Finally Sunshine

After back to back weeks of torrential rain,

a cloudless sky was warmly welcomed.

Early May is the beginning of some of the best blooming in the River Birch planting area!

left -Louisiana Iris Bold Pretender

right -Feng Shui Zen Rock

a feature in the backyard-

a dark blue Siberian Iris

but, CG's favored nod goes to the Louisiana

also in the backyard,

a variety of perennial ferns have been introduced to the burning bush bed 

moving a few BPs to the bog bed is also an option

the variety of bearded iris has increased in numbers over last year

BPs are hardy, durable, colorful wonders.

Need hundreds more of them!

Natural Pesticide

Be Green!

Aphids beware!

Lady beetles are voracious feeders and may be numerous where prey are plentiful and broad-spectrum insecticide use is limited. Lady beetles need to eat many aphids per day so that they can lay eggs. The convergent lady beetle may eat its weight in aphids every day as a larva and consume as many as 50 aphids per day as an adult. Sevenspotted lady beetle adults may consume several hundred aphids per day and each larva eats 200 to 300 aphids as it grows. Once the adults and larvae have eliminated an aphid colony, they will search for additional food.

front of the house

not looking too bad

after a late summer drought 

it's been one of the better years for the river birch trees

(hoping they are close to reaching their maximum height)

the liriope grass seems impervious to low rainfall conditions

nandina bushes are semi-drought tolerant

a few azalea bushes were literally burned-up from the heat 

HOT

How hot is it?

It's so hot....

CG is concerned that even the mild peppers will be muy caliente.

But at least it hasn't been too dry.

We've had over two times the average amount of rainfall for this month.

CG believes that the C.poppies drowned, and may not ever return.

Good news is that the river birch trees look great for this time of year-

and, no bag worms!

(other trees in the area have been heavily infested)

River Birch Green

The landscape is greening-up really fast. Almost overnight, it seems like sometimes. There aren't any signs of greenery from any of the crepe myrtles, however. For the past few years, the crepe myrtles have been the first to green, only to be zapped by a late frost. The danger of a late frost this year  is lessening every day (fingers and greening-up thumbs are crossed). 

CG will be planting some Spring bulbs this weekend, with the remainder of the plants (mainly bagged daylilys) being planted the middle of next week.

River Birch trees

March 2005:

The river birch trees have done well over the past few years. They grow relatively fast -meaning they don't look like dinky nursery-bought trees for too long. They do need a little help with extra watering during periods of drought. Sun-tolerant plants are still able to thrive underneath the canopy, which offers light shade. There was an issue with one bagworm nest during the late summer, but CG was ready for the challenge and quickly dispatched them.

March 2007:


The trees are pruned each winter, and each time CG pauses to wonder if he got a little carried-away with the pruners. C'est la vie. If you don't think you can live with it, it's best to do away with it -is CG's pruning motto.

May 2007:

In May 2007, the river birch that was closest to the house was moved. It had a rough summer, followed by a late freeze (after it had set leaves) the following spring. Now it is noticeably smaller than its siblings. It was moved to offer a more balanced transition from the yard to the planting bed (and maybe it was planted a little too close to the house to begin with, but CG will never admit to that!)

February 2009:

The river birch were fertilized with a 12-10-10 sprinkling, cast from their driplines outwards to about 6 feet. This was done in the fall, after they dropped all of their leaves, and will be repeated in the spring a couple weeks after the last freeze. CG is expecting good things from his river birch this year!