Another Pest to Worry About

My daughter pointed out that something was eating my trough plants.

Climate change has resulted in new pests in the area.

Must read up on Integrated Pest Management.

May Bliss

I love this week in the garden.  Every May it happens.  The roses, the peonies, the ninebark, the blue garage...I feel so lucky that this is our garden.

This is the path past the garage and up to the house.  The irises and honeysuckle and roses screen a really ugly yard next door (they mowed ONCE last summer).  The hypertufa bowls await a lift to their new home in upstate New York.

This trough grows in the shade of the fence.  The silene vallesia is gorgeous in its moment (center).  The lychnis flos-cuculi 'Nana' on the right is not so nana obviously.  The tag said 4" high.  This was about 24" high when it bloomed.  I evicted it today and put a tasteful sedum makinoi 'Ogon' in its spot.  The lychnis will be happier in the ground.

A little shade trough with 4 mini hostas and a small bergenia.

 Kalmia latifolia 'Minuet'

 Phlomis tuberosa

Allium schubertii

Trough Explosion

The troughs on our deck are exploding with color and texture. I particularly like this grouping right now.

 silene caroliniana

saponaria oxymoides

pulsatilla vulgaris, pasqueflower

blue sedum sieboldii in front of the saponaria 

And speaking of troughs, thanks to everyone who was so complimentary and generous at the Frelinghuysen plant sale last weekend.  I sold a bunch of troughs at the sale and got to talk endlessly about making them, planting them, and caring for them.  My driveway is almost empty of planters now, but I did hold a few troughs back to plant for myself.  The forecast for Saturday is sunny with a 100% chance of gardening.

Scandinavian Family Portrait

Oslo trough (left), Helsinki trough (right) and Copenhagen trough (center).  They were inspired by Aalto glassware, geodes, and the Guggenheim Museum, believe it or not.


Lots of all three for sale this weekend at the plant sale at the Frelinghuysen Arboretum in Morristown, NJ.

THAT moment

I love that moment in spring when the trillium grandiflorum, iris cristata and brunnera macrophylla all bloom at once.  The white with the blues is sooo tasteful.  Rarely do I ever get it so right.

Time to Sell Some...

The driveway's getting full.

 Copenhagen trough, 20 x 16 x 8" H, the smaller companion to the Helsinki and Oslo troughs.

This little rectangular trough (with separate feet) needs a cool name.  It's about 16 x 13 x 8" H.  

I'll be selling troughs at the Friends of the Freylinghuysen Plant Sale on May 4, 5 and 6 in Morristown, NJ.  I'm taking out six different styles I think.  I'm looking forward to talking to plant people for a couple days.  

Spring Mash-Up

It shouldn't work, but it does: yellow narcissus, white arabis, pink arabis, purple iris...I never planned on all of these blooming at once...but I kind of like the exuberance.

This is a short rock wall that I built around the small bog we dug in the back garden.  The native columbines seem to love it.  This little vignette is a distillation of a crumbling roadside cliff about a mile from here.  It's the same type of rock, and blooms orange with columbines this time of year.  I'm worried that I'll crash into it one day as I gawk at the columbines in bloom.  My little garden example can't compare, but it still satisfies because it reminds me of the inspiration.

Tasteful fothergilla

Daphne x burkwoodii 'Carol Mackie".  So yummy this time of year.

Rain please????