Wednesday, May 16, 2018

My Two Gardening Goals

When we first moved to this house, there was one flower bed in our backyard... It had large established tiger lilies and purple peonies - which continue to bloom in July. I loved  the joy of having these flowers suddenly appear - without my having to do any planting.

Eventually I divided the plants, extending the garden. My first goal was to add flowers that bloom from early spring to late fall.

Right now, a few daffodils brighten this garden spot. The rest is green and growing...



My front garden bed was a later addition to our yard... Here too, I've been trying for a mix of flowers that grow from early spring to fall.









Right now, my earliest flowers, the hellebores, are still in bloom. There weren't a lot of buds this year - I'm not sure why.






Nearby, five tulips grew. Four red, and this multi-colored striped one..
.
Unfortunately, squirrels are attracted to the tulips once they begin to bloom. I'm not sure what part they eat, but I come across petals lying on the ground...






The striped tulip lasted two days before it was eaten... Two of the red tulips disappeared the day they bloomed.

It's discouraging... Not sure what I can do to spare them... (Even sprinkling the flowers with pepper - a solution someone suggested - doesn't deter our squirrels!)
On the west side of the house, I have another flower bed which I planted a few years ago.












A single white hyacinth...












... and a bunch of yellow hellebores are currently in bloom there. They are barely distinguishable from the other green leaves that are growing around them.

Every day, I gaze out at the side yard and enjoy the animals - and the flowers I can see from the window.

This brings me to my second gardening goal, which is: to be able to look out and see flowers from any window in the house, all summer long!

No comments:

Post a Comment