juneSCENE IN OUR GARDEN: Before the Rain

Before the Rain

The Fern Bed has really thrived with all of this spring's rain.

One of the "Three Sisters" (as we call our three viburnum bushes) is about ready to bloom.

Lost. The identifying marker for this low-to-the-ground perennial, so beautiful right now...

Yesterday, my husband/groundskeeper
mowed the lawn with a new mower blade.

This is already the 4th mowing this spring!

I dug out some dandelions and pruned a rose bush.

For the first time, I sprinkled about 1/2 cup of Epsom salts

around the roots of the rose bush.

The gentle rain early this morning

made us glad we'd done the yard work yesterday!

5 comments:

Sandy aka Doris the GreatMay 10, 2011 at 9:26 AM
Oh please tell us about epsom salts and rose bushes!
ReplyDelete
Replies
RebeccaMay 10, 2011 at 12:49 PM
Sandy, I looked it up on the internet 'causwe I'd heard about it on a garden radio program. This is what I found: When and How to Apply

Early in the spring, apply Epsom salt to roses at a rate of one tbsp. for each foot of plant height, with repeat applications every two weeks. Use this dissolved in water, or mixed into the soil's surface around each plant before watering. When setting out new bare-root rose bushes, soak the plants in a bucket of 1/2 cup Epsom salt per one gallon of water for several hours or overnight to revitalize the roots. Add one tbsp. of Epsom salt to each rose planting hole, mixing it with the soil. Healthy established rose shrubs will benefit from 1/2 cup of Epsom salt scratched into the surface of the soil around the plant base in the spring. Use an Epsom salt solution as a weekly pesticide spray; a suggested rate is 1/2 cup per gallon of water.

Read more: Roses & Epsom Salt | Garden Guides http://www.gardenguides.com/89746-roses-epsom-salt.html#ixzz1LyrvrvBs
ReplyDelete
Replies
Gardener on Sherlock StreetMay 10, 2011 at 2:52 PM
How blessed are you to get rain after garden work. Enjoy it!
ReplyDelete
Replies
sweetbayMay 20, 2011 at 8:02 PM
The low-growing perennial is beautiful! So are your ferns. What kind are they? They look like Cinammon Ferns.
ReplyDelete
Replies
RebeccaMay 21, 2011 at 3:32 AM
Sweetbay,

I KNEW someone would ask about the name of that low-growing perennial! Of course it is yet another that I have lost the marker for. I'm sure I bought it years ago because of its sweet blue-violet flowers. I shall have to re-identify it and write it down in a garden journal!

Thanks for visiting me!
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony. William Henry Channing 1810-1884

Irises come in many forms, shapes, colors and sizes and the sword-like foliage is attractive when the plant is not in bloom. The genus Iris is a large genus of bulbous and rhizomatous perennials.

The Iris was named after the goddess of the rainbow because of its many colors.
A flower on the Sphinx is considered to be an Iris, and another appears on a bas-relief of the 18th Egyptian dynasty.
Pliny also knew the Iris and praised its medicinal virtues.
The Iris was also a favourite flower of the Moslems, who took it to Spain after their conquest in the 8th century.

Bought at a local plant sale, Spring of 2009 Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium; syn. Chrysanthemum parthenium (L.) Pers., Pyrethrum parthenium Sm.) is a traditional medicinal herb which is found in many old gardens, and is also occasionally grown for ornament. The plant grows into a small bush up to around 18 inches high, with citrus-scented leaves and is covered by flowers reminiscent of daisies. It spreads rapidly, and they will cover a wide area after a few years. It is also commonly seen in the literature by its synonyms, Chrysanthemum parthenium (L.) Bernh. and Pyrethrum parthenium (L.) Sm.

I'D PICK MORE DAISIES
If I could live my life again
I'd be a little lazy
I'd stop this rushing to and fro
And stop and pick more daisies
Through all the lovely summer months
Though days be clear or hazy
No more to fret over tasks undone,
I'd stop to pick a daisy
Not so important what I did
This fact time now discloses
While running through life's garden green
I'd stop to smell the roses
If I could hold my little ones
The children in my care
I'd scold them less and love them more
With so much love to share
If I could pass this way again
Though folks might think I'm crazy
I'd work and worry less, but I'd
Take time to pick a daisy
The rush of life has passed me by
Now I have leisure hours
But time has taken such a toll
It's too late to pick the flowers.

Mildred F. Rowe

MEASURE YOUR HEALTH...by your sympathy with morning and spring. If there is no response in you to the awakening of nature, if the prospect of an early morning walk does not banish sleep, if the warble of the first bluebird does not thrill you--know that the morning and the spring of your life are past. Thus may you feel your pulse. (Thoreau)

"God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on the trees and flowers and clouds and stars." (Martin Luther)

"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends. To appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

The soul of a child is the loveliest flower
That grows in the garden of God
It's climb is from weakness to knowledge and power,
To the sky from the clay to the clod.
To beauty and sweetness it grows under care
Neglected, 'tis ragged and wild.
'Tis a plant that is tender, but wondrously rare,
The sweet wistfull soul of a child.

Be tender, O Gardener, and give it it's share
Of moisture, of warmth and of light,
And let it not lack for th painstaking care
To protect it from frost and from blight.
A glad day will come when it's bloom shall unfold,
It will seem that an angel has smiled,
Reflecting a beauty and sweetness untold
In the sensitive soul of a child.

...Author Unknown

Thy Word is like a garden, Lord,
With flowers bright and fair;
And every one who seeks may pluck
A lovely cluster there.
Thy Word is like a deep, deep mine,
And jewels rich and rare
Are hidden in its mighty depths
For every searcher there.

Thy Word is like a starry host:
A thousand rays of light
Are seen to guard the traveler,
And make his pathway bright.
Thy Word is like an armory,
Where soldiers may repair,
And find, for life's long battle-day,
All needful weapons there.

Oh, may I love Thy precious Word,
May I explore the mine,
May I its fragrant flowers glen,
May light upon me shine!
Oh, may I find my armor there!
Thy Word my trusty sword,
I'll learn to fight with every foe
The battle of the Lord.

(Edwin Hodder, Thy Word Is Like a Garden, Lord)