White.

In spring, white is a refreshing color in the garden. In summer, it offers a bit of a reprieve from the heat. More will arrive soon in the form of Four O'clocks, datura, and daisies. For now, small snipets can be found here and there.

Lantana.



Confederate jasmine and the chimney trellis.



The foliage of Miscanthus "Cosmopolitan".



Nandina's flowers. These will turn into the red berries that persist through the winter.



In the shade, Dusty Miller looks white instead of silver.



Nigella.



The first Shasta Daisies are starting to open. They're scattered here and there through the yard.



Blackberries.



Ligustrum. Similar to the sickening sweet smell of Chinese Privet.



Echinacea "White Swan"



It's 57 degrees. The high today should reach the mid 80s again. More sun. Rain in the forecast for the weekend.

That sickening, sweet smell.

That's how the customer from Maryland described the odor he and his wife were smelling "on the back roads around here." The culprit is Chinese privet. It's an invasive species that grows wild everywhere, including my own backyard. At the corner, just beyond the red dogwood tree, there's a huge specimen.



Down the street, the butcher with the BushHog took out native Sweetshrub and Mock Orange, but left the privet.



And the honeysuckle.



In my own yard, Ligustrum howardii is about to bloom. The fragrance and flowers are very similar. I'll deadhead my plants once they've bloomed to keep them from reseeding.



The colors in the garden this time of year tend to be more pastel and muted. Pink, blue, and white dominate.



I didn't really plan much of this. It was more an effort of plunking and running with wintersown containers and the scattering of seeds.



Nigella has bloomed in many parts of the perennial bed. Dianthus Pinks Maiden join the chorus.



The cool colors are welcome at 79 degrees. It's not even 10am yet.



In the background, the freshly mowed path produces its own fragrance.



It's sunny and humid. The high today should reach 84. Dragging hoses and moving the sprinkler will take up the rest of the 2 hours I have before work. Still no rain in near forecast.

These things aren't roses.

I've gone a little overboard with the hybrid teas lately. So here's what I've been neglecting.

Elymus arenarius 'Blue Dune' is blooming.





Fuchsia in a hanging basket. We had an abundance at the store. It was cheap. No, really.



Sweet william. Wintersown in 2008/9. From the same container. One clump on each side of the perennial arbor.





Just around the corner, Pinks Maiden dianthus. Wintersown in 2008/9. Bloomed a little last year.



Columbine. To be wintersown 2010/11. Lots of seed pods here. Dame's rocket is flopping all over. Seed pods are starting to form.



The first larkspur. These seeds came from Kathy in Texas. I tossed them out in the late fall. They germinated and held on through the rough (relatively speaking) winter. I noticed this one while Szylvia and I were walking the yard yesterday afternoon. I sent her away with tomato plants and a rooted cutting of the white butterfly bush.



Ditch lilies. Stella D'Oro clumps have formed buds too. The Coreopsis Moonbeam below them will not bloom for another month at least.



It's 72 degrees. The rainfall measurement reported by weather.com was 0.68". Parts of the yard are still dry. I'm going to spend the rest of the morning planting out Pineapple Sage and Sunflowers. I've already planted six ligustrum along the neighbor's chain link fence. They were on deep discount, $1 each. They'll need some recovery time before I show them. In a couple weeks, they should have new foliage. I've also planted two new hybrid teas. One is an unknown yellow with orange tones. The other is Gypsy.

One very positive note, NellJean was right again. The oakleaf hydrangea is regrowing from the roots already. It wants to live.

A Travel Day.

Today I'll be heading to Robert's to help him with some projects in his yard. We're going to plant some shrubs, decide on some planting bed layouts, and I'll give him some suggestions for future plantings. In my own yard, spring is advancing rapidly.

The irises are growing almost daily.



Gold Flame Spirea is putting out new foliage.



Variegated Miscanthus is returning.



Ligustrum Howardii has tons of new growth. These were purchased from the clearance rack last fall with a few leaves and lots of sticks.



Even the Japanese Maple is leafing out.



The first of the returning hostas has emerged.



It's 39 degrees. We should see a high again in the upper 70s. Tomorrow, I'll spend most of my day weeding the perennial bed and planting out as many containers as I can manage.

Foliage.

Butterfly bush in the shrub island.



A white spirea. This plant has been moved three times. It now resides in the shrub island.



Dame's rocket. A couple clumps are starting to push out stalks just a few feet away.



A mum, larkspur, and others at the arbor spanning the entrance to the perennial bed.



Golden Jubilee.



Yucca. I dug this one from my parents' property in SC. They grow wild in the woods here. I might regret that some day.



Something new that popped up next to the driveway. Any thoughts?



The new foliage of Ligustrum Howardii is tinged with gold.



More ditch lilies.



May Night Salvia. A clearance purchase last summer.



Elymus arenarius 'Blue Dune' grass. These are on the slope where I have knockouts and lavender.



Poppies, I think.



It's 48 degrees and cloudy. Today will be cooler reaching about 60 degrees. Tomorrow, the heat wave starts rolling in.



Majesty Palms and Peace lilies have arrived at the store just in time for Palm Sunday and Easter. The fragrant white lilies will be arriving in another week. Boston ferns are on the racks. Petunias will be available shortly. It's strange. We went from extreme cold to the middle of spring in just a couple of weeks. I'm not sure any of us were prepared for this. Obviously, the shoppers are happy about it, spending gobs of money just to be outside for a few hours. It's not a bad time to be paid to work outdoors.

Rock and Roll

In the back yard this spring, I dug two large rocks out of the ground. I don't know why I did it. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time. For a while, they sat next to the hole they came out of. At some point during the summer, I moved them to the edge of the "lawn" to make mowing easier. The lavender crape myrtle lived there for a couple of months. The hole has been filled in with dirt. Red clover has germinated well there.

This morning, I decided to move those two rocks to the perennial bed. I couldn't have chosen a home any further away without putting them in the street. I used the hand truck and a lot of cussing to get them where I wanted them.

#1



#2



I actually moved three large stones, but one I was able to lift and place on the hand truck. They now reside along the new path I built a couple weeks ago around the back edge of the perennial bed. I probably destroyed the new grass seedlings. It won't be long before clover takes over anyway.





Consistency in design is something I have been taught by my instructors when I was in college. In architecture, consistency is necessary to help people understand movement, form, and texture. It can also be used to define spaces. Private and public spaces can be differentiated using different materials, lighting, or even color. So in my beds, I want some sort of consistency as well. All the tended beds will eventually have stone edging as I find it and place it. Along the edge of the former white bed, now known as the neighbor's corner, I picked up all the stone and finished the perennial bed as well as a good chunk of the gully bed. I'll explain later what I did this morning in the neighbor's corner and why I no longer need stone edging there.



Wheelbarrow #1



Wheelbarrow #2



Wheelbarrow #3 and done.



When I started, there was only about 6' of edging in place. This stone was dug from planting holes all around the yard.



From the upper yard behind the house, you can see the stone I laid around the edge of the gully bed.




Just about where the stone ends now, I transplanted the White Profusion butterfly bush from the neighbor's corner.



I also planted 4 purple Speedwell plants that I got for 50 cents each. The purple should go well with the echinacea and Icicle speedwell already there. Lots of baby echinacea from scattered seeds were seen.



As suggested, I made lots of changes to the neighbor's corner this morning. I won't go into detail now, but there are lots of shrubs there now including five Howardi Ligustrum (evergreen), two loropetalum, several rose of sharon seedlings, a couple of azaleas, two dwarf burning bush, and a couple snowball viburnum cuttings that I rooted months ago. It should provide color, interest, and privacy as it grows together. The only plants I purchased were three clearance ligustrums. I got them for less than $12 for all three. Woot!

I plan to let this corner become semi-wild again. When I cleared it out, I envisioned a beautiful corner with lots of white flowers and flowering shrubs. It hasn't turned out that way. It's too hot and dry in the summer for most perennials and the annuals I wanted there. I still lack privacy in the backyard from prying eyes, and a patio will be built somewhere someday. These shrubs and trees will be mulched with leaves. I'll allow the vinca minor to regrow, and let it spill softly into the edge of the yard where the lawnmower can keep it in check. Naturalized planting areas in the yard won't have stone edging. Only tended beds will need that treatment, cutting down on the amount of stone I'll need for the borders.

This afternoon, now that lunch is done, I plan to move a lot of the split firewood into the basement to continue drying.



It's 57 degrees, cloudy and cool. The wind has died down for the time being. No sign of the promised sunlight I was hoping for today.