Spring, Finally

I think I speak for us all when I say it was a rough winter.  Many of my little plant friends did not make it through, which makes me sad.  But others are poking up their little leafy things, or bursting out in little buds, and that always makes me happy.  So yay, miracle of spring and all that.

I guess it's time for a round of who's surviving, who's dead, and who's new to the garden.

In the corrugated metal pot, one Japanese Pieris from last season, one new Astilbe, and three old Astilbes.  (The little metal plaque reading "Holly Tone" is a new system to remind me which of my plants are acid loving, and therefore get Holly Tone organic fertilizer, and which prefer Plant Tone organic fertilizer).  I don't think anybody's dead here.

In the enormous blue pot, one of my smallest trees, the laceleaf Japanese Maple that was new last year and is happily putting out new foliage.  Also one brand new Bergenia, and the Cherry Berry hosta that I bought in Connecticut last Memorial Day.  Alas, another plant from the same Connecticut trip, the supposedly perennial Jacob's Ladder, did not survive the winter.

In the medium turquoise pot, three newbies: the Empress Wu hosta, the Happy Hour Lime heuchera, and the Obsidian heuchera.  It's not clear why I keep buying heucheras, since - as you will soon see - most of them die on me.

Here's the fig tree.  It may look like a collection of sticks, but it's budding nicely.  It's not 100% clear yet whether the Carex (that patch of dead decorative grass) is coming back to life. 

Taxus Helen Corbett is thriving.  She's accompanied by the brand new Apple Crisp heuchera, and one from last year that has managed to come back, the Redstone Falls heucherella.  Missing in action are the Toad Lily and the Helleborus.

Welcome to the garden, American Hazelnut tree!  Meet your new friend, the Iris from last season that is actually coming up!

The Dwarf Dogwood is budding, and the Delta Dawn heuchera is coming back to life, as is the Cool as a Cucumber hosta.  The Lakeside Paisley Print hosta, however, appears to be dead.

Another newcomer is the Fullmoon Japanese Maple - so far I'm batting 1000 on Japanese Maples.

This is the newer of my two Camellias, and it looks terrible.  It appears to have new buds, so I am optimistic, but cautiously so.  Also in the pot: one sad little hydrangea, one new Marvelous Marble heuchera, and some dead ivy.  Yes, that's right, I'm so hapless that I can kill ivy, the plant that anyone can grow.  Fortunately, replacement ivy is readily available at the Greenmarket, at a cheap price.

Welcome to the garden, European Hornbeam!

The Mountain Laurel was new last fall.

The Ligularia that Alice gave me has come back to life.

The Patriot hosta, however, is stone dead, along with its ivy. 

The jury is still out on the Winterberry hollies.  There appears to be a little budding activity, but I wouldn't call it overwhelming yet.  The Lamium from Liz that used to surround one of the two little hollies has completely died, which ranks right up there with killing ivy among my gardening accomplishments.  I mean, Lamium is so unkillable it's practically a weed.

In the pot with the big holly tree, the Touch of Class hosta and the Whee! hosta are coming up fine.  Raspberry Sundae appears to be a goner, though.

Oh, Upright Japanese Yew, how I love you.  You thrive no matter what.  However, I do wonder what you've done with your friends, the Japanese painted fern and the two heucheras.  They are gone without a trace.  Perhaps you are meant to stand alone.

 

No casualties in this pot.  The Creeping Jenny is creeping back, the Key West hosta is coming up, and the Serviceberry is budding like a champ.

Love you too, Japanese  Maple, the original plant of my garden, still going strong in your fourth spring in my garden.  Your Blue Mouse Ears hostas did not all come up this year, and I've transferred the ones that did to another pot.  To your right, the brand new Dwarf Alberta Spruce that I got for about three dollars at Whole Foods after Christmas.  To your left, another sad Camellia.

In the window box, there's no sign of the Ivory Queen hosta, but the Electrocution hosta and the Pilgrim hosta are coming up fine.

In the other window box, two of the four Stained Glass hostas have come back, but the purple heucheras are completely dead.

That's almost everything - I didn't get photos of the Blue Mouse Ears hostas, the other Japanese Pieris, or the boxwood.  And I didn't bother to photograph the dead violas or the dead Labrador violet.   Next time, I'll show you my new Sky Pencil holly.

Birds and New Trees

I was delighted to have a cardinal drop by my garden this week.

I couldn't get any closer because I didn't want to open the window and scare him. 

In other news, I got a box of plants this week from my buddies at http://www.forestfarm.com/.  They've sold me lovely plants in the past, including my big Jim Dandy holly and the upright Japanese yew.  They also sold me Mr. Bowling Ball, who unfortunately is pretty much dead.

So here's what's new from ForestFarm:

That's two trees in one pot.  The first is another Japanese Maple.

One of the things I really wanted to add to the garden this year was a cut-leaf Japanese Maple.  This is more of a lace-leaf, but it's just a lovely plant.  It's called "Orangeola."  It loves shade, can grow up to 4 to 8 feet tall, and does well in containers.

It's going to have to grow into this one.

The other plant that came packaged with Orangeola is another dwarf - the Pygmaea Dogwood. 

It's barely bigger than the hostas, and it arrived a little droopy, but I'm hoping some water and sunshine will help.  It can grow to be 6 to 10 feet tall, and can thrive in the shade, though we will see if it blooms in the shade.

And then there's another Camellia:

This is not the Camellia I originally picked from their website, but they turned out to be out of stock on the one I wanted.  This one is called Nuccio's Pearl - my other Camellia is Nuccio's Gem, so whoever Nuccio is, he's popular in my garden. 

And then, after making fun of boxwoods on my blog last year, I figured it might be nice to have one.  He's in a temporary pot because I ran out of pot space!

So here's the garden:

Starting to look kind of good!