn from the peony? Our talents and giftings take time and maintenance to cultivate; moreover, they aren’t necessarily meant to be showcased all year long but rather in an appointed season.
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!
I am processing this unbelievable event of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsing while contemplating the physical and spiritual mayday, the physical and spiritual urgent movement to soon follow, and the physical and spiritual shaking that some will experience.
The Book of Job teaches us nothing happens without God’s permission. Some events manifest as a consequence and sometimes events are for a greater divine purpose and many times unexpected events are for our refinement and ultimate benefit. God is the ultimate Harbormaster. Ponder these uncanny facts: The ship’s name that collided with our beloved bridge, means ‘Drawn up of God’. I interpret that to mean designed by God or destined or planned by God. Additionally, the infamous ship’s registered owner is ‘Grace Ocean Private, Limited’. Consider passages in the Bible that teach us tragic events and inconvenient restrictions are often for our benefit as well as a bigger picture beyond our limited perspective. Sometimes devastating events are an unimaginable act of grace, albeit terribly painful – especially for the loved ones of those now abruptly taken. Perhaps this unimaginable event is indeed an act of grace. Perhaps something far sinister had been planned, but this thwarted evil.
Furthermore, I see with this port disaster and the ripple effect to soon follow, Baltimore is being shuffled as people will be relocating. Did you notice President Biden used the phrase we’ll “move heaven and earth” to open the port and rebuild the bridge? Many felt secure, unmovable, in their livelihoods and homes like a steel bridge with concrete piers. Some may have been called to other things but out of fear resisted. They’ve been at the same job or home for years and comfortable as things were but sometimes GOD moves heaven and earth to transport us to where He wants us to be for our benefit. With this event, some will change jobs and homes due to a suddenly inconvenient commute or loss of a job. Others will move because homes will foreclose with the loss of port jobs and the broad economic ripple to follow. Others will move into the Baltimore region to rebuild and some will move out of the region to look for work elsewhere or move out for other reasons. Expect physical and spiritual relocation packages as a result of this collapsed icon.
As challenging as this is for us in Baltimore and the wider region, may we learn to trust not man or our well-intended plans, but trust in God’s plan. Let us learn to go when God says to go and to start anew when God dispatches or as the Baltimore dispatcher declared at the moment the bridge collapsed, “start, start, whoever, everybody!” Physical urgent movement is starting for our spiritual and physical benefit. Selah.
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!
With spring approaching, I’ve been busy preparing my garden for optimal growth. My shed is packed with numerous bags of pine nugget mulch among a variety of garden tools, and I had a small retaining wall recently built in the corner bed to prevent further erosion from the rain. Additionally, tonight, after getting home from work, I quickly pruned and fertilized what I affectionately refer to as ‘The Pink Patch’. The pink patch is a narrow border bed between my home and my neighbor’s property. It hosts several pink rose bushes including ‘Sweet Drift’ and the narrow bed concludes with the hybrid tea, ‘Chicago Peace’ near the garden’s gate. Essentially, I have created a pink hedge – although, at the moment, there is no pink in the pink patch due to the natural effects of winter dormancy. Unfortunately, a stray cat thinks the pink patch is her litter box, which motivated me to prune and fertilize a tad earlier than I normally would because I am hoping the drift roses will unfurl and expand making it difficult for the neighborhood cat to use the rose bed as a restroom. Then again, the stray cat will likely move onto one of my many other flower beds.
‘Sweet Drift’ roses and ‘Chicago Peace’ on the left make up ‘The Pink Patch’ while the wild cane on the right is ‘Earth Angel’.
This bloom of Chicago Peace is past her prime but still a lovely blend of pinks, apricots, and lilac.
The culprit cat.
During this past Sunday’s beautiful sunshine, I created a new garden bed to house a rose bush that I planted last year but I underestimated her size. After seeing ‘Earth Angel’, a fragrant and romantic floribunda, produce long canes during her first year, I recently researched her size in gardening forums (sometimes the size stated on vendor’s websites is not the reality in all gardening zones). Turns out, this rose can get 5′ by 4′ not 3′ by 3′. Similarly, it’s been my observation from past gardens of mine that Sweet Drift’s height and width grow approximately double what the label claims. So, I dug a new hole elsewhere for Earth Angel, pruned her back, dug her up, and transplanted her, gambling that the weather forecast would continue to remain above freezing. Then I made a new bed around her using cardboard to cover the grass, put dirt on top of the cardboard, and spread a layer of mulch to top it all off. Through it all, I noticed the recently erected small retaining wall for the corner bed partially covered the base of two daisies. I subsequently had to transplant them for optimal growth as well, which reminded me that sometimes that is the case for us humans too. Selah.
What’s happening in your garden and the proverbial, spiritual garden of your heart? Is construction, pruning, fertilizing, transplanting, or all of the above needed for optimal growth this spring? Like, subscribe, and comment below.
Be ever-blooming, rose buds!
In March of 2024, a new flower bed and the small retaining wall in the corner bed “bloomed”.
My crocus and daffodils have burst forth from the wintered layer of earth here in Maryland 7b/8a. The tiny buds on my rose canes are swollen with energy, ready to display glorious green foliage. In just four weeks it will be officially spring! In the coming days, projects in my garden will begin. Subscribe to be a part of Ever-Blooming Roses’ spring evolution!
Within the month of January, my garden located in Maryland’s gardening zone 8a experienced some wild weather – including a few inches of snow, and minor coastal flooding from relentless rain (Note: My garden was previously zoned as 7b – I just discovered it was upgraded to 8a in 2023 due to climate change). The cold, white flakes arrived after a two-year snow drought, and I delighted in the beauty. I recently learned snow nourishes soil because falling snowflakes capture nitrogen in the atmosphere (as does rain), and deposits the nitrogen into the soil. Nitrogen is required for healthy leaves and abundant blooms. As an added bonus, the layer of snow also insulates the roots of our rose bushes from frigid temperatures, ironically, similar to how mulch insulates our beloved plants. I’ll take those blooming blessings!
Since the snowfall and a brief warm-up, which melted all the snow, I’ve noticed daffodils or crocuses have already broken ground. Clearly, they are just as eager for spring as I am. Have you noticed the sun lingers more and more in the evening, winter sky? In just seven weeks, it will be officially spring! With the added benefit of the snow this winter, may our gardens burst with luscious, vibrant blooms!
Despite the oppressive August heat, along fences and trellises throughout my new garden located in Maryland 7b, three different clematis vines bloom. Next year, they, along with my roses, lavender, and other flowers, should pop with vibrant complementary colors!
Here’s a peak…
Jackmanii
Nestled between the purple and pink clematis is Summer Romance, a pink floribunda rose.
Dr. Ruppel
Niobe
The gold in the center of this Niobe will go nicely with the gold of Eternal Flame, a hybrid tea rose.
As the plants prosper and acclimate, there should be plenty of photo opportunities to capture the clematis and roses highlighting each other’s beauty like good friends or perhaps like a summer romance or eternal flame often do. 😉
Bring out the best in others! Highlight beautiful character in those planted near you. Be complementary! Be ever-blooming.
