Sprouting Flowers
Feb. 19th, 2024 09:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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gardeningToday I took some pictures of the sprouting flowers in my yard.
The rain garden lies under the downspout near the patio. It has many crocuses sprouting along with heuchera and columbine.
This is the goddess garden, currently sans goddess statue. It's just east of the house at the northeast corner. In front you can see winter aconite, crocus, and hens-and-chicks. The back is a tangle of various thymes. A little snow is caught in the hole where the statue sits in warm weather.
Winter aconite is blooming. This is the only one I've seen though. I should probably plant more.
Crocus is budding beside hens-and-chicks. I thought that the snow might kill off emerging flower buds, but these seem to be fine -- and it got down to 17°F one night.
Puddles catch the light at the end of the driveway. This is the view looking west in the afternoon. Those ephemeral pools are super popular with wildlife. Birds drink and splash there. I see tracks of squirrels, possums, and other critters too. In warm weather, butterflies puddle there. I've tried putting out birdbaths with traits they are "suppose" to prefer. Nope. Mine want the puddles in the driveway and the deep dish under the drain hose from the basement. It's like they know I'm a fellow freak and won't care if they do weird things in my yard.
This is part of the parking lot just east of the flowerbeds. The carnage -- because some folks asked to see where I'd been cutting brush! Behold the butchered, splintered remains of volunteer bushes and the pile of cut sticks underneath. I haven't picked up the mess because I don't have anywhere to put it right now, since the firepit is full. Eventually those sticks will become either firewood for a bonfire or wildlife habitat for the brushpiles.
These are the daffodil (south) and tulip (north) beds, looking north while standing by the driveway. They are between the parking lot (east) and Midwinter Grove (west).
This is the daffodil bed. You can see all the sprouts poking up through their blanket of leaf mulch. Some of those are as high as my hand.
Here is a closeup of sprouts in the daffodil bed poking through leaves.
This is a wide view of the tulip bed with leaves on it. Again, the sprouts are poking up but they're not as tall as the daffodils. Also sprouting are peonies along the back (east) edge of the tulip bed, but you can't really see the tiny pink shoots at this angle.
Tulips are sprouting through the leaves in the tulip bed. Most are 1-3 inches tall right now, some are just peeking up.
Snowdrops are sprouting in the tulip bed. These things are volunteering everywhere. They are all over the east end of the savanna. :D I love it when bulbs naturalize because that reduces my need to buy more. I do still plant occasional new snowdrops for genetic freshness. Yep, that's what my gengineering is in this life: making sure my plants have a happy hippie sex life. \o/
These snowdrops are at the north end of the flowerbed and already blooming. This is one of two or so places I have actually planted beds of them. Another is the white garden at the end of the driveway.
This is the tulip bed after raking the leaves off most of it. The left (north) edge had already been raked clear several days ago, the middle is most of what I just did, and the right (south) edge is what I finished up later in the afternoon. That big mess of leaves in front of the log edge has all been raked up and moved to the oak seedlings, who like leaf mulch.
This is what I mean when I say that permaculture isn't all about the fruit. It's about obtaining a yield, whatever that means to you. I use fallen leaves to protect flowerbeds through winter and pile around trees. Then in ... well, it used to be spring, but now late winter, whenever the bulbs wake up, I rake off their blanket of leaves and move it to the trees. Granted I have to move the leaves around a bit, but I don't have to pay for them. Same with the sticks, which are useful as firewood, wildlife habitat, or occasionally craft materials. My yard is full of things I can use.
Yes, it frequently looks like a mess from a typical human perspective. I don't care. I do care that bald eagles found it a romantic carpet for their courtship dance last spring. :D And hey, the flowers will be pretty when the rest of them bloom.
The rain garden lies under the downspout near the patio. It has many crocuses sprouting along with heuchera and columbine.
This is the goddess garden, currently sans goddess statue. It's just east of the house at the northeast corner. In front you can see winter aconite, crocus, and hens-and-chicks. The back is a tangle of various thymes. A little snow is caught in the hole where the statue sits in warm weather.
Winter aconite is blooming. This is the only one I've seen though. I should probably plant more.
Crocus is budding beside hens-and-chicks. I thought that the snow might kill off emerging flower buds, but these seem to be fine -- and it got down to 17°F one night.
Puddles catch the light at the end of the driveway. This is the view looking west in the afternoon. Those ephemeral pools are super popular with wildlife. Birds drink and splash there. I see tracks of squirrels, possums, and other critters too. In warm weather, butterflies puddle there. I've tried putting out birdbaths with traits they are "suppose" to prefer. Nope. Mine want the puddles in the driveway and the deep dish under the drain hose from the basement. It's like they know I'm a fellow freak and won't care if they do weird things in my yard.
This is part of the parking lot just east of the flowerbeds. The carnage -- because some folks asked to see where I'd been cutting brush! Behold the butchered, splintered remains of volunteer bushes and the pile of cut sticks underneath. I haven't picked up the mess because I don't have anywhere to put it right now, since the firepit is full. Eventually those sticks will become either firewood for a bonfire or wildlife habitat for the brushpiles.
These are the daffodil (south) and tulip (north) beds, looking north while standing by the driveway. They are between the parking lot (east) and Midwinter Grove (west).
This is the daffodil bed. You can see all the sprouts poking up through their blanket of leaf mulch. Some of those are as high as my hand.
Here is a closeup of sprouts in the daffodil bed poking through leaves.
This is a wide view of the tulip bed with leaves on it. Again, the sprouts are poking up but they're not as tall as the daffodils. Also sprouting are peonies along the back (east) edge of the tulip bed, but you can't really see the tiny pink shoots at this angle.
Tulips are sprouting through the leaves in the tulip bed. Most are 1-3 inches tall right now, some are just peeking up.
Snowdrops are sprouting in the tulip bed. These things are volunteering everywhere. They are all over the east end of the savanna. :D I love it when bulbs naturalize because that reduces my need to buy more. I do still plant occasional new snowdrops for genetic freshness. Yep, that's what my gengineering is in this life: making sure my plants have a happy hippie sex life. \o/
These snowdrops are at the north end of the flowerbed and already blooming. This is one of two or so places I have actually planted beds of them. Another is the white garden at the end of the driveway.
This is the tulip bed after raking the leaves off most of it. The left (north) edge had already been raked clear several days ago, the middle is most of what I just did, and the right (south) edge is what I finished up later in the afternoon. That big mess of leaves in front of the log edge has all been raked up and moved to the oak seedlings, who like leaf mulch.
This is what I mean when I say that permaculture isn't all about the fruit. It's about obtaining a yield, whatever that means to you. I use fallen leaves to protect flowerbeds through winter and pile around trees. Then in ... well, it used to be spring, but now late winter, whenever the bulbs wake up, I rake off their blanket of leaves and move it to the trees. Granted I have to move the leaves around a bit, but I don't have to pay for them. Same with the sticks, which are useful as firewood, wildlife habitat, or occasionally craft materials. My yard is full of things I can use.
Yes, it frequently looks like a mess from a typical human perspective. I don't care. I do care that bald eagles found it a romantic carpet for their courtship dance last spring. :D And hey, the flowers will be pretty when the rest of them bloom.
