More Greening Up ....

It was another lovely Spring day here today, though not as warm and a bit windy, but still a far cry from our recent frigid weather! We took Hanna and ran a few errands early today, then came back to do some more clean up out front before the rainy weather predicted for the next few days moves in ... we got the rest of the dead stuff cleared yesterday bagged up for city compost and filled up the last of our bags (we're up to 8 so far!). It's amazing how fast things are progressing now ... I found a few tulips had come up literally overnight in a couple of spots, and crocus just uncovered yesterday were blooming today! Unfortunately we were both so busy that we didn't have the camera with us, so didn't get any new shots ... so these photos are from my session after work from last Thursday (3-19-09). The first shot is one of our 'Blue Princess' Hollies (Ilex meserveae), which of course is one of our few evergreen plants (unless you count the messy Blue Spruce in the back yard) ... you'll notice there are no remaining berries on it ... either the birds or other critters cleaned it out over the winter, which is just fine by us, since we have little use for them other than as Christmas decorations....

This is one of our Leatherwood Ferns in the Woodland Garden ... it's greening up nicely, but still remains prostrate which is normal until the weather warms up a bit more when it will go upright. It's the first of our many ferns to come back to life after a long winter and is a truly tough plant deserving of its tough guy name. As you can see, its companions the Maidenhair Ferns are still looking pretty crispy and won't spring back for a while ... even though they are such a delicate looking fern, they are really hardy and good multipliers in the Woodland Garden where they form a great fairy canopy every year. Our next clean up project is to get around to this side of the house and clear out the dead material ... we did get the Ostrich Plume Ferns cleared out today, but ran out of compost bags and decided to call it a day before moving on further. Since this garden is slower to wake up, we don't feel such a sense of urgency to get it cleaned up as we do in the front boulder bed....

As you can see in this shot, our little heirloom Sedum sarmentosum is already up and proliferating in the front beds and by June it will likely be in full bloom. As I chronicled last year, this used to be a plant we tried to eradicate (it was here when we got here), we finally made our peace with it and cherish it now ... it's one of those little sedums you can just yank, toss somewhere else (such as rock crevices) where it will quickly establish itself and return each year, and since we have lots of rock crevices, it comes in handy as a filler plant that will grow where others won't ... so, it's gone from being considered a pest to a valued member of the garden. Funny how things like that happen....

Now, just in case anyone was feeling puppy deprived in the last post, here are a couple of shots of Hanna playing with one of her favorite toys, her red Kong. Usually we stuff it with a few pieces of her food, some of the "Kong Stuffing" (peanut butter flavor), a little biscuit and any other treats we can pack into it. Being the quick puzzle solver she is, Hanna usually only needs about 10-15 minutes to get everything out, but then she loves to have us toss this Kong and make it bounce for her, something she never seems to tire of doing, unless, of course, it happens to land in Pepa's old bowl, which for some reason terrifies her....

Recently we have discovered a few little odd "issues" she has about things, and one of them is Pepa's bowl ... when Lacey was visiting we needed a bowl to feed her, so I was using Pepa's old bowl (which has only ever been used as a dog bowl) which we left out after she left. A week or so ago, we were tossing the Kong around for her (it has a crazy pinball type bounce to it) and it landed in the bowl. Hanna would not under any circumstances retrieve the Kong from the bowl. So Fernymoss tried sliding it across the floor to her, but the closer it got, the more terrified she got and ended up barking at it and running away from it. And now, she won't even go near this bowl, no matter what. She won't even retrieve a toy that is just close, but not in, the bowl ... we don't know whether she realizes it was someone else's bowl or if Pepa is haunting it and intimidating her, but I guess if we want her to leave something alone, we know where to put it!

Today we discovered another "issue." The garden rake! Our rake is so old that the wooden handle always gives us splinters when we use it, so Fernymoss decided to wrap it with duct tape to protect our hands and brought it into the dining room ... as he was wrapping it, Hanna was in the living room and saw the rake end moving a bit as he wrapped ... at first she had a freaked out look about it and the more it moved, the more perturbed she became, until she started barking at it and eventually ran away after Fernymoss shook it at her a couple of times just to see what her reaction would be. The longer we have Hanna, the more we realize just what a little individual she is as she reveals her idiosyncrasies! This one made us laugh a lot that she would be freaked out by a common garden implement, so now we know to tread lightly with the rakes around her ... who knew a simple rake could be so terrifying to a puppy?

But the thing with the bowl mystifies us still ... maybe she senses Pepa's presence too strongly by it (after all it was Pepa's exclusive bowl for her entire life ... I bought it at Target for her right after I got her and it has only been used as her food bowl all these years) ... but whatever the reason, it truly spooks her! If this means that Pepa is still around here constantly, that makes me feel relieved she's still with us in some form. But I'd hope that Hanna would feel more gratitude toward her (maybe she will in time) because without that dream I had with Pepa in it where she gave us permission to adopt Hanna, she very well might not have ended up living with us. But then again, maybe she's just teaching her that it's not nice to poach from another dog's bowl? Whatever the reason, it's really odd that she would develop bowl and rake phobias! Just another one of those moments I wish I could read her thoughts to find out what she's thinking! But I just haven't developed that super dog power yet....

Friday Ferns and Moss by Fernymoss

After all the color on display this week, how about capping it off with some contemplative greeny goodness? There's something inherently peaceful about ferns and moss that both of us connect with on a deep level ... they're not the stars of the Woodland Garden in the traditional "eye popping" sense, but they play a very important role in the overall composition of this part of the garden.

In fact, we tend to think of them as foundational features of the woodland personality here ... in spring and summer they provide an attractive backdrop to the more colorful plants around them while they're blooming, and when most things are winding down, they still provide a lot of lush green interest in the fall, until well into early winter, sometimes staying green until they're completely covered by the snow.

Fernymoss took these two shots on 6 May, 2008 ... the first are the unfurling fronds of one of our Leatherwood Ferns, one of the toughest ferns out there as far as we are concerned. These are the ones you sometimes see used in floral bouquets as "filler." (A shameful waste, I think!) The second shot is a close up of the moss growing on one of the stepping stones Fernymoss made a couple of years ago (I posted an earlier version of this a while back). We'll have to get busy and get some more shots of the other developing ferns soon ... the maidenhairs, ostrich plume and tassel ferns. There's still so much to get cleaned up and now with new plant purchases waiting to get in the ground, we feel terribly behind, just like we do each year, lol.

For maximum effect, please click for the larger image, where you can see a whole lot more detail than you can in these reduced versions. (Firefox users, right click and choose "view image" or "open in new tab" option. Believe me, it will be worth your while!)

Woodland Beauties I -- Emerging Ferns

There's been a lot of recent activity growing on in the Woodland garden on the north side of the house in the past week or so ... warmer weather, followed by several days of significant spring rains and the ferns have just started bounding up from the ground. Though we have several varieties growing amongst the Bleeding Hearts, Hellebores, Ligularia, Heuchera and other shade lovers, I've chosen these two examples primarily because they've both been putting on quite the dramatic and enthusiastic re-emergence in recent days.

The first two shots are of the fiddleheads of the "Leatherwood" or "Marginal Woodfern" (Dryopteris marginalis), not only one of our favorites but also prized by florists who often incorporate the woody fronds in their arrangements. Luckily our specimens never meet this fate, and are allowed to pursue their natural habit of forming a relatively asymmetric clump of fronds over the course of the summer which then flattens out after a hard freeze in the fall. They do remain somewhat evergreen over the course of the winter, and even if they're not at their most attractive, they retain some of their green through even the coldest of months. The fiddleheads start emerging in early spring and quickly unfurl into the rich, dark green fronds they will retain until late fall or early winter. We have noticed that they do put on a lot of spores in late summer, though thus far, we've not seen them spread significantly ... even though we would be delighted to see that happen. Maybe over time (these specimens are about seven years old at this point) they will, but until that point we just continue to enjoy the distinct woodland touch they contribute to their neighbors in the cooler, damper shady spots they call home.

Our other specimen (third photo) is the rather common, though lovely, Ostrich Plume fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris), which has definitely ranked up there as one of my favorite ferns from my childhood. To my young imagination, these ferns just typified the sort of plant that would have abounded during the time of the dinosaurs ... I have fond memories of seeing them grow in older, well established flower beds near old houses. This seems to be one of those ferns that had a real vogue at a certain time, but has since fallen somewhat out of favor. Part of that could be (I theorize) because as ferns go, they are a bit invasive, and will colonize quickly and move outward from an area where they have already established themselves. We've already seen them take over their original space and multiply, but we're happy to just dig them up and re-plant them in other areas where we'd like them to take over.

Ostrich plumes tend to thrive near the foundations of houses and don't mind deep shade, and as long at they get sufficient water during the drier months, they will reach heights of about four feet over the season. One thing I really appreciate about the Ostrich Plumes (along with their easy, generous nature) is the smell ... to my nose they just typify a clean, woodsy scent that evokes a woodland planting. And mixed in with their neighbors in our garden (Angelica and Lily of the Valley) they're right at home, providing their signature lush, jade like green all season long. There's a gardening sharing story behind our specimens ... we inherited these really plain, generic Hostas in the spot they occupy ... we didn't like them and wanted ferns there instead, so we traded the Hostas with a neighbor who had just acquired these ferns from a friend and hadn't found time to plant them. A more opportune trade could not have been made ... not only did we rid ourselves of the boring Hostas, we got a good starter supply of Ostrich Plumes that continues to thrive and multiply! In fact, I spotted a few renegades last night who will be moving to other spots this spring, so they can join their other compatriots in filling in those difficult shady spots! To my mind, they're a shade garden essential, and should they start to overrun their space, you're more than likely to find willing volunteers who will give the upstarts a new home ...

Guest photos courtesy of Fernymoss