I am not alone

Do you ever have the feeling that you are not alone?

That someone is watching you?

I find that I am surrounded by little critters and creatures in my garden,

and that my family and I are not the only residents on this property.

Sometimes their presence is not obvious, you have to really pay attention and see.

Can you spot the three birds on the tree above?

Some creatures are fairly stationary and melt in to their surroundings in terms of shape and color. Others provide plenty of movement and and beauty and are impossible to miss.

Others exhibit behavior that is bold, energetic and sometimes a bit loud and mischievous.

Their presence is most often not deterred by my presence.

Then there are those that melt my heart every time their feather light body swoop in and lands on a flower stem to have a snack. I want to thank them for choosing my garden and tell them to "go ahead, eat as much as you want".

There is one that always puts a smile on my face because when it spots me, it freezes and thinks that if it doesn't move, I won't see it. But I do, I saw it first. And to this one I want to say "Go ahead, eat the clover but leave my flowers.".

And lastly, the mystery residents and visitors.

Sometimes you see traces of activity, but you just don't know who or what.

As I was gardening one day, I was stepping on some ground-cover to reach some weeds. As I stepped back, I noticed some movement. For a moment I got a bit worried wondering if I had possibly upset some kind of hornets nest in the ground and contemplated running inside. Then I saw how it moved and figured it might be some kind of tunneling animal, like a mouse or something. I have lots and lots of little entrances on my flower hill, probably close to one every square yard. And I imagine that I have an underground tunnel system more impressive than the London Subways.

I have long suspected chipmunks or voles, but never seen anyone enter or exit these tunnels until the other morning. And I caught it with my camera. I think this is an infant vole.

I am afraid I might have a fairly large population of these. Fortunately, they have not been bothering my plants or their roots... yet.

Well, that was one mystery solved.

All these critters and creatures are part of what makes my garden alive and "homey" to me.

Annelie

A basil tip for next summer

In May on Memorial Day, my brother-in-law gave me a number of herbs as a hostess gift. One of them was the African Blue Basil "Kasar" (Ocimum basilicum).

I believe it is mostly grown as a decorative herb, it is a bit bushy, grows fairly tall, 36" (90cm) and gives you beautiful spikes of purple-lavender flowers if you let it go to bloom. But... it is eatable and tastes like basil.

It is the easiest basil I've ever grown. Requires very little attention, grows fast and happily, survived a whole week in the summer without any water, and survived 2 light frosts. I live in zone 6, and the tag on the basil said hardiness zone 9-10.

If you snip off a stem and put it in water on the window sill, it will take less then a week to grow roots. When you put it in soil it quickly and happily grows a new plant. I'm a bit amazed at this basil's survival drive compared to other finicky basils that I've tried.

A couple of nights ago we had the temperature drop to 25 Fahrenheit (-4C) and the African Blue Basil finally died. It provided me with basil from May to November, isn't that amazing?

I was prepared for the frost and had a few cuttings in my kitchen. I just planted them in a pot to see if it will grow and provide me with basil over the winter.

Fall Color

My mind is preoccupied with the red/purple and green combination right now.

The green color of summer is now commingling with the deeper color of fall,

in my head and on the shelves of garden centers.

My neighbor has Japanese Blood Grass in their yard that I have been eying for several years now. When back lit, the grass just look so fantastic. But at $ 12.99, it'll stay on the shelf.

For now.

I would love to put this Purple Emperor Stonecrop next to my Sedum Autumn Joy. Love the dark deep purple color. It's dramatic, isn't it?

These Coral Bells with frilly leaves are green on the top side and light purple on the under side. Really cute. I think it's got a bit of attitude.

Oooh, look at this cute couple... I want, I want... in abundance in a lightly shaded area - that I don't really have too much of. Hmm...

With an appetite bigger than my wallet, I left the garden center empty handed.

Good girl, wasn't I?

I went home and divided my one and only Coral Bells plant into 7 new plants.

I had been on the lookout for cheap Coral Bells to add to the one plant I had, when blogger friend Margot at Mammas Blommor told me that they were really easy to divide. Why didn't I think of that??? And seriously, I believe it was one of the easiest EVER to divide. Kind of like Hens and Chicks. A gentle pull and the little plants separated into little individual plants. Great! How much money did I just save?

Maybe I'll take that saved money and go shopping for some red/green fall plants.

Bargain gardening

It is hard to pass up a good bargain when you see one.

And, that's the reason I came home with a little more than I had set out for.

There were:

3 Shamrock Hollies (what I needed)

3 Little Giant Arborvitae (sort of need these too)

3 Emerald'n Gold Euonymus (kind of need those)

2 King's Gold Cypress (just had to have)

2 Butterfly bushes (love the color on these)

Here's the trouble area and the reason for the visit to the garden center. Three shade loving, over-grown, Hostas in a full sun location that have been begging for a replacement since we moved in eight years ago.

And, here are the replacements. Three happy evergreen Shamrock Hollies. They are so beautiful.

The price: $25 for the three of them!!! Makes me a little excited to think about it.

Ta-da!

Alright, the "after" picture isn't great and doesn't do the replacements any justice. But I just didn't have the patience to wait until the sun had come all the way around the corner.

I am truly enjoying working and being in my garden right now, and I'm so happy to see someone else (the butterfly) is too.

I pat my back

On Sunday morning I did something I haven't done in a long time. I weeded my whole garden. Something I haven't done since June sometime. I blame part of it on the fact that I was gone on vacation for 3 weeks, and the other part... well, I just don't care for weeding that much. Especially in the dead of summer with temperatures in the 90s, burning hot sun, and the humidity so thick that you feel like your walking in to a wall. It can't be healthy for you to do any kind of garden work under those conditions.

As you can imagine, there was a lot of pulling to do. So much,, that if the Garden Blog Police, had decided to stop by my garden, I would have been banished - forever.

So I put my garden gloves on and went to work. After 4 full hours and 4 full wheel barrows, I was done with the main part of the garden, which was my goal. I felt soooo good!

Funny thing is, after pulling the first weed, it was as if I couldn't stop. It became this obsessive compulsive thing where I needed to pick every single one of them. All of a sudden I needed my garden to be all nice and tidy, after walking around for months not caring at all. Go figure.

I think I just really enjoyed seeing the reward of nice and clean garden beds, and, weeding is in a funny way meditative, I believe.

It's Tuesday today, and I'm still patting my own back for a job well done.

I'm so proud of myself.

Before I leave, I'd just like to know...

What on earth is this?

Here's something I came across on my tomato plant, while weeding, that I would love your help with. It completely boggles my mind.

It looks kind of like an insect, but has only 4 legs.

There are antennae visible.

It's not more than 5 mm long.

Every once in a while its wings tried to open, kind of like a lady bug.

There appears to be dots on the back which also leads my mind to ladybugs, perhaps in some kind of transformation phase, but then, why is there only 4 legs?

My intention was to keep this mysterious bug under observation, but the wind swept the leaf away before I contained it.

Does Clint Eastwood have a disease?

That was my question to the employee at the garden center. I pointed to the little funny looking things growing on the stem of the Clint Eastwood Rowdy Red tomato plant.

-No, those are roots.

"Oh!," I said, feeling a bit silly. But the employee didn't appear to think that my question was silly at all, and continued to tell me about tomato plants, their roots and how to plant them. In short:

• A tomato plant benefits from being planted deeper than it is in its pot.
• It's okay to bury some of the leaves.
• New roots will develop along the stem.

The tomato plant will this way be sturdier, have a better root system and all together healthier.
All makes sense to me.

Now, back to the tomato with the movie star name. On the description for this tomato it said that this is a big and bold tasting tomato that is not for sissies. And, that it has some of the highest sugar levels ever seen in a tomato. Further, it said, the sweetness and the fruity flavors are well balanced with acidity and earthy nuances. It also mentioned complexity.

Wow, you'd think we're talking wine here, not tomatoes.

Just had to get it, and I can't wait to taste it.

But first I have to plant it - deep.

Saturday with Weeds and Self Seeds

Today I spent the hours between breakfast and lunch weeding. My garden was not just due, it was overdue, for a good amount of pulling pesky, fast spreading and fast growing weeds. The goal was to do "the hill," below, it's what people see from the street and I figured I can leave the back yard and the less visible areas for later, and at least have the appearance of a maintained and weed free garden.

(The picture below of the hill is about a month or so old for you detectives out there.)

I didn't get nearly as far as I had hoped, because the skies suddenly opened up and I had to run inside for cover, and lunch. My husband had made pizza on the grill per request from our boys. Totally delicious, I have to say. He's getting quite good at it.

Here's about a third of what I had time for. I should have taken a before picture, because there was so much weed that it was a bit hard to see what was actually growing here. After I have cleared this area of unwanted vegetation, it is so much easier to think about what annuals and perennials to add. My whole garden is a big hodge podge of many impulse buys, but, I'm now striving towards creating a flow and some unity, adding more of the plants that thrive to fill out the bare spots.

While weeding, I notice plenty of plants that have self seeded. Take this bleeding heart, for example, it found its way all the way from the other side of the house, and situated itself at the end of a row of Hostas. This one is going to have be transferred to a better spot.

On the topic of self seeding plants and finding new spots or not, my Swedish blogger friend at Garden Flow, just wrote a little bit on that topic. The Google Translator makes the translation into English a bit amusing, but if for nothing else, visit to enjoy her beautiful garden in northern Sweden. You won't be disappointed.

While taking a closer look today at my Bleeding Heart, I noticed that someone has been gnawing or nibbling on the lattice. If you look closely, you can see it at the bottom left diamond. Who lives under our porch?

I also found that a few kinds of Salvia has self seeded happily and generously all across my hill. Quite happy about that, because I love it's blue colors and I have a huge amount of real estate to fill on my perennial hill.

Here I'm asking you experienced gardeners for help. This looks so familiar to me, but I'm not sure what it is. Some kind of Salvia? I've seen it in a few spots in my garden. Keep or pull?

Among my perennials I have a few aromatic herbs. Weeding among those is a pleasure for the senses. Here, my variegated Lemon Thyme that keeps growing bigger every year. Love, love, love the smell of this one.

Well, that's it for now. Thyme to enjoy the rest of Saturday with my family.

Hope you are enjoying your weekend out there!

Shared excitement?

Yesterday afternoon, I finally cleaned up my herb/vegetable garden and planted the herbs that I purchased a couple of weeks ago. I can't tell you how good I feel about getting that done. I've felt like a bad garden mom, neglecting those little herb pots that needed transplanting. I had it scheduled for the Memorial Day weekend, but what really prompted me to get it done was the gift that my brother-in-law brought me for our big family bbq on Sunday. In a paper tray with a patriotic red, white and blue ribbon was a chocolate mint, a fennel, a cilantro and a specialty basil. How sweet and thoughtful was that? I just had to get those into the ground - pronto.

Look how nice and clean! Well, if you had seen the before, you'd most definitely have been impressed.

As I proudly take a picture of my neat and clean vegetable/herb garden, enter Mr. Groundhog at the edge of the lawn.

The groundhog normally feeds on grasses, insects and snails, but will absolutely feed on berries and vegetables if they are available. And in my garden they are. My strawberries are as of now beginning to turn color, and my blueberries are growing. Next weekend, hopefully, the tomatoes, cucumber, zucchinis will move in, among many goodies.

My fence was originally put up to keep out squirrels, chipmunks and little cottontails. Will it keep out the groundhog? I'll have to wait and see I suppose.

I just wanted to add this little Baltimore Oriole below, that kindly posed for me yesterday on a workbench. I've often listened to its song, never knowing who the bird is. But as this bird took off, he chirped for me. I love solving mysteries.

And I think of myself as a gardener...

The first of the season. Fresh radishes, straight from the soil.... of my friend's garden. She brought them for me the other day. I really wish I could say they are mine. But I can't. The cool season crops are being harvested. And I have nothing to show. My seed envelopes are still in the desk drawer. Not growing too well there, I'll tell ya.

I had the best of intentions. Lettuce, arugula, carrots, radishes, the works. The spring had just started - there was plenty of time. Besides, my allergies have been bad, the black flies wouldn't let me step outside the house without attacking me, and... what else? I was waiting for the right moment.

I should learn from this - my whole life can go by while I wait for the right moment. But I don't think I'll learn anything, this has happened before. I'm a daydreamer and procrastinator.

Good thing I have nice friends who are willing to share their crops.

By the way, the radishes were the best I've ever had, and, I even tasted (after making sure they're not poisonous) the leaves. Reminded me a little of arugula, but grassier. Do you guys eat the leaves, or greens, of any of your crops?

Vertical Gardening

Succulents are great, aren't they. I mean, have you ever failed keeping one alive? Well, I haven't - not in my garden at least. The ones I have in my garden keep multiplying happily. And I divide, happily. Some of them I barely have to dig a hole for when I replant them, and they take root and go on without any fuss. Not to mention that many of them look great year round.

If you love succulents like me and you are looking for something different to do with them, take a look at what Flora Grubb and her business partner Saul Nadler do for a living.

Flora Grubb, who owns a garden store in San Francisco creates vertical gardens, among many things, and succulents are the perfect medium.

Here is something they call pocket garden. It's plants tucked into pockets that they call the Wooly Pocket System. This entrance wall was made for a clothing boutique in San Francisco.

The pockets are light weight, made of recycled plastic bottles and can go inside or outside.

Here is a Tillandsia wall that Flora Grubb made for a hotel.

Tillandsia is a plant that doesn't need any soil. It takes in all its nutrients and water through its leaves. The roots only serve as anchors. Seems like the perfect wall plant to me.

Why didn't I think of that?

I could imagine myself going to work with a smile on my face if this was my job.

Oh, well. Time to go water my horizontal garden.

For some more pictures and information on Flora Grubb, her blogg, her shop... click here.

All pictures are from Flora Grubb Gardens.

Lemon Chiffon Lemon Chiffon

Four years ago, I saw a Lemon Chiffon Clematis at the garden center. It was very small and had no buds on it. The description said that flowers are pale yellow cream with a hint of pink. A picture of the lemon chiffon cake came to mind. Mmm, lemon chiffon... This is probably the only time my mouth has watered while shopping for plants. I had to get it.

Lemon Chiffon Cake

And four years, I have waited for its first bud.

And this year is the year. The first bud appeared.

The flower opened today. It sure is beautiful, but lemon chiffon?

Not so much.

Hint of pink? I'd say more than a hint.

Miniature Gardening

If you are itching to do some creative gardening and can't wait for the snow to melt. Here is the solution - miniature gardening. I stumbled upon this fabulous little web shop http://miniaturegardenshoppe.com/index.html that sells all the "tools" you need to create a miniature garden of your own.

The only problem I have before I get started, is to pick a style. Should I make a traditional garden, a classic, contemporary, or rustic? The options are many, and so adorable. Some of my favorite items are the beehive, the hammock and the tire swing. And, of course, all the classic terracotta ornaments - I really like those.

I have many ideas in my head, but an Easter/spring garden to start with, will be fun I think.