what a day

It did not rain today!

I had a list of errands to be done in town, and did ALL of them. 

AND a couple that were not even on the list!

When I got home in the afternoon it was such a glorious day I walked around with the herd for a little while. The goats are soooo tired of rain. It was great to see them enjoying the fresh air and sunshine.

Oh, and I rescued little Iris from another potentially fatal adventure - this was the third. The way she's going, I seriously fear that little goat will not make old bones. But I'll do my best to keep her alive because I like her a lot and I'm hoping she'll grow up to be LeShodu without the attitude. I had hoped the same thing about her mama, Vinca, when she was born, but regret to report Vinca has been cranking up the attitude quite a bit recently. Here's hoping Iris will stay sweeter than both her mama and her grandmama, and will enjoy a long and happy life.

Speaking of hope, I've planted a new little garden of Spring bulbs out by the barn.

28 hyacinths and 3 irises and 40 tulips.

Nothing says "hope" like planting, I think.

And perhaps especially, planting in the Autumn for the Spring.

And speaking of Spring, look what I found out in the Upper West Side paddock, almost hidden beneath mushrooms and tiny ground-cover greenery:

A single violet!

What a great day. I hope yours was, too!

~~~~~

ready for the close-up

A tiny violet growing on the Upper West Side

Wild highbush blueberries by the workshop

Clintonia borealis - Bluebead lily or yellow clintonia -

along the path to the stiltbarn

~~~~~

almost wordless thursday

After a long, cold Spring, we are suddenly having August.

The past few days have been extremely hot and muggy.

Tansy

Today was, of necessity, a long day of outdoor projects. My hired helper came for four hours this afternoon, and I started two hours before he arrived. I'm happy - and a little surprised - that I stayed awake long enough to do the evening chores at the regular time.

Trout Lily

Before I call it a night, I just want to share a few recent snaps.

Very green, most of them.

Comfrey

And one, orange :)

A tiny Eft

It's exciting to see perennials I planted last year, returning.

Hyssop

And it's always a special joy to see beloved native plants again.

Columbine

Violets and Columbine

Some of the most interesting plants appear in the Spring.

Jack in the Pulpit

And now, goodnight, dear readers.

I hope the weather is pleasant where you are!

~~~~~

bank holiday

And another big project is underway!

On the west edge of the Upper West Side,

between the perimeter fence and the driveway,

is a narrow rocky bank.

It is partially supported by an old stone wall

that has been gradually collapsing for decades.

At the base of the wall is a narrow strip of rocky garden,

with violets and daylilies, and other lovely blooming things.

"Where are these violets?" you might well be asking.

"And what daylilies?"

 Fair question!
I think they're under here:

Buried beneath a tangle of bittersweet, grape,

forsythia, rubus...and did I mention bittersweet?

Every Spring I spend days hand-cutting and removing invasives

before the violets and daylilies (and I) become overwhelmed.

And prior to this year, I have always managed to enjoy 

at least some flower garden.

But last Winter, when a lot of this sort of thing was going on:

there was an unfortunate incident involving the plowman.

The result was a sadly gouged-up garden

buried beneath a heavy layer of driveway gravel and stone.

It wasn't the plowman's fault; my driveway is terrible.

I am very fortunate to have a plowman, after long years without.

(Some years, I call my driveway The Snowshoe Highway.)

But I must admit, it was disheartening

to imagine what the "garden" would look like come Spring.

And sure enough, almost all the plants appearing this Spring

 were those hardy and tenacious and prolific invasives.

So, when I recently hired the brushcutting fellow,

one of his first assignments was to take 99% of this bank vegetation

Right Down To The Ground.

Here's a progress shot, looking north after the first session.

See the bright green area along the fence to the left?

That's the edge of the terrace garden.

For scale, that fence is 6-foot woven wire with 2x4" openings.

Which makes this amazing squash plant about 7 feet tall so far:

It's a Sow True Seed winter squash, called

Pink Jumbo Banana. 

The description says each squash can weigh 25-40 pounds!

Do you think I should make little hammocks to support the 

two baby squash(!) already growing high up on the fence? 

I'm thinking maybe.

~~~

Today the brushcutting was finished.
When my younger helper comes on Wednesday,
he can pull all the wilted (by then) cuttings off the bank
and pile them up on the Very Raised Bed.
I am loving having a way to make good use of such material!

Now, I would love to have your advice, all you lovely gardeners!

I'd like to plant the whole bank with perennials this Autumn.
Any recommendations for plants?
What are your undemanding perennial favorites?
I'm in Zone 5, and the bank is rocky (of course).
It gets a lot of afternoon sun.
I'm hoping for plants that will spread densely,
but not grow tall enough to shade the terrace garden above.

So far, I'm considering daylilies and iris
(tall, so they would be planted at the base of the stone wall),
and several varieties of shorter coreopsis along the upper bank.
I've never grown coreopsis; not even dyer's coreopsis.
It is an annual, and since it is so difficult to garden here,
the return of perennials is important. To my sanity.
But...it seems there are now perennial coreopsis,
reputed to be equally hardy and even more colorful.
And perhaps a dye source! Worth a try.

That's all I've come up with for possibilities so far.
Please, please feel free to make suggestions.
Prepping and planting this garden is going to be a lot of work.
Any guidance to making it successful will be much appreciated!

~~~~~

rainy friday

If you are looking for the giveaway,

it's right here!

Please join in - you have plenty of time.

I am so happy to read the comments

and think about all the wonderful things

you lovely, lovely people

are doing to help shelter cats.

Thank you for sharing your ideas with us,

and your kindness with them.

~~~

Thank you also for your comments and suggestions about my seedlings.

Last night I moved one into a big planter,

for an experiment in container gardening.

It's the only one of six seeds that germinated:

It's a cucumber called Poona Kheera.

Have you heard of it? Do you grow it? 

It sounds rather unusual,

and has lots of features I hope to appreciate.

Last year, my vines did their very best,

but time was not on their side.

Good luck, little Poona Kheera!

(I think I'd better find out if it is self-pollinating.)

~~~

Today has been muggy and gloomy, in the 60s, with rain off-and-on all day.

I walked around outside between showers, thinking, dreaming,

planning where everything will be planted.

Piper flatly refused to accompany me on these watery walks,

so no pictures of her today. Sorry!

But I did find these violets,

which had furled themselves up last night as usual, 

and wisely remained furled today.

(Maybe that's what Piper was doing on her couch. Remaining Furled.)

And here is the jack-in-the-pulpit you saw the other day.

Wait...was that yesterday?

Is it not amazing?

I gardened around this plant last year.

and will be happy to do so again.

Magical plant.

One of the first woodland plants I remember from my childhood.

~~~

Tomorrow is supposed to be rainier and hotter.

Sounds like a good day for...housework.

But then, the forecast has changed: four days of 10-20% chance of rain.

So if the ground has a chance to dry out,

maybe all the seedlings can be planted early in the week after all!

That is, if I don't panic and buy bigger peat pots,

and transplant them all this weekend.

Gardening is so dramatic!

Or is that just me?

~~~

Speaking of me, when downloading my camera

I found a surprise.

It took a moment to figure out what it was.

First I thought it was some random piece of Piper.

Then I recognized a non-Piper ear and realized...

I must have tripped the shutter while I was cleaning the lens.

And that is how I discovered I'm going grey.

Clearly, parts of me are already there.

Funny, I notice so many details about so many things,

but this quite obvious fact had gotten right past me!

I had to laugh.

~~~

Have a lovely weekend, everyone!

I'll be spending part of the rainy Saturday

enjoying a good catch-up on all your blogs.

~~~~~