What's in Bloom?

This was a great day for pics in my own garden. I will have some posted soon...

Demonstration Gardens at Alwerdt's

Coming soon...

Rainwater Catchment Project

We were fortunate to get our hands on these old pvc drums. These were used for chemical sprays for ag applications. They probably held Round-Up or some such thing to be sprayed in the field. These are being phased out for some type of bladder bags, or so I hear. These sat in my garden until I had time to think about how I would like to use them. Many ideas came to mind, but finally I settled on rainbarrels. There are two perfect places next to the house and the rainwater will be perfect for watering my container plants.


Our starting point.


DH cuts the top portion off using a Skilsaw. We used the lip of the red base to run a space bar on to make an even cut around the circumference.

Viola! There's my rain barrel in the back and this top portion looks like it will make a great container for a water garden.

I used Krylon Fusion spray paint for plastic to paint a brick pattern on this one to match the foundation of the house. I didn't like it at first, because the red was not exactly right. Too bright. I thought it looked like a Christmas decoration. I guess it's alright.

We also put a spigot in each one. I usually just dip my water can in the top, but it's nice to be able to empty it with a hose if I want to. If we are getting a lot of rain, I run the hose out to one of our new trees to keep the barrel from overflowing.

The finishing touch was fish for mosquito control. One barrel has feeder goldfish and the other has Gambusia, otherwise known as 'mosquito fish'. Surprizingly, the goldfish seem to do a better job of gobbling up those larvae.

Tommy Tiger

It seems that Tommy Tiger has successfully gained dominion over the back porch. Tommy Felix, the pretty black and white tom, has not shown his face around here for awhile, and now it is Tommy Tiger who comes for dinner. He is a sweet tempered kitty (at least to humans), but not much to look at. Slightly scruffy with battle torn ears. Now he has become the regular fixture here... but for how long?

The saga continues...

Hydrangea paniculata

Yesterday DH and I took a drive up to Prairie Gardens in Champaign. I have been coveting the lovely Hydrangeas for as long as I can remember and now I finally have some! I first saw the cultivar "Pinky winky" at one of our seminars. I think it must have been the Proven Winners rep who came... I knew that one was going on my list of "must haves"! I picked up 3 in six inch pots and a "Quick Fire" in the 12 inch pot.

I really wanted these for the east side of the house near the front porch. I have visions of sitting there in my Adirondack chair, the cool breeze rustling the leaves of the fifty year old sugar maples that shade the house, the air filled with the sounds of birds happily singing and twittering all around ...and the Hydrangeas covered with those fabulous panicled blossom heads.

First thing this morning I got up to monitor the amount of sun that shines down on the spot that I had in mind. There are those maples, but I knew that there was some morning sun, as we are awakened on the sleepin' in days by the sun baking us through our bedroom window on the east. As it turns out, the border will get between one and a half to two hours of sunlight in the morning and a little more sun in the afternoon. Hmmm... both labels that came on the shrubs say 'Exposure: full sun to partial shade'. If that's the case, will they get enough sun for the magnificent floral display of my dreams???

Finally, I went to Hort Answers on the UIUC Extension website and this is what I found: full sun, partial sun/shade for Hydrangea paniculata. It doesn't really specify if that means full sun for some Hydrangea paniculata and partial sun/shade for others or if that range applies to all of the paniculata species. So I decided to give it a shot. I realllllly want them here by the porch! I hope they find great happiness here, but in a few years I may be sorry that I did not place rhodies here in the first place. Time will tell.

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Update, 12 Dec 08--

More info on 'Quick Fire' and Pinky Winky'. One thing I have noticed so far is that the 'Pinky Winky' was much more tolerant of less water. All three 'Pinky Winky' flourished without any supplemental watering, but the 'Quick Fire' was much more sensitive. It would begin to droop and look pretty sad if I did not keep it well watered. Both varieties did bloom well this first season here in the partial sun. One thing that I want to remember of these two varieties is that they both bloom on new wood, so they can be pruned in spring or fall. The flower color is not effected by soil pH, which if I am not mistaken, would only apply to H. macrophylla. But don't quote me on that!

The Generosity of Gardeners

Some of the most generous folks I have met are gardeners. Out of their abundance they are able to share freely and happily. Whether it is from the overflow of their harvest (tomatoes, peppers, green beans and the zucchini--oh, the zucchini!), or when it comes time to divide their many lovely perennials, there is always something wonderful to give and receive.

Yesterday, I was the happy recipient of plants from the garden of a lovely grandmotherly lady in Paris. One of my dear master gardening friends had contacted me and asked if I was interested. Was I! This same lady had shared some of her plants last year as she is no longer able to do the upkeep of a large flower garden anymore. We went in the cool of the morning yesterday to see what we needed to do. This lady came out and pointed out to us what her hired gardener had scolded her about (smiles) and suggested she have removed to make the maintainence chores reasonable. What a jackpot to someone like me, who has aspirations of creating an outdoor paradise, but on a very limited budget...

Not surprisingly, the ground was a little too wet to do much digging without creating a huge mess. We did lift a few sedum groundcovers and the hostas. The rest we will leave for a couple of days and hope that things soon dry out.

I was hoping that there might be some things to go in the prairie/butterfly border that I am working on for a master gardening project in town, but I don't think that much or any of it will work in full sun or drought conditions. The sedums would work in full sun, but I don't think they are really a prairie plant. I will have to look that one up. That's OK. All things will work out in due time. As for the hostas, I found a great shaded spot near the front steps of my house. Things look better already.

Bluebird Babies

They're here! This is my first year putting up the bluebird boxes. I had never actually seen a bluebird here on the property before, but I put up three boxes in good faith. The one pictured here is actually the first one to go up. The other two did not go up until later as I was not sure about where to locate them. It didn't take long for the bluebirds to find the box. I guess good real estate is high in demand!



Here's a little closer look at the eggs:


Sweet little babies...
they really don't mind being looked at all that much.


I never did get a photo of the bluebird parents at box number 3, but this male was very nice to pose for me at box #2.


Box #1 had a family of tree swallows move in which was fine with me. Notice how the tree swallows line their nests with many feathers. Most of the feathers here are from my African Geese. Not sure about the one feather in the upper left...maybe pheasant?

Loren Hughes' Sparrow Spooker story in the Paris Beacon News(added February 21,2009)